Thank you for ALL your prayers and support! We couldn’t have done it without all of you! Bless you!

Then, the shipping company that we used to ship the playground has offered to ship one pallet a month of donated items for FREE! I just need figure out where to collect stuff and how to get it to Mobile, AL. This will save us so much money our budget. Praying for direction on our next step.

God amazes me how He can put it on the hearts of strangers to bless His work! AMAZING!

Have a blessed day!

It’s hard to believe with 12 volunteers that we can still be short staffed! It takes many hands to keep up with all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, maintenance, yard work, office work, e-mails, changing diapers, wiping noses, washing dirty hands, teaching, mentoring, and especially giving Christ’s love 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! You should see our excel spreadsheets, they are quit amusing.

Many of you have asked what the next step is since we got our license, so I wanted to let you know where we are at. We have contacted the labor department and we are finally allowed to apply for work permits for all of our volunteer staff. This will be a huge help for us, since we currently have to renew and pay for the visas every month. There is a long application and many details in getting the approval, but it should be done within 4-6 weeks. Once the work visas are approved we are open for children. So by the middle of February we should be seeing lots of little hands and feet running through the house!

We will hire security guards and build a security post at the entrance. Our gate will have to remain shut at all times and people will have to gain permission to enter. We will also hire additional staff to help with the children, especially on the night shift.

If you are looking for ways that you can get involved here are some areas where we need help:

-Prayer, please continue to pray that God would bring the right staff, that we would get everything we are behind in caught up and that our team would remain unified and share the heart that God has placed on LOL.

-We have a friend that owns a Food Bank and would like to donate food to LOL. We need to find transportation for that food from California, to a port and then to Belize. So if anyone knows a trucking company or someone that could donate the shipping of these items it would help our monthly budget.

-Financially, we know that we are going to see our budget increase once we get the children in. If God lays it on your heart to donate to LOL either one time or monthly we would greatly appreciate your partnership.

On a personal note, since our daughter Shandice is getting married, if anyone has anything they would like to donate or know places where we can get things cheaper I would love to hear any suggestions. She will be getting married here in Belize, which limits my ability to have the time to shop for great deals. Her and her fiancé John will be working here at LOL until the wedding in June. We are so thankful for their help, but it limits their ability to help financially with the wedding as well.

God is amazing and we are so excited! We are beyond blessed to be a part of something that is so close to the heart of God. We are honored to serve the Lord and to be His hands and feet here in Belize! May God richly bless you in this New Year!

With all our hearts,
Jervis and Melissa Fisher

A little over a year ago George and Amir came to our home, as most of you will probably remember they didn’t know their numbers, letters, shapes, colors or even when their birthday was. Today, I watched George at 13 years old READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t stop thinking about where he would be today if we would not have taken him in, if we would not have had the money to pay for private tutoring for the last year, if we wouldn’t have had the money to buy the much needed curriculum to teach him. There are so many things that I pray each child receives when coming to LOL and an education is one of them!

“The red bug sat on a leaf” and my tears began to flow! My mind began to think of the endless possibilities that were just opened up for this young boy! I am in awe! Thank you! Thank you for giving to this child, thank you for changing his life!

May God RICHLY bless you for believing in what God has called us to here in Belize! May He give you just a little glimpse of how truly amazing and life changing your piece in this ministry is! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I thank you, the Lord thanks you and George thanks you!

We have been working non-stop getting everything ready in the Learning Center and putting together the playgrounds. At the same time we are also renovating an apartment for a married couple that is here with us at LOL. We have lots of hands and tools being used right now! God has sent down so many willing helpers and we are seeing so much progress! We are praying by the end of this week that the inside of the Learning Center will be complete and the apartment will be finished and ready to be lived in. We still have lots to do on the outside to get finished and the rain is preventing a lot of that, but we are still making progress.

This last week has been amazing for us because the government placed two emergency cases with us. One was a rape victim and the other was a human trafficking victim. God gave us such an amazing opportunity to show His love, we were not able to keep them permanently but God did so much in the time they were with us!

We are still waiting on our license, but we have such an amazing peace from God! It is not a matter of if it will happen, just a matter of His timing! In order for us to get our final inspection we need the Learning Center to be finished, we need the apartment to be done so that the couple can move out of the LOL house and we can get that room set up for the kids and we need to make some changes to the current building to meet the governments new requirements. Once they come and do the final inspection we will then wait for the paperwork to process. In the meantime we need to get our staff and interns together. We are still looking for people to fill those positions, so if you or someone you know is called to missions and children we would love to see if LOL is the place to fulfill that!

Also, please be praying that we can get our donated vehicles out of the port. We were told we could get duty exemption on them and the paperwork for that has not come through yet, so they are just sitting there. Our current vehicles continue to break down, so we are getting to a point where this is becoming a huge need for us. Paperwork never happens fast here, so please pray that God will keep our old ones running or speed up the paperwork process!

Also, we started a LOL page on Facebook. If you would like to see pictures more regular you can find us on FB. I will also be adding pictures of the playground and Learning Center soon and we will send you that link when it is ready.

We pray that you are all doing well and that God continues to bless you in our personal lives! We pray that you will have an amazing Thanksgiving and that your heart will be full of joy for what God has done in your life! We personally thank God for you and for the support that you give to us! Whether through prayer, finances, donated items, time, or an encouraging word we are blessed and we are thankful!

1. Donate money or gift cards to buy things.

2. Send or drop off items on the list to:
LOLM
501 WCR 48
Berthoud, CO 80513

3. Drop off items at Resurrection Fellowship Church office with LOL clearly labeled on it.

All items need to be received by Wednesday, September 19th (that is in 2 weeks) so that we can get our shipping manifest together. If there is anyone that has the time to organize and list all of these items and you are in the Loveland, CO area please let me know.

2 metal or wood sturdy filing cabinets
Dish soap
Kitchen trash bags
Shampoo
Conditioner
Body Wash
Band-Aids
Antibiotic ointment
HE laundry detergent
Hand soap
Paper towels
Diapers (all sizes)
Baby formula - Simply Right (from Sams) or Similac Gentle milk based infant formula
Baby wipes
Copy Paper
Construction paper
Dry erase markers
Spiral notebooks
Loose leaf paper
Pens (that work J)
Pencils
Art supplies
Educational toys or games
12 bathroom towels (blue or brown)
5 gallon water dispenser (2)
Refrigerator (can either be refrigerator only or with a freezer)
Washer
These two above mentioned appliances can be used, they just need to work
Whole house water softener
Water purification system
LCD TV
Blue-Ray player

THANK YOU!!!!!!

In December of 2011, we were able to start our 2nd building here at LOL, the Learning Center. This building will have a staff lounge, 2 classrooms and a recreational room, plus two incredible playgrounds. It amazes me how the Lord moves in front of us, knowing our needs before we can even believe for them. In my dreams I had thought about how wonderful it would be to have somewhere for the kids to be during the day and a place for them to play, as well as an undistracted area for the kids to learn that are unable to attend regular school due to disability or lack of previous schooling.

Well, those dreams are coming to pass! God put it on the hearts of a faithful, Godly, generous, giving beyond measure couple, who established The Father’s Hand Foundation ( www.fathershandfoundation.com) This building project will cost around $250,000US and it is FULLY funded! The hearts of this beautiful couple and their willingness to serve the Lord and the children that will come to LOL in such a way blows my mind! They have done everything with a level of excellence and only wanting the best for these kids, truly the heart of God working through them! We are already about 70% finished with this building. Our goal is to have this building completed before we get our license to open. The governement has scheduled our final inspection for the license in October which gives us about 6 weeks to finish.

If you are skilled in plumbing, electrical, painting, laying sidewalks and/or landscaping and have the time and heart to come down to help, please contact me. We will also be shipping a container with the playground and items that we need for the interior of the building. If you are skilled in installing commercial playgrounds, we could REALLY use your help!

God is amazing! If you would like to see pictures of the Learning Center here they are here: PHOTOS

Blessing to you and believe that God can do great things in your life!!!!!

Jervis and Melissa Fisher

The drive to the village normally takes about 2-3 hours depending on the road. Then you have to hike in 2-4 hours depending on the trail. We were so excited when we came to the last village before you have to start hiking and noticed the bull dozer had come in and made a road. We were able to drive until we met about 20 of the villagers caring this lady in a homemade gurney. I did a quick assessment to find a full-term mom at the very last stage of labor. I will not go into great detail, but let’s just say if she had been in the hospital the baby would have been born within 15-20 minutes, if not sooner.

I knew that I had the knowledge to deliver the baby, but prayed God would allow us to get her to the hospital since delivering in the jungle or the back of a truck would not be ideal; especially since I don’t have all the right equipment. The whole ride her face bore so much pain. Several times we stopped, when she said she couldn’t take it anymore. I thought for sure I would end up doing the delivery. I was so amazed at her strength and ability to hold on. I don’t think I could have ever had that control. She never screamed, she never cried, her eyes where the only thing that told her pain.

We finally made it to the hospital and she delivered the baby as soon as they got her back to the delivery room. She had a beautiful baby girl, 6 lbs. 1 ounce. They are both healthy and doing great! The sweetest part was they named her after me and thanked me over and over for all I did for them. They made sure to have me write my name down so that they spelled it right. I was so honored!

The whole time I was thinking to myself what an honor it is to live my life. How blessed are we that we would be able to make such a difference in someone’s life. That privilege comes from first the Lord, but then from you! We could not have done all we did to help this lady if it were not for those of you that have surrounded yourself around us. Whether through prayer, or words of encouragement, or donating a vehicle or donating the funds so that we could purchase the gas, or food for the family, or diapers for the baby. We never once had to stop and say that we couldn’t help because we didn’t have a way to help. That is AMAZING! THANK YOU! Thank you for being so willing to let us be here to help when God brings a need! We pray God will show you the difference that you make, that He will show you that even though we may be the physical hands here, that we couldn’t have done it without your obedience as well.

Thank you!

Jervis and Melissa Fisher

That would take one intern to be here for over a year to do all the work they did! That is so awesome! We are so grateful for them and for all the teams that come and serve here with us.

The nation’s elections were on the 7th of March. They were not supposed to be until next year, but they called an early election. This has put our application process on hold because the people that we have been working with for four years were voted out. We have tried contacting the new representatives, but have been informed they are not ready to work on our application yet.

If you would have pulled up to LOL last week you might have thought we were already open. On Saturday I went to town and found 5 children we know with their intoxicated parents. I saw the two boys running in the street only to look across the street and see their Dad barely able to stand up. My heart was so grieved for these kids, so I took them home and told the parents to come when they were sober. We had 12 kids under the age of 12. Nothing like getting some trial runs before we open.

Thank you for continuing to pray with us and encourage us! We know we will see this place open and full with children. Until then we will continue to pour into the kids we do have.

Have a happy Easter!
Jervis and Melissa Fisher

Well about two hours from the house we stop to make a turn and the van just shuts off. Then smoke starts coming out of the hood. Hmmmm… so here we are two girls that don’t know anything about vehicles. So we pop the hood, stand in the rain and wait. After about 45 minutes we got it towed to a mechanic who then tells us that it will take 5-6 weeks to fix (something about a whole in the radiator and gaskets and taking the engine out). At this point I am thinking, I need to get to Belize City and pick up a team, I need to get groceries to feed that team, and I need that van for the team of 58 that is coming in 6 days. Ok, plan B. I call Jervis he brings the minivan and the truck and we plan on meeting in Belmopan. This is about an hour from where I am stuck. We figured it would be best for us to get to Belmopan and start shopping since today (Wednesday) is Belize’s Election Day and all the stores are closed.

So we stand on the side of the road to catch a bus, it of course starts pouring down rain on us. After about 30-45 minutes we see a bus come. We are so thankful because at this point our clothes are dripping wet and the umbrella we were using had a leak right in the middle. We get on the bus only to find out there is standing room only. Here we are standing in the bus, and then two ladies start playing music on their phone and singing really loud. Not bad if every other word was not the F word. Finally some seats open up and we sit down. We arrive in Belmopan and I now have a migraine. We get off the bus and start walking. Two stores and two gas stations later, and I still can’t find any pain meds. They tell me Tylenol and Advil quit making medicine! Somehow I find that hard to believe. After about 20 minutes of walking I find some medicine and then Jervis pulls up. At this point I am thinking why did I get on that bus? He had a three hour drive from when I called him and we arrived 20 minutes from each other. I guess I should have just waited for him.

Well, we got all the shopping done and I sent him back home with the food. Now the trick will be to fit 6 people with suitcases in the minivan and figure out how to replace a 12 passenger van in 5 days.

Life is fun!

Melissa