Pat Haag and Lyle Dubbledee, from Christ The King Church in Pipestone, left Saturday, March 10th for Ethiopia,Africa. Lyle is on the left and Pat on the right with some of the kids seeing them off.
Our story starts, perhaps last year, when Pat and I adopted two baby boys through a Christian Adoption and Relief organization called All God's Children, International. We flew to Guatemala on March 15th to meet these two precious little boys who had just been born. Our hearts were forever changed at that meeting! We waited through the summer for paperwork to be completed, and in September we flew back to Guatemala City to bring them home. We named them Christopher Luis and Cameron Jonathan Haag. Even before this adoption was completed, the Lord was working on Pat's heart. He felt such a burden for the people of Africa and that we would maybe adopt from that country some day. We started praying for Africa and the orphans who are living there, forgotten by the world. Shortly after, we received a newsletter from All God's Children (AGCI) stating that they were answering God's Call to open a Children's home, Hannah's Hope, in Ethiopia. We were very excited to hear this! We found out about this trip to Ethiopia last fall. It was with another Christian organization called the Global Orphan Project. They take people to various places in the world in connection with AGCI. Pat really wanted to go on this trip but we missed the deadline to sign up last fall. All winter he regretted that he didn't go on that trip. Well, we received an email the end of February saying that they needed people to go to Ethiopia to help set up the new Hannah's Hope and also to visit orphanages in the area to bring relief items and establish relationships with them, and would Pat be willing to go? It didn't take much convincing and he said YES! He then started to pray for God to send someone else to go along and immediately we both thought of Lyle, and when we asked him he said "Yep!" So, after a bunch of shots, 200 lbs. of donations from friends and a 20 hr flight, they are now in Ethiopia and will return Saturday March 17th.
The AIDS epidemic has wiped out almost a whole generation of people in Ethiopia and other African countries, leaving behind millions of orphaned children. We feel that God's Heart is breaking for these children and that even though they have been forgotten by the world, God has not forgotten them. He knows them by name. He is calling people to come and help and give them hope.
Thou art the helper of the orphan. Psalm 10:14b
Blessings,
Jodi Haag
Pat Haag and Lyle Dubbledee, from Christ The King Church in Pipestone, left Saturday, March 10th for Ethiopia,Africa. Lyle is on the left and Pat on the right with some of the kids seeing them off.
