Prayer Update – February 2018

‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life’ – Proverbs 13:12

RWANDA

Please pray for the ongoing need among some of our artisans, and many in Rwanda, who are struggling to afford their children’s school fees.

UBI (Azizi Life Impact Projects):

Students registration has begun on our Adult Literacy classes, but so far not enough have registered to make running the classes worthwhile. Please pray for improved student uptake.

We praise God that the Financial Literacy training of our staff was successful. Please pray that this knowledge will be effectively passed on to our artisans to help them manage their finances and households.

Please pray for Oscar, (a child of one of our artisans who suffers from a debilitating and painful urinary condition). He is meeting a specialist in his case on 30th January. We hope and pray that this meeting will be successful and that Oscar gets the treatment and care that he needs so that his suffering will end.

AZIZI LIFE CRAFTS:

We are used to starting the new year with wholesale orders to retailers in the US (freight on board), however, this year seems to be different in this respect, so we pray for the Lord to bring us more customers and orders.

Our accountant is currently working on gathering all the information for the end of year report ready for our annual declaration (which we hand to the Rwanda Tax office in March). This means all the Azizi Life Crafts and Experiences staff are checking inventories, sales records, and expenses to ensure that this is all correct. Please pray that we are able to get all the information together, that there won’t be any mistakes, and that we will be able to submit everything on time and find favour in the eyes of all the officials involved.

EXPERIENCES:

We are planning on launching a new Experience Day, where visitors will get to experience working with clay with rural artisans. Please pray that this goes ahead and that we can put together a memorable Experience Day for visitors.

BEEUTIFUL CREATIONS

We are excited about the opening this month of a retail location for Beeutiful in Kigali, ‘Design: Rwanda’. The shop will be shared with a jewellery designer as well as an interior designer, showcasing high quality, locally produced products. Please pray for increased capacity for staff in this shop, particularly for a new member of staff for Beeutiful who will need to be trustworthy, reliable, and good with customers. Please also pray for plenty of customers, and for word to catch on quickly, so that sales will increase and better support our beekeepers and candle-makers.

AZIZI LIFE US

We praise God for a good season of sales and connections at the end of 2017. We thank all who came to hear about our work as well as those who bought products and supported our artisans. Please ask for guidance for this coming year.

Christi is now scheduling her 2018 holiday schedule. If you would like Christi to come and share at your church, Bible study, retreat, school, home or club (with or without Azizi Life products), please let us know so that she can fit it into the schedule. She expects to be in the Pacific Northwest for most of November, and then on the East Coast for the month of December.

Please continue to ask for God to provide a Volunteer Coordinator and volunteer team in the US.

Please pray for God’s blessing on our summer interns from Palm Beach Atlantic University, as well as for guidance for their time with us in Rwanda.