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| Rebecca |
I would like to share with you a passion that God has placed on my heart. I have been traveling to El Salvador on short-term missions trips for just over five years. Since my first trip El Salvador has had a deep impact on my life, and I have felt a calling to minister to the people there. I changed my major in college to Spanish business to be prepared for whatever God might have me do there. I have had a heart for the Hispanic people since a young age and over the years of traveling and serving in El Salvador, God has given me a huge love for the country and its people. Since 2005 God has especially given me a burden for the children of El Salvador, and the vision I have is to start a children’s ministry there and eventually open an orphanage. I grew up in a family of 7 children (pictured to the left) and now have 13 nieces and nephews (with 3 more on the way!) who have helped prepare me to work with children. Children bring a special joy to my life. Despite obstacles along the way, the desire to start a ministry in El Salvador has always remained with me and has only grown stronger over time. What has been most exciting for me is that last year God opened the doors for me to start working toward this goal and He is putting so many things into place!
I spent last September and October working with the children in El Salvador to gain more experience and better understand the circumstances of the Salvadorans. Since I have been back, I have been working hard to set up a nonprofit organization in order to work full time in El Salvador. The organization is called Little Hands of Hope. I grew up at Annapolis EP and am very blessed to have the wisdom and guidance of very special members of my church family work along with me on the board of Little Hands of Hope. I am so excited to be a part of what God is doing in El Salvador! I am including an outline of what Little Hands of Hope is all about so that you may share this experience with us.
Thank you for your encouragement and support as we start a new ministry. You all, as a part of the body of Christ, are an important part of the journey! May God bless you and keep you.
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| Rebecca and her family. |
In Christ,
Rebecca Putnam
Activities of Little Hands of Hope:
To open a community center where children have a safe haven where they can enjoy being children while learning about the gospel and developing their gifts and abilities. Little Hands of Hope will work February through October with children ages 3 & 4 and November through January when older children are on break from school will include children ages 3 to 10. Little Hands of Hope will teach Biblical principles and English while reinforcing the children’s natural talents and development. The knowledge of English can help the children in the future by providing more job opportunities for them than if they did not have knowledge of English. Focusing on the gospel and teaching the children Biblical principles will help give the children hope and purpose and help them to grow into upright citizens who know what it means to love their neighbors as themselves. In conjunction with English and Bible lessons the activities will include memory verses, games, arts and crafts, story times, singing, puzzles, and times to just play and build relationships with the children. Also with the help of donations, Little Hands of Hope will provide the children with lunch every day and with toys, clothing, toiletries, and other needed items. Little Hands of Hope’s goal is to show Jesus’ love to the children and to help and encourage the children to develop their God-given talents and use them to better their lives.
Little Hands of Hope’s ultimate goal is to also open children’s home for children who have been orphaned, abandoned, or abused. The vision of Little Hands of Hope is to rescue children from situations where they have little hope and bring them to a place where they are taught and shown Jesus’ love, where they can learn to love their neighbors as themselves, and where they are provided with the tools and support to be able to have successful lives as adults. The goal is to help raise a generation that loves and serves Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The home will need to maintain a family atmosphere to ensure that we are able to meet the needs of each individual child physically, emotionally, and spiritually. In order to accomplish this goal, there will be a limit to the number of children Little Hands of Hope will be able to accept. Little Hands of Hope will accept children from all parts of El Salvador.
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| Rebecca and the children in Meanguera singing for the parents. |
Community Outreach
Little Hands of Hope will focus on building strong relationships with the community in order to show Christ’s love to all of Meanguera. Trust within the community will help us to understand its needs better and be able to help more effectively. Throughout each phase, Little Hands of Hope will reach out to the surrounding community by providing clothing, meals, and other necessary items as the needs are made known and as the organization is able. Teaching the children how to love their neighbors is an important and much needed value in El Salvador and for that reason Little Hands of Hope would like the children to have an example before them of reaching out to others in need and would like for them to be involved in the community outreach.
Little Hands of Hope will also include computer classes for adults. Knowledge of computer skills can help Salvadorans better their businesses and job opportunities and also keep in touch with friends. Little Hands of Hope will strive to work alongside of the people in El Salvador to help them help themselves as much as possible. There are computers available in the town hall that have been sitting in boxes because there is no place to set them up to use them. The church has offered their mission house once it is completed to use for a computer lab.
For more information:
Contact Rebecca Putnam – beccaputnam@gmail.com or talk to any of the other board members of Little Hands of Hope, Inc.: Clifton McClain, Frank Rouland, Scott Howie, Cheryl Mullis, Bruce O’Neil, Mary Ruth Burge, and Jonathan Fales.
