2017 in Review

Dear Friends- We always enjoy writing this letter and the chance it gives us to look back on the past year and celebrate all that God has done. During this season, we are reminded of all that we have to be thankful for: most especially, our Yellow House, our family and friends in Ghana, and our amazing community of supporters in the States.

Highlights from 2017

• Ted and Ellie visited the Yellow House in late March of this year. These visits are important not just because they afford the opportunity to take pictures and update our supporters, but also because we can connect with our staff. We were able to meet with the social welfare office in Akatsi and continue building relationships.
• The girls finished another school year and received excellent marks! We are so pleased that they continue to take their education seriously and are self-motivated when it comes to studying.
• We converted the guest room at the Yellow House into a second bedroom for the girls, as they are growing like weeds and needed some additional space.
• Destiny remains in touch with the girls’ families and made the long trip to Yeji a couple of times this year to update paperwork and to check in on the progress of Foster, Richlove’s little brother. You might remember that we paid for him to have a very important medical operation in 2016. We are happy to report that he is doing wonderfully.
• Destiny and Bernard remain devoted to children in the Akatsi community. We are still sending Collins, Juliet, Justine, and Julianna to school. We were able to buy a bike for Collins, whose disability prevents him from walking to school, and a new roof for the triplet’s home.
• Ted and his dad, Mike, traveled to Ghana in early December to check in with the staff, visit the girls, and have a meeting with our Board, amongst other things.
• This summer, Eight Oaks celebrated it’s 5th birthday, and we celebrated 4 years of freedom for our girls in November!

Looking ahead, we ask that you would continue to pray with us for the following:

• Restoration and healing for Dina, Lucky, God's Way, Sarah Sr., Richlove, Regina, Sarah Jr., and Gloria as they continue to process their past and plan for their futures. We pray that they would flourish and become great leaders in Ghana: great warriors and advocates for justice.
• Courage and discernment for our staff: Mercy, Helen, Destiny, Bernard, Celestine, Forgive, and our Ghanaian Board, as they are charged with stewarding these young ladies and managing the Yellow House.
• Favor with social welfare in Ghana: we have been anxious in the past about our relationships with local officials and the pressure placed upon us to buy land, but we are relieved and thankful that that burden has been lifted, at least for the time being.
• For continued financial support: that the Lord would provide donors and that we would be good stewards of resources.
  • Right now we are bringing in about $2,250/month, but our goal since 2013 has been to reach $2,800/month.  The extra money would give us flexibility to start saving for the girls’ college tuition and update the house with some needed improvements.
• For Collins, Juliet, Justine, and Julianna, their families, and that the Yellow House would be a light and a blessing to the entire Akatsi community.
• For the children and families who remain on Lake Volta: that slavery would be eradicated and for Ghana as a country, as it seeks to combat malnutrition, lack of medical care and clean water, and provide education to all of their citizens.

One of the highlights from our trip last March was when we sat down with our staff and prayed over the future for Eight Oaks. When we first set out to rescue eight girls, we had no idea how the Lord would expand and multiply that vision into something more wonderful than we could imagine. We didn’t foresee the relationships with our staff and the vision they would bring; we certainly didn’t anticipate becoming allies with the girls’ parents and being able to provide for their siblings; we didn’t plan on getting to know our neighbors and becoming enamored with the tiny, dusty town of Akatsi.

While writing this letter, the passage that was drumming through our minds was from Ephesians 3:14-21.

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

We hope that this letter has illustrated the journey of 2017 and all that we hope for in 2018.

We thank you, again, for partnering with us, and ask God's blessing on each of your lives.

Ted & Ellie Kriwiel Founders

Donations can be made online through our website or via mail: our address is P.O. Box 8366, Wichita KS 67208.