Heaven’s Family Stories

Every month, Heaven’s Family helps far more people than we could ever highlight in our bi-monthly newsletter. For that reason, this page contains additional photos and stories of some of the “least of these” among our spiritual family whom we’ve recently been blessed to serve.



01 Jan

Mama Jeanine Under Roof

Outside in the darkness, rain was descending in torrents, pelting the tin roof of my hotel room with a roar. As I lay under a mosquito net on my cushioned bed, I could only think of Mama Jeanine, her children, and their mud house with no roof. I had met Mama Jeanine earlier that day as she was working in a field outside her home village of Mabayi, in Burundi's Rugombo Province. She was helping nine Christian friends hoe a plot of ground that they jointly owned, courtesy of a group micro-loan from Heaven's Family. I learned that she was a widow with five children, and that her actual name was Magdalla Uwimana, but that everyone had been calling her Mama Jeanine since the birth of her daughter, Jeanine. I also learned that she was not a joint owner of the field like the others, but that she always helped them, because together, they looked out for her and her children. They had, in fact, even built her a house.







31 Dec

Moolala, A Blessing for Everyone

Dear Friends, About two years ago, Andrew Mason, a 30-year-old native of my hometown of Pittsburgh, had an idea. He asked the owner of a local pizza shop a simple question: “If I guaranteed you twenty customers, would you sell them two pizzas for the […]











16 Dec

Fulfilling the Commission

Orphans at the Handicapped Care Center in Myanmar Dear Friends, I pray that you are experiencing God’s blessings this December! We just sent off extra money to each of the orphanages that Orphan’s Tear supports, so that the directors can purchase Christmas gifts for the […]







01 Dec

Chicken Blood for Breakfast

How's this for a job description: "Bite the head off a chicken and drink its blood"? That's what Hindu priest Ayyappen Panayil did every day as part of his temple duties in Ponkunnon, India. It was perhaps not the healthiest dietary practice, and after 16 years of performing his daily chicken blood-drinking ritual, Ayyappen found himself suffering from a mysterious illness. Doctors diagnosed him with cancer and gave him only one month to live.





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