Yesterday (December 30, 2009) the newly renovated house of Rada Arslamova was officially handed over to her in Strumica.  Reconstruction of the house was financed by the United Methodist Church and businessmen from Strumica.  We want to give a brief history of how the idea of renovating the house of Mrs. Rada came about.  For more than six years this family has been cared for daily with food from the kitchen of the Miss Stone Center.  With daily visits to their home, we as a church came to know them and their other needs.  The house in which they lived was in bad condition and the roof could at any moment have fallen.

Thinking about how to be helpful to them and how the house could be renovated, we came to the following idea: to visit companies with construction materials and to ask them to donate construction material for the renovation of the house.  Supervising pastor Mihail Cekov delegated this duty to the manager of Miss Stone Center, Mr. Mitko Konev.  He visited the construction firms and explained the situation of the family and our idea.

We were particularly surprised that the owners of the firms were immediately ready to help.
We are in this New Year - Christmas holiday time. The Bible teaches us that giving is blessed.  God gave us his Son as a gift for us all.  Christmas means joy and love, so that yesterday [December 30] we gathered together not only to celebrate but also to rejoice that God gathered us in a wondrous way to help a family that needed assistance.

In this there also exists a miracle.  The newborn child in Bethlehem gathered everyone around himself: the shepherds and kings, and many others.  The need to help this family also gathered us all.  This is an example of praise [for God] when the church and businessmen together help people in need.

Thanks to all who in any way assisted in the reconstruction of this house.

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