Dearest beloved warriors, brothers and sisters in Christ. Philippians 3:13-14(Amp) says; I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, v14 I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.

This scripture was placed on my heart years ago in Australia for The God Experience, and now we stand as a threefold cord in Ark Leisure Group standing on Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.

We depart today for the investor meeting in LA tomorrow, we live by faith fulfilling Habakkuk 2:2, we press toward the goal and look to Matthew 6:33; but seek ( aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness ( His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.

We are one crying in the wilderness and clothed with the armor of God, we press towards the prize and wage war in prayer Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

Zechariah 9:12, Watch www.arkleisuregroup.com/promovideo The Lord is with us and His power goes before us through your supplication

Greg Volich

Well with the Beijing Olympics only 3 weeks away,  we’re all wondering: will they be able to sanitize the environment long enough for athletes to compete at their full potential? Hmmm.

But, back to BFS, where Peter is 3 today, July 15. A happy little camper, and always wanting to be helpful, if something interesting to boys is going on.

Our 6 nannies have, in the past weeks, been to courses in Chiang Mai, where they were trained in things deemed important by the Social Welfare Dept. The reports that came back with our staff we that workers from other orphanages, and expensive private nurseries were asking “why are BFS staff always asked first?” What’s so special about BFS??? Hmmm.

Hillcrest Team bonding with our children

Tonight we farewell the Hillcrest Christian College, led by stalwarts Di Gallacher, Brian Benge and David  Sun. David was battling a throat infection, but stoically soldiered on. The students also toiled hard; the 3 boys dismantled the timber-framed, corrugated iron roof on the teachers’ dorm, dug the excavation for the RF Dorm’s fish pond, carried paving bricks and roofing panels, and generally wore themselves out in for them, unseasonable heat and humidity.

Slave labour? No! Enthusiastic children want to be involved

The 7 girls paved the “Hillcrest Highway”, from the “Emmanuel Expressway” to the paved roundabout under the large, central tree. We now have a perimeter path around about an area of an acre, and a short-cut across the middle, for our multitude of enthusiastic Tour-de- France wannabes. The H. Team also gave English classes for the kids, and fertilized 160 fruit and shade trees.

Megan from Emmanuel College, teaching English

Celebrity musician, Andrew Tuppen, left at the end of his tour to perform at the Popes World CatholicYouth Gathering, so we were very grateful for his holiness, and Emmanuel College, sparing Andrew for a season. Other leaders were Jacob, well up to the task, his wife, Aliza, and Megan. Andrew had student–experience at paving, which allow the E Team to power along 66m of paving, before turning their attention to a shorter stretch between the Generation Yurt and the path past Poy’s laundry <another previous Hillcrest project>. All this was achieved in a day and a half!

Thank you, teachers, students and respective headmasters.

Andrew the expert at work

Hillcrest Team learning fast

Notwithstanding all the excitement of us all, especially the children, at having so many ‘Nordic-blonde’ visitors <from a Thai perspective>, the biggest news is the purchase of a 12-seater Toyota van <rot tuu in Thai, or cupboard on wheels>. This,

the new, insulated, gabled roof on the teachers dormitory, the concrete entrance to the

Frame for the new roof on Teachers’ dorm

Home, and other future projects, were generously provided by the Principal of the Australian Taxation Reporter <please subscribe today!>. This van has allowed us to take the children to the local Karen “Hod City Church” every Sunday, which includes a dormitory for female students from the remote mountains near Om Koi Subdistrict. This allows our children to see and fellowship with others, and they can still join in the praise and worship, which they enjoy so much. We can also take them further a field to Chiang Mai, the local zoos and on picnics. Thank you ATR and J. H-C.

God will bless you all in this season of the manifestation of the blessings of the Father of our faith, Abraham. Belief in Christ automatically qualifies us to be joint heirs in Abraham’s covenant or contract with God: “to be blessed to be blessings” <to others as well>.

We are healthy because of the blessing, we are wealthy, because of the blessing and we are compassionate because of the blessing. This is not theology, this is truth.

God will bless you all.

Thank you from Phil, Wanida, Nok <’bird’>, Nut <’nutty’>, Captain, Kaew <’special’>, Janshai <’moonlight’>, Angie, Gina, Fah <Skye>, Nampoeng <’Honey’>, Chompoo <a fruit>, Baifern <’Fern frond’>, Rachel, Namwaan <’cordial’>, Namfon <’rain’>, Sally, Charlotte, Katie, Nicky, Naai <’boss’>, John, Peter, Jamie, Steve, Paul, Gerry, Leo, Mark and Robin.

The bible clearly says in the Last Days I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions and also on my men servants and on my maid servants I will pour out my spirit in those days. Joel 2: 28-29

We are definatly seeing an outpouring taking place as we travel around America ministering. A hunger is being stirred inside of the hearts of men, women and children. As people starve themselves for the things of this world a hunger for God will be birthed. A hunger that can never be satisfied with the things of this world but only with more of Him. This anointing is contagious and transferable. It doesn't matter where you are, who you are or where you've been because the Bible also says that God will show up on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to Him. More than ever the church of God needs to seek Him so that the world will know that Christianity is just as alive today as it was when Jesus walked the earth. We need to show the world a demonstration of His love, His power and His truth. The Bible says that all are called but few are chosen. Will you choose to answer the call of God on your life or will you just run from that call and be dissatisfied the rest of your life. True contentment only comes when the void in our life is filled with God. It's time we stepped up to the plate and started to seek His face as the Bible says - Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33

The church has done things backwards for so long. We have tried to take care of the natural things first and then the spiritual. The church has been swayed by the demand of man and not of God. God is pouring out His spirit globally and we are seeing the ushering in of an outpouring that will change this world. Don't miss out on what God is doing. Don't let it pass you by. Just as some, even when the rapture comes, will be Left Behind. Stay hungry, stay focused, set your eyes on God and don't look back.

Jesus died for everyone - not just the Christian. Every benefit of the cross is for you and I today. Step into your call. It's a step of faith just like everything else in this life.

When God OPEN's DOOR's no man can close them. In the last 2 weeks our itinerary has exploded http://www.mcmasterministries.com/itinerary.html

We hope to see you at some of these meetings. More are to come. Push into God - come hungry - come expecting - God never disappoints.

Hello, we thank you so much for your continual prayers for us, Grace and the work being done here.

We have had a couple of great months, so firstly we have to give God the praise for many things.

Firstly, the Salvation of one of our mothers in the project. She was the mother that we wrote about in our last update who had recently found out she and her son had HIV. Just last month she was lead to the Lord. Now she is a child of God and she carries her Saviors blood in her veins, we continue to believe for her and her sons healing and restoration for their lives! Hers was the first Salvation so a real break through and we believe the first of many, many more. Please pray for complete health and healing for her son Haimanot as he spent the last 2 weeks in hospital with chicken pox and has lost a lot of weight.

We finally got our land finalized! This is very exciting as it has taken many, many months (as a lot of things in Ethiopia). To celebrate the day the kids and I, Marcie and her kids all headed down to OUR land to celebrate by flying kites…mind you it wasn’t only us there but about 50 other children who regularly play on that field. They had never seen kites before so it was very excited for them all. Lydia and Josh remember the afternoon as ‘wonderful!’ despite the moments of pinching from the over excited children.

I just celebrated my 30th last week, thank you Amanda and DC girls for the beautiful card, jewelery, DVD etc, it was SO unexpected and made me feel very special being so far away, so thank you again my friends, and thanks Georgie for the phone call, it was so nice to talk to you.

Thank you to the wonderful people who gave towards the startup kits in the last couple of months, we have been able to buy four kits and have given these mothers hope for their future and something more to smile about…we will send you a photo soon of the mother you helped and the difference you made. Thank you, (if you don’t get the photo, email us and remind us!)

This month we are starting our self sufficient ministry which is exciting. We have some mothers who find it hard to find work, for what ever reason, whether they are sick, have a disability or attend day school and need the extra money to get by. We are buying them some materials to start them off in their own business. For example, we have a mother who has been sick and is being shunned by the community she is in and lost her previous job because of her HIV status. We will set her up with straw and she will weave baskets, the baskets are not in high demand and will only sell at market for about 2-3birr each (30cents), so we will buy them from her for a higher price to help her be self sufficient, we will then sell them to foreigners who are visiting the centre and fund raise in Australia too, raising money for Grace. We are also doing this for a mother of 3 who has bad Elephantiasis in the feet. Also a young mother who works only part time and attends school the other half of the day, she makes beautiful handbags weaved from coloured plastic, all of the children of these mothers attend our Day Care here at Grace or are on the waiting list.

It has been so wonderful to have mum here. She had planned to stay longer but could only get a 3 month extension on her visa, so we flew to Kenya last month to renew her visa and add an extra 3 months onto her trip. We have all so loved her being here these last 5 months, she is ‘mum’ to all the girls, it has been so great to have her here with all our 4 children, she is wonderful at making bottles for all our babies, making sure we have enough clean water to drink, keeping the stock of dry nappies up, and keeping me sane J, it will be a lot harder with out her here, she has been so great. Although the work here is 7 days a week and long hours her and I are hoping to get away for a few days before she goes home when we have some Australians come for a few months from August.

Last month also saw a visit from representatives of the Attorney General’s office in Australia. They were in Ethiopia regarding the Australian-Ethiopian Adoption program and had heard of the work that we are doing here. They especially made time to visit Bahir Dar for a day specifically to see what really happens in a children’s care facility in Ethiopia. It was a great honor for us, and we praise God for this amazing opportunity.

One of the schools on the coast, St Stephens (4 students and 1 teacher) are making there 2nd trip to Ethiopia (different students and teacher- same school involved) in the last couple of years to do aid work, lead by our friend Leith, they will mostly spend their time here at Grace, they will have a few other people attending the trip including Steph who spent many months here last year volunteering in Grace and supervising our kids schooling. There are also some new friends, including a 10yr old girl for Lydia to have some ‘serious girl time’ withJ. It will be great to be reunited with our friends again and use the extra hands.

With over 20 children now in our transitional and temporary care home (living with us full time) life just seems to be getting busier. Our feeding program is feeding over 40 families a day. Whether or not you have heard about the famine happening in Ethiopia, we can see the effects in the lives of the people here, price rises on food and much less work available. There is a look of desperation in peoples faces, hopelessness, a real concern in their eyes about what the future holds for them in Ethiopia. There is not a famine in Bahir Dar but it is so much harder than it used to be, soon the people may start coming from out side the city, from the country side looking for food. It used to be that providing Day Care for a mother, enabling her to work was enough to make her self sufficient, enabling her to provide for her family, now these same mothers are coming to us crying, saying it is too hard, they don’t have enough at the end of the month to feed their child. This we are finding frustrating because it feels like we are buying them the ‘fishing rod’, teaching them to fish, but then go and buy the fish for them from the market anyway, making our efforts completely useless…but in reality, there really isn’t enough and these mothers work 6 days a week, mostly hard labour doing construction work and don’t earn enough to pay rent on their house (less than $10 a month) and food (about $30 a month). What we are doing is helping, and it would be almost impossible for them if they didn’t have us, it’s just hard helping as much as we do, and still seeing so much need… the reality of living in a third world country. What a different world we live in, a different world.

We recently had a mother come with her 3 year old son. He had fallen into a fire about a year and a half ago and still had not recovered, the side of his head was badly infected, both his hands had melted skin covering his distorted fingers. Our nurse, Sr Mulunesh, immediately insisted that we take him too the pediatrician in town and he has spent more than 2 weeks there now. His mother came to us with no money, she was robbed of everything she had as she stepped off the bus when she came to town, so we are paying for all his medical costs, and we bring him food every day and will set them up in a small house in our area so he can come each day for medical treatment at our clinic. His progress in such a short time has been so wonderful. In August a hospital in opening in Addis that may be able to do corrective surgery on his hands so he will be able to hold a pencil and learn to write and go to school soon. So we are looking into that.

I know that this is becoming another long email, but before we finish, just wanted to share another couple of great stories of what has been happening. We had a baby left here by his mother a few months back, the mother promising to complete relinquishment through court. She returned months later ready to complete the process but asked that her and the father see him one last time. When I brought him out to them, they both just started balling their eyes out, the love was so very obvious for this little boy. That day they made the decision to get back together, move to our area and have the child back with them as a family! He attends our day care, is happier than ever, and Dad is the proudest dad at pick up time I have ever seen!

We are just about to start our next training session for new nannies, this is one of the tasks that Leith has come for as she is very experienced in this area and ran our last training and did such an great job. Two weeks ago we put out a notice for interested women to come and fill in an application. In the first three days we had over 500 applicants! We had originally planed to have it open for 1 week but had to quickly close off applicants after the three days! Now from the 500 we are picking 60 for the training program, half of which will go one to work for us now or in the future. Of the 33 we trained last time we have about 25 working for us now. The training is perfect timing for Grace Day Care babies separating from our transitional children.

We look forward to the next couple of months, our volunteers coming, taking on new workers, and loving on the people coming through our gates each day.

Prayer Points;

Continual protection for our family, Marcie’s family and all of our Grace Children, families and employees.

Wisdom for us in all of our decision making concerning the families and children we are dealing with daily.

Healing for Marcie as she recovers from Typhus and Tonsillitis.

Salvations, Healing and wholeness the families in our project, opportunities and openness to minister to them.

That God blesses our children and mothers spirit, soul and body and meets their every need.

Wisdom, favour and Gods timing (and patience as the need and our timing is ‘now’) concerning a new property/s to extend and separate Day Care and new clinic.

Finding the right house for our volunteer families at a good price.

Provision for all the areas of the project.

Provision and financial freedom for our family.

That God blesses our supporters and the supporters of Grace abundantly in every area of their lives…

Ok…next time we won’t leave it so long before we write again. Thanks for listening and most of all, thank you for your prayers and support, we love you.

Love and Prayer,

Dee, Andrew, Lydia, Josh, Berhani and Mekonnen.

P.S- if you write us an email and we don’t respond, email us at deanneknife@yahoo.com as we have had some trouble with emails coming through…we always respond to emails directly to us.

It's become so obvious in our walk that we have to let go and let God! Where I first heard that I am not sure but it's prevelant in our lives as we move forward, push harder and go deeper with God.

As a female friend, wife and mother I've learned that women play a role that is unique. I do believe that every woman has the potential of being the Proverbs 31 woman. I believe the key is Being, not doing! I personally don't know if the Proverbs 31 woman is achievable all at once, I could not imagine if it was, but in studying the Proverbs 31 woman it is highly possible that we can be all that she is at different times in our lives. Where are you at right now ladies? Where are the females in your lives at right now men?

At times I have risen early to tend to my family, at times I have purchased land and wares that have been profitable to our family and at times strength and honor are worn on my exterior. I am always many of the Proverbs 31 design in my core... Right now I am a woman whose watching her husband soar into the heavenlies with God. A woman whose husband is spoken of in the marketplace and one who is so proud of the man he's become. Right now I am a woman whose more in love with Jesus than ever before and whose happily amazed when she hears her children give testimony of their walk with God to their friends. Woman hood is unique alright and we all come in different packages. We do have one thing equal that cannot be disputed we were all created a miracle by God - equal at birth. We are all different but all made in the Image of Christ.

This week I have been offered opportunities to be a vessel of the Lord in new and interesting ways. I am finding that the more I let go of my husband, my children, my own life, the more God is free to have His way in our lives. Ladies; Know that the Lord is more in love with you than you can ever imagine and that as in love as you are with your husband, your children, your life - it will never be what you want unless you let go a bit at a time. Men, know that the Lord is rising up a generation of honorable, trustworthy and unique men that won't settle for the materialism and expectation of Christianity. He's looking for that person that will go where many won't, who'll seek like many won't and who'll do what many won't. Are you that leader in your life? Women, are you willing to go when your leader says it's time?

There is no male or female in Christ but we are very different, aren't we? As equals let us walk together in unity for the Lord, shedding the concerns of personality or culture and focus on God's love. He's the only truth there really is.

I want to introduce you to one of the most magnificent ladies I've ever met. www.bekahbye.com Her art is transforming hearts and when I saw some of her recent works I called her and said, "Bekah, you drew my heart." It's amazing how we can be so close in spirit - no where near in the physical yet totally connected to the same umbilical cord: Our Creator!

To the Australian gang.... Scotty's flying out with a wonderful brother in the Lord very soon. He's doing meetings at Dream Centre and New Day in Queensland. Keep an eye on our itinerary as it's being updated and added to daily http://www.mcmasterministries.com/itinerary.html God is blowing our minds! I pray that He releases His amazing power on your household and that you are more overwhelmed in His presence that you've ever been before!