My Order Arrived in Great Shape….

       These are words that every business loves to hear.  We recently got a very nice thank you email from a first time customer.  We would like to share it with you.

“Hello, Brother John Starke.  Thank you! It was great to receive my order today.

This afternoon I found the parcel from you left by my front door.  This was my first order from your organization and I was delighted to see that it had arrived.  The box was in perfect condition.  I opened it to take a look and everything was there, nicely packed.

I placed this order because I have some “home missionary” friends in a central California area who told me that they could use some Christian items in Spanish.  I did some research on the internet and, praise God, among the places offering literature in Spanish, I came across your web site.  You offer such a large variety! “

     The writer went on to explain more about her home missionary friends and their needs and concluded with ….”I thank the Lord that I can use internet access to locate Christian businesses such as yours that are thousands of miles away and which I never otherwise would have learned of.”

     We loved hearing these kind words and it makes the work we do exciting and far reaching.  Let us help you with resources, materials, literature and information.  Tell your missionary friends and pastors.  Let us help you.

                              Check out our website

                                   The ETS Staff

ETS  PRAYER REQUESTS

· Please pray that we will be able to find our specific  formula for vitamins that will be affordable.

· Please pray for our regular volunteers who are facing surgery or recovering from surgery.

· Please pray for Keith as he drives our truck to pick up and make deliveries.

Ghana Bibles Delivered

In December  we gave our donors an opportunity to help send Bibles to Ghana, to be distributed in the public schools.  We were able to send 3,000 Bibles to our friend and partner , pastor Ohene Kumi.  We are thrilled to share some pictures with you of students actually receiving their own personal copy of the Word of God.



Tyndale House Publishers created a Ghana Student Bible with a glossy, faux leather cover featuring the Ghanaian national colors of red, yellow and green.  The New Living Translation is the entire Bible in today's English that tells the powerful stories of how people's lives are changed by the love and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 


Thank you for your help, support and prayers that made this project happen.  Please continue to pray for the impact that God will make through His Word on the future leaders of Ghana.  A Bible can change a life, a family, a city, a country, a nation and a whole continent.

Please Continue to Pray:

• We need to sell our 3 trucks; one sale may be pending
• Strength for us as we enter a season of leading more volunteer teams
•  Healing for some of our key volunteers

      

23,794,669 Blessings!

     How would you like to be able to provide this many blessings around the world?   We have been able to do this at ETS through our vitamin ministry.   We are seeking a grant to help provide vitamins at low cost, and the foundation we have approached asked us to calculate the number of vitamins we have purchased and/or sent out over the last 5 years.   This includes

* 17, 772,839 children’s vitamins,

*  2, 782,950 prenatal vitamins,

*  3, 238,880 adult vitamins.

      Our cost for these tablets was over $400,000.   Some we were able to donate; others we have provided at cost.   When you realize that we are providing these at well below wholesale value, this means we have made available nearly a million dollars of product!

      The impact vitamins make in the majority world cannot be overstated.  When children grow up without proper nutrition, their bodies and minds never fully develop.  When pregnant mothers lack prenatal vitamins, they frequently have babies with birth defects (spinal bifida and cleft palate for example.)   How much better that we prevent these defects, rather than    correcting them after birth!

       Finding good sources for these vitamins remains a challenge surprisingly, there are not many pharmaceutical companies that will work with us to provide a product that meets our qualifications and at an affordable price.  Please pray for us, that we will continue to be able to find good  vitamins that we can make available to our missionary partners at a price that they can afford.

      Maybe you would like to help provide vitamins.   Consider a special donation earmarked for this project.   Or maybe you know of a foundation or source that could finance vitamin purchases.   If so, please contact us!

            The ETS Staff

           

  

     

Plate Spinning Mondays

     In the early days of variety shows on television there was usually one person who could keep a number of plates spinning, and juggle or tap dance at the same time without the plates dropping.  Most weeks at ETS there are always” a number of plates in the air” as we faithfully try to help missionaries and ministries with information,  supplies and equipment. 

  We recently sent out a 53 foot tractor trailer filled with clothing, and medical supplies to Jezreel Ministries in New York. We were very glad to have the help of 12 local Teen Challenge guys to help load the  trailer. The trailer was loaded on a Wednesday morning but a lot happened the Monday before.  These were the Monday Morning “plates”  spinning in the office:

• · Vitamin orders of children and prenatal vitamins for Peru and Honduras, as well as ziplock bags, medical charts ,and information on the Moringa tree.
• · Finding janitorial equipment for a local church.
• · Confirming shipment for Betty Lukens shipment to Bucaramanga, Columbia
• · Picking up boxed clothing (1800 lbs) from Calvary Baptist Church for the shipment to Jezreel.
• · Pick up of copiers purchased in Richmond
• · Negotiating discounts with Spanish book publisher
• · Shipping out orders
• · Receiving donations of books, clothing and computers
• · Delivery of a 10 foot projector screen to a local church

     Every day brings a new list of needs and requests.  Thank you for your faithful support and prayers  that enables us to keep reaching out.

                                                             The ETS Staff

Typewriters for Haiti

    

When does something obsolete and 50+years old become cutting edge technology?  When it’s needed in the 3rd world because it’s uniquely designed to meet their need!  We just sent 12 refurbished manual typewriters to Haiti in December for use by Lumiere Ministries.  This required finding repairable machines in our typewriter room (not difficult because we have such a good supply!), repairing them, and rewinding ribbons for them (ribbons are no longer easily available for this “dinosaur” technology.)

     For those of you not familiar with manual typewriters, these are what many of us used to use   before computers!  They are a way to type letters without electricity.  This makes them useful in Haiti, a country where electricity is not always available or reliable.  

     Dirk and Karen Martin with Lumiere Ministries will use these machines in a ministry to visually impaired students.  Their goal is to provide teacher training and some adaptive materials to the Special School of Les Cayes, which has around 20 blind students as well as sighted students.     

     Your support for our ministry is blessing “Limye Pou Moun Aveg Yo” (Light For Those Who Are Blind).  Thank you for partnering with us, in praying for us and for providing our financial support which makes all this  possible.

   The ETS STAFF

           

  

     

Unclaimed Opportunities

     “So dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable .  Always work enthusiastically  for the Lord , for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”  1 Corinthians 15:58 

 

     “Unclaimed opportunities” is another way to say “help wanted”.  We always need help at ETS, more so now that we have lost several volunteers and one staff worker last year.

     Helping as a volunteer is not only a satisfying  experience, where you can make a difference for God’s Kingdom, it can help you in other ways:

• ·  It looks good on a resume , if you are looking for a full time job
• ·  It is a great way to learn new skills. 
• ·   It is a way to spend quality time with other believers, and meet missionaries from all over the world, while working on a project that will have lasting impact on people you may never meet.

     Do you live in the Shenandoah Valley ?   Do you have a couple of hours you could donate to ETS on a weekly basis?  Could you donate a day or half a day?  We are looking for local people who can commit  a few hours a week to:

• ·  help pick up or deliver equipment and supplies
• · sort and pack clothing, medical supplies, books and literature
• · office help, answering the telephone, greeting visitors, etc.
• · help manage inventory
• · (for those with appropriate skills) repair equipment and help maintain our building and vehicles

The ETS  Staff