Indonesia:
September, 2020 Mercy Bridge continues to be the only lifeline that some of our families have. While many schools are closed, Mercy Bridge volunteers continue to meet weekly with the students either online or sometimes doing a home visit.
Young Revan tells us “My father’s job is now empty of customers and it’s not like it used to be. He said it was all because of the Corona Virus. My mom said that daddy can’t get much money anymore. My mom is often sick and can’t help my father work. My mom sometimes faints so she can’t go anywhere. But my mom still serves in church. I want my mom to get well soon so we can go on trips again to the village. My brother and sister, Rafael and Talita, now live in an orphanage. They go to school in the K area and are funded by an orphanage. We rarely meet. I miss them. But my mom said they have to live there so they can go to school. May God help our family and the coronavirus will pass quickly. I hope my father can work again and earn money. May Jesus help us.”
Mercy Bridge graduate receives a full scholarship to University!
We first met Felicia in 2015 when she was a junior in high school. We asked her what she wanted to do after high school. She promptly replied that she wanted to become a doctor, not to make money, but to give back to her community. The health care in the villages is very poor with very few doctors. She has been attending school with the help of Mercy Bridge funds and her parents couldn’t afford to send her to a University. Because of her excellent academic standing, she was accepted on Full Scholarship at University majoring in Analytical Chemistry. One step closer to her dream of becoming a doctor.
This is the note she wrote to us while in high school:
Shalom, I’ve been enrolled in Mercy Bridge Program at Church since I was little until present. Starting from Kindergarten till currently, I truly feel the impact of this program. Because of this program, I was able to take many different lessons and courses while still set aside time to teach Sunday School. I’m so grateful to Mercy Bridge; through this program I am also growing in the knowledge of God. I am involved in many activities at church; I am being driven to serve God and also be diligent at school. Thank you, Sponsors, for all your help! I hope God will continue to bless all of you!
Testimonial from a recent Mercy Bridge graduate:
Shalom,
Praise be to God for His great mercy and grace. I could still open my eyes this morning and breath some fresh air. I’m G.T., one of the youth at PIBI Church on Java and a Mercy Bridge scholarship recipient. I started receiving scholarship since I was 5 years and I’m 18 years old today. Praise God this program still continues. Praise God, through this scholarship program, I was able to finish and graduate from High School. I want to extend my sincere gratitude to the sponsors who willingly set aside some funds to help those who were born in a underprivileged situation. No matter how big or how small the funds that were given, it has helped me and my family tremendously. I have now graduated from high school. Without God’s help through this program, it would be difficult for me to have achieved this. Once again, thank you so much for all your help to me and my family. Please pray that I can continue on to college.
Thank you,
G.T. 2019
Endah began in the Mercy Bridge program when she was in elementary school. She was very thankful for the financial assistance she received because without it her family would not have been able to afford to send her to school. Because of Mercy Bridge, Endah was able to graduate from high school at the top of her class, and the specialized training in English that she received enabled her to get a good job after she graduated. In addition to her regular job, she is now serving as a teacher in the Mercy Bridge program offered at her church where she gives back to the program that has truly changed her life physically and spiritually.
China:
Aji comes from a small farm perched on the side of a mountain in rural China. Like the other farmers in the village, her parents have a few sheep, pigs, some ducks and chickens, and a cow to plow with. They also raise potatoes, rice, buckwheat, and some corn. Everything is planted, raised and harvested by hand. While attending an elementary school in the valley near her farm, Aji became friends with a teacher who also works with Mercy Bridge. She and her other 30 classmates only knew her mountain language and no Chinese. The teacher taught them well through sixth grade using both their mountain language and Chinese, and by the time Aji and her classmates graduated from elementary school almost the entire class tested into the best junior high school in the county. Typically, only one or two students are accepted from a class so this kind of success is unheard of!
Mercy Bridge scholarship funds allowed Aji to continue with her studies past elementary school – a great honor and privilege for this bright young girl and her family. Now, she has entered college and will graduate in July, 2013. It is our hope that as she graduates from college she will be able to teach or work in the area near where she grew up, and become part of a local fellowship where she can grow and reach out to others.
