Merry Christmas – 2023!
Christmas through Hope Builders International – December, 2023
Dear Friends,
What is the essential message of Christmas? Why are we here? What’s it all about? The Christmas season gives us an opportunity to answer these central questions for seeking people all around the world. Our answer to these crucial questions is Jesus Christ. He is our Life. As Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” But millions still wait in darkness to hear the good news of salvation available through Jesus.
Will you help us and our partners get that message to seekers around the globe in 2024? See the following pages for details on a booklet like this one produced in Hindi by Hope Builders that aids them in this mission. You will also read of other wonderful projects carried out by our partners that will bring Hope to the nations.
Lance Thollander, President, Hope Builders International
Believers need our help in Sudan and Afghanistan
This mother and her child, shown right, have been driven from their home by relentless civil war in Sudan.
Our partners in Egypt are reaching out to a thousand Sudanese families this Christmas and need our help. Blankets at $7 each and $35 per family are greatly needed. Gifts of $20 will provide food that will last a family of five for 3 days.
Amazingly, our Afghan partners have been able to open three schools as part of their safe house initiative in their war torn land. They need help to provide school supplies to the students they serve like those shown here.
These schools also provide protection for young girls from the potential harm around them.
Gifts of $100 will help provide some of the needed supplies.
Calamity in the Middle East: Our Partners Respond
In this time of trial in the Middle East, our partners are reaching out to those around them. Iraqi, Syrian and Yemeni refugees and others continue to stream into Jordan.
These selfless servants of God provide the refugees with needed food. The children receive Christmas bins like those shown left filled with supplies, toys and books with gospel stories. A food bundle costs $30 per family and a bin costs $10.
Widows and Orphans Thrive Under Care in India
It’s not surprising that India would have the world’s highest percentage of widows and street children given their low standard of living, poor health conditions, and disregard for the value of a human life. Our Indian ministry partners make these people a particular concern of their loving care.
They flourish under the care of ministries like Compassion for Orphans, where hundreds of children have been raised and educated to live lives of service to Jesus and their communities. Widows are supported and can learn life skills like tailoring. Gifts this year will provide clothes, medicines, school supplies and special Christmas celebrations.
Bibles Bring Joy and Bikes Further Outreach
Few gifts bring as much joy to hungry believers as receiving the written Word of God in their own language. Depending on the language area, $5 to $10 can pay for the printing and delivery of a Bible to a seeking believer.
Throughout countries like Cuba, India, Haiti, Jordan and Nepal, hundreds of thousands of believers wait for their first Bible. Every Bible can change hundreds of lives.
Bicycles, like the one shown right can be purchased for $100 and greatly
increase each missionary’s outreach area.
Exciting Kingdom Growth In India
According to the Joshua Project, there are over 3000 people groups around the world who have no witness for Christ. New outreaches among the Hindu and Muslim populations in central India are yielding wonderful results where workers, like those pictured here, are being trained to take the gospel to the unreached.
As part of their strategy, they are also opening tailoring and literacy centers which will provide great openings for ministry. Tribal ladies, like those shown here, are learning a trade and hearing about God’s love for them.
Gifts of $100 will support a worker for a month in a front line mission field.
Wells bring Life and Hope to Rural Villages
Leena and her family were the first believers in her Indian village. Because of that they faced persecution from their neighbors. They were not allowed to draw water from the village well. Their family turned to the Lord Jesus praying for His help. Then our friends at Native Missionary Movement met them and heard of their troubles.
Through the gift of a generous HBI donor, funds were provided to drill a well near their home. Now they and the other villagers have a source of good drinking water and the whole area has opened up to the Gospel.
These wells give believers an opportunity to share the love of Jesus with people in need of the true living water. A well can be provided for an entire community for $1800.
Farms Provide Life Giving Sustenance
Pastors in Cuba go to the villages to bring the Light of Jesus to those held captive in darkness under Communism. Thousands are coming to Christ every year.
Under the leadership of a former official in Castro’s government, they know that Jesus is the answer for the longing in their hearts.
A project to start local farms like the one shown left will provide income for the pastors and food for the impoverished people. $500 will provide what is needed to start crops and chicken farms.
School children in Uganda come from needy families. Crops are grown on school property to feed the children. Your gifts will provide needed tools and seeds for the farm.
Gospel workers in Nepal Reach the unreached, Empower
the Marginalized
Hundreds of gospel workers are being trained by our partners at God Loves Orphans and Widows in Nepal to reach those in remote and as yet unreached villages. At the same time, through GLOW’s vocational training program widows and other marginalized women learn tailoring, skills enabling them to open support themselves and their children. This happens in an environment where Christ is honored and the gospel is shared!
Each participant who completes GLOW’s advanced tailoring program, receives a sewing machine to start a shop or work from home. In the picture shown left, Dipa, an amputee, receives her sewing machine. The cost for a sewing machine is $100.
For the gospel workers, a backpack like the one shown right, costs $30 and can greatly aid gospel workers as they make their way in this mountainous land.
Booklets carry the Message of JESUS as the true LIFE
Do you want to make a great impact but don’t have a specific need or place in mind?
Besides ministry needs already highlighted in this letter, a gift to Where Most Needed allows your gift to go to areas of urgent need like the frequent natural disasters in Haiti where gang warfare and government instability keep believers constantly in need.
Another example is being able to provide funding to produce booklets used to train workers in India. This booklet produced in Hindi is on the subject of the Life we receive in Christ. Thousands have been printed and distributed by Hope Builders partners and thousands more are needed.
Gifts of any amount are greatly appreciated.
What We Do
HBI helps national leaders in the nations they serve. Our ministry partners plant churches, strengthen new believers, provide Bibles and training materials, do job training, run schools and children’s homes and care for widows and orphans. We have been involved in this work for 30 years and count it a great blessing. We hope for you a joy filled Christmas season and pray that the new year will bring great advance to the Kingdom of God through our partnership.
Lance & Christie Thollander
www.hope-builders.org lance@hope-builders.org
P.O Box 91359 Austin, TX 78709
All of these outreaches were accompanied with the Gospel message. Many came to Christ and were baptized. 
The news out of Afghanistan this fall has been horrendous.
What is happening in the Middle East is heartbreaking. Yemen is one example, where civil war has led to fear, death, and famine. Lebanon is the same. The collapse of the Lebanese system, especially after the destruction of the port last year, has left the Lebanese people in despair. At this difficult time, Yemenis are seeking God
Despite lying only 700 miles off the Florida Coast, Haiti is one of the poorest nations in the world. The dreadful effects of gang activity, earthquakes, and the recent assassination of the Prime Minister have combined to leave the country in a state of seemingly perpetual poverty.
According to the Joshua Project, there are over 3000 people groups around the world who have no witness for Christ among them. Our partners work to change that. One ministry has trained several thousand believers to take the gospel to the unreached. Through them over 600,000 people have come to Christ.
For many villages in India and Nepal, clean water is not available. It is not unusual for women and children to walk several miles each day to collect and carry home the water they need.
With the precious gift of a new tractor, our partners in India have been able to plant their own crops, bringing hope for the future. This season they have planted rice, lentils, corn and vegetables. In the midst of the pandemic with rising food prices and shortages of all food types, this is a huge help to our friends there. Gifts of cows, goats and chickens provide those who care for children with a regular supply of milk and food for the children in their care. Partners in Uganda have been able to greatly expand their production though the farm implements provided to them. Because of this they can provide a nutritious breakfast to all the children at the school they operate.
Widows are often destitute in countries like Nepal. Sewing machines are helping to change the lives of widows and marginalized women. Through providing training and a sewing machine, women like those shown below can support themselves and their children. This happens in an environment where Christ is honored and the gospel is shared! One sewing machine costs $100. In India, bicycles and motorbikes greatly increase the range a native evangelist can travel to bring the gospel to his unreached neighbors. Bikes cost $100 and a motorcycle like the one shown here can be purchased for $1000. Many more villages can be reached through such a wonderful gift. costs $100.
Do you want to make a great impact but don’t have a specific need or place in mind?
Dear Friends,
You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest.’ It’s a special time for harvest.” Through their work for Jesus and your generosity Hope Builders was able to send relief funds into Lebanon and Jordan, child and widow support to India and Nepal, much needed aid to Haiti, building and farm supplies to Uganda and survival food deliveries to thousands of unemployed day laborers and their families. Many came to Christ and were baptized.
Now our partners look for an even greater harvest. Thousands of Asian villages wait for a witness for Christ. Hundreds of workers are ready to be trained and sent out.
There is good news in the Middle East where hundreds of New Testaments and Bibles were distributed in village areas. There is a spiritual hunger among the people. Covid-19 has hit hard and many are dis- placed and vulnerable. Ministry leaders feel more responsible for the basic needs of those suffering. They are providing a Winter Care Program that will reach hundreds of displaced families.
The Lord is raising up men and women in India to be his witnesses. Since their ministry’s start, one partner has trained over 3000 church planters.
For many villages in India, clean water is not available. It is not unusual for women and children to walk several miles each day to collect and carry home the water they need. When there is no good well water, polluted stream water must be used. India is rated 120th out of the 122 na- tions in terms of water quality.
Ten years ago Ravi, shown middle left, was brought to an orphanage by his relatives. He was very thin as his family was unable to feed him. He came from a tribe of untoucha- bles known as the Banjaras.
According to the Joshua Project, there are still thousands of unreached people groups. Many of them are in India and Nepal. Our ministry partners there are reaching them one by one. Bicycles and motorbikes are a great aid in reaching the un- reached. In the picture below, a missionary to the recently evangelized Mankidia tribe receives a much needed motorcycle.
Kapura lived a hopeless life after her parents died and her husband fell ill. She was desperate for help. Then she received 3 goats through a Hope Builders partner. Through hard work, the goat farm she began grew and her life changed. Her children were educated and eventually obtained excellent jobs. This story has been repeated over and over
Few gifts bring as much joy to hungry believers as receiving the written Word of God in their own language. Depending on the language area $5 to $10 can pay for the printing and delivery of a Bible to a seeking believer.
Sewing machines are helping to change lives. Through providing training and a sewing machine, women like those shown below can earn income for their families. Preeti is one example. She loved Jesus and worshipped Him with believers in her village. But, having no job skills she couldn’t pro- vide for her family. Then she heard of a tailoring program run by our partners in her area. After 4 months of training she was able to open a small business where she now earns $30-40 per month. All this in an environment where Christ is honored and the gospel is shared! One sewing machine costs $100.
