A Jon Post

There are some things that I love to share, some things I love to show, some things I love to enjoy with others;
My wife’s spirit
My daughters’ laughter
My Christ and His power
A cold crisp morning and the sun rising above the mountains
Casa Ahavá’s patients voices and stories and laughter
The deep truths that come from sharing in those voices, stories and laughter

And there are some things I don’t know how to say. There are some things I dread sharing, things I put off or delay the telling of, things I know no creative way to chronicle;
Zakarias died two weeks ago
Benjamin went home today to die

Zakarias

Zakarias

Benjamin

Benjamin

I don’t have an inspired way to narrate my feelings or how those events affect me. I’ve spent the last 2 weeks trying to put words on this page and kept failing and failing.
We knew that we would outlive our patients when we started Casa Ahavá. We knew that the well of mourning would only grow deeper.
Every patient Casa Ahava had in 2013 has died and many from 2014 have followed them to eternity.
So we wait.
Come quickly, oh Great King.
We want to see them again.

These have been expensive months for Casa Ahavá. A large part of the finances for our ministry go to helping patients who are too poor to afford it, to travel across the country to see the families they have left far away and return to finish chemotherapy treatments. Since November we’ve sent 4 patients on this round trip journey and 3 more on one way journeys. We also make great efforts to support the families of those patients who have passed away, especially with funeral costs.

Last week, as I was talking to Benjamin about going home to spend the time he had left with his wife and four children, he asked me for help. “Brother Jon,” he began, “I need help. I do not own a house and the house my family stays in we have been renting. I own a small plot of land in my town and would like to build a grass house for my wife so that when I die they will not be thrown out with nowhere to go.”
I nodded my understanding.
“This little house would cost about $150 to build but if you can’t cover all of that I could ask my old boss (the owner of the fishing boat he worked on for 15 years) to help too.” Benjamin finished.
I told him I could not give him a final answer right away but committed to help in some way.
A grass house for his wife and children?
Last night Layne and I sat with Benjamin and told him we’d like to help him build a house out of concrete blocks and cement. His eyes widened and he insisted that it did not have to be some huge house and that his wife and kids would be fine in a small home.
I made this commitment knowing;
1. God has always provided for the things Casa Ahavá needs.
2. Those who read this blog have been so faithful to help with things like this.
We want to raise about $3000 dollars and build Benjamin’s family a home. He will not have long to oversee the building of it and we want to ensure his wife and kids can remember their husband and father in a home built in his memory.

Can you help?

If so, please click on the “Help Build Benjamin’s House” button below and you will be taken to our secure Paypal portal where you can donate specifically to this need. We will update this post when this need is met.

***Update! In 3 days the Kingdom of God has responded and more than covered all needed funds for Benjamin’s house. As of now, I (Jon) plan on going to visit him at the end of February or the beginning of March to help him and his family make this happen. Thank you!***

Through all of this, please pray that his pain stays manageable, his wound stays clean and his hands grasp firmly the rope that pulls him to his Savior.