Volume 12 Issue 2 101 N. Zeysing · P O Box 228 · Alma, MO 64001 · 660.674.2222 · www.houseoffriends.org

Mamma Rose, Dale Ritter, John and Dianna Gross, Inger Katz (wife of the late Art Katz) and Jeanie Ritter pose on Mamma Rose’s front porch. She is a long time friend of the Katz’ s and quite a prayer warrior.

Ana and Willie, Native American evangelists shared their testimonies of God’s saving grace. Right—Pastor Fatai Jubril and wife of the African Church where John shared.

John and team joined Russian friend, Vladi (left), in doing repair work at Ben Israel community, located on the edge of the res-ervation. Here they are joined with Peter and Joanne Brock, residents of the Ben Israel community. Ben Israel was estab-lished by Art Katz and is devoted to prayer for the nation, Israel, Native Americans, and others. They also provide assistance to Native Americans and host various camps and retreats throughout the year.

A scouting mission trip to White Earth Ojibwe Indian Reservation was made by

House of Friends Founder and Board President, John Gross, his wife, Dianna, and Na-

tive American Outreach Directors, Dale and Jeannie Ritter. While there, they did a lit-

tle work at Camp Dominion. This outreach of Ben Israel near Leech Lake, Minnesota,

is overseen by Art and Mary Beebe. The Ben Israel leaders extended great hospitality

to the team and gave them a place to stay

while meeting with several Native Ameri-

can ministries.

John preached at Naytahwaush, a small

town on the White Earth Ojibwe Reserva-

tion. While there, Bibles, donated to House of Friends for out-

reaches, were given to leaders as well as pew Bibles for an upcom-

ing evangelistic meeting being held by leaders, Willie and Anna

Atkinson of First Nations Ministries of Cass Lake, Minnesota.

On the trip back home John was invited to speak at an all night prayer meeting of an African church after

being introduced by our Minnesota contact, Vladi Pisarchuk. Vladi is originally from Russia and has outreaches

to Haiti and throughout Minnesota. The African church, located in St. Paul, actually became a sponsor of a

child at Abba House and provided funds for clothing for the children.

The team also met with prayer warrior, Susan Jones and Joanne Norton (who has spent time as a missionary

with her husband Dave) and visited the family of David Katz, a family preparing for a missionary adventure in

Africa. They also visited with David’s pastor who is Native American. His insights were invaluable for prepar-

ing House of Friends for future ministry in the area and ended in an invitation to do outreaches together.

Team works on grounds at Camp Dominion.

Lodge at Camp Dominion where Dale and John did a small amount of labor.

The Ninemire family is teaching their

children acts of love and sacrifice. The re-

turn is the joy of seeing children across the

world receive attention and times of rejoic-

ing in the gift of life with a special monthly

or bi-monthly birthday party. How do they

do that? They do fund raising and celebrate

their own birthdays but forego receiving a

gift so Abba House children can have a gift.

It has a dual effect on hearts. The children

at Abba House recognize the sacrifice and

pray for them and their sponsors.

Harry and Mary Hartzler of Gunn

City, Missouri took Shon, Zion,

Sherman and Vivian, their children,

and also Jacob, a youth from their

church, on a mission trip to Uganda.

The family is familiar with Uganda.

They dug the foundation for the first

Abba House built several years ago.

House of Friends founder, John Gross,

a friend of the family for 25 years, had

the pleasure of being with them the

entire trip. Two other Hartzler daugh-

ters, Bethany and Joan, visited Abba

House in Uganda the previous week.

The team accomplished a lot in less than 2 weeks. Some of the projects

included painting the inside of the boy’s house and helped pay for a veranda

to be built for the same house. They brought clothes and gifts for the kids

and provided a huge special meal. Mary and Vivian updated the profile pic-

tures for the all the

children. Harry and

the boys built nesting

boxes for the chicken

house and erected a

basketball goal which

was a huge uplift for

the kids, especially

the older ones.

The children with May and June birthdays are showing off their special birthday gifts and enjoying a wiener roast birthday party held on June1st.

During their daily devotionals, the chil-

dren often pray for their needs. One such

need was flip flops. Who would know that

God would bring to the home a couple of

college students from Milwaukee, Wiscon-

sin, Alice McCoy and Justine Shorter, to

personally spend time with the children and

buy 48 pairs of flip flops. Alice and Justine

also provided some cooking supplies for

donuts, snicker bars and strawberry

twizzlers to top off the birthday party.

Left to right—Deborah Kaaya, Justine, Alice, and one of the children, Faridah, who is help-ing in the preparation. To the right—Irene frying the donuts.

Julius and Allen, the main cooks

INVESTING IN A LIFE IS THE

BEST INVESTMENT YOU

CAN MAKE!

For less than $1/day you can join a partner

sponsor in meeting the needs of a child. Or

consider taking care of a child’s entire needs.

Partner Child Care Sponsorship $20/mo

Full Child Care Sponsorship $40/mo

Education Sponsorship $25/mo

Go to www.houseoffriends.org to choose your

child and write or call to make your commitment.

This little cutie is a displaced

Haitian orphan receiving a supply of

food provided by House of Friends

donors. We are thankful to Bolivar

(Moreno) Reineso who volunteers his

time to make purchases and hand out

supplies monthly to families who

have temporarily taken these children

into their homes.

The whole team, along with veteran mis-

sionary, Barb Decker, went to Katogwe to

visit the Eddy Reber Memorial House. They

took soccer jerseys which had been donated

by American teams who knew Shon and

Zion. The children received them with joy.

They checked the status of the plaster pro-

ject (which sealed the bricks on the inside

and outside of the home) being finished with

funds from the sale of a motorcycle donated

by the Wyatts of Concordia, Mo. The project

was about half completed and looked great.

They added a small solar panel, that we had

suggested previously, and had lights in the

house that would normally be very dark due

to no electricity in the area. The youth did a

skit and the adults testified about God’s

faithfulness. The day was finished with a

great traditional meal. The team was im-

pressed with the joy that was so evident in

our friends from Katogwe.

Barb Decker, John Gross, Harry Hartzler and his son, Sherman, made

the trek up to Richard Kaaya’s family farm. Harry did soil tests and we

visited with Richard’s brothers about partnering with House Of Friends to

take Abba House to the place of

being self sustainable in the next

few years. Richard did a great job

of presenting our case to his larger

family, and we are in the process

of moving forward with a large

scale farm operation. The property

still shows the effects of the war

but has great potential. Details

will be coming. For all those who

have a passion for farming, get

ready!

John Gross,, Barb Decker, and Harry Hartzler went with pastors Richard

Kaaya and Paul Busulwa to Adilang in Pader (Northern Uganda) to meet

Peter, who is a pastor in an aban-

doned Sudanese refugee camp. It was

a very hard trip with great fruit in the

end. Richard, who had been through

the war in Uganda in the 1980’s, had

a fresh message of forgiveness to

these wonderful people who have

lived through the Kony war in recent

years. The team took a few supplies

that are hard to obtain in that area.

There was a torrential rain that

provided the team with the opportu-

nity to stretch their faith. God was faithful to get them safely back to

Entebbe, despite the obstacles caused by the rains.

OPPORTUNITIES TO EXTEND THE HAND OF FRIENDSHIP

______ Partner sponsorship of a child ($20/month)

Child preference _______________________

______ Sponsor a child ($40/month—child care

$25/month—education)

Child preference _______________________

______ Sponsor a worker monthly (any amount)

______ Kitchen/Dining Hall Project

______ Missionary Quarters Project

______ Farm Project

______ Native American Outreach

______ Ethiopia Widows/Orphans

______ Dominican Republic Outreach

______ Greatest Ministry Need

______ World Operations

______ TOTAL GIFT

____ Send me information on _____________________

All donations are tax deductible. Make checks payable to House of Friends and send to P O Box 228, Alma, MO.

The mission journey proved to be a great experience for

all. In the end, I personally have a new respect of love for

what House of Friends is doing through Abba House, espe-

cially what our missionary, Barb Decker, has brought to the

homes. After living there for a week it is so evident that the

kids are abso-

lutely in love with

her, and I am

sure Jesus is well

pleased in the

care of His

children.

One last note,

we added a new

girl, Alice, who is

15. Barb and I

made the deci-

sion to take her,

trusting the Lord will add the finances that will be needed. Her

story is so sad, but she showed such joy she inspired me

deeply. Thank you all for your prayers and financial support.

God’s blessings to each one,

John Gross

Barbara Decker and several of her Uganda children.

Dear John,

It was such a great honor seeing you back in Uganda.

I appreciate everything you did for us, especially in

Abba House. You

really left the place

looking good. We

appreciate the fi-

nancial support

House of Friends

sends to us, and

it’s our prayer that

God opens more

doors. Greetings to

all our House of

Friends sponsors. We love you all and pray for you.

Greetings from Deborah to your family at large. God

bless you my brother.

House of Friends

P O Box 228

Alma, MO 64001

NewS from the HOUSE

Funding was sent to help meet needs of widows for the

next four months.

Our partners, The About Group, have merged with

Lakota Hope Ministry, so as we bring news of our partner-

ship on the reservation, we will now be referring to Lakota

Hope Ministry. Dale and Jeanne Ritter, Native American

Outreach Directors, will be going to the reservation soon

on a short mission trip.