Since MDS (Mennonite Disaster Service) has come to work at the new site in July we at Rock Solid have met people from all over Canada. Teams have come from Osler, Sk; Morden, MB; Coaldale, AB; La Crete, AB and next week a team from Langley, BC will be here. Individuals have also come from Ontario and the states to help out. We praise God for each of these teams and how God has used them to make history in providing a refuge for young men to hear about freedom in Christ. Sincere thanks to each team and individual who has been at Rock Solid. The work you do is amazing and a huge blessing to this ministry! Thank you also to the long term staff who have given two months of voluntary service to work here. God bless each of you as only He can!
Last month we shared with you an urgent need for financial support. Praise God he met those needs! Thanks to each of you individually and corporately who responded. Because the building project is progressing so rapidly our financial situation is urgent once again. Currently we are unable to meet $45,000 of our financial obligations for this month. Please pray that God will provide. In addition, if any of you are interested in monthly support we encourage you to contact us and we can set up automatic transfers for your convenience.
We want to take this opportunity to present some small projects to anyone that would be interested in coming out for a day or two to help with some work. If you are able and interested please call us.
□ Re-frame two doorways and repair a third in the two story house to seal them off for the winter months.
□ Frame the inside our cinder block garage so it can be insulated. Then have someone come and board up and paint the walls.
□ Landscape planning. We need someone to help us plan the front yard of the new building. The basic dirt removal needs to happen in Sept and we need a basic plan in place so we won’t have to do the job twice.
□ Small electrical jobs such as installing ceiling fans, wiring for some light fixtures.
Thank you for your ongoing prayer and partnership with Rock Solid Refuge. We depend on your prayers as we continue the plans for the fall program. Pray for our administration staff as we plan the fall program, new staff scheduling, hire a full time cook and teacher and other staff that will be needed, and all the other things that are needed to keep this program operating as it should throughout the fall and into the winter months. We covet your prayers and believe that God will give us wisdom to administer this program in the way that will honor Him and further His kingdom.
God bless you as you pray
Orly and Rose for Rock Solid Refuge
JUNE/JULY NEWS AND PRAYER UPDATE July 20, 2010
Dear Praying FriendsJune 11, 2010
Nearly one month has passed since the new students arrived at Rock Solid Refuge. Each student comes to us in need of the renewal that only Christ can give. We are thankful for how God brought each young man to us. These 8 young men are very fortunate. In the past month since these boys have been here we have received over 8 requests for more boys to attend. Please pray that God will provide a refuge for those boys as well.
The building project continues. A few people from Frontier came by last weekend to put up the floor joists and sheet the main floor. A few men from Vanguard area are in the process of fixing up our work out gym. As well, a team from Assiniboia donated a gazebo and came here to build it as well. A BIG THANK YOU to each person who came to work and also to all those who donated materials for the building project.
Another praise item for how God provides. May 30 there was a benefit concert for Rock Solid in Swift Current. Three groups of local musicians provided entertainment and we all enjoyed the dessert provided.
We thank God for His sustaining hand in our lives. Please continue to pray for our staff; for strength, for wisdom, for God’s perfect love and life to flow through us and that we would keep our eyes set on Christ.
God bless you as you pray
Orly and Rose for Rock Solid Refuge
Dear Praying Friends, July 20, 2010
The construction project is moving ahead quickly and is testimony to the greatness of our God! We have attached photos for you to see so you can praise God with us. Each day we are reminded of God’s providence as we see the many volunteers come in and work for the day. Some are here for the whole summer. Others come for a week at a time. We are so thankful for each person that has come and continues to give so generously in time and also financially.
However, we are asking you to join us in prayer and spread the news about our continual need. As you can imagine, with the building coming up so fast the expenses are growing quickly as well. We are making an appeal to you and your churches to prayerfully consider how you can help us in the next few weeks to help pay some of the bills that keep coming in. The next few weeks will be critical for us. We have volunteers lined up to work here till the end of August and will need to have the funds available to supply the workers with materials to build. In addition to the project needs the program also has ongoing financial needs so please continue to pray about that as well.
This past month has been a difficult month for many of our staff. We were short staffed for most of the month in the office, in the kitchen and also short on Direct Contact Staff for a few weeks. We also felt attacked spiritually in many areas. We thank God that He is faithful in the midst of struggle and that He refines us in the hard times. We are also very thankful that He pulls us out of those struggles and keeps us close to his heart. Please continue to pray for all of us, the Direct Contact Staff, the Directors, our CEO and also the board as we continue in the ministry that God has given us to partake in.
God bless you as you pray
Orly and Rose for Rock Solid Refuge
PRAYER UPDATE March 20, 2010
With spring already on its way, excitement is growing and action is beginning. The two story house where we will begin the one year program is starting to get renovated, the ground has been staked and plans for ground work to begin in May are underway. We currently have a team that is coming to do the foundation, Mennonite Disaster Service is donating eight weeks of volunteer labor in July and August to put up the shell and there are a number of tradesmen interested in helping with finish work. We praise God for all those who are coming along us to see this vision become reality.
We also have been very encouraged and grateful for God's provision financially. Rock Solid held a fundraising and awareness banquet in Swift Current on March 6 that raised about $22,500. Other organizations and churches have been pulling together and we are so grateful for the support we have already received. This is a big project and we ask that you continue to pray with us that God will continue to provide workers, supplies and financial support in His time and in His way.
Orly and Rose continue to work with the boys in followup from the past few summers of campers. A number of boys are doing really well and we praise God for that. We just received news this week that another one of our young men has been accepted into Millar College of the Bible for the fall program. Other boys are struggling. Please pray that God will continue to reach into their lives, revealing His truth to them and giving their parents strength and wisdom to love and care for their children in the right way.
Thank you for partnering with us in prayer. May our Fathers blessing be upon you.
PRAYER UPDATE January 5, 2010
Rock Solid Refuge began as a dream and a call to begin a long term program to bring Christ centered freedom to teenage boys struggling with life controlling issues.For the past three summers Rock Solid ran a summer program at Simmie Lutheran Bible Camp. Now we believe God is calling us to move forward in faith to begin the one year program in May of 2010.We plan to begin building a long term facility at the new site in May and Lord willing, would love to move the 8 boys who have come through the summer program with us into this building before Christmas of this year. Then throughout the winter we may be open to taking more boys in, to complete a one year program, as we have room, staff and resources. Thank you for your continued prayer for this dream God has given us all to share. If you are interested in hearing more about this project and how you can be involved, please contact us. Ways you can be of help are through offering qualified trade work, connecting us with those that will and giving sacrificially as the Lord leads you. We have about half of our labor needed lined up with volunteers for this project but still need to line up qualified tradesmen and finishers. We ask that you pray with us for God’s continued provision for the funds needed as well as for all the other details involved in this task before us.
Throughout the winter one of the things Orly and Rose Rodriguez are busy with is following up with campers from the past three summers.This time of year is usually difficult for all of them as the excitement and dedication of summer has often worn off and the core issues of the old self rear their ugly heads.Please pray for these boys and their families that God would come through in each situation.Pray also for wisdom and strength for Orly and Rose as they seek to be of help to these families.
We also want to praise God for how He has revealed His greatness through each situation, no matter what the end result was.We have seen God do great things in changing many lives and no matter how difficult times can be we remember that God is faithful to His Word and promises and in this we rejoice.We can move forward in confidence that this is His work and we are only to be good stewards of what He has given us.Please pray that in all things we at Rock Solid Refuge would be faithful to the One who called us.
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT September 11, 2009
Dear Supporters and others interested,
We want to take a moment to express our incredible thanks to you for your prayers, financial support and various donations. We never cease to be in awe of all that God has done in the lives of the campers that God entrusted to us this past summer, and we want you to know how the summer went and where we are heading.
Summer of 2009 was our third summer of ministry. We ran 16 weeks of camp for 13 teen boys. It was great to see God working in their lives throughout the summer, but we still feel a year round program is needed.
We have several urgent and exciting things to share with you of how God is leading us with opportunities for ministry. First, as we have finished our summer ministry and we are now finalizing bills, emailing letters to lawyers of how the guys did, and looking forward to what God is calling us to. We do have some substantial bills to finalize by the end of September. We have the rental of the camp, power, propane, and telephone bills to pay off. We have also acquired our own property which has 2 houses on it. One of the houses is not a part of the rent to own agreement we have for the rest of the property and we need to purchase it outright by the end of September. All in all we are in need of about $50,000 by the end of September to cover our current needs.
Secondly, we have hired a CEO to oversee our ministry and to take us from a summer program to a year round program. His name is Tim Ramage from Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Tim comes to us with a wide range of business, board and ministry experience. He is a meat cutter by trade but works with youth by passion, having worked with youth both as a volunteer and in paid positions for about 23 years.
He has also been on several boards, and is currently still on the Chinook School Division board and the steering committee for the Southwest Drug Task Force. Tim and his wife have also run a Community Home for young offenders for 8 years. He is very excited to be coming on staff with us, and anticipates God doing miraculous things in us and through us. His heart is definitely for those who fall through the cracks and tend to get left behind. Please pray that God will give us all wisdom as Tim takes this position starting in October, and please pray that the resources will come in for his position as well as keeping Orly and Rose on full time to stay in touch with the teens, set up get togethers, and work hard towards our year round program.
That brings me to my next point. We as a board believe that God is calling us to lay the ground work now so that when we open our doors in the spring to the teen boys struggling with life controlling issues, that we won't close up ever again for the off season. At this time we are aiming to work with about 8 students starting in May (or sooner if things should come in line before then). We plan to advertise our program as a one year program where the students would stay for an entire year, and we would be based out of our new site.
In order to continue our program with 8 students in the fall of 2010, we will need to build a building that would enable us to have the room and facilities to do this. We have 3 groups that have said they want to be a part of this. One is from the Sundre, AB area. They would come some time before the end of June and do the basement foundation. The next group is from the Mennonite Disaster Services. They have committed 30 people for July and August to build whatever we want. They would be able to continue the building project on the basement foundation that would already be there. The third group willing to help is from Lecrete, AB. In order to do all these things we will need significant financial assistance through donations and/or building supplies.
Please pray for this, and if you know of anyone that would have a heart to see God rescue the kind of fringe teens that we work with, and would have the ability to give, please let them know. Please let your churches know of our needs, and please continue to cry out to God for His glory to be made known through the saving of souls, that so many have written off as hopeless. God Bless.
