Once Again
We are excited to finally be able to gather once again in person!
Meet us on Saturday, April 9th, 2022 from 12:00 - 2:00 PM at Faust Park Pavilion (off Olive Blvd.).
We'll catch up, hear updates from David, Essy and the board and enjoy a spring afternoon together!
Mark your calendars now and watch for more details soon!
Changing Lives
You've played a direct role in changing lives of victims of sexual exploitation for those who need it most.
I'm hosting a Special Live Virtual Event, and I would love for you to attend.
Join me Saturday at 12 pm CST (GMT+5) to show your support for When the Saints.
You'll get to hear from me LIVE, listen to our girls, and learn about our exciting plans for the future. You'll even get to see some joy filled singing and dancing - from both the girls AND our staff.
Come prepared to be inspired!
Thank you so much for being an active part of what God is doing through When the Saints! We appreciate you very much.
With Love,
David and the WtS Team
Are You Excited
Are you excited yet!?
Our 2nd Annual Virtual Event is happening Live from Malawi on November 6th. Be prepared to be inspired by how these girls are not just going to be survivors, but how they will thrive in our 4th Dorm.
Get more details and register HERE
Also as promised, here is more information on how you can Host a Screening.
As we approach this Live Event, would you consider supporting us through hosting a watch party?
This Virtual Event provides a unique opportunity to invite others to learn about our transformative ministry. We’d love this event to be an excuse for you to gather some friends and watch the event together. If last year is any indication, it will be a powerful and encouraging time!
Hosting a Watch Party is really simple.
1. Make sure you have Registered
2. Find a place to watch with some friends
3. And invite your friends! (We've included a sample invite below)
More details:
Reply to this email letting me know you are planning on hosting (so we know and can support you).
You’ll need a space to actually show the live event. You can use your living room, a space at your church, or even a local theater!
The tech requirements are very simple. Everything will be streamed Live from DonorSee.com - so you’ll just need to be able to open a URL and the ability to play sound. Your TV or laptop should work fine.
Who to invite? Everyone! Make it an intimate Saturday lunch or ask your local church if you can make it a larger ministry event!
You should tell people to come at 11:30 am CST as the event will start at Noon. This will give you some time to make some welcoming comments and grab some food/snacks. The event should formally end by 1 pm, but there'll be an optional Q&A section for the following 30 minutes.
Your guests can register for the event but we’ll also send you a direct link so they can donate without registering. We’d just love for you to bring people together to hear what God is doing in Malawi!
Thank you so much for being an active part of what God is doing through When the Saints! We appreciate you very much!
With Love,
David and the WtS Team
P.S. Give a listen to David Peterka's sermon that he preached last weekend to the church he attends in Malawi. "What Keeps you Going when you are Afraid?" from 2 Kings 6:8-23.
Sample Invite
Dear friends,
I'm so excited to invite you to a viewing party of a live event on Saturday, Nov. 6th at 12 PM CST! This is the second annual virtual event for When the Saints (a ministry very dear to my heart!) and should be a really encouraging time.
When the Saints is the first and only trauma safe house in Malawi, Africa for girls who have been rescued from sexual exploitation. They have been doing such important work over the last decade and are now ready for the next step. This event is an interactive fundraiser for $75,000 in order to build a fourth dorm to increase the safe home's capacity from 54 to 72 girls.
If you attend my screening party we will have a community link to donate through and you wouldn’t have to register. Just please tell me that you are coming. Then, come on over to <insert location of party here> at 11:30 am on Nov. 6th!
Lunch/refreshments will be served! <Obviously, this is optional but what's a party without food?!>
I hope to see you here in person but if you are busy, out of town, or social distancing, I encourage you to still attend the fundraiser virtually to learn about and help this very worthy and reputable cause. If you want to watch it on your own, register here: https://donorsee.com/whenthesaintslive21.
Thank you,
Virtual Fundraising
Our first WtS Virtual Fundraising Event was such a success last year, we decided to have another! We're looking forward to seeing you again on Nov. 6th at 12 pm CST as we stream live from Malawi. Join us and see some of the girls sing and dance. Also come prepared to be inspired.
Covid may have slowed down many aspects of life but, unfortunately the need to help girls has never been greater. So much so that we are ready to build our fourth dormitory in order to help more. Our 4th dorm will be special in that it will be our first 2 story dorm. We dream of the day when our dorms will be empty and no longer needed. For now, however, When the Saints is still a crucial ministry in our community and has much yet to do.
You have the opportunity to join us in this important next step!
How can you help?
1. Attend the virtual event on November 6th.
2. Pray that God continues to use WtS in mighty ways.
3. Donate to help build Dorm #4.
4. Invite others to watch the event.
4. Host a viewing party for the event! (Look for more information on this soon!)
We are so humbled by your consistent, loving support! We continue to be amazed at the way God uses all of you to touch so many lives through WtS. We look forward to sharing this next adventure with you!
Thank you for being on this journey with us!
David & Essy Peterka
P.S. Listen to this podcast where I was recently interviewed. Pandora Villasenor is the host of the All Gifts podcast and spoke with me about "Breaking the Cycle of Sexual Exploitation".
Save The Date
As you may remember, last year we hosted our first ever Virtual Fundraiser. It was such a great experience, we're going to do it again!
This year we will be streaming on November 6th, at 12pm CST. You will be joining people from all across the globe as we share our current projects and recent successes.
We also have an exciting announcement about our work in Malawi. You'll have the opportunity to partner with us as we continue to be the hands and feet of Jesus here in Malawi. We hope you can join us!
Look for registering details soon! Please share this with anyone you feel might be interested!
When The Saints Annual Live Event
Saturday, November 6
12 pm CST
Dear Prayer Team
Hello our dear prayer team.
This week has been rough.
Our head trauma counselor Roselyn came into Essy and I’s office and said, “I have a secret”. She went on to tell us that a Social Services employee from the northern region of Malawi just sent her a “sex tape”. Earlier this week they contacted us and said there was an emergency case needing to be sent our way. Normally we are not able to receive cases of sexual abuse from outside of our community due to the lack of space in our safe home, but sometimes we make exceptions.
The principle of a school in this community from the north filmed a video of himself with a young girl. In the video, this principle begins by explaining that he will pay the fee for her to attend school if she has sex with him. She begins to explain just how much she wants to go to school and agrees to the arrangement. While continuing to film, he begins to have sex with her.
One of the teachers of this school is this man’s daughter. His daughter has a daughter, which means that this video is of a grandfather having sex with a 15 year old. The video ends after 5 minutes with the girl repeating over and over again, “Tomorrow I’m going, tomorrow I’m going, tomorrow I’m going” expressing how much she wants to go to school.
The video was leaked and many people across Malawi have now seen it, especially in her community. She needed to get out of the area as quickly as possible. The man fled to Zambia and the police were not able to capture him. We share this because sometimes it all can get heavy. Just before thiYesterday an 8 year old was accepted into our program and when she entered the compound you could tell she was visibly struggling to walk. Her own father dislocated her hip while abusing her. Knowing that we have your prayers and are not alone in this means more than you know. Please pray with us.
With Love, David
In the words of Mat Kearney’s “Runaway”-
“Walking the lost streets, no one ever shares
Cry yourself to sleep, waiting on a little prayer
Bags are by the door, hearts are on the floor
There’s a bottle full of tears on the dresser drawer
I Have Been Thinking
I have been thinking about a moment that happened back when I was still in college. It was 2010 and I was with a good friend of mine. I told him, “I feel like I am finally becoming the man I always wanted to be”. He said, “That is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard and I’m really happy for you.” Not more than a year before this the Lord supernaturally brought me out of an 11 year addiction to pornography.
Not long after that conversation I traveled to Malawi for the first time and all of WtS began to unfold. I am grateful the Lord shows us who he created us to be before he shows us what he created us to do. If it was the other way around, I fear more people would believe the lie that their value is held by what they do and not by who they are.
I am a child of the creator of the universe. Heir to a king who gave his life for me. My identity is not wrapped up in what I did, but what he did for me. God showed the Israelites they were his chosen people by miraculously delivering them from slavery, THEN he gave them his commandments. I find this order of events quite encouraging and refreshing.
Eager Expectation
This last week a number of us at WtS started dreaming about what is ahead. We’ve had a really rough week with a few very heavy cases. I think in some ways dreaming about helping more girls in the future was an appropriate reaction to the tragedy of the sexual abuse cases we faced.
First, the school is progressing very smoothly. School blocks one and two are getting ever so close to completion! Ground has been broken for the administration building and architectural plans have been made for staff housing. If everything continues at this rate, we should be able to open for January’s school term!
In addition, dorm number 3 is only 3 weeks away from being occupied. Our maximum capacity of girls will go from the current 36 in our safe home up to 54. We will no longer be restricted to only take the cases from one of the four Victim Support Units within 45 minutes of the safe home. The VSU in our community of 40,000 people is primarily the only one that is able to refer girls to us because there are just so many cases and we don’t have enough space to house more girls. All three of the other VSU’s have expressed their eager expectation to one day be able to refer cases to us instead of just sending the victims home without receiving any care. We are also longing for this to become a reality.
So what were we dreaming about? We are trying to figure out which is our next most pressing need; dorm number 4, a clinic, or a high school. We don’t know when we will have funds to be able to begin our next project, but a year ago we didn’t know how we would build dorm 3 and an elementary school… and here we are! So we find ourselves dreaming big.
“Assuredly, like the coming of the dawn
The Father’s love song goes on
Drowning out my bitter songs
Breaking through walls and barriers
Christ swoops in, removes sin
Picks up His bride and carriers her
So I can sing in agreement with the King”
“Not Without Love” by Jimmy Needham
