When life happens

Success beyond setbacks

Alemnesh walked through the doors of Life Center Ethiopia, TOLI’s partner ministry, in utter need. She was displaced from her home because of ethnic conflict, living in extreme poverty, and desperate to provide for her family of ten.

But Alemnesh’s story isn’t about what she lacked, it’s about the abundance of what she has to give.

And our partners at Life Center Ethiopia are SO good at seeing the abundant capabilities and God-given worth of every person who walks through their doors. Life Center provides the TOLI program to widows in their ministry so they can learn basic business skills and receive a microloan to start their own small business.

Through the TOLI Business Basics Course Alemnesh learned the practical tools to successfully manage a business. She learned how to save. With a $240 microloan she boosted her small business of selling traditional Ethiopian spices. Her income increased, and she grew in confidence as she provided for her family. 

“I never had training before TOLI. The training is very good.”
– Alemnesh, Ethiopia

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But soon after taking the loan, Alemnesh’s health worsened and running her expanded business grew difficult. She fell behind on loan payments, and the rising hope of her business faltered.

Microloans don’t solve every problem. Clients get sick. Businesses struggle. Life happens. But that’s why the TOLI program is more than just entrepreneurship, it’s holistic transformation.

TOLI partners equip clients with holistic tools to thrive and flourish, truly transforming hearts and minds, not just income levels. At the TOLI Business Basics Course, clients learn about overcoming obstacles, dreaming, and leadership. They leave knowing they’re capable of success and are valuable because God loves them. When they receive a microloan, a TOLI Social Worker walks with them through every hurdle and success – folding them into a culture of love and unity. 

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“I want everyone to become a family, where everyone can get a touch, a hug, and love. It’s not about making people rich. I want to change people’s minds and hearts, and to do this, they have to get a sense of a culture of love and unity.” 
– Mulu Woldetinsae, Founder and Executive Director of Life Center Ethiopia

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Armed with a new sense of self, Almenesh never gave up when life got hard. She moved forward confidently. With absolute determination, Alemnesh kept saving money, growing slowly, and paying off her loan. The TOLI Social Workers prayed for her, and with her health improving, she took a second microloan to open a cafe next to her spice shop.

And now Alemnesh gives to others! She pays her children’s school fees, takes in family members displaced because of conflict, and employs another woman to help her in the shop. Alemnesh even leads a savings group – teaching widows like her that they are capable of saving and growing a business too.

In 18 months, Alemnesh’s life totally transformed from that day when she first walked into Life Center. She’s now a confident provider, a generous leader, and a woman who knows she's loved by God.

And of course, there will be more obstacles. But beautifully, what defines Alemnesh is not the obstacles or what she lacks, but all that she is and all that she has to give.

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And THANK YOU for supporting Alemnesh and entrepreneurs like her.

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– Come pray with us –

TOLI TUESDAY PRAYER GATHERING
Tuesday August 8th from 8-9am MT

Join us via Zoom: Email Audrey for your link OR
In person at the TOLI office: 5785 N. Union, Colorado Springs, CO 80918

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Engage your church

Is your church interested in partnering with TOLI to engage the nations? Help spread God's story of transformation, grow the program to reach more communities, and add much needed prayer warriors to the team by engaging your church with TOLI. If you're interested, please email Amy Cullins and include your church and missions pastor's name. We'd love your congregation to be a part of the TOLI family!

Because someone believed in her

Help TOLI bring courage and hope

Last month I met a remarkable woman named Kebebush, a young widow in Ethiopia. Less than a year ago, she was scared and struggling to provide for her young daughter. 

Then she joined TOLI, and things began to change. 

“Before (TOLI’s business training) I was living to survive,” she says. Her little coffee stand was barely covering daily needs. But the training sparked new ideas and equipped her with better business practices. She graduated from the weeklong course, and received a microloan of about $250 to expand and improve her business. Now she specializes in selling aromatic spices to flavor coffee, a popular and more lucrative product. 

In just a few months, her income doubled. Better yet, her confidence skyrocketed.

“Now I have hope and courage,” she says. She’s now saving and dreams of starting her own supermarket one day. “People in my neighborhood ask me, ‘what changed’?” She encourages them to take the training, too.

The change in Kebebush from struggling and scared to courageous and confident didn’t just come from new knowledge. She needed someone to believe in her. 

That someone was Hiwot, a field staffer serving with Life Center, our partner in Ethiopia. Hiwot, along with her colleague Hailu, are TOLI Social Workers, who serve clients as business coaches, teachers, loan officers, and counselors. But beneath all those roles is love.

“What we share is our hearts and ourselves,” says Hiwot. “So if we don’t have love, it won’t work... That’s what makes (TOLI) impactful, because we are sharing our lives.”

This relational investment by our incredible field staff is the true power in TOLI’s program. That’s why this year we invested in equipping our global team through a series of regional conferences focused on servant leadership, spiritual growth, team building, and worship — WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW!  

Even though 2022 was full of challenges—global inflation, war, lingering impacts of the pandemic—our clients and ministry partners were resilient, creative, and full of faith. And, like Kebebush, TOLI grew a lot this year too. We’re humbled that God used this ministry to bring transformation to more people than ever before, as we: 

> Equipped more than 1,060 clients with microloans, and more than 1,900 with small business training.
> Expanded to new locations within Ethiopia, Uganda, and Egypt.
> Doubled our program size in Kenya.
> Grew our team to 42 field staff and 4 US staff.
> Gathered more than 100 TOLI leaders from six different countries for leadership training at Regional Conferences in Nicaragua, Egypt, and Kenya.
> Added a full-time Communications and Administrative Associate to the US office.
> Celebrated client baptisms, new professions of faith, and deepened relationships with Jesus.

And as we head into 2023, we’re investing even more in growing our program and our people. So if you’re praying about where to direct your year-end giving, please consider TOLI. Your gift will be an investment in the transformation of men and women like Kebebush — an investment that yields eternal dividends.

With gratitude and joy, 

Abigail McConnell,
Executive Director

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Merry Christmas from our TOLI family to yours! 

TOLI leadership and volunteers gathered in Nicaragua (top, June 2022), Egypt (middle, September 2022), and in Kenya (November 2022).

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Ever wanted to travel with US?

We have four Learning Trips coming up in 2023 … maybe God’s calling you to join us? TOLI Learning Trips are the best way to experience TOLI’s impact. As a TOLI traveler, you’ll meet and learn from our global staff, worship alongside our ministry partners, and meet and pray with TOLI entrepreneurs. These trips are designed to help you discern how God may be calling you to get involved in TOLI’s work more deeply. Space is very limited, and trip applications are required. Interested? Email audrey@toli.org or click on the button below.

6 ways we thank God for 2020

Praising God in the hurricanes

“… you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith ... may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” — 1 PETER 1:6-7

In November, Pastor Earl Bowie, leader of our partner ministry in Central America, stood on his porch in the middle of a hurricane to film a message to share with the world. As the wind bent trees and the rain pelted his face, he proclaimed that God is good, in control, and worthy of praise.

Watch Pastor Earl's message HERE.

Looking back, 2020 feels a bit like one long hurricane.

As if a storm of sickness, strife, isolation, riots, even wildfires and actual hurricanes hung over us for most of the year.

In a letter to early believers, Peter wrote that earthly suffering will bring kingdom results. The same is true today — question is, do we just hunker down and wait out the hurricanes, or can we actually participate in those kingdom results?

I believe we can — because our partners and our clients are showing us how. Pastor Earl’s video, praising God in the storm, has been viewed more than 142,000 times on social media. His faith, hope, and boldness in the middle of very real trials are resulting in “praise, glory, and honor” for Jesus Christ.

For TOLI, the stormy backdrop of 2020 causes its blessings to shine even brighter. We grieve what was lost, but we also celebrate the goodness God allowed us to find:

1. Our clients are strong. While lockdowns impact developing economies hardest, TOLI clients have shown resilience. Many TOLI clients and social workers battled COVID, but we give thanks to God that every one of them has fully recovered. Even better, most are back to work.

2. Our partners are committed. Volunteers and staff at our partner ministries in Egypt, Kenya, Nicaragua, and Ethiopia worked tirelessly, often in unthinkable conditions — police-enforced lockdowns, catastrophic hurricanes, blackouts, civil unrest — to show people Christ’s love with compassion and courage, overcoming obstacle after obstacle. In fact, TOLI ended up granting 37% more microloans in 2020 over the previous year — despite pausing our program for several months when the pandemic first hit.

3. Our donors are faithful. Throughout this tumultuous year, your support matched our ministry needs almost dollar for dollar, month by month. Whether through the COVID relief initiative or during the bump in demand for microloans that followed—God provided every resource needed to continue serving clients well, and then some. And He did it through YOU.

4. Spiritual food is real. At the start of 2020, the Lord prompted us to invest more deeply in spiritual development. Then COVID provided a way to put Bibles in the hands of every client, along with food packages, in their darkest time. The physical and spiritual food nourished these families the whole year through. In fact, one client in Kenya, armed with her own Bible for the first time, began holding church services and preaching in her yard while her local church was shut down.

5. Technology is a miracle. TOLI staff and partners now clearly see how isolated we were from each other before COVID. We’ve all embraced new technology that connects us “in person” now more than ever. That’s one change that will stick.

6. We’re all needy. In ministry and development work in the US, it’s easy to operate on the assumption that ‘we’ help ‘them.’ It’s a false premise embedded in the Western mindset, which under normal circumstances takes intention and practice to dislodge. This year, though, sickness and strife didn’t play favorites, and our own neediness, even as 'privileged Americans' was suddenly on prominent display. And so our empathy for each other, mutuality in our prayers, and unity in Christ grew between TOLI partners in profound ways. It is a gift.

That's just six, but I could go on and on.

So—were these blessings worth all the heartache of 2020? I'll leave that to God. What is left to us, though, is to point to goodness whenever, wherever it comes. To say it out loud. And to thank our God for it.

As we walk together into a new year, may the trials that lay behind and the inevitable challenges out ahead prove our faith genuine, and our Lord trustworthy.

Abigail McConnell,
Executive Director, TOLI

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2020 GIVING STATEMENTS VIA EMAIL
This week you should have received your 2020 Year-End Giving Statements from us via email. If you didn't get it, be sure to check your spam or junk folder, or contact Erin Eilmes for assistance. (PS: This is a great time to make sure you've added us to your contacts!)

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Hop on Zoom with us at 12pm MT on February 9 for our #TOLITUESDAY Prayer Gathering. This month, Lucy Njeri, TOLI Social Worker in Kenya shares what God is doing in clients' lives in her area and how we can pray. She'll also introduce us to NEW members of the Kenya TOLI team!

Email Liza to get this week's Zoom link or CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE PRAYER TEAM.

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We want to hear from YOU. 

GOT A SECOND? Take our quick communications survey that will help us get you the information you need and want from TOLI. It only takes a minute and will help us a ton. Thanks in advance!

The most powerful thing we give away

Giving Bibles, growing hope

"The seed is the word of God." — LUKE 8:11

Faith, a client in Kenya, shows her daughter her new Bible.

In late 2019, as we began to pray and plan for the coming year, we heard the Lord whispering, "2020 will be a year of spiritual harvest."

We couldn't have fathomed what was ahead: a global pandemic would paralyze the world, shut down every economy we work in, and force us to shift our program dramatically. 

New microloans, trainings, and most TOLI clients' small businesses were suspended. But one thing didn't stop: our mission to reach families with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Suddenly that whisper became a loud command: "Sow the seed of God's Word." 

Turns out God was already out ahead of us. In December, a generous donor approached us wanting to give a special gift — designated for Bibles and spiritual resources. In February, a chance meeting led to a significant donation of print and audio Bibles for TOLI clients in Egypt. And then in March, the coronavirus interrupted our normal programming — but opened doors for deeper client relationships, deliveries of emergency aid, and discussions about where we place our hope in crisis. 

The soil had been turned over, and the seed was ready to be planted. 

So, for the last month, planting is what we've been doing. From Egypt to Ethiopia to Kenya to Nicaragua, the seed of God's Word is being sown as Bibles are put in the hands of TOLI clients:

> Bibles in mother tongues like Arabic, Amharic, Kiswahili, Kikuyu, Meru, and Spanish.
> Solar-powered audio Bibles for those who can't read in Egypt.
> Bibles tucked into emergency food packages.
> Bibles delivered to every kind of client: new believers, house church leaders, heads of multigenerational households, single moms, business owners, farmers.

In all, more than 600 Bibles have been purchased and are being delivered right now — with more funded to provide for all future TOLI clients. Additionally, resources like study Bibles and other teaching tools are now being sourced for our local leaders so they can help disciple clients effectively. That seed, after all, must be watered.

Yes, 2020 isn't the year any of us expected. But TOLI's call remains the same —  to bring dignified, sustainable, Christ-centered transformation to those living in poverty. And there is no better tool for transformation than the transforming power of God's Word. So now we water, watch, pray, and trust God for the fruit of that spiritual harvest.   

"So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." — 1 CORINTHIANS 13: 6

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Have you seen this?

The COVID-19 RELIEF FUND continues to provide food, support, and opportunity to TOLI families and communities. Watch this moving video to see the impact of this initiative. Your support is making a profound difference. 

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A video THANK YOU

Impact of the COVID-19 Relief Fund

When the Coronavirus pandemic struck, TOLI quickly teamed up with supporters and local ministry partners to provide relief to families hit hard by economic shutdowns. Relief includes emergency food aid; work opportunities and free supplies to communities through our Face Mask Project; perishable inventory replacement; and expanded microloan funding during recovery.

More than $35,000 has been raised to sustain this project. Here’s a glimpse at the impact that this relief — and these partnerships — have had. The work continues.

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COVID is changing TOLI. Here's how.

— SPECIAL UPDATE —

New challenges call for new solutions. 

Everything is different right now. That's true for you, for me, and especially for TOLI clients in poor communities. 

Businesses are closed, sales have dried up, and futures are suddenly unclear. People are worried for their family's health and well-being. Thankfully, TOLI has highly effective local ministry partners who are already on the ground, serving vulnerable families in these difficult times. And together, right now, we're deploying resources in new ways to meet the unique needs of TOLI clients and their communities. Here's how: 

1. We're hiring current TOLI clients to sew FACE MASKS. This week we began hiring existing TOLI clients who are seamstresses to produce fabric face masks, providing them with much-needed income while helping communities stop the spread of coronavirus. Masks will be delivered by our local partners along with important health safety guidance.

Rose in Kenya has already begun sewing face masks to be distributed in TOLI communities. The Face Mask Project is part of TOLI's plan to help keep clients employed through this crisis while doing what we can to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

2. We're providing EMERGENCY RELIEF. We unrestricted a portion of program funds at every site to meet immediate critical needs of clients and their families who are suffering due to this crisis, including:

• providing direct food support

• deferment or forgiveness of upcoming loan payments

• replacement of perishable inventory

• assistance with medical payments for COVID-related illness

3. We're adapting CLIENT CARE. Our field staffers are checking in more frequently with clients remotely via cell phone. They're giving extra spiritual support, adaptive business coaching, and health safety education.  

4. We're CONNECTING THE TOLI FAMILY... and that includes YOU. Starting with next week's TOLI Tuesday Prayer Gathering, we will be hosting a series of virtual prayer times, info sessions, Q&As, and more. Technology gives us the opportunity to be together, while apart — what a gift!  

And finally, please know we are praying for you and your families, lifting you up to our gracious God, who loves us so much he sent his own son Jesus to die for us, to rescue us from this present darkness — and for life eternal. And that changes everything. 

With gratitude and joy, 

Abigail McConnell
Executive Director

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TOLI TUESDAY
PRAYER GATHERING on ZOOM

— SPECIAL GUEST —
TOLI Social Worker Lucy Njeri will join us live from KENYA

Tuesday April 14, 12-1pm Live Via Zoom
To join, email Megan Nilsen to receive your Zoom passcode.

Stay tuned to learn how YOU can help stand in the gap for those who need it most right now. Now more than ever, we are so grateful for your partnership.  

Follow us on social media to see how we're serving families and entrepreneurs during this crisis:

This is what generosity leads to

We are blown away by the support given and community created last Friday at Local Flavor for Global Good in Downtown Colorado Springs. So many of you braved the cold to enjoy a slice of Gold Star Pie and to support TOLI. Together we raised more than $6000!

Many thanks to Heather and Aaron Briggs of Gold Star Pies for donating all proceeds to TOLI, and to Mary and Dick Frieg of Savory Spice Shop who hosted and rewarded donors with discounts, gifts, and hot apple cider. And thanks to each of you who gave so generously.

THIS is what your generosity leads to ...

"I am so thankful for the loan to start my business. I sold my sheep and bought a mattress," Genet* from Ethiopia (below left) told us. "This is the first time I have ever slept on a bed. Until now, I have always slept on the floor."

And then THIS ... announcing TOLI Ethiopia!
We are thrilled to officially announce our new partnership with Life Center Ethiopia, where Genet is a client in their widow program. This ministry, based in Addis Ababa, is dedicated to holistic orphan and widow care. Their sole aim is to help transform the lives of the most vulnerable, like Genet and her daughter.

Life Center has already disseminated dozens of microloans to widows in Addis Ababa and the small town of Sekota, where Genet is from, but they are hungry to reach many more men, women, and children.

Our new partnership will mean scores more vulnerable families will benefit from new small businesses, training, and spiritual care and support. We could not be more excited that God brought us together to partner in this effort.

And keep watching to see where your generosity will lead to next.

Planting 'New Flowers' in Ethiopia

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."
— PROVERBS 3:5-6

One of the things I love most about TOLI is that it's an organization that deeply desires to move in step with the Lord and in sync with His Spirit. We may not always understand God's ways, but he promises if we trust in him he will make our paths straight. We will sense his lead and know which way to go, one step at a time.

And that is precisely where TOLI is today, as we sense him directing our steps to expand to Ethiopia. It would take hours to describe all the ways God has connected us with this beautiful, ancient country, but rest assured the whole story leaves us in awe.

In two weeks, I will travel to Addis Ababa — along with five other TOLI leaders — to help begin a new partnership with a powerful 'boots on the ground' ministry there. Like all of our partner ministries, this one is passionate about serving widows and their families, believing each one is made in the image of God to dream, create, and flourish as mothers and as entrepreneurs.

Each microloan given through this partnership will help change a family's story, out of poverty and into dignified work. The best part is, when loans are paid back, they will be reissued to other budding entrepreneurs in the same community, creating a beautiful cycle of opportunity and growth. Seeds that are planted, watered, and cultivated will bloom into brand 'new flowers,' dotting the landscape and fabric of Ethiopia. One loan. One business. One dream at a time.

Thank for you for praying with me for Ethiopia, for TOLI, and for all that will bloom from our partnership ahead.

Megan Nilsen
Associate for Communications, TOLI

HOW YOU CAN HELP: Give to support a specific traveler or the whole team. Funds raised in excess of travel costs will be invested in business training, microloans, and a salary grant for a local, Ethiopian social worker. And please pray for this trip, October 15-23.
THE TEAM: John Jaeger (Board member); Linda Hood (Board member); Erin Eilmes (Staff); Megan Nilsen (Staff); Monet Martin (volunteer); and Steve Hood (volunteer).

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THE LATEST FROM EGYPT:

TOLI Founder Eddie Yassa has been in Egypt this month visiting clients, overseeing business training in poor communities, and hosting our first TOLI Social Worker Retreat — a powerful time of encouragement, leadership development, and prayer for our six social workers and various partner committees from around the country, as well as key leaders from Heliopolis Evangelical Church in Cairo.  

Please Pray! TOLI is growing in Egypt. Please pray for all the social workers and clients to connect, seek the Lord, and experience His goodness in their businesses.

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Join us First Friday Downtown COS

Come visit Savory Spice Shop and Gold Star Pies and support TOLI at the same time!

Gold Star Pie Truck will serve up fresh award-winning pie in front of Savory Spice Shop, where you can find free hot cider and the tastiest spices in town. Proceeds from the evening will benefit TOLI. Many thanks to these two local small business —Dick and Mary Frieg and Heather Briggs — for their generosity and passion for supporting small businesses in poor communities around the globe.

WHEN: Friday Nov. 1, 5-8pm
WHERE: 110 N. Tejon, COS (in front of Savory Spice Shop)
MORE DETAILS HERE

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