About Us :                       History

In March 1985 with the help of a graduating student from Miracle Bible College, Alejandra Albano, Lesley founded a home for people in desperate need. Victory House offered counseling and temporary shelter for ex-offenders from the Regional prison and Young Offenders Rehabilitation Centre, street-boys, child prostitutes and homeless adults. 

In  December 1986 Lesley married Peter Gomez.  They moved to bigger accommodation and became licensed foster parents for teenage boys in need.  The handful of government-run children’s homes were insufficient, so Peter and Lesley’s home began to meet the needs of the Region, becoming a more specialized home for the long-term care of runaways and homeless youngsters.  The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) later extended their foster-care license to provide for a growing number of boys until they could license the home as a Residential Care facility. It was named LAMA House.

With the support of individual sponsors and churches, mostly in England, the present LAMA House was built in the town of Bauang, La Union to house around twenty boys plus staff.  Several of the government-run homes in the Region were closed down shortly after our new building was completed in 1997.

Programs were developed to provide education and support services to teenage boys in a family setting, including runaway teens, at-risk children and youth, and developmentally, emotionally and behaviorally challenged children. The age limit is continually stretched from the original 13—19 years of age, to provide for children outside of these ages who have nowhere else to go for safety.  At present we care for children from age 7— 24 years of age.

Over the years, LAMA House has played a key role in supporting the DSWD in the rescue and temporary shelter of children from child trafficking, child prostitution and prison and helped to enforce the Child Labor Law offering shelter for victims of child slave labor. In 2000 the Home was licensed and then Accredited by the DSWD and has maintained continuous Accreditation since. 

Peter and Lesley Gomez

At a young  age Lesley responded to an altar call at Keswick Convention pledging to give her life to missions at home or abroad.  This call became clearer when Rev Clyde Shields visited England in 1975  with The Philippine Choir of Miracles, when Lesley’s Father, Rev. Leslie Keenan  invited them to minister at his Anglican church in Yorkshire. She kept in touch with Rev Shields saving her pocket-money so she could send a pound note to the Philippines regularly. 

She continued to support Rev Shields work through her Nurses training in Gloucester.  He advised her to work for at least a year before volunteering for mission work in the Philippines with him.  He died before her year working as a staff nurse was completed.

In September 1983, shortly after her 22nd birthday, she left England for a six month visit to Miracle Bible College where she worked as campus nurse.  She learned total dependency on God to provide her needs and help her meet the daily challenge of a different culture, a new language, and strange tropical diseases.

On her return to England she knew she would be going back to the Philippines to live but not as a nurse, instead to work with the poorest and most needy in the cities surrounding San Fernando, La Union.  After sharing about her feelings of inadequacy for the task she felt God was calling her to a friend gave her Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger to read.  She couldn’t put the book down and prayed that God would make a way for her to meet Jackie Pullinger.  God answered her prayer shortly after through a chance meeting with a man who had been visiting Jackie’s work in Hong Kong, he arranged for Lesley to visit Hong Kong and work with Jackie Pullinger.  The training she received there led her to open a home in the Philippines to help people struggling with addictions, alcoholism, the homeless and ex-prisoners. The home was called Victory House.  After Peter and Lesley married, they built and established LAMA House.

In 1986 Lesley married Pastor Peter Gomez, a Filipino Pastor she  met at Miracle Bible College.  His Father, Rev Andres Gomez was one of the co-founders of the Bible College with Rev Shields. 

Peter and Lesley have three children; Michael 18, Ana and Simon 15 (2008)

 

 

Mission

To provide a safe home and family for needy boys with loving ‘parents’ who are just and fair.

To be excellent in our service to the Lord as we provide for the boys physical, emotional, spiritual and educational needs.

To allow God to cleanse, transform and instruct them as we teach them what the Bible says.

To allow the Holy Spirit to work in their lives by praying with them often and with genuine concern.

To lead them in experiencing the power and presence of God through praise and worship.

To depend on the strength and inspiration of the Holy Spirit by practicing and encouraging spiritual gifts of wisdom and knowledge; wonder-working faith, understanding God’s will, healing and miracles, discerning of spirits, speaking and interpretation of tongues.

To cultivate the spiritual fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

To give them hope and a future teaching them to live their lives by what Jesus has done for them, not what others have done to them.

To guide and correct by loving them even when they don’t deserve it but not ignoring bad attitudes and behavior.

To help them trust God and others, and to know they are valued by treating them with respect.

To encourage them by our own example to live lives of service to God and others, not lazy, greedy or selfish, willing to sacrifice for the good of others.

To promote greatness in the boys as we help them develop the courage to live by God’s absolute standards, above the unhealthy influences of today’s world—as God’s gentleman!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life And More Abundant Ministries

UK Registered Charity No: 1008940

A Hope and a Future

Values 

Service— we are committed to standards of quality rather than quantity in our programs and operations. We work honorably and justly in all our service.

Integrity— we will maintain loyalty to our mission and high standards of ethical and professional character within a supportive work environment. 

Respect—we will maintain respect for the worth and dignity of all persons with whom we work and serve.  We are committed to teamwork, patience and courtesy.

Diversity—we will maintain employment policies and provide services that promote individual diversity.  We actively avoid any form of institutionalization, our emphasis is always on family-style care.

Stewardship—we will be diligent, responsible stewards of financial and human resources.

Growth—while our vision is becoming a reality we remain on a quest for learning that will enable us to improve the ways in which our home cares for its children.

 

Teaching them to:

Be strong and courageous for what is right.

Minister to others.

Be loyal to God and each other.

Be do-ers of God’s Word.

Choose hard things, not easy - enjoy hard work, not be lazy.

Be trustworthy and wise.

Depend on the power of the Holy Spirit.

Be free from living for earthly things.

Be happy, healthy, friendly, compassionate.

Worship.