Tuesday, February 17, 2009

WEIGHT REPORT & This and That

Well, I have to say I gained back one of the three lost lbs. from last week. The Lady Bug now sits on 10! I did absolutely NO exercising and I had the Chocolate Cheesecake with Chocolate icing at the Agape Cafe. So what did I expect!!! This week is a BAD report.
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THIS however is a GOOD report!!! One of the members of our church is currently serving in Afghanistan. He has become acquainted and doing some work, in his off hours, with an orphanage there that has both girls and boys.

There are about 250 children in this orphanage.



70 of them are girls.
They have "school", then are feed an evening meal, and are sent to foster homes for the night for safety.


Jerry contacted our Pastor and asked if the church would gather up various toys, hats, gloves, scarves, etc. and CHOCOLATE, and send to him & his Captain to distribute to these children.
In addition they have been giving candy to children they see. This is an except from Jerry's request:
"every time our convoys roll down the road the local kids come running from as for away as 200 yards to meet our trucks alongside the road giving us a thumbs up and hoping we thow out candy as we pass by. some of these kid are as small as 2 years old its funny watching them run across the field.thank you jerry"
Pastor sent this request out to all of us and $1,900 was given for this project.

(I know the picture is dark and bad but click to enlarge and it can be seen a little better)
This picture shows $1,200 worth of these items that have been purchased. Pastor did not want us to just send "things" but we want to send the Love of Christ and our Prayers to these youngsters receiving these items. These purchased items were set up in front of our church and Pastor has asked us to come up and pray over these items the last 3 services. Since there is a language barrier it was decided to spend $500 buying Christian coloring books that "show" and "tell" the story of Jesus to these children . The other $200 will pay for the postage to ship these items.


I am so happy to belong to a Body that gives and shares The Good News and Love and Compassion in so many different ways. This just being another example. We (the Church Body) always do something nice and special for each returning Serviceman in our Congregation when they return home from serving.

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Marc & Aric recently attended the Sport & Boat Show. He forwarded us several pictures and I just had to share this one so you could see the look of pure joy in experiencing this kayak ride.

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13 comments:

Mari said...

What a wonderful thing to do as a church. You are really making a difference in those childrens lives. Love the boating picture too - that does show joy!

Joy said...

That is an awesome amount of things to send to the children over there. What a great blessing for them and your church.

I think I gained the other two pounds. I don't know what is happening to me. Since the beginning of Feb. I have been very inactive. First my girls were sick then I got sick. I'm finally starting to feel better. I need to get back out and walk and go back to the gym.

Love the kayak picture. His smile says it all.


Joy

Unknown said...

What a blessing! Mission work is so close to my heart and I bet you know why!*smiles*
Your church body will be blessed in return for this generosity. I can just imagine the little faces and joyfully excited hearts of the Afghanistan kiddos when this load comes in!

Hang in there with that weight thing. No Valentine's this week so maybe you'll do better.

retha said...

For some reason I am not able to see the pictures tonight. Just hope nothing stops working here.n another time.

Brenda said...

That's what it's supposed to be about. Helping others, no matter where they live.

Tammy said...

What a worthy cause that looks to be, Susan! To bless those dear children like that...wonderful.

And thank you so much for your sweet and encouraging words on my post today...you are such a blessing!

Hugs,
~Tammy

Betty said...

Thanks for sharing your efforts to give to others. Awesome!

groovyoldlady said...

May God richly bless your church for their kindness and generosity. I will pray that nothing hinders all those lovely gifts from getting where they're supposed to go.

... said...

i think the christian coloring books are a great idea. and how neat that your church can support this ministry.

Tammy ~ Country Girl at Home ~ said...

Susan,

It's great that your church is so supportive of the troops and this member of your congregation and are helping this orphanage out!

Blessings,
Tammy

Lori said...

That is awesome for your church to send all of those items.

Looks like the boys are having fun in the boats.

P.S. Great family photo on your side bar.

Sohailah said...

I also love that your church did that! What a wonderful story and testimony - to your church AND to the fact that the Afghani's don't actually all hate us like the Media says.

What church do you go to?

The Olson's: said...

Don't let yourself get discouraged about your pound gained. You were able to pinpoint the reasons, so this week you can make the necessary adjustments. Keep up the great work!

That's wonderful about all the toys collected for the orphanage! I love that your church is involved in this & taking it seriously by praying over the items before sending them. What a wonderful ministry opportunity!
~ Leanne