Sunday night. I have written plenty of blog entries on my Apple computer with no way to get them online. I have to use someone’s Dell computer in order to get online. Thank you, Titus and Walter.
Today an Apostle came and he was a great blessing to me. He spoke many good things over the area and the people. We took communion. I had several orphans come—11 out of 22. Plus two that want to be on the list and one child we just could not shake. So many children wanted to come eat with me. I’m sure they were hungry. The service went long. I gave the children that came with me an extra bag to take home with them. I gave plenty of food to the two women who cooked for me. They make about $26 dollars a month working 7 days a week from 5 or 6am to at least five and sometimes very late. They are very hard workers. Anne cleans the whole floor daily, washes all the clothes by hand and hangs them, washes all the dishes, takes out all the garbage (she keeps it out of the house all day by taking it out several times.) They cook. Doreen does other things like cooking and cleaning for 130 preschoolers. She totes water to them several times a day by pumping the well water into a big bucket and then carrying it on her head. Seriously, I think she does that a minimum of four times crossing the whole compound. She lays out the 130 dishes in a pattern and then fills them with rice and beans. She takes all the dishes and cups afterwards and washes them all by hand laying them in the sun to dry. It’s enough to make me want a nap. Her little Sasha—three years old—tags around at times. She is so cute!
Anyway, these women helped me today and were a great blessing to me. I had so much to do. I helped do communion and it seemed like a madhouse. People didn’t know which way they should go. They had to wash hands in a bucket first and then use the towel. Personally, I am quite against everyone using the same towel, but they do it all the time here and I just didn’t have any other good option. They dipped their cookie into fruit drink which was poured into a little pot that looked like a soup tureen. I had it on a tray that I bought for hopefully trying to make a pizza over the fire, but it was just too hard.
One man came back to church today after being away for 15 years. Praise God!
I know so many people now, it is just crazy. Everywhere I look there are people I know even by name! I filled three basin with water and had a towel for each basin. We had them come around one side wash hands, then take the communion and go back around the other way. Still, some people would come back the way they came and just clog up the whole aisle. It is very hard to give directions to people who don’t speak your language. Getting frustrated only means I think less, which makes it even less likely that I am communicating anything. But I enjoyed the whole messy process. Costly but worthy. We remembered Jesus. We took the bread and the cup. I bought little plastic shot glasses—400 of them. But after filling about 100…..I knew we could not do all of them. Too messy, I only had three trays. I continually improvised.
Then one lady was outside with malaria. Burning up! She went out and laid on the grass. I brought her back in for prayer. She was not doing well. I meant to get her some Tylenol but I was busy with the children.
It just is so good to spend the day in the house of the Lord. It was so good to see the children. Mary Barasa is doing much better with her eye medicine but still, her eye is so itchy! Vivian’s hair has grown back perfectly. Gladys was looking good. She has hair growing where she was shaved. I will check her again next week.
I met Abednego, a sweet boy. He is 11. I like him. ( I like them all. Seriously. These children were picked for me, I know it.) I got his profile and a couple pictures. He was embarrassed to answer questions in front of the other children. He seemed ashamed. I told him that I had asked all of them the very same questions. They translated it to him and confirmed it. He relaxed after that. Then I had them all prayed for, gave them some candy, told them NO LITTERING/explained all about that, and sent them off.
We need donations. We need an orphan program. I need these children all in one place so I can make sure they get donations and it doesn’t go to some family members alcoholism or get eaten up by the other children in the home. I really wanted to keep them in homes. I really think that is so good. But these homes are not good! They are in abject poverty! Giving them 25 a month just won’t cut it. PLEASE GIVE 25 A MONTH IF YOU CAN BECAUSE THAT HELPS MORE THAN NOTHING! Please, friends, so many of you hesitate to give me $20 because you think it is small—so you give nothing. Of course I enjoy gifts of $2000! But if many people GIVE, then it adds up to something LARGE. Do what you CAN do—don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do. Be a person of action. Be the solution. Be aggressive. Live with purpose. Don’t shrink back.
So instead of doing a home program that we have promoted from the first days of TGD, we are going to try to build a home. You know, God will make a way for us to do this alone. He can do it. But I can’t do the hospital alone. Unless I win the lottery and I never play—therefore, I need you. You are making the difference. TGD donations pay for people to have a job. Those workers EARN the money you freely give. We are not just giving it out. Orphans don’t earn a thing, but they should not have to earn yet. We want to prepare them to earn on their own. We have a system to work them into and find their gifting. There is plenty to do in the church, for orphans, computer lab, teaching, programming, and all aspects of hospital work. There is cleaning for those who cannot advance in their education. There is building for those who can work hard pounding nails. What they earn feeds their families. It is a good work. It is a good calling. I’m calling you to join me. THANK YOU!
I am so eager for the hospital. I cannot wait to help women during their time of birth. I cannot wait to help people with this constant threat of malaria—which KILLS! I cannot wait to help children get over simple infections that don’t have to be serious at all!! You know, when our children get a cut, we never even let it progress to red streaks. Around here, you can be nearly gangrene and they’ll put you to bed with Tylenol. Tylenol cures NOTHING. But they cannot afford to go to the doctor and they can’t afford transportation fees to go to the doctor.
Joseph is praying seriously for an ambulance. Wycliffe also told me he is praying seriously for an ambulance because the people need it so badly. I told them both, “If I had the money for an ambulance, though, I would not even buy it. I would put the money somewhere else. So you pray for an ambulance. I am believing that God will provide so many things and I just can’t even add an ambulance to the list.” They agree to pray. I suppose someone could choose to buy a Toyota Prado. It is a very nice SUV that has four wheel drive. You cannot go anywhere here without 4 wheel drive. EVERYTHING IS TRULY OFF ROAD!! Steve always says, “Oh, Jeff would love it here!” because Jeff loves to go off road. But if someone just gave me the $50,000 that thing costs, it would go to the hospital. That money could finish the building, get the electricity wiring we need for the expensive equipment, pay the electricity bill, buy medicines and supplies, and pay staff to care for the people. Yes, we need an ambulance here, but we need so much.
The computer students are a real blessing. They are so pumped. They are so eager for computers. Two excellent students, Duncan and Lawrence, came on Saturday to work on the one computer—but there was no electricity.
Seriously. All day. No electricity. I am clearly addicted. I missed my FAN! I have to charge all my gadgets! I like the fridge keeping the chicken safe to eat. But we all lived through it. Somehow. I really like electricity. I don’t even think of it as a luxury, but I guess it is.
Well, I am at halfway through my trip. On one hand, I cannot wait to get home to everything comfortable and predictable. On the other hand, how will I be away!?! Seriously! God is planting me here deeply. But I cannot even communicate with everyone. It is so frustrating. I cannot just go off by myself (I guess I could, but I haven’t yet.) There are bugs everywhere (they don’t get on you much) and the food is not familiar. There is no easy way to cook or get what you want. I just have to go without. (very un-American) It is so hot. I am so thankful Medine prayed for me. Like a miracle, the heat has not been as intense. I really thought I was going to go crazy from the heat.—and then it was cool for three days. AHHH. Even today I was lathered in sweat (completely common) and then the rain was coming. Oh the rains. It is like in the movie, Dune, when the fremin all look up and here are the rains coming to change the face of the desert planet. Ahhh. It came pouring down and I was just thinking, wow, this feels nice.
I eat a lot of corn flakes. Have I told you this 10 times already? I am such a repeater. Must make someone crazy to read my blog (SHE TOLD ME THAT TWICE ALREADY! MAN, GET TO THE POINT, GIRL!) There is so much to tell and I get tired and can’t think of a thing. I am pretty sure I blogged about Cynthia who has to ask men for money so her grandma can drink. There is a girl named Sharon here that was in the orphan photos of Todd’s. I think Todd is going to sponsor her. He gave photos to the non-profit called Help End Local Poverty (HELP) and they are going to sponsor some of the Kenyan orphans. That program has not yet begun and Sharon is not on my list, but she came today. She has AIDS, her parents died of AIDS, her growth is stunted, she has horrible marks all over her skin, and she has bumps all over her face. I hate it for her! She needs medicines. She’ll be in the group photos.
Please pray for us. Please give. Please send us a check to:
TGD 1008 Vanderbilt Circle Pflugerville, TX 78660. Please send our newsletters to your friends and family. Tell them 100% of donations goes to people or projects. We fund all of our work. Our donation is making sure yours goes 100% to the needs. We can keep the clinic extremely basic if there is little donation. We can go without the orphan home and leave them where they are living. We will have the computer lab and employees no matter what because we can fund that ourselves. But please join us. Please pray about how much you can give. I know you have church building funds to give to---and how many people will be blessed through that work? How many lives saved? Here, you can change the world. In the USA, it is luxury as usual. It is rich people feeling broke all the time. It is giving your money away to your credit cards and then buying new clothes on the card before you have paid them off. You will always be in debt like that. When will you give to the poor? You can imagine that as I sit here among them, I cannot believe how selfish we are (even me with my fave pappadeaux meals and pedicures and the silly gifts we buy people for Christmas and birthdays---as if anyone even NEEDED ANY OF THAT!) Buy for the orphan—someone who can never pay you back. You get NOTHING for it. It is not selfish. It is noble. They need you.
Okay, sorry to get so preachy. Oh people come to me ALL DAY LONG asking me to help them. It is just crazy. The little boys at the grocery store, I can push them away like the homeless on the street corners. I put my money somewhere that the little boys can get help (clinic, computer lab, orphan home) and where homeless get aid (salvation army) and I’m not going to nickel and dime those people and think I’ve done the universe any good on my way to my $5 meal. The workers on my building work all day long in burning hot sun with intense labor for $6 a day---and they are praising GOD for it! Who says Africans are lazy and want a handout? Come see the people I know. They are workers. Hard workers. They are motivated. We just need to give them a chance. What will you do? What impact are you making eternally? Come change a life!
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