Hi everyone,
February has arrived here and it is hotter and dryer still. There is a nice breeze blowing in my
study window this afternoon though and that is a great help. I'm sure you are all wondering about the latest news at the Village here. We are very busy and the days fly by so quickly.
School is in full swing and we are ready to start our fifth week. We are still short on teachers but are blessed to have added one national teacher to help out. I am teaching kindergarten and first grade. Please keep praying for more reinforcements!
What's new in the village since the last time I wrote? Well, we have three new children and that is always exciting news. Mid-January we added little Austin, 3 1/2. Then last week two little brothers arrived, Esau is 6 and his little brother, Isaac, is three. They all came to us from the bush, but were brought to "town" after losing their care givers, parents and in Esau and Isaac's case grandmother as well. In rescuing these little guys we saw some very sad living conditions. The new boys have been busy discovering a whole new world around them. Imagine being transported through time from, oh, perhaps the 16th century to modern day. What would you experience? Probably many of the wonders that Austin, Esau and Isaac are discovering. Concrete floors instead of dirt, a bed to call your own, indoor plumbing! Those toilets make really scary sounds when you pull on that silver thing. "Silver thing"! That's another thing they are learning for the first time, colors, numbers, letters. It is all new!
A fork, a fork what to do with a fork. Isaac's first meal here he figured out you are supposed to hold it in your hand when you eat,?? with the other hand? Hmm how DOES this work?
But there is great news. God has made us with an incredible capacity to learn and to do it at amazing rates. (Atleast when we're three.) And so table manners, alphabet, colors and shapes are being absorbed at a surprising rate as we see progress almost daily. While their minds are being bombarded with new growth their little bodies are absorbing nutrients at a rate that has not been allowed before, at least not since they lost their parents. They are being given needed medical care to recover from bush maladies such as malaria and malnutrition.
And so as we watch these little bodies get healthy and their minds grow, we will begin to discover who these new short people are-really. And as we do we will be ever mindful of the great responsibility God has given us to nurture not only their minds and bodies but the most important of all, their souls. Please pray with me that Austin, Esau and Isaac will learn the joy of serving a wonderful Savior and have the freedom and peace that come in trusting solely in the hand of a Mighty God, the giver of life, the sustainer of worlds and the lover of our souls. This is why we are here, to rescue the perishing. It may start physical but it ends eternal!