We have a feature story on Sri Lanka published in the January 26th edition of the Chilliwack Progress.
Click on the image below to download a pdf of the article (1.7MB).
Archive for January, 2010
Pockets of Change in print
Thursday, January 28th, 2010Dichotomy
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010We were driving down the road on the outskirts of Kisumu, Kenya, a modern city in the banks of Lake Victoria, when something caught my eye.
We drove past a woman washing her clothes in the stream, next to a colossal billboard advertising a washer / dryer combo. It read: ‘Who said washing clothes is hard work’?
While the woman and the advertisement were directly next to each other, the two could not have been further apart. It was such a dichotomy to see an ad that would not stand out in North America next to a scene that does not stand out in Africa. But placed together, the two images were worlds apart.
She has no more chance of ever owning a modern-day appliance than I have of winning the Ms. World pageant. Maybe that didn’t bother her. Maybe it bothered me because even after all this travel I still consider things like a washing machine more of a right than a luxury. And that’s after washing a lot of underwear and socks in bathroom sinks. What I consider my rights versus luxuries are so separated from what that woman would consider a right or a luxury.
Now that we’re back and in our normal lives here in Canada, there are things that I used to consider my rights that really stand out to me now as overwhelming luxuries. It’s tough to separate what I experienced in our travels with what I see back in Canada. I feel different: I look at the world differently, I look at my finances differently, I look at my heart differently. Yet I live in the same world I did before. The struggle now is what to do now with the changes that took place in me.
It’s a good reason that everyone should be involved in missions. You change, whether that’s what you’re after or not.
Praying for Haiti
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
In a country where nothing could get worse, it just did. Our hearts and prayers are with Haiti today.
We were in Haiti for two weeks. But it had an impact on me that will last a lifetime. The people we spent time with were amazing, compassionate men and women dedicated to pulling Haiti out of the muck and mire one soul at a time.
And now, they face a horrible reality in the wake of destruction left by devastating earthquake. It’s hard to imagine the country ever rising from such rubble. But through God, all things are possible. Pray that the Christians in this country will be a beacon of hope to the communities. For our friends at HaitiARISE, pray they can help in the time of need and that God will provide more than they can hope or imagine as they reach out to the community of Grand Guave. Praise God that HaitiARISE director Marc Honorat is OK as is a team from Nelson, BC (non HFL) that arrived just hours before the quake hit.
Pray for these things, pray for whatever else God sets on your heart as the news rolls in. Just pray.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. - Psalm 40:2
If you would like to donate, please click here to be re-directed to a secure donation page, and in the “Donation Designation” section, select Projects – Haiti: Earthquake Response from the drop-down menu. As with all Hungry for Life projects, 100% of the funds given to this project will be used for this project.
Praise God
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010Just a quick update to share with you the MANY blessings God has heaped on us in the last while.
We are, as our newsletter stated, finished our travel portion of the Pockets of Change project. The Lord was so good to us as we traveled. We didn’t get any serious sicknesses which is a miracle considering the high risk of malaria in many of the places we went, all the food we ate that wasn’t quite up to Canadian food standards, and all the travel we undertook to climates our bodies were not used to.
Not one piece of luggage was ever lost which is astounding considering we went on more than 25 flights over the last nine months. The only items lost during all our travels were one hat in Huanca Huanca, Peru, and one cable lock which we’re pretty sure ended up somewhere in the Ukraine.
One of the big blessings to share is that we have a place to stay for all of January and February! A friend of a friend opened up his apartment for us to house sit. It is fully furnished, centrally located and ideal for allowing us to jump right into putting the project together instead of worrying about moving our furniture, unpacking and setting up house first. This way, we hit the ground running. Praise God!!
We’re both in good spirits and even though the project is huge and I have had some restless nights worrying about it, we know we have a great team at Hungry for Life helping us out and we have confidence that God will see us through this project. We’re trusting that God will equip us to complete the book and that He will continue to pour out His blessing on us to finish what we started.
Thank you for your continued support. We feel so blessed by all God has provided, and that includes the readers of this blog who have been with us every step of the way.
