Kenya comes to the US

Last week, we had the blessing of having two of our Kenya workers in the Mission of Mercy office in Colorado Springs. Hapi Wanje and Nicholas Kimatu work with our projects throughout Kenya. They are deeply committed to seeing that the sponsored children are well taken care of. They have hearts of gold and encouraged all of the people they met while in the country.

Dee and I were able to spend some time with them. We have both been to Kenya, so this was a special reunion time for us. Nicholas got his promised latte, but I'm not sure he is hooked yet!

It was Nicholas' first trip to the US. We asked him his thoughts. He talked about how wide our roads are, and how calm people are on the road. To him, we are very uncongested and organized. I think some of our Colorado Springs residents would differ with him. But, I remember the streets of Nairobi. Chaos everwhere. The lines on the roads are merely suggestions. People pack the streets and there is litter everywhere. Most of us have no clue how difficult life can be in Kenya and other countries around the world. Even simple things become major projects and consume hours of time.

As we said goodbye the Nicholas and Hapi, I was very grateful for the opportunity to know them. If you sponsor a child with Mission of Mercy in Kenya, please know the kids are in good hands. They are served by these two men who have an intensity of purpose to improve the lives of the children.

If you don't sponsor a child from Kenya, you can. Go to www.missionofmercy.org and search for a child from Kenya. There's also a Mission of Mercy trip to Kenya planned for this October. Dee will be going along as a team leader. You can find more information about that under the "Get Involved" link on the front page.

I am honored to be a part of a ministry that works with people like Hapi and Nicholas. They know that One Child Matters!

The Pictures Tell the Story!

One of the greatest joys that Dee and I have had with Mission of Mercy is meeting the children we sponsor. We have met all of the six children we currently sponsor, as well as children that we sponsored before. We have met parents, brothers and sisters. It is truly a joy!

Recently, a group put together by radio station KSLT in Rapid City, SD, traveled to the Dominican Republic to work on buildings that will house a project and a sports complex. The project is set to be dedicated in November with pro baseball players in attendance.

I know the highlight of the trip for many of those traveling to the DR was to meet their sponsored children. Here are a couple photos that tell the story of those meetings.

When you have a chance to understand what sponsorship does for these kids, you don't hesitate to jump in.. many sponsor more than one. If you would like to become a sponsor for about $1 a day, go to the Mission of Mercy website at www.missionofmercy.org and find a child that you can help. Remember that One Child Matters!

Don't Answer the Phone!!!

I recently received an email from Jack Eans, who is the VP of International Child Ministry for us at Mission of Mercy. This is a situation that exists in Honduras, but also in a number of other countries in Central and South America. After this email hit our offices, another member of our international staff, Yolie Lalama, also shared specific instances, as well. I hope this message will encourage you to keep these countries in prayer... - Mark...

At times it’s hard for us to imagine the different types of stress and pressure the kids, families, project workers and our own field staff in the various countries are under in their personal daily lives.

The following is just one example from one of our countries that needs our prayers.

Imagine your telephone ringing and like you do any day, you answer it but this time on the other end is a stranger who threatens to kidnap your son or daughter unless you pay them thousands of dollars within 72 hours. You have no idea what to do because you don’t know who called. Somehow they know you. You can’t go to the police because they either don’t care, couldn’t do anything anyway or are involved themselves. You start calling family members asking them to loan you money. Pretty soon every sister, uncle and cousin is aware and trying to pull the money together. Eventually you manage to get the money and you stand by your phone waiting for them to call again to give you further instructions. I know this is true because it just happened to a family member of one of our project workers.

This is the latest way the gangs in Honduras are using to extort money from innocent people. It usually happens in the poorest communities where the gangs run rampant. People are afraid to even answer their phones for fear of it being a call like this. And their fears are well founded because people have indeed been kidnapped and even killed for non-payment. They don’t have time to make a “pay no ransom” policy. They just pay and pray.

In these economic down times where everyone is focused on Wall Street, layoffs, interest rates etc. I always find it interesting and yet heartbreaking how poor people are rarely worried or preoccupied with these issues, rather they inevitably have some issue of fear or survival to deal with. We don’t always understand why they can’t just do what we need them to do quickly and right the first time. That person we’re waiting on may have to take a taxi downtown to an internet café (after it took them a week to get approval to take the cash to pay for both), plus run a dozen other errands for the project, all on their day off from their regular job while at the same time scared to walk down their own street or get home when its dark, and then assuming they are locked safely inside their house – afraid to even answer their own phone.

Please pray for each person somewhere out there working on behalf of the sponsors and children that they will be safe, have their own needs provided for, and feel encouraged that what they are doing for pennies is reaping a major investment in the Kingdom.

Thanks and be blessed!

Jack

It's a Small World

A few days ago I posted a blog after I had connected again with our former sponsor child.  Someone at Mission of Mercy thought it would be nice to talk to her about her experience, so I arranged a time for us to record an interview on Skype.  As Lavinia spoke, I remembered my trip to Romania in 1995.  We visited the Mission of Mercy site, where I saw a computer lab of about 10 to 12 computers.  I remember thinking how great it was that kids were going to have the opportunity to learn on computers.  Very few in Romania had a computer at home, and even back in the States, they were really coming of age.  Well, Lavinia turned out to be one of those that had been tutored in that lab.

I found out in preparing to post the audio, that here and on Facebook, you can't upload audio, only video.  So this is a very simple video, but the most important part, of course, is the audio.  What would expect would be the focus of someone who spent over 30 years in radio?

I hope you enjoy the interview.  The world gets smaller every day!

Update on our sponsor child

I wrote about this in an earlier blog, but this is an update I sent to the Mission of Mercy/Bethesda staff. This is also for all of you that haven't gone back through the archives!

I just wanted to let you know how encouraged I am by a former sponsored child. Back in 1994 (when I was running Bethesda Christian Broadcasting), I went on my first trip with Mission of Mercy – it was to Romania. That trip impacted my life greatly. When I got back, I told Mission of Mercy to send us a child from Romania. We sponsored Lavinia for 7-8 years, until she graduated from high school (sometime in 2001-02). Her last communication to us, at 16, was that she wanted to be a computer programmer and that she prayed for our family every day!

About a year ago, I returned to Romania for the first time in over 13 years. I happened to ask the director if he knew what happened to our sponsored child. He knew of her and arranged to have her come in to meet me. She was 23 years old, a delightful young lady, that had completed her college education as a computer programmer. She led one of her college instructors to Christ. She is now working for a web consulting firm in Romania. She said she hesitated when she was offered the position because she would be the only Christian in the firm – but then she felt like God said that was exactly why she should take the position. Later, through communication with her firm, the director of the firm volunteered what services they could provide for our web site free of charge. Lavinia remembered that I had three children – two girls and a boy – but couldn’t remember their names. She thanked me for sponsoring her all of those years, and said it really made a difference in her life.

Last week, I got an email update from her. She has survived economic cuts at the firm, and is now the only programmer on staff. She is also nearing completion of her Master’s Degree. She also shared that she is going to a mission’s camp in Kosovo this summer. Her family is doing well in the Lord, even though some of them (she has six siblings) have been laid off.

I was just so encouraged by her email. She is now a friend on Facebook and I have linked my daughters Kate and Emily with her and I'm hoping they can get to know each other. You never know what happens when you sponsor a child, but Lavinia is just one example of how God uses Mission of Mercy in the lives of children. They grow up and have opportunities that they never would have dreamed of otherwise. Whatever your role is in child sponsorship or support of Mission of Mercy, please know that you are making a difference – and you’re changing hearts and lives.

Books (Paper and Electronic!)

I'm a pretty avid reader. For awhile I struggled to read volumes of good Christian books that people recommended or gave to me. A few years back, though, I read the book Freedom of Simplicity by Richard Foster. This is a great book, and I understand that it has recently been updated, so I'll probably get a recent copy and read it again. One of the questions Foster raised was, "when was the last time you read just for fun?" It really freed me up to get back to the memories of my youth when our family would spend Sunday afternoons at our cabin in Spearfish Canyon, SD. I remember chilly days with the fire blazing and all of the family sprawled out on chairs or couches reading intensely. My parents encouraged us to read. They didn't care what kind of books we read (as long as they were appropriate), and they knew reading encouraged our imagination and helped build our vocabulary. I had a real affinity for science fiction and read just about everything that Heinlein, Asimov and other science fiction writers published. Getting back to reading for fun has really gotten me back into the habit of reading.

One rule I try to follow is to read a book that feeds my soul for every novel I read for fun. Some of my recent "good" reads include books by Ken Blanchard, Richard Swenson, John Maxwell and others. Thanks to the Amazon Kindle, I can keep several books handy for the opportunity for one of those extended reading sessions, regardless of where I am. Right now I have about three or four "fun" books lined up, and the same number of "good" reads ready to go. Last weekend I finished a book by Clive Cussler, The Chase, which was based on historical events (a quick read you might enjoy). Then, I had to decide which of the other part of my book list I was going to tackle.

I opened up The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty by Peter Singer. I ended up reading the book in two sessions in a 24 hour period. This is not a book written by a Christian promoting missions organizations. In fact, there were a couple organizations that he suggested supporting that I personally take exception to. However, the case he makes for giving to alleviate world poverty is compelling. The statistics he documented should cause concern to everyone. He established the "extreme poverty" level at those surviving on less than $1.25 per day. That accounts for 1.4 billion people - 455 million in India alone - the majority who are women and children. He showed that Americans on the average give 2.2%, of their income, which is almost double the amount of the next largest giving prosperous nation. The largest share of giving goes to religious purposes; churches, synagogues, etc. Most of this is to allow those institutions to fulfill their purpose here in the US. After religious giving, educational institutions and the arts receive a great deal of our charitable giving. According to his research, only .07% of our income goes outside of our borders, and that amount includes international exchange programs and other giving that does not directly aid the poor. That's less than 7 cents of every $100.00 we earn that helps those in extreme poverty. That, to me, is a very sobering fact.

I started reading the book during the evening, and ended up reading it until after midnight (which is very late for me!). Then, I was awake thinking about what I had read for another couple hours. I finished the book the next day. I don't agree with everything in the book, but I was challenged to examine what we do with our money - and why. We've considered ourselves as strong givers - and we focus a lot of that on helping kids in poverty. But, I'll be chewing on this book for quite awhile. My next journey through the book will be to highlight certain areas and passages. Don't be surprised if you hear more about it in a later blog.

In the meantime, I highly recommend the Peter Singer book - and also the Richard Foster book. Seems to me they would be a good pair to read back-to-back. I'm not sure which to recommend as the first to read. Perhaps you can read both, and post a recommendation of the order of the books to read. I'd also welcome any other book recommendations. I'll probably need to stock up soon!

Water - A Basic of Life

Last weekend, Dee and I watched the documentary FLOW, about water issues around the world, including here in the United States. Some of the most sobering scenes, however, were of people in developing nations gathered around filthy rivers and streams... bathing and drinking from water that will definitely have a negative health impact on their lives. We saw first hand how Mission of Mercy is helping children and their families have access to clean water.

In Cambodia, floating communities exist that move from place to place in order to make a living fishing. The water is muddy, but families use the lake for washing, drinking, as well as for toilets. The kids regularly have dysentery and sickness is common. Mission of Mercy provided each family with water purifiers - very basic protection. It has made a tremendous difference in their health, and the families are deeply grateful.

In Kenya, we helped provide clean water for a Masai project after bacteria was found in the water that was being drawn from a local well. Each family is provided with clean drinking water. Again, there's been a tremendous improvement in the health of children. These are small steps, but they make a difference for these families. There is so much more to do. That's why I deeply appreciate the people that support Mission of Mercy. It enables us to provide so many things for our children that they would not have access to otherwise - food, clothing, medical attention, educational opportunity - and hope through Christ.

I wanted to mention one more thing in this note. My youngest daughter, Emily, and her husband, Heath, had the chance to meet their sponsored child when our family went with others on a Mission Trip to Swaziland. She recently opened up a new business and within a couple months sponsored another child through her business. I'm proud of her for taking that step early on in the development of her business. Sponsorship does make a difference, right, Emily?

I also needed to mention this and put Emily's picture on my blog because my granddaughter Montana arrives tonight (with oldest daughter, Kate, of course). Emily knows that my next post will probably include photos of Montana, so she wants equal time! So, here you go Emily!! Thanks for sponsoring another child! And... watch out behind you!!