The Least of These

From Monday, March 22

Today we continued our work around the garage.  I think we are all getting a small taste of how hard it is to keep all this equipment running with the limited supply of parts and other resources we are so used to having  in America.  To be honest, I think it was kind of a frustrating day in regards to repairs.  It seemed we struggled all day long and it did not seem that we had much to show for it.

I believe this is a good reminder from God that His plans are on a different time schedule than ours sometimes.  I have been reminding our team that accomplishig projects is only part of our purpose.

I believe our main purpose is to build relationships with our African friends who are working along side of us.  Relationships are what last.  I believe it is a great encouragement for the ICDI staff that we are here to assist them on these projects.

This afternoon we had the opportunity to visit one of the orphan care groups here in Berberati.  There are about 100 orphans here; they are divided into three groups that meet twice a week for Bible study, recreation, food, and a health check.  This program is organized by the ICDI African staff and I was very impressed with their committment to these kids.  When we arrived, the group was reviewing the Bible stories they had been learning about.

Kevin and Sonny brought some toys to hand out to kids.  It was wonderful to see how well behaved the kids were, they calmly walked up front to receive their gifts.  It was fun to see them not able to restrain their smiles of excitement, they oould hardly wait for the go ahead to open their gifts.  Almost all of these children have lost both their mom and dad so to see them smile brightened all of our days. 

I am thankful to ICDI for their care of so many hurting kids.  These children not only receive food for their bodies, but they receive spiritual food that feeds them for eternity.  ICDI works with an organization called Vision Trust for all of the sponsorships of all the orphans.  If you are interested in sponsoring a child or in other ways to help the work of ICDI please visit their website www.icdinternational.org.

Thanks to God for rescuing us all

Tim