Doing what Jesus would do...
"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
--Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
I will be traveling to Honduras with a group of ladies from International Mission Builders next month. We will be taking a week long trip and will have an opportunity to teach Vacation Bible School to the children in the schools there. In addition we will be traveling through rural areas spreading the Good News! I asked Brother Gene, the Missions Director, if there was anything K4C could do to help. He has challenged us to provide 100 "care packages" to be distributed throughout the areas we will be witnessing. In order to prepare the packages, we will need the following items:
Wash Cloths Bar Soaps Toothbrushes Toothpaste - small travel size Combs Band-Aids
I assured him that our Bethel Family could put this together with no problem. If you can help, please bring your items to Bethel by May 21st. If anyone is able to provide one item in its entirety, please call me (Amy) before Sunday or catch me before the 11:00 am service. The children will need to have the items assembled and ready for delivery by May 30th.
This will be an awesome opportunity for the kids to actually see the results of their good deeds. I plan to document the trip well by journaling and taking a lot of photos so I can spend time telling the kids about my experience in Honduras. While there, I will also be inquiring about a Pen Pal program and other ways the K4C group can be involved and how our relationship with this organization might grow.
We only have a few more lessons in our Agents in Action series. Tomorrow we will talk about Evangelism! We'll learn about how our good actions help others learn about God.
Saturday, May 17th we will travel to Build-A-Bear Workshop at the Oaks Mall in Gainesville to make a stuffed Pup that will be donated to one of 3 charities - the kids will get to choose! We will need to leave the church at 8:30 am. Please let Miss Amy or Miss Dawn know if you will attend. Click the photo below for more info.
We recently heard of a need for soccer balls for children in Rwanda from a parishioner at St. Patrick Parish in Gainesville. He runs a small volunteer lay Catholic outreach ministry at St. Patrick which raises funds and tries to help the Catholic Diocese of Butare in Rwanda, Africa recover from the Genocide of 1994 where 1 million people out of the nation’s total population of eight million were murdered because of intertribal and political genocide. Several millions were forced into refugee status. Some million were orphaned (they have no real number on the orphans as a lot of them ended up living with uncles, aunts cousins, etc.)
The group's primary focus is on the rebuilding and repair of schools that were damaged or destroyed in the Genocide and now building new schools. There is really no money for sporting equipment. Kids tend to make their own soccer balls because a new ball in Rwanda costs between $80.00 and $100.00. That is outrageous but new soccer balls are looked at by the government as LUXURY items – hence the very large customs fees that take the price of a new ball out of reach for any family. Average annual wages for a man in Rwanda are $250.00 to $450.00 (depends on US Dollar conversion values). No family can afford that amount.
In order to assist, we are collecting USED soccer balls. The only requirement for donation is that the ball holds air. The truth is, the more USED it appears, the more likely it is to get through customs and to the children.
Following are some photos of the children and a video demonstrating how they make their own soccer balls.
RWANDA FACTS
The following is some statistical data from Rwanda:
o The population was 8 million people in 1993.
o In 1994 & 1995, 1 million people (12.5%) were slaughtered in a brutal holocaust.
o Violence still occasionally flares up taking lives in small genocidal attacks.
o More than one tenth of all children in Rwanda die before reaching their first birthday.
o Average life expectancy is 41 years.
o Under-5 child mortality is 17%.
o Per capita income is $250 (UN numbers - fluctuates yearly due to exchange rates and droughts).
o Pre-natal care and pre-natal education are rare.
o There are shortages in almost all medicines and medical care.
o People that need refrigerated medicines face great challenges as they have no electricity in rural areas and few refrigerators in large population centers – Hard to believe but people die because of this small issue!
o Several nearby countries (like Burundi, to the south of Rwanda) also suffered in the genocide.
o Rwanda has the largest percentage of population of Christians (60% Catholic, 10% Protestant, 1% Muslim, 29% pagan).
o Each parish has at LEAST one orphanage averaging 200 orphans.
o Each parish has at LEAST 1,000 “registered” orphans living with “sponsored” widows.
o Housing, especially in rural areas, is very rough and similar to conditions in Haiti.
o Many older orphans are severely traumatized because they saw their family butchered.
o Each parish has numerous widows who lost husbands - many lost children in the genocide.
o The four priests assigned to Christ The King Parish in the genocide were brutally martyred while trying to protect their people.
o Many parish schools and churches were destroyed or severely damaged in the genocide.
o AIDS has become rampant (UN figures are in the mid 20% range in cities – higher in the hinterlands).
o Large numbers of children are being newly orphaned as parents die of AIDS.
o Many new orphans and many babies abandoned in fields or at parish doors babies have AIDS.
o The economy is agricultural and suffers frequently from droughts.
o Medical facilities are very limited as many of the hospitals and clinics were destroyed.
o Only 8% of the total population has access to adequate sanitation.
o Only 41% of the population has access to safe water.
After an unexpected cancellation last week due to the passing of Miss Margie Rutledge, a dear friend and amazing servant of God, we will pick up where we left off with Lesson 9 in our Agents in Action series. Our conversation this week will be about Friends. We will talk about how obeying God’s command to treat others like we want to be treated will help us make and keep friends.
We will also start talking about our upcoming car wash to raise funds for a fun field trip and a new mission project!
Join us tomorrow night when we'll talk about Choices and learn how God’s Word can help us make right choices and build good habits. We'll learn to Sow and Grow in Mark 4:1-20 and we'll focus on Jesus' words in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
We had a great group attend our Field Trip to the Capital yesterday and it was a lot of fun! We got an early start and beat the crowds, had a healthy lunch and stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home (hey, we had to make up for the health food!)! Kids enjoyed games and prizes and all kinds of giveaways. Pastor Ken even bought them a souvenir from the gift shop! Teh kids were all well behaved and parents should be proud!
We'll continue the fun tonight at our regular K4C meeting. We're approaching the halfway mark of our Agents in Action training. Tonight we'll talk about Bullies and find out how treating others kindly, even while protecting ourselves, helps us show God’s love to others. We'll learn about Elisha’s Surprise in 2 Kings 6:8-23 and focus on Jesus' words in Matthew 5:44, “I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
I will be traveling to Honduras with a group of ladies from International Mission Builders next month. We will be taking a week long trip and will have an opportunity to teach Vacation Bible School to the children in the schools there. In addition we will be traveling through rural areas spreading the Good News! I asked Brother Gene, the Missions Director, if there was anything K4C could do to help. He has challenged us to provide 100 "care packages" to be distributed throughout the areas we will be witnessing. In order to prepare the packages, we will need the following items:
