THE TRUE COST OF VODKA

Today was a day when Sammy once again came to face to face with injustice and afresh pledged myself to make a difference. A difference not only that I can make with hands on myself but by using every bit of my passion and gifts to inspire others in Canada to "give and go" like never before.
I was in an orphanage today and watched the director and her assistant jump...actually jumo when we pulled up and pulled out some gifts. That was great but it was the story of one girl .....12 years old that as I said deepened my resolve(if it is possible to deepen) to give my life for the helpless and hopeless. The police when they got the report brought this sweet girl to the orphanage and asked the director if they could take her. It is well known that her mother traded her to a group of men for a bottle of vodka. You can only imagine the emotions that shot through my body...mind...and heart. C'mon!
It is time for the children of God to rise up...for the church to wake up...and for people to stand up! It is not a bottle of vodka that determines the worth of a child....it is Jesus coming to earth and dying that declares a childs worth.
You cannot in some ways blame the mother...she too is likely the victim of horrific abuse....we must...I must....stand in the face of the works of the enemy and declare that we care and will stand guard...we will protect...we will love...we will give...we will go. I looked at Ed Dickson and said...when I bring a team back here to town in October I want to do a project at this orphanage....oh baby!
I have so many stories like this one to tell....so many impacting moments...
I am on the homeward stretch....not coasting, but floating.....not angry but overwhelmed with God's call of mercy and grace. James 1:27 is my song....has been for years....the volume knob just got cranked a bit on this trip.
And I am not home yet! C'mon!Inspire...Connect...Encourage...helping orphans and the elderly in their distress.....sammyweltenpi

Mc Joyfull Christmas

MCJOYFUL CHRISTMAS
only $10 can take an orphan to McDonalds this Christmas, and provide them with a years supply ov vitamins . if you would like to help, go to www.loadsoflove.org ......and now the story

On a cold December day in 2001, Ed Dickson was working with the orphanages in Ukraine and wondering, "What am I going to do for Christmas". That is exactly when he got an idea that changed everything for the orphans idea of Christmas.
In the last few years, McDonalds has opened a number of flashy new restaurants in the former Soviet Union. In the city of Krivoy Rog, Ukraine, the McDonalds is the place where the "elite" folks eat! Poor folks and certainly the orphans in the city only dream of being able to enter the golden arches.
That cold December day, Ed Dickson thought, "Why not take as many orphans as I can to McDonalds for a Christmas party?" What a thrill that was! The first Christmas there were 46 orphans, who had, of course, never been to a McDonalds before, taken out for the time of their lives!
The kids were so excited they were shaking in their seats as they waited for their Happy Meals! After the kids finished eating they put their cups, straws and wrappers into their bags to take back to the orphanage with them. I watched in amazement as they even folded up the little paper placemats.
As I was busy getting the kids to the bus, Olya, one of our workers came to me saying, "Ed, these two little girls have something to say to you." I thought they were going to thank me for the special meal and I didn't want then to say that because I wanted the kids to know that this was all done because GOD loves them. Then the two little girls looked up at me shyly and said, "We just want you to know that we had been praying together that God would allow us, somehow, to go to McDonalds someday."

this year, we would like to take over 2000 kids!

Central Asia update

THE REST OF THE STORY !


In my last newsletter, I mentioned an
orphanage in Central Asia where we
had helped to put running water into
the building, fix the heating system
and do some renovations.

This was not a Christian orphanage,
in fact, the leaders were Muslim.

The pastor of the small village church
actually invited us to the orphanage
because the director did not want
her doing 'church' stuff with the kids
and she said, "If we can help them
change this horrid place, they may,
little by little, open up to us."

I just received the news ... this week
... this amazing director and one of
her staff, went to a church cell group
meeting and received Jesus Christ!

WOW ! PRAISE THE LORD !

My dear friends ... this is now a Christian orphanage! The door is now open for REAL love! Let's
show them love beyond their wildest dreams!!! We don't create our own kingdoms ... we take
His Kingdom to the world!

Thank you SO much for working and praying together with me.
With love, IN Jesus,
Ed Dickson

final actofkindness....for now!!!!!!!!

Good morning everyone,
This will be the last email from this address.
Yesterday was a busy day sightseeing in Kiev, and we got to see some amazing historical sights, some huge buildings built by the Russians during their "reign" over Ukraine, a couple of Ukrainian Orthodox cathedrals with gold domes. We saw inside one of the cathedrals but were not allowed to take pictures. The gold inlay and painted portraits completely covered the roof and walls in what is one of the biggest churches we have ever seen. One of them has only been reconstructed in the last couple of years, because Stalin tore down the original to make room for a building of his own to show his authority.
In the centre of the city we visited catacombs (caves) built way underground by a Ukrainian Orthodox monastery in about 1026. The ladies had to cover our heads and carry a small candle as we went through the passages - not for the claustrophobic. There are men (designated as saints for some special deed they did) buried in glass caskets down there. The bodies were completely covered in robes, but the odd black mummified hand stuck out of some. Quite spooky, actually. Ed says we only saw a small portion of the catacombs. Apparently there is a section where monks still live and pray, not coming out for the rest of their lives. Their food is delivered, but they don't even see who delivers it. Not my idea of a good time.
While we were sightseeing, Kate and Jennie went to the hairdresser's with Natasha, Ed's wife. Kate has bangs! Her haircut was very European. Jennie got her hair cut quite short and looked very beautiful as well.
We met for lunch at a cafe where we had the last meal of Ukranian food - borsch and perogies and crepes. Then we shopped for a while at the "market" - stalls all up and down the hill by the St. Andrew's Cathedral. Could have stayed a lot longer, but the men rushed us...
We had our last supper at the food court at the biggest mall in Kiev. They actually had a McDonalds and a Kentucky Fried Chicken place, although they didn't call it Kentucky Fried Chicken. A taste of home....Ed had taken our purchases home in a taxi and brought his daughter Regina back for supper with us. His little daughter Amy most of us didn't get to see this time.
We were up early (4 a.m.) - 9 last night your time, and headed for the Kiev airport for our 6 a.m. flight. We flew Ukraine International on a luxurious 737 - 400 passenger plane, not another Aeroflot plane (do you remember the one we thought was duct taped together?), a Russian A21, Dave Wright told me, for those of you interested..this flight was wonderful - the breakfast was good, there was room for our legs, and our carryons fit in the overhead compartments.
We have now safely landed at Amsterdam airport and have a 5 hour stopover before heading across the Atlantic.
Marilyn has Bill's relatives in Amsterdam, so she and Jennie have gone to spend a couple of hours with them. The rest of us are using the internet cafe and shopping.
We are all anxious to be home now, to see all our loved ones and to sleep in our own beds. It will be a long day as we get into Toronto airport at 4 p.m. By the time we get through customs and drive home from there, it will be between 6 and 7, so we will be up almost 24 hours.
Hope to see my kids at school tomorrow with lots of pictures, and souvenirs to show them. Kate is coming with me, so she can fill in any details that I might forget.

See you soon,

Love to you all,

Shirley, Kate, Glenna, Marilyn & Jennie

Like Kids in a Crayon Store!

Did we tell you about a man we know with a great big heart?

He told us that he thinks every kid should at one piont in there life have a box of crayons and a box of smarties.

He gave us the money, and we had the privelage of hand delivering crayons and smarties to orphans at the red river orphanage.

170 orphans say "Thanks Drew"

Hi from Ukraine

Love to everyone from the Wrights.
Today we went to the orphanage that Ed has been supporting. The place was more like a large family than an orphanage. This women named Valentina has adopted about 13 children and her and her husband have given these children every opportunity as if they were her own. She was such a happy, colourful, energetic soul that you couldn't help but admire and adore her. Ed has such a great vision for this place. He sees this camp as a place for orphans from all over the Ukraine to come to and have a fun, healing time for a while in the summer. There are some very poor elderly people in this village and Valentina has been trying to help them too. She is going to bring the needs of the children and the needs of the elderly together and start training the children to care for the elderly. Cooking, biulding things, carrying water and such so the kids learn these life skills and the elderly get to live through the winter. Then eventually the orphange can be kind of a seniors home in the winter months. Sounds like a great idea to me.
Well, I guess we will be home soon. Already planning my next trip back and taking notes for what to bring, what worked well and what could be done differently.
Love Julie

Tuesday in Kiev..a must read!

Well it's Tuesday so we must be in Kiev.
The last few days have been a bit of a blur.
I'll start with Sunday.
We drove out to a city of about 40,000 people on the
shores of the lake. We were there to attend church and to give Anya a Ukrainian missionary who works with children a laptop computer that we had brought for her. God showed up big time during the service. I had prepared a sermon on tuesday night just in case I was asked to speak. I chose the passage out of Acts that describes Paul's dream about going to Macedonia. I was going to focus on how God had closed the doors for us to go to XXXXXX, and our call had been to Central Asia. During the praise time led by the pastor's wife we are all very moved. We didn't understand a word, but we felt God's presence and we praised the Lord with all of our hearts. At the end of the singing one of our team members gave a word of prophecy, She said that God had called us to the mountains and the valleys and that we were to go and He would give us the words to say. she said this in english. Ed stood up and translated and then added that he believed that this was a word for the church that were not only to reach out in there city but to reach out into the surronding area into the mountains and the valleys of the region around the lake. Then Ed introduced the team and said that he was sure that I had a message from God for the church.
(This was the first time that he said anything to me about preaching so he
might have meant that he hoped that I had a message). I preached the sermon that I had prepared but emphasized that we had been called and came now they were being called and they needed to go. When I finished the pastor stood up and said that they had been talking as a church for some time about starting a church in a village up in the mountains, and now god was telling them it was time.

He then asked for testimonies and a man stood up and said that he was from a village 200 km away and that God had sent him to this village to learn about him and that in the service this morning he really believed that God was calling him to go back and witness to the people in his village. We were just completely blown away how God had orchastrated everything that morning.

Later at lunch the pastor explained to us that they had been ready for sometime to go out to that village but they didn't have anyone to send. After the testimonies of that morning they now possibly had a worker in that man to send. PTL!!!

We came home down through the beautiful mountains and part of our team who was with our driver Kostia had a real adventure ask them about the bus, it's a bus, it's a bus, it's a big bus.

We arrived back at the mission and said goodbye to everyone, lots of hugs,
tears and exchanging of email addresses. We got up at 2:00am because we had to leave by 3:00am to be at the airport for 4:00am. we flew out at 6:00 and arrived in Moscow 4 hours later. Then we had to wait for 5 hours in the Moscow airport. We staked out a table in one of the cafe's had breakfast eggs and bacon 3.00 us dollars one coffe latte 6.00 us dollars. We slept, we played cribbage, we read and some of us (Kate) shopped, at 3:00 pm we flew out for Kiev all in all our Moscow experiences have been very good compared to other teams experiences in teh past.

We arrived in Kiev and everyone voted for a pizza dinner. We had good old
fashioned north american pizza there was no mutton, dill or excessive oil in sight. It was amazing. After dinner we got settled into the apartments
where we are staying until thursday and then six of us who still had some energy left ( we had all been up now for twenty hours) went with Ed to a
leaders meeting at the church Sunday Adeleja pastors in Kiev. There were about 1500-2000 cell group leaders there. We were told that this is about
half of all of the cell group leaders. We stayed for about an hour while
they prayed and then left the meeting would go on for about three hours.

This is a very dedicated congregation. They are doing great things for God
in Kiev. Then we came home and collapsed into bed. today we are going to
try and get slept up, however I'm awake and writing this now at 9:00 am.
Then we are going to go out and see a children's camp that Ed is involved
with outside of Kiev. Wednesday is a sightseeing day, and shopping day, and we fly home Thursday.

The end is near, we can all hardly wait to see our families again. God has done some amazing things on this trip and while we all will look the same physically when we come home. None of us are the same on the inside.

Blessings from Kiev
Jamie

Before and After

I thought it would be cool to show you before and after, side by side as it were.

Heading to Ukraine

It has been an honour to represent the Norwood. community here in Central Asia. It seems that no mater where we go, the leaders we meet all know of Norwood community and hold them in high regard. It sure makes the way easier for us when the reputation precieds us. Thankyou.
We went to a village on the side of the lake and delivered the lap top computer. Anya asked us to put a bug in your ear... she would love to host a youth missions trip to help with V.B.S. just imagine 1000 Russian /Central Asian children.
It is now 10:30 pm and in a few hours we will be getting up to leave for the Ucrain. We will be using $1000.00 of the project money to bless the folks there with a project out at the new summer camp/orphanage, and also plan to visit one of the new church plants.
This trip we have been so many places and touched so many people, it realy is unbelievable what God has done through the team. I don't remember so many raw nearvs being exposed on an on going basis.
Captain Yang is an amazing man with an incredible vision for the region. I think he would be a good one to call your friend
Will write again from ukrain.
Blessings John and Julie.

p.s. Ron after YOU bought Gena his new colour tv, he said that now sweetness has been brought to his life. and when his house was done, he said that he believed that his whole life has been lived for this moment

Voila!

All is well here in sunny town. We were able to finish up the second house today. You would not believe the difference. The Old man we helped said that he thinks that he has lived his whole life for this day. he was so excited. I have enclosed a photo of his kitcken now. we tryed to keep the furniture as much as possible set up the same way he had it, but clean.
If you remember the photo of the lady looking over the fence, well look at her now!. And this is nothing compaired to the house.
This last photo is of a young girl in the village orphanage. by the end of the day today she will be cooking inside with running hot and cold water.
Tomorrow we will be heading to the lake village For church and to bring the lap top to the pastor there.
We will keep you posted
Blessings J & J

Ups and Downs

Hi everyone
No time on email tonight, All is well, we compleated the first home with the mother and two girls, you would not believe the change in the house and the people. The old man with one leg is a different story, The plaster we did all fell down and the job was bigger than we thought. We have hired two locals (3 dollars a day) to re plaster the entire house, and we have had to postpone the completion until Saturday. Will send photos when we get a chance. We were back to the village orphanage today, the have running water now and By tomorrow, they will have toilets.
Blessings JW

What a Night!

This is maybe a little off topic but......
Last night I had my Old Testament class at Canadian Theological Seminary.
We were discussing missions and the fact that The promises given to Abraham
in Genesis point to a missions expectation of God. God told Abraham that He would bless him and that all nations would be blessed through him.

We talked about sess pool christianity, whereby the blessings that were intended to flow through us, in fact get captured and held. The "Living Water" that was intended for the nations, get caught up in these sess pools and they do not flow to the nations as God commanded.
If we do this, we are in fact wicked and disobedient.

So if we are grateful for the wonderful grace that God has given us, then we in turn MUST pass these blessings on to all the world and all the nations. We are adopted children. We are sons and daughters of God, having accepted Christ as our saviour. We are part of these blessing promised to Abraham, and therefore part of this responsibility.

Having heard this, I was cut to the heart.

Dear God
Thank You for Your Word. Thank You that You have called us to be Your People. Father I am sorry for my wickedness. I am sorry that there have been times when I have captered Your word, and grace and love and held it for myself. Father it is so great to receive Your blessings, but my tempatation is to think that I deserve it. Oh wicked is my heart Lord when I have not shared Your word. Father I pray that You might continue to find favour in me, and I pray Lord that I might have the wisdom, strength and conviction to see that it is shared with Your people. Father I know Your will is that none should perish. I know that it is Your will that You might be glorified through me, by me, through Your people and by Your people.

Thank You Lord for the missions127 team. I pray Lord that You continue to bless them, as they are more than willing to fulfil Your expectation of sharing.

In Jesus Saving Name I Pray,
dw

Goats Head Soup Anyone?

Any body wanna buy a goat?

It was at the Bazar that we found this goats head....we will bring it home for Ron and Cal jr.

Jullie was gaging and wretching as she was stepping over them and around the warm meat lying in the buggies. In fact she is reading over my shoulder now and wretching.

Will keep you posted of further developments...like the real show, we are thinking that we will not get them done in time pray for us.

talk to you again soon.

Blessings J and J

While You Were Out...In action

What a day. we split the teams into two, and both returned late ...exausted.

The photo inclosed is of one of the homes we began to makeover. We were cleaning the floors with shovels and putty knifes. The old one legged Man had a hard time leaving, he was a little concerned. We did throw out his 6 broken razors, 10 broken raideos.....etc. We then went to the Bazar and bought carpets, utencils, plates, electric kettle etc.

Will keep you posted of further developments...like the real show, we are thinking that we will not get them done in time pray for us.

talk to you again soon.

Blessings J and J

It was a hard day today

Hi everybody.

It was a hard day today. we began by touring an orphanage that had been recieving help for about 10 years and seeing how wonderfull it was. The kids were happy, healthy, and you could tell that they were being loved.

From there we went to the village orphanage. This was the orphanage that the Gov. was trying to close . Rathere than finding an "Orphanage", we found a young couple with three of there own kids trying desperatly to look after 17 other kids off the street. We brought them A washing machine, and three space heaters , and made arangements to go back this week with local work crews tho instal heating and water.

For us , we had not given it a hole lot of thought, when we each threw in $50 for this extra pojet, but were realy brought back to reality when we watched this lady break down and weep. The deadline for the closing of the orphanage was only a week away, and they would have all been on the street. it was quite a sight, we were all crying, We had a celebration feest cooked there and had lunch with them, then played some games and handed out crayons and paper for all the kids. We also left Tooth brushes and tooth past for them. We will be going back there for a few days.

We then went on to the next Orphanage, another one that had been recieving help for about ten years. There we went around to all the class rooms and spoke with all the kids and gave each child a box of smarties, crayons, pencle crayons,or water colour paints, and paper ( thanks Drew, Thanks to those from Crayola) The kids were so excited is was incredible how such a small gift could make such a difference. At this orphanage the Government does support it. It provides the land, a lmost enough food to keep them alive, and just enough money to pay the hydro, if they are carefull. Without support, I hjave no idea what these 170 kids would do.
attached (hopefully) are some photos of one of the houses we will be working on tomorrow (mother with two kids) and also a photo of Jenny giving out smarties.

Thankyou to everyone for all your support, to see the difference that we can make is mind numming, or as Dave keeps saying, "My Memory stick is full"

Blessings John

Is that a banana peel?

Is that a banana peel. What, you thought we wouldnt notice?

Click on the picture and see if you agree.

dw

Colla and John

Hi Everyone

The team was busy today. Part of the team was at the new orphanage and julie and I went on an excursion with some of the others.
We went out to buy a washing machine and some heaters for an orphanage in the mountains. The Government came in and was going to close down an orphanage in the mountains . They did not have any heat, running water or toilets. We are going there this week to get some heat in for them, but that will not be done until the weekend, and there is snow at nights there now. We will be able to get the portable heaters to them right away.
stoped to check out one of the homes that we will be fixing up. A single mother with 2 little children, 1 foot by 20 foot hole in the roof, only a little wood for the winter. Last winter she burned her furniture to heat the house, but now the furnature left is metal, and won't burn. Our goal was to work on the inside first, but the roof can't be left. I talked with the rest of the team and we decided there was no sense in fixing the house if they were going to freeze. When we asked, we found that 2 tonnes of coal to heat for the winter (and cook on) would only cost $40.... Tomorrow we will order coal. Photos of this will follow in a few days.

The photo inclosed is of a young boy named Colla. He is in the new orphanage in town

Update October 17 2008

Hi all,
Today was a busy day. Most of the crew went to the new orphanage to play soccer with the kids, chip 5 coats of paint off the walls, and whitewash the cement. One of our crew has had a sore leg since last Wednesday, so I went to the hospital with her and some others, as well as to buy a washer and some heaters for a small orphanage in the mountains that we plan to visit tomorrow.
While we were waiting, our van driver, Sergei, was playing a tape – and guess what, Ridpath! He was playing O Siem on his tape deck! You can imagine how surprised I was to hear that song halfway around the world. Sure made me think about what you might be doing back home!
Kate loved playing soccer with the kids. When she was sitting, one of the 11-year-old boys kept lifting her ponytail and smelling it – she had washed it and it smelled so sweet, I guess.
Tomorrow we are taking soccer balls to the small orphanage and the more agile of us will be playing soccer with some of those kids.
We picked up Nargiza from the airport today. She is from xxxxxxx. She went through all the hockey bags tonight, and is taking all the baby powder, diaper cream, vitamins, socks and antibiotics back with her. She has 80 babies in the xxxxxxx orphanage, and 84 in xxxxxxx, so she really appreciated all we brought. We are hoping our director can get a deal at the airport to ship them to her orphanages at a reasonable rate.

Must go – others waiting for the lap top.
Love to all,
Shirley, Kate, Glenna, Jenny, Marilyn

Dancing Girls

Look at these wonderful dancing girls. I like this picture! Look at the colours. Dance for joy!
dw

Lena....Warrior Princess

Excuse the pun. If you get it you can laugh. If you don't you can scratch your head.

I was reading the last email, and people mentioned this amazing woman called Lena.
I remember seeing here picture over on the loadsoflove website. I thought I'd publish it here for you. Now you can put a face to the name.

Horray for Lena...Prayer Warrior Princess

dw

Report Oct 14 : I'm giving up on the Initials

Here is an email update I received today.
I'm giving up on the initials. It was fun while it lasted.
I'm just getting myself confused.
Thanks to the team for this update and here it is....

Hello family and friends.
Here are a few photos to whet your appetites, along with some comments from the team members who are still awake to report. We will look for an internet café tomorrow in the capital city so you will hear more from us then. (Photos were not recceived....I'll pass them on when they arrive)

Marilyn and Jennie: This is our fourth day with only 10 hours sleep but we are all fine and so excited about the work that is going on here. There have already been miracles happening especially with our four plane rides to get over here. In Kiev we had to leave the extra 20 pounds put in the hockey bags which will be going to the orphanages in the Ukraine. We had to pay in the Ukraine airport per poundage of the extra weight that we had. The original 40 pounds in the hockey bags were the most important things to bring to Central Asia. The officials said that the amount would be $2000 to get the extra baggage there, Ed “negotiated” while we prayed and in the end we only paid $50!!!!PTL!!!! Today was an exciting day of seeing all the spots we would be helping at. The new building that will be the orphanage for the street children still needs a lot of work but you could just feel the vision and excitement. After that we went to see Lena who looks after seniors here in town. She is only 24 and is such an inspiration. I’ll let the rest of the crew tell you the rest. We miss you all (Love you Bill and kids and Dad) but we are having the time of our life.

Shirley and Kate: Today has been very busy. After we landed in the capital city, we had another hour’s drive to town. It was dark when we left the airport and the sun was just coming up as we drove to the dorm where we will be staying for the next couple of weeks. We could see the Himilayans from the van. What a beautiful sight! The driver was all over the road, avoiding bumps, potholes and cattle, so the drive here was quite an adventure in itself. Even the food is an adventure – trying to taste everything being prepared for us, sometimes enjoying, sometimes trying hard to enjoy.

Jamie: Well it happened, I was expecting it to happen and I knew it was just a matter of time and it happened today. If anyone heard a crack today it was my heart breaking. We were given a tour of the building that will be turned into an orphanage and I saw the condition of it, I saw the twelve children who were living there already even though there is no real kitchen or bathroom set up at all. Then we were taken into the back yard and the director was sharing her vision and my heart broke. That people could have such hope in the midst of such desolation. Oh my. May I never complain about anything again. Our trip here was very exciting. We arrived in the capital city at 4:00am and then had a very interesting ride into town. It was about an hour and between passing cars (I didn’t know that you could have three large vehicles, Mercedes 15 pasenger van, dumptruck, and another Merecedes Van all abreast on a two lane road). We had to dodge cattle being driven down a major highway by drovers on horseback, not to mention, assorted people, geese and chickens. We have seen the orphanage where we will work next week, we met Lena and heard about how she works with seniors, we were presented a show by the school children at the Christian school, singing, dancing, and testimonies.
So I am going to sign off, we have had about 14 hours sleep total since we left Toronto Tuesday morning, and I am going to sleep. Good night.

Dave
The needs here are great, my heart is about to break. We laugh a lot, sometimes we can’t stop. I can’t explain, it’s such a shame, the children’s needs, my heart also bleeds. So remember us always, so that we may remain, to proclaim, that his love will remain

Glenna: When we arrived in town this morning, it was overwhelming to think we were really here. We were really here and it’s not all that different from down the road, however we drove beside snow-capped mountains while the sun was rising over the white caps. We parked the van this afternoon beside some weeds that we recognized – they were exactly like the hemp we had growing in our area. Looking forward to a good night’s sleep tonight. They have been few and far between.

Julie; Hi Everybody. We are having a great time and all is well. Once again we are pleasantly surprised and our accommodations are supreme. It is comfortable, clean and you can feel God’s anointing and blessing. More later Love and hugs to all.

John What a great felling to be here with such wonderful people. To see the hearts of the workers here is a real incouragement to us. They have so little, but they give so much. We will write again soon.

Until we meet again
dw

A picture is worth a thousand words

The picture says it all!

exerpt from www.loadsoflove.org

Do you believe that you can, genuinely, change someone's life? In the region where we are serving, most seniors live on $30 per month or less. They are not starving to death, but they are slowly dying, day after day, in their apartments. They can't buy enough for a healthy diet, nor can they buy essential goods for normal life.

Our miracle-workers (like Lena in Central Asia) deliver food, medicine and other basic necessities to desperate seniors on a regular basis. Last year in Central Asia alone, we provided food and other goods to over 100 seniors, not just once, but each of them received regular assistance for over three months!

Almost every time our workers begin to help an elderly person, they are met with surprise and questions about their motives (many seniors believe we want their apartments when they die, in exchange for our help!). Tears and prayers always follow after the seniors realize that it is genuinely and simply done because of love.

my 2 cents.......................Thank you loadsoflove. Thankyou missions 127 team.

dw

The Seniors House

I found this picture of the house that was purchased for the seniors.
I found it on the loadsoflove.org website.
Could you beleive they paid $4000.00 for this!
You know, well maybe you dont and I'm going to tell you...
It looks a lot like my house!
I have to go now.
If you get a chance go to that website....lots of cool stuff.
http://www.loadsoflove.org
dw

Report From Our Man on the Street JN

>Well where to start.
>We are just getting ready to go to bed. It is 10:00 pm here 3:00pm for
>you back home. I haven't really slept for over thrity hours and am I tired.
>I tried to email Norma from Holland at an internet cafe in the airport
>and I couldn't remember my right address. The message got through but
>I think that I confused everybody.
>
>We had a great uneventful flight over from Toronto to Amsterdam, great
>food, quiet flight. The flight from Amsterdam to Kiev was on Ukraine
>International airlines everyone was speaking Russian or Ukrainian and
>it really began to feel like we were a long way from home.
>
>We arrived at Kiev at 3:30pm Kiev time and E and N are hosting
>the entire team in their home. Tonight we got to experience the Kiev
>subway, ask JW about the rugged hand holds, 200 feet below the
>ground, and very fast trains, the F1 taxi ride and the VW bus
>experieince you can ask the team when they get home for details. You
>should also ask GB about express walkways in the airport.
>
>We went to the only mall in the Ukraine here in Kiev, it is a shopper's
>paradise. Very high end, Dior, Guess, Givenchi and Vuitton to name a
>few stores, eat your heart out Amy.
>We ate Ukrainian fast food in the food court.
>I had perogies, some filled with meat (not a repeat choice), some
>filled with mushrooms (very good) some filled with cottage cheese and
>blackberries (surprisingly good).
>We saw the central square of the city and it is amazing. What a
>beautiful place.
>We are looking forward to seeing a little bit more of Kiev when we
>return at the end of the trip.
>Please pray for us as we have been told that the amount of luggage that
>we can bring with us from Kiev to the capital city is cut in half. We are
>trying to make arragements so that is not the case. We need some
>divine intervention here.
>We are almost there and are looking forward to the adventure of our lives.
>Keep us in your prayers we are going to need them.
>Everyone is tired, but in very good spirits.
>Blessings
>JN

Arrived in Ukraine...What day is it?

Lets call it day one.

Technology is so cool. I just received this email and attachment this morning. The team has brought a laptop with them, so as long as they can get net access, we should be good. I have some technical difficulties here, as the correspondence is being caught by my Firewall/Spam Filter. I reported that to our propeller head and he's gonna fix that for me.

But any way, Its nice to see they arrived safe.
Here is the email and picture they sent.

Arived in Ukraine all is well we have no idea what day or time it is. we are on our way out for dinner with Ed and Natasha. Small snage with the baggage, but we shall overcome.Attached is a photo of the group in the Amsterdam airport.

I will keep you posted. I know you will all join me in thanking God for their safe arrival.

dw....uncle of bw

Tip of the ice berg

To me, my brother JW is the very tip of the iceberg.
Heres how.
He was my first point of contact.
I learned about JW and JW wanting to go on a mission trip several years ago. As they began fund raising it became very obvious to me that they were a small part of a larger organization. I had the opportunitry to sing at a fundraising event. I was astounded at the support and the passion. There I found that their organziation was part of a much larger organization. The deeper I looked, the greater the number of people and fellowships there were involved.

I have learned that the driving force behind these projects is an organization called Loads of Love. Please visit their web site at http://www.loadsoflove.org to find out more.

I am going to look it over and perhaps share some of it with you here at the actofkindness blog spot.

As I explore the "geneology" of the caring organization, I am struck by the fact that all roads seem to lead to one man. I'm going to learn more about that man and comment later. I am now inclined to say that there may actually be a different tip of the iceberg.

The tip of the iceberg is one person stepping forward to be Christs love in this troubled world. All it takes is one person and one Lord. He takes that an multplies it 10 fold. Like a mighty avalanche the love builds momentum and gets bigger. Many people are blessed and the blessings build in size and speed. One single act of obedience to Gods will. One normal everyday person being the face of Christ becomes an instrument to glorify God in a most mighty way.

Where is the "tip of the iceberg for you?"

Lord, today in Your House

Lord, in Your House today

we give You thanks and we give You praise.

Lord we are so blessed that You called us

from the muck and mire of this world.

Father today as we praise and worship You,

would Your presence be felt.

Lord today in Your house

would You fill the Mission127 team with your Holy Spirit.

Would You grant them wisdom and strength.

May your peace and blessings fall upon them and their fellowships

as they prepare to say a temporary goodbye to loved ones.

Would you grant them protection and

keep them safe until they return.

Lord today in your house would You be King

in our hearts and in our lives.

Would Your glory reside in us Lord.

Lord, today in Your house,

would You accept our praise and sacrifice.

Would You bless it 10 fold

and use it to glorify

Your most Holy and Excellent Name.

For it is in Jesus name we pray.

amen

Are You Religious?

No doubt you've had people say to you: "Are you religious"? I always cringe and reply No!, I have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

I was talking to brother JW the other day and he told me "Now you can say Yes!" Here is the passage he quoted me:

"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." James 1:27

Hey I get it! Missions 127.....duh
So is this a religious organization?
According to James 127 it most certainly IS!

Praise God for His Word of life.
Now I just need to live it rather than just talk about it!
dw

Your Comments Are Welcome!

Welcome again to the Mission 127 blogspot.

My name is DW and I will be your tour guide.

I am not the DW that appears in the bio.

I am DW brother of JW and brother in law to JW.

Are you confused yet?

Anyway, I invite, or shall I say encourage,

or shall I say BEG for your comments.

To comment, simply click on the "comments" at the bottom of the article.

You can remain anonomous, or you can use your blogger name

(if you are registered)

I hope you enjoy the journey and I hope to be able to keep it up to date

as the trip continues. Amazing technology!

JW will be looking for a cyber cafe with Internet connection and lots of Donkey Feed!

dw

High Gas Prices Got You Down?

Here is a picture of a couple heading to the market.
They look upset because of the sudden rise in the price

of donkey feed.
You see, the high price of gasoline has put a strain

on the availability of donkey feed,

as people seek alternative fuel.

None of this is really true.....or is it?

While You Were Out

"While you were out"

What a concept! This has the makings to be a real life reality TV show! Forget about taking a priveledged person and make him more priveledged.
Try this on. Take an underpriveledged person and not only pour blessings on them on a personal level, but also transform their lives and their homes "while they are out"

Check this picture out> Here is an example of a seniors kitchen.

Bio's of this team

I wanted to give you some "bio" information on each of the team members. I have taken some things from your applications and am writing them here so that you can have a sense of the heart that your fellow team members have for this trip.

Here is the team God has put in place.
JV, MVE, SC, BAH, GB, JandJW, DW, and JN.

JV: (MVE's Mom)
I want to go with my daughter M to do mission work. I cannot think of anything more wonderful than to work together for the Lord.

MVE: (JV's daughter)
When N came back from XXXXXXXX last year it tugged at my heart to go. I was a bit frightened to say yes but between God's prodding and B's (husband) encouragement. I feel that this is where I am supposed to go.

SC:
I am a nurse and I would like to be able to use my skills to assist others. I feel God has opened the door for me at this time. I have prayed about going on a mission trip for years and I left the timing in God's hands. I believe the opportunity is now.

BAH:
I want to help people in need. I know I have been blessed to be born into a country where basic needs are always met. I have learned compassion through hardship in my life, and I want to assist people in knowing how much God loves them. As well I know God is calling me to do this and I must obey.

GB:
My desire is to reach out spiritually and physically to needy people.

DW:
I want to be part of the mission trip because of the burning desire God has put in my heart.

JW: (no relation to D, except in the Lord)
When I sense the call of God to serve Him in the missions area, it makes no difference to me where I go or what I do. I love XXXXXXX and the XXXXXXXX people have my heart. That is now a given in my life. What I'm wondering is, how do the others in the group feel about it. Some people have a real desire and burden to go to a specific country or type of project, like an orphanage. I'm curious because I have been praying and will continue to pray for the hearts of those intending to go.

JW: (J's husband) This will be my Fourth Missions trip. So often our lives consist of taking a few hours out of the day for God, the rest of the time we busy ourselves with life. Something special happens when we say, " You know what God ,For the next three weeks, I am all yours 24-7. Use me ."

JN: When N had the opportunity to go to XXXXXXXXXX last year I really began to think about missions. It has always been my desire to be involved in short term missions. It has never worked out that I would be able to go. God has laid on my heart His desire for me and our church to do more, as well he has laid on my heart XXXXXXXXX. I am looking forward to seeing what God has planned for us, and how He will use us to be an encouragement to XXXXXXXXXand the Christian workers, and to bring hope in a very practical way to the XXXXXXX people.

Well that pretty much sums it up. Theese are the hearts of the team. I am certain that all those that could not be on the front lines, but chose to support this trip behind the scenes, share these same views.

The Next Act of Kindness

I received this email from a team member. I thought I'd share it with you.
Here it is........................

Oct 11 J and I will be heading for the country in Central Asia , in the Former USSR. We will be traveling with a group of 11. The purpose of our trip is to bring humanitarian aid to this region, and to share the love of Christ through the encouragement of the Christian nationals there. Our original location had to be changed because of political unrest and a concern for our local friends.

While in Central Asia, we will be outfitting a building that will be used as an Orphanage for street kids,and laying the ground work for a project a project we call "While you were out- Central Asian style". The vision is this: we plan to bring local shut in or needy seniors to a house we have there , and get them cleaned up, checked out by our nursing staff, and make a fuss over them. While this is taking place, we will go into theire homes and completely renovate them. The seniors will return to a new home a week later with all new furniture / pots and pans / sheets, etc. The cupboards will be stocked with food and the basic needs will be met. We then plan to hire a home care worker who will spend One day a week at each of the 5 houses. Once a month, we will also have a supply of groceries brought to the homes.

The estimated cost for this part of or trip is $2500 U.S.for one year.
As this is the first trip of this kind, we will be sourcing supplies, and adapting our plans as we go, but are confident that years to come, this type of project will become the norm.

We would appreciate your prayers. Please pray that the bags would make it there, that the seniors would be comfterable with allowing us to help them, and that we would be affective.

Blessings J.

Back Drop and Overview

I have some freinds that heard about some incredible needs in former Soviet Republic. They saved up their dough and appealed to their freinds and families to help out. Together they raised enough money to go and have an impact.

The work they did had a very big impact on the lives of some very marginalized people. They quietly displayed the face of Christ to a hurting people; serving them, helping them, loving them, caring for them. The impact was so great they knew they needed to return.

Return they did! Again and again they returned, transforming this neglected place and people, into a place with hope.

The amount of money, goods and services they raised is mind boggling.
This act of kindness is not only a blessing to those receiving the kindness, but also and equally as profound to those giving.

As I have watched as a quiet observer, I have noted the blessings that have been poured out on the givers. I am also astounded at the fact that these givers are spread out geographically and seperated by 100's of miles. These acts of kindness make these 100's of miles seem like next door, as they are joined at the heart. The heart is Gods Love and Grace. The blessings that are found there are like living water. When we follow Gods law of loving each other, the blessings multiply and reverberate in all directions.

I need to close for now, but if you dont mind, I'd like to offer up a cyber prayer.

Dear God. Thank You for convicting the hearts of these kind and brave people. Lord, I thank You that they are bearing Your fruit. I pray Lord that You would continue to bless and keep them as they perform acts of kindness in Your creation. Lord I thank You for the 100's of people spread over 100's of miles that support this venture with prayer, money, time, and talents. Lord they do this for You because You are great. You are just. You are mighty. You are loving. You are faithful. You are God and we bow before You with thanksgiving. In Jesus name we pray. amen

act of kindness

Welcome to our act of kindness blog spot
Stay tuned for some really great things!