Every week we have a class with the boys as part of their life skills training. We have had topics like Nutrition, Hygiene, and anti Bullying. Today's lesson was on Respect ... Showing respect brings respect.
Ravil is a great teacher and likes to make the class interactive. The boys respond well to his style.
I can just imagine what Sergey is thinking as he sits down for a great meal at the end of the day . I look across the table and see such bounty from the farm .. One of my favorites ... Korduk is potatoes with carrots and caramelized onions. Served with it is more bounty from the farm, pickles, apples, Kinchi, homemade bread, and compote ( a drink made from boiling down fresh fruit and canned)
We are pleased to welcome another new boy to the farm. Sergey arrived right after we got home from shopping for the boys, so he missed out on the winter coats .
So back to the bazaar for round two . Sergey was shy at first but then he got into it and was able to find some nice clothes.
As I look through the pictures, I was happy to see one of our sellers that has helped us over the years when doing large shops for the orphanages.
Last night Julie received a thank you note. It emphasises the appreciation for having coal going into the winter.
Today was a big day for a few of our boys. Sergey brought three of them into town and met up with Ravil and Vlad to do a bit of winter shopping for them .
Some smart looking boys I would say
Then out for coffee as a special treat.
At the end of the Day Vlad drove them back to the farm so they could leave our car with Ravil . Ravil has just moved back to Kyrgyzstan from three years in Ukraine . He has been such a big help to us on the farm as well as his main job at the Hope clinic. He is saving to purchase a car, so we have lent him ours until he raises enough for his own. We are so happy to be able to help him at this time, and will hopefully be able to help him financially when the time comes to purchase his own car.
They got home from shopping to see that another load have coal has made it through . 10 tons. That will keep the boys busy for a few days.
I wanted to take a moment one more time and share a big thank you to everyone who helped us raise the funds for the truck on the farm. It has been a true work horse, especially as we are now in coal delivery season .
Stop for a moment and imagine the desperation of going into the winter with no coal to heat your home, or no food left to put on the table . Then this little truck pulls up and the boys from the farm pile out and begin to bring you HOPE .. Its at this point that many people simply break down with emotion.
When not on coal deliveries, the truck is used for bringing food to families that we hear of that are in need . literally thousands of people have experienced the HOPE that comes out of this little white truck.
Between deliveries , this little truck is a work horse around the farm . Today it helped to take down the Yurts and pack them away inside for the winter .
Then it was used to load up old manure and bring id down from the mountain to the farm green house .
Faith begins with HOPE , and for many that HOPE begins with a little white truck . The work of the little white truck is something that people can see and experiences ... and something that they understand.
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Vlad visited the Red River orphanage sewing program. We purchase items here that we put in the farm gift shop. We sell them for just what we paid.. we buy them so that the orphanage has money to purchase more materials to continue teaching the kids .
The felt slippers are always a big hit with those visiting the farm.
It's fun to see the creative side of the kids with the pillows and wall hangings that they make.
Todays was another day where we brought in the huge truck to move almost 700 bags of coal at once to the city, then from there we shuttled the coal to the homes using our truck. this will be enough for enough to take the edge off for approx. 25 families.
Part of todays deliveries included setting up depots with two more of our friends that will deliver to families through out the winter as needed .
I was just contacted with a friend who runs an orphanage in Karakool .. that on the far side of isykool up in the mountains . They have several families there that they would like to help as well. It is about 7 or 8 hours drive, so he will arrange for the coal and food hampers to be purchased there. Then he will get some of the older kids at the orphanage to help bag and deliver , and then send us the pictures.
A special blessings to everyone who has had a part in this.. donating for coal, donating for food, packing and delivering . There is no way I could ever convey the feeling of relief and gratitude that so many are experiencing ... GOOD JOB, MOLODETS, MAKTI JASALDI !
I wanted to give a little update about the vitamins. We had about $1000 worth of vitamins here in Canada that we were not able to bring to Kyrgyzstan with us during the lock down. A couple weeks ago we were in touch with someone that would be traveling to Kyrgyzstan and they were able to deliver them for us . Along with that we were able to purchase some extra vitamins specific to the need that we were short on. Over the last few weeks, our team has been working to get these into the hands of those who need them .
It is our hope that we will be able to place another order in the next few weeks. If you would like to help us with this, the donation can be made at the top right side of the blog.
Another thing that we are taking donations for is the coal . You can see here the boys are busy breaking up the coal and putting it into manageable bags. One bag of coal weighs just over 100 lbs and will keep a family warm for about 5 days. Tomorrow morning they will be back on the road delivering food and coal to those who need the help this time of year . Thank you to everyone who has made this possible .
400 bags of coal were delivered today . We are reaching villages that are further and further from the farm. so we rented a transport to bring the coal along , and where it could not fit we had our truck to shuttle the coal into the smaller lane ways .
The first stop was to Tanya where we dropped off enough for her to be able to give out coal through the winter . She wrote me right away to thank me but also to tell me that this coal is of the best quality and it is so great to get such good coal.
When talking to her , we found out that her car is starting to blow black smoke and needs to be fixed and can not be driven any more . Having transportation is something that is so important for her. So we have asked her to get a price to fix it and we will share here what we find out , maybe we will be able to help her with that.
As the need for coal has increased exponentially over other years , so have the resources. I have shared many times something that was spoken to us years ago .. that is that your assignment is not tied to your resources, but your resources ARE tied to your assignment. We see that play out here one more time. As we are working on meeting last years targets for donations, we have had to double the assignment ..
This week we received an incredible blessing from Luke Services International. They heard about what we are doing and the urgency to get coal delivered, and they stepped forward in a huge way ...
Once again God has proven to us that YES the resources DO follow the assignment .
If you look closely you will see the Luke Services International Logo on some of the coal bags. This is because many of their sponsors will not know and recognize our boys, but they will recognize the logo and know that their donation have made it through to families they wanted to support.
On the way now to the farm we have 50 tons of coal and plan to deliver 750 bags to about 25 families .
In a few villages over there is a small rehabilitation centre that reached out to see if we could help with coal . We figured that we could bulk ship the coal to them and their people are strong and healthy and can do their own bagging .
Last week the boys got to go paint balling as a bit of a reward for all their hard work up to this point. Vlad asked them what they would like when they finish the next wave of coal.. They have decided that they would like to go bowling and out for lunch .. I think we can handle that .. and its great for them to have a goal or a vision ... "Without a vision, they will perish ". One thing that we have noticed is that it is so much easier to keep the boys out of trouble during coal season .. after a hard days work, they are very content to just relax.
These boys know what it is to be with out food or with out heat, they know what it is like to not have warm clothes, or many of the other necessities of life. Because of this, they are just so happy that they can be a part of bringing such blessing to others...They know what it means.
