You can be part of a virtual team.

I have been chatting with  Vlady.  He shared a need that he has and is hoping that we can help him.  He has a house that he had for people needing a place to live, but during the fall he had a fire there, and the house is now unlivable.  To repair the house and put a new roof on it is $3700 more then he has.   This is the type of thing that would be done by a team if we had teams coming.  The boys from the farm can help with the labour.  I am thinking that if we found half a dozen people that would like to be part of a virtual team and help us to raise the funds, we could really bless Vlady and Dr Tatyana.  They do so much for so many 

What a great thing to be able to help them at this time . 

Last week I had shared about needing to order more coal.  I am always amazed at Gods provision.  A couple days ago we received a blessing from Luke Services International that was able to cover all 35 tons .  Then today they gave Vlad a cake and candies for a new years celebration out at the farm.  What a great blessing for not just us but so many families that we will be able to help out. 

 

Out on deliveries

The little white truck is still on the road. Almost every day we hear of people who have run out of coal.  With the power shortages and not being able to heat with electricity, many are forced to heat with coal and did not have enough coal  on hand, or the money to purchase it if they can find it. 

It is almost certain that if people are cold and can't afford coal,  then for the most part they will be hungry as well .  So we have been delivering both coal and food to families. 

These are just a few of the families who the boys visited today.  

I bet the boys were thinking that when the fields were all harvested that they would be taking it easy.   They have been such a blessing to so many .. those bags are about 100 lbs each and they have bagged and delivered  into the thousands. 

Marat did get a couple days off last week for some eye tests .  He was having a little trouble and thought we should check it out.  He has been given some eye drops and medication and yesterday received his new glasses.

At 2 am yesterday Julie and I were up and on a skype visit with the farm. It was so nice to see everyone. Acel Nick and Kamalla did all the shopping and organizing for this . 

Thank you to everyone who has had a part of these events that were sponsored through the Christmas Wish book . 
 

Christmas celebrated from one end of the valley to the other

Christmas celebrated from one end of the valley to the other.  What an incredible thing to be part of such JOY, Blessing and HOPE to so many.  Lets go for a little trip and see ..

First stop is to the Blind society where over 150 kids from families affected by blindness came out for the celebration, and what a celebration it was .  

 Next stop, we will visit Tanya and go with her to the men's home where 270 men are reminded that they are loved and that they are not alone . 

Aizada and her kids were so blessed to receive her new washing machine thanks to one of the sponsors from the wish book. 

Final stop was to the far end of the valley were Vera was bringing the HOPE and Joy to 100 kids in her village 

What a Joy and blessing this has been .. and so many more to come .  We are working our way through the Christmas wish book .. there is still time to go there and see what's left if you would like to help.

Hope and Pray

Its Christmas eve and the boys are working late into the night.  Truck after truck arrived bringing more coal as we are preparing for coal and food deliveries to more families. The needs just continue to grow.  When they started to give away the coal that was set aside for the farm and the green house we were getting a little concerned but made the decision and have ordered another 35 tons of coal.  The boys will be busy puting the coal into 100 lb bags , then starting in the morning HOPE will arrive in the little white truck. 

We have also delivered coal in bulk to some locations that will distribute it to families around them. 

We had a donation of Christmas gifts for the village kids that we will be able to give away with the food hampers.   The boys are also working on preparing the food hampers .  The guest house has been transformed and is being used as a place to pack and prepare . 

We got a nice picture of our Christmas tree in Kyrgyzstan all decorated .. wish we were there , but glad that our friends can enjoy it.  

 

We HOPE and pray that you all have a wonderful Christmas.

HOPE, what a powerful gift!

I have noticed several articles like this on the news .  How devastating the lock downs and loss our tourist business has been for so many businesses .  They have been calling for help from the government at this time.  There have been relief payments,  tax breaks and help paying staff, but it still falls short for so many and they are hoping for further help.   Those are the stories we are hearing here in the west.  Now lets stop for a minute and consider the difficulties in other countries where they do not have those support networks from their governments.  

A couple days ago I heard from Baltagul and her husband.  They have had a very difficult time during this pandemic , just months before everything started, they had just opened their own "snack bar" in a tourist resort area in Turkey.   They ended up loosing almost everything in the first waves of the pandemic.  That did not hold them down.  They both got new jobs and some times two or three so that they could pay off debt and rebuild.  Things were starting to pick up and they went back into business again , this time it was Gormogon variant  (the villain off of the TV show Bones ) who has come back and is shutting the world down again. 

Julie and I were devastated that we were shut down again just as we were about to head back to the farm, and the consequences for us is to stay home and continue to feed logs into the fire and wait it out. But for Baltagul and Yasin the consequences are so much harder.  Trying to rebuild from under a mountain of debt brought on by the world around them.   With the help of another sponsor and friend we have been able to send them half the  money they need , but we still need another $500 to get them back onto solid ground and restore HOPE .  I am sure that anything that any of you would like to give toward this would be so greatly appreciated at this time.  

  We were blessed to have a large donation of Christmas gifts donated through our friend Farm Sergey.  We will be able to add gifts for the kids to the food hampers that we will be giving out in a few days .   As you can see in the picture below, the truck was full to the brim .  What a blessing .. thank you 

 

Today they were  in town to do the shopping for the food hampers to go with the gifts.  We were blessed to have Ravil meet them and take them out for lunch . 

Sergey , Anya and Caroline had a few busy days shopping and packing gifts and then arranging a wonderful party for the kids at the Orlofka orphanage. 

Vera sent me an update .  She and Oleg have packed 100 childrens packages and are ready to give them out on Sunday.  

Thank you to all of you who have given so that others may receive.  What we are giving is not just a physical gift, but it is a gift of HOPE , and everything that comes with that.   What a powerful thing it is !