End of February and the winter is still raging . Most years the winter is all but over by Feb 13.. almost like clock work. This year it just won't give up, even though many people are ready to give up. Fortunately we have some friends like Ravil and Andrew who after they were finished their day jobs, they were eager to help Sergey with more coal deliveries .
What a relief when that little white truck shows up .
Back at the farm. the boys are busy with their chores .. One of the boys has really excelled in Auto mechanic's , so he is helping to update the bus by adding some extra seats, and making the seats removable so that the bus will be more versatile .
While he is doing that some of the others are grinding corn for the chickens while the others are giving the kitchen a good cleaning.
Last week Julie and I had a meeting with someone about the possibilities of a team of paramedics coming to Kyrgyzstan to do clinics and first aid training .. I was reminded how great this would be when this mornings reports started coming in .
Today was a difficult day for some of our friends . One of our Babushka's that Tanya helps has had a stroke. Fortunately Tanya was doing a wellness check and found her and was able to get her in an Ambulance and to the hospital.
Out at the farm one of or neighbours had a fall on the ice and we think he has fractured his pelvis. He was able to call Sergey and the boys for help. They were able to get a stretcher made with some blankets and mattresses and loaded him into the back of our bus and get him to the hospital and stay with him for the day to help him get the care he needs.
Tanya is staying close to her lady as well and wrote me with this request .
"John wanted to ask help for grandmother . Which we help with products.. do you remember her. You invited her in cafe when Sam came with team..
She is now in the hospital. She has a stroke. Says bad, right hand and
leg moving very bad, pressure 200, diabetes mellitus 20... All medicines for treatment very expensive her pension was not enough. a tomogram of the head of 2500 som, she needs a device to measure sugar, a tannometer and medicine, a bucket for the toilet and various medicines for treatment.. Could you help her. Her needs is 15,000 com... ($235 CDN)" update , this need has been covered thank you
Sergey stepped off the path and found himself in some deep snow . But don't feel to sorry for him.. he does have beautiful mittens he could be warring. I guess this is how we learn hahaha.
Valentines day usually marks the end of winter, and maybe just one or two more little snow falls that are gone as soon as the sun comes up, but not this year.
It's not just the cold, but we are getting the snow as well.
We thought we were finished with the coal for this year, but many people who thought they had enough coal are now calling for some help
Even families that we brought coal to earlier are getting scared that they will not make it. So now rather then bringing a full ton of coal in a delivery we are bringing about 1/4 ton to last for the next few weeks .
With the lasting cold, some of the water lines have started to freeze up again. So when done delivering coal for the day, they have loaded the water tanks back on to the truck and out on water deliveries late into the evening.
There is a saying , "A hard winter" .. Yes winter is a lot of hard work, but God provides, gives strength and makes a way .. So Blessed we have the boys to help, the truck to do the deliveries , a solid team to supervise and organise. But it does not happen with out the resources, that's why we are so blessed by YOU.. thank you for making it possible to bring LOVE and LIFE to those in a desperate time.
Last Monday night we had an opportunity to visit the ladies that do the knitting for us and share an update. We were able to show so many people who have been blessed with warm heads and hands.
then on Tuesday we met with the seniors who have been supporting with Tanyas outreach to the seniors in Kyrgyzstan .
We have ordered the Yurts. the frames will be ready when I get there, and I will be able to choose . It will be ready for delivery within the week , so we can have time to pour the pad for it to sit on.
The guys have still been out delivering the coal to people that are in need and did not make it through the winter .. although things have gotten considerably warmer in the villages, our friends up in the mountains are still battling the weather .
We are thankful to our friends at Luke Service International . They opperate the Hope Clinic in Tokmok.
Yesterday the boys went in to the clinic to get Physicals and have blood work done.
They even had a couple of them on the EKG machine, and some medication given.
Then in the same clinic they have a dentist who did a cleaning on everyone's teeth. In a couple days two of the boys will be going back for a follow up with the dentist.
A couple dates for your Colander if we are in your area .
For many years the drive up to the mountains brought us through what was being used as a dump.. It was not a real dump, it was just a spot on the side of the road where people started dumping off their trash .. It was not even in one spot , it spread all along the side of the road. From there, the wind would blow all the bags out into the adjoining fields ... it was a real mess. We tried a few times to clean it up, we brought in big tractors and trucks to haul it away but in a few weeks it was back again.
A couple years ago , one man and his son started to care for this land , they got the garbage removed and then stayed there to chase people away who tried to dump. They then began to plant a tree hedge , and flowers , even a strawberry patch .. They put a little picnic shelter beside the water , and a yurt for people to get out of the heat. They are doing an amazing job at reclaiming this land.
This morning Beken came to the farm looking for me .
He had a request .. There is a section on the land that he would like to plant 30 apple trees and 10 pear trees. The total cost of this will be $150. He has used all his recourses and was wondering if we could help. As a side note , $150 is what we spent each time we cleaned the dump up... Any ways , we would love to be able to help with this request if some one would like to sponsor trees .
Here is a short video of the days coal deliveries . What a blessing that we were able to do this .
One of the people receiving coal was a top up for a Babushka that we had visited with coal in the fall. She was ready with a bag of Borsolk and some apples for the boys .
On the farm the boys put some finishing touches on their bird houses then put them up in the trees around the main house .
Maybe by now you are starting to get a little desensitized to all the coal photos .. but stop for a minute and imagine being on the receiving end . At this point the winter has been long and cold and the coal they had been able to purchase them selves at the beginning of the year is used up . Winter will just not stop. Today eight more families received the boost of coal and food needed to get them through the winter.
It sure makes me smile when I see our guys working so hard to be a blessing to others .. Those are life skills right there !
A shout out to everyone who sponsored food and coal .. an an honorable mention to those who helped purchase and maintain the little white truck that has become such a symbol of HOPE
Back in Canada , Julie and I were thrilled to meet with a special group of ladies from the Knitting With A Purpose group who work year round making all the hats , scarves mittens and other wonderful creations that they send to Kyrgyzstan to bless the people there.
Here are a few of the mitts we gave out on our last trip.
this day we had a small orphanage and some families to the kashar for a picnic, horse back riding and knitting give away .
If you notice the yurt in this picture you will see that it is in pretty rough shape and is no longer water tight. We will be replacing the yurts this spring if we are able to secure the funding .. In total we will need about $3000 to be back in business with this need .
Over 20 years ago at the Havelock Church, we got the call to missions. Several years ago that church closed, but reopened as a church based community centre. It is incredible to see how much the foot print of that centre in the community has grown. In that same time period, the work we have been doing in Kyrgyzstan has continued to grow and leave a footprint in the communities around us . We are excited to share that on the afternoon of Sunday March 3 we will be having an open house at the Havelock Centre to share the impact of the last 20 years , both here and there .
We have some friends from 20 years ago in Havelock as well as some newer friends who will be sharing with coffee house style music. As well we will be serving Coffee and Tashkent Tea along with desserts.
A few weeks back our van broke down and we rented a You Haul truck because it was the cheapest at $19 a day .. Our friend Scott Cooper from Streat level Advocacy drove us over to pick up the truck . On the way Julie was discussing with him about his current ministry needs . One of his big needs was a place where he could store stuff temporarily as he collected things for homeless transitioning into housing . Well when I picked up the truck they told me that since I rented for a week, I would get a free storage container for a month ... Perfect , We were able to bless Scott by meeting this need .
Ruslan has been taking Tourism at University , and is now living on Campus . It is difficult for us because we worry about him . We are thrilled that our friends at Luke Services International also care for him, and now have him enrolled in their English learning program . This is so great as it will be a big help to him and at the same time help to keep him feeling connected .
The boys are getting some carpentry experience in the shop. They had to draw what they were going to build , then cut and plane their boards and then build what they had drawn . A great exercise for them.
In the back of the shop Sergey was able to take this opportunity to fix the truck . After about 100 trips loaded down with coal on rough mountain roads , regular repairs and maintenance is a common thing . We are blessed that the majority of the work we can do in house .
Mish works at a ranch / camp in the mountains near the farm . It is such a great opportunity for him. The owner realy likes him and treats him so well. It also means that he is only about 15 minutes away and is still able to be in contact with the farm . Last week he invited all the guys to the mountain for a Sauna , a picnic and a hike in the mountains with the horses.
We heard about a saxophone concert in the city last week that the boys were excited to go to so Sergey took them out for supper as well .. I am so pleased when they are able to experience things like this .
Back on the farm Olivtina continues to come out three days a week and gives cooking lessons to the boys .. they love the attention , and they are becoming pretty good cooks as well
I shared a few needs that we have coming up this spring .
The bigest one is that our yurts have reached the end of their life. The weather on the side of the mountain is so nasty at times. The high winds and driving rain causes the yurts to buckle and the felt and canvas to tear more and more the older they get . We tried to figure out what to do, but removing the yurts was not really an option since we get many groups that come and need the extra space. It is also fun for people to stay in a yurt . We had a 6 meter yurt and a four meter yurt . We found that we could purchase two 4 meter yurts for less then one six meter yurt . So we were able to sell our 6 meter yurt for enough to purchase a new canvas and repair our 4 meter yurt . Then we will purchase two new 4 meter yurts that are made with a steel frame rather then wood. This is much stronger and will not buckle in the high winds causing the canvas to tear . The cost for the two new yurts will be $3000 . I have had $250 come in towards that need this week . . we would love some help with this .
Shortly we will be back on the road again. Julie is going out to Newfoundland to help care for our grand daughter . I will be heading to Kyrgyzstan in March . I will need to purchase tickets this week for that. It will be about $1800 for the flights .. again If anyone would like to help that would be awesome . I will have one for sure but possibly two others coming with me for about 5 or six weeks . we will be putting up the yurts and planting gardens
speaking of seeds .. I have been collecting seeds here and Vlad has been collecting seeds there , so we have a good start . We would like to have seeds and a food hamper for close to 200 people this spring . For this we will need about $3000.. this will not only help feed the family right away after a long winter, but it will help feed them and their family, neighbours and friends for the months .
