Check out these smiles

Here's Bekah having some fun with the kids from town.

A Down Day

So Today is a down day for us... The team from Norway is off to the lake with Sergey and Anya , Christean is off to see her mom. Ed is visiting friends in the capital city.... and we are exhausted.. at one point Yesterday, I was on the computer and Skype, Julie was on the cell phone and home phone at the same time, and someone was ringing the door bell.....and we were 5 min. past when were were meant to leave the house for a meeting .... Today ... I had one goal..... to build the perfect club sandwich and fries. ... After 4 full months here, the only thing I have not found is the extra long tooth pics. So off I went to the Market this morning.... Apparently once it is over 100 degrees ... you can't buy lettuce, the bacon I spotted 2 months ago was the very same one found today, the hard cheese, you could spread with a knife it was so hot, the sandwich bread I found last week... must have been a fluke.... the rotisserie chicken had a nice batch of raw chickens put in the cooker above them ...yuck... But I did find and am home with a small pack of extra large toothpicks.... so that pretty much makes today a great success.

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Recipe for Success

Start with Four neglected Children

Add:

1 part Sharpies from The Mid West

1 part Tinfoil from Tennessee

1 part String From California

1 part glue sticks from Crayola

2 generous portions of love from Ontario (Emma and Bekah)

No limit to the amount this recipe can make ..

Here are a few examples of the finished project....

Follow up from the village

We had Laurisa over to the Apartment today to catch up on a little business...
She started contacting all the parties involved with the water for the village ... When she contacted the Town, she was told that The offer to help was really just a promise and that there was just no money for this .... Well she has dug in, and is determined to see this job done... She has told the village that they may have to all kick in a little money, what every they can afford, and that they will all have to do their part, they figure that they can dig a lot of the trench by hand and save some money. We gave them $750 today to get things started , and have another $750 when the Youth team arrives... And have agreed to join them in prayer that God will now move the other half of the mountain.......
We then informed her that we have a sponsor in place to set up the activity room for the Home for invalid men, so to figure out the best and most cost effective way of doing that and that in three weeks, we would bring in a team to help set it up. Then on to the next order of business. A couple of posts back I showed a photo of a small girl in the dump.... it provoked this comment

"There is something seriously wrong with this world when images like these do not stir up any emotion. John, see if you can find out their names and we'll see what we can bring with us to let them know that there is Hope and that they are loved ."

.

Well I am Happy to tell you that The paper work for Marina and Valira should be completed in two or three days, and they will be moving in with Laurisa..... Now we just need to convince PI's child sponsorship program to register them....either that or give Laurisa a raise !

Not So "Simple Dream's " Part One

Over the last few months while we were putting together "Simple Dreams" for the up coming Web launch , we have come across some not so simple dreams.... Dreams that might be a challenge even by North American standards..... Well today we got the ball rolling on three of those dreams.

With the team coming from Norwood, we have several projects that they will be involved with... Two of them a Children's playgrounds....Kids for Kids !.... Well if you have seen their schedule, you know that they have a very busy couple of weeks ahead of them... so we have started the ball rolling, and they will be here to help complete each project....If our timing is right .... The first stop this evening was to see Gulnara, the director of the village orphanage .... Well you have not seen the happy dance until you have seen this video.

We told her to get the project started, and the we would have the seats brought here from Canada for the swings by the time the playground was ready.....They have been dreaming of this for so long, right away they brought us to the future sight and showed us where everything will be going.... We left her with $500 to get them started, and told her the rest would follow when the team got here............

If that was not enough for one night , we headed to the down town to check on the playground we started there 4 days ago..... This is the sight of the new church/ outreach center that was just opened in the center of the village.... Vera runs a feeding program for the shut ins, and a cafe for those that just need a meal.... From the moment she saw this place, she dreamed of removing an old shed that was there, and putting in a playground for all the kids that are down town.... Well day 4 and the shed is down and the sight is prepared, and the fence is ready to go up.....On the way there, We even stopped and bought a giant slide and a double bench swing... She says the kids were even starting to hover waiting for the playground, ... they were a little Camera shy, but Ed Translated for us ! I just love when the translator gets into the role....

Tomorrow, we will start another project.... Water into the village...... Oh Ya.. and a new recreation room for the Men at the home for invalid men...

Not so Simple Dreams

Dr Tatyana is the heart Dr here in town... I know it is because hearts are her specialty, but I think it is more because she has a really big heart.... We have watched and seen how she not only treats her patient, but cares for their entire family.... She and her husband Vlady have also been a great help to families in town for adoptions... Vlady works as a translator, tour guide and driver, but his favorite role it that of proud Grandpa to visiting children.... Day or night they are on call to help out and even make house calls. They are people that Care... and that's why we want to bless them.... Tatyana is the Dr that we shared a need of blood test strips for... she knows that they are as much as $1 each and tries to be as sparing as possible.... Now watch as we deliver her over 1200 test strips that were just brought to her from an adopting family.

And if that was not enough, we also brought her a large bag of Vitamins for rickets, minerals, prenatal vitamins, cold meds for adults and kids.... you name it, she now has it...... What a blessing it was to bring such joy to her today.... thank you to everyone that had a part in this not so simple dream.

Fun in The Sun

You are going to start getting tired of scenes like this, but let me tell you for the kids, they will never get tired of having the chance to get out of the orphanage. Yesterday was Tuesday night supper in town, and The director of the orphanage asked us if we could take the kids on a picnic.... ....We had heard of a neat little swimming holeand thought that this would be a good time to check it out... What was even better is that it was just down the road from the Yurts where we get the shashleek... Did someone say shashleek.?.... the kids just about flipped.... swimming and shashleek.... does life get any better then that!..... well yes it does, One of our young friends from the U.S. brought us a wiffle ball and bat.... What a hit...... pardon the pun.....
The kids kept saying how this was the best day ever.... It does not take a whole lot to make a big impact, sometimes just the simple things in life that we all take for granted can have the biggest impact...

Where's Waldo ?

We were a little late in the day when we got to the dump, and we thought that there was no one there.... I guess since we did not have Laurisa with us, the kids were afraid of us... even the food we brought could not draw them out of hiding.... If you take a quick look It is hard to see them , but as you look closely they begin to emerge...... It's like a really sick game of Where's Waldo ... From across the dump with a telephoto lens we were able to spot this little girl sneaking a peek to see if we were still there......... Possibilities International is actively working with Larisa to make photo's like this a thing of the past.

We showed this photo to Larisa... she told us that this girl is here at the dump with her 4 year old brother...... judging from her position, I can visualize her hiding him.

Our Hero

We are so excited to have a real hero for the cause here in Central Asia.... Ed Dickson... the happy guy on the left..( Eddie Spaghetti ) is here for two weeks. He joined us for supper last night at the town orphanage where we cooked a spaghetti dinner for the kids and their visitors from Norway.... This team from Norway represents a much larger group that works hard to pack and ship humanitarian aid containers to Central Asia.....They visited a few of the orphanages, and then they have headed to another town..
We are looking forward to having Ed along with us whenever he is available.. It was through Ed that we learned that missions is all about a willing heart.... Just take the time to let people know that they are loved and God will look after everything else. We have seen this play out in his life as we have had the privilege to travel with him. From the wealthy North American churches to the homes for the disabled in Central Asia .... His message is the same.... You are loved !

Six degrees of separation !

Six degrees of separation
From : Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person he or she knows and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people he or she knows, then everyone is an average of six "steps" away from each person on Earth."

I have always wondered if this is true..... if it is, that would mean that I am only 6 steps away from some one that has a whole warehouse of these Apple Laptops....Some one that has the ways and the means to make life for us a little less frustrating... I can only imagine what it would be like to start a project.... only once.... not the 4 times it usually takes when the computer crashed over and over......Note to Benjamin and Sam, and all those others that love to tell me about how wonderful their Mac's are..... Please stop... it is to painful.............................................

"Lord give us the Strength"

We went for a visit to the home for invalid men. Possibilities International had arranged for some singers from town and some dancers from the village to come and

put on a concert for them...

Along with that we brought some fruit , cookies and candies for the men that are in the "immobile" section.

..

. It is always difficult to see kids in a place like this, but when they turn 16, this is there future if they are disabled.

They were very excited to see us, and even more excited to receive the food... many of them had never seen a banana before. We have been in places like this before, so we had an idea of what to expect.... Not that we were looking forward to it, but it was no surprise .

There is a room were these men can go, other then their beds... it is about 12 ft by 16ft and has Little benches around the out side..... one little heater, and an empty shelf where they hope one day a TV might sit. It would be so great if we could turn this room into a real activity room... arts and crafts, TV and VCR, maybe a chair..... at least something..... even a heater or two would be nice... last winter, 4 people died of exposure here . The problem here is that, like the village orphanage, there are just so many people ...250.... that it is intimidating to people wanting to help..... and lets face it... if they were cute kids, they would have a TV and a carpet in the activity room by now..... "Help us Lord.... give us the strength, support, and the will to make an even greater difference in the lives of these men........"

Moving the Mountains

Two days ago I shared that I had a dream that we could bring an impact to the
people of Central Asia that could last an eternity.... This day, God proved that to be a possibility.... We were working today in the small village. .....Let me start this story back a month........ We visited the village with Sam, and had Keven sing for many of Laura's neighbours . We handed out some food packs there and then headed to the dump to bring lunch...As we were leaving , we were asked to come back that night for supper.... We had such a busy schedule that it was not possible, so I told them we would come back shortly..... Well this week was the down time in the fields when the workers would return to see their families.... The timing was perfect... We Gave $15o to Larisa, and asked her to prepare a party and invite the whole neighborhood.....

Well that she did.... As we were heading there, David asked me " So what do you think we can expect here today".....Nothing could have prepared us for what we found.... The entire village was out waiting for us ....21 families....


We were greeted by the village elders, and presented with the traditional Kyrgies bread signifying that we were welcome to join them . Laura was so happy to see us again.... we held her as she had a little cry...From there we sat down to a fully prepared table of fresh fruits and vegetables and breads...

There were two more courses to follow.... Ploff and Bish-Bal-Mack....meaning Five Fingers... because you eat it with your five fingers...

Even the Samavar's were chugging at full steam !

They then had a special ceremony... when a small child first is starting to walk, they tie there legs together with yarn, then have all the little boys have a food race to see who can get to the child first... the first one ... the fastest... cuts the yarn freeing the child to run into their future...

We then had a reenactment of a bride being presented to the grooms family and the scarf being placed on the head of the bride signifying the acceptance into the family....Julie got to place the scarf.....


After supper, was a great surprise.... We had 3 cases of the Samaritans purse boxes..... This was so special for us as well.... for 24 years, we have packed these boxes every Christmas, and have been involved in packing and shipping the master cases.


It was such a thrill to see the buzz of excitement and anticipation as the boxes were handed out.


Do you remember this girl.... we payed her education and sent her home from the dump last month....We then handed out bags of groceries for the adults, they all sat in a circle the way the kids had moments and the excitement started all over again .


When things died down, Many of the village leaders came to us..... They had heavy hearts...For 5 years now, this village has had no water, and they must walk 3 km to get there water. They have permission to get water from the home for invalid men 1 1/2 km away, but can not afford the cost to put in the pipes....You see it is going to cost $70 a home......totally out of their reach... that is $1500 for the whole job.... I shared with them how at our home we went only five months without water and finally out of desperation we called on God to heal our well and the next day, we had water..... They were at that point of desperation, and together we called on God to move the mountains and to bring his living water to this entire village.... ...I raced home, went strait to the computer and emailed the youth team from Canada... I told them of the situation here. Now as I said earlier, they are from a small church in a small village, that has already gone way beyond the call, but that did not stop them..... With in 3 minutes, the response came back......





Johnny my man,

For mountains to move, it takes men of faith to take the first step, thank you for taking those steps, now take a few more and let the Mayor know that the water is coming, we will figure out the money part from here. "Go tell it on the Mountain" Johnny. PTL

I'll talk to Jamie and present the opportunity on Sunday but go ahead, run man run,

Blessings, Blessings

Now in the natural, I have no idea where they are going to find the extra money, but I know that God will speak to somebody .

Now for something else that also blew me away .... This is the first time that this village ever got together for a celebration...They have spent there entire lives here working and trying to survive....Never taking the time to fellowship like this...... I think we are going to do this again..... like next month when we turn the water on..... stay tuned...... If you want to be a part of this celebration .

.

The 11th hour

As we sit here in the mountain village of Central Asia, we are filled with emotions. When we first took on this position of Simple Dreams correspondent, we thought it would be fun and exciting. In fact it has taken us to places and situations that you just do not want to go. Things that seem so small to us , more of a bother or a temporary set back , are insurmountable mountains that people face each day... when you live on $40 a month , something as basic and life sustaining as food is just not in your budget. Before we can present their needs, it is necessary to evaluate the situation and determine what it will take to help. Shinning a light on their need, many times brings people to a place of being forced to acknowledge the total and utter devastating reality of their situation.... Take for example yesterday when we brought a beautiful 18 year old girl for glasses, how do you sit back quietly as she was sent away from the eye doctor's appointment with no glasses, believing that she will be blind in a few months because she has no way of raising the $300 dollars she needs for the operation that will save her sight..... I GUESS THE ANSWER IS YOU DON'T...You take a deep breath and step up to the plate. She will be receiving this operation next week..... With in a couple hours of getting back home last night, I had one person guaranteeing the funds and another fronting the money until the funds arrive. We used to kind of joke about how God provides at the 11th hour....... Time stands still here in Central Asia..... it's always 11:00. Next week, we will be launching the Simple Dreams web sight, where you will find hundreds of needs like the one I have mentioned here , ranging from $5 to $500, and every one of them spotlighting the heartbreaking realities that people face each day. As the needs are met followup emails and posts will be sent out so you can see first hand the impact that you have made. You will find it located at http://www.simpledreams.tv/
If you are a blogger and would like to help, please spread the word.... together we CAN make a difference.

Well Baby ... you just ain't seen nothing yet !!

We have spent a few days this week preparing for a team of friends from our home churches youth group.
There is just so much that we want to do with them, but we have to scale back because there is only so much time in a day. They have a few main projects in the two short weeks they will be here.

1) Family day in the townlay pground for community
2) Build a play ground in the village
3) Build a play ground at the village orphanage
4) Get a family from the orphanage settled into there new home... animals included
5) bring the kids from two orphanages on outings
6) help renovate a local church in town.

They will also have opportunity to find some other smaller projects that will make life changing impacts.

This seems like an awful lot, but I have had the privilege of working with this team before, and they are all an incredible bunch. In fact in the last 7 months they have worked to raise there own expense money. ...that works out to over $40 000.
On top of that, they have a goal of raising another $10 000 for projects while they are here...The energy and enthusiasm that they bring will be un believable .... something that will leave an un measurable impact here .

They have had some set backs. The price of airline tickets has gone up considerably, and they now have an additional $5000 to raise it does not seam like much, but this little village of 1300 has already helped send us, the Avp team, raised ticket money for the kids , and continues to actively support their regular missions projects around the world .

This will be that last big push for us before we return to Canada and they will help us wrap up projects that we are currently working on . If any of you are wondering and thinking about how to get involved or would like to help, Now is your chance... with all the expense money already raise , they are at the point that 100% of the donations received will be used for projects here .... There are not many humanitarian aid organizations out there that can offer that. Over the last few months of blogging You have seen and witnessed the impact that we have been able to make ......." Well Baby... you just ain't seen nothing Yet " I have a dream that together we can make an impact in Central Asia so great , that it's effects will be felt for generations to come. So here is the"Big ask." .... Please help us make this dream come true. !

To help out, simply click on the Canada helps link on the top right of the blog..... select "The Wright Stuff" from the drop down screen and in the memo box type "Youth team"

Here is a rough draft of the team schedule

Friday 4th
5:15 am arrive in Capital City
7:00pm Movie night at the town orphanage

Saturday 5th
Visit the village orphanage See the projects that we will be working on in the village......
playground at orphanage .......playground down town ...... building a barn and a coal shed for a family

Sunday 6th
10:00 am Service at Russian Church
4:00 pm Cater Wedding

Monday 7th
8:30 to 2:00 Village Projects
3:00 Little kids from Orphanage to Park and supper in town

Tuesday 8th
8:30 to 2:00 Village Projects
4:30 picnic and games with town orphanage

Wednesday 9th
8:30 to 2:00 Village Projects
2:00 picnic and games and town Ferris wheel with med. aged kids from village orphanage

Thursday 10th
8:30 am Older kids from village to the lake and spend the night in the Yurt camp lake .. and sight seeing on the way .

Friday 11th
8:30 pm Arrive home from Mountains

Saturday 12th
9:00 am Work bee at the local church in town, followed by a trip to the Tower and the mountains with their older youth and the collage students

Sunday 13th
8:00 get animals at the Bazaar for the village family ...( those that want to go )
12:00 service @local church in town
4:00 to 8:00 Family day at the park with the Russian Church ...singing skits and face paint and ice cream

Monday 14th
9:00 VBS at the town church
11:00 serve lunch at the VBS church

Tuesday 15th
10:00 Leave town for a day in the capital city shopping and to the big Bazaar. spend the night at the Guest house in the capital city

Wed 16th
Leave for home .... early early

Extra help at the town orphange

This morning was a slow start. I think if it were not for the Phone and the door bell ringing so much, They would all still be in bed..... We started the day off with Bacon and eggs with home fries. Then went to the Bazaar... We gave them each 200 sum to spend.. they bought shoes and sun glasses and a few other things .. ( and no Ron.... they did not cost $20 lol), We also did the grocery shopping for Supper at the town orphanage. For lunch we went out to the Yurts and had Shashleek...It was the best I have had since we got here....When we got back to the apartment, some of the girls helped Emma get the craft ready for the kids and the others helped Bekah and I cook supper... We had tuna stuffed tomatoes on a bed of egg noodles with cheese sauce... then we had cake for desert. The craft went great they made paper flowers and it was neat to see the village girls take the lead with the younger kids. When it came time to go, the girls came into the house and went right to bed, except for one who went in and sat on a stool in front of the tv ...that was not on... and said... I do not want to go..... It's such a fine line between wanting them to experience a normal family life ( not that we are your normal family....thought I would add that before the comment bar went into overdrive) and making them miss what they don't have....It's hard, but I really think that they need to see a functioning family unit..... it just made us realise how difficult things are going to be next month when we have to go

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And the birthday Continues

This morning we went to the orphanage in time for the opening of the day care/kindergarten. This will be such a boost for the entire community it is so right on many levels. Many of the parents in the village are at work through the day and there is no one left to look after the kids. It is not uncommon to leave a one or two year old home alone. They simply tie them to a tree, or dig a whole in the field were they are working and put the children in the hole. These many times are the kids that wind up in the orphanages. By providing a full day Care with meals included, it will be the break that is needed to keep families together ... Those that are able to pay will pay a small fee that will enable the orphanage to hire teachers. The day care will also be able to look after the small kids from the orphanage as well. We brought them a bunch of children's puzzles and pillows for the beds. They were put to use right away. It was obvious that they were hand made. They were all different...just like the quilts ... It's so great to teach the kids that like the pillows.... they are all special...they are all different....and they are all beautiful. At lunch time we loaded the older kids onto the bus to head out for Emma's birthday lunch.... ( We could not celebrate with these girls on her real birthday because they were in exams.) Before leaving the village, they all came out with a card and presents for the girls... they are celebrating Bekah's birthday today as well as we will be in Canada then.. We had lunch at our favorite town resteraunt ... they tried a little of everything on the menu.. After lunch, they all came back to the house.. We will have a sleep over... manicures and pedicures... pizza and popcorn and movies.... We will also have Ivy over tonight to teach jewlery making ... she brought all her stuff with her , and we have a bunch of supplies we brought with us... Tomorrow we will be going to the bazaar with them to shop for supper at the town orphanage then out for shashleek.... They will go home tomorrow night after visiting town. Once again Ishar watched with happy contentment.

Sneek peek.

We were just so excited after today, that I just had to give you another sneek peek of one of the projects that we have been working on.

Without intervention, this family would have ended up in an orphanage or on the street ........ To catch the full storey when it breaks, keep your eye on the Possibilities International blog

Lasting Impressions

While other kids are singing and dancing to songs off of Much Music, These Kids in the village are still remembering the impact of there new friend Kevin..... This is part of the concert that they put on for the Visitors to the village Yesterday.... If you are in the capital city on Monday night ... you will be able to see more of this performance on The Capital City TV .