Ok Now I am in Trouble

So it seems as though I am in trouble.... Julie wants to know where I get off giving her peanut butter to the kids , yet when it runs low, I post a photo of my Kraft dinner! ...... so any of you that have been so kind and offered to bring us Kraft dinner would like to leave a couple boxes out and stick in a Jar... I would be greatfull

Panic Mode

Almost gone!

Never a dull Moment

This afternoon we picked up David and Jayne, and headed to a little village with a very enthusiastic local Lady. Her name is Anagool. She is a mover and a shaker in her village. She brought us to the home that her father grew up in and shared how they would like to turn it into a museum. They wish to preserve some of the ancient skills before they are lost. They would also like to build a Yurt that people could come and stay at and experience the traditional way of life. Anagool works to help people start small businesses to provide a little extra money for them. She has some of the "artisans" that will teach the craft to the next generation. We toured a few of the homes and saw some of the work. One of the problems is that to buy the good quality felt you must buy in bulk as most of it is now being exported. Although this is something we are working on for "Simple Dreams" , we could not resist an opportunity to get them started. we commissioned 10 of these nativity sets up . This will allow them to purchase the materials needed to teach the next generation ... so in a few weeks they will be finished and we will be in the yurt business..... If anyone would like to buy one, for a minimum donation of $25 I will bring you one home and mail it out the first week of September. Anything over the $25 will go to Anagools Yurt project .....She has $2000 to go.
I forgot to mention ... once the yurt is built, proceeds will go to 1)teach English to the kids in the village.. .
2)to purchase computers for the school. & 3) they think it would be great if the road in their town was paved!

English Class

Today, we not only visited one of the local schools in town, but we had the privilege of meeting the future president of Central Asia... at least that's how his friends introduced him to us . I have no doubt that it could be a possibility for him... All the kids we visited today were very smart, exceptionally polite, and eager to practice their English. They were very surprised to hear Emma and Bekah speaking the local language and commented on how they speak without an accent. They asked us questions about Canada, our school system, our political structure, and we even got into some world trade issues... One underlying question in all the classes was "WHY ARE WE IN CENTRAL ASIA" we were able to explain how we have friends here in Central Asia that are making a difference... and that they are reaching out to help those around them. We explained that we want to help and support those that are helping others... then encouraged them to do the same.... We even told the "Future President" that when he became president, he could expect a visit from us to tell him about a Babushka in the village that needs help and we expect him to help ...LOL.... Maybe one day we will have Friends in high places here in Central Asia. Hopefully we will have an opportunity to meat up with them again soon. Oh ya ... we gave them all chocolate Loonies .( that's what we call the Canadian 1 dollar coin as it has a loon on it.. and looks like a chocolate money )

More supplies for the village orphanage

Wow .... The Hastings Knitters have been at it again. Sam arrived with a huge bag of mittens and blankets. The kids hands will be warm this winter! I just love listening to them talk to each other. We also brought with us a few other goodies.

When the Morgans came to pick up their daughter, they brought us a huge bag on medical supplies that their church had collected. It was all top quality high end supplies. Thank you to the Maple Avenue Baptist in Smackover.. It was a real blessing. There were many items that where really needed in this orphanage. There are a few of the kids that have regular ear aches and some have bad rashes...... but not for long.

Some of the folks in Goodrich that had put the new kitchen in here sent a big bag full of pampered chef cooking utensils....How cool is that .... not only do they have a wonder full kitchen, but now they have the gadgets to go along with it....

Hand made mittens , High end drugs, and pampered chef......and Crayola craft supplies....It is such a blessing to GIVE THE BEST.... If I was a preacher, I am sure there is a message in their somewhere ....

On behalf of the directors Gulnara and Ukana...Thank you

Finger Painting Fun

Today we had some of our friends from the adoption group come along to see the kids. We had a great day, and took full advantage of the extra hands to have some finger painting fun.... something we were hesitant to do on our own .... if you wonder why .... Just have a look. ... It was a double blessing for us today, because we had other friends join us as well.....David and Jayne ,David is a pastor that has a special gift for dealing with the hurting and struggling and his wife Jayne is a child advocate specialist and together they make an incredible team that will make a great impact during their six month stay here in town. Every one pitched in and the kids were thrilled . One on one attention ..... something that is just so precious to them .

Stewart and Angela had a great day together while Peter was off playing baseball with the older kids .
These ones were so excited that they were shaking ..... The kids had fun too.

After lunch we hoped back into the bus and headed for the Tower... It was nice to just relax and enjoy the trip... Every other time I have been there we have been on such a tight schedule , but today we just enjoyed the beautiful day . Here are our friends on the old palace ruins

David and Jayne
Marlene and Peter
Stewart and Allison

Goodbye to our little friend

What a wonderful new family Anna has. We had the honour of having dinner with them in the capital city with Sam's team this week. They are a true blessing. They are part of the behind the scenes support that I have been talking about...They brought us a huge bag of high quality medical supplies for the kids that their church had put together for us. They told us that there church has been praying for us for this entire trip. Just another GOLD piece in the puzzle.
Anna during a visit a few weeks ago ... Melody said we would remember her because she loves Bananas... fitting that the last photo of her is with a banana .... When we get back to Canada we will post a few more photo's of her...unless Paula sees this post and sends us a copy .

Here they are on the gotcha day ......

Anna in Dads arms

Getting dressed to go.... look at that smile!

If you would like you can follow this story at

Morgan Mosaic

Kundai sin Anara

You can visit Anara at
A Leap of Faith

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Back to the park

Friday morning at 2:30 we left for the airport to Get Sam's team off to the Ukraine..... so I was just a bundle of energy when we got to the park that afternoon . There were so many kids it was mind boggling.

We brought with us 4 cases of ice cream cones . They were gone in no time.... though I think that the odd kid got a little more then their share. We brought with us a baseball set that was sent from a friend in Canada. The kids have had a blast every where we have gone... We got a big inflatable rubber ball that they can not put through a window and can be caught without a glove.....it's a good thing because they get base ball and dodge ball a little mixed up at times..

Inside for English class we taught them about North American Mothers day... a day they don't have here. We had all the kids make cards for their mothers. This is a photo of the kids in the overflow room .

Only a piece of the puzzle

While on a missions trip several years ago in Xxxxx Our pastor shared with us how we can not determine our steps based on the big picture. Many times we do not see the whole picture, we are but one piece of the puzzle . We must trust God to place each piece where he wants it and we must have the obedience to be used as God leads . He gave us each a piece of Gold painted puzzle. This is something that Julie still carries. It reminds us that we play a very small part, and that there are many others that share in the outcome of the end product. Over and over again, God proves this to be true.
Today back in our home town, there are a group of youth that are working to raise the funds to come and to make a difference in the lives of the hurting. They have been working toward this trip for almost a year. This afternoon, many in our community joined with them in support. They had a Golf tournament and and a dinner, and were able to raise $4500 toward the projects here. Look at the previous posts and you will see the difference that can be made with a couple hundred dollars and imagine what kind of impact that they will make. There are projects that we find here that we can not do on our own ...... nor should we expect to ... we are only one piece of the puzzle. For all of you out there that have supported us here in so many ways...... who hold a gold piece of the puzzle in your hand ...... thank you for being a part of the big picture....

A few posts to wet your whistle

Here are a few posts of some of the things that have gone on over the last couple of days.... When I get a chance , I will share with you what we did the day before.

A trip to the market

While the team was at the Bazzar, we shared with them how the kids stood and drooled at the soccer shirts. Well, when the price was talked down to $2.77, we knew it was a necessary investment..... and it turned out to be priceless...... In all our time in the village,

this is the first time I have seen this girl, Tanya, smile.. The connection she has with Wendy was beautiful to see..... Once again this team was a true blessing.

Kevin is Blown away

So for the last couple of weeks, Christina has been working on a surprise with the kids. Kevin Pauls has a new CD coming out in North America, and we managed to get one of his title tracks before it was released. She then taught the kids the words to the chorus. When Kevin got to that part in the song, the kids joined in .... what a blast...

. A moment he will NEVER forget.

And on that farm she has.... everything!

While everyone was gathered , we taught the kids Old Mcdonald had a farm. Then we substituted Old Mcdonald with OH AIGULA has a farm..... Then explained that these were the animals that had been sponsered.... and we handed them photos as we sang , and that a Team of youth from Canada would come and help get the property ready for the animals. Not only that but we had food coming as well.... If you could see her face..... but you will have to just imagine
PS.... there was one child missing, Turat was in the mountains with the Orphanage cows.... here he is with his favourite animal.

The reality sinks in .

Have you ever been in a place that you did not realise the stress you were under until it was over.... Well that was the case with Altynai this week. During the concert in the village, we took a moment to share some news with her. One of our readers here at actofkindness is in the process of adopting a baby from Central Asia, but have recognized that it is not too late to help an older child. They read the post, and have offered Altynai a two year scholarship .
What an blessing it was for us to share this information with her.

A visit to Laura's house

We took an hour to stop and visit Laura and her neighbours. We opened the back of the van and started preparing food bags for the neighbourhood.... rice, sugar, flour, oil, pasta, tea, candy, apples ,oranges, cookies,and Juice
They wanted to have a celebration that night with us, but we did not have time. We did promise to return soon, and put on a concert for them.

And back to the dump

At lunch time we made a pot of soup and picked up some fresh breads and took a trip to the dump. Here is an account of that from Sam's email

Hello folks...
Just a brief update from Central Asia as we are in Moscow Airport awaiting our plane to Kiev. I want to tell you a tale of a "dump" visitation.
On Wednesday, Vee and I, Scott and Wendy Couper and Kevin and Wendy Pauls went with John and Julie Wright to a garbage dump outside of a village in Central Asia. We had some soup made and had bread with us.

John Making soup

When we arrived at the dump with our portable lunch kitchen there was about 25 people rummaging through the garbage. making a living in the dump

We started dishing out the soup and the bread and they started gathering for the food we brought them. They were all standing around our van eating the soup and bread when a garbage truck pulled in with "new treasures". Hello? They put their soup down and ran to the truck as it unloaded as to not miss the "treasures" that might come off the truck.
Yup....I almost lost it. Then a lady (through our translator) told me that there has been no "fresh" activity at the dump the last two weeks as the wind was blowing towards the city and that Wednesday was teh first day in two weeks.

A view from the bottom

She then said that it was a "celebration" lunch that we had provided as it had been two weeks since they had been able to dig in fresh garbage. (listen...this is the truth my friends) Of all the days we could have arrived...it was on the exact day that the first new grabage had shown up in two weeks. Soup and bread...total cost to provide this "Celebration Lunch"....was $15. Are you still with me?
While in Central Asia we(Scott Couper and myself) just agreed to have PI support a woman by the name of Larissa who spends her life engaging the hurting , helpless and hopeless in the town. She knew 80% of the people at the dump Wednesday. I wish each one of you could watch her interact with the downtrodden and distraught.

Larissa in action

We are thrilled to support Larissa with $100/month.
You might not think that is much....but she wept when we told her we wanted to help her, help others. Yes....you read it right.....$100/month.

Explaining the situation to Sam

One more "dump story" before I sign off....one of the folks at the dump digging through garbage was a young girl(I think she was 15 years old) that was collecting "treasures" to sell so she could pay to go to a good school for a year.

Where do your kids call home ?

Kevin Pauls got wind of that and together we gave the money to Larissa (Our new PI Field Agent) to pay for her schooling and uniform.

Kevin taking a moment to vew the world around him

The cost of one year of school and uniform.....$80. Yup...you read that right also.
Way to go Kevin! We told that lovely young lady she could go home now...and get ready for an education.
Having a blast on this Possibilities Tour!

Sammy out!

I just want to take a moment to share how blessed we are with our driver. He has such a caring heart. You can see him listening to the story of one old man at the dump.

We asked if there was any one or any organization that helps them other then Larrisa...... they told us that the red cross comes once a year and brings them each 1 kg of rice. I found it perticularly hard this trip to the dump. There were some new families there. One of them I knew already. They were a family that helped us out when we worked on Laura's house..... this is not the way it is supposed to work..... we want to empty the dump not watch it fill up. We have raised money to purchase some homes for people here, but the housing market has gone so high that there is not much we can do.

Our first stop on Wed Morning was to deliver the chickens.

The baboushka was so thrilled. When we told her that we also had a bit of food that would get her started, she told us that she had a bag of food that she had been saving up for three years DREAMING That one day she could have some chickens.

From Dump to Doma ...part two

Look back to fall of 2006 and you will see how this story began. Basically, we had hired this lady as night security for a work project we had in the village. When the project was over and the team realized that she and her daughter must now go back to living in the dump where we got them from, they decided that they needed to buy a house for them to live in..... and the "You're the One" project began ....Era has made such incredible changes in her life. Things have not been easy for her. She has lost a son and a grand daughter in the last 6 months , yet she has continued to stay strong .... and sober.... Today she gave us a tour through the garden that she has planted, and shared her plans to provide produce for the seniors and orphans in town.....

She has hardly anything that she really can call her own....yet she understands the James 1:27 call to look after widows and orphans in their need..... Well today...... things changed in her life.. watch this and see. It's a little long, but man is it worth it.

This was just one of our 5 stops for today..... I will show the others over the next couple of days as I have time to post. Tomorrow we have eight more stops..... please pray that tomorrow will be as powerful as today.