Written by Leah Malone
The world is FULL of beautiful stories.
I wonder if you’ve watched one too many news reports lately about hateful injustice and starving children and crashing economies that the beautiful stories, the ones about hope and redemption, have over time been shoved into the back of your mind...
I wonder if in the midst of all the busyness and schedules surrounding your everyday life- the early morning traffic jams, business meetings, and grocery lists, you ever slow down long enough to remember that there’s more to the world than the immediate circle of things around you...
I wonder when the last time was that you heard a really beautiful story. Maybe it was a story filled with the kind of passion that lights a fire in your bones, or love that helps you believe again, or faith that inspires you…I wonder when was the last time?
Because there is no shortage of stories are being told all around us. Newspaper headlines update us on the latest in presidential campaigns, Hollywood tells stories of happily ever after, and magazines keep us up to date with fresh celebrity gossip. But surely there’s more out there than elections and fairytales and celebrities…
What about this sweet man Dulce
living in a mountain village of the Dominican Republic?
He has no electricity and no running water.
He knows nothing of the outside world.
Nobody really knows his village exists.
But the lines on his face and his dirt-covered hands
tell powerful stories of years on the farm and living off the land.
Who will tell his stories?
And what about the Caminul Felix organization in Romania?
Where kids who’ve been orphaned or abandoned
are not sent to multiple foster families.
Instead, they are given one real family for life.
They take kids with backgrounds of abuse and neglect
and give them a future of hope and love.
Someone really needs to be telling their stories…
Or what about Old Man August
living in the bush of Guija, Mozambique?
He’s known as the “man who slithers”
because he is paralyzed from the waist down.
His home is no bigger than a 10x10 square.
His walls are made from tarps with a tin roof.
All day long he just lays on his dirt floor.
None of his family lives near
and they don’t come to visit him.
When Tienie found him,
he was only eating a few times a week
because he can’t cook for himself
and there was no one to bring him food.
Now Tienie brings food to a woman
who then cooks meals for him every day.
He was recently blessed with
his first pedicure and new clothes.
Now HE has a story to tell…
What about Rosa and her 3 brothers and sisters?
Their mom and dad both died of AIDS
so they went to live with their aunt,
who then also died of AIDS.
Then they went to live with their grandma.
She died of AIDS as well.
The 4 children now live alone in a small house.
A neighbor checks on them every once in a while.
I wonder what could happen if more people knew this story…
Hundreds of kids leave care points every day fed and loved here in Swaziland.
Buckets of concrete was poured for a new earthquake proof school in Haiti.
Blind eyes were healed and deaf ears opened at a crusade in the DR.
A lonely man confined to his home in Transnisteria had visitors for dinner.
An abandoned church was brought back to life in the DR.
Hundreds of vaccinations and free eye exams were given in Moldova.
Dozens of leaders were trained and baptized in Zimbabwe.
THESE are the stories we desperately want the world to hear!
But the thing about good stories is that sometimes, in order to find them, you have to get your hands dirty. You have to let go, and sacrifice some things, and things can get uncomfortable. You have to go into the dark places and shine your Light.
For 6 months, the men and women of C squad have been blessed to travel into different nations and serve the least, the last and the lost. We’ve witnessed the love of Jesus absolutely transform lives. We’ve fed the hungry, held orphans, and prayed for the sick. We are SO thankful for the opportunity to serve God in this way!
BUT, we need your help. The final deadline for funding is July 1st and some of the squad still needs money or else they’ll be sent home and can’t continue this journey with us.
Please consider praying about donating to help them stay out on the field.
There are more people out there like Old Man August that just need a warm meal and some company. There are more organizations like Caminul Felix that just need hands and feet to come alongside and help play with the kids. And there are more orphans like Rosa that desperately need to hear about a Father that sees them and loves them. You are just as much a part of these stories as we are!
And our world really needs to hear more beautiful stories.
Will you help us continue to tell them?
JANELLE RADEMAKER
still needs $3,600
RACHEL WILLIAMS
still needs $2,825
BRETT MCCONNELL
still needs $2,692
JESSE MORRIS
still needs 2,600
DANIA SPILLETT
still needs $450
MATT BLAIR
still needs $1,700
TYLER HAMILTON
still needs $950
CANDICE YATES
still needs $1,659
KEELEY JACKSON
still needs $1,622
No comments:
Post a Comment