After all the rain we have had, we were blessed by a sunny and calm day for our Harvest Kids gathering. Much thanks to Isaac for showing up to help George, Cathy, Linda and the kids with crushing the cans. We were praying for enough money from the Change the World donations to finish the $50 needed to meet our commitment to pay support for the teachers for the Wambuti pygmy tribe in the DRCongo and our donation to Comfort Africa that helps vulnerable children in Uganda and we were blessed to discover that again He provided for what was needed. Ironically, today is the day we actually wired the money to support the Africa ministry for the upcoming fourth quarter. In all these years, I still find it exciting to realize I can be so filled with joy when He amazingly comes through like this providing all our needs. I am amazed and happy that I still am amazed? Our teaching for the day was about friendship, with Jesus and with one another. The kids read scriptures that talked about friendship and how love is the ingredient that holds friendships together. We discussed the qualities of God’s love listed in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-6 and then the kids drew pieces of paper that listed the different attributes and they prepared skits and after the skits the adults had to guess which attribute they were acting out. Lot’s of fun. We were happy to have our neighbor, Stacy, join us for the first time and the kids welcoming her by making sure her birthday was put on the birthday board and she got her handprint of the wall. Another fine lunch prepared by Mama Linda, with a special surprise to celebrate the birthdays in September. Afterwards, everyone enjoyed coloring some pictures that Veronica picked out for us yesterday while she was at the Harvest Home. Afterwards, we visited the kangaroo farm in Arlington and then the kids helped Cathy make some zuchinni bread.

 

What a wonderfully and encouraging reunion with our brothers and sisters in Alert Bay, British Columbia. Pr. Marcus greeted us when we arrived at the Glad Tidings parsonage and we were immediately impressed by the way the living area has been remodeled. What a warm and welcoming atmosphere. We were able to visit and pray with elders Beatrice and Jane who we met when we first came 16 years ago. They would walk back and forth through the small town bathing everyone and everything in prayer. They also made their first mission trip with us to Mexico right after we first met them. Jane is now scooting through the hospital in her wheelchair at 88 and Beatrice had her 90th birthday, but their devotion to prayer and God’s Word is as purposed, fervent and vigilant as ever. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses, let us run the race..” WOW, there goes our excuses that are always trying to draw us into disobedience. We enjoyed home fellowship with Marcus and his family, visits with Robin, Sarah and others throughout the weekend. It was a blessing to share the word of God with the Glad Tidings church family and have Marcus share his vision to reach to the broken hearted and those that are crushed in spirit in the community. Please continue to pray that Jesus can compel His disciples to love one another so the truth of the gospel can shine brightly on this island and that it might be a light that shines throughout British Columbia and to every nation.

 

What a wonderful day of fellowship and celebration for all the work these young people are able to accomplish. We were thankful to have Jenny, from Anacortes, bring our friend, Bishop Anthony Owor, from Uganda to visit with the Harvest Kids for the second time. Many thanks to our servants, Cathy, Linda and Isaac for helping. We only had a few cans to crush because we just recycled 630 pounds the kids had already crushed and we received $159 to go toward their monthly support of the teachers of the Wambuti pygmy primary school in the DRCongo and the Comfort Africa vulnerable children’s ministry in Uganda. After crushing cans, the kids received the good news that along with their bi-weekly donations, we have picked and sold about 4,500 ears of sweet corn that our local farmer friend donated and had raised $1,775 toward the completion of the school. Everything being totaled, they had the $1,818 to finish the primary school in Uganda and almost all the money needed for their donation to the Africa quarterly support. Amazing, as is our custom, the kids let Laura, our first time visitor complete the red in the school thermometer and Melody, who is celebrating her 11th birthday, fill in the quarterly support thermometer. Afterwards, Bishop Anthony spent time with the kids as they asked many questions about children in Africa and about the country itself. They enjoyed a special “Africa” lunch that Linda had prepared, then a special “Job Well Done” ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. The rest of the time the kids made “vision boards” capturing some of the special things in their lives, including some things they would like to accomplish or have in the future. This was a special idea from a co-worker of Isaac’s named Heaven Lee and we really appreciate her sharing that with us.