Yesterday at church our pastor gave us an interesting challenge. At the end of the service we were all given a sealed envelope with different amounts of money inside. This symbolized the gifts, talents, and resources that God has given us. We were asked to pray about what God wanted us to do with the money we were given.
Of course I immediately began thinking about all the needs we saw in Guatemala. My envelope contained $20 and Robby's envelope had $10. We've prayed that we will use this money wisely and also contacted Dick Rutgers in Guatemala to see if he could think of a specific need we could help him with. He gave us several suggestions and they were all worthy causes. The money could pay for a special needs child to have a teacher come to their home since most children with special needs there are not allowed to attend school. The money could provide school supplies to children who want to go to school, but can't afford the supplies, uniform, or black leather shoes required to attend. The money could help build a home for families who are living in the most awful surroundings.
At first we didn't know how to choose the best cause. But then I remembered a clip from one of Dick's videos. He found this little girl living near a banana plantation. Her mother is single and has to work at the plantation each day to provide for her children. Because this little girl has special needs, the safest thing her mom could think of was to keep her tied in a hammock during the day. This girl desperately needs a wheelchair. I cannot imagine having to spend the majority of my day alone and tied in one place.
Please click here to see the video clip of that sweet little girl. The video is a little long, so if you skip to 4:13 you can see this little girl as well as the place where she calls home.
We will be sending the money we received at church along with a little more so that Dick can provide a wheelchair for this little girl. If you would like to contribute as well just leave a comment with your email address and I can give you more information. For $400-$500 Dick and a volunteer team can build a new home for this family. The homes are modest as you can imagine, but provide a safe, dry place for families.
It is our prayer that God will touch the hearts of just a few others so that we can use what we think of as an insignifican amount of money to dramatically improve the life of this one little girl.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Our Mission Project
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3 comments:
So after I read your post I went to see the video. I ended up watching the entire 8 1/2 minutes of Dicks video. It really brought tears to my eyes. It reminds you how there are other parts of the world that do not get the basic needs like most of us do. How we can appreciate the little things in life like sleeping in a bed at night or having a roof over our heads. I am going to forward your post to my friends and family so they too can see and maybe help on your mission to get this little girl a wheelchair. Dick is an amazing man for his work and you for thinking about the needs of the kids in Guatemala with your gift from your church.
It's amazing that it takes so little money to do all that. I would like some info if you can send it to me. rah1018@hotmail.com
Our church just did the same thing!!! We had a whole series of sermons on money in the coming weeks after that. Our pastor wanted us to do nothing with it for a week and pray during that time and then after the week was up you could use it how ever God showed you. What an awesome thing that both of our churches are doing the same thing! IT will be amazing how many people are helped with it all.
Debbie
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