Some of the things we see here are difficult to describe and putting them on a blog does not really get accross the reality of the experience, but we try. For example, I (David) visited a family about 1/2 mile from the mission base and they lived in a house almost the size of our garden shed in England. The family consisted of 1 woman and 6 children. Her 'house' had many holes in it and outside there were 2 small shelters...a few bricks dry-stacked with a sheet as a roof...and these shelters were roughly the size of a cot and about 2 feet high (floor to roof). These shelters were for 2 of her children to sleep in. There are many examples of such poverty here.
In these situations there is little we can do on our own. We take them some food for their physical feeding and also share some passages from the Bible with them for their spiritual feeding. One thing that really strikes me about this is that there are 'rich' churches around here and they do very little for these people. How can the church demonstrate the love of God to these desperate people if not by actions?
I often find that we get good at talking but not good at doing because it costs us something...it requires us to give up time and resources for the benefit of others. This time could be spent doing leasure activities and these resources could be spent on our own pleasures (hobbies etc) but which is better? If we are to do to others what we want them to do to us, and that is how we love our neighbour, then what would you want someone to do to you if you lived in such poverty? Think about it, pray about it and then DO IT! Jesus spent himself on the cross for our freedom. Surely we can spend ourselves for others so that they too may know the freedom which Christ offers. Hmmm...I can go on for a long time about this but please do not sit any longer watching others suffer. Do something about it. Pray for those that work with people in need. Give to others. Find out what others need and be used by God to meet that need. Anyway...I'll stop for now. God bless you all and thankyou for your coninued prayers and support.