God's Many Blessings!

We have been enjoying our time with a team from Calgary - the Calgary Vietnamese Mennonite Church young adults group. They have been wonderful to work with. We have had the privilege of doing children's ministry in a remote mountain village - Bem Peq (sp?). It is just over the hill 30 minutes from one of our schools and they speak a completely different language there.

The first day we went up, there were about 50 children and a few adults. The team did crafts, played games, sang songs and I told a story. The pastor of the church we were working in said, before we began working with the kids, that it was his desire that these children had some fun. He said life was not fun for them and he really wanted them to enjoy themselves. Well, after the first 30 minutes, there wasn't a person there who didn't have a grin on their face. The team did a great job loving the kids and playing with them. Just as we were packing up that first day, the sky opened up and we had a torrential downpour. We had taken the 2 vans and the Toyota Land Cruiser (4x4) with a winch, as the road was a little sketchy. We made it down, but it was pretty crazy.

The rain continued through the evening and didn't let up until well into the night. The river beside where we live almost overflowed the bridge and our yard and house flooded once again! We knew the road up to Bem Peq would be a mess, so we hired a 4x4 truck and used the Toyota Land Cruiser. It was quite a journey! In places there were crevaces at least 2 feet deep where the rain had washed away the gravel and dirt. Other places were a foot deep of soft mud.

When we arrived at the church on day 2, there were about 80 kids and some parents there. Our numbers were growing. We again enjoyed our time with the people of this small village. On our last day, there were well over 120 children plus probably 40 adults! The team had taken up a love offering for the pastor and his family and presented it to him. He was touched by the team's generosity. The amazing thing is, this team really didn't do anything super extraordinary - they just shared the love of Christ! It is so simple! And by doing this, not only were the people of Bem Peq blessed, but the team was blessed as well.

The church prepared a huge meal for us to say thank you. We ate with mixed emotions knowing how big a sacrifice this was for them, as they probably don't eat meat very often and to buy enough food to feed us all cost them a great deal.

I am so blessed to be able to participate in these kinds of activities. I don't know why the Lord chose our family for this work, but I am so thankful. I cannot think of anything I'd rather be doing.

Thank you, Lord!

Karren