Our April Newsletter, 2008
Dear Harvest Hands Friends,
So glad to hear that the winter thaw has finally come. At times when we heard how this winter has been for everyone, it made us think of C.S. Lewis’ book ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’, when the white witch had control and it was always winter.
Rodney, Marsha and Holli were on a prayer walk with Eladio and another man this morning. They went to “25 de Julio”, one of the communities where FundaVida has worked. FundaVida is an organization that is connected with PuraVida Coffee in the United States. We sell this coffee at our church. The money is used to help kids at risk. Fundavida’s hopes are to have a new teen center in this community, as well as a new location for the computer center, which is already established there.
While we were prayer walking, one could sense the intensity of spiritual warfare. We observed two things that are somewhat common in this community. One was Marsha watching a mother kick her child to the ground. The girl was about 8 or 9 years old and began to cry. Her mother only said in a vulgar way to be quiet.... Angry parents, wounded parents, passing it on to the next generation... It broke our hearts to witness this. Only moments before that, we witnessed one of the street prostitutes, who live day to day on whatever they can do, was trying to steal something through someone’s gated door. The owner of the home came out with a gun and threatened to kill her if she didn’t leave. All of this was at nine o’clock in the morning.
It is so difficult to witness things like this. Sadly, it is common in many of the communities, where there is extreme poverty and hopelessness. Our desire is to help both abused and the abuser and the robber and the robbed.
We are preparing in our hearts to say good-bye to Marsha Ames, who will be returning to Maine on the 23rd of this month. She has been here for about a year. This will be hard for us, as well as hard for her. Please keep her in your prayers as the transition for her will be difficult. She has made a godly impact on the children of the community, as well as on many of the adults. We will all miss her.
We are also looking forward to the next team coming from the Mechanic Falls Vineyard, which is always an encouragement to us and those they serve here.
The photo is of a drunk man in “25 de Julio”.
Thank you for your continued support. Please keep us in prayer.
