Food for Children

This coming Wedneday we're heading up to the Princeton, West Virginia area just as we did last year to spend 10 days with our cousins Mike & Lynda Gravier, home missionaries with Heaven Sent Ministries. Over the past year we've had the opportunity at both church and school to share our experiences. The result at The Christ School was two projects, one which was a bake sale initiated by two elementary age brothers, that took in about $500 for Food for Children. This is an arm of Heaven Sent Ministries that packages a rice based, nutritious meal for six people that costs $1.50 ($0.25 per meal) including shipping. These meals have been shipped all over the world to feed hungry children and were even sent South after Hurricane Katrina.

The fifth grade has a celebration at the end of the year that focuses on the end of the elementary years, a send-off to middle school, and is a fun we made it / end of the year reflection of God's goodness...and games and a picnic. My class of 22 students gave me an amazing gift. They sat me down on a picnic table, gave me a heavy duty paper bag, and each student put a roll of quarters in the bag -- for Food for Children! They said they knew that Food for Children was dear to my heart and wanted to do something that say thank you in a special way for a good year.

One of the students that I tutored in math this year was a fifth grader named Lauren. Lauren and her twin brother Steven were not in my home room but I did get to teach them for half the day. Their younger sister Erin is in 3rd grade. All three had birthdays and birthday parties in May. All three decided to ask the kids they invited not to bring presents but to contribute to worthy causes. Lauren chose a local project; Erin and Steven chose Food for Children! Through their parties these two kids collected $285 to feed hungry children. To top it off, when they handed me the money they had collected, each of the three kids gave me a $20 -- of their own -- for Food for Children. Several teachers at The Christ School also gave significant gifts for Food for Children, so we will bring over $850 with us. We can't wait to plunk all those quarters on the director's desk and tell him the story!

Gayle and I also have a "Moment for Missions" during the church service tomorrow to highlight what the mission is and what we will be doing. Our church, Conway Community Presbyterian Church is also supporting us with a monetary gift for the mission and travel expenses.

Please pray for us -- good health, travel mercies, safety while we're working in West Virginia. Pray for the teams that will be coming in from Georgia and Ohio. Pray for the local folks who will be touched by God's grace through these workers. Pray for Mike & Lynda, and their children; they have a busy summer ahead with teams coming in each week. Pray that God's Kingdom will grow.

...and another kind of growth...A pair of brown thrashers have made a nest in a hibiscus just outside our bathroom window. We hope the neighborhood cat stays away for a month. Mockingbirds tried that spot last year and the cat killed their young.