I wrote this blog back in December. When I got my computer fixed that month I lost 3 letters I wrote. So I will be sending out two that I found in cyberspace. So if you read it and see that it is outdated like this one, you will understand why.
Dear Friends and Family
Dear Friends and Family
I can't believe it is the holidays already. It is definitely different here during the holidays. You almost have to remind yourself because you don't have the constant holiday reminders in all the stores or on the television like you do in the states. There is nothing like that here. The weather is still just as hot as ever during the day but it is cooling down in the evenings. We do what we can to keep the kids and the volunteers in the holiday spirit.
Speaking of one of the volunteers we have three new student missionaries that I have not really introduced you to yet and they have already been here for over 3 months. One is Ross a pre-med student from Andrews University. He has been helping out in the lab at the hospital and learning about the tropical illnesses here. He has also been going on rounds with the doctors and also has had many hours in the operating room He is such a joy to have around here. He has a very inquisitive mind. I love to hear what he has to say because he is always teaching me something new or making me think about things that I never really spent time thinking about. He also has a great sense of humor and I can always be guaranteed to be laughing any time we are together.
Another volunteer that is blessing here is Kristin Chung. She too is a pre-med student from Andrews. She has jumped right into doing everything and anything she can to serve the hospital even leading out the janitor crew. This seems like such a small roll but it really isn't. I think that cleanliness is what the hospital struggles with the most in this third world country. She is also working on project 21 a couple of days a week. For those of you who do not know what this is, well it is a project where you go out into the villages around Bere giving medical education. She also recently organized a very successful, two week, evangelistic series at the hospital. I am telling you these volunteers are very self driven which are great characteristics to have here. They are a real blessing to have around.
The one volunteer that our family has worked the most with is Jordan. She is an English major that chose to work at the primary school here in Bere teaching English. It has been no easy task but she has stuck in there. She loves to work with kids and read and teach. She has a real energy that lights up a room and our family has been blessed to have her tutoring Brichelle everyday. She comes to the house everyday at 8:30 and works with Brichelle on her school work no matter how crazy things get at our house they are staying very focused. I can't say enough good about her and what she means to our family. I will be forever in her debt. Recently she came to me with the idea of doing a Christmas program at the school with the students. When she mentioned it I jumped on it. I have always wanted to do a program or some kind of outreach with the students but knew that it was too big of a task alone. So we agreed to do this together and go for it. So now we are having a Christmas program on the evening of December 20th. I am so excited about this. This will be a big outreach to the community and this is exactly the kind of thing I have been looking toward to do with the kids but just needed the help. We are working everyday with the kids on their memory verses about the birth of Christ and songs and even a little play that Jordan wrote. She did such a great job. II will keep you inform on how it goes. This is the first time ever that this has ever been done here in this area. I have asked some kids about the story of the birth of Jesus and some tell me they just don't remember how it goes. The bible is just not as available to them. I am very excited to see how it goes. A thousand invitations have gone out. It may be more than we can handle but if it works out what a great outreach. Keep us in prayer!
Thanks for being a great support to us in all of this. We can't do any of this without you. We couldn't even be here without your help. Thank you for untying my hands financially where we can just move forward like this when an idea comes up. May God bless you all during this season as we think about the great gift that God gave to us.
Speaking of one of the volunteers we have three new student missionaries that I have not really introduced you to yet and they have already been here for over 3 months. One is Ross a pre-med student from Andrews University. He has been helping out in the lab at the hospital and learning about the tropical illnesses here. He has also been going on rounds with the doctors and also has had many hours in the operating room He is such a joy to have around here. He has a very inquisitive mind. I love to hear what he has to say because he is always teaching me something new or making me think about things that I never really spent time thinking about. He also has a great sense of humor and I can always be guaranteed to be laughing any time we are together.
Another volunteer that is blessing here is Kristin Chung. She too is a pre-med student from Andrews. She has jumped right into doing everything and anything she can to serve the hospital even leading out the janitor crew. This seems like such a small roll but it really isn't. I think that cleanliness is what the hospital struggles with the most in this third world country. She is also working on project 21 a couple of days a week. For those of you who do not know what this is, well it is a project where you go out into the villages around Bere giving medical education. She also recently organized a very successful, two week, evangelistic series at the hospital. I am telling you these volunteers are very self driven which are great characteristics to have here. They are a real blessing to have around.
The one volunteer that our family has worked the most with is Jordan. She is an English major that chose to work at the primary school here in Bere teaching English. It has been no easy task but she has stuck in there. She loves to work with kids and read and teach. She has a real energy that lights up a room and our family has been blessed to have her tutoring Brichelle everyday. She comes to the house everyday at 8:30 and works with Brichelle on her school work no matter how crazy things get at our house they are staying very focused. I can't say enough good about her and what she means to our family. I will be forever in her debt. Recently she came to me with the idea of doing a Christmas program at the school with the students. When she mentioned it I jumped on it. I have always wanted to do a program or some kind of outreach with the students but knew that it was too big of a task alone. So we agreed to do this together and go for it. So now we are having a Christmas program on the evening of December 20th. I am so excited about this. This will be a big outreach to the community and this is exactly the kind of thing I have been looking toward to do with the kids but just needed the help. We are working everyday with the kids on their memory verses about the birth of Christ and songs and even a little play that Jordan wrote. She did such a great job. II will keep you inform on how it goes. This is the first time ever that this has ever been done here in this area. I have asked some kids about the story of the birth of Jesus and some tell me they just don't remember how it goes. The bible is just not as available to them. I am very excited to see how it goes. A thousand invitations have gone out. It may be more than we can handle but if it works out what a great outreach. Keep us in prayer!
Thanks for being a great support to us in all of this. We can't do any of this without you. We couldn't even be here without your help. Thank you for untying my hands financially where we can just move forward like this when an idea comes up. May God bless you all during this season as we think about the great gift that God gave to us.
After the christmas grogram:
The Christmas program was a success. The kids did a great job with their songs and memory verses. Everyone really seemed to enjoy the program. Something funny that happened was as soon as our Mary was going to get on the donkey it was having a baby. Everyone laughed and so she had to just walk onto the stage with Joseph. We were told later that it is good luck because most people do not even get to see a donkey being born here. Then I had the idea to give them free juice and cookies afterwards. Boy was that stupid. I will never ever do something like that again. A big group of people like we had just can't control themselves. Long story short is that we got mobbed. Naomi was there with us helping us and she literally got run over and stomped on. I couldn't believe it! It was overwhelming to be right in the middle of it. It was so out of control that Jamie was worried for my safety because he saw everyone pushing and screaming and out of control and I was right in front int he middle of it all. Our thoughts were to just get everything inside the compound. As we were running for safety the crowd started to steal everything. We had mats set out for them and they stole some of those things and other things that we had on the stage. I was really sad that it ended like that but I guess I will know that it is a lesson learned that we can't give away free stuff to a crowd of people like that. I think it is really sad that a spiritual program had to end like that. But I guess Satan always tries to get the last word in. I am ashamed to say that once we had everything inside I was shouting telling everyone to go home. I was sad that at the end my heart was hardened toward the people. So I thought it was a success but ended in a disaster.
Love,
Tammy
The Christmas program was a success. The kids did a great job with their songs and memory verses. Everyone really seemed to enjoy the program. Something funny that happened was as soon as our Mary was going to get on the donkey it was having a baby. Everyone laughed and so she had to just walk onto the stage with Joseph. We were told later that it is good luck because most people do not even get to see a donkey being born here. Then I had the idea to give them free juice and cookies afterwards. Boy was that stupid. I will never ever do something like that again. A big group of people like we had just can't control themselves. Long story short is that we got mobbed. Naomi was there with us helping us and she literally got run over and stomped on. I couldn't believe it! It was overwhelming to be right in the middle of it. It was so out of control that Jamie was worried for my safety because he saw everyone pushing and screaming and out of control and I was right in front int he middle of it all. Our thoughts were to just get everything inside the compound. As we were running for safety the crowd started to steal everything. We had mats set out for them and they stole some of those things and other things that we had on the stage. I was really sad that it ended like that but I guess I will know that it is a lesson learned that we can't give away free stuff to a crowd of people like that. I think it is really sad that a spiritual program had to end like that. But I guess Satan always tries to get the last word in. I am ashamed to say that once we had everything inside I was shouting telling everyone to go home. I was sad that at the end my heart was hardened toward the people. So I thought it was a success but ended in a disaster.
Love,
Tammy
Hang in there! God can still use the program, and who knows, maybe the drama afterward will help cement it in their minds and hearts.
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