julynl

Highlights

July 08

Phil Snyder - Editor

COMPASSIONATE COOKIES

I just love cookies, especially chocolate chip and ginger snaps.

In my earlier years I would stock up and always have them on hand for friends, and of course myself.

I had a fleeting thought of making my own pecan and fig bars and selling them to feed the poor but that thought soon passed.

In Haiti, ministering to the women, I realized that none of my Haitian friends had ever eaten a cookie so I started to take cookies to the women's groups. They loved them! It was fun to climb the mountains carrying cookies, lemonade and a guitar in a wheelbarrow. After the meetings we would pass out the goodies. I did not realize at the time that the two little cookies we gave them were often the only thing they had to eat for the day. How sad!

Jesus said, "lest we be moved with compassion, how dwells the love of God in us."

My compassion rose to a new level and we started to cook for them, a real meal each week. Oh how they loved it, often saving a little on their paper plates to take home for the family.

Walking thru the village market with a friend one day, what an experience, I saw cookies. “Wow,” I commented, “do they make these cookies here?” My friend replied, “Oh Betteee, you would not want one, they are to die for.” “What do you mean,” I asked? “These are cookies made from mud that people eat when they are starving, just to kill their hunger pains.” I could not imagine. How horrid, how cruel and hard to believe.

I was crushed and again moved with compassion to try to do more, give more, buy more rice, talk to friends about the hunger in Haiti. I could not eat my rice if thousands were not fed as we do each school day, yet there are always more at the gate.

I don't eat many cookies these days, they just don't taste the same. My desire is rice, rice and more rice to feed the starving.

None of our food is provided by organizations giving food, it is all bought in Haiti by you, our wonderful sponsors and donors.

We speak for all our children and families when we say “thank you for giving to the Lord,” lives are being saved and you are being blessed for giving. We love you.

Compassionate for Jesus, Bettie

Calvary CRC Youth Group

We were honored to host yet another group from Calvary CRC. Our theme for the week of June 15-22 was immersion with relationship. We visited World Harvest orphanage and got our hands dirty in some paint. Everyone did such a great job that we decided to take a day and paint the new classroom building at Grande Gode. It was a fun day for everyone. We enjoyed a Haitian lunch right there on site and even got to witness some old time medicine when Ebel’s dad came out and worked on David’s sprained ankle, that was amazing!

These two kids to the right were hanging around Grande Gode for the excitement of the day. I couldn’t help but capture this moment with them sitting outside the church. Haitian kids are hams when it comes to having their picture snapped. They love to see the digital images of themselves laughing and giggling at the sight. Do you recognize these kids. Maybe you sponsor one of them?

We spent a fun day at the beach near the village of 87, yes, a village named 87 because it is along an old railroad tract 87 kilometers from Port au Prince. We loaded up the dump truck with about 35 kids from Grande Gode and took them with us. It was a great day filled with sun, water, sand and food. The boy to the left dug himself into the sand and came up looking like the “sandman.” The picture above him is a group of Grande Gode kids on the beach. This was a very special treat for these kids and everyone had a great time.

This picture is the Grande Gode school after it was painted. There is a crew that has been working on the road. They cut away most of the yard in front of the school in order to add an extra lane to the Highway. This is a strange sight to see this land cut away all up and down the road, it looks like the White Cliffs of Dover. As the crew works on the road they are also doing some public service projects. They have filled in nearly 30 acres of lowland near Troufondban which was a mosquito breeding swamp. They have taken their big machines up on the land behind the Grande Gode School and leveled of some of the property for a recreation area for the kids.

In this picture to the right Jonas had more paint on his face than he had on the wall. During this week many friendships were made as we made every effort to “blend” our two cultures together. I thought it was a very interesting experiment and I hope we can continue to be more and more “relational” with our future groups.

Phil Snyder

The BOLD Challenge Relay 1600

The GLOW campaign to sponsor every child by December 31, 2008, is becoming a reality. Materials are nearly ready to go. Complete packages of SOS lanyards with information cards, and instructions await your request. All we need are a few more tweaks to the website and the program will be ready to roll. Please contact us at the Child Sponsorship Hotline 616.283.9616 if you are willing to be one who champions the needs of our children in this way. Thank you for rising to this challenge.

Grande Gode: Village of the Month

Let’s celebrate the 10th Anniversary of GLOW by looking at our first school. Grande Gode is located along the Main highway. It started as a small brush arbor housing 35 students. The main building was dedicated in 1998. Just last week the teen group from Calvary Christian Reformed Church of Holland, MI painted the newest addition. Thanks for a great job, guys! This school is home to 135 students, most of them unsponsored. Please join us as we strive to sponsor every student in Grande Gode School this month through the

BOLD Challenge Relay 1600.

For more information on how you can be a part of this great cause, please contact Amber Snyder, sos@glowmi.org or 616.283.9616. All instructions will be included with your special Sponsorship On a String, so call now!

Gala Grand Opening of the GLOW-LYMPICS

We tried to light of a pack of sparklers and wave them around for a spectacular grand opening event picture but it didn’t work. TIP: don’t ever try and light off a handful of sparklers all at once, they go off like a powder keg, just ask Rudy, we almost burnt his hand off. SO… Instead of staging our own gala grand opening we will incorporate our grand opening of the GLOW-LYMPICS with the 4th of July celebration tonight.

GLOW-LYMPIC Event For July

Each month, we're going to have a little awareness-raising fun in hopes of

encouraging our supporters to live differently. This month we hope you'll

all participate in the GLOW-LYMPICS! Junk Food Junkie Junk - Out

Stop the POP and Skip the CHIPS.

There are two, count 'em two, ways to do the JUNK OUT.

1 Keep buying pop and chips like you always do. But when you unload your groceries, stack it all on the counter, total up the price you paid and send a matching gift to GLOW at the end of the week or month. ALSO, Take a picture of yourself with all that stuff. Embarrassing, isn't it? And send it via email to me, at BeBold@glowmi.org . Maybe you and your junk food will make the website! This was inspired by a book called Hungry Planet, by Peter Menzel. His books should be required reading for GLOW supporters.

2 Stop buying pop, chips, and junk food for the month. Set a jar on the kitchen counter, and each time you get A HANKERING, put a designated amount into the jar. Remember, you are only skipping the junk food and snacks, whenever you add to the jar, think about our Haitian friends, and be generous, remembering how they must feel when they have had nothing to eat for the day. At the end of the month or week, send me an email describing your junk food free time. And let us know how much you collected for Haiti, by hankering for junk.

They have coined a new phrase in Haiti, Drinking the Clorox, which means the burning feeling these people experience when they are very hungry. Let's do this as a team this month, and enjoy the experience of living a little differently.

GLOW Ministries International DVD now online at Google Click this link!
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