Part 2: Day 5 Celebration of the water system in Azacualpa Honduras PNK Living Waters for the World mission trip 2015

Part 1: Day 5 Celebration of the water system in Azacualpa Honduras PNK Living Waters for the World mission trip 2015

Day 4 in Azacualpa Honduras PNK Living Waters for the World mission trip 2015

Day 4 in Azacualpa Honduras. We finished the water system. The operators have been trained. VBS has concluded and we are ready for the water celebration this afternoon (Thursday). At the water celebration we will dedicate the system, the VBS children will perform, the health and hygiene participants will participate and all involved will be recognized for their hard work in making this possible. Thanks to everyone who has supported this mission. We are grateful and the people here thank you!

Day 3 Azacualpa Honduras PNK Living Waters for the World mission trip 2015

Day 2 Azacualpa Honduras PNK Living Waters for the World mission trip 2015

The installation of the clean water system is nearing completion. The Health and Hygiene classes are going well and VBS kids are having a great time.

Day 1 in Azacualpa Honduras PNK Living Waters for the World mission trip 2015

This is the first day for our PNK 2015 water team at the village of Azacualpa Honduras

The team arrived in Honduras November 15, 2015.

PNK Water Mission trip to Honduras 2015

Jim Barkley, Susanne Dunn and Mary Ammend of Collierville Presbyterian are joining other team members of the PNK (Presbytery of Northern Kansas) Water Mission trip to Azacualpo Honduras 2015 to install a water filtration system. Additional videos on their progress will be posted to this site as they become available. Keep the team in your prayers!

Feeling Blessed

It's a story I love to tell every time July the 4^th rolls around.

In 1954, when my parents concluded their first term of missionary service in the Belgian Congo, we returned to the U.S. for a furlough. Approaching New York Harbor on the Queen Elizabeth, we were moved by the sight of the Statue of Liberty. And when a customs official greeted us with a hearty “Welcome home!”, tears rolled down my mother's cheeks.

Settling into our Manhattan hotel room, we had one more thing to do to complete our arrival --  find the nearest drug store, sit down at a soda fountain, and order chocolate malts and hamburgers. We did, and when Dad finished eating, he said in a loud voice, “That's the best meal I've had in four years!” 

It was a proclamation that, no doubt, drew stares from nearby customers. It didn't matter, though.  All that mattered was that we were  home.

On July the 4^th, we celebrate the birth of our nation. And chief among the blessings of U.S. citizenship is its (don't worry -- I'm not going to say “chocolate malts and hamburgers”) freedoms. I say that from the heart, having been to parts of the world where tyranny prevails. Visit a country where the government  tramples on the fundamental rights of its people, and you're stirred by the fact that yours is a nation founded upon human rights.

Indeed, the privileges of living in the U.S. are blessings to give thanks for every time we go to church and exercise our right to worship.   

Warner Davis 

Volunteering at the Collierville Food Pantry

Volunteers (l-r) Ruby Mears, Jim Barkley, Pam Aquadro

I have been volunteering at the Collierville Food Pantry for three years.  I am humbled every time I volunteer.  It is so hard to imagine not having enough food to feed your family.  Just seeing the gratitude of the clients that come in make my time there so worthwhile.  By helping the Collierville Food Pantry stock shelves so that bags of food can be given to those who need it, is so rewarding.  You leave there with a warm fuzzy feeling and look forward to returning.

An added bonus is the fellowship and comradery you get to experience with your brothers and sisters in Christ.  It helps to further grow personal relationships with fellow church members outside the church walls.  I would highly encourage anyone who has two free hours a week to volunteer and witness for themselves the great work that is being done at the Collierville Food Pantry. What do you have to lose?

Pam Aquadro

Soup Kitchen Heroes

The Heroes: (front row l-r) Sally Wanzer, Ann Cross, Janet Hanson, Elaine Graf, Tingting Davis, Suzanne Dunn (back row l-r)  Bill Moore, Ruth Lewis, Jo Hall, Wes Ashworth, Ruby Mears, Mike Hanson, Beth Jett

On a warm spring Sunday afternoon 13 dear souls from Collierville Presbyterian Church gave their time to serve the inner city of Memphis.  First Presbyterian Church in downtown regularly hosts a Sunday Soup Kitchen for the homeless and disadvantaged of our city manned by area church volunteers.

Our merry team joined in setting up tables, serving soup and sandwiches, taking prayer requests, and assisting in guest’s clothes selections.  Time flew by as physical needs were momentarily met and lasting impressions of “the unseen” in our city were made.  One of the Soup Kitchen administrators reminded us that we were “feeding and clothing Jesus this day “ and we all felt humbled to be there.

- Sally Wanzer
 

Daffodils

“Look at the daffodils!” she said, viewing our backyard.

Most people feel elated when they spot colorful shoots breaking through the cold soil. And for good reason. Spring's flowers in the wake of winter's pall proclaim resurrection.

Indeed, Psalm 19 notes nature's eloquence. “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech …”

And pouring forth speech for me are the daffodils, particularly those that flourish unmaintained in cemeteries. Couple their eloquence with the Good News of Jesus Christ, and this announcement rings: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11: 25-26).

Wishing You and Yours a Wondrous Easter,

Warner

This Child Here - Zhanna College Bound

Beginning in 2015, we will be paying the college education of a girl named Zhanna. Zhanna Ismailova grew up in a large family without a father in a small village in the Odessa area, and for a while lived in the shelter of The Way Home, non-profit charity in Odessa. Zhanna loves to cook and planning to study a restaurant business. Last summer she worked at a restaurant in Odessa as a chief cook`s assistant. According to her, she wanted give it a try, "I just wanted to see whether I like it or not... And I liked it!" She liked it enough to take what money she had and pay for a half a year of her education, but soon realized that she could not continue working and studying at the same time. She asked This Child Here for help. We said yes.  We will pay her tuition, room and books.

Our thanks to all who support This Child Here, we wish all the best for Zhanna on her way!

Dr. Robert Gamble,

Executive Director, This Child Here     
www.thischildhere.org
https://www.facebook.com/ThisChildHereUkraine        

This Child Here Ministry Update February/March 2015

Odessa is quiet.  I notice fewer cars on the streets.  The truce is holding, they say.  But the big problem now is inflation.  Last year the exchange rate was 1 dollar - 10 grivnas. By the beginning of February it was  1:15; today it is 1:33.  There is the beginning of a panic here, people buying food and supplies with what cash they have in anticipation of runaway inflation.  Everything is cheap for us, the apartment, the restaurants; but Ukrainians are in trouble.  Most all are paid in grivnas. 

Those who work for This Child Here are paid by value of the dollar.

Below are scenes from a workshop this month in the Teenage Rehabilitation Center of Odessa, Ukraine. Some familiar faces and some new ones. It's all about helping kids open up and encouraging self-awareness, reflection on their own behavior, and adapting to new kids in the center.

Yulia and I are here until March 12th.

Dr.Robert Gamble
Executive Director, This Child Here
www.thischildhere.org
https://www.facebook.com/ThisChildHereUkraine