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        

Robert Gamble: This Child Here Update 2013

Introduction by Warner Davis

Robert Gamble of "This Child Here," a ministry to street children in the Ukraine, wrote an article published in Columbia Theological Seminary's Spring 2013 edition of its periodical Vantage. Because of the need it portrays that we ourselves are involved in addressing by virtue of our financial support, I offer it to you. Please read it. I think you'll be moved.
-Warner


THIS CHILD HERE 
by Robert Gamble

"Photo, photo!" Jana shouts, motioning with her hand for me to follow. She wears a t-shirt and jeans that are gathered by a belt at her waist. Even in the dark, I can see her dirty hands, the black beneath her fingernails, and filth across her face. Her breath reeks of glue.

She leaps to the platform and disappears down a hole. I crawl up the concrete, dragging my camera bag, grab the sides of the rails, and go below. The room is ten by fifteen feet. In front of me are several massive steel sewage pipes too large to put my arms around. Smaller pipes run parallel and up; valve handles are the size of steering wheels. It looks like a jungle gym. Jana stands in the corner, her hand on her hip. I raised the camera. She does not smile.

Outside, two streetlights, a nearby gas station and darkness -are the backdrop. I shoot rapidly, glancing always at the screen on the back of my camera. In forty minutes, I take two hundred images of boys and girls from age eight or nine to fifteen, hugging each other or climbing on top of each other to get in front of the camera. Their faces pressed against the yellow dog that sleeps on top of the platform - faces which are solemn, smiling, wide mouthed, closed, intimate, distant.

Jana's face has changed. The images I took in February showed her clean cheeks, ice blue eyes and shy smile. Now it is fall and, at fifteen, they tell me she has become a prostitute. I photograph her shrunken frame, her eyes dimmed by life on the street. I know these children. Their lives are horrific, and photographing them is compelling.

Ukraine is a country suffering from a crisis of care for her indigent children - children in orphanages, children on the streets, children living in and leaving broken homes suffer tragically. In the PBS documentary "The Road to Matveevka," statistics are given that, after leaving the government facilities of Ukraine, one in ten children commit suicide. The percentages of those who turn to drugs and prostitution are much higher.

When you get hit with forsakenness at this level, it changes you. It is through the pain of a thing that you begin to feel. When you feel, you listen. That pain you feel about something and for someone, pay attention to that. That cry you hear from some place, pay attention to that. That awkwardness you feel when you look at the way things are, pay attention to that. It is in these things, God is speaking.

More about this ministry at http://www.thischildhere.org/.