Does it pass the 4 way test ?

This trip was a wirlwind .  We were double timing it the entire month .  I will do some catch up posts and fill in the blanks , but I wanted to share part of our last day. 

We were up early finishing off popcorn and 100 lt of lemonade while Sergey went to town to get icecream cones for 400 kids .. Thats right 400 kids .  

The boys helped our welder go down to the playground and put the finishing touches on the playground and install the swings . 

At 12:00 the festivities began .. 

We arrived just in time for the meal and the speaches .. I am so glad that I was not asked to say anything this time .. I don't think I would have been able to speak .. I was just so overwhelmed by the Joy and the excitement that we were experiencing here .  

Every piece of play equipiment was jammed with kids, and boy were they having a good time. 

I had so many people come to us and share how this is what comunity should be .  So many different tribs and nationalities are represented in this village , and today they were all together celebrating , not because they had some special holiday , but because they could come together as a comunity. 

We have done a lot of projects over the years with the Rotary club . They have been such a blessing to us enabling us to do projects that otherwise we would not have been able to .  One thing that I have learned from them is the "four way test" .. Well this project sort of snuck up on us so we moved ahead because it needed to be done .. the playground had fallen into disrepair after about 6 years of heavy use.  When we were making the decision wether or not to move ahead, I could hear my friends at Rotary ... "How will this build comunity ?... will it pass all four aspects of the test."    

We do have a couple projects left to do at the playground. Not so urgent but a fun one. There is a large cement block wall along one side of the playground.  We would like to paint a giant mural on this wall . We have the talant at the farm with a couple of our guys so we are looking for about $150 for this and we can move ahead . 

The next project is a bit bigger .  The families in the comunity are going to start taking responsibility for the caring for the park and the children in it.  They have taken up a colection among the comunity to build a fence around the park to keep the kids safe and to give un understanding that this is a protected territory .. It is a cultural thing in Kyrgyzstan that with out a fence , things are considered to be "Help yourself" but when a fence is up it is then safe.   Even so far as people thinking that they could just bring items from the playground to their own home is an isue , simply because there is no fence.   As well as the cultural significance of a fence , this playground is close to the road and while cars may stop and watch for kids , herds of Cows , horses and sheep don't always .

We would like to be able to offer to match the funds raised by the comunity to make it possible to move ahead with this .   I was thinking that this would be a good project for a team in the fall , but The village has asked that we have the fence up by the end of May .  So our share of this will be about $750.   We think it is important to have the families involved in this so they can take ownership, so we will limit our suport to $750.  If you would like to sponsor this in whole or in part , please donate at the top right side of the blog. 

The first banquet at the Kashar for the season.

We are so pleased with the progress up at the Kashar .. the yurts are up, the roof is fixed and the living room ceiling is patched and the burnt wall is painted.  The beds arrived on Friday and on Saturday we hosted our first banquet of the season. We had about 75 people , and the best part is that they cooked for us , and boy doid they do it right . 

Our friend Talgar the eagle hunter came and put on a deminstration and anyone who wanted could have a chance to hold the eagle 

They had horsback riding and some time of singing and marsh mellows by the fire .  They even had several games like Human Fusball and tug a war. 

We have been planting seeds and plants in the flower gardens . They are coming along well.

We are missing the defuser head off the watering cans so Quentin  had to get creative so he could water without washing away his seeds 

Yesterday we visited a farm for young adults with dissabilities .  We even met up with a couple young men who ran to great us as they had known us from red river orphanage.  They were asking and excited to here how Emma and Bekah were doing. 

This morning it was raining so we went into Tokmok to do some english conversation classs with one of the classes there. 

Here is another , "Love how that worked out" for you .. Yesterday we were given three big truck loads of wood for us to cut and bag for fire wood next winter.. It all arrived last night and this morning a group of about 20 young adults from Georga showed up at the farm wondering if they could volinteer at the farm today , so as I type this they are over stacking wood .

 

If I believed in coincidences

After church today we had a bit of running around to do .  We delivered some seeds as well as picked up a vaccume cleaner .  Our regular canaster vaccumes just don't cut it with all the construction so this time we got a shop vac.  

Sergey and his family went up to the Kashar to pour a new top one the yurt pads .. not it looks like glass .

Quinton and I went for a drive up to the mountain to see the bees .  I was relieved to see bees flying .. So many bees died this winter .. spring arrived then after everything woke up, they got -35 weather for a week as well as a pile of snow.  But fortunatly we still have bees.  

Now here is a neet storey .   A couple days ago Quentin was sugesting to me that we plant red currents near the trees in the garden because they realy attract bees and other polinators .  I shared with him that I had not seen them here, but would put word out.   Today as we were leaving the mountain bees , our friend Talbek arrived . Said he was so happy he caught us because he had a preasent for me .. 10 red current bushes.  Here is the cool thing .. I had not yet put the word out that I wanted some .. The only ones who knew this was Quentin, Myself and God.   Some would call this a coincidence .. but not me. 

Vera just sent update picyures od the seeds being delivered in her village ,, we were happy to see one of Julies girls recieving packages . 

Today I lead worship!

 I used to wish I could sing better or play an instrument so that I could Not just enter into worship , but even lead worship... Today I lead worship .  In the word it says " Doing that which is Holy and pleasing before God is a spiritual act of worship".  

I had the privilage of bringing 30 orphans and orphanage workers along with our farm kids to buy new summer shoes and then out to one of the top resteraunts in kyrgyzstan .. I Know that this fits into the catagory of Holy and pleasing ... Gods presence was so evident in this day. 

So our first stop was to the city to bring the kids show shpopping .. about 4 or five of the kids were new to the orphanage so they especialy needed some shoes and were very excited to have such a choice. 

Next up we took them all to a resteraunt.  They have a small zoo there which the kids realy enjoyed , but then the food.. It was so good ... we of course ordered tons of food so they could all relax knowing that they could all get some, nd even have enough for doggy bags for supper .  

This orphanage is very well cared for , and I know that they will never go hungry , but that said ... buying new shoes and going to a resteraunt is more then they could imagin .  For several of the boys they had never had shashleek before , and never been in a resteraunt. 

Our friend Tanya was out delivering seeds with her friends .. They often help her with her mny projects .. I have seen their  pictures but had never met them personaly.   So when they showed up today It was such a blessing for me to be able to pick up their check as well.  I had tried several times in the past to get together with them , who would have thought that this trip being so rushed would have been my opertunity to thank them for being such a blessing to Tanya.  Amazing how things work out . 

It ws such a great day .  So many people who God Loves were so blessed today .  Thank you to those who donated to make this day possible . 

"True religion is to visit the widdows and the orphans ......