Andy Andrews is one of my favorite writers. I've included a portion of his Christmas letter that inspired me. I hope it will you as well.
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It snowed at the beach last week! Only a tiny bit, but in
some places along the gulf coast, it actually stuck on the
ground. Hmmmm ... global warming? In an unrelated event, a
local boat captain and his passengers aboard The Shady Lady
saw, photographed, and filmed Killer Whales in the Gulf of
Mexico only 90 miles from Orange Beach, Alabama! And not
just a couple either ... They saw more than two hundred
Orcas in several pods. Read the story and see the pictures
here.
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This cow has changed our Christmas:
The pretty girl with chestnut colored hair in the middle of
the picture is Kim Pace. Kim is the daughter of close
friends of ours, Jim and Mary Pace from the Atlanta area.
The lady in the multicolored dress is Jane. She is flanked
by her local pastor (an unpaid position) and surrounded by
her children and one of Kim's staff. Jane and her children
dressed in their best clothes for this photograph.
Kim is a missionary to Kenya. She is 30 years old and has
been on the African continent for almost a decade. A couple
of years ago, Jim and Mary were visiting their daughter and
went with her to the western part of the country. There,
they experienced poverty that we, in our country, find
tough to even imagine.
One morning, in a one room, mud hut, Jim and Mary met Jane.
Jane's husband had been killed in a job related accident
the year before. Seeing her "guests" sitting on her dirt
floor, Jane was horrified that she had nothing—no food, no
tea—to offer them. Kim assured her friend that her parents
were expecting nothing and were not offended. Still, Jane
was embarrassed.
As the children sat quietly in the laps of the adults, Kim
noticed a child missing. "Jane," she asked softly, "Where
is Purity?"
Jane's eyes filled with tears as the corners of her mouth
tugged down. "I had to give her to another family," she
said. "I could not feed her." Then, with guests in her home,
the young mother put her face in her hands and cried.
Jim stepped outside the tiny hut and saw Edwin, Jane's
pastor, nearby. Wiping tears of his own away, Jim told
Edwin what had happened and began to take every dollar he
had out of his pockets. But before Jim could go back inside
with the money, Edwin stopped him. "Please sir," he said,
"you are most generous, but may I make a suggestion?"
"Of course," Jim answered.
"If you really want to help Jane," the pastor said, "don't
give her all your money. It will only run out. Just buy
her a cow."
Jim was taken aback. "What?" he asked. "A cow?"
"Yes," Edwin went on to explain, "Jane can use the cow's
milk to feed her family and any that is left over can be
sold in order to afford some grain for bread. A family
with a cow will never go hungry. In fact," Edwin added,
"one cow can provide enough nourishment to keep almost
fifty children alive."
"How much is a cow?" Jim asked carefully.
"About five hundred of your dollars," was the answer.
Jim looked. He had more than that in his hand. The cow was
purchased that day.
A week later, Jim was back in America. In New York City on
business, he found himself unable to shake from his mind
the experience with Jane and her family. One afternoon, in
a hotel lobby waiting on a friend, a lady seated nearby
struck up a conversation. After asking Jim where he was
from and a bit about his family, this woman then asked an
unusual question. "What is the most gratifying thing you
have done recently?"
Jim raised his eyebrows, smiled and said, "I bought a cow."
After relating his experience, the woman asked, "Can I buy
a cow, too?"
"I guess," was Jim's answer and after a quick phone call,
he gave the woman an address to use.
Neither Jim nor Mary has given a speech or written a letter
requesting help. Kim has not asked that anyone pay special
attention to the people to whom she ministers in western
Kenya. Edwin operates an orphanage with 1,800 children and
oversees two medical clinics. He receives no salary, yet
never advertises his needs. Everything that has happened
since Jim and Mary's first of six trips to Kenya has been
done by word of mouth. And as of today, 123 cows have been
purchased.
Several months ago, Polly, the boys and I began talking
about the children in Africa. You know, perspective is a
wonderful thing. As crazy as the economy is here, we are
attempting to be extremely grateful for a roof over our
heads, clean water, and food to eat. Austin (9) and Adam
(6) have done extra work to earn dollars for "Miss Kim's
children". Polly and I have managed to save a bit of extra
money that, I suppose, would have gone for vanilla lattes
or another shirt or more fishing equipment.
So yesterday, with what we had saved, we bought two cows.
The check was sent to:
Brackenhurst Ministries
104 Bridgewater Drive
Peachtree City, GA 30269
We think it might be our best gift ever.
Merry Christmas,
Andy
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