David's Weekly Perspective - A Visit to Mountain Villages

Greetings and thank you for following our journey. Each day is new, different and exciting. This past Thursday, August 7, I had the opportunity to go with John Norquay and Hynmanuk, his translator to visit some mountain villages.

John and his wife, Shirin, have a ministry to the poor, C.P.F. International, and they coordinate their effort with the local social services administration.. They have been delivering food to the very poor in very difficult places for over five years.. They take not only needed nutritional items, but personal items, toys for the kids and winter clothes.

Winters are brutal here and very frankly, many do not survive. The homes are not well built, they are in gross disrepair and impossible to heat. To buy coal is prohibitive in cost. John told me of one man who went to find firewood with his wife and daughter. The husband came back, the other two did not- they froze to death. When you hear stories such as these, your heart breaks. As I mentioned, winters are harsh here and unfortunately, this story is often repeated.

Here are some sights from the mountain villages...

There was no one home here, so we left their food package in plain sight for them to see when they came home. There is little work here, so they were probably out trying find something to either eat or sell.

The kids saw us coming and ran out to us. John is on the left, Hynmanuk, on the right has been a great help to John's ministry.

I took this picture while I was sitting on the floor in their one room house where eight people live. I was on the floor eating bread that had been prepared for us as these two cuties looked down and smiled.

This is the home of the two little girls in the picture above. You will notice to the right there is construction using mud bricks with straw. The house which they presently live was damaged by an earthquake and they are trying to build another one.

A bachelor lives here and is always so apprecitive to receive the bag of food which includes floor, rice, pasta, cooking oil and other grains.

This lady and another family live in a home that by all accounts should be condemned. It is unsafe, however, as bad as it was, it was very clean.

This is a beautiful family with very little, but have a lot of love. They are afflicated with mental and physical disorders for which there is little or no help. When we came the father was fishing. Fishing here is not recreational, it is an attempt to survive.

As we were driving to a village to deliver another sack of food, we passed this cart. John recognized them as the ones to whom we were taking the food. We stopped, visited a while and gave them the supplies. As a passing thought, I jumped on the cart and sat with these beautiful people just before they continued their journey to go to work in the field.

Time has gone quickly

It doesn't seem possible, but we have just 50 days left. Time has gone quickly and God has, indeed, given us opportunities beyond what we could have imagined.

When we return, Jayne will begin her speaking and teaching schedule-pretty much filled up to March, 2009. Her newest book, the updated version of The Whole Life Adoption Book, was released while we were here and it is getting good reviews. She, along with 5 other authors, have been working long distance - a very long distance - on a new book dealing with parenting traumatized children and the impact on the family. It will be released next spring.

I'm not sure as to what I will be doing - that is not yet revealed - except to say that I will be resuming my teaching responsibilties with Masters International School of Divinity with a seminar in Virginia Beach. Some other additional trips are planned.

In a very few short days, Bekah Gibson arrives. We have many things planned while she is here. She will have many opportunities to be a part of and involved in the ministry here. She will have such a positive presence and impact here. Watch our blog as her story unfolds!

Again, thank you for following as our journey continues....