Mercy

Mercy – November 5, 2008

Read Matt 25:31-46 today. Our lives need to be about mercy. I feel like I have an advantage over you all in the states because the need for mercy here is so obvious. Daily I confront people who are struggling with hunger, disease and desperate need so I don’t have to look very hard. I know there are people in your lives each day in need of mercy but it’s a little harder to see there. I’m praying we’ll all be people whose faith leads us to set a table of mercy in our lives every day.

Here’s an update on the church that received a donation of land to farm in its efforts to support the widows of the church. The land donated has increased to 100 acres! The reason the village is willing to give so much land is that they are hoping that the churches involvement will bring jobs to their village as well as farming expertise from the agriculturists who are helping. The plan is to employ people from the village to work alongside the people from the church as they begin this new venture. Pastor Steven’s passion for this project has been the driving force behind this whole thing moving forward and he believes that God has provided this opportunity for his church to care for these women in need. The church was able to purchase about $200 worth of farming tools and boots to begin the clearing of the land which begins this week. Once the land is cleared they are praying that a couple non-profit organizations will help out with more tools and seed once they are convinced this project is moving forward. The current need is for money to purchase rice and food for the workers to eat as they work out in the fields. It’s so hard to watch the struggle that these people are in and know that I can’t step up and help them with all their needs no matter how much I want to. What encourages me so much about this project is that the people are looking for a way to be self-sufficient and are taking it upon themselves to move towards that reality. However, the reality is that they don’t even have the means to begin without some initial help.

The farming project which has been named “The Nehemiah Agriculture Project,” couldn’t have come at a more critical time. I visited Pastor Steven’s village this week to get a first hand look at the current life these widows are facing each day. For some time these women have been doing the only job that is available to them which is breaking huge boulders into smaller rocks and then breaking the smaller rocks with hammers into small stones that are used to make concrete. I walked past the 3-4 foot high neat piles of stones and learned that it takes a woman about 1 month to make a pile that she hopes to sell for $20 US. They are trying but they can’t manage to provide their families with enough to eat each day. To add insult to injury the government has recently come to the village to announce that they will no longer allow the women to take boulders from the hill because it belongs to the government.

• Please be praying for this project as the work begins.

• Be praying for Pastor Steven and the other four Pastors who are working with the ministry at Mt. Barclay as they deal with the latest setback of not receiving the expected monthly support for themselves and their families. Their families are hungry.

• Pray also that I will be feeling better. I’m trying to recover from malaria at the moment.

• Praise for a woman that the Lord has raised up to take up the work with the women once I leave in December!!! Her name is Martina and please be praying for her as well.

Thank you to everyone for remembering me in your prayers!

In His grip,

Jill