Jesus’ kids!
December 2003 Volume 6, Number 12
“He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy.” Psalm 72:4
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Jesus’ kids! December 2003 Volume 6, Number 12 “He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy.” Psalm 72:4 |
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I walk into the Center and all the lambs come flying at me. They
all want to greet me, they all want a hug, they all want to jump up and
down and dance around. The lambs are wired this month in anticipation
of Christmas, and to preserve our (the adults’) sanity, we are putting
them to work.
Actually, they have been working very very hard for many months along with volunteer, Sandy, preparing a little Christmas and New Year treat for you. They’ve spent many an hour bent over desks, designing something special for their friends in other countries. That treat will leave this country on Friday, December 5th, when John and Esther Ratovohery leave Madagascar to begin a three month furlough. John has promised us that they will mail the treat to you on December 23rd, the morning after they arrive in the U.S., and then very quickly you will find it in your mailbox wrapped with all the love these little lambs could muster, and that’s a lot of love! Enjoy. Enjoy. Project #2 is a Christmas cookie bake-off. We’ll bring the girl lambs to the Rosie house again since they don’t have an oven at the Center. We’ll start with a Bible study (we always do) reminding ourselves that God gave us work to do and that we should do it with everything in us, and then we’ll put those little girl lambs to work doing what they love to do best, make cookies. We’ll be cleaning up flour for months afterward, but it is well worth it to watch them go at this cookie baking with zeal and with the love that just pours out of their little hearts. The boys get off easy on this project. All they have to do is eat the cookies, and boy do they eat! Project #3 is already in progress and will culminate in a grand party on the morning of December 20th. The lambs are practicing hard, learning new songs and new memory verses with several of our Malagasy volunteers. On December 20, they will go to the sight of their future new home and sing for the families of the workers who have given the last two years to building this new home for the lambs. In the past years, we have always given a little party with soda and cookies to the workers at the Betikara land just before the Christmas break. This year we are inviting the wives and children of the workers and we are going to turn it into an evangelistic effort, as well as a time for the workers to meet the lambs they are laboring so hard to serve. We are expecting it to be great fun and we are praying that it will lead someone to Christ at the same time, as they share in the love these lambs pour out so naturally. Project #4 is designed to be pure fun for the lambs. It’s on December 22nd, and it’s the annual Rosie Christmas picnic. This year we will have 19 lambs, 5 caregivers, 6 volunteers, our family of 4, and our guard’s family for a day of fun, games, devotional, Malagasy Christmas cuisine and general Christmas joy. It’s on that day that the gifts you have sent for your particular lamb will be given to them. It’s on that day that all this Christmas spirit will come to a peak and overflow and then maybe after that, just maybe, we will all be able to rest a little. I sure hope so! We are giving thanks.
The Roof is on!
Thank you
How can I help?
· Please pray for Andry and Noro’s complete recovery both physically
and emotionally after their accident.
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If you would like to help with a monetary donation, write your check out to BETIKARA and send it to: Indiana Church of Christ
“He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him
for what he has done.”
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Not all news is
good news, nevertheless, Betikara has reason to offer up a prayer of thanks
this month. It happened on Sunday evening, November 30th. Betikara
lamb, Andry, and three of the Malagasy young adult Christians who help
us with the lambs were walking home from a gospel singing. They were
standing four abreast on a traffic island near city center when a drunk
taxi driver raced down the hill, jumped onto the traffic island, took out
a cement post, and hit Andry and Noro. We are thankful for that cement
post which probably saved them from much greater injury. Andry needed
stitches in his head and Noro is sporting a golf ball size lump, but both
had head x-rays and there were no fractures. Both suffered multiple
cuts and bruises. Both are resting comfortably at the center, and
we are all thanking the Father for watching over them with such love and
care.