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Thanks, thanks, and more thanks.
Many Thanks to the Students of the American School
of Antananarivo
They completed
their annual Thanksgiving Food Drive. Havilah is on the student council
this year and spearheaded the operation. She knows well what we need
at the orphanage, and that gave her the impetus to move everyone else into
action. Havilah’s class (7th grade) won the competition, donating the most
food of any class. Havilah worked on the project from both ends.
She encouraged her classmates, collected food at the school, tallied points,
and then came home and counted the amount that was donated for Betikara
and helped load and unload cars in order to get the food to our lambs.
Betikara received
150 kilos (330 lbs.) of rice, 25.5 kilos (56 lbs.) of dried beans, 35 cans
of canned goods, 5 kilos (11 lbs.) of sugar, a case of bar soap, and 80.5
liters (approx. 85 quarts) of cooking oil. This much was half of what the
students collected. The other half will go to another orphanage in town.
We would like
to say a heartfelt thank you to the students of the American School of
Antananarivo. Most of them are not even American and do not celebrate
Thanksgiving. They do, however, know how to give and for that we
are thankful.
Glasses for the Betikara Lambs
Sarobidy, Elia, Clara, Elisa, Yosly, Anjara, and
Robert
Thanks to many
of you, all 25 Betikara lambs as well as all the adult workers at Betikara
received a vision screening test. These seven lambs received in-depth
eye testing and eye-glasses. The Institute de la Vision, a subdivision
of ADRA (Adventist Relief Agency), agreed to screen all Betikara workers
for no cost. The additional eye assessments for our seven lambs and
the eye-glasses cost us only $ 173.33. We are thankful to Dr. Carlos
of the vision center for offering to do this very important task for us
and we found a way to thank him and his co-workers. A few weeks after
the lambs received their glasses, Institute de la Vision telephoned us
with a request. They had a training session planned for their staff
and needed a place to hold their meeting. We offered the large all-purpose
room for their training session and are thankful that we could help them
in return.
Boxes, boxes, and more boxes
You are always
so good to us. Your boxes have been coming in steady for the last
two weeks. They are stacked all over the Rosie hallway and we’ve
been tripping over them for days. It’s going to be an exciting Christmas
for the lambs this year, but the Rosie family gets to have the most fun
of all. We get to peek in early as we organize something to open
for every child. You do all the work, we have all the fun, and that’s
not such a bad spot in which to be.
We don’t have
snow. We don’t have nice fat, furry, jolly Santas, or Christmas music
in every store. We don't have mistletoe, candy canes, or Rudolph.
We don’t have family for Christmas, but we have the lambs, and the look
on their faces assure us a wonderful Christmas. We wish you were
here with us.
Thanks to one
very special donation, the children have a refrigerator in their kitchen.
Thanks to several other donations and boxes sent, the kids will have two
ping pong tables (the tables are on order and will be completed just after
the new year) and all the accessories. Several of your boxes contain
gifts the whole orphanage will use and we are thankful for those of you
who try to do something special for everyone. We know of several
boxes on the way that will provide new clothes for each child and another
kind friend provided new shoes for each child. We have boxes full
of personal supplies for each child, and several of our long time faithful
sponsors have sent a treat especially for their child.
You have made
our Christmas so merry. Thank you for caring, for loving, for serving,
and for being Santa to the lambs of Betikara. We will keep you in
prayer into the new year, that He may bless you as richly as you have blessed
us.
Merry Christmas, Friends of Betikara!
What can you do?
You can pray.
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Please pray for Andry, our lamb who has been sick for almost a year now.
We suspect that he is suffering from kidney damage that occurred when he
was hit by a car several years ago. We’ve had Andry to several doctors
here, but don’t really trust any of them. Though no doctor has mentioned
it yet, if dialysis becomes necessary it is near impossible to get in this
country. Please pray that God will do what is best for Andry.
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Please pray for our new little lambs. It is so wonderful to have
new little ones in the orphanage. Pray that we provide just what
they need both physically and emotionally.
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Please pray for all the children as they study. We have four this
year who must take the junior high school qualifying exam and they need
your prayers to help them succeed.
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Please pray that we may finish the school building this year in time to
organize a school, which will open in September if God wills.
We keep you in daily prayers.
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