O.E.

Well, you would have heard from me sooner but it took three days of trying to get my last email out.  Haha.  We just have to keep hitting send until there is enough bandwidth to send it out.

Anyways. I wanted you to know that the high schoolers all left on Monday, 7 of our dorm kids,  57 in all with adult sponsors.  Garth took them to the airport at 5:45 or so.  They have to be weighed and all their stuff weighed and they flew together to the village of Wamena and then they went in shifts in smaller MAF planes into Soba.  They will be serving there until March 6th when they fly back into Wamena to do an AIDS/HIV presentation for the Youth there and then on the 7th of March they fly home.

Can you imagine organizing the food for that group?  There is no refrigeration, so they will be eating a lot of rice.  There is one building for the girls to sleep in and one for the boys.  They sleep on the floor under their mosquito nets.  They dig two holes in the ground for a bathroom, bathe in the river, wash their clothes in the river...

I think it sounds totally cool.  I want to volunteer to go next year as one of the sponsors or to help with the food.  

I have an idea-if any of you are so inclined, please pray for these kids.  And if you want to take it a step further, fast a meal and pray for them during that time.  They need good weather, good health, enough food, safety while working, effectiveness with the villagers and the kids, wisdom in how they help in the medical clinic they will set up...We want their hearts to be open to God's voice.  We want them to serve with love from a willing heart.  We want God to use them completely.

Yesterday Garth challenged the 10 of us that are still here to use these two weeks to really listen to God's voice.  How does God want us to change?  When those high schoolers come back they should see a change in us as well.

One of the adults usually sends out an update every few days to let us know how the kids are doing.  We haven't heard anything yet, but I will keep you up to date as I do.

Love,

Rachel