I thought you would enjoy this inside story which tells about the humanitarian effort you help support here.
Saturday was the day to interview candidates for the Leadership College. Classes begin the end of this month. It was a bittersweet day. Most of the candidates were excellent and we would love to be able to accept all of them. Hopefully we can in May or June.
I wish you could have been here to meet them and hear their stories. Most were recommended by missionaries and other charities running orphanages, etc. We were all so busy and so caught up in the event that we forgot to eat breakfast and lunch.
At the end of the day, the students who were selected were hugging and rejoicing as though they had won a million dollars. Those not selected were greatly disappointed. During the interviews, we heard many touching stories. Some had not eaten on their 20 hour trip to the interview so we fed them and gave them food money for their return trip.
Three candidates were from La Mosquitia, the largest wilderness area in all of Central America. It was a financial burden for them to come for the interview. We selected two. After the process was over, I was expressing apologies to the one not selected and in the conversation discovered that she really had no where to go till May or June when we hope to have enough student sponsorships to accept her.
I said to her that we would welcome her now but we had no bed for her. She replied “I do not need a bed. I can sleep on the floor as I have many times.” Trying to lighten up the conversation a little, I said “without a bed, you may have to sleep in the forest.” Not realizing I was kidding, she replied. “No problem. I can do that. I really want to be able to study. This educational opportunity is my chance for a better future.” Bottom line: we accepted her saying we’d do something for a bed and thinking to ourselves that we’d trust our friends and family and God to find her a sponsor.
If you are a person that prays, I’d ask you to join me in praying for sponsors for these students. The big need is sponsorship for students. Some have been sponsored but we need to find sponsorship for 11 more. That is the big, immediate need for which I ask your prayer.
If you know someone who may be interested in helping sponsoring a student, this link has some info.
http://www.artforhumanity.org/news/misc-info/investment-opportunities/sponsor-a-student/
If you’d like to see photos of students needing sponsorship, this link has that info.
http://www.artforhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Feb-Students-Support.pdf