Great day yesterday!

Thank you for all your prayers for my presentation at our women's retreat yesterday. It went really well. I wasn't nervous and actually enjoyed it! I ran into the main keynote speaker early in the morning and she was quick to point out to me that she was also wearing jeans, ON PURPOSE!! Love it!! We had a good laugh over that one:-)

I had the opportunity to share at two breakout sessions, 40 minutes each. At the end of the first session, I ended up with an extra 4 minutes and took questions. A woman said, "I have just joined the "persecuted church" team her at our church. I there a person who could be a contact person that we could get regular prayer requests from?"

"Wellllllllllllll, due to the 40 minute time constraint, I didn't think I had time to get into this, BUT since you asked..." And I told them all about Korah and Sammy in the 3 minutes I had left.

Now I need to regress in order for the rest to make sense.

When we were with Sammy at Korah, he told us some of the many needs they have. One of the things he mentioned was how much they would love to have some music (instruments) for their church. After we got home, God got me up in the middle of the night and my eyes opened and I thought, "Music??? BLAKE!"

I couldn't wait until Blake woke up the next morning to ask him if he'd be interested. You see, Blake (if you don't already know this) plays guitar, piano, and whatever else he can get his hands on. He writes music and has been in bands and on worship teams since he was a 6th grader. He LOVES music!

He jumped all over the opportunity to go to Korah, bring a couple guitars and whatever other acoustic instruments they can get their hands on, stay a couple weeks and teach the leaders there at Korah to play. He asked his old bandmate and friend if he would be interested and it was a big, fat YES, so Zach and Blake are going to Korah for a couple weeks in June, this summer!

Ok so now back to the last 3 minutes of my first presentation. After I shared those 3 short minutes about Korah, 2 ladies came up to me and told me they would provide me with 2 guitars!! 3 minutes...2 guitars!!! I was floored. This lady asked just the right question at just the right time and the Lord put all this together to provide the boys with a huge start to meeting their needs for the trip. (Purposely, I am not saying anything about who these women are as I know they want no recognition for their wonderful gifts) But God knows who you are and He knows about your sacrificial gift.

The boys will need to raise at least $2500 per person to make this trip happen. They will be creating a web site with pics and video. On it, there will be an opportunity to give. More to come about this when it's ready.

I wanted to include the picture above. The man you see in the photo is the pastor of the Great Hope Church in Korah. I know that I said that I was holding back posting any pictures of Korah, simply because of the book that will be created and for sale...but I wanted you to see a little bit. This picture is a front yard and door. Beyond this door is a room with 3 gorgeous kids sitting on a makeshift bed, holding their school books. If you keep walking, you will walk into another room (10 x 12), and if you keep walking you will go into another, and another and another. They are very sparse, no furniture, dirt floor, maybe a poster that was dug out of the dump for decoration. A family of 8 sleeps on the floor in each room/home. I didn't see any blankets. What do they cover up with? I don't know. When it is the rainy season, water rushes in. Do they sleep in the mud? I don't know. I guess they do.

If I'm being honest...this is unacceptable even for a dog or farm animal. If Animal Control in the US found animals living and sleeping in such conditions, someone would be arrested for their mistreatment of animals. The animals would be taken away and treated like royalty. They'd probably be on the news and people would call and flock in droves to be a part of saving these poor creatures.

I know this is not the US, it's Africa. Ethiopia to be specific. To be even more specific, this is the leper colony in Ethiopia. It's Korah, the cursed.

In this community, there are some of the most precious, beautiful and misunderstood people I've ever had the privelege of meeting. They need our help. They deserve our help. Not our pity but our love.

Jesus Christ lives here. You see Him on every face...from the sweet baby to the man with no fingers, masterfully weaving a rug.

There is so much to do...so much opportunity to help and demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ.

I CANNOT wait to see the change and to be a PART of the change.

Can't wait for you to have that opportunity, too!

Blessings,
Laura