Campfire

Tuesday was a busy day for us. Everyday starts pretty much the same. Getting the coffee ready and cleaning up after each meal. The second Tuesday of the session allows the students to come to the benevolence center to get donated items, and a campfire with testimonies and marshmallows after dinner.

Before we left, we asked people if they wanted to donate from a list of needs for the Haus. The list includes a wide range of needed medications, food supplies and clothing. Last week, Sandy and some of the other people on the Guest services team went through all the donations supplies and organized and disposed of the expired medications. Once everything is setup and prepared, the center is open for 45 minutes to the students to come and collect the items they need. A line forms at the top of the stairs about 30 minutes before it opens. The most desired items are the vitamins and medications. We are told that one months worth of childrens vitamins would cost an entire month's salary in most of the countries that the students come from. A bit of crowd control is needed to keep the medicine cabinet from being overrun. You could see that the students waiting in line were nervous that there would be anything left when they got up there. It is truely amazing how important these items are to the students. They are so excited to have such an opportunity to get these medications and clothing. Books of all sorts are donated to TCM. The books are sorted and put into the stacks in the library by the resident librarians. Any extra books or duplicates are also put into the benevolence center for the students to take. I helped pass out boxes to hold the books that the students selected.

The other tradition for the students and staff is to have a campfire up on the hillside above the Big Haus. Debra was asked to say a few words about why short-term workers give up their vacation to come here and serve the students. I think she did a great job and all of the stories revolve around the same theme. That we all serve the same God and are bonded by a common belief. There are five students from Uzbekistan here. This is extremely important and the testimonies given were the most amazing one that I have ever heard. Uzbekistan is a Muslim country and it is illegal to be a Christian there or to teach the Gospel. One of the testimonies described how this student was a devout Muslim who was very proud of their religion and their country. It would be a great shame to a person's family and country to change to a different religion not to mention it could cost you your life. I am not sure how much I can capture here or is safe for them to say here, but this student is now leading a school to teach others how to be missionaries and to start churches in that country. If you are interested in the whole story, I would be glad to re-tell their story. I don't think that I am going to forget it any time soon. These tesimonies were so compelling that everyone stood for probably about an hour and then in the rain and cold to hear the whole translation. There was no way we were leaving until both testimonies had been given. They normally have a bag of marshmallows to roast because the students have never seen a marshmallow before. After the testimonies were finished most people went in to get out of the now heavy rain and skipped the marshmallows. Some of the short-term workers stayed in the rain to roast marshmallows. I am sure you can guess some of them. And some students stayed to try this uniquely American cusine.

Other than that, more of the same. We are all getting pretty efficient at cleaning bathrooms and I can clean coffee pots in my sleep now. My habbit of peeking in garbage cans to see if they need emptied may be getting worse.