Snapshot from Diane Reese on March 27, 2009

Dear friends,

Sometimes we think of the people we work with as “poor.” While it’s
true that most of them have few material possessions, I was recently
reminded that poor people are sometimes very rich—in faith and in
generosity.

About a month ago, our daughter Hadassah started collecting money for
food and medicine for people in Zimbabwe, and she wanted to ask her
friends if they would contribute something. So her Sunday school class
took up a collection. Marcus decided to mention it briefly to some of
the other churches in the area also, just in case any of them had some
money they wanted to contribute. The response was moving.

Wesley, one of the Christians from the Gama church, showed up at our
door with 100 Kina (KEEnah). Workers in town could earn that in a week
or two, but none of those village Christians have jobs.

church building with sago leaf roof

They have been
saving for months to buy a metal roof for their church building so
that they wouldn’t have to keep remaking the roof out of leaves, but
they decided that it was more important to help people who were
starving than to have a permanent metal roof, so they gave a substantial part of their savings. The Christians there
have few possessions, no running water or electricity, but they gave
generously.

Other contributors included a single mom, a new Christian family, and
many others. One kept a dime for herself and gave the rest of her
cash, which totaled about $20. May the Lord reward them all, many
times over, for their loving, sacrificial gifts. What dear, sweet
people!

Love,

Diane Reese (and Marcus, Hannah, Hadassah, Rochelle and Faith)