Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Calling?

Apologies to anyone who has been trying to call us. Our old phone number, 757-272-0979 isn't working. We have a new phone number: 804-684-1790.

Basically,  our phone carrier switched their business model around and decided not to do phone service any more. We started the process to move the number, but services ended before the move was complete. It's frustrating to us, and I'm sure it's frustrating for those of you trying to reach us.

We really are here. We really do want to take your call.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Dinner at Tuscany's

Tuscany's is a wonderful coffee house on the corner of Route 17 and Denbigh Boulevard in Yorktown, VA. Locals will know its location as "across the street from Pop's."

Join us there THIS SATURDAY, at 6pm for an evening of good food, great coffee & tea, and wonderful friends. Hear about changed lives and God's faithfulness, and learn how easy it is to really make a difference in Africa.

$10 in advance
$12 at the door

Includes salad, specialty sandwiches, coffee, tea, or water
Specialty coffees and desserts also available
(10% of all proceeds benefit FOT)

Door prizes For advance ticket sales call (804) 684-1790 or 804-815-3358

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

After the Bombs

This Sunday in Kampala, Uganda, 76 people lost their lives when explosions tore through crowds watching the World Cup final. The explosions were within just a few miles from the school. "You remember the coffee house your team liked so much?" asked Sara when I called, "The rugby field is just beside that."

All of the TOUCH children, staff, and volunteers are okay, and the church is working to respond to the needs of those who suffered in this attack. While we pray for justice and for safety from further attack,  a lot of us are looking at the news (when we can find it), thinking, "I was just there," or wondering how where our friends were at that moment when the blasts occurred. We wonder how anyone could do such a thing. We wonder how the world will change.

The news that the most-feared terrorist group in Somalia has taken credit for the attacks that they may have had help from another group in Uganda, and the solemn warnings of experts and the media are like a second wave, planting fear and uncertainty.

We don't think about it, but there are other terrorists all around us, every day. Their names are so familiar, that the words themselves hardly cause a stir within us. Divorce. Addiction. Sickness. Poverty.

Each of these is destructive to families and societies and can leave a wake of fear, uncertainty, and cycles of further destruction.
  • We hear that 40% of marriages will end in divorce.*
  • As of December 2005, child pornography was a $3 billion annual industry.*
  • There are over 200 million people worldwide who abuse drugs.*
  • Approximately half of all deaths caused by infectious diseases each year can be attributed to just three diseases: tuberculosis, malaria, and AIDS. *
  • Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day*
  • According to UNICEF, 24,000 children die each day due to poverty.*
When 24,000 children are dying every day simply because they are poor - then the biggest terrorists are apathy and inertia.

Each of us must take a stand. We must work and pray for and with each other - Faith and Action together. If you saw someone plant a bomb in a crowd, wouldn't you do something?

sources:
www.divorcestatistics.org
www.infoplease.com
www.globalissues.org
www.safefamilies.org
World Health Organization
UNICEF

Sunday, July 4, 2010

A Taste of Eternity

It was one of those days. The weather was perfect after weeks of hot, humid, stay inside weather it had cooled down enough to open the windows. I sat quietly under the shade trees smelling the clean fresh air. The sun was shinning, a cool breeze caressed my face, and no humidity.

I just closed my eyes and breathed it all in catching a whiff of Honey Suckle blossoms. It’s amazing to me how a simple smell can catapult you back in time. The smell of that fragrant flower made me feel like a kid again.

Feeling like a kid again is a huge accomplishment when you are over 50. For the tiniest of minutes I was 12 years old running through the grass with my friends playing tag, stopping to pick Honey Suckle blossoms to suck on. In that brief moment I felt young, free, safe, happy, everything I felt as a 12 year old child.

I began to worship God in my heart thanking him for that memory and for my blessed childhood. I felt as if He responded saying that these joyous feelings, these feelings of safety, joy, and peace, this is what eternity with Him feels like and I will enjoy these feelings every minute with Him. Oh what a taste of eternity!

All of these thoughts and feelings were only a few minutes in reality but I could feel eternity. For one instant I almost left this earth behind desiring so much to be in that eternity, but no, my work is not done yet, so I stay. But everyday, when I open the windows on a perfect day, when I smell the Honey Suckle, when I run my toes through the soft grass or warm sandy beach, I think of eternity and long to be where He is.

I wish that all children could feel as safe and happy as I was as a child but the reality is that many are faced with hunger, disease, war, and other atrocities that life in this world meets out to the poor and down trodden. The problem is so big! In Uganda alone over half the population is under 15 and 7.4 million of these children live in abject poverty.

I believe I can make a difference in this life to the lives of these children and others like them around the world. Can I reach everyone? No, but I will do what I can and make a difference where I can. How? By using my talents and resources to help these kids through the Friends of TOUCH organization.

You can help too. Sponsor a child, volunteer in the office, hold a fund raiser, pray. This coming spring we will be holding a Gala event that will be a once a year large scale fund raising event and we need every ones help. More information about this event will be coming up in our newsletters and on our web site, begin now to pray how you can help.

Thank u
D