I wanted to thank those of you who prayed for me this past weekend.  The presentation at St. Marks Episcopal went really well, as far as conveying the information, showing the videos, answering questions and generating interest.  But I would be lieing if I didn't say I was disappointed that I didn't get any children sponsored as a result. 

I received good feedback and some constructive criticism as well.  One of the attendees came up to me at the end and told me that he didn't want to be guilted into something like sponsorship.  That just because we have food and others didn't, that didn't make him a bad person.  (which it doesn't), but that it was more of a distribution problem.  He suggested that I present the positive aspects of sponsorship first.  "Show the good things."  I've been thinking about this.  At first I was thinking that perhaps he's right.  Maybe I needed to start the presentation off in a more positive note.  Show what World Vision has done to help those less fortunate.  But the more I think about it, the more I disagree.

Hunger is not pretty.  Poverty is not nice.  There's no way to sugar-coat it.  The facts are this:

*  Every day 6,000 children are orphaned by AIDS.
*  Every day, 30,000 children die of hunger.  (I mean, think about how we would react if , God forbid, a jumbo jet filled with children were to go down, and all those inside were to perish Well, think about this happening dozens of times...DAILY.  Mind blowing.
*  Everyday, Americans spend $1 billion on eating out; everyday 799,000,000 people don't get to eat.
*  The average teenager spends about $100 a week.  $100 a week could pay for the education of two children for the year in Africa.

But I prayed for Divine Guidance, and as usual, God never fails me.  After the presentation, we went to church.  I brought the picture folders of the children in with me and they were beside me on the pew.  My friend next to me told me how she sponsors a child.  And another one of our parishioners heard her.  He said, "I have been wanting to sponsor a child, and I don't know where to go."   Right then and there he chose two children to sponsor.

After church, Fr. Vazken told me, of another family that is interested, and I spoke with some others after church as well.  This morning, on the bus, I had the World Vision envelope in hand in order to mail it off when I got to the office.  The woman who sat next to me saw the envelope and shared that she too sponsors a child, in Niger.  We started talking about volunteering, and I found out that she volunteers visiting hospice patients in our community and said they are always looking for volunteers.  So we exchanged emails.   I know it's all part of God's plan how these things happen.

We got home, and another great thing happened.  The phone rang and it was my son.  He was inquiring about when our next homeless outreach.  He came along for the first time last time and was so touched, he would like to come along regularly.  And although I know we like to rotate participants because our outreach is so popular, I was thankful to God filling him with compassion, in his busy life, to care for the homeless.

Sooooooooooo.....all in all, it was an amazing day filled with God's presence, guidance and love.
Like I said in the beginning, thank you for your prayers!