Sunday, February 1, 2009

getting involved with the poor

i met a wonderful couple (we'll call them jeff and susan) last week who will speak at our fellowship live on thursday. their story is wonderful.

they worked and raised a family in alaska before moving down to to portland. after their kids were out of the house and they both were able to retire, they set out building their dream home. as they sat on their property they realized they didn't want to spend the last 20 years of their life sitting in a beautiful house on a nice piece of land. they left the dream house and the american retirement and moved to western asia to live with a culture group labled the poorest in their country.

their were no believers in the entire people group and they suffer poverty and malnutrition in the mountains of western asia. so this older couple decided to live near them and love them. after lots of conversations and hikes across villages, there formed a wonderful idea. apricot trees grow in similar terrain and climates in india. so our buddy jeff took a trip to india to see how well these apricot orchards were doing. he came back with different seeds and some advice on how to grow the trees.

now, after much hard work and care over the first ever orchard in the area, they are ready to plant a tree for every home in this people group. going from village to village they're giving and planting a tree, a gift, their heart next to every home that wants one. and in 5-7 years, the trees (under their occasional supervision) will bear fruit giving the people much needed fiber in their diet. but the trees have already begun to bear the fruit of friendship and faith for this couple and their new friends in villages across the poorest people group in the country.

they are looking for volunteers to travel to asia and plant some trees in a few months. what a wonderful oppertunity to do more than send a check, although checks are good... they are deeply and with all their hearts involved with the poorest of the poor. i love their story.

4 comments:

B. Simp said...

wow, austin! i love their story too! unbelievable! why can't i be selfless enough to help someone here in texas. is that too much to ask? i haven't been asked to move to asia, just to seek the lost and meet the needs of people where i am now...stories such as these motivate me!

B. Simp said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
B. Simp said...

...ask and you shall recieve! I met a couple of guys tonight at starbucks while I was attempting to study for a pharmacology test. They are walking across the U.S. to raise awareness for the blood water mission. They are going to be in town for a few days and i get take them to dinner thursday night. these guys simply said they are raising awareness for something larger than themselves with humanity in mind! check out their website at theearthexpedition.com. I will blog about this later in the week

austin said...

thats awesome. i hope ya'll have a great dinner.