Monday March 31^st MORNING THOUGHT

Good morning. In Mustard Seed our motto is “Your help makes a difference” and during these morning thoughts I want to share with you some true recent experiences that confirm that the help from Jersey is making a real difference to the poorest of the poor in Romania, where Mustard Seed is working.

Our aid lorry is now on its way back from Romania. When it left Jersey just over a week ago it was carrying about 11 tonnes of donated second hand clothing, bedding, computers, furniture and a large number of toilets and wash hand basins. Mustard Seed hopes to build a home for needy Romanian pensioners this year and in order to reduce costs we are taking from here as many suitable materials as we are given. Probably the only new things on the trailer are the boxes that sponsors packed for the needy pensioners they assist. But more about that tomorrow.

I was at the unloading of the previous trailer in December, so I know how quickly & eagerly our aid trailer is emptied by the waiting trusts. I know too that those social workers will be busy for the next few weeks distributing what we have given them. And I do wish I could see the joy on the people’s faces as they open their precious boxes.

The December trip is always special because there are the Christmas shoeboxes and often the most precious times distributing the children’s boxes are in individual families rather than the bigger distributions in schools. We went to see Felicia and her family, they are on our family sponsorship scheme – they had been on the streets before we took them into one of our relocation houses. Felicia’s husband abandoned her after battering her and the children.

When we arrived we found that she and the 5 children were all in one room – the only room she could afford to heat. It was bath time and she had filled the baby bath with hot water and one by one she was bathing the children when we arrived. We gave out their Christmas shoeboxes and saw the children’s excitement as they opened the boxes, found the toys, ate the sweets we gave them – looking up at us with big round shining eyes and the most enormous smiles on their faces. We gave Felicia a food parcel.

Without our intervention Felicia and her children could well have literally starved or frozen to death. Without doubt the Christmas shoeboxes and food parcels for needy people do make a really great difference and give hope. In Mustard Seed we really thank God for the opportunity to help those in need and make that difference.

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