March 1, 2010
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
-Mark Twain
Hello Friends and Family!
How are you guys doing? It is hard to believe that it is already March. I am sure you are all greatly anticipating the coming of Spring. We hear you’ve had some snow this winter…. 🙂 We don’t have any snow and it isn’t the least bit cold here. We are “anticipating” the beginning of HOT season. As if it isn’t hot already, it gets a bit hotter 🙂 Oh well! We are thankful for the nice sea breezes.
My (Erin) parents’ visit in early January was wonderful!! We loved having them here and getting to share our lives with them. My mom was able to give all of the youth tetanus injections as well as helping treat wounds in Kroo Bay. My dad and Chris did a great job making bricks for the new house. It was awfully hard work in the African heat!!! We even got away for two days at the beach. Grandpa, Gradma and Keyara has a blast spashing and playing in the waves. We are now looking forward to the visit of Matthew and Kristen Harrell (Chris’s youngest brother and his wife). They will be arriving on February 23rd and staying through March 22nd. We are so thankful that God has brought so many friends and family to see us during this season.
Things continue to go well at the Alé Alé House of Hope. The youth love having a place that they can call home. We even have a huge apple tree in the backyard that they are allowed to pick apples from! This Friday we are having our first community work day at the house where we will be painting some new flower planters, filling them with dirt and planting some vines and flowers. We are expecting most of the youth and staff to attend.
A week ago Chris led the Lighthouse youth program and shared something that’s been on his heart for awhile now. These next couple of months we will be sharing with our Lighthouse youth in the area of the importance of building strong foundations of Godly character in their lives. Chris used a block building game to illustrate what it’s like in life to try and build on broken or unsteady foundations. As you looked around the room you could see lightbulbs going on, as the youth connected the importance of having a solid foundation of good character and integrity to success in life. Trying to build on a broken foundation can be difficult and proves frustrating and futile. At the end, Chris challeged the youth to not only examine their own foundation of character in their own lives and commit to repair and rebuild them, but to also help shape and form character in other Sierra Leonean youth through their example.
Life here is not always easy, but we are persevering and we are seeing the fruit of our labor here. This month sees us celebrating our two-year anniversary of arriving in Sierra Leone. God has been so faithful to bring us to this point and sustain us. This anniversary leaves us with one year left in our three-year commitment to our community and ministry here. Our goal is to focus on the prize and to finish out this next year well. Thank you for being a part of this adventure with us. We are excited to see what God has in store for us this year and to the horizon beyond.
With Love and Gratitude,
Chris, Erin and Keyara Harrell