Dear Friends, Time in the Mountain Top Each year for the past four years I have gone to Snowmass, Colorado for a ten-day silent retreat. Every aspect of our stay is planned to nurture our weary hearts and bodies. Just entering the 4,000-acre grounds of the Benedictine monastery brings an incredible sense of well-being. The toll of church bells seems to call us to a heightened awareness of the sacred within and around us. Birds come to roost at dusk on the eves of our little hermitage. At dawn, the deer and rabbits graze nearby. Soon the hills and valley are alive with all the little creatures that tell us of a God too wonderful for words.   Return to the Valley I'm back to a world that groans in its suffering. Back to indifferent government agencies which hold people's lives in the red tape of bureaucracy. To hospitals in Kosovo that lack basic equipment and supplies, and back to the awareness that 50% of the world's population is malnourished according to UN figures … even while we see food wasted at every level in our country. For the first ten or so years of this work, I was grieved, angry and determined to make an impact on this shameful situation.   We Must Awaken  When my eyes were just opening to these things, I thought, "How can this be? We have over 1,500 churches in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area alone and yet there are such needs among us?" My first thought was that people didn't know.

We ran to meet the need and to tell all who would listen what was really going on. Story after painful story and the awful truth unfolded before our eyes. We're like the wolf who devoured his own leg numbed by the cold. John Donne, 19th century author and poet, was speaking of our blindness when he said, "Send not to find for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee." Responding to the Need When we engage our logic in responding to need, we find all kinds of ways to explain ourselves. Yet, the only appropriate response to a God who has given us life and bought it back again from the consequences of our foolishness, is one of humility. When I see my part in suffering, then I rush to assuage the suffering Christ in my neighbor. Who do we help? Those who come. Shipment Containers We have made some changes to our container schedule for Magi gifts. We will be sending one 40-foot container each to Matamoras (Mexico), Chihuahua (Mexico), and Zagreb (Croatia). These containers will also contain food, clothing, and medical supplies. Magi gifts will not be sent to Nairobi as originally planned because of a duty charge on new items. However, we will be sending dental/medical equipment and clothing to Nairobi. We are also sending two containers of medical equipment and supplies to Kosovo hospitals. Thank you for all the ways you help and encourage us. In gratitude,   Rae England Executive Director