Just Keep Swimming

We live in country that has many needs and many people are in desperate situations. You have certain groups of people from the elderly Bulgarians to the Roma with a very uncertain tomorrow or future.  It is our job to encourage and build hope for their future.  I was reminded recently of the movie Finding Nemo, when Dory and Nemo's dad, Marlin, are surrounded by darkness in the ocean and Dory makes the statement of "just keep swimming". In other words, just keep moving forward no matter what is in front of you. This month has been busy moving forward with Discipleship Training, Food For All, and continuing to build relationships. As we look around Bulgaria and see all the poverty, you wonder how you/we can make a difference?  We have to be like the old man in the story about "The Starfish" that goes like this:
A young man is walking along the ocean and sees a beach on which thousands and thousands of starfish have washed ashore. Further along he sees an old man, walking slowly and stooping often, picking up one starfish after another and tossing each one gently into the ocean.
 “Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?,” he asks.
 “Because the sun is up and the tide is going out and if I don’t throw them further in they will die.”
 “But, old man, don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it! You can’t
possibly save them all, you can’t even save one-tenth of them. In fact, even if you work all day, your efforts
won’t make any difference at all.”  The old man listened calmly and then bent down to pick up another
starfish and threw it into the sea. “It made a difference to that one.” 

When Dee Dee and I first arrived in Bulgaria we were overwhelmed by the task in front of us of how we could ever make a difference in a part of the world that has been around for thousands of years. But, God's mercies are new every morning. We have to "Just Keep Swimming" and the remember the starfish story. We have seen many people's lives changed and we will continue to do what we can each and everyday.....we will just keep swimming and let God cause the growth. Our job is best described by Mother Teresa "We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty.
Dee and I are here showing people that they are loved and cared for by God and their is hope in future and
Just Keep Swimming!