Pictures are worth a 1000 smiles

Over the last year I have been accumulating pictures of people from Tsigmandru. Pictures from literacy class graduation, people becoming members of the church, random pictures of children, and family pictures. A couple of weeks ago I printed them all out and sorted them into about 25 different packages. On Sunday before church I took them out and Dorina (Hordu's wife) helped me walk around and deliver pictures to everyone. It was like Christmas. There were smiles everywhere. It made me realize how much we take pictures for granted but that the people in the village rarely have any photos. The sad thing is- is that they have probably been photographed hundreds of times. Lots of people promise to send copies to them but it rarely if ever happens. Or they might give one copy of a picture when 5 different people are in it. Here is one of the pictures we handed out.Yesterday we had a family photo day out in Tsigmandru. Each family from the church was able to come and have a picture of each of their children as well as a picture of their family. I think we took over a 100 pictures and people were so excited. Little girls were all dressed up. I also took some pictures of a new playground that was built for the block of houses next to the church. In the background you can see the new wash house that is being built. The whole area is fenced in. The children seem to love having something to play with. Please pray that this playground can be used as a ministry and not lead to hard feelings within the village.

Over these last couple of weeks I have also been working with Mia and David to give each person from the elderly clubs a framed picture of themselves. They were all so pleased to get a picture of themselves.

I want to thank everyone who supports us while we are here- YOU made it possible for us to put those smiles on people's faces. It is really amazing what a simple picture can do. - Karen