Meanwhile, I have taken an interest in the last few years in an organization called Samaritan's Purse. I first noticed them during the Ebola crisis, because they were on the ground, physically there in the thick of the whole mess. They didn't just send a few bags of wheat and rice and publish an Ensign article about how great they were for doing that, but they were truly the "hands and feet of Jesus" with drs, nurses, hospitals, medicine, the whole thing. You have all heard the story of Kent Brantly, the American Dr who was there as a volunteer with Samaratian's purse and contracted and survived ebola. I remember donating a small amount--something lame like $25--to Samaritan's purse during the ebola crisis. Then, after it was largely over and the book about Dr. Brantly's experience came out, I read it. https://www.amazon.com/Called-Life-Lovi ... 1601428251 And I am telling you, as I sat and read that book, I wept. Several times. I cried because I read about the makeshift emergency procedures they had to use to try and save people when they were out of medical supplies. And I had donated a measly $25. I cried because I realized how bad that crisis actually was. I cried because I realized that this was a real, actual example of what Christ would do with a portion of a $5 billion dollar pot of money if he were physically here on the earth. It doesn't matter where that money would have come from. During that time, he would have not only built emergency hospitals in Africa, but he would have gone there himself, put on gloves and a gown, and served til he literally fell over in exhaustion. For anyone interested, there is a new movie that Samaritan's Purse made & opened for a day in select theatres, and it will hopefully come back or be available in DVD form, called "Facing Darkness" about the ebola crisis. I haven't seen it yet but plan to.
I follow Samaritan's purse on Facebook, and more recently they are helping people who's lives have been shattered by ISIS. They have centers all over helping refugees. For Easter, Franklin Graham traveled to N. Iraq and went to a ruined church there with remaining Christians. He traveled and visited with people. He visited the hospital they built, where Kent Brantly is working once again. They are treating people, many of them small children, who are being bombed by ISIS. Here is a short video about his time there, it is quite touching and worth the 4 minutes. Near the end you see a worker holding a small child in a hospital--pretty powerful stuff. It's called "Persecuted but not Abandoned" https://video.samaritanspurse.org/perse ... abandoned/ After watching it, I went to Samaritan's Purse home page and donated, this time more generously than $25. You can even state where you want funds to go.
When was the last time you saw GA's on the ground with refugees, putting their lives in danger to be in the middle east on Easter with fellow Christians? Or in Africa during the ebola outbreak? Maybe I missed it. When did they build a hospital for these people and pay for drs and nurses to go there to help?
On Easter, I told the kids we would go as a family to Sacrament meeting with my TBM husband. My teen daughters are out, as well as my oldest son who is in his last year at BYU before med school. I have 6 kids total, and the youngest 3 are only half in at best. Anyway, we all got ready but one of my teen daughters took a little longer and we were 10 minutes late. The chapel was full so I opened the back door, but the curtain was closed and there were no chairs in sight to set up. We all went to sit in the foyer, but my husband was kind of upset we weren't on time and he directed us to leave. Then, to my utter shock, in the car he said we could attend a service at the Christian church my daughters and I attend on occasion. I couldn't believe it, because minutes before we had passed a sign advertising Easter there and I got so sad. We went. The pastor showed a beautiful video with bible examples including the prodigal son of how to find Christ. He told moving stories of people who found Jesus after being away from church for a long time. He said that Christ had come to make us alive again and talked about his love for us. At the end they showed clips from a huge event where they packed over 350,000 meals for "Feed My Starving Children." (I was able to go the year before with my kids--truly awesome event.). i kid you not when I say God was looking over me and my family on Easter. Thanks for letting me share
