Morning of Day 4 – Ann Smith reporting

It is a beautiful morning out here on the Hill. The birds are singing, roosters crowing, chickens clucking. We were awakened for the third morning in a row by the sound of a donkey braying. The wind is blowing over the hills as the sun rises. How easy it is to see God in the beauty and simplicity of life here. No one is in a hurry. Everyone stops as they walk along the well worn paths to give a greeting.
As I went to sleep last night, I couldn’t help but thank God for all of the many blessings we have encountered as we have been here. First on my mind are my dad and Anita Kaiser. I can’t count the number of times Livia and I have looked at each other and said, “What would we have done without their help?” My Dad has checked all of the boys and Anita has examined all of the girls. They have worked tirelessly and their experience has been invaluable. Livia and I have pre-screened each of the children and done all of the vitals and charting. Danna has done audiology screenings and the girls have been giving eye screenings. Each part has been important as there has been at least one child that has an issue in each area. What a blessing to have such experts here to make sure these children get the help that they need.

Today we have the opportunity to give typhoid vaccines to the children and their care givers. Then we will teach the community our health training. And this afternoon is a ceremony to welcome the new sheep. Yes! A sheep ceremony. Thanks to the Zoners at the Chapel and a few donors we were able to purchase 11 sheep. We originally thought we would get goats but they prefer sheep because they don’t get into the gardens and can eat grass rather than food that needs to be purchased. Three sheep will go to the orphanage, 3 to the widows. 3 to the women in the community, and 2 to the men in the community. They were so excited that they called everyone in the area to come and celebrate with a ceremony! We are looking forward to it! More tonight…