Laughter Therapy for Palestinians

One of our friends comes from Palestine originally. He now lives in London and is director of a Sunday school that teaches about 150 children the Arabic language and culture. Recently four of his family members were killed in the conflict in Gaza, which is where he is from. They were all civilians. We wanted to do something to help encourage him during this difficult time and we thought that " Laughter Therapy" might be a help. Several of us enjoy working with children and we have developed a programme whereby we are able to entertain children (and the attending adults too) in a way that is fun and meaningful at the same time. Our programme includes tricks, jokes, lots of music, disco dancing, puppets, games, etc. We also do balloon sculpting and face painting. We adapt the programme according to the occasion and ages of the audience.
Here is a quote from a famous comedian about laughter:

"It dawned on me then that as long as I could laugh, I was safe from the world;
and I have learned since that laughter keeps me safe from myself, too. "
-Jimmy Durante

We asked our friend if he would like us to come to his school one Sunday and put on a little show for the children, free of cost, to which he readily agreed. It was a lot of fun. The children were wonderful and so were the teachers and even the parents that came towards the end to pick up their children from school. We were asked by our friend to impart some kind of a meaningful message. So, when we were distributing the balloon swords that we had sculpted for all the children, we explained that even though some people take up the sword and other weapons to fight and try to solve problems, that "Love, humility and prayer solves all problems" and we should pray for peace and for forgiveness to those who wrong us. We enjoyed heart warming conversations with some of the teachers and parents who were born in various countries--many from Palestine and surrounding areas. They all showed so much appreciation towards us as they told us about their individual situations and some of the problems that they face, as they asked us to pray for them and their families and loved ones. We even had a chance to get to know some of the teen boys who very willingly helped us carry our equipment out to the car after the programme. Our friend also shared with us a little of the mission of this Sunday school. It's not only to teach reading and writing the Arabic language, (the children already speak Arabic as they learn it at home, but they need help learning to read and write it). "This is also a Centre for them to learn our culture. You see, " he added in a sober voice, " we need to also supply a meeting place for them where they can meet and make friends and do something productive, or else the fanatic elements will lure them into their violent ways". As a mother of five sons, this really hit home for me--that these dear parents have to stand constant guard over their children to help them develop the right morals and character and not be enticed by those wanting to use them for evil. If our programme this day has helped encourage even one person to stick to the good and to strive for peace, then it was well worth all the time and work that went into it.

"Take a stand for God, a stand for peace, a stand against war. Take a stand for freedom, and against the hypocrisy, greed and selfishness of those who are eager to wage war. Pray for peace. Pray for the innocent. Remember, you are accountable to God and will stand before Him one day. Live accordingly. "(from God’s Position on War. Complete text available upon request)

Monkey Business

Its not every day you are offered something
to read by an ape!

A good attention getter!

February 12th, this year marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, and 150 years since he published "The Origin of Species". As Bible believing Christians, we do not support his "theory of evolution" and believe there is a lot of Godly proof that it is false. So, on this day, members of several "Family International" Centres, in the London area, gathered together in Central London and passed out tracts, called "Evolve Now" which explains the Christian side of Creation VS Evolution. Our sons Ian (19) and Jerry (17) went to the event and along with the other Family Volunteers, passed out tracts. Some of the interested passersby prayed with Family members and there were lively discussions held. One Family Volunteer even arrived in a monkey suit for the occasion, since part of Darwin's theory states that man evolved from monkeys. It reminds me of the time when I was trying to explain the theory of evolution to my first son, Mike, who was about 4 at the time. We lived in Thailand, and Mike had not as yet been able to meet my parents who lived far away, in America. I was explaining: "Evolution says that we came from monkeys. What do you think about that? Is my dad, your grandfather, a monkey?" Mike stopped what he was doing for a moment, gave me a long look, wiser than his days and replied: "I don't know--I never met him!" Ha! Time for a visit to the grandparents to prove to this young scientific mind that his grandfather was not a monkey!

An Umbrella, Gloves and a New Job

The other day I was with Marie, (who is 16),on our way to have a Bible study with a friend. It was a cold and rainy day and as we were walking to the bus stop I noticed an umbrella on the ground. It was one of the small kind that wasn't expensive, but looked in good condition. I knew Marie didn't own an umbrella so I shot up a prayer to ask if the owner was going to come back to claim it, and got that whoever lost it wasn't going to venture out to look for it. So I suggested to her that she pick it up. She was hesitating and a passerby who heard our converation said with a smile:"If you don't pick it up, I will!". So she took it and it turned out to be in fine condition so we were happy for her new umbrella. We then took the bus and after that a train. As we were getting ready to get off the train I looked around and didn't see the umbrella anywhere. "Did you leave the umbrella on the bus?" I asked Marie. She also looked around and said, "Oh, no, I must have." Oh well, easy come, easy go. I guess someone needed it more than we did. We finally arrived at our destination and got off. Right before the doors were ready to close, a lady on the train called out to us: "Is this yours?" She held the umbrella up to show us. Marie and I were so surprised! I called back, "Yes!" and she tossed it out the train door, which was starting to close. With a wave of thanks to her, we picked up the umbrella, looking at each other and laughing. We were a little early for our class, so were walking around a bit, amongst all the other people in the crowded central part of town. At one point I realized that I must have dropped my gloves when I opened up my bag to put something in. They were quite nice gloves and I was rather sad to have lost them. So I asked Jesus to help me not to get down about it and that someone needy would find them. I couldn't help but marvel how similar to loosing the umbrella that was. Almost as a second thought I also prayed that I could actually find them again, if we happened to walk back the same way we had come. Some minutes later, as we were walking, there I saw my gloves, nicely laid out on the ledge of a shop window! There was a man standing right next to them, so I walked over, picked up my gloves and turned to him and told him, "God really loves me!" and explained what happened. He was smiling and happy. Later, when we were with our friend and he was telling us about how hard a time he was having finding a new job after he had quit his old one in order to find a better one, I told him that I believe that the same way we got back the umbrella and the gloves, he was soon going to get another job! Wouldn't it be funny if he winds up going back to the same job he left? We will keep you posted!

Happy Valentines Day!