There's a whole lot going on...

Los Pinos clinic: month by month

Work continues on the new clinic. Here’s the construction schedule:

• February: sewer system, bathroom tile, sinks
• March: electrical wiring, steps and sidewalks
• April: windows and doors

Approximately $9000 will be needed to complete this schedule. Please pray that God will supply this need, as He has always done in the past.

Dedication of the clinic is scheduled for May 2^nd.

Los Laureles clinic: day-by-day in January

1^st week (1/3-6) = 59 patients (Wed 23, Thu 18, Fri 10, Sat 8)

2^nd week (1/8-13) = 160 patients (Mon 29, Tue 24, Wed 39, Thu 36, Fri 24, Sat 8)

3^rd week (1/15-20) = 122 patients (Mon 23, Tue 25, Wed 22, Thu 28, Fri 17, Sat 7)

4^th week (1/22-27) = 110 patients (Mon 21, Tue 25, Wed 19, Thu 16, Fri 18, Sat 11)

TOTAL: 451 patients

3^rd annual Four Friends International Golf Classic

• Saturday April 7^th
• Chesley Oaks Golf Course in Fairview
• 4-man scramble format
• Cost: $500 per team ($125 per golfer)
• Mexican buffet will be served
• Purpose: to finish and furnish the new clinic in Los Pinos (medicines, furniture, office and medical supplies, etc.)
• To register a team or become a sponsor, call Jeff Fowler (256-714-1203)

Medical Mission Trip

• April 28 – May 4
• Purpose:

• finish, furnish, and dedicate the new clinic in Los Pinos
• treat patients at both clinics (Los Laureles and Los Pinos)
• lead church activities: worship services, women’s Bible study, children’s Bible study
• conduct a sports clinic for children and youth

Pray for the 17 volunteers who will serve that week.

Operation Amalia

This new ministry is getting off to a wonderful start. Each week mothers who live in the city dump bring their infants to the Los Laureles clinic. The babies are examined and bathed; then a month’s worth of diapers and supplies are distributed to each of them. This ministry is made possible through your generous gifts to Four Friends International.


How to Give
Several people have asked how to give to the various ministries in Jalapa. Here's a summary, with addresses:


To support the Los Pinos and Los Laureles medical clinics, there are three options:

1. send a check to “Arab First Baptist Church” and put “Four Friends International” on the memo line
2. send a check to “The Baptist Foundation of Alabama” and put “Four Friends International” on the memo line
3. set up a monthly bank draft to The Baptist Foundation of Alabama

To support the diaper ministry for babies at the dump, send a check to “Arab First Baptist Church” and put “Four Friends – Operation Amalia” on the memo line.

To support the Matthew 9:36 Project (which enables children from the dump to attend school), there are two options:

1. write a check to “Arab First Baptist Church” and put “Matthew 9:36 Project” on the memo line
2. write a check to “The Baptist Foundation of Alabama” and put “Matthew 9:36 Project” on the memo line. 

• The Baptist Foundation of Alabama -- 7650 Halcyon Summit Drive --- Montgomery, AL 36117 -- (334.394.2000 – tbfa.org)
• Arab First Baptist Church -- 502 North Main Street -- Arab, AL 35016 -- (256.586.3153 – arabfbc.org)

Corner of the Cot
This book answers the following questions about Four Friends International:

1. Why does it exist?
2. How does it minister?
3. What can I do to help?

The book costs $5 (new sales price!) and can be ordered through Randy Stewart (256-302-4296, randystewartmd@yahoo.com).


A conversation and a parable

          Several years ago, I had a candid discussion with a lady about our ministry in Guatemala. She had some concerns about us doing Christian work far away when there was so much to be done here. I shared with her how God had called me to this particular overseas ministry. Then I thanked her for reminding me not to neglect the less fortunate here at home.
          Since then, I have thought a lot about that discussion. I have asked myself this question: “Which is easier, to associate with poor in Guatemala or with the poor in Alabama?” I have come to believe that while it may be more difficult from a logistical standpoint to embrace people far away, it is more difficult from a loving standpoint to do so at home. Guatemalans and other foreigners are different from us, and those differences fascinate us when we are abroad. At home, people around us are different as well, but these differences often alienate us.
          In that lady’s probing criticism, there is both a falsehood and a truth. No, we should never refuse to minister far away just because needs are also close by. But yes, we must not neglect people within arm's length as we reach out to those in distant lands. Our goal should be to minister to both groups, no matter our inclination otherwise.
          A lot is at stake. Our very existence as Christ’s disciples hangs in the balance. When we welcome the less fortunate and the despised, near or far, we are following in the footsteps of Jesus. When we refuse to do so, we walk away from Him in the opposite direction.
          Consider this:
        

The Parable of the Hotel

          As he came to work one morning, the owner of a metropolitan hotel had to step around a few homeless men lying on the street. Immediately, he felt compassion toward them. As he passed by the next day, he handed each homeless man a flyer that said: "Come inside tonight and rest."

          The first homeless man to enter the hotel that evening was a pitiful sight indeed - ragged appearance, tattered clothing, uncombed hair, dried dirt on his face and hands. He was greeted by a lobby receptionist and escorted into the banquet room. Within minutes he was joined by two other men, similar in appearance. They took seats as well.

          The next person to come into the banquet room was the hotel's concierge. He greeted the three men and said to them: "The owner has had compassion on you and has invited you into his hotel. You will be served dinner in this banquet room; then each of you will be provided a guest room for the evening."

          And so it happened. The three men enjoyed a meal fit for royalty and slept in rooms usually reserved for the well-to-do.

          As they exited the following morning, a lobby worker gave them another note: "Come inside here again tonight and rest. Bring others with you." Immediately, the men went out to the streets and relayed the good news.

          On that second night, at least two dozen homeless men and women came, the most despicable and despised of the city. All ate a festive meal, and all were given an opulent room for the night.

          And so it continued for a month: the owner's daily invitation and the outcasts' daily acceptance. Before long, the invitees filled the large banquet room to capacity and occupied all the guest rooms on the first three floors. Among them were drug addicts, prostitutes, sexual deviants, criminals, AIDS victims, the deranged, and the depressed.

          As their numbers swelled, the number of paying customers simultaneously began to decline. They did not want to stay in the same hotel as the homeless and destitute. They complained to the owner about the incessant disruption, the inherent danger, and the income disparity. The owner, however, would not bend. "You are still equally welcome at my hotel," he assured them.

          Nonetheless, they refused to accept his words. Soon they quit coming to the hotel altogether. All the while, the number of homeless continued to swell. Consequently, the day came when there were no paying customers at all. Every guest room that night was occupied by the homeless.

          The hotel's Board of Regents was not pleased with this turn of events. Spurred by the disgruntled wealthy, the board members confronted the owner and threatened him with a forced takeover if he did not end his outlandish benevolence.

          "You are short-sighted and cold-hearted," the owner replied. "Don't you know how wealthy I am? If you take this hotel from me, I’ll purchase another one on this block and invite the homeless again.”

          The board members were infuriated. They followed through with their threat and seized legal control of the hotel. They also issued an injunction that forbade the owner from purchasing any property on that block.

         As the rejected owner came to the hotel to collect his belongings, he again passed by the homeless and handed each a flyer that read, "Vacancy for some, but no vacancy for you."

          That evening, the hotel was eerily quiet. There were no wealthy guests, for news of the hostile takeover had not yet reached their ears. There were no homeless guests, for the door of compassion had been shut in their faces.

          Correction. One former guest did return to the lobby that night - a man with ragged clothes, disheveled hair, and grimy face. He was that first homeless man who had entered the lobby a month ago, the one who had waited until two others joined him. It seemed that he had not yet received the bad news, the sad tidings of no joy, that he was no longer welcome. Entering the hotel, he went straight to the banquet room and sat at one of the tables.

          Obeying orders from the Board of Regents, the hotel workers summoned security to arrest the man and detain him in the city jail.

          The next morning the homeless man's mugshot was shown on the local news, and the whole city was astonished. The dirt and grime had been removed, revealing a face everyone recognized, the face of the wealthy owner! Moved by compassion for the homeless, he had assumed that role himself every night for the past month.

          In a few days he appeared before the judge, who promptly dismissed the charges and rescinded the injunction prohibiting him from purchasing new property. The judge explained his decision: "This man showed compassion to the homeless and became one of them himself to fellowship with them."

          The wealthy owner, now free, proceeded to do as he warned. He purchased a hotel across the street and again invited the homeless as guests. This time, however, they were not the only tenants. Several previous customers, touched and convicted by the owner's loving actions, came and asked forgiveness. They even booked rooms for the week alongside the outcasts.

          Now I ask you: "What happened to the hotel across the street, the one taken away from its compassionate owner by the board?" It remained largely unoccupied due to its soured reputation in the city and the daily presence of the homeless across the street. Over time, it went bankrupt and had to shut its doors to everyone, rich and poor.

          Every now and then, the wealthy owner walks over to that abandoned building. He enters the large banquet room that once was alive with guests. He walks the empty halls leading to rooms that once greeted the homeless. And he weeps.

          Abandoning the destitute, the building has become abandoned and destitute itself. Only the wealth and compassion of its former owner can redeem it. He alone is its hope. Perhaps he will buy it back! Perhaps  not!

          Anyone with ears to hear should listen.


James 2:2-4

A man comes into your church meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor man dressed in dirty clothes also comes in. If you look with favor on the man wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a good place,” and yet you say to the poor man, “Stand over there,” or “Sit here on the floor by my footstool," haven’t you… become judges with evil thoughts?


Matthew 25:35

“I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in.”


Philippians 2: 5-8

Make you own attitude the same attitude as Christ Jesus… He emptied Himself and assumed the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men... and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross!