shoes today, school tomorrow, hope for the future

for those of you who don't know her, i'm sorry. bette austin is just about the coolest grandma on the earth and i am lucky enough to come from the same family line. this morning i went to church and for the third time my grandma invited me to come to her sunday school class called "hearts of grace" and share with them about zambia. family legacy missions international (the organization i go to zambia with) runs what is called "camp life" every summer for the zambian children. every year there are approximately 1000 zambian children from the poorest areas around the capital city, lusaka, per week that are bused in to camp. this year, family legacy decided to work on a special project involving providing school shoes for the kids, entitled "shoes today, school tomorrow, hope for the future". in zambia, each child has to have a very specific pair of black shoes that cost $20 in order to attend school. while $20 may not sound like a lot to some of us, imagine living on a dollar a day, trying to feed 6 kids with that one dollar (plus yourself) and then trying to buy even just one pair of $20 school shoes. a near impossible feat for some of these families. family legacy asked that each person volunteering at camp life this year go to their friends, co-workers, family members and ask for $20 from a total of 10 different people. each volunteer going to zambia should have 10 children at camp, and so after raising all 10 $20's (totaling to $200) each child should get a free pair of school shoes at camp with the money raised at home. so, back to the original point, today when i went to my grandma's "hearts of grace" class i mentioned this project to them almost in passing. I HAD 7 WOMEN DONATE $20. just on the spot. $140 in a matter of minutes. i only need one more $20 bill in order to have all 10 of my future children get their school shoes this year! i was completely amazed. these women also have donated funds this year for me to go to zambia and i have been so blessed by the way that God has used them to show Himself to me. i rarely see such selfless giving the way that those women have given to me and i feel lucky to sit back and take it all in. money is no object to God. if He wants something done, someway, somehow it will be accomplished. ps-go give your mom a hug ;)
http://familylegacy.com/shoes/