This is one of those articles that I am a bit reluctant to write, since I don’t want anyone to get the idea that I am complaining or begging for money. I promise you that I will never do that. But, in order to give you an accurate picture of life in the jungle, I have to tell the whole story.

Last week the work on the house came to a screeching halt since we were at the end of the month, and the end of our money. We all got busy with inexpensive projects, like building the dirt up around the kitchen to keep it from flooding, and getting bamboo from the jungle to frame in the walls of the house. The roof was almost finished when we had to stop, but it is one of the more expensive things about a bamboo house, so we had to wait to finish it.

Two of the students went back home to wait for school to start…they didn’t like working much…but Pawkuhmooeydee came back! I was really happy to see her again. Turns out she spent her vacation doing a bit of missionary work. She asked me right away if the boy that she has been studying the bible with could come to school here since he wants to learn more about God. I was really happy to hear this, and of course I told her yes.

Then, when we went to the birthday party, I was apprised of another sad case. A little 7 year old boy, named AhMeSow, had lost his father, and then his mother had run away. Would I take him in also? Well, how can you say no to that? Poor little guy. He needs love and a family, so I agreed.

The next day, I got my monthly financial report. I quickly sat down and started adding things up and they didn’t add up! I was worried, but at the same time, I know that God always sends me enough for what I need. I realized that there is no way that I can build a dorm. So, I thought that maybe God was trying to tell me that I am not to have students, but just spend my time caring for the orphans. With that in mind, I sat all the students down and told them the situation. I explained to them that Elani will be going up to their village to teach English, so they can learn there. Unfortunately, the kids did not seem to sense God’s calling them to go back home the same way I thought that I did… I tried harder. I told them that we would not have much food here, and if they wanted to eat, they would have to go to the jungle and get food. They did not budge. Finally, SawEhToo spoke up and said that they would be staying here. They have no desire to leave even if I have no place for them to live, and they only get to eat white rice and cabbage at every meal. (don’t worry, we eat more than that, but that is the basis of every meal right now.) They had been complaining about all the work since they have never had to do anything they didn’t want to before. So, I was thinking that they would jump at the chance to go home and still learn English. But, they want to learn more than just English, they want to know about God.  So what could I do? How can you send kids away that want to learn that bad?

To make a long story short, they are still here. We are all redoubling our efforts to be cheapskates. We are going to reuse our old grass roofing, and that should save quite a bit of money. I realize that this may be a huge blessing in the long run. Some of the kids came with the impression that I would buy them whatever they wanted since I am a “rich” American. I have been able to honestly dispel that myth quite rapidly. Not only that, but I really like the ferns that we eat out of the jungle, and we don’t get those unless we run out of food here at the house! So, things are going great, and everyone is on the same page as far as working hard and saving money. God does know what he is doing, and he never makes a mistake.