Starfish

Hello!

All is well here in Vietnam. Last week was our first movie night outreach in the Dai Loc orphanage; what a joy to hear the laughter of a room full of children as they enjoy a movie! This will be an ongoing thing, and we hope to enjoy movies with the kids once a month.

Two of the girls in Dai Loc have special health concerns. One of the girls is losing her hair. We talked to her doctor today--the hospital ran some tests on her but has not been able to determine what the problem is. She is on medication and will be tested again in a week. Another girl is having fainting spells. We are purchasing some dietary supplements for her and hope that will help; nutrition seems to be a problem at the orphanage.

Please remember these two.

Tonight Enoch and I walked to the beach, something we hadn't done in a couple of weeks. We had a special treat--there were starfish all along the shore, one every few feet. I kept picking them up, wading out into the water, and releasing them. I couldn't bear to see them stranded.

When we got back to our apartment I immediately got on Google--I just had to learn more about the beautiful creatures that floated across the sand and that tickled my hand with their tiny fingers. I came across a story that I would like to share:

I awoke early, as I often did, just before sunrise to walk by the ocean's edge and greet the new day. As I moved through the misty dawn, I focused on a faint, far away motion. I saw a youth, bending and reaching and flailing arms, dancing on the beach, no doubt in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin.

As I approached, I sadly realized that the youth was not dancing to the bay, but rather bending to sift through the debris left by the night's tide, stopping now and then to pick up a starfish and then standing, to heave it back into the sea. I asked the youth the purpose of the effort. "The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach and they cannot return to the sea by themselves," the youth replied. "When the sun rises, they will die, unless I throw them back to the sea."

As the youth explained, I surveyed the vast expanse of beach, strectching in both directions beyond my sight. Starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation. The hopelessness of the youth's plan became clear to me and I countered, "But there are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save before the sun is up. Surely you cannot expect to make a difference."

The youth paused briefly to consider my words, bent to pick up a starfish and threw it as far as possible. Turning to me he simply said, "I made a difference to that one."

I left the boy and went home, deep in thought of what the boy had said. I returned to the beach and spent the rest of the day helping the boy throw starfish in to the sea.

I can't help but apply that story to our situation. No, we can't meet the needs of every child in Vietnam...but, by God's grace, we can make a difference to some. We are determined to do what we can for those set before us. I hope you are all encouraged to make a difference in the lives of those set before you.

With love,

Marissa