We love going to wheelchair closings! This one was in Mstkheta and they had the news cameras there. Luckily E. Reese had worked on his speech and he was ready for them. They sent us a CD of the news and we were impressed. We also heard from several investegators that they had seen us on TV! Of course the best part is actually meeting the people who get the chairs - they are so excited! I am grateful for a job that allows me to be a part of touching peoples lives for good.

The man standing next to E. Reese is Gia. He is amazing. He has done more for the poor and needy in Georgia than most. He is always taking us somewhere and introducing us to someone in need. We really enjoy working with him.

We had our Branch Primary Activity Day at the ZOO!!! We had a great turnout - 12 adults and 14 kids and 2 missionaries! The zoo had a pretty good selection of animals. Here's the peacock showing off. There were zebras, elephants, snakes, bears, monkeys, crocidile and much more. I was impressed. The kids were really good.

Towards the end we gave each of them 2 tickets to ride the rides. Bumper cars were by far the favorite.

We left the zoo and headed down the street to a small resturant for some khachapuri (cheese bread) and soda. A wonderful time was had by all!

As Humanitarian Missionaries we were visiting some 'kindergarden' schools. It is like our pre-school - ages 3-6. Aren't they cute? We were checking to see what we could do to help them.

A very sad thing happened. 2 of our Georgian missionaries finished their 2 year missions and had to go back home. We are really going to miss these great young men and wish them the best in their lives! This is our farewell dinner with them.

One of the first things Pres. Reese did as the new Branch President was to start going through all the files and paper work. Everyweek he would work on getting rid of more outdated files. He had a pile (well, 2 piles) of paper over 3 feet tall at one point - to shred. His shredder was old and would only take 2 papers at a time and would overheat easily - until it finally died. Here he is with his new supper delux shredder - 6 papers at a time! Beside him are the bags of shredded paper. He is going to take them to a home for the handicapped that use the paper to make crafts.

In 2008 there was a war with Russia that left many Georgians homeless. They are called IDPs - internally displaced persons. The government put up thousands of small (600 sq. ft) homes for them to live in. One of the homes was designated as a clinic to care for the sick. Fortunately there are doctors and nurses that are IDPs that work at the clinic.

Unfortunately there is next to nothing in the clinic to help them. So we are going to be getting them an ultra sound machine. They are so excited to be getting some equipment! We'll probably request some lab equipment for them in another month or 2.

As we were leaving the clinic, we saw the next door neighbor in a wheel chair - it was one of ours! We asked her how it was going - she was very grateful for the wheel chair - but could we get her a prosthetic leg? It was fun to see our wheel chair in action! (and no, we do not do prosthetic legs!)

Her nephew took care of her. The IDPs are very poor, they have lost everything in the war and unemployment here is off the charts. We were impressed to see that her nephew was raising rabbits to help make ends meet.

We also noticed that many of the homes had planted gardens. It is so important to be self reliant - especially in hard times. We all need to develop skills that can help us survive during difficulties!

At the end of June, our Missionaries wanted to do something different. We had just had the movie 'The Restoration' translated into Georgian and they wanted to share it with as many Georgians as possible. So they designed a flyer inviting them to a free movie night at the church on 3 different nights. We got permission to print 2000 flyers and the missionaries passed them out on the streets and at the Metro. They thought it would be nice to have 4 white boards with church messages of them in the cultural hall. I was asked to do one on the Humanitarian efforts. Zone Leaders Allen and Hartley did the other 3 boards.

We had a lovly tray of cookies ready.

They set up some pictures to be showing on the TV, with brochures to be given out.

I even bought fresh flowers for the table in the hall! Everything looked AMAZING! The missionaries had worked so hard for this event. Now all there was to do was wait.

E. Allen and Elgoucha waiting in the chapel. All the other missionaries were outside.

NO ONE CAME!!! We were SO SAD!

Then they immediately started talking about what they could do before the next show (in 2 days) and what we could do differently next time. They perked right up - I brought out the cookies (comfort food is always a help) and they were ready to go again!

We did have about 10 people show up for the 2nd showing and 4 for the last viewing. The great thing was having a flyer to hand out made it easier for the missionaries to talk with people. They made a lot of contacts and had several great successes. We are very proud of our missionaries and the passion they have in serving the Lord and the people of Georgia.