News from the Nest

July /August 2007




Dear Friends and Family,

July has been a very busy month for us. I had my knee surgery on June 26th which went well. Healing has been slow and at times painful but we are thankful for the progress made. I started physical therapy 3 weeks later to help regain mobility and strength. I go twice a week now and have been able to see progress every time.

We have been so blessed with having two groups from Savannah Christian Church work at the mission. The group led by Lee and Celeste Cobb was able to do a clothing container for the Ukraine, as well as pack, weigh, and tape 199 boxes of clothing. We appreciate their willingness to paint windows, walls, strip old copiers for recycling and do mechanical work. They even offered to do “private duty nursing for me!”


We had a group of 21 boys from Hemlock Wilderness Camp in West Virginia that spent the entire week of July 8th through the 13th with us. They helped us remove play ground equipment in our back lot, paint windows, do computer reprogramming as well as paint music stands and repair overhead projectors. Charlie stayed very busy trying to keep everyone busy with a meaningful job. We envy their enthusiasm and energy level.


We always enjoy having small groups come and work with us on any weekend that they are available. We would invite you to consider this option if you are interested in a mission experience but can’t go on an overseas trip . This small group from Midway, Georgia (members of Savannah Christian Church) packed clothing, painted, organized rooms and recycled many items. They also got to sample some of our local Mennonite cooking as well as doing some sight seeing at Natural Bridge, Virginia.

On a personal note Charlie and I just celebrated our 34th anniversary on July 14th. We did go to court on July 23rd ready to testify against the 83 year old woman who hit me with her 6,000 pound Buick. She was found guilty by the judge and paid a fine as well as submitted to a vision test. We will be working with her insurance company over compensation for my medical expenses.



Our grand baby Emma will become a Red Cross Starfish Swimmer this summer . She is six months old now and is trying to clap her hands, can sit up by
herself, turn over and is making some attempts at becoming a creeper. Hopefully she will like the swimming pool much more than she liked the Atlantic ocean this past June in Virginia Beach, Virginia. (This is one of my favorite pictures, we call it laughing momma and crying baby!)


We have appreciated your notes of encouragement, cards, letters and calls. I have decided that knees are a wonderful invention of God and have been using my spare time to pray for everyone in the known world by first name (that’s a lot of time!)
Thank you for your prayers and support in one of the hardest years of our ministry. We are encouraged that God is shaping our character during this time of difficult circumstances . We have been encouraged by Galatians 6: 9 “ Let us not grow weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we do not faint.”

Holding on to the Everlasting Arms and trying desperately not to faint,


Charlie and Kathy Bennetch