News from the Nest

February 2006
Dear Friends and Family,

Those of you who have visited us over the last two years have been impressed with our mountain of used clothing which we affectionately called: “Mt. Clothesmore.” Mount Clothesmore is no more...at least until we can get some new deliveries from some local consignment stores.

We were given a month’s extension to send out one more container under last year’s quota for Tajikistan . There were some considerations to think about before undertaking this task.

· The month is the shortest month of the year with only 28 days.
· It takes about 1000 boxes to fill a container and we barely had 400.
· Weather conditions are unpredictable making it hard to schedule groups.
· The clothing has to be hand sorted before being boxed.
· Did we have 30, 000 pounds of clothing needed to fill the boxes?
· We have never been able to do more than 500 in a given month.

In the flesh it is an impossible task, but our God is an awesome God. The more I whined and complained, the more God showed me that He was in control and really didn’t need my assistance.

We are two weeks into the month and the clothing is totally gone. We had two Mennonite youth groups in last week. One group did 121 boxes and the other group did 100 boxes. We are now at 828 boxes and begging for clothing from area resources.

We are expecting more clothes from a consignment store in Elkton tomorrow. God is more than sufficient for all our needs! Thank you for your continuing prayers and support.
Blessings,

Charlie and Kathy Bennetch