A Ton of Rice: Beverly Hills Philippines Merry Christmas 2007

"Feels like we must have bagged a ton of rice!" Well, we did! 1250 kilos to be exact into 520 bags along with a can of sardines and some noodles all thanks
to the generous giving of missionaries living in Beverly and some coming from other places. We gathered in the Gunderson
home once again to sack up food and blow up 500 balloons all to give out on Christmas morning.

Deborah and her team created a winter wonderland replete
with Frosty the Snowman and companions in our garage for the children.
Missionary volunteers along with our Filipino
neighbors gave away 500 beautifully wrapped coloring books and color crayons donated by MADS, a group of international
moms along with a balloon for each child.

The event has grown over the past 20 years to become the huge experience it is now. Within an hour everything had been given away. What we can accomplish when we work together is truly beautiful! Thank you to everyone who gave of their time, finances, and love to make this possible. What a gift to so many!

A Forest of Christmas Trees: 2007 Staff Christmas Party

Nowhere in the world do they love to
celebrate like the Philippines. Our HELP
staff only proves the rule. Our annual
mission Christmas Party is a must and
has been the instrument for extra blessing
for our hard-working staff. The mission
would be at a total loss without them. Some
of our staff have been with us for 20 years
and a great many for 10 or more.

Deborah has outdone herself gathering
gifts that will make
Christmas special.
Chief among them are
Christmas trees
for each one. She
learned awhile ago that
none of our people had
their own Christmas
trees. She swung into
action and raised the money to buy little
trees for all 32 staff. A Sunday School in
Australia provided the decorations for each tree.

Games and food are fundamental to a
good party. There was no shortage of
either.

Finally, through another generous donor,
each staff member took home a basket of
food so their Noche Buena Christmas Eve
meals will be full and merry.

This party is an important part of life
at HELP. We celebrate the gift of one
another, the gift of being able to do
the work each of us does , and finally,
the gift of Jesus Christ to bring
redemption to a broken world.

100 Happy Kids

100 Christmas stockings lined the sides of
the Shiphrah Birthing Home Learning Area
as Christmas came in a big, big way for the 100 something
children of HELP International Ministries staff this past
Saturday afternoon.

The U.S. Embassy Club outdid themselves this year as
they brought Christmas to our HELP children. Santa
ho-ho-ho'd and the Embassy crew delighted the children
with face painting, musical chairs, a ball toss, and a host
of other games.

Santa handed out personally selected gifts donated by a generous local donor and the tables groaned under the weight of fried chicken
and more spaghetti than one would care to imagine.


It was a glorious, Merry Christmas day.