Katherine and I are reading a biography of George Muller for school. When we came across a passage in the book that described the small ways that so many people had helped support the orphanage, I couldn't help but think about all of the small (only in the world's eyes!) ways that people help support our ministry of Bible translation in the Solomon Islands. Whether you give your money, prayers, time, or words of encouragement, we want to say a huge thank you for the investment you make in our lives and in the lives of our neighbors here in the Russell Islands.
George thanked the many hundreds of people who had helped make the orphanage a reality. Some, he pointed out, had helped in large ways, such as with the ton of coal that had been delivered to the house one day and the anonymous gift of one hundred pounds that had arrived the next day. But many of the gifts had been small, yet they meant just as much both to the person who had given them and to George, who told how a small boy who looked like he could have been an orphan himself knocked boldly on his door the day before, a shilling held tightly in hand.
"This is for your girls," the boy said when George opened the door. "I found a ring, and when I returned it to the owner, she gave me a shilling for being so honest. Here it is." A women in Bristol sent George five shillings with a note saying she had gone to buy a new dress and deliberately chose the plainest one she could find rather than the more elaborate and expensive kind she normally purchased. The five shillings represented the money she had saved by purchasing the less expensive dress, and she wanted the orphanage to have it.
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