RRN Online Volume 399

January 24 '04

Volume 399

Habitat Opens Doors By Barbara Carter

It was in early November that I received the first of several emails regarding a winter break opportunity. Sharis Smith from the University of Texas had been in contact with the Collegiate Challenge Department of Habitat for Humanity International in Americus, Georgia. Collegiate Challenge is a program designed to assign college students to willing Habitat Affiliates during school breaks in order for the students to learn about Habitat as well as for the Affiliate to get good volunteer help.

Karla Amstutz, a graduate of Sterling College in Sterling, Kansas, now works with the Collegiate Challenge Department. She was the person Sharis contacted. Since Karla did not have any Affiliates registered during the winter break, and because she knew Pontotoc Habitat Affiliate had hosted some college students during winter break (Josh O’Grady), she recommended that Sharis contact PCHFH, and ask for Barbara Carter. (I think the word is out that Barbara is a "softy" for the students.)

So began a month long series of emails from Sharis Smith to Ryo Kakutani to me. Soon after my initial contact with Sharis Smith, who serves as Program Coordinator for Volunteer Services at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Ryo and I made direct email contact.

Ryo, pronounced "D’Yo", is an exchange student attending the University of Texas in San Antonio, TX. He is pursuing a degree in International Studies at the University of Kyoto in Kyoto, Japan. After two semesters of study in San Antonio, Ryo will return to Japan for one more semester before graduation.

Habitat for Humanity International has local Affiliates in approximately 1,600 cities and 92 countries. Japan is one of the International Affiliates. Ryo is a member of the Campus Chapter of HFH at the University of Kyoto. The experiences he had there led him to volunteer with Habitat in San Antonio. Local affiliates are alike in their Mission and Goal, but there are many differences in the strategies.

The Mission: "Habitat for Humanity works in partnership with God and people everywhere, from all walks of life, to develop communities with people in need by building and renovating houses, so that there are decent houses in decent communities in which every person can experience God’s love and can live and grow into all that God intends."

In Pontotoc County, Habitat for Humanity addresses this mission using volunteers in building houses for those who need affordable housing and providing no interest loans to those families. Habitat provides homeownership and community education sessions to these families, too. In Japan, the cost of land is so very high that Habitat cannot provide affordable housing to the poorer families, even with no interest loans. Therefore, the students at Kyoto University concentrate on fundraising and each spring go to Thailand and volunteer to help build housing for the needy families there.

Ryo is eager to learn all that he can about Habitat while he is studying in the United States. So, we arranged for him to come and spend Christmas in Pontotoc and work with me at the Habitat office during his winter break.

Dr. John and Barbara Baldwin agreed to house Ryo. They were having family and friends in to spend the holidays, so adding one more was a natural for them. Wayne and I picked Ryo up at the Greyhound bus stop in Pontotoc on Christmas Eve around noon and delivered him to the Baldwin home. I did not see Ryo again until Friday morning, December 26, when John dropped him off at the Habitat office about 8:30.

At the end of the year, I spend a great deal of my time reconciling escrow accounts for the Habitat homeowners. Escrow accounts are those accounts we hold for each homeowner for insurance premiums, property taxes and a maintenance account. This was the first activity Ryo and I worked on together. He was not familiar with the mortgage payment process or the escrow accounts. He was a quick learner and soon was helping me to reconcile the figures so that they balanced in the manner they should.

After about three days, Ryo changed residence, not because of any problems, but merely that John and Barbara thought he would enjoy the company of their daughter, son-in-law, and children (Heather, Marlin, Kellon and Joshua Duff). I think Ryo moved right into that home and into the family’s hearts. They did things together like watch movies all day, attend New Year’s Eve parties, visit the farm, go four-wheeling, ride horses and even fish. This environment provided Ryo with a good view of American family life.

On Sunday morning, Ryo visited First Baptist Church with the Duff family. On Monday, he had a multitude of questions because the Protestant, in fact the Christian religion was all new to Ryo. The Baldwins gave Ryo a handsome New Testament with English and Japanese translations as a Christmas gift. Ryo found much reading time on his stay here and then we would discuss different beliefs. I explained to him that I am not a theologian and that any errors I made in interpretations were not made on purpose.

Each day at work, Ryo and I would go to lunch together. When I asked him what he would prefer to eat, he always chose "homemade lunch". He said that he could eat out in San Antonio. So we ate "homemade food" at our house, most of which was of the left over variety. He loved the left over chicken and dressing and a family favorite called "Idiot’s Delight". You can just imagine what that is; a very rich frozen salad made with fruit, mayonnaise, cream and marshmallows.

New Year’s Day, Ryo came over for the day at our house and joined us in black-eyed peas, slaw, bar-be-qued pork, greens, sweet potatoes, and corn bread. I even prepared a small dish of Hoppin’ John, which was a first for me. We all enjoyed that dish, except Jason, who does not like rice. Ryo brought his camera and made a picture of his plate with all the above, so he can show his family the traditional meal for Americans (at least Southerners) on New Year’s Day.

Following the meal everyone gathered in the living room and watched football. Ryo, who is a baseball fan, does not understand all about football, so Jason gave him instructions on the plays and referee calls. We had a fun afternoon with Ryo here, but we returned him to the Duff family in time for them to have more fun with a fireworks show.

On January 6, at 6:00 p.m., Ryo and I said our good-byes at the Tupelo Greyhound Bus Station. The visit seemed so brief, but once again, another college student has found a place in our hearts, and I feel that I have another child away at school. We hope that Ryo will be able to stop back by Pontotoc before he has to return to Japan in late May or early June. He wants to visit Americus, Georgia, before his return, so maybe he will be able to stop off briefly, for one more good-bye.

I do not know if Ryo gained the Habitat experience in Pontotoc that he had envisioned or not, but I sure learned a lot from him, and I think we have made a life long friendship from this brief visit.

P.S. If any of the readers in our area are interested in housing some of these students for us, just let me know. I’m sure I will be inviting more to come, if only for the pleasure we get from these visits.

Note: Originally titled - "Doors Of Habitat, Hearts, And Homes Open Once Again."

State Of Dis-Union By Bob Jackson

Tonight I watched the President, my President, George W. Bush, give the State of the Union message. It was to me an unusual message. It was one of strength, truth, and one of specific things this nation needed to hear. I could not help but observe the absolute rudeness and disrespect for the office of the President by many of the Democratic party with Senators Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton being the most disrespectful. My point, Senator Kennedy, it’s time for you to go. Senator Clinton, I pray that your time never comes.

I lost count at 25 standing ovations with Republicans in attendance with these. The Democratic party offered very little energy toward any acceptance. Senator Kennedy was downright disgusting looking with his total disdain of the office of the President. No time in my life have I ever witnessed a member of the opposing party to make such an outstanding show of disrespect. I remember that Senator Kennedy did not get this much disrespect when he put the lady in the water.

The news media has recognized and has spoken out on the fact that our nation is further apart than it has ever appeared to be. I agree with them for once and I can see the reason for it. The problem happens to be that the Democratic Party has lost touch with the respect for life and morality while they stand beating their chest proclaiming what great values they have.

One Democratic candidate in the debates just prior to the Iowa caucus stated that the Party's values and those of George Bush were as different as black and white. That in a nutshell is correct and is total truth. He just failed to recognize that the Democratic Party has lost all of its values by supporting the right to kill innocent babies while still in the womb.

The Democrats have added to that by condoning, supporting, and putting on a pedestal those of the homosexual community. Now they have stooped so low as to embrace Civil Union "marriages" between same-sex partners. In doing so they have disgraced the laws of God and all mankind preceding them. They began their downfall by, generally speaking, being against the institution of prayer in the school systems and now have advanced to the point that they are supporting the removal of God and God’s word from the face of all mankind because it might "offend" someone. When Pres. Bush spoke out that abstinence was the only way to truly prevent sexually transmitted disease, the Democrats clearly showed their displeasure with this. Values? If you support the Democratic Party or candidates even on a local level, don’t talk to me about your values.

While writing this, I am also watching Howard Dean on a news re-run where he firmly stated that George Bush was not his neighbor. He needs to look at the definition of neighbor in the Word of God. But that’s how the party is thinking.

The race for the Democratic nominee for president began with nine people involved. All of those nine agreed on several things. They all hated George Bush. They all supported abortion. They all supported civil unions. They all supported same sex benefits. They all criticized the "Religious Right" while they supported all these other immoralities.

I’ve heard other democrats compare George Bush to Hitler. I’ve heard others say George Bush is the most dangerous man in the world.

The nine in the race for Democratic nominee all supported the almighty American Dollar as being the first priority in life. They all were foolish enough to ignore the laws of the USA and the State of Florida and say that George Bush was not legally elected. Most wanted to change the election process to the popular vote and stand against the electoral vote that has served this nation so well since this nation was formed by Christian principles. They all agree on the fact of The Separation of the Church and State when that is not even a written part of our Constitution or other parts of the law of the nation.

Judges appointed largely by the Democratic Party have been responsible for making such un-American decisions such as the recent ruling of the removal of The Ten Commandments and the idea of not allowing God to be a part of the Government in any way, ---and abortion, and same sex marriages, and benefits along with special privileges based on how they want to commit the sexual act.

Morally speaking, it’s clear that our nation has slipped big time. It is clear that many of our leaders lack common sense. It’s clear to me that all of the Democratic candidates think that money is morality. The President made the need for morality clear in his talk tonight and I have almost never heard that referred to by most presidents or candidates. He had the nerve to stand before the federal judges of the land and warn them if they continue to rule above the law that congress would act. I have never in my life heard that from another president. It was a long time coming and should have been said by most presidents preceding George Bush. But George Bush had guts enough to stand before the nation and say this.

The average Democrat-On-The-Street has a right to be a Democrat but I should counsel the man on the street to be very cautious where your party and what you are supporting are leading you. Your party is leading you into an immoral position regardless of what you have been told or led to believe. It’s time for you to open your eyes and notice who and what you are supporting. Many Democrats stand against the war in Iraq and that’s your privilege.

If you will recall President Bush talked of some countries that were part of the Axis of Evil. He was not wrong. But at the same time, you are not aware that there is also an Axis of Evil within our own country. The President is gentleman enough and wise enough not to point out who is evil in our nation, but I am not. In my opinion, if a person is supportive of the things that any party such as the Democratic party supports, they may very well be unknowingly, a part of the American Axis of Evil from within. People are a part of that Axis of Evil from the voter to the highest judges in the land.

Since Rowe Vs Wade, more than 43 million babies have been legally, but cruelly, slaughtered in the mother’s womb, by permission of the mother, those who made the law, and those who judge the laws. If that is not an Axis of Evil then there is no Evil. If you have voted anytime for the Democratic party since Rowe vs. Wade, you have to share in that responsibility of the more than 43 million innocent lives lost before they had a chance to breath outside the womb.

If you will recall, in the prior presidency of Bill Clinton, the Democratic Party elected him even though his moral life was in heavy question. In the first 14 days of his reign, he did more damage to the morals of America than we can get out of in the next 100 years. He put into law things that no good-ole-American-boy or real lady could accept in previous history. You also re-elected him even though he did all this. You watched as he disgraced all of mankind and womanhood as well as the hallowed rooms of our highest government buildings with the practice of oral sex with a young woman. You watched as he pointed his finger at you and said ‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman". And then you watched as he told you after he was caught up with the most outstanding lie I ever heard. He did not know that oral sex was actually sex. And then you watched as your fellow Democrats in national office quickly forgave him and actually stood up for him in front of man and God and convinced you to still follow him. Man on the street and woman on the street,--- it’s time for you to open your eyes and see were this party is leading you. Believe me, you ain’t gonna’ wanna’ go there!

Bodock Beau The Hearing Test

An elderly gentleman feared his wife was getting hard of hearing. So one day he called her doctor to make an appointment to have her hearing checked. The Doctor made an appointment for a hearing test in two weeks, and meanwhile there's a simple informal test the husband could do to give the doctor some idea of the state of her problem.

Here's what you do," said the doctor, "start out about 40 feet away from her, and in a normal speaking tone see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response."

That evening, the wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he's in the living room. He says to himself, "I'm about 40 feet away, let's see what happens."

Then in a normal tone he asks, 'Honey, what's for supper?" No response.

So the husband moved to the other end of the room, about 30 feet from his wife and repeats, "Honey, what's for supper?" Still no response.

Next he moves into the dining room where he is about 20 feet from his wife and asks, "Honey, what's for supper?" Again he gets no response.

So he walks up to the kitchen door, only 10 feet away. "Honey, what's for supper?" Again there is no response.

So he walks right up behind her. "Honey, what's for supper?"

"Dammit Earl, for the fifth time, CHICKEN!"

Contributed by Dena Kimbrell

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