May 17, 2011
An open letter to family and friends,
I’m taking this opportunity to express my humble and grateful thanks, first to God my Father for His love and gentle, patient and persistent work in my life. From Him I have been blessed to have been given this dream to serve the children of Perú. As I have walked in faith with Him I came here to Perú in 2007 with this dream and the support of our Reliv Kalogris Foundation in St Louis, Mo. by their agreeing to provide me with our wonderful nutritional supplements for children.
www.relivkalogrisfoundation.org
In May of 2008, after I had been blessed to receive permission from the Peruvian Government to import these products as a donated, charitable effort, I received my first shipment into Perú.
That first year I was blessed to provide these products to 89 children in the Lima area. They were children with HIV Aids, children with special needs, and orphaned or abandoned children. This was an amazing beginning for me and The Potters Hand Foundation. With the help of friends here, we were blessed to begin this journey and to chart a hopeful future of service to ever more children, especially in remote areas of the Andean highlands and then into the remote jungle areas.
We now serve 460 children, mostly young children of around 3 to 5 years, in 5 states of Perú. I also wish to acknowledge and thank our site coordinators who are the ones who make these daily and long term feeding programs possible which are transforming, and in some cases saving lives. Some of these people are teachers in small remote schools, nurses who serve the poor, nutritionists who manage care centers for poor children, missionaries who serve the indigenous tribal people in the jungle and others. I am blessed to be the messenger and seed planter for and with these dedicated people.
With great anticipation and joy I am looking forward to receive my 4th annual shipment of the Reliv’s “Now For Kids” supplemental product in June. This time, we will be receiving our shipment with our own ONG (NGO) The Potters Hand- Sirviendo a Niño’s y Ancianos del Perú.
This can happen only with the help of friends here who believed in me and who have seen the benefits of these nutritional products and the changed lives of the children here. In the past we had to use a local ONG to act as receiver for our shipments for importing purposes.
Now with The Potters Hand- Perú, we are blessed to expand this ministry of serving the children and soon the ancient ones who live in extreme poverty in the high Andes Mountains. We are developing and exploring other avenues to help these people. For example simple, portable water purification systems for each program site and then for each family’s home, and parasite and worm medication for entire communities, integrated health education programs, and spiritual and family counseling.
This has been an amazing journey of faith for me these last few years. I also acknowledge that this has been, and is, a wonderful, challenging, difficult, joyful, tearful walk. I have been spiritually stretched, challenged and I have grown much. Even to recognizing that by God’s grace and His love I continually find Him making me to see where I still need to grow. Even facing fears that have sometimes stifled me in the past and kept me from being all I could be. Facing those particular fears is essential and amazing when we break through to the other side. I am there now. I sense it and I have determined to break through completely as ALL things are possible through Him who strengthens me. Daily, moment by moment, Quantum Faith!
The Lord has brought me to this place and to this ministry and I trust Him in all things as I continue to grow and to let go, to let God “drive this bus”. Taking my hands off the wheel is another good expression.
I acknowledge all my many friends and family who have been there for me during this incredible journey. First my son, Taylor Scott, whom I love. Our Reliv International family of Independent Distributors and our Reliv Kalogris Foundation who know and are accomplishing our Mission to Nourish Our World. Without them neither I nor our other International Coordinators around our Reliv world could serve children in need with our wonderful products.
I acknowledge my Christ Fellowship Church family in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. This is the church where God my Father drew me and introduced me to His son and my Lord, Teacher and Friend, Jesus. Our church is all about Jesus, faith, family and service.
Over the years, before I was led here to Perú and even now, the folks there are helping me to grow and I know that I am not alone as I serve in a distant land.
www.cftoday.org
My sincerest thanks and gratitude go out to all my friends of Medical Ministry International, with whom I have been blessed to serve and to grow here in Perú during the last three years. I love you all. I’m looking forward to serving on many more missions with our MMI teams here in Perú and soon, in other countries.
www.mmint.org
One more thanks to the folks of the parent organization for my Potters Hand Foundation. ie, the United Charitable Programs in Falls Church, Virginia, whose mission is to empower people like me to help others by sponsoring targeted charitable programs that effect positive change through charitable, educational, scientific, or religious actions worldwide. This program has allowed me to grow foundationally and serve here in Perú. This has been the vehicle and means for this simple missionary, cowboy, sailor, adventurer and servant to go out into the mission field and serve, to make a difference in the lives of children in need and at risk.
FYI, donations made out to the Potters Hand Foundation can be mailed to, or sent electronically via the PHF website, to the United Charitable Programs. The UCP handles all the IRS and regulatory requirements for the PHF. This is a blessing for me while I serve here in Perú.
www.unitedcharitableprograms.org
So this is my effort to thank God my Father and all the folks and organizations that have made this journey possible. As I grow into the future, as I continue to heed His voice and His nudging in my own understanding of who I am in Christ.
If you are interested in learning more and/or helping this ministry please feel free to contact me. I appreciate more than words can express all the folks who have provided support and who are partnering with our ministry for the children, both with prayer and with financial support. I could not continue or grow with my limited personal resources which I have freely given. I will do my absolute best to serve our Lord and His purposes for my life, making a difference in the lives of children in need.
Please feel free to send messages, comments. I above all value your prayers. Prayer changes lives, events and circumstances.
Blessed to serve I am,
Taylor J Benson
Founder/ Director/Servant
The Potters Hand Foundation
And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain.” So God granted him what he requested. I Chronicles 4:10 NKJV
