<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-964707428527642301</id><updated>2012-02-16T04:18:54.285-08:00</updated><title type='text'>What Would You Fight For?</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://whatwouldyoufightfor.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/964707428527642301/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://whatwouldyoufightfor.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Ruth Merci</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08769935065032838529</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZUMoTKokNIw/TjM8ikHhb8I/AAAAAAAAADk/jckpRPzUYnA/s220/ruth.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>1</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-964707428527642301.post-605771218784649887</id><published>2011-07-22T15:33:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2012-01-23T23:34:18.385-08:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="510" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ve7UmvSm51Q" width="640"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: right;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img height="395" src="http://oi53.tinypic.com/2z4b5mu.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"&gt;Hello my friend, my name is Ruth and I am the second oldest in a family of eight (three brothers and two sisters). Since childhood my parents introduced me to the high purpose of knowing and serving the living Christ by laying down my life for a world in great need of His love and redemption. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div style="margin: 0px; text-align: right;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"&gt;We have developed our own creative measures of humor, music, dance and street performances to bring the message of hope and forgiveness to life in third world countries. Our vision is to love the unloved, to remember the forgotten and to comfort the brokenhearted with the personal touch of Christ in us. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"&gt;My polish father is a self-taught musician but most of all has imparted in us the spirit of a ‘fighter’. (His conversion at &lt;place w:st="on"&gt;&lt;placename w:st="on"&gt;Notre Dame&lt;/placename&gt; &lt;placetype w:st="on"&gt;University&lt;/placetype&gt;&lt;/place&gt; was strangely ‘coincidental’ with the identity of ‘The Fighting Irish’) My Irish mother has taught us tenderness and care. My brothers and sisters and I are 2nd-degree black belts in Tae Kwon Do (also trained in the Brazilian art of Capoeira). We have had the privilege to teach these martial arts at orphanages and use it as part of our performances. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"&gt;We are not any denomination, religion or cult. My parents grew up Catholic and my father graduated, after attendance at several seminaries, with a Master’s degree. So our exposure, understanding and freedom allows us to relate to all religions and even those who don’t believe in God at all. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"&gt;We have been to over thirty countries around the world. We have been living in South America where we were invited to perform in the prisons, orphanages, schools, military bases and city centers as well as special events for government officials. We just&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;returned to the US&amp;nbsp;in order to pay off our debts and save up for our return.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: right;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img height="289" src="http://oi52.tinypic.com/k2dypt.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Elizabeth, Ruth, Sarah, Rachel, Michael, Abraham, Joshua and David.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: right;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: right;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img height="368" src="http://oi54.tinypic.com/312yamd.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: &amp;quot;Courier New&amp;quot;, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;"If am not for others, what am I? If not now, when? -&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: &amp;quot;Courier New&amp;quot;, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;img height="373" src="http://oi53.tinypic.com/vfuv0i.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;img height="332" src="http://oi52.tinypic.com/vyw02r.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;img height="478" src="http://oi56.tinypic.com/2valhy0.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: &amp;quot;Courier New&amp;quot;, Courier, monospace;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;Tae Kwon Do teaches&amp;nbsp;discipline&amp;nbsp;and focus, here in a prison we taught a few moves to &amp;nbsp;the prisoners.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"&gt;All of this has been funded by our individual efforts to work various jobs. We are not a “non-profit group” or supported by any organization whatsoever. This allows us the freedom to have no particular religious agenda or ties but also leaves us with the huge burden of having to provide for ourselves all the funds that we need both to travel with and to do what we can, when possible,&amp;nbsp; to help the multitudes that we meet who are in great need. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"&gt;It is our hope that maybe someone ‘out there’ would find a kindred spirit to help us help others so we could go farther and stay longer&amp;nbsp; in South America and beyond. &amp;nbsp;Most people are well familiar with Africa or Haiti but who has heard of the deep suffering of Colombia from the FARC drug wars or the many other obscure 3&lt;sup&gt;rd&lt;/sup&gt; world countries?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;You can write me for any reason and I have a paypal account&amp;nbsp;at&amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;&lt;u&gt;whatwouldyoufightfor@yahoo.com&lt;/u&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"&gt;Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog and if you know anyone you could share it with that would be great. May you become aware of God’s love and personal touch of your life!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://oi51.tinypic.com/t9b0k4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="478" src="http://oi51.tinypic.com/t9b0k4.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;img height="478" src="http://oi53.tinypic.com/2wcm8gx.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"&gt;One of the largest prisons in South America&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img height="478" src="http://oi55.tinypic.com/1ikfux.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;img height="478" src="http://oi52.tinypic.com/v75d7r.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif;"&gt;SOS Village for orphans.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img height="476" src="http://oi54.tinypic.com/2wq5pa1.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif;"&gt;Military&amp;nbsp;rehabilitation&amp;nbsp;center&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img height="500" src="http://oi54.tinypic.com/sfkrht.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif;"&gt;We use poi, fire, magic tricks and&amp;nbsp;costumes&amp;nbsp;with our performance some of which has been donated to us.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img height="474" src="http://oi52.tinypic.com/1238tmx.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif;"&gt;Military training base.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img height="476" src="http://oi56.tinypic.com/lv69z.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif;"&gt;Many times we hike out into the mountains and country side to reach people that have no&amp;nbsp;access&amp;nbsp;to roads.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img height="474" src="http://oi56.tinypic.com/6h3olu.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif;"&gt;My brother made himself stilts (that fold down so we can pack them). It is amazing to watch both children and adults marvel when he walks into the crowd. So many have never seen things we take for granted like a circus.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img height="476" src="http://oi55.tinypic.com/2psrnkg.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif;"&gt;In this prison there were 7,000 men in a prison built to hold 2,000. Many did not even have a bed or cell but slept in the cold hall ways. There is never enough food or blankets and the majority have never seen a judge. Some have been in there for years and not yet received a&amp;nbsp;sentence, some really are&amp;nbsp;innocent, and some have ten year&amp;nbsp;sentences&amp;nbsp;for things like not paying their rent.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img height="486" src="http://oi55.tinypic.com/2udweti.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif;"&gt;Oscar, Juancho and Javier, some of my Tae Kwon Do students at an&amp;nbsp;orphanage.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img height="476" src="http://oi53.tinypic.com/v3zxar.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif;"&gt;My brothers and I were jogging up this mountain to reach a village that was built on the side. In this one house we met a mother whose son was in a wheel chair both&amp;nbsp;mentally&amp;nbsp;and&amp;nbsp;physically&amp;nbsp;handicapped. The only way to get to the house was up this long steep staircase after a few hour hike up the mountain. She has to make this journey whenever she needs supplies and if her son needs medical attention, she has to make the journey with him in a wheel chair!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: &amp;quot;Courier New&amp;quot;, Courier, monospace; font-style: italic;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img height="476" src="http://oi54.tinypic.com/jslnie.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;, serif;"&gt;In the picture above we traveled with the United Nations to a jungle village about 5 hours off the main road. The road was a&amp;nbsp;bumpy, washed out dirt road where the only other traffic we saw was livestock and guys on horses. It was&amp;nbsp;extremely&amp;nbsp;hot, I don't know how my brother made it in that costume. After performing we were exhausted&amp;nbsp;and with a bit of heatstroke, the army soldiers stationed there brought us this tray of drinks. As thirsty as I was I took a big gulp to discover nice warm rice milk. The kind soldier smiled at me and asked if I liked it. &amp;nbsp;I said yes very much thank you, then waited till he walked away and I could get a little kid to drink it for me.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img height="322" src="http://oi54.tinypic.com/k565jk.jpg" width="640" /&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;strike&gt;&lt;iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/M9KLKLh9l4w?rel=0" width="640"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/964707428527642301-605771218784649887?l=whatwouldyoufightfor.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://whatwouldyoufightfor.blogspot.com/feeds/605771218784649887/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://whatwouldyoufightfor.blogspot.com/2011/07/blog-post.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/964707428527642301/posts/default/605771218784649887'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/964707428527642301/posts/default/605771218784649887'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://whatwouldyoufightfor.blogspot.com/2011/07/blog-post.html' title=''/><author><name>Ruth Merci</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08769935065032838529</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZUMoTKokNIw/TjM8ikHhb8I/AAAAAAAAADk/jckpRPzUYnA/s220/ruth.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://img.youtube.com/vi/Ve7UmvSm51Q/default.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
