Friday, May 1, 2009

The Value of Soap

It's been over a decade since I sold my first bar of Moonshine Soap (wholesale) to three seperate stores in North Carolina....I remember the feeling like it was yesterday. I still feel that the same way now when some fine person/business chooses to place Moonshine Soap in their retail establishment....

Along the way I have grown in ways I am certain I never imagined. I hit the ground running each day never questioning where this energy to propel forward comes from. Is this a dream or a purpose? I believe the reasons are beginning to surface...

Recently, I received an e-mail from a very dear friend. I had donated some soap for her to take on a mission trip to Nicaragua and she chose to share her very emotional experience with me upon her return:


"Ellie, I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate your donation of Moonshine soap to the mission trip to Nicaragua. With the aftermath of the civil wars, the hurricane, the mudslide and the grinding persistent poverty, soap is one of the most sought after commodities. Their first request is always "aqua". The second is "shampoo" which means soap. And when they discovered how good this soap felt to their skin and to their hair and how the shampoo soap was really shampoo, and how it smelled so delicious, they literally screamed in excitement. I demonstrated the shampoo soap while "bathing" with a village in a bay surrounding by cow patties and with cows with horns trying to get in with us. I wish you could have seen the laughter while people lathered their whole bodies with Moonshine shampoo soap. Very proudly holding up their arms with inches of lather! We all laughed so hard.
In the remote fishing villages, in the inner cities, in the refugee villages, the fragments of Moonshine soap brought joy and hope. I say fragments because I cut the bars in half and then in quarters and then in half again. And on the bare concrete floor where I cut them, the children scraped up the curls left by the knife and carefully put them in an old plastic bag.
There is much more I want to write about soap. How much we take it for granted and what true luxury it is to have water and soap.
I have just begun to process emotionally what I saw and experienced with your soap. The two times I have attempted to speak about it I have not been able to for the tears. I cannot write any more now for the same reason. It really brought me to my knees literally in gratitude.
Thank you again and again. Rosann"
------------------------------------
If you feel compeled to pursue a dream, consider it your purpose. You may never know the reasons, or perhaps by grace, God will choose to share...
Blessings,
Ellie

No comments: