February 17, 2003
CALL OF THE MILD:
DANNY WILLIAMS is a mild-mannered accountant who is passionate about helping international orphans. He and his wife, members of Cottonwood Creek Baptist Church in Allen, travel several times a year to other countries. He serves as Vacation Bible School coordinator for Buckner Orphan Care International. (Morris Abernathy/Buckner Photo)
North Texas couple serve children
___By Scott Collins
___Buckner News Service
___HUEHUETENANGO, Guatemala--Danny Williams had worked hard all day at a Guatemalan orphanage. He was exhausted and depressed.
___Then the electricity went off while he was still trying to assemble new beds for the children.
___"When the electricity went off, all the kids came into the little kitchen," he explained. "They all got together and they started singing songs. Joyful songs. Songs that I recognized were Christian songs.
___"It just made me realize that even in the midst of that very, very bad situation where things were going very, very bad, those kids live in those conditions 24 hours a day. And the joy that I heard in there was just overwhelming to me.
___"How can they have joy in the midst of that situation? That makes me realize that my life is incredible. I've been blessed so much."
___So have hundreds of orphans who have met Williams on his trips to Russia, Guatemala and Belize. His wife, Dawnita, also is a regular missions trip participant. The couple alternates trips, taking turns caring for their children while the other travels.
___Williams is an accountant from Allen, a mild-mannered finance manager with Texas Instruments who takes vacation time to lead Vacation Bible School for orphans and stay up past midnight assembling beds.
___He does it, he said, because of the kids.
___The kids who inspire him now have become a permanent part his and his wife's life. They adopted their son Jonathan from Russia when he was 15 months old. In July, they returned to Russia and adopted their 20-month-old daughter, Victoria. In between, their son Jacob was born.
___But that still was not enough for them to give, they said.
___"We just couldn't come home with our kids and then never think about orphans again," Williams said. "That's just something that Dawnita and I couldn't do. So God has just totally given us a passion for orphans."
___The members of Cottonwood Creek Baptist Church in Allen work regularly through Buckner Orphan Care International.
___"It's all about hope," he said. "The kids in the orphanages are without hope. And if we can come in and share Christ with them, that's the only hope they really have."
___The needs are the same wherever he has traveled with Buckner, he said.
___"It's amazing how kids in orphanages everywhere are like a sponge. They will just soak up all the love you can give them. They are just so loving and so in need of attention.
___"That's why I love to give them hugs and to share my life with them."
___
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