Tuesday, November 29, 2016

10,000 Bibles Ordered

The news actually came yesterday. Berean was able to buy the better Bible, the black leather like giant print study Bible with colored maps and a concordance. This was the Bible 3 different people picked out without talking to anyone else but they were just too expensive. Then for some reason this was the Bible picked to go on sale and are only $1.00 more than the paper back we have been sending out. Think God wants the prisoners to have this Bible? These Bibles will be delivered the end of this week and we will start sending them out next week, just in time for Christmas.
Our office was buzzing with the sound of happy voices today when the news was told.
 We had a lot of mail but thankfully had the helpers here to process the mail.
 Megan was able to come help on the computer today. She is fast and accurate and we were double blessed because today is her birthday. She could have stayed home to celebrate but instead came to help us. Below Marie is sorting the mail while Glenna and Eva Jean work on opening the mail.
 I would say Kathy is checking out a letter but that would actually be wrong. Marvin brought in Christmas cards for us with some pictures of his family and grand children.
 We had Kathy, David, Marvin and Leila were the readers today. Chuck and Marvin worked on labels and stamps, mom, Joyce, Jan, Glenna, Vonnie and Eva Jean opened mail. Marie sorted and kept the copy machine running, Megan and I were on the computer and Jeanette worked on labels.



 We had too much mail to be done by noon but took a break for soup and pie at noon then went right back to work.
We finally quit working at 2:00 pm leaving a lot of work for the Thursday group. If anyone has a few extra hours on Thursday morning we would love to have you. We won't be mailing out Bibles Thursday but will be finishing separating and stuffing studies.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

224

We had a good productive day at the Berean office. The first job was to wrap and label Bibles. Roma, Edie, Eva Jean and Chuck started on that as soon as they arrived and these 4 were working machines. They had an assembly line going and filled boxes of Bibles quickly. 
 Marvin came today to work on the new printer and helped me enter all the Bible requests for this week. We were pretty thrilled with how well the printer worked.
By the time we finished today we had 224 Bibles loaded in the car for mailing. This was actually 2 weeks worth as we didn't work last Thursday because of the funeral.  Chuck needed to stop at church to pick up a bunch of studies to mail out for grading as we only had a few here. We finished today at 11:00 am.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Election Day

NOTE: NO WORK AT THE BEREAN OFFICE ON WEDNESDAY NOV 9TH.

This was the most disappointing election day in my history and probably most of the Christians in America feel the same way. Yes I voted but after walking out of the booth there was no joy, no hopeful anticipation on electing a new president. The choices were either bad or awful. Mark and I left just after 6:00 am to drive to the polling place and when we arrived about 6:10 am there was a line of people waiting. It took about an hour to get our votes cast and get back home.
At least today was Berean day. That office is pretty much always filled with Christians joyfully working and visiting together. today was no exception. We had a great group come today to open and process the mail. David is on the board and brought us the good news that the new Bibles should be here soon. He, Kathy, mom, Marvin and Leila were the readers today. Bruce, Chuck and Marvin L worked on the back table. We were thrilled to have Bruce back. Today was raining so he took a break from farming to come help us.
 The picture below was taken before Marvin L, mom, Jan, Joyce and Kathy arrived. Glenna, Shirley, Eva Jean and Vonnie were put to work at the middle table. Marie worked on the second computer. 
 Mom arrived and was put right to work reading letters.
 Joyce and Jan took mail into the other room to open. 
 The clock on the wall read 10:30 am when Kathy arrived and we all teased her about being really late until someone remarked that the clock hadn't been changed from this weekend's time change.
 We worked until after noon then finally stopped to refuel our bodies. 
We had a lot of mail today and went right back to work after lunch. The printer is just about out of ink but Diane is pretty sure we have more at the office. I'll check tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow David B is going to be there and will start work before I can get there. I'm taking my truck in to East Peoria to get new tires put on before heading to Berean. 

NOTE: NO WORK AT THE BEREAN OFFICE ON WEDNESDAY NOV 9TH.  The computer is getting worked on.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Classing UP the Joint

David walked in the Berean office all gussied up and told us, "I'm trying to class up this place."
you can see Marvin's reaction by that statement in the picture below. That may be an incredulous look but also he may just be laughing out loud. David and Kathy could only work until 10:00 am then had to head to a funeral where David was asked to officiate. 
 Everyone else was laughing at that even though there were piles of mail on the table ready to be opened. Marie was busy fixing problems from last week while Glenna, Eva Jean, Vonnie and Shirley opened the mail. 
 Marvin, Leila, David and Kathy were the readers today.
 Wayne came in and in the picture below looks like he may be scolding us for the loud laughter coming out of the office but in reality he was telling me that the water heater was fixed. Wayne keeps everything running smooth here. 
 Jeanette came in a little late and Marvin was quick to practically beg her to take some of the 49 and 50s home to grade. I think he had to grade 90 of them last week. 
 Chuck walked in right after Jeanette and was put right to work applying labels. 
 Jan was busy at the same table as Chuck opening mail. We had a good amount today.
 While Marie and I were entering the last of the studies the rest of the group were in the other room stuffing the next sets to go out. 
 Marie joined them as the last of the intermediate labels were being printed. She also kept the copier running today filling slots. 
We had so much help today that even though we had a decent amount of mail we were able to finish by noon and enjoy a nice leisurely lunch. Another thank you is in order for these top notch classy volunteers.
NOTE: THERE WILL BE NO WORKING ON THURSDAY AT THIS OFFICE. THE OFFICE WILL BE CLOSED Thursday so the volunteers can go to John Honegger's funeral.