A Good Work

We had another great day at the Berean office. Each time we get together the many different jobs are accomplished quickly and efficiently. We have such a good system in place now that each week I am amazed at the production coming out of this little office building. Today when I walked in with the mail Bill was already hard at work filling the intermediate studies for mailing today.

 Marie had the copy machine going full blast pumping out 130 copies per minute. 

 Shirley, Eva Jean and Vonnie were more than ready to open today's mail and went right to work doing so. 

  Marvin started working on the computer,

 but soon switched over to reading letters.  He read a couple really touching letters today. Jan and Kathy arrived to help read. We had over 30 Bible requests come in from one prison today. 

 Joyce and Chuck were put to work applying envelopes to studies and stamping them for mailing. 

 Once the mail was all opened Chuck, mom, Jan and Joyce went into the other room to separate and stuff studies. 

By the time we quit for lunch everything was finished except the certificates of the week which Marvin and Marie were working on. They stayed late to finish those. We had another great week doing a Good Work. Thank you Jesus. Thank you for putting the desire in these volunteer's hearts to come help, thank you for making this building available for us, thank you for the finances to keep this ministry alive but most of all thank you for Your willingness to die that awful death on the cross, shed YOUR perfect blood for all of our sin, thank you for defeating death by rising from the grave and thank you so very much that YOU promised to come AGAIN. What a WONDERFUL plan of salvation.

Growing Again

Today at the Berean office we labeled and mailed out Bibles, a car full of Bibles. I was thankful when Anna, Chuck and Roma showed up to help.

As soon as that part of the work was finished we migrated into the other room to work on studies. We had about 50-60 studies come in that needed processing. With these three willing workers we were able to finish the job before 11:00 am. Anna took a box load of studies to Princeville to be graded, Chuck to 16 studies home to give to someone and the rest will go to Peoria for grading. The program is growing again and we are all thrilled.

Slow Go

We had a plethora of mail today which included almost 200 requests for Bibles. Thankfully we had plenty of volunteers come in to help. Notice the pile of envelopes in front of mom, those still need to be opened.

 Today we had the printer print the prisoner's name and address PLUS our return address on each envelope. It took quite a bit longer than just printing a sheet of labels but it looked so much more professional. Bill made a suggestion on how to get the printer to run faster and Marvin is going to check into that. Today I could not keep up even with one person putting the envelopes on the studies. Chuck was finished with each pile before next pile printed. Bill was put on applying the stamps. Glenna, Shirley, Eva Jean, mom and Vonnie opened mail while Marvin, David and Kathy read letters. Marvin spent some time teaching Marilyn what we were doing. 

 The group below went into the other room to work on separating and stuffing envelopes. 

 We quit working at noon for lunch. 

We were not able to finish. Marvin and Marie were still working on printing the certificates after lunch. We had 50 people graduate the basic study this week. As the computers were tied up doing that I decided to take the mail to the post office leaving the rest of the studies for tomorrow. I'm thankful to all who are willing to help and would welcome suggestions on how to get the envelopes printed quicker so we can work more efficiently.

Lots of Mail

We had a full tub of mail at the Berean office on Thursday. The Thursday group is not used to that as their job is to send out the Bibles. They were glad to switch jobs and everyone went right to work.

 Above is Anna opening mail and below Chuck is applying the envelopes to the studies while Joyce, Anna and Roma open mail. Joyce usually comes on Tuesday so we were thrilled when she walked in to work for the Thursday volunteers as we were missing a few snowbirds. 

 Below Roma is separating the studies by number. 

 Chuck and Roma got all the studies put in the right boxes for the Tuesday group to finish. 

 I caught Joyce down on her knees. She may have been praying OR she may have been cleaning up. 

Thankful we got so much done and thankful we have people willing to come serve others. What an amazing gift we as servants have been given, to be able to serve the poor in prisons and jails, to spread the Good news of Jesus Christ. It truly is more blessed to give than to get!

Bibles

Since yesterday was a holiday we were not able to get the mail but that didn't mean no work. Today the Tuesday group got to find out how hard the Thursday group works. We had a pallet load of Bibles come that needed to be stuffed, wrapped, labeled and loaded. Check out how much fun this group has working together by watching the short video below.

Many hands really do make light work. We were able to get almost the entire pallet load of Bibles wrapped only quitting when we ran out of the studies we stuff inside. What a great day!

Wednesday Workers

Us Wednesday workers were fast today. The Bibles were entered and the studies we didn't quite finish on Tuesday were finished today all by 10:40 am.

 Cindy entered the Bible requests while Mary stuffed envelopes then filled boxes. 

We were missing Carol, her husband Mike was having a knee replacement today in Arizona. Carol won't be back to help for a while. Praying Mike's surgery is successful and healing quick. We have 120 Bible labels ready for Thursday. The Bibles will be delivered tomorrow (Thursday) morning around 9:00 am. They will need to be stuffed, wrapped, labeled and loaded.

Fun Fellowship

I couldn't help smiling this morning on the way to the Berean office. We have such a great group of volunteers. We have so much fun fellowshipping with each other as we work opening and processing the Berean mail. With the new Bibles now going out we received more letters requesting this week than usual. Diane had to order new sleeves, Ellen was called to order more of our postage paid business reply envelopes, Amanda ordered 10,000 more number 10 envelopes and another 6 boxes of paper.  We had a new volunteer come today, George was willing to bring Eva Jean and he was put right to work opening the mail. We were missing a couple of our regulars, Chuck came up with a cold and didn't feel he should come spread it around and Glenna is sick. Praying they both feel better soon. Below George is busy getting instructions from Vonnie while Shirley reads letters.

 We are always glad to see Kathy and her phone. Each time we need to look something up on the internet Kathy pulls out her phone and finds the answer. 

Marvin and Joyce worked on the back table while George, Shirley, Eva Jean and Vonnie worked on the middle table. 

 Mom, David and Kathy were the reader of letters today. They were kept busy. 

Marie was a little late, we put her to work checking returned mail. 

We had all the studies processed and letters read before noon. Below the group is stuffing envelopes with the next set of lessons while Marvin explains what is happening to George. Mom is busy preparing the lunch. 

A big thank you to all who come to help but even more all who pray for this ministry. The harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few: pray ye..I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ripe for harvest.

Perfect Amount

We really worked today! Edie, Roma, Chuck and I worked first on processing the hundreds of studies that came in yesterday then stuffed, wrapped, labeled and loaded all 162 Bibles going out to the prisoners that requested them this week.

The reason the 162 was a perfect amount of requests is because that was exactly the amount of Bibles we had in the office. Actually I found one more later so we were one off. We have 7 more pallets of Bibles at the warehouse. Tomorrow I'll ask Jacob if a pallet load can be delivered Tuesday as that day we have more help to unload. I was so very thankful for the help today. All of them stayed until the last Bible was loaded. The work load is increasing but that is something to be glad about. What an amazing week!

Two Days of Work

This post is both Tuesday AND Wednesday's news. Our first day back from vacation Tuesday and I forgot the camera. The volunteers were all cheering that news except there are plenty of pictures of them from other days. Tuesday volunteers were Marvin, Marie, David, Kathy, Glenna, Eva Jean, Vonnie, Shirley and Joyce. Timmy, Marie's son also helped with collecting all the garbage and hauling it out. We had an abundance of mail. Glenna, Shirley, Vonnie and Eva Jean worked on opening that while Joyce (not pictured) worked on applying labels to envelopes.

 Marie worked on the computer.

 Chuck also applied labels, while Marvin, Kathy and David read the letters. 

We had a very productive day quitting at noon. We enjoyed lunch then straightened up the office but left the unfinished studies for the Wednesday group.
On Wednesday we had Mary, Carol, David and Cindy come in. Mary and Carol opened the studies while David B and Cindy entered Bible requests.

By the time we needed to leave all the studies were opened, some of them were processed, all of the letters were read and processed and the Bible labels printed. These 4 were wonder workers as this was a lot of mail. Don't worry Thursday group we left PLENTY of work for YOU. There are 162 Bibles to stuff, wrap and label, hundreds of studies all needing to be processed. How thankful I am to have such wonderful willing volunteers to help with this huge program which now has OVER 65,000 people on the rolls.