2 New Volunteers

Our Tuesday morning was fun yet productive. We had quite a bit of mail and finished around noon. Mark brought in a couple of his grandson's and they helped.

They went right to work next to Kathy.

 Above and below the boys are helping with the Bibles while Shirley, Bruce and Chuck work on stuffing studies.

Lukie left us fresh donuts. Mark took a break and left them each have one.

We finished up by enjoying a dessert Kathy brought in. This was a peach, blueberry cake from scratch and was delicious. Some of us had to have seconds.

Thankful For Laughter

I arrived at the Berean office 10 minutes early and there were already volunteers there hard at work.

 Mark opened a 49 and 50 that had almost no room left to write. The person that did this study had so much to say!

Marie showed up with fresh vegetables from her garden for anyone that wanted them. Everyone loves Marie's vegetables!

 Mark brought his grand daughter in again to help. We are always thrilled to have extra hands.

Bill went to the post office to pick up the mail from Friday, Monday and this morning. When he arrived he told us the only problem he had was he had forgotten his wallet and had no way of proving he was who he was.

We all burst out laughing.

Thankfully we were laughing WITH Bill not just AT Bill!  He called Joan, his wife, and had her text a picture of his licence then pulled his mask down to show them he really was who he said he was. Laughter at this office is such a blessing and we are thankful for the opportunity not only to serve but to laugh. We settled down to work with everyone doing what was needed.

We have had problems with our envelopes sealing in this heat and humidity. I'm not sure who recommended putting them in the fridge but that is now where we are keeping the envelopes.

Light Work

When mom and I arrived at the Berean office about 5 minutes late almost everyone had already arrived and were busy wrapping Bibles while they waited for the mail.

 They got quite a few boxes ready for mailing. There were quite a few letters that needed to be read and answered. Both Leila and Kathy worked on those. Mark and Bill were working on the computers.

 Mark brought his grand daughter in to help us today.

 We only had 23 Bible request today which were filled once the studies were processed.

 Mark didn't just bring his grand daughter in to help, he also brought a fantastic dessert his wife Cathy made as our treat today. Everyone enjoyed that.

Romania June & July 2020

This is from Kevendi in Romania, he also sent pictures but I was not able to post them:

June 2020

"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. " Isa 43,2-3

Dear brothers and sisters, we greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus. We pray for you. We want to express our gratitude for supporting us in these difficult times. Thank you for your prayers and support.
We are all healthy. Nobody still knows when we can enter the prison. We look forward to serve again the Lord between the inmates, "To open their eyes..." Acts 26,18.

There are still many restrictions. Many institutions do not open, churches can operate, but with a limited number of participants.

We try to cultivate in our character an attitude worthy of the Lord. Whatever happens around us we want to see beyond the discouraging. The world we are used to living in so far is starting to fall apart. But our Savior shows us encouraging perspective. „Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world”- says Jesus. These days, I found a very good picture about this truth. Here are two possibilities for perceiving reality. I always want to be that right person.

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Rom. 8,38-39


With love in Christ,

July 2020

"We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers" 1 Thess 1,2
Dear brothers and sisters, we greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus. In these troubled times we pray for you: May the Lord Jesus guard you and bless you abundantly.
We are well, healthy, we put all our hope in the goodness of God. We look forward to serving again, for the Lord would open the gates of the prisons.

Some good news: a former inmate was baptized during this period. Brother Viorel represented the prison ministry at this event. It is very encouraging, even a sign from the Lord that the work of the missionaries is not in vain.
Not only the detainees, but also some of their family members made a covenant with the Lord Jesus. Brother Dragu Angel officiated this service. He also uses our Bible courses in the church mission. 
"He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him" Psalms 126,6
God bless you all!

Big Mail Day

Not only did we have mail from last week as I was on vacation last Tuesday but today's mail was close to 200 pieces. We had around 90 Bible request and over 300 studies to stuff and process. Thankfully we had a wonderful group of volunteers come today to help. Bill came in to help today as we were short handed on readers. Below Marvin is showing him a letter from Michigan.

 The state of Michigan gives us all kinds of trouble. They won't accept studies with labels so envelopes must be printed and they won't accept stamps or stickers so we must use metered mail, no colored paper and no RED ink. What was ironic was it was addressed in RED ink. Below the two Shirleys are having a laugh at that.  

 Chuck and Bruce were in charge of applying the labels to envelopes then putting the envelopes on the correct studies.

 Kathy was answering a letter but had to stop to look up the address. She Marvin and Leila were also readers. Shirley R reads that letters that come with the studies while the other 3 read the request letters.

 Below Shirley and Glenna are stuffing the envelopes with the next study.

Each prisoner sends in 4 studies and when we get them we send them 4 more studies in postage paid envelopes so they can continue the lessons without having to buy stamps. When all the studies were stuffed we started wrapping Bibles. We had an assembly line going and had everything done by 12:30 pm.

 Below Mark is working on the printer. His wife Cathy sent delicious bars with Mark for our snack today. 

 We ran out of certificates, Bill drove to one of the stores and picked up a package of 25 to get us through this week but will for sure need more next week.

It was really amazing to see the amount of work done in that office today. Not only were the volunteers busy there was a lot of laughter as we worked together. This is a very cheery uplifting place to be on Tuesday mornings.  ALL of the studies were claimed for grading today and a lot of them went to the Roanoke AC church. None will be taken to the Peoria AC church Wednesday. I'm always relieved and thankful when the studies are claimed!