Thursday, September 29, 2016

Unexpected Visitors

For the 3rd time this week I was late getting to the Berean office but this time Eva Jean had been called and she was willing to help organize things until I got there. Thankfully we had unexpected visitors and by the time I arrived all of the studies and letters had been opened and were just waiting to be entered on the computer.
The best news of the day was Chuck was back, just 3 short weeks after a hip replacement, and he brought his sister Mim and her husband Lynn.
 Lynn and Mim came all the way from South Carolina to help out at the Berean office. They are regular graders of the studies and we were thrilled that they spent the morning and even some of the afternoon helping and learning all that happens here at this office. 
 Our other visitor, one who had never been here outside the womb but many time inside was Riley, Rebekah's new daughter. Rebekah brought Riley for us along with a special gift from the Roanoke church. A bag FULL of stamps. We didn't count them right then but there were at least 40 rolls of first class stamps PLUS a check from someone of a $100.00 to buy more stamps. 
 We SO much appreciate this donation and want to send a special thank you to all who donated. These stamps will be used for God's Kingdom, sending Bible studies to prisoners all over the United States. Below Roma is looking for an address, while at the back table Edie is organizing all the studies by number. Chuck is supervising Mim (his sister) on the correct way to stuff while Lynn (Chuck's brother-in-law) seals the envelopes.
 We had a little fight today over who gets to take the studies back to be graded. Anna, far right in the picture below, had asked for 2 tubs of studies for the Princeville church this week. Rebekah was hoping to take a tub for the Roanoke church, and Mim and Lynn wanted to take a tub back to South Carolina. 
 How this was settled was Anna took both tubs from today, Tuesday's mail will go to the Roanoke church and Chuck would take Lynn and Mim to the Peoria church and take the studies that had been left there from last week. 
It is such a blessing to know these will be graded quickly and mailed back to the prisoners. When we get too many at the Peoria church sometimes it takes over a month to get the graded studies back to the prisoners. We had SUCH a great day today working together. To our volunteers this week Thank you thank you! Sometimes those words just don't seem to be enough to let people know exactly how much they are appreciated.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Bibles Mailed

Today's workers at the Berean office were kept busy entering Bible requests, folding studies and labeling the Bibles. 
 Mary, Dave and Cindy were more than happy to do all those jobs and more.
By the time we finished we were only short 8 Bible stamps. Those 8 Bibles will get mailed out tomorrow. The Bibles were loaded into the car and driven to the Bartonville post office and from there I had to go to TEMCO to pick up tomorrow's mail and drive right back to the Berean office. I may be late coming in tomorrow and wanted to make sure there is plenty to do for the Thursday workers. By the way Thursday workers, there was almost a FULL tub of mail to process. Much more than a usual Thursday. We may not be done by noon and just may need to get pizza for lunch. YEAH!

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Catch-Up

We had a good group today and only 1 tub of mail. This gave Marie an opportunity to catch up on all the questions and problems the graders had. Each week we find 20-30 studies left at church that have notes on them with questions from the graders. It is a time consuming job but today was the perfect time to do it. Looking into the other room Jeanette and Shelby were hard at work applying labels and stamping envelopes.
 I caught Jeanette giving Shelby a hug.
 We are a very affectionate bunch at this office. Everyone works well together. We were finished today before noon with entering giving us time for a relaxing lunch together.
After lunch we got the stuffing done. Most of the volunteers stay for that but some need to leave. We really are thrilled with what ever hours people can give and don't expect anyone to have to stay. A praise to report is the board is working on figuring out how we can get bigger better black Bibles. Praying they will be able to order some soon. Most of the request that come in are for big black Bibles and one prisoner wrote, "if you can't give me giant print will you send me a Jumbo?

Thursday, September 22, 2016

10 Hands

We didn't have a lot of mail today and by all 5 of us working had the Bibles all labeled and loaded by 10:15 am.
I was thankful for Anna, Roma, Edie and Eva Jean's help. Many hands really do make light work and our 10 had these Bibles flying out the door. 

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

We Got it DONE

David and Cindy arrived early and together these two got all the Bible requests entered by noon.
 While they were diligently working on the computers Mary and I were busy stuffing and wrapping Bibles.
Tomorrow we will apply the labels, stamps, load them in the car and mail them out. So even though I put out a plea earlier for wrapping Bibles, we got a lot of it done today. The mail on Thursdays is usually not as much as on a Tuesday but will still need to be processed.

A Plea For Help

I was on vacation last week so this will be an update on 2 weeks worth of news. Not that there is much different to report. The biggest surprise was to come back believing I would be working at the Berean office all day on Monday to just try to catch up and finding the amazing wonderful volunteers were able to get all the studies processed, labeled, stuffed and mailed. A special thanks to all who helped. Our BIG praise came walking in today with 20 rolls of first class stamps. This man really is tall and truly a blessing to us. He didn't want to be named but I will give you a hint. He greets us happily and asks, "is everything running ok?"
Yesterday we were still short handed as Kathy and David couldn't come. Please remember to pray for this couple, Kathy lost her dad 3 weeks ago and David lost his younger brother a week ago. They are faithful volunteers that must be overwhelmed right now. Mom didn't come, she was hosting Bible study Tuesday morning and Marvin was out of town.
Another person missing was Chuck. He had his hip replaced last week but yesterday we all heard how well he is doing, running down the halls at Skyline pushing his walker in front. This was so nice to hear, before the hip replacement Chuck could hardly stand and for sure not stand upright.
Yesterday we needed to call Lance in to repair the copy machine. It was a good thing we did, he was able to fix it and now it is running well.
 Glenna and Jeanette worked in the kitchen area. Check out that pile of mail in front of Glenna. We had a lot of mail and were thankful so many came to help.
 Our only readers today were Lila and Jan. God surely provided as our usual readers of mom, Kathy, David and Marvin could not be here. 
 Below Joyce, Marvin L, Shirley and Vonnie are hard at work opening the mail.
  Marie would have been working in the other room, but since the copy machine was broken it was a pleasure to have her help on the computer. We had the last study entered just before noon.
 Below are a few enjoying our lunch break.
After lunch we separated the studies and stuffed envelopes with the new studies needing to go out. We had 2 mailboxes full which were mailed today. It seemed a miracle to me that so much was done all before 2:00 pm.
This next bit is a PLEA for help on Thursday. We will be entering 2 weeks worth of Bible requests today and Thursday we will need to wrap and mail out those Bibles. We have the Bibles at the Berean office but they all need stuffing, wrapping, labeling, and stamping. We would love some strong backed young kids to help lift and load the boxes of Bibles. We would love any age and condition to help with the rest. If you have never volunteered for Berean but always thought you would like to some day, that some day could be tomorrow (Thursday Sept 22nd, 2016)! Please pray about this and see where the Lord leads you. Who knows but that Bible YOU helped wrap or label may be the ONE chance a prisoner has to read God's living Word, repent and be saved.

Friday, September 9, 2016

Holiday Week

We were not able to get the mail on Tuesday so this week planned on working just one day and that was Wednesday. We had a good crew come in and not only were able to finish processing the studies, we also were able to enter and print off all the Bible requests for the week.Kathy and David were not able to come today to read letters, David's brother Allan passed away very suddenly. While Marvin L, Shirley, Jeanette, Eva Jean and Vonnie opened the mail, Dave B and I worked the computers and Marvin H read letters with mom.
 Also not pictured working were Jerry and Marie. Marie came in to and this is in her words, "teach old dogs new tricks." She introduced us to new paper clips and wanted to teach all the volunteers to put them on the side of the studies instead of the top. Marie feels this way we will have less envelopes coming off. These paper clips are probably more expensive but she brought 1000 today and is going to buy 5000 as a start. We were not quite finished by the time noon rolled around but close enough to enjoy our lunch break.
After lunch we were able to easily finish the job. Thursday just a few of us came in to get the Bibles  mailed out. Rachel S came in to help and took a few pictures of some of the art the prisoners send us. She posted these on Facebook but they will also be posted here.


We will be working Tuesday but not Wednesday or Thursday of next week.

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Bibles Mailed

We mail Bibles out each Thursday so are thrilled when volunteers show up at the Berean office to help stuff, wrap and label the Bibles. This morning Deb, Eva Jean and I worked on the Bibles
 while Edie and Roma worked on opening the mail.

 As soon as the Bibles were all loaded and stacked in the car we three went to work with the others in the other room. Deb and I on the computer entering studies while Chuck, Eva Jean, Roma and Edie processed the studies. Chuck was given the job of separating the studies by number. He is having his hip replaced next week but this job was perfect, he was in the rolling chair and would roll up and down the table putting the correct study in the correct box.
We were not able to finish but finally just quit and went to Bob Evan's for lunch. By the time we got there we were pretty hungry and glad to sit and rest. I was very very thankful for such wonderful help today. The Bibles were dropped off a the Bartonville post office this afternoon and are now on their way to anxiously awaiting prisoners from all over the United States.