A productive Day

 I didn't expect a lot of volunteers 4 days before Christmas but was pleasantly surprised. Shirley came in first and the rest just kept coming. We were easily able to finish the work before 11:00 am. The camera wasn't taken out until all the study work was finished. Below they are wrapping Bibles.

Marvin and Kathy are discussing how to get a letter to a prisoner.

We were glad to have Bruce back. He and Leila will be back for 2 weeks before heading to Arizona for the winter months. 

Chuck, Shirley, Vonnie and Leila are working on stuffing and wrapping Bibles in the picture below.

I was trying to take pictures of them wrapping Bibles. The setting must have been on video and then for some reason the phone added music.  

Not pictured was Bill who arrived as we were enjoying a snack of coffee and cinnamon rolls. We had well over 200 studies to mail out today. Bill takes those, I took the box of Bibles to the Hanna City post office on the way home.  We had a productive day.

The Covid Hits

 We only had 5 volunteers today and a decent amount of mail. Thankfully those that came went right to work. Kathy had to leave a little early but not before all the letters were read. Below Shirley, Chuck and Leila are finishing up stuffing the studies.

Bill had to help on the computer entering Bible requests.  We have some needed on the farm, some down with Covid, some home taking care of the sick and some just not feeling well. 

Covid is hitting many around here right now but thankfully all seem to be mild cases. All of the work got done and I am thankful.

Thankful Here

 Another good morning at the Berean office. We sure are thankful for everyone that comes to help.  Below are a few pictures. 

Above Marvin and Leila working on letters while Skip and Bill work on entering Bible requests.

Below Vonnie, Shirley and Leila stuffing studies.

Skid and Bruce getting the Bibles labeled for shipping today.

We were easily finished with everything by 11:00 am. Covid has shut down the Peoria county jail and many other jails and prisons. We had a letter today how badly the Bibles are needed now that the chaplains have been locked out. They are not even holding church services in the jails each Sunday. Who would have thought we would still be dealing with this at the end of 2021.  During the lock downs of 2020 we were able to keep the Bible requests filled and the studies graded and that was much appreciated by those desperately wanting a Bible so I really am thankful for help here.

Thanksgiving Week

 We had another good morning at the Berean office. Leila brought in wonderful treats to share at our break but we didn't even wait for that. As soon as the coffee was done some of us snuck out to have cookies with coffee. Notice Chuck through the window. 

He only took a few moments to grab a cup and offer some to the rest of us who were working in the other room.

Below Aunt Jinnie is asking for another stack so she could keep working.

At 9:30 am we meet back in this room for our prayer. After the prayer Kathy read us part of one of the letters. In the picture below they are listening to Kathy.

Below is the short video of that letter.

 Below Kathy and Marvin are trying to figure out the spelling on a name. This is one of our hardest jobs. If the name and number don't match the Bible will be sent back so it is important for us to get the spelling correct and some of the hand writing is atrocious. 

We take our best guess then try to look them up on the computer. Sometimes that works! Below they are stuffing the new studies.

Once the studies were all stuffed and sealed almost all of us joined this group to work on the Bibles.

We all work so well together. A special thanks to Leila for the treats and a big thank you to all who came to help as Thanksgiving week is always busy.

 

Gift of Life

 Only Skip beat us this morning. He had the coffee waiting when we arrived. The morning was cold but the furnace here works well and we are thankful for heat.  Skip commented on the amount of letters that arrived this week was much more than he had seen for a while and that ended up being true. We had over 30 Bible request letters plus many other letters asking for the study or other things. Marvin went right to work on the letters.

Chuck arrived and was put right to work on labels with Aunt Jinnie.

When the studies were processed Vonnie had the second room all set up to stuff the studies going out today. 

Bill and Kathy worked on letters. Kathy is the writer. Bill is given any problem letters. Below Skip is entering the Bible requests for today.

Vonnie and Aunt Jinnie were folding more of 1 through 4s as those go in each Bible.

Skip, Chuck and Shirley are hard at work getting the Bibles going out today labeled, stamped and loaded into boxes.

Those boxes were taken to the post office today and are now on their way to a prisoner. We pray that each Bible could be received with joy and thanksgiving. It really is the gift of life.

Tuesday at Bereans

 We had another good morning at the Berean office with plenty of work and plenty of volunteers to get the work done. Below are a few pictures of the morning.

Below Bill had ordered more certificates and is putting them in the cupboard. He bought a case of the silver for basic and a case of gold for the intermediate. They are given out once all 50 studies of the lesson are finished. 

Below Marvin is working on updating the the lists on the wall. We have some prisons or jails that do not allow labels, some don't allow books (which means we cannot send them a Bible even if a prisoner writes and asks for one) and some don't allow colored paper.  

Below Shirley is showing Jinnie how to check for addresses.

At 9:30 am Marvin's alarm goes off and we all meet in this room for a prayer.

Below they are stuffing studies and obviously having a good time doing the stuffing.

Below Bill is printing postage for the Bibles going out today while Shirley works on the intermediate studies.

Kathy is a reader but she also is the letter writer. Today we had a prisoner ask for another Bible but when we looked him up we found he had already received 2 from us. We did not send the 3rd.

Below Skip and Chuck are getting the Bibles going out today stamped and labeled while the 2 Shirleys and Leila fill and seal envelopes.

Once all the studies were stuffed and sealed they all went to work on wrapping stuffing and wrapping Bibles. 

We really are productive but have a good time working together.

Thankful For Bill

 We had a sunny but cold morning at the Berean office needing to run the furnace.  We are very thankful for the use of this building owned by Wayne and Lukie and VERY thankful we have heat in the winter and cooling in the summer.  It was nice and warm inside which warms our hearts as we volunteer together. Below are a few pictures of the morning.

Shirley walked in saw a job and came back with the vacuum.

Below Ray is making a special point to tell us he is passing a study over to Shirley and not trying to hold her hand as he works. Of course we all had to laugh.

In the picture below it LOOKS like Shirley is the only one working but that really isn't quite true. The others were using their brains before we needed their brawn to move boxes of Bibles.

Chuck is working on applying labels to the envelopes. 

Below Bill is keeping us informed on some of the other activities happening.

Joan came in to pick up studies for herself and some others for grading.  

She mentioned her faithful team of helpers are Paula, Ray & Kitty, Jerry & Sharon and Dale. After picking up the studies she drives to the Fellowship Hall and prays over them before handing them out. Today she decided to drive back to the pond and cemetery area and said it is serene and scenic with beautiful landscaping and trees and so beautiful with the bridge.   We really are thankful for our church cemetery.  Below Skip is getting the Bibles ready to mail out from the requests that came in today.

We can't help but be thankful each time we finish, thankful we can volunteer together, thankful for the work that gets done, thankful for the use of the building and thankful that we can still afford postage. Bill tries hard to keep the postage costs down but as the postage rates climb his job gets harder. We are really thankful for Bill. 

Let There Be Light

There were BEAUTIFUL candy apples waiting for us when we arrived at the Berean office today. We THINK they may be from Wayne and Lukie but who ever left them for us, we were all truly thankful. 

It was a little dark in the Berean office this morning but Bill walked in with the exact light we needed. Marvin helped install them. 

We had a very good morning processing almost 30 request letters and getting the studies finished by 11:00 am.

We didn't just work, we took the time to listen to a letter Skip wanted read and heard some very inspiring stories from Bill. Last week I thought this would be my last week to volunteer here and was surprised at how disappointed I was at that thought. God had other plans and I was thrilled when it worked out that I could continue. This is a wonderful uplifting place to be each Tuesday. The light of the Lord truly shines out of this office even when the lightbulbs are not working correctly.