Sunday Services At the Peoria County Jail

 Aunt Jinnie and I left mom's house at 8:15 am and only Skip beat us there.  He was busy making coffee. It didn't take long for the rest of the volunteers to start arriving. We had a decent amount of mail today and we were glad for those who could give of their time. Bruce was back as the fields were too wet for harvesting. We are always glad when he comes back to run the postage machine. He does other work too but that is the machine we really don't like to use so are thrilled when he shows up.

Below we have just had the prayer and Skip was telling us grabbing a really touching letter to read then he told us about the Sunday service at the Peoria County Jail.

This was what the speaker spoke Sunday to the inmates.

The story went on that he was able to find work washing cars. He is a true success story and now helps other prisoners. Aunt Jinnie was glad to come to Berean this morning to help. She took mom's place for this week. My mom had a stroke a couple weeks ago. Aunt Jinnie arrived to help care for her. We were glad for her help today.

We were able to mail out 70 Bibles today.

We were done before noon and took the Bibles to the Hanna City post office for mailing. It was a good productive morning. 

Much Needed Computers.

 When mom and I arrived at the Berean office there were already 6 cars in the parking lot of volunteers waiting for the mail. Skip helped carry the mail in and everyone went right to work. We were pleased to find the much needed new computers and even more pleased with how fast they did the work. Our old computers had such a long lag time we would have to wait to enter. This new computer would respond so quickly there was no waiting at all. 

While we were all hard at work in this room Vonnie was getting the next jobs all organized in the other room.

Below Shirley is working on the intermediate studies.

Skip is busy entering in the Bible requests while I worked on the certificates for those prisoners that finished all 50 lessons.

We only had 21 Bible requests today and will not have Berean next Tuesday because of the labor day holiday on Monday. See you all in 2 weeks!

Weapons In the Work Place

 Last week Chuck pulled out his pocket knife. I arrived early this morning at the Berean office and THIS was what was laying on the work table: 

I left it laying on the table, separated the mail then had to leave for Peoria Tire and Vulcanizing to get the oil changed in my car. The car was left there, mom met me there and together we drove to the Berean office to get to work. When we arrived there were already volunteers working and I forgot about the knife. Below Kathy and Leila are working on letters while Marvin was getting some supplies.

The two Shirleys, Chuck and Ron were busy opening the studies. 

Bruce was at the other table also opening studies.

Mom sat down and right at her chair was 'the knife'! She picked it up and of course Chuck pulled his knife out too.

Who would have thought the Berean office would have weapons in the work place.  It turned out the knife was Bill's, he was using it to open boxes, put it down and forgot it. 

Bill got his knife back and we went back to work.

When the studies were all opened Jennifer and Leila moved to the other room to help Vonnie.  Leila was NOT in a fight, nor did she bring any weapons, instead she had a fall last week, landing on her cheek. She had quite a shiner.

Bruce, her husband made the comment, it was surprising how much damage she could do when she is so close to the ground. (Leile is not very tall.) Of course we all had to laugh. We had around 110 studies come in today and 32 Bible requests. Below the group is working on labeling and stamping the Bibles for mailing today.

Time for the funny story of the week. Marie, one of our graders emailed this:  Every once in awhile a prisoner’s answer makes me laugh.  I just had to share this one with you. Lesson 3

1. Romans 3:23 (Please write it out.)

                                   The prisoner’s answer: (It out)  I hope this at least got a smile.

We enjoyed working together and enjoyed visiting when the work was finished. So thankful for Tuesdays, the day we can serve.

Armed and Not So Dangerous

 Chuck was one of the first ones to arrive at the Berean office today and he came armed.  That knife he is holding is the took he uses instead of our envelope openers. 

We decide he is armed but not dangerous. He went right to work opening the mail. In the picture below Kathy and Leila are reading letters, Skip is working on the computer entering Bible requests while Bill is talking to Marvin about a request.

Bruce is processing today's certificates. We had 3 finish the intermediate course and 3 the Basic course this week.

We had a study we had been holding for almost a year. The prisoner wrote that he was getting moved and we should not send his study back until he knew where he was going to end up. Bill got on the main computer and found where the prisoner ended up and we sent him a new set of lessons to his new address.  The internet makes this job much easier.

When we finished the studies and Bible request we went into the other room to work on Bibles.

A bit later I caught Shirley and Shirley cleaning the bathroom. 

That isn't a usual job but both ladies saw a need and went to work. They were laughing because I made them turn around so I could get their better side. 

Easy Work

 We didn't have a lot of mail today, only 18 Bible request and about 50 studies. Below Kathy, Leila, Marvin and Skip are taking care of the non study mail. These are Bible request or other request such as fans or pen pals. Kathy writes to them to explain we can only send Bibles. Marvin uses the lap top computer to look up prisoners when we can't figure out the spelling of a name or the actual address of the prison they are writing from. It is amazing how many prisoners don't include that important information. 

After the studies were processed, everyone got busy and did a few extra jobs that had been put off such as folding more lessons that we stuff into the Bibles. Below Skip is labeling the Bibles going out today while Leila, Shirley L, Shirley R and Vonnie work on folding studies. 

The work is easy and we enjoy visiting while getting it done. This office is such a blessing to us who get to serve here AND to the prisoners that receive a Bible and studies. We have some that do the studies over and over. It gives them mail, they enjoy the comments from the graders and gives them something to do with their time while in prison. 

Below Bill was telling us about a prisoner that had requested a Bible from us in 2017, was out of prison and wanting to purchase a case of Bibles to give out. 

Once we finished, the men were solving the world's problems in one room while the ladies were enjoying our coffee and donuts and visiting in the other room.

Thankful to be here and thankful for willing volunteers.

Touching Letters

 We were a little short handed today but still were able to get everything done before noon. Below are a few pictures of the morning. 

We had some pretty touching letters today. Hopefully Bill can share them in a newsletter. 

Serving Others Together

 We didn't have a lot of mail today but there was enough to keep us all busy. Skip and Marvin were the only readers. Leila and Bruce were serving at a nursing home today while Kathy was visiting her grand children.  Below Skip and Marvin were trying hard to read an address on a request letter.

Shirley is working on the intermediate studies below.

Chuck, Shirley and mom are stuffing studies. 

Once the studies were done we worked on getting the Bibles ready for mailing. Below Vonnie and Chuck are getting the address labels on and the Bible postage.

Shirley is stuffing the intermediate studies.

Bill is checking information on his phone.

We were finished with everything, including our snack by 11:00 am. Mom and I drove to the post office to drop off the Bibles and mail the first class letters and post cards before heading home. It was another good day of serving others together.