So Blessed

 We were busy this morning, Skip wasn't able to come and Marvin is in Florida leaving us very short handed on the computers but we were able to get everything done. Just not too many pictures were taken as I was too busy trying to keep up with the computer work. Ray was put to work on the postage machine.

Chuck was put to work with applying labels to the studies while Kathy was our only reader.

Diane, Sharon, Shirley and Aunt Jinnie were busy with folding studies for the next groups going out.

Mom was applying the return address on almost 500 envelopes while Shirley worked on the intermediate studies.

With everyone working we were easily done before 11:00 am. Joan N Arrived to pick up studies for grading just about the time we were getting ready to serve the dessert.  Diane prepared the food and served it.

It really is a wonderful blessing for all of us volunteers to be able to serve this prison ministry. We try to make sure that each prisoner that writes and requests a Bible gets a Bible.  God loves each one as much as He loves any of us. So this  ministry not only blesses prisoners it blesses us too. 

New Tape Dispenser

 We had a decent amount of mail today and were glad for each volunteer that came to help. Marvin brought the treats and also the tape dispenser he made for our large roll of tape. 

It works perfectly.  Those two cut out parts make it easy to pull the tape up from any hand. Marvin told us Gail came up with that. The postage machine was out of money today but Skip and Marvin figured out how to refill that as the rest worked on studies.

Kathy was the only reader today but we didn't have a lot of letters so she was able to finish about the same time we finished.

The letter readers usually work longer than the rest of us in that room. 

We move to the other room to fill studies and get the Bibles ready for mailing.

We left there at 11:15 am stopped first at the Hanna City post office to drop off the Bibles and studies going out to the prisoners today. The next stop was to fill the wheelchair van with gas.

Gas dropped to $3:56 a gallon but is much too high for those working people that have to drive much distance in a van that maybe gets 9 miles to the gallon.  But we are thankful it works!

Valentines Day

 As today is Valentines day mom brought the heart she got from Karin and offered chocolates to everyone.

We also had a cheese cake to share but both were eaten after the work. Below is a video of just some of our work today.

A couple really nice letters came in.

Cold Office

 Skip called early that the heat was not working at the Berean office. Mark promised to send someone right out but when Diane, mom and I arrived Caleb the technician had not yet been there and yes it was cold. Just check out those winter coats. 

The office was still full of laughter, a little cold can't keep this group down.

In all serious though we finished our work quickly and skipped the dessert and coffee. When Caleb arrived he found the furnace was fine, there was just no propane going to the furnace. Chip took care f that.  Thankful for the easy fix. 

Busy Morning

 We were kept busy this morning but at 9:30 am took the time to all meet in the main room for prayer. After the prayer Skip read a couple letters to us from prisoners. The first letter included a tithe check for around $25.00 from a prisoner.  That is always amazing. They could spend their hard earned paychecks (usually just a few dollars a week) at the prison commissary. Below is a short video of Skip reading one of the letters. 

I was too busy to stop and take more pictures until we were ready to sit down for a piece of pie and a cup of coffee. 

We really do enjoy working together. Today we had 17 Bible requests and about 70 studies with 1 of the prisoners finishing the basic study and 2 others finishing the intermediate study so sent out 3 certificates. 

Lots of Laughter

When we arrived at the Berean office there were already a group of volunteers hard at work. Mom started on envelopes while Ray, Shirley,  Shirl, and Vonnie opened mail.

Skip and Marvin were working on the computers and Kathy was our reader.

Sharon joined us today and mom was able to keep Sharon busy with envelopes.

The group soon moved into the other room to start folding 200 of the first sets of studies going out today. 

Marvin was kept busy making copies so these sets could be made and ready for mailing.  Marvin also came up with a great idea. When someone finishes the first set of 50 he wanted to include with the certificate of completion a paper of how to read the Bible in a year.

The front side is the instructions while the back side are the verses.

Kathy was really happy with what came in today. A couple weeks ago she received a letter from a prisoner sentenced to Life that she felt needed a really good Bible such as a Life Application Bible.  She talked to Bill and Bill was able to contact the prison for how we could make that happen. Well today that prisoner sent back a card!  

She opened it and exclaimed, "He got it!" "I'm so glad to know he got it!" We had a lot of smiles and a lot of laughter today. The video also shows Ray hard at work at the postage machine.

Postage went up again and each time that happens we have corrections and adjustments that have to be caught and made before mailing anything out. We were really thankful Ray was there to work the machine.  Bill is now at Mayo Clinic and could be there for months. Below is an update from Bill: I was asked to give you all an update on where I’m at health wise. It’s difficult at times to write about our journey because I know that everyone has their own journey and I’m not trying to act like mine is more important than others. I do get a lot of questions so it may be easier to send updates, but understand that I am not trying to focus on myself.

I have had radiation 4 times and I have had 4 immune therapy treatments, but the cancer is continuing to spread around my body including my face. Radiation has helped certain tumors but there are too many to radiate all of them and it does stop any new tumors from popping up. There are probably 80 tumors of different sizes on my skin and muscle lining , but thankfully there doesn’t appear to be any on my organs at this time.

Since the immune therapy doesn’t seem to be shrinking the cancer Mayo’s wants to start chemotherapy next week along with a trial of super high injections of Vitamin C every other day. It’s chemo for 3 days in the hospital then 3 weeks of Vit C and then repeat. The Doctor thinks that after 2 cycles (6 weeks) that we will know if it is helping. If not then they will most likely do a bone marrow transplant after a final super dose of chemo to kill everything off. They have to get the cancer in remission before the transplant. So that’s were we are at for the next 6 weeks or maybe the next 5 months. We may be able to go home some weekends if I feel ok. Please pray for our children because it will be hard to be away from them that much. God is in control and holds us in His Hands. We are so thankful for His presence and blessings.

Love, Bill and Joan

Please keep Bill and Joan in your prayers. This has been a hard journey for them. Below is a recent picture of Bill and Joan's family.

Back To Work

 After a 2 week break mom and I were back to work at the Berean office and this time Diane came with us. She told us it had been 7.5 years since she helped out at this office. About time she is back to work!  

We were really happy to have her. The real story is she took today off of her 'real' job at the law office to join us. We had a good group of volunteers and everyone went right to work.

Vonnie soon moved to the other room to start stuffing envelopes with the help of Ray and Shirley and once that was done started on Bibles. Joan arrived to pick up studies for grading.

She came in to meet Diane.

We had 40 Bible requests today and plenty of studies. Diane took the picture below of Marvin and me entering the the Bibles. 

Roanoke is taking some for grading this week. Below is a short video of some of our morning.

Kathy brought cinnamon rolls and lemon poppy seed muffins for our treats. We all enjoyed eating those while visiting. Thank you Kathy. It was a good morning!