Thankful For Help

 Mom and I left for the Berean office at 8:15 am and by the time we arrived there were already volunteers there waiting. Wayne and Ron were spreading sand on the parking lot which was a sheet of ice. We had about 120 studies come in and 34 Bible requests. Below are a few pictures. 

We were thankful for the help and pleased to be finished by noon.

Too Much to Do

 We had an excessive amount of mail today at the Berean office and were only able to get the studies processed and the letters read. Tomorrow the Bibles will be processed and mailed out. Below are a few pictures of our very busy morning.

Below are just some of the stuffed and ready to mail out studies.

Below Skip is working on the certificates while mom works on placing labels on envelopes.

I was very thankful for everyone that came on this bitterly cold morning. The prisoners will be pleased to get their new studies to do and their graded ones back. I will be taking lots of studies to the Peoria church tomorrow evening, if anyone wants to grade some there are a plethora of them. 

New Volunteer

 A new volunteer showed up at the Berean office, that is new to us. He has been working in the jails and prisons for years. He is also on the board and we are very appreciative when a board member volunteers in this office. 

We put him right to work reading letters and once he was finished with that Marvin taught him how to run the postage machine. With Leila and Bruce gone for the rest of the winter we were wondering who would take over both of their jobs. Today was Marvin's last day for a month so it is even more important that we have another reader in the group. Kathy was back and gave us a good update on Dave. Chuck came in and told me he enjoyed breakfast with David and Stephanie yesterday. Ron came back and was put to work with Shirley and Ray opening mail then labeling the Bibles.

We finished up before noon, had coffee cake and coffee then cleaned up and left. 40 Bibles were taken to the Bartonville post office along with the first class letters and post cards. What a wonderful service these volunteers do with keeping this program alive all through this crazy pandemic time. 

Grunge Work

 We didn't have a lot of mail today so were able to use the time to get a lot of grunge work done. Ron was back so he and Ray were put to work on the most boring tedious job of the day, stamping the return addresses on envelopes. There were 38 Bible requests and once the studies were processed Shirley helped Marvin with the reading. Some of our volunteers are snow birds and we lost Bruce and Leila for that reason. We were really glad Ron showed up to help take up the slack. Not a lot of pictures today I forgot to change the battery in the camera and had to use the phone. Below they have finished stuffing envelopes and are stuffing Bibles.

Below Marvin is working on one of the harder letters to answer. 

Below they are wrapping the stuffed Bibles and getting them ready to be mailed out. 

We were finished before noon and enjoyed a nice break with coffee and coffee cake before heading down to the Bartonville post office to drop off the Bibles. 

A New Year

 We had so much mail that I was determined to get to the Berean office before 9:00 am and made it there at 8:40 giving me enough time to get a pot of coffee going before the first volunteers showed up. Bruce and Leila were the next to arrive and they jumped right in to help. Everyone that was coming arrived by 9:00 and we were hard opening mail and reading letters. We were so busy there were only a few pictures take but by the time we were done we had over 300 studies processed and mailed out 82 Bibles. Below are the pictures of the morning.

Not pictured is Vonnie who came to pick up the Michigan mail but stayed to help as there were so many to process. We all worked overtime today! I was very thankful for everyone that arrived and helped. It was a very good start for the brand new year.  

Christmas Blessings

 This will be the last post in 2020. We will not be meeting the next two Tuesdays but will start back working on January 5th, 2021. We usually do not get enough mail between Christmas and New Years to meet and I'm leaving for Gulf Shores for the next 2 weeks. We had a good morning at the Berean office processing the mail, wrapping Bibles and mailing out 46 of them to prisoners. Below are a few pictures of our morning.

Marvin and Leila were the readers at first. Ray, Chuck, Bruce and both Shirleys opened the studies, applied labels and ran the postage machine. 

As soon as the studies were finished Shirley helped Marvin and Leila finish reading the letters.

Above Marvin and Shirley are still working on letters, below we are stuffing and wrapping Bibles. 

We finished by 11:00 am and sat down to enjoy a delicious sweet coffee cake Shirley brought in along her salty chex mix snack. We enjoyed munching on the sweet and salty while visiting. We at the Berean office would like to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ and a happy new year. 

Tuesday's News on Thursday

 This post is 2 days late, we met on Tuesday December 8th at the Berean office to work on the mail. We had happy helpers. 

Below is a serious picture, Ray and Shirley are working on labels while Marvin and Bruce were discussing the new postage machine.

We got everything done before 11:00 am and enjoyed coffee and cookies from Stephanie for our treat. We were kept busy but not overwhelmed. We are glad that each prisoner that asked for a Bible was sent a Bible Tuesday.