Sunday, November 24, 2013

November 24, 2013

Mission Emphasis Sunday
November 24, 2013

Today at church was not officially a mission emphasis day, but many activities were going on that were mission related.  At church many people were turning in gift-filled shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child.  These boxes are filled with small gifts, school supplies, candy, stuffed toys, mittens and other items to go to children around the world who have very little every day of their lives.  People who fill these boxes are asked to pray for the child who will receive the box, not knowing who that child will be - but God knows.  It was nice to see a stack of them down at the front of the auditorium.  During the service there was a time when people were asked to come forward to pray over the boxes.  The boxes will head out this week to various spots around the globe.

During the song service this morning at church, there were pauses in the music a few times to allow people to share things they are thankful for.  Of course, I had to share that I am thankful for being able to HEAR!  I am very thankful for my Cochlear Implant that makes that possible.  I did fairly well hearing the pastor during the service.  He conducted the service a little differently than usual and came down on floor level with us asking for testimonies and prayer requests.  It was hard to hear some of the people.  A couple of them said they didn't need to use the microphone, that they would speak loudly.  That doesn't work well for those of us who are hard of hearing.  But it was a nice service.
 

After the worship service, our Adult 4 Sunday School class met to fill 250 bags with small toys, candy, snacks, apples, and love.  These will be delivered in Matamoros, Mexico, just across the river from our town.  The children who will receive the bags, also have very little.  We have been doing this ministry for years and love getting together to prepare the small gifts.
It took us only about an hour to prepare the bags, staple them shut, and pack them into boxes for transporting.  During that time, there were about 20 of us working, talking, filling bags, and I really had trouble hearing.  The room is not very large and the ceiling is low.  It was noisy.
 
We came home and it was a perfect day for chili for lunch since it was cold and windy.  While the chili warmed, I mixed up a batch of Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and baked them.  It was nice to have the kitchen warm from the baking and smelling terrific.
 
This evening, I met Mom, my brother and his wife for a birthday dinner for my brother at The Oyster Bar Restaurant.  My siblings love to go there anytime they are in town for the great fried shrimp.  The only problem for me, is that I am allergic to shrimp.  So I ate fish while the rest of them enjoyed their shrimp.  We had a nice visit and it was extra nice because the restaurant was not very busy so the noise level was low. 
 
Just a quick update on the blog site: there have been over 15,400 page views from 60 different countries around the world.  P.S. Make that 61 countries!  I just checked and we added Jamaica.

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