VOB Shout Outs!

“From the mouth (and hands) of babes!”

Two large boxes of canned and boxed foods, as well as bags and bags of clothes were donated from a local school!  The daughter of one of our VOB partners’, did a school drive just for Mexico.   The school kids really stepped up when they learned of the needs of children their own age who are less fortunate.  Thanks Bobbie Lynn and Haven for all the hard effort including washing and sorting all the donated clothes.  Special thanks as well, for efforts with potential new resources for donated bread and various foods.

Who knows what a cornhole toss is?

Well, I never realized that it was the name of a popular game I see played around the beach area here all the time.  As it turns out, the game is loved and appreciated in the Raleigh Durham area as well.  Recently a Cornhole Tournament  was held to benefit VOB Ministry.  That’s right, a good brother of ours, David (stood with us in our wedding), had been sharing about the ministry in Mexico with his home group and voila, an idea was born.  Thanks guys for an amazing offering, and most of all we appreicate your interest.  We look forward to your support in person…as these guys are planning a missions trip to come join us sometime soon!

Flatbed truck times 2!!!

Recently my dear friend, Peter, who donated the flatbed truck (now used 4 days a week for deliveries to Mexico), asked if we wanted another truck he had available.  Immediately thinking to myself that donations increased when we received the 1st one, I thought FOR SURE!  But please pray with us that my TIME can increase in order to handle the 2nd increase potential.  We, without doubt, want the increase Lord!  Help us be ready!

Coworkers go beyond the call of duty!

Although I work with those who are committed to providing family care through mental health services, these coworkers have also maintained ongoing efforts to bring  bags of extra clothing to be distributed in Mexico.  This has included baby clothes and various baby accoutrements.  One gal said, “ I really like donating this way because I know you take it right to where it’s needed, rather than just dropping it off somewhere where it is decided on whether it can be sold or not”.

Visit your local Panera Bread and thank them for their “Giving Policy”!

We so appreciate and value the commitment of this family owned and operated national bakery, for desiring to bless beyond their paying customers.  We are given a heaping shopping cart full of bread and pastries “baked fresh just that morning” 3 nights a week!

Special thanks to Henry’s Marketplace…

where a conscientious bakery manager makes a special effort to hold the bread for me, working with my schedule,  2 days a week.

Kudos to Starbucks…

where we go to 4 different stores for donated pastries and coffee beans at various times a week.  I recently made a special effort to thank an employee who has consistently individually wrapped each pastry (just as Carol mentioned last month about the Panera Bread employee – remember AwesTruck) that is put aside for me to pick up.  She replied, “I figure if we are going to donate, it should be worth donating!” I so appreciated her careful thoughts and effort.  I wish I could say that all donations are thoughtfully considered that way… but not always the case.

And finally, you know how great it feels to have good spiritual direction and encouragement from your pastor or a mentor in your life? We have that with our Board of Directors and are so thankful for their accountable support emotionally, financially, relationally, and spiritually.  No ministry should be without one!  “Where 2 or more gather!”

And on that same final note, we are so so thankful for those who have sent support recently  (both new and faithful fews) to this ministry.  We are encouraged that we are on the right track.

Thank you and blessings, Wayne & Carol

We also appreciate your ongoing prayers for the following:

♦ ongoing protection  in Mexico
♦ physical health
♦ monthly support for full time
♦ creativity
♦ food resources
♦ some vehicle repairs needed
♦ spanish language growth

Dateline:  May 23, 2009, Saturday night:

I just returned from picking up bread at Panera Bread.   Wayne is in Kansas City this week, so my job tonight was to pick up the bread, and tomorrow, I will be delivering it to Greg, who will then take it down to Mexico.  Although I have picked up the bread from various places with Wayne before, this marks the first time I have done it alone.  And while it is still fresh in my mind, I wanted to share with you what I experienced.

As I pushed the shoppping cart into Panera Bread, I saw a young man struggling to put a box together, which would contain some of the pastries he would be giving to me.  I told him who I was, and he pointed out where the bags of loaf bread and bagels were.  So I dragged them up into the shopping cart (bread is HEAVY, MAN!!), and stood waiting for him to finish up.  He asked me if I wanted the other pastries too, and I told him yes.  As he scooped up the various muffins, cookies and other items, and carefully placed them in bags, I found myself becoming overwhelmed and I even started to cry.  The first feeling that flooded my thoughts, was that all of this food would be thrown out if someone hadn’t been standing there to pick it up.  And the realization (which we continually have, in actuality) of stores, restaurants and bakeries all around the country, throwing out food every single day, just absolutely almost broke me at that moment.  So many could be fed by so little.

The second thought that flooded my mind, was how very, very carefully this young man was packing everything up for me.  You see, oftentimes, the people who pack up the food at closing time, just throw everything in a plastic bag, and whether it has cherries or icing or filling or whatever inside or outside, it all gets dumped into a big mishmash. It gets kinda gross, and sometimes we feel bad about taking it down like that.   We are still really thankful, and we know that the sweets get doled out even in pieces.  But somehow, the care this young man was taking (he was probably 18 or 19) just created a picture of how much the Lord loves us, and how lovingly careful He is about taking care of our lives & our needs.

I asked the young man how many times he had made those boxes, and he said, ‘actually, that was my first one, you can probably tell that’.  I told him that I couldn’t (having never put a pastry box together, I thought he was doing great).  I noticed his name tag, and the name on it,  Awes Truk.

At first I thought maybe it was a Filipino name or something.  When I asked him about it, he said, ‘Awestruck’, and I realized this was something he came up with, himself.  But the thing that stuck out to me, was the ‘T’ in AwesTruk…  He had made it huge, and it looked like a cross…  And when I asked him about that, he proudly told me that, yes, it was a cross.  His smile was so huge when he realized that someone had taken note of that.

Well, “AwesTruk” doesnt’ know it, but the Lord really ministered to me thru his care and humble heart.  And he doesn’t know that the food he so carefully passed on to me will go on to feed multitudes of hungry folks in Mexico.  And he also doesn’t know that just today, I read in John, about the miracle of the fish and the loaves, and how Jesus multipled just a little, so that thousands could be fed, not so that their bellies would be full, but so that He could tell them that HE was THE BREAD of Life!!!!

And so, after packing up my car with all of that, and driving away, I went ahead and cried…  I just thanked the Lord for showing me how important something so simple is  (picking up bread), and how much more could be done, and for touching my heart so profoundly.   Tonight,  I was the one who was truly  AWESTRUCK…..

p.s. come on out and be a part of what we do, and you can be ‘AWESTRUCK’ too!!!!!