We dedicate the post below to Raquel, one of our helpers for the past 3 years,

who went to be with Jesus just an hour and a half after our Tuesday night outreach

was over this week.  Her heart had suffered some abuse from former drug use

and she had high blood pressure.  Raquel loved helping us serve her community

and she will be deeply missed.

“ ….your work of faith, and labor of love,

and steadfastness of hope in our

Lord Jesus Christ….I Thess. 1:3

I’ve been reading  I Thessalonians of late, and Paul’s description of the life of the Thessalonian people who were following the Lord really stood out to me.  The  people who Paul was speaking to, were not Jewish, and they did not live in a Jewish culture.  They suffered great persecution as followers of Christ (one GOD), living in a very pagan city, where multitudes of deities were worshipped.   Daily, as they went about their business and social lives, they were confronted with the reality of doing good and remaining faithful to Jesus in a very hostile environment.  Paul was honoring them for their steadfastness in the faith, as he wrote this encouraging letter to the friends he loved so dearly.   His words made me ponder our own circumstances and ministry in the Lord.

There are days (and nights) where I watch Wayne drive long distances to pick up large loads of bread, or produce.  He is faithful to go out many evenings a week to pick up donations from a local bakery when they close at night.   He goes out to meet people who may have clothes or toys to donate.  He gets up early to start a long day of both picking up and delivering food to ministry partners and needy facilities in Tijuana.  Truckloads of food are loaded and unloaded several days a week.  I watch as I see this labor of love.

I know of families who are weekly ministered to as stories are told and prayer administered to those who have lost loved ones, or are in physical pain or financial need.  And I see a work of faith being discharged through VOB and ministry partners, knowing that one plants, another waters, but GOD brings the harvest.

Sometimes when you’re passing out food to the hungry and needy, you never know how a person receiving a loaf of bread or a bag of tomatoes might be touched.  In fact, you may never even see that person again.  But this is also a work of faith and carries with it,  the steadfastness of hope in knowing that the Holy Spirit is touching hearts, causing people to come to know Christ.  As someone shares the Gospel in spanish on the Tuesday evening outreach,  hope rises up, knowing that the word of the Lord will never return void.

And so we pray for these three things:  to be faithful, to have love, to be steadfast in hope.  We pray for these things for you too, as you carry out your day to day relationship with GOD, laboring in love, being faithful and carrying with you the steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ….  May the Lord bless you this month.  And we thank you for YOUR faithfulness, love, and steadfastness toward us and Voice of the Bride….

May the Lord bless you today and give you great encouragement.  Love Carol & Wayne

THANKSGIVING:

-more resources for food, including refrigerated goods such as milk, meat, salads.

-a more suitable vehicle for transporting these goods

-continued networking with new ministries and the sharing of resources to extend the Kingdom of GOD!

-provision!

PRAYER:

-a refrigerator for storing perishables.

-warehouse space that would be a good space for worship events as well.

-safety (as always)!

“Hilarious Giving” was Pastor Lee’s sermon title one Sunday morning at our church in NC,not long after we were married.  Of course this message stemmed from the scripture;

“So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity;

for God loves a cheerful giver” 2 Cor. 9:7

The word ‘cheerful’ in the passage above is ‘hilaro’ in the original Greek. We loved this teaching and if I remember correctly, laughter broke out in the congregation and lingered every time hilarious giving was discussed (I still have that sermon cassette tape somewhere). Though I had already learned principles of tithing, and the discipline of doing so, from then on I loved the concept of carefree and generous giving.

Fast forward 16 years or so, and guess what the name of an organization VOB has recently aligned with for getting food to the poor in Mexico?    Hilarious Givers!  That’s right! And what hilarious joy it has been.  I found myself smiling and chuckling all day today as I delivered the first truck load full of nonperishable food that we have had the privilege to deliver.  As you know we have had bread, various sweets, occasional fruit and more often produce.  But today, along with these usual items, we carried in dried soup mix, rice and protein meal packs, bottled sport drinks, bottled Muscle Milk, canned tomatoes, jarred sun dried tomatoes, nut snacks, dried fruit (fruit ban at the moment prevents regular fruit from crossing) candy bars, cookies, vitamins and even a case of bar soap.  It actually was quite hilarious wondering what the Aduana agents were going to make of it all.  But above all, it gave glory to God because it is in HIS name that we GET to give.

HilariousGivers.org collects overstock nonperishables. Remember those dinged or mislabeled canned goods?  Those are collected as well, but by the semi truck loads!  These items are stored and then matched with other groups, such as ourselves, who are able to carry it into Mexico to the various needs.  And get this: these items are donated exclusively for the poor in  Mexico!  What a great, great blessing.  So our garage has now become a VOB storehouse week to week, as things are dispersed each day with trips to the border.  We are realizing that a real storehouse may be a coming need for VOB.  Would you join us in praying about that?