Reaching Out Into the Community

 I have read about it in books. I have seen it done by the government and charities. I have even written about it in my book, Redeeming Louise. But I have always wanted our church to do it. And this Christmas, we were able to reach out into our community.

Someone had contacted a missionary family that goes to our church about some Christmas shoebox gifts. Churches from all over were given 20 or so shoe boxes to fill with goodies for boys and girls, even adults. They wanted to know if our church would like the boxes to pass out in our community. We jumped at the chance. I don't know the exact number, but I think it was somewhere around 2,000 boxes with labels for young girl, young boy, 3-6 yr. old girl/boy 6-9 yr. old girl/boy, teen girl/boy, adult man, and adult woman. All the boxes had different goodies inside - anything from hairbows, toothbrushes, toys, and candy to gift cards - you name it. And each box was free for the taking.

When we got there and I heard we had an hour before it started and no one from the neighborhood was there yet, I was glad when my friend, Halee, wanted to sit on the swings. If I'm not busy doing something, then I get nervous just waiting.😊

Our first outreach with the boxes was in our bus neighborhood. It was led by my brother-in-law, AJ, and my sister, Brenna who run our bus route (really our van route at the moment). Many people from our church came to help. We met at the park in our bus neighborhood. We had a great number of people show up - mostly kids. A lady in our church baked three different Christmas cookies for us to hand out while people showed up for the giveaway. AJ was able to preach the Gospel, and two souls were saved afterward. Praise the Lord! One of them was even led to the Lord by my brother, Silas. It was his first time to lead a soul to the Lord, and we are so proud of him. After the Gospel message, our missionary family in charge of the boxes opened up the trailer and started passing out boxes. The kids and families were so thankful. We were also glad that the Lord had held back the rain for us.

That was on a Saturday. On Tuesday, we still had plenty of boxes left, so we went to the Fort White community center where they were doing a food drive. We had a lot of volunteers from our church again. There were three long lines of cars, and we did a lot of running back and forth. People were so thankful. We had one that quickly turned us away saying that they did not celebrate Christmas, but that was okay. We just kept on going to all the cars. I was so excited when we came upon a lady who had thirteen children since we still had a lot of boxes even after the fifty-something cars. We asked how many kids or grandkids they had, we gave the adults in the car a box, too, and we passed out Gospel tracts. That is the difference between us and the world: we don't just do giveaways. We care about their souls.

When we were finished there, we still had a lot of boxes left, so we decided to take the boxes and pass them out at Winn Dixie. Grammy and Uncle Marc had ridden in the church van for the morning outreach, so we took them with us. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at Hardee's, then met up with our missionary family to pass out the rest of the boxes. By this time, we mostly had boxes for children under 12. After we got permission from Winn Dixie, we set up two tables near the doors. As people came out and in, we asked them if they had any kids or grandchildren. Many were thankful. It was like a competition between the two tables. Grammy was trying her hardest to beat Dad's table. She was so excited when a teacher from Alachua asked to take some boxes to the kids in her school. We were there all afternoon. It was not quite how I imagined my Tuesday to go, but I had fun. 

Mom, Callie, Brenna, and I even sang some Christmas carols. I loved that part. It felt like I was in an old Hallmark movie. 😊When one of our church ladies showed up, we invited her to join us in singing Christmas carols. When we only had girl boxes left, we called it a day. By the end of the outreach, we had shown many families in Alachua, High Springs, and Fort White that there was a church that cared. Most importantly, the Gospel was given.

I felt like Louise and Agatha from Redeeming Louise with their mission of love. Though we do not base what we do on feelings as Christians, it does feel good to reach out into the community and show others that we care - even with something as simple as a shoebox gift at Christmas time.

Catching Up With the Author

 I feel like my life has been super busy the past couple of months. Not only has it been the holiday season, but it has also been NaNoWriMo, Church budget season, and Christmas revival. I'm enjoying this time of my life. I thought I would do one big post to catch up.

October Operations and Outings

My desire since I was 14 has been to write books for young ladies, but I cannot ignore the ministry God has also given me a ministry to serve in as the church secretary for Victory Springs. Our church changed our fiscal year to November 1 through October 31 that way we would not have to worry about budgeting for the new year during Christmas. Needless to say, October was pretty busy secretary-wise.

 I was also gearing up for NaNoWriMo. I wanted to learn more about London, so I checked out a few books from the library. I did not get to read all of them, but that was okay. One book that I really enjoyed was Dirty London: the Victorian Fight Against Filth. I learned so much about that period for the sequel to my second book, Redeeming Louise. In Redeeming Louise, the focus was on the London social season, but for my next book, I wanted to look into what life in London was like for the poor people. I took so many pages of notes. I tried reading another one, but it had a bad word from a source the book quoted. I was not able to finish that one. I also started reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I only made it halfway through; I want to finish it eventually, but I will have to see when I get to it.

My family was able to go on a camping trip. It was Silas, Callie, and Micah's first camping trip, and we had to much fun. There is nothing like getting away for a few days and spending extra time with your family. It was very refreshing. We arrived at the park where we camped on Monday and left Wednesday to go to the Warner Robins Museum of Aviation. We got a hotel that night that way we could get cleaned up for church. I was not allowed to read any of my books on London while we were at the campsite, but I did read some of it on the way home.

I also posted more on social media. For some reason, I have always had a hard time keeping up with Facebook, but I have been enjoying having Instagram. Now, I just post on Instagram and link it to Facebook. It has been working well for me. I have also been using Canva a lot. I have designed so much within the past couple of months between Instagram posts and book covers, but that was more November.

November -- National Novel Writing Month

That sure was a busy but exciting month. I did not get to 50,000 words but I did reach just a few words shy of 30,000. I got sick twice in one month. First I had the stomach bug, then I had a cold right before Thanksgiving. I was doing better by Thanksgiving day though I could not smell through my nose very well. I had things going on three days in a row. Mom, Tabitha, and I went on our yearly Black Friday shopping trip. And on Saturday, a few of us from our church went down to Punta Gorda to help a church canvas the area for their opening day. My friend, Halee and I followed the church van, then after visitation, we stayed in Punta Gorda and got a hotel so we could attend their first Sunday morning services. My Grandma was even able to drive up to Punta Gorda to meet up with us for dinner. I really enjoyed the trip. It felt good to be a blessing, and I loved spending time with my friend Halee. Halee and her family moved from Washington state last fall. She helps me in the church nursery. She is such a blessing to me. We sure did laugh a lot on our drive home Sunday afternoon while stuck in traffic. 

Not only was I trying to get a good word count in, but I was also trying to get my second book ready for publishing. Though I did not reach the goal of getting it published by Black Friday, it was ready by the following Monday. I finally got my first payment from Amazon sometime in November. It's a far cry from 1 Million Copies sold, but that's okay😊. I have enjoyed hearing about those who have read it. One family that has been following my mom's blog for years read it. Even their boys read it. Some girls from a family that has visited our church a few times read it. Last Wednesday they came with their copy of King's Heart and asked me to sign it. That made me happy. And it felt a little surreal to be signing something. I have already sold quite a few copies already of Redeeming Louise.

Deck the Halls December

Or I could say, Designing December. I have used Canva quite a lot the past few weeks. I designed a book signing flyer, business cards, and a table top sign. I hope my designs have not been too crazy. I had so much to design and plan for my very first book signing. I even created a Book Signing Pinterest board. My mom created a video on my books signing. I still need to post it. It turned out very well. I had about 33 people come. I was so excited that my Grandma was able to make it. One dear lady brought me flowers. I had ordered 11 author copies (these were copies I ordered through Kindle Direct Publishing and only had to pay for the printing, shipping, and tax), but when Amazon said they would not arrive until the Sunday after, Mom and I both ordered copies through our personal accounts hoping they would come in on time. I ended up having 18 copies. At least four of them were gifts, and I had to keep one for myself. The order of 11 arrived Sunday afternoon, so I messaged the VSIBC ladies group on Group me and told them I would bring a few for them to buy. One other lady wants one and then I will have three left. I am so excited.

Whew! This turned out to be another long post. Can you tell how busy my life has been as of late? But it's been a good kind of busy. The Lord is so good.

Until next time, may you keep your heart.

Elisabeth Kristine

Author of Heart of Purity Literature