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.