It was a shorter week, as we had Easter Monday off, and teams arrived and settled in on Monday instead of Sunday. It was such a pleasure to serve alongside Shepherd Church Agua Dulce (Acton, CA), Riverside Mandarin Baptist Church (Riverside, CA), and Gateway Bible Church (Los Gatos, CA), and other short and long-term volunteers, including backpackers from China, France, Germany, and South Korea.
With the help of all our volunteers, we packed up 1,355,059 servings of soup in four days, and completed 20 beautiful quilts!
On Wednesday, April 19, Mission Without Borders picked up a shipment of soup to be distributed to ministries in Moldova, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia, and Herzegovina.
“Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39
VOLUNTEER HIGHLIGHT
For the past month, we have had the amazing Bill and Vicki Morris from Salem, Oregon as our cooks for lunch and afternoon snack.
“The Lord is calling us to sell our beach house,” Vicki shared in chapel right when they got here. “The beach house we built in 2011, that I designed and picked out every item in the build. So the house is on the market, waiting for the buyer God has prepared.”
Bill and Vicki are retired. They thought retirement was going to look like sitting at their beach house, watching the waves every night. But one night, when she was watching the waves, she heard the prompting from the Lord to sell the house. Vicki and Bill chose to let go of that retirement dream and pursue a retirement where they can “share the love of God.”
“The Lord is calling us into more full-time ministry,” Vicki says. “We love serving with other like-minded believers in community, being the hands and feet of Jesus.”
Bill and Vicki have been serving at Gleanings since 2008. They first came to the base to visit their missionary friends, to see what ministry they were supporting. Since then, their friends left Gleanings, but Bill and Vicki keep coming—in fact, they come for two months in the fall and two months in the spring every year.
“We make a difference in people’s lives with every 8 oz serving of soup, the hug from a quilt, other items donated. We minister to others around the world from our little base.”
“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:12-13
Praise the Lord for his faithful servants!
THE GRAND CANYON
Gleanings hosts backpackers from around the world. We get to meet so many fun, adventurous people from all over the globe. This weekend, several backpackers and a few staff members took a trip to the Grand Canyon for spring break. How amazing is God’s creation?
“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.” Psalm 150:6
