Mission Monday

updated at 3 p.m. I have been able to visit some friends today and even make some new friends. I found a fun giveway at devotionaldaze.com I just know you will all want to join. Mimi has a fun little blog over there. Go over and check it out. Below is my Mission Monday post. Thanks for stopping in.

I have been thinking the last few days about what I wanted to write about today. Since I am not able to post very often it is getting hard to figure out exactly what to write about.
But since today Peggy at mazmagi.blogspot.com hosts Mission Monday I thought I would write a little about our ministry.
Where to begin is the hardest part.
We minister to teenage girls and boys that are incarcerated in our states juvenile prison.
Mainly we we work with girls that are ending thier sentence and living in a halfway house.
We plan and hold monthly activity nights. Each night includes a fun activity and a devotional.
We also provide job training classes and we have different people come and talk about thier jobs. It is a fun time and this week we have a gentleman that is coming to talk about panning for gold in California. I was so surprised when I met him last week and he told us what he does.
He was part of a small praise band that came for our January activity night. They sang and shared thier testimonies.
One of my jobs is to recruit new mentors and we had a new lady there that night to visit and meet the girls. She is a long time friend and has worked in our ministry since it began 4 and a half years ago. She took a year off and is now back. I was excited Friday to receive her email that mentioned a new girl that I had just met on Thursday asked the mentor "What does it mean to be a Christian?" It was a blessing to me to see that God was working that evening even when I was out of sorts with the entire event.
I know that sounds horrible. But here's why. We had a planned dinner. Each monthly event we prepare a meal. We didn't have the money to feed the girls and the volunteers and invited guests and so two days before we had to change gears and figure out what to do. I had the job of letting the voluteer that recruited the praise band to tell them we wouldn't be able to feed them after all.
That was hard for me. I was frustrated for days about it.
We did serve dessert and God took what we could give and he used it and he reached out to the girls that evening.

One of the other things that we do is we provide a food pantry for teenagers that are already out of prison and on parole. Saturday we delivered food to a family that consists of a 74 year old grandmother and a 93 year old grandmother and an 8 year old boy. The boys brother was on parole but died recetly. We learned of them when they came to the parole office to let them know the boy would no longer report. We began taking food to them. One thing in the box this week was pizza rolls. The boy was so excited he asked to microwave and eat them right then! He had never had a pizza roll! He was also excited to get Raisin Bran. The down side is they will have to wait to eat it till they can get milk.
I know as you sit and read this your wondering about the circumstances of this family.
I know like me you see comercials for all the work that is being down in other places of the world. It seems or appears that these places are getting so much attention. With large advertising budgets and well known sponsors and endorsers these larger organizations are able to help so many.
It saddens and frustrates me everyday as we try to accomplish what we do.
This ministry working with these kids is such a joy and a blessing to me.
Everytime I visit the halfway house or work at the food bank with the girls sorting groceries to be distribute to other families I am touched by the need for love that these girls have.
My hearts desire as a younger woman was to have lots and lots of kids. My husband was happy with the two that God blessed us with and wouldn't agree to having more. For a long time I was frustrated and angry and prayed and prayed that God would change his mind.
Now so many years latter I see the whole picture. I see why God didn't answer those prayers. Because I have so many kids to care for and love.
I wish that I could share photo's with you today. But I am on my daughters computer and I don't have any photo's. I am not sure when I will be able to post again but. If I get to come back next Monday I'll write a followup post and hopefully put up some photo's. Our website is underconstruction and hopefully will be back up in a couple of days too and I'll share it.
Thanks so much to all my faithful friends for stopping in and leaving encouraging notes.
I am still working on my personal quest to memorize more of the word. I look forward to a time when I can share some of the things I am using and the ways that I am learning.
Until I get to write again. I give everyone wishs for a warm winter filled with lovely memories.
Blessings,
Sherry