Christmas - A Time of Service for our Missionaries
Christmas was a wonderful time for our missionaries to find service opportunities. I will share just two.
Offenbach Charity
They also brought in boxes filled with gifts purchased with missionaries' donations for the children. These filled the corner of a room with presents.
Each child was allowed to come in and pick one gift. The children were so happy and excited because, for most, this would be the only present they would receive for Christmas. As one missionary said: "It was a very humbling and especially heartwarming experience to watch." Many thanks to the missionaries in our mission who donated and helped bring joy into the lives of these children on Christmas.
Ansbach Food Bank
Two of our missionaries were invited to serve at a local food bank. Here is the story in their own words.
"A woman on Facebook asked if we would be willing to help her at a local food bank. The next day at 7:00 am, we helped pack boxes of food for those in need. We also travelled around Ansbach and the surrounding cities to collect and gather more food. Along the way, we were able to meet cool people who asked us why we are here in Germany and what the name badges meant. They were very curious and asked questions about our religion.
"At the end of our service project, they asked us to take some food home. We thanked them politely for the opportunity to serve but declined the food because we knew there were people who really needed it more than us. Shocked, the lady, who runs the food bank, replied:
"Who comes early in the morning excited to do service, smiles the whole day through, stays happy
and then thanks 'us' for doing volunteer work? You are weird people!"
"She insisted that we take something, so we packed a bag of food for a member of our congregation we thought might need some groceries. As we visited this man it turned out that he indeed had no food at all. He was most grateful for the groceries. Not only were we able to bless a lot of lives that day through temporal service, we were able to share our missionary purpose with people in Ansbach by helping them know who God and Jesus Christ are.
"The woman from the food bank messaged us later that same night:
"You are really amazing... I have been doing this job for about 13 years, but you were the first
volunteers who ever expressed gratitude for being able to work here. Respect! ... I have heard a lot
about your church in the past. Are you here in Ansbach?"
From there, we were able to message back to her about our faith.
"The following Saturday, we arranged to bring more volunteers from our congregation to help on the food bank's busiest day. The people at the food bank absolutely loved the help! This not only strengthened our relationship with the food bank, but we were also able to share our beliefs with people, who were curious about why we are this way--which was a lot of fun!
"While working, we noticed a man, who was packing groceries into bags for himself. Each time he held up the food, we could see he was crying. With tears running down his cheeks, he expressed his gratitude to God. It was humbling for us to see this man like this and we suspect God must have answered his prayers as to how he would find food that week. This experience helped us to see that God is aware of us and our situations and that He definitely uses His children to assist in blessing the lives of those less fortunate."
What a blessing it is to work with these fine young people who are so willing to serve and help others. They are doing it because of their love for the Savior and their belief in his teachings. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matthew 25:40
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