Today was one of those days where you want to come home and cry... Not because anything bad happened, just one where you are worn out and the head ache has not subsided since lunch... I came in went straight to the Advil and a nap to sleep it off...
When I woke up and felt better I walked out on the porch to take some trash out and noticed a box that had been delivered by mail... It was from Hawaii... I hadn't ordered anything from Hawaii... In this day and age I admit I was a bit afraid to open it...
My curiosity out weighed my fear so I ripped the box open and saw inside a letter accompanied with 3 different Hawaiian treats all involving Macadamian nuts.
This is what the letter said.
Dear Jed,
We received your letter this past February. I was meaning to write to you to thank you for your letter. The first time I read the letter aloud to the kids I just could not stop crying. Your letter and picture touched the lives of my Children's Ministry team and we decided to continue this worthwhile project. Last year we had a woman spearhead this effort and she ended up doing most of the work herself. She ended up leaving the church and we were almost going to give this project up because most of us knew very little about running the project. Your letter came just as we were making our final decisions on the projects we would be undertaking this year. Yes, you were God's messenger to us that we' should go on faith and run this project that we knew very little about running. Also, I received even more confirmation when I attended a Children's Ministry Pastors conference in San Diego and I ended up getting the start up packet from a Samaritan's Purse booth!
We got a team together and we organized supply drives and monetary donations to send 125 boxes this last fall. We decided to use your suggestion of sending double the amount we sent last year (we send 50 boxes last year). The kids were so excited and they all ended up packing 2 boxes each. We had our pre-school to 5th graders participate in this project. The kids packed the boxes and prayed over them. We shared your letter and the picture of the child who received our box last year. The kids were so excited to touch the life of a child that they didn't know. We sent a picture and we put our address on our note this year (in case someone like yourself decides to send us a letter too).
We just wanted to thank you again for being God's messenger to us to continue his good work with Samaritan's Purse Christmas Child Shoebox project. We hope you will enjoy these snacks from the islands. It's just our small way of saying thank you for your persistence and diligence in contacting us. May 2008 be a blessed year for you!
Your friends,
Fran Hagashi
New Hope Hawaii Kai
Children's Ark Director
P.O. Box 26499
Honolulu, HI 96825
We received your letter this past February. I was meaning to write to you to thank you for your letter. The first time I read the letter aloud to the kids I just could not stop crying. Your letter and picture touched the lives of my Children's Ministry team and we decided to continue this worthwhile project. Last year we had a woman spearhead this effort and she ended up doing most of the work herself. She ended up leaving the church and we were almost going to give this project up because most of us knew very little about running the project. Your letter came just as we were making our final decisions on the projects we would be undertaking this year. Yes, you were God's messenger to us that we' should go on faith and run this project that we knew very little about running. Also, I received even more confirmation when I attended a Children's Ministry Pastors conference in San Diego and I ended up getting the start up packet from a Samaritan's Purse booth!
We got a team together and we organized supply drives and monetary donations to send 125 boxes this last fall. We decided to use your suggestion of sending double the amount we sent last year (we send 50 boxes last year). The kids were so excited and they all ended up packing 2 boxes each. We had our pre-school to 5th graders participate in this project. The kids packed the boxes and prayed over them. We shared your letter and the picture of the child who received our box last year. The kids were so excited to touch the life of a child that they didn't know. We sent a picture and we put our address on our note this year (in case someone like yourself decides to send us a letter too).
We just wanted to thank you again for being God's messenger to us to continue his good work with Samaritan's Purse Christmas Child Shoebox project. We hope you will enjoy these snacks from the islands. It's just our small way of saying thank you for your persistence and diligence in contacting us. May 2008 be a blessed year for you!
Your friends,
Fran Hagashi
New Hope Hawaii Kai
Children's Ark Director
P.O. Box 26499
Honolulu, HI 96825
For those of you who don't know... When I went to the Philippines the first time to deliver shoe boxes, I took pictures of the kids who received boxes and mailed those pics to the people who sent them if they included their address in their box... I mailed out the letters the last week of February in '07... I was just commenting the other day that I had no idea if anyone even got any of the 12 letters I sent... Obviously they did!!!
It is so amazing to me that this ministry was considering omitting this from the calendar and God used my letter to change it around and more than double the number of boxes they did last year... I am SOOOOO humbled that God would use my little bitty act of writing a letter to change more than 50 kids Christmas this year....
say it with me... AIN"T HE JUST GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(FYI... the chocolate covered macadamian nuts ain't bad either!!!)
10 comments:
SOOOO awesome! It's so amazing how God uses what we think are overlooked actions to work in someone's life! I must admit this was the first year we actually did the shoe boxes! It was mainly from your influence... even so many miles away! (Hey maybe you could squeeze a trip to Hawaii out of this ;) )
All we have to be is faithful and He produces much fruit! Awesome!
That is so amazing! You really made a difference :)
That's so cool! :o)
Again, it just shows how God can use us, even when we don't realize - He is you are a great inspiration.
Love ya bunches.
EA
Thanks, I enjoyed this. Glad you are getting back to teaching, what
school?
Thanks for pointing me to the blog. I really needed that. :) Hope you are having an awesome day. :)
KK
I knew the picture idea was a good one.
It's an affirmation that "the little things" make all the difference. Sometimes a simple phone call to a friend, or a card in the mail from Belinda Gumm, or a letter to share how God's working through OCC, is all it takes to make a difference in someone's life. So many times we don't get to see the impact of these offerings, but God blessed you with this acknowledgment. What a small investment to yield such a great dividend! It kinda says "Well done faithful servant!" Thanks Jed!!!
Jed,
That made my day to read your blog. We did shoeboxes for the first time this year and I realized after I dropped them off we forgot to include a note, so we may never know who ours reached. That is so neat to hear how God worked through a little shoebox - it's definitely an encouragement to do it again in the coming years - do you mind if I share this with our church's organizer for shoeboxes?
Tracey
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