Speak Lord your servant is listening

Volunteers hear from God and reflect on their summer camp experience this summer.

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Speak Lord….

“Camp Outreach is a positive experience for campers.  It is the turning point for many youths whether they realize it or not.  Many, if not all of the campers who go unwillingly experience great awareness of their potential following camp. It is important to continue these camps because it is apparent that many of our youth are misunderstood, and with opportunities such as this, they learn to develop the goodness in their hearts no matter what background has interrupted their childhood.”

“First time at camp, and it was an amazing experience…more than I ever could have expected to get out of this.  I was moved by the kids and humbled by the hospitality and  love shown to me by the staff and other counselors.  I am so grateful for this opportunity and hope that I had as positive of an impact on the kids as they did on me.  If not, hope I made their experience a little more enjoyable and fun. I am looking forward to the other opportunities made available through Mariners.  I will definitely be at the walk next month!”
~Natalie H.

“This weekend at LXC was truly a blessing. My camper I was matched with was amazing!  Her strength and courage truly inspired me.  She has encountered so many struggles and challenges in her life, but still has hope in her future, and faith that God loves her.  This was such a positive experience for me that it inspires me to find other ways to get involved with different ministries.”
~Veronica Parker

“It was wonderful doing this camp.  It was amazing to see how many kid’s lives changed in such a short time.  I thank God for this wonderful opportunity.”

“Foster Care Ministry breathes so much life into my world.  I love my sweet ‘babies’!  And I’m so thankful to have an opportunity to love on these kids.  Having a childhood that was absent of a father, I know the challenges of not only life, but my walk with Christ that has been impacted by his absence.  I so desperately want to share with these kids, that they have a Father in heaven.  Knowing my identity in Christ has transformed my life and I want to share that Good News with these kids.  I see in the kids we’ve been working with, a softening of their hearts. We have invested time on a monthly basis and built relationships.  And the walls come crashing down at camp. It warms my heart so much to see life change happen in the lives of these teens.  I’m so thankful to be a part of this ministry!”
~Rebekah Green

“LXC was an amazing experience.  Throughout the weekend, there were so many examples of God’s love.  He not only worked through me, but also the kids. This camp is all in God’s glory.”

“Just want to say thank you for all of your hard work, and the opportunity for us to keep growing stronger in our walk.  Not only is it an amazing blessing for the kids, but a blessing in our lives. Since the first day through the end, you did an amazing job!  Getting professional people with the laser guys through all the activities and climbing to the mountain to conquer and achieve!  Love it! Thank you for the opportunity to serve and see there’s more in life!  Thank you! Thank you!”
~Maribel Lopez

“God routinely does amazing things at Foster Teen Camp, both with the campers and the counselors. Because of that, I am so grateful that I get to volunteer. Why did I wait so long?  Last year I left camp feeling it was the most valuable volunteering I had done all year, and I do lots of different kinds of volunteering throughout each year.”

“I have been staff both years.  It’s a busy, useful job, supporting the smooth running of the camp in any way you can, whenever you are needed.  But the rewards are almost constant:  seeing a flash of relieved happiness when you invite a camper on the outskirts to join in, listening to camper chatter happily about something that interests them, noticing the flashed smile when they achieve the objective.  It doesn’t get much better than being contributing in significant ways to ensuring that camp is a memorable, fun time for this much underserved population.”
~Mary Heidbrink

“There was a peace over the camp, a sense of calm – Amen! Saw many answered prayers with kids and able to testify to it: kid who didn’t want to hike and cried, began to lead our hike blazing up the trails!  Able to remind him that everyone was praying for him to make it up the trail!  God is faithful.”

“I had two R.A.D. (righteous & devoted) campers who have hearts towards God and both desire to serve Him. One expressed interest in asking Christ into her heart, wanting to know more about the man Jesus.  She gave me the opportunity to share with both my girls about His love – built upon Sabo’s messages.  God is so good! Sabo is awesome!  His messages are for both campers and counselors.”
~Jane P.

“What an amazing weekend!  The staff and counselors formed an amazing supportive team to just love on these kids, and truly be there for each other.  So many of the campers were there to help and encourage each other. It was great having such a high staff/camper ratio.  I think that it really paid off.  Thanks to Tess and Tanya. This was the best camp I have attended!”
~Kathy

“The staff is great!  They goof off with the kids too! When they goof off and have fun, it encourages the kids to just relax and have fun.”

“I was worried when the evening came, and we were supposed to have the “deep talk”…I was worried about how to start off without being super awkward.  And what if I didn’t know how to answer their questions!  But the conversation started naturally.  We shared each other’s life stories.  The kids’ lives are really tough!  They’ve been through so much and I cannot imagine how they’ve come through. I believe that God has done great things through them and they are going to pass down the strength and encouragement to others around them.”

“This camp is great!  I am looking forward to next year!”

“During rotations on Saturday, we went on a “Fruit of the Spirit” walk with a bunch of other campers.  At that time, I was only seeing the tip of the iceberg of the personalities of some of the kids.  That walk gave me an opportunity to get to know the kids even more. While on this walk, we talked about some of the Fruit of the Spirit. When sharing examples of kindness, one young man said, “Opening doors for women and being a gentleman.”  I high fived him for that!

The last Fruit of the Spirit we were able to get to was faithfulness.  This same young man’s example, “Being faithful means believing God is the one true God, and not believing in other gods, not giving in to temptation, and husbands and wives not cheating on each other.” On the last day of camp, we swapped favorite verses in the Bible at lunch.”

“I am so thankful I was able to come to this camp!  It’s just one more reminder of how amazing God is to create such incredible young adults out of such horrible situations.  My hope is that I’ve affected their lives, as much or more than they’ve affected mine.”
~Rebecca Wetty

• This was a humbling experience.  I often felt at a loss for words. I really enjoyed sharing the experience with our Rooted group. I found most of the people gracious and kind.  I pray that God will keep every person we came in contact with safe, and will show them what god’s journey for this is.  As well as, that God will define my journey more each day.

• I enjoyed this a ton!  I have some ideas for next time.  I gave a Bible away and the guy was elated, so I will bring more Bibles next time.  Thank you.

• I thought everyone was so polite and grateful.  They really enjoyed talking and telling their story.  Some talked about being disconnected from their family members, which was sad. Next time I would like to bring pull-ups for the children and maybe a toy or book.  I would really like do this sometime with my son John.

• *I am forever changed from the heartbreak – they were by-and-large very bright with incredible memories.  They loved to be listened to, very kind, very polite.  They were a community.  They knew each other’s names.  They are serious about remembering and reciting.  I see this as my son’s ending point, if he can’t accept forgiveness.  I cannot quit praying for his mind. They were so confused and disoriented.   Only the Holy Spirit can heal their minds and saturate their hearts.

• My heart especially was moved by the little children, wondering what their lives must be like every day:  how they play, how will they will be educated, sleep at night, and eat daily.  They seem to come out of nowhere.  Life is simple for them, yet complex.   I did not see sadness but acceptance.  I feel very blessed with what I have.  We can all share more of ourselves.

• I was struck by the gentleness of the homeless – how gracious  and thoughtful they were.  That they didn’t ‘rush’ for the food.   Often only willing to accept what they needed at the moment  and not save any for later.  Many liked to share their stories and have us just listen.  It was good to exchange names to make the interchange more personal.  I was really amazed at how peaceful they were, and the community they are apart of.

• Never done anything like this before.  Some people were carrying Bibles.  This is something I could do on a regular basis. Remember, and do more things for those less fortunate.  I spoke to a couple who were living out of a car.  They were from Orange County living in the parking lot by the courthouse.  Out of work, no job, no money, just the car and everything in it.  This was the first time I had ever been close to this situation and having a conversation with the women who really appeared to be like anyone I would know.  Simply down on their luck.  Her spirits were very high, and she was hopeful that she would be getting some help soon.

• Father, I think you for this opportunity to be Your hands and Your feet.  Lord, I thank You for entrusting us to love Your people.  I am so humbled that You called us to this time.  Lord I pray over the people we met.  I pray for the food we pass out, that it would nourish their bodies and provide an abundance of strength and energy.  I pray that they saw us as pillars of Your light.  Father, I lift up Linda.  I pray for Your hand of protection over her.  That no harm would come her way.  Father, I thank You for how she knows You.  I thank You for her beautiful song and poem that whole-heartedly cry out to You.  I pray she continues to turn to You and seek Your fact.  That she would know You more.  Thank you Lord that You know her.  Father, I just lift up all the people we met today and I pray Your hand would continue to be upon them.  And God, I pray for our Rooted group, as we listen to how You want us to respond to all this.  I pray for obedience in what You’re calling us to, and that we would continue to dive into the work You’re doing in our lives.

• I am so blessed to be a part of this Church.  Mariners is a place that makes it easy to serve and also makes the volunteers feel like they are very special and appreciated.  I love the training we get to go through in order to be affective leaders. I love that there are so many ministry opportunities, yet if we don’t see what we are looking for that we are encouraged to start a ministry.  The volunteers that serve me every Sunday are such a blessing in my life, from the parking attendant to the greeters.  Volunteers that a lot of people are probably not Aware of – the security, the men and women that pray over each building and area of our Church are a special blessing to me.  I am grateful it is made apparent every Sunday that there are people up front, as well as Elders in the small room that are there to pray for us.  I have been prayed over in both areas and those individuals are using the gift God has given them to touch other’s in a powerful way.  In the outreach opportunities I have been a part of, I have gained more than I have given.  Deep friendships are built when serving next to one another for a cause both are passionate about.

• It has been a privilege and exciting journey on the Rooted Path.  I have learned from the ladies in our group that we all struggle with pain and it is the journey of relationship with each other, and in the Lord that helps us to survive.  I want to walk more boldly and loose the fear strongholds once and for all in my life.  I thank Mariners and especially Bunny, with her wisdom and leadership.  A true teacher and an inspiration. A mother’s gift of love to us all.

• I was pleased with the group that we served with through Rooted.  I am going to pursue volunteering more there or through another group within Mariners Outreach.  I very much feel that the Outreach at Mariners is well run and efficient.  As a newly returning member to the church, I know the importance of serving in and around my local community.  I pray that the Outreach Ministry at Mariners Church continues to grow and do good works for many.

• Saturday’s outing was tough for me and easy at the same time.  I was not sure how the group would respond to my idea of having a scrapbook day.  Once the decision was made, it was easy for me to take some ownership. Gathering the supplies was easy, but once there, between my ‘cold feet’ and the language barrier, I found myself not putting out a lot of effort.  I think it is also harder for me to do the one time serve projects because I like being able to build relationships and it didn’t seem all that possible in this situation.  All in all, it was a good experience though and glad we could do it.

• I served at the Military BBQ with Rooted Group 12.  It was a privilege to honor these young men!  I hadn’t realized how impersonal the news reports of “our forces” had become until their individual faces and stories were seen by me.  I also realize how slack we have become as a Nation, in that we should be celebrating these men as a city, state and government, not just our Church. These men lay their lives on the life and it saddens me there are other battalions that go uncelebrated.

• How can we support Godly media and while supporting Godless content with treason double-mindedness? How can we grow the church in Africa? When will Mariners go after technology?
• My prayers are for world peace and that we could all get more involved with helping sponsor more children, and getting more involved with our youth.
• I feel a calling to work for child sponsorship (specifically Uganda). I think that changing a child’s life, changes the family, the village, and the community…ultimately the country?I have witnessed to Muslims for a while now and have seen results up to and including baptism/prayer. I have read and promoted the book “Glad News! God Loves You My Muslim Friend” by Samy Tansgoh. I have found Muslims to be very open to talking about God, and I love to show Muslims where the Koran says that Jesus is the word, the spirit, the Christ. It just blows them away, and opens the bible to conversation, etc.
• How do we under resource the Muslim faith and how do we resource (strategically) the Christian faith?
• What is my community doing to further (truly further) the Gospel; Is just giving food/hygiene packs enough? We need/I need to engage in true relationships with people of different faiths; I commend our church for having these type of conversations. Now, what we do with it is even more important. God Bless the global leadership. It starts from the TOP.
• I work with a few Muslims. I’ve talked with one about Jesus. She has her MA in the History of Islam. She said a lot of the same stories that are in the Bible are also in the Koran. I managed to convince her that Jesus could be God because she said, “yes he is God so he could do whatever he wants. I believe God could come as a man”. I also used the philosophy at my words “preach the gospel at all times, use words only if necessary.” But perhaps I could ask the question more, “what do think about Jesus?” There is power in this name.
• No thoughts at this moment. Great talk and very interesting view points.
• Lord, I know that you are tapping me. I feel it. Lord, I pray that you would guide my steps and make the light
• I believe God has put me in my workplace to be a light and one example of Christ’s love. I work among Muslims and Hindu’s, and need to take the opportunities to share my faith wherever he lead me to do so.

Hear from experts, ask questions and engage in conversation about issues affecting our community and around the world.

See what people had to say after our first Global Night on Tuesday 3-2-10

Immigration – Exploring the Christian ResponseImmigration – Exploring the Christian Response

• I feel a bit tricked- I thought this would be more objective and that all sides would be represented.  It was all pro-illegal immigration.  I don’t think we wrestled with anything. We just learned that all of the speakers are pro-illegal immigration.  It was very uncomfortable and I would have been just as uncomfortable if it were all slanted the other way.  It’s the slant, the bias that I found uncomfortable.  This was not a discussion, it was a one sided persuasive presentation. Sad.
• I need to be a bold voice for those who don’t have a voice.  I need to be more aware of this issue as it affects kids that I love very much.
• I believe the Lord is preparing me to help come up with a resolution to immigration reform when it comes to health services there people need.
• I know this is a huge issue and it cannot be resolved for at least several years. But I think I want to be involved because those people are people and have needs and want to do the right things. So, I want to help.
• I have often in the past objected to the process of legalize illegal immigrants.  I am afraid that the citizens of this country could lose their well being for absorption of more immigrants into our system.  Is the majority of people who come here people looking to work and live or are they running from tyranny? Hypothetically, if we take the best of them from their countries, will we leave the people they left to tyrannical governments and social law? Could we promote the bettering of another nation?
• I am motivated to pray for this issue- to pray for Adrianna to continue her journey and remain strong and protected. I am motivated to call my congressman and Senators to look at the immigration act…and move forward to solve the issue of the big elephant in the room!
• I can’t believe that you have given me such a privilege to be Mex.-American and be documented. What do you want me to do. Lord be with us. Tell us what you want us to do.
• It was very interesting hearing people’s stories and their frustrations with the process, which is definitely broken and inefficient.
• My prayer is that God would give us the wisdom to understand there is no clear way or path to residency/citizenship. I went through the process and I was lost at some point not knowing what to do. Prayer to provide more sympathy for the children of immigrants, that they are given hope of having the same opportunities to use their Am. Education to empower their community.
• As Christians, shouldn’t we open borders to all. Yes, there will be challenges, but that is the God way. Share your home, your bread, your life. I don’t remember reading be kind to the alien if it convenient for you.
• There is a lot of sentimentality and personal information here at Mariners that DOES NOT reflect reality. Most undocumented aliens would rather be able to live and work in MX. The USA is not the answer, Jesus Christ is! We should be helping Mexicans to meet Jesus, and go home and spread the word.
• Illegal immigration is bankrupting CA. I do not want churches to become sanctuary cities.  If you have even been to a border protest, you will witness a lot of arrogance and entitlement coming from Mexico. MX is a wealthy country, they should make their own country work. They do not respect us or our laws. Day labor groups are Sylvia cities (Costa Mesa for one) for their “rights” they are criminals and should not be rewarded for breaking the laws.
• I really appreciate Mariners addressing these issues and having this forum.
• I would like to hear more from the speakers, less from facilitator (Matt).
• And less time on icebreakers.
• Better understanding, more compassion, engage, communicate, pray.
• I feel sad about Adriana’s case. It really made me think of how there are illegal immigrants who are here not by choice. There just should be a process for these kids to be legal. There are people who want to contribute to this great country and should be a way to make them legal.  It’s such a big issue and it makes me sensitive to be toward this topic. I don’t have an answer, but to be compassionate to the 12 million people here illegally.
• I am currently an undocumented 17 year old who lives in Minnie St. in Santa Ana just like some of the speakers of tonight. As a 4.33 GPA undocumented male student, I have witnessed the absurdity that this government has inflicted upon me.  In middle school, for instance, I received the opportunity to obtain a scholarship to attend a charter school. That opportunity diminished when my counselor informed me that I needed a green card. Right there and then, my dreams, passions, and hope were all punched to the ground. As a current junior, I still persevere with the same dreams. Dreams of success.  Dreams of freedom. Dreams to persevere. College is around the corner and it is my dream to become the first member of my family to attend college. Due to my legal status in the US, I have many hurdles to overcome in the coming months and I pray to God that he will help me jump and overcome those hurdles and achieve my life-long dream of being accepted into a society which I have been raised for most of my life. In the end, we are all family, we are all decedents of God. We are all ONE.
• You my King are relentless with your love. Even in the midst of this messed up political, broken world. These problems are not new to you. You do have a plan. May us as believers reflect you and your
• love. May we open our eyes, hearts, ears and mouths. May we seek change that glorifies you. May the numbers and percentages not cloud our knowledge that these are YOUR people. PEOPLE. HUMAN. I promise today to remember this and practice this. To know that they are yours and not just numbers. Love us lambs! We (I) will follow the shepherd.
• Thank you for starting this dialogue. I am praying that God will help me to be less judgmental of people who are opposed to immigration reform. My prayer for “illegal” immigrants is this will soon be given a path to legal status and citizenship. I also pray that they will know that God loves them!
• My prayer for this group of people and our church is that we can look past what is politically and economically logical to do what Christ calls us to do as Christians. Yes, it would be wonderful to only accept immigrants of working age who want to (and can) benefit our society, but Christ calls us to take care of the fatherless, the widows, the oppressed- NOT those who will benefit us. God’s economy is not like our economy, and he calls us to follow fom 100%. That means loving and caring for those whom he did. It’s not the responsibility of our government, except that in our country we can have a say in our government, so it falls on God’s people to change laws.\
• This is THE big social issue for our generation to address. This is THE time for the church to show the world we are not governed by politics and economic impact. We are NOT holding back out of fear of being persecuted. This is our time to show we are courageously standing up for those who are in fear, in pain, in need. We are fearlessly following Christ in loving and supporting our fellow human beings that need us now more than ever.
• I heard God’s embracement and love for undocumented immigrants who currently are in the US. Our prayers and
  hope is that the church we belong to          listens and obeys God’s word.
• Guilt, fear, desperation that some may feel on a regular (daily) basis by living here illegally and yet trying to abide by/in the law (framework of the American).
• I am pretty familiar with the facts presented tonight – my parents are immigrants from El Salvador and MX who legalized in 1986 through IRCA. What really struck me today is the faith that undocumented people (who are Christians) have in the Lord – there is no real direction for their lives, no options, but they still keep going.
• Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater, but you can’t keep using dirty water.
• My prayer is that your people would listen. That they will have a heart for the poor and the voiceless. That they would rise up as a body and stand up for the weak.
• Prayer that I and their brothers and sisters in Christ might be able to engage in a significant way.
• Changes in federal level. Pray for Adrian. Give Danny Marciaz a raise. Educate myself more, engage with my elected reps. Become a tutor or something.
• To study more on what Scripture says on this issue. To research and become more familiar about these issues locally, state, and federal. To pray about the issue of immigration. To seek the Lord in how He wants me to respond.
• Interesting thought for those against immigration:
  If we don’t let th people in to work here, the work will leave the U.S. and go wherever the people are.  Global sourcing is a largely adapted corporate strategy that has impacted the US more than we realize.  And it is growing.  And will keep growing if we don’t find a solution of offering competitive labor in our country.
• We need to have a reasonable amnesty program.  Close the border.  FIX immigration process.  Educate/ educate/ educate.  I’ve learned that there is a face to those who are here & have worked hard w/o help.  There’s still a huge problem on how to deal with the 12 million here, border closing in keeping borders safe & protect our economic health as a nation/state.
• I feel like I would have taken more away from this night if you would have addressed both sides more.  Maybe why people are against immigration, and address those concerns.  Also, with the verse that were used during Jamie’s talk, either  he should read them outloud, or make the text bigger.  Also, with that, he should have given more context to the verses…if that means less scripture…then so be it.  You can always give sheets of paper out/ put up verses on powerpoint to look up later…Actually, a handout of verses would have been nice.  Another thing w/Jamie or any speaker is that if you are going to use scripture to support your statements, don’t misinterpret the verses or take them out of context.
• I am not clear how immigration fits with my passion to help young men find vision.  God has shown me in my life that nothing is impossible when aligned with His will.  We as Christians are aliens to this world and find favor with God when we influence this fallen world.
• We did not hear a clear set of suggestions on what the Christian community could do or should do now.  Or do we have to wait for the government to resolve some items.
• Dream Act- I need to go back to scripture & rethink my position on immigration.  I need to be more aware of what is going on in our country politically & either speak out or at the very least pray.

Thanksgiving Serve Day…Elena Oswald
Today – being my first time volunteering and being a new Christian I was filled with so much joy, and bliss and gratitude seeing the children’s faces smile and laugh with the clowns getting some delicious turkey or ham. It was all quite humbling. Knowing…”there but for the grace of God – go I” I’m so glad I was able to participate with today’s service. I will now go home and join the res of my family and give “Thanks” for what I have and who is in my live – Amen.

Thanksgiving Serve Day…
I was helping pass out jackets and loved to watch the emotions on parents faces as we fitted new coats on the smiling kids. I watched one young dad near tears as his little girls tried on fluffy pink jackets. The parents had waited in a very long line in the hot sun, but nearly everyone had smiles. What a blessing to be a part of blessing these people! I love Mariners Church!

Thanksgiving Serve Day…
I realize the importance of serving the physical needs of people. In this connection it is important to provide the physical needs with the spiritual needs to open up and let the Holy Spirit convert the messages of people throughout the world.

Thanksgiving Serve Day… Joanna W.
Me and my parents were cleaning tables and throwing plates and bottles away, when a lady came up to us. She thanked us all and kissed mom on the cheek. She said something to my mom in Spanish , when she was gone I asked my mom what she said, she said that the woman said, “Your daughter is like a beautiful angel from God.” I felt so blessed to know I made someone feel blessed because of me!

 Thanksgiving Serve Day…Nancy Simpson
I left with hugs goodbye to those serving by my side… we both started to say the same thing…today was such a reminder as we all truing to do the same thing ”Show Gods Love in a tangible way!” It didn’t matter whose church label we went to – we are …belong to the same church…”His” church! Like Kenton B says – we didn’t major in the minors today! We just GOT IT DONE

Food = Clothes = Love, = Fun = Checked

Thanksgiving Serve Day… Ninen
I am so blessed by my Lord he had me to serve him. I was so happy and I was ready by  six o’clock in the morning. I don’t have a car and my daughter lent me hers. I will do this and anything I can help with. Thank you Mariner God Bless

I am a recently divorced mother of an almost 3 year old. I have been seeing a guy for 8 months. I have been diagnosed with Lupus and am on numerous medications to help alleviate the symptoms and the pain. Last Tuesday, I found out I am pregnant. My doctor told me not to become pregnant because the methotrexate I take will cause deformities in the fetus. The day I found out I was pregnant, I was driving over to my boyfriend’s house to tell him the news. On the way, I had a car accident. My car is a total loss. I am struggling financially because I am raising my son and my brother who is 16 years old. Now, I am also struggling with not knowing what to do. I cannot believe the first thing that came to my mind was a voluntary termination. I am choosing to keep this baby though, but I don’t know if it’s even a viable pregnancy. I will find out within the next several days. I feel my realtionship with my boyfriend is ending. I am willing to do t!
his on my own. But I am so scared of two things: that the pregnancy will not be viable (I really want another child) and that if the pregnancy is viable that I will have to say goodbye to my baby if there are severe deformities.

I am torn apart, brokenhearted and lost. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if God’s way would be for me not to allow a child with severe deformities to come and suffer or if I just take my chances, I fell hopeless and helpless. Please pray for me, I am so lost, I don’t know what to do.
-Violet

“The amount of what you give is not very important compared to where your heart is while you give and serve.”

“I learned that you don’t have to go another country to serve.”

“I liked when the people got their food. This was the first time I had actually done this. To me it was fun and I liked helping the people.”

“What stuck out to me was really heartwarming, not only did we feed the needy, we met new people. And that’s what I was looking forward for the whole time. I think God was trying to tell me that I need to be more like that.”

“I realized that you don’t need everything to be happy. Just God’s profound glory. And by meeting new people you can bring new friends to God. Together as a team you can feed thousands of families. When an organization tries to help others, it’s never as good or as great without God.”

“I pray for all the people who don’t have enough money to support themselves and help them become more strong in your Word.”

“I learned that it is not just about giving boxes of food to people, but who is receiving it that is important. I felt so good handing out these boxes in this environment. When I got to the Henderson House I had a feeling that they needed it. I was so honored and felt lucky participating in this event. I know God is calling me to do more in my community to help more people and I can’t wait!”

“It felt great helping and giving food to the poor.”

“What I think God is telling me is that not everyone has a good life. There are some people that life is rough. I’m glad that I helped the needy. It made me feel good just as they felt good.”

“A thing that God told me today was to give more to the people that really need it a lot. And what was cool was the expressions on their faces.”

“I liked carrying the boxes to the vans and driving in them to the homeless complexes and giving them their food. I felt really good when I saw their happy faces when we gave them their boxes of food.”

“I think God wants us to help and to give to people in need. I was happy about the looks on their faces. I was also happy about the way they were very grateful.”

“Today I learned that I should give more time and my heart towards people less fortunate. When I saw one of their faces when I gave her the box of food, her big happy smile put a smile on my face because it felt good.”

I trust that I am in God’s heart and that He loves me just as I am. I am however in a struggle to continue with peace as I go through what appears to be the final days of marital seperation before the divorce becomes final, and meanwhile my business has been non existent for the last 3 to 4 months. I am the sole provider in our house, and I have lost all drive to persue work and I am afraid sometimes of failing. I love my family and this feels like it’s killing me. I’m not sure what to be praying for, so I want to ask you as the church to pray as your heart leads you. Thank you in advance, and I love you all. Bob

I want things to happen! They are not and it seems like nothing I can do is changing that. My business is beyond challenging and I NEED others to jump in: understand; commit, invest, and support. My prayer is for wisdom and strength.

I need both to survive.
-Kurt

For years my wife and I have volunteered serving the “Homeless” in different ways; served food, sorted clothes, went to the Santa Ana Civic Center and handed out clothes, stopped every time we saw a homeless person asking for money. It has been great for our marriage and our way of looking at the small blessings that are HUGE NEEDS for many people: a warm bed; a shower; a door lock; and a telephone are just a few of the things we used to take for granted.

Today while on the USMC Base – Camp Pendleton I stopped to look at the facility where we will hold the 2009 3/5 Battalion Christmas Party where Mariners Church will volunteer our time to bring Jesus Birthday to life for the men, women, and children in the Marines. In front of the Community Center was a line of 100+ women with their children waiting for donated clothing, Christmas ornaments, and other other useful items that a volunteer brings on a monthly basis. “This is what we do with the homeless,” I thought to myself. What would Jesus do?
-anonymous