No Soliciting

Today was Food bank day and our truck came loaded with extra plums, tomatoes and oranges.  We love our delivery guy because he is just awesome!  They are not allowed to return to the food bank with any food so he piles it in our truck whether we want it or not.  We had so much extra today that we decided to go find people who needed it.  We have our missionary friend from Indonesia visiting us and we also called a couple of teenage boys in our youth group and we started out!

We live on the south side of town where most of the poorer people

 live and there are trailer court after trailer court full of low income families.  We went just up the road and started knocking on doors and asking people if they needed any food.  After several houses we had the trailer court manager come and ask us to leave because we were soliciting.  We asked him why he considered giving free food to the help people soliciting but he just again asked us to leave because were soliciting.  Although we were heartbroken for these people we did leave.

We then went across the street to another trailer park
and started handing food out there.  We met many, many older people who thanked us over and over again for the food as they said they were living on their Social Security and were barely making it.
 We met a 93 year old man, an 87 year old lady, a Veteran on disability and many, many more people that were in need and so thankful for everything we were able to give them.

Of course with every box and bag of food we gave out we also gave out a tract with the plan of salvation.  (The manager from the other trailer park did not know we were handing out tracts or even where we were from, but seriously asked us to leave simply for handing out free food!) 

We had one couple come out and talk to us and tell us they remember us from the last time we were out handing out tracts and grapes and told us how much they appreciated what we doing.

We met so many wonderful people that invited us back to their houses

 and thus has given us the opportunity to go back and give them the gospel.  We are praying how we can reach more people effectively through food bank and be able to feed them not only physically but spiritually!  Praising God for this wonderful opportunity he has given us to do this!





Free Day

We were up and out the door at 6 am this morning as we finished set-up for "Free Day".  People started arriving at 8 am and by the time of the airshow at 11 am, the parking lot was full!

We were able to park almost 200 cars in our parking lot.  As we waited for the airshow to start, we had several hundred people come and eat free food and also let their kids get their faces painted.

The hot dogs, chips and snacks were a huge hit and this gave us a chance to talk to and witness to many people. 

The kids loved getting their face painted

and loved hearing the gospel story told through the colors.  We had many parents hear the story too and a few parents actually sought out members of our church that were there helping and asked if we could further explain the gospel message!  It was so exciting to share the

Good News with so many people!

The line to the face painting grew and grew and our people

 were face painting non-stop for almost four hours! 

 Chandler had a huge line as he was drawing dragons, spiders and bats and all the boys loved it!  Instead of face paint we used watercolor colored pencils and these were amazing as they worked beautifully after being dipped in water.

The Thunderbirds started at exactly 11 am

and they were awesome to watch!

All during this time, we had people touring the church and saying how beautiful it was.  We talked with so many people, invited everyone to church and witnessed to all those who would listen. 

We had several show interest in coming to church and we are praying that we will see them soon!

As everyone was leaving, they tried to give my husband or the food ladies money.  We refused all money and explained that Jesus had given a free gift to all and that gift can not be paid for so thus we also wanted to bless others and give them a free gift.  We had several people get very upset because they just could not understand why we would do everything for free.  Thus it is with the world and God's precious gift of salvation.  So many people can not understand and will not accept the free gift that God has so freely given to all and feel that they must somehow find a way to pay for it.  Praying for all the people we met and had contact with and praying that many will be saved!

Getting Ready and Using Coupons

Today we were busy running, shopping and getting for "Cheyenne Day"

which is tomorrow.  Many, many people are off work tomorrow
and there are a lot of activites going on around town. 
One of the biggest events is the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds performing and doing a show over the local college.  Since our property borders the college, this is a big day for us too.  We call it "Free Day" as we let people park on the church property for free, hand out tracts, and give out free hot dogs and snacks.  This year we will be doing free face painting for the kids,  using the colors of the wordless book, and telling them
what each color means as we paint.  We are so excited to have a parking lot full of people to witness to!

We had quite a bit of shopping to do today as we picked up
 last minute items for tomorrow.  Our grocery store was having a stock up sale on cleaners and I was able to purchase a few things for the church.  I love being able to use coupons to help the church get the best buys and save them money.   With my coupons I was able to get all this for only five dollars!  I love my coupons!