A few months ago, we coordinated our little group of missionaries to help with a charity event. Not only was it fun to hang out with a bunch of kids, we felt like it was really valuable to serve in our community. Well, the woman who runs that organization was hosting another event today, and she needed a lot of help. We heard about it a week ago, and Pepper called to ask what we could do to support her. She was surprised; she told us she hadn’t contacted us earlier because she’d heard (mistakenly) that our missionaries aren’t “allowed” to do service work at other churches. Although her organization isn’t affiliated with a particular faith, the event itself would be hosted at a local Christian church. Pepper told her that was categorically false, and we’d be happy to help.
So, as with many of our other service projects, we put out the call. The missionaries all volunteered to help! Some of them had been at the October event, and they were eager to do something similar. We arrived a little early to help with setup. There were dozens of bags of donated clothing and other items that needed to be sorted and laid out for people to “shop” during the event.
When it started, parents showed up and left their kids in the church. They were all given wrapped Christmas gifts, and the parents were able to pick any clothes or other items they needed for themselves or their families. The kids, meanwhile, had two hours of activities ahead. Our job was to “chaperone” them– not so much to keep them out of trouble, but just to provide some support and continuity during the event. My new friend is a fourteen-year-old boy named Kat. (That’s his mom with us.)
Kat and I had a grand time. He told me about high school and football and anime. We frosted cookies and made posters and tie-dyed a t-shirt and threw rubber axes. He loved the activities, and I loved chatting with him through the morning.
After everyone had gone home, we cleaned up and then posed for a group photo. Here are all the missionaries who joined us this morning:
And a few of our trusty young adults came out as well.
We’ve loved having these opportunities to serve, and we hope that community leaders– like the woman running this organization, and the people at the food bank, continue to contact us when they need help. After all, isn’t this what the Lord did during His time on earth?