FindingJoy4Eternity Blog

The kids each picked a different kind of cookie to make and we've taken them to church meetings, Christmas parties, and even a funeral!  

Our seasonal GLOW packs!  We have these handy in our car and give them our everywhere we go. Sometimes we hand them to people...sometimes we just leave them for people to find.  

Last Sabbath someone gave us some treats with "the giving plate."  We were supposed to enjoy the treats and then pass on some more homemade treats with the plate to someone else. The gift is supposed to keep on getting. We made ours a little bit healthier because there are so many sweets going around Christmas time.  We put in some mixed nuts, some popcorn, some tea, and then a few homemade cookies and passed it along to someone else.

Every month the Pathfinders and Adventurers go to the nursing home to sing on the second Sabbath.  We thought it would be a neat idea to take little Merry Christmas treat bags to the workers at the nursing home. They enjoyed them so much!  

David had to go up to the conference office for a meeting not long ago. I had these soaps from Bath and Body Works that I had gotten in case I needed to give a gift to someone unexpectedly. The night before he went to the conference office the idea popped into my head, "Send a gift to the receptionist at the conference office. She does so much and probably doesn't get thanked very often."  So I sent this soap up there with a Merry Christmas and a thank you for all you do. David said she was just amazed, excited, and touched. Later I got a thank you in the mail and it was really neat to see how the Lord had given me such a neat idea for a random act of kindness!

We needed a THANK YOU gift for someone who has blessed us time and time again since we've moved here to southern Michigan.  We made them a gratitude tree with little thank you notes on it as well as two gift cards.  And we made it all from scratch!!  :)

A friend texted me last week and was looking for some goodie bag thank you ideas for Adventurers to give to Policemen and Firemen during the holiday season.  This is what I came up with!   Inside the bag you would put: homemade cookies the above card signed on the inside a glow tract a few individual lifesavers 5 pack of gum miniature mounds candy bar a peppermint candy You would also need the bags, the printables (I'll send you anything I've done before!), and ribbon. What a cute gift!  I'm sure any community worker would love getting one of these! 

What fun we had with this Bible Labs activity!  As is very usual for us, we attached a GLOW tract to something and we delivered these gifts all over town.  Furthermore, it was a perfect day for it.  It was the coldest day of the season yet and the wind made it feel even colder!  Everyone we met was either surprised we would be giving something away or just thrilled with the thought of apple cider!  :) We were all so blessed, and even more so because God answered my prayer for a divine appointment!  We were in an Asian Restaurant and there was an older lady sitting in a chair waiting for her take-out to be ready.  When David gave her the cider pack she asked which church this was.  He told her we were Seventh-day Adventists and she immediately asked if there was a church in town.  He explained that there wasn't anymore, but that there was one close by in Centreville.  Come to find out, she has been watching Dwight Nelson for 6...

Our church members know that we homeschool and one of them, being a retired teacher, knows about the concept of Bible Labs.  He asked it we like doing Bible Labs projects and upon the answer quickly recruited us to help haul brush and limbs and logs from some property that is owned right beside the church by a widow.  He had cut some trees down and we all got the opportunity to help clean the trees away.  It was great exercise and a great outreach opportunity!

We discovered that October 1 was National Homemade Cookie Day so we decided to take advantage of it. We made some cookies and we shared them with all sorts of people in our new community. The power washer, the conference maintenance man, the garbage man, the mail lady, our realtor, and a few of our neighbors got cookies that day. It was a fun way to meet new people and it made them smile!

Add caption We also like to add stickers to regular size tri-folded Primary Treasures and Little Friends. Kids love stickers so these are always a hit and can be passed out anywhere you would find kids!

This idea could be used at Halloween or when you go to the park or just to give to little friends in the neighborhood who might not know Jesus or go to church. There are miniature Little Friend and Primary Treasure tracks and we attach those with string to a glow stick.  What little child would not like one of these?!

We spent the weekend at the UP campmeeting. We were in charge of the primary division and one of the activities we worked on was creating an outreach bag. The kids got to decorate the bag in the very beginning and then each meeting we did outreach activities that they could put in their bag.  They went home with a bag full of items that they can use to share Jesus with others.

We are appreciating the businesses in our town this month! We passed these out at church today in hopes that all our members would appreciate those who serve this town so faithfully!  They will be available each week for people to pick up more. Update at the beginning of May!  What a blast this has been!  People LOVE to be appreciated.  Personally I've given them out at the bank, the grocery store, the swimming pool...anyone who helps me or is working might get one.  Everyone gives me a huge smile.  People love the Andes Mint.  I've gotten hugs for it.  One lady said, "Now I've forgotten what I was on my way to do.  No one ever appreciates me!"  Hopefully this warm feeling that we leave with the mint encourages them to read the tract!  :) Many members have also enjoyed passing these out.  We went through about 400-500 little packs during April.

Bible Labs hosted a supper for the singles in our church and invited them each to bring a friend!  From beginning to end, the children helped with the whole process! In-reach.  Outreach.  Relationships built. Physical needs met.  Huge Success! Dessert with a GLOW tract!  Tieing apron strings...  :)  The Drink Servers!  They were fantastic!  So. Much. Food.  The children also sang a couple songs part way through the supper.  They sang "Lord I Want to Be a Christian" and "Amazing Grace." 

This month the Pathfinders used Health Class their opportunity for outreach.  I have to say  I was so thankful for their help.  These very capable girls decorated the food table and helped set up so many things as well as cleaning up! Since the topic for the evening was sleep, we also came up with some little GLOW tract packets that they put together to hand out as the people left for the evening.   

Our topic at health class tonight was sleep so we handed out these little packets with a Return to Rest Glow tract.

One of the best things about a holiday is that it generally makes people more receptive to evangelism.  We like to take advantage of this and usually find some way to reach out to our community.  This year for Valentines we put together this little treats with  a glow tract attached.  Then we head out and hand them out with a smile and a kind word.  About 99 percent of people really love it.  It was definitely a fun day!  Service always makes for a good day!