We are gearing up for the Christmas season as this is the time of year when families in need seem to struggle most. There is not a more perfect time to show the love of Christ than the Christmas season. We pray that as people are giving and serving, that those being served will get a glimpse of Jesus.
Grace Community has offered to fill 100 shoe boxes for Vision Onward this year to distribute to families here in Bartlesville. There have also been many people who have wanted to deliver their gifts and/or meals to the families personally and hopefully get to know and build relationships with these families. This has been a prayer of ours. Our vision is for those who are giving to actually meet the family they are helping. It means a lot more to meet someone personally than to drop off a gift and have it funnelled through an organization. There is a disconnect between the givers and the receivers. We pray that through this process, many relationships can be built and carried out throughout the years.
We did not have the building completed before Thanksgiving so we were unable to serve a meal there this year, but we were able to deliver some meals to families in need. So, in saying that, it is obvious our building is still "under construction". Progress is coming along and we hope to be able to post some pictures soon. We have had a generous offer from Terry Melton Construction to bring their crew in for an entire day and knock out as much as they can. This will be a huge blessing in the process of completion.
Deeds 4 Needs is continuing to strive. Jeff was invited to speak on November 17 at Eastern Heights Baptist Church and they were excited about their church being involved. We have other churches getting involved in fulfilling needs as well as local businesses. This is the kind of unity we were hoping for and we pray that it continues to grow. Vision Onward is a parachurch organization and we would love to see more and more involvement from many other churches and businesses.
Here are some updates on a few other items:
- Ya'Way - Jeff realized after going to Denver and meeting with the owner of The Big Red Bus, that we really need to have a diesel engine bus to make the conversion. It is an expensive conversion and a gas engine will just not last long enough for it to be worth the money. So we are currently trying to figure out how to switch out the gas engine bus we have for a diesel engine bus.
- Transitional Housing - - We currently have one house that a family is living in as transitional housing. He is able to work and save money while he gets on his feet so he can move out on his own at the end of 6 months.
- Sunay and Wednesday Group - We have a FULL bus. Marci and the kids have officially been kicked off because there is not enough room for them. This is good and bad!! It is good that we have so many coming, but we really need a larger bus. The current one is only a 13 passenger and we would really like to have a 28 passenger. We do not want to get any larger than 28 without having a separate bus with an entire different group of volunteers who would like to be involved on a regular basis in the lives of those they are picking up. We realize that we are at our limit with being effective with the amount we currently have. This makes it very hard because we have more kids that could be picked up, but we have no more room. If anyone would like to be involved on Wednesdays or Sundays, please contact Jeff at 350-0205.
We would just like to end with a quote that we took from the Love Is an Action website:
"Sometimes, people will do something that will make your heart understand a bit more about why we are alive and what to do with that life. Love is an Action has many teams all over nation that are serving people where they are in the love of Jesus and with their lives, giving hope to those who have no hope and letting hearts know with their actions that they are worthwhile."
