We assembled 500 Bags of Grace in Bethany’s Fellowship Hall on Sat. March 15^th.  We had a WONDERFUL turnout and all 500 Bags were assembled in about 15 minutes!

 

AAA Storage of Austin (www.aaa-storage.com) has now partnered with us.  They have made it possible for us to have a climate controlled storage unit for almost nothing!  They are a Christian owned company and are truly an answer to a prayer!  MANY prayers!  We have given up our unit at U-Haul that was NOT climate controlled, WAS infested with crickets and was costing us $75.00 a month.   We can now store our supplies with no worries, thanks be to God!  This wasn’t anything we had solicited, but the Lord knew we desired it!  If you need storage I hope you’ll remember AAA!

 

We were invited to speak to Bethany’s confirmands at Highland Lakes again last month.  It was a wonderful group to be with.  I feel as though God has plans to do mighty things through, and with, these youth!  Rumor has it :o)  that our Bethany youth may one day join us at Church Under the Bridge (CUB) on a regular basis.  I’m already thanking God for the day it will happen!

 

We are putting to good use the covered trailer Hill Country Bible Church donated to us.  What a blessing it was to be able to pick up all our supplies from Sam’s this month using only one vehicle!  What made it even nicer is that HCCB also donated 100 plastic storage bins with fold back lids.  This allows the boxes to be stacked, taking up considerably less room.   Each box holds ten Bags, just as the banana boxes did.  The Lord deserves so much praise and glory, for neither of these gifts were solicited! The Lord obviously chose to use that body of Christ, as He has Bethany, to fill a need we had.  As you may already know, HCBC is starting their own Bags of Grace Ministry, too.  Their group went with us to CUB in Dec. and it was a very positive experience for them all.

 

Great Hills Baptist Church hosted an assembly in Dec.  They were also with us yesterday at CUB.  The children they brought did an amazing job of handing out Bags to the homeless.  It was obvious the number of children coming through the line touched some of the women in the group.  They struggled to fight back tears.  But praise God!  The weather was perfect, the sermon was AWESOME, the food was great, the fellowship encouraging and the blessings abundant under I-35 at 7^th Street yesterday!  God is SOOO good!

 

I’ve recently been contacted by Ingrid Akers, the pastoral intern at Hyde Park UMC.  They want to start their own Bags of Grace program and are moving towards making that happen.  We are praying that it will all go according to God’s perfect plan. 

 

Our 1023 is with a CPA now.  As soon as we move pass this curve we will be one step closer to filing with the IRS as a non-profit.  The Lord must be pleased for things have REALLY starting moving along at a rapid pace!  (He obviously is dead serious about that ‘obedience’ thing!)

 

In the July–August issue of The Upper Room (UpperRoom.org) you’ll find a devo written by our own Gus Browning.  Gus writes about Bags of Grace and why he thinks it’s a good ministry to be involved with.  We are waiting with joyful expectation to see his words in print!

 

Tomorrow, March 18^th, we’ll once again be going to assemble Bags of Grace with the 2^nd graders at Hill Country Bible Church.  This is the 4^th year the Lord has allowed us to plant seeds with these young children.  We are thanking Him for the good fruit those seeds will surely bear.

 

On Wed. the 19^th we’ll be assembling 200 Bags of Grace at Kathy Caraway Elementary for the first time.  I was contacted, via email, and asked if we would be able to come speak with the 5^th graders and assemble Bags with them!  They collected $530 on their own and are paying for all the supplies!  I was blown away!  Where this mission opportunity came from, well…it is all GOD!  This will be our first time on the campus there are we are looking forward to seeing what the Lord will do!

 

OK…I can hear y’all now, saying, “MAN!  She writes as much as she TALKS!  Will this ever end?!”  :o) so I’ll stop for now. 

 

What a blessing it is to be part of such an incredible, Spirit filled body of Christ!  You guys ROCK!!

 

Thank you for keeping our efforts in your prayers!

 

Have a blessed Easter!

 

Praising Him

Rita

 

“If you can’t feed a hundred hungry people, feed just one.”  - Mother Teresa