| Christmas Offering |
| Dear Grace Church Family, As we approach Christmas, many of us find ourselves a little less than fulfilled with our circumstances during this year, yet we are so fortunate. Most of us have enjoyed a pretty good financial year, though this certainly is not true for everyone! Our hearts go out to you. If you lost your job or your hours were drastically cut because of the pandemic and have found yourself in a tough spot, please let us know what you may need. We will do our best to help or connect you with those who can. This reality remains: Most of us are better off than most of the world. In October, our Church Council decided to give the entire Christmas offering to Missions this year. This pandemic is difficult in normal circumstances, but most of our missionaries and recipients of our mission work live in developing parts of the world or had other disadvantages in life including those being housed and educated at Bethel Bible Village in Tennessee. The need is great, so we want to bless our church’s mission work this year. The Grace Missions Committee is thankful to be receiving the offering and wants to use the money to do as much good as possible. As a result, The Missions Committee voted at our October meeting to give half of the offering to Caring Hearts Ministry in Mexico. Our church has been sending teams there since 2011 to help provide shelter and food for needy kids and orphans who were found living on a garbage dump. Hundreds of people work hard on this dump trying to recycle any valuables they can find to turn into food for their families. This ministry provides fresh water to the workers who would otherwise drink from a canal that runs through the dump. There is a boy’s home, addiction treatment center, and a children’s soup kitchen which includes tutoring. All of this includes daily instruction in God’s word. The money we collect will be used to buy building materials to finish the interior of a 20 x 20 house for Sarai and Raymundo Aldaravo and their son Elias. Sarai works tirelessly in the care of these children, but they do not have their own home. We are planning to send a small team there in February to help with the construction of that home. They will be able to participate firsthand in the use of those funds. It will make a real difference and make it more possible for Sarai to continue her good work with the kids at the Oasis Boy’s Home and the Soup Kitchen. So, we invite you to support this mission with one half of the Christmas offering. The other half will go to the many other missionaries and missions supported continually by our Mission’s Team. We are sure that God will do more than we could ever hope or dream when we invest in his Kingdom. You have been so faithful in making sure our church stays strong. We are going to be ready to go when it is safe in the coming months after the vaccines are distributed. But the people we support on the mission fields have lost a lot of discretionary spending at the worst possible time. They need our help. So please specify on the memo line of your check or on the Christmas offering envelope or in whatever means you give so that our finance people correctly assign your generous gifts. To God be the glory for the great things He has done and is about to do. Merry Christmas! Pastor Bill Blair |
