Archive for November, 2011

Giving Thanks: Guilford Thanksgiving Dinner

Nov 24th

Posted by Barb Ruffner in Uncategorized

Thanks to all who participated in the Guilford Elementary’s 3rd Annual Thanksgiving Dinner last Monday, November. Whether you came and served, donated pies, or cooked turkeys, all of your efforts resulted in a fun family gathering as the Guilford families enjoyed a good ol’ American Thanksgiving dinner.

This was a real community gathering, with several organizations helping out. Teachers from the school, RBCers, and Little League volunteers all worked side by side to bless these families. For many of the families, this was their first taste of stuffing, which we learned has no Spanish word equivalent since it is not a food they eat in their countries. Maybe it’s a universal thing, but it appears that most kids don’t like stuffing. Also universal is the look of dislike and the shake of the head “no” – but all were polite and said “no thank you” if they didn’t care for any (although their faces were priceless!)

Hundreds of people came out for the dinner. The rain and long walk from where they parked on the ball field didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s spirits. Even though the line of people waiting for their turn for food wrapped around the building hallways, everyone was patient and excited for the feast to come. It reminded me of what the disciples must have felt like with the loaves and the fishes, for as many people as kept coming, there seemed to be more food as the evening progressed. And after all had been fed, the volunteers, at last, took a few minutes to sit down, rest and have some dinner as well.

Due to the abundance, the residents at the Embry Rucker Homeless Shelter in Reston also enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast.

Many thanks for all who helped to bless our neighbors.

- – -

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

- Matthew 35:34-40

 

Giving Thanks: Book Drive

Nov 23rd

Posted by Barb Ruffner in Event Updates

When I came to work on Monday, in my mailbox I found a stack of thank-you notes from the children at Guilford. These notes were in response from our recent book drive, which provided over 2000 books to these kids, most of whom had no books of their own before the drive.  When you give from your abundance, it is so humbling to be thanked.  Some of the kids wrote that they wished they could come to our church (I wish that too!). One even wrote that we must have a good God and a great faith.  This came from a first-grader, just because we gave him a couple of books.

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. – Matthew 5:16

When you come to services this weekend, we will have on display some of the thank-you notes that we have received from the students of Guilford.  It seems appropriate on Thanksgiving weekend to share these sentiments with the congregation.  Thank you for enriching these children’s lives by putting books in their hands.  In the words of one student “Thank you.  Really, I’m not kidding.”

If you weren’t able to bring in your books this fall, we will be having another book drive in the Spring. Hold on to those books, and keep your eye out for an announcement in March 2012.

Giving Thanks: The Food Pantry

Nov 23rd

Posted by Barb Ruffner in Local Outreach

In the two months since we re-opened the food pantry, we have jumped up to serving more than 130 families a week.  Almost 100% of our food pantry guests are Hispanic – and that has given us some challenges to overcome.  While we have adapted what we are stocking on the shelves to better meet their needs, we are still learning.  In my ignorance I did not realize how different corn meal is from corn flour – and corn flour is the number-one item in demand and that we cannot keep up with the demand!  I am regularly wiping out the shelves in our local grocery stores as I buy every package of corn flour they have.  Oil to cook the tortillas being made from the corn flour is also in high demand.

One of the culturally different things that we have had to adjust to is the need for larger sized diapers.  The tendency in these cultures appears to be to potty-train their children much later than we do.  Again, in my ignorance, I thought that if you are struggling financially that you would potty train your children as early as possible to cut down on the expense of diapers.  But that is not the case, and we are now stocking larger diapers to meet the need.

My prayer as we move forward is that we would have more volunteers, and in particular more Spanish speakers to interact with our guests – not just getting their food for them, but sitting with them and getting to know them.  The Lord has begun a good work, and now is the time to take it to the next level – sharing our hope with these people who need hope.

This past week we had a new challenge, one that I had not anticipated.  Many of our first-time visitors to the food pantry were illiterate.  We have been diligent to have our signs and forms be in both English and Spanish – but that is not very helpful to someone who cannot read either language.  How does that person cope with the challenges of living in Northern Virginia if they can’t read?  The Lord provided some very kind folks who helped them fill out the sign in sheet and their food order form, and all was well for the moment.  But it broke my heart just a little more.

Please pray for our outreach to a diverse group of people with different backgrounds, cultures and challenges.  Pray for the Lord to raise up more volunteers, and in particular to raise up someone who’s heart is to reach these people.  We really need someone who has the time and heart to take this ministry to the next level.  And as you visit with family and friends this Thanksgiving, and eat too much and laugh a lot, and enjoy all that the Lord has blessed you with – be thankful.

If you are willing to donate to the food pantry, consider going to a local Dollar Store, and purchasing several bottles of oil, packages of sugar, canisters of coffee, shampoos, deodorants.  For the same amount of money you could bless multiple families in need. We have recurring needs for staple items like corn flour (not corn meal), white flour, oil, sugar, cereal, oatmeal, dried beans, rice, canned soup, canned chicken, tuna, ham and chili. Smaller size containers of items such as flour and sugar are helpful, so we can assist more people. The hygiene items most needed are: laundry detergent, soap, toilet paper, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, sanitary pads, baby wipes, and formula (preferably Similac). Due to a generous donation from the Huggies “A Diaper for Every Bottom” campaign we will not need diapers for some time.  You can also donate financially to this ministry by putting “food pantry” in the memo line of your check and dropping it in an offering box during weekend services.

Thank you for your ongoing generosity. Please contact me if you would like more information on getting involved with the RBC Food Pantry.

Giving Thanks: Trunk-or-Treat

Nov 22nd

Posted by Barb Ruffner in Event Updates

Snow.  On October 29th.  During our Trunk-or-Treat Halloween outreach event.  Is that even possible?  Well, it’s not only possible – it happened!   Many thanks to all who with very little notice jumped in and transformed their creative car trunk decorating ideas into inside, car-less decorating ideas.

We had 46 spots filled with decorations, games, and wonderful people in costumes giving out candy to the hundreds and hundreds of children who came out to trick or treat with us.   I have to admit, I had my doubts about how many people would venture out on a cold and slushy night with their kids in costumes – but as usual, the Lord showed me what a waste of time worrying is.  With a warm and bright place to trick or treat we had an overwhelming turn out, with kids and parents dress in costumes and ready to spend a safe, fun filled evening with their family.  After playing games and trick or treating, the children were treated to a puppet show and snacks, or could stop by and do a Halloween craft.  For me the best part was there wasn’t a single crying child getting scared of what might pop out in the dark.  Many of our neighbors and friends from Guilford came to see what we are about.

Our “parking spots” were amazingly creative with the Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland’s Mad Hatter Tea Party, pirates, campers, and Christmas, just to name a few.  Our grand prize winner for creativity was our new Pastor of Young Adults, Wayne Johnson and his Shepherd Group who did the movie UP, complete with the house, balloons, Carl (now we know what Wayne will look like when he’s 80!), Russell, and the rare bird, Kevin.

A huge thanks to everyone that helped – set-up, clean-up, snacks, crafts, and of course the “parking spots”.  It takes a lot of help to put on an event like this, and we couldn’t do it without our wonderful volunteers.

In the end – despite the snow and last-minute adjustments due to less-than-ideal weather - we were able to serve RBC families and bless many neighbors from our surrounding community (several of whom showed up for worship services the next morning!) We continue to pray for hearts to open to the Gospel as we show the love of Christ in fun and practical ways through events such as this.

Giving Thanks: International Connection

Nov 21st

Posted by Susan Morinaga in Event Updates

Picture the Clubhouse room in the RBC Children’s Ministry area with crowds of people all speaking different languages. Women wearing head scarves. Buddhist monks in their orange flowing robes. Children of all colors racing around. The smell of Thai noodles and Iranian pilaf. This was the scene of the annual International Connection Thanksgiving Dinner on Tues. Nov. 15th.

International Connection is the English as a second language program at RBC. We have classes on Tuesday nights and Wednesday mornings. Last year’s enrollment of adult students was a little anemic as local internationals had a hard time finding our new church facility. This year is an entirely different story! Student registration has been extremely robust. We finally had to cut it off when class sizes started to outgrow their effectiveness due to their growing sizes.

Every November, we put on a Thanksgiving Dinner for the students and their families. This year, the Bereans adult fellowship group provided the traditional Thanksgiving food (turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pies, etc.) and students brought dishes from their home countries. It was an outstanding buffet! Homemade spring rolls, pupusas, taquitos, rice pilaf and more! To make matters more complicated, we had the greatest number of participants ever – 160 bodies! The Clubhouse was set up for 150, but we stretched the limit and were forced to make a classroom the buffet room.

Before dinner, one of the teachers, Marca Fritzemeier, explained the 5 corn kernel story concerning the plight of the first Pilgrims to Plymouth Rock. Each place setting had a small cup of 5 candy corn kernels to illustrate the story.

After dinner, the children were dismissed to their childcare workers and we enjoyed a post-dinner program. A short video was shown on the history of the Thanksgiving holiday. This was followed by student speeches. A couple of representatives were selected from each class to tell what they were most thankful for. A surprising number of students mentioned their thanks to God and Jesus – totally unprompted by their teachers! Some expressed their thanks for our program, for their jobs, for their families and their health. One young man expressed his hope that someday soon his young daughter would be able to join him here from El Salvador. These were heartfelt words, and I was reminded of the
many everyday blessings that I take for granted.

Erik Palmer ended the evening with some well-chosen “Thanksgiving “songs that we all joined in on, thanks to the words on the screen. Appropriately, he also presented the gospel in a simple but thorough way and invited anyone who had questions to talk to him or I.C. staff later. It was a meaningful ending to a memorable evening. May God use our words, our relationships and our lives to reflect His goodness and love to these wonderful people.

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