Our church delivered 100 “pandemic gift bags” to each home in the nearby village of Olena, OH. Olena hasn’t had a church in the village for years, and we wanted to remind them that we’re here to serve them, and open the door for future Gospel ministry. The bags had all kinds of things in them: hand sanitizer, a roll of toilet paper, and a hand-sewn face mask (seriously: a few ladies at our church sewed all 100 bags and all 100 face masks to give away!), various toiletries, a few shelf-stable and individually-wrapped snacks, and a pack of playing cards, as well as a Bible, a pamphlet on the message of the Bible, a short note to the recipients from me (Matt), and even a prayer card and addressed/stamped envelope in case they wanted us to pray about something specific.
Several of our people went door to door (safely masked and distanced, of course) to deliver the bags and all returned rejoicing in how God blessed them through this ministry. Only a couple of people turned the bags down, but one lady began crying simply to know she was so cared for. We pray that the Lord will begin to use this as a way to build relationships and make inroads for the gospel.
