New partners!

Praise God for new friends! New partners.
One of the huge blessings I receive volunteering for Mission: Mobility, is the opportunity to meet so many awesome people! This week was no exception!

Annette and I had scheduled a trip to Long Beach California to visit family. We truly had NO schedule or long list of things we had to see or do. But, God decided to add a couple great items on our itinerary.

(A little different view than the cornfields of Iowa!)

2 days before leaving for So Cal, I was looking at Bethel’s Facebook page, wondering where the current team was from. Soon thereafter, my whatsapp beeped. (It is an app on my phone that allows me to text directly with Chris and Donna at Bethel……a great tool!)
The message was from Donna. She asked who I had mentioned was a possible contact to store wheelchairs in Huntington Beach California. (Annette’s brother). She asked, because the current team was from Huntington Beach! She also indicated they were fired up to start collecting equipment! Needless to say, I was excited!

I responded to Donna, “when do they return back to Cali?” Her response was “Wednesday!” (The day we departed for Long Beach/Huntington Beach)

So, apparently God had our schedule open for a reason! Monday, Annette and I had a meeting to discuss Mission: Mobility with new friends. It was great meeting Chris Murray and Kirby Wood! They told us about their recent trip and how their church has taken teams to Bethel many times over the years. They also shared how they were especially impacted during the wheelchair distributions. They knew that they needed to help Bethel’s wheelchair mission by helping collect!

Kirby also had a giant smile on his face as he told us all, “collecting for Mission: Mobility and Bethel was definitely meant to be!  As I was coming to this meeting, there was an abandoned wheelchair waiting for me in the alley behind my house! ”  (how’s that for a Godly confirmation!)

We welcome Chris and Kirby and Christ Pacific Church as our newest members of the Mission: Mobility team! If you know anyone in the LA area who might be a connection, we now have the volunteers! Praise the Lord!

After our coffee meeting, we scheduled a time to meet another contact. Frank lives south of Huntington Beach about 30 minutes. He came up to Huntington to finally meet face to face. I first started talking with Frank last Fall. In mid harvest, I received an email followed by a phone call. Frank believed God had guided him to us.

In his career as an immigration attorney, Frank has come to know many clients who were from Guatemala. Over time, working with the Guatemalans, he felt drawn to go to Guatemala to see, first hand the land of these strong, hopeful, resilient people. He spent a week with a contact who took him to the huts and homes similar to those we work with when SERVING with Bethel. He even recalled, in hindsight, going to Bethel to pick up a wheelchair for one of the people they helped.

Frank told how he returned home, his curiosity satisfied. He now could understand his clients from Guatemala a little better. Turn a page, back to life.
3 years pass. His trek to Guatemala, but a memory, not in the forefront of his mind, he is awakened in the night hearing “Guatemala, Wheelchairs!” He looked around, his wife was sound asleep, no radio, no TV!   Apparently, God was trying to tell him something!   He went to his computer and did a search regarding Guatemala and wheelchairs.  His search produced Bethel Ministries International and Mission: Mobility!   It was then that he contacted us.

A few weeks ago I heard from Frank, he is now wanting to join a team to experience a mission trip with Bethel, and to experience a wheelchair distribution event.  We are working to pair him up with a team to provide that opportunity.

As with all of our volunteers across the country,  we are so thankful for you all!   Thankful for all you do to SERVE the Lord through collecting wheelchairs with Mission: Mobility!    It is an honor and privilege to work with you all!  Many, we have met.  We look forward to meeting the rest of you someday.  However, most I feel a great connection, because I am very thankful for our technology of today.   Cell phones, email and Facebook make this world much smaller!

Thank you all  for following God’s call to join our efforts!

1 Peter 4:10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: