Today is Thursday, November 3rd, 2011; Karen's Korner #2184
No matter where we go; nor what we do, every day is an opportunity to see or serve God.
Such was the case as Jim and I traveled through South and North Dakota, on our way to and from seeing friends in Montana.
Our first evening, we spent the night in a small, family-run motel in Wall, South Dakota. When we travel, I usually take a handful of my printed devotional books to give away. It is pretty common for us to leave a couple behind in the motel rooms where we stay, for the cleaning crew. Such was the case at Wall.
Tuesday, when rummaging through our mail, upon our return, we had a post card from Wall and the staff at Sunshine Inn there with these couple of sentences, "Thank you for the books! After reading them, we will be adding them to the reading room's collection at the local Methodist Church. Best wishes."
A post card like this one is a first for us!
We spent from Wednesday afternoon until Saturday morning at the Gallehon ranch in the foothills of Rocky Mountains. Judy and I have been friends since we were both in 4-H and met through an exchange between her county in Montana and our family's in Iowa. We are getting close to being friends for fifty years.
Jim and I enjoyed the sights and sounds of their ranch including a day of loading out several hundred head of calves which were being weaned from their mothers. The semi-trucks were taking the animals to southwestern Minnesota where they will be fed out by a feedlot there.
While working, watching and listening with a number of ranchers and their families, we heard words about our long-time friends: hard-working, honest, integrity, caring, sharing. Words we could come up with ourselves about Wayne and Judy, who with their son Brodie and his wife Diane, have built such a reputation over those number of years: one day at a time!
Then back across Montana, through North Dakota, dropping down just over the border of central South Dakota for an overnight stay with a former Clarion resident Christine Lousias. As we were introduced to several members of her local congregation in a county with just over 1,000 residents, we learned of a mission project in which their church and some local community members were in the midst of participation.
According to the minister and one elder, 30 hogs and 12 beef had been slaughtered and would be packaged for trucking to Hillcrest Home in Harrison, Arkansas. The animals had been donated by area farmers/ranchers; yesterday was the 'day' for volunteers to package the meat. The Arkansas residential facility is for senior citizens, and staffed by volunteers who are committed to serving God and spreading His Word, in a mission setting.
The South Dakota church/community have supplied more than 90% of the meat needed by the facility for the past more than 30 years.
This is a congregation which would fill about two pews in an average-sized church building in the United States.
Who says, "We are too small to do much!" or "What I/we do doesn't make much difference?"
Not when anything is put into God's hands!!
And if you ever get to the Methodist Church in Wall, South Dakota, you might find a book or two written by Karen Weld!
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