Last time we talked, Bethany told you guys that we were in New Mexico. It’s been a while and we’ve been doing things since then. We managed to see Arches and Canyonlands in Utah, get snowed in at a hostel in Moab, drive through Arizona to get to a closed Grand Canyon, spend some time in Vegas, drive through California and get to a closed Sequoia National Park, and arrive at Gleanings for the Hungry in Dinuba, California.
Driving through the orange groves for miles got us to the front gate at Gleanings where we were greeted and shown our room for our stay. It was late Sunday night so not many people were around, but the next day we would meet all of the people that call Gleanings home.
Our days start early here with breakfast at 7 and worship/devotion until 9. Then we start work. Work from 9-12 then lunch. An afternoon break at 3 followed and the day usually winds down around 5, dinner is at 5:30.
So our first day we meet Dwayne and Darlene, a couple from Oregon with a love for each other and for Jesus that is almost hard to imagine is real, and has been for 48 years. Soon after we met and had told them a little bit about our story, Dwayne had already raised his hand in the devotion so that he could pray for us along our journey-welcome to the family. There’s something about another person praying for you the first day that they have met you in front of a crowd that strikes a nerve and beckons a moment with Jesus.
After devotion Bethany and I looked around to see what we needed to be doing for the day and tried to get a grip on how things worked, where you go, what you do, those sort of things. And sitting at the table we meet Rod, a good old boy from Canada with a heart as big as his homeland. So our first day at Gleanings we spent washing and detailing cars.
As we washed the cars and cleaned them out we made more new friends, Shiho and Ayaka from Japan, Yit Le from Malaysia, and Ella from Australia. With a backpacker’s heart ourselves, we had tons in common with our other world traveling friends.
The rest of our week consisted of:working in the soup plant, where we process, prepare, and bag dried soup mix to send overseas. hand-making quilts to send to Holocaust survivors in Israel. making new friends and new memories.
One of those days we sent 2 million servings of soup and 450 hand-made quilts to Israel in two 18-wheelers that were both prayed over as they left the parking lot.
So for those of you who have been reading along, or wondering what’s going on or what we’re doing, there’s a glimpse. Helping those that can’t help themselves, and being Jesus with skin on.
finding aslan 