The Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore He will rise up to show you compassion… Blessed are all who wait for Him! Isaiah 30:18

The young boy was shopping with his mother in a grocery store. With the eyes of an experienced line appraiser and with his hands gripping the shopping cart handle, he was ready to quickly maneuver into a more advantageous position. “Look, Mom! Those customers are moving faster. Let’s get behind them.”

Was he late for a football game or television program? Was an important person waiting outside the store? I suspect that this young man had just fallen victim to the no-time-to-wait mentality of the adults around him. Waiting is not one of my strengths and I think it could be accurately said that I am among the majority.

Carlo Coretti writes, “This pursuit of impatience easily drifts into my spiritual life. Wait on God? Wait for God? I need an answer now! An even more dangerous thought process proclaims — I need spiritual maturity now.”

If I am serious about learning the discipline of waiting on God, perhaps I should practice by consistently choosing the longest, slowest-moving line in the bank or store. At the very least, this would reveal how much I have to learn!

Marilyn Ehle

And He walks with me and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the love we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

Charles Austin Miles

Behind the school near the small village of Chambrun, Haiti, a garden had been unsuccessfully attempted. The women of our mission team were challenged with pulling down the fence surrounding this jungle and clearing the land, which with God’s grace and teamwork, they accomplished. There were scratches, thorns, and bruises for trophies. Our teammate Kathy, who loves gardening, was really in her element. One of the fun and humbling moments of this process was when one of the boys from the school came over to see how the process was progressing. Not happy with our poor machete techniques, he took the long knife and proceeded to cut down in 10 minutes what would have probably taken the Americans more than an hour to clear. He had a rhythm, just the right angles, strength and agility, and his cheering audience was grateful for his help.

The newly cleared space will be made into a prayer garden.  Gravel will be spread, trees planted, benches set, and a picket fence added so that those who are looking for a welcoming spiritual environment might rest in this newly refurbished area. Digging holes in the hard Haitian ground is difficult work, but the results are beautiful and the prayer garden will be a blessing to so many in the months and years to come.

Kim Davis

With only a cursory glance at the calendar, I wrote a date at the top of the day’s journal entry. Only later did I discover that I hadn’t flipped the calendar page to the current month. The day was correct but the month was wrong.

Although this error made me smile at my foolishness and was easily corrected with a swipe of the pen, looking at the wrong calendar can—at an emotional level—have profound consequences. Dwelling on some golden age of the past (never quite as golden as we see through our rose-colored glasses), can prevent living fully in the now. Regret over unwise decisions or undue sorrow over missed opportunities stifles the courage to move forward. Anger at real or perceived wrongs in the past locks the heart, often preventing new and deeply rich relationships.

Likewise, looking only to the future can confine us in dreamland, preventing solid decision-making that impacts current reality. Healthy Christian living means glancing at the calendar of the past, looking with anticipation at the months lying ahead, and living realistically and joyfully on today’s date.

Marilyn Ehle

Our mission team was pretty tired after our day in Antigua, but we decided to make one last stop at a bakery to pick up some fresh baked bread. As we sat waiting we noticed a woman walking down the street toting a young child on her back. We were captivated as she stopped across from where we sat waiting and began the process of removing the child from her back. This alone is interesting to watch as the people of Guatemala have developed an effective way to carry their children safely on their backs wrapping them securely in folds of fabric. We realized the little girl was around the age of 2. Quite a feat to carry an active 2 year old around town.

The woman, seeing we were Americans, took the opportunity to sell us her wares. Who could resist the sweet round face of a precious 2 year old child. Our team leader Steve saw an opportunity to give the little girl a gospel bead bracelet. The rest of us stayed back with our cameras ready. Through our interpreter he was told the mother’s name was Lillian and the daughter’s name Jasmine. He was allowed to place the bracelet on Jasmine’s wrist, gave her mother an explanation in Spanish, and asked if he could take their picture. The price of the picture … purchasing a necklace the mother was selling. Steve bought two for his granddaughters.

As we prepared to leave, we noticed what looked like chocolate on Jasmine’s face. We speculated this to be her reward for making a sell. Both groups took advantage of an opportunity that day. We pray ours will have eternal value. 

Kim Heflin

1 Corinthians 15:58 (The Message)

The Bible is full of words like abound, rush, flow, pour out—words that speak to us of God’s abundant provision for His children. The picture described by the prophet Malachi stuns us with its richness: “Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

Perhaps the Apostle Paul thought of those words as he encouraged a group of Jesus followers who may have been tired from the rigors of everyday living. Don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Lord. Another time he reminded these same people, Remember, a stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop (2 Corinthians 9:7).

As we call upon God to fill us with His energy and gifts, He provides what we need to go beyond “minimal living.” It is when we surrender all to Him, seek His guidance, and joyfully move ahead that we learn the reality of these words: God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done (2 Corinthians 9:8-9, The Message).

Marilyn Ehle

“Move Beyond the Minimal” from Water My Soul by Luci Shaw

We can make a difference and show the love of Jesus to those across the world. “Don’t give up when you get tired,” John said. “Someone is benefitting!”

In 19^th century England, it was not unusual for women of wealth—of “society”—to wear clothing weighing up to forty pounds. Heavy, multiple layers of skirts dragging on the ground not only impeded a woman’s freedom of movement but made it nearly impossible to run away from real or imagined danger on the street. Stories circulated of women dying in house fires because they could not easily escape from candle flames or fireplace sparks. The overriding culture of the day demanded compliance with what would seem to us ridiculous social norms.

In much of the western world, women today experience legal and even social freedom. The right to choose education and career is not even questioned. We chafe under real or imagined restrictions in any area of life.

While scoffing at forty pounds of clothing, we too often stumble under other kinds of weights: our own or others’ expectations, our upbringing, the call of consumerism, the “shoulds” and “oughts” of our culture, and even our religions.

Nineteenth-century, English women who dared to battle the culture of their day not only put off restrictive clothing but bravely stepped into restricted areas and activities of life in order to make an impact on society. Catherine Booth, who along with her husband William, founded the Salvation Army and experienced strong criticism for her visible ministry. Although the names of Annie Gordon and Nellie and Topsy Saunders are not widely known, they died in a massacre of British missionaries in 1865. Their determination to “lay aside” what was considered a safe and proper role for single women not only cost them the approval of others, but their very lives.

Too often we women confine ourselves and our influence in the world to the four walls of our homes. While raising children is a high calling and one to be taken seriously, we insistently hear God’s voice beckoning to an even higher calling: following Him into all the world into roles not yet imagined; without the weight of our skirts.

Marilyn Ehle

GAiN: How many volunteers come through on a yearly basis?

Phil: Almost 15,000 people. About 8,000 of those volunteers serve during one of the two week-long GAiN mission packing projects in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It’s amazing that people travel from all across the U.S. to help pack aid!

GAiN: Has one volunteer or a group of volunteers really impacted you and your team?

Phil: Not one, but most groups! They are excited and motivated to serve here and beyond…

GAiN: What does your day-to-day look like at the distribution center?

Phil: I do a little bit of everything, whatever is needed. I help with shipping and receiving, volunteering and coordinating. I’m kind of a jack-of-all-trades helping to manage jobs for our team. I handle the issues that come in, submit budget requests and help get the aid in and out of our facility.

GAiN: Share about your background.

Phil: I travelled into a good portion of the world as a pilot in the Air Force for 30 years. While stationed in Germany and flying both a medical evacuation mission as well as a VIP (Very Important Person) mission, I flew in and out of countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Finland, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, etc.

Then flying the cargo mission out of McGuire AFB, NJ on the east coast I would fly into (in addition to the countries listed above) Greenland, Iceland, Canada, Panama, the Azores, Kenya, Diego Garcia, etc.

Then flying cargo out of McCord AFB, WA on the west coast, I would fly to Alaska, Hawaii, the Aleutians, Japan, Korea, Okinawa, Midway, Guam, Kwajalein, Viet Nam, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, etc.  I also flew into Saudi Arabia and Bahrain during the time of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, and into Russia to deliver seed corn after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Since working as the director of the distribution center in 2005 when we purchased this facility, I have been able to transfer my skills and knowledge of logistics I picked up in my years in the Air Force to the distribution center in Pennsylvania.

Phil: Almost everything we send overseas is loaded into a 40-foot sea-going container that gets transported on container ships. We load each container full—20 pallets of aid per container. The limit per container is 40,000 lbs.

The process starts when the product arrives at our distribution center via tractor trailer load, through partners like Samaritan’s Purse or through for-profit companies who have excess product to donate. Sometimes GAiN purchases commodities such as seeds and volunteers come to help us pack the aid. Generally, the aid goes through processing at the center (90% of aid is processed) and is sent out, but a small percentage of the aid is stored for use in disaster situations.

When we send the aid overseas, the travel time varies. The time it takes to arrive at its destination depends on where it is going. Delivering aid to Haiti or Guatemala could take a week or two. On the other hand, shipping aid to Africa takes a month or two. Shipments to Central Asia require about a month and a half of transit time.

We work with freight forwarders like Missionary Expeditors, and when we are ready to ship a load, we make arrangements with them and they give us a quote for the cost and a timeframe to ship the aid. Then, they send a truck to pick up our load. Our team prepares the load for shipment so it’s ready to go when the truck arrives. Once the aid reaches the overseas destination, GAiN’s consignee takes over the process in-country of clearing the aid and distributing it according to the agreed ministry plan.

GAiN: What has been your favorite GAiN trip?

Phil: Belarus

GAiN: How many countries have you traveled to?

Phil: Prior to working at GAiN, I have probably traveled to 50 or more countries. I have traveled to 5 countries on GAiN mission trips.

GAiN: What are you passionate about?

Phil: Serving Christ through evangelism and physical aid – exactly what GAiN does!

And now we live in the After Easter Weeks. We will attend a funeral soon. A friend is still hospitalized with cancer and another family is in the throes of confusion and sadness because their runaway daughter shows no sign of change.

Jesus walked and talked with his friends for over a month after His miraculous resurrection. With few exceptions, we are not privy to His words and actions. But because people and events then and now are remarkably similar, we know there were funerals, illnesses, and broken families.

What we are sure of is that Jesus spoke two profound words which overflowed with both hope and challenge: wait and go. His disciples and friends needed to wait for the promised Holy Spirit power and then go to a hungry, broken world with the resurrection message.

It is no different for us. Through grace and by faith we are filled with the Holy Spirit and we are commissioned to go. We live in the After Easter Weeks until He returns.

Marilyn Ehle

This is the thank you that was sent by Pastor Sergei Mansurov to the GAiN mission group that visited the area in January of this year. The group visited a society for people with physical disabilities. At first the Russian people were suspicious of the “foreign” guests. As time went on, they saw the generosity and care of the American guests which opened the Russian hearts to hear the Gospel.  At the end of their time together, the American friends were asked to come back and spend more time with the Russians.

The mission group also visited the “Overcoming” invalids club and a rehabilitation center for children. The residents were attentive to the Americans and happy to interact with them. A few of the people prayed to receive Christ.

“All participants of the meetings enjoyed their time indeed and will remember it for the rest of their lives. We will be looking forward to receiving the GAIN project again by God’s grace.”