At Mission Joplin, one of our personal shoppers (volunteers who help those in need) got to help Mary get some things she needed. She told him that when the tornado was nearly on her house, she got two pillows and headed for the bathtub. She said that she was never afraid and was completely at peace because God had told her that she was going to be ok. Mary said a complete feeling of peace came over her. As she was lying in the bathtub with the pillows over her, something very heavy fell over the pillows and completely protected her. She suffered not a scratch! Her house was totally destroyed.

Of course not everyone was spared. But for…

A friend who works as a ranger in Denali National Park in Alaska hand-made a scarf and some gloves for us to give away at Mission Joplin! (They understand how miserable it is to be COLD up north!) 

Here I am modeling the scarf at Mission Joplin in our baby section.

We have a food section, also. Someone will really enjoy these gloves without fingers.

We give away sheets and other household goods at our mission.  Here I am with some mittens for kids.  One pair has a cord to keep them from getting lost.

Here I am in the furniture…

One of our volunteers told me this story: “I had the privilege to “shop” with Tasha at Mission Joplin three weeks after the tornado. She had just gotten out of the hospital and was in a wheelchair. She needed household items and food. She and her husband had just pulled into the parking lot at St. John’s Hospital in Joplin when the tornado hit. The hospital was destroyed. The tornado picked up her car and flung it across the parking lot. Her husband got out of the car and pulled her out the back window and then he was killed trying to help an elderly couple get to safety. We prayed with Tasha and she was so appreciative and humble. …

Stores are promoting their after Christmas sales. At Mission Joplin we’ve decided to offer the same special deals we had before Christmas: everything is FREE!  If you are like most people, you got at least a few things for Christmas that you don’t want or need. The feeling of getting stuff like that isn’t nearly as good as when you help someone with a real need in the name of Jesus. Jesus was right. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” 

We need volunteers galore as most of our out-of-town groups are busy with holiday activities. We especially need personal shoppers. We will have families come by tomorrow (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) who were hoping to…

The Wise Men were almost certainly wealthy. They had means to travel a long distance and gave Jesus the gift of gold. The shepherds were probably very poor. Typical for that day was for the sheep to be owned by someone with land and money and the ones who watched them at night to be slaves or peasants. BOTH were invited to go and see Jesus. God loves the person who donates a truckload of food to ...Mission Joplin the same as He loves the people who depend on that food for Christmas dinner. Christmas reminds us that Jesus is for EVERYONE. If you are like the poor shepherds, come to Mission Joplin between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. and…

I was driving down Main Street today and when I got to the part where the tornado leveled everything I thought, “for so many in Joplin, this isn’t going to be an ideal Christmas.” Then my mind went back to a stable 2000 years ago when a poor teenage virgin gave birth to a son and had to use a feed trough for a cradle. The very first Christmas was anything but ideal. The good news is that because He came we never face hardship alone.  “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel—which means, God with us.” (Matt. 1:23) If you are struggling this Christmas, remember He is…