Sunday, May 29, 2011

Original idea list.....

Lori,

I have attached a list of gift suggestions.  You may want to add items that are not on the list and that is fine.  Be creative.  We get make bags, coin purses, pocketbooks, book marks, etc. 

Please make sure the items are new and of good quality.
There are plenty of dollar type stores that the survivors shop at.

Thank you for blessing the Survivors.

Nancy Kurtz

List for Survivor gifts:
1.       Lap robes (small blankets to cover the lap and legs
2      Multi Vitamins and Vitamin C (MUST NOT be expired or about to expire)
3.       Arthritis cream (external creams, no internal meds)
4.       Warm socks (size large and larger; loose around ankle if possible)
5.       Band Aids, gauze bandaging, sensitive skin tape
6.       Antibacterial for wounds like Neosporin or similar
7.       Hot water bottle
8.       Winter scarves  and gloves (both men and women)
9.       Soap (deodorant, something that smells good)
10.   Small perfume for women
11.   Aftershave for men
12.   Lotions
13.   Slippers (men and women)
14.   Notepads and pens
             15.       Kitchen items like dishtowels, washcloths, oven mitts and hot pads
16.       Small stuffed animals.
17.     Sugar-free candies
18.      Small fancy cups/glasses/small wooden bowl  (I had three, filled them with                      candies and wrapped in tissue paper.  Makes a nice gift.)
19.       Tissue paper and narrow ribbon to tie up gifts
20.       Paper gift bags (small 6”), med (8”) and large (12”)  (sizes approximate)
21.       Shawls
22.       Small photo albums
23.       Small stuffed animals
24.   Candy dish (prefer crystal)
25.   Vases (prefer crystal)
26.  Table cloths/ table runner
27.  Doilies
28.  Nice decorative hankies for the ladies, traditional ones for the men.
29.  Votive holders / battery operated candles
30.  Yarns for knitting or crocheting/ needles as well.

Gifts for Holocaust survivors!

Eric and I will be allowed four , fifty pound suitcases on the airplane and have been asked to fill two of those with gifts for the holocaust survivors. We think we can fill three and still have room for what we need while in Israel. A list of suggested gifts was sent to me, but I was told to use my imagination! I prayed as I browsed stores asking the Lord what would older ladies really like to have? Well, the next morning the Lord answered my prayers with one word, "Lipstick." lol The most unusual answer to prayer I have ever had! lol  As I pondered this thought, I remembered Pat Hutchinson, a friend from church, who is a Mary Kay Consultant. All women like to feel beautiful regardless of age, so I contacted Pat to discuss having an on-line Mary Kay party for the survivors. Pat was elated and said she would donate any profits and also contact other consultants for donations. Here is her email with info about participating-

Hi Lori,
It was wonderful speaking with you this morning! What an oppotunity you have to minister and bless these people. I will be praying for you. Thank you for involving me and Mary Kay in this venture, not sure you know this but Mary Kay is a christian based business. Our founder Mary Kay Ash was a devout christian and built the company on principles from the Bible. My National Sales Director is a Christian Jewish woman, who I know will be elated about your mission. Her family is not christian.

Here is a list of some things older women like : lipsticks, lotions, body washes, hand creams, face creams, nail polish, satin hands, pedicure sets.

My Mary Kay website is www.marykay.com/phutchinson1, and my Mary Kay email address isphutchinson1@marykay.com.

God Bless you.
Pat


If you would like to participate in this "party", you can order from Pat's website or to avoid registering can email her directly. We will be visiting men, too who like to smell good and could use lotions, so do not forget about them!
Be sure to let her know your order is for the holocaust survivors. :) 

Eighteen days until I leave for Israel. So blessed to know God desires to use me. :) My church (Grace Community Church in Pensacola ) gave me a vote of confidence this week by giving a financial offering towards our trip. We did not ask for this, but they insisted we fill out the app so they could do this. God is good. We did not try to raise funds, so our Lord did it for us. :) How good is He?!

I also want to especially thank Cheryl Garmong, Susan White and Linda Mellon...my biggest encourager's in this adventure. :)

Individuals from church have begun donating items from the "list" sent to me for the survivors. Linda Mellon set up a display with the list in the church foyer and had this announced from the pulpit last weekend. I had no idea she was doing this. I guess God knows I have been busy teaching, so He raised the funds for our trip and touched the hearts of people to help put this mission trip together. I feel so blessed. I love you Jesus. :)

Monday, May 16, 2011

Well, here it is!

Some have asked me to start a blog to share this coming summer's work in Israel... so here it is. :) I still have to figure out how to add photos, etc. Those of you who know me, know I am kind of a dummy when it comes to technology, but I am learning!

Why the title?

Isaiah 40 states "Comfort , comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received double for her sins." Then Isaiah goes on to reveal the coming of John the Baptist to prepare the way of the Lord.

Three ministries will be sharing us (Me and Eric, my youngest son) and all three endeavor to comfort the people of Israel. We will be giving humanitarian aid to holocaust survivors, renovating bomb shelters to protect those in harm's way and praying for the handicapped and orphans and whatever else we can do.

The holocaust survivors are in their late 60's and beyond. Many of these precious people saw their families murdered and or tortured when they were just children. Some were "specimens" for medical experiments. Others have no idea what happened to their families. Many of these atrocities were committed in the name of Christianity. Pray for open hearts. Pray for wisdom. I cannot fathom the experiences of these people.
Israel is under constant threat of war so renovation of bomb shelters is an urgent need.
We will be helping in many ways so hopefully this blog will record God's work in progress. :)

Why a heart for Israel? Because God has a heart for Israel. If any of you have a rebellious child, you've had a glimpse of God's father heart and how it must ache. Guess my heart wants to help God's heart ache a little less. :) Loving, comforting and giving hope to others doesn't take specialized training...just a yielded heart.


Romans 11

The Remnant of Israel
 1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”[a]? 4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”[b] 5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
 7 What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, 8as it is written:
   “God gave them a spirit of stupor,
   eyes that could not see
   and ears that could not hear,
to this very day.”[c]
 9 And David says:
   “May their table become a snare and a trap,
   a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
   and their backs be bent forever.”[d]
Ingrafted Branches
 11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!
 13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
 17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
 22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
All Israel Will Be Saved
 25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way[e] all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
   “The deliverer will come from Zion;
   he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is[f] my covenant with them
   when I take away their sins.”[g]
 28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now[h] receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. 32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.