by: Ivy Laing

Mrs. Dot looked at me with her huge smile and said “it’s really just about being a missionary in your own neighborhood.” And in that moment God spoke loud and clear.

God wants to be glorified in every single thing we do, every single place that we go, with every single conversation that we have. He desires for us to be missionaries, He actually commands us to be missionaries.  Serving with Mission Change at the Albany Rescue Mission did just that. It glorified our Jesus. Whether we were sorting through old books at the thrift store or worshiping with them at chapel or sitting with them at lunch listening to their stories- it was all in an effort to make Him famous, to make Him known in our very own city.

I was introduced to a whole table full of men who adored Mrs. Dot and that also exclaimed that she was indeed a missionary to those around her. She told me that even though she was going through a valley right now that even the little things she had were His and she had to give them back to Him. She was so full of joy and hope. That’s how all of us should live. Giving it all away, even if that means it is such a small amount.

I have to admit that the people I met at the Albany Rescue Mission are some of the greatest, funniest, sweetest people ever. They remember your face and want to know your story. They have peace in the midst of trials. And they have a ton of knock-knock jokes they cannot wait to share. It’s all about relationships. We can never really help people until they trust us. Go love on some people!

Serving with Mission Change I have learned this: something small goes a long way. A smile, a short conversation, a high-five…simple things to us can make such a huge impact. It’s like it is a little glimpse into our Daddy’s heart.

At the end of the day it’s about loving others more than we love ourselves. So GO into your neighborhood and change it. GO into your city. GO into the world.  Just make a difference.

written by: Volunteer Kathy Lee of Leesburg, GA

Children will receive handmade blankets in the area...

This is the journey of me being Noah and the people that sleep in boxes. To me, “Being Noah” is stepping out and doing something that you are unsure of what the final result will be. Noah had no idea what rain was, but God said, “Build an ark,” and he did. Mission Change is the group of people who sleep in boxes to bring awareness about homeless people in the Albany, Georgia, area.

Our granddaughter’s birthday is in November, and they had moved to Richmond, Virginia, in March of 2010. For her 2nd birthday, I wanted to make a blanket for her bed so that her Mamaw and Granddaddy could be there with her every night when she went to sleep. My husband and I went to the fabric store. There were fleece blanket kits that you could buy that had two pieces of fleece in them, one a pattern and one solid. I picked out a pretty pink butterfly kit, and had planned to use the two pieces together. Our granddaughter was 4 lbs 4 ozs when she was born even though she was full term. My husband started calling her “tadpole” then. While we were at the fabric store, he saw a kit with frogs and wanted me to use the butterfly and the frog fleece and not use the solid pinks that came with the kits. I did as he asked, but I was left with two pieces of solid pink fleece. Since our granddaughter had just started going to day care, I made her a small blanket to take with her out of the solid pink. It had pink satin binding and I had scalloped the edges.

When we got back from Richmond, the pink fleece was sitting there in my office/sewing room. I got the feeling that I was supposed to make blankets out of the rest of it, so I did. They all had pink satin binding and scalloped edges. Once the pink ones were made, I got the feeling that there needed to be boy blankets too. So off to the fabric store I went and got some gray fleece and some satin binding with the characters from “Cars” on it. Because I was making these blankets for some child, I wanted them to be made as if they were going to our granddaughter. They all got satin binding and pinked, hemmed edges.

When I went to buy the gray fleece, the lady at the store asked who I was making blankets for. I told her I didn’t know, that I was just told to make blankets. She and several other ladies there I think thought I had lost my mind. I just explained that I was doing as I was led.

My husband would ask me occasionally, “What are you going to do with those blankets?” My response was always, “I’m not sure.” A friend and I were talking one day and she asked too, and I gave her the same response. We were talking about God leading us to do things, and that I would know when the time was right as to what to do with them. During that conversation is when I said, “I’m being Noah.” I was comfortable with them sitting there clean and folded for even a year if that’s what it took to find the right place for them.

When I had finished the pink ones and was led to do the gray ones, I got the impression that they needed to go to the group of folks who slept in boxes, but it was December and our daughter and her family were coming in from Richmond and then I had lots of work to do throughout January, so I never pursued finding out who the group was that slept in boxes. I never felt an urgency to find out either. I made phone calls trying to find out if the blankets were needed by a couple of groups, and either I didn’t get to talk to anyone or they didn’t have a need. Then one day on Facebook, I saw some photographs that had been taken by Peacefotos at a Mission Change function in January. Her photographs always intrigue me, so I looked and followed the link to Mission Change. They were the people that slept in boxes! God had led me to the group in His own time.

I sent a very cryptic message to Mission Change via Facebook, asking if they were the people that slept in boxes. I’m pretty sure they also thought I had lost my mind. When I talked to LaDonna on the phone after that Facebook message, I had the most perfect sense of peace about these blankets. I just know God will see that the children who need to be warm and comforted will receive them.

I just want to say that I am not an overly religious person. I believe in God and I try to live a good life. I’ve done things before like doing laundry for folks during the 1994 flood, baking cookies to send to a friend when he was stationed overseas, and donating clothes and food and shampoo. I’ve always tried to let my girls and the other kids who I kept know that we were blessed and that we needed to do what we could to help others, and they helped with these things. My favorite church song is “Follow Me”. Part of one of the verses is, “If just a cup of water I place within your hand, then just a cup of water is all that I demand.” God has given me so much more than a cup of water, so I will give more back.

Please listen to that little voice when it tells you to do something, be Noah. Someone will be blessed because you listened.