Catch Up on Past Thanksgiving Stories
Have a Thanksgiving Story you would like to share? We want to hear!
Email your stories to stories@ficmla.com We look forward to hearing from you!
God Hears You Any Where...
Friday, September 25, 2009
by David Kleinknecht Shut-in Delivery
Last years Thanksgiving Celebration (2008), Steve and I were delivering meals to shut-ins and those who were living in motels. We had visited a family living in a motel where we met Marie and her daughters having a snack on the floor. She told us about how her husband had lost his union contracted job and they subsequently lost everything--being evicted from their home and losing their car.
As we asked where her husband was she said that he was taking a bath and as we were about to pray before we left, we heard a voice booming from the bathroom, "Hey, is the pastor there?" We said "no" and that we were there dropping off some food. He then yelled, "Are we going to pray?" And we yelled back "Yes...do you want to start?"
So from the bathtub and never seeing him, he led us in prayer, confessing his trust in God for every provision for him and his young family.
St. John's Primitive
San Bernardino
Nov 27, 2010
What a blessed time was had by all. When I arrived to the church in San Bernardino I was met by people waiting to not only be served but also waiting to serve. As we began setting up all the food, I and one of our youth drove to a nearby park to let the people know dinner was now ready. The people began to come. One by one, groups of five, then in droves. One man told us there were a group of homeless men not too far away. I and one of the brothers drove to the area and made the men aware of the prepared Thanksgiving Dinner. Some came but others did not because they did not want to lose their spot when night fall came.
As we drove the neighborhood getting the word out, we passed a man who said he had just finished serving dinner at the nearby Salvation Army and that their were those who did not get to eat. I drove to the Salvation Army and there were men women and children. Within a few minutes our church was filled to capacity with hungry bellies and souls. As the people broke bread one man asked, Pastor will you be sharing the gospel. I really need to hear a word from the Lord. I got on the microphone and shared the love of Christ. I then asked my husband Elder Roberts to share and the people gladly heard and received the word of God. After Elder Roberts spoke I gave the call to come to Christ quoting the dynamite scripture Romans (T N T) 10:9 & 10. The people lined up for prayer for their souls, for their babies and for their deliverence. One man along with his wife and son asked if we had sleeping bags, stating they sleep in their car. We had none at the church so one of our members went home and returned with 3 of her own and gave to them. One 14 year old boy had only one pair of socks and that he'd worn for months. At the church we had none so again one of our members went and got socks for him.
The stories go on and on but I'll make my way to a close with food reviews. This is the moistest turkey ever. This dressing is the bomb. This gravy sho nuf know it's good. Wow dessert too!
Pastor Joe, Sister Gwen, Sister Susan, year after year you bless our church and our community. So many months we struggle to pay the rent at our church and by the end of the year we have what seems like very little left but, through your kindness to us we are able to provide hope to so many. One last thing. People passed by in a car and saw we were serving dinner. They got out of the car and said we want to make a donation to your church. They opened their trunk and took out a large container of coffee creamer and a 12 cup coffee maker. All I could do was rejoice. We serve breakfast every Sunday morning and on last Sunday we ran out of creamer and also the people had to wait for long periods of time for coffee. Now God has blessed us with what we need, creamer and another pot simply because we were busy doing what God instructed us to do and he made it possible through your blessing us. To God Be the Glory Great Things he has Done!
From Bud Skibitzke
A summary of our FICM Thanksgiving day:
Home Bound deliveries
Nov 30, 2010
1. Elizabeth and I were joined by the Campos family from our church (Julio & Georgina as well as their daughter Judy) as well as another lady from our church (Pischa) and her daughter (Cheyenne). A friend and classmate of Judy Campos' (Marisol), from college also joined us. This was great opportunity as an outreach to Marisol, who is not a Christian, to see what the love of Jesus does in motivating others from a variety of backgrounds to reach out to others who are less fortunate. Given the size of our combined group, we traveled in tandem in two cars.
2. The list of shut-ins, that was to be our guide as to where to deliver meals, never arrived. Not a problem! It turned out that there were missed deliveries to two of the church feeding centers which, because of our availability and having two cars, we were able to carry out. And . . . One of these churches had Gwynn's mother and sister waiting for their food!!!
Elizabeth stayed behind to help Gwynn try to make contact with the person who had our delivery list but no luck. However, God had a plan already in place (no surprise). On our way back from the delivery to the two churches, Elizabeth called me to let me know that two people had made contact with FICM requesting a meal to be delivered; one in the Baldwin Hills area and one in downtown L.A. on the 6th floor of an SRO converted hotel on Spring Street. We all rallied together back at FICM and found that there were still quite a few wrapped meals that were available for delivery . . . to somewhere!
3. After delivering the meal to Baldwin Hills, we decided that we had an abundance of meals to hand out and there were plenty of market parking lots with guards between Baldwin Hills and downtown L.A. We stopped in three of them, found the guards, and were able to bless them with something they otherwise would not have had. All were both greatly surprised and effusively appreciative. One of the guards was familiar with FICM and was even more touched by this gesture of providing him with a Thanksgiving meal that he would not have otherwise had.
4. In addition to the guards, we found a few homeless people near these markets which we were also able to give meals to and let them know about FICM. On our way to downtown, we passed by a street corner where four Hispanic day laborers were gathered, waiting for work, not knowing that Thanksgiving was a holiday that kept potential employers off the street. Julio, who has been involved with ministry outreach to Hispanics, was able to express to them, in Spanish, how the meals we provided them were a blessing from God. The look on the faces of these four men as we pulled up along side them in two SUV's filled with gringos, Asians, and Hispanics, was, at first, a bit intimidating to them. Somehow we didn't fit the image of La Migra but . . . who were these people?!!!!!!!! Once they understood our purpose, their demeanor changed from fear to humble appreciation. This little interlude was certainly a blessing to me.
5. We finally arrived at the Spring Street SRO where Elizabeth and all the young ladies, as well as Julio, carried up the meal to a very elderly Hispanic lady who had no family, virtually no friends with whom she could spend Thanksgiving, was an invalid who needed a walker to move around, and who lived in fear because of the drug dealing that went on in this SRO. It's my guess that this visitation by four young ladies and a man, three of whom spoke Spanish, was possibly the highlight of her year. Her desire for companionship kept this group in her room for quite some time while the three of us who stood guarding the cars in a red curbed area on Spring Street patiently waited. No LAPD but . . . an ambulance DID pull in behind us to transport somebody in this SRO to a hospital. I was relieved when our delivery group returned to our illegally parked cars and let us know that it was NOT the lady to whom they had just visited that the ambulance was for!
6. We still had three meals left in the back of my car. On the way to the SRO lady, we had seen a young man holding up a sign on the island at the 6th Street on-ramp to the freeway and Figueroa, identifying himself as a Christian who was in need but we couldn't stop for him because of the traffic behind us. Upon leaving the SRO lady, we decided to try to find a way to park somewhere near this young man and give him a meal. As we wound our way through the almost-deserted downtown streets, we found another young man, alone, at a bus stop where we were waiting for the stoplight to turn green. He, also, was surprised when these two cars, stopped at the stop light, disgorged one of their passengers to reach in the back of my car and hand him a Thanksgiving meal and give him a "God bless you!".
There was a bus turn-out just north of the 6th and Figueroa intersection where we parked our two cars. Once again, our four brave young ladies grabbed a meal from my car and found the young man with the "Christian" sign still standing at his previous location but, because of cars racing toward the freeway on-ramp, couldn't get to the man who was standing on an island in the middle of the street. As it turned out, another homeless man was on the corner closest to this island. The girls asked this man if he could carry this meal through the traffic to the young man on the island. He agreed. We had one meal left: It went to the brave homeless man who dodged cars to carry the meal to the man on the island.
7. As the girls returned to our two cars, the rest of us were standing on the sidewalk, waiting for them. When the girls joined us, we all gathered around to close our day in prayer, there along a sparsely travelled and rapidly cooling Figueroa Street.
As I think about our group and the close of our Thanksgiving day, there along Figueroa, I wonder what the long term impact of this day will be on Marisol, the non-Christian friend of Judy Campos. I request we keep her in prayer. I wouldn't be surprised if I see her at our church on of these Sunday's.
Blessings,
-Bud
