Monday, April 14, 2008

An Evening of Adventure!

This past Friday evening my friend Joanne and I went on an adventure! It all started last Monday when we planned to get together at her place while our husbands were at our church's monthly men's fellowship. Friday morning she called to ask me what I would like to do during our visit. We almost always take some time to play our favourite game, Scrabble, so I was pretty sure we'd be able to fit that in but we both agreed we wanted to do something else, maybe on an outreach level.

So on my way over to her place I made a quick stop at our local garden center and purchased four packs of beautiful pansies. The cashier was kind enough to wrap each one individually and offered me my choice of gift cards as well.


Now, Joanne lives in a very large apartment building and there are a few ladies that she has been wanting to get better acquainted with. So our plan was to make our way to their apartments, deliver our floral gift complete with encouraging message and bring a few smiles to her neighbors.

We made three visits in all. The first lady was very sweet. When D. opened the door her face quickly lit up and she immediately invited us in. Introductions were made and then we presented her with the flowers. It was evident by the light in her eyes that she was surprised! As we sat on her sofa we chatted about many things - family, her many knick-knacks, etc. We even spent some time praying and reading some scriptures together. I discovered she hardly ever goes out and even her groceries are delivered to her apartment. After spending about 30 minutes with her we said our goodbyes and moved on to our next "mission target."

After taking the elevator up to the fourth floor, we found the right apartment and knocked on L.'s door. Joanne had met her in the community laundry room a few days earlier so she quickly recognized her. Initially she said she couldn't invite us in because she had company so we presented her with the gift of pansies. She almost couldn't believe it! She even reached out and gave me a big hug - now I was surprised! All of a sudden we were invited in to meet her son and granddaughter. After a brief greeting, we agreed to return at a more convenient time.

Finally we headed back down to to the second floor and knocked on J's door. This was a lady who had visited our church a few months before so we both were already acquainted with her. Immediately she shared how she'd been laid off of work and was feeling a bit depressed because of her financial situation. After about 10 minutes of friendly chatting we left our gift of pansies and said our "goodbyes."

After arriving back at Joanne's we both agreed our mission couldn't have turned out better. It was such a fun way to spend an evening - bringing smiles with just a simple pansie packet! Plus we got to finish our evening together with a great game of Scrabble!

As we have therefore opportunity,
let us do good unto all [men],
especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
Galatians 6:10

Blessings,
Jessica

2 comments:

Nancy M. said...

thank you for your prayers.

Mrs. Julie Fink said...

What a beautiful idea! I'm going to have to copy it and do likewise!