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Community Stories: Bastrop South

Every week until the end of the year we will be sharing stories from each of our six communities. Each of our communities serve anyone who stops by, but we have noticed that at each site similar stories start to pop up. We see God using our volunteers and those that come to grow and build relationships with those in Christ. Here are just a few of the stories from our oldest location, Bastrop South.

BASTROP SOUTH serves on average 240+ meals every Monday at Primera Baptist Church. We also serve alongside of Hope House, which is an addiction program for women. This site serves a lot of homeless people and addicts. Sharing the love of Christ has helped many that attend get through tough times.

 

TINA

Tina was searching for more. She struggled with alcohol addiction and was at a very low time in her life. She knew she wanted to be involved in ministry to some capacity, but wasn’t sure how to get there because of her alcoholism. While searching for this “more” she found herself drinking more and more and feeling sorry for herself, she knew she was being disobedient to Christ.

Tina made a phone call to Hope House, reaching out for help. She completed their program in six months, and during her time at Hope House she came to serve with Feed the Need Missions. “Serving in the community helped me because it’s a place that I learned how to serve even when serving was hard. I use to be scared to talk about Jesus and now I feel more comfortable sharing the gospel with people. I didn’t feel adequate enough. Drinking messes with your head and doesn’t allow you to do the things you want to do.”

Tina would serve on the line at Feed the Need and was very quiet and shy. She was angry about her situation and embarrassed to be there. She was worried about what others around her would think. Then she realized she wasn’t the only one that felt the way she was. She said, “it’s a great place to come and get out of yourself to be able to love on others. It’s also given me the opportunity to have my kids come down and serve and learn more about Jesus. He can see what others are going through.” Tina’s son is 9 years old.

Through Tina’s struggles she finds peace serving others. It brings healing to her and it’s been helping her stay sober. “People struggle in life. But my struggle isn’t any different than anyone else’s. When I serve I’m reminded I’m not alone and I can serve at a place that allows me to be there.”

 

BRENDA

“I have volunteered for different ministries and food pantries throughout my life. I actually gave up on serving because of the way I was treated. I was a little skeptical about coming to Feed the Need Missions, but I came and you guys are so loving and treat everyone the way you would want to be treated. I come to be served and to serve,” said Brenda from our Bastrop South location.

Brenda can relate to a lot of those who we serve because of the struggles that she endured in her upbringing and the path she chose to head down. She recently graduated from Hope House, a women’s program for addiction. “I’ve made bad choices in my life. But Feed the Need is a good choice. This is a place of healing. And to be mistered to and to minister to others.”

 

DONATE NOW

This is the kind of difference you are making when you give to support our communities.  With your help, Feed the Need Missions will continue to provide a safe place people like Tina and Brenda can gather for a hot meal each week, a place where you see the love of Christ in action.

Can you help Feed the Need Missions continue serving each week by making a generous contribution of $25, $50, or $100 today? And if you give by the end of the year, thanks to a generous matching gift, your donation will be DOUBLED—up to $12,000—to make an even larger impact in the lives of so many people in our communities.

So don’t delay, give today so you can DOUBLE your gift and help even more people like Mike experience unconditional love.

 

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Mike’s Story

Mike was brought up going to church and accepted Christ at 9 years old. He struggled as a teenager trying to live his life the way his parents wanted him to live. He began to hang out with people who he thought he could trust, but ended up doing drugs and alcohol. Once you start it’s never easy to quit, especially when you have a void in your heart like Mike did.

Mike has been married multiple times and when those didn’t work out, his addictions got even deeper and he became an alcoholic. He lost his wives and children because of his bad choices. He felt defeated, lost and lonely. “I wanted to commit suicide. I felt like a failure in so many ways. I was trapped.”

Mike heard about Feed the Need Missions and finally had enough courage to visit the Bastrop South site. It was a day that he was feeling the lowest in his life, and truly contemplating suicide. He was looking for a place to get connected, to have relationships, to build friendships. “When I arrived at the site I thought no one was going to allow me to serve. I thought I was unworthy to do anything. All I could hear in my head was a bunch of people telling me I was worthless and was never going to be accepted.”

When Mike arrived that evening, he walked up to the table where the food was served with his head down.  A volunteer asked him if he was there for a burger, and while he was, he also explained that he would like to serve. Without hesitation the volunteer accepted him with open arms and showed him the ropes on where he could jump in.

“It was that easy, show up and start serving,” Mike said. He served for the hour and then stayed for the bible study. “It was something I needed.”

Mike kept coming back every week. He would eat a meal and serve anywhere he could. Slowly his confidence started building, he was beginning to find his self-worth again.

After a few months, Mike went out of town for a couple of weeks. The second week of not being at our weekly community he received a phone call from a volunteer checking in to make sure he was okay.

“Never had I felt what unconditional love was before until that moment. When I hung up the phone letting them know I would be back the following week I started weeping. Someone truly and genuinely cared about me. I threw my hands up in the air, and I said, ‘thank you Jesus, you are real.’”

Mike found a place where he was accepted for who he was, “I now have a new family. Never in my life have I had true transformation and know what Christ’s love truly is. If it wasn’t for Feed the Need Missions and the people serving, I am not sure where I would be. I found purpose again. And now I can share my story with others, as before I couldn’t.”

For Mike, Feed the Need Missions is much more than a burger, it’s about being part of Christ’s family and seeing it’s life-changing transformation.

“Lives will be changed because of what I went through. Just like your story can impact others too.”

 

DONATE NOW

This is the kind of difference you are making when you give to support our communities.  With your help, Feed the Need Missions will continue to provide a safe place people like Mike can gather for a hot meal each week, a place where you see the love of Christ in action.

Can you help Feed the Need Missions continue serving each week by making a generous contribution of $25, $50, or $100 today? And if you give by the end of the year, thanks to a generous matching gift, your donation will be DOUBLED—up to $12,000—to make an even larger impact in the lives of so many people in our communities.

So don’t delay, give today so you can DOUBLE your gift and help even more people like Mike experience unconditional love.

 

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Meet A Volunteer: Lynn

Lynn Martin and her husband Mike Martin have been married for 49 years. They were both born in Houston and spent the majority of their years there. They moved to Bastrop four years ago following God’s will. Lynn is a retired school teacher and has been teaching the Bible to children for many years.

Here is what Lynn says about Feed the Need Missions, “I heard about Feed the Need Missions from our current church. Feed the Need is so much more than a burger. I am blessed with the ability to visit, minister and pray with those we serve. They bless me more than I could bless anyone. But most importantly I find such joy to pray with someone.”

Children have always had an impact on Lynn’s heart. Being a children’s Bible teacher she has heard many stories, and children know how to pull her heart strings. When children come to Feed the Need and tell her that they are needing a burger for their lunch, Lynn’s gratitude is weak at it’s best. Lynn said, “I love that God’s abundant love exceeds my expectations, goals or thoughts. Who knew that our blessings could come for a little burger – maybe a hot dog too.”

Lynn has been serving with Feed the Need Missions for four years and helps lead the line to serve food.

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Thanksgiving Happenings

This year, Feed the Need Missions is partnering with individuals, churches and local businesses to help provide 600 Thanksgiving meals to families in our communities. Each boxed meals will include a frozen turkey and sides that families can prepare at home on Thanksgiving Day, and we need your help to make it a success!

If you would like to donate, please drop off the following non-perishable food items to any of our drop off locations listed here. Be sure to note the food donations are for “Feed the Need Thanksgiving Meals.”

  • Instant Mashed Potatoes
  • Canned Green Beans
  • Canned Corn
  • Instant Stuffing
  • Packets of Gravy
  • Canned Cranberry Sauce
  • Canned Sweet Potatoes
  • Nonperishable Dessert Kits (ex. cake mix with icing, brownies, cookie mix)

We also need financial donations for frozen turkeys as we will be purchasing these in bulk. Simply donate here and write “frozen turkey” in the comments section of the donation form.

Download printable pdf flyer

Donation Drop-off Locations:

  • Living Room Bookstore
  • Bastrop YMCA
  • Bastrop Christian Church
  • Bastrop Church of Christ
  • Bastrop First
  • Bastrop Christian Outreach Center
  • Good Sheperd Lutheran Church, Bastrop
  • Celebration
  • First Baptist Church, Giddings
  • Primera Baptist Church

Thanksgiving Boxed Dinner Giveaway Dates

If you or a family is in need of a Thanksgiving Dinner Giveaway Box, please register at any of our Feed the Need locations. It is important that you register so we know how many meals are needed. Deadline for registration is November 6th. 

BASTROP:

Saturday, November 18, 2017 from 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Primera Baptist Church
301 Paul C Bell St. Bastrop, Texas 78602

SMITHVILLE:

Sunday, November 19, 2017 from 5:00-6:00 PM

Hearts Chapel
206 Prima St. Smithville, Texas 78957

GIDDINGS:

Sunday, November 19, 2017 from 5:00-6:00 PM

Giddings Food Pantry
190 N Harris Giddings, Texas 78942

STONY POINT:

Monday, November 20 from 5:30-6:30 PM

Stony Point Park
121 Stony Creek Dr. Del Valle, Texas 78617

 

 

If you are interested in volunteering at one of these locations for the giveaway please email Christy Beyer at christy.beyer@feedtheneed.org.

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Prayer Request: A New Place to Live

A few years ago Mission U-Too helped a local guy, Allen, get into a trailer. You might have heard his story before, but we wanted to give you a little update on his current needs.

Allen was homeless living on the streets of Bastrop. His story is a bit unique because Allen doesn’t have a drug or alcohol issue. He was on the streets because his adopted mother and father had passed away, and Allen wasn’t able to inherit the house that was left for him. Allen was taken care of by his adopted parents because of his disabilities. He was left to fend for himself and made a bed wherever he could find a place to rest his head.

He came to Mission U-Too hungry and angry. As we started building a relationship with him, we taught him how to budget, helped him find his identity, and did much research on finding him a trailer. Allen was able to buy his own trailer with his saved money. The trailer was an old FEMA trailer that is now no longer livable. Recently he’s been staying in a motel or at a friend’s house. We are currently looking into resources and other places/trailers that he can afford and get the help and assistance he needs for long term.

If you could be so kind and pray with us for a new place for Allen to live, and that we as a community can come together with resources that would get him the help that he needs. As we pray for Allen remember this verse: “Greater love has no one that this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.” (John 15:13) Help us get the help that Allen needs!

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Meet a Volunteer: Al

Al was born in a little town of south Texas where he was raised as a migrant worker. He moved to Bastrop, Texas at the age of 13 and graduated from Bastrop High School. He joined the Air Force right out of high school and served our country. When he completed his time he moved back to the area and married his wife, Debbie. Al retired from the Travis County police force after 22 years, and 2 1/2 years with the State of Texas. 

Al heard about Mission U-Too from a friend  who asked him to come and serve with him. It’s now been 2 years since Al has been serving. He went to the Bastrop North site and helped out with serving on the line and saw a really important need to reach out to folks. He said, “I had no idea what ‘Mission Youtube’ was or did. I fell in love with the needs to serve the community I was raised in.” For a while until Al became familiar with Mission U-Too’s name, he would call the ministry ‘Mission Youtube,’ as some still do. 

Al is currently serving at two sites. He’s a Site Coordinator at our Stony Point location and is currently filling in at our Bastrop North site. Al served our country well, and is now serving his community well.

Al was a bit optimistic about serving at the Stony Point site, but, unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy since he knew many of those who he serves in the capacity of a police officer. But because of the people’s change of heart in Stony Point, they are now building a trust with Al.

What stirs Al’s heart at the site is the look on some of the folks faces that come through the line. Especially the children and their excitement to know someone is cooking a hot meal for them. He mentioned, “Some of the ‘grown ups,’ the look of despair replaced by a smile, a handshake or a small prayer and being able to walk away with a little help without any questions is a beautiful sight. It’s a different atmosphere every week.”

“Mission U-Too has made me understand and realize how blessed I am. It has allowed me to share what little I have with a group of individuals that genuinely care about the community of Bastrop and Stony Point and to see the need to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Savior.” Al is continuing to learn what it means to spread the gospel and carrying out the Great Commission. Al share’s John 3:16 with those he serves “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” We should never stop understanding that God gave His only begotten Son so we may have everlasting life.  We only give of our time for Mission U-Too…He gave His Son.

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Meet a Volunteer: Ed

Ed Burns family moved to the Bastrop area in October of 2015. Their first contact with Mission U-Too was when the youth from their church did an outreach at the Linden street location (Bastrop North) which coincided with a Mission U-Too service.

About 4 months later, Jonah Beyer, the Mission U-Too President, came and shared at Ed’s church the vision and how Mission U-Too works. “During that 4 months, I had been spending time considering where my outreach was – and I felt that Mission U-Too was what I needed to get out of my comfortable surroundings and make a difference,” Ed said.

He’s been serving with Mission U-Too for a about a year now. Along the way, his family started joining him.

Here is what Ed said about how Mission U-Too has impacted his family, “I love how the impact goes beyond a weekly impact. We regularly run into the people we have the privilege to serve at the grocery store or around town. It’s not food distribution – it’s reaching out to people and building a relationship with them. Sometimes it’s a conversation, and sometimes it’s the opportunity to pray with someone, and sometimes it’s even more… We’ve enjoyed sporting events where kids we’ve met through Mission U-Too compete or we’ve been invited to their birthday parties. And that doesn’t even include how dear our friends who serve with us have become – extra members of our family.”

Come be a part of Mission U-Too and make a difference, not just in the community but for you personally. “Through Christ inside of each one of us, we can reach out and touch others, no matter how different they are from us. He can make a connection even though we are inadequate to do that ourselves,” Ed mentioned.

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Extra Help in the Summer

As some of you may already know this familiar face and some may not, this is Cyndi. She lives in Bastrop, Texas and sometimes serves with us at two of our sites.

During the summer the need of food is much greater for this single mom of 3 girls living at home. Cyndi’s girls get fed lunches at school and sometimes breakfast. Now that school is almost out and funds are limited, it gets harder to feed a full meal.

“I’m blessed by Mission U-Too and you guys always being there,” Cyndi recently said. “It’s comforting to know where our next meal will come from. There are weeks that I have to go to two or maybe three of your sites to be able to feed my family.”

Cyndi is one of many families that looks forward to a hot meal. With the summer months approaching and school coming to an end, Mission U-Too increases the amount of meals that are being served, while, many times, giving goes down during the summer months.

We are in need of more funds to be able to support more families, especially on a monthly basis. Can you help and commit to giving monthly and help us be sure to continue serving families like Cyndi’s?

And could you also be in prayer for Cyndi’s family? Cyndi just had her third brain surgery to relieve pressure build up in her spine and brain. She had complications with the surgery and is still on bed rest so she can fully heal. Mission U-Too volunteers have been taking hamburgers to her every Monday to help feed her and her family.

Thank you for making a difference.

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Meet A Volunteer: Larry

Larry White has been a resident of Bastrop since 2001. In Bastrop, Larry served on committees at churches and had gone on short term mission trips. Struggling with his walk in Christ he was searching for more.

On Halloween 2010, a local pastor friend encouraged Larry to visit a Mission U-Too site in Bastrop that we held at the Lumberyard. Larry was hungry physically and spiritually with little money and was looking for food and fellowship. Before his first encounter with Mission U- Too, Larry said, “I saw the free burger signs and was too prideful to come, until someone close to me recommended it.”

Not long after he came, he started serving with Mission U-Too during the 2011 fires. Shortly after that he had a massive heart attack. During his recovery Mission U-Too moved locations to Primera Baptist Church. Today Larry is the Site Coordinator for this location.

“I intended this to be short term mission, and I’m still serving. My end point of serving is when Jesus returns. Mission U-Too has changed my life! It has helped me be more serious about Christianity,” Larry said. Now he doesn’t deny his salvation and he’s growing through the ministry. “Mission U-Too is a part of who I am. It’s helped me become bolder and not scared to talk to people about Christ anymore. It’s not about me or being comfortable, it’s about what Christ wanted me to do.”

A verse that Larry relies on is “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

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Missed Opportunities and Second Chances

A mentor of mine once told me that it is important to document what you are feeling and to take a journal and write down what God is doing in your heart. And then saturate the experience in prayer as you walk alongside God and those with whom you are serving. Then share it. So I am going to share with you a story that has been penetrating in my heart for exactly one year..

A married couple with 4 children needed help. They searched for help in the community and they received some assistance, but was needing more. They heard about Mission U-Too through friends and my boss, at the time, came to me about their needs. They had lost their house in a fire because of an electrical issue with their dryer, right before Christmas in 2015. My heart was broken as how to help. Fortunately, now for those that fear they may lose their house due to the same factor, keep in mind pages on what to do if your dryer caught on fire are all over the internet in hopes of saving your clothes dryer, and more importantly house.

I journaled February 2016: “I am a servant of Christ, a child of the Most High who is to fulfill a commitment on this earth; to spread the gospel showing Christ love in different ways depending on situations and circumstances. Help was given to this family by providing a week in a hotel, Christmas presents, clothes, and groceries. However, I missed the opportunity to pray with them because I allowed the language barrier to build a wall.”

After help was given I felt my purpose and motive was not pleasing to God. I had the opportunity to pray! I had the opportunity to share the gospel with 6 people. I had the opportunity to be a light in the darkness, and I failed.

Have you ever felt like that?

The Rodriquez family moved in with family after their hotel voucher was over, and started building their house with their own hands. I kept in contact with the family through Facebook and would reach out to them every few months.

Just a few days before Christmas in 2016 I was told by a local Pastor that the Rodriquez’s home was almost finished. I know some of you can relate to losing your home in a fire and the devastation of losing everything and having to rebuild your life again. I then reached out again and asked what I could do to help. Diana, the mother, sent me a list of items that they needed and I started praying through the list.

Within a few days God sent His deliverer. A Bastrop family wanted to bless a family during Christmas, so I mentioned the Rodriquez family and their needs. It was a MATCH! Gifts were given from a local Pastor…pillows, towels and a microwave. Plus money for a washer and dryer, curtains and other household items were given. I gathered all the things and went to visit the family.

I pulled up to their little trailer size home with 3 bedrooms, 1 bath and a kitchen. No living space and they were content, blessed and satisfied with the work that was put into their tiny home. Emotions were expressed by her and I. We cried together, laughed together, and we PRAYED together. I knew just enough Spanglish for her to understand. That was my opportunity friends! I shared the gospel with her and the heart behind Mission U-Too. I spent 3 hours with her unpacking her new gifts and talking, while Jordan, my son, played outside with the children.

God presents opportunities. Sometimes we miss the opportunity and sometimes we don’t. Don’t miss the opportunity that Christ has for you. I almost did, but with His great planning, my journaling, and pursuing the Great Commission, I had another opportunity that God trusted me with. Diana is a believer. Her husband is also a believer, and a few of her children are as well.

2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” I was blessed abundantly and the Rodriquez family, because of OUR commitment to Christ.

You can do the same. Choosing a service opportunity can be daunting, but if you think about it, you have passions that will help drive this decision. God has blessed you with gifts that will lead your decision and will encourage you along the way. Trust in your passions, gifts and, most of all, God. And He will lead you to an experience that will change your life.

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