Bridgeway Christian Church

BridgeBuilder’s  Report 

Mission trip to

 “Gleaning for the Hungry,” a YWAM ministry

from Jim Durden

Location: Sultana, CA,  Ph. (559) 591 5009,  e-mail -  www.gleanings.org  

Directors: Rick and Lynn O’Dwyer

Dates: February 14 to 20, 2010

BridgeBuilder Team:  Diane and Dick Bussani               Pinky and Dennis Hordyk

                                    Becky and Glen Cardaronella               Enid and Phil Smith

                                    Marge and Jim Durden             Loretta and Ken Walker

                                    Nancy and Dennis Gilman

This was the most dedicated, hardworking, skilled and gifted team I have ever been with on a similar trip. They are a wonderful fun loving, caring group filled with love and unity; one that truly listened with their eyes and saw through their hearts.

Fourteen members of Bridgeway Christian Church, BridgeBuilders (50 PLUS Ministry) went to Sultana, across the street from Dinuba, North of Visalia, and South of Fresno, CA last week to serve the Lord by laboring at “Gleaning for the Hungry.” “Gleanings” is a ministry of YWAM with the mission of preparing and sending food to the most impoverished areas in the world. The food comes from the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys and is procured by the old Biblical concept of “gleaning” that which would be wasted or left to rot in the fields. They primarily glean fruits and vegetables but also process other food products from donating industries that are overages or those near expiration. We participated in processing soup mixes, building maintenance, repairing drying trays for the summer fruit season, landscaping, painting, quilting and kitchen/office duty with 3 other church groups and individuals (~60 volunteers) from across the USA and Canada. (Eh)

 The most exciting time each day was everyone gathering for corporate worship where we sang, prayed for each other, prayed for the people on the field, prayed for the containers filled with food, prayed for the recipients, heard from the director of YWAM, Port au Prince (Earthquake relief both medical and food,) heard answers to prayer, and testimonies of God’s grace in transforming the lives of recipients. The unity and fellowship was almost unbelievable considering we had several different denominations and two, who were of the Muslim religion, who came to see the humanitarian relief effort (they told of experiencing God’s love through his people.) It was an awesome experience to gather around a truck with a container loaded with one million servings of food bound for the poorest of the poor in the world. We had the privilege of praying it out the gate four times during the week: one to Sierra Leone, one to Haiti and two to Guatemala.

At the end of the week, with many muscle aches in new places, there was not only a great sense of accomplishment but joy in our hearts over doing something significant that would be used to save lives physically and tell the good news of God’s love to a hurting world.

Accomplishments of the group:

                         - Processed 2,174,000 servings of soup mix (two ship containers on  

                           their way to Haiti.

                        - Reconstructed 600 to 800 wooden drying trays for the fruit season.

                        - Gardening/landscaping 10 missionary housing units and area fencing

                        - Painted trellises and storage facility.

                        - Made six quilts to go to Eastern Europe.

                        - Kitchen/housekeeping/office duty (peeling potatoes, cleaning toilets,                               stuffing 5700 mailings…..)

We were so desirous of doing this again we scheduled reservations in the year 2011 and 2012 to return with a group.

Some new dates to calendar:

                        - Prior to July, 2010   - BridgeBuilders to provide a fund raising dinner                             using the soup mix for the High School’s trip to “Gleanings.”

                        - July 18-24, 2010  - High School @ Gleanings w/20 students and a                                minimum of 4 sponsors – (Fruit processing)   

                        - January to March, 2011  - Construction of 10-Plex Building (Individual                                      skilled workers)

                        - October 23-29, 2011  - Reservation for 20 people (Trail mix processing)

                        - March  11-17, 2012  - Reservation for 30 people ( Soup mix processing)

 After seeing the photos of destruction in Haiti, the make-shift clinic where they used amputation as the only means of saving lives, YWAM‘s people sleeping in tents on the Police Station’s collapsed roof and then the very malnourished children in Guatemala (the largest number at ages 0 to 4 in Latin America) we were not only sad but also glad to be a small part of bringing relief to a few. Thank God for the ministry of “Gleanings” and their concern for the downtrodden and poor.