Last week I accompanied a young woman to an appointment. We were early and so decided to have an ice-cream. She was so happy, and told me that she’d not had an ice-cream ‘outside’ in five years. She’d been little more than a servant in her marital home, but things have changed and now she is able to enjoy being outside!
On Tuesday of this week Jan spent ages trying to help a young man access his wages – which were now on a card, but he couldn’t pass the security to validate the card with his most recent salary amount, which he didn’t have. Finally on Wednesday he was able to get the information he needed, passed security and was a very happy young man. He said to Dougie “I’ll buy you a coffee!”
Yesterday Jaan was helping a young family who were in deep distress – I happened to be in the same office. Jaan did an amazing job of helping the young woman work through her anxiety. Later I said to the woman “Our Injil (gospel) says that we are not to worry about tomorrow, as each day has enough trouble of its own.” We discussed how at times we worry about things but actually we have no idea how they are going to turn out! I then asked her “so what is your worry for today?” She was silent for a few seconds, looked at me, smiled and said “honestly since I’ve been in here I feel my worries have gone and I just feel hope and peace!” I laughed, hugged her and said “I think your worry for today is “what am I going to give those kids for their dinner?” She burst out laughing and said “that’s exactly what I was thinking!”
There you go it’s just another week in The Well . . . if there’s such a thing! But we’ve got a real and urgent problem! These stories can only happen because of our dedicated team of wonderful volunteers, but we don’t have enough volunteers to cover all the shifts at the minute. Recently three of our volunteers moved away, or have family commitments and are no longer available, so we’ve lost cover for SIX shifts! Whilst the rest of the team has been willing to fill in the gaps as they can, that is not sustainable and for the first time in over 24 years we are looking at having to temporarily reduce the number of advice sessions, at the same time as the needs are growing.
Please pray about this and ask God to send us the right volunteers to fill in the gaps.
But it’s not just in the advice part that we’re struggling:-( Bubbles – our mother and toddler group – currently has no volunteers to work with Penny in the new session. No volunteers, means no Bubbles! The priority for Bubbles is the relationships that are built with the women and we know from the comments they make, that this is a vital service and part of our work – so another urgent prayer request for you!
Please get in touch if you want more information, or feel this might be for you!
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