Growing up in the small town of Union, Mississippi, I began learning about missionaries as a preschool child in Sunbeams at First Baptist Church. We learned about the geography, customs, and needs of missionaries all over the world, including the USA.

 

We learned about missionaries like Mildred McWhorter, who developed a great missions ministry in downtown Houston from 1963-1992, and was a mega heroine in Girls Auxiliary. We often collected clothes, food, and supplies to send to the mission centers and some churches sent teams to her centers to help with Vacation Bible School, food distribution, and family emergencies. 

 

Another way our church supported missions in the United States was to encourage everyone in our church to give thirty pieces of silver to the Easter offering.

 
Yes, in the old days, dimes, quarters, half dollars and dollars were made of silver. We had offering cards we could slide our coins in and we would start saving up our money after Christmas. We, young and old, would line up at the foot of the cross and lay our cards there to thank Jesus for His love and help to share His love with others.

 
During my husband Mark’s pastorate, we started Girls Auxiliary and Royal Ambassadors in every church we served so that children could learn about other people and their need to know Jesus as their Savior. These children are now adults and many are carrying the torch that we passed on to them. 

 
God has given us many opportunities to share His love through such things as construction, well digging, sharing clean water kits, teaching sewing, and working with men and boys in camps to know Jesus and to share Him with others.

 
I am so thankful for church members at Trinity Baptist who give their time to share God’s love with children and encourage them how to share this love with others they may or may not know. I am thankful for our disaster relief groups who go wherever they are needed to show God’s love. I am thankful for individuals who share their time and resources to help missionaries in many different ways.

 
We are never too young or old to get on board the Mission’s train and join the Lord in His work.