Watching it leave the Building

April was a very busy month for us.  We were able to send out a container of clothing and office chairs to Operation Mobilization .  The clothing will be used in Peru.  We are very thankful for the many groups, churches, and individuals that help sort, box and move the 880 boxes of clothing.  We are especially thankful to the youth group from New Covenant Community Church in Weyers Cave for all their hard work loading the truck and packing the items.

     ETS was able to send volunteer Dave Synder to the TECH (Technical Exchange for Christian Health) conference held at Samaritan's Purse in Boone, North Carolina.  Dave came back with lots of good information and enthusiasm.

      We have been blessed with volunteer groups from Blue Ridge Christian school, the “Fun Bunch”  and 20 people from Blue Ridge Christian Church for their “Compassion in Action” outreach week. They were able to sort OTC (over the counter) medications, box coats, linens, shoes and blankets and do baby bundles as well as our seasonal clothing.

       It’s always an exciting time to see the works of our hands leave the building going out to “Equip the Saints.”       

Hooray for Volunteers!

     ETS loves our volunteers.  The majority of our work is done by volunteers.  Imagine our delight to have a group of adults and college students who gave up their spring break to travel to Virginia to help us.

    Savannah Christian Late Church and collegeAGE group helped us recycle computers, sort books, clothing, Christian literature, researched items on the computer, take pictures of Ebay items that needed listing and even helped create a new logo, Facebook page and volunteer recruitment video.   The group stayed in our building and camped out for 3 days.  We made sure they got to taste some of our Mennonite delicacies as well as Ethiopian food in a local restaurant

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     We also appreciated Laurel Hills Baptist Church women’s group that made a considerable dent in our sorted used clothing bins.  As well as the 20 youths from Calvary Baptist Church Staunton that shifted gears from a roofing project and helped us move clothing boxes, vitamins, and worked in our warehouse. The inclement weather didn’t dampen their spirit and they blessed us with their enthusiasm and hard work.

The ETS STAFF

Prayer Requests:

· Please pray about  the visit of a  potential  staff family for ETS later this month.

· Please pray for a reliable vendor to produce our children’s  vitamins.

· Continue to pray for various vehicles we need to sell.

 

ETS on the Move

No, ETS isn't moving but we did move out over 36,000 pounds of clothing, books, beds and medical supplies last month with the help of the Liberty Christian Boys Brigade of Maryland. The boys and their leaders drove down Friday night and we started loading the 53 foot tractor trailer at 9 AM Saturday Morning.

The tractor trailer was provided by Jezreel International, a faith based 501 C humanitarian aid organization based in New York. Jezreel International was started in 1996 as a response to seeing the dire straits of the poor in the former Soviet Union.

Currently they have shipped desperately needed medical and hospital supplies, food, clothing, personal care and hygiene products, toys, new shoes and sneakers to Israel and over 30 nations in need. In addition, they also have been a resource for area rescue shelters for battered women, drug addicts and alcoholics, pro-life pregnancy centers, inner-city ministries and veterans relief organizations. To find out more information about this ministry check out their website http//www.jezreelinternational.org/.

We wish to thank all the many groups of volunteers that gave so freely of their time to sort, box, and move the 1177 boxes of clothing and coats that were donated to this ministry. It was wonderful to see them loaded and then to have the opportunity to pray over the container and its contents before it was driven away.

We rely on our volunteers to help us meet the needs of missionaries world wide. If your youth group, small group, Bible study, civic group, church group or families are interested in volunteering for a Saturday or on a regular basis we would welcome your call to set up a specific time. Thank you for your time, prayers, and funding.

The ETS Staff

Give Thanks to the Lord!

November is traditionally the month for us, as a nation, to stop and give thanks for the bounty of the harvest. As Christians it is a time to stop and reflect on God's goodness and to give God the honor and glory He deserves. We have been blessed at ETS with 20 years of serving missionaries worldwide. From the humble start of an overfilled basement in Keith Jones' home, to our current buildings and storage buildings in Weyers Cave, God has always been faithful to provide for His children.

We rejoice to report that ETS was able to send Ragaee A. Danial $8,612 to purchase a 2004 Daewoo Lanos. The vehicle will be used to transport children to his evangelism festivals and to help transport teachers to the villages. ETS has never been able to raise this large amount before and we praise the Lord for each of you who gave so generously.

We also rejoice to report that the Missionary Resource Directory has been updated and installed on the ETS website. Many hours of research went into the Directory as 90% of it had changed since its last updating. Many thanks to Margaret and Jerry Baron from Tomoka Christian Church in Ormond Beach, Florida for their endless persistence and tenacity in seeing to its completion. It is our hope that the ministries represented will be able to assist countless missionaries and ministries in proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ.

We were also blessed by a group from Savannah Christian "Late Church". They helped us fill a container of summer clothing for Nicaragua as well as loading a truck for a container going to Liberia. While the boys loaded the 992 boxes of clothing, the girls were feverishly packing them for loading.

We are a staff of 5 people so our volunteers are our life blood and enable us to accomplish the things we do for our missionaries. We want to thank you, whether you have volunteered your time, your talent, your money or your prayers, they are greatly appreciated and we have been blessed. Thank you. The ETS Staff

Volunteers Swarm ETS

If you came by our building this past month, you would have seen a swarm of activity going on. ETS was blessed by various youth groups that participated in Massanetta Springs Middle School conferences. Each day the camp would send out groups to various ministries and outreach centers. We had youth groups from Blacksburg, Virginia, Rockville, Maryland, Wake Forest, North Carolina, Falls Church, Virginia, Newtown, Pennsylvania and Massanetta, Virginia.

The groups labeled 7 pallets of children's chewable vitamins, loaded 550 boxes of winter clothing and shoes into a truck for GAiN (Global Aid Network), boxed and sorted hundreds of pounds of used clothing and shoes, weeded, painted, sorted computer parts, moved older computers from the basement, moved stacking chairs into storage, took apart cribs and palletized them and helped unload our trucks.

ETS appreciates our volunteers and we work hard to give a good experience to each group that comes. We literally worked for days making sure that we had all the supplies we needed, enough clothing sorted to get each group started, and people available to supervise each work group.

Our only casualty was a pair of sneakers that belonged to one of the girls who had been packing boxes of shoes. Most teen-age girls love shoes, and in the mayhem of trying all of them on, her own pair got packed! We let her pick out any pair she wanted and thanked her for her donation (which will probably end up in Central Asia). We would love to have one of our missionary friends send her a thank you note “from the donated shoes” saying, “Having a wonderful time in (whatever country) . Thanks for letting me have this mission experience. Your former sneakers!

“Thank you to all our volunteers. We depend on you!

The ETS Staff

Massanutten Presbyterian Church

Thanks to the Massanutten Presbyterian Church for their outreach day. The group worked in a Soup Kitchen, the Salvation Army, at ETS, and did home repairs through out the community. We appreciate the help of all our volunteer.