Cookies for Prison Ministry

Today we made 30 dozen cookies for Kairos Prison Ministry. The cookies are going to be given to prisoners this week by this ministry as they hold an Emmaeus type weekend. We had a few girls over to help us bake the cookies. The idea is to pray for the prisoners as you make the cookies so we started off by praying as a group and then split into teams. Rachel, Alaina W. ,and Abby made oatmeal cookies, Sarah and Hannah T. made peanut butter, Anna, Emma W. and Lydia T. made chocolate chip, and Leah, Charity T., and Benjamin made sugar cookies. We had stations set up around the kitchen for all the different teams, and a no-man's land in the middle for the ingredients everyone would need. We also had a little bell that we would ring every once in a while to pray for the prisoners and keep us in the right spirit of the whole thing. When we started, Mama read this passage from Matthew 25: 34-40: "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, `Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.'
"Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, `Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothed You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison and come to You?' and the King will answer and say to them, `Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, My brethren, you did it to Me.'"

So we really wanted the spirit of the whole thing to be prayerful and focused on ministering to the prisoners. Also, we had been asked to make 36 handwritten notes for them. That meant about 4 for most of us. We wrote favorite Bible verses and verses from hymns, and decorated the cards with markers, crayons, and gel pens. Every time a batch of cookies was finished baking one of the girls from the team would ring the bell and pray for prisoners, guards and chaplains. Mrs. T. had the good idea to pick a certain name like"John" or "Daniel" and pray for all the men of that name who would be ministered to this weekend. Although, it was a focused time, we still had a lot of fun working together to make all those cookies! We started a 10:00, and didn't stop baking until 2:30! We sort of ate lunch on the fly, and then cleaned up! Boy, there were a lot of dishes!
After everything was cleaned up, and we were all thoroughly tired, we got Daniel (who'd been running the chipper with Benjamin) to help us play volleyball. Each team won 1 game, so of course we had to play a tie-breaker. And Sarah's team won! Rachel would like to think that the reason her team lost was because the the sun was in their eyes, but unfortunately, the sun was behind a cloud all through the last game. ;)
It was a really blessed time and we hope to repeat it soon. There were a lot of extra cookies so that each family got a dozen of each kind to take home!
Well, that's been our day and Sarah's gonna have to fix dinner soon, so we'd best go!