Answered Prayers and Other Bright Spots at Redwood Convalescent

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Our Redwood Convalescent team has been visiting Ms. B in her room to put on a mini-worship service for her. Ms. B has been praying that Redwood would hire a new activity coordinator who could organize the residents to be taken out of their rooms on Sunday; then, we’d be able to have a full Sunday worship service for more of the residents. Recently, Ms. B’s prayer got answered! Redwood hired a new activity coordinator who is Christian and wants to help our team. This past Sunday, the activity coordinator made sure that the residents were taken out of their rooms, and Redwood Convalescent had its first larger Sunday service in a long time. 

Another recent blessing is that one of the Christian nurses lets us know which Redwood residents have not yet responded to the gospel. As a result, we now know additional residents we should reach out. Hopefullly, these non-Christian residents can respond to the gospel before they pass away.

Our team hasn’t been able to communicate well with one of the grandmas, Ms. M. Recently, one of our team members realized that Ms. M speaks Portuguese. This team member herself speaks Spanish and has started talking in Spanish to Ms. M. While the languages have some differences, we’re happy that our team can now better communicate with Ms. M!

Getting to OHWC Sunday Service

There is a OHWC resident named Ms. K who really appreciates that we come every week to hold Sunday service. She keeps all the handouts and hymn bulletins. Every week, she loudly sings along with the hymns and mulls and marvels over the lyrics afterward. Ms. K usually stays in the main room until we leave after the service. She recognizes that we are giving up our time to be there with the residents. 

One week, Ms. K was not at our service. The next week, she explained that the nurses hadn’t been able to help her get ready to come into the main room for the service. So the following week, Ms. K asked the nurses to help her get ready early so that she could make it to Sunday service. When our team saw her, she said, “I was so early to the service. I’ve been waiting for almost an hour. But that’s okay because then I can wait with expectation for the service!”

“After This Life, I’m Going Home!”

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At OHWC, one of our sisters gave a message on Isaiah 40 about how true strength and peace comes from the Lord. Throughout the message, a new resident named Mr. R kept agreeing with a loud “Amen!” During the portion of the message in which we presented the gospel, he said, “He saved us!” Afterwards, he told one of our staff that he was thankful for the message and that it was timely because he has Lou Gehrig’s disease. He said, “I have Lou Gehrig’s disease, but I’m not afraid. Because I know that after this life, I’m going home! In Heaven, every knee shall bow before God, and I will be able to bow on my knees.” The staff felt so encouraged and challenged by Mr. R. Even though he is relatively young and has this disease, Mr. R had such a grateful and joyful attitude about life.

Treasuring God’s Word

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Every Sunday, Ms. B from San Leandro Healthcare always asks us to bring the sermon transcript. At 94, Ms. B often forgets what the message was about, but she wants to stay connected with God. She’s also memorized Psalm 23 so that she can recite it whenever she feels upset or worried, and Ms. B knows that God will speak to her through the verses. 

Singing Hymns at OHWC

Photo by Michael Maasen on Unsplash

Ms. R from OHWC has been coming faithfully each Sunday for service and is usually awake. However, she dozed off this week during the message because her medication made her drowsy. But when we began to sing hymns, she started singing with her eyes closed! Ms. R had memorized all these hymns through the years so that, even when she was not fully awake, she knew it was time to sing when she heard the music. It was so neat to see. One of our sisters felt challenged to also memorize hymns so that, when she reaches Ms. R’s age, she can also keep singing and being encouraged by hymns.

Salvation Decision at Jones Convalescent Hospital

Photo by Michael Maasen on Unsplash

Ms. S’s memory has been declining. She is a professing Christian, but, at one visit, she told us that she was not a Christian and that she didn’t believe in God. After that conversation, one of our sisters regularly talked with her about sin and the cross. Ms. S eventually agreed that she was a sinner but didn’t see that she needed God’s forgiveness. When they talked about the message on True Rest, Ms. S told our sister staff that she wanted her soul to rest in the right place after she dies. They went through the gospel, and she admitted she is a sinner who needs God’s forgiveness. Ms. S now has hope of heaven!

Worship Service at Bay View

This year we resumed in-person service at Bay View Rehabilitation Hospital. We were so happy to see some of the residents who used to come to our service regularly before Covid. There’s something about sitting next to them, singing hymns together, talking about their week in-person, that really brightened up their faces during our time there. We also couldn’t help noticing that some of the familiar faces, who used to come with their loud singing voices, are no longer here. But we are thankful for the assurance that they are with God in heaven, and that we will one day see them again.

Christmas Gifts Deliveries!

Needless to say, 2020 wasn’t easy for any of us. But it’s even harder for the very vulnerable population - the elderlies in nursing homes and long-term facilities. As many of them were already lonely before the pandemic, Covid had made it even worse as many times, they had to be isolated in their rooms for weeks. This Christmas, in the Bay Area, we put together 500+ care packages and Christmas cards and delivered them to all the residents in every ECM home. We wanted to remind them that they are not forgotten, that God sees them and loves them very much.

We also wanted to express our appreciation to all the nursing staff for working hard, and putting their own health at risk, to care for the residents. So our team also put together and delivered yummy care packages to all the nursing staff to bring them encouragement and good cheer.

Served With Love (Meals for Care Staff)

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic we believe that God’s call to love nursing home residents and staff is more important than ever. Elderly residents have a higher risk of catching COVID-19, and nursing home staff are working harder than ever to keep our friends and family safe. Since they continue to give so much, our team wanted to give the caretakers our thanks, and some good food. Over the last week we have given over 607 meals to 12 nursing homes in Oakland, Alameda, and Castro Valley. Please join us as we continue pray for the health of caregivers and residents, as well as the end of this pandemic.

Want to connect? Check out our Facebook post!

Packing Food for the Community

This past Thursday our team members met up at Garfield Elementary to pack lunches for families and community members hit hardest by the coronavirus. We are teaming up with Oakland Unified School District to pack meals every Thursday while there is still a need. In times like these we are thankful to be able to support the community, and are glad for the opportunity to help even in the small things.