Author: The Besom in Esher

This Christmas The Besom will again deliver hampers to families and individuals in the Elmbridge area who have received the Besom service over the past year. You can make a difference and help to bring God’s love into their homes. We are really encouraged by the many luxury christmas hampers that have been promised this week. There is still room for more offers so that none of our recipients will go without a fabulous blessing this christmas time. If you or your homegroup is interested, please contact hampers@besominesher.com by 10 November for full details.

It was great to enjoy fellowship today at our Annual Clergy Lunch with clergy from Holy Trinity Claygate, Esher Green Baptist Church, Christchurch Esher and St Mary’s East Molesey. The core team wanted to bless these wonderful pastors with a good lunch for all that they do to support the ministry of Besom in their churches.

“Thank you for coming today. You have made me feel much better” was a text message from a recipient receiving a washing machine and having it plumbed in (and her kitchen sink unblocked too!). The time-givers on our van team were able to bless another client with mental health and unemployment problems last Thursday. This week it will all be about Beds! Three different families will be receiving single, bunk bed and king-size beds.

Join us for an evening of celebration for all that has happened since we started operating 5 years ago. This will be chance for us to get together with our supporters and givers, to say thank you and to look forward to the next 5 years! Everyone is welcome to attend from 7.45pm on Friday 20th January at Refresh Cafe in East Molesey for drinks and nibbles. There is no charge but it would be helpful if people can please register so we know numbers, you can do this easily using the link below. We look forward to seeing you.

Friday 20th January 2017 – 7.45pm
Refresh Cafe
129 Walton Road, East Molesey, KT8 0DT

It’s a great time of year when all the Christmas Hampers are coming in ready to be delivered. Join us in praying for smooth deliveries, for everyone that has donated, our Time Givers who will be delivering them and especially that all the recipients will be blessed by receiving a hamper and know that they are loved this Christmas.

Our van is now back on the road after having a new alternator and tyre fitted so we’ve been out collecting and delivering again, including a run with some new Time Givers.

“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matt 5 v 16). This was in our weekly prayer meeting devotions, so please join us in praying for our volunteers this week that the recipients they meet will see Christ’s light shining in their actions and know that our heavenly Father sees and is able to meet their needs. Volunteers are painting a bedroom pink for two little girls this Thursday and a new Saturday morning van run is going out with time-givers from St Mary’s East Molesey.

Please also pray for timing:- that our van is diagnosed and repaired by the garage and collected so that the van run on Saturday can be planned tomorrow and take place!

We’ve had some great matches of items recently. One example was for the Syrian refugee family we’ve been helping. We have a wonderful Giver who has in past given many amazing items of new baby equipment, but as we have not had a request for baby items recently we had not been in touch with them for sometime. We were so delighted when just after the refugee family told us of their need for a pushchair that our wonderful Giver, who we had not spoken to for a year, called us out of the blue to offer us a new child’s pushchair! It was such a joy to deliver it to the family and it will be such a blessing to them.

Imagine a Christmas without presents, decorations, or lovely food, this is a reality for many local people today. You can make a difference and bring a bit of sparkle into homes that have so little. Again this Christmas The Besom in Esher will deliver Hampers to families and individuals in the Elmbridge and Chessington area that we have helped over the past year.

To find out how your church group can make a Christmas hamper to give through The Besom please get in touch with us by email at hampers@besominesher.com. Please respond by Friday 11 November if possible. Once we hear from you we will forward all the instructions on how to make and fill your hamper.  We will also invite you to join in and deliver the hampers in the early part of December as part of a small team.

We met and assessed another Syrian refugee family in Walton on Monday for furniture / household goods and were shown wonderful hospitality in a bare flat, drinking Arabic coffee cross-legged on the floor and chatting to them through an interpreter. Their young boy took great delight in taking the hand of our volunteer, Chris and giving him a guided tour of the rooms chattering away excitedly in Arabic!

We put on an extra van run this morning to deliver an amazing comfy sofa and their boy became an enthusiastic helper bringing in all the seat cushions from the van! Reflecting on the family’s assessment and circumstances, we were conscious of the need for some toys to keep this lively lad occupied in a bare flat in an isolated pocket of Walton, and although not asking anyone (as is our policy) we were amazed to be given a large box of Brio track/trains and a large floor puzzle along with the sofa! He was so excited by his gift!

Tomorrow we return again with bedding, wardrobes, toaster, kettle and kitchenwares, and we will continue to pray that we can show them God’s loving provision and kindness by their other furniture needs being donated to us in the coming week.