Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth figured out a great way to make the good times last.

Peggy Smith, Andi Morgan, Eva Moreira, and Esther Rodriguez led children at the church over the past several weeks in assembling, painting, and personalizing their own bookcases. The children's enthusiasm mounted each week, reaching a fevered pitch last night when they applied finishing touches and, finally, got to take them home.

"They kept asking, 'When do we get to take our bookcases home?' and talked about where they would put them," Esther said. "They were excited and looked forward to coming back each week."

While the children were busy creating, and dreaming about the books that would soon sit on the shelves, their parents were learning to speak English in the church's twice-weekly ESL program. Director Walter Krueger said the adult students come from Mexico, Cuba, Korea, and China. Last night they dismissed early so parents could help their children select books to fill up their Literacy Connexus book bags.

For several years the good people of First Baptist Church, Georgetown, have built and painted bookcases and collected books as a part of their FirstSERVES Day. This year they built 100 and have made 90 available for use through the Literacy Connexus Books for the Border project. Ten will go to one of their adopted schools. They also collected 450 books!

Sounds like a ready made mission trip to me. For more information, please contact Literacy Connexus.

What are you waiting for? First come, first served . . .

Thank you Charlotte Watson (minister of missions) and First Baptist Church, Georgetown.