What do you think of when you hear “Fourth of July”? Fireworks? Parades? Carnivals? Picnics? Heat? Of course, it is almost always hot on the Fourth of July and so much of the time is spent with a refreshing drink in your hand or on your way to get something to drink.

The Lutheran Laymen’s Leagues of St. John, Seward, and Our Redeemer, Staplehurst, used the opportunity God gave them at the Seward Fourth of July celebration to reach 3,000 people with the gift of free water and “the water of life.”

The LLLers who helped hand out the 3,000 bottles of water that day also had the opportunity to experience the effects of witnessing as they told people who offered donations to instead “do an act of kindness for a stranger,” and watched as they walked away reading the imprinted labels on the bottles, “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” (Rev. 22:17)

Members of the two groups spent part of July 3 placing labels on the 3,000 bottles of donated water. They were there again on the 4^th to hand out the 3,000 bottles in less than three hours.

With this ministry event’s success this year, they hope to be able to build on it for the next year as their goal for 2005 will be 5,000 bottles.