FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH - CARBONDALE, ILLINOIS
May, 2008 Newsletter
• FRANK KLINGBERG
July 23, 1908 -April 11, 2008
In sure and certain hope …
In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life,
through our Lord Jesus Christ …
The church family extends sympathy to Frank's family and friends
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. John 11:25-26
• BIBLE PRESENTATION
Bibles were presented to four children during worship on March 30. Ian Bennett was presented his Bible by his mother’s mother. She remembered having received her first Bible in her Presbyterian church. Ian was especially impressed with the colorful maps in the Bible. Katie Langin was presented her Bible by Kitty Trescott and her mother Serena. She had chosen the Book of Esther for her favorite Bible passage. Jacob Buys received his Bible from his parents. His sister Katrina was pleased to be included in the presentation. Allison Forsberg asked to have both of her grandmothers share in the presentation of her Bible.
It was a wonderful opportunity for the whole family to enjoy this time together. This has been a tradition of First Presbyterian Church to present “adult” Bibles to third graders. We celebrate sharing The Word with them and the entire congregation.
• CONFIRMATION
Robert Martens & Nick Owen will be confirmed at the Worship service on Sunday, May 11.
• CONGREGATIONAL CAREGIVER
The Personnel Ministry is pleased to announce that Rev. Bill Warner, Kathy Manfredi’s father, is serving as a congregational caregiver while Pastor Janice is on sabbatical. Rev. Warner may be contacting you to see if it all right for him to call on you. Neal and Judy found his visit to be both uplifting and enjoyable.
• COFFEE HOST VOLUNTEERS
If you’ve returned the flier to volunteer as coffee host, thank you! If you have not, please do so as soon as possible. We hope to prepare an advance schedule for hosting coffee after worship, and the more volunteers, the better. If you don’t have a partner, we will find one for you. Fill out a flier (in bulletins) and drop it off at the church office.
• ANNUAL MOTHER'S DAY TEA - SONGS YOU'VE HEARD BEFORE
Featuring Vocalist Peter Alexander
Sunday, May 11, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall. There will be a free will offering taken for the Women’s Center
• GRILL-OFF, SATURDAY, MAY 17, 4 - 7 PM
Show off your grilling abilities! Whether it’s ribs, steaks, brats, or burgers, bring your best recipe and join us for a grill competition. New Location: We’ll hold the grill-off at the church, so bring your grill, a dish to share, table service, and lawn chairs. Beverages will be provided.
Prizes will be awarded, and there will be games for non-cooks. You can fire up your grill at 4 p.m., and we’ll aim to have the meal around 5:30 p.m. or so. A sign-up sheet will be posted in the narthex so we know how many to expect. Invite your friends, neighbors, and co-workers!
• PRESBYTERIAN BAND
Bring your instruments for the introductory band practice. Monday, May 12 at 6:30 p.m. musicians of all ages and abilities will gather in Fellowship Hall. No one is too young; no one is too old. Like “The Music Man”, each person will be able to hear the music and help blend the sounds. Bart Trescott is the coordinator.
• GATEWAYS
Our children’s Sunday morning program will end the year with a rotation of activities focusing on “The Great Commission”. They will enjoy time together involving music, games, Bible study, art, drama, and the video, “The Three Trees”. It has been a year full of activities guiding the children through lessons from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Plans are already underway for next fall. The children will host Coffee Hour on Sunday, May 18 as their way of saying thank you to all of you who encouraged them and supported them throughout the year. They will be sure to give hugs and smiles to all of you and will try to show off what they had learned during the year.
Did you get over to the Carbondale Civic Center on April 12? Several items the Youth and children made were on display there for the day. Have you seen Abraham, Sarah, Joseph, and the others in the hallway outside of the Youth Room? Stop in to see them when you are in their neighborhood.
• JUNE 29 HAS BEEN DESIGNATED AS YOUTH SUNDAY
The children will participate in the worship service that morning. The Gateways children will provide some of the musical presentations. The will sing the songs they have been singing in Gateways. Mark that Sunday as a special one for the whole family.
• YOUTH GROUP NEWS
We will be getting together over the summer to help clean up, organize and paint the drama room at church, but no date as been set. The youth are also leading the worship service on June 29. We have three youth going to Montreat in June as well and, of course, many of them will attend Beyond Marketplace and Camp Carew over the summer.
• CAMP CAREW
Information about Camp Carew is available. Some has been sent directly to families from last year’s participation. As in the past, scholarships will be available to all the children of First Presbyterian Church who attend Camp Carew. Half the registration fee will be paid for each child, for one session. The applications for these scholarships are available in the church office or from any of the Faith Development Ministry member. Some of those sessions fill up quickly. The deadline for the applications is May 15. Get yours today.
• VIDEOS
Videos have been moved into the Youth Room, for your use. You are welcome to check out videos to take home. We invite you to donate to this collection.
• MARKETPLACE AND BEYOND MARKETPLACE
We have begun to make their plans for the week of July 7. The time has come to recruit all the help that is needed for these programs. Marketplace will need “mothers”, “shopkeepers”, “kitchen help”, “drama guides”, and many more. Sign up sheets will be in Fellowship Hall. Some items are needed for the projects being planned: small smooth sided drinking glasses and clean crushed egg shells are the first two. Help will be needed in preparing materials. Check the table in Fellowship Hall for things you might be able to cut, sort, fill, peel, clean, and more. Thanks.
Beginning in May, meetings will be held every Monday evening to take care of some of these things. We will usually meet in Fellowship Hall at 6:30 p.m to attend to the task for the evening. We always have a sociable time together as we work. The registration forms for both programs will be available soon. Children in grades Kindergarten through 5th grade (in the fall) will be part of the families of Marketplace. See Kitty Trescott for more information. Children in 6th grade through 8th grade (in the fall) will be involved with Beyond Marketplace. Check with Diane Cash about this program. Drivers will be needed to help transport youth to their mission projects.
• RESTAURANT GROUP
Tom and Carolyn Jefferson are the hosts for the May 15 restaurant group, and have selected Fratelli [Italian restaurant just this side of Carterville in the strip mall on the south side of Route 13]. The time will be 5:30 p.m. as usual, and if people will let us know their intentions a couple of days in advance it will be helpful. You can reach us at: tbjeff@neondsl.com or 457-5697.
• MAY FRIENDSHIP DAY
May Friendship Day is to be celebrated at the First Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall on May 2. Plant a seed of hospitality reap bouquets of friendship
10:30 a.m. - Rev. Kim Magwire
11:20 a.m. - Sack Lunch
12:15 p.m. - Celebration - Rev. Kathryn Graves
• FAITH DEVELOPMENT
May 4 - Following Peg Falcone’s presentation on SIRSS on April 27. We invite you in the May 4 session to react to the information given by Ms Falcone and to discuss your experiences with issues related to mental-health services, and the role that our congregation might take in assisting those in need of such services. David King will lead the class.
May 11 - Reviving Sister Aimee - Speaking of Faith Series
Twentieth-century Pentecostal evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson helped to popularize a charismatic faith that touched millions of people and now reaches an estimated half billion people. The eccentricity and integrity of Sister Aimee sheds light on some of the most confusing and powerful religious currents in our world today. Download can be found at: http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/sisteraimee/index.shtml or can be made available through the church office. Pat Manfredi will be guiding our conversations.
May 18 - Adult Enrichment: Review and Preview
Join us as we review our adult enrichment offerings from this last year, and discuss possibilities for the coming year. Pat Manfredi will guide our conversations.
• PRESCHOOL
The 4 year old Frogs went to the Southern Illinois Airport as part of their unit about transportation. Several parents drove the children and after the trip the group had a snack at the airport before coming back to school.
The next unit will be the Eric Carle art unit where the children make their own pictures of animals similar to Eric Carle’s art.
The Tadpoles and Polliwogs are having units about farm and communities with the Tadpoles taking a field trip to the Makanda Fire Department.
The scholarship dinner netted about $1300 for the scholarship fund. The paintings each class did were a big hit! Special thanks to the Junior High students for helping with the games … we really appreciated your effort!
• DAYCARE
March 28 was our fund raising activity, the St. Jude Bike-A-Thon and the children did very well. We raised $852.50 for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
April has been quiet, but the Three Year Old class and Preschool Class had a very nice field trip to the Eurma Hays Day Care Center on Friday, April 25 to listen to stories and meet new friends.
On May 2 the three year old children and the preschool children will be going to the SIU Farms for a field trip.
We invite all the mothers to join us for Mother’s Day Tea on Friday, May 9 at 3:15 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall.
Preschool graduation and our annual summer picnic will be Saturday, May 31 at Turley Park starting at 11:00 a.m.
• COMMUNITY DAY OF PRAYER BREAKFAST
On May 1, the Kiwanis Club of Carbondale will host the first Kiwanis Community Day of Prayer Breakfast at the Newman Catholic Student Center at 715 S. Washington St. in Carbondale.
Breakfast will be served at 7:00 a.m. and the program will follow from 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. Tickets are $10.00 and may be purchased at the door, from members of the Carbondale Kiwanis Club or by visiting the Club’s web-site at www.carbondalekiwanis.org.
Rev. Dr. James A. Gilchrist, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA will deliver the keynote address. The theme of this year’s commemoration is “Prayer, America’s Strength and Shield.”
• $11,271 TO FEED THE HUNGRY
Thanks to a tremendous effort by over 225 people, the thirty-fourth annual Church Women United World Hunger Sale raised $11,271 to feed hungry people. In addition to the workers, the sale involved at least eight pickup trucks and vans hauling in 45 tables (besides the 40 at the Newman Center), 27 clothes racks, 4 heavy shoe racks and lots of donated furniture. Three days later eight more trucks hauled all the leftovers to CWU’s Thrift Shop on N. Illinois and returned all the borrowed tables and racks to the churches and homes they came from.
In between, the Newman Center was a gracious and welcoming host to the Sale. The many volunteers cheerfully coped with whatever needed to be done, transforming the Center from a place of worship to a bustling marketplace and then back again.
On April 17 the members of Church Women United voted to divide the proceeds as follows:
ECHO - $400
Marion Medical Mission - $300
Heifer Project - $300
Bethel AME’s Feed My Sheep - $600
New Zion’s Summer Food - $600
Senior Citizens - $500
Women’s Center - $500
Eurma Hayes Day Care -$300
Attucks Tutorial - $300
“I Can Read” - $300
Guadalupe Fund - $300
Family Advocacy Program - $271
CROP - $2,200
UNICEF - $1,700
For Kids’ Sake - $200
Good Samaritan Ministries - $2,500
Many thanks to everyone who made all this possible!
• LETTER FROM THE TROESTERS
Dear friends,
Greetings from Central Africa! We have had quite an exciting Eastertide—Deborah had to have an emergency appendectomy on March 19. She is making a good recovery, after spending Easter in the Protestant Hospital at N’gaoundéré, Cameroon. God was good to us, in that everything worked out for her to receive the care she needed. Dr. Jim Mongé, of Duluth, Minnesota, an excellent surgeon, had arrived in Cameroon just two days before, and was able to do the surgery. Deborah wishes to thank Dr. Arroga, director of the hospital; Jean Baptiste and his team of nurses in the intensive care unit; and Dr. and Dr. Solofo here in Garoua-Boulaï, who diagnosed the problem. Thanks also to Jim and Karen Noss for their hospitality in N’gaoundéré.
During January and February we enjoyed the visits of folks from Michigan, North Dakota, and Texas. Rev. Paul Owens and several other members of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Alpena, Michigan were in Cameroon in January. Rev. Owens is a former professor at the Bible College in Garoua Boulaï, Cameroon, just down the street from our house. He and his parishioners came to visit the Bible College and other Lutheran supported institutions in Cameroon.
In February members of the Central African Republic’s Partner Synods traveled to the CAR for the dedication of the Women’s Center and a new church in Bouar. We traveled together with them to Bouar, where we were warmly welcomed by the President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in CAR (EELCAR), Rev. André Golike, and his colleagues. While there, Deborah had the privilege of preaching at the annual women’s conference of the EELCAR. She preached in French and the sermon was translated into Sangho, the local language. Joe was also present at the women’s conference, as one of his Central African co-workers, Josephine Oumarou, addressed the women on the need to use water from a clean source or to treat it before drinking it. Joe and his co- workers still have a lot of work to do regarding hygiene education. Many Central Africans do not know the importance of making sure their drinking water is clean.
Even though the women of Central Africa live in one of the poorest nations in the world, in an atmosphere of war and violence, it was inspiring to see how enthusiastically they sang, danced, and worshipped during the conference. We even enjoyed a humorous moment when one group presented a short skit, showing how we are all “sheep who have gone astray”—with some women acting as sheep and others with small sticks trying to guide the sheep onto the “straight and narrow way.”
Each region brought an offering to help defray costs of the conference. The total offering, from all over the country came to around $150, yet this represented a tremendous sacrifice on their part. This is a nation where people are living on less than $1 a day. According to U.N. statistics, the CAR is the fifth-poorest nation in the world.
Sadly, some churches from northern CAR were not represented at the conference, as they had disbanded, along with the entire village, due to violence in that region. Refugees from northern CAR continue to move south and west into Cameroon, in search of safety from bandits and rebels in this war-torn country.
We urge you to inform yourselves and your churches about what is going on in the Central African Republic, and to keep the people and the churches of that nation in your prayers. The violence and unrest is directly related to the problems in Darfur, Sudan, and Chad. Unfortunately governments in that region have been unable to stop the fighting and protect their own citizens from rebels and marauders.
Furthermore, the government of the CAR has not been able to pay its civil servants. This means that public schools are closed, public hospitals may not have doctors or nurses, and other government services have been curtailed. In this humanitarian crisis, church organizations and other NGO’s are often the only source of help. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is doing its part as we assist the ELCCAR, together with our Lutheran partners in Germany, Denmark, and elsewhere. It is important to continue to support ELCA efforts in the CAR. Contact Global Missions at the address below to find out how you can help.
May, 2008 Newsletter
• FRANK KLINGBERG
July 23, 1908 -April 11, 2008
In sure and certain hope …
In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life,
through our Lord Jesus Christ …
The church family extends sympathy to Frank's family and friends
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. John 11:25-26
• BIBLE PRESENTATION
Bibles were presented to four children during worship on March 30. Ian Bennett was presented his Bible by his mother’s mother. She remembered having received her first Bible in her Presbyterian church. Ian was especially impressed with the colorful maps in the Bible. Katie Langin was presented her Bible by Kitty Trescott and her mother Serena. She had chosen the Book of Esther for her favorite Bible passage. Jacob Buys received his Bible from his parents. His sister Katrina was pleased to be included in the presentation. Allison Forsberg asked to have both of her grandmothers share in the presentation of her Bible.
It was a wonderful opportunity for the whole family to enjoy this time together. This has been a tradition of First Presbyterian Church to present “adult” Bibles to third graders. We celebrate sharing The Word with them and the entire congregation.
• CONFIRMATION
Robert Martens & Nick Owen will be confirmed at the Worship service on Sunday, May 11.
• CONGREGATIONAL CAREGIVER
The Personnel Ministry is pleased to announce that Rev. Bill Warner, Kathy Manfredi’s father, is serving as a congregational caregiver while Pastor Janice is on sabbatical. Rev. Warner may be contacting you to see if it all right for him to call on you. Neal and Judy found his visit to be both uplifting and enjoyable.
• COFFEE HOST VOLUNTEERS
If you’ve returned the flier to volunteer as coffee host, thank you! If you have not, please do so as soon as possible. We hope to prepare an advance schedule for hosting coffee after worship, and the more volunteers, the better. If you don’t have a partner, we will find one for you. Fill out a flier (in bulletins) and drop it off at the church office.
• ANNUAL MOTHER'S DAY TEA - SONGS YOU'VE HEARD BEFORE
Featuring Vocalist Peter Alexander
Sunday, May 11, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall. There will be a free will offering taken for the Women’s Center
• GRILL-OFF, SATURDAY, MAY 17, 4 - 7 PM
Show off your grilling abilities! Whether it’s ribs, steaks, brats, or burgers, bring your best recipe and join us for a grill competition. New Location: We’ll hold the grill-off at the church, so bring your grill, a dish to share, table service, and lawn chairs. Beverages will be provided.
Prizes will be awarded, and there will be games for non-cooks. You can fire up your grill at 4 p.m., and we’ll aim to have the meal around 5:30 p.m. or so. A sign-up sheet will be posted in the narthex so we know how many to expect. Invite your friends, neighbors, and co-workers!
• PRESBYTERIAN BAND
Bring your instruments for the introductory band practice. Monday, May 12 at 6:30 p.m. musicians of all ages and abilities will gather in Fellowship Hall. No one is too young; no one is too old. Like “The Music Man”, each person will be able to hear the music and help blend the sounds. Bart Trescott is the coordinator.
• GATEWAYS
Our children’s Sunday morning program will end the year with a rotation of activities focusing on “The Great Commission”. They will enjoy time together involving music, games, Bible study, art, drama, and the video, “The Three Trees”. It has been a year full of activities guiding the children through lessons from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Plans are already underway for next fall. The children will host Coffee Hour on Sunday, May 18 as their way of saying thank you to all of you who encouraged them and supported them throughout the year. They will be sure to give hugs and smiles to all of you and will try to show off what they had learned during the year.
Did you get over to the Carbondale Civic Center on April 12? Several items the Youth and children made were on display there for the day. Have you seen Abraham, Sarah, Joseph, and the others in the hallway outside of the Youth Room? Stop in to see them when you are in their neighborhood.
• JUNE 29 HAS BEEN DESIGNATED AS YOUTH SUNDAY
The children will participate in the worship service that morning. The Gateways children will provide some of the musical presentations. The will sing the songs they have been singing in Gateways. Mark that Sunday as a special one for the whole family.
• YOUTH GROUP NEWS
We will be getting together over the summer to help clean up, organize and paint the drama room at church, but no date as been set. The youth are also leading the worship service on June 29. We have three youth going to Montreat in June as well and, of course, many of them will attend Beyond Marketplace and Camp Carew over the summer.
• CAMP CAREW
Information about Camp Carew is available. Some has been sent directly to families from last year’s participation. As in the past, scholarships will be available to all the children of First Presbyterian Church who attend Camp Carew. Half the registration fee will be paid for each child, for one session. The applications for these scholarships are available in the church office or from any of the Faith Development Ministry member. Some of those sessions fill up quickly. The deadline for the applications is May 15. Get yours today.
• VIDEOS
Videos have been moved into the Youth Room, for your use. You are welcome to check out videos to take home. We invite you to donate to this collection.
• MARKETPLACE AND BEYOND MARKETPLACE
We have begun to make their plans for the week of July 7. The time has come to recruit all the help that is needed for these programs. Marketplace will need “mothers”, “shopkeepers”, “kitchen help”, “drama guides”, and many more. Sign up sheets will be in Fellowship Hall. Some items are needed for the projects being planned: small smooth sided drinking glasses and clean crushed egg shells are the first two. Help will be needed in preparing materials. Check the table in Fellowship Hall for things you might be able to cut, sort, fill, peel, clean, and more. Thanks.
Beginning in May, meetings will be held every Monday evening to take care of some of these things. We will usually meet in Fellowship Hall at 6:30 p.m to attend to the task for the evening. We always have a sociable time together as we work. The registration forms for both programs will be available soon. Children in grades Kindergarten through 5th grade (in the fall) will be part of the families of Marketplace. See Kitty Trescott for more information. Children in 6th grade through 8th grade (in the fall) will be involved with Beyond Marketplace. Check with Diane Cash about this program. Drivers will be needed to help transport youth to their mission projects.
• RESTAURANT GROUP
Tom and Carolyn Jefferson are the hosts for the May 15 restaurant group, and have selected Fratelli [Italian restaurant just this side of Carterville in the strip mall on the south side of Route 13]. The time will be 5:30 p.m. as usual, and if people will let us know their intentions a couple of days in advance it will be helpful. You can reach us at: tbjeff@neondsl.com or 457-5697.
• MAY FRIENDSHIP DAY
May Friendship Day is to be celebrated at the First Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall on May 2. Plant a seed of hospitality reap bouquets of friendship
10:30 a.m. - Rev. Kim Magwire
11:20 a.m. - Sack Lunch
12:15 p.m. - Celebration - Rev. Kathryn Graves
• FAITH DEVELOPMENT
May 4 - Following Peg Falcone’s presentation on SIRSS on April 27. We invite you in the May 4 session to react to the information given by Ms Falcone and to discuss your experiences with issues related to mental-health services, and the role that our congregation might take in assisting those in need of such services. David King will lead the class.
May 11 - Reviving Sister Aimee - Speaking of Faith Series
Twentieth-century Pentecostal evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson helped to popularize a charismatic faith that touched millions of people and now reaches an estimated half billion people. The eccentricity and integrity of Sister Aimee sheds light on some of the most confusing and powerful religious currents in our world today. Download can be found at: http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/sisteraimee/index.shtml or can be made available through the church office. Pat Manfredi will be guiding our conversations.
May 18 - Adult Enrichment: Review and Preview
Join us as we review our adult enrichment offerings from this last year, and discuss possibilities for the coming year. Pat Manfredi will guide our conversations.
• PRESCHOOL
The 4 year old Frogs went to the Southern Illinois Airport as part of their unit about transportation. Several parents drove the children and after the trip the group had a snack at the airport before coming back to school.
The next unit will be the Eric Carle art unit where the children make their own pictures of animals similar to Eric Carle’s art.
The Tadpoles and Polliwogs are having units about farm and communities with the Tadpoles taking a field trip to the Makanda Fire Department.
The scholarship dinner netted about $1300 for the scholarship fund. The paintings each class did were a big hit! Special thanks to the Junior High students for helping with the games … we really appreciated your effort!
• DAYCARE
March 28 was our fund raising activity, the St. Jude Bike-A-Thon and the children did very well. We raised $852.50 for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
April has been quiet, but the Three Year Old class and Preschool Class had a very nice field trip to the Eurma Hays Day Care Center on Friday, April 25 to listen to stories and meet new friends.
On May 2 the three year old children and the preschool children will be going to the SIU Farms for a field trip.
We invite all the mothers to join us for Mother’s Day Tea on Friday, May 9 at 3:15 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall.
Preschool graduation and our annual summer picnic will be Saturday, May 31 at Turley Park starting at 11:00 a.m.
• COMMUNITY DAY OF PRAYER BREAKFAST
On May 1, the Kiwanis Club of Carbondale will host the first Kiwanis Community Day of Prayer Breakfast at the Newman Catholic Student Center at 715 S. Washington St. in Carbondale.
Breakfast will be served at 7:00 a.m. and the program will follow from 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. Tickets are $10.00 and may be purchased at the door, from members of the Carbondale Kiwanis Club or by visiting the Club’s web-site at www.carbondalekiwanis.org.
Rev. Dr. James A. Gilchrist, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA will deliver the keynote address. The theme of this year’s commemoration is “Prayer, America’s Strength and Shield.”
• $11,271 TO FEED THE HUNGRY
Thanks to a tremendous effort by over 225 people, the thirty-fourth annual Church Women United World Hunger Sale raised $11,271 to feed hungry people. In addition to the workers, the sale involved at least eight pickup trucks and vans hauling in 45 tables (besides the 40 at the Newman Center), 27 clothes racks, 4 heavy shoe racks and lots of donated furniture. Three days later eight more trucks hauled all the leftovers to CWU’s Thrift Shop on N. Illinois and returned all the borrowed tables and racks to the churches and homes they came from.
In between, the Newman Center was a gracious and welcoming host to the Sale. The many volunteers cheerfully coped with whatever needed to be done, transforming the Center from a place of worship to a bustling marketplace and then back again.
On April 17 the members of Church Women United voted to divide the proceeds as follows:
ECHO - $400
Marion Medical Mission - $300
Heifer Project - $300
Bethel AME’s Feed My Sheep - $600
New Zion’s Summer Food - $600
Senior Citizens - $500
Women’s Center - $500
Eurma Hayes Day Care -$300
Attucks Tutorial - $300
“I Can Read” - $300
Guadalupe Fund - $300
Family Advocacy Program - $271
CROP - $2,200
UNICEF - $1,700
For Kids’ Sake - $200
Good Samaritan Ministries - $2,500
Many thanks to everyone who made all this possible!
• LETTER FROM THE TROESTERS
Dear friends,
Greetings from Central Africa! We have had quite an exciting Eastertide—Deborah had to have an emergency appendectomy on March 19. She is making a good recovery, after spending Easter in the Protestant Hospital at N’gaoundéré, Cameroon. God was good to us, in that everything worked out for her to receive the care she needed. Dr. Jim Mongé, of Duluth, Minnesota, an excellent surgeon, had arrived in Cameroon just two days before, and was able to do the surgery. Deborah wishes to thank Dr. Arroga, director of the hospital; Jean Baptiste and his team of nurses in the intensive care unit; and Dr. and Dr. Solofo here in Garoua-Boulaï, who diagnosed the problem. Thanks also to Jim and Karen Noss for their hospitality in N’gaoundéré.
During January and February we enjoyed the visits of folks from Michigan, North Dakota, and Texas. Rev. Paul Owens and several other members of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Alpena, Michigan were in Cameroon in January. Rev. Owens is a former professor at the Bible College in Garoua Boulaï, Cameroon, just down the street from our house. He and his parishioners came to visit the Bible College and other Lutheran supported institutions in Cameroon.
In February members of the Central African Republic’s Partner Synods traveled to the CAR for the dedication of the Women’s Center and a new church in Bouar. We traveled together with them to Bouar, where we were warmly welcomed by the President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in CAR (EELCAR), Rev. André Golike, and his colleagues. While there, Deborah had the privilege of preaching at the annual women’s conference of the EELCAR. She preached in French and the sermon was translated into Sangho, the local language. Joe was also present at the women’s conference, as one of his Central African co-workers, Josephine Oumarou, addressed the women on the need to use water from a clean source or to treat it before drinking it. Joe and his co- workers still have a lot of work to do regarding hygiene education. Many Central Africans do not know the importance of making sure their drinking water is clean.
Even though the women of Central Africa live in one of the poorest nations in the world, in an atmosphere of war and violence, it was inspiring to see how enthusiastically they sang, danced, and worshipped during the conference. We even enjoyed a humorous moment when one group presented a short skit, showing how we are all “sheep who have gone astray”—with some women acting as sheep and others with small sticks trying to guide the sheep onto the “straight and narrow way.”
Each region brought an offering to help defray costs of the conference. The total offering, from all over the country came to around $150, yet this represented a tremendous sacrifice on their part. This is a nation where people are living on less than $1 a day. According to U.N. statistics, the CAR is the fifth-poorest nation in the world.
Sadly, some churches from northern CAR were not represented at the conference, as they had disbanded, along with the entire village, due to violence in that region. Refugees from northern CAR continue to move south and west into Cameroon, in search of safety from bandits and rebels in this war-torn country.
We urge you to inform yourselves and your churches about what is going on in the Central African Republic, and to keep the people and the churches of that nation in your prayers. The violence and unrest is directly related to the problems in Darfur, Sudan, and Chad. Unfortunately governments in that region have been unable to stop the fighting and protect their own citizens from rebels and marauders.
Furthermore, the government of the CAR has not been able to pay its civil servants. This means that public schools are closed, public hospitals may not have doctors or nurses, and other government services have been curtailed. In this humanitarian crisis, church organizations and other NGO’s are often the only source of help. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is doing its part as we assist the ELCCAR, together with our Lutheran partners in Germany, Denmark, and elsewhere. It is important to continue to support ELCA efforts in the CAR. Contact Global Missions at the address below to find out how you can help.