Newsletter for March 10, 2013

Bearing Fruit

March 10, 2013

Our Church 

Happy Birthday to:  Emma Wood (3/11),

Jillian Bruegge (3/15), Kennedy Slagel (3/16)

Happy Anniversary to:  Roger & Mary Lou Farmer (3/10)

Offering for 3/3/2013:  $2590.75 (regular);  $200 (HACAP)

Today after Sunday School there will be a baby shower potluck for Angela, Jared, and baby Eliza.  To give towards the purchase of a high chair and diapers, either see Karen Seaton or put a designated check in the offering plate.

There will a potato bar fundraiser on March 17th for Tanner and Jacayla in the fellowship hall.  Come and support Jacayla and Tanner as they prepare to go to the Mennonite Youth Convention this summer in Phoenix.

Everyone is invited to the Washington Mennonite Church Breakfast, hosted by Mike and Karen on Saturday, March 23rd at 8:30am at the Bates Family Farms Shop.  Please RSVP.

Easter morning we’ll be having an MYF breakfast fundraiser.  Come at 8:30 to support Tanner and Jacayla’s trip to convention this summer and enjoy a delicious breakfast!  We will not have Sunday School on Easter Sunday.  More details will follow.

Iowa Mennonite School

Please remember to include IMS students and faculty in your prayers as they prepare for a couple of upcoming events: the orchestra will travel to Goshen, IN for the annual Midwest Regional Orchestra Festival March 15-17, and Interterm will take place the week of March 18th.  Many students will be traveling, and will be representing IMS at various places throughout the midwest.

IMS senior Laura Hochstetler will present a senior recital this afternoon at 3:00pm in Celebration Hall.

IMS’ 25 voice Touring Choir, under the direction of Josh Tyson, will present a program of worship on Sunday, March 10th, 10:30am at Sugar Creek Mennonite Church.

IMS students available for hire!  Please contact Mary Lou Gingerich at the school to hire one or more students on Friday, March 15th; all wages earned will support the school’s Financial Aid program.  Thanks for your support!

Tickets are available for Red Campion, an ensemble featuring Wellman native and IMS graduate Lara Troyer; they will perform at IMS on Saturday, March 23rd at 7pm.  The ensemble includes four vocalists and a pianist, and the evening will feature light classics and musical theater.

The IMS Culinary Arts class will again be serving international meals in the lobby outisde Celebration Hall.  Les aliments qui inspirent (foods that inspire) will be open March 27th (German cuisine), April 3 (Brazilian) and April 24 (Finnish).  Serving will begin at 8:30am, and the cost is $8 per person.  Reservations are required and seating is limited; please call the office at 656-2073 or 683-2586.  Ranee Brokaw instructs the class.

Mennonite Agencies

Drones are a new form of warfare and may soon be based in Iowa.  JPOG (Just Peace Outreach Group) invites you to hear Ed Flaherty, army veteran and Veterans for Peace member, address the topic “Drones-Perpetual Warfare Everywhere?”  Join us at East Union Mennonite Church, 5615 Gable Avenue, Kalona, IA on Sunday, March 17, 2013, at 6 pm for a finger-foods potluck and conversation (please bring your own table service) or at 7 pm for Ed’s presentation and discussion.  For more information call Roger Farmer at 319.653.2547 or email Jane Yoder-Short at yodershort at netins.net.

The Sower Prayer Request:  The theme for Central Plains Annual Meeting in Ashland, Montana, will be “Guided by the Spirit: Knowing God’s Love” from John 17:23.  Pray that meeting participants will indeed be guided by the Spirit to know God’s love.

Mennonite Mission Network Prayer Request:   MMN joins the Yamanota Fukuin Brethren in Christ Church in Japan in inviting churches around the world to pray at 11:45am today.  We hope that a prayer chain will ring the earth for people still suffering the effects of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami two years ago.

Prayers for Faith and Learning:  Pray for Eastern Mennonite Seminary students and faculty as classes resume tomorrow after the mid-semester recess.  Pray that students will return to their studies with renewed energy.

Washington Area

Kalona MOPS Annual Turkey and all the Fixings Lunch:  Please join the Kalona MOPS group at our annual fundraiser lunch on March 24th from 11:30 to 1:30 at Kalona Mennonite Church.  Menu includes turkey, potatoes, green beans, lettuce salad, fluff, roll and dessert.  Free will donations accepted.  Also, our new MOPS cookbooks will be available for purchase.