Newsletter for April 7, 2013

Bearing Fruit

April 7, 2013

Our Church

Happy Birthday to:  Cindy Widmer (4/8)

Offering for 4/31/2013: $1892.75 (regular)

Sign up sheets for Dinner Theatre kitchen help, waiters and waitresses are in the foyer on a large easel.  We need a lot of help so please check your schedules and sign up for as many shifts as you can. Working together is always fun and it is a great way to learn to know each other better.  Dinner Theatre is always a great experience for everyone involved whether it is behind the scenes in the kitchen, on stage, parking cars, serving the guests at the tables or being a guest.  Please join in and sign up for an assignment.  Don’t miss out!  Be part of the action.

There are several copies of the Mennonite Mission Network Prayer Directory in the library.  Pick one up and brose through it—find missionaries and service workers in other countries to pray for!

Our group subscription plan to The Mennonite is renewing.  The Mennonite, magazine for Mennonite Church USA, seeks to fulfill its mission of helping readers glorify God, grow in faith and become agents of healing and hope in the world through articles that challenge and inspire, news that connects readers to the larger Mennonite community and much more.  If you are interested in joining our group plan, please contact Andrea by May 5^th.

If you, or someone you know, would like to attend WMC’s Dinner Theatre on April 18^th, 19^th, or 20^th, pick up a few brochures from the back table or out in the hallway above the mailboxes to register.

Iowa Mennonite School

IMS senior Keilah Brokaw will present a recital of works for piano, guitar and voice on Sunday, April 7^th, at 2pm in Celebration Hall at IMS.

Old Creamery Theatre is coming to IMS!  It’s a camp for students ages 7-13 and/or in grades 10-12…a week long experience culminating in a performance at the end of the week.  The dates for the camp are July 8-12 from 8:30am-12:30pm, and the performance will be Friday, July 12 at 7pm; cost is $75 and includes a t-shirt, with discounts available for siblings from the same family.  Since camp size is limited, please contact Candi Schmieder at IMS.

Mennonite Agencies

Public witness opportunities at convention.  When 6,000 Mennonites gather together in Phoenix, a lot is possible. In keeping with our theme, “Citizens of God’s Kingdom: Healed in Hope/ Ciudadanos del Reino de Dios: Sanados por la Esperanza,” you will have many opportunities to explore what it means to live out our primary allegiance to God. You’ll also have opportunities to learn about some of the ways our country’s definitions of citizenship operate, and how we can engage conversations about immigration and peacebuilding. Options include taking a trip across the Arizona/Mexico border; joining a traveling choir of Mennonites singing at sites of suffering and hope throughout Phoenix; becoming part of a dancing Mennonite flash mob; and attending a variety of learning experiences centered on these topics. For more information, visitwww.MennoniteUSA.org\Convention.

The Sower Prayer Request:  Pray for the Central Plains Conference Board as they meet in Mountain Lake, Minnesota, on April 13 to finalize their response to the fall regional meetings and make final preparations for delegate business at Annual Meeting.

Mennonite Mission Network Prayer Request:   Connexus, an English-language elementary school in South Korea, works in tandem with the Korea Peacebuilding Institute to help students develop the skills they need for conflict resolution.  Pray for MMN’s husband-and-wife team, Jae Young Lee and Karen Spicher, as they provide leadership for these institutions.

Prayers for Faith and Learning:  Pray for John Powell as he serves as the Hesston College church leader-in-residence and shares about his experience with nurturing an anti-racist culture within MC USA.

Washington Area

Please join us today for a delicious haystack lunch at Upper Deer Creek, serving 11:30 to 1:30.  Donations are going toward Martha Swartzentruber’s mission trip to Africa this summer through Global Expeditions.

Sacred Harp Singing:  Please join us today, at East Union Mennonite Church as we experience the power and joy of shape note singing!  Anyone interested is invited to join the group to sing or listen during adult Sunday School at 10:45am, rest your voice by eating delicious potluck food, and then sing some more in the afternoon from 1:00-3:00pm.  Songbooks will be provided.  Come see why this lost art is being rediscovered!  Contact Tammy Yoder with questions at 319.656.3743 or by email at greenearth at kctc.net.

The Fairview MYF Breakfast buffet will be on Saturday, April 13^th at Pathway serving from 6:30-11:00.  Proceeds will go towards this years mission trip.  The menu includes fried mush, hash browns, scrambled eggs, sausage links, biscuits and gravy, tomato gravy, fruit cups, cinnamon rolls, cereal, coffee, orange juice and chocolate milk.

Young Adult Night:  All young adults are invited to meet at Wayland Mennonite at 5:30pm on Saturday, April 20 at 5:30pm.  We will have a campfire BBQ.  If you can, please RSVP to Tamara by April 17 by calling 319.217.2456.

You are invited to a French Toast Breakfast on Saturday, April 20^th, to benefit the non-profit group Empowering Haiti from 6:30am-10:30am at Kalona Mennonite Church.  Come join us as we raise moneyt o install the new septic field necessary to begin construction on a permanent medical clinic in a very under-served area close to the coast of Northern Haiti.  The menu will include French toast, scrambled eggs, sausage, and homemade rolls.  There will be a free will donation and carryouts are available.  Call Trent and Tammy Yoder with questions at 319.656.3743.

Mennonite Historical Society:  The spring meeting of the Mennonite Historical Society will be held at Kalona Mennonite Church on April 29^th at 7pm.  The program will include watching excerpts from the program commemorating the sesquicentennial of Mennonites coming to southeast Iowa.  The sesquicentennial celebration was held in 1996 and included music from the Ausbund and monologues about different aspects of early Mennonite life in Iowa.  Come to the meeting to learn more about our early history here.