Sunday School - Parable of the Good Samaritan

Mary brought Jesus' parable on the good Samaritan to the children's Sunday School class today. The Bible (Luke 10:25-37) tells us that although the lawyer knew God's rule to love your neighbor as yourself, he asked Jesus, "But who is my neighbor?" Jesus responded with the story of the traveler who was attacked by a group of bad men, and left lying injured on the side of the road.  Two people noticed him there and ignored him, walking along on their business. But a man from Samaria, a country of people not well thought of, stopped to help the man, treating his wounds, putting him on his donkey, and making sure he was cared for while he recovered at the next town. May we, too, act out of love and compassion when we meet someone in need.

Mary gave everyone some take-home reminders: a magnet hand with Good Samaritan references, and a small bag with a band-aid and some kisses.  The children then enjoyed some watermelon hearts, and got a chance to do their own good deeds by helping clean the dishes afterward!

Parable Bible Study

The second study in the 5-week Bible Study Series was on the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Last night, the group had a good discussion on modern day Samaritans, prejudices and conflicts we often face in our efforts to be a Samaritan. Week 3--Wed. June 30 at 7:00 PM is on the Parable of the Prodigal based on Luke 15:11-32. Everyone is welcome and child care is provided.

Bikers Raid Ice Machine

This afternoon HUMC offered a place of refreshment to a group of 15 bicyclists who are part of a 300 mile bike marathon. Three cycling teams, originating from Monticello, Joliet and Rockford, MI will travel 50 miles each day and plan to meet up in Harrod, Ohio on Saturday. The group's goal is to raise support for H.I.S. (Haitian Interdenominational Shelter) Home for Children. This is the second year the group has stopped at HUMC to rest and recharge in the air conditioning. They will spend the night at Catlin UMC before continuing on their way.

Sunday School - Parable of the Sheep and Goats

Farmer Bruce visited the Sunday School class this morning and talked about sheep, and brought some things that modern day shepherds use to take care of their flock. We then talked about Jesus' parable of the sheep and goats (Matthew 25:31-46). Jesus told his disciples that the Son of Man would ultimately separate the people, as a shepherd separates the sheep and the goats, the sheep on the right and the goats on the left. The people on the right, the true believers, would obtain their inheritance of eternal life in the kingdom because they did what he had asked: they fed the hungry, gave water to the thirsty, clothed the needy, and invited the stranger in.

The children then made edible sheep to remind them of the lesson of the parable. Bruce told us that even when flocks of sheep are mixed together, individual sheep recognize and respond only to the voice of their own shepherd. Jesus, the "Good Shepherd," calls us. May we be listening with our hearts, and respond and follow when we hear His call.

Parable Bible Study

The Parable of the Vineyard Workers was the first of 5 Bible studies in preparation for VBS. The studies are on Wed. evenings from 7:00-8:30 in the church library. Next week's study will focus on the Parable of The Good Samaritan. Child care is provided.

Sunday School - Parable of the Sower

In anticipation of Vacation Bible School next month (July 18-22), the children have begun a series of Sunday School lessons on Jesus' parables. Today, it was the parable of the sower. Kent, a farmer and thus a sower of seeds, taught the class and brought some soybean seeds and plants. We discussed the Bible story (for example, Mark 4:1-20) of the sower who scattered some seeds: some along the road where they were eaten by birds, some among the rocks where they germinated but quickly withered, some among the thorns which choked out the young plants, and finally some seeds in good, moist ground where the seed roots took hold and the plants flourished, yielding 100 times their number. Kent explained how this is how real seeds are affected, and had some examples of newly germinated seeds which then dried up and died due to lack of moisture.

We talked about the meaning of the parable, how Jesus is like the sower and the seeds are like God's Word. Many people hear the Word, but some do not try to understand, some believe only until they experience hard times, and some are lured away by worldly temptations. But those that let the Word take hold, who believe it, study it and let it grow, to those people comes a yield of 100 times.

Pastor admiring the sights at Cumberland Falls yesterday.

Bruce and Bailey enjoying some time with Col. Sanders.

Beginning of Day 4- Dale, Spencer and Andy (showing their better halves-hahaha) doing the roofing today. We had a few other finishing touches to do but this was the main project.

Pastor taking a break with Rebel.

Here is Bailey and Selena, one of our family members. She is a doll.

Only one casualty today. Aaron stepped on a nail and it caused a minor puncture wound on his foot.

We are done! Finished the project at 4:30 p.m. after a total 22.5 hours. We will be going back in the morning to clean up our area and then we'll be heading home. What a week! We've all been so blessed!

Day 4

Back to work on Day 4 after a free day yesterday. Sorry for no blog yesterday but we got in late.

We started Wed. morning with a van tour of Henderson Settlement. Then decided to head to the water park even though it was raining as we hoped it might clear up. When we got to water park it was deserted. They had closed for the day due to weather. So we went to Plan B.

We had lunch at the original Colonel Sanders cafe and museum in Corbin, KY. Bruce was in hog (or chicken) heaven. KFC is a favorite of his. Then we went to see Shrek-The Final Chapter in 3D. It was a good movie and we had the theatre pretty much to ourselves. We followed that up with a trip to Dairy Queen then went to see the Cumberland Falls. This fall is the second largest waterfall east of the Mississippi (second only to Niagara Falls). It was stunning and we were able to walk down to the river's edge and do some stone skipping on the water. We finished our day eating dinner at Cracker Barrel.

We are back at the site now and as I blog, the group is back to work on getting the roof finished so we can begin to shingle. It is pouring down rain right now, so we've had to move the equipment into the covered portion of the new addition to use the electric saw. Not the most convenient circumstances but should allow us to continue to work. Our goal is to finish up all the work by lunchtime tomorrow if not sooner.

Again, we appreciate your prayers. I'll message more tonight and include pictures from yesterday- I left the camera in my room so can't upload pictures yet.

Day 2

Our second day started on time. We arrived at the site at 8:30 a.m. and got right to work. Here Bruce and Spencer are removing the siding from the house so we can build the walls.
With the siding off, we began putting the walls together. Believe it or not, Ms. Hercules (aka Bailey) broke the Pastor's hammer(he said it was a cheap one), but fortunately we had six more to use.

We visited with the family throughout the day. It was a hot one (high of 85-90 degrees) so they didn't stay outside too long, but here you can meet Willy and Maggie along with their neighbor's dog, Rebel. Rebel made friends with everyone, including Dale who didn't take much of a break all day. He's a working feign!

We were able to get all the sides up and it took a lot of nails. Everyone was nailing the walls into place. The kids did a great job- only Bailey and Jenny hit their thumbs and had to take a break, but we went back to hammering eventually.

We ended our day at around 4:30 p.m. Dale and Andy were on the roof all afternoon, while the rest of us took some shade breaks. We were able to get the rafters in place and some of the plywood sheets for the roof as we are anticipating rain tomorrow.

We are looking forward to our play day tomorrow. Not sure if we'll be able to go to the water park and have fun if it rains, so would appreciate your prayers for good weather!

We appreciate all the prayers. We have been very blessed thus far with no injuries and good weather. Thank you for standing in the gap for us. Talk tomorrow!

Greetings From HUMC Missions Committee

The Missions Committee met today. Our main focus was praying for our 11 missionaries in Appalachia this week. We lifted up their journey, the building project and the family they are helping. Praising God for the opportunity to take God's love to the people of Frakes, KY and for the ability to share their gifts. We continue to pray for their safety and the completion of the project.

Peace & Grace,

Sue, Mary Kay, Char, Suzy

What a day! We were able to accomplish so much in a short day. We didn't get started until after 10 a.m. because we had to wait to get our instructions. We got to the job site and Dale, our foreman, got us to work. We needed to dig nine holes but ended up digging 13 (long story for a later time) but we accomplished that before lunch. We got to meet some of the family too- Willy- grandpa, Maggie- mom who is deaf, and her two daughters- Selena and Alejondria. They are a very nice family. We finished at 4:30 p.m. with putting the flooring down. Tomorrow we plan to get the walls up and some of the roof. Dale says we are ahead of schedule. Woohoo!

Meals have been good but the gas station can't keep up with the pizza orders by Spencer and the Larson boys.

Looking forward to a good night's sleep. We'll talk tomorrow.

P.S. Julie K- your presence was felt through the absolutely fabulous caramel corn!!!

Monday Devotional picture

Up Early

Well, we made it to Frakes yesterday just before 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Unpacked and went to an Orientation meeting at 7 p.m. Ended up eating PB & Js in the Ladies dorm and were able to watch most of the Blackhawks game. We were up early this morning at 7 a.m. for a morning devotional presented by one of the church groups here with us. Spencer said it was one of the better ones he's seen. The picture shows our group at the meeting. Had a great breakfast and are getting ready to head to our work site. Pastor and Dale are in the planning meeting right now to get our instructions and then we are off. We'll correspond later today after we get back from our first day on the job. We are all excited. More to come.

Almost there...

3:31 p.m. (EST)- We are close to our destination. Pastor says we are about 110 miles away. Stopped and ate a big lunch at Applebees and plan to stop for a fast food dinner before arriving at Henderson Settlement. We've managed to keep our carpool together even though we've experienced a good deal of traffic. We've crossed both the Ohio and Kentucky Rivers and are seeing some beautiful country now. The Interstate has been cut right through the mountains so there is rock and forst on both sides of us. Being blessed by God's creation.

Off to Frakes, KY

8:13 a.m. - We are off to Frakes, KY after a wonderful reception which included breakfast and a devotion. Thank you to all who helped send us off. We are excited about the week ahead of us. Updates to come.

Church Library/New Materials/June

The following materials have been added to the church library and are ready for check out. 
They can be found on the recent acquisitions table located just outside the senior adult classroom.
Becoming a Person of Influence by John C. Maxwell
Jesus Freak by Sara Miles
Sim Church by Douglas Estes
Children's Series: God I  Need to Talk To You About;
  Hurting Ohers, Bad Temper, Being a Bad Sport, Bulling, Cheating, Lying, Sharing, Stealing or Vandalism.
Nooma Videos by Rob Bell  - Today # 17 and Name #18
Sharing the Victory Magazine (about faith and sports) was renewed for another year