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Friends United
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January/February 2007
Sacred Moments by Sylvia Graves, FUM General Secretary
Join the Chain of Prayer
Terrell Awarded Fellowship
Order FOCUS for Your Meeting
Quaker Hill Bookstore to Close
Turkana VBS Project Update
FUM Workteam Assists Jamaica
Friends Theological College 2006 Graduation
Sacred
Moments
By Sylvia Graves, General Secretary
By the time you read this, your Christmas decorations will probably be put away and your house will be your own again after the holiday guests have gone home. Hopefully, you have been left with special sweet memories of the sacred moments of the celebration behind you. Hopefully, the spirit of Christmas is still alive and well in you.
Friends United Meeting’s Africa Ministries Representative, John Muhanji, spent a few weeks in the United States before Christmas and saw how we Americans prepare for Christmas. His comments gave me an outsider’s view on the extravagance of our investments of time and resources: “Oh, my, all the lights!” “What is all this stuff?” It’s not that he didn’t appreciate the wonderful Christmas music he heard or that he found the dazzle all negative, but when one comes from a culture where the cost of a string of lights would pay your child’s school fees for a month, the comparison is dramatic.
“And may I suggest the secret of Christmas is not the things you do at Christmas time, but the Christmas things you do all year through.” Those words are from a song (The Secret of Christmas) that the Capital City Chorus of Indianapolis sang in their annual Holiday Show. The idea is right in line with what Quakers have always believed—that every day has the potential of being a holy day and that all of life’s moments are sacred.
So, because we are authentic and believe in the message of God’s love every day, we’ll no doubt take a basket of personal care items to the homeless shelter in February, buy a bag of groceries for the local food pantry every few weeks, invite the widower next door to dinner as often as we can and send “I’m thinking of you” notes to those people who need our encouragement all year long. We also might send an extra donation once in a while to the work of our fi eld staff who are our extension of ministry in parts of the world where we cannot go ourselves.
The moments you give to helping others are the most sacred moments of all and the best way to celebrate the birth of Christ. Bringing light and hope into the world is His message always. Let’s not put it away with the decorations.
Join the Chain of Prayer — Has your meeting signed up yet?
“Give Thanks for our Blessings,” this year’s Chain of Prayer theme, is a great opportunity for your meeting to become more familiar with the work of Friends United Meeting. The theme is based on Psalm 105:1—“Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.”
Join us this year for one day as we hold each other in the light and offer thanks for the many blessings God has given through the ministries of FUM. Registration forms can be found on the website at www.fum.org/naministries/2007ChainofPrayer.htm or phone Terri Johns at (765) 962-7573. Sign up today and we’ll send you a packet of materials to help you organize your day.
Katie Terrell, Marketing Associate for Quaker Life and Friends United Press, is the recipient of the 2006-07 Tom Mullen Ministry of Writing Fellowship at Earlham School of Religion. Katie began her studies at ESR in the fall of 2005 as a full-time student pursing an M.Div degree with an emphasis in Writing. For her Fellowship project, she will continue working on “Heading East in the Trunk of a Car,” a series of creative, nonfiction essays, written in her words “not to encourage people to quit their jobs and move into the trunks of their cars, but to show how God can transform lives when we acknowledge that God is enough.”
If your meeting hasn’t received FOCUS in the past, you’re missing one of the best ways for Friends United Meeting to share up-to-the-minute news and information with you. (FOCUS can be used as a bulletin insert or table flyer.) And, best of all, it’s free. Beginning in January, FOCUS is going to feature a different yearly meeting each month. What a great way to get a glimpse of what is happening among FUM Friends around the world! You won’t want to miss a single month. Fill out the coupon on page 6 and get your meeting FOCUSed on FUM this year. [Contact to receive FOCUS.]
Quaker
Hill Bookstore to Close
Quaker Hill Bookstore will close its retail store March 1, 2007. Due to the increasing market competition, the Friends United Meeting General Board approved at the October meeting to keep available for sale only items that are unique to Friends United Meeting. Books published by Friends United Press, Quaker art prints and other limited items will be available via catalog, phone and internet orders. Curriculum, other than what is available through Friends United Press, will no longer be available, beginning with spring 2007 materials.
Call or visit the Richmond store now to shop. Discounts and inventory reduction sales have begun.
Contact the bookstore: (765) 962-7575; toll-free (800) 537- 8838; email bookstore@fum.org; fax (765) 966-1293.
The Friends United Meeting 2006 Vacation Bible School Project was to build a classroom for Lokoyo, Turkana. $9,558.62 was collected— thank you for your generous gifts to the children of Turkana!
On Sunday morning, we went to Dover Friends Church for a two-hour worship experience.
Monday morning we arrived at the Boys Home but found that instead of building walls, the project had changed to filling in the floor of the dining hall. A contractor and his team were putting up the walls and using reinforcement steel for support. A load of fill sand and gravel had been ordered the week before but did not arrive so we toured the home. Tuesday morning the truck still hadn’t come so we bought paint supplies and painted the ceiling and walls of the newly constructed dorm. Some of the team spread Marl, a limestone clay used to build road beds in Jamaica, around the low places in the driveway in front of the home. The next day there was still no fill, so we continued to paint. In the afternoon the load came and we began to wheel it into the dining room construction area with wheelbarrows. We continued the fill project over the next three days, and in all moved about 15 yards of fill material.
Becky and Jeanette worked with the craft projects, first at Lyndale and then Swift, in the afternoons when the children returned from school.
The Lyndale and Swift Homes were a contrast in organization and administration. Lyndale is struggling to keep the girls under control and organized. The superintendent is a dedicated woman, who does a good job with the administration, but has little support from the staff presently working at the home. There is an urgent need for change for these at-risk girls. Please pray for them and the staff there.
Swift Home, on the other hand, has made great gains in its program. It is well organized with staff having responsibilities and the residents knowing and following the rules. There is a vision for the future of the home, with plans to build and expand as finances are available. The boys seemed happy and most of them are doing well in school. There are programs for technical training for those who are not able to go to college, and some of them are working in the home now as houseparents. There are still many challenges, but Mr. Stewart, along with his wife and staff, are doing a good job of caring for and loving them.
During the Thursday program at Lyndale, the girls presented poems and songs. There was a lot of excitement and enthusiasm but some of the girls were disruptive during the program. Our hearts were touched as we saw they were hungry for attention but expressed it in inappropriate ways. Overall, we enjoyed our time with them and they seemed to enjoy our being there and the things we brought for them.
On Friday we went to the Boys Home. All the boys lined up along the walk in front of the main building. About 60 of them went into the dining hall, where we were escorted to sit at a special table, complete with a small, bubbling fountain as a centerpiece. There was background music and the lights were low. The boys are not allowed to talk during meals, which was the case at this meal. We were joined at our table by Mrs. Stewart, and a couple from England who were volunteers at the home. The dinner was good and served well by boys who are training in meal preparation and serving, one of the technical programs offered through the government. After dinner we went to the recreation hall and were introduced. Different boys presented us with gifts, told us about the home and some shared memories of our time with them. When we left in 2002, I sold a keyboard to Mr. Stewart, and it was used to accompany the singing. One of the boys had taken lessons and did a good job playing during the program.
The most wonderful time of the evening was when were asked to stand in the middle of the room and the boys and staff surrounded us. They all sang a song to us thanking us for what we had done and asking God’s blessing on us. With hands stretched out to us they sang with great emotion. We were all deeply touched by their gift of thanksgiving to us.
It was a wonderful trip with no illness or injuries. Hopefully, we made a small difference in the lives of some children and young people.
Dwaine and Becky Williams are members of Northwest Yearly Meeting and led the workteam.
Friends
Theological College 2006 Graduation
Upon graduation on November 4, FTC graduates expanded the capacity for trained, pastoral ministry in East Africa. Below are some joys and concerns for prayer from FTC:
JOYS:
• Largest entering class and student body ever in 2006-07
• 100% of certifi cate students passed exam to enter diploma program
• Dedication of Patricia Shrock (Indiana YM), who teaches certifi cate
students and is largely responsible for their excellent passing rate
• Good progress on the construction of a new meetinghouse for the college
(multi-purpose worship space)
• Launching a new short course certifi cate program (offered during school
holidays); the fi rst session in August was a huge success
• Ongoing graduate studies by several members of FTC’s faculty and staff:
Simon Bulimo, Josphat Lime, Margaret Makokha, Kennedy Mayabi, Hezekiah
Obwoge and Patricia Shrock
• Welcoming two new faculty members: Angeline Savalla (Academic Dean)
and Jacob Asige (Tutor)
CONCERNS:
• Identifying and appointing a new librarian
• Successful completion of new meetinghouse
• Fundraising in Kenya for new FTC library
• “Widening” is the best way to describe the Nugent/Rehard family’s experiences
during the fall and winter of 2006. From August to December, Patrick travelled
among Friends in Baltimore, North Carolina, Ohio Valley, Indiana, Western,
Illinois, Iowa, Great Plains and Northwest Yearly Meetings, along with
a visit to Whittier Friends in California. Meanwhile, Mary Kay’s medical
studies continue at Moi University in Eldoret, in preparation for her
future service in FUM’s East African health ministries. Mary Kay shuttles
between Eldoret (weekdays) and Kaimosi (weekends), helping out as much
as possible with administrative matters at FTC. Emma (age 14, grade 10)
and Eliza (age 11, grade 7) continue their studies at St. Andrew’s Turi.
The family is grateful for and asks for your continued prayers and fi
nancial support for their ministry in Kenya.
[Read more about Patrick Nugent and Mary Kay Rehard on the Global Ministries Field Staff page.]