I live with a 3 year old. Living

with a 3 year old is never dull. Each

morning, my son wants to know what

is happening that day. For instance,

are his grandparents coming over, am

I going to church, is he going to

church, is he going to school, etc.

When he hears about what is going on,

he is ready to go. The “event of the day” then becomes his priority, and

almost a singular focus.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we do have a singular focus. Jesus men-

tions in Matthew 22 that everything comes down to the two great com-

mandments:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your

soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor

as yourself.

These two commandments need to be the focus of our lives. Loving

God and loving our neighbor is our “event of the day” every day. We fo-

cus our lives on God and neighbor by prayer, worship, and helping others.

What are some ways you are spreading God’s love to those around you?

We are charged to tell the story of God’s love through Jesus Christ.

Midway Locust Grove United Methodist Volume 28

Number 8

August 2015

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Ministries & Missions 2

On the Rez; Grow Faith 3

Pine Ridge Mission 4

Birthdays, VBS Report 5

VBS Report continues 6 -7

Nicaragua Mission 8-9

Food Ministry, Pet Update 10

Calendar 11

Kitchen Update 12

THIS MONTH

See Calendar Page 11

Mondays at 7-8 a.m. Wake Up With God

All are welcome.

Mondays — 6:30 p.m. Boy Scout Troop 68

Tuesdays —7 p.m.

Women’s Bible Study

Wednesdays — 6:59 p.m. Free time for Choir members

August 2

Communion Sunday

August 8 Chadd Fuemmeler/

Alaina Asbury Wedding

August 11 – Noon Second Tuesday Lunch

August 18

Columbia Public Schools begin new year

Please join us for worship. Sunday School: 9:15

Worship: 10:30 Communion first Sundays.

Pastor Dennis Harper

Beyond the Pulpit

Fresh from their Nicaragua mission trip and the Rost sweet corn patch, Camryn Collins and Brooke Bas-set took the early shift July 18 at the Little Gen-eral Store to raise mission trip funds for The Grove.

The Women’s Bible Study will resume in Au-

gust after taking a break for the month of July.

For this month, the group will be doing some-

thing a little different.

Rather than studying a book of the Bible,

each member will bring an item for discussion

each week. This can be anything such as a pas-

sage from the Bible, a

poem, something from

the news media, a book,

or the internet, or even

just a question. Using

these items, the group

will try to come to a new

spiritual understanding

which will help them

reflect their name “The Spiritual Babes.”

After following this plan for August, the

group will begin a study of Romans in Septem-

ber.

These study sessions are on Tuesdays from 7-

8:30 p.m. at the church.

Please contact Marjorie McFann, 445-5650 or

by email at mjmcfann@hotmail.com for further

information.

Here are the items we are lifting up:

Standing prayer requests Each Sunday Rev. Dennis reminds us of our

prayer responsibilities, and has asked that we in-clude these three items in our regular prayer times.

Wee Care (our Parents Morning Out), that it may grow, flourish, and serve our community.

Our Kitchen and Fellowship Hall remodel-ing project. Prayerfully consider your support for this important project and pray for its completion.

Our ministry to the youth and children of our community. May the Holy Spirit help us to reach out to, learn from, and make a difference in the lives of young people and their families. This included our Vacation Bible School July 6-9.

The youth of the Pine Ridge Indian Reserva-

tion. There have been 7 suicides since December

on the reservation, some involving youth as young

as 12 years old. These youth feel that they are

without hope. They envision a future consisting

only of poverty and despair.

2 Locust Leaves

Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible;

and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

St. Francis of Assisi

August 2 Angie & Jerry Gerzen

August 9 Nedra & Daryle Moreau

August 16 Alyson Price, Ken Zahringer

August 23 OPEN

August 30 Leslie Durrant, Bill Wegener

One of the best means of sharing and

bringing joy to others is to host one of these after-worship fellowships. Please add your name to the sign up sheet on Fellowship Hall bulletin board or call Kathy Koehler at 875-8772.

CONVERGE at a La Croix CONVERGE is about coming to a place of en-

counter with God. Keynote speaker Ken Medema,

is known for his creative “on the spot” composi-

tion of songs, Ken shares God’s hope through mu-

sic and word. We will be meeting at noon on Sep-

tember 28 through noon on September 30, at La

Croix UMC, 3102 Lexington Ave, Cape

Girardeau 63701-2866. Registration will include

two lunches and one banquet. Lodging will be at

the attending individuals’ discretion. A list of par-

ticipating hotels will be provided on the website,

www.theconverge.com. Cost: $79/per person, sin-

gle registration or $69/per person, multiple regis-

tration. Register at http://www.moumethodist.org/

events/detail/3082.

Locust Leaves 3

GROW in FAITH

by your ACTIONS Ambassador qualification - Four church members

have completed all four introductive faith courses to

qualify as a MLGUMC Church “Ambassador at

Large.” The courses introduce you to our church and

starts you thinking about how to Bring, Connect and

Serve God’s people. Enhancing our faith is a great

way to increase our ability to serve God. Are you

ready to start? All you need to do is to sign up for the

courses.

Our church’s four recurring courses in INTEN-

TIONAL FAITH DEVELOPMENT:

Class 101 - Discovering MLGUMC Church

This course was developed to orient new members,

mature youth and others interested in our church his-

tory and beliefs. Next course will be scheduled in Oc-

tober 2015 at church.

Class 201 - Growing in Christ

This course was developed to focus on personal

growth in being like Christ in attitude and behavior.

The course uses the Five G’s of Grace, Growth,

Group, Gifts and Good Stewardship to provide ex-

amples of how you can change. This course is being

schedule for November at church.

Class 301 - Spiritual Gifts

This course was developed to find your personal

spiritual gifts that have been given by God.

The course is tentatively scheduled for three ses-

sions in November 2015. This is an excellent course

that all can benefit from attending and participating in.

Class 401 - Calling to Mission

This course was developed to help each indi-

vidual find a personal mission for your spiritual gifts.

This course is being scheduled for January

2016 at church.

The Intentional Faith Development (IFD) Small

Group has developed a ministry that will help us grow

in faith outside of weekly worship. IFD members have

developed four foundational classes that will cover the

basics of our Christian faith and our United Methodist

beliefs and structure, as well as our program opportu-

nities. After completions of the four classes, members

will be promoted to “Ambassador at Large” for Je-

sus Christ.

One mission team has re-

turned from the Rez, and an-

other is scheduled to deliver

donations this fall. One em-

phasis we have focused on is

providing buckets containing

a “baby shower” to expect-

ing mothers. Many are

young women, frightened,

with few resources available

to them. Several women have

contributed to these baby bundles, resulting in

amazing gifts to these young moms. Several

more women have asked me what they can do to

help. If you are interested in putting together a

bucket to be delivered, or donating a few items to

be added to what we have, here is a list of the

items included in a bucket:

12-24 cloth diapers

6 plastic pants

4 sets of diaper pins

8 onesies – newborn to 3 month size

5 gowns or pajama sets

2 newborn caps

3 receiving blankets

1 snuggly, warm baby blanket

Clothesline

Clothespins

Baby wash

Baby lotion

Gentle, non-scented laundry detergent

Baby story book

For the winter bundles we deliver in the fall,

we try to add an additional warm blanket, socks,

snow suit, etc. The winters are long and bitterly

cold, and most homes are drafty and inadequate

for the needs of newborns.

Thanks for considering this important fall/

winter mission. For more information contact

Kathy Hughes, Leslie Durrant, Carolyn Doyle or

Tina Vangilder.

By Kathy Hughes

ON

THE

REZ

Read Locust Leaves on web site too

You have a choice of how you read your monthly newsletter, Locust Leaves, which also appears online in full color on our church web site.

If you prefer to read the electronic version online, saving paper and postage, send an email to the church, kimn@mlgumc.org, stating that you wish to be removed from the paper mailing list and want to be notified by email when Locust Leaves is posted on the web site.

The newsletter will continue to be available in both formats as long as readers prefer both.

4 Locust Leaves

“How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?”

1 John 3: 17.

On June 26, the Adult Mission Group re-turned to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, for a week of volunteer work. For all but one of our group, this was a re-turn visit. There is something about this place that calls us back. Chief Red Cloud called the nearby Black Hills “The Center of All that is”, a sacred site to the Lakota peo-ple. The whole area abounds in natural beauty. But there is something more that calls us back. I believe it is the satisfaction we get from serving some of the poorest yet nicest people in the western hemisphere. In-deed, the per capita income on Pine Ridge is so low that only folks in Haiti are poorer.

The county the Pine Ridge reservation is located in has the highest pov-erty rate in the US. The unemployment rate is about 85%. There are very few businesses located on the reservation, and fewer jobs. Life expectancy for men on the reservation is below 50 years, the lowest in the Western Hemisphere.

Yet, this year, our group of about 48 volunteers (we were joined by 4 other church groups) skirted 3 trailers, built 4 porches which serve as rudimentary entrances to the doors of these trailers, built 20 bunkbeds, installed most of them in trailers, helped to manufacture compressed earth blocks to help in new home construction, and helped to repair a garden irrigation system on the Red Cloud renewable energy farm.

We come back because it is hard to beat the thrill one gets from see-ing the look of delight on the face of a young Lakota child who is get-ting his first ever bed to sleep in! Or the pleasure of giving a book to a little Lakota girl who has never owned a book of her own, and reading it aloud to her. Or the experience of working alongside a young Lakota man who has survived the loss of both parents to alcohol and drugs, and is so determined to make something of himself that he works 10- hour days in the summer heat doing construction along with the volun-teers, so he can raise money to attend welding school in North Dakota.

We come back because even though Re-Member (the non-profit we work with) has placed 1000 bunk beds in Lakota trailers since they were founded in 1994, there are still hundreds of requests on their wait-ing list. We come to harvest firewood so that Lakota families without heat and electricity can make it through the ferocious Dakota winters.

Volunteers from Locust Grove that went to Pine Ridge this year were: Kyra Florea (her first visit), Carolyn Doyle, Bill Wegener, and Leslie Durrant. We hope to send a group out to the reservation again next year. However, the reservation process has changed for next year, and we will need to reserve a week with deposits starting August 1, 2015. Perhaps you will consider joining us next year in 2016?

Our work involves not just light construction, but even more impor-tantly, Re-Member emphasizes getting to know the people of Pine Ridge and building relationships. Individuals from age 13-90 are wel-come, and the work is tailored to the ability of each volunteer. We hope

Carolyn Doyle’s photo gallery

Borrowed from Anonymous, but too good to not share.

Today was the absolute worst day ever,

And don’t try to convince me that

There’s something good in every day,

Because, when you take a closer look,

This world is a pretty evil place.

Even if

Some goodness does shine through once in a while,

Satisfaction and happiness don’t last.

And it’s not true that

It’s all in the mind and heart

Because

True happiness can be obtained

Only if one’s surroundings are good.

It’s not true that good exists.

I’m sure you can agree that

The reality

Creates

My attitude.

It’s all beyond my control,

And you’ll never in a million years hear me say that

Today was a good day.

Now read it from the bottom to the top.

Locust Leaves ___________ 5

August 2015

Poet’s Corner

If someone’s name does not appear here

and they do have a birthday this month,

please let Kim know by email

and she will update our records.

Summertime people gener-

ally have more measured

responses than those born in

the spring and, although en-

thusiastic, are more critical.

Their energies are perhaps a

bit less focused on initiating

projects and more on bringing

them to fruition. Summertime

people often experience an

emotional interaction not

only with people but with

their work and environment.

2 Louise Stanley

5 Dan Coleman

11 Eugene Tebbe

12 Tessa Gerzen

16 Stephen Rust

26 Mike Thomas

26 Dalli O’Neal

28 Joe Boillot

28 Jaclyn Yaeger

31 Avery Wiswall

31 Susan Zahringer

(Continued on pages 6-7)

VBS Report A huge thank you to all the families for sharing their

children with us at Vacation Bible School! After much prayer we had 25 children take part. Behind all of this was a wonderful group of volunteers, starting with Gene Baumann for taking pictures of each child and docu-menting all the fun we had.

Other key people who helped organize us were Dwayne and Lonnie Hovis.

Our registration people were Nedra Moreau, Kathy Koehler and Hope Burkart. They also did double duty with the snacks along with Marsha Coleman. Thank you to the congregation for donating cookies, cupcakes, pop-corn and supplies for the Blessing Bags. We made over 50 Blessing Bags to be handed out to those on street cor-ners asking for assistance.

Our teachers were: Pre K: Jana Wirth and LeeAnn Martin. I also saw a

lot of "helpers" in that room, Delanie Wiswall, Emma Strawn and Kaitlyn Atkins. Even a couple of moms stayed to help out. It was a busy room! :)

Grades 1-3: Alyson Price, Mary Jacks, Barb Boillot and Tammy Strawn.

Grades 4-5: Louise Stanley, Katelin Gebhardt and Margaret Preus.

It was so nice to walk through the halls and see our classroom busy again! Thank you all for making this possible!

Thank you to Toby Rost for being in charge of crafts. The first night the children painted flower pots and deco-rated them and the second night they put plants in them.

Ken Zahringer was "Dr Science". He had some really cool experiments he showed them. Thank you Dr Zahringer!

Marjorie McFann was our storyteller. She had a story each night that was acted out by the children. She also taught us some sign language and had a Bible Verse printed out for the children to take home. Thank you Marjorie!

Now if you ask the children what their favorite part of Vacation Bible School was they will tell you the ZIPLINE!!! Tim Rost did it again! Along with the youth of The Grove, everyone had a great time. I have to admit I did get a few gray hairs watching the little ones but the smile on their faces was pure joy!

(Continued from Page 5)

6 Locust Leaves

system. She rewrote the skits to make it work for our pro-gram, all after just getting back from Nicaragua. She also had the job of talking Gareth Greenwell and Matt Praiswater into doing the skits.

Gareth did a wonderful job of being our mascot "Checkers." Matt kept the children pumped up and ex-cited to be a part VBS! These three are wonderful, gifted and spiritual young adults and a pleasure to work with. Thank you again!

If I have left anyone out please accept my apologies. It truly takes a village to do this and your help was not gone without notice.

Each day we asked the children to bring a can of non- perishable food that we donated to the Food Bank. We were able to donate 98 pounds of food.

On the last night when it was all over, Sarah looked at me and said "I can't wait until next year!" So all I can say is "Bring it on!"

In God we live, move and exist. Sherri Perry

“G-Force” is fun, learning, worship at Vacation Bible School

Others helping with the zipline were Brendan

Rost, Landon Wiswall, Hayden Grant and Monica Strawn. The last night a huge obstacle course was set up under the tent. Everyone young and not so young had good times climbing and chasing each other.

I would like to give a huge thank you to my hus-band Duane Perry for helping me with all the com-puter work for this. He made signs, posters and the stage for the skits. He also taught the children how to make ropes during recreation time.

Sarah Harper was my go-to person when I had run out of ideas and of course Dennis Harper! Den-nis is always there to say "It's ok" when I get worried about how things are going to work out. I tease him that I don't know what we are going to do if there ever is a big thing because he will just say "It's ok!"

Last but not least I want to thank Sarah Brown for being my co-chair at Vacation Bible School. Sarah had the hard job of running the computer and sound

After three days of activities, the fourth day of this

year’s Vacation Bible School was a review for par-

ents, grandparents and friends who gathered in the

sanctuary for a summary of the time their children

spent at VBS. Then the guests had home-made ice

cream and cookies and toured the classrooms to

pickup the craft items created during the week. Then

it was on to the activity tent outside.

Locust Leaves 7

A brief look at an active four days of Vacation Bible School

8 Locust Leaves

During Mission Trip Sunday July 19, members

of The Grove touched on highlights of their mis-

sion trip to Nicaragua. They shared their surprise

that language was not a barrier, and told of the con-

nections they made with other youth, Loren and

Nick, aka Eric, from North Carolina.

The group feels their work projects would not

have been successful without the cooperation be-

tween the groups.

Other connections were made with the family,

and how God had us pay them up front for the

week and the difference that made in what our

week was going to be like. The youth just touched

on the big things; there are so many little ways that

God touched this trip and made it special that you

are encouraged to talk to the youth and find out

more about their experiences.

Tim Rost, one of the adults leading the mission

knew God was with them, as it was the rainy sea-

son in Central America, and for the duration of the

trip, there was no rain to interfere with the work to

be done. Our team members for the mission were:

Emma Moloney, Landon Wiswall, Greg Wiswall, Morgan Collins, Brady Wirth, Tammy Strawn, Monica Strawn, Leslie Brown, Sarah Brown, Bren-dan Rost, Toby Rost, Tim Rost, Allie Rost, Gareth Greenwell, Camryn Collins, Matt Praiswater, Brooke Bassett, Kurt Zahringer, Cooper Martin.

Youth mission trip establishes

good connections in Nicaragua

See

next page

for more.

Tammy Strawn, Correspondent

Locust Leaves 9

Fourteen youth, college kids and adults (Landon, Brady, Monica, Delanie, Emma S. Emma M, Brooke, Hayden, Matt, Brendan, Tammy and Friends) floated the current river July 10 from Cider Grove to Akers. Despite the 3 hour drive down and back, all the fun was well worth the extra hours. Their local river guides Chris and Justin Dooley made sure that all got down the river safely but had fun at the same time. They showed them the old hospital, a hand split log cabin, let them test out the cold waters of Welch Springs, and jump off the rocks at Walters Lip. There was more than a little fun getting their friends wet in the other canoes and even getting some of them OUT of their canoes. It was all in good fun.

And then there was the Current River float trip

While there was a lot of

hard work improving the

infrastructure of the com-

munity, a very important

part of the mission trip

was the connection made

with the local residents,

children in particular. It

was an experience that

will remain with our

group for a lifetime.

10 Locust Leaves

By Mary Kaye Baumann

PET UPDATE

By Mel West

and Gary Moreau

Chinese Impromptu

Sometimes it is fun to just put food together

without a recipe or something you have fixed be-

fore. I had thawed out a piece of “charcoal steak”

which is a piece of meat that has a pretty good fla-

vor but a little tough and ranks way below a rib

eye. I have no clue as to what part of the animal it

comes from. I decided to make it into a Chinese

dish. Surprisingly it turned out quite good and it

was made from food I had on hand. I served it

over white rice. I have listed below the vegetables

and nuts I used. If you have other ingredients cre-

ate your own.

Steak

White onion sliced

Green peas

Fresh corn cut off the cob

Sliced corn off the cob

Sliced red bell pepper

Thinly sliced carrots

Sliced mushrooms

Pine nuts

2 Tablespoons oyster sauce

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

Butter

Melt butter and brown onions in butter. Add

meat and cook until done. Add the rest of the in-

gredients and simmer until all are done. Enjoy.

P.S. Removing the ker-

nels from an ear of corn can

be a messy task, as the cobs

tend to slide on the cutting

board and the kernels fly all

over the place. To avoid the

mess, steady each cob on the

center of a tube pan (Angel

Food Cake pan) before slic-

ing off the kernels. This

keeps the cob stable, plus

the kernels fall directly into the tube pan.

I often ponder how many things of life depend upon the "What if's.."

Last week a long-time friend and his wife, Rev. Keith and Marcia Berry, visited PET & The Container Project, delivering a sewing machine. As we talked, I reminded Keith of how important he had been to PET.

In 1978 a missionary from Zimbabwe, the Rev. Ko-nonuhwa, talked in Springfield, MO, about the great need for simple transportation in his country. His work with local churches could be greatly enhanced if he had a means of traveling other than walking. Earl Miner heard that talk and went home and designed a simple machine capable of traveling the rough roads and trails of Zimbabwe, and of carrying a cargo of persons and materials. The machine was three-wheeled, front wheel drive unit, with an 8 hp. Briggs and Stratton engine mounted over the front wheel.

Mr. Miner was a design engineer working in nearby Lebanon, MO. His work was in designing products for the commercial market, but his heart was in designing simple products to enhance the lives of the poor.

Rev. Berry was the United Methodist pastor in Marshfield, and I was director of a United Methodist mission office in Columbia, MO, called "The Office of Creative Ministries." Keith called me to say, "I think you need to come to Marshfield to see what Mr. Miner is making. It fits your idea of mission."

I went, saw the need for it abroad, and OCM, with Earl Miner, produced and shipped several hundred of those machines, called the TRAG (TRansportation AG-riculture.) I still get reports of their good work. Unfor-tunately, when I retired OCM dropped that project.

So--- when UM missionary Larry Hills, in 1994, told me of the need for a simple, sturdy, three-wheeled, hand-cranked wheelchair for the thousands who crawled upon the ground, I immediately knew where to go for its design---and "the rest is history."

Our lives are so very much determined by the "what-if's." Someone misses a plane that crashes, and they im-mediately are faced with a "what-if." What if I had not run out of gas on the way to the airport?

So now you know "the rest of the story." What if Keith Berry had not called me or what if I had not re-sponded, PET would not exist.

(You can also hear from Earl in our "Where There's a Wheel There's a Way" main promotional video posted on our website's home page at about 2:30 minutes in. If you would like a DVD mailed to you to share with oth-ers, please send me your name and postal address. Kathy Maynard, Business Administrator)

"True creativity is characterized by a succession of acts each dependent upon the one before it and suggesting the one after." - Edwin Land.

Mel West

Locust Leaves 11

Please re-confirm dates and times of listed events. Check Worship bulletins

for events not posted on this calendar.

Give us your events for our September calendar

Midway Locust Grove United Methodist Church 2600 N. Locust Grove Church Rd. Columbia, MO 65202

Our Mission

Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Bring people to Jesus Christ By embracing our community with God’s love and grace.

Connect people to Jesus Christ By encouraging people to grow in faith through prayer,

fellowship, study, and worship.

Serve people in the name of Jesus Christ By empowering ministries of compassion and outreach.

Volume 28 Issue 8 August 2015

Visit our Web Site: www.midwaylocustgrove.com

Pastor: Rev. Dennis Harper Church phone: 573-445-4667 Parsonage phone: 573-446-9264 Pastor’s cell phone: 816-769-3705 Email: church@mlgumc.org Email: pastor@mlgumc.org Office: Kim Nielsen, kimn@mlgumc.org

Locust Leaves Editor: Gene Baumann Rocheport@aol.com 445-1998

Find the hidden cross in this issue.

Join us for lunch, 12:00 noon

Tuesday, August 11. Bring a dish to share.

Kitchen project passes three-quarter mark to goal For the last update before press time

for Locust Leaves, the Kitchen/

Fellowship Hall remodeling project

had reached just over three-fourths of

its funding goal with a total of

$53,950 given. The deadline for rais-

ing the funds is November 30, with

construction to begin January 4, 2016.