PET Build 2018 By Will Van Wyngarden

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1 Sing to the Lord, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. 1 Chronicles 16:23 Summer work projects include the P.E.T. Build and time to catch up on outdoor activities. See what Pella II is doing during the warmer months! days we work until we run out of one supply or another. PET Build 2018 By Will Van Wyngarden To be honest, I ve lost track of how many PET Build Days we have had, probably 5 or 6 if I had to guess. But we have always used the same format a full day on Friday, followed by a half day the subsequent Saturday. We decided to do something different this year. Knowing how hard we like to work, the volunteers were getting a little tired by that second day. So we decided to do a Saturday one week, then a Friday the following week. So we did a half day on June 2, followed by a full day the next Friday, June 8. The build days also highlight another favorite thing of our congregation: different ages all serving side-by-side. Even some adults acting like kids! We decided to not necessarily work toward a goal this year, rather, just do what we could and not get too carried away with numbers. We were able to build 50, and box nearly as many. We couldn t box up all the ones we built because we ran out of staples. That is a familiar story as often on build -1-

2 RiseFest 2018 By Bev DeVries Why would you spend two days in the hot sun sitting in a hay field in Sheldon Iowa? That's a good question, and one that on Father's Day weekend, had over 9000 people doing it! On behalf of all those involved in organizing this event, we would like to thank everyone who came out to work, as well as those who donated time and money to help raise money. As always, the build day represents the culmination of our efforts, from baking to bidding to building. It just shows what a church can do if we focus our attention and efforts on a single goal, all pulling together to achieve the same ends. It's a music festival called RiseFest. Some of you may know Gary Roozeboom who pastored the Celebrate church in Knoxville. His son, Rob, is the man behind Rise Ministries in Sheldon. Rise Fest is one of the big things they do, but they are also active in serve projects and Rob has a speaking ministry. Some of my Bible Camp Alumni may remember Rob as a speaker at our Okoboji Camp a few years back. Georgia and I first went to Rise Fest three years ago with Colby's 8th grade praise band. That year we were evacuated from the grounds when a severe thunderstorm rolled through in the middle of a concert! While a scary event, we made it out safe and sound and returned the next day to find that volunteers had worked through the night to make sure Day Two of RiseFest could happen. But again, why would we go? This year, temps were around 95 with the heat index over 100. Still, we endured the heat because of the music and the testimony. So many artists that we love to listen to, on stage to sing, worship, and share their story. Alive City, Rend Collective, Crowder, For King & Country. And that was just Friday! On Saturday, we enjoyed Cade Thompson, Riley Clemons, Jaci Velasquez, We Are Messengers, Jordan Feliz, Jeremy Camp, and MercyMe. All of this for a gate admission price of $25. Kids under 10 get in -2-

3 free and there are activities for the kids, including free t shirts to color, crafts, and bounce houses. There is also a tween tent and a teen tent with their own activities. RiseFest is definitely family friendly! where someone said Yes. You may wonder what's the big deal of hearing a Christian concert outside? It's an atmosphere of acceptance, no dress code, no rules about when to sit and when to stand, and people come, ready maybe for just a good time, but God works through the music, the message, and the volunteers to show his love for his people. For King & Country perform at RiseFest This past week, I talked with Rob Roozeboom about this year s event. According to Rob, 7,500 attended Friday night s show and 9,000 were on the grounds Saturday for a total of 16,500 spectators, a figure that more than tripled Sheldon s population. He agreed that it was the biggest one so far and when I asked him how he responds to the question, why is this happening in Sheldon Iowa? He had to give all the credit to God. It shouldn't happen, logically! But he is the first to realize that God is working through RiseFest in Sheldon and that it's reaching around the country. RiseFest takes a staff of 40 full time volunteers for about 3 months, then over 600 volunteers to work during the festival. It covers acres of hay field that is given up for this event. It takes the city of Sheldon to dedicate police, fire, and first responders to be available. It takes vendors to sell food. It's a big deal. And it s happening in a town of just 5000 people. So when things don't make sense, you just have to credit God for moving in something All because one man said Yes to a seed God planted in his heart. Oh, and Rob lives every day with Muscular Dystrophy a disease that has no cure and takes from his body every day. But still, he believes God has work for him to do. Big work. Each year, Rob delivers a message before the final band performs. He gets to share his message of what God is doing with thousands of people. He invites us to accept Christ and to renew our commitment to stand with him for Christ. So that's why we sit in a hay field in Sheldon Iowa in the heat or the rain. To see God working. I'd invite you to join us. And to consider what God might do in us if we just say Yes. Wonder By R.J. Palacio Reviewed by Nia Hoekstra As Nicholas Sparks, the #1 New York Times bestselling author says in a review, -3-

4 Do yourself a favor and READ THIS BOOK your life will be better for it. I couldn t agree more. As I was reading this book, I realized just how much this book is true. It begins with a kid named August Pullman, who had never been to a public or even private school. He was always homeschooled for one big reason, and going into middle school is difficult, let alone what Auggie is going through. To quote the book, They were told that August had what seemed to be a previously unknown type of mandibulofacial dysostosis caused by an autosomal recessive mutation in the TCOF1 gene, which is located on chromosome 5, complicated by a hemifacial microsomia characteristic or OAV spectrum. (Palacio 104) Unless you re a doctor, you probably have absolutely no idea what I just said. This means that Auggie has a facial disorder. His eyes, ears, mouth and nose are farther down his face than you or me. His ears are small, and his face isn t the most normal thing you d ever look at. He has learned to live with the staring, and the three-surgeries-ayear process. This is making it very difficult for him to go to normal school. When he goes to tour the school he is preparing to go to, three kids meet him there. Julian, a kid who makes subtle and horribly cruel statements that only Auggie will understand, Charlotte, a goody two-shoes and Jack Will, a boy who enjoys hanging out with Auggie and is very kind. As the book progresses, you start to see that Julian is a bully figure who simply doesn t have a nice bone in his body he s always after August. The whole -4- school is scared of Auggie and won t touch him because of a game similar to the cheese touch (in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books). The whole school is practically pitted against him, except for Jack and a girl named Summer, who sits with him during lunch. Most people stay away from August altogether. This started to really make me think about how this is definitely happening in real life. I started thinking about how many people do tease others. Bullying is a huge issue in this book, and it is in the world outside of this book too. The largest Christian theme was how even if many things are going on in this world that we can t help; we still need to stand for what is right and what we believe. August always knew that those who loved and cared for him truly did accept his face, and nobody else needed to. He always pretended like their staring didn t affect him, even if it did. He stood for what was right, like friendship, the right and kind things to do, and family. I think that this applies to us in our day to day as well. No matter how people look at us, we always know what is right for us. It may be different, but we need to learn what matters to us, not others. I think that the right thing to do is to do what August did. He was willing to get himself in even more trouble, as was his friend Jack, rather than get others in trouble. This is another large theme that drew me in because it should also be important to us. We need to understand that sometimes, the world doesn t revolve around us, and we need to protect others as well. When Auggie was faced with the decision between what is right and what is kind, August Pullman chose kind, and we should too.

5 In addition, after my mom and I read this book, we watched the movie as a family. Of course, the movie had to cut some things out, but it was overall a great movie. It held fairly close to the book and was fairly accurate. Some images were toned down for children s sake, but I think it is a great visual image that portrays the book fairly well. This book held me captive, because it just kept pulling me in with different stories. The perspective changes every now and then, and we get to see from his sister Via, Jack, Summer, Via s boyfriend Justin and Via s friend Miranda s points of view. This adds variety and keeps you hooked. I loved this book. It was, in the words of the Wall Street Journal, A beautiful, funny and sometimes sob-making story of quiet transformation. Though it technically isn t a Christian book, it has many great, Christian, relatable themes, and I think that all of the readers here will love it and learn from it. The Iowa Prairie by Pastor Jack Vanden Heuvel I grew up in Michigan, and I spent the first ten years as Pastor in Michigan. Michigan is a place of trees. I love trees, so I spent a lot of time in the woods, exploring, crow hunting, flower picking, and sitting up in my tree platform reading and napping on a summer Sunday afternoon. Then I took a call to Pastor a church in Iowa. In Iowa I came to love the prairie, and the wide-open spaces of the prairie. Iowa was the heart of the tallgrass prairie. Everything was tall grass prairie except the northeast corner where you have the hardwoods of the land from Decorah to the Mississippi River. The gem of NE Iowa is Pike s Peak State Park, which is the highest point on the entire Mississippi River. One of my fundamental perspectives on life is that we appreciate what there is to be appreciated about where we live. It is healthy to have a sense of place. I always like to quote Philippians 4:11 with tongue in cheek, but I really mean it, KJV, I have learned in whatsoever state I am in, therein to be content. I had excellent prairie areas to go to when I lived in Mason City. My favorite was an area of virgin prairie, never having been touched by a plow. I did a lot of photography work there. It is now being taken care of and protected by an excellent organization, The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. A wonderful prairie area around Pella is the Neal Smith Prairie near Prairie City. I have been there a couple of times already, and plan to get back there several more times. It is just starting to get good. Late July and August are the best times to be out there. Flowers, butterflies, birds, and other creatures such as dragonflies are in abundance. Dickcissel birds are common there. I just photographed an Indigo Bunting there yesterday, along with Spiderwort flowers. There are multitudes of Compass plant, also called Silphiums, getting ready to bloom. The leaves of a compass plant point east and west. Aldo Leopold wrote in A Sand County Almanac, What a thousand acres of Silphiums looked like when they tickled the bellies of the buffalo is a question -5-

6 never again to be answered, and perhaps not even asked. I challenge you to get out there and take a walk. There is a nice trail that is all paved that takes you a couple of miles through prairie. You can walk through a tall grass prairie without having to plow through the grasses and worry about ticks! Besides that there are auto drives you can take, and other walking paths. The nature center itself is packed with great exhibits and fascinating information! Picture what it was like before the plow came to Iowa. A vast expanse of prairie flowers and grasses blowing in the wind, filled with butterflies, bison, elk, and tons of other creatures. Now there are only small remnants of prairie left. Appreciate where you live, and what it was once like in Iowa. Take care of, protect, and treasure what remains! As an interim Pastor I hope my sermons are helpful for you to be stimulated to think and grow as a Christian in the agape love, joy, and peace of the Kingdom. One of the things I hope I will have done is to stimulate your appreciation of God s wonders in nature. It is one of his ways of revealing his glory and power to us. And in the early morning stillness of the prairie, smile, and say, My Lord, and my God, and my King! This is my Father s world! Rejoice! I'LL PUSH YOU A Journey of 500 Miles, Two Best Friends and One Wheelchair Reviewed by Anne Bokhoven I hesitated when first asked to write a review of the above titled book. It's not really an ordinary book but rather an extraordinary book, a true story of two extraordinary friends set out to accomplish the extraordinary. How do you give a review of something like that? The best review is simply to say "you must read this for yourself." It's a story of two friends, Justin Skeesuck and Patrick Gray. Both were filled with an extreme passion for life, always trying the impossible. They were friends from birth, having been born just two days apart at the same hospital. Both were healthy babies but it wasn't long until Justin was diagnosed with a progressive neuromuscular disease that cost him the use of his arms and legs. He had to adjust to a life in a wheelchair, being completely dependent on someone else to help him live a "normal life. Patrick stayed at his side, determined he should have as normal a life as possible. It was when Justin shared his dream with Patrick of traveling the famous "Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage through the mountains and rough terrain of northern Spain when Patrick said "you want to go, I'll push you" that their friendship was really tested and strengthened. That short discussion led them to take the journey of 500 miles, setting a goal of finishing in six weeks. They went with the full approval and support of their wives and families. -6-

7 You must read the book to come to realize what a challenge that was. If you can, imagine being responsible for "pushing" someone over 500 miles of mountains, sometimes over less than dirt roads, in all kinds of weather and often enlisting other travelers to help reach the top of the mountain. Then, try to imagine being responsible for rounding up food and shelter for both of you, first preparing the food, then feeding your partner, getting him cleaned up and ready for "bed," all the time remembering he cannot use his arms, hands, legs or feet, before you can sit down, have your own supper and call it a day - only to get up the next morning and start all over again. They do meet the challenge and arrive at their destination - Mission Accomplished! other representatives were Pastors Den Oudsten and Bierma, along with Elder delegate Russ Van Hemert. It was held on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We had joint worship services and meetings with the RCA delegates from Thursday night through Monday morning. This was similar to the combined Synod meetings at Central College in Pella in I want to express my appreciation for your prayers for me and for Synod in general. It was my first experience as a delegate and I felt a little apprehensive about what would take place. I did drive a shuttle cart in Pella in 2014 and observed some of the proceedings then as well. I often asked myself, while reading the book, if I could do that for a friend. It would take a very special relationship. First you ask "how could a friend ask someone to do that for him?" and then I reminded myself the friend didn't ask him to do it, he offered to do it. That's friendship! As one review read, "The story reminds us that God didn't create us to live alone. 'I'll Push You' demonstrates what it means to live in community with one another and reveals what can happen when we shoulder each other's burdens. Justin and Patrick demonstrate the beauty that exists when we choose to be the hands and feet we are called to be." So - read it and enjoy! I have an idea you will be glad you did. SYNOD 2018 June 7 to 14, 2018 By Robert Rus I was a Deacon delegate to Synod 2018, representing Classis Central Plains. The I met a lot of interesting people, including many with Pella 2 connections. Sarah (Matherly) Roelofs is Director of Chaplaincy at Calvin Seminary. Jill (Van Weelden) Teitsma is Chief Financial Officer for the Reformed Church of America. James Uitermarkt was attending a teacher s conference on campus. Karla Zeilstra came over to talk with me after the Sunday morning worship service held at the Chapel. Marvin Van Haaften was an RCA delegate from Pella and a member of Pella 2 with his family in the early 1950's. Rod Hugen gave another humorous speech after the banquet. He also was a member for a few years as a young boy. I served on the financial advisory committee. We recommended a $7 per member increase in ministry share payments which was approved by the synod body. A report on reimagining ministry shares will come before Synod The overtures relating to social justice and abuse of power generated the most discussion. I will not go into those topics here. You can probably find that information -7-

8 online, or I can print copies of the committee reports. The Banner also provides a nice review of the proceedings. One of the highlights of the week is the presentation of seminary candidates. Eli Groenendyk was one of them; however, he was not present. We were invited one evening to an open house at the Seminary. Past students seemed to really enjoy that with much reminiscing. And yes, the food was very good! It amounted to 3 meals a day of all you could or wanted to eat, combined with lots of sitting. I did do quite a bit of walking to explore the campus, including the trails in the Preserve area. It was interesting for me to observe all the sprinkler applications. I determined irrigation is necessary there due to sandy soils. I think I could have stayed there another week just to work on their sprinkler system problems. In closing, it was a very good experience. There are some difficult issues facing the CRCNA, but Executive Director Steve Timmermans pointed out that there is much to be thankful for. Also, the RCA and CRC are committed to continue working together whenever possible. Some examples are church plants, Disaster Relief, and Disability Concerns. Please talk to me if there is something else you are interested in. Congratulations! Colton Corey Magnussen Born to Carey and Katie on June 14, 2018 Pella II Newsletter invites your contribution. Drop a note in the mailbox of any one of our editors. Joel Vander Molen joelvan@vmtweb.com Ryan Hoekstra hoekstrateam@iowatelecom.net Ruth Van Hal secretary@pella2crc.org