Pella One. First Christian Reformed Church. February Birthdays

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1 VOLUME 2 ISSUE 2 FEBRUARY ~ 2018 Pella One Pella One Information First Christian Reformed Church The purpose of The Pella One is to promote fellowship within the congregation and to keep everyone informed about what s going on at Pella I CRC. Anyone may write for The Pella One, suggest a story, share what s going on in your life! If there is a picture you have to go along with your submission and would like to share it, please include it. The Pella One editor reserves the right to shorten stories, and edit for clarity, spelling, and grammar, and style. Editor: Leanna Van Zee Submissions may also be placed in the Pella One mailbox at church or ed to the church office: firstcrc@iowatelecom.net First Christian Reformed Church 914 Liberty St P.O. Box 321, Pella, Iowa (office) Visit us at Mission: February Birthdays 1 Rhett Terpstra 2 Mary Ellen Uitermarkt 7 Donna Janssen 9 Matthew Ver Meer 11 Joni Turner 12 Barb Kopaska 13 Hanna Callahan 14 Dewey Veenstra 16 Rachel Renaud 17 Brock Meinders 19 Bruce Bandstra Jan Klyn 24 Brian Vander Wal Judie Zwiers 26 Ken Kuiper Bill Vernooy 29 Tom Hostetter Being transformed by Jesus, leading people to Him. Our Mission and Vision Statement Vision: February Anniversary 8 Sid and Dolores Rooda A world transformed by the Gospel of Jesus.

2 NEWSLETTER TITLE PAGE 2 What a day that will be, when my Savior I shall see! We, as a family, are saddened by the death of our dear husband, dad, grandpa, and great-grandpa, but we rejoice because he is with his Savior and once again able to talk, walk and sing! As a life long member of this church, he was extremely proud of that fact and loved this church with his whole heart. Now we as his family want to thank you for all the love and support you have shown us through the difficult days of him being a Jefferson Place, the Cottages, and his death. Thank you in any way that you helped us out. To Elder Vernon Vander Weerdt, a special thank you for your many visits! To all who took time to visit ~ Thank You! So many helped in so many ways we cannot list them all. What stands out were the cards, food, memorial gifts at the funeral, the prayer support, the hugs, and also thank you to Care and Share for the gift card. Judie, he loved your cookies! Please know in whatever way you helped, it will long be remembered and was appreciated. To Pastor Brad, a sincere thank you for a comforting message of hope, comfort, and encouragement at the funeral. And to the ladies who served the lunch, THANK YOU for a job done so excellently! And most of all thank and praise to our Heavenly Father for the promise of eternal life through Jesus. First Christian Reformed Church ~ Thank yous Warmly, Edith and Judy Thank you for supporting our Adopt-A-Family program this Christmas. You truly blessed family members that needed some joy in their lives. We could not do this without the generosity in your hearts! ~ Thank you, Raelynn Schroeder and Crossroads of Pella January Visits with the Shut-ins: Grada De Bruin We had a nice visit with Grada. She was doing well. Thus far, she had avoided the winter health issues. Grada enjoys any church news, and appreciates Leanna sending the bulletins and Pella One! Always a pleasure to visit! Bill Van Waardhuizen Very uncharacteristically, Bill was curled up in bed when we stopped in one afternoon, so we made our visit short and sweet. Ruth Ver Meer As we entered Jefferson Place, we were greeted by a sign that cautioned us to not enter because of illness in the Care Facility. Gerald & Ruby Hoekstra Upon contacting Ruby for a time to visit, we were informed that they were being visited by a virus, and it would be wise for us to steer clear. Albert Van Zee Albert was doing well when we visited him. We talked about the Van Zee family tree, Leanna s cats, and the promise of Spring! ~ Case & Helen Vande Ree

3 Crossroad Prison Ministries Update Exciting things are happening at Crossroad Prison Ministries! It is a known fact that many of the people incarcerated in prison now have no means or money to buy things at the commissary, for phone calls, or stamps to send a letter home if their families still acknowledge them. Did you know the United States has more jails than colleges? The United States has less than 5 percent of the world s population but almost 25 percent of the world s total prison population. When we talk about sending people to prison, we almost never talk about this fact: 95 percent of people currently in prison will someday return to their community. The person s experience with the criminal justice system is a long journey. And that is where Crossroad Prison Ministries can help. They can be introduced to the Bible through the lessons they receive from Crossroad Prison Ministries. That, in turn, helps lay a foundation for a good reentry into the community. For years Crossroad Prison Ministries has been connecting prisoners with mentors on the outside allowing them to grow in friendships as they study Crossroad Bible lessons together. Unfortunately, over the years, it has been found some students have to drop out because they can not afford the postage. Some can not afford to even start the lessons. This is the exciting news!!! Some Crossroad donors are covering postage for all students! You read that correctly. Donors have come together to cover all the postage for all students. It is an answer to prayers!! The Crossroad offices are expecting a large increase in the number of students who will enroll. And while that is good news, it also presents another challenge. As the number of students increase so does the demand for more mentors. That is the plea of this article. Put yourself in a prisoners place. You have no money, as your family has disowned you. You sit everyday looking at four walls. Longing for someone to talk to, to accept you, or at least show you a little love. In your communication with prisoners you will find that most came from a broken home, did poorly in school and just dropped out and found acceptance in a gang, or as some admit, they just made bad choices in life. Now imagine that you receive a letter welcoming you into the Crossroad Prison Ministries and every time you send in a lesson to be corrected, when you get it back you get a letter from a person on the outside who really cares about you! They share with you what Christ means to them, they share some of their life experiences with you and most importantly, they tell you that Jesus loves them and that he died to save them! Would that not give you a ray of hope? The positive thing about this outreach is that you do not have to travel many miles to do it. It comes to you. The lessons are not hard to correct. You just need approximately an hour. Tier I is entry level and you get a different student every time. Tier II you get the same person and soon find yourself really enjoying communicating with them. I have a Tier II student who thanked me for being there for him when his son died. It s a sad story, his family has disowned him, he wants to know if his mother is still alive, and he is in prison for life. I think it was through God s leading that he found out his son had died, but rejoiced because his son knew Jesus as his Savior. Please give this outreach some prayerful thought. We, as God s people, are called to reach out to those in need. (Matthew 25: 36 - I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.) If you are interested and would like to see the lessons and Leaders Guide please contact me (Judy De Vries at ) and I will help you start your journey of being a blessing to someone s life. You will not regret it, and it will be a blessing to you! Submitted by Judy De Vries

4 VOLUME 2 ISSUE 2 PAGE 4 Schedules Nursery February 4 ~ Bert Terpstra, Katie Van Den Broek, Braden Meinders February 11 ~ Miss Leanna, Corrine Verschuure, Matthew Ver Meer February 18 ~ AM: Marilyn Bandstra, Caryn Van Hemert, Bria Van Soelen PM: Mona Roozeboom and Jan Vander Wal February 25 ~ AM: Will Keuning, Abigail Van Walbeek, Emma Keuning PM: Judy De Vries and Celia Stouwie Ushers January 7 ~ Russ and Caryn Van Hemert, Fred Van Den Broek January 14 ~ Case and Helen Vande Ree, Henry Schutte January 21 ~ Russ and Caryn Van Hemert, Fred Van Den Broek January 28 ~ Case and Helen Vande Ree, Henry Schutte Greeters January 7 ~ Case and Paula De Haan, Marilyn De Jong, Marge Kuiper January 14 ~ Harley and Karen Ver Meer, Pat Callahan January 21 ~ Ralph and Lu Ann De Haan, Judy De Vries January 28 ~ Fred and Sandy Van Den Broek, Berneda Steenhoek February 4 ~ Ken and Alberdina Kuiper, Donna Vernooy Projection February 4 ~ Conner Van Walbeek February 11 ~ Austin Van Soelen February 18 ~ Celia Stouwie February 25 ~ Amber Van Gorp March 4 ~ Marilyn Bandstra Sound February 4 ~ Tim Callahan February 11 ~ Wayne Van Walbeek February 18 ~ Bruce Bandstra February 25 ~ Sandy Van Den Broek March 4 ~ Tim Callahan

5 February means Valentine s Day. There are many different ways to show love to someone other than with flowers and chocolates. However, I love flowers and chocolates, don t get me wrong. Last year, one of my Little Lambs brought me flowers and a homemade card. It was so sweet. I love the cards I have received from all of my children. See, you don t have to be married or dating to receive gifts! You just have to be a tiny Asian with 250+ children. This year, I would just love the gift of being able to sleep in. It doesn t happen for me very often anymore. I am an early-to-bed/early-to-rise girl! You do see one of God s amazing gifts to us in a beautiful sunrise! Hope Ministries is in need of gifts of groceries! They prepare approximately 14,000 meals a month. They are in need of the following items: Ground beef, coffee, 10lb. Cans of vegetables, butter, cheese, cans of soup, and instant potatoes. A group from our church is going to Bethel Mission on Tuesday February 13. and would love to take a box of food with them! Please bring donated items and place them in the box in the narthex by Sunday, February 11. Let s try to make their Valentine s Day special by sending them much needed food. Blessings and Happy February to you all, (remember, we are that much closer to spring!) ~ Miss Leanna

6 February 2018 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Morning worship/ Evening CRC 5Happy Quilters/Elders/ Deacons/Council 6Discussion Group 7Family Night Supper/GEMS/ Cadets Morning worship/evening CRC 12Happy Quilters 13Bethel Mission 14YACS/ Wednesday Nite Ladies Bible Study Morning worship/evening CRC 19Happy Quilters 20 21GEMS/Cadets Morning worship/evening CR C 26Happy Quilters 27 28YACS/ Wednesday Nite Ladies Bible Study