Connections CONESTOGA. Hiking to the Pinnacle in Berks County. November 2014 Vol. XXV No. 11

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1 Connections CONESTOGA November 2014 Vol. XXV No. 11 Hiking to the Pinnacle in Berks County On Sunday, October 5, the MYF headed to northern Berks County to climb to the Pulpit part of the trail to the Pinnacle. It was a beautiful fall day with coolness in the air Mindy led us with Weston giving directions for the trail. The view was amazing when we reached the Pulpit, you could preach to a huge audience from there. Praising our God together as a family of God! Thank you, Worship Team!

2 A Slave for Christ Today? Lemar and I were privileged to receive five nights of free lodging in Louisiana last month, so off we went via Amtrak train to explore the south. This was an area we had never visited before, so we were eager for this adventure. Of course, we wanted to see the bayou, alligators, sugar cane plantations, cotton fields, and definitely the plantations along the Mississippi River. After reading many historical fiction and biography books over the years, now I was finally going to be there in person! Surprise... I never expected to feel what I felt when walking on the magnificent plantations... it was those silent, delapidated, falling-down, unbelievably tiny cabins (should be called shacks) where the slaves called their home that shook me to the core! Reading about them is one thing, but walking on the same ground where they walked and worked and were Conestoga Mennonite Church 2779 Main Street, Morgantown, PA (610) Monthly newsletter for Conestoga Mennonite Church published since Deadline for articles and photos is the 20 th of the preceding month of publication. Editor: Lois Ann Mast Assistant Editor: Elizabeth Petersheim Contributing Editor: Anna Martin I, James, am a slave of God and the Master Jesus. James 1:1 killed was something clear different yes, I get the same feeling while traveling in Switzerland where my Anabaptist ancestors were persecuted and killed for their faith. Seeing pictures of some of these slaves (donated by descendants living today) made it yet more emphatic and solemn! And then to see the written records and to hear the guide s explanations confirms the reality! Did you know that when George Washington was twelve years old, he inherited ten slaves, and by the time of his death, 316 slaves lived at Mount Vernon, including 123 owned by Washington, 40 leased from a neighbor, and an additional 153 dower slaves? Did you know that of the first five U.S. presidents, four owned slaves while they were president? In fact, twelve of our U.S. presidents owned slaves, and eight of them owned slaves while serving as president. I don t mean to be pointing fingers, but when one sees and hears how these slaves were treated, it makes one stop and ponder why this ever had to happen! On the one plantation we visited, we saw a record stating that the plantation owner bought 30 young black girls and five young black boys at a New Orleans slave auction (likely right off the ship from Africa) so that each of the girls would get pregnant it was less expensive to raise children and teach them to work than to buy slaves. The owner (a lady) called the 30 young girls her crop. And then I was reminded of the painting that is in our barn we don t know the story behind it, although one s imagination starts working... it is a painting of a Confederate soldier done on a timber in the barn... why? Is it possible that some slaves stopped here and drew this sketch? (We know that the underground railroad for the slaves did run through our area.) Lemar s gt-gt-grandfather, Levi Mast, lived here during the Civil War and could have participated in assisting the slaves escape. It is not easy to prove this, but why would such a painting be sketched in our barn? This trip made me contemplate... what does God want to teach me from this experience of slavery in our country s history? What might I be enslaved to that is hurting my witness? Where and when can I promote equality and justice of persons God brings into my path? ~ Lois Ann Mast, Editor 2 Conestoga Connections

3 Sewing Circle Neighbors meets on Tuesday mornings during the academic school year in our church fellowship hall from 9:15 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Everyone is welcome for this time of fellowship! Sewing Circle met on Wednesday, October 1, for our annual Bring a Friend Day. There were 31 ladies present of whom 18 were guests. Just before lunch, we were visited by a couple from the Netherlands who saw our sign out at the road. The lady said she too is a quilter. They visited and took some pictures. Donated items included five comfort tops and six completed comforters. Five more comforters were completed. For devotions, we sang Christ Returneth, followed by a reading of Matthew 24: 36-44, and a devotional entitled An Ordinary Day. The special offering of $63.00 will be used for hygiene kits. Our closing song was When the Roll is Called Up Yonder. ~ Julia Yoder New Books in our Church Library Junior Little Prairie Girl by Sharon Kuepfer Little Prairie Girl Growing Up by Sharon Kuepfer Fiction Keeper of Hearts The Calm Before the Storm by Janice Dick The Eye of the Storm by Janice Dick Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good by Jan Karon Non-Fiction Mennonite Disaster Service by Brenda Phillps Finding My Way by Edgar Stoesz The Family of Jesus by Karen Kingsbury Biography Finding My Way by Edgar Stoesz ~ by Librarians Jane Stoltzfus and Julia Yoder November 4 Guess Who s Coming to Brunch? Meet at the church at 9:15 a.m. and bring your contribution for a fun morning enjoying food and fellowship. Pre-registration was necessary. November 11 Necessary Conversations for Adult Children to Have with Their Aging Parents with authors Gerald and Marlene Kaufman November 18 Friends Finding the Key to You and Me Ephesians 2:10 with Anita Malizzi December 2 Cookie Exchange and Hear Mary, the Mother of Jesus Bring 3 dozen cookies for the exchange. by Dot Leatherman Dust Bunny Hunt Sunday, December 14 12:00-2:00 p.m. A Ladies Tea luncheon will immediately follow the morning worship service with a special dust bunny hunt in the Conestoga Valley. Please bring your cameras and we will see who can bag the biggest and best dust bunny. Cost is $5.00 per adult (children are free). A sign-up sheet is posted in the lobby. Plan now on inviting your friends. Conestoga Connections 3

4 God Grew My Faith For almost as long as I can remember, Billy Graham is a man who I have held in high esteem a man of God who has always preached the truth of the gospel without compromise. I remember hearing about his crusade in Madison Square Garden, New York, (I believe it was in the early 1950s), and they kept extending the crusade week after week. I think it ran a total of twelve weeks. Through reading the Decision magazine, I had heard about the Bill Graham Library, so one of my dreams was to some day take the scenic drive to Charlotte, N.C., and visit this site. After making plans a couple of months ago, my cousin Naomi and I embarked on our journey on October 13. We chose to use Mennonite Your Way homes for our lodging and enjoyed very much our stay with a lovely Christian couple in the south end of Charlotte. He, a Messianic Jew, and she, a Filipina, are retired, but remain active teaching English as a second language. (If you want to know about our nutritious breakfasts, ask me later!) We spent an entire day at the library from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This included the memorial garden and a restaurant. There is a lot to see and I highly recommend it. And, oh, I do not want to forget the many, many volunteers who did an outstanding job, creating a warm and friendly atmosphere throughout. The next morning after stopping for gas, we were off and running again, or so we thought, when suddenly a pot hole appeared out of nowhere and promptly flattened my one tire. Now, if that is not a sinking feeling. Then, almost before the realization hit us, we saw a garage just ahead where we drove the car safely off the road GOD s PROTECTION/PROVISION. (By the way, this was on a country road.) After telling the garageman what had happened, he kindly put on my spare tire, of course advising us to get another tire before driving back to Pennsylvania. We were encouraged, however, when he told us the spare tire would take us quite a distance. After all, we did have plans for the day! So we continued on our way, first to see the Orchid Conservatory at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden in Belmont. As we walked through the gardens, my mind was not completely at ease knowing we had to somehow somewhere find a more dependable tire. Then it was on to the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove in Asheville, N.C. Actually, we had planned to get another tire that same day, but when we reached The Cove, two buses had just arrived ahead of us. So we waited... and time was passing by. Then I had a thought... I will call it GOD S PROMPTING... instead of rushing through the Training Center, we will take our time and then drive back to Charlotte and get our tire the next morning. Upon entering the Chapel, we heard the most beautiful melodious voices singing What a Day That Will Be! I was nearly overcome with emotion as relief swept over me GOD S PRESENCE. At another point during the tour, I looked up and there inscribed was the verse: Do not be anxious about anything. This WORD reassured me that I did not need to worry. After finishing the tour, we drove back to Charlotte where our hosts so generously supplied us with the needed directions for us to get our tire. The following morning, we started for home by 10:00 a.m.. On our drive back to Pennsylvania, we were awestruck by the mountains and fall foilage. What a difference two days can make! Looking back on this experience, I would not want to change a thing! GOD grew my faith! ~ Vida Beiler 4 Conestoga Connections

5 Upcoming MYF Events Hannah Petersheim, Jo Ebert, and Lois Ann Mast, visiting with Dottie Martin. Sun., Nov. 2 - Lunch provided after church; then we will knot a comforter created by Violet Beam to be sold at the Youth Auction. Wed., Nov. 5 - Bible Study led by Rachel Mast. Wed., Nov Food Pantry stocking. Wed., Nov 19 - Bible Study led by Rachel Mast. Fri., Nov Youth Auction; please be at the church at 3:30 p.m. to prepare the pizzas and set up for the auction. Photos by Rachel Mast Rodney Luke Stoltzfus Jacob Allan Perez Rodney Luke Stoltzfus Preston Meadors Zach Johnson Dan Mast Zach Preston Meadors Dan Mast Barn Party for the Jr. Youth at Nelson & Marilyn Beam s Barn Allan Perez Jacob Dan Mast Rodney Luke Stoltzfus Photos by Nelson Beam. Conestoga Connections 5

6 Conestoga Happenings Dot Leatherman recently enjoyed celebrating her 50 th year class reunion at Eastern Mennonite University on October 11 which means she graduated from college in On the right is her picture when she graduated as Dorothy Umble in Mabel Kurtz is enjoying creating a number of craft items at Garden Spot including this pumpkin and candle. She also contributed a number of items to the Garden Spot Retirement Auction. Vida Beiler and her cousin traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina, the week of October 13 to visit the Billy Graham Library. See her article on page 4 of this issue. The Library allows visitors to discover the life and legacy of Billy Graham s journey from a humble farm boy to an international ambassador of God s love in a barn-shaped building situated on 20 landscaped acres, only miles from where Billy Graham grew up in Charlotte. Wes and Lois Boyer enjoyed celebrating their 55 th wedding anniversary on October 9-11 by driving leisurely up through the mountains of Pennsylvania to Elk County. They saw two herds of elk (above photo) lying down in the grass right along the main road. They obviously were not afraid of all the people who stopped to take pictures!! The foliage was at its peak and we enjoyed seeing whole mountains of glorious color. We spent the night in Wellsboro and then returned home the next day. While it is cloudy and rainy here, it was perfect weather there with sunshine and moonlight! How do you get your homework done when your pet crawls on top your school textbook? Ask Josh Kurtz how he resolved this predicament! Blair and Brendon Petersheim enjoyed a week of sightseeing in Ireland in October prior to two weeks of work with his job that took him to Ireland. What a lovely place to vacation! Still Waters Ministries fundraiser in October with happy volunteers pictured below a fun evening! For his training as a physician s assistant, Bryce Petersheim is taking blood from 100 different persons and testing it for a variety of reasons. As of mid-october, he was already at #60. 6 Conestoga Connections

7 MDS Region I Annual Meeting On Friday, Sept. 26, Linda and I attended the MDS Region I annual meeting hosted by the Western Pa. Unit at Maple Grove Mennonite Church, Belleville, Pa. Kevin King discussed our main focus: #1 - touching lives #2 - would be repairs Serving others (out of the box) is becoming more important. The out of the box term comes from the game of connect the nine dots with four straight lines without lifting the pencil. MDS (Mennonite Disaster Service) is now helping in other ways besides cleanup and rebuilding. In California, we planted citrus trees because of heavy freezing. In Montana, we are rebuilding fences because of wild fires. Canada had a drought, so we are doing hay drives. In Oklahoma, we built concrete dog houses for a lady, the dogs belonged to her family members who were killed in the tornado. On Saturday, Sept. 27, the attendance was 49 with representatives from Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, and Florida. Representatives from all units talked about projects they worked on. Many stated being slow because of lack of natural disasters, which is a blessing. They did express doing other projects (out of the box), such as building a foot bridge, handicap ramps, replacing frozen pipes, and numerous others. We at MDS are well respected by outsiders. County case workers and other government agencies, contact us about case-by-case projects. The need to find younger volunteers and leaders seems to be an issue with most units. The most active now are those aged in their mid-forties and up. Budget and election of officers was addressed. Barb Schrag who is new at the Lititz office formerly worked at MCC. She talked about how important women volunteers are on the project sights 49% are women. Did you know that Hesston College offers a $3,000 scholarship per year to any student who serves eight summer weeks as a MDS volunteer?... that Pastors Project week is paid by MDS? If you would like to receive the quarterly newsletter- Behind the Hammer, let Rachel know. We could get them by bulk for your church mailbox. It was nice to learn to know the other volunteers and leaders from the different regions along the east coast. Very inspiring and moving to hear how we all work together serving others. You can learn a lot more about MDS at our web site: MDS.mennonite.net ~ Your Church Contact Person, Roger D. Mast Senior Connections will meet on Thursday, November 13, 2014 for their Thanksgiving celebration. Invite a friend to enjoy this special Thanksgiving dinner followed by a program with special music by one of our own group! - Bob & Jo Ebert and Lemar & Lois Ann Mast In October, seniors from Sr. Connections travelled to Ephrata to work at MCC s Material Resource Center. Conestoga Connections 7

8 On Sunday, October 26, CMC honored Pastor Emeritus Harvey & Lillian Stoltzfus in their move to Landis Homes; Pastor Bob provided a cake for Cindy s 60 th birthday: and Sister Church Team Chair, Sonya Petersheim, helped prepare the Mission Team Fundraising meal. 8 Conestoga Connections