Wear Your Favorite T-Shirt to Church Sunday Aug. 13th! Eclipse Event August 21st

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1 Wear Your Favorite T-Shirt to Church Sunday Aug. 13th! Worship Committee is hosting: Wear your favorite t-shirt to church day! This can be a church shirt, a sports team, camps, etc. it s your church and we hope to see a lot of variety! Eclipse Event August 21st The Camp Carew Eclipse Event needs volunteers to help between August 19-21, Contact them with what days you are available (Sat., Sun. or Mon.), time available, abilities and dietary needs (1 meal will be provided each day). You can also call camp to reserve a viewing spot as well if you are unable to volunteer. The best place to view is in the Carbondale/Camp Carew area Total Solar Eclipse max 1:21 p.m. CDT, Starts 11:52 a.m. Ends 2:47 p.m. At home in Monticello Partial Solar Eclipse (93%) max 1:20 p.m. CDT, Starts 11:53 a.m. Ends 2:44 p.m. Safe viewing methods include mylar glasses, a pinhole projector, a pegboard, a No. 14 welder s glass, or a projection method using a telescope or binoculars. Eclipse viewers should never look directly at the event without a visual aid. The Urbana Free Library is hosting a Art Lessons for Children: Create a Pinhole Camera (build your own pinhole camera) on Sunday, August 13 at 2 p.m. for children of all ages.

2 Presbyterian Women Fall Gathering The PW Circles will be meeting on Tuesday, August 29 at 6:30 p.m. in the church fellowship hall. A light supper will be provided. There will be a speaker from Willow Tree to share details of their mission with us. All ladies are invited to learn more about this important mission and to share in the meal. There will also be an opportunity to give at the Thank Offering at this time. If you have any questions contact Bonnie Smith. The Mission Report Hola! Do you speak Spanish? Some members of the mission team to Roblealto learned or knew a few words or phrases prior to our June trip to Costa Rica. No one was fluent, however. One bit of technology that became very useful was an app called Google Translate. Once downloaded on our phones we were able to communicate with our host families and other people we met at Roblealto. The app could show text or speak which was useful and a lot of fun although some things got confused in translation which provided some amusing moments. The children enjoyed it as much as we did. One thing that did not need translation was the language of God's love. We felt it the minute we met the children. Hugs and happy smiles mean the same in any language and we don't need an app for that. Big Tent Nicole and I were able to go to our denominational Big Tent conference. For us it was easier to get to this time around since it was in St. Louis but there were hundreds who had come from all over the country, about 600 in total. This year's theme was "Race, Reconciliation, Reformation", with workshops from the various offices of PCUSA. One of the most rewarding parts of the few days was the opening worship lead by an eclectic choir and featuring preaching by J. Herbert Nelson II the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly Another bright spot was in the mornings when we had the conference Bible study lead by Eric Barreto, associate professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary. Both were great speakers and brought hope to situations in our world and church. It was good to interact with our brothers and sisters from other cultures even though we are part of the same ecclesial body. It was also good to interact with Lisa Longo our regional representative with the Presbyterian Foundation and others from Presbyterian Missions and the Office of General Assembly. Beef House Many thanks for Kevin Duff organizing the annual fun fellowship night at The Beef House.

3 Cincinnati Youth Mission Trip The middle school and high school students came back from their week of service with a lot of fun stories to tell. They were also well worn from working in various projects in the greater Cincinnati area. Some were at a camp digging around oak saplings, putting weed guard on them and covering it up with some wood chips to protect the young trees as they are replacing many other ash trees that have fallen due to the infestation of the ash beetle. Some students were with big brother, big sister programs helping out with existing ministries with their energy and enthusiasm. Other students and leaders were at an inner city dance studio helping kids learn what they themselves were passionate about. Group Mission trips provided the message which this year was "The Road". We followed along the Bible story of the disciples walking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24. There was worship, group times and skit times too. Somehow we all fit into a church not much bigger than our own with about 90 other people! We also endured a large water main break in the middle of an intersection a block away that happened on our first full day there. We survived some bumps and bruises and upset stomachs but kept going. Many thanks go to Shanelle and Nicole for volunteering for the week to make it possible for us to go. Vacation Bible School Vacation Bible School was a success due to the great volunteers we had and the leadership of the Christian Education committee. Once again we had great songs and music from Jeff Clodfelter and Marilyn Armstrong. Julie Clodfelter helped sign kids up at our front table and get them name tags. We had great help in the kitchen with Beth and Darrell Stevens and Melinda Duncan, Janice Shiffer. Many of these and more provided food including Nancy Lamb, Margaret Morrison, Cyndy Witt, Eileen Nixon and Chelsea Hartman. Thanks to Nicole Spangler for helping as well. Also, we had great parent help during the week in Trisha Shaw, Mark Koon, and Jill Clodfelter. Thank you to many others who were not named, who were part of the effort, and sometimes craziness, as we worked with kids as we all put together projects for others. Many thanks go to Joy Fox and Allison Witt for organizing and dreaming up what we can accomplish with our VBS, making it a fun process pushing for making relevant gifts for our neighbors. That the children are also part of the church now and that they can make an impact in what they do too. Kemmerer Village wins horse! Kemmerer Village received 15,422 votes on Facebook to end in seventh place out of over 80 centers. They won Oreo, an eight year old mare, 13.2 hands from Lexlin Gypsy Ranch in Tennessee. Many thanks to those who responded and helped vote for them during the contest. Robert Bob Charles Miller Transferred to the Church Triumphant August 11, 1915 July 21, 2017 Funeral Service held July 26, a.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Monticello, Rev. Paul Spangler officiating. Bob was a member of FPC for 92 years. In lieu of other expressions of sympathy, memorial contributions may be made to the Monticello Area Education Foundation, P.O. Box 473, Monticello, IL 61856, or First Presbyterian Church.

4 We will be assisting by helping collect backpacks and supplies for low income and hardship families in Piatt County (box in the overflow room). Please help them provide supplies so these children may start out their school year on the right path to success. Some supplies in greater now are Graph Paper, calculators (TI-30 are under $10 at Walmart), dry erase markers, and backpacks. A couple of odd additional items needed are Kindermats ($10), combo padlocks, and flash drives (1-2 gig, can find under $5). For a full list or to donate visit If you would like to volunteer on Thursday, August 10th Saturday, August 12th please - asmallhandpiatt@gmail.com Old Photos Needed! The 175th committee needs old photos of church events or of the church. Photos would be greatly appreciated... if you have any, please drop off at the church office. Also please put your name on the photos so we can return them. Thank you! Choir to start September 6th! The congregation can look forward to beautiful music to be filling the sanctuary soon. Practice resumes Wednesday, September 6 at 6 7 p.m., and the first Sunday back will be September 10th. We d love for you to join us! Mark your Calendars Monticellobration Saturday, September 16th Between 10:30 a.m. 4 p.m. Look for more information in September s Tower Tidings Co-Moderator Jan Edmiston to attend Presbytery Meeting at FPC! Cindy Bean has invited General Assembly Co-Moderator Jan Edmiston to attend and preach at the November 16, 2017, Presbytery meeting held at First Presbyterian Church, Monticello!!! For more information on Jan and a bio visit Combined Worship Service What was normally a smaller Sunday for area churches became a community event when we met at the football stadium on July 2nd. It was great to have ecclesial camaraderie among the denominations and with all who showed up. A big issue was with the heat because it got very hot. We will not have the service be at that location at that time in the future. It could be in the evening or somewhere else. As it was, Coach Welter spoke well and humbly of his life of faith and how God used him in his role at the school and Roger Lipe encouraged us to be the church by doing the word of God and not just hearing it. The worship band was good and the Gideons were on site handing out Bibles. Thank you to those who could make it and participated.

5 August 2017 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 9:45 am Ministerial Alliance Mtg St. Jude Run (Pray for Paul) 6 Communion and Traditional Hymn Sunday 11 am 175th Comm. Mtg T-Shirt Sunday 11 am E&F Mtg pm Costa Rica Gathering/Recap 15 7 pm Stephen Ministers Mtg pm Session Mtg Eclipse (see article for viewing times) Tower Tidings Due Presbytery mtg Greenville :30 p.m. PW Fall Gathering in the Fellowship Hall 30