Dear friends,
Tomorrow is one of the most festive Sundays of the Church year. The day of Pentecost is when Jesus’ promise that the Holy Spirit will be with the disciples after he is gone comes true. The Spirit blows through the room where the disciples are hiding, and blows them right out into the street to preach the gospel to people of all nations. The liturgical color for the Holy Spirit is red, so we invite everyone to wear something red tomorrow.
Two things we are working on in the office this summer are new name tags and a new photo directory. Our resident photographer, Tom Wilson. will be at church next Sunday for 30 minutes before and after the service to take photographs. He will also be taking photos on June 29 and July 13. Please try to make it to one of these sessions so that our directory can be complete.
I have this message from Suzanne Johnson about our refugee family:
The young children of our refugee family need your help this summer.
They were in school in Jonesboro—-kindergarten, first and second grade—for only two months before the summer holidays. Their schools in Cameroon were wretched—150 or more kids in a classroom, no textbooks, no desks, one teacher. This summer we are trying to help them catch up to their American peers as much as possible with very basic literacy and numeracy skills. We have engaging workbooks and suggestions for games, etc. What we need are volunteers to spend a couple of hours with the kids in Jonesboro helping them learn. You do not need to speak French!! If you can go one time, that is good. If you could commit to several times even better. Or more often would be best. If you think this might be something you could do, please contact Suzanne Johnson for more information. (804-201-1679; suzclarkjo@gmail.com)
Other ways you can help the kids this summer:
Can you provide transportation for the 4 young kids and an adult from the family for an afternoon at a nearby park? Contact Suzanne and she will pair you up with another volunteer driver—you do not have to have an SUV to be able to do this.
Can you donate new or used quality children’s books—from board books for babies and toddlers, picture books, or beginner readers? Please put any books on the bench just outside the door to the offices at the church.
And since members of the family are working, they also could use some help understanding taxes and their responsibilities as taxpayers. Anyone with that kind of knowledge would be very helpful to the family.
Hope to see you all tomorrow.
With love,
Tricia