Plans are being made to visit the villages of Ilula in June of 2010. Volunteers are needed to continue the Ilula Orphan Program with Berit Skarre, missionary in Tanzania. IOP is a Christian outreach program to educate children.

Go to this link to see firsthand some of the students that have benefitted from IOP and the on-going projects that are helping this community become self-sufficient.
ilulaorphanprogram.org/web/iopfilm.html

What are your talents?

• Can you make doors and windows, mix mortar or paint? Construction is needed on the church. Classrooms are being built for a new high school. Foster families need home repairs and pit toilets dug.
• Can you teach sewing and canning? African girls and women are eager to learn.
• Do you play a musical instrument or sing? Preschool children through adults love to sing and dance.
• Have you ever helped with Bible School? Help us teach the Bible through stories, games, crafts, and songs.
• Are you a nurse? African families need to be taught hygiene, hand washing, and clean water practices. They also need to be checked physically and parenting skills are greatly needed.
• Do you enjoy gardening and working with animals? Work side by side with orphans, vulnerable children and their families showing Christ’s love for them.

Let’s meet and discuss travel dates, airfare prices, passports, vaccinations, food and living quarters in Ilula, clothing needs, and most importantly your talents.

Contact: Susie Singleton, (812-254-6650), or email, joe.singleton @ sbcglobal.net.

Check out this website for additional information: www.ilulaorphanprogram.org

Departure Date: June 23 Return Date: July 9

Trip estimates:

Airfare $1650 (Delta/Northwest/Air France/KLM)
Passport $125
Immunizations $220
Visa to enter Tanzania $100
Hotel in Dar es Salaam (first night) $25
Taxi in the city and Bus to Ilula $100
Room and Food at the IOP Girl’s Center $200 ($20 per day)
Trip to a Maasai tribe and meal $30
Safari for 2 nights (Ruaha River Lodge) $250
Shopping ?????

Total Cost Approx. $2700

Note: When traveling with cash, do not bring cash older than 2003.

Here is a website to read more about the Safari:
http://www.africatravelresource.com/T1/africa/tanzania/s/ruaha/TRRL/0/lodge/01intro/?gclid=CKPT–yd4Z8CFQUeDQodeHo9GQ

Berit Skarre, missionary in Tanzania, will make our arrangements for the Safari and meeting the Maasai people. She gets special rates because she knows them personally and has arranged this for many groups that have visited Ilula to volunteer in the mission field.

Check with your county health nurse and find out what vaccines she can get for you. My county nurse recommended getting a prescription from my family doctor for anti-malaria medication also.

Here are the prices I have been given from the Dubois County nurse for immunizations:

Yellow Fever $89
Hepatitis A $38
Hepatitis B $35
Typhoid $55
Malaria

Here is a website to go to and read more about vaccines for Tanzania.
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/tanzania.aspx

• Feb – Canned Soup
• Mar – Peanutbutter
• Apr – Spaghetti and sauce
• May – Canned vegetable
• Jun – Cereal of some type
• Jul – Macaroni and chees
• Aug – Canned vegetables
• Sep – Peanutbutter
• Oct – Cereal
• Nov – Canned fruit
• Dec – Soup and crackers

Heaven: Part 2 What, when, where, Why?

Worship and Ad Council, Pastor Relations Committee

Missions and Trustees Committees

Ad Council, Pastor Relations Committee, and GAP Team

Education and Missions Committees

UMW, Missions, and Education Committies

Please be sure that you have updated the church office with your current address.

Email Addresses: 

If you have an email address, the office would be happy to include it in our email directory – it is a quick & convenient way to send reminders & notify you in a hurry.

General Information:

The Flower Chart is available for signups – located on the bulletin board by the church office. Sign up with what you would like printed in the bulletin if possible. If not, you will need to contact the office near the time of your Sunday for information to be printed in the bulletin.  Flowers may be given for special occasions, in memory of loved ones and friends, congratulations or a variety of reasons. When reserving flowers for the altar, both flower arrangements may be taken home following Sunday morning worship. THE LINERS, however, have to be left in the vases for use the next week. An ice cream bucket works well for transporting flowers home and those can usually be found in the closet in the kitchen if you need one.

We thank You for this day. We thank You for being able to see and to hear this morning. We are blessed because You are a forgiving God and an understanding God. You have done so much for each of us and You keep on blessing us. Forgive us this day for everything we have done, said, or thought that was not pleasing to you.

I ask now for Your forgiveness.  Please keep me safe from all danger and harm. Help me to start this day with a new attitude and plenty of gratitude.  Let me make the best of each and every day to clear my mind so that I can hear from You.  Please broaden my mind that I can accept all things.  Let me not whine and whimper over things I have no control over.  And give me the best response when I’m pushed beyond my limits.

We know that when we can’t pray, You listen to our hears.  Continue to use us to do your Will. Continue to bless us that we may be a blessing to others.  Keep us strong that we may help the weak…Keep us uplifted that we may have words of encouragement for others.

I pray for those that are lost and can’t find their way.  I pray for those that are misjudged and misunderstood.  I pray for those who don’t know You intimately.  I pray for those that don’t believe.

We thank You for our belief that God changes people and God changes things, help our unbelief.  I pray for all my sisters and brothers.  For each and every family member in their households.. I pray for peace, love and joy in their homes; that they are out of debt and all their needs are met.  I pray that everyone knows there is no problem, circumstance, or situation greater than God.  Every battle is in Your hands for You to fight.  I pray that these words be received into our hears,

In Jesus’ name.  Amen!

   Lord willing I will be in the U.S. by the time this is read, but at the moment  I am here in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.   I have just completed what I think is the fastest 30 days of my life.

Weather in Ilula was very mild.  This is winter time there, and lows were in the mid 50′s on some nights, to highs in the 70 to 80 degree range.  A jacket was necessary on a few occasions, although the locals were wearing heavy coats!   To me, it was perfect.  

  It has been a very eventful trip.  My main purpose was to take as many pictures of our IOP students as I could (around 650 currently), so sponsors can have a recent picture of who they are sponsoring.  Due to the shortage of secondary schools, we have students placed in nearly 70 schools across Tanzania.   This made my task extremely difficult in such a short period of time.

  We did manage to get 375 pictures so far, Annelies from IOP in Netherlands will continue my task until around July 9th.  Various methods was used for travel to get these pictures, Berit’s vehicle, motorcycle, and walking.   Several kilometers were logged on foot traveling to various schools.  Due to the extremely high cost of gasoline, about 1700 shillings per liter (about $1.5 per liter, i think its about 4 liters to a gallon), and the damage that the roads cause to the tires on her 4 wheel drive (2 tires received punctures to bad they had to be replaced at a cost of $230 per tire), walking to as many schools seemed necessary.  It also kind of gave me a good taste of life in Tanzania, as foot travel is the most common way of getting from point a to b. 

  My trip also involved some fund raising activities, and some visits to government offices on our electrical needs at the center.  Upon arrival at the airport in May, Berit and I went to the Norwegian Ambassador’s house to discuss the high school IOP plans to build.  Also visits to the American Embassy and a meeting with the Minister of Communication and Technology occurred while i was in Dar Es Salaam.  Later meetings with Tanesco’s (the government run power company) regional and National offices concerning IOP getting connected to the power grid.

  IOP, which is having a celebration the first week in July for our 10 year anniversary, is seeing even greater needs in the Ilula area.  New government figures have come out showing that the Iringa region (the location of Ilula) now has the highest rate of HIV/Aids infection in the country.  Various reasons for this is thought to be causing the trouble, from Severe poverty to local tribal practices of men taking their deceased brothers wife as their own (in addition to their own wife if they have one).  Poverty can cause a woman to make poor choices that most would consider unthinkable.  The cries of a hungry or thirsty child though, can make that poor choice seem like the best way of solving their problem.

  Probably the most memorable part of my trip was the time spent with the 31 girls at the orphanage, who range in age from 9 to about 19.  Having memorized all their names before leaving, and studying pictures, it took only a short time to be able to call all the girls by name.  It was as if I had suddenly become “Dad” (or maybe grandpa) to 31 girls.  Someone in the community even was heard calling me “Babu Berit” ( “babu” is granddad, Berit is know by everyone as “Bibi Berit”, grandmother).  Saying Goodbye after 30 days was a very difficult thing to do.

I would like to thank everyone for the financial gifts of my traveling expenses, and for the prayers while i have been in Tanzania.  Gifts from the church and others helped pay all the cost of my ticket, as well as helping with the cost for equipment that I took to Tanzania (battery powered photo printer, small backup hard drive, and a few other odds and ends).  

From Tanzania

  Ron Porter

The call to worship ignited in me the need to sing my own praises to my Lord and Saviour. Memories of my trip last year have come flooding back. The friendliness of the people, the lack of basic things that we as Americans take for granted, the harsh realities of severe poverty…how it affects their day to day lives, and tries to take away the hope of the future.

But there is hope in the Lord, and through His power and grace and the efforts of programs like the IOP, hope can be restored and His people lifted up. It is not the goal of the IOP to make a poor people wealthy, but it is here to give them the opportunity to use the gifts and talents that God has bestowed upon them.

This is the 10 year anniversary of the Ilula Orphan Program. God has used the gifts of many people at Christ UM Church to carry out His work here in Tanzania. Many thanks to all those who have supported and helped out in various ways to contribute to the ongoing effort. Over 850 students have been touched by the student sponsor program, the foster care program has provided housing for over 200 children, and many more have been helped in various ways.

My ticket to Tanzania was fully covered by the donations from the church and others, even paying for some of the equipment that I have delivered, such as a battery powered photo printer and a backup hard drive. Asante Sana to everyone! (Thank you very much!)

From Africa,

Ron Porter

MORE NEWS: Berit had a very busy schedule while she was home during January and February. Edson enjoyed seeing our country and meeting the people. He stated, “Volunteerism is REAL in the USA.” He was touched by those who used their resources to help people they don’t even know. We would like to thank Ron and Ann Frette for hosting Edson during his stay in America. Edson plans to take better care of his people when he returns to Tanzania.

Churches: Odon UM, Providence Mennonite Church, Sandborn Christian Church, Berea Mennonite Church, Memorial UMC(Terre Haute), Kingsley UMC(Sullivan), Bethel Mennonite Church, Ft. Branch UMC, Christ UMC, Haysville Lutheran, Oaktown Lenten Breakfast, Huntingburg Mission Committee, Pleasantville UMW, Salem Agape Ministries. Schools: Washington Catholic HS, North Knox West Elem, North Knox HS, North Daviess Elem, Purdue University. Organizations: Washington Kiwanis, Jasper Rotary. Special Events: Meeting with Bishop Coyner at his Indpls. office, Speaking to the community at North Elem. in Washington, Speaking at Vincennes District Missions Training Day at Community UMC.

There are 79 Methodist churches in our district. The IOP Committee is hoping to contact them and encourage them to invite Berit to visit with them and tell them about the needs of the children in the eight villages of Ilula in rural Tanzania, Africa, when she returns in the fall.

If you would like to know more about the Ilula Orphan Program, go to our website at www.ilulaorphanprogram.org.

 

Christ United Methodist Church

Serving God and our Community since 1816

The year was 1816. The country was still forest covered and swampy in most of southern Indiana. The Hoosier State was admitted to the Union as the 19^th state. Daviess County was created from the eastern half of Knox County. A Kentucky farmer named Thomas Lincoln moved his wife and two children to Indiana. The newly incorporated town of Washington was a hustling metropolis of seventy-seven souls. The town contained only a few houses, mostly cabins, and a fort for protection from Indian raids, streets with no sidewalks, and David Flora’s trading post and the livery stable and wheelwright shop of Samuel Miller.

Also in 1816, in Miller’s home on the northeast corner of what is today Main and Meridian streets the first meeting of the Methodist Society in Washington took place. The pastor was a circuit rider named John Shrader. This congregation was part of the Vincennes and Harrison circuit. The circuit was so large that Rev. Shrader could only reach Washington every fourth week. For the next eleven years meetings of First Methodist Church were held in homes, or in the courthouse that was located on the northeast corner of Main and East First streets.

  In 1827, the congregation built the first of its six buildings. This small brick church sat on the corner of southwest corner of Hefron and N.E. First. However, due to structural weaknesses I the building it was abandoned as unsafe after only two years of use and the congregation returned to meeting in the courthouse.

In 1837, the congregation obtained property on the southeast corner of Flora and N.E. Third (directly east from the St. Simon’s rectory today). A house located on the property was remodeled for use as a church. Membership of the congregation at the time was 125 persons.

After twenty-one years in this small building the congregation had outgrown the building. For the large sum of $2000 the church built a larger building on the same property and converted the old building into a parsonage. In 1859, First Methodist Episcopal Church was taken off the circuit and mad a station with its own permanent pastor.

It was also during this time that the Ladies Aid Society and the Ladies Sewing Circle were formed.

In 1865 the church organized its first choir consisting of twelve members.

In 1868, the church was able to purchase a one-ton bell for $354.52 from a New Albany salvage company. The bell, which sets nest to the chapel today, was originally made for the steamboat Laurel Hill, which sunk in the Ohio River. The bell was placed in a specially built tower on the corner of Flora and N.E. Third next to the church building.

By 1886 the church was prosperous enough that the pastor’s salary was set at $1,000 per year plus the use of the parsonage. Membership had grown to 285 persons. The little frame church building was becoming crowded. $1,000 was raised and Lot #1 of the original plat of the town of Washington was purchased from James H. Meredith. This is the location of the present chapel.

In 1890 a large brick building with seating for 650 was built for $16,000. In a ceremony the bell was moved from the Third Street building and raised into the new church’s steeple. It was said that you could hear the bell for five miles. A parsonage was built north of the church on the southeast corner of Meridian and Walnut.

In April, 1917, the first Boy Scout troop was organized under the sponsorship of the church. In 1935 a Girl Scout troop was organized under the leadership of Miss Evelyn Reed. The 1890 building continued to serve this congregation into the 1960’s and say the beginning of the baby boom. Fortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Spinks remembered the church in their wills and in 1941 a 42-acre tract was left to First Methodist Church. This land was sold in 1943 for $3,400. This money was used to purchase land to the east of the church and in 1954 the Activities Building was constructed to provide much needed space for Sunday School classes. The Activities Building was constructed after a six-week fund drive that raised $123,000. In 1964 the front lobby was partitioned off and a church library was begun under the direction of Miss Evelyn Reed and Miss Mary Knowles. The Library is currently located in the upper hallway of the Activities Building near the elevator and a few feet from the sanctuary. Carolyn Jones is the current librarian.

On Thursday, September 2, 1963 at about 7:50 pm the church building caught fire and there was some heavy damage in parts of the building. Church services were moved into the Activities Building due to the unsafe conditions of the sanctuary. Early in the morning of September 20, 1963, smoldering embers in the church attic reignited the fire and the 1890 building was destroyed. Fortunately, the bell and some pieces of furniture from the sanctuary and parlor were recovered.

 The cornerstone for the present church building was laid on July 25, 1965. Bishop Richard C. Raines consecrated the current building on March 27, 1966.

On April 24, 1968 the Methodist Church and its “German” cousin, the Evangelical United Brethren Church, merged to form the United Methodist Church. Because the EUB church in Washington was a “First” church as was this congregation the two congregations agreed to give up their historic names. The EUB congregation became known as Otterbein United Methodist Church and this congregation moved from being First Methodist to Christ United Methodist.

Over the years, our church has opened its doors to several ministries serving the Washington Community. As noted the church has always been a supporter of the Scout organizations. In the 1970’s the Rosemary Kennedy School, which served the learning handicapped members of our community was started in the Sunday School rooms of Christ Church. This has grown into the Red Door Industries and functions in its own buildings today. For several years Christ Church was the home of the Headstart program. Christ Church is currently providing space for a church supported day care center. In addition the members of Christ United Methodist Church can be found as active participants in almost all the civic and charitable organizations, putting their Christian faith to work in our community.

 Our congregation has a proud tradition of service to God and our community. The programs of the church have been varied and have met the needs of this community over the past one hundred and ninety-two years. May we continue to follow this path of Christian leadership and service that has been followed by so many who have gone this way before.

Article by Don Spillman