Operation Christmas Child

Please join us in filling shoeboxes with school supplies, personal hygiene items, candy, and toys for children overseas to help share the Good News and lead them to Christ.

Shoebox collection is the third week of November but it’s a year-long effort to make it successful.  Our goal this year is 100 shoeboxes and a packing party in November.  For more information, contact Phuong McManamna.  You can also check out the Operation Christmas Child website.

The Dollar Tree is a great place to shop for some of these items.  WE’re collecting empty shoeboxes too.  There is a blue collection bin in the foyer at the back of the church.

Items to collect:

Spaghetti Feed Fundraiser

Sunday, April 3rd, at noon (right after church)

The mission group for a May trip to Oregon is holding a spaghetti feed to raise funds for a service project. Mr. Ching annually donates the use of his home to a group that takes hemopheliac men to ride quads in the dunes. Curt Marchione has been involved with this ministry for many years. Several church members are giving their time and talents to put siding on Mr. Ching's home.

Donations will be accepted to help with the cost of materials. Please join us for salad and spaghetti with a variety of toppings, and hear about the trip plans.

Hope Sunday – December 12th

Child Sponsorship through World Vision

On December 12, Manette Community Church will participate in Hope Sunday, a life-changing opportunity from World Vision. By sponsoring a child through World Vision, you’ll get the chance to build a relationship with a child in a developing country and make a lasting impact in his or her life. Look for the sign-up table at Manette Community Church on December 4, 2010 at the 10:30 am worship service!

Today, and every day, nearly 26,000 children around the world will die – most from causes such as hunger and treatable diseases. You can reach out to help prevent this tragedy for one child by sponsoring a child for just $35 a month.  Come by the Hope Sunday table in the entryway to choose the photo of a child whose life you can change forever.

For more information on World Vision and child sponsorship go to worldvision.org

Montana Mission Team Report

Multi-Age MCC Montana Team

With much excitement and anticipation 39 members of MCC arrived at Crow Agency, Montana the 1^st day of August to serve the people of that community.  Our World Servants team leader, Steve Suhi, had already paved the way for us to be welcomed into the community and, along with Pastor Kenneth Pretty on Top, had planned a list of specific ways that we could be of help to the Crow people.  The goal was to make a positive impact for Christ with our efforts in order to draw people to the church where they would then come to have a personal relationship with Christ.  The hope was that those we came in contact with would see the love of Christ through us and know that we cared about each of them.

We feel we accomplished that in many ways.  We held a kids club in the park four mornings.  The first day we had 22 kids attend.  As the word spread the attendance increased until the last day we counted 55 kids!  They had a blast playing games, singing songs, participating in Bible story skits, and making crafts.

Three of the afternoons some of us went to visit the nursing home.  Residents there (mostly women) enjoyed having their nails done, singing, playing games, and sharing their personal stories.  They loved the personal attention and those who went from our group were really blessed also.

Tuesday night we held a carnival in the park.  That proved to be a lot of fun for everyone involved.  We had face painting, bubbles, fishing for prizes, pony races, various target games, and Jack juggled and some of the boys took turns entertaining us with their guitars.  We played until sunset.

In addition, in the four days we had to get work done, we painted the outside of three homes and a couple rooms inside of one.  A cement floor was poured in a tornado shelter at the pastor’s home and a storage shed was cleaned out and rebuilt on one of the homes we painted.  We painted the trim, doors, and porches of the cabins we stayed in and weeded around them.  Some of the outdoor plumbing around the cabins was posing a tripping hazard so it was re-routed and benches were built over some making a nice place to sit and visit.  An ice machine in the youth center that hadn’t been working for two years was fixed which proved to be a blessing to us!  There was also laundry to be done and everyone took turns at fixing meals for the group.

In the evening we were invited into the church for worship and devotions.  The pastor’s son, Kenny, loved having the youth perform with him during worship and they were always invited to stay late and jam. Kenny’s wife, Jerusa, operated the sound equipment.  They loved it!  We also had the pleasure of hearing from a different member of the community each night.  They shared their stories with us and their visions for the future of the Crow people.  We also had an ice cream social one night and some of the Crow people brought jewelry they had made so we got to shop for authentic gifts.  On our day off we visited the Battlefield at Little Big Horn.

Traveling to our mission we spent one night in the home of Pastor Doug and his family in historic Butte, MT.  They fed us dinner, took us on a tour of their beautiful old church, and fed us breakfast. Traveling back, Jen and Johan Bester with YWAM invited us to stay at their home.  Some of us went swimming and they fed us a lovely dinner and helped us to debrief from our mission experience.  We had a yummy breakfast before heading out on the last leg of our journey.

We will have a potluck and share pictures and stories from our experience after church on Sept. 19^th. We were so fortunate to have the support of our church family.  All of the supplies you provided went to good use and we appreciated and felt the prayer support.  We know without the support of all of you our trip would not have been possible.  Thank you so much for this opportunity.

“Not For Sale” Info Night – June 3

The “Not For Sale” Campaign is a faith-based organization committed to exposing the reality of Human Trafficking in our world and community. Slavery exists today and the church is called to proclaim freedom for all prisoners and to release the oppressed.

Come to the “Not For Sale” Info Night at Manette Community Church, Thursday, June 3rd starting with a 6 pm potluck.

Contact:  Sue Stearns