Electric Heights UMC News

The forms necessary to apply for the Cheryl Nelis Scholarship have been added to the website and can be obtained by following this link.

The Cheryl Nelis Scholarship aims to provide assistance to college bound students whose lives have been adversely affected by cancer.

From Janet:

An enormous THANK YOU to all who donated notebooks, pens, pencils, etc. for our mission outreach to Uganda. We shipped an incredible 195 pounds of material to our friend Sarah, who will certainly put it to good use. Electric Heights truly is a special place that knows that the love of God reaches far beyond geographical boundaries.

Also, we were informed that the website address for the UMC Church in Nakuru (another church visited by Janet while she was in Africa) has changed from nakuruumc.org to umckenya.org. Reverend Josam in Nakuru has mentioned that several people have connected with him through our website. We are excited to be of help and pray that it continues.

A group of us volunteered to help out at Global Links yesterday. Global Links is an organization that takes quality discarded medical supplies and sends them to places where they can be used. Often, the supplies are discarded because a hospital changes vendor or because our standards and regulations are above and beyond those of other countries. Some hospitals that receive help have a shortage of supplies as basic as surgical gloves and soap. We helped sort some supplies and prepare them for shipment. We only spent two hours of our time but we hope we can feel good about helping people in several poor countries - people who badly need the help.

Here is a picture of the group that volunteered (along with Jennifer - the Global Links representative). (Click on the picture for a larger version.)

When our pastor, Janet Lord, visited Uganda and Kenya on a mission trip, one of the things that she helped put in motion was a sewing project. Some of the women who have taken part in the project sent along a picture to share with us. We are glad to hear from them and thrilled that the project is going well. We share the picture here with you:

Janet passed along this news and asked if it could be posted on our website. It is good to hear that efforts to help others are being successful.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: [pastorjosamkariuki@]
To: [Rev. Lord]
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 14:03:34 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Re: hallo
Hallo Rev Jane,
Greetings from your brothers and sisters in Kenya.
Its long since we communicated. The Lord has take us thro all along. The Nakuru church is fine. Many times the women and youths have been asking me about you.
Through the sewing machines you bought for us, todate we have been able to train 82 women and youths. Glory be to God. Many have got jobs and today their families are not the same again. The training have given them an income genetaring. Joe and several people in their church are planning to come back in Kenya next year. Have you talked to him of late? He has been of great help to us. Soon we will be opening an Orphanage through their support. He is a wonderful brother with his church. I look forward seeing you in Kenya soon.
I will be happy to hear how you are doing and the ministry, Rev Josam.

Karen Burns, a member of the Port Vue UMC who was with me on the mission trip to Uganda, recently shared this story. It touched my heart and thought it might be interesting to all of you:

This past summer I had the opportunity to be at the Elizabeth UMC to help them with Bible School, which their theme was “Missions Around the World.” And of course, what an opportunity to be a part of. I had four evenings and approximately 20 minutes with each age group. Each day I showed some slides -dwelling on mostly Humble Place - Food, clothing, sleeping arrangements, hospital surroundings ,etc etc. What an experience, to be with these children and watching their faces and answering the questions they had . But there was one little boy , I would say he is around 6 or 7 years old that God was and is still working in his heart regarding the childrens situation at Humble Place. This little boy started a lemonade stand and raised a few hundred dollars during the rest of the summer to donate to Humble Place, and just recently he had gone before his church and requested this Christmas that the church would get together and buy shoes for the children. I am so amazed of what God is doing. I was given a check for almost $900 from the heart of this child and the children from the ELizabeth UMC, to be donated to Humble Place, and I must say my heart is still overwhelmed. Blessings still continue and God is still at work in all situations. And may God continue to use and Bless this little boy.

We will be hosting a Christmas concert on Friday, December 9th at 7:30pm to benefit the Cheryl Nelis Scholarship Fund. The concert will feature the inspirational piano stylings of our associate pastor, Janet Lord. It will be held in the main sanctuary.

All are welcome to attend. There is no admission fee but there will be a voluntary donation taken to benefit the Cheryl Nelis Scholarship Fund. The fund will be used to provide scholarships to local high school seniors whose lives have been affected by cancer.

If you would like more information about the scholarship fund, the concert, or our church please contact us at this address or call 412-824-3303 (our secretary and pastors’ office hours are limited so please leave a message if no one answers).

For planning purposes, if you would like to attend the concert please R.S.V.P. at this address or call 412-824-3303 to let us know how many will be attending.

Thank you in advance for your interest.

THANK YOU!!!!!!

On Tuesday morning, I sent out an email plea for a rapid response to Hurricane Katrina. A local radio station, 104.7, was asking for donations to fill trucks and one of the collection points was Monroeville Mall on Thursday evening. With very short notice from your very short Deacon, you all responded as I knew you would. Tonight I took the following to the collection truck:

6 pkg diapers
2 baby blankets
10 pkg baby wipes
3 cases water
12 rolls toilet paper
5 notebooks
30 children’s books
6 pkg crayons
6 bottles of shampoo
1 pkg combs
9 pairs of socks
8 tubes of toothpaste
28 toothbrushes
46 bars of soap

All of that in just over 48 hours. I know that many of you have also made personal donations through other avenues and that this was above and beyond. May God bless each of you.

Janet

When Janet went to Uganda and Kenya earlier this year she made many friends. When she went we sent her with some wooden cross necklaces to give to the people she met. They liked them so much that they asked her if it would be possible to send more. We made an additional 100 necklaces and mailed them to Uganda. When they received the crosses Janet was thrilled to receive the following email. (Some minor changes were made to the original email. Sarah’s first language is not English so she may use some phrases differently than we are accustomed to.)

Dear Janet Lord,
Praise God. How is life and the family? Thanks for the ministry you’re holding. I really thank you very much for the wooden crosses you sent us. I recieved them yesterday and they came at a time when I started children ministry at my village and leader of sunday school in church.
I teach the children to know Christ and discipline. When they received the crosses they were happy and they asked me to see the face of the person who loved them so much. They are around thirty two but 22 are orphans. They would love to see you. Please send them a snapshot. We also carry out hospital ministry on Saturday and prison on Sunday evening. We pray for the sick and preach the gospel. We give them some sugar, bread, and cooked food for the prisoners. We thank God that you have become part of our ministry. May God bless you.
We do want your church to become part of this ministry and please, if possible, send us some literature for the children and Bibles and even some children plays.
Greetings from Elijah, Elisha and Steven. They love you so much. Elijah has got his holiday today to you and your family.
Special thanks to you and to all the members of the church who made us the crosses .
May God richly bless them so much.

Yours faithfully,
Mrs. Sarah Nakintu
P.O. Box 428 Mukono, Uganda

Thanks to everyone who contributed to our collection of bulk items for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). Thanks to your generosity, Janet will be toting boxes filled with 50 hand towels, 51 tubes of toothpaste, and 21 pairs of scissors to Annual Conference. These will be sent on to the distribution center to be come available for use anywhere in the world. It is always amazing what we can accomplish when we work together!

Every year at our Annual Conference we collect specific kits that are sent to a centralized warehouse to be available in times of need. Several of these flood kits and health kits made their way back to Western PA in the aftermath of the flooding last September.

This year, instead of collecting individual kits, we have decided to concentrate on three of the top ten bulk items needed at the Distribution Center. These are:

• Hand Towels
• Toothpaste (4.5 oz or larger)
• Children’s blunt scissors

We will have boxes available beginning the week after Mother’s Day to collect these items. Our hope is that by focusing on these bulk items, more of us will be able to participate in this project, even if we can only contribute one item.

Join our Electric Heights UMC team to walk in Light of Life Ministries’ Tunch Ilkin Walk for the Homeless. We are building our team and will raise money to aid Pittsburgh’s homeless. The walk will be held on Saturday, May 14, 2005.