July 25, 2005
Dear Friends and Family,
We greet you with the love of Christ!
Things have settled down over the past week, giving my head time
to spin with ideas. Several things have triggered this brainstorming.
As we often get emails from churches asking what their Sunday
schools or youth groups might gather for our partners, I thought
I would share my musings with you.
Musing #1
One of our visitors this summer, in preparation for her trip,
sent me an email saying that they had been going through the Sunday
school closet at church and came across a long forgotten flannel
board set. The person helping her sort suggested pitching it,
but our friend stopped her, thinking that someone might be able
to use it. She wrote me asking whether I thought their partner
might have a use for it. I was confident that they would. Since
then we have had multiple requests from our Russian partners for
flannel board sets, especially for ministry to hospitals and orphanages.
Another visitor this spring, a former schoolteacher, shared with
us instructions on how to make a homemade flannel board that could
be portable. It sounds pretty easy, but we don’t have access
to any of the materials. I have not seen the basic ingredient,
felt, for sale in Russia.
Anyway, I was wondering if there were other churches that might
have long-forgotten flannel boards in their Sunday school closets
that they would be glad to part with. Perhaps there is a Sunday
school class or a youth group that would enjoy a project—making
homemade flannel boards. We’d be very glad to connect you
with our friend and partner with the experience and knowledge.
Musing #2
Several of our partner churches here have begun exciting new
ministries to special needs children and their families. In a
country where most handicapped children are given up at birth
and institutionalized (for life), families who choose to keep
their special-needs children feel extremely isolated. There are
few educational and therapeutic opportunities for these children
and their families. These partner churches are developing programs
to provide respite care for families and also to provide practical
education (life skills) and occupational therapy for their children.
Often they use craft projects to stimulate the children, having
the children pay attention to color and shape and giving them
the joy of creating something lovely. The craft projects are equally
important in the work with orphans.
I was cleaning up the kitchen this afternoon, putting the potholders
Emma made for me back on the hooks when it dawned on me that potholder
weaving would be an excellent tool for this ministry. It also
occurred to me that maybe some of you have forgotten potholder
looms in your attics and basements. I had one when I was a young.
There is no telling how long my mother kept it.
Al and the girls just kind of shake their heads when they see
my head begin to spin with ideas. You might be doing just the
same, and I fully understand. If, however, my musings strike a
chord with any of you, there is more to this. I will actually
be back in the United States in October for the global missions
conference at Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. It would
be a great time for me to bring back such items, if you found
them or, in the case of flannel boards, wanted to help make them.
If your Sunday school class wanted to gather craft supplies, we
would have no trouble distributing them. These are things that
we simply don’t have access to in Russia.
We hope that you are all finding ways to stay cool with the devastating
heat wave that has hit the United States. Having grown up in St.
Louis, I remember the summer the thermometer reached 107. Our
thoughts and prayers are with you.
Peace and blessings,
Ellen & Al
The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
187
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