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The Mountain Messenger
Newsletter published monthly by the United Methodist Church of Truckee. Deadline
for publication is the 20th of each month. To submit articles or other information which
may be of interest to the church family, please contact the editors -
Jim and Nancy Maass
E-mail jmaass@telis.org
Truckee Bits and Pieces -- contact Norma.
SUNDAY SCHOOL CONTINUES FOR SUMMER
With summer right around the corner, the church has decided to continue with a full Sunday
School program. So, please bring the kids during the summer! With new Christian Education
Director Judy DeSantis not scheduled to take over until July 15, Betsy Taylor will be directing
the summer Sunday School program. If you are able to help out as a teacher or assistant during
any portion of the summer, please contact Betsy.
PASTOR'S SUMMER TIMES AWAY
During the summer months, Pastor Steve will be away for several weeks for business and
vacation. With Carol's absence, the vacation portions are "up in the air," but for scheduling
purposes, here is the tentative schedule:
June 18 - 22 United Methodist Annual Conference - Sacramento
June 23 - 28 Vacation - Family Camp at Redwood Christian Park
July 28 - Aug 2 - Mexico Mission Trip
Aug 9 - 16 "Share Jesus Mission" evangelism mission
Aug 25 - 31 Vacation ("Gone Fishin')
FIRST ANNUAL "NON-RUMMAGE" SALE
The Administrative Council decided at its last meeting to support the joint Truckee
Lutheran/COM Mexico Mission Trip Rummage Sale in May. Since most of the "good stuff"
usually offered at our church rummage sale went forthis worthy cause, we have decided to
have a "non-rummage" sale instead.
Stay tuned for more information, but the idea is that instead of donating rummage, volunteering
to price and sell it, and then probably buying some as well, why not just write a check to cover
what you would have spent and spend the time instead with the kids, golf, fishing, etc. What a
great way to support the church and still be able to do the things that make summer in Truckee
great!
LAST CHANCE TO SIGN UP FOR "JOYFUL JOURNEY"
For some time now, Carol Johnson has been urging ladies from COM to join her for a "Joyful
Journey" to be held at Arco Arena Friday evening, June 27 and Saturday June 28. Overnight
accomodations are being arranged at theOxford Suites in Roseville. The "Joyful Journey" is a
Christian women's rally/conference featuring four of the best (and Carol says, most humorous)
of Christian women's author/speakers today. It is anticipated that in excess of 15,000 women
will attend this event. The title for this conference comes from its purpose which is to help
women discover what it means to be women of faith and to be on a joyful journey through life
as a result. Those who have attended the Joyful Journey in other cities report that this is a "must
attend." The church has purchased 20 tickets of which
10 are spoken for. If you are interested, please contact Dianne Fix or Claire Patterson as soon
as possible.
WELCOME NEW MEMBERS
On Pentecost Sunday morning, three new members joined our church family and we welcome
them. Jon and Julie Halvorsen joined with Jon being baptized and Julie transferring her
membership from Salem UMC in Lodi.
Also on Pentecost, COM welcomed Judy Androus into our church family.
MEXICO MISSION TRIP UPDATE
Truckee Lutheran Church and COM are in the final planning stages and fundraising stages for
the August trip to Tijuana by youth and adult members of both churches. The recent fundraising
rummage sale generated over $1,000 for the trip and a fundraising spaghetti dinner is
scheduled for Friday, June 20 at the Parks and Recreation Center. Special offerings to
purchase the building materials will be scheduled during worship in June and July. If you are not
sure you will be there for the offering and want to help, write a check to the church and either
mail it in or drop it in the offering any Sunday. Note on the check that it is for "Mexico
Mission." Those attending from COM as of this time are: Pastor Steve, Bill & Gretchen
Rawlings, Gayle Vincent, Francie Lourey, Mike Morris, Terri Miller, Crystal Miller, Roger
Miller.
COM HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES
On Saturday, June 7, some of COM's best and brightest will graduate from High School and
go on to the next chapter of their lives.
AN INVITATION TO JOIN COM
Numerous "newcomers" to COM have become faithful, active parts of our church family, but
have not become formal members. Sometimes the feeling is expressed that joining the church is
not "necessary" to enjoy the fellowship and worship. While that is true, the true joy of a formal
commitment to Our Lord to follow him within THIS particular community of faith greatly
enhances the experience. If you have been considering joining, but have not for various
reasons, you are urged to consider membership and the resulting commitment to Christ.
Membership in COM involves the following: Making a first-time commitment or a
recommitment to Christ; making church attendance a priority in your life; making a specific
financial pledge to the church (and agreeing to begin working toward an ultimate 10% Biblical
tithe); and agreeing to work in one of the church's major ministry areas (e.g., Sunday School,
Committee member, Prayer Partner, Choir member or musician, etc.) Also, as part of our
attempt to match people to ministry areas compatable with their Spiritual Gifts, new members
pledge to take a "Spiritual Gifts Survey" within three months of joining.
If you are interested in exploring membership, please contact Pastor Steve.
FUNDRAISING SPAGHETTI DINNER FOR MEXICO MISSION TRIP
Truckee Lutheran and COM are joining forces to raise funds to build a small house in Tijuana,
Mexico in early August. The final fundraiser for the group of adults and youth who are going
will be held Friday, June 20 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm at the Parks and Recreation Center. Tickets
are $5.00 for adults and $2.50 for children. Tickets will be on sale before and after worship
services until that date. Even if you cannot attend, why not purchase tickets for friends or family
who can?
PASTOR'S COLUMN
As most of you know, my wife Carol has spent the past several weeks down in the valley with
her mother who has been diagnosed with cancer. It has been a rough time for both Carol and
myself being apart for this extended period of time, and especially for Carol as she helps out
her parents. During this time, our church family has been everything we could have hoped for
and much more! Every form of encouragement, prayer, offers of assistance and plain, ordinary,
wonderful love that you could imagine has poured out from you, our beloved family! So many
have done and offered so much that there's no way Carol and I could thank you properly
one-on-one! So we both want to take this column to say Thank you all, your concern and your
demonstrated love have not only been touching, but have provided the strength for us to make
it through this ordeal. We know that your love will continue through this time with us.
Once again, I have been made aware of how important it is for the church to really BE the
loving, uplifting family that I preach about, and we celebrate in our closing circle every Sunday.
When you are in need and the church responds with tangible evidences of Christ's love, it is
something that is hard to describe to someone else, but is a source of strength and hope that
can come from nowhere else.
Others of you have experienced this love within the community of Christ in the same manner
that Carol and I have - and you know what I'm talking about much better than my poor words
can convey. My fear is that somehow, we will have others in our church family in great need
and either because we don't know them as well, or we are embarrassed to ask, or for other
reasons, we will NOT be there for them as you have been here for us. I pray that this will not
happen. Please take the effort to get to know each other well enough in our church that you
will know when an outpouring of love is called for - and then alert others in the family to the
need. When we reach out in love to those most in need, we are at our best and we follow in
our Master's footsteps.
Again, from our hearts, Carol and I say, we love you and we appreciate you more than you
can imagine! God's strength is coming to us through you!
Grace and peace,
Steve.
Bits & Pieces - By Norma McMillan
Thank you, Kerry Neville, for taking loving care of our organ and for giving it a good
workout by playing it so beautifully at our services. You add much to worship!
Another of our hard-working folks is Lora McGraw who gives much time to see that the
Prayer Chain functions smoothly.
Graduation from college by daughter Anike Kolb drew proud dad Peter and Terry Fox to
the Twin Cities. Anike earned a degree at St. Elizabeth College in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Pastor Steve had a new, albeit, sad experience recently when the sheriff's department called
him to assist the family members when a plane crashed and claimed five lives at the Truckee
Airport on Mother's Day.
Congratulations to the young folks who will soon graduate from Truckee High School. We
wish you well!
Having completed another year at the Truckee Meadows Community College and having
helped another class of nursing candidates to graduate, Linda Sanders and daughter
Christina have headed off to Syracuse College, where Linda is working to complete a
master's degree.
Exciting things happen often in our worship services and one of the most moving was when
Chuck Graser spoke of his improved hearing. The patient prayer requests of the
congregation, usually prompted by Hope Ortman, were answered! In other Graser news,
Barbara had a trouble-free gall bladder surgery.
Congratulations and best wishes to Mary Carol and to "Big Fred," who were married in
May.
It was great having Lolly Dunbar back for a visit and for Lolly to play for us again at a
Sunday service. Unfortunately, less than a week later, Lolly had a heart attack. She has since
returned to Colorado. We wish her a speedy recovery!
With two churches working together, the sky's the limit! Our church and the Truckee Lutheran
Church raised $1,100 at the joint rummage sale in May. Proceeds will help pay for the Mexico
mission trip and building project this summer.
The Wallstroms recently celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary. We wish many more to
you, Scott and Carol!
Hope Judy Jensen's mother is feeling better. Judy is spending as much time as possible with
her mother. Dick and Trudy Skewis also are spending much time with Dick's mom. Our
thoughts and prayers are with all of you.
Did you get to sing "Happy Birthday" to Nels Stone in May? He was celebrating number 84,
only 80 years older than Conrad Krauss!
Two COM kids soar at Truckee Christian
Two children from the Church of the Mountains made the honor roll for the third quarter at
Truckee Christian School.
Congratulations to Corey Dorsey, fourth grade; and Katie Rieden, sixth grade; for earning
grades which qualified them for the school's Merit Roll.
Memorial service set for Madelyn Crippin
A memorial service for Madelyn Crippin, who died December 10, will be held at the church
at 10 a.m., Saturday, July 12.
Madelyn, 86, was born in Rocky Ford, Colorado. She was the oldest child in a family of five.
Her family moved to South Dakota to be near her father's relatives, and then moved to
California, where she attended high school. She returned to Colorado and attended what was
then known as the Colorado Women's College and Denver University. She earned her
bachelor's degree at Denver. Madelyn later earned a master's degree there in theater, with her
thesis theme of "Shakespearean Theater in the Rocky Mountain West."
After earning her degrees, she moved west again and found work as a feature writer for a
newspaper in Gardena, California, and helped support her family. She moved back to
Colorado briefly and taught school.
However, the lure of the Golden State proved too much for Madelyn, and she came back to
California on a break, where she met Bob. Her sister had married a fraternity brother of
Bob's. It wasn't long before wedding bells rang again for Bob and Madelyn. Son Gary
arrived in 1941, shortly after the bombing at Pearl Harbor, and Bob went off to war, while the
family stayed in southern California.
In 1950, the Crippins' second son, Brian, was born. Soon after, Bob built the family home in
La Cresenta. The family had an opportunity to go with Bob when he was Fullbright Exchange
Teacher to Holland. After they returned home, Madelyn went back to school and got her
teaching credential. She taught preschool-aged deaf children in Pasadena, work she found
challenging and rewarding.
Madelyn's interests included travel, the theater, writing letters, her church, and the PEO
women's group. She shared Bob's love of the mountains. She wrote of her "wonderful life
together" with her husband in her 1995 Christmas newsletter, the last Christmas they would
spend together in this life.
Editor's note: We made contact with Gary Crippin on New Year's Eve, too late for our
initial remembrance of Madelyn. We promised him we would write another article before the
memorial this summer. Gary graciously shared some of his memories and the family history
with us.
Sierra Bible Church Shares Studies
All Christian women are invited to join the Women's Ministries programs at the Sierra Bible
Church. Programs are held at the church on Highway 267 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. on the fourth
Thursday of each month through October.
Participants will study women in the Bible. The evening will include worship, prayer, a topical
speaker and fellowship. One of the goals of the program is to foster the beginnings of a
discipleship among Christian women in our community.
A Summary of the World
If we could, at this time, shrink the Earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with
all existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look like this:
There would be 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from the Western Hemisphere (North and
South) and 8 Africans
70 would be non-white, 30 white
70 would be non-Christian, 30 Christian
50 percent of the entire world's wealth would be in the hands of only 6 people. All 6 would be
citizens of the United States.
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
80 would live in sub-standard housing
Only 1 would have a college education
When one considers our world from such an incredibly compressed perspective, the need for
both tolerance and understanding becomes glaringly apparent.
--found in various church publications, but given to us by Virginia Knittle, via the First
Presbyterian church of Kingwood, Kingwood, Texas. |
