Feb 2023 Newsletter

February 2, 2023 

Happy February to you all! January has always seemed like a long month to me so the shortest of all months is welcome! Along with that, February seems to always have a few very nice days and I look forward to that.  If we didn’t have winter, we wouldn’t appreciate spring so much. 

Today is Pastor Mary Beth’s birthday! We celebrated her birthday as a church last Sunday along with the Fruitland UMC’s congregation and Pastor Clynton. We had a great turnout and a nice meal afterward with birthday cake for dessert. It was nice to have the pews full and great to see our neighbors. Pastor Mary Beth asked me to share this message with you.

THANK YOU to everyone for the cake, the cards, and the blessing on Sunday. James and I truly love our church! 

As you know, the idea of changing our service time was brought up to the Ad Board last month. The Ad Board decided that we should take this idea to the congregation. The first survey has been completed. It showed that more people voted to change our worship time. A new survey is out to vote on either 10:00 or 10:30 as a starting time. Please take a minute on Sunday to fill out a survey. The survey will be available until the next Ad Board meeting on Monday, February 20th.  Please just vote once! 

There will be no Monday morning coffee with the pastor on this Monday, February 6th. Coffee will resume the following Monday. 

We will be having an Ash Wednesday service this year on Wednesday, February 22nd at 6:30 p.m. 

We will be holding a neighborhood Easter egg hunt this year on Saturday, April 1st. No foolin’ 😊 Lots more details will follow but we will be collecting Easter candy now. Please bring wrapped candy small enough to fit in a plastic Easter egg but no chocolate please (it melts.) 

If you are interested in joining a book study with Pastor Mary Beth, please sign up on the sheet in the fellowship hall. A day and time will be determined by the participants.

The United Methodist Men will be hosting a Valentine’s Dinner on Friday, February 10th from 5-7 here at PUMC. The menu will be Tri Tip, salad, beans, bread and dessert. The price will be $15 for one and $25 for a couple. That’s a great price for a tri tip dinner! Please plan to attend. You won’t be sorry. 

The Payette High School Band is presenting a Potato Bar and Jazz Concert on Saturday, February 18th from 5-8 p.m. at the R&L Center in Payette. Showtimes are at 5:30 and 7:00. Tickets are $10 or $40 for five people. The band is raising money for their trip to Disneyland. If you’d like to buy tickets, please contact Kathryn or Laura Tompkins. I can contact them for you if you’d like, just give me a call. Let’s help Kathryn get to Disneyland!!!!

 I have been asked to pass along the news that there will be a used book sale fundraiser this Saturday at the Portia Club in Payette from 11-2. All proceeds will go to Four Rivers Healthy Community for Dolly Parton’s Imagine Library. Imagine Library gives a free book every month to children age birth to five years old. What a benefit for our kids! Each child who attends the book sale will receive a free book!

 We have some prayer requests this week. Last Sunday night, Jeanie Sandquist had a TIA. That’s a transient ischemic attack. It means that the blood flow to part of her brain was blocked for a short time. It caused the same symptoms as a stroke but didn’t cause any lasting damage. She will be on medication and will be watched so that she doesn’t have a stroke in the future. She is home now. Let’s pray for Jeanie, her doctors and for John. 

James Boesch’s mom Mary had a fall and dislocated her elbow. She had surgery to repair it but she is in a lot of pain. Please keep Mary in your prayers. Mike Hall’s brother Jerry is in Kentucky and has been in the hospital with fluid on his lungs. Gloria, who runs the Community Closet at PUMC had surgery that turned out to be more extensive than they predicted. I asked what we can do for her and Gloria’s reply was, “Please pray for me!” We can do that! Brandon Baumler traveled to Fargo, North Dakota in below zero temperatures to attend his Uncle Scott’s funeral. He asks that you pray for his cousins. He is on his way to Arizona (much better weather) to visit his grandfather. He asks for travel mercies. In church on Sunday, Don Essinger asked us to pray for Letha. She hasn’t been feeling great. Continue to pray for: Irene Jeffries, Lyna’s friend Donna, Deanna’s brother John, Lis and Gary Williamson, Shannon Osborn and Hugh Homan.

 We hope to see you at church on Sunday! Our praise song will be one that we have sung a couple of times, There’s a Fountain Free. Please click on the link and sing along. 

Blessings,

Cris