First Presbyterian Church ECO 323 Main Street, Greenville PA

March 2017

Would you like to be a sponsor for Vacation Bible School? Each $10.00 donation will enable one child to enjoy the activities planned for Vacation Bible School during June 5-9. Checks should be made to First Presbyterian Church. In your memo space please put V.B.S. We would love to have the children send you a thank you note so please include your name. Envelopes with checks or cash can be turned into the church office or collection plate. Name: _____________________________________________________Amount Enclosed: ___________________ Thank you for helping us provide an opportunity for children to learn God’s word while having fun and gathering in Christian fellowship. The children from this congregation and the community appreciate your support. Please pray for our children and staff at Vacation Bible School.

Vacation Bible School 2017 June 5 to 9 marks the week for our Vacation Bible School. We will be exploring God’s Word and learning how we are each created for a purpose. Our week will be filled with stories from the Bible, games, experiments, yummy snacks, and upbeat music. We are going to need lots of help with the many children who attend this event.

STAFF: If you have one day or five days to offer your morning up to help please contact Bonnie Dobi at 724-589-0677 or Mary K. Miller at 724-588-7694. FINANCIAL SUPPORT: Please consider being a VBS sponsor to help defray the cost of the supplies. For each donation of $10.00 you can support a child. We so appreciate the funds to purchase the supplies for the children. Last year we had 101 children enrolled. Thank you in advance for helping. (see form below) SNACKS: In April or May, we will be passing out slips of paper with items needed for snacks. DECORATING: If you can cut, paint, or glue we would love to have you come and join us. You can come with your own ideas or we will be happy to show you what to do. Check out our VBS page on the church website: fpcgreenville.com. Registration forms can be obtained on our website.

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Monday, May 15 First Presbyterian Church will be serving Good Shepherd dinner at the Knights of Columbus, Clarksville St. If there are any who would like to help, there are several possibilities. Please check off any ways that you would be willing to help, tear off this slip and leave it on Sue’s desk in the church office. _____ I will help prepare the meal Monday afternoon.

_____ I will donate food for the dinner (please circle one) 2 dozen rolls 2 dozen cupcakes 2 dozen cookies

To be delivered to the church by noon on Monday 5/15 _____ I will help serve the meal at the Knights of Columbus, Clarksville St. beginning at 3:45 p.m.

_____ I will help deliver meals to shut-ins beginning at 4:00 p.m.

_____ I will help with clean up. Name: ______________________________________________

Phone number: _______________________________________

Lilac Tea at Seneca Hills Bible Camp

The Ladies’ Lilac Tea at Seneca Hills in Polk is a wonderful event to attend. The chef will prepare plenty of scones and a delicious lunch. A short program will be given following the meal to encourage and refresh all who attend. The event begins at 11:00 AM and will conclude by 1:00 PM. The cost for lunch is a donation to Seneca Hills Camp. If you write a check for your donation please write it to Seneca Hills Bible Camp. This event takes place on Thursday, May 11, 2017. We will meet in the church parking lot at 9:30 AM and return by 2:00 PM. This event fills up quickly. Please call the church office to make reservations or see Mary K. Miller if you have any questions. Last year we had fifteen women from our church attend. We had a lovely lunch and time of fellowship. We heard an excellent talk on putting our faith in God while waiting for His answer in His time.

Hi! I just got the package from First Presbyterian Church. I want to say thank you all so much! I already started eating the food from it. I appreciate it so much. I miss all of you and am so blessed to have you all in my life! Megan Krall

Thank You!

To All of My Friends and Family at First Presbyterian Church, Thank you all very much for the wonderful care package for Valentine’s Day. It was so kind of my church family to think of me, and getting a package in the mail surely bright-ened my day! With the stress of mid-terms quickly approach-ing, my friends and I will enjoy all of the sweet treats during our study sessions. Happy Valentines Day to all! God Bless! Love Erin Warren

Dear Friends in Christ, A very warm and heartfelt thank you to the Mission Committee and the congregation for the prayers and generous donations to the Creative Learning Christian School. We are so thankful for your support. Jillian Morgan, staff and 63 students

GOOD SHEPHERD EASTER DONATION Planning has begun to supply local households with food for an Easter meal. Our church has been asked to donate 60 boxed potatoes. The deadline is April 3. You may bring your donations to the church office. Thank you in advance for your generosity.

“Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their food with the poor.” Proverbs 22:9

January was a difficult month financially for our church. Revenue was down $8,000 from last year and expenses were up $2,500,

including snow removal of $1,200. We need your help by bringing your giving up to date and by adding to your regular giving. We

certainly appreciate what gifts you make, but we know you will respond to our appeal, so that the church may continue to provide the

programs we enjoy and that our missions will continue to be funded.

Christian Education/Youth Committee would like to thank everyone who donated money and/or food items to send to our college students. Youth at Wednesday Night Light packed the college boxes with guidance from adult volunteers. We sent eleven boxes. Boxes were sent as far as Japan to one of our military college youth. A text from his mom stated,“ Package arrived in Japan. He was so happy with the Valentine package. He loved being thought of. It really made him feel special and made me feel terrific. Thank you. It does make a difference!”

The Christian Education/Youth committee extends a big thank you for the 77 deodorants donated. Our youth will be making grooming bags for the shelters near North Presbyterian Church, Cleveland, Ohio. If you would like to participate you can place the designated items in any Sunday school classroom. Regular size items are preferred over sample sizes. Collection Schedule - March: Skin lotion; April: Shampoo

FOR YOUR PLANNING CONVENIENCE, the worship schedule at First Presbyterian Church for Lent, 2017, follows. March 5, 12, 19, 26 and April 2 – Sundays during Lent/10:45 AM in the Sanctuary Palm Sunday, April 9 – 10:45 AM in the Sanctuary Maundy Thursday, April 13, 7:00 PM in the Sanctuary (Communion) Good Friday Community Worship – April 14 – noon until 3:00 PM in the Sanctuary Easter Prayer Vigil – Good Friday, April 14, 6:00 PM until Holy Saturday, 10:00 AM in the Sanctuary Easter Sunrise Worship, April 16 – 6:30 AM at Hempfield Park Easter Sunday Celebration – 10:45 AM in the Sanctuary

OUR EASTER SHARING OFFERING FOR 2017 which will be collected at church on Palm Sunday, April 9, will again be given to Samaritan’s Purse. This year’s offering will support a recently built field hospital near Mosul in Iraq. The offering will also help peop le who have become refu-gees (including Syrian refugees) or displaced people because of ISIS.

Mosul’s recent history has been very sad. In 2014 ISIS entered Iraq and captured Mosul, which in ancient times was called Nineveh. Many terrified inhabitants fled and ISIS destroyed much of the city. Then in October of 2016 the Iraqi army and coalition forces, with US backing, began an offensive against ISIS. During this offensive, 160,000 people have been displaced: half of them were children. Many of the wounded, about 50%, were women and children.

The hospital nearest to Mosul was in Erbil, which is one to two hours away, too far away for the badly injured who need immediate care. To meet this pressing need of a hospital nearby, Samaritan’s Purse flew in an emergency field hospital on a chartered 747 on Christmas Day 2016. The field hospital, set up about 10 miles east of Mosul, was opened on January 8, 2017 on land retaken from ISIS only weeks before.

Asher Bray, son of First Presbyterian Church members Michael and Becky Bray, was helping to set up the field hospital. He was also doing water and sanitation work in this dangerous area by traveling with a UN convoy. In his new job at Samaritan’s Purse he is training emergency response teams to give immediate help when disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis strike. His wife Claire is the Northeast Africa Director of Samaritan’s Purse. They live in Boone, NC where the headquarters of Samaritan’s Purse are located.

The field hospital is equipped with two operating rooms, one emergency room, 50 beds for patients, and many doctors, nurses and, other medi-cal personnel. The doctors there perform 12 to 15 major operations every day and see dozens of people in the emergency room.

For videos of the field hospital and refugees, go to <samaritanspurse.org> There is also information on this website for medical personnel who want to volunteer to work at the hospital.

Please pray for the hospital and its staff. Please pray for the Iraqi and Syrian refugees and displaced people, many of whom have lost their homes, their possessions, possibly some family members, and possibly their hope for a normal life. Please, on April 9, give generously to the Easter Share Offering, which will be sent to Samaritan’s Purse to help the hospital and the people.

Missions

THE MISSION COMMITTEE is planning a Mission Trip beginning on July 23. We will leave after church to drive to Chestnut Ridge, WV. The trip is open to all adults, and students (must be entering the ninth grade in September). We will stay in the community building, sleeping in bunk rooms and doing our own cooking. Last year we helped put a Sunday School onto a small church. Siding has yet to be put on the outside of the build-ing so that will likely be one of our jobs. The cost of the trip is $50.00 per day. Depending on the trip and their desires we will return on either Wednesday or Friday evening. Please sign up in the church office by March 27. For questions call Dan Wilson, 724-376-7346 or Virginia Snyder, 724588-9336.

His Work His Way 2017, June 18-24. Prayer cards are available in the racks at both entrances to the sanctuary. Please take one home as a reminder to pray regularly for this ministry.

His Work His Way, INC is a non-denominational ministry that was founded to provide assistance to local homeowners and non-profit community groups. We are a group of volunteers consisting of youth from the ages of 12 to 18 and adults from age 19 to 90. Each volunteer contributes financially to the ministry to help offset HWHW expenses which include insurance, project supplies, 3 meals per day for the volunteers and a T-shirt. We are organized for the purpose of provid-ing support to homeowners who need assistance with home maintenance and repairs. It is our desire to support home-owners who need assistance with home maintenance and repairs. We strive to provide this support in a manner that upholds the dignity of the homeowner while providing the assistance requested. It is also our desire to support commu-nity groups that are in need of assistance. We endeavor to serve as a witness to our community and surrounding com-munities by completing projects in a manner that reflects the love of Jesus Christ. His Work His Way, INC have chapters

in Bedford, PA, Conneaut Lake, PA and Greenville, PA.

FOR YOUR PLANNING CONVENIENCE, the worship schedule at First Presbyterian Church for Lent, 2017, follows. March 5, 12, 19, 26 and April 2 – Sundays during Lent/10:45 AM in the Sanctuary Palm Sunday, April 9 – 10:45 AM in the Sanctuary Maundy Thursday, April 13, 7:00 PM in the Sanctuary (Communion) Good Friday Community Worship – April 14 – noon until 3:00 PM in the Sanctuary Easter Prayer Vigil – Good Friday, April 14, 6:00 PM until Holy Saturday, 10:00 AM in the Sanctuary Easter Sunrise Worship, April 16 – 6:30 AM at Hempfield Park Easter Sunday Celebration – 10:45 AM in the Sanctuary

First Presbyterian Church, Greenville, PA 16125

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Non-Profit

Organization

U.S.POSTAGE

PAID

PERMIT No. 80

Session News

*Spring ECO Meeting for Rivers of Life Presbytery is scheduled for 5/13/17 at Waynesburg Presbyterian Church. *Linda Camlin will be on the Rivers of Life Nominating Committee. *Two Board and Staff Dinner is scheduled for 4/5/17. *Eleven Valentine Boxes were sent to college students in our church. The boxes were put together by WNL Youth. *Bowling party scheduled for the youth 2/26/17. *Good Shepherd Center is now open at the new location. Many projects are underway. *Michael and Rachel Weller have returned to their mission. He is feeling better. There will be an upcoming mission offering. Date to be announced. (msp) Outside grounds clean up day is scheduled for 5/13/17, rain date 5/20/17. *The new church website fpcgreenville.com is up and running.