The Mountain View  

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven on Earth.

May 2003

Pastor's Ponderings…

A modern re-telling of Mark 16:1-8

When Easter Sunday came, they dressed up in their best clothes so that they might go and worship Him. And early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the church. They had been saying to one another:

    "I can't find my best tie."
    "Are the kids ready, yet?"
    "You can't wear that shirt with those pants."

As they entered the sanctuary, they was a relatively young man, dressed in a gray pin-stripe suit, standing behind the pulpit. He said to them, "You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised. He is alive! Go and tell everyone that he is going ahead of you to pave the way, just as he told you."

So they went out and fled from the sanctuary, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid... to talk about Jesus Christ.

P.S. Don't let the story end there!

Peace,
Pastor Steve

 2nd Annual
Arts, Crafts and Collectibles Bazaar

Saturday, June 7th
8:00 a.m.

We had a successful event last year with more than $1300 donated to the church. Plans for another successful event are under way. Artists will be selling their art work, crafters will be selling their home-made crafts and the youth will have a food booth. An outdoor yard space will be available to anyone who would like to sell their yard sale treasures.

Many women of the church are in the process of making beautiful craft items for the upcoming bazaar. Cross-stitching, plastic canvas stitching, and parting are just a few of the crafts we can expect. These items and many more will be sold at the bazaar.

Proceeds will be donated to the church.

Craft Day

Saturday, May 3rd, from 1-3 p.m. we will be working on another craft to sell at the summer bazaar. Please bring a fabric tote bag and we'll paint on them. It's fun to get together and learn a new craft. Hope to see you there!!

Wednesday Evening Praise service is held every Wednesday night at 6:00 p.m.

Speakers for the month of May are:

May 7 - Cheryl Elliott
May 14 - Roxane Durtschi
May 21 - Tina Whaley
May 28 - Mitch Lambdin

Any questions, please call or see Mitch Lambdin, 566-3697.

Ladies, please join us for an Evening in the Park, Saturday, May 3, from 5-7 p.m. We'll enjoy a picnic dinner of grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, salads, chips and dessert. Entertainment will be a summer sing-a-long, a fashion show featuring summertime male fashions, memory photo opportunity ($3.00) and a creative hat contest (if you want to enter, just create and wear a hat). All this for only $5.00 a person. This promises to be the first of an annual event. You won't want to miss it!! For tickets contact Peggy Robison, Linda Kreib or Nancy Peralez.

Youth 2003 is a United Methodist Church youth event that only happens every four years, and its purpose is to draw together youth from around the globe for a weekend of praising and worshipping Christ. It will be held in Knoxville, Tennessee, July 23-27, this year. We are working on organizing a group of youth from our church who are interested in attending.

For any youth members who will be entering grades 9 through 12 next fall, this year will be their only opportunity to attend this nationwide event. The youth members were given packets to take home, read over, and discuss the trip with their parents. The trip will not be cheap. A $50 deposit is required, with the remaining $310 due by June 2, 2003. We would either fly or drive out, which will cost approximately an additional $300. We hope to be able to cover the transportation costs for those attending out of existing funds in the Youth fund.

If you are interest in having your youth attend or have any questions, please contact Mitch or Patty Lambdin at 566-3697, or Pastor Steve Reinhard at the church.

Also, we are looking for people, either individually or in groups, who would be willing to sponsor a youth member so that more may be able to participate in this exciting event. Contact any of the people listed above if you are interested in sponsoring one of our youth members.

Youth Spotlight

The Mountain Vista Youth member we are spotlighting this month is Elizabeth Kreib. Liz was born on June 13, 1985 to Doug and Linda Kreib. She is the youngest child in the family and has an older brother and an older sister. She lived in West Jordan for four years, moved to New York for 3 1/2 years, and moved back to West Jordan about 9 months ago.

Liz is a Senior at West Jordan High School. Her favorite subject is Art. In her spare time, she like to draw, hang out with her friends, go to movies, and listen to Christian music. She recently began a job at Hollywood Video and is excited about that. She is also focusing on getting out of the apartment they are living in and into a house, finishing high school, and graduating in June. She plans on attending Salt Lake Community College for a few years, and then transferring somewhere else. She is hoping to earn a degree in Commercial Art.

Liz's Favorites are:
Food - Chocolate
Candy - Dark Chocolate (See a pattern here?)
Movie - Night at the Roxbury
Restaurant - Fazoli's

One of her fellow youth members says of her, "Liz is one of the nicest youth members that we have. She's always ready to help out and get involved whenever she can."

Summer Activities for Kids

Sunday School Spotlight

This month Clarence Strohn is in our Spotlight. He teaches the High School aged Sunday School class which meeting in the food storage room. Here's what Clarence has to share with us about his class, his family and himself.

We have a great variety of subjects in our class. I feel the best thing about our class is the flexibility of the topics. As you may well know, this age group has the great ability to move from one subject to the next. Mostly what we end up talking about is how their week has been and what challenges they were able to experience and work through. We like to create an environment where each student feels comfortable about sharing how they reacted and/or overcame their challenges. I feel the best impact I can make on the students is allowing them to see how their actions affect those around them.

At the risk of sounding Cheesy, I would say that I teach with my students. I find that when they are allowed to give input, everyone in the class can learn something. There may be a student who is in a situation and by having another student, or myself, talk about their experiences on the subject, could be an eye-opener. So, I feel that each of us is the "Teacher and Student."

My Family? Well, who could ask for any other group of angels to share my life with? My patient wife Michelle, my rambunctious, independent son Jeremy, my sensitive daughter Janine, and of course my ready-to-learn-teach-me-everything daughter Katlyn.

We live in West Jordan and have done so for the past 6 years and have attended Mt. Vista for almost four years.

I have a great job, I WORK WITH COMPUTERS!!! I work for Laboratory Corporation of America (thanks Melinda!). I support computers/printers for our clients. It's great. I love the people I work with and I get to drive around a lot. I also am an actor in the Improve Troup "Laughing Stock" at the Off Broadway Theatre (a great way to inspire and free my spirit brothers and sisters).

About Sunday School, I would invite people to look at their lives and, if there is something missing or they are willing to take a spiritual step in their lives, check it out! You may find value in it. If not, then so something different. Find out what works for you and run with it.

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SCOUTING NEWS

Our Cub Scouts are collecting used backpacks. If you have any backpacks sitting at home collecting dust, please bring them to the church. There is a SCOUT Collection box near the front entrance. We will be collecting used backpacks for our scouts through Sunday, May 4th. The West Jordan Rotary Club will give them money for each backpack collected. For more information or questions, please contact Barb McClellan, 969-7478.

Also, some of the cubs are growing up!! They would like to start a Scout Troop and are looking for someone interested in helping lead them. If this sound like something you'd like to do, please contact Barb McClellan, 969-7478.

The first quarter of 2003 has been a challenging one for the Mountain Vista United Methodist Church (MVUMC).  As many of you know, the church's apportionments from the Rocky Mountain Conference were reduced to $0 this year. This means that MVUMC no longer receives direct monetary assistance from the conference. The encouraging part is the fact that we are tracking close to budget. Our current envelopes, pledges, tithes, and loose plate offering is a 21% of the annual budget. At this point in the year our expected contributions should be at 25% of the budget, so we are facing a (-4%) shortfall. The Finance Committee once again encourages all contributors to meet their pledges.

In order to better track members' contributions and to enhance the reporting accuracy of these contributions, the Finance Committee will be issuing quarterly giving statements. Currently members are given yearly contribution statements at the end of January. These assist members in identifying charitable contributions as they prepare their annual tax return. The goal set by the Finance Committee is to issue quarterly statements and ask members to review these statements and report discrepancies to the Finance Chairperson, Bob Chauza. This way records can be updated and discrepancies can be corrected prior to the year end. Another benefit offered by issuing quarterly statements is that it will allow members to review and track their personal giving throughout the year.

The first release of quarterly statements will be early May. This statement will reflect contributions made during the months of January-March. Once again, if you have any questions or concerns regarding your statement please contact Bob Chauza, Chairperson of the Finance Committee.

This month's featured books are listed below.

CHILDREN:  Children's Letters to God, by Stuart Hample and Eric Marshall. This book expresses that part of a child's world reserved for special thought and wishes.

YOUTH:  Dream Freedom, by Sonia Levitin. This novel, based on a true story, tells how a group of American students learns of the atrocities in Sudan. They begin to make a difference by raising money to redeem slaves and educating others about this dire situation.

ADULT:  Life is So Good, by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman. In this remarkable book, George Dawson, a 103 year old slave's grandson, reflects on his life, offers valuable life lessons, and a fresh view of America during the 20th Century.
 

From the Church Kitchen Mouse

We need coffee (regular and decaffeinated), sugar, kitchen towels, and a coffee thermo pump (the old one broke). Also is anyone knows of a used commercial coffee maker for sale, please call Virginia Berry (253-1249). The one in our kitchen is getting old and soon will need replacing.

Due Dates for Sunday Bulletin and Newsletter

For the Sunday Bulletin: Information due Wednesday of each week.
For the Mountain View: Articles due the 3rd Tuesday of every month. Articles on disk or e-mailed (mtnvista@aros.net) preferred.