June 2015 1 KONA UMC 74-4960 Palani Road, Kailua-Kona HI 96740 Phone:(808) 329-5842 Email: [email protected], WEB: WWW.KONAUMC.ORG KONA UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Pastor’s Note “The Smell of Progress” by Pastor Krista Scenes from Camp Mekokiko 2015 Pages 1-2 A Note from our Lay Leader: “Random Reflections on Anticipation” by Kathleen Jaeger News from Christian Education Page 3-4 A Note from SPRC by Becky Walton and Prayer Requests Worship Committee Words by Connie Zaun and Laity Responsibilities for July Page 5-6 Summer Sermon Series: “Jesus, the Prophet” July Calendar and Aloha Rev. Carol Thompson Page 7-8 N e w s l e t t e r PASTOR’S NOTE ~ Musings by the Rev. Dr. Krista S. Givens I love the smell of wet paint. Perhaps a left-over response from my artist days, but it is a sign that something new is coming. As you may have noticed, our church facility is under-going a major transformation. As JVN Painting puts the finishing touches on our newly painted classrooms, bathrooms, church office and sanctuary, and new carpet squares are ordered for the chapel walls, I can’t help but feel that good things are coming to Kona UMC. Like many churches in our Annual Conference, our building has been well-used and was beginning to show its wear. And like other churches, we have struggled to find the money to keep up with the maintenance needs of our facility. But lately, we’ve been doing well financially. In the past three years, both our membership and our income has increased and when the Trustees presented a plan to repaint the interior of our facility, we had the money in our savings account, and the proposal was approved. In addition to the interior painting, our Trustees have worked hard to make sure the parsonage is secure and functioning well: Donny Aveai sealed the windows and Patrick Kennedy repaired the screens; Leo Koschella selected a new front door to replace the current door which has been damaged by the rain; the electrical panel has been replaced and all the electrical has been checked and repaired. Along with those big projects, Pat Aldred sewed and put up new curtains for our Youth Classroom, Navy Mareko has been pointing our rock walls (grouting the spaces in between the rocks), the Samoan Ministry has been caring The Smell of Progress
Transcript
J u n e 2 0 1 5! 1
K O N A U M C 7 4 - 4 9 6 0 P a l a n i R o a d , K a i l u a - K o n a H I 9 6 7 4 0
P h o n e : ( 8 0 8 ) 3 2 9 - 5 8 4 2 E m a i l : k o n a u m c @ h a w a i i . r r . c o m , W E B : W W W . K O N A U M C . O R G
K O N A U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T C H U R C H
Pastor’s Note“The Smell of Progress” by
Pastor Krista
Scenes from Camp Mekokiko 2015
Pages 1-2
A Note from our Lay Leader: “Random
Reflections on Anticipation” by
Kathleen Jaeger
News from Christian Education
Page 3-4
A Note from SPRC by
Becky Walton and Prayer
Requests
Worship Committee Words by Connie Zaun and
Laity Responsibilities for July
Page 5-6
Summer Sermon Series: “Jesus, the Prophet” July Calendar and Aloha
Rev. Carol Thompson
Page 7-8
N e w s l e t t e r
P A S T O R ’ S N O T E ~ Musings by the Rev. Dr. Krista S. Givens
I love the smell of wet paint. Perhaps a left-over response from my artist days, but it is a sign that something new is coming. As you may have noticed, our church facility is under-going a major transformation. As JVN Painting puts the finishing touches on our newly painted classrooms, bathrooms, church office and sanctuary, and new carpet squares are ordered for the chapel walls, I can’t help but feel that good things are coming to Kona UMC.
Like many churches in our Annual Conference, our building has been well-used and was beginning to show its wear. And like other churches, we have struggled to find the money to keep up with the maintenance needs of our facility. But lately, we’ve been doing well financially. In the past three years, both our membership and our income has increased and when the Trustees presented a plan to repaint the interior of our facility, we had the money in our savings account, and the proposal was approved.
In addition to the interior painting, our Trustees have worked hard to make sure the parsonage is secure and functioning well: Donny Aveai sealed the windows and Patrick Kennedy repaired the screens; Leo Koschella selected a new front door to replace the current door which has been damaged by the rain; the electrical panel has been replaced and all the electrical has been checked and repaired.
Along with those big projects, Pat Aldred sewed and put up new curtains for our Youth Classroom, Navy Mareko has been pointing our rock walls (grouting the spaces in between the rocks), the Samoan Ministry has been caring
K O N A U M C 7 4 - 4 9 6 0 P a l a n i R o a d , K a i l u a - K o n a H I 9 6 7 4 0
P h o n e : ( 8 0 8 ) 3 2 9 - 5 8 4 2 E m a i l : k o n a u m c @ h a w a i i . r r . c o m , W E B : W W W . K O N A U M C . O R G
SAILINGKONA UMC NEWSLETTER
Kona UMC
Youth at Camp
Mekokiko 2015
On June 3rd, the day summer vacation officially began, seven youth and 3 adults set off on our annual Youth Work Camp. We again met the Youth and adults from Aiea UMC at Camp Mekokiko and worked for three days: digging trenches, preparing cement, clearing trails, repairing steps, hauling, trimming, cooking, playing games, making s’mores, laughing and studying the Bible, all together with our friends from Aiea. Special thanks to Kathleen Jaeger and John Kari, our chaperones for the time, love and energy they shared with us! Mahalo nui loa!
for our grounds monthly, Tom Baumgartner ordered new doors for our classroom, kitchen and storage rooms, new ceiling fans will be installed in our classrooms and office and we have plans to put a cement pad on the south side of the church. Our Trustees and church members have been working hard to get our grounds and buildings looking good and functioning well. And YOUR donations to our church community allows all these plans to become reality!
Why is fresh paint so important? Why is it necessary to replace the carpet tiles on our church walls? Why should we spend the money and the time and energy to make the church LOOK good?
Fresh paint says “something is happening here.” Fresh paint says, “Come in and see.” Fresh paint says “We care enough to take create a warm and welcoming environment in which to worship God.” Fresh paint says, “We want the best for your children.” Fresh paint says, “We worship in the House of God.” When we care for our surroundings, our facility, our homes, it indicates that we are dedicating ourselves to this place; it means we care about the gifts God has given us; it means we are grateful to be the family of God in this place at this time, in this small but growing church in Kona. A special thank you to Bill Jaeger, the Trustees and those who have volunteered and those who WILL volunteer to help us get our house in order.
May God bless our house of worship and all those who worship under its newly-painted ceiling.
K O N A U M C 7 4 - 4 9 6 0 P a l a n i R o a d , K a i l u a - K o n a H I 9 6 7 4 0
P h o n e : ( 8 0 8 ) 3 2 9 - 5 8 4 2 E m a i l : k o n a u m c @ h a w a i i . r r . c o m , W E B : W W W . K O N A U M C . O R G
KONA UMC NEWSLETTER
EASTER 2015
Random Reflections on Anticipation
“Anticipation” is defined by Webster’s dictionary as: the act of
looking forward; a pleasurable expectation; visualization of a future event or state. Events can be eagerly anticipated, or sometimes dreaded. We can anticipate the best or the worst is about to happen.
In the car on the way to camp last month, I heard several comments from my carload, (before they all went to sleep – I guess 8:00 is pretty early for the first day off school), expressing their expectations of camp: what they will be doing, the games they will be playing, eagerly looking forward to seeing friends they had missed since last year. They wondered if they would all be there and if there would be new faces. They wondered what jobs Ted had lined up for us to do – hoping for more concrete work and power tools. We discussed how in such times there is the possibility that our memories end up being better than reality and sometimes we are disappointed. Even though the current experience was wonderful, they may not measure up to our expectations. I think even the most eagerly anticipated events often encompass a small nugget of fear as well.
As I begin to write this article I am still 5 days away from Annual Conference. And I anticipate it. If not as eagerly as our Youth headed to camp, I do look forward to renewing acquaintances and inspiring worship. I anticipate hearing of the work of our church throughout the world and the people saved from disease and brought to Christ. However, I also know there will be discussions of budgets, insurance programs, salaries and overhead, and buildings and roofs --- the business of the church that, while necessary to discuss openly and worthy of our time, finds my anticipation including dread rather than filled only with joy. But that is just me. I am sure there are attendees who very much like getting into that part of ministry and the ethical use of our assets – how to best use the dollars to do the work of the church. I think I feel a headache coming on.
I am going to leave this for now, and finish this article after conference. (skip ahead a couple weeks)
Conference is over. I am home and digesting much of what occurred. As expected there were those discussions of the “brick and mortar” “nuts and bolts” business. I survived that part. It seems to me a great deal of time is spent making sure the semantics of what we are proposing is beyond the chance of any miss-understanding. And this is a good thing, I guess. We don’t all speak the same language – both literally and figuratively. We re-organized some committees. We defined what “a week vacation” means. We discussed insurance policies and made decisions on how to best plan the coverage for our retired clergy.
We also enjoyed inspired worship/song/and prayer. We listened to thought-provoking speakers. We dined together, lived together, and brought back ideas for our home churches.
We also had the opportunity to shop the Cokesbury conference “store”. I found Bibles that connect to our Keiki curriculum on a nice sale and they are now on their way to us. I also found a study for the Youth class that I have since ordered. It is nice to be able to look through the pages, and spend some time to graze our way through the large array of options.
All in all, each Annual Conference I have attended have similarities and differences from the others. Things progress, things change - is this not the way it should be? Why does the unknown so unsettle us?
By the way, in the car, on the way home from camp one of my passengers stayed awake all the way home. At one point he declared that this was a Good Camp. He said each year it has been a bit different from the last. We discussed how next year will be very different with Pastor Jim White and his children not being in attendance. This young man concluded that it will still be good. It will definitely be different. We will now anticipate what that may be.
God is Good! All the Time!
Kathleen JaegerLay Leader, English Speaking Ministry
Above: Kona UMC and Aiea UMC Youth and Adults at Camp
K O N A U M C 7 4 - 4 9 6 0 P a l a n i R o a d , K a i l u a - K o n a H I 9 6 7 4 0
P h o n e : ( 8 0 8 ) 3 2 9 - 5 8 4 2 E m a i l : k o n a u m c @ h a w a i i . r r . c o m , W E B : W W W . K O N A U M C . O R G
KONA UMC NEWSLETTER
A Note from the SPRC
The SPRC (Staff Parish Relations Committee), representing the congregation, would like to officially welcome both of our esteemed pastors
back to Kona UMC for the coming year. Rev. Krista will begin her 4th year with us and Rev. Malakai his 10th year. Their new year officially began July 1st with first sharing in the pulpit July 5th. It is perfect timing for our congregations as we worship together and share communion on this first Sunday of the month. Our committee looks forward to working with our staff and congregation to build relationships that will continue our growth as disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of our community and our world.
Blessings to each of you,
Becky Walton SPRC chairperson
PRAYER REQUESTS
May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you. ~ Psalm 33:22
Please keep in your thoughts and prayers:
★ Diana Butler, Tim Cooke and family upon the passing of Camille.
★ Our brothers and sisters in the congregation of Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charelston, SC.
★ All affected by terrorism, war, unrest and violence, those in the Middle East, Ukraine, Nigeria, Syria, and all parts of the world torn apart.
★ Those serving in our military, including Weston Downs.
★ Our missionaries and their families: Randy and Susan Roberts in Jordan and Wes and Jerusha Neal in Fiji.
★ Those in our church family who are in need of healing in body, mind and spirit. Those caregivers in our midst who love, nurture and care for others.
★ Our nation and its leaders.
If you would like to add a prayer request to this list, please contact Pastor Krista.
Above: Our Kona UMC delegation to Annual Conference 2015
Above: Alyssa shows off her puppet made in Sunday School.
K O N A U M C 7 4 - 4 9 6 0 P a l a n i R o a d , K a i l u a - K o n a H I 9 6 7 4 0
P h o n e : ( 8 0 8 ) 3 2 9 - 5 8 4 2 E m a i l : k o n a u m c @ h a w a i i . r r . c o m , W E B : W W W . K O N A U M C . O R G
KONA UMC NEWSLETTER
L A I T Y W O R S H I P R E S P O N S I B I L I T I E S - J u l y 2 0 1 5
Date AM Management Altar
(color)
Liturgist Sunday School
Keiki
Sunday School
Youth
Acolyte Sermon/ Keiki
5th Triple@‐Uemura/
Paogofie
(white/green)
Samoan Women
Rev. Tatafu Shery Talasinga Remain in Service Navy
Mareko‐Berdon
Rev. Givens
12th
Juan‐Pyun/Mareko (green)
Sue Pyun
Navy Mareko Janet McHugh Kathleen Jaeger Setu Vole Rev. Givens
19th Downs‐Pyun/
Vole
(green)
Samoan Women
Marilyn Koschella Malaea Apaisa Pat Aldred Rama Barre@ Rev. Givens
26th Koschella/Falefa (green)
Connie Zaun
Tony Aldred Judy
Hollingshead
Kathleen Jaeger David Falefa Rev. Givens
WORSHIP COMMITTEE WORDS
Once again the Samoan ministry has provided a wonderful celebration-this time for Fathers' Day. Special music and recognition of the father figures in our congregation with lei were followed after service with another delicious feast. Thank you so much from all.
Thinking of gratitude, I would like to share with you some thoughts from an article I read recently from the Grace Lutheran Parish Nurses in Minnesota. They suggest an Attitude of Gratitude and quote Florence Nightingale who said "Live your life while you have it. Life is a splendid gift--there is nothing small about it." They go on to say an Attitude of Gratitude creates happiness because it makes us feel full, complete, and helps us realize that we have everything we need for the moment. In John 15:11, we read, " I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."
Let us worship with gratitude and joy,
Connie Zaun, Worship ChairLeft: On June 7th, we were privileged to host Rev. Jim White in our pulpit. Rev. White
has served for 15 years as the pastor of Aiea UMC on the island of Oahu and we have
been fortunate to partner with their youth group for Youth Camp these past three
years. on July 1st, Pastor Jim begins his ministry with Palmdale UMC in Southern
California. We were fortunate to hear Jim proclaim the Good News before his ministry
