Sunday, May 18, the Mission Committee will have their third Annual Spring Seedling Sale as a local mission fund raiser. So, remember us as you begin to think of the vegetables and flowers you will be planting in a few short months.

We will be taking orders the beginning of May and all plants will be available on May 18, the Sunday before Memorial Day weekend.

As of now we have 20 on our Honduras mission team that will travel to Los Naranjos December 27, 2008 through January 6, 2009. Our mission will be to help our partners in Los Naranjos expand their church, do health and hygiene clinics, and conduct a Bible School for the children. Thanks to all who have and will support our mission team. Please make note of these future meetings and events.

• May 3. - Pot Luck Dinner & Recipe Auction Fundraiser
• June 1 - Team Meeting following 10:00 worship
• July 13 - Team Meeting following 10:00 worship
• July 19 - Summer Smorgasbord Fundraiser
• August 16 - Music & Mission Fundraiser

All the deposits from our cans and bottles collection will be going to our December 2008 – January 2009 Honduras Trip. A big thanks goes to Norman Cole who takes the bottles to the redemption center.

Would you like to be part of or find out about our special visitation ministry called ''Called to Care?'' You are invited to our next meeting on April 8 at 8:30 am in the Fireside Room.

Inspired by the example of Muhammad Yuris, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Bangladesh's Grameen Bank, a group of young entrepreneurs, familiar with the power of the Internet and the concepts of ''E-commerce'', two years ago founded an organization named ''Kiva'', the Swahili word for ''unity'', to pool small loans of as little as $25 providing capital for persons in underdeveloped countries to create small businesses to support their families and serve their impoverished communities. You may have seen a program about Kiva on PBS's Frontline or on the Oprah Winfrey Show. It is also written about in President Bill Clinton's latest book, Giving, in Business Week, and in The Wall Street Journal.

You can learn all about Kiva at its very interesting Website: www.Kiva.org . (We recommend you allow yourself at least a half hour. The ingenious way in which Kiva uses the Internet to raise and disburse capital to impoverished individuals who have no access to traditional banks nor loan collateral, the stories of the budding entrepreneurs you will find there, the journal entries showing how Kiva loans change lives is gripping.) If you do not have access to the Internet, a poster about Kiva – Loans that Change Lives will be found on the Mission Committee bulletin board.

Kiva uses the Worldwide Web and electronic funds transfer technology to pool small loans from people like members of the First Congregational Church in Waterville, ME with those of other lenders to fund loans of several hundred dollars to perhaps $1500 to support the business plans of third-world entrepreneurs which are published on the Kiva.org website. Kiva raises the funds but relies on third world ''Field Partner'' organizations which work in the local economies to evaluate the loan applications, disburse funds, and collect periodic repayments. On behalf of its lenders, Kiva monitors the diligence of its third-world field partners so that lenders can evaluate the risk of loss of their principal. When a loan is repaid in full, at the lender's option, Kiva will either refund the principal or allow the lender to select another loan recipient.

At its August meeting, the Mission Committee completed a summer-long reflection on how we might use the $455 proceeds of the Spring Plant Sale and it was decided that we would use at least a portion of this money as a revolving fund to create a portfolio of small loans through Kiva. We will give priority to businesses in the communities of Honduras which we are supporting through our mission trips and the Maine Conference's relationship with the Evangelical and Reformed Church of Honduras but we will not limit our outreach to Honduras alone. The Mission Committee will begin selecting individual loan recipients at its September and October meetings. If you would like to make a recommendation of a loan applicant that you have found on the Kiva.org Website or if you would like to make a contribution to the revolving loan fund, please contact Tom Kahl, Chair of the Mission Committee, or Dave Hedrick, Mission Committee member.

Over the past few years have you noticed some colorful letters on the Mission Committee bulletin boards? Since 2003 our church has sponsored Angel Mae from Dumaguete City in the Philippines by forwarding $30/month from either the Christian Education or Mission Committee budgets (6 months/year from both). The sponsorship is through the Global Ministries Child Sponsorship Program of the UCC's Wider Church Ministries.

Angel Mae is now almost 16 1/2 years old, and has a younger sister and two younger brothers. Her father is a mechanic in his uncle's small shop and her mother sells food stuffs in the poor neighborhood where they live. Over the last 4 1/2 years we have seen a noticeable development in Angel Mae's warm and candid letters, as she has developed from a pre-teen into a young adult. Angel Mae graduated from high school last spring and is now going to college. From her letters you can see a young lady who is filled with hope and enthusiasm as she enters adulthood.

The Mission Committee would like to thank you for your support of our church's wider mission, and the positive impact that this support has made in the life of a young Philippino girl.

‘’The world is witnessing the devastation caused by the HIV-AIDS virus on every continent, among all races and at every age level. The Nyumbani Hospice/Orphanage (in Nairobi, Kenya) was founded to care for a small segment of that population – children in Kenya who have inherited antibodies from their mothers that cause them to test HIV at birth.

‘’Hundreds of thousands of these infants are abandoned because (parents) are too ill themselves to take care of anyone else. 75% of these abandoned newborns are not actually infected with the virus – they will test negative several months later when the mother’s antibodies are no longer present.

‘’Nyumbani provides a home to these abandoned children. Those who ultimately test negative are adopted or placed in foster care. The children who are truly HIV positive remain at Nyumbani where they are given loving physical and medical care.’’ (from Nyumbani brochure)

Janice E. Conway, Kay Conway’s daughter and Martha Cobb’s sister, is on the Board of Directors for Nyumbani-USA. Last summer Martha traveled with Janice to the orphanage. Kay has shared with us that the children there need mittens. Their winter, which is very cold is in June, July and August. However it is not too early to start knitting mittens for any age child – baby through teenager. If you like to knit and want to pass the time during our long winter knitting away by the fire, this would be a great project. Please bring your mittens to the church office and we will send them on their way. Thanks for helping these special children.