Community for Christ
First United Methodist Church
Russellville, AL 35653
Newsletter October 20, 2015
Menu 10/21/15
Baked Ham
Supper @ 5:15 pm
Green Beans
Potato Salad
Class @ 6:00 pm
Deviled Eggs
Green Salad
Rolls
Banana Pudding
Cookies
October 25th
Administrative Council 4:30 pm
Charge Conference 6:00 pm
October 29th
Saturday, October 31st
5th Thursday
October 25th Greeters
8:30 Gene & Judi Matthews
10:45 Randy & Tammy Shaw
Please note that there is always a small handout
for the 8:45 am service! If you are greeting and there isnt something in the Narthex to pass outplease
check in the office!
Friday, November 6th
7:00 am5:00 pm
Saturday, November 7th
7:00 am11:00 am
First United
Methodist Church
311 N Jackson
Household Goods
Furniture
Books
Baked Goods
Many, many items!
Friday Only
Chili with crackers and tea
Lunch for $3.00!
11:00 am until its gone
Take outs available!
First United
Methodist Church
The whole community will be
Will set up on N Jackson
Everyone
is invited!
involved!
5:15 pm
Sunday, November 8th
Time To Be Announced
At The Home Of
Phillip & Charlotte Hamilton
Seth & Melissa
Wedding
You are invited
Saturday, October 24th
First United Methodist Church
5:00 pm
Good News. Great Joy.
Operation Christmas child
Our collection week is November 16-23
Shoe Box Suggestions!!
For any age boy here, what they really want is a soccer ball. So get the best quality mini soccer ball that
you can fit into the box when it is inflated (or send a deflated ball with a pump) and you can basically forget
about anything else!
Brand new nice short-sleeved shirts (with no writing on them) for boys and girls. Kids here have few
clothes and often wear old, ripped, hand-me-downs, so nice new shirts are really appreciated and will probably fit. (I dont know any obese Senegalese kids.)
Small flashlight with batteries (Most families dont have electricity so a working flashlight is gold!)
Good quality melamine plate, bowl, and/or cup (Practical and also special.)
Soap AND a plastic soap dish that has a cover. When you bathe standing on a big rock in the dirt as kids
do here, you really need the soap holder. And families never have enough soap. (Funny note: the kids didnt
know what the soap was because it was in a box. I am sure they would have figured it out though, even without our help.)
Toothbrush in a toothbrush holder. Again, the plastic case for the toothbrush is really great when you dont
have a sink/counter/tiled bathroom but rather brush your teeth outside squatting over dirt and need to keep it
in your room.
Pencils, erasers, colored pencils, and sharpeners for all school-aged kids. And good quality pens for kids
aged 10-14, in black, red, green, and blue. All of these are required for school and the ones from America last
so much longer than the cheap ones available here.
Jump ropes
Band-Aids
Hard candy and gum
Comb
Hair elastics or head bands for girls
Marbles
Harmonica
A simple watch for older kids
A solar calculator for older kids
Sunglasses for older kids
Socks
For the youngest girls, a baby doll with light brown skin and no hair (good for a child of any color)
Toy car, truck or airplane for the youngest boys (The ones with bigger wheels that are made for toddlers and
are larger than Matchbox size are good. Matchbox wheels are so small, they dont work well in dirt.)
Operation Christmas Child
Please dont send these items...
Anything with instructions in English, even if it seems simple to you (We tried to explain to one girl who
got a cool pair of markers that came with a clip so you could draw with them both at the same time and a
set of paper 3-D glasses you then used to see what you drew in 3-D but it didnt make sense. And how
do you even say 3-D in Wolof??)
Any toy that is not universally recognizable (We have seen kids receive matching memory card games
a great idea but with no one to explain it to them, they are wasted.)
Yo-yos (They dont know what it is here.)
Gloves, winter hats (You dont know whether your box will end up in Siberia or Senegal.)
Play-dough (Kids here have no idea what it is for.)
Stuffed animals (Young kids here usually burst into tears when presented with stuffed animals from
their shoeboxes. The kids who are old enough not to be scared are not interested. Also, animals carry
meanings here that are culturally specific. One of our Sunday School kids got a cute stuffed owl and a
much older sibling told me that he himself is terrified of owls. They connote evil and shapechangers. You
cant know what the animal will signify in the culture your box reaches.)
Stickers or temporary tattoos (Kids dont have anywhere to stick the stickers, and often the pictures
dont make sense or connect with their world. For example, cute puppy stickers dont make much sense in
a Muslim country because dogs are considered unclean in Islam.)
T-shirts with words or pictures on them (Would you want to wear a shirt with something unknown written on it? And again, pictures have different meanings in different cultures. Stick with solid colors, stripes,
or pretty designs.
Anything cheap or fragile (One box had a white skinned, red-haired porcelain doll in it)
Two of the 10-year old boys in our Sunday School class got adult sized XL t-shirts in their boxes that
were obviously left over from an event. They were brand new and will be worn by some adult in the household, but in my opinion, they would have been better donated to Good Will or the Salvation Army. Approach filling a shoebox like you would approach picking out a gift for a friends child, not as an opportunity
to unload stuff you dont want
October 29th
If you are free around 1:00 pm come join us in the Ministry Center.
Tuesday, November 10th
