Newsline for September 20, and a Newsline Special

Click here to see the latest edition of Newsline, including a listing of 2013 Work Camps.

Click here to see a Newsline Special: Request for Prayer for College Communities.

The Church at the Farmer's Market

On Thursday afternoons throughout the growing season you can find the church at the local Farmer's Market. Many of us garden, and farm, and orchard. Some of us take our wares to market, and some of us stop by to visit awhile with our friends from the church, and pick up some of their produce right out of the garden, or a loaf of their artisan bread fresh from the oven--and, let's be honest, a pie or some cinnamon rolls from the Mennonites, too.

For many of the church people you find displaying their wares at the Farmer's Market, growing and making their products is an exercise in simple living, an act of service, and a celebration of God's Creation. Theirs is a ministry of God's goodness and shalom.

Ton Rietveld, who with his wife Leaha Passaro, and daughters Tallulah and Athena,

operate Leaping Sheep Farms, where they grow all kinds of organic produce,

plus sheep, goats, rabbits, and ducks--

and I probably left something out.

Many interns work at Leaping Sheep Farms through each season,

and some, like Scott and Nick, stay on.

The Farmer's Market is also a celebration of our community, and the ways we cooperate and reach out to each other. You can be sure that much of the season's produce, from those persons pictured here, and from many others in the church, is given to people at church, or to friends and neighbors, or is left in bins and bags at the local Food Bank.

Wayne Verbeck, of Emert's Garden. Wayne is currently president of the Farmer's Market Association.

And Emert Verbeck himself, probably the man who has been growing produce longer

than anyone else here, and known over all those years for the quality of his merchandise

and of his honesty and integrity.

Melanie Thornton, artisan bread maker, her husband Rob Thompson,

and customer and friend Christine Olson.

Melanie provides the loaves that Ellisforde gives to its visitors,

and that have been used in communion services and Love Feasts. 

You can find many wonderful things at a farmer's market, and at this one you can find brothers and sisters in Christ serving others and celebrating the gracious bounty of the Creator.

Welcome, Dave!

Many of us have known David Campbell for a long time in our community. Some of us got to know him better in our weekly Bible Study. It was there that he met Sally Smith, and they were married at Ellisforde on July 21.

We were glad when he made the choice to become a part of Sally's family, and we're glad that he made the choice to become a part of her church family, too. Dave joined the Ellisforde church on September 9 by transfer of letter from the Tonasket Community Church.

Welcome to our family, Dave!

Church of the Brethren Newsline for September 7

Newsline, with a story about Children's Disaster Services helping in the wake of Hurricane Isaac, can be found HERE.

Welcome! Bienvenidos! Ice Cream Social!

September 1st was a beautiful day for our annual Ice Cream Social. It was hosted by the Ellisforde church, but the Whitestone church, and the Iglesia de Cristo Santidad al Senor, which meets in the Ellisforde building, were also an important part of it.

This year it was at History Park in Tonasket. The Ellisforde church is six miles out of town, so we were hoping that more of the community would be able to join us at the park.

There were all the delicious baked goods you would expect at an Ice Cream Social: pies and cakes and cobblers and buckles, and a flan, too.

One of the special treats that has come to be a tradition are the tamales provided by the Iglesia.

And ice cream, lots of ice cream.

Steve Kinzie provided music.

All of it was free, our way of saying thank you--and you're welcome--to our community. One man going through the line kept saying, "Are you sure there's no jar for donations?"

There were well over a hundred people served by the time things wound down, and many were young people and kids who just happened to be at the park that Saturday, or people who followed the signs. One man said, "I saw "FREE" and had to check it out."

A special thank you to Kim Yaussy Albright, Chelo Gomez, and Lucy Gomez, who headed up all the organizing; to Steve Kinzie for sharing his musical gifts; to Kelly Podkranic for donating signage, balloons, and a beautiful bouquet from her flower shop; to WEWomen, the combined Whitestone and Ellisforde women's group, who provided baked goods and ice cream; and Pastor Benjamin Capote and the people of the Iglesia de Cristo Santidad al Senor for baked goods and tamales.

Everybody had a great time!