The Shiloh UMC Mission's Messenger
May 2010
The job of the Mission Committee is to identify the needs all around us and then encourage and involve the congregation in helping to meet those needs.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.
-Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NIV)
UMCOR Ready to Help in Mississippi
The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is preparing to send emergency funds to Mississippi, where tornadoes rammed through 13 counties. A particularly destructive storm cut a swath nearly a mile wide and traveled 150 miles, according to news reports. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency reports nearly 600 homes were damaged or destroyed in seven of the affected counties. Saturday’s storms have been called the worst natural disaster to hit the region since Hurricane Katrina hurtled through it five years ago. Tornadoes also rushed through Arkansas, South Carolina and Alabama.
Please pray for those who have suffered losses in these first storms of the spring storm season.

OUR FLOOD BUCKETS FILL A NEED
The severe spring storm season will leave empty shelves just waiting to be filled with Flood Buckets. The Midwest Mission Distribution Center in Illinois is the disaster relief distribution center for our area.
The warehouse has several large racks where skids of flood buckets are stored. During a storm season it is not unusual to need thousands of Flood Buckets. Too often the shelves are empty waiting for good people to help fill them.
Shiloh's goal this year is 40 Flood Buckets. This mission project is one that can be shared by those you work with or with friends and neighbors.
A list of needed supplies appears on Shiloh’s website, www.shilohum.org, or you can contact the church office. You will be able to pick up a 5 gallon bucket in the Narthex May 15-16. Buckets should be returned by May 31. Bless you for your generous support of this mission project over the years!

LOVE PACKAGES
Filling eager hands with the word of God.
It is time to clean out your shelves of Christian books, extra Bibles, paperbacks, tracts, daily devotionals, cassettes and videos that you no longer want or use. Love Packages will get this material into the hands of people who are eager for the Word of God. And because many people in foreign lands speak and read English, they can use your donations and will treasure each gift they receive.
Your part is simple. Just sort through your bookshelves and bring your materials to church marked for Love Packages. You may leave your materials in the Mission box. Monetary donations can also be made to help ship these items to distribution points around the world. You can find out more information about this ministry at their website www.lovepackages.org

OVERSEAS COUPON PROJECT – WE NEED YOUR HELP!
We are continuing to send coupons to our adopted base in Schweinfurt, Germany. Total value of coupons sent so far is almost $33,469.80. This is the total from eight mailings.
Remember, you can turn in coupons up to 1-2 months expired. Please be sure they're cut out, not stapled together, and separated into food and non-food items. And, PLEASE, write the total value of your coupons on the outside of each envelope. We have received letters of appreciation from military families for your help with stretching their shopping dollars.
Thanks to Wanda & Wayne Lytle and Lisa George for volunteering to help with this project. Contact me with any questions, Diana Collins 634-9568.

Crow Creek
Shiloh is planning on sending a mission team to Crow Creek July 31-August 8th. Donations asked for in support of this trip are listed below. You may begin to gather your donations now for collection at Shiloh in July. The specific collection date for these supplies will be listed in upcoming bulletins. Thank you for your continued support of Crow Creek Missions. We need gently used warm clothing, Blankets, Baby diapers and clothing, New underwear for adults and children, Art and School Supplies, Backpacks.
REMINDER: Please do not give cash to Mission Team Members. If you would like to make a monetary donation to this mission trip, please be sure that you indicate that on your giving envelope or on your check. IF you want your money to go to a specific cause, please write “Faith Promise " and the cause (Crow Creek) in the note line.

Deployed Soldier Outreach
We continue to send food, personal hygiene items, and books to our deployed American Soldiers. The soldiers we had been sending to in Iraq came home safely the first part of this year. The troops in Afghanistan that we sent snack and personal hygiene items to, along with school supplies for Afghan children, are in the process of coming home now.
This group actually sent me a big thank you and the address in Afghanistan for the Chaplin of the incoming group. They asked that we remember the new soldiers and continue to send to them. Isn't it wonderful that in their busy and dangerous job they thought of the new troops coming and us at Shiloh.
So, let's continue to support this effort to make their lives a little better, if only briefly, when they a break from their dangerous jobs. Items for troops should be placed in the mission boxes in the Narthex or Family Life Center. Snack foods, personal hygiene items (small but not hotel size), and/or puzzle books/paperbacks are welcome. I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have. Diana Collins 634-9568
Note: A portion of your Faith Promise donations pays for the postage required to mail items to our troops. Thank you for your faithfulness.

How does your garden grow? Please plant an extra row!
Most home gardeners enjoy sharing their garden bounty. They even grow extra to share with friends and family, and often, they still have surplus produce that ends up in the compost pile. With food prices rising, what better way to utilize your extra tomatoes, cucumbers and other produce than to share your garden abundance with fellow Shiloh friends and family? Please plant an extra row this year.
During the harvest we welcome you to drop off your excess produce for others in the congregation to enjoy. Any leftover produce will be donated to the local Food Bank.

DCCM Dubois County Community Meals
If anyone is interested in helping out at the Dubois County Community Meal they can contact Myron Schmitt @ 634-1862 or msnn@psci.net. He is currently looking for two groups of volunteers from Shiloh to prepare and serve a meal. We don't often think of people in our community suffering from hunger, DCCM was created to feed those in need in Dubois County. DCCM would not operate successfully without volunteer help. If you are looking for a local mission, DCCM would certainly love to have you.

NOW YOU ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST – 1 COR. 12:27
Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
No hands but yours,
No feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which the compassion
Of Christ is to look out on a hurting world.
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good.
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless now. – Teresa of Avila