Last Sabbath of 2014 - December 27

Sabbath School, December 27th, 2015 - Last Sabbath of the year

It was so nice to have some family members visiting us this weekend.
Most of those people had part of our SS and church and we were so glad to hear from them again.

For Sabbath School all of the superintendents participated, which made it nice for the end of the year. Thank you for a job well done this year.

Carol S. had the first Sabbath of the year in 2014, and when her health would not allow her to be upfront Sylvia B. finished up the year for her. Their programs were always interesting and had something to learn in them.
Edith M. was such a great, reliable superintendent, too, but she had to give up this position partway through the year. Her SS programs were always well thought out and put together so well.
Lori S. is so faithful and it is wonderful to be able to count on her. She had the second weekend each month and she often lead us in searches of Bible texts - one program was on learning to sing the Bible verses and memorizing them.
Liza L. took the third Sabbath and it was a treat to see what she would have for her programs.
They were varied and involved visitors sometimes and members at other times. One program she invited a lady to come and speak to us about her miracle - she was lost for many days and how she survived with lots of prayer and a great attitude.
A Filipino group of ladies came to sing a couple of times and we sure enjoyed those programs too.
I (Glenda) took the fourth Sabbath and also filled in for the fifth sometimes, too. It was very enjoyable to work with all the willing Sabbath School members and have them participate as often as possible.
One of the important parts of our SS is Missions. Thank you for supporting Missions each Sabbath.
As we share we get more involved with the work to share Jesus all over the world as well as here in Kelowna.

Orchard City Church members are so supportive and come out to our Sabbath School each weekend.
Without you all the programs would fail.
I want to say a big big thank you also to the people who work in the Kid's Corner each Sabbath and also in the new older kids division that has just been going for a couple of months now.
Nancy, Heidi, Bob, Naomi, Linda, Aase, Shannon, Loretta, Cherri, Jason - you are blessing these young people each time you come to church and sing the songs and share the stories in the classrooms. We appreciate you so much.

Children in the newly started Older Children's Kids Corner. Cherri is leading this group and they all seems to enjoy the different activities in this class. Thank you so much, Cherri, for heading this class!

On this Sabbath we enjoyed the Sabbath School class, led by relatives of church members who we know from their visits and love to have visit us.

Groups formed and each group was given a set of verses to read and discuss.

Another group, reading the Bible.

Drs. John and Teresa Reeve were here to visit family and graciously agreed to lead the lesson study.
They always have great insights. They come from Berrien Springs, Michigan.

Church was a lovely time, also. We enjoyed a few special numbers, as well as a the sermon by a youth who grew up in our church. He is grown up now, but we always enjoy when he comes back to visit!

Tyler and Amanda were home to visit family and played and sang two special songs - we so enjoyed hearing them again. 

Donovan was the speaker for our church service and it was good to hear him again.
Thank you, Donovan D.

Part of coming home is having little visits with church members who have been part of these young people's lives for years.  So nice.

Donovan D. played the guitar and sang a special song and then later he also had our sermon.
It is so wonderful to have our young people come back to OCC and share with us again.
He brought his lovely wife Meghann with him, too, and we enjoy visiting with her also.

Deaconess visits

Sometimes we do not know exactly what our church deaconesses do through out the year. We know that they help with communion services and then what?

Well, this week I found out that two people were visited by two women from Orchard City SDA church.

Beth Brown with cute little cuddly bear.

Beth Brown used to come to Orchard City SDA church on a very regular basis until lately when her aches and pains got to be a few too many.

She lives at Cottonwoods Extended Care in Kelowna. The nurses and workers there find her to be friendly and gentle. They like her and treat her really nicely.

When Don, Tyler, Amanda and I went to see her this evening she had a purple Purdy's box under her little tree and this cute little bear on the bed by her pillow. It warmed my heart to know she had had some visitors from church come by to see her. (I also saw again the bright medal on a red ribbon given to Beth by Gay M. when she went to visit Beth. There is an interesting story behind the medal and maybe one day Gay will send her stories in to us to read about).

Thank you so much for caring for Beth.

Beautiful plant box for Karen.

On Christmas Eve, Don and I called up to see if it was OK to visit Karen and Dave E. for a short while. Even though Karen is recovering from a major surgery, they were gracious and friendly host and hostess. I spied this beautiful plant while we were there and was told that Jerrie Lou and Loretta had been by. It is so nice to see and hear about these visits that happen and often we know nothing about them.

Thank you so very much, ladies who visit and bring nice surprises to people who are sick or hospitalized.

Sometimes we do not know that a church member has been sick or is in the hospital. Please, friends and family, let others know that your loved one is not well and we will make sure to keep them in our prayers and they most likely will get a nice visit from the deaconesses, too.

Let us all remember that a prayer and a visit mean an awful lot to friends that are sick or lonely.

Sabbath of December 20, 2014 at Orchard City SDA Church

This Sabbath is one that is looked forward too all month.
It is the weekend we have a special service with many special songs and always an interesting original poem by Pat P.

After the service there is a long table full of delicious soups and other tasty treats.

This Sabbath the church was full of families and small children. What a happy time praising God and worshiping Him.

Here are a few photos to let you see some of the special music and offering time, and then something a little different happened outside.

Pat P. in red - our poet, who shared another original poem this day.

It started to snow soon after the service started.

The children enjoy this part of the church service in the month of December.
People ask them to hang up little cloth bags filled with money for three projects to help people in our city.

Kid's Corner had one of the first parts of the service. It is so nice to see them up front and singing.

Doing their part to make the Christmas program enjoyable and special.

Children always make things even better when they take part in the program.

Little visitors included.

Right at home up front beside mummy.

Sharon shares her beautiful singing voice in a lovely song.

So glad to have each precious little one at OCC.

Bob W. sings for the program.

We sure do enjoy having visitors come from far and near.

Heidi shares a beautiful song.

Mummy has a willing helper - I am sure to make sure she is not scared up front.
Danielle's beautiful voice did not waver as she gently smiled at her son.

Near the end of the program, Lori showed this clip of The Candy Bomber. Watch the story here.

Then we went outside and the children caught some candy parachutes thrown by the adults. Look at those happy faces!

A lovely fellowship time followed.

Card making fun at OCC

Sylvia and her friend, Terrie, had a class for making cards on December 7 in the afternoon.
When I entered the hallway, I heard people chatting and laughing together.
There was a very nice mix of ages of people in the fellowship room.
Everyone was cutting, gluing, arranging and making a beautiful card.
There was a grama, mum and daughter in the same family that came out to enjoy the card class.

A total of three cards were made by each one who came to the class. I was not able to stay for the whole time but it sure did look like fun.
It would be fun to have many more people join in the fun on the next class.

Here are some of the pictures of the event.

The beginning - rubber stamp station.

Sample card to look at.

Card in progress.

JOY was for the second card - all glittery and elegant.

So nice to see all the ages working together.

Learning to use the Big Shot.

Cutting out the star shape and the letters.

Fun to have a friend to work with you.

Love how many came wearing cheery red.

Concentrating.

A bit of refreshments.

The other side of the room.

Terrie, the instructor, helps any one with a question.

It seems like everyone enjoyed the class.

A turn through the machine and the snowflakes are embossed. The card is finished and it is very pretty.