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? When Hollywood UMC decided to renovate the sanctuary and raised enough money to complete the job, they tore out the old pews. Church members kept a few, handmade by a parishioner in the 1940s, as memorials. But what to do with the rest?

The Rev. Sheldon Reese put a small ad in the e-connection, the conference?s electronic newsletter.

He received several responses, but the one that touched his heart and that of the congregation was from the Rev. Roland J.R.Timity, who retired this year and plans to return to his native Sierra Leone. For him, the ad was an answer to prayer.

Timity had been working several years to help rebuild Brunswick UMC in York Village in Freetown, Sierra Leone, which had been seriously damaged in a storm a few years ago, but had no funds for repairs.

?It?s a blessing,? Timity said over and over. ?They look like new. They?re very nice. It?s a good thing for the church,? he told The Enterprise newspaper. He arranged for a shipping company to collect the 22 pews and many other pieces to furnish a sanctuary in a small church.

St. Mark?s UMC in Hanover and Mt. Zion UMC in Annapolis have contributed to rebuilding the Brunswick church, but Timity is seeking funds to help cover the $6,000 shipping costs. Contact him at (410) 551-1334 or at .net.

                                                                  -Across the Conference is compiled 
and written by Linda Worthington