| VIM team scouts Honduras site for visit WALDORF  The Rev. Bob Paulen and Good Shepherd UMC member Phil Day spent a week in Honduras in early April on a scouting trip for a Volunteers in Mission team scheduled for next January. Many people in the village of Tocoa are still recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch. Help is still needed to repair and replace damaged homes. The town still does not have electricity. The village church, rebuilt by United Methodist Committee On Relief, has a pastor who travels by bus some 200 kilometers away in Porta Cortez to minister to the people of Tocoa. The town has about 400 homes, Day said, and each one has five to 10 children. Day has already recruited volunteers from Good Shepherd to go next January to help build a playground. Others are also invited. Contact Day at (301) 843-3873. Sanctuary reconsecrated at West Liberty WHITE HALL The Baltimore North District superintendent, the Rev. Edwin Ankeny, led a service to reconsecrate the sanctuary at West Liberty UMC May 4. The church was built in 1898 and had not been updated since the 1970s, reported the Rev. Glenda Condon. The $140,000 renovation included replacing the original wiring in the church, new carpeting, lighting and sound system, as well as painting and plastering. The original pews were refinished and padding added. Following in the footsteps of Welsey GAITHERSBURG In this year that observes the 300th anniversary of John Wesleys birth, two residents of Asbury Village claim a relationship. John Wesley, as a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, lived in the college from 1729 until his departure for Georgia in 1735 as a missionary chaplain, and again on his return in 1738. Two hundred years later, during World War II, Lincoln College provided living space for female nurses, including American Red Cross nurses, who were serving with the Armed Forces and working at the nearby military hospital. Early in 1944, nurse Isabel Fewster fell sick and was cared for in a small upstairs room which was John Wesleys room when he was a resident. The nurses fianc, Reg Westlake, a soldier in the Royal Army Medical Corps, also served in the same unit and a few months later they were married. Now, 50-some years later the Westlakes share their story with residents of Asbury. Children help build a UM Habitat house FREDERICK The United Methodist churches in Frederick District have joined together to build a Habitat house in Brunswick. Groundbreaking was held April 12. Not only do the churches provide the workforce to build the home, but each church also provides funds for building materials and supplies. The children at Mt. Carmel UMCs Sunday school wanted to help. They held an Italian dinner and raised $314.
Sandy Ferguson
More than 800 parents, grandparents and their children from the Baltimore-Washington Conference enjoyed the annual United Methodist Family Day at Kings Dominion May 3. Among the treats of the day were rides including roller coasters, food and performers from United Methodist churches. A Korean choir and a Deaf choir performed. Among the picnickers were conference council director, the Rev. Don Stewart and his wife, the Rev. Anne Stewart, who brought their grandsons, William, left, and Charles Stewart. It was a great family day. It took me three days to recover, said the exhausted council director.
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