Due to the Church Café and kitchen being unavailable for our March 7 Potluck Brunch, we have cancelled for March and have rescheduled for April 4.  Our special guests who were planning to be with us this month will, instead, join us then.  A reminder will appear in the Sunday bulletin prior to the event. Also, our Second-Half Prayer Network sign-up sheet is still available at our table in the Main Lobby on Sunday mornings.  If you are willing to say a prayer occasionally (when called upon), for someone who has a special or urgent need, please sign up.  And if you haven't yet picked up a prayer card to carry with you that lists the numbers to call to make a request, they are available as well. At the table, also, are some needs and desires listed that have been taken from the questionnaires that were recently mailed and returned. There, you may find an opportunity to serve, minister, or even enjoy some good like-minded fellowship or recreation.  There are many among us who are lonely and need someone who cares.  God wants to use and bless you through others!

Laretta K. Shrader
The best opportunity most of us will have to reach another people group is by reaching someone who is an international student in our own country.

More than 400,000 international students now attend college in the USA.  Over 80 students from 20 countries have been identified on the AWC Campus. The world has truly come to us. Each Saturday evening and Sunday morning, for the next several weeks, there will be someone at the kiosk in the Main Lobby with information on how you and your family can be involved with welcoming an international student to the U.S.

This might very well be the only way a student gets to spend time in a home in the U. S.   Your involvement can be as little or as much as you wish-dinner in your home, a trip to the Territorial Prison, a ride to the bank in town, these are all things a student will appreciate. 

We hope to find 8-10 families at FCC who will become part of a pilot program of an outreach to international students.  Claudia Garrido, a member of FCC from Chile, works in the office of International Students at AWC.  Through this contact we will match these families with interested students.  Hopefully the ministry will evolve from there. 

Please read below reasons this outreach is so important:

 - These students are destined to be tomorrow's world leaders. Many times they return to high places of influence in government, education, or business.

 - Experts say seven out of ten international students will never enter an American home outside the campus community.

How sad that these students live here four or more years and never know typical Americans, or find out much about life in the United States.

Last month we set a goal of matching 8-10 students with families or individuals.  We have at least six of those matches.  Please see Betsy Brown, Claudia Garrido, or Laretta K. Shrader on Saturday evening or Sunday morning for more information. 

Dates for House Building at ARM in Globe This Fall
I have been working with Diana Lawrence of ARM on dates for groups from FCC to go to Globe and build another house on the San Carlos Apache Reservation.

The dates are September 4-7, which is Labor Day Weekend, September 25-27, and October 23-25.  Other groups will work on the house in between times.  The plan is for the home to be finished that last weekend in October, and the team that is there (and any others that can come back) will get to be part of the House Blessing.  This is when the keys to the home are given to the family along with other gifts and a time of prayer and thanksgiving.

Retreat for Workers in Chile
As you read this, I will be in Chile.  The board of IberoAmerican Ministries, of which I am a member and officer, decided to bring all the workers home for a time of retooling and refreshing.  My part was to plan a day just for the women who so often serve in places that lack opportunities for fellowship with like-minded women. 

I will be speaking on "Virtuous Women In My Life."   There will be time for fellowship, worship, and crafts.  Kappy Bickel and Noel Morago prepared greeting cards to be created during the craft time.

Please be praying for this entire retreat, that all the workers will go back to their respective fields refreshed and ready to serve with all their might. Please pray especially for me that I will speak the words these women need to hear.

Please don't wonder why the Missions Minister is going to Chile when there is a spending freeze here at FCC.  Because I made the commitment last year, and because I think this retreat is so important to the welfare of our IAM workers, I am using vacation time and personal funds for the trip.  I am blessed to be able to do this.

Because He Lives, Laretta

 visit, and minister to the ladies at La Mesa Care Center.  We are building relationships with the residents as well as with each other!  Call Lynette Toepfer at 246-6289 for

more information.   Supplies are provided.