APRIL 2008 NEWSLETTER

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me." Matt: 25:40

Salem Village Nursing Home Paradise Park Assisted Living
Rosewood Care Center Lakewood Nursing Home

The month of April started out with great services at Lakewood. The choir from First Baptist Church presented the Easter Cantata and we had record attendance for Lakewood with a total of 55 present. It was a very inspirational service. At the end of the service as we were getting ready to have the closing prayer, a resident who has Parkinson disease, raised his shaky hand and in his un-steady voice he ask if we could sing a song with him and he began singing “I don’t know about tomorrow, but I know who holds my hand” and Barb Brennewald, being the great pianist that she is, picked up on the tune and began playing softly as the congregation joined in as well, and it was a wonderful ending to a great service and a great day. The ministry continues to grow and the people are such a Blessing. So many people tell us, it is the one thing they look forward to each month and many people have told us that we are the one thing that remains consistent in their lives of uncertainties.

We lost another dear friend and brother in Christ from Salem Village. Kenneth Partin, who always attended our services, passed away a couple weeks ago. He was a great Christian man and a wonderful person, he will be missed. When we brought him down to the services in his wheel chair each month, his oxygen always came with him and we had to make sure we placed him near an electrical outlet, in order to plug the oxygen in. Praise the Lord, he no longer needs the oxygen and he is free from all aches and pains. His body has been made whole. We rejoice in knowing, he is with Jesus. What a day that will be when we all see Jesus.

We continue to have new volunteers join us and we praise the Lord for you. Thank you for all you do. We appreciate Aaron Czerkies who has played special music at our services this month and helped us in other areas as well. Our young people are so important to the ministry and to the residents.

Every one of us are different, our personalities, our heart beats, our shape, our size. God made us all unique but each one of us can be used of God regardless of what your talent is. I thank the Lord for Kevin Valade, who comes to our service and sits with the residents, what a Blessing he is. The ministry team is running around trying to get everything set up and moving and we don’t always have time to do the thing that is needed most, and that is, just be their friend and listen to them and he has that gift. He and his wife, Margie, are so faithful to the ministry. All of our volunteers are very important to the ministry, we all have different gifts but we all work together as the body of Christ. We love and appreciate you all.

I was visiting with one of the residents after the service on Sunday at Paradise Park and I asked her about her family and she began to tell me her story. She had several brothers and sisters. She was married and had two sons. All her brothers and sisters passed away and her husband, who was a very young man, died in 1966, her mom died in 1967 and her dad died in 1968. A few years later one of her sons died and now the last of her family, a son, is in Manteno hospital, unable to visit or do anything for him. She shared with me how happy she would be when it comes her time to go to heaven. She has no one left down here, just lonely days and long nights.

Don’t you think someone like her needs a friend to talk with, someone who cares. She is just one of many that we see and visit every week in the Nursing Homes. That’s why we feel the Ministry is so important, if we can spread a little cheer or give a little ray of sunshine to someone, and then all our efforts have not been in vain.

PLEASE MAKE NOTE: Due to continuous problems with elevators being in use at the time we need them, we will be starting our service closer to 2:15 p.m. and may go to 2:30 in the months ahead. This will allow the workers to get all the dinner trays back to the kitchen and free up the elevators. They have been locking 1 or 2 of the elevators in order to get the trays back to the kitchen and it is a problem for us to get the residents to the meetings. Hopefully, this will eliminate the problem. (The 2:30 time change for the months ahead, depend on whether the new activity director gives us the o.k. to do so. She has not confirmed a definite “yes” as of the date of this newsletter)

PLEASE NOTE:::: The Sonshine Outreach Ministries has set up a checking account in the name of the Ministry and any and all future contributions to our ministry should be made payable to “Sonshine Outreach Ministries”. You can mail them to c/o Joyce Mancke, 509 Rhonda Dr., Lockport, IL. 6044l. if you are a member of First Baptist Church of Lockport, and would like to give through the church, just indicate on your offering envelope the amount you want to designate to the ministry. All other gifts should be made payable to Sonshine Outreach Ministries. Your gifts are tax deductible and you will receive an end of the year statement.

The story was told of a man who died and upon entering Heaven; an Angel met him and begins showing him around. They walked side by side inside a large workroom filled with other Angels. His Angel guide stopped in front of the first section of the room and said, “This is the Receiving Section. Here, all prayers and petitions to God are received”
The room was terribly busy with many many angels sorting out petitions from people all over the world.

The angel then moved on down a long corridor until they reached the second section and he said “This is the Package and Delivery Section. Here the Graces and Blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them”. This was a very busy section as well, since so many Blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.

Finally, at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at a door of a very small station and only one Angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. “This is the Acknowledgment Section,” my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed “How is it that there is no work going on here? I asked. “So sad,” the Angel sighed. “After people receive the Blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments.” How does one acknowledge God’s Blessings? He asked. “Simple”, the Angel answered. Just say, “Thank you, Lord”.

God has been so good to the SonShine Ministry and He just keeps Blessing and Blessing. Please remember to set aside a special time each day and just say “Thank you Lord for all You do and all You continue to do in my life and the life of this Ministry”. He and He alone deserves all the Praise and all the Glory. We are not looking for Praise or a pat on the back, our reward will be, when we see Jesus and we hear Him say “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”. Keep looking up and stay focused, He’s coming back soon.

Our schedule for May is as follows:

Lakewood Nursing Home, Plainfield – May 4th ,, @ 2:30 p.m.,
Salem Village, Joliet – May 11th @ 2:30 p.m.
Rosewood Rehab Ctr. – Joliet - May 18th @ 2:00 p.m.
Paradise Park, New Lenox – May 25th @ 2:00 p.m.

Please come and join us, we need your talents. You will make a difference and God will bless you for it.

Respectfully submitted by Joyce Mancke jmancke@sbcglobal.net. Phone No: 815-351-7659