SEPTEMBER 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

Just a little humor…..Two elderly ladies had been friends for many decades. Over the years, they had shared all kinds of activities and adventures. Lately, their activities had been limited to meeting a few times a week to play cards. One day, they were playing cards when one looked at the other and said, “Now don’t get mad at me….I know we’ve been friends for a long time….but I just can’t think of your name! I’ve thought and thought, but I can’t remember it. Please tell me what your name is.” Her friend glared at her. For at least three minutes she just stared and glared at her. Finally she said, “How soon do you need to know?”

I can relate to those two ladies. The past few weeks have been so busy; I can hardly remember my own name. Trying to balance all the responsibilities of home, children, grandchildren, church, choir, Nursing home services and visitation, as well as, all the quarterly tax reports and payroll of Verlin’s cleaning business and the continuous care of his mom who has cancer. Then on top of that, we haven’t been successful in selling a house we own and so desperately wanted to sell, so we had to get it ready to rent which created a lot of work.

This morning when I got up, after going for my 2 mile walk, which I do every morning, I started thinking about the many things I had to do today, and how they were stacking up, one on top of the other, and after praying about it all and asking the Lord to help me get it all accomplished, the answer came. Although, He didn’t answer the way I was expecting Him to, my heart was telling me to set all the chores aside and go to the Nursing Home. Someone needed a friend to pray with them today. (I visit regularly on Thursdays, but today was Tuesday). When I arrived at the Nursing Home, one of the residents had just lost her sister and she needed a friend. I sat and listen to her talk about her family and about growing up with her sister as a child. We discussed several verses of scripture and we prayed together. We talked about life and we talked about death and what it will be like when our time comes to go home to be with our Lord. To see Him face to face where we will be rejoicing and praising Him forever and forever. No more tears, no heartache and no more pain. We shared a very special time together. I left her room to go visit another resident and realized she had just died and I was able to spend some time with her roommate. After leaving her room, one of the nurse’s aides came running up to me and hugged me very tightly and ask me to pray for her and her family. After the day was done, I then knew why the Lord said, “Go, someone needs you today”.

I arrived home shortly after noon and all the chores that had to be done today, started falling in place and I simply prayed, “Thank you Lord, it’s been a good day”. I’m so glad I listened to the still small voice and obeyed because if I had not listened, I would have missed the Blessings.

We are looking forward to the coming months. The holidays will soon be approaching, we are making plans for presenting some special music during the holidays for the Nursing Homes and we are already buying Christmas gifts to pass out during the month of December at all the Homes. We will be announcing our plans for the coming months at our October Fellowship and will provide more information in our October Newsletters.

If you are not involved in the Nursing Home Ministry, you are missing out on all the Blessings. Please consider joining us. We appreciate all the volunteers. Thank you all so very much.

Many Thanks to Pastor Palmer and Pastor Steve Holdren for giving the devotional at the Nursing Homes during the month of September as Karl took a much needed break. It was great and we enjoyed you being with us.



Also, Thanks to Tricia Holdren and daughters for special music presented and to Nellie Anglin and Jennifer for singing the song that Jennifer wrote. Kim and Margie did a beautiful job singing. It was all very special.

We welcome Karl back, all rested and ready to go. It’s not easy to be committed to every Sunday of the month and we realize from time to time, we all need a break. It’s much better to take a break then get burned out and not come back at all. We continue to thank the Lord for all of you who are so faithful.

There was an old deacon in a church who often prayed and when he did so, he would always pray, “Lord, prop us up on our leanin’ side”.

After hearing him pray that prayer many times, someone asked him why he prayed that prayer so fervently.

He answered, “Well sir, you see, it’s like this….I got an old barn out back. It’s been there a long time, it’s withstood a lot of storms, and it’s stood for many years.

It’s still standing…but one day I noticed it was leaning to one side a bit. So I went and got some pine poles and propped it up on the leaning side so it wouldn’t fall.

Then I got to thinking about that and how much I was like that old barn. I’ve been around a long time.

I’ve withstood a lot of life’s storms. I’ve withstood a lot of bad weather in life, I’ve withstood a lot of hard times and I’m still standing too.

But I find myself leaning to one side from time to time, so I like to ask the Lord to prop us up on our leaning side, because I figure a lot of us get to leaning, at times.

Sometime we get to leaning toward anger, leaning toward bitterness, leaning toward hatred, leaning toward a lot of things that we shouldn’t. So we need to pray, “Lord, prop us up on our leaning side, so we will stand straight and tall again, to glorify the Lord.

Many times we are like Jonah, we don’t blatantly turn our backs on God, and we just get on a ship going in the opposite directions.

We can make a difference in our daily walk if we “EXERCISE DAILY AND WALK WITH THE LORD”.


PLEASE NOTE: All 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.


Our schedule for October is as follows;

Lakewood Nursing Home, Plainfield – Oct. 5th @ 2:30 p.m.
Salem Village, Joliet – Oct. 12th @ 2:30 p.m.
Rosewood Rehab Ctr. – Joliet - Oct. 19th @ 2:00 p.m
Paradise Park, New Lenox – Oct. 26th @ 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
Email: jmancke@sbcglobal.net.
Telephone: 815-351-7659