JANUARY 2009 NEWSLETTER AND FEBRUARY CALENDAR

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

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

Sometimes a spoken word just does not cover it. . . . you just burst forth into singing. David, the psalmist, knew how to sing. His sin had been great, his repentance sincere, and his forgiveness complete. Naturally it follows that he would be filled with rejoicing. In Psalm 13:5 David says, “I trust in your unfailing love. My heart rejoices in your salvation.” His confidence in God coupled with God’s response to his struggles led him to remember that God is faithful and good. No one sees, knows, and cares like the Lord. There is no substitute for getting in “tune” with God and His purposes. It would be impossible to know how many difficulties we avoid just by singing the Lord’s song of full salvation.

There is an attraction to the joy-filled life. Those under the pressure of this world of sin can see the contrast and be drawn to the example they see. What an opportunity to tell them of One who can give them full forgiveness and newness of life.

One of the residents who attended the services at Paradise Park was amazed at how happy our Ministry team is. She told me a couple of times, “I just can’t get over how happy all of you are”. I think that is one of the best compliments you could give our Ministry team because it is an example of what Jesus Christ really means to each one of us. The joy and happiness just radiates from each face. We have an amazing team of people, so full of love and encouragement to one another. I can not say enough about our group. I have never seen a team of people that fit together so perfectly, like pieces to a puzzle, and I believe with all my heart, that God brought us all together to work in this Ministry for His Honor and Glory. There is such a sweet, sweet spirit when we are together.

Betty Tan and I visited the Lakewood Nursing Home last week and we gave out “sugar free candy” and “happy birthday tracts” to all the residents with birthdays in January. The little box has 3 pieces of candy in it and they are so proud of that little box, it’s like we have given them an expensive gift. It really opens the door to tell them about the greatest gift that was ever given, the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We spent about 40 minutes with one of the residents sharing the plan of salvation. She was frustrated and angry about things that are happening in her life and I shared with her, how much Jesus loves her and even though she did not pray the sinner’s prayer, she was very interested in what we were saying. I will meet with her again.

Another gentleman was sitting in the hallway just outside the doorway to his room and he was so sad. His wife shares a room with him and she was sick. I stood by his wheel chair for a long time and just listened to his stories, the stories of his life, the good years that have quickly passed and now the struggles that he is facing. Their children do not come to see them very often, nor seem to care. Even with all the health problems he and his wife are going through, he is concerned about his children and wants to see them so badly. I prayed with him and will be going back to see him again.

As he was talking, I couldn’t help but think about how much God cares for us and how He loves us, and I thought about how He would like for us to talk with Him more often, to pray, to read His word and draw closer to Him, and yet, so many times, we are like this gentleman’s children, we are cold and we go our own ways. May God have Mercy on all of us.

Our services are working out well with the new meeting place at Salem. We have moved from the Sunken Garden in the Lower Level to the main floor in the dining room. It is so much easier for the residents. They don’t have to walk as far and it is much easier for us hauling in all the equipment. We are also having more visitors now that we are on the main level. They come in to see their loved ones and while they are waiting for the elevators, they hear the singing and several have asked if they could come to the services. We had several visitors last month and that is exciting.

God continues to work all things out for His Glory and the Windows of Heaven are open and the Blessings just keep on coming and for all this we give Him all the Praise and all the Glory. Before sending His disciples out as witnesses, He commanded them to wait for the promised Holy Spirit. Herein is the secret to victory over the world, the flesh and the devil. There is no lack of power while the Spirit abides in his fullness. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens each one of us.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone? What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets? What if we flipped through it several times a day? What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it? What if we used it to receive messages from the text? What if we treated it like we couldn’t live without it? What if we gave it to our kids as gifts? What if we used it when we traveled? What if we used it in case of emergency? I believe that is the way God intended it to be. He wants to be first in our lives.

PLEASE NOTE: All contributions to our ministry should be made payable to “Sonshine Outreach Ministries”. You can mail your gift to SonShine Outreach Ministries, c/o Joyce Mancke, 509 Rhonda Dr., Lockport, IL. 6044l. Your gifts are tax deductible and you will receive an end of the year statement.

Our schedule for February is as follows;

Lakewood Nursing Home, Plainfield – Feb 1st @ 2:30 p.m.
Salem Village, Joliet – Feb 8th @ 2:30 p.m.
Rosewood Rehab Ctr. –Joliet -Feb.15th @ 2:00 p.m.
Paradise Park, New Lenox –Feb. 22nd @ 2:00 p.m.

Everyone is welcome to 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

BERNIE LUTCHMAN INTERVIEW WITH SEAL AMERICA'S TRAVELLING PRAYER MINISTRY THROUGH 50 US STATE CAPITOLS - SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS; SEPTEMBER 20, 2008

DECEMBER 2008 NEWSLETTER, AND JANUARY 2009 CALENDAR

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

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

Something to think about: What does it mean to give more than 100% of you?? ? Have you ever thought about it or have you ever made a commitment to give 100% of your life to serving the Lord.

I received this from a friend and thought it was very interesting. If the alphabet were represented by numbers, that is, A = 1, B = 2, C = 3 and on through the alphabet. Every letter in the alphabet would be represented by a number and once you have spelled out the word using the numbers, you would then add the numbers together to get the total. Hardwork and knowledge would get you close to 100%. Knowledge actually adds up to 96% and hardwork adds up to 98%. If you spell the word Attitude, it would actually equal 100%. But even with all the ” knowledge”, “hardwork” and your “attitude” you are still not over 100%, however, the “Love of God” will put you over the top. Spell out “Love of God” and you will be at 101%.

It doesn’t matter how much knowledge we have or how hard we work, or even the attitude we have, without the “Love of God” where would we be. Only through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will our lives make a difference as we serve Him. My commitment for 2009 is to keep a right attitude, a clean heart, and use the knowledge He has given me and through our hardwork as we labor in the mission fields wherein He has called us, to share the Love of God with everyone we come in contact with.

As I have personally experienced His Blessings the past 3 ½ years, it makes me want to work even harder the next 3 ½ years to see even greater things happen for His Glory. Like Jabez, I pray that the Lord will continue to Bless this Ministry and that He will enlarge our territory, that His hand would be upon us and that He will keep us from evil. I believe that is the heartbeat of each one of our people that work in this Ministry.

What an exciting month we have experienced with all the Nursing Homes. December is always a busy month, singing Christmas carols and passing out gifts. It's such a Blessing to see the residents faces light up and see how happy it makes them when they receive a gift. There is no greater joy than that of serving others and as we give the gift to each of the residents, it reminds us over and over of the greatest gift that was ever given, when our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, gave His life that we may have eternal life through Him. “He paid a debt He didn’t owe, because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay”. All because of the “Love of God”.

We had great attendance at all the Nursing homes this month and great participation. The First Baptist Church choir sang the Cantata “Christmas is a Birthday” at Lakewood and Salem Village. We had about 75 residents and volunteers attending the services at Lakewood and approximately 80 at Salem Village. We gave almost 200 blankets and sweaters away between all the homes, as well as, seniors or shut-in outside the homes.

We had un-expected participation in our service at Salem Village. What we thought was going to be a problem, turned out to be a Blessing. A black children’s choir from Christ Temple church in Joliet was suppose to perform at 1:30 at the home and they did not arrive until 2:30 which is the start of our service. I invited them to sing only 2 of the songs they were prepared to sing, at the beginning of the service and they did a great job. They sure have a way of expressing themselves, it was really good.

We also had good attendance at Rosewood and several visitors, relatives and friends of the residents, attended the service. We had a full house. We always have a small crowd, approximately 10 or 12 residents, at Paradise Park as it is a small Assisted Living home with a maximum capacity of 16 residents in each home but there are 4 homes. We walked around and visited all the homes and gave out gifts to the Memory Care residents. It was a great service.

To all of you who helped us during the month of December, “thank you, thank you, and thank you”. We appreciate you all so very much. I wish I could list every name but will not do that for fear of leaving someone out. Thanks to all of you who helped with the sweat shirts, buying, cutting, sewing whatever your part, we thank you. For all who sang in the cantata and with the worship team or sang special music or played an instrument, we thank you. For the devotional and the preaching, we thank you. For those who helped with hauling in the equipment and all the boxes of blankets and sweaters, especially during the one Sunday when it was so cold, windy and icy, we thank you. For passing out program, pushing wheel chairs, serving refreshments, whatever your part, we thank you and most of all God loves it when we are all busy doing His work. What a Blessing it is.

As the Ministry continues to grow, we are seeing more and more people join us and we are so happy to have you. You are making a difference and each one of you bring a special talent that fits right in. It doesn’t matter how large or how small your talent is, when you use it, God will multiply it for His Glory.

The story was told of a young woman who attended a church service one night when she felt the tug of God at her heart. She responded to God’s call and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. The young woman had a very rough past, involving alcohol, drugs and prostitution but the change in her was evident. As time went on she became a faithful member of the church. She eventually became involved in the ministry, teaching young children. It was not very long until this faithful young woman had caught the eye and heart of the pastor’s son. The relationship grew and they began to make wedding plans. This is when the problem began.

You see, about one half of the church did not think that a woman with a past such as hers was suitable for a pastor’s son. The church began to argue and fight about the matter so they decided to have a meeting. As the people made their arguments and tensions increased, the meeting was getting out of hand. The young woman became very upset about all the things being brought up about her past. As she began to cry, the pastor’s son stood to speak. He could not bear the pain it was causing his wife to be. He began to speak and his statement was this; “My fiancée’s past is not what is on trial here. What you are questioning is the ability of the blood of Jesus to wash away sin. Today you have put the blood of Jesus on trial. So, does it wash away sin or not”.
The whole church began to weep as they realized their mistake and had judged to quickly. Forgiveness is a very foundational part of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. If the blood of Jesus does not cleanse the other person completely, then it cannot cleanse us completely and we would all be in a lot of trouble.

PLEASE NOTE: All contributions to our ministry should be made payable to “Sonshine Outreach Ministries”. You can mail your gift to SonShine Outreach Ministries, c/o Joyce Mancke, 509 Rhonda Dr., Lockport, IL. 6044l. Your gifts are tax deductible and you will receive an end of the year statement.

Our schedule for January is as follows;

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

Everyone is welcome to 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
Contact Information: jmancke@sbcglobal.net
Telephone number: 815-351-7659