"MIDNIGHT CRY" BY IVAN PARKER - A TRUE CLASSIC.

NOVEMBER 2009 NEWSLETTER AND 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

Sunny Hill Nursing Home

Paradise Park Assisted Living Senior Star @ Weber Rd. Heritage Woods, Bolingbrook

The Nursing Home Ministry is filled with its mountain top experiences but also its valleys. Week after week we go and hold the Praise and Worship services and the Lord just showers us with new Blessings each and every time we go. It’s like the windows of Heaven opens up and we come home on top of the mountain with excitement, but then we have the valleys that we have to cross when we often loose dear friends that we have grown so close to and come to love as part of our family. Death is hard and yet we have to face it often as we work in this type of Ministry. I thank the Lord when one of our residents pass on and I know they had accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, then I can truly say “Thank you Lord, for they are home now, free from all pain and suffering”.

We had three very special residents that went home to be with the Lord this month. Ruth Larsen, who had celebrated her 75^th wedding anniversary with her husband John this year, went home to be with the Lord. They were a very special couple and always attended our services at Lakewood, in Plainfield. We celebrated their anniversary with them in May as their daughter brought in a cake and invited the SonShine Ministry to join in the celebration. Ruth will be missed.

Roland Brands from Lakewood went home to be with the Lord last week. I always enjoyed talking with him and we shared many things with each other. He loved talking about farming and how he quit school to help support his family when his dad died. The last time I talked with him a couple weeks before his death, I walked into his room and he had that big smile on his face and he said to me, “I would love to talk about farming again, but today I’m just to sick to talk”. I didn’t realize that would be the last time I saw him but Praise the Lord, he is no longer sick as his body has been made whole.

Theresa Rudy from Salem Village had also become a very close friend and never missed a service. Joliet Hospice called me to let me know the family wanted someone from our team to come to the Nursing home as she was very bad and not expected to survive the night. I was out of town so Ben, Betty and Robin went to the home and sat with the family. They also attended the funeral and Ben played the piano for the funeral.

I took up a lot of space talking about these three residents but they were friends, a part of our SonShine family. There are many residents that pass on that we do not mention in our newsletters but when the residents have been so faithful in attending all the services and have become so much a part of our family as these dear folks, it’s hard not to talk about it.

The SonShine Ministry is reaching out to the relatives and more and more we have many who are attending the services. People are hungry for the gospel. Many times they don’t realize why they feel so empty and alone until they hear the music and the devotionals and they come back looking for the peace and joy they feel. Please pray with us that we will reach more people for the Lord and they will come to know Him personally.

We have enjoyed some wonderful services this month. The room was packed at Lakewood with approximately 45 or more residents. The people at Lakewood really look forward to our coming and it makes a lot of difference when the activity director gets involved. Beth Ann is a great activity director and she loves our group and she always helps us get all the residents to the service and it helps us so much. We love her. Thank you so much Beth Ann.

Salem was well attended this month as well and we had a great service. My daughter and son-in-law, Vicki and Bernie, came up from Springfield and sang along with other special music from the trio and also Gloria. My grandson Sam played the violin. It was a great time and the residents loved it.

Salem was our first home that we started holding services in, almost five years ago and it seems we are greeted more often with problems at this home than any of the others. The devil does his best to discourage us, however, its hasn’t worked yet. Last month, the radio was playing so loud it interfered with our service and no one knew how to disconnect the speakers nor were they willing to help us figure it out. The Lord answered our prayers this month with that problem. The State inspectors were due to come and do an inspection so the speakers had been disconnected this month but the piano was gone. After searching for the piano, we found it in a room in the lower level and we had to get all our men to push it down a long hallway and bring it up the elevator and once again we thanked the Lord that the devil didn’t get his way. We had a great service.

Senior Star is growing and we had 12 people attend the service this month. Even though it is memory care, we have great participation with these people. We had a lot of the SonShine team join us and it was fun.

We had a wonderful service at the new Assisted Living home, Heritage Woods, in September with over 40 residents attending the service and I was really looking forward to going there on Saturday, the last week of October, however, I came away very disappointed. The activity director had scheduled a Catholic service from 9:30 until 10:00 and we were supposed to start our service at 9:45 which we could not do because the other service was in progress. Then we had a problem with the cafeteria personnel complaining because we were using the dining area and it interfered with their lunch preparation so it was a bit frustrating and we must solve this problem before we can continue and be effective. I have placed a call in to the Activity director, but I have not heard from her as of the date of this newsletter, however, I will keep all you team members posted as to what we are doing in November.

We are thrilled to have Sandy Hundley join our Ministry team and sing with the Worship team each week. It is always nice to see new volunteers. Thanks Sandy, we love having you.

Thanks to all of you who have been helping with the sewing of the sweatshirts. We are nearing the end and I appreciate each and every one of you taking the time to sew them. I think we will be ready for December. You are all a Blessing to the Ministry, as well as, to others around you.

We have also purchased some “non-skid” footies and socks and will include a bottle of lotion with each pair and that will be one of our gifts. We will be wrapping them with a large ribbon and placing a Christmas tract with the gift as we have done in the past.

We have a good variety of gifts this year with the blankets we have always given, the sweatshirts and the footie/lotion combination. I am ordering “bibs” for the memory care residents at Senior Star. The Activity director said they are in need of bibs and that would make a good gift for them. We will need lots of volunteers in December to help us distribute the gifts so plan to join us if your schedule permits.

Thanks to all of you for your faithfulness and support. We appreciate each and every one of you. We also appreciate all our friends who receive the newsletter and many of you support the ministry with your gifts and prayers and we are so grateful. You are all a part of our Ministry team and we could not do what we do without you and we give God all the Glory, Honor and Praise.

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 November is as follows;

Lakewood Nursing Home, Plainfield – Nov. 1^st @ 2:30 p.m.

Salem Village, Joliet – Nov. 8^th @ 2:30 p.m.,

Senior Star @ Weber Rd – (Saturday) Nov.14^th @ 10:00 a.m.

Rosewood Rehab Center, Joliet – Nov.15th @ 2:30 p.m.

Sunny Hill, Joliet – Nov. 22^nd @ 2:30 p.m.

Paradise Park, New Lenox – Nov. 22nd @ 2:00 p.m.

Heritage Woods, Bolingbrook, - (Saturday) Nov 28^th @ 10:00 a.m.,

Everyone is welcome. Come 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