Olive Crest United Methodist Church
7180 North 60th Street
Omaha, Nebraska 68152

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Rev. Debra Tompsett-Welch

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Olive Branch Newsletter For November 2001

Missions

By Kurt Lambrecht

To my brothers and sisters in Christ,
Greetings once again!

I went out to my parents' farm the other night to change my oil and to help start putting up the fence we put up around the stubble ground after harvest to let the cattle graze up any fallen grain as well as any other digestible vegetable matter(It really was not part of the plan at first, helping with fence, but there was a little daylight left when I got done with the oil change, so I figured I may as well try to get some of that work done). My uncle, who rents the farm from my dad (because his diabetes is so brittle, as well as other health problems that the diabetes causes, that he is more or less retired, or at least disabled), had finished combining the corn over the weekend, though he had not even started before Reverend Michael, Sheldon, and I headed to Denver to MileHiCon. And as usual, it got me to thinking. Right now we are involved in a ground and air war in Afghanistan, brought about by one group of people's wish to start a global conflict. One of the things they have tried to use to their advantage is the fact that over the last 22 years they have had to deal with being invaded by a foreign power, and when they were driven out, by about a decade of civil war. This has pretty much destroyed the economic infrastructure of the country, leaving them so crippled that they cannot even feed their people, which is one reason so many Afghanis are in refugee camps in Pakistan, and why there is still a flow of refugees into those camps, despite attempts to close the border by the Taliban government. They try to tell their people that it is the "evil American's" fault that they have no food, never mind that though their own people starve, they can afford to feed, clothe, and equip a modern army and militia (though a lot of the equipment was left from the aforementioned invaders, given to the government they had sat up). Now, to counter this, our government did something that I applaud them doing: They started making food drops to the Afghan people. Now, the army and militia and police are probably trying to gather it all up, to add to the military stocks of food, but it is still getting into the hands of the people, hopefully helping our people in the eyes of the Afghan people, and de-railing the propaganda campaign of the Taliban. We do grow a lot more food than we consume, and I hope that our obvious willingness to share will be a help to our people over there, as well as provide relief for the starving people in Afghanistan. And that cleared field was used to help in that effort, at least in a broad sense that it added to the coffers of the US Food supply, which is being used in this effort. Our sharing is a lamp in the darkness for a people who until recently only knew starvation and death. Just like Jesus to us is the light of the world. There are many in need of help, both abroad and at home. Let us take the light of His grace to them, to let them know that they are beloved of God, and to help them find a better life.

Well, onto the business part of the article. CROP Walk was held on October 14th, and with the three walkers we had (not counting Abigail and Sebastian, the Morgans' two dogs), we gathered about $310 to help with both world-wide and local hunger. Great job to all involved (in fact, we ALL made the full length of the walk, except the dogs, because Abby has hay-fever and only made half the walk. Sebastian finished it for her, though.), and thanks to everyone who was kind enough to contribute to this effort. Our next big gathering of foodstuffs will be at the Thanksgiving Eve service, to be taken to Pearl Pantry. As for Missions, with all the things coming up with Charge Conference and the holidays, have postponed the International Food Fair until some time in late winter or early spring, to make sure everyone can get there. Also, due to cuts in county funding, we may not be able to do a Health Fair as inexpensively as last year, since some of the tests were paid for by county funds. We are currently investigating other avenues to see what it would cost to have another party do the blood work-ups we had done last year, and the ones I have heard so far are more expensive than last year, but nowhere as expensive as what it would cost to have a doctor and a lab do the same tests during an office visit.

Well, that's about all for now. I hope to see you all very soon. As always, I remain
Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant in Christ Jesus,
Kurtis W. Lambrecht, Hunger and Missions Committee Chairperson.

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