Lake Palestine U.M.C.
by Barbara Cade

You can tell that summer is almost here with the flurry of activities engaged in by the members of this church. For one thing, we were very pleased to honor our two graduates this past Sunday with a special breakfast for them and then a ceremony for them during the church service. The graduates were Brittany Newsom and Jordan Uscanga. Each received a Bible. Brittany even went a step further. To thank everyone in the church for supporting her through the years, she painted a portrait of Jesus and presented it to the congregation. She did a beautiful job, and the painting will look great in the church. She will be attending East Texas Baptist University in Marshall.

To watch Brittany receive her graduation honors were her grandparents. It was really good to welcome back, even for a day, Dan and Dorothy Newsom. It was also great to have Cindy's mother there too.

Milton Decker announced that he will have the Youth Building open every Friday night during the summer months. Food, fun and games will be provided to while away those long summer hours.

Also, Dorothy Birdwell reported that she had a successful meeting with the East Texas Poetry Society at her home last week. The group, which includes writers from a large many-county area, has decided that they will start to have meetings in Chandler on a regular basis. Dorothy said the work done by church members fixing up her yard was greatly appreciated. Anyone who has an interest in writing poetry and becoming a part of this group should contact her through the church.

Sunny Farley is feeling very relaxed now. She has successfully completed another semester at Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth where she is studying for the ministry. She is also back from a recent trip to Mississippi.

Ken Cade's mother, Rose Cade, is still in the hospital but continues to improve. Several other members of the church are going in for surgery this week. We will report more about them next week. Our prayers are with them.

Also, it was good to see Lynn Davis in church. She survived her incident with the fire nicely and she got a new haircut out of this harrowing incident.

Barbara Cade took a quick trip up to Hugo and Antlers, Oklahoma this week with the Fulbright Scholar from Texas College. Rosie Ramirez y Fuentes will be returning to Cuernavaca, Mexico on Tuesday, and she wanted to see a little more of the U.S. before she left.

We want to welcome back to town Frank and Sandy Guerin. Frank is back from a trip to Mexico and Sandy was in California.

Rick Franko has been deep sea fishing. He has returned with some large shrimp. If you want some, be sure and contact him. Now, it's Donna Franko's turn to leave town. She and Martha Hemphill will be going to Florida this week to visit their children.

Mary McGough made it back just in time for Bible study on Sunday. She and her husband had been traveling in Louisiana where they went to New Orleans and then attended a football team reunion in Monroe.

Bernard Massey has spent the last several days in Louisiana himself. He is visiting his sister and her family there.

The Owenses were in church Sunday morning but are as busy as everyone else. They say they have about five graduations to attend around the country.

This Sunday, Memorial Day, there will be a special service. Afterward, Richard and Rebecca Prather and Bob Fisher will be heading to Houston for the Texas Annual Conference gathering. They will be gone most of the week.

Ken Cade and Dale Ford celebrate birthdays this week. They received a cake made by Linda Massey at Bible study on Sunday night.

For those who would like to stay in contact with Shawn Decker who is in Iraq, Milton has given us his address. We know he can use all the support he can get from us at home. The address is: Pfc Decker, Shawn Allen, B-co 3/ 144, 2490 25th Street, Camp Shelby, Ms., 39407-5500.