Place of Meeting November 2014

Place of Meeting

Faith, hope and gratitude Thanksgiving may be the name of a holiday, but for people of faith it is also a lifestyle. On Thanksgiving Sunday, when many of us brought food to share with those in need as a token of our gratitude for God’s blessings, Pastor Marilyn reminded us of the “letters of gratitude” we give to God in our prayer life. JD Penner, thankful to be well enough to attend church again after a terrible car accident, shared his gratitude for life, family, friendship and gradual healing. A few Sundays later, Erika Friesen reflected in a children’s story the lessons of faith, hope and gratitude she learned from her family’s exodus from the Soviet Union. More about their stories inside.

Toronto United Mennonite Church

November 2014

Place of Meeting is the meaning of the Huron word “toronton,” from which our city gets its name. Fittingly, it can also mean “plenty” or “abundance.”

A financial update General General Fund Fund 2014 2014 Results Results (as (as at at Sept/14 Sept/14) ((ooo’s) ooo’s)

Ex Expenses penses

Donations D onations

$196 $158

Place of Meeting is also the monthly newsletter of Toronto United Mennonite Church. May you find plenty here to enjoy and ponder. Opinions expressed are those of the writers and not necessarily of the congregation as a whole.

2013

Contributions of all kinds are enthusiastically received, through the mail folder in the lobby or at dmartens@pathcom.com Next deadline Dec. 2, 2014 Have you discovered the allcolour online version of Place of Meeting, complete with live weblinks? Check this month’s issue out here: issuu.com/pomeditor/docs/ pom_nov_2014l

2014

2013

2014 Gifts W Worship orship St Staff aff

pdate Treasurer’s Update T reasurer ’s U Nine Nine mo months nths iinto nto ffiscal iscal 2 2014, 014, d donations onations tto o tthe he G General eneral F Fund u nd o off $168,000 $168,000 llag ag llast ast ye year’s ar ’s d donations onations b by y$ $22,000.

22,000.

38,000 a bove llast ast Exp fter 9 mo Expenses enses a after months nths ttotal otal $ $196,000 196,000 a and nd a are re $ $38,000 above ye ar largely largely d ue tto oa dditional p astoral su pport. Exp enses e xceed year due additional pastoral support.

Expenses exceed donations b y$ 28,000, w hich a lready e xceeds tthe he ffull ull ye ar d eficit b uilt donations by $28,000, which already exceeds year deficit built into the 2014 budget of $27,000.

Please co ntinue tto og ive g enerously.

Please continue give generously.

You can also request an email subscription to the colour version in PDF form or a monthly link to the current online issue. Please send a request to dmartens@pathcom.com Editor: Doreen Martens

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The hardy cyclists who formed the TUMC Turtles team in the annual Ride For Refuge on Oct. 4 raised $1275 for the work of Mennonite Central Committee Ontario. Nationally, the ride raised nearly $1.9 million for local partners’ work with displaced, exploited and vulnerable people.

A personal story of Exodus Erika Friesen shared her family’s amazing story of exodus from the Soviet Union in a simple way during a children’s time on Nov. 2. We invited her to tell more of the details of their saga here.

By Erika Friesen

E

very time I tell this story, it seems to take on a life of its own, spilling out of my narrative hands into something bigger than I can imagine. This loss of control happened again this year. I stepped in at the last minute as worship leader for the service on Nov. 2, feeling a little sheepish that the planning wasn't already well underway. I felt even more sheepish when I discovered that the theme of the service would be the Exodus story, on the very morning our family would observe the 42 Frieda Penner and Jacob Friesen anniversary of our exodus from on their wedding day. the Soviet Union, where worship, praying, Bibles, singing hymns were all illegal. I felt sheepish because I should have known it would be like that – almost every time I'm involved in a worship service, things happen (i.e. God moves) to nurture people (and me) spiritually in a way I had not only not foreseen, but could not have planned even if I had tried.

So for the Nov. 2, 2014, service, I saw that I needed to tell my family's exodus story on the anniversary of the day it happened.

That is this year's frame for this true story I will tell you now. It’s a great story. It has surprising twists and amazing coincidences, and whenever I tell any single part of it, people are astounded. It’s fun for me to see people’s astonishment. But a more important reason to tell it, every time I tell it, is to share with you the force of a faith that has sustained me all my life.

Forty-two years ago, my parents and their seven children landed in Vancouver airport. It's the anniversary of our arrival in our chosen homeland, and we observe it with more or less festivity depe nding on the year. My parents each wrote their memoirs years ago, and my siblings and I each renew our admiration for the amazing courage and strength in our gene pool every time we look back.

My parents, Jacob Jacovlevitch Friesen and Frieda Corneyevna

Penner, were born in a German-speaking Mennonite settlement in Ukraine in the late 1920s. Some younger readers may appreciate the reminder that Mennonites were persecuted in post-Reformation Europe because they refused infant baptism and because they refused military service. At the end of the 18th century, Catherine the Great invited some German Mennonites to settle in Ukraine. She promised them farmland, freedom from military service and control over their own schools and churches. This helped the Mennonites preserve their faith and their language.

My parents’ childhood in the 1930s and early 40s was marked by several political and cultural shifts; they began schooling in German, then switched to Russian, then back to German. The Penners from Schöneberg and the Friesens from Schönhorst retreated with the German army in WWII, moving around various refugee camps and becoming naturalized German citizens in 1943. My grandfather Cornelius Penner, an accountant, was even drafted by the Germans in the summer of 1944, and worked as a cook. He was separated from his family for decades thereafter.

The shifting borders at the end of the war left the Friesens with their six children and my grandmother Penner with her four at the mercy of the Soviet army, who packed them and many other “traitors to the Soviet motherland” into cargo cars and shipped them to Siberia.

The two families arrived in Taishet, near Irkutsk, on my mother’s 17th birthday, October 10, 1945. They were basically prisoners of war, deprived of their papers and not permitted to leave town. The officials who received them in Taishet told them they were brought there to work until they died. Most of them worked for a Forestry Cooperative in terrible conditions, sawing down trees by hand. Their pay was inadequate food rations.

My mother and grandmother were the only lucky new arrivals sent to work in the orphanage rather than the forest. Many people

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A personal story of Exodus died of starvation. The Friesens lost a daughter to a starvation-related illness and a son to a bear. When too many people in a particular location died, the authorities would combine several cooperatives, improving living and working conditions slightly. In 1950, my once again lucky mother was offered the position of apprentice bookkeeper for the NovoShelekhovo cooperative. She earned 150 rubles a month, and her business trips to the city of Irkutsk helped improve the Penners’ living conditions. On these overnight trips she was able to trade goods they had brought along from Germany for food, and buy things which weren’t available in Shelekhovo, such as seeds for the garden, fabric for sewing clothes, yarn and thread for knitting and crocheting, which she did at night for extra food.

My parents were married on January 6, 1953. By that time my grandfather Penner, who had ended up in Winnipeg, had traced his family to Siberia with the help of the Red Cross, and had established careful contact with them. Having a relative in the West was enough to raise suspicion about anti-communist activities, and put the family in danger.

The stories of miracles abound. The orphanage cook dished out larger portions because she knew the two women were sharing their food with three more children at home. My grandmother lost the family’s treasure of one needle on the way home from working in the fields; she retraced her steps, praying, and found it! The manager of the cooperative wrote off the astronomical debt of two killed cattle from the criminal record of my 16-year old uncle who was responsible for the cooperative’s herd.

My father, fired from his job for being anti-communist, hitch-hiked home, praying for help to feed his many children, and got a better job offer from the person who picked him up. I could go on.

After Stalin’s death, when the family finally got their papers and permission to move, they moved to Tadzhikistan, in the fall of 1958. My father worked as a welder and my mother stayed home with the children. Survival took up most of their energies, but they did participate in a small illegal house church, whose minister baptized them both in Kairakum lake in 1959. My father was often threatened with imprisonment for his and his family’s participation in anticommunist activities, i.e. church services. Although

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The Friesens’ home in Siberia; the orphanage staff; the illegal house church in Tadzhikistan.

A personal story of Exodus who was giving her this strange advice. She went home, and she and Dad decided together that this woman was an angel sent by God, and that they had better listen to her and apply again. They sent off a flurry of letters, and even before the documents from Canada arrived, my parents were called to the militia office in Leninabad and informed that the family could go to Canada.

Grandpa Penner’s gutsy approach on behalf of his family to Nikita Kruschev in New York, as recorded in a Winnipeg newspaper. they had more freedom than in Siberia, they still felt they were prisoners, persecuted for their faith. They constantly prayed for protection and for freedom from persecution. My mother clung to the hope that she would be reunited with her father.

Her father in the meantime heard that Khrushchev was coming to the UN in 1960, and made his way from Winnipeg to New York, where he used a press pass (he worked for a small Mennonite newspaper) to get close enough to address the Soviet leader and to hand over an application for family reunification. Above is the photo of the event that appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press.

From Tadzhikistan, my parents applied annually to immigrate to Canada, and were rejected 14 times. The application process was quite complicated and costly, involving official photographs, medical and school certificates for all the children, as well as application documents from Grandpa Penner in Winnipeg. My grandmother Penner got permission to join her husband and arrived in Winnipeg on Christmas Day 1965, after more than 21 years’ separation. In the spring of 1972, after their 14 th application was rejected, my parents were planning to move to Frunze in Kirgizstan, where my father’s family lived. They put our house up for sale and were quite discouraged because they had always thought their move would be to Canada.

One day as Mom was leaving a church service, a Russian woman whom she didn’t know stopped her. She said that she was from Dushanbe, the capital, and that some families there had quite suddenly received permission to leave the Soviet Union. She told Mom that they shouldn’t give up hope and move to Frunze, but should apply again to go to Canada. Mom was obviously astonished at this stranger who seemed to know so much about her and

My parents kept the news to themselves for a while, but finally had to ask for advice from the church, because they did not have the money to pay for the passports and the plane tickets. The minister of the house church encouraged them not to worry about the money, and Grandpa Penner came up with the plan for us to borrow money. So the house was sold, and Mom slowly sold off our belongings at the market, as unobtrusively as possible. We five oldest started school in the fall.

Mom got new clothes for everyone, and at the end of October, when all we had left was our bedding, clothes, some books and toys, we packed a few suitcases and were off. I think my parents were praying with every breath for weeks. At any point the authorities could still change their mind and not let us go.

Late on October 29 we landed in Moscow and made our way to the train station from where we were to go to the Canadian Consulate. We sat surrounded by our belongings until morning, when we could get organized.

The next night the family stayed in a hotel, while Dad ran around for two days arranging our tickets to Montreal. In Montreal we went through customs and immigration, but there wasn’t enough time to phone my grandparents, who were now living in Clearbrook, B.C. My parents were discussing this on the flight out of Montreal, wondering how they would manage to phone when they couldn’t even speak English. The flight was stopping over in Winnipeg and a kind Winnipeger overheard them speaking German and offered to help them phone during the stop. It was quite late in the evening already, but Grandma and Grandpa were sitting by their phone in Clearbrook waiting, expecting us to

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A personal story of Exodus arrive that day.

When the phone call came, Grandpa called his cousins and they came with three cars to pick us up, when we landed in the early hours of November 2, 1972. The first few nights, we slept on the floor of the living room in my grandparents’ little bungalow. My grandfather would look in on his sleeping family at night, amazed that we were all his. Two weeks after our arrival my mother’s brother’s family also arrived in Clearbrook, and two weeks after that, her sister’s family moved to Wolfsburg, Germany.

There is really no describing the feelings that I as an 8year old felt, let alone the intensity of the adults’ feelings. The language we used when talking about the exodus was biblical. We were liberated from our persecutors and had arrived in the promised land. In Clearbrook while I was growing up, there was an annual celebration to give thanks for the “Liberation out of Russia.” From our perspective now, after the fall of the Soviet Union, it’s hard to imagine the hopelessness of our situation in the USSR, and the impossibility of the realized dream.

My parents’ experiences of survival with God’s help, of faith strengthened in spite of persecution, are part of their stories that they tell in their memoirs, and which continue to inspire our family. But their story is also mine: as a result of my parents’ faith and determination, the course of my life leaped out of its Soviet riverbed into the Canadian, parallel, bed where my life has had possibility, options, freedom.

I’m pretty sure that my parents survived the difficult times in their lives because of their faith in God. Their faith strengthened their resolve to survive. But it’s different for me: I don’t need my faith to survive. I can earn the money I need, and I can buy what I need to live. I have fairly easy access to my family and friends, and I can go or not go to church whenever I want. So for what do I need my faith? Does examining my mother’s life help me answer this question? I’ll probably continue to think about this all my life.

The communists said that religion is the opiate of the people, it drugs them and makes them weak. I think the opposite is true of my mother. In the face of insurmountable difficulties, she had hope.

We know about hope – I hope I make it through that

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The reunited Penner clan in Canada; Erika is the girl at left. red light. I hope my candidate wins the election. I hope I make the basketball team. I hope I get accepted to Harvard. I hope I’ll make it out of Siberia one day and be reunited with my father. It’s not quite the same, is it?

The Bible says, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) What I’ve learned from many conversations with my mother, is that she lived with more than hope; she lived with expectation. The knowledge that she was loved by God and that she was living her life to please God gave her the assurance to expect that things would not always be the way they were, that God w ould help her. When opportunities arose, she was expecting them, and took t hem. When obstacles went up, she went around them.

Rather than make her weak, her faith gave her the strength to fight to improve her own life and the life of her family. In the difficult times in her life, she lived in hope, and she acted in expectation of that hope. My mother says God has guided her in her life, and that God is guiding my life as well. To see God’s hand in my life, I just have to look for it.

What I’d like to do, and what I invite you to begin to do right now, is think about where in our life we need God’s intervening hand and how we can keep our eyes open for opportunities to act in expectation of the change we want.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight ... and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us. ...

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. (Hebrews 12: 1, 12-13)”

Gratitude is more than ‘thank you’

By J.D. Penner

I

was in a deep, peaceful slumber when I awoke to my name being urgently called by my wife, Heather. “J.D., J.D. – call the midwife.” Having just come out of a blissful rest, and not alert to reality, I asked “Why?” With considerable irritation in her voice, my 9-month pregnant wife said “Because I’m having a baby!” Ah yes, with a start I quickly recalled where and when I was. The baby’s in utero swimming pool had sprung a leak the night before (as usually happens before most babies emerge), likely as a result of an insistent choir director’s stern instruction to my wife’s abdomen, “Get out!” Thus, the now imminent birth was not entirely unforeseen, slumber or not.

JD and Heather Penner at St. Michael’s Hospital after a return trip for surgery on his injured right leg.

It was now 5:00 in the morning, October 31, 2002.

The next 1.5 hours went by like a blur, with the net results being: 1) a healthy 11.5 lb. newborn son, rivalling the size of every Halloween pumpkin on the street; 2) a very clean 2-year-old who had an unintentional bath after joyously discovering the unused main floor birth pool – twice; 3) a trio of happy midwives; 4) one tired, sore and somewhat relieved mother; and, 5), a slightly frazzled but happy father.

The next days, weeks and months were spent caring for this helpless infant who needed everything done for him – bathing, feeding (although he shared some responsibility for that), dressing, undressing, changing diapers, entertaining, feeding, and, oh yes, feeding. We humans have been given the gift of needing to do the most for our newborn children in terms of getting them to be independent, unlike any other mammals that often don’t even wait to see if their offspring can make it to pre-school on their own.

Little did I know that nearly twelve years later, I would be in a position identical to that of a newborn where I could do nothing for myself, as a result of a horrific car crash that rendered me immobile and helpless, even after my rescue, surgery and hospitalization. I was entirely reliant on others for bathing, feeding, dressing, undressing, companionship, rehabilitation and other activities of daily living. I needed the care and love of others to live. Moreover, my wife and children also needed care, so it is with considerable gratitude that we received the care we needed from EMS, clinical staff, rehab specialists, family, friends, co-workers and neighbours.

Gratitude. It’s not only something we feel when we receive a present and say “thank you”. Gratitude is felt much deeper than that when we are the recipients of unconditional love, when that love is expressed to us through care and support, through helping us when we can’t help ourselves, and

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Gratitude is more than ‘thank you’

Did you know?

nothing is expected in return. Of course, we are all the recipients of unconditional love – God is constantly showing it to us. In turn, God has given us the capacity to show this kind of love to others, whether it’s to newborn babies, to those in hospitals, or through simple acts of kindness to one another. In return, the natural response is one of gratitude.

g The Worship Committee is inviting donations of musical instruments to be available for worship services. Especially needed at present is a guitar.

As we anticipate the Christmas season, perhaps it’s appropriate that we consider that God’s unconditional love for us was made incarnate in the form of a baby. Yes, God decided that to be fully relevant to humanity, God would start life out as a helpless human infant, needing our unconditional love in order to get a successful start in life.

God became as vulnerable and helpless as a human as one can possibly get.

g Middle East Study Tour: You’re invited to consider taking part in an April 29 - May 18 2015 tour led by Gerald Gerbrandt and Sheila Klassen-Wiebe. The CMU tour to Israel focuses on the Holy Land both as the ancient land of the Bible, but also as a land of contemporary conflict. Participants will study both the “ancient stones” of archaeology, and interact with the “living stones” in the land today. The tour includes significant features often not included in tourist-oriented tour packages. Visit cmu.ca/met2015 for details.

I suspect it was the unconditional love of Jesus’ parents, Mary and Joseph, which allowed Jesus to thrive as an infant - Jesus needed to be fed, clothed, and bathed like any other infant. Clearly, it was not just the divine power God had instilled in this remarkable child that allowed Him to live. God needed humans to love Him as an infant in order for God’s plan of redemption of the world to even have a fighting chance at survival.

And then, as if to put an exclamation point on it (since we didn’t get the message the first time) at the end of Jesus’ life, God again allows Himself to be helpless and at the mercy of others. We are the recipients of the unconditional love of a God who needed to be loved as a helpless infant, just how each of us started life, and we continually receive the breath of life from a God who died showing us that same kind of love.

How then can we not be grateful and live a life of gratitude in response? And how can we show that gratitude? By living a life showing unconditional love to our neighbour, expecting nothing in return.

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‘Letters of gratitude’: Opportunities for prayer at TUMC In her Thanksgiving sermon “Prayer, Praise and Peace” on Oct. 12, Pastor Marilyn Zehr concluded with some words about prayer and opportunities for personal and corporate prayer at TUMC. On request, we’re publishing an excerpt here for those who may have missed it.

P

rayer is an intentional opening up of oneself to communication and/or communion with God or the Divine. Prayer involves both speech and listening. It can be as specific as a moment where someone says, “let us pray,” and one or more person verbalizes praise or intercession with God. Or it can be as general as “all of work and life is prayer,” when done in some awareness that God and humans are always seeking to communicate with one another. In my experience, learning a language of prayer and growing spiritually as a fruit of that prayer are part of a life-long journey.

Before I leave our topic for today, I want to say a little bit about the opportunities that we at TUMC have to keep a discipline of prayer. These are the opportunities we have to write our letters of gratitude and hand deliver them to God in prayer.

First, each week during worship we pray to God and for each other when we share our Joys and Concerns. This sharing can be formative and transformative for all of us as we share how we have experienced God at work and where we would long for God to be at work.

Second, the first Sunday evening of every month, we have a service of prayer and worship known as Taizé that consists of meditative song chants and silence. For those who participate this can truly be a precious experience.

Third, we have a prayer chain among our members that we tap into when there is a crisis and there are the prayer requests that we post as part of our regular electronic communication. In this way we intercede for each other.

Fourth, during Lent a few times in the past some have participated in Lenten guided prayer – where groups of three or four persons pray with the weekly scripture passages and then get together to share with each other their experiences in prayer.

Fifth, regularly Wednesday and Friday morning at 8 am two or three of us pray here at church. We make a little circle at the front of the sanctuary and pray with an Anabaptist prayer book entitled, Take Our Moments and Our Days. Some of you may also use this

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‘Letters of gratitude’

Don’t Miss!

Nov. 9 Peace Sunday Nov. 21 Windermere String Quartet fundraiser in support of Aurora House; TUMC 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 23 Eternity Sunday Nov. 30 Advent I Morning: Communion. Guest speakers Doug & Naomi Enns, MCC Syria & Lebanon Evening: Advent Carol Sing Dec. 7 Advent II Morning: Annual TUMC photo Evening: Taize service, 7 p.m.

Dec. 14 Advent III - Bethlehem Village (evening) Dec. 21 Advent IV Dec. 24 Christmas Eve Candlelight Lessons & Carols Jan. 4 Note: NO TAIZE SERVICE Jan. 18 World Fellowship Sunday Feb. 1 Taize service, 7 p.m.

Feb. 15 MCC focus on Migrants

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resource at home. And if anyone would like the book, you may order it from Mennomedia at store.mennomedia.org Our little group is open to any and all persons who would like to join us. Please consider this an invitation. Or maybe some of you who don’t live close to the church would like to gather weekly with one or two others in your own neighbourhood. I recommend this resource to you.

Sixth, Michele has supplied us with a small book of Table Graces. Please contact the church office if you have not received one and would like one. One of the things that I noted about many of these prayers is that we pray not only in gratitude for the food, but also pray for the grace to be transformed, equipped and empowered by the sustenance we have received at the table in order to give of what we have received to others.

Finally, Anita Tiessen recently found an Anthology of Prayers for God’s People, a book of prayers written in 1986 by TUMCites, edited by Louise Dueck. This prayer book resides in Marilyn’s office for those who would like to take a look or use it as a worship planning resource.

And now one last word before I conclude about what opportunities for prayer are, and what they are not.

Prayer and praise have the potential to transform our minds and hearts and to give us deep peace. But we are not actually in charge of heart transformation. Not our own and certainly not anyone else’s. We can desire heart transformation and we can seek it. Habits of gratitude and prayer are excellent ways to seek heart and mind transformation. But the truth is we do not make transformation happen. God does. Only God knows us fully and only God has the power to sanctify and purify our hearts, our minds and our entire lives.

As we hand our letters of prayer and thanksgiving to God, may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Aurora House update Space Task Force 3 prepares to hand over the reins

By Jan Kraus

A

s I try to write a brief article to update everyone on the work of STF3 I immediately think of the duck, apparently calmly floating on the river, but its companions know that below the surface it is paddling like crazy. It won’t be long before everyone will start to see and experience the work and changes that are currently “below the surface.”

STF3 members Melana Jansen, Jan Kraus (recording secretary), Carolyn Loewen, Richard Ratzlaff, and Bob Tiessen, (chair) were joined by Mary Klein at meeting number #15 on Oct 16th . In between every group meeting members are working to address questions, concerns and ideas discussed at the previous meeting.

In ongoing consultation with committee members Melana is busy attending to design adjustments, surveys, meetings with contractors, obtaining quotes and preparing files to go to the Committee of Adjustment (COA). At this latest meeting we looked at drawings for the ramps to make our building more accessible, exploring various options to remove water and ice from the walkways and ramps. We discussed kitchen designs and room layout for the basement of TUMC. Mary keeps us updated on Aurora House topics including the creation of by-laws, the incorporation process, fundraising ideas, budget items, applying for charitable status and partner connections. As a group we discussed design items and the layout of the apartments within the house. Walkways, fences and pathway connecting the church, Aurora House and the parking lots generated lots of discussion as we imagined activities, expectations and access issues for all of the different people and groups who may be using them. Imagining a welcoming, inviting and beautiful green space generated much enthusiasm.

A lot of time is spent in conversation and meetings with various committees and city officials.

! !

Costs for Option I 1-Feb-14

Actual spent 16-Oct-14

1774 Queen Street New

129,360

-

Renovations

250,000

-

Site

30,000

-

6 Lark

60,000

55,289

Fees/Permits 12%

49,123

8,612

Donation 2%

10,370

-

HST 4% net

18,339

344

Total for TUMC portion !

547,192

64,245 !

Aurora House

!

Basic Renovations

200,000

Enhanced Renovations, extra !

Totals for Option I/Aurora House

200,000

947,192

! !

64,245

Other Expenses Option A/G, expenses in 2013

51,333

Total Expenses

115,578

Donations Received

136,366

Detailed discussions, policies and processes for funding and financial accountability are underway. (See Bob Tiessen’s financial report above). We also want to keep the members of TUMC, the partners and the neighbours informed of the process and progress that is being made. During this time of transition we encourage you to read the POM, read the bulletin, listen to kingdom reports, attend the Open House and participate in congregational meetings to keep abreast of all the changes.

The work of STF3 is nearly complete and now it’s time for the newly appointed Building Committee to take over. There are lots of opportunities to become involved in this exciting transition. In what ways are you being called to offer your time, talent and energy? Listen for the leading of the Spirit.

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Visiting our grateful Kosovar ‘neighbours’ Catching up with one of TUMC’s sponsored refugee families

By Nicholas and Harriet Dick

T

here they were, 15 years later with such interesting names, the three Kajmolli and Lulolli families from Kosovo, in one of their homes in Brampton, which they purchased as soon as they could.

They were part of a larger group of refugees from the war with Serbia in 1999. Their homes had been destroyed by fire and they fled by foot carrying small children through the mountains into Albania. With the help of our government and other agencies they came to Canada and were settled into two apartments in the Kipling/Finch area. One family was located in Hamilton briefly before joining the rest of the family.

The government initially helped them with rent and basic household furnishings. Through Mennonite Central Committee, our church was assigned to help them with settlement procedures.

Because we were retired and still relatively young we became involved with these families as representatives of the church, and so a friendship was formed as we helped them to access English classes, school for the children, doctors, dentist, optometrist, etc. You, as the church, also enjoyed interactions with them even though they lived in the northwest part of the city –– a picnic, baby showers as children were born, corn roast at the Heides’ and that unforgettable trip to the zoo.

It has been many years since we have seen them.

Now, two of the families are settled in Brampton, with both sets of parents employed at Maple Lodge Farms, a chicken processing plant. Fadil and Sabahete Kajmolli have four children –– Schpressa, a fourth-year English and French student at Glendon College, U of T, who wants to be a teacher; Besarta, in her third year at the University of Guelph studying political science (she takes the GO train back and forth); Agnessa, first year at Sheridan College, studying child and youth services, and Gazmend, Grade 8.

Bekim and Lulijeta Kajmolli have three sons – Andrum, who shares a birthday with Nicholas on

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Top: Nicholas Dick gathers around a table with some of the Kosovar refugees (and children) that TUMC sponsored. Nicholas and Harriet were instrumental in helping this large clan settle in Canada, putting in countless hours of time, reporting back to TUMC on their progress, and cultivating a lasting friendship.

Above: the family of Fadil and Sabahete Kajmolli.

Visiting our grateful Kosovar ‘neighbours’

Sept. 6 is in Grade 11; Genti is in Grade 10; Arti is in Grade 7. Bekim, you will recall, was a singer and also plays the clarinet. Some of us heard him perform at an Albanian restaurant one night.

Mahir Lulloli is a superintendent for a large, 200-unit condominium building on Albion Rd. and with Sevime has four children: Tosca, who works at the airport “behind the counter checking passports, etc.”; Mellisa studies political science at Ryerson; Nita is in Grade 8 and Edon is in Grade 7. They live within the condo.

You may remember there was also a single sister, Gylldane, and a grandmother, Azemin, who is now deceased. Gyldane lives with her brother, Fadil and family.

Except for the four older girls who were away at their part-time jobs, the children were all eager to meet us and easily talked with us. Five of all these 11children were born in Canada in the few years following their families’ arrival in Canada. What a resource! We were impressed with their wholesomeness, courtesy and strong regard for family. We had a good chuckle when the two fathers went out of the house to smoke; we asked the children if any of them smoked and we got a resounding NO! The boys liked to tell us about their participation in sports –– hockey, soccer, basketball.

These hard-working families, including children, have all returned to Kosovo for visits, some persons several times. They are happy to be in Canada. We departed with hugs and kisses all around.

Top: Lulijete Kajmolli with her three sons (husband Bekim missing) Above: The family of Mahir and Sevime Lulloli

P.S. Bekim Kajmolli and four of the older girls from the families –– Schpressa, Besarta, Tosca and Mellisa –– were unable to be there so are not on the pictures.

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A banner year for Black Creek Mennonite Festival

Fabulous weather, a host of TUMC volunteers (including Diem LaFortune adding musical entertainment) made for super sales in September of TUMC’s famous rosette fritters with homemade ice cream and strawberry sauce. All proceeds went to Mennonite Central Committee.

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Preparing for the MWC assembly

I

n less than a year from now, our sisters and brothers from around the world, and from across North America, will be coming to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to worship and fellowship with us. “PA 2015,” the Mennonite World Conference Assembly, will be held at the Farm Show Complex, July 21-26, 2015.

“We expect to host up to 8,000 guests,” says Lynn Roth, North America Representative for MWC. “Our team is lining up lodging, food, transportation, the worship services, the seminars, the Global Church Village, and the choirs, but we need local people to provide a heartfelt welcome, to enter into the event as fully as possible, beginning now!” Here are some ways MWC leaders are suggesting we can get involved: 1. Plan to attend the whole 5½ days. This is the way you’ll make lasting friendships and discover the gift of belonging to an international family of faith. Go to www.mwc-cmm.org/pa2015registration.

2. Join the Prayer Network now. You’ll receive monthly messages about particular needs in planning the Assembly. Two big ones—that our sisters and brothers from the Global South will be granted visas so they can attend; and that we North Americans will offer hospitality of the heart to our visitors. Go to www.mwccmm.org/pa2015prayernetwork.

3. Think about whether TUMC could partner with another congregation whose members have fewer financial resources or are recent immigrants, so their members are able to attend and join in the global fellowship. For more details, go to www.mwc-cmm.org/pa2015partnership.

The Program Oversight Committee for Pennsylvania 2015 includes Egon Sawatsky (Paraguay), Marius van Hoogstraten (Netherlands), Liesa Unger (Germany), Vikal Rao (India), Fiona Neufeld (Paraguay), Don McNiven (Canada), & Thobekile Ncube (Zimbabwe).

MWC’s “Shared Convictions of Global Anabaptists” statement. The book includes discussion questions, so find others who will read the book, and discuss it together. Or read and discuss the five books in MWC’s Global Mennonite History Series. Each history has been written, not by North Americans, but by persons from those continents. All these books can be ordered from www.lmhs.org, or by calling 717-393-8745.

5. Don’t miss “Resources for Congregations” on the MWC website.

You’ll find a video about PA 2105, information for your church bulletins, background articles, ideas for planning events leading up to the Assembly, and more. Go to www.mwc-cmm.org/pa2015resources.

6. Volunteer to help now and/or during PA 2015. Consider hosting guests in your home. Go to www.mwc-cmm.org/pa2015volunteer.

“Remember,” says Roth, “PA 2015 will be an experience of Jesus we can’t fully replicate in our own congregations, a taste of heaven as we worship and fellowship in many languages and cultures.”

–– adapted from a release by Phyllis Pellman Good

4. Learn more about your global family of faith by reading What We Believe Together, by Alfred Neufeld, based on

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A cross-Canada odyssey

We asked what TUMCers did on their summer vacation. The cross-country bike journey taken

by Doug and Jane Pritchard has to be the most unique. The sabbatical trip began with dipping toes into the Pacific in Vancouver and continued with a tough slog through the Rockies, a not-so-flat Saskatchewan, a stop at Parliament Hill and many more adventures before a second toe-dip in the Atlantic at Halifax. They’re thankful for a safe and memorable journey.

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