ALL ARE OUR PARTNERS, AFTER ALL

Last Sunday in July we celebrated our ties with the Brazos Association, the South Central Conference and the United Church of Christ as partners in mission and ministry within the same denomination. During the past few years we have cultivated our ties with University Baptist Church, University Christian Church, Shepherd of the Hills Christian Church, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Central Christian Church and University Presbyterian Church in Austin.

We are grateful to University Baptist Church and Westminster Presbyterian Church for welcoming us at our Joint Worship Services when the delegates from Okinawa Partner Churches visited us. United Christian Church and our Congregational Church of Austin played the role of host churches in Austin for our partners overseas the past two years.

Now our partnership with Okinawa Churches will come to an end this month when they will make their third visit to us, October 20-23. We have learned a lot from each other and our close ties will not easily be cut off, for sure. Our Brazos Association has been very proud of being the only partner church in the U.S. for Okinawa Churches . Although we regret we have to bring this connection to a closure, we sincerely hope our partners from Okinawa will be able to cultivate a new tie with our brothers ad sisters of the United Methodist Church in the U.S. UMC has contributed a great deal for mutual understanding and for giving actual help to Okinawa Churches through missionaries and resources. This is the reason why the delegates from Okinawa would like to spend a few days in Denver to deepen their ties with the former missionaries of UMC before coming to Austin in October.

Fortunately, Trinity United Methodist Church in Austin wholeheartedly agreed with us to host a Joint Worship Service, Sunday, October 22, at Trinity. Rev. Yamazato will preach and a professional dancer will dedicate her Okinawa dance as indigenous praise to God during the service. Of course, there will be a combined choir and combined Church School classes (and Youth Group) on that Sunday. Trinity UMC is very unique and progressive - a "Reconciling Church." Rev. Sid Hall serves as Pastor and our good friend, Rev. Susan Sprague, as Associate Pastor there. Who knows, Trinity might become our church's new partner.

YOU are all invited to the "Sayonara" Party, Monday, October 23, at 7:30 pm at our church to say "Goodbye" and to express our sincere appreciation to our Okinawa partners. We are sure they will do the same to us.

More than that, four churches in this region are asked to begin an official dialogue for knotting a new tie as partner churches between the Alliance of Baptist Churches and the United Church of Christ as mandated by General Synod last year. Did you guess? University Baptist Church, Highland Park Baptist Church (Rev. Steven Lucas is a UCC pastor there), Friends Congregational Church in College Station and Congregational Church of Austin are asked to send five lay members and pastor from each church to initiate a possible "partnership" among them. The first meeting is planned for Sunday afternoon, October 15, at Highland Park Baptist Church. We are asking our deacons to represent us at this dialogue.

Confusing? Yes, but all these churches are our partners after all, aren't they? May God bless our connections as Christ's One Body!

Yoshi

ABOUT OUR YOUTH. . YOUTH SUMMER MISSION TRIP

Since this is being written nearly 2 months after the trip was taken, I can't remember the exact days we did certain things, but I remember very well what all we actually did. My "report" will most likely not be in chronological order but just come as I remember them so don't be surprised if this thing skips around. A lot. Early on in the trip we went to the San Diego Zoo. The 13 of us arrived there sometime shortly after noon and had to pay a large fee of $18 per person. Of course that fee could just seem large because I can be kinda cheap sometimes. Anyway, when we went inside we tried to stay in one large group which after about 5 minutes got split into 2 groups. Later on that got split in to 3 and that's how it stayed the rest of the time. Mrs. Taylor, who went along on the trip as another adult supervisor, had brought a pair of walkie talkies to keep in contact between she and Richard, the Baptist Church Youth Minister. When my group tried using it, we got a hold of about 3 different people with walkie talkies somewhere in the zoo. One of them sounded psychotic. Now that I think of it, I just can't stop thinking about it. Getting from Austin, to Houston, to San Diego was not the most memorable thing about the trip. Actually, it was one of the more interesting things about the trip. I guess exciting is what I meant to say. It started off with all 13 tickets not being recorded onto the Airlines computer so the travel agent had to get us set up with a completely new airline. This would have been okay except for the fact that 6 of the tickets had never been processed so we only had 7 tickets. Richard had to put those 6 on a credit card. That's some limit! So after mishap after mishap after mishap, the only thing that could have made the trip worse was if the plane crashed, but if that were to have happened, we couldn't have any more bad luck. Anyway, we finally arrived in San Diego a looooong time after we had planned to and got our 15 passenger van. After field testing it for the first couple days of the trip, we came to call it the "Ghetto Van." That wasn't a bad name considering the shape it was in. During the trip, the inside handle to the sliding door broke off which made things hard and it used more gas than all of San Diego seemed to have. And back to the topic of the travel agent. I think she was about ready to put Richard in a mental hospital with all the stress she was giving him and all the mistakes she was making. I think what happened is that once she realized she messed up, she didn't want to admit that and so kept going on and on and the problems got worse and worse. I don't even think people can purposely mess up that much. I believe it was the next day after the Zoo that we went to the Habitat for Humanity store to help out. The inside of it looks basically like Home Depot with the large shelves and row after row of parts, pipes, and pieces of things. When we got there, we were split up into 4 groups, the first group was given the job of pulling nails out of these pieces of wood that they had laying around. The second group had to take bunches of loose wire like extension cords, cable, and so on and tie them up in bundles and organize them. The third group, which was where Richard did most of the work, was using a table saw and cutting those pieces of wood that group 1 pulled the nails out of. And finally we come to group number 4. A.K.A the group I was in. We got stuck with the job of working on these huge shelves not unlike the ones at Home Depot. We first had to fix the mistake that the original people who had worked on it had made and then add another layer. The beams we had to lift up there were about 30-40 pounds or so and there were 3 of us who were working in that group. One of us had to hand the beams up each story of shelf and let the other 2 pull it the rest of the way up. We didn't get a ladder to climb up there till after lunch. Well, getting each one of those things in there was like wrestling an anaconda. Most of the time they were an improper fit and we had to really work at it to force them down in there. We had to use a large hammer to pound them down and get them to fit but it was really loud. So after about 3 hours of that, we finally got to go on lunch break. We had pizza with mushrooms, olives, onions, peppers and about everything else in the world that repels the average person from eating something. But by then we were so hungry we would have done just about anything for food. Meaning, we ate it. I may never have pizza again. After that it was back to the slave labor. We finished putting up the rest of the beams and were finally ready for installing the planks of wood that had been stripped of nails and cut by Richard. We got them up top the third story of the shelf and began to lay them out. That took about an hour and by the time we were done, everyone else was over in our area and climbing up the ladder to get to the top of the shelves. At one point, one of the younger kids decided he wanted to test how sturdy they were and decided to jump up and down on them. Needless to say it fell through and took another kid down with him. It wasn't a long fall, only about 5 feet or so but it made quite a mess. It turned out that it was because of the tight fit of the metal beams that caused them to bend ever so slightly making the planks of wood too short. After we were done with that place, we went to Laguna Beach. It was nice there and there were a ton of people all up and down the beach as far as the eye could see. We went and rode the waves to shore and had fun over all. I got a lot of salt in my nose and mouth so I went to sit on the beach and let the others continue playing in the waves. After about 15 minutes, I got bored and started digging a hole. I just kept digging scoop by scoop and after a couple of hours it was a hole about 3 feet deep and just as wide in diameter. When some of the people had come back from the water, we decided to have someone sit in it and we bury him or her. That had to be the best part. They sat in it and we buried them so that it looked like just this head sticking up out of the ground. I have a picture of that too. Anyway, after we dug them up it was time to go, so we went back to the University Dorm rooms where we stayed for $5 a night per person. It had a great view of the ocean. The next morning after we woke up, about 90% of us had chronic sunburns on our fronts or backs. It hurt. I didn't know I had one until I tried taking a hot shower. Not a good idea. Later that day we went to the other part of Habitat for Humanity where most of the group built birdhouses and painted them. There were 5 of us, including Richard, and me who got the job of raking the vines of the fence out of the ground and cutting them away from the building. It was not a fun job, especially with a sunburn on your back that made it about 10x worse. It took us a while but we finally completed the task. Then each of us who had been working out there decided to build a birdhouse, which didn't turn out like we had hoped. I'll just skip that part. Anyway, after we were done there, we went to an ice-skating rink. I elected not to skate due to the sunburn covering all of my back. It hurt to just walk. I didn't mind though, I never could skate very well. Getting close to the end of the trip. We went to go camping up in the Laguna Mountains around where the Cleveland National Forest is located. We pitched our tents and got settled in for the first night. The next morning, a few of us decided to go and try to find a bathroom. We had been told we could go to a fire station about a quarter mile away, but there was no one there except for a Hispanic man who looked very skinny and was dressed poorly. He was loading things from the fire station into a nice, brand new, SUV. We tried to talk to him, but he spoke limited English and likewise for us in Spanish. Well, we had an idea of what he was doing, but we just decided to ignore it and move on. We found a bathroom 2 miles away up the road. It was a long walk. I don't think any of us at the time realized just how far we had been going. Later in the day, we went to go to the Observatory they had up there. We stopped first at a nearby mountain peak and were just walking up and down the side of it. At many places it got very steep. We stopped for about 30 minutes up there and Richard held another one of his group talks about friendship and other things. The only problem with that was that it was cold. After he got done talking, the few of us who could went across the ridge and up the side of the mountain. At some points, it was a narrow ledge that if you were to fall, you would not stop for a long ways down. It was fun though. All over the mountainside, we found old coke cans that dated back quite a ways. Close to nightfall, we went to the observatory only to find that it was closed. You were supposed to have a tour guide to get into it. We didn't find this out though till we ran into this one researcher at a state funded telescope who decided he would let us see the one he was using instead. He hadn't planned on us coming, so we weren't able to look through it or anything, but he explained things to us and told us about what sort of research he was doing. The next day we packed up the camping gear and headed back for the University. That day was mainly spent doing site seeing and resting up or whatever else needed to be done. The next day however, the day before we went back, we did the Beach Clean-Up. Each of us got a sack and a pair of gloves, thank God for those, and went around picking up garbage of the beach. We found things like old band-aids, shirts, boxes, candy wrappers, and about anything else u can think of. We got to play on the beach some, but I mainly spent my time wrapped up in my towel playing cards. There was no way I was gonna go through that sunburn again. After we were through with that, we went back to the University and got ready to pack everything up and head back for tomorrow. Now that I remember it, we spent the 4^th of July on a beach watching the fire works at night . We dug a long trench that let us sit in the sand as if it were a small couch. At about 9:00 PM, the fireworks started. We got to see 3 different displays. The one from the little place where we were didn't have a very big showing. At that time, we were in a little town about an hour away from San Diego, but we could see the fireworks from Laguna Beach and San Diego as well.

Anyway, to sum things up, we headed to the airport the next day and were getting ready to board. Then they announced that a few of our tickets were not good for that flight. Yet another mistake by the travel agent. Well, we worked it out and finally all got on a plane back to Houston on which we saw the movie Mission to Mars. It wasn't all that good. The returning flight to Austin went without delay and we were all soon home again. -Jake Burlinson

OCTOBER CALENDAR

Oct 1, WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY
12:20 pm Boards: Trustees and Christian Education meetings
Oct 3, 7:30 pm Board of Deacons meeting hosted by Matt Blackstock
Oct 5, 7:30 pm?Centennial Committee Meeting at the church
Oct 6,7,8 FALL CHURCH RETREAT at Slumber Falls (Register right away!)
"Mapping Out a Right Direction" with Dr. Michael Murray
Oct 8, RETREAT SUNDAY (No Choir, No Church School Classes.)
Oct 14 4:00 pm?Men's Book Club Picnic at the Bright Leaf House.
Oct 15 CUE SEMINARY SUNDAY - INTERNATIONAL POTLUCK
Sermon: "Sharper than a Two-Edged Sword" -Rev. Kaneda
3:00 pm Board of Deacons
Yoshi will participate in a "Dialogue Meeting"
at Highland Park Baptist Church, 5206 Balcones Dr., with three churches.
Oct 20 Delegates from Okinawa churches arrive at Austin
Oct21 9:30 am Brazos Association Fall Meeting at Friedens UCC, Washington on Brazos.
Worship, Panel Discussion, Dance, Group Discussion and Lunch. A rare opportunity to feel our global connections with Christians in Germany and Okinawa, Japan. Join in!

Oct 22 JOINT WORSHIP SUNDAY with TRINITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Joint Choir, Joint Church School Classes
9:30 am Joint Worship Service with Rev. Yamazato, Pastor from Okinawa as Preacher. Coffee Hour following.
DON'T MISS THIS EVENT!
Oct 23 7:30 pm?"Sayonara Party" at the church. YOU are invited!
Oct 29 INTERGENERATIONAL EVE SUNDAY
Scripture: Jeremiah 31:7-9 Mark 10:46-52
Sermon: "The Sight Beyond Seeing" -Rev. Kaneda
Evening Pumpkin Carving Intergenerational Evening. Join in!
Oct 30 7:30 pm Women's Book Club (watch for more details.) Host: Tommie Pinkard
Book focus: "Nathaniel's Nutmeg" by Giles Milton
Nov 1, ALL SAINTS DAY CELEBRATION SUNDAY WITH HOLY COMMUNION
12:20 pm Boards: Trustees and Christian Education meetings.

ECHOES FROM THE PAST. . . CELEBRATING 100 YEARS
Guest Minister: The Rev. Das Kelley Barnett. Sermon: "And I Sat Where They Sat" Scripture: Ezekiel 3
Announcements: A cordial welcome to those who worship here today. Join us for our coffee fellowship for the talk-back session with Dr. Barnett on today's sermon, moderated by Dr. T. R. McNeely.
Beginning in September: The pulpit committee wishes to announce that the Rev. John Towery, of Green River, Wyoming, has accepted our call and will preach his first sermon on Sunday, September 6., beginning his ministry on September 1. (Rev. Towery's tenure: 1959-1989) -Excepts, Bulletin, July 19, 1959

CELEBRATING OCTOBER BIRTHDAYS

1 Ann Horner
7 Catherine Hubbs
19 Beth Oakes
Frances Alford
10 John Burlinson George Carruthers
Gary Pickens
15 Marguerite White Conrad Deisler
Marie Scheel
18 Olivia Muriel Deisler Don W. Brown

SEPTEMBER "HATS OFF"

OUR CORPORATE WORSHIP

Communion Stewards:
3 - Karl Putz & Paul Deisler

Scripture Readers:
3 - Matt Blackstock
10 - Michael Adams
17 - Lisa Kirch
24 - Jamie Adams, Kaitlyn Newell

Time With Children:

3 - Cecile Ervin
10 - Michael Adams
17 - Out
24 - Doyal Pinkard

Ushers:
3 - Cecile Ervin, Kathleen Strong
10 - Doyal & Tommie Pinkard
17 - Steve & Bree Domingue
24 - Karl & Andrea Putz

Acolytes:
3 - Ava Jean Deisler
10 - Sarah Ashton
17 - Jennie Ashton
24 - Mariah Newell

Fellowship Hour Hosts:
3 - Paul & Ellen Deisler
10 - Geneva Ross
17 - Diez y Seis Tex-Mex Potluck
24 - SS Classes

OTHER "HATS OFF" RECOGNITION

Thanks to guest pianist, Robin Rosson, guest cellist, Sunday, Sept. 24, and Dr. Barbara Burnham, guest pianist, and Rosie Morrison, guest violinist, Sunday, October 1.

Jamie Adams was in/out of the church office helping out in Louise's absence the week of Sept. 10, due to her husband's hospitalization and surgery. We are appreciative, Jamie.

Thanks to James Tomasek, Pastor/Liturgist, J. Craig Headley, service coordinator/preacher, and others who contributed to the contemporary worship service held on Sunday, September 17^th, American Indian Sunday.

The theme: "Sustain the Weary," was supported by the singing of favorite hymns and special readings, in- cluding the Commission and Blessing based on Eagle Poem by Native American poet Joy Harjo,.

Following worship, September 17, our annual Tex-Mex Potluck, in recognition of Diez y Seis was enjoyed. Thanks to all who brought food, set up, and cleaned up! ! The Fun & Fellowship Committee, once again, coordinated and carried forth this fun celebration, Suzanne VanderPoel, Chair.

Matt Blackstock was successful, on Monday, Sept. 25, in removing thriving weeds from around the church.

A Church Work Day was held Saturday, September 23. It was focused, especially, on painting the woodwork in the Fellowship Room. Our thanks go to all for their great effort! Vic Appel, Matt Blackstock, Andrea & Karl Putz, David Ross, Craig Headley, Mark McCoy and an invited young man took part in the work activities. 

NEWS, News, news. . .

OKINAWA PARTNERS RETURN TO TEXAS
MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR THESE EVENTS !

-Oct. 20 - Arrival of our Okinawa church delegates.
-Oct. 21 - Brazos Association Fall Meeting held in Friedens UCC, Washington on the Brazos.
Exploring our global connections with Christians from Germany, Okinawa, Japan.
A Panel will be in place with discussion; small groups discussion; Okinawa Dance; Lunch
-Oct. 22 - Joint Worship Service with Trinity United Methodist Church, Joint Choirs, Okinawa preacher,
Okinawa Dancers, Coffee Hour Fellowship following.
-Oct. 23 - "Sayonara" Party, 7:30 pm, at the church. JOIN US!

CHURCH SCHOOL NEWS:

Christian Education Week was Sept. 24-30, and included a Service of Installation for Church School Teachers, Sunday, Sept. 24. Students served refreshments during the Fellowship Hour, honoring our teachers.

Steve Domingue has volunteered to teach the Adult Class which is for everyone of post high school age. Sunday isn't just for kids!

On Sunday evening, October, another Intergenerational Pumpkin Carving event will be held. Everyone is in-vited!

Feedback: If you have ideas or suggestions for future church evenings, or any comments, criticisms, or suggestions about the Christian Education program of our church, please contact: Andrea Putz, Chair, Board of Christian Education or Doyal Pinkard, Church School Superintendent.

Our goal: A program which is responsive to the needs of the congregation.

Back Bay Mission Update:

Back Bay Mission support is ongoing in this church. Thanks to everyone for their contribution of the special, successful PLEDGE DRIVE in our church which exceeded our goal of $55,000. Pledges to-date: $57,400. A Dedication Service held Sunday, September 24, during the worship service, was led by Dr. Rambie Briggs. The congregation joined in singing the Dedicatory Hymn, "Take My Gifts."

Rev. David Stephens, former Executive Director, Back Bay Mission, wife, Karlyn, and adopted son, Josh, joined us in worship on Back Bay Mission Dedication , and David extended his heartfelt thanks following the Dedicatory Presentation by Dr. Briggs.

The Board of Directors of the Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, Mississippi, has unanimously called the Rev. Sharon Kay Prestemon to serve as Executive Director. Shari has begun her ministry as of Aug. 7, 2000. She was serving as pastor of Peace UCC, Stevens Point, WI. Prior to that, Shari was a project coordinator for United Church Board for World Ministries, and an associate pastor at St. Matthew UCC in Wheaton, IL, before that. Volunteer activities in social service agencies including work with homeless and caregiver groups, and a summer internship during which she directed the work camps at Back Bay Mission, helped prepare Shari for her new duties. She graduated from Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, with majors In social work and political science, and Chicago Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree. We rejoice on her arrival and look forward to her leadership.

COMING:

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATION, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5th

CONGRATULATIONS TO:

The Karasi-Busaka family on the birth of a daughter. Dennis & Nodie Murphy, Lynne & George Lemley, and Matt Blackstock helped in the pre/post delivery activity. (See PERSONALS for other details.)

Paula & Michael Fracasso on the birth of a son, Giovanni Fracasso, Sept. 22, 3:30 pm. Fran & Rambie Briggs are the proud grandparents.

Enid Ross was unanimously voted an "In-Care" status by the Church and Ministry Committee of the Brazos As-

sociation in a recent meeting held in Giddings on Thursday evening, September 21. Norma Hawes and Yoshi accompanied Enid for her interview session with the committee. Within one year, Enid will apply to the com-mittee in qualifiying for her ordination in the United Church of Christ.

Our Sympathy To Norma Hawes and family on the death of her brother-in-law, Ken Bernard. Mr. Bernard, age 45, was killed accidentally in a hang-gliding accident on Sept. 11 and died on Sept. 13. Memorial Services were held on Sept. 23, in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where he resided.

A Note of Thanks

Dear Friends,
Please know that your thoughts, prayers, calls, and concerns were sustaining, as we faced a critical time of surgery and hospitalization recently for my husband. .

-Louise Whitworth

________________________________________

J O I N T W O R S H I P S E R V I C E

Sunday, Oct. 22, 2000
Trinity United Methodist Church
600 E. 50^th
Combined Choirs - Joint Church School Classes.

Thought for the Month:

-from On Dothan Plain (Jubb Yusuf)(Genesis 37:28; II Kings 6:23)
by Madeline S. Miller

God, let us not resent our slight,
Though justified the grudge
For Thou alone dost see the right,
And Thou alone canst judge.

P E R S O N A L S
by Catherine Hubbs

Our hearts and prayers are with Louise Whitworth and her husband Lavoy, who have come through a month of crisis. After heart catheterization, doctors determined that in spite of a weakened heart it was important to reduce Lavoy's arterial blockage with angioplasty, which took place on September 11^th. He has overcome initial kidney failure and lung complications. The children were all here. Lavoy is at home. And we hope for some quiet and rest for both him and Louise.

We rejoice with Tommie and Doyal. The ovarian tumor which stopped their trip to England has been removed and was found to be benign. Halleluja! The only problem apparent to the congregation is that Tommie refuses to act as if she has had anything more serious than an ingrown toenail. Doyal has a hard time keeping her from washing all the coffee fellowship dishes. But we're trying, Doyal. Sara Ross took over as host for the September Women's Book Group.

And we rejoice in the birth of two babies in our midst.

On Tuesday, September 19, Mary Sinclair Karasi was born with the aid of Dennis Murphy (The Dispatcher) and Lynne Lemley (The Stork). Mary Sinclair was in China. Nodie Murphy, our fluent French-speaker, was set to take Judith Karasi to the hospital when the time came. The Murphys kept both cell phones charged and turned on at all times for Martin Bukasa's call to action. But when the time came, Nodie was in New Orleans with her parents. She received the call and referred it to Dennis, stuck in the middle of Austin rush-hour traffic. Plan B: Lynne Lemley's friend speaks perfect French. Dennis phoned. Lynne wailed, "She's out of town too. And I have a 5:30 class to teach at the University!" And then--"I'll give them a walk. She needs a woman with her." And so it came to pass that Lynne was at the hospital with Judith when little Mary Sinclair Karasi came into the world. "Bonjour, Mary Sinclair Karasi!" Mother and child are doing well. They are at home with a friend from the Camaroons helping out.

On Friday, September 22, Giovanni Cooper Fracasso was born to Paul Briggs Fracasso and Michael Fracasso. He came a month early, weighing four pounds, ten ounces. There were a few complications, but both are doing well. Paula is home, and she and Michael are eagerly awaiting the arrival home of little Giovanni. "Buon giorno, Giovanni!"

Kerry Manning, Michael Adams' wife, has a job at O. Henry Junior High teaching English As a Second Language twenty-five hours a week. Congratulations, Kerry! In addition to her text she needs extra material. If anyone has extra resources, please let her know or bring them to church for Michael.

Sara Ross asks that families please sign up as promptly as possible for our church retreat, Oct. 6-8. The last day to let her know is Oct. 2, and she has made it possible for us to sign up by e-mail at ross@arlut.utexas.edu. Or you may of course phone her at home (451-1114) or sign up in the Fellowship Room. So there's really no excuse for procrastination. And you don't want to get left out! The weather and program promise to be exceptional (no 100 degrees!) Slumber Falls is a beautiful, secluded UCC retreat center by the Guadalupe River, providing us a chance to get away from our busy-ness to be quiet, be alone or together, enjoy our friends, eat, stroll, hike, go down to the river, meditate, heal, worship, laugh, discuss, and learn.

Something else is going on the same weekend. On Oct. 7 Cecile Ervin, member of our congregation and Student-in-Care of our UCC Brazos Association at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, will be married to David R. Adam in the Seminary Chapel, in the presence of their family and friends. Cecile's daughter will attend her. Our love and best wishes go with you both, Cecile!

Jean and Vic Appel's daughter Debbie and her husband Bob Knowlton are about to celebrate their delayed honeymoon the first week of October by renting a cottage in Tuscany, Italy. Sounds like a beautiful place for a honeymoon, Debbie and Bob. Please take pictures.

Yoshi and Setsuko took a week of vacation to go to San Diego from September 13-20 to check on their home there, which is being remodeled. They were able to see children and grandchildren.

Joe McMillan has promised to write us a separate account of his recent trip to the Holy Land. It is a special trip, and we look forward to reading it.

Marilyn Gaddis and George Carruthers are just back from a wonderful Elderhostel trip and visit with friends in the British Isles. Marilyn writes: Their Elderhostel was titled "The People's Past." They spent one week at the University of Limerick studying the area. They lived in small cottages on the grounds of the university. There were thirty-two in their group from all over the United States. They found Limerick booming thanks to Dell and other American computer companies. They took field trips to "The Barren" and the Rock of Cashel. The second week they spent at the University of Wales at Bangor, living in a university residence. They spent a beautiful day in the Snowdonia National Park and actually viewed the peak! They toured Caenarvon and Conway Castles as well as historic towns. The third week was at the University of Edinburgh, where they lived at Pollack Halls, an international conference center at the foot of Arthur's Chair, which they climbed. They toured Hopetoun House, Stirling Castle, and Holyrood House as well as local landmarks. They experienced the "petrol" strike in Scotland. There were few cars on the road and long lines for fuel! They did a lot of walking around the city.

In England to visit friends, they spent two days at Duxford at the British Air Museum, especially the new American Exhibit. George spent some time checking on crew members that were "lost" during the War. They enjoyed the Battle of Britain display and watched the Kent "Battle of Britain" Airshow on TV. They found the Elderhostel lectures to be very well informed, the tours very interesting, the food great, and the accommodations comfortable. They say they're ready to go back.

At home again, they found Rob and his family awaiting their return so they could move their goods from Plano to Austin, where they have rented a house in northwest Austin. When Marilyn wrote, she was about to head to the lake house at Seguin to the care of the grandchildren for a week.

Clark Hubbs has always wanted to see Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, Africa. The opportunity came in September, and Clark and Catherine went first to Cape Town, South Africa, nine years after Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu led the nation away from apartheid and toward the beginning of national reconciliation. It's easy to see that the healing process will take generations as it has in the United States. Unemployment is high (more than thirty percent). A black policewoman Catherine met in the mall there said she wished she were in the United States. (Catherine didn't reply that we have a few beams still to take out of our own eye.) But they city is vibrant. A real beginning is there. The country side is beautiful. They drove along spring-green coast to the Cape of Good Hope on a day when a brilliant blue sky overlooked cliffs above the white-crested foam of the Atlantic.

They went next to Botswana (formerly British Bechuanaland) where they were introduced to its teaming animal life: lions, elephants, hippos, antelopes, mongeese, prolific flocks of birds, giraffes, and even a leopard. A biologist and two black nature guides were very upbeat. They said that when Botswana first attained its independence from Great Britain it was one of the poorest countries in Africa, but soon after came the discovery of diamonds, which today supply three-fourths of its national revenue. So they can afford to be careful in caring for their natural resources. Their park lands are owned and carefully leased out by the government, which plans to reduce the numbers of leases in several years.

Zimbabwe is hurting from its social upheavals as President Mugabe seeks to oust its white farmers, and Victoria Falls Hotel visitors were down by 30 percent, but the Falls itself was breathtaking and the guides most knowledgeable.

INTERNATIONAL DAY
OCTOBERFEST
POTLUCK

Sunday, October 15^th
Please sign up!

Did you know? Marsha Bruhn was soloist on Sunday, Sept. 10. Thank you Marsha

RECONCILIATION SEMINAR, NOVEMBER 4

Sponsors: United Christian Church

Place: 5701 Cameron Rd.

Seminar Leaders:

Dr. Pablo Jimenez, DOC National Hispanic Minister

Rep. of Southwest Good Samaritan Ministries

Rev. Dr. Alberto Pereyra, Prof. Emeritus, Austin's

Lutheran Seminary Program of the S.W

Reception, Fellowship Hall

Call: UCC (453-8465 or MLC (452-2963)

___________________

CHURCH DIRECTORY NOTICES:

Burnham, Dr. Barbara, 4100 Ave. C, #107

Ms. Marian McKenzie, Dr. Walter Smith

36 Railroad Ave., #B, Haverford, PA 19041-1306

Beth Oakes & Eugene Buck

623 Pepper Dr., Iowa City, IA 52240-4330

Ms. Nannette Strickland

1101 W. 39 _ St. 78756-3901

Miriam Elise Hall

1301 East 28^th St. 78722-2305

Louise Whitworth

e-mail: Louise Whitworth@mac.com

Smile, Smile, Smile. . .

A teenager having just received his new driver's license took the family for a ride. Dad took the back seat, directly behind the driver. "I'll bet you're back there to get a change of scenery, after sitting in the front these past months, teaching me how to drive, " said the boy. "Nope," replied Dad. "I'm going to sit here and kick the back of your seat as you drive, just like you've been doing to me all these years!"-Copied

HAVE YOU REGISTERED
FALL RETREAT?

October 6,7,8
Slumber Falls Retreat Center

Deadline: Sunday, October 1
Sessions, Saturday, Oct. 7^th

Dr. Michael Murray, an expert Resource Leader, will guide us in "Mapping Out A Direction" for our Relocation process. He will start the morning session at 9 am - noon, with a coffee break. After lunch and a free time period, he will start again at 2 - 4 pm.

We are sure, that under his guidance, we will come up with crucial steps for discussion on making our Relocation process decisions

If you cannot attend church on Oct. 1, please call Sara Ross (451-1114) or e-mail her: ross@arlut.utexas.edu for reservation.

WE LOOK FORWARD TO HAVING YOU WITH US!