Orlando, Fla., RPC

H.P. McCracken, pastor July and August are the peak months of summer activity and provide our families with opportunities for more time together. It’s our practice to halt Sabbath school classes during these months. This allows our families more time for personal fellowship and sharing. A negative of these months, however, is that our northern visitors (friends and family alike known as “snow-birds”) are gone from us, leaving a void in our worship services and fellowship times. We anxiously await their return. They are a vital part of our congregation.

A picnic at Alexander Springs took place on Saturday, July 21, and was attended by approximately 25 picnickers. Great food, great fun, and wonderful fellowship with church family and friends was on the roster and created a memorable day.

Cross golf and Frisbee and what do you get? Frolfing. If you can toss a Frisbee with any kind of accuracy, then frolfing might be your sport. It certainly was for 15 participants on Saturday, Aug. 4, who gathered at Jonathan and Dianne Schaefer’s home and then went to Airport Lakes Park, where they were separated into teams for a tournament. The Schaefers hosted lunch and a day of swimming as well.

There was a workday at the church property in Orlando on Saturday, Aug. 18, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Helpers tackled projects on the inside and outside, involving the annex and our main church building. Projects such as painting, cleaning, organizing, laying carpet tiles, tending to light fixtures, and hedge trimming were completed.

Two new members joined our congregation who have been worshiping regularly with us for a year: Eliezer (Al) de la Cruz and Elisabeth Von Kossovsky took their vows of membership before the congregation on Sunday, Aug. 26.

—Louise Turmenne, correspondent

Rose Point (New Castle, Pa.) RPC

Charles Brown, pastor

Jeremiah and Anastasia Wilson took a belated seven-day honeymoon over Memorial Day in Albuquerque, N.M.; John Mitchell and George Jackson (from the Broomall, Pa., RPC) visited Egypt in early April; and Pastor Brown and family traveled to Washington, D.C., and visited the National Mall and the National Zoo. They also attended the Presbytery of the Alleghenies camp at Laurelville. Ralph and Joday Joseph attended Iowa Family Camp at the end of July and visited with his two sisters, Jo Lingle (and husband) and Mary Beyerle from Minnesota, at the Lingle home in Anderson, S.C., in early August.

Marge and Clair Miller celebrated birthdays in May. Marge turned 90 and Clair turned 99. During the summer, Marge canned 19 quarts of pickled beets and 25 pints of yellow beans to give to a neighbor. They again walked away with the prizes for the oldest woman and man at the Miller Reunion.

Kara Swansiger participated in the Columbiana Community Theater’s production of Singing in the Rain and performed in Legally Blonde Jr. at theater camp. Her brother, Sam, was a member of the baseball team this spring.

Twenty-seven men, ranging in age from 0 to 99, participated in the 10th annual men’s cookout sponsored by Pastor Charles Brown and his family in June.

Thirty-eight students attended the vacation Bible school. Helping were Zuri Cassell, Geneva O’Bannon, Byron Spear, and Eleanor Gatewood from the TFY program at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Students attending the NEXT Education homeschool study center this past year participated in a mock trial in early May. Nolan Curran was a counsel for the defense, and Kelly Mershimer was a witness. Kailee Boylan, a friend of the congregation, was both a witness and a co-counsel for the plaintiff. The Honorable Deborah DeCostro from Beaver County presided over the trial.

The Curran family hosted an open house for Shane and Katie Curran July 27 to introduce them to the church family. Shane is presently in helicopter training in Alabama.

Sixty-seven members and friends attended the annual church picnic hosted by John Mitchell at his farm near Volant, Pa. A rainy evening failed to dampen the spirits of those attending.

Jonathan DeJong, a member of the Bloomington, Ind., RPC attending Grove City College, led a soccer camp recently. About 20 persons participated.

A major improvement in the lighting of the sanctuary was accomplished this summer with the installation of LED bulbs in the existing fixtures.

—Ralph Joseph, correspondent