A Story That Goes Round in Circles

NEWSLETTER
FIRST MENNONITE CHURCH
NOVEMBER 2009
BOX 473
305 NORTH 7TH STREET
MOUNTAIN LAKE, MN 56159
ELAINE KAUFFMAN, PASTOR
seekfrst@frontiernet.net

PASTOR’S PAGE

A STORY THAT GOES ROUND IN CIRCLES
or
When We All Work Together

It’s hard to know where to begin when a story goes in such circles. I guess the best I can do is probably to tell the story as I learned it…
I’ve been going to the Twin Cities MCC sale as often as possible since it began. Colleen Graber works with children’s activities at that Sale. I had first learned to know Colleen because she was related to someone in the First Mennonite Church of Mountain Lake congregation. So now it’s always fun to poke my head in and see what she’s cooked up for the kids to do at the Twin Cities Sale… even if I’m not a kid nor have any kids to get involved there.
Last year Colleen asked me if any of our ladies liked to sew kit bags. One of the activities for the children was to assemble school kit materials, but then she always needed bags to put them in.
Well, I knew that MaJean Heide, who lives in Sioux Falls, likes to sew these bags. How many has she already sewn for us? We were so impressed with the ones made of “parachute” nylon. I don’t know if parachute nylon is even the right term for it, but it was something like that.
So one time when I talked to MaJean I mentioned this need for kit bags. Then I kind of forgot about it. Well, I didn’t exactly forget, but I let it go and didn’t really think about it as I had made the contact I thought might bear fruit.
MaJean loves to hear the hum of the sewing machine as she puts together pieces that match and contrast making useful totes for such things as school kits and health kits. This year she had no parachute material, but she had a whole lot of upholstery samples. Methinks that must be a little more work to sew, so my hat’s off to MaJean. My hat’s off in any event because I am not much of a seamstress!
This fall MaJean called me and asked if I thought 50 bags would be good for Colleen. I couldn’t remember what, if any, number Colleen and I had discussed, but I thought 50 would probably be a gracious plenty. I asked Mary and Martin Harder if they would take the bags from Mountain Lake to the Twin Cities MCC Sale. If you know the Harders, you already are sure the answer was in the positive. Of course, they would take the bags along; they actually do a good bit of transport from Mountain Lake for that sale. Hats off, again!
Now comes the fun part!
When MaJean brought me the bags to send to Colleen, she told me they were made from upholstery material that Edie Tschetter had provided. Apparently, Edie also knew that MaJean sews kit bags. Over the years that Edie was in the MCC office in Freeman (MCC Central States, Northern Tier), she received sample materials that a Mennonite business woman would send to Freeman—to the MCC stockroom and to Freeman’s Et Cetera Shoppe—from her business in the Twin Cities. She often had a lot of upholstery samples that are useful for a variety of projects. They make wonderful kit bags.
Twin Cities made my ears perk up. How about that! The woman from the Twin Cities was none other than Marlys Wiens, one of the people involved from the very start in establishing the Twin Cities MCC Sale. Marlys continues to support, help plan and staff the sale. She also works with MCC in other ways, including a web-log with MCC stories. The stories are found at lovejoypiece.blogspot.com for those who may like to check it out.
So the story comes full circle! Colleen has school kit bags for the children’s activities, the upholstery samples have a new, useful life, and the rest of us have had a whole lot of fun making connections in the journey from upholstery sample to school kit. Wouldn’t it be fun if one of those kit bags could talk and tell us the story of its travels?
-- Elaine Kauffman

I thank my God every time I remember you,
constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you,
because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.
I am confident of this,
that the one who began a good work among you
will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:3-6