It will soon be registration time for the 2008-2009 school year. Registrations will be available Friday, November 9, 2007. Children, whose parents are members of the Lewistown Presbyterian Church and children now in Nursery School, are offered an opportunity to register before the rest of the community is permitted to do so. The deadline is Friday, December 7, 2007. After that date, any remaining openings will be available to others. Telephone calls are not sufficient to reserve your child’s place in Nursery School or Preschool.

Registration forms can be picked up at the church office or call 248-4561 to request that a form be mailed to you. Registrations are accepted in the order in which the completed forms and $15 registration fees are received at the church office.

Preschool is for children who will be 4 years old by September 1, 2008. Tuition is $55 a month or $495 for the year. Nursery School is for children who will be 3 years old by September 1, 2008. Tuition is $42 a month or $378 for the year.

Krislund Korner Autumn Edition

More than 700 campers (an increase from ’06) attended a 2007 Krislund summer experience. "I really enjoyed making new friends at Krislund and having so many people that are friendly and support your relationship with God," wrote a camper. The 2008 summer season brochure will soon be ready. Call the camp to have a brochure sent to you. Register for a week of camp at Fall Festival (see below) and receive a discount. Contact the camp to have a staff person visit your church or youth group to share about summer camp.

Apple bobbing, straw maze, dart throw, ring toss, tug-of-war, face painting, gourd toss, and more await you. Don’t miss the pie eating contest at 2:30 or the hayrides leaving every hour starting at 11:00. Appalachian Trail seminars at 12:00 and 3:30 and a hike to the tepees at 1:30 are all part of the free activities. A special price of $10 for persons age 15 and up and $5 for 5-14 year olds gives access to the various food booths, candy apple making, and the climbing wall. Come and see the improvements underway. All are welcome, please RSVP if planning to eat or climb by 10/24.

Rejoice, Reflect, Release, to….Renew! All mothers, of all ages, are invited to Krislund for a weekend of renovation. Encouraging Christian messages, scrap booking, good food, beautiful surroundings, and deep fellowship comprise the weekend. The $90 fee covers everything. RSVP by calling or e-mailing the camp office by 10/26.

The ground is cleared and excavation is about to begin for the new adult and family lodge. Groups or individuals, day-only or overnights, skilled or unskilled; let Krislund be your church’s mission site this year. An on-site mission manager will assist volunteers and provide materials, beginning in November. For a mission brochure, applications, to ask questions, or to schedule a trip, contact the Volunteer Coordinator, Dan Alex (717.599.4283 or danalex@comcast.net ).

Lauren is a member of Lewisburg Presbyterian and served as last summer’s capable Program Director. With her church’s support, Lauren is providing program and outreach assistance. Gifted with a superb singing voice and an engaging style, Lauren enjoys visiting churches to talk about Krislund. Call the camp office to schedule a visit.

The Camp’s capital campaign began earlier this year with a goal of $2,000,000. The adult-friendly lodge, reduction of land purchase debt, an indoor recreation building, and renovations to the Upper Lodge and cabins are the focus of the campaign. We are thankful for the generosity of churches and individuals. Anyone wishing to know more about how to participate is encouraged to call Steve Cort at 814.422.8878 or e-mail stevecort@krislund.org . Thank you.

Greetings from Klaipeda, Lithuania. Becky and I arrived back in Klaipeda in late August to start our seventh year at Lithuania Christian College. In May we both taught at the Russian-American Christian University (RACU) in Moscow. Many of our students have Russian as their first language and Russia is such an important influence in this part of the world, so we believe it is important to be more conversant with the context of our students. In June we flew to the United States for an all too brief summer mid-term interpretation visit.

This summer gave us some time to reflect on our work here. "I wish I could say I was a missionary", words we heard at the New Wilmington Mission Conference. How privileged we are to be sent to mission. Our moderator, the Rev. Joan Grey, says that "God does not call the qualified; God qualifies the called." Two things we have learned: the attitude of gratitude and the need to ask for help. We are ordinary people called to extraordinary tasks. Our job is to be faithful and obedient; success is up to God. This summer it has been our joy to meet the mission-minded people in the Presbyterian Church (USA). We are grateful for the support from individuals and congregations that make it possible for us to be here.

During this summer we were invited to meet with nine Presbyterian congregations in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Our work included sermons, minutes for mission, Sunday School programs and meetings with mission committees. In June we were the guest missionaries at the summer meeting of the Synod of the Trinity. We were also on the staff of the 102nd New Wilmington Mission Conference in July. There was also time for individual meetings and meals with those who know and love us. Thanks. These visits are encouraging for us as we mutually share our Christian faith.

We only wish we had more time to talk with all of you. We are heartened that the First Presbyterian Church in Warren, our home church, is planning to send a group to visit and to work along side us.

Here are two vignettes of our time of interpretation. Often things happen during our presentation. At the conclusion of our presentation at the Second Presbyterian Church in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, we had an engaging conversation with a woman named Rita. She is the widow of Vytautus Kavolis, a famous Lithuanian sociologist who taught for many years at Dickinson College. Kavolis’s work is widely known here in Lithuania, especially his critical stance regarding the Soviet mentality. He documented the rise of Lithuanian national feeling. Kavolis along with many other fled Lithuania in 1944 and became a displaced person. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, he returned to Lithuania to lecture and to help reestablish democratic universities here. He died very suddenly while in Lithuania in 1996 and is buried in the national cemetery in Vilnius, the capital. His widow believes he died under mysterious circumstances. This conversation with Rita brought home the complexity of post-Soviet societies. Painful issues from the past remain to be confronted and resolved. We know how much we have yet to learn about the realities of Lithuania as we seek to be relevant in the lives of our students.

We also had the time to visit with a few dear friends we had not seen for some time. Public radio sponsors a series called "This I Believe." A friend Jeff Crosby offered a piece on the importance of asking. Jeff says, "I believe in the importance of asking. I've have had MS for more than 24 years. I've learned how important it is to ask for what I need. Important to myself to ask; important to helpers that I asked." (see http://www.thisibelieve.org  .)

Jeff’s disease had now advanced to the point where he needs lots of help but his attitude of mind remains hopeful and encouraging. He can lift your spirits. Jeff reminded us of the importance of asking for what we need.

As you may know the way the PC (USA) funds mission workers is in the process of change. 2008 brings a new mission budget. The financial uncertainties for the next budget cycle (2009-2010) loom large; we are told that there could be a gap to fill on the scale of approximately 15% of the total mission personnel budget. Without more giving to international mission work through the General Assembly, the present mission force will have to be reduced. An important way to help close the funding gap is increasing support directed toward individual mission workers through ‘designated mission support’ (DMS). So we are asking, asking for what we need as Jeff says.

In October 2007, our church will send out 30 Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) missionaries to share their stories in every corner of the United States. Presbyteries are spearheading this effort to educate the church about how God is at work in the world and how we as a denomination participate in God’s mission. Mission Challenge ’07 is the largest event of its kind ever carried out by our Presbyterian Church. We hope you are part of this renewed focus on Presbyterian mission. We hope for great things.

So now we are back at school busily engaged in teaching students. This quarter the PCUSA devotional These Days has these words from William Sloane Coffin on its back cover: "Faith sets us on the road, but hope keeps us there." We don’t know what will happen in 2008 and beyond, but our hopes are high. We live by faith; it’s God’s gift to us on our journey of faith.

Grace and peace,

Eric & Becky Hinderliter
PC (USA) Mission Co-workers
Lithuania

• Calling all carpenters, drywallers, painters and electricians. Camp Krislund is in full-blown building mode. The new 20 room Adult-Family Lodge is scheduled to start construction in late November using mostly volunteer labor. There is a more immediate need. The Croda House is a new building that has been erected and Camp Krislund needs our help to complete that building. Once completed the current office will move from the Brown House to the Croda house. The Brown house will then be used to house volunteers who will be working on the Adult/Family Lodge. All of that has to happen before construction starts on the Adult/Family Lodge. If you can join us any time during the next few weeks, call Dan Alex at 691-1471(h) 717-599-4283(cell) or email danalex@comcast.net  .

• Please consider making Krislund Camp Adult/Family Lodge your volunteer mission project in 2008. Sign up now for this exiting new era in the life of Krislund.