Thanks for the message. It's been several months of meaning to write you all, and I do sometimes I've let time gone by and been bad at keeping in touch. I'm sorry for that. I have read the newsletters and kept up with SOTH and am as usual inspired by the good work you all do there. Time goes by too fast these days and I feel like I'm always a little behind (I think like most of us)...

My news is that I left Madagascar last year because the work that I was getting into turned out to be much different than I had expected-- in short it just didn't work out-- so instead I pursued my "plan B" or perhaps it was "plan C" to teach English at a high school in France. So last September I moved to Pau, in southwest France, and am just finishing my contract now at the end of April.

If all works out I'll soon be going back to Madagascar to work with Reef Doctor, a marine conservation NGO in the southwest part of the country.

Again I'm sorry for not keeping in touch-- I'll be better from now on. When I first left Madagascar I was in an unsettled state of mind. I think as well I felt like I was letting people down by not coming back (there and in America), but at the same time I knew I needed to leave.

So I hope you all are doing well and I hope I can make it down to Southern California sometime sooner rather than later and see you all... perhaps show some pictures and cook some rice as well.

I feel blessed to have this community in my life-- even if you are so far away.

Much love,

Becki

Ever Wonder Where Our Gifts Go?

Click here to find out where in the world our denominational funds helped. 

New opportunities to heal the world!

Dr. Anwyl received a call from a church member. One of his college buddies is in the business of providing low cost household furnishings to disaster victims. He had 25,000 lbs of furniture from the Excaliber Hotel in Las Vegas for Katrina victims relocated to California. Three double sized semis were to drop the furniture at a warehouse in San Diego for distribution but the warehouse was no longer available and the furniture needed to be delivered in a matter of days.

After considering the situation, and with three vacant suites in the Medical Center owned by the church, Dr. Anwyl volunteered space on the SOTH campus. So the trucks arrived, one completely full of mattress sets. In an effort to keep these in as good a condition as possible, he had them placed in the church Sanctuary—leaving just enough room near the altar for our congregation and the two others we share our campus with on Sunday. Most people walked into church with their eyes opened wide wondering what was going on—a place to snooze if the sermon got a little dry?? Once they understood the project, nods and smiles of agreement appeared, an appreciation for SOTH ministry in action.

We are now working with the originator to find a distribution center and permanent homes for this shipment.

On going ministries -

In honor of Lois and Wendell Pew who have been great friends of Heifer International, during the Advent Season we took contributions to send pigs to Nicaragua. The Heifer project continues its successful program of providing healthy animals and instruction in animal management to needy families all over the world who then pass on the gift of one or more of the offspring to other people in their village. We received over $1,300.00.

Our on-going donations to Nothing But Nets to provide insecticide-coated mosquito nets for families in rural total over $2,500 to date. At $10 per net and a matching grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, more than 500 nets have already been sent.
In November, we provided 50 Christmas gifts to children in reservation schools of the Hopi and Navajo tribes through Project Love program providing Christmas gifts to native American children in reservation schools.

The Outreach Committee functions as the coordinating committee for our congregation's intentional sharing of our time, talents, and gifts with the local, national, and world community.
As a partnership church of the Disciples of Christ and the United Church of Christ, we participate in three special offerings during the year:

• One Great Hour of Sharing/Week of Compassion is our yearly Offering through our two denominations to the on-going work of Church World Service to be both first and sustaining responders to crises throughout the world
• Tools of Hope and Blanket program. Also through Church World service, provides basic survival supplies to victims of crises and provides the tools necessary to recover and return to self-sufficiency
• Neighbors in Need which targets money specifically for Native American congregations reinforces and supports our commitment to the Native American community and our local ministry to them through the Song of the Earth weekly celebrations

Our Mother's Day offering helps to support Laura's House, a local shelter for abused women and their children.

Our 250 FUND helps people facing homelessness by providing monetary, counseling, and job search assistance. Since its inception in 1990, we have helped more than 100 families.

In partnership with the Capistrano Unified School District's Adult School and Capilla Calvario, Shepherd of the Hills offers English as a Second Language (ESL) classes in a unique program designed for immigrant parents. The 3-fold purpose of the program is to increase the use of English so that the adult students can become more effective parents, more skilled workers, and more active participants in the local community. Free childcare is provided during instruction and some class time is devoted to Parent and Child Together time during which parents practice some of the skills presented by the instructor.

In our efforts to reach out to our Hispanic neighbors, we have begun A new component to the ESL classes - a Conversational Spanish class.

Information regarding these classes may be obtained by calling the church office at 949-495-1310.

The Outreach Committee takes seriously Shepherd of the Hills' commitment to be God's hearts and hands in the world as we provide opportunities for our members to share the extravagant abundance that the Loving Spirit has given us.