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Surgeon's Donated Labor Leads Monthly Roundup of Activity
DULUTH, MN (April 4, 2003) - Kydee Sheetz of Salem Covenant Church recently
returned from Tenwek Hospital in Kenya where she served for Samaritan's
Purse, an organization that helps send doctors around the world to serve in
areas where quality medical care is scarce.
Sheetz, an orthopedic surgeon, has taken three trips to Kenya with
Samaritan's Purse, wrote Darlene Leafgren in a recent Salem Covenant
newsletter article. Sheetz was able to travel to Kenya because of an
agreement with her employer, St. Mary's Duluth Medical
Clinic, that allows her to take two three-week periods each year to work
for free in mission projects in underserved countries. She serves as a hand
surgery specialist in Duluth.
During her recent trip to Tenwek Hospital in Kenya, Sheetz did
reconstructive surgery on a young father who was severely injured by an
assailant wielding a large knife while walking to school with his two sons.
She also operated on a woman who had fallen into a fire during an epileptic
seizure and needed skin grafts. The surgeon's work is extremely important
in an area where there is one orthopedic surgeon for every 600,000 people.
It also continues a family tradition of sorts - distant relatives served as
missionaries in Kenya 70 years earlier and helped start Tenwek Hospital.
Following is a series of reports, grouped by conference/region, concerning
ministries in local Covenant churches and the work of numerous Covenanters,
gleaned from more than 200 local church newsletters received each month by
the Department of Communication. Churches may send newsletters by email to
newsdesk@covchurch.org or by regular mail to the department at 5101 N.
Francisco Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60625.
CENTRAL
- Moline, Illinois: Elim Covenant Church sent a missionary team for the
third consecutive year to Roca de Salvacion Church in Monterrey, Mexico,
March 22-29. The group conducted children's and women's ministries in
Escobedo, a lower income area near Monterrey. A small construction group
also worked there. Trip members included Joren Carey, L.J. Cunningham,
Mike, Natalie, Rachel, Adam and Leah Hermann, Jo and
Howard Swan (Hillcrest Covenant Church, DeKalb, Illinois), Josh and Sandy
Parrott, Brandon and Angie Champlin, Felipe Cantu (Templo Alabanza,
Moline), Nathan Knorrek and Elim Covenant pastor John Jacobi. The group
also connected with a mission team from the Evangelical Covenant Church of
Woodstock, Connecticut, that was involved in a separate project in the
region.
- Rockford, Illinois: Metro Christian Center, which has been supported by
Broadway Covenant Church, was recently awarded $10,000 for its efforts with
the Metro Christian Breakfast Program, which provides hot meals to around
150 people at a local church. The award was given to the Center's director,
Al English, as part of an area auto show promotion. Broadway Covenant
parishioners had nominated Metro Christian Center for the award.
- Rockford, Illinois: Bethesda Covenant Church's Nancy West was recently
awarded a Golden Apple for excellence in teaching at Guilford High School.
West is an English and speech teacher.
EAST COAST
- East Greenwich, Rhode Island: Christ Church's Wenda Ferraioli spent two
weeks this winter in Grenada, Nicaragua, to perform medical services for
people in that area. The group spent two days ministering at a Nicaraguan
prison. They also served at a village church, using the church's altar as a
clinic table for about 80 patients. Before leaving, the group took a trip
into the mountain village of Matagalpa, only to find that most of the
community's residents had pneumonia. They were able to help a boy with an
infected foot during a middle-of-the-night "house call." Ferraioli wrote in
her church's newsletter, "Not only had we given all we had, we had received
even more in the way of love and connection."
MIDWEST
- Clyde, Kansas: Brantford Evangelical Covenant Church youth Tiffany Brax
recently participated in a state competition for the Knights of Columbus
Free Throw Shooting Contest in Salina after winning county, district and
regional contests in the 13-year-old division.
- Wausa, Nebraska: The Evangelical Covenant Church of Wausa recently
received a gift from one of their families. Floyd and Dorothy Joslin
donated a picture of Jesus that Floyd handcrafted out of wood. Floyd made
the art piece in memory of the couple's son Steve, who died last year.
NORTHWEST
- Minneapolis, Minnesota: Susan Swanson of Bethlehem Covenant Church was
among those recently inducted into the North Park University Viking Hall of
Fame for her performance in women's basketball and softball. Swanson set a
national record for three-point baskets in a game during her senior year
and was second in the nation in three-point shots made during the 1987-88
season as her team won the conference title. A member of the Board of
Trustees at her church, Swanson also served as an assistant
women's basketball coach after she ended her collegiate career.
- North Mankato, Minnesota: Karrey Tweten of the Evangelical Covenant
Church of North Mankato represented Blue Earth County in the 2003 Mrs.
Minnesota International Competition at the Ritsche Auditorium in St. Cloud.
The service platform that she promoted throughout the year was "Bringing
Depression Into the Light, Depression
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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