Thirty or so miles East of our campgrounds is a golf course that called out to me yesterday, so through the hills of West Massachusetts I drove our tow car for my morning's recreation. Most of the drive is made through canyons of pines and hardwoods that have been in this part of the world forever, forming barriers between the road and the Massachusetts natives that make their homes in this rugged land. Every once in a while, the trees give way to small towns and businesses which caught my eye as I tried to focus on the road, my GPS and whatever else I could see.

Almost to the golf course, I drove by a vegetable stand set up in front of a home situated just off the road. I thought I could find something special that would surprise Judy as I returned yesterday afternoon. But before I reached the golf course, I noticed the Pioneer Valley Mennonite Church, a simple building sitting next to the local VFW hall...and the VFW appeared to be much more affluent than the Mennonites!

So, after golf, I stopped for the vegetables I promised myself...what looked good were very fresh eggs in a small refrigerator, plump bing cherries and what appeard to be freshly picked broccoli: Total purchase: $6.31.

As I was paying, I noticed a pile of maps of the hills of Western Massachusetts and a stack of CD's entitled "There is a GOD". A small note said both the maps and the CD's were free...take one. Then I asked the teenage girl who was "manning" the stand if she were a member of the Mennonite Church I had just passed? (The clue: she was dressed in a plain blue dress .. doubtless homemade.. and had her head covering on that I remembered from my childhood days attending a Mennonite Church in Illinois.) Krista, as her name turned out to be, smiled and said she was a member as was her entire family and they distributed free CD's as a means of testifying that there is a GOD, and their steadfast faith is very important to their family. I asked if she would accept some money for the CD...Krista said absolutely not...she was instructed to give them away and not sell them.

When I reached the camper, I put the CD in the player: Judy and I enjoyed an hour of a choir music, singing hymns we grew up singing...Judy was singing the alto parts, I knew the bass parts. What a blessing!!!

That led us to talk about the $25 we had been trusted with to distribute...so, this morning Judy and I returned to the vegetable stand...Krista was there with her little sister. We told the story about the $25 and asked her to be kind enough to forward the money to whomever produced the CD. She did not know who had done that, but her parents would certainly know.

Here, on a small vegetable stand operated my a Mennonite family, is a music ministry, free for the taking, telling vegetable buyers that there is a GOD, and challenging in the last selection, "Where Will You Spend Eternity?"

Blessings,

Gary and Judy Muzzy

Pine Ridge

Our family thought and prayed, and prayed and thought about how best to extend FUMC WP’s love offering beyond our normal range. We decided to help residents of the poorest county in the USA- the Oglala Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation in southern South Dakota. Home of the descendants of Crazy Horse, Red Cloud and many others, this reservation struggles to move forward, help their people, while keeping their proud traditions, language and legacy alive.

The $25 is being used by the Oglala Lakota College’s Department of Nursing to provide scholarship support to native students.

Read, Denese, Carrie and Bryan Hayes