HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-12-24, Page 37Duff’s United Church congregation
was welcomed by Elsie Carter and
Amanda and Justin Morrison. They
were greeted by the melodious sounds
of Christmas music provided by the
talented members of Duff’s Church,
Glenda Morrison, Margery Huether,
Marie McGavin at the organ and
piano, Marion Godkin, horn, Phyllis
Mitchell, violin, Pearl McCallum,
harmonica and Gloria Wilbee with
guitar. Gloria and Graeme Craig sang a
duet, Do You See What I See.
Rev. Peter thanked Abby McGavin
for her continued mission efforts in
collecting winter clothing for the
homeless. She collected over 60 coats
and a bagful of hats, mitts and scarves
that were delivered to Emmanuel
Howard United Church in Toronto.
He reminded all about the Christmas
Eve service at Duff’s at 7 p.m.
Happy birthday was sung to
Monique Baan, Marjory Humphries
and Pearl McCallum.
Confirmation classes will be starting
in the new year and interested young
people, 12-13 years old, should
contact Rev. Peter.
The Advent reading and candles
were lit by Ryan, Adam and Emma
Baan. The fourth Sunday of Advent is
the Sunday of love. The scripture
reader was Murray Dennis.
The choir sang an anthem.
The youth led by Gloria Wilbee,
presented an Advent play entitled,
Help Jesus Shine. The story was about
what is important at Christmas. People
get so wrapped up in preparing for
Christmas, but is that what is
important? The preparing of hearts for
Christmas, the celebration of the birth
of Jesus and the love and hope that he
brings to everyone’s life are important.
Things are not the important part of
Christmas but the love of Jesus and
people’s efforts to help Jesus shine and
to spread the message of keeping
Christ in Christmas are.
The young people involved in the
play were Sarah Strome, Scott Baan,
Emma Baan, Emma Strome, Craig
Baan, Tegan McGavin, Joelle
Glanville, Ryan Baan, Adam Baan,
MacKenzie McGavin, Jacob
McGavin, Melissa Glanville, William
Ringgenberg. The youngest members
of the congregation who helped in the
alphabet Christmas song by holding
the letters while the choir sang
included Jacob and Errick Gulutzen,
Abby and Ava Strome, Lorren and
Alaina Poland, Jake Bromley, Amanda
and Justin Morrison.
The offering was collected by Lorne
Glanville and Ron McCallum and the
musicians of the church played
Christmas songs. Special music for the
service was provided by Keith Wilbee
and Don Chesher playing saxophones
and Gloria Wilbee playing bass guitar.
A social hour of muffins and coffee
was enjoyed by many of the over 80
congregation members present.
THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2009. PAGE 37.Continued from page 36She brought the torch into hisclassroom and Sebastian had theopportunity to carry it around theclassroom and tells his grandparents,What an experience. He was thrilled
to have been chosen and will
remember it forever.
Patricia and Eddie Andrades are
Sebastian’s parents.
Welcome back to Margery Huether
who has returned from Florida for the
Christmas season. She put her piano
playing talent to work right away
playing at church on Sunday along
with the six other musically-talented
folks.
The Peter MacDonald family
moved on the weekend. Peter and
wife Jennifer, along with children
Maddy, Duncan and their little sister
have moved from the former George
Love Sr. home to Goderich. We hope
they enjoy their new surroundings
and I will miss the two older children
who rode on my bus.
The Sutcliffe family has been busy
packing their things to make the
move to their new home. They will be
moving into the former Macdonald
home this week and look forward to
spending Christmas in their new
surroundings. Happy moving to
Gary, Rachel, Ava and Liam from
your Moncrieff Road friends.
Here is a story of an unforgettable
adventure that two local women have
had the experience of enjoying. Marg
Garniss and Fran Breckenridge,
along with six other fellow travellers,
went on an eco-adventure tour with
the Touch the Jungle organization.
They spent a two-week adventure in
Ecuador.
Fran reports that she went on this
trip because it sounded like an
exciting adventure into nature. No
cities for her. She reports that the boat
ride to the African village was
breathtaking, and the rock formation
of the Cathedral was totally
awesome.
El Choco is a coastal rainforest
region in the northwest of Ecuador,
the world’s eighth most ecologically-
diverse country. Much of El Choco is
threatened by logging, mining and
agricultural interests.
The small community of Playa de
Oro is struggling to preserve their
portion of this beautiful landscape
and to maintain their traditional
lifestyle. Ecotourism is a way for
communities to invite visitors in to
learn about their lives, land, animalsand plants. It allows people to protecttheir natural resources while makinga living.The leader of this tour was GraceLush, a Canadian who divides her
time between her home in Mount
Forest and her home in Ecuador. She
has been leading tours for about 10
years.
Since 2000, the village of Playa de
Oro has operated a rustic eco-lodge
upriver from their community. Marg
Garniss reports that what was most
exciting for her was the remoteness,
no electricity or outside noises or
light. The total darkness was
awesome.
“The people were so happy.
Content with their lives. It is truly a
lesson for us in Canada where we
have so much and fuss so much,” she
said.
The group swam in the Santiago
River, hiked through the jungle to the
village and ate wonderfully locally-
grown food. They also hiked to a
waterfalls deep in the jungle where
few people have ever been. There
were so many new sights, sounds and
tastes. The people of Playa de Oro
have always been hospitable but now
they are also learning new skills for
guiding and serving their guests.
The children are anxious to
practise English, so they can help at
the lodge in the future. They have no
fear of visitors and loved to talk, hug
and dance with them.
The people of the village pan for
gold, hunt and gather and also grow
bananas, cocoa beans and citrus for
the village. The people are of African
descent and keep their African
customs alive including their
traditional marimba band, consisting
of all village-made instruments.
The dancing has been handed down
through the generations and the
children perform for the guests.
Playa de Oro is only accessible by
motorboat or dugout canoe on the
river Santiago.
Some of the other amazing
adventures included riding horses up
to an Andean mountain school,
swimming in hot springs that were
heated by a volcano, shopping for
beautiful handicrafts in an indigenous
market, river rafting and zip lining.
They had wonderful guides who
helped with translations and gave a
continuous account of the
countryside and history while they
travelled.It was an amazing trip and onethese local women will not everforget. Information on the Touch theJungle group and future eco-trips canbe found at www.touchthejungle.org
The birthday celebrants to finish
December are Leanne Nolan, Pam
Nolan, Adam Shortreed, Stephen
Bernard, Lisa Fritz, Stephanie
Rijkhoff, Abby Strome, Geoff
Dalton, Marjory Humphries, JeffLewington, David Pethick, GlennMader, Natalie Wakabayashi, JeanBewley, Monique Baan, John W.Brown, Pearl McCallum, ClaytonFraser, Alice Searle, Peter Kugba
Nyande, Michelle Blake, Reagan
Blair, Anne Curreri, Kerry Blake
Dale, Mark Gillis, Alaina Poland,
Greg Fritz, Elise Ringgenberg, Judy
Emmrich and Audrey Hackwell.
Music at
Duff’s
Boy carries torch around his classroom
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