First United Methodist Church, Douglas, Wyoming

WOW—it is already August! I can remember my mom commenting how fast the months move by, and she was right—again! August is always such a busy time for families. When Henry and I were teachers at DHS, it was a month filled with our children showing their FFA market cattle at the state fair, both of us getting curriculum developed and syllabi written, and buying school clothes for all four of us plus school supplies for our children. There are days that I miss that now with an empty house and retirement, but there are also blessings because we are not guided by a school calendar.

One Church Council met on July 17 with seven members present. Pastor Don Bergstrom met with the council to discuss his planned commitment to First United Methodist Church. He will hold office hours on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday plus visit shut-ins, hospitalized members and friends, Care Center members and is willing to visit people in Casper as needed. He has some exciting ideas for our church such as Haley Sorg playing guitar for some services and having a Back to Church Sunday to name just a couple. The council, after he left, voted to hire Pastor Don from July 28th through December 15; he will be out-of-state for the holidays.

The council has contacted Blackburn Construction to review the front portion of the church as the bid included work that was determined could not be accomplished because of tree roots. He will return the middle to later part of August to check on the situation and discuss a partial refund.

OCC is waiting for bids on the replacement of the coverings for the stained-glass windows. The plexiglass has yellowed, and the beautiful scenes cannot be seen from the outside. The replacement will be covered from the yearly interest our church received from Methodists Helping Methodists, which this year was $14,601. We are a blessed church community to have forefathers who invested monies in this fund from which we are instructed to draw the interest yearly.

Lorraine has been in communication with the City of Douglas about the sidewalks. The city will decide on the bid and will pay 50 percent. The two bids have been turned over to the city.

George Smith and Pastor Don discussed a Wednesday Night Prayer time in our beautiful Prayer Room. This time of prayer is open to anyone to attend and is held from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Individuals do not need to come or stay the entire time.

We received an announcement that our new bishop is Kristin Stoneking. We will be introducing her through the newsletter as we receive information.

May you have a blessed month of August and enjoy the Wyoming State Fair!

Connie Woehl, OCC Chair