January 2012 Prayer Household of the Month Each month well pray for a specific unit.

For the month of January, please pray for the Philippi unit. They are: Renee Hostetler Ben Reim Abby Schrag Allison Shetler Micah Yoder Heidi, Mike, Ian & Ella McHugh, unit leaders Prayer Request Leaders retreat is in San Antonio, Jan. 2629. Pray for a time of renewal for leaders. Praise Item Praise for the healthy birth of Mila Jaella Kilheffer born to Fred & Kelly, Anchorage unit leaders, on Jan. 4.

Meet the Philippi Unit!

Each month we will use this newsletter as a way to learn more about whats going on throughout Service Adventure and to get to know people in a specific location. This month we are focusing on the Philippi, WV Service Adventure unit. Enjoy getting to know a bit about who they are and what they are doing this year.

Counter-clockwise from top left: Mike McHugh, Micah Yoder, Abby Schrag, Ian McHugh, Ella McHugh, Renee Hostetler, Heidi McHugh, Allison Shetler and Benjamin Reim Birthdays December 6 Renee Hostetler, Philippi 17 Jill Schmidt, MMN Staff 26 Brian Yoder Schlabach, Albuquerque 28 Michelle Peachey, Albuquerque January 1 Amanda Keegel, Anchorage 20 Erin Regier, Albuquerque 30 Micah Yoder, Philippi

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Service Adventure News Abby Name and placement: Abigail Elyse Schrag, nurse's aide at The Myers Clinic and tutor at Kid Reach after-school program Nickname: "Abba" - Ella What makes you special (according to the others): Scares easily; wants a tat of the MCUSA logo; loves Glee; loves baking; her machine gun laughter; running; bickering with Ben about mushrooms and fresh baked bread; loves to sing A favorite memory of SA thus far: Playing dress-up for Halloween and roller skating Worst experience of SA thus far: Scary walks in the woods at night and getting scared by Ben

Allison Name and placement: Allison Marie Shetler, teacher's aide at Feed My Sheep Christian School, and tutor at Kid Reach after school program Nickname: "Mr. Pants" -Ian, "A-alf" -Ella What makes you special (according to the others): Her awesome duck hat; rocking her footie pjs; good at folding paper; always forgetting to take food money to the store; always eating and not gaining weight; loves working with kids A favorite memory of SA thus far: Stealing Ben's stuffed cow and hanging it out the window=prank war Worst experience of SA thus far: Having to pee in the woods on our backpacking trip

Ben Name and placement: Benjamin Josiah Reim, teacher's aide at Philippi Elementary School Nickname: "Grandpa Ben" - Ian, "Honey Ben; Beni Ben" - Ella What makes you special (according to the others): Laughs at other's pain; lone German; has hunted once and is now hooked; mysteriously disappears for night walks and runs; tween girls wanting his phone number; sleeping in; bickering with Abby about mushrooms and fresh baked bread; amazing at foosball; secretly good at guitar and piano A favorite memory of SA thus far: Hunting over Thanksgiving, and when I taped a cell phone on the light in the girls room with alarm set around 3 oclock :) Worst experience of SA thus far: The soccer team I helped coach lost the last game against a team which hadn't won in the league until then

Page 3 Ella Name: Ella Beth Stoltzfus McHugh Nickname: Ella-Bella What makes you special (according to the others): Loves everything purple; being cute; getting money and candy bars from strangers for being cute; immune to pain; being fearless; cheesy smile; blue eyes; gives the best big squeezes; loves to help in the kitchen; she loves to dance and spin! A favorite memory of SA thus far: Every moment with the group Worst experience of SA thus far: Going to bed at night

Service Adventure News

Heidi Name and jobs: Heidi Marie Stoltzfus McHugh, Service Adventure leader, administrative assistant at Heart & Hand What makes you special (according to the others): Gracefully stepping off a falling horse; making award-winning pumpkin whoopie pies; being the lone alto at church; crafty (baking, knitting, jewelry making); 10PM bedtime A favorite memory of SA thus far: One evening when everyone was gone, I took the baby bird that a few people had rescued from the neighbor boys and let everyone believe that it had jumped from its box and was lost in the house! And dominating at Just Dance. Worst experience of SA thus far: When the horse I was riding fell while going down a very rocky hill, and the guide said "oh yeah, she's kind of a clumsy horse." I traded horses with the guide.

Ian Name: Ian James Stoltzfus McHugh Nickname: Mr. Chatterbox What makes you special (according to the others): Always talking; needs to ring the dinner bell and sit by Abby; practicing speaking Chinese; jealous when Micah gets his own food; jealous when Ella gets her nails done; loves to bike; great welcomer! A favorite memory of SA thus far: Every moment with the group Worst experience of SA thus far: Going to bed at night

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Service Adventure News Mike Name and jobs: Michael Christopher Stoltzfus McHugh, Service Adventure leader, Heart & Hand volunteer, part-time Goshen College work What makes you special (according to the others): Always hurting feet (dropped washing machine on foot, tripped down stairs, playing soccer, mountain-biking); Mr. fix it; giving random tid-bits of information that somehow fit into the conversation; always wins games; has a pun for everything A favorite memory of SA thus far: Our weekend in Bellefontaine playing games and just relaxing in a different place with everyone Worst experience of SA thus far: Hurting my foot on Saturdays just in time to miss activities like roller skating

Micah Name and placement: Micah Jacob Yoder, volunteer at World Vision Storehouse and tutor at Kid Reach after-school program What makes you special (according to the others): Obsessed with sports; quiet; wide taste of music; having his own hymnal; receives sports updates on his phone and is perplexed when we don't understand the references; is never seen going to sleep; did we mention he loves sports? A favorite memory of SA thus far: Phoning home for the first time Worst experience of SA thus far: Riding bike to work in a lightning storm

Renee Name and placement: Renee Elena Hostetler, helper at Heart & Hand Ministries office and thrift store, and tutor at Kid Reach after-school program Nickname: Nay, RAH-NAY What makes you special (according to the others): Being loud; an amazing artist; blasting Spanish music; complaining about the cold; being good with directions; pretty handwriting; good at cutting hair, as well as dyeing it! A favorite memory of SA thus far: Stealing Abby's laptop and making dance videos with Allison, and going out for 80s night at a skating rink Worst experience of SA thus far: Putting ramen noodles in the microwave (with no water)! Our kitchen smelled for weeks!

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Service Adventure News

6 Things you might not know about Philippi, West Virginia - There are parades for every major holiday and festival (four so far since August!) - The river behind the unit house comes dangerously close to flooding the house and town when it rains for three days straight (it has flooded before too, most recently in 1985) - The covered bridge is the oldest and longest in West Virginia and the only covered bridge that is part of the US Highway system (U.S. Route 250) - Home to the first official land battle of the Civil War - The historical museum in Philippi has mummies on display - Childhood home of Ted Cassidy known for playing Lurch on the 60s TV series The Addams Family

Update from Albuquerque Greetings from the ABQ unit! The past few weeks since the fire have been full of many surprises, some great and some not so great. But through all of the ups and downs, we have experienced God's love, grace and blessings. One of the biggest blessings was finding a new house. As of the new year, we have officially moved into a new unit house at 1029 Princeton Dr. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106. It feels so nice to have a house and a space to call our own again, after feeling a little unsettled for the past month. We are grateful for all of the support and donations that we have received from Albuquerque Mennonite Church, our home congregations, the other units, our family and friends and everyone else who has helped us out. We have been continually amazed at the many ways that people have supported us. They provided temporary housing, meals and groceries, clothes, transportation, home furnishings and even helped us look for a new house. Another great surprise was that while we were gone for Christmas our church went through the old unit house and cleaned out all of our belongings. What a difference a faith community makes! Because of all of this support it feels like the unit is finally back to normal again. Our house is on its way to being fully furnished, we've set up a new routine and are now back to our placements. It's good to be back in the swing of things. Thanks for all of your support! "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight". -Proverbs 3:5-6 Prayer Requests: - That we would continue to adjust to this new living space, especially because there is less room than before - That our house would be able to take on the same feel as our old unit house - For Anna and Brian as they deal with all of the stress and responsibilities of moving - For the rest of the year to go smoothly

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Service Adventure News

Photos from Philippi