LaBolt Evangelical Covenant Church

This article was published in our national church website today. After hearing about a large church that gave $100 to those who agreed to do good with it and reading about a family that gave each member $10, I suggested that our church do the reverse tithing. Kebba and I spent our money on our former Hutterite neighbors and we started the Mission Meals with Dale's money and that of another couple. We have made casseroles, fruit cups, and quick breads to freeze. If anybody has recipes that they know freeze well, we would be happy to have them. Betty

“Reverse Tithe”

Giving Back, Reaching Out

LA BOLT, SD (April 30, 2009) – An idea to give attendees at LaBolt Covenant Church a “reverse tithe” has led to the start of a new ongoing ministry, “Mission Meals.”

The church council recently decided to give each of the youth and adults $25 to be used to help another person, family, or organization. The only stipulation was that they had to report back to the church what they did with the money.

“Our Sunday school picked up on the idea, and every child age five and older received $20 from our Sunday-school fund,” says pastor Mark Chapman.

Mission Meals was born when two families pooled their money, purchased groceries, and made several ready-to-bake meals and stocked the church freezer with them, Chapman says.

“Anyone can now come to the church and take a full meal, along with a greeting card, to another family or individual for any reason,” says Chapman. “Meals have been delivered to cancer patients, people recovering from surgery and several others.”

The council subsequently decided to fund the ministry through the general fund, Chapman says.

The “reverse tithe” was used in other ways as well. Some people gave money to a local food pantry, to a couple who both had been laid off. Others bought clothes for a needy family and purchased track shoes for a high-school athlete who couldn’t afford his own.

“As pastor, I am very proud of our congregation of 60 people for taking this financial faith step in highly uncertain economic times,” says Chapman. “People expect the church to be asking for more money in times like this. We are showing the community around us that the love of Jesus turns everything around.”

Copyright © 2009 The Evangelical Covenant Church.

Tales of Old Dakota

The librarian from school got Tales of Old Dakota for me from the Aberdeen School Library and I have spent a week trying to get through it. As I said before, I am not much for history. This book begins with stories of the author searching for places he has heard about. He gives explanations about his searches but does not find much. As the book goes on, he makes more discoveries. I read closely as not to miss the Threadgold name and got to it tonight on page 159. One of the stories was about Storla. I can remember going to visit Grandpa Scott at the nursing home there. That nursing home closed a few years ago. I still have a couple of stories to read and will finish it if only to say I read it. It talks about Jesse and Frank James. At one time they had a hideout just south of LaBolt. I would recommend this book only to those who are really into early South Dakota history.

May Birthdays

Thomas Threadgold May 2

Bob Threadgold May 3

Carrie Green May 7

Ann Riggs May 10

Sachin Choudhary May 12

Josh Anderson May 15 (born same day as Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins May 15, 1981)

Michael Riggs May 30

Bethal Hall

I gave up on the electronic paper version. It will probably come out today.

Bryant--Bethal Alida Hall, 87, Bryant, died Thursday April 18, 2009, at a Sioux Falls hospital. Funeral services will be Monday, April 20 at 1 p.m. in the United Church of Christ at Bryant, with the Rev Margie Brewton officiating.

Burial will be at Woodlawn Cemetery, Bryant.

Visitation will be Sunday, April 19 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Osthus Funeral Chapel in Bryant.

Bethal Alida (Kelsey) was born Dec. 16, 1921 to Howard and Ida (Clarke) Kelsey on a farm south of Fedora. She attended school at Fedora through high school graduating in 1940.

She worked at Madison for one year prior to her marriage to Lloyd (Ole) Hall on March 9, 1941 at Roswell. The couple moved to Bryant and she was a homemaker and worked at the sale barn. She clerked for many years for her husband who was an auctioneer. She also decorated many cakes over the years for all different occasions.

She was an active member of United Church Of Christ in Bryant where she werved in many areas. She was a member of the Sunshine Extension Club, the Bryant Development Board, East River Health Board, and was a Brownie Scout and 4-H leader. She enjoyed sewing, playing bridge, and visiting with family and friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Ole.

Survivors include her daughter, Cheryl (Gary) De Wall of Crooks; two stepgrandchildren; two stepgreat-grandsons; and one sister, Evelyn (Carl) Braa of Mitchell.

Old Days On The Prairie by Tom Kilian

We had a snow day yesterday and are an hour late today. I spent my spare time reading Audrey's book Old Days on the Prairie by Tom Kilian. It is about life in Vilas between World War 1 and World War 2. The author must have grown up about the same time as Grandpa and Grandma T. Vilas's high school closed as he was starting high school so he road the train to Howard and began as a freshman in 1936. I am not a history buff, but found the book very interesting. There was much I did not know about that period in Miner County and Vilas. One halloween kids were out tipping over outdoor bathrooms and the blacksmith shot one of the teenagers in the head and killed him. He served time in the SD pen. Ruskin Park and Forestburg melons are mentioned along with the Watkins man and gypsies. I can not remember there being gypsies in my time. He talked about cutting a plug out of the watermelon to see if they were ripe several times. At a picnic a teenager cut a plug out, filled it with moonshine, and put the plug back in. The kids had a great time pretending to be under the influence if they were not actually so. He also talks about the teacher making him stand in front with the palms of his hands facing up and hitting him with the metal part of a wooden ruler. His hands did not bleed but were swollen up and stiff for several days. I can remember Mrs. Blume doing that to Jim O'Neal in the 3rd grade. Audrey mentioned in the blog that there was another book. I may be borrowing that from her in the future.

Betty