Uncategorized

What a great turn out for our JCC retreat out at the Tsai home on Hood Canal last Saturday (July 22nd)! As the tide reached its lowest point (9:42 a.m.?) the early birds were already there digging clams out of the sand (Larry, Bisim, and friends). Folks kept joining the gathering until almost 11:00 when it felt like there was a group of almost 50 on hand. The Suzuki grandkids and family – just rolling in from Japan the day before, Ivan’s brother Arturo and Deborah – driving all the way down from Vancouver, and LOTS of JCC connections and friends from near and far. Peter and Joyce did a great job hosting all of us, cooking burgers and hot dogs on the BBQ grill, and others brought all sorts of goodies in order to put on a potluck spread. Good conversations, laughter, delicious food, and excellent weather all added up to a wonderful time of relaxation and play. Our time together drew to a close with “suika-wari”, a Japanese summer tradition for eating watermelon together by first playing a game of “whack the watermelon while blindfolded” – and a short devotional by Pastor Tim. Thanks to all of Peter and Joyce’s hard work and hospitality in hosting this event!

Here are a few pictures…. but you can go to a gallery HERE to see more. Feel free to download any photos you want.

Thanks Peter and Joyce!!

The JCC church board decided a few weeks ago to make some changes in our signage. Some of the original and historic signs on the old building are being moved and “re-purposed” in order to better highlight our newer church structure along the more public sidewalks and approach.

Several weeks ago Gene Hanson took on the job of removing the long horizontal sign from above the entrance to the original building. He took it home, refinished it, and now has mounted it for us on the concrete wall near the front of the sanctuary. It looks great and adds some clear identity to our entrance.

Gene, working on the signage….

How it has looked for the past 65 years….. and how it appears now.

The content of the large sign on the ground was also outdated so Gene took out that portion…. only to find ANOTHER, MORE outdated portion underneath.

Other changes still to come: we’re wondering about moving this sign to the other side of the church… by the parking lot, and putting new content inside. It, too, has great historic value and we would love to keep it in use. Finally, we’re putting new content into the aluminum sign on the front corner of the church. Hopefully, both JCC and SABF will be able to get a bit more accurate exposure through these changes. Stay tuned!

Twenty individuals gathered at JCC this morning to take part in our work-day – 10 from JCC and 10 from SABF (Seattle Alliance Bible Fellowship).  The JCC team worked outside on the north side of the sanctuary, pulling weeds, mowing the grass, trimming trees and generally cleaning up. The SABF team worked mostly inside the sanctuary while part of their team pulled weeds and did yard work on the east end of the sanctuary. The weather was perfect, spirits were good, and I think most would agree that it was actually pretty fun to work hard together and see a real improvement on all fronts. Thanks to all who came… and we look forward to more work days together in the weeks ahead!

Some serious weeding, mowing,  and cutting back branches produced a neater and cleaner garden and sidewalk!

Staying Connected…