"Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."
Ephesians 4:14-16

We are excited about the way Mount Olive Ministries is working together as the body of Christ to care for each other and impact our community. Here are some recent examples:

Last month people in our congregation donated 61 DVDs and 30 CDs to send overseas to our servicemen. Below is a quote from the e-mail we got from Debbie O'Donnell's son Robert Stahl who's in Afghanistan.

"I received the box of DVDs and I want to let you and the congregation know that we all appreciate it very much. Our job gives us a lot of time to spend trying to amuse ourselves, and we had been running out of ideas. I believe in the last week more than half of those movies have been watched. Once again, we all thank you very much."

Robert M. Stahl SrA, Jay Weaver TSgt, Robert Newberry SSgt, Robert Mearlon TSgt, David Schlicher A1C, Paul Davis SrA, Josh Terrel SrA, Matthew Cooey SrA, Christopher Latza SrA and Shawn Conoyer SrA.

At a time when all other churches in the New Orleans area have closed their doors, one church, St. John, has refused to close its doors. The last weekend of January, Steve Hunt and Bill O'Donnell traveled to New Orleans to assess the damage and plan for future work parties. One thing became painfully clear during their trip...The amount of work needed to rebuild was overwhelming. To coin a phrase from one member of the congregation, "We don't know what we don't know". While digging a trench to lay electrical conduit, concrete foundations were discovered in areas where no buildings stood. Praise God that even in all the chaos, Bill and Steve were able to begin electrical work for the church's administration office.

Have you ever noticed how at the 10:45 AM service many children don't sit exactly with their parents? Instead, many children and teenagers tend to sit with their friends. How cool it is to see children as young as three years old choose to leave the safety of their parent's side to share their worship experience with others! It just goes to show how Mt. Olive has created an environment where friendships are strong at an early age. I marvel at this, because it has been my hope that my children would grow in Christ with solid Christian comrades. So that when they have to weather difficult and trying storms in their life, they will have a safe place to go with caring friends that will give them biblical advise. These relationships have been built through attendance at church, Sunday School, Life Groups, Youth Group meetings, Kidz Connection, and other social events. Thanks Mt. Olive for creating such an incredibly positive Christian environment to raise my children!

Barbara Knitter

2005 might be known as the year of global catastrophes, but for the people at "The Family Giving Tree", it will be remembered as the year of giving. Families of Mount Olive donated 85 gifts and $100 to benefit the children in our community. One 10 year old boy said, "Everybody worked to make us feel happy, and for the time we were at the party we forgot about our life problems". Thanks so much to the families who participated in this special event.

During the month of November the people of Mount Olive have been very generous! You put together 154 shoe boxes full of gifts for Operation Christmas Child! Many of the boxes were bulging and overflowing with wonderful toys and books for these special children. You also helped the Milpitas Food Pantry by donating more than 110 boxes of Stuffing Mix and over 200 cans of Olives. Thank you for having such a wonderful, giving heart! As Pastor says, "There is nothing like the local church when the local church is working right".

On September 17, 2005 nine people from Mount Olive headed to inland China to take part in bringing running water to an impoverished mountain village in Yunnan, China. The village turned out to be full of fellow Christians who had been praying for three years that God would answer their prayer for running water in their village. The dry season in their village runs from January through May. During those months the older women had to carry buckets almost three miles each direction to retrieve their water. The need was real for these special people. The average income in the village is around $30 US dollars per year. There is no way that they could afford this project. The people of Mount Olive donated $5,000 USD for the project and the team members raised all the money it cost to make the trip happen. The people of the village did the work, running pipes from a water source over a mile up a mountain to a new cistern they dug and built to store the water. The pipes continued down the hill to village where each humble little home had a water faucet installed just outside their door. When our team arrived they were greeted by villagers dressed in local costumes and singing a beautiful song, "Welcome to our guests, we hope you stay with us a long, long time." The highlight of the journey was a time of fellowship and worship with the combined residents of two villages. The gifts, candy and smiles of children were forever burned in the team's memories.

When the local church is working right - it is also impacting globally!

In April members from our churched helped with the Rebuilding Together project and assisted Jeany Boyd with some needed home repairs. Here is an excerpt from her letter: "I can not express to you the gratitude that I have for all the people that came out to help put my house together. Thank you does not seem like enough, but that is all I can do is say Thank you from the bottom of my heart. There were so many that I just can not name them or thank them enough for all that they did. I now have a brand new place. You have put a very bold smile on my face. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Over the past two weekends Mount Olive has partnered with the Milpitas Rotary Club to help improve the life of a local disabled woman, Gina, who moved to Milpitas from Chicago in 1970 to help her sister with a new baby. At 56 she suffers from severe diabetes and is permanently disabled, living on a small fixed income. Due to her limitations her home had fallen into disrepair.

It has been heartwarming to see Gina's response to the home improvements. At the end of the day as we walked with her through her home to review the work done, she could hardly speak. She was transfixed by simple things that many of us take for granted....A hood over her cook top that operates properly, a washer and dryer that work, bathroom sinks that she no longer needs to fight with to turn on and off, and a toilet that no longer runs constantly.

Those of us that have been privileged to work on this project have been touched by the graceful attitude and thankful heart of Gina and have received much more than we have given.

2 Corinthians 9:11: "You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God."

Submitted by Todd Flesner

It has been hard for me to share my faith and invite people to church, but lately, I've been getting more bold. I met Elizabeth last year while substituting in a second grade class. We did some sign language in class to pass some time. Now, whenever she sees me, she asks how to sign something. When I knew I'd be teaching the ASL class at church, I decided I'd invite her to come. I soon found out that her family was unchurched and I started praying for them. Elizabeth attended class and became an inspiration to our Adult students, by picking up the signs quickly. One day when I was substituting, she melted my heart as I saw her signing "Jesus loves me and God loves me." She remembered what she had learned at our ASL class! I let her parents know about our signing of the Lord's Prayer on April 17th. Elizabeth was too nervous to sign, but led us in prayer. Her family and best friend's family came to watch her that day. My daughter gave her an invitation to join us for Friendship Sunday. I pray that her family will come to church again and that we have planted a seed for the entire family to come to Christ. - Barbara Knitter

Last year when my father passed away, it was an extremely difficult time for me due to strained family relations. At one point, I was not even permitted to visit my father on his death bed. Our Mount Olive family, including our Life Group, the Gibsons, and the Starkeys, stood by me and supported me through that time. That experience convinced me, further, that Mt. Olive is working right and helped me deepen my commitment to the Mt. Olive family. By Fred Harper

The people of Mount Olive helped with the Family Giving Tree back in December. We received a letter from the Queen Elf, Jennifer Cullenbine and she wrote: "What an incredible season it was! With your (and our other hosts) hard work and dedication, we were able to help more than 55,000 underprivileged children! The gifts were provided to 250 local social service agencies ensuring that all their children received a new, wrapped gift. 2004 saw an amazing increase in the number of volunteers who came and gave their time to make sure each child's gift was correct. Over 5,000 volunteers came into the warehouse in December and another 200 helped in our office during the year. 2004 also saw a huge increase in the number of children/agencies asking for help. We assisted 7,000 more children and 48 more agencies than last year. What a difference you have made in our community!"

Recently Mount Olive has been blessed to love and encourage a Christian Iraqi (Christian Assyrians) immigrant family. At Christmas they received dozens of gifts from people in our congregation that made their Christmas extra special. More recently we were able to provide them with two twin size beds for their apartment. Let's keep on working right for this great family!

I recently returned from walking a 26.2 marathon for the American Stroke Association in Phoenix. I completed the walk in 7 hours and 6 minutes. The weather was beautiful and perfect for walking - God was sure with us as the storm moved north the day of the marathon.

I want to thank everyone for their prayers and support - it has been a great experience. There were approximately 30,000 participants, so the momentum was something else. I actually came in 22nd in my age group. The support of the team, the training for six months, and the coaches were something else! It kind of reminds me of "the local church, when the local church is working right!"
Blessings, Barbara Tapper

My favorite part of our trip was going to the snow. I thought the one word prayer was neat. I got to know Jake more, so now we are better friends. I think everybody should come back next year! I want to stay three days instead of just two, that's my suggestion.
By Jeffrey Knitter

My favorite part of the Snow Trip was learning the different types of prayer. My favorite prayer is the word prayer. I felt honored that people who are not Christian wanted to come with us. I got to know some of my friends like Michael better, because we had time to hang out together. I also had more time to hang out with Dennis. Next year I am really looking forward to coming to the snow retreat with my friends. I hope they all return so we can have another great weekend together!
By Nicholas Woo

The Superintendent of Milpitas Unified School District called Mount Olive with a dilemma. They had nearly 200 gifts from the Family Giving Tree to distribute to children they had identified, but no way to get them all delivered in time for Christmas. We saw this as an awesome opportunity to share the joy of Christmas with our community. Thank you to our 3 'Super Elves' who organized the effort and the 22 Mount Olive members and families who delivered gifts to homes. It was wonderful to see the smiles on the faces of unsuspecting children when they received a special Christmas gift. The Superintendent of Milpitas Unified School District gratefully commented, "On behalf of the entire Milpitas Unified School District, let me say that you and your congregation represent the best of Milpitas and our local community."

2004 was truly an amazing year for Chuck and Sandy May. They saw God's continued blessings and faithfulness through a difficult journey of health struggles. Through all of their "speed bumps" they never walked alone for one minute.