THE VAUDREUIL PARISH PULSE

July 29th, 2005 (2005-07)

LABOUR OF LOVE RETURNS:

The St. Mary's Church gates, so professionally restored and put in place last summer
by Don Maguire, retired to Don's barn to hibernate for the winter. But being the
perfectionist that he is, Don did not let them rest on their laurels. He has fixed
up all the bumps and scratches they acquired from last summer's stint on their
hinges, and has returned them to the positions on the gate posts at St. Mary's
Church.

They look magnificent. Do stop and examine them as you pass by. And tell Don what
you think of them!

STRAWBERRY SOCIAL: A GREAT EVENING !

What a great evening it was!

This is always a popular annual Parish event, but this year it was a 'WOW!' thanks
to the very hard work of many from St. Mary's and St. James, whether it was
strawberry hulling, setting up chairs and tables, serving drinks and food,
Barbecuing, preparing coffee, collecting donations at the entrance, clean-up etc.,
etc. Above all, it was a wonderful evening because so many came from within our
Parish, and the community at large. The 170 or so revellers must surely have been a
record and this owes something to our Rector, John, for seeing that the weather was
favourable! With only 37 people informing the office that they would be there, the
crowd did almost overwhelm us, but not quite, thanks to the capability of the
Barbecuers and to Frank Royle who even had to get IGA to open after hours so we
could get more hamburgers!

Entertainment was back this year, and about 100 stayed to hear 7 choristers from the
Greenwood Singers present a selection of songs (accompanied only by Frank's
cell-phone which was hard to suppress!). This was followed by some jazz numbers by
saxophonist (and St. James tenor choir member) Andrew Skowronski, accompanied by Pat
Gonzales. A fantastic short concert, thanks to their generous gifts of time and
ability.

For the information of those interested in 'how we did', some $1,100 was collected
at the door and leaves us with a very modest profit to share. It is not our
intention to make a profit but merely to cover the costs, as this is a community
social occasion and not a fund raiser. Who knows, we might see 170 in Church on
Sundays to come, which would be wonderful!

HELPING OUR COMMUNITY:

The basket at the back of St Mary's, which has been for the past fifteen years
emptied and taken to St Michael's Mission, will now be going to Le Pont Bridging.
Parishioners are encouraged to bring something with them to church every week, as
people get hungry on a daily basis, not just at Christmas time!!

PARISH FAMILY: Milestones of recent weeks

BAPTISMS: Alexandra Nicole, daughter of Trina and Christopher Bleichert was
baptized at St. James on July 17th at the 9:30 a.m. service.

BARBECUE AT THE RECTORY: SUNDAY, AUGUST 7TH AT 12:30 P.M.

Karen and John look forward to seeing you at their annual barbecue.

RSVP: P.O. Box 189, Hudson Heights, J0P 1J0, Parish Office 458-5897 or

e-mail: jbradley@parishofvaudreuil.com

OUR OWN YOUTH IN MEXICO WE ARE PROUD OF YOU KATE!!!!!

Submitted by Kate Ilaqua

When I received the application form for the trip to go to Mexico, I
suddenly realized that I really wanted to go. For a while I have wanted
to go on a mission trip and I wondered how to sign up to go on one. I
read through the package and started filling it out right away. I did
the homework and gave the specific parts to be filled out by other
people and sent off the application quickly. I personally thought that
many people would want to go so I made sure everything was ready and
good to go quickly.

I didn't really know what to expect when I left the airport. I read
through the package about Mexico, the dress code, packing etc. The
folder left me with these ideas: It's going to be very hot and dry,
going to get much love from children, I will have a great time and I
will be doing construction in some form. When we arrived in El Paso
Texas, it was hot! A fryer. It felt like someone put the temperature to
350 degrees for baking and I was the brownies. We (Jessica Bickford
coordinator of youth ministries, Chris Belle, and 6 other teens) had to
wait for our lift to a hotel where we were to meet up with other people.
I thought that the shade would make a difference but it didn't. When the
lift came, the air conditioning felt so good.

At the hotel there were two other groups there; one from South Dakota
and one from Florida. Everyone got onto an Uncle Harry's bus (yellow
bus, but my family calls it an Uncle Harry's) and headed for the Mexican
border. Getting through was a breeze and we met people and spoke to them
as we traveled. Since we were the only Canadian group, we were asked
many questions about Canada, we were pretty cool. When we arrived at the
site, we met the leaders of Youth Works (the organization behind this
mission trip). We went over rules and meals, who has to do what, which
groups we were in etc. From the traveling and being 2 hours behind
Hudson time, we were really exhausted and tired. The heat was so bad, I
thought I was not going to make 5 days of the heat and it was not even
noon.

I was in the group that did construction for the first 2 days and then
Kids club for the following 2. The next morning I had to wake up extra
early and be on breakfast crew with some other people. After that, we
made our lunches and packed up the truck, then headed off to a house as
I had heard. I really noticed the poverty and the many stray dogs as we
traveled there. The house was not very far away, maybe a 5 minute drive.
Our task was to try and finish the house that previous people had
started and bricked. The house had the concrete floor and had 8 to 9
rows of the cinder blocks. There were to be 11 on all sides of the new
house. We were shown how to make mortar and how to use the leveler and
string as guidelines. I was partnered with someone from South Dakota
called Jason; he was the youth pastor at his church. We were a great
team and we did very well at getting first-timer perfect blocks. They
were heavy and the sun was beating on us but we kept on going.

After doing the construction for two days, the following 2 were kids
club. In the morning we prepared for a play since that was what my group
was put into. In our groups, we walked down streets close to the site
and yelled 'club des ninos" which meant kids club. Children came running
out of their houses and grabbed our hands smiling. Some asked us to wait
while they asked if they could go and then they came and ran over too.
From 1-3pm the kids came. At 3 o'clock when everything was over, we
walked them home. Every child wanted a piggyback ride and it was hard to
just pick one person. The children were so cute and they always had a
smile on their faces no matter what the family circumstance or wealth.

When everyone left Mexico to go home to his or her designated flights or
hotels, we all learnt something. Firstly, the Americans started learning
about our Canadian anthem, and some French words, but we all realized
that we have so much more than the people have in Mexico. We have
running water, a big house compared to their bedroom-sized houses made
of metal sheets, grass, nice cars, good food. I now try to conserve
water when I'm using it because I got such a privilege by having it. I
have nice clothes and come to think of it, I really have nothing to
complain about. We have everything we need: schools, transportation,
malls, the IGA. We have so much and they don't but the most amazing
thing is that they are so happy with what they have. I will remember my
mission trip to Mexico and I would like to thank everyone who helped me
get there. This trip was quite the experience and I will never forget
it.

PARISH CONSIGNMENT SALE: SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17TH

Start looking for things to sell or think of things you would like to buy.

"PULSE" CONTACT INFORMATION:

The Parish Pulse Editorial Team is actively looking for your articles. Please feel
free to contact any of them with your ideas or suggestions for an article. (Patti
Ann Gannon, 613-674-1376, pattiann@sympatico.ca; Paul Brierley, 450-458-1750,
paul.brierley@future.ca; Wilf Hall, 450-458-7913, wghall@sympatico.ca). The
deadline for the next issue is Wednesday, August 17th, 2005. The publication will
be Friday, August 26th, 2005.

Submissions should be directed to Patti Ann Gannon through:

pattiann@sympatico.ca, parishvaudreuil@ca.inter.net, drop off at the Parish Office,
fax to the Parish Office at 450-458-8802, or mail to The Parish of Vaudreuil, 642
Main Road, Hudson Heights, Quebec, J0P 1J0.

WEB LINKS RECOMMENDED BY THE EDITORS:

http://www.montreal.anglican.org/index-01.shtml

http://www.alphacanada.org/

http://www.podm.net/po_how.htm

www.parishofvaudreuil.com

SCHEDULE FOR AUGUST

Sunday, August 7th - 12th after Pentecost

7:45 a.m. Holy Communion St. James

9:30 a.m. Morning Prpayer St. Mary's

10:00 a.m. Service Evergreen, St. Lazare

Readings: Genesis 37: 1-4, 12-28; Romans 10: 5-15; Matthew 14: 22-33

Sunday, August 7th - 12:30 p.m. - Barbeque at the Rectory !

Sunday, August 14th - St. Mary's Day

(outdoor service weather permitting)

7:45 a.m. Holy Communion St. James

9:30 a.m. Holy Communion St. Mary's

10:00 a.m. Service Evergreen, St. Lazare

Readings: Isaiah 7: 10-15; Galatians 4: 4-7; Luke 1: 46-55

Sunday, August 21st - 14th after Pentecost

7:45 a.m. Holy Communion St. James

9:30 a.m. Family Service St. Mary's

10:00 a.m. Service Evergreen, St. Lazare

Readings: Exodus 1: 8-2:10; Romans 12: 1-8; Matthew 16: 13-20

Sunday, August 28th - 15th after Pentecost

7:45 a.m. Holy Communion St. James

9:30 a.m. Holy Communion St. Mary's

10:00 a.m. Service Evergreen, St. Lazare

Readings: Exodus 3: 1-15; Romans 12: 9-21; Matthew 16: 21-28