Daily Digest - November 02, 2012

"We hope to reach parents and guardians, homes and communities with life-saving and behavioral change messages on malaria through the children we train in the school health clubs" - Henrietta Emmanuel, head of the malaria unit for the Sierra Leone Annual (regional) Conference

N.J. struggles to assess damage

OCEAN, N.J. (UMNS) - The widespread effects of Hurricane Sandy on New Jersey have made it difficult for United Methodists to assess immediately the needs of churches and communities, said Bishop John Schol, Greater New Jersey Annual (regional) Conference. "Our main challenge is 2.4 million people without electricity," the bishop told United Methodist News Service Nov. 1. "Everything is down."
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Church rallies response in Northeastern U.S.

NEW YORK (UMNS) - The Rev. Joseph Ewoodzie, disaster response coordinator for the New York Annual (regional) Conference, is looking for volunteers within the New York area to help with cleanup and the distribution of cleaning buckets after Hurricane Sandy. Meanwhile, Bishop Thomas Bickerton of Pittsburgh has appealed to people in the Western Pennsylvania Conference to pray for those affected, prepare flood buckets and donate to the United Methodist Committee on Relief's recovery efforts.
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West Virginia tries to dig out

CHARLESTON, W. Va. (UMNS) - About 140,000 people remained without power Thursday afternoon in West Virginia. Several high mountain counties in the eastern part of the state remain covered in snow, making travel difficult at best. The West Virginia Annual (regional) Conference and its missions are working to provide food and shelter.
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Mission Central relief agency responds

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. (UMNS) - "Just because you see a little girl crying on the news because she lost her dolly in the hurricane, don't start a toy drive." So advised Patti Glasser, director of operations for Mission Central, the mission warehouse of the Susquehanna Annual (regional) Conference. In Mechanicsburg, about three hours from the Big Apple, Glasser and her staff of five already are responding to Hurricane Sandy-related needs from New York. They are waiting to hear from other affected states.
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Sierra Leone students to fight malaria

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (UMNS) - The Sierra Leone Annual (regional) Conference Health Board is taking the fight against malaria to schools in the country. In the coming months, school health clubs will train students about environmental sanitation, first aid, treatment, education and a positive attitude toward the use of mosquito nets, which are estimated to minimize the malaria infection rate by 50 percent.
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Do United Methodists believe in saints?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - United Methodists believe in saints but not in the same manner as the Catholic Church.
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Remember time change on Nov. 4

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - Most of the United States will turn back the clock an hour on Sunday, Nov. 4. Dean McIntyre of the United Methodist Board of Discipleship has put together a fall "Time Change Song" to help church choir members and other worshippers remember not to show up for Sunday worship too early. It's set to the same melody as the hymn "God of Grace and God of Glory."
See "The Time Change Song."

"Chuck Knows Church' video series begins Nov. 3

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - "Chuck Knows Church," a new weekly online video series explaining the objects, symbols and terms used in church, will begin Nov. 3. The series is produced by the Board of Discipleship office of communications and worship resource team, in collaboration with the United Methodist Publishing House and United Methodist Communications. The series "was developed to invite churched and nominally churched people to understand the 'stuff' we see and do in church," said the Rev. Karen Greenwaldt, Discipleship's top staff executive. The videos can be posted on church and conference websites and are suitable for small groups. They can be seen or downloaded at www.ChuckKnowsChurch.com or viewed on www.YouTube.com/ChuckKnowsChurch or www.Facebook.com/ChuckKnowsChurch. On Twitter, check out @ChuckKnows.
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