Spiritual Life
A6
Thursday, June 9, 2022
SPIRITUAL LIFE HIGHLIGHTS
Riding High Ministries
presents free unique
community event
SUBMISSIONS
UNION — A unique event
is open to the public on Sunday,
June 12, at the Eastern Oregon
Livestock Show’s rodeo grounds
in Union.
Before the 2022 EOLS con-
cludes Sunday with an early after-
noon rodeo, Riding High Min-
istries’ champion bareback rider
and pastor Todd Pierce will train
an unbroken horse in front of the
live audience “to demonstrate
how Jesus pursues, heals and
becomes one with us as a Father,”
according to www.ridinghigh-
ministries.org.
Doors for the “Born Wild”
event open at 9 a.m. and the pro-
gram begins at 10 a.m. No tickets
are required and all ages are wel-
come. A free breakfast will be
served at the concession stands
from 8-9:30 a.m.
Sermon explores the
‘Mystery of the Trinity’
LA GRANDE — Zion
Lutheran Church meets for wor-
ship on Sunday, June 12, at
9 a.m. The sermon, “The Mys-
tery of the Trinity,” is based on
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 and John
16:12-15. Holy Communion will
be served, and a time of fel-
lowship follows the service.
The service will be streamed
live and also be available later
for viewing. The links will be
Churches and faith-based groups are
encouraged to submit Highlights for the
Spiritual Life page by noon Tuesday for
publication Thursday. Submit by email
to news@lagrandeobserver.com (with
Highlights in the subject line).
and how it is better to obey than
to sacrifice.
Gospel of John at heart of
message and study
LA GRANDE — Trinity
Sunday will be celebrated at
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church at
10 a.m. on June 12. The Gospel
this week comes from John 16:12-
15. Fellowship is offered after the
service, and a study of chapter 2
of John follows.
www.ridinghighministries.org
Faith Lutheran plans VBS,
benefit yard sale
posted on Zion’s Facebook page
and website on June 11.
What does the Lord require
of you?
LA GRANDE — First Chris-
tian Church (Disciples of Christ)
will celebrate the first Sunday
after Pentecost at a 10:30 a.m.
service on Sunday, June 12.
Pastor Archie Hook’s message,
“Knowing and Doing Our Duty,”
will refer to Luke 17:7-10, Deu-
teronomy 10:12 and Micah 6:8,
which says: “What does the Lord
require of you? To act justly
and to love mercy and to walk
humbly with your God.” Sunday
school classes for adults are
offered at 9 a.m.
Find joy and success in
teaching the Gospel
NORTHEASTERN OREGON
— On Sunday, June 12, the
Church of Jesus Christ of Lat-
ter-day Saints will release a
broadcast recording, “Teaching
in the Savior’s Way,” presented
by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of
the Quorum of the Twelve Apos-
tles. All members of the church
who teach others in their homes
or at church are encouraged to
view this broadcast. It is Elder
Uchtdorf’s intent to help every
member find joy and success
in teaching the Gospel while
increasing their ability to teach
like the Savior. Visit the church’s
website to find the link for this
broadcast.
The “Come, Follow Me”
lesson for the week of June 13
is based on 1 Samuel 8-10, 13
and 15-18, covering the Lord’s
calling of Saul and David to
serve as kings over the Israelites
LA GRANDE — The sermon
at Faith Lutheran Church on
Sunday, June 12, will expound
on John 8:48-59. In these verses
people were doubting Jesus’
authenticity and accusing him
of horrible things, yet Jesus
remained steadfast in his mission
to serve humankind.
Faith Lutheran will have a
Vacation Bible School June
13-16, and will hold its annual
benefit yard sale on Saturday,
June 18.
A spirit of giving still lives in Turkey
RICH
WANDSCHNEIDER
MAIN STREET
recently spent two weeks in Turkey, a
place I lived for most of five years between
1965 and 1970. I’d only been back once
before this trip, a three-week tour with a
group of Rotarians and spouses from Wallowa
County in 2004.
We went from Istanbul to Ankara, then
Cappadocia, Tarsus and Antalya on the Medi-
terranean, all by large, comfortable, air-condi-
tioned buses.
Cappadocia is the area of underground
cities, houses and churches carved into sand-
stone; Tarsus the home of St. Paul; and
Antalya is now a large city among a string of
resorts — some of them exclusively German
or French — on the Mediterranean. The sea
itself was as blue and warm as it had been in
1965.
In 2004, I revved up my Turkish to intro-
duce people and translate, to speak to Rotary
Clubs and news reporters. It was a grand trip,
full of interesting people and places and great
food. I knew then that another three weeks
could peel back years in my grasp of the lan-
guage and culture.
This time I was alone from America. I only
touched down at the Istanbul airport — reput-
edly now the world’s largest — and went to
Ankara and an English language-speaking
university in the middle of high-rise buildings
of glass, steel and concrete.
Ankara, with just over a million people
when I lived there 1968-70, now has over
5 million, and Bilkent has 12,500 students
and hundreds of faculty members. It’s larger
then than Wallowa County, and has its own
Starbucks.
My hosts were the professors and students
from the American Studies Department at
I
Bilkent, and a roommate from that long-ago
time when we lived, worked and studied
together in the city.
Then, Turkish was my everyday language,
and the shared taxis, the shish kebabs, the
daily fresh fruits and vegetables and the occa-
sional meal on the top — 12th floor of the Big
Ankara Hotel — were my routines.
My job was to smooth the wrinkles for
American Peace Corps volunteers working in
Turkish schools and institutions, to make their
experiences as good as mine had been as a
volunteer just a couple of years earlier.
The teaching language at Bilkent is
English, with professors who are Turkish —
and American, British and African. Students
for all colleges have to score well on a stan-
dard, state-administered exam they take as
high school seniors.
State universities — there are scores of
them — are free, and this private one is cheap
by our standards, and gives many scholarships.
I couldn’t see the 70% inflation and the high
unemployment from the university island.
Even on trips into the city to eat, shop and
drive by old neighborhoods, inflation was
invisible, and the high level of purported gov-
ernment corruption maybe showed up in the
massive amount of construction.
I learned of a dissident’s life-time prison
sentence online, and learned too about the
Ankara and Istanbul mayors who were from
the same political party that stands in opposi-
tion to the national government.
I learned from watching and listening
that educated women in Turkey still have an
edge. There are probably higher percentages
of women professors, doctors and engineers
in Turkey than in the U.S. But there are still
forced marriages — one of the students I came
to know wrote about this.
What stood out in this city of 5 million was
that there is no homelessness. Why?
The extended family is still strong, people
agreed, and health care is free for all older
than 65 — no deduction from Social Security,
What stood out in this city
of 5 million was that there is
no homelessness. Why? …
Even secular Moslems seem
to have a spirit of giving bred
into them.
no Medicare Plan B or D. Drugs, I learned
when buying eye drops at the school phar-
macy, are maybe one-fourth what we pay.
The government is building new high-
rises on top of old ghettos, and somehow, the
inhabitants are compensated with cheap new
housing.
Employment is also important: There
were 15 cabin attendants on my Turkish Air-
line flights, and street sweepers rather than
machines cleaned streets.
At this point I remember the “five pillars”
of Sunni Islam: 1. Declare that Allah is the
only God and Mohammed is his prophet; 2.
Pray five times each day; 4. Fast from sun-up
to sunset during the month of Ramadan; 5. If
healthy and financially able, make the “Hadj,”
the pilgrimage to Mecca. It is No. 3, called
“Zakah,” that calls for charitable giving to the
needy, that is important here.
Even secular Moslems seem to have a spirit
of giving bred into them. Small gifts are ubiq-
uitous. Ihsan Dogramaci, the founder and
benefactor of Bilkent, was from a prominent
Turkmen family. He became a leading pediatri-
cian and entrepreneur, and his total wealth and
energy went into two universities in Turkey
and education and health care worldwide.
The spirit of giving is everywhere in this
country, just as it was in 1965.
█
Rich Wandschneider is the director of the Josephy Library of
Western History and Culture in Joseph.
— The Observer
WORDS OF THE
BUDDHA
Let go of the past, let go
of the future, let go of the
present, and cross over to the
farther shore of existence.
With mind wholly liberated,
you shall come no more to
birth and death.
— Dhammapada 24.348
Thoroughly under-
standing the Dhamma and
freed from longing through
insight, the wise one rid of
all desire is calm as a pool
unstirred by wind.
— Itivuttaka 3.92
One is one’s own pro-
tector, one is one’s own
refuge. Therefore, one
should control oneself, even
as a trader controls a noble
steed.
— Dhammapada 25.380
Delight in heedfulness!
Guard well your thoughts!
Draw yourself out of this
bog of evil, even as an ele-
phant draws itself out of the
mud.
— Dhammapada 23.327
Whose mind is like rock,
steady, unmoved, dispas-
sionate for things that spark
passion, unangered by things
that spark anger: When one’s
mind is developed like this,
from where can there come
suffering & stress?
— Udana 4.34
— www.pariyatti.org
Northeast Oregon Directory of Churches
Cove United
Methodist Church
1708 Jasper St., Cove, OR
North Powder
United
Methodist Church
390 E. St., North Powder, OR
JOIN US... Catch the Spirit!
Worship: 9:00 a.m. Cove
Worship: 10:00 a.m. N. Powder
SUMMERVILLE
BAPTIST CHURCH
Sunday Services:
Sunday School & Adult Bible Classes
9:45AM
Children’s Church & Worship Service
11:00AM
Family Worship Service
6:00PM
Wednesday:
Prayer Mtg, Children’s Bible Club, Youth
Group 7:00PM
A church for your whole family
Visit us at summervillebaptistchurch.org
First Christian
Church
(Disciples of Christ)
901 Penn Avenue 963-2623
lgdisciples@gmail.com
Bible Study
9:00 a.m.
Worship
10:30 a.m.
~Join us at The Lord’s Table~
Imbler
Christian
Church
www.imblercc@gmail.com
Sunday Services
9:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
Sunday School
Worship Service
Phone: 541-568-4230
grace.lutherancove@gmail.com
La Grande Seventh-day
A Place where hope is found in Jesus
Join us in Fellowship & Worship
Saturday all age classes 9:30 am
Saturday Worship 11:00 am
1612 4th Street – 963-2498
www.lagrandeumc.org
Sunday School for all ages - 9:00 am
Sunday Worship 10:00 am
Adventist Church
“OPEN HEARTS, OPEN MINDS, OPEN DOORS”
For service information go to
The Place
62848 Philynda Loop in Island City
440 Ruckman, Imbler 534-2201 “We are called to Serve”
LA GRANDE UNITED
METHODIST CHURCH
Pastor Roberta Smythe
GRACE COMMUNITY
LUTHERAN CHURCH
2702 Adams Avenue, La Grande
963-4018
109 18th Street • 963-3402
Sunday School 9:30 a.m.
Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m.
lagrandeor.adventistchurch.org
Learning for Today and Eternity
Little Friends
Christian Preschool/Childcare 963-6390
La Grande Adventist Christian School
K-8th Grade 963-6203
FIRST LANDMARK
MISSIONARY BAPTIST
CHURCH
1812 1st St. La Grande
541-605-0215
We use the King James Version Bible
Sunday School - 10:00 am
Worship 11:00 am
Sunday Evening Bible Study - 3:00 pm (Effective June 10)
Wednesday Evening - 6:30 pm
“Where you can find TRUTH according to the scriptures”
www.flmbclagrande.com
Services
This
Week