September 2019 • Vol 22 • www.AldersgatePA.org • A Reconciling Congregation, open to all

SERVING YOUR CHURCH

Pastor: Rev. Roger Morimotorvm878@gmail.comRev. Jon Visitacion

Your AUMC Staff: Submit newsletter articles by the 15th of the month to:Brad Shirakawa - newsletter editorbradaumc@yahoo.com

Send Sunday bulletin info to Brad by the WEDNESDAY before Sunday

Mimi Funabiki and Lori Wong do everything else:meemfunabiki@gmail.comlori_wong@yahoo.com

Sunday service starts at 10 am. Sunday school available for toddlers through 12th graders.

Aldersgate United Methodist Church4243 Manuela AvenuePalo Alto, CA 94306-3705ph: 650-948-6806 www.aldersgatepa.org

AldersgatePress

See ROGER, continued next page

Words with Rev. Roger

The

Aldersgate UMC receives KT Foundation Grant and Affirmations!At Sunday worship on August 4, Pauline Nagata presented Al-

dersgate with a grant in the amount of $177,000 for a project to renovate the parsonage and upgrade a variety of items in the church. Pauline is a board member of the KT Foundation and has been working with Rev. Roger on this grant process for approximately seven months. About KT Foundation and Grace Kase

The KT Foundation was started by Grace Kase (The K in KT Foundation) of San Francisco. Grace was born in 1926 and just passed away this past April 2019.

“Grace was a private person and small in stature standing no taller than five feet,” Nagata said. “However, in that small frame was packed determination, strength and pride. She raised turkeys, had a pilot’s license and was a sew-ing teacher. She enjoyed being part of bidding wars at auctions. She was an artist but never wanted to show her works. She was serious about mahjong and was a cancer survivor.”

“She was fascinated by the real estate world,” Nagata continued. “Grace was a realtor. Along with her husband, Harry Tsujimoto (The T in KT Founda-tion), they built a thriving real estate business, fixing and renting apartment buildings. Grace referred to the apartments as her children.”

In 2012, KT Foundation was established as a vehicle to support nonprofit organizations that were related to Grace’s interests. (By coincidence, this summer Chloe Gong was a Kase intern at the Japanese Cultural and Com-munity Center of Northern California (JCCCNC). Five years ago, Lauren

Healing ARTS!see page

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Bible ExplorationsStarting Sunday, April 28th - 11:30amSpecial 10 week SeriesWe will be watching the series entitled, Magi: The Tensho Boys. Based on a Japanese nonfiction novel about an Ital-ian Jesuit missionary who wants to build seminaries in Japan and selects students to meet the Pope in Vatican City.

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Morimoto was a Kase intern in its first year of the internship program.)

How Aldersgate was chosen

In this past year, Grace extended her generosity to the board members of the KT Foundation by letting them choose a recipient of their choice. Pauline chose Aldersgate UMC because when she attended Aldersgate’s Christmas Eve ser-vice last year with her daughter, Shelley Nagata, and grandchildren, Mariana and Iliana. She remembered the joy and happiness, the love and warmth that her dad, Don Iwahashi, felt every time he visited the church. Don would always tell Pauline, “This is what a church is all about!” Don also appreciated Rev. Roger’s pastoral style giving him a “thumbs up.”

Pauline also expressed her appreciation for the love and support the church has given to her daughter and grandchildren.

The Aldersgate UMC grant was one of the last grants Grace was a part of. Unexpectedly, Grace passed away in April but the KT Foundation will continue in her footsteps honoring and upholding her legacy.

The grant will be used for the following:

1. Upgrade/renovate the parsonage kitchen, bathrooms and carpets2. Seal the crawl space to prevent moisture damage3. Sidewalk in the parking area for safety4. New Patio in Parsonage5. Minor modifications in the church kitchen and restrooms6. New Moveable Panel walls replacing the accordion walls in Wheeler Hall7. Other misc. items.

Aldersgate is truly appreciative to the KT Foundation, Grace Kase and Pauline for making this grant possible. We are encouraged by Pauline’s kind, kind words about our congregation and we’ll strive to live with the same spirit of gener-osity in which Grace lived her life.

Roger

ROGER - continued

Aldersgate has been blessed to receive the KT Foundation Grant, but we are also blessed by the generosity of our members and by the special donations by David Nakamura to the Nellie Nakamura Memorial funds.

In our 55th year on this three acre site, Aldersgate has many ongoing property issues. Because of your generosity we have been able to address most of the issues as they arise and continue to improve our facility. Recently we have added air conditioning to most of our facility, upgraded our audio-visual and kitchen. We continue to address ongoing maintenance needs due to the unfortunate die-off of our pine trees (experienced in much of California).

Furthermore, the Nellie Nakamura Memorial Fund has provided program support – helping us provide staffing for our youth and young adults and summer help program. The NNMF has provided camping scholarships for JHC and Asian American Summer Camp, programming funds for Healing Arts, LIFE, OM Group, Tabemashou, and other special events.

While our congregation may not be the largest, we certainly can say we have been blessed. We truly are grateful for the love and support both within our community and from beyond.

Special Thanks to our Congregation

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ENnea gram

Center for Spiritual Life

Kaizen LivingTuesday, September 3 • 7:30pm • Topic: Small Changes

“SMALL, small, small changes...” Kaizen Living is about making positive small changes leading us to a happy, healthy life. All are

welcome. No need to have attended previous sessions! For more information, please contact Rev. Roger or Nan Kitaura (nankitaura@gmail.com).

Healing ARTS: Reiki JamSunday, September 8 • Noon

Reiki is a gentle and safe technique using your hands to increase and share the natural universal life force energy all around us to promote wellness, relieve pain, reduce stress and encourage relaxation. Reiki energy feels warm and soothing, like a mother’s love creating harmony as it restores the body, mind and spirit. Reiki Jam is the perfect opportunity to try Reiki for the first time. Come and join us as we share life’s energy with one another.

Healing Arts: Listen to Your BodyMonday, September 9 • 7pm

Warm up with Qigong exercises. Listen to your body. What has it been saying to you? Get acquainted with your hands, arms, and shoulders in new ways. Practice massage techniques on your arms, hands, and torso to increase range of motion, relieve muscle stiffness, and increase flexibility.

Monday, September 23 • 7:30m

PART 2 of our discussion about Edgar Cayce, metaphysics and psychic phenomenon. Each ses-sion will be an opportunity to bring your ques-tions and your own experiences! No need to have been to the previous session!

Other Worlds

Tuesday, September 17 • 7:30pm

In this session, we explore the driving forces that motivate each Enneagram type and how each type is influenced by a sense of urgency or pa-tience. We will examine short term and long term motivators and how each type sets priorities.

TabemashouFriday, September 13 • 6:30pm

The group will continue its exploration of “Never Again Is Now.” Currently Tabemashou is taking on the current issue of the treatment of migrant families and children and the historic relationship to past injustices such as the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII. And we will eat!

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Saturday, September 28Dine in 5 to 7:30pm

Take out 4:30 to 7pm

Aldersgate UMC4243 Manuela AvePalo Alto 94306www.aldersgatepa.org

Adults - $25 Advance / $28 door6 to 12 - $10 Advance / $12 door

Under 5 - donationTix - Herb Gong (650) 493-0790

Map at AldersgatePA.orgcommunity

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Salmon Dinner Fundraiser!

crafts & silent auction!

FAMILY GIVING TREE:

David Shieh and his son, Niko, delivered 25 backpacks and one monetary dona-tion to the Family Giving Tree. Thanks to the Shieh family for their efforts!

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RALLY SUNDAYKen Sasamori, Peter Nishimura and Emmy Robinson (L to R) played their way to some fun on Rally Sunday.

In memory ofMasi MotookaTomoko Ozawa

Grace KozenJudy Wong

Florence ItanoMotooka family

M/M Hiroki AsadaMary & Kimi Tsukushi

D/M Mare ShibuyaClaire HarataniFrances Tamura

Sachiyo Yamasaki

Special Gifts!

You are welcome to bring food items to share. We are trying to make this as easy as possible for those who are unable to prepare food ahead of time, or maybe have forgotten it was their day, so we will have small snacks available at church. Whichever you decide to do, we ask that you keep your refreshments simple.

Thank you to our teams for pro-viding refreshments last month. Our thanks to the newsletter crew and Sunday service offer-ing counters. Ogasawara Land-scaping for keeping the grounds groomed each week. Lori Wong for buying church supplies. Sa-toko King for buying coffee. Pat-ty and Paul Sakuma for Sunday school supplies.

Special Thanks! Fellowship Tea

WELCOME BACK, REV. ROGER AND CHRISAldersgate celebrated another year with Rev. Roger and Chris, and looks forward to many more to come. Paul Sakuma photo

Kitchen fundDavid Nakamura

UMWTomoko Ozawa

D/M Harry Hatasaka

LIFE GroupM/M Glen Narimatsu