Volume : 1 July/September Year : 2017/18------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Congratulations to President Mahes Fernando and his Team who were installed by our own RD Prasantha De Silva and PRD Godfrey Francis.

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Voice of Young moratuwa

From the Editor’s Desk

Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.—Proverbs 16:19

This proverb wants us to view the world in a different way unlike our usual self. Humility and association with the poor and oppressed are valued by God. Abusive power and arrogance are not. God didn't just give us this proverb but his son Jesus demonstrated it during his earthly life and asked us to follow him.

We, as human are weak and vulnerable to temptation, and to the pressures of the world, to be among the popular crowd, rich and recognized by the world, no matter how we achieve it. There are so many "get rich quick" schemes in the world. Some people make a living trying to dupe people. They are promised quick returns on their investments, while being promised the money will continue to pour in. There have been so many instances when people have lost their money and livelihood.Indeed, it is a sad state of affairs all over.

But, when we trust in God and His righteousness, we know he will give us exactly what we need. So, we need not worry about what to eat and drink and what to do. We serve a truthful God who gives us the essentials to living a blessed life in His Word.So, as Y’s menwe have committed to serve the poor and oppressed. Therefore, we should strive to be recognized for our service and give glory to God without expecting worldly riches and honor.

YL Suranganie Francis

Inside this Issue

Editorial Pg. 1

Christian Emphasis Pg. 2 & 3

Club Activities & Pg. 4Special Projects

YMCA Liaison Pg. 5

International Relations Pg. 5

Gratitude Pg. 5 & 6

Picture Gallery Pg. 7

Christian Emphasis :

Teacher Reads A Note From A Student on “ My Wish” That Has Her In Tears We all know someone who seems to be attached to their cell phone. No matter where they are or what they are doing, they just can't seem to put their phone down. These folks are easy to spot, right? Well, one heartbreaking note a teacher received from a student proves it may not be as easy to spot this problem as we think...

A teacher was at home, and after dinner

she started checking the homework done by her students. Her husband was strolling around with his smart phone, playing his favorite game.

When reading the last note, tears rolled silently down the wife's face.

Her husband saw this and asked, "Why are you crying dear? What happened?"

Wife: "Yesterday I gave homework to my first grade students, to write something on the topic of 'My Wish.'"

Husband: "OK, but why are you crying?" Wife: "Today, the last note made me cry.

Husband curiously: "What’s written in the note that makes you cry?"

Wife: "Listen:

'My wish is to become a smart phone.My parents love their smart phones very much.

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They care about their smart phones so much that sometimes they forget to care about me. When my father comes home from the office tired, he has time for his smart phone, but not for me.

When my parents are doing some important work and the smart phone starts ringing, within a single ring they answer the phone. But not me...even if I am crying.

They play games on their smart phones, not with me. When they are talking to someone on their smart phones, they never listen to me, even if I am telling them something important.

So, my wish is to become a smart phone.'"

 After listening to the note, the husband got emotional and asked his wife, "Who wrote this?"Wife: "Our son." 

Nowadays, we can watch videos, play games, update statuses, upload photos, and so much more from just about anywhere -- all from a phone (or similar device) that fits easily into a pocket or purse. Having all of this access is great. Trouble is, with a virtual world at our fingertips, it becomes easy to be distracted from the real world in front of us. And very often, we don't even realize we're doing it. Or, more importantly, what we're missing out on while we're doing it. Technology has its time and its place, but God wants us to spend our time loving and serving one another. While they did not have cell phones in the time the Bible was written, this story can't help but remind us when Jesus visited 2 sisters -- Martha and Mary. While Martha allowed distraction to come between her time with Jesus, Mary dropped everything to humbly sit at Jesus' feet. Which will you choose?

 "As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to himand asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'" Luke 10:38-42

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The truth hurts in more ways than you can ever imagine! Take time to smell the roses and to spend quality time with your family! By not doing so we only alienate our children and they feel lost and unloved as does your significant other. Make time to show your family what a real family should be like! Caring, respect and more importantly Love!

Club Activities & Projects :

Special Projects done in April to September 2017.

Donated 30 Sinhala Bibles to St. Mathias Church,Laxapathiya,Moratuwa. Donated Rs.24,300/= to Mr Roshan Fernando to repair theroof and the floor. Approved Rs.200,000/= to build a Recreation Room tothe Elders of the David Jayasundera

Home. 90% of thework is completed. Donated Dry rations to the value of Rs.50,000/= to theOLV Convent to be distributed among the

flood victimsof Dehiowita. Donated Rs.30,000/= to Mrs A Priyanthi to purchaseRoofing sheets to repair her house. Approved Rs.20,000/= to Mr Saman Perera to build hisCarpentry Workshop and we have already

donatedRs.10,000/= to start the work. Approved Rs.17,170/= to donate 15 Nos.(13.5 ft. long) Coconut Rafters to Mrs. Sunanda

Samaraweera to repair the roof of her house.

In addition to the above, Micro Projects to the value of Rs.69,000/- have been done during this quarter by our members who have sponsored financially to meet the needs of the underprivileged by way of Providing Dry rations, Tuition fees, medical aid, milk powder for children etc.

Visit to Chiangmai, Thailand for Asia Area Conference &Mid Year Meeting in July 2017

RD Pransantha De Silva , RDE Ranarajah Seresinhe and PRD Godfrey Francis attended the Area Convention at Empress Hotel in Chiangmai, Thailand from 21stto 23rd July 2017. They were accompanied by their wives and Y’s Men Ravi and his Menette Harshi too joined them.

Youth Club in Mount Lavinia

Most importantly, I am proud to announce that our Club sponsored and formed a Youth club in Mount Lavinia with 16 members and had a successful meeting on 26th August 2017 and appointed a President, Secretary and a Treasurer from the youth. Another meeting is scheduled for 23rd Sept. to discuss the future programmes of this Club.

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My profound thanks to Y’s Men Joe Daniel and his team who are responsible for extending this Club. Good luck to all of you and hope that your efforts to establish the other clubs will materialize very soon.

South Western District Conference

19 members from our Club attended the South Western District Conference held on 17 th September at Sri Lanka Army, Panagoda, headed by District Governor South Western, YM Shane Balthazaar. It must be mentioned that he had arranged a visit for the participants at the largest War Memorial in Asia and to the Army Museum at Panagoda camp with an army soldier who took us on a guided tour before commencing the Conference.

At the end of the Tour we had the District Conference with the Welcome address from District Governor who summarized the present situation of our Region and his expectations during his tenure to improve the organization. Thereafter, all the clubs presented their Club reports and concluded the Conference with the announcement of the District Governor Elect for 2017/18 as Y’s Men Joe Daniels from our Club followed by fellowship and lunch.

Congratulations Y’s Men Joe on your new appointment and you are assured of our support always.

After fellowship and lunch a tree planting ceremony took place at the Panagoda camp where RD & RDE planted two trees aided by YM Chinthan de Silva and DG-SW Shane Balthazaar.

District Conference was meticulously planned that everyone who attended enjoyed the day. Thank you DG Shane and your family members for the very successful District conference.

YMCA Liaison

Our Club Funds a child for Rs.1,000/= monthly for the Educational purposes through the MoratuwaYMCA.

06 Members from our Club participated at the UnitedChristian Singing Concert. (viz. RD Prasantha, Mnt. Sharmalie, PRD Godfrey, YM Lakshman ,YM Deepthi, Mnt, Shanthi Kusum and YM NihalFerdinando.

09 of our Members are serving on the Board of theMoratuwa YMCA and are heavily involved in theactivities heading various committees, such as Financial, Building, and Projects.

NCYMCA had their Executive Committee meeting on 30th Sept. 2017 in Matara and President Deepthi and Vice President Nihal Ferdinando, both from our club attended this meeting.

On 3rd November, the Region has planned a Tree Planting Campaign at Moratuwa starting at the Moratuwa YMCA to be followed by a talk from Prof. Sarath Kottegoda. Members our expected to participate at this Tree Planting Campaign and to plant a tree at their gardens as well and to order their plants beforehand.

International Relations

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We continue with our communication with our Brother clubs in Denmark, Canada, India and Australia and exchange our quarterly Bulletins with them. Other than the Brother clubs we are in constant touch with Margaret & Elizabeth Halvosen, daughters of Y’M Egil Odd from Sweden.They have been on holiday to Sri Lanka and attended our club meetings, visited several of our projects. In fact they have been supporting us financially with some of our community projects, specially in raising funds for construction of a Class room for the children of “Blessings Centre” in Indibedda, Moratuwa.

Thank you Elizabeth & Margaret for your kind support in raising funds for our Project.

Gratitude

Dear God, Please Help Me Retrieve My Money

This is a story of a man who worked at the post office. His job was to process all mail items that had illegible addresses.

One day a letter came to his desk, addressed, in shaky handwriting, to God. He thought, "I better open this one and see what it's all about."

So he opened it and it read: "Dear God, I am an 83-year-old widow living on a very small pension. Yesterday someone stole my purse. It had a hundred dollars in it which was all the money I had until my next pension check."

"Next Sunday is Easter, and I had invited two of my friends over for dinner. Without that money, I have nothing to buy food with." "I have no family to turn to, and you are my only hope. Can you please help me?"

The postal worker was touched, and went around showing the letter to all the others.

Each of them dug into his wallet and came up with a few dollars. By the time he made the rounds, he had collected 96 dollars, which they put into an envelope and sent over to her.

The rest of the day, all the workers felt a warm glow thinking of the nice thing they had done.

Easter came and went, and a few days later came another letter from the old lady to God.

All the workers gathered around while the letter was opened. It read: "Dear God, How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me?"

"Because of your generosity, I was

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able to fix a lovely dinner for my friends. We had a very nice day, and I told my friends of your wonderful gift. ""By the way, there was 4 dollars missing. It was no doubt those thieving bastards at the post office."

What a way to show gratitude. Just one or two words is enough to kill the happiness of a good deed. So beware. Do not expect any appreciation for your good deeds as God will reward you for your kindness in heaven.

 Picture GalleryArea Convention in Chiangmai, Thailand in July 2017

Pictures show RD Prasantha, RDE Ranarajah and PRD Godfrey from Young Moratuwa club who attended the Area Conference in July 2017 accompanied by their wives Sharmalee, Mystica, Suranganie, YM Ravi and Harshi and Rita Peiris .

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Pictures of South Western District Conference

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First Meeting of the New Youth Club at the Methodist Church, Mount Lavinia.

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