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Show , Baptist Pastor shows he cares by getting involved i ' f , , ' I "C-J" g v ; ' '. . 1 i v i x v '' ... ; ... . .,; . - -, , , ' "" tr .' ' - u , ; . - .. . , ? p. v. ... , - - ij.rf- ,T -nii , j ii - i nitmii r--' . i-,- '..it.'---'-' " " J "yMARCELLA WALKER ; 'youwereayoungman.justout : J? BaPt'st Seminary, how J you feel about taking on a yen f of four women over 70 ?try?age,mtheheartofMormon 'tbtmfdiike an interesting Jpge to Ron Smith and his it til8?' "d after praying about gy decided they would like to yen,ngfj;apastor,only34 younger ' g he looks even iSvTithslJavelivedinPleas- : .now for 17 months. The S"offou"asnowgrown pi1and4 Pleach fcre from 6 come to ch"rch ion Sonthe south to the north, Ron said. GroveftfinPleasknt Hvbv thadalltimepastor the Salt i I"6 time- Pastor's from Su"day slrvf arta Would the Cerent m3 here and several Vnsih,11 had taken on this V ft over the years. Snh,Tex-' whilehe V yea" Jlnary student there for SLGT was his first ne oSa that. He invites HoWn , church services , nanVv108"-5 nanVv108"-5 SlandRSWifearebthfrom tewn calW TaI00"165 from a small .iswhvl, i!ngdon which. he NantGr has!nJ'yed coming oftiom8 ntGrove. It reminds him He does miss autumn in Maryland. Mary-land. The bright colors of fall last about a month there and he enjoys that. He said he was glad when last autumn lasted a little longer here than usual. Ever since Ron arrived in Pleasant Pleas-ant Grove he has been getting himself involved. He began going to help the Senior Sen-ior Citizens because some of his congregation were involved with the seniors. He started working with them even before they moved to the new building. Ron helped gather up boxes for the seniors to use when they were preparing for the move, and has helped out in a multitude of ways. He tries to make himself available avail-able to people. The church has set up a food pantry and clothes closet. At Christmas they helped provide Christmas dinner and gifts for about 13 needy families. Local businesses, a Boy Scout troop, senior citizens, and others helped Ron with this project. "I like to let people know that I care and that is why I try to get involved," Ron noted. He helped get the Strawberry Days parade lined up last year and at the Community Fair his church gave out cold drinks of water in the name of Jesus. He said they gave out about 500 cups of water that day. "I enjoy the involvement and it gives me a chance to meet people," Ron explained. Ron had completed work for his Bachelors Degree in Biology and had finished two years of graduate work in ecology at a college in Towson, Md., when he received his call to the ministry. He had been working as a consultant con-sultant andboth he and his wife felt it was the right decision at that time for them to leave their jobs and go to Fort Worth to the seminary. semi-nary. The local Baptist Church is located lo-cated at 344 E. Center, Pleasant Grove. Sunday School is held each Sunday at 9:45 a.m. with Worship at 11 a.m. and Bible Study at 7 p.m. On Thursday they hold Prayer Meeting at 7 p.m. In addition, Ron holds a Bible School at Maple Hills Apts on Wednesday evenings. He has been holding these meetings since December. De-cember. He said that they have several people who attend. One man told Ron that he did not feel right about going to the church so he has enjoyed en-joyed the Bible School. Ron is trying to get another Bible School started in someone's home in the Alpine area. Another thing he has enjoyed has been working with ministers from other churches in the north Utah County area. They meet for a prayer meeting once a week and recently they celebrated cele-brated Good Friday together with a Procession of the Cross in American Ameri-can Fork and a sunrise service on Easter Sunday, along with other churches in the area, which was followed by a breakfast at the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church. Pastor Ron Smith, left, assists with meals at the Pleasant Grove Senior Citizen Center. With him are, from left, Pearl Kassing, Lily Cullimore and Camilla Lyberger. Ron and his family enjoy living in Pleasant Grove. Ron and Fern have a little three-year-old daughter, daugh-ter, Tiffany, and a seventeen-year-old foster daughter, Jamie. Most of all, Ron enjoys talking about Jesus to people. "I love people and I enjoy showing them that I do," Ron stated. In his spare time Ron enjoys reading and gardening. His family enjoys takinga picnic up one of the local canyons in the summer and taking some of the congregation along. After a few minutes in Ron's presence, a person really begins to feel of his interest in them and his desire to serve. He said he hopes to stay here for quite a long time. |