Farming Helps Dairyman Become Better Minister
{Continued from Pago B 12)
The name Loyetta has stayed
because Jay wants to honor his
parents who live nearby.
His brother, Lee Shaffer, and
Richard Ferguson are Jay's part
ners. They raise 400 acres of com.
ISO of alfalfa, 120 of oats, 100 of
clover or timothy, and barley. Sue
silos are filled, young stock raised
and farm equipment sold.
Eyvonne is the bookkeeper. In
the basement, a big room handles
two offices, one for the farm, the
other, the church. Each of the two
desks has a separate computer sta
tion and comfortable desk chair
for moving about. Jay works at
both areas and utilizes his nearby
resource library.
The key is organization, he.
says. That's how they approach a
bustling life successfully without
coming undone.
“Eyvonne is a good organizer,”
says Jay, praising his spouse. “I'm
an idea person and she’s a detail
person."
Without her dependable sup
port and their marital unity, get
ting his higher degree would have
been much harder for Jay. But be
cause his “great family,” worked
shoulder to shoulder they con
quered as a unit The kids pitched
in too, including Alisa who will be
a junior at Penn State, and Adam,
now a senior at Somerset Area
High School.
“The kids were old enough to
understand why everybody was
sacrificing for Dad,” Eyvonne
said, glad that Jay is home easing
the worries she faced while he was
in school.
“Things didn’t get fixed and we
had no social life to speak of,” she
says.
The business partners pulled a
heavier load. too.
Jay would rise in the wee hours
and head east to spend two or
three days in Lancaster. Regard
less of the season or the weather,
the routine was pretty much the
same.
“The other students were fas
cinated to have a farmer on cam
pus.”
The circumstance resulted in a
collection of entertaining stories.
More serious, however, was the
inner-city ministry experience
which Jay used to bring about an
awareness that ministry programs
in rural areas were also needed.
With others from the school, he
toured Costa Rica and Guatemala,
Central America, in January 1994.
Snow was falling as the students
flew out of Philadelphia, just two
hours before the blizzard caused
officials there to shut down the
airport
So with the man of the house
setting off for his cross-cultural
experience, the family was a bun
dle of nerves, sitting helplessly at
home and watching the awful
storm.
Hydraulics • Pneumatics • Power Transmission
Beiler Hydraulics has taken many steps to become your
one stop source for all your fluid power needs
While visiting the city of San
Jose, Jay ended up getting mugged
and lost several hundred dollars.
But he rolled with his losses and
learned a good lesson.
Perhaps that's why he prefers
the jungle to the city. Hie beauty
of the jungle won him over, unlike
the poverty of the people that he
saw so much of.
“People in this country do not
realize the poverty in those coun
tries,” he says.
Jay was commissioned as a li
censed minister on October 23,
1988. He had studied four years to
be a supply minister. It was basi
cally a home training course, that
began in 1984, he said. As a li
censed minister, however, he
couldn’t perform the sacraments
of the church.
Then on September 1, 1990 he
was assigned to the Unity United
Church of Christ in Shanksville.
Soon the Search and Ministry
Committee convinced him to take
a class.
Jay thought if he took some
thing ptetty difficult at fust, he
would soon know if he should
shoot for his M.A. in Divinity. So
he took Greek.
“I took a semester of Greek and
survived,” he said.
After that he decided to tackle
his degree. His grades woe high
and so was his interest. But ex-
440 Concrete Ave., Leola, PA 17540
717-656-4878 FAX 656-4682
WE IfIQDIfED!
Beiler Hydraulics has relocated to a much larger facility where we will be able to serve you
better. We are now open for your business in our new warehouse located on Concrete
Avenue, Leola.
Please update your files as follows: , a .„, r „ ydr .„, ic , ,
e i 1
Beiler Hydraulics | 1 |
440 Concrete Avenue • "concrete A^iue —
Leola, Pennsylvania 17540 Route 23 I
East 21L! Weet
Phone (717) 656-4878 J
Fax (717) 656-4682 |
a
g Beiler Hydraulice former location
a Beco Power Equipment
(Preaeure waahera & accessories)
Beiler Hydraulics
DISTRIBUTORS A
20,000 Sq. Ft. Facility
w Modernized Shop
improved Service
Larger Inventories
• Better Pricing
perts advised that it had to be one
or the other farming or school,
but not both at once. Now that Jay
has successfully completed school
and continues to farm, he's still
Unity UCC’s part-time pastor,
preaching on Sunday mornings,
making crisis visits, preparing the
bulletin on Monday, and working
with the 19-member Care Com
mittee.
He's been an interim pastor for
the St. Paul's UCC in Stoystown;
St. Paul’s UCC, Somerset; Sl
John’s UCC, Salisbury, and Trini
ty UCC, New Germany, Garrett
Sugar Is Not Poison
LEESPORT (Berks Co.)
Learn why sugar is not the forbid
den substance for diabetics that it
was previously believed to be.
A workshop on Sugar is Not a
Poison will be taught at the Berks
County Ag Center, Leesport, on
September?, at l:00-2:30p.m. and
repeated at 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Cost is $l. Susan Browning,
registered dietitian will share new
Max.
IT DOES A
BOUT COOK
Box 56 RRI, Atglen, Pa 19310
County, Maryland,
Jay and Eyvonne were co-chair
persons of Somerset County Day
at the Farm, held on July 2 at the
Latuch Brothers Dairy near Rock
wood. They were pleased when
the event drew more than 2,000
and was one of the largest in the
event’s 12-year history.
The hayrides this year were so
popular with visitors that some
five tractors and wagons were still
running long pest closing time,
they said.
The event was sponsored by the
Somerset County Farm Bureau.
information to help diabetices
understand how sugar, sugar sub
stitutes and foods that naturally
contain sugar can be used in a
diabetic diet that meet the dietary
guidelines. An overview of the
exchange system will also be given
as well as new recipes.
Please send reservation to Berks
County Coop. Extension, P.O. Box
520, Leesport, PA 19533-0520.
610-593-2981