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Commissioners Peter and Grace Chang were warmly greeted as they recently made a long-awaited visit to the corps in Grandview, Wash. Supporting them during the visit were Lt. Colonel Evelyn Hunter, divisional commander, and the Northwest Band and Chorus, led by Envoy Nigel Cross.
Beginning 13 years ago when it changed its name from Upper Room Fellowship, the small corps has made some fine achievements, including sending cadets to training and parenting a new corps, Grandview Temple.
Corps Officers Majors Gary and Joan Souders say, as a result of hearing the Changs speak, a soldier has stepped forward to assist with teaching children’s church. Another has accepted the responsibility of teaching the preschoolers. The young people of the corps reached out to an adherent whose wife had died in the local nursing home, and now stay later on Sundays to play pool and socialize with him. A soldier has caught the vision of witnessing at the medical clinic. Families in emotional and spiritual crisis are referred to the Majors for counseling. One family has now returned to the corps, and another family has volunteered to help with the ministry of the kettles.
In Sunnyvale, Wash., six miles north of Grandview, the high school performing arts center became the stage for a concert by the band and chorus. This was open to the public in appreciation for the community’s support of the ongoing work of the Army in the Lower Yakima Valley. The concert and reception which followed were organized and sponsored by the advisory board under the leadership of Chairman Jim White. It has been suggested this become an annual event.