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Inside This Issue
April 2020
2020 Mission u
Update
Treasurer’s Tally
14th Annual
Mission Walk
2
3
Spiritual Growth
Legislative
Training
Event
Report
4
5
Historian’s
Happenings
Mission Walk
T-Shirt
Donation Form
2020 Calendar
Update
6
7
8
The Mission Voice is a publication of
the MO Conference UMW. The paper
subscription rate is $5 for the year.
To update your address or to
subscribe, contact
Kelly G. Loeb, editor
Visit online at:
www.moumethodist.org/
unitedmethodistwomen
Marilyn’s Message
In this time of trouble not only in the United States but all around the world, we are all learning a new normal. Events we had counted on are being postponed or cancelled, including our 2020 Mission u. Read more details about Mission u from Dean Kathy Rolen and me on page 2. We are told to stay home, but so many have gone to the grocery store and emptied the shelves, not thinking about those who can only afford to buy their needs weekly. I pray you have been a good steward of our available supplies and we will have enough for all. At this time with our physical church doors closed, I have been impressed by our pastors and other leaders helping us to know God is with us even though we aren't in the church building each Sunday. We have postponed our quadrennial South Central Jurisdiction Event for the time being but I have been informed they hope to reschedule it. Thanks to Faye Abrams and her planning committee, we did have a wonderful Legislative Training Event in March; see page 5 for photos and details. Our 14th annual Mission Walk tee shirts were on display and for sale during the event; our gratitude goes to Dixie Stone for designing them and Ruth Pirch for modeling! I have always heard God knows our needs even before we do – the Mission Walk shirt encourages all to Let Your Light Shine. God knew we needed this! To order your own shir t, use the form on page 7. Let’s all of wish our dear friend Dortha Mae Olsen a very happy 100th birthday on Saturday, May 30! See page 6 of this issue for more about this magnificent milestone (including where to send her a congratulatory card)! I have had the children's song "I Am the Church" on my mind a lot during this time. Let us all pray to God for healing of the ill and comfor t to the families of the ones who passed over to God ’s loving hands. If I can be of help to your district or unit, please let me know. Friend in Christ, Marilyn Henegar, President [email protected]
Page 2 Mission Voice April 2020
Mission u 2020
It is with great sadness that I share with my sisters in Christ that we have canceled Mission u for 2020. This was not our decision but a decision of the National Office out of an abundance of caution because of the COVID-19 situation. The training events for Mission u leaders had already been canceled. Mission u Assistant Deans Ruth Pirch and Gail Tinsley and I received this information on April 2 – if it had been April 1, I would have thought they were playing a joke on us! The Missouri Conference Mission u Team will meet soon and we will set a date for Mission u in 2021. The 2021 study topics are the Moral Witness of the Church, Pushout, Children’s & Youth Studies on Violence and Luke 13: New Biblically-based Curriculum. We will share more details about next steps as they are available. Be in prayer for the United Methodist Women and decisions they are having to make recently. Kathy Rolen Mission u Dean Thanks to Kathy Rolen and her team for all the work they did preparing for our 2020 Mission u. As we have learned, this year God has other plans for us. In light of the global impact of COVID-19, the national office of United Methodist Women has made the decision to cancel all Mission u events. As disappointing as this is, we need to put what is best for all over our wants. Have a good summer and keep those who need kindness and compassion most in your prayers. Marilyn Henegar, Conference President
April 2020 Mission Voice Page 3
Treasurer’s Tally I’m writing this while we are all in the midst of our COVID-19 experience which is leaving us with many ques-tions we want answered. How many times on a daily basis do we find ourselves in a situation where we have questions and we want immediate answers and we find ourselves having to wait; yet, we make it through the those days until the answer comes. I find it interesting the daily, weekly, and yes, even those activities that happen once or twice a year or every four years we’ve been asked to give up has happened in our Lenten season which is a time we think or talk about what we are going to give up or sacrifice during those 40 days. Generally nothing like what we are experiencing now has been mentioned. Yet, we have found ourselves with ways to carry on and to nourish our souls and spirits. I have heard this question from some of our district treasurers as well as treasurers from other conferences I am in contact with: How is this going to affect our giving? I offer this thought: As in those situations in which we are left facing the unknown, we have to have faith and pray for strength, courage, hope, guidance, and trust in God’s love. We have an awesome God who loves and cares for us deeply and wants us to trust Him. I leave you with this thought: Give what you can, as you can, and lay it all in God’s hands.
Liz Rooks, Conference Treasurer
14th Annual Mission Walk The Missouri Conference UMW Mission Walk will again take place in Springfield at UMC Annual Conference. On Sunday, June 7 we leave at 6:30 am from the Expo Center and walk to the Downtown Church, where we have breakfast before returning to the Expo Center. Signup for the Walk is at the UMW booth at Conference. Walkers receive a t-shirt for a donation of $20.00. We give all donations we receive to UMW mission programs. We invite all local units to participate and if you cannot be there to walk, ask your pastor or lay leader to represent you. You can send order forms for t-shirts and donations to UMW Conference Treasurer Liz Rooks (see the order form on page 7 of this newsletter); pick up your shirt at the UMW booth at the Annual Conference. This year’s Mission Walk theme is Let Your Light Shine (Matthew 5:16). A favorite childhood toy for many was a glow-in-the-dark super ball. If you carr ied it in your pocket all day, it was merely a ball that could bounce really high. But if left in the sun, it would provide hours of nighttime play with its green glow. Our faith journey often resembles that little ball. On days we are able to focus on God and God’s presence—through prayer, time reading the Bible, acts of service—we can almost feel a glow from within. Like the ball, the brightness of our shining is dependent on regular contact with a greater source of light. Jesus has called us to be his light to the world. Those who shine are meant to move out into the night. Just as ob-jects that glow are most useful in the dark, so our simple loving presence in a troubled world has great value. When we step out to help others, even our faintest glow can serve as a beacon of God’s love. Let your light shine!
Dixie Stone, Mission Walk Coordinator
Page 4 Mission Voice April 2020
As United Methodist Women, we are constantly putting others before ourselves when we give to missions all over the world. During this chaotic time with the COVID-19 situation, we are striving to be Christians as we pray worldwide that this unfortunate situation will cease. It is imperative we stay home and not be out unless absolutely necessary. The following poem is fitting:
Life Is a Gift Today before you say an unkind word -
Think of someone who can't speak.
Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who has nothing to eat.
Before you complain about your husband or wife -
Think of someone who's crying out for a companion.
Today before you complain about life - Think of someone who went too early to heaven.
Before you complain about your children -
Think of someone who desires children but they're barren.
Before you argue about your dirty house someone didn't clean or sweep - Think of the people who are living in the streets.
Before whining about the distance you drive -
Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.
And when you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job.
But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another -
Remember that not one of us is without error and we all answer to the Divine.
And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on your face and thank the Divine you're alive and still around.
Let us remember Colossians 3:12: Therefore, as God's choice, holy and loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Grace be with us all, Sally Jones, Spiritual Growth Coordinator
April 2020 Mission Voice Page 5
Page 6 Mission Voice April 2020
Historian’s Happenings
Many of you will remember Dortha Mae Olsen from her many, many years of faithful involvement in both United Methodist Women and Church Women United. A marvelous milestone is coming up for Dortha Mae: she will celebrate her 100th birthday on May 30! Dortha Mae is in quite good health physically and has an exceptional memory. She would be thrilled to be remembered with a birthday card, and 100+ cards from United Methodist Women would certainly make her day! Please send your blessed birthday wishes to
Dortha Mae Olsen For her mailing address, send email to
Communications Coordinator Kelly G. Loeb [email protected]
We are happy and honored to have Betty Thurston (Northwest District) on the Conference Mission Team; Betty is our helpful historian, and she hipped us to Dortha Mae’s upcoming centennial! She would love to receive your photos of conference events – send them to her at the following: Email: [email protected] Postal mail: 912 Swallow Circle, Liberty, MO 64068 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/betty.nankervisthurston.
Betty will compile conference memories (including creating scrapbooks) and mark the uplifting, meaningful and wondrous ways
we UMW put our faith, hope and love in action!
April 2020 Mission Voice Page 7
Missouri Conference
United Methodist Women
14th Annual Mission Walk
Sunday, June 7, 2020 at 6:30 a.m.
Walk Route: Springfield Expo Center to The Downtown Church and back
Donation: $20 per walker
Each walker receives a commemorative t-shirt
and your donations support United Methodist Women mission programs.
Send this form with walk donations to
Conference Treasurer Liz Rooks
Email Liz for her mailing address at [email protected]
Unit Name: ________________
Number of Walkers: _______
We want all of Missouri to be walkers for Christ
and have included $________ extra!
See the back page of this newsletter for a photo of the
walk shirt!
Page 8 Mission Voice April 2020
Calendar Update Because of the COVID-19 situation, some unit, district and conference events have been rescheduled, postponed or canceled.
Missouri Conference and District Mission Team leaders will share information via newsletters (including Mission Voice), our conference website (moumethodist.org/unitedmethodistwomen) , Facebook, postal mail, telephone and good old word of mouth! As of this newsletter, the June 5-7Annual Conference and Mission Walk and UMW Annual Meeting scheduled for September 25 -26, 2020 are still on the calendar. Contact any Conference Mission Team member if you have ques-
tions about conference events, and your district and unit leaders for local events.
Show your faith, hope and love in action by purchasing the 14th annual Mission Walk t-shirt and let your light shine! Order form on page 7. Thanks to Ruth Pirch (Heartland District) for being our supermodel!
Let us go together
in prayer for God’s
peace, grace and love.
