A Servants Heart—Mission Opportunities
Alternative Giving The Outreach Committee would like you to prayerfully consider charitable donations in your loved ones name as an alternative to gift giving this holiday season as well as at other times of the year.
Do you have a person who’s difficult to buy for?
Try giving a charitable gift. If we think about giving the world a gift in someone’s name, we can look around and respond to see where God leads you this Christmas or throughout the year. Here are some suggestions: Church World Service, Heifer’s International , Red Bird Mission, ASP (Appalachia Service Project) and Volunteers In Mission.
Visit BUILDAVILLAGE.ORG, an interactive website for the whole family, featuring alternative holiday and year-round gift giving opportunities in support of the life-changing work of Church World Service—as well as stories, games, and other activities for children of all ages. A closer to home MUMMs (Mobile United Methodist Missionaries), bring the gospel to small communities in Iowa.
There are also many local missions such as the Lord's Cupboard and Habitat For Humanity which provide a much needed boost to families in need.
P.S. Need help or have a question? Please contact: Debbie Fleagle
Please remember our six special offerings in 2012:
January 15 - Human Relations Day
March 18 - One Great Hour of Sharing
April 22 - Native American Ministries
June 3 - Peace With Justice Sunday
October 7 - World Communion Sunday
November 25 - UMC Student Day
Simply specify the special offering you wish to contribute to and place it in an envelope, along with your regular giving each Sunday morning. You will be helping so many in need!
Thank you!
Debbie Fleagle/Missions Chairman
The Mission Committee
The
Ecumenical Lord's Cupboard, located at First United Methodist Church, 202 E
Fourth St, Ottumwa, IA is a non-profit, non-tax entity feeding the hungry in
Wapello County. They are a "crisis" enterprise, not a grocery store. They do not
discriminate against anyone because of race, color or creed. They serve as a
channel for funds and food given to them and distribute it without bias. Last
year The Ecumenical Lord's Cupboard provided food to 4,075 individuals in 1, 591
households with each receiving enough food for a week.
This worthy project is ecumenical in that area churches participate by giving financial donations which help the Cupboard with the acquisition of the items they cannot purchase at the Southern Iowa Food Bank. They have to purchase milk, eggs, meats, margarine, bread and a lot of other commodities not distributed by the SIFB. Consequently, monetary donations are always appreciated. Churches also help by contributing food items, cleaning supplies, toiletries and paper products.
The pantry serves as a helping hand to area residents.
Please give with your heart to help those less fortunate among us. The following is a list of current needs:
Pork & Beans
Canned Fruit
Dried Beans
Rice
Cash, for perishable items
Please bring your items to the church to place in the Lord's Cupboard box located at the main entry.
Please stop by the church office for a list of other needed items.
Thank You!
Let’s help them reach their goal!
Habitat for Humanity is a global home-building movement comprising more than 2,300 local affiliates, state support organizations and national organizations in nearly 100 countries. Completing a home somewhere in the world every 24 minutes, Habitat builds nearly 25,000 homes per year.
Habitat for Humanity International is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian
organization dedicated to eliminating substandard housing and homelessness
worldwide and to making adequate, affordable shelter a matter of conscience
and
action. Habitat is founded on the conviction that every man, woman and child
should have a simple, decent, affordable place to live in dignity and safety.
Habitat has an open-door policy: All who desire to be a part of this work are welcome, regardless of religious preference or background. Habitat for Humanity has always had a policy of building with people in need regardless of race or religion, and we welcome volunteers and supporters from all backgrounds.
The work of Habitat for Humanity is driven by the desire to give tangible expression to the love of God through the work of eliminating poverty housing. Habitat's mission and methods are predominantly derived from a few key theological concepts: the necessity of putting faith into action, the "economics of Jesus" and the "theology of the hammer."
Habitat for Humanity welcomes all people to build with us in partnership.
"The Bible teaches that God is the God of the whole crowd," explained Fuller.
"God's love leaves nobody out, and my love should not either. This understanding
drives 'the theology of the hammer' around the world, steadily building more and
more houses in more and more countries."
Ottumwa Habitat For Humanity
202 E. 4th St
Ottumwa, IA 52501
641.680.2010
E-mail:
ottumwahabitatforhumanity@gmail.com
Local Nomads Volunteers
Dale and Elaine Weaver
Willard St. UMC
LIFELINE Newsletter
NOMADS is a mission outreach ministry of the United Methodist Church, but all denominations are welcome. NOMADS provide new construction, remodeling and repairs for churches, children's homes, camps, colleges, outreach missions and disaster recovery. Team members do maintenance, cleaning, painting, and electrical, drywall, sewing, etc.
2012
In-Gathering Kit
samples will be on display soon for delivery to Mount Pleasant in early November. Consider making the trip to In-Gathering on November 3th, 2012. We’d love to take a car full from Willard St. UMC.
Your Missions Committee
Thanks you for your generous giving. Fall is our busiest time of year, and our success with the various events is all due to the many loving, giving hearts in our church.
Bless you all!!
Debbie Fleagle and Missions
Note from Bev Nolte 2/1/2011:
After the November 2010 InGathering, our two storage trailers were nearly full with a variety of kits to be sent to Nigeria. With the addition of items as paraments, medical supplies and equipment, the purchase of two solar refrigerators, solar equipment/hardware, batteries and with nails, bolts and screws, fencing, bolts of Hon material, teaching materials and pill bottles both trailers are nearly full so plans are to send TWO sea containers to Nigeria on March 2, 2011. We do have a little more room for any items, kits, etc. that might be stored in your church. Please contact me immediately if you have items you feel could be useful in Nigeria. We’ll discuss how to get them to our storage trailers in Altoona.
Tentative plans are to load the two containers on Wed. March 2, 2011 (we’ll check the weather forecast) which will take about 20 workers. We need helpers (including women) to come to our trailers at O’Halloran Inc. in Altoona to help load in the morning and over the noon hour. After loading one, we’ll move to the other one but feel free to work the time period you have available.
This is a major task for us to get Iowa kits to Nigeria so any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
Beverly Nolte, 515 266 4186,
bnmedical@aol.com.
Ingathering Kit Assembly & Shipping Instructions
Note: The Knitters and Crocheters that meet the 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month at 1:00pm at Willard St UMC have nearly 100 baby sweaters ready for the Ingathering. These will go in the Layette Kits.
HISPANICS IN THE HEARTLAND
Paul Burrow, Director of Hispanic Ministries for the
South Central District
“She has done what she could . . . Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” (Mark 14:8-9 NRSV)
Her name is Teresa. She is poor and struggles to support her family. She does not consider herself to be anyone of importance. Yet, the influence that she has had is already being felt in Ottumwa.
Click here for more about Teresa and Hispanic Ministries in the Heartland.
UMC Missionaries
Newsletters from Larry and Jane Kies
Guest Speaker/Africa
October 1, 2008
at Willard St UMC
Larry and Jane Kies
are missionaries of the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church assigned to Africa University, located just outside Mutare, the fourth-largest city in Zimbabwe in the southern region of the continent. Larry serves as a technical advisor at the university, assisting in the development of the university’s farm and working to train a new generation of agriculturalists from countries across the continent. Jane teaches English to students coming from countries where it is not spoken. “Since Africa University is the United Methodist college on the continent, many students are coming from countries with a large UM presence, especially Portuguese-speaking Angola and Mozambique,” she notes. “As a Christian and teacher, I believe I can play a significant role in the spiritual and educational development of the students I teach,” Jane says, reflecting on her ministry. “However, it’s not my training and experience that give me that confidence, but the conviction that Jesus can work in and through me to show God’s love for all people.”
Prior to his current assignment, Larry served as the manager of Nyadire Mission Farm at Nyadire Mission Station in Zimbabwe. His duties involved developing the farm to make the mission more self-sufficient in regards to food production, thus freeing resources for other aspects of Christian mission. He also taught agriculture at Nyadire Secondary School and worked with the Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Initiative.
“I am in mission with the African people as we search for and introduce methods of improving food security. To paraphrase a Chinese proverb, we hope to not just give a man a fish, nor even to teach him to fish, but to work with him in finding new ways to fish–and then help him obtain a fishing pole. By so doing, I hope to obey Jesus’ command, implicit in Matthew 25, to feed the hungry.”
This is a very vital ministry in Africa that is reaching out to many people in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
For those who were not in attendance at this special program/dinner we have photos available for viewing at this link.
We
will again be sponsoring the Heifer Project Gift Sales starting Nov.
18
through Dec. 16, 2012. There will be gift certificates available for
heifers, rabbits, tree seedlings, hogs, lambs and much more! Make your
holiday gift giving even more meaningful with a gift from Heifer
International!
The mitten, scarf and hat tree will also be set up Nov. 18 through Dec. 16, 2012 so lets fill it till the boughs bend to the floor! Your gifts will be deeply appreciated by the children of Wapello County!
Debbie and the Mission Committee
"Thanks for your support for the Heifer International Project and a very full Mitten Tree"! -- The Mission Committee
Mobile United Methodist Missionaries
MUMMS NEWS February 2012
:MUMMS UPDATE!!!!
Happy New Year.....2012 and what does God have in
store for each of us???? The only way we are going to know that answer is to be IN TUNE with GOD every day....praying, listening, studying His word and being QUIET ...allowing the word of God to penetrate our hearts.
Just yesterday I had a conversation with my husband that began me thinking about just how much do we Christians LISTEN to God. The topic was busy...busy friends who don't have to time to even eat out.....busy neighbors who don't have time to neighbor......busy siblings who don't have time to answer the cell phone and elementary age grandchildren who have FULL schedules even on Sat and Sun. It is a fact and it makes me wonder........WHERE IS GOD FITTING INTO ALL THIS?????
Then this morning my devotions were from Luke 10:38-42. OOPS!!!! The message straight from JESUS....."Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from
her." We know the story....Martha the BUSY BEE....Mary sitting at JESUS' feet SOAKING up the word which NOTHING or NO ONE can take away from her.
Our world is busy...our churches are busy....committees, meetings, projects, planning, and it the midst of all that.....DO WE LOSE....
WHY WERE WE CREATED?????
BUSY churches are not necessarily serving God in the way He calls us to serve.
For example....do you lack children in your worship service? Have you heard someone say, "there are no children out there", OR how long has it been since you held a VBS?
Give us a chance and MUMMS will come show you the children!!!! They are there...they are hungry to be loved and GOD SEES them.
What is God's will for your church ...for you????? Jesus' words to Martha give us deep insight into HIS heart. HE first wants us at HIS feet.
Above all, HE wants us to learn from HIM!!!!
My prayer for MUMMS is to......continue to learn from HIM....to be HIS hands, feet and voice in a broken, lonely and desperate world.
We welcome the opportunity to come help you reach out and love in Jesus' name!!!!
Blessings to you!!!!
Peg Egbert, director, Mobile UM Missionaries
* * * *
PS: Remember, I welcome the opportunity to visit your churches and share all God is doing through this vital ministry called MUMMS!
Blessings to you all--
Peg Egbert, Director of Mobile UM Missionaries
pjemumm@iowatelecom.net
641-919-1533
Linda Rowe reports from Nigeria (2011). "We arrived, not without incident, on Sunday pm. Were met by a host of friends – Hannatu, Brittany, Simon Benji, Magdiel, and John Pena." Read more
TALES TO TELL - September 2011
The Iowa team members who have gone to Nigeria in the past two years have many exciting and first hand tales to share with your church or church group. Members have unloaded the sea containers filled with a variety of kits from the Iowa InGathering and will share the expressions of joy as they are distributed.
Want to know about the vibrant Nigerian worship services? Need to hear how illiteracy is being addressed in rural areas? Did you know that 122 blind people had their sight restored with the help of the Iowa medical team? Look down a deep opening to see clean water in a borehole! We are ready and willing to come and tell tales about the Iowa Nigeria Partnership.
Please contact Beverly Nolte, 515 266 4186,
bnmedical@aol.com with your invitation and we will match your request with one of our interpreter. We’ve “tall” tales to tell you straight from Nigeria!
Beverly Nolte
5221 Village Run Ave. #604
Des Moines IA 50317
515 266 4186 home
February 2011 Newsletter - Cletus David
September 2011 Newsletter - Cletus David
I/Eye Care
Each year
I go to see the eye doctor to check the only pair of eyes I have! Has my vision
changed in a year? Do I need new glasses? Do I have cataracts or glaucoma? I
care about my eyes!
In
Dr. Gideon
Avar, eye surgeon at the UMC Eye Centre in Zing, has for the past two years,
held an eye camp in one of the church areas. With the help of
I care
about eye care! Money may be sent through your local church to the conference
treasurer designated: INP, #230, Eye Camp.
The
How many Bibles are in your home? Are these read on a daily basis? For Nigerians who have completed the Lit-Lit Program sponsored by the United Methodist Church of Nigeria in their church or community, Bibles in Hausa are a prized commodity. The majority of students in the Lit-Lit classes are mainly village women whose parents didn’t feel it was worth paying the tuition fees for them to attend school. Through the program they learn to do simple arithmetic, read and write and for some, come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. It is never too late for education and when you educate a woman you are educating the family and village. At graduation they must pay to receive the Hausa Bible which some can’t afford. The ability to read the Bible and the lack of funds to provide one for them is agonizing. How can we help remedy that situation? For $7 a Hausa Bible can be purchased. For $25 a student can attend Lit-Lit classes.
Your contribution may be made through your local church and sent to the Conference Treasurer designated INP #230, Hausa Bible or Lit Lit.
The next time you pick up your Bible to read or to study, count yourself blessed.
What your money can do in
$1.50 will allow a child to have basic school supplies
$7 will purchase a Bible in Hausa
$15 will provide a one month stipend for a UMC
teacher
$20 will help an illiterate Nigerian learn to
read and write
$35 will provide one- term tuition for a high
school student
$50 will purchase vaccines for the poultry
program
$62 will allow a woman to attend the Women’s
$75 will buy a goat for the Agricultural
Program
$100 will stock the medicine cabinet at the
church run clinics
$120 will purchase a treadle sewing machine
$130 will purchase a bicycle for a local pastor
$550 will purchase a motorcycle for the
Lit-Lit, Evangelism or youth director
$1,500 will purchase a solar refrigerator for
the district medical clinics
$2,000 will built a round hut home for an
evangelist to minister to unsaved people
$6,500 will sink a deep water borehole/well providing clear, pure water
Money may be given through your church and sent to the Conference Treasurer designated INP, #230 and choice of project.
Beverly Nolte
INP Chairperson
Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but
in truth and action.
- 1 John 3:18
Volunteers in Mission groups are active all throughout the year. But maybe this summer would be a good time to invite others to try out a mission trip who have never gone before. A list of trip dates can be found at the Iowa Conference website Volunteers In Mission or to connect with a team from the North Central Jurisdictional Conference, including Iowa check out the list of teams on the UMVIM-NCJ website and click on TEAMS. Or simply contact one of our VIM Coordinators in Iowa:
Kathy Martin, Conference Coordinator
3259 Stone Park Blvd,
Sioux City, IA 51104-2253
712-490-1369
martink@morningside.edu
Youth groups can also get involved!
Catch the mission spirit!
Thank you for being God's hands and feet as we reach out to our community.
Willard
Street United Methodist Church 2007-2012
