 A Postcard and a Prayer |
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| Mennonite Women USA |
May 2008 |
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"Women hear each other into speech." - Nell Morton shared by Carolyn Holderread Heggen at Women in Conversation retreats, April 2008.
"May you be blessed with good friends...
May you always be in the gentle nest of belonging with your anam cara, your soul friend." -John O'Donahue in a "Friendship Blessing" shared at Women in Conversation
The photo, taken by Norah Wolthius, shows a visual used during worship at the 2008 Women in Conversation retreats.
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Dear working mom, stay-at-home mom, single mom, married mom, mothers without and mothers with everything, mothers who have lost their children, mothers whose children are far away, mothers of the unborn and spiritual moms, God sees you and knows you. God loves you. You are God's hands of love and arms of compassion. Your prayers and love are a gift of grace to the next generation. - adapted from Tender Mercy for a Mother's Soul by Angela Thomas, 2006 |
Welcome new editor Patty Burdette
 Mennonite Women USA welcomes Patty Burdette, a former Bluffton University English professor and professional in public relations and financial development, to a new role as editor for Mennonite Women USA. Beginning May 15, Patty will work from her home in Butler, Ohio. She and her husband Rob currently worship at Grace Mennonite Church in Pandora, Ohio where Rob serves as transitional pastor.
Patty says, "Part of timbrel's purpose is to allow Christian women to share their values across generations when meeting face-to-face is made difficult by the change in women's lifestyles. The dialogue in these pages helps us to know God and to know our sisters."
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| Coming in timbrel - caring for God's creation
What are the little things that you do to make a difference in conservation of earth's resources?
Share a small, practical action that you/your family do to care for God's creation. Be specific!
We will list as many as we can to answer our Sister Question for the July-August timbrel. Please keep responses short (one to two sentences) and list your name/city/state. Send your answers to Patricia.
To subscribe to timbrel, send $14 for one year or $12 per person for a group of 10 or more to Mennonite Women USA, P.O. Box 347, Newton, KS 67114. You can also e-mail or call 800-794-5101, ext. 227. We'll start your subscription and send you a bill.
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Mennonite Women USA board meets
The Mennonite Women USA (MW USA) Board of Directors met March 28-29 at Silverwood Mennonite Church, Goshen, Ind. The board approved MW USA leadership offering several Sister-Care workshops in the next year in conjunction with conferences.
MW USA board top left: Rebecca Sommers, president, Goshen, Ind.; Regina Shands Stoltzfus, Great Lakes, Elkhart, Ind.; Jean Kilheffer Hess, treasurer, East Petersburg, Pa.; Barb Voth, Central States, Newton, Kan.; Carolyn Holderread Heggen West Coast, Corvallis; Ore. Bottom left: Gail Shetler, secretary, Goshen, Ind., Gail Harder, vice-president, Reedley, Calif.; Evie Hertzler, East Coast, Harrisonburg, Va.; Cora L.Brown, African American Mennonite Association, Elkhart, Ind. Not pictured: Vilma Padilla, Iglesia Menonita Hispana, Goshen, Ind.
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| Women and Migration, Hope in the midst of violence, a Learning Tour for Women, October 12-22, 2008
This learning tour will focus especially on the social realities experienced by women in Central America and Mexico, why some decide to migrate and what they experience during their journeys and in the US. Travel will include Tucson, AZ and the US/Mexico border as well as Chiapas, Mexico and the Guatemala/Mexico border. The tentative cost is $1500 plus travel to Tucson and from Chiapas. For more information, contact Linda Gehman Peachey, MCC US Women's Advocacy Program, lgp@mcc.org or (717) 859-1151, (888) 563-4676. |
 2008 Bible study guide
A new Bible study guide, Your Treasure, Your Heart: Women and the Stewardship of Moneywill be mailed in early June to our supporting women's groups and churches.
As part of our ministries to women's groups, Mennonite Women USA (MW USA) and Canadian Women in Mission (CWM) develop materials for an annual Anabaptist women's Bible study guide - this year working with writer Patricia Burdette. Faith & Life publishes, markets and sells the guide.
Your Treasure, Your Heart can be used in women's groups, as a devotional or journaling tool or for a Sunday school quarter. Available in June, the guide can be ordered by contacting Faith & Life publishing at 800-245-7894.
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Women in Conversation - Laurelville
- photos by Norah Wolthius
Kicking up their heels, some women learned line dancing during one of the seminars.
During the closing at both retreats, each conversation circle was blessed with words and each woman received a visual blessing of a folded paper crane.
Before final departure, individual conversation circles gathered for a time of prayer, a group hug and travel mercies for the trip home.
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| Women in Conversation - Kansas
- photos by Rhoda Keener
The Bixler sisters at the Crazy Hat dinner, - self-named "elegant, quaint, cute and comic" - left to right, Rachel Bixler Guedea (Indiana), Esther Heatwole (Colorado), Ruth Bixler Reeser (Oregon), Marjorie Atwater Bixler (Indiana).
Dusted off from the cedar chest, Marlene Bogard wore this special childhood hat to the banquet.
All the way from Arizona, Zelda Yoyokie and Marilyn Sakeva enjoy the time to relax. |
Giving to Mennonite Women USA
Your gifts make Mennonite Women USA's ministry possible. Contribute on-line. Please consider this ministry in your giving. Gifts are tax deductible.
Or send by regular mail to: Mennonite Women USA, 722 Main St., P.O. Box 347, Newton, KS 67114. |
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Cultivation - A Gift from God
- A prayer for the journey by Linda Dibble, Albany, Oregon
Creator God, you are moving us into the spring and summer seasons of this year. The earth is bursting forth with color - the flowers and trees are blooming in myriad shades of vibrancy, the birds are returning to the feeders with glowing colors and some in more drab brown/black tones. My heart turns to the many things that need to be accomplished before my half-acre garden can bloom and bring forth flowers and vegetables to be shared with many.
Cultivation is a gift this wet spring - there has been too much rain and the ground is still wet - yet, there have been a few precious opportunities to 'till the soil, amend it with rich sheep manure, and pull weeds that have potential to take over. It is work to cultivate soil and bring it to a state of perfect mixture for tiny seeds to grow in. The work continues throughout the summer to add nutrients from compost and organic fertilizers in order to provide a continual healthy state for growing plants and to keep the weeds pulled.
But then, the joy of picking the fruits of the vine and delicious vegetables outweigh the work that has gone on before. When the strawberry juice drips from my grandchildren's mouths, the zucchini is crisp and fresh, the cucumbers ready for pickling, the corn is crunchy and sweet - then the joy of those moments outweigh the efforts that have gone on earlier - and I experience the rich diversity of God's creation.
In the same way, Lord, your Holy Spirit, cultivates our souls and hearts - it is work to listen to your voice and to hear words of instruction and correction. It is more work to follow your voice once we hear it - but Lord, grant us grace and courage to follow you into the spring and summer and to move forward into your kingdom work. Nurture us and encourage us to love one another so much that the world knows we are your children and they in turn want to know and experience that love.
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A Postcard & a Prayer is compiled by Mennonite Women USA staff Rhoda Keener, Patricia Burdette, Berni Kaufman, and Lois Loflin. |
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Know of others who would like to receive "A Postcard & a Prayer" e-mails from Mennonite Women USA? Have them send name, address, and e-mail Berni. | |
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