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Section of the Americas
| November 19, 2014
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I am so thankful to the Friends in Pacific Yearly Meeting who encouraged me to get involved with the Friends World Committee. Who inspired you to get to know the Friends World Committee? Does that person know what a difference they have made in your life? When you make a donation to FWCC in honor of a Friend, we will mail a card to that Friend to let them know they have been honored in this way. (It doesn't disclose the amount of your gift.) Thanks again, Janet L.!
In friendship,
Robin Mohr
Executive Secretary
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All Friends Are Welcome to Attend Section Meeting 2015
 | | Quinta Saulo Union y Triunfo |
We look forward to seeing you at the biennial Meeting of the Americas Section, to be held March 12-15, 2015 near Mexico City. For more details as they are published, visit our webpage. To go directly to the registration page, registration is open now! Dave and Kathy from The Conference Managers are once again managing our online registration process. The theme of the meeting, taken from Colossians, will be "Friends Woven Together in God's Love."
If you are interested in learning more about Quaker peace and justice work in Mexico, a post-Section Meeting tour is being organized by the Casa de los Amigos. (You can register for the tour by emailing the Casa; you can read about a similar, earlier tour on their website.)
 As we move closer to the Section Meeting, we are pleased to introduce our new bilingual Section Meeting Coordinator, Frances Forster Stacey. Frances will be coordinating the attendance of Latin American Representatives and many other logistical details. Now a member of Southeastern Yearly Meeting, Frances has previously worked with registrations and arrangements for Pacific and South Central Yearly Meetings. About 15 years ago she was a Representative to the Section assisting with interpretation at the Annual Meetings. She has also served on the planning committee for the YouthQuake program. We are very pleased to have her working with us now.
Did you know it is just as difficult and expensive for a Bolivian to travel to Mexico as it is for her to travel to the United States? We need to raise $15,000 this year to help bring Latin American Representatives to the Section Meeting. Invite a few Friends to work together to contribute to the Section Meeting Travel Fund - gifts from first-time donors will be doubled through our Mustard Seed Matching Campaign! You can make a donation online or mail it to us right away.
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Weaving the Tapestry: The Strategic Plan for 2015-2020
What does the Religious Society of Friends need from a Friends World Committee in the 21st century? After a year of consideration and hours of consultation, the Executive Committee is pleased to share the new strategic plan for the Section of the Americas, Weaving the Tapestry 2015-2020, in English and Spanish.
 We believe that increasing our focus on intervisitation across all the cultural barriers among Friends, better training of Representatives to be bridges among Friends, and exploring alternative funding streams will move us toward our vision: an integrated and thriving network of Friends from the Arctic to the Andes, woven together in transformational faith, learning to love, listen and witness. You can download the whole document from our website. |
News from the FWCC New England committee 
from Dorothy Grannell,
FWCC SOA Executive Committee (NEYM)
New England Yearly Meeting's FWCC committee met in October to set priorities for the 2014-15 year. We shared how our meetings would participate in World Quaker Day on October 5, 2014.
We are pleased to announce the completion of "Jugar llenos de fe," the Spanish translation of the popular youth religious education materials "Faith and Play." About a year ago, FWCC brought some visitors from Cuba Yearly Meeting to New England Yearly Meeting, who happened to express interest in using "Faith and Play" in Cuba. Our members Benigno Sanchez-Eppler and Susan Furry translated the curriculum and presented it at our meeting. We will be working in collaboration with FWCC, Friends General Conference and Friends United Meeting to distribute bound copies: some will be available for Latin American Friends at the FWCC Section Meeting in Mexico in March. The document can be downloaded for free on NEYM's website. The materials are most effective when teachers have received training about using the open-ended questioning approach to the topics.
The FWCC New England Committee is offering a program, "What Makes Us All Friends?" to interested meetings in NEYM. Our goal is to take the worship-sharing-style program to at least two quarterly meetings between now and May. The video that was developed for World Quaker Day by the World Office will also be used. We will travel in two person teams in a traveling ministry model. We hope to have news to report at the Section Meeting about our progress.
How is FWCC making an impact in your yearly meeting?
Email your story to newsletter@fwccamericas.org!
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