God of the sparrow, God of the whale

Welcome back to the real world! At least that's what I was saying on my walk this morning . . . after 10 days of beautiful Tahiti (humpback whales in the ocean, schools of amazing stingrays, fish of every shape and color) I'm spending a week at Selah Lodge in Mt Vernon, Texas . . . a retreat center designed especially for clergy who need to rest and reconnect with God! And what did I see and hear all around me as I walked through the beauty of East Texas . . . sparrows (or at least some non-descript bird) flitting their wings and rustling the leaves of the trees around me! And I was reminded, once again, that God's love and grace comes in a million different ways! What a privilege to be "at home" with God whevever we are. Stay tuned for some blips from the wonderful reading I plan to do this week . . .

More news from Casa Hogar

The children of Casa Hogar La Familia are having a great summer, which included three mission team visits and a six-week visit from Joe Lupo who served as a volunteer.

Pictured below is a classroom at the children's school. The children of La Familia volunteered to clean the classrooms to get them ready for the new school year. Note the size of the desks. Two children sit at each desk.


Below is a photograph showing concrete block being delivered to begin work on the second floor of the present building at La Familia. Thanks go to Lighthouse Fellowship UMC in Fort Worth for a $6,300 donation to fund the beginning of completion of a portion the second floor. When completed, this addition will enable La Familia to care for an additional 15 orphaned and/or abandoned children.


Below, is Alfredo (center) with his siblings, Angelica (Left) and Artury (Right) following his graduation from primary school and into secondary school.


Pictured below is Damaly following her graduation from secondary school and into high school.


And finally, below is pictured Abigail in her graduation ceremony from kindergarten and into first grade in primary school.




Watch your email for another letter from Muriel, a 20-year-old volunteer from Upstate New York.

Please also note that we have set dates for a six-day mission trip to La Familia beginning October 7, 2010. We would love to have you be a member of this mission team.

Casa Hogar Mi Familia

The following comes from a volunteer at Casa Hogar la Familia in southern Mexico . . . a home for orphaned or abandoned children that we have supported for many years . . . if you have interest in this type of ministry AUMC will be taking a mission team there in the Spring of 2011:

First of all its been great to have Joe Lupo here from Church of the Redeemer in Greenville, SC, for the last few weeks. He has become our official grandpa and the kids love having him here and sure will miss him a lot.
Each of the weeks Joe was here, he made all the kids sandwiches for school every morning. One morning he noticed that we had peanut butter and jam and offered to make the sandwiches out of this. I agreed -- not wanting to say no -- but secretly I dragged my feet knowing that it was something new and thinking the kids wouldn’t like it. When the kids were heading out the door, they asked what the sandwiches were made of that day. When I told them that Joe had made a special surprise of peanut butter and jelly, I was either responded by silence or a wrinkled up nose. But later when the kids arrived home from school, I have never heard such excitement over sandwiches. They couldn´t stop exclaiming how good the sandwiches were and when could we make them again. They became an immediate hit and we nicknamed them “grandpa Joe´s sandwiches”.
Another thing we were able to do while Joe was here is go to the water park. We got the kids up early Monday morning and I´ve never seen the kids do their chores and make their beds as fast as this morning. Meanwhile in the kitchen we prepared a large pot of beans. By the time the beans were ready, the kids were antsy and ready to leave.
The water park is only about 15 minutes away. It is a gorgeous place with various pools including a shallow pool for little kids, an indoor pool, a water slide, etc. There are picnic tables and chairs and plenty of shade. They even have basketball, soccer and volleyball courts.

Once at the water park, we gave out quick safety instructions and then let the kids loose. The day was bright, but a fresh breeze kept the air cool. However, within ten minutes, the youngest ones were in the water, climbing all over the large play boat, standing under the water sprinklers or riding the artificial alligators and hippos, completely immersed and happy. The older ones started and intense game of soccer. I don´t think we´ve ever had such a heated game as this one. We finished physically very tired from all the running and shouting. In another corner in the shade, we had set up the coffee maker and the adults were in a heated game of Sequence, a board game we all enjoy. Awhile later, when the water slide was turned on, we were all there, even the youngest ones, forming trains of five or six of us -- each one on his belly and grabbing the feet of the next. On the way down, the water tube was FULL of screams as we whipped down the curves, then as we came out into the pool at the bottom, a large jumble of flailing legs and arms.
By the time lunch time came, everyone was ravenous. We had bought fried chicken and rice to go with the beans. The kids couldn´t stop eating! After lunch, they had to wait for an hour to go back into the water. I think it was the longest hour of the day because every five or ten minutes they would ask if it was time yet to go back in. A few of the younger ones sprawled out in the sun on their towels and the rest on the swing sets. Finally after 45 minutes we let them wade up to their ankles and later swim. The rest of the afternoon they spent in the water. We let them spend some time in the indoor heated pool and they loved practicing to swim, jumping off our shoulders or just enjoying the warmth of the water.
At 5:00pm they were still swimming, purple lips and their little bodies trembling with cold, but they wouldn´t leave the water until it was time to go. At 5:30, we called everyone out to shower and change and then we headed home. All slept well that night.
Well, I´ll say goodbye greetings especially to Joe and we miss him lots and thanks for that five weeks.
Love,
Muriel

God created . . .and it was ALL GOOD!

Thursday our Rancho Brazos kiddos had the amazing opportunity to go to Fossil Rim for a full day of summer camp courtesy of Fossil Rim. We loaded in our bus early on Thursday morning and headed for Glen Rose, where we had a nature hike, opportunities to feed the animals, tye-died shirts with natural dye and learned how to shoot a bow and arrow. Our summer interns, Rachel and Erica were amazing! Our God is a wonderful God who created a world as diverse as all the animals and even as diverse as all of us . . . and yet loves us all and created us with all we need to live in community with one another. Thanks to Fossil Rim for an amazing experience.

Worship Wonders

What happens when church ministries work together to teach children to love the world in the name of Jesus? At Acton United Methodist Church in Granbury, Texas MAD (Music, Art and Drama) for Mission happens every summer! This year children who have completed grades K-6, led by staff from the music department and the Minister of Outreach combined with United Methodist Women, the adult Outreach Team and members of Soundwave Youth Choir to learn about life and worship for children in Sudan. In response to the story of Jesus feeding the multitudes with five loaves of bread and four fish, the children made 250 backpack meals for children in need in their own neighborhood. While learning about health and education needs in Sudan, they made 100 health kits and 200 school kits to send to Sudan through UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief). In art, they made prayer pinwheels voicing their own personal prayers for Sudanese children. “Red Hand” posters illustrating Philippians 4:15 (“Let your gentleness be known . . . the Lord is near”) were sent to the United Nations in solidarity with peacemakers around the world against the use of children as soldiers. United Methodist Women shared pictures and stories about Sudan from Response magazine and made snacks that children in Sudan might eat . . . pita bread with honey and toast with cream cheese and dates. In story time, they heard that “it takes two hands to clap” and shared how their hands can help children around the world who have needs so big their families cannot meet them. As an offering, they brought nickels and dimes and pennies and quarters to help build a fishpond in Sudan stocked with fish through Heifer International that will feed children and families for generations. In worship on Sunday, they led the congregation to “go and do likewise” by singing Sudanese songs of praise and community. . . . and the congregation added $400 to their $67 of nickles and dimes and quarters to build the tank! Thanks be to God for the privilege of teaching children to join their brothers and sisters around the world in their struggle and in their hope. "Who will build the church now? We will, yes we will!"

Fish Ponds for Love

What an amazing week we had at MAD for Mission. Today we learned that most people in Sudan are not Christian . . .they either have no religion or they are Muslim. We talked about how important it is for us to love every person in the world, even if they are not Christian, because God wil use our love to help them understand God's love. Wow! Isn't it amazing how God works even in our differences. We made lunches for children in our local community who might not have lunch during the summer and we prepared to sing in worship THIS Sunday at 9:45 and ll:00. We are so excited for the adults to hear us praise God in the Sudanese languages. A wonderful praise is that the children raised $67.90 to start a fund to build a fish pond in the Sudan so that a whole village can have fish to eat. You can help us by sending your contribution to AUMC and marking it "fish pond". We're so proud of our kids for loving the WHOLE world in the name of Jesus.

The Red Hand Campaign

Today we learned about schools in the Sudan and made school kits to be shipped through UMCOR around the world to help children learn. Surely God is at work in that effort! We also made our contribution to the Red Hand Campaign . . . an efort of the United Nations to abolish the use of children under the age of 18 as soldiers in war. do you know that the United Nations estimates that as many as 250,000 children are still being used as soldiers in some way in armed conflicts? Our messages for peace will be sent to our United Nations representatives to voice our hope that every child will have the privilege of growing up without war. We learned that a part of our responsibility as Christians is to be a voice that speaks up for other people who don't have the blessings we know! Thank you God, for giving us courage!

Four Feet, Two Sandles

Today in MAD (Music, Art and Drama) for Mission we learned about refugees . . . persons who don't have a country in which to live . . . and we learned that even Jesus was a refugee when he had to go to Egypt with Mary and Joseph to be safe. We made more school kits for UMCOR Sager Brown and heard a wonderful story about two friends who shared the one pair of sandles they had while living in a refugee camp (thanks to Nancy Guhl). Most of all, we learned that prayer is very important . . . prayers of thanksgiving for water and homes and parents and our church . . . and prayers for peace around the world and for the necessities of live for persons who live in refugee camps around the world. And we prayed prayers of thanksgiving for the United Methodist Committee on Relief that takes our school supplies and sends them all over the world with the love of Jesus!

MAD for Mission ala the Sudan

Welcome to day 1 of MAD for Mission . . . goes to the Sudan. Today we learned that life in the Sudan is very hard for children . . . that many children live in refugee camps where they have only their basic needs met . . . and that many come to the United States and other countries to be educated so that they can be a voice for hope and peace in their country. We learned, most of all, that God loves everyone in the world and that God wants us to love everyone in the world. And that out of that love comes our help for them. Sooooo. . . today we started making school kits that will be sent around the world to children in need through UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) and we started a collection to build a fishpond in Sudan that will help people have food to eat. We were reminded by the story of the loaves and the fishes that no gift we have is EVER too small for God!

It's all Good!

As we think about Vacation Bible School 2010 at Rancho Brazos all we can say is "It's all Good!" God was at work in wonderful ways this week as learned about our Bible friends, talked about God's love for us, sang and prayed with great joy. We ended the week with a visit from Jesus and the disciples on the road to Emmaus (aka Dan and Margaret Gessley and Carolyn Morrow) and a community party complete with a bounce house, a praise band and wonderful food. Our children led us in worship as they sang "God of Wonders" and we were reminded once againt that our God is an amazing, incredible, wonderful God who knows and loves each one of us!

Thanks to Janice Whitecotton and our amazing volunteers who blessed us with God's love.

Holy Visitors

Wednesday was another amazing day at Rancho Brazos. We fed lunch to over 60 children and then led approximately 40 in learning that God is knows everything about us and loves us unconditionally. We had a special visitor, Su Kelley, portraying the Woman at the Well and children learned that the same God that created the universe, who spoke to Elijah in the still, small voice came in person to meet the woman at the well and our response should be like hers . . . go and tell! We had wonderful singing, crafts, snacks and games thanks to our most wonderful volunteers. Come out on Friday at 6:00 PM to see and hear how God has been at work.

God of Wonders

Today at Rancho Brazos VBS we learned that God speaks to us sometimes in the wind, sometimes in the earthquake, sometimes in the fire, but most often in the still small voice that requires our listening. We had a surprise visit from Elijah who reminded us that even when we are scared or angry, God will hear us and show us the way!! God of wonders beyond our galaxy, you are holy, holy, holy!

Galactic Blast ala Rancho Brazos

What happens when God's children focus on the wonder of creation? Galactic Grace! That's what is happening this week at AUMC's Rancho Brazos Community Center with amazing volunteers and 30+ wonderful children! Monday's lesson focused on the creation story with creative storytelling, crafts, music and games. The best way to tell the story is to give you the opportunity to see for yourself! Please come on Friday at 6:00 PM for our wrap-up and celestial celebration!!

Way to go, awesome women!!

This past weekend was the amazing graduation ceremony of the women at Christian Women's Job Corps . . . .the culmination of months of learning, sharing and growing to equip women to support themselves and their families. Thank you to the Bible Explore's Sunday School class for providing the reception and to Pat and Rosetti and JJ Mainord, who served as mentors to two of these courageous women. Brian Rosetti, AUMC's Outreach Chair and JJ Mainord serve on the Board of Directors of Christian Women's Job Corps

You're Never Too Young!!

You're never too young to start doing God's work! That's what the AUMC Preschool believes! Our amazing preschoolers raised $1050 for St. Jude's Hospital in their Trike-a-thon!! How amazing is it that God grows us through our service and blesses the world at the same time. Way to go Preschool!!!

A little dirt, a little growth, a lot of love!

What happens when 30 amazing kids are combined with some potting soil, a few flowers, great neighbors and the love of God? A beautiful garden of love. That's what happened last week at AUMC's Rancho Brazos Community Center when the National Day of Prayer Breakfast Committee donated their centerpiece flowers to our community center. Amazing neighbors Jimmie and Pauline Layland added their expertise and the kids planted and planted and planted. Surely God is growing more than flowers in our midst. Thanks to the prayer breakfast team and to the Laylands and most of all to God, who gives all the growth.

National Day of Message

World Day of Prayer: For Times Such as These

As we think about our prayer for the world this day I invite you to hear these words from the book of Hebrews, written to the early Christian community, which also seem to speak to us today. The author has listed the many faithful who paved the way for us, he talks about Abraham and Moses and David and the great cloud of witnesses who persevered so that the world might know the love of God - - - and then he says “Do you see what this means? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running – and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. . . lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight the paths of your feet. . . Pursue peace with everyone and holiness without which no one will see God. . Make sure no one gets left out of God’s generosity.”

In times such as these, when our world is so very divided by not only cultural differences but differences of faith as well, I believe the scripture says some really important things for us. . .first and foremost, it says we, who are followers of Jesus, must stand for the love of God and neighbor. “Study how Jesus did it” the scripture says . . . Jesus was very clear in his teachings that neighbors included people who don’t look like us. . . who perhaps don’t understand God in the same way we do . . .who might not even know there is a God to know . . . and yet, we are called to speak love to them because we too have received love, even before we knew God. The scripture reminds us that that might be hard work . . . another translation says we must “run with perseverance the race that is set before us” . . . in our world we have come to be afraid of persons who are not like us . . . especially of persons who understand God differently, and yet Jesus is our model . . . he showed us how to do that as he welcomed sinners and ate with those the religious people condemned and honored the loving-kindness even of the Samaritan, who was a foreigner in their midst. That transformation of our lives starts with prayer that we might be transformed into the image of Jesus so that we might love the world like Jesus did.

In times such as these, perhaps we can learn that diversity is of God . . . it can be our strength if we can recognize that all the diversity in the world comes to us as a gift from God. When you were a child, perhaps you might have learned as I did the song “Jesus Loves the Little Children . . . all the children of the world . . . red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight . . . Jesus loves the little children of the world.” That was easy for me as a little girl because I didn’t know anyone who was red or yellow or black or white or different from me! But today that takes on a whole new meaning, as we realize we are connected to the whole world and called to love the whole world! If Jesus loved all of God’s children and he is our model, then how else can we be faithful in our discipleship and in our prayer than to “pursue peace with everyone and holiness for our own life”, because it is in our modeling the love of Jesus that others will want to know him as well. We are like the hypocrites Jesus condemned when we pray for peace in the world and refuse to recognize the sacred gift of life in our brothers and sisters of the world.

As we pray that the world might be transformed into the “Kingdom of God” for which Jesus prayed, we have to pray that love triumphs over hate, hope triumphs over fear, unity triumphs over alienation, perseverance triumphs over our inclination to give up on the world . . . and we, the followers of Jesus, must pray to be those who “lift our drooping hands and strengthen our weak knees and make straight the paths of our feet so that the world will know the generous grace of God.”

Rev. Dawne McAlpin

Mission Team experiences

Here's a report from one faithful team member of the recent Sager Brown Mission Trip:

I had the privilege and honor of helping give out food to nearly 960 families. Sager Brown provides monthly distribution of “Food for Seniors” and “Food for Mothers”. They work with Catholic Charities to provide this service. Not only do they provide food for seniors and mothers but after they register, they drive to the warehouse and our people actually put the food in their cars for them. At the point of registration, I had the honor of greeting all of these people as they arrived, shook their hands, and told them God loved them. What a joy that was.

Rainbow Room Clothng Drive

What happens when the people of God learn about need in the world? Amazing things! These sacks full of clothing and hygiene items will go to help children in the care of Child Protective Services . . . to remind them that God loves each of us as if there is only one of us! Thank you to those who participated in this ministry!!

6000 Women with Purpose

What happens when over 6,000 United Methodist Women gather to worship and ponder God's will for the world? Amazing things. Last weekend, United Methodist Women from around the world gathered in St. Louis, Missouri . . . among the amazing worship opportunites, classes and fellowship events, was a march in support of immigration reform and a rally led by United Methodist Bishop Minerva Carcano . . . together, we can be a part of making God's kingdom a reality "on earth as it in heaven."

God's got the Whole World in His Hands!

The United Methodist connectional system is an amazing thing! We've recently had the privilege of spending time with Dr. Chris Hena, physician and representative of the General Board of Global Ministries in Kazakhstan. Dr. Hena facilitates a Comprehensive Community-Based primary Health Care program, which trains local health workers to promote better health practices in their communities. She also works as a physician at one of the hospitals in Eastern kazakhstan and provides medical services to several village clinics. As Chris reflected on her call to mission service she reminded us that God calls us all to service . . . in our own way . . . in our own locations . . . thank you Dr. Chris Hena . . .

There's no place like home . . . unless it's Sager Brown

We're home! Why is the trip home longer than the trip to the destination? It was a great week--eye-opening, gratifying, uplifting, and reverential. To the very end, we had to keep up our strength by maintaining our caloric intake--doing God's work burns calories, as you well know. Notice in the pics what good stewards we were in cleaning up after meals, all with smiles on their faces. Don't you think the aprons look cute? Lovay was presented with a Sager Brown T-shirt amid thunderous applause from all assembled. The Vespers session on Thur. night was pretty amazing, with contributions from all 4 groups (2 from TX, 1 from AR, 1 from WA). Jeanine put a choir together and the coordinating team planned the program, including communion. Bill K. remarked that that was the closest he's been to Heaven. Let me give you a sense of the week's accomplishments: 7,000 health kits produced, 500 school bags made, painting and carpentry projects completed, untold number of birthing kits, assistance at Chez Hope (center for battered females), and, oh yes, some administrarive duties. Jerry and John reported they were boxing up health kits at 1-24 to a box every ONE MINUTE as we worked to meet a self-imposed goal. Thanks to the church for being behind us and I encourage you to speak with this year's participants so you can capture their assessment of the week. I think you should consider the trip next year (April 10). It will be a spiritual-social experience you won't soon forget. Craig

And the beat goes on . . . .

Apologies for the late entry. Yesterday was a half workday and half a sightseeing and EATING out day. Several of us participated in the once a month food delivery program. We put roughly 620 boxes of food in drive-up recipients' vehicles--in trunks, in back seats, and on people's laps. Now, that's really drive-thru fast food. iI got a chance to interact with many of the folks because I alternated with Neil in opening doors and trunks. The food was a blessing for the recipients, but perhaps was a greater blessing to the givers. Dick Swain had the awesome opportunity of meeting and greeting all the recipients as they validated their eligibility credentials to receive the food boxes. We were fortunate to be here at the time of the once-a-month food delivery program. As of yesterday I believe we have created 5,000 health kits and 2,600 layette or birthing kits. That's about 1% of the materials here in the Depot with materials coming in all the time. Do you think you might have the time to share some of God's work here at Sager Brown next year? You will find it a unique and uplifting experience, to say nothing about the social milieu that develops between our members and those from other churches. During our half-day off, our eminent and multi-decorated (no that's JJ) leader planned an excursion to Avery island, the home base for Tabasco pepper sauce. The newbies took the factory toour while the veterans were seen "just sitting and rocking" on the porch of the Tabasco store. They had their tasting of Tabasco ice cream, cola, dips, and sauces. Hot and spicy is to my liking but the habanero pepper sauce exceeds my pay grade. We travelled through tree, plant, gator, and bird sanctuary and viewed the Buddhisyou should consideryou should considert shrine. The Buddha was a gift to Mr. McIlhenney (sp?), tabasco's originator, from someone in China. I'm happy to report that the Buddha spoke to none in our midst as we remained steadfast in our Christian beliefs. On a sadder note, I'm ashamed of most of my colleagues (not all mind you--certainly lLafoyle is exempt) for their excessive eating habits during our outing. I dubbed Mary's salad Mt. Everest because she had to stand up to start eating it. I tried to set an example by ordering light--two 7 oz. blackened chicken breasts smothered in Rotel tomatoes, onions, and cheese all firmly erected on a bed of onion straws, baked potato, mixed vegetables and shrimp bisque. I harken back to George's sermon on gluttony. I'm sure glad we took that to heart because we are NOT sinful folks. Well, it's back to the Depot to work. All my colleagues are their and here I am witing to you. Seriously, you should consider joining an expedition to Sager Brown. Contact Bill Kolstad and tell him i sent you. Craig