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WESTERN MONTANA WALK TO EMMAUS NEWSLETTER
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WESTERN MONTANA WALK TO EMMAUS NEWSLETTER
January, 2012 Newsletter
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
We have been blessed to have 4 new board members this year - Mary Denison, Dean Reese, Clint Brown and Glenn Merkel. Thank you for being part of the team.
The walks will be here before we know it. Please keep praying for the teams that are forming and the Pilgrims yet to come. Thanks to all of you for your hard work in seeking out Pilgrims. Remember how life changing and energizing your walk was? Recapture that and be fishers of men and women for the next walk.
I want to thank you all for the love and support you showed me in 2011. I will continue to praise GOD and do his work in this new year.
PEACE, Mark Vrooman
Board Chairman
406-883-1113
FROM THE COMMUNITY SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR
1 As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2 For he says,
“In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.”[
I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:1-2
In 2nd Corinthians we hear: “Now is the Time and Now is the Day! The reference is to the faithful workers reminding them of the gift God bestowed upon them and that NOW is the time to share that gift of Grace.
All you who receive and read this letter, are people who at one time were invited to be “Pilgrims” on a journey of Faith that we refer to as The Walk To Emmaus. We all started in the same place, with the same beginnings. An invitation was issued and for many of us, a lot of maneuvering, begging and cajoling ensued before we agreed to step into this unknown venture (I know, there are some out there who went willingly). But at the end of our three days and for some time thereafter, we were so thankful for those who provided the invitation and brought us to this walk where we experienced the Grace of God in such powerful ways.
Well, guess what?- NOW is the time and NOW is the day for you to extend that invitation to someone else to follow the path you once walked. It is time for you to be a sponsor! We all know someone out there who would benefit from this experience. Sponsorship is a great responsibility, but it is also a great privilege. I know that many of you are uncertain about taking on this task, but know that you do have what it takes to accomplish it. A lot of wonderful people go through a lot of careful planning and hard work to prepare for these walks FOR the primary reason to bring new Pilgrims closer to God and to experience God’s grace in a powerful way. The Walks are far more dynamic if we have a full slate of 20-25 pilgrims. This can only happen if YOU step up to the plate and answer the call. NOW is the time to be issuing those invitations.
SPONSOR A PILGRIM and do it NOW so that our preparations may be more complete.
Begin with a Prayer! Ask God’s help in Identifying a prospective pilgrim.
Then PRAY again for the opportunity to invite and for God to give you the right words.
Be persistent - It took 3 years for Jack Preston to finally get me to a Walk!!! And I am so thankful he was persistent. 15 years later, here I am still doing my part because somebody invited me.
Dennis Reese Community Spiritual Director
We have begun a new year and are really gearing up for the 2012 Walks to Emmaus. It is time to begin to think more about how each of us will be involved in this year’s walks. To determine what direction we will move we first begin with prayer and the study of scripture. We listen for the Holy Spirit and then we act.
Did you know that the Spirit is constantly wooing us? This does not mean that we are always getting action messages of some kind, but it does mean we are being loved by the Holy One who created us. Are you listening for the Spirit? Let each of us pray and be involved because the Lord needs each of us to help advance His Kingdom. I am looking forward to my involvement and to hopefully seeing each of you at a gathering or a walk.
Shalom,
John Ulrich
2012 MEN’S WALK TO EMMAUS
LAY DIRECTOR - PAT MAHONEY
Greetings to all of you who are a part of the Western Montana Community! I hope that this newsletter finds you well and in good spirits after Christmas as we prepare for the 2012Walk to Emmaus at the Glacier Presbyterian Camp facility. It is hard to believe that we have entered into the New Year already.
This year the Men’s Walk is being held from Thursday, April 26 to Sunday, April 29, 2012.The Team selection is in progress and we always have room for more supporting the Walk. If you have not yet completed a Team application, call or email me or call any of the Emmaus Board members and I/we will mail or email you an application form which you can return by mail or email. My contact information is found below.
I encourage you to prayerfully consider sponsoring a Pilgrim for this year’s Walk. If you have a good candidate, but are unable to fulfill the Sponsorship, please let us know and we will find an alternate or a co-sponsor with you. The Walk is about the Pilgrim and our servant hood. The best way to serve a friend is to sponsor them to this year’s Walk. If you have questions about Sponsorship, we will be discussing this at the Team meetings starting in January or, again, call or email me and I will send information and/or answer questions.
Glenn Merkel, Dean Reese, and Tim Moore are serving as assistant Lay Directors with Mark Vrooman as the Board representative. We are also very fortunate to have Dennis Reese as our Spiritual Director. The staffing for the Walk this year is moving forward and promises to have an excellent team. Come join the fun and the opportunity for continued spiritual development. We will reap benefits by re-connecting our own personal relationship with God, the re-energizing a friend to return to serve the church, and strengthening the general community of faith.
Our servant hood to the Pilgrims by attending the Walk is a key element of the Walk. In closing then, may we try to follow the directive from Paul the Apostle to the church at Philippi, which speaks to the idea of servant hood.
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3 – 4)
De Colores,
Pat
(406) 493-6713 H or (406) 529-6868 C
jpatmahoney@bresnan.net
2012 WOMEN’S WALK TO EMMAUS
LAY DIRECTOR – CAROLYN TOMPKINS
WOW!! The excitement is beginning to build. A sincere thank you to all who have sent in your applications and agreed to serve on the Women’s Walk to Emmaus #10 Team, scheduled for May 3rd through 6th 2012 at Glacier Conference Center on Flathead Lake.
Team formation is coming together very well but we can always use more participants. If you have not sent in your application yet and want to be considered for a position on the team, please send in your application ASAP. Mail them to me, Carolyn Tompkins, at 1760 Josephine Avenue, Missoula, MT 59808-5696.
If you need an application or information about sponsoring someone to the weekend, you can find that information on the Walk to Emmaus website, or call me 406-543-6217. You may also consider paying the fee of someone who needs a sponsor if you are able to do so.
Each of us can offer ourselves to God, as a thank you gift for the blessings of our Walk weekend. Do you think it can’t get any better than your own Walk weekend? Trust me. Try it. You will receive many more blessings than you thought possible. God’s love and grace will accompany you on the Emmaus Road as you walk with the pilgrims He has chosen to participate in this Emmaus weekend.
De Colores,
Carolyn
2012 Team Meeting Dates
2nd Saturday 9:15 AM to 3:30 PM
Jan 14th First United Methodist Church
300 East Main, Missoula MT
Lunch/Snacks Back Table & Agape
Feb 11th Mission Valley Church
North of St. Ignatius
Lunch/Snacks Table Leaders & Asst Table Leaders
March 10th First United Methodist Church
300 East Main, Missoula MT
Lunch/Snacks Kitchen Staff
April 14th Mission Valley Church
North of St. Ignatius
Lunch/Snacks Spiritual Directors & Logistics
Team Fees for 2012 $110.00
See website for:
Team Member Application
Clergy Application
Pilgrim Application
Volunteer Info for Support Roles
This is the time of year when many of us prepare for the Walk to Emmaus. Numerous people will spend countless hours insuring this walk, like others before will serve God’s family by strengthening his children. We will strive, with His guidance, to send stronger Christians home to their communities with a new commitment to their families, their churches, to themselves and to God.
We will do our part, but cannot do it alone. As Emmaus graduates and children of God, we share a twofold responsibility: First, to bring others to Christ; second, to help make the family of Christ as strong as they can be, through example, love and encouragement.
Please take a moment to reflect. Is there someone you would like to see become a stronger Christian? Someone who would benefit from a better understanding of God’s love for them? Someone who could be a more sensitive husband, a more compassionate mother?
Consider your church. Is there a man or woman you feel could be of greater service to God and their church family if they just had more guidance and inspiration along with a little boost?
Let’s do it together! We will supply the guidance and inspiration, all we need from you is the boost!
Please sponsor just one.
Thank you,
Dean Reese - For sponsoring information, please email hdreese@blackfoot.net
Please give generously to Esther Angel Scholarship Fund.
This money goes to pay the fees of pilgrims making the Walk to Emmaus.
Send your donation to: Western Montana Walk to Emmaus P.O. Box 7676 in Missoula, MT 59807
Ladies - If you are interested in getting together once a month for a fun day of crafting & fellowship (work on your own projects) please call Colleen Leister 529-8832
Fund Raisers:
Shop ‘Till You Drop
Herberger’s Fundraiser
Sell coupon books for April 27 and 28 sale to help raise funds for Walk to Emmaus for $5 each. Contact Carolyn
543-6217
Ever wish you could go the GRIZ football games but just can’t afford the tickets? This may be your golden opportunity!! The Walk to Emmaus is looking for volunteers to man a concession booth at 6+ GRIZ games. This will be an amazing fund raising opportunity for the community. If you are interested contact Mary Denison (406) 626-4081 or trackernme@msn.com
OPEN INVITATION TO GO ON AN UMVIM MISSION by Sue Babcock
Although attendance was small, I want to thank those of you who ventured out into the cold to hear my Haiti talk at the last gathering. I issued an open invitation to those in attendance to return with me to Haiti June of 2012. I would like to issue that invitation to anyone who is feeling called into becoming a volunteer in mission.
For those of you who don’t know what UMVIM means, I will try to tell you. The letters stand for United Methodist Volunteer in Mission. I don’t know what mission means to each of you, but when I awake each morning, I am entering my mission field. It is also the reason that after the earthquake in Haiti, Jan. 2010, I answered the call to help rebuild Haiti. Global Board of Global Missions (GBGM) entered into a 5 year program to aide Haiti. By taking volunteer teams of 10 at a time into the country the local workers could return to work and rebuild their communities. The first group I went with in 2010 was in agreement that we would each return with a group of volunteers within the 5 year program. I was in Haiti from Halloween 2010 through the next week, when Hurricane Tomas’, and cholera decided to raise its ugly head.
Remember, Haiti is a country that has a history of most things that can go wrong, do go wrong. Located on the small end of an island shared with Dominical Republic, it has suffered under bad governments, hatred, and no conservation of natural products. Although unemployment was great before the earthquake, it now is at 90%. Remember there are not internal relief programs like unemployment, Medicaid, Medicare, as we know them. Yes, the earthquake was no worse than what happened to New Orleans, but La. has 50 other states that help them. Haiti’s closest neighbor, Dominican Republic, closed the fence between them.
What do you do on a UMVIM team? As we are a rebuilding mission team, we go and provide help to the workers in not only dollars, but manpower. Our manpower usually is to aide in removing debris, or helping digging trenches for footings. We also hire the workers on site and buy materials. Our team was assigned to remove debris from the side of a home, while we hired the electricians, iron workers, plasterers, etc. to finish the inside. We also do outreach with the children that are close at hand, orphanages that are around the country and on the mission I was on, a pastor asked we do a clinic, as another team member was a physician and I am a pharmacist. No matter what we are asked to do when I return in June, I guarantee it will have an impact on you for the rest of your life. A few weeks before we leave, I will have some input on the physical restrictions that may be among the team members. Volunteers should recognize that their presence and interaction with the people is just as important, if not more important, that the physical labor. This has been the observation from both team members and pastors of Haiti.
Just how much does it cost to go to Haiti? Teams of 4-6 persons are expected to raise $2500.00 (as a team) and will receive a matching grant of $2500.00 for the employment of Haitian workers and building supplies. Teams of 7-10 persons raise $3500.00(as a team) and receive a $3500.00 matching grant. Personal expenses are your airfare, expenses to get to and from home, souvenirs, inoculations, personal medications, Passport, and about $950-1000 for living expenses, etc. (including the building grant mentioned above). Within the budget are housing, 2 meals/day, travel within Haiti, interpreters, etc. PLEASE COME WITH ME JUNE 8/12 FOR 9 MEMORABLE DAYS ON A VIM TRIP. Sue Babcock, steveandsue@montana.com, 406-266-3838, for questions, applications and all required information. God Bless you each and every one!
Sue B
P.S. God won't ask about the clothes you had in your closet, He'll ask how many you helped to clothe.
God won't ask the square footage of your house, He'll ask how many people you welcomed into your home.
WANTED For the next newsletter: Pilgrim Testimonies! Funny Walk Stories! Lasting Memory Walk Stories! Thoughts From the Heart!
Please send to one of the Newsletter Committee Members – Sylvia Kimzey redives@blackfoot.net, Lanell Curry jlcurry@bresnan.net or Mary Denison trackernme@msn.com
De Colores!
