Blogs

Six options for Primetimers in the 65+ crowd in 2012...

 On Monday, December 19, many of the volunteers who have visited the United Methodist Mission at Nyadire awoke to the news that Sister Rut Lindgren, who founded the Home of Hope orphanage and was a mainstay of the mission community, had collapsed and died that morning. Rut raised hundreds of orphans in her own home, made the lives of thousands of orphans better, and was a constant advocate for those who had the least.  Reports of Rut’s death come by email and Facebook messages – a woman who was important because of the great good she did. Her death also brings anxiety.

 An extraordinary volunteer is waging a battle with cancer. Many in Western PA know Dorie Heckman through her advocacy for Prison Outreach Ministry. Diane Miller visited Dorie in the Hamot Hospital on December 15 and reports on her amazingly positive attitude and spirit. 

 Eleven volunteers from six churches traveled to the Montoursville-Lewisburg area Sept. 29-Oct. 2 to help in strom and flood clean-up. Western PA Conference Volunteers in Mission Coordinator Diane Miller and Erie-Meadville District Disaster Respose Coordinator Rick Gilson led the team. Diane writes about their experiences and emphasizes the need for more volunteers before winter sets in.

 Sixteen volunteers from nine Western PA area churches went to Joplin, Missouri August 8 to help in tornado recovery, in a sense repaying the volunteers from Joplin's First United Methodist Church who were in Pittsburgh last summer volunteering with UM Church Union and Pittsburgh projects. The Western PA Volunteers in Mission team was organized by the Rev. Larry Homitsky, pastor of Calvary United Methodist Church in Pittsburgh and president of Church Union, and Dave Sevick, Calvary's mission chairperson. They hosted the Joplin team last summer. When the tornado devastated Jopline last Spring, Homitsky immediately contacted First church to see how their new friends were affected. He committed then to bring a mission team as soon as the area was ready to host recovery volunteers. See photos. 

 A Conference-sponsored Volunteers in Mission Team led by Rebekah Swineford and Diane Miller left Pittsburgh July 18 and arrived safely in Nicaragua. Various team members are reporting on their progress. Team member Michael Airgood posts videos on YouTube for almost every day. 

Debbie Hills, a deacon from the Erie=Meadville District, is in Honduras to work at a rehabilitation center her mission teams have helped to build over the years. She relates her most recent experience.

 Diane Miller suggests sharing some time with children during the holiday season, but not merely showering them with gifts. Take time to tell them about children in other lands who have so little. Consider helping a child you love pack a backpack of supplies for an orphan in Zimbabwe. Sponsor and build a relationship with a child there.  

 Diane Miller offers updates on Western PA mission personnel and asks for prayer forthem and for teams heading out in the next few weeks.

 Tina Whitehead has returned to Palestine to work for peace. She send a brief report of her activities.

 Tina Whitehead of Oakmont UMC has returned to Israel/Palestine. This time she's focused on telling the personal stories of those she encounters.

There are times when projects seem to have a life of their own -- when energy and activity seem to be directed by the Spirit. That’s the way it’s been this past year with the Eastbrook Mission Barn. The Barn is now designated as one of four UMCOR Relief Supply Network Depots.  Weekly teams of volunteers show up at the barn to verify kits, to make kits from scratch, to sew tiny nightgowns for infants or school bags for children in some far off place

 In late July, Volunteers in Mission Coordinator Diane Miller will travel with a team of volunteers to the Nyadire United Methodist Mission in Zimbabwe. She'll work with Mary Beth Zollars, who heads the Home of Hope Outreach program for The Nyadire Connection and each year leads a team that works primarily with the orphans there. Mary Beth has dreamed of taking the Home of Hope orphans on a field trip and this year that dream may come true. You can help.

 Many people are looking for places to volunteer this summer and teams are looking for help. Diane Miller offers some suggestions for how to connect. 

 Cancellation of a trip to Thailand and an e-mail from a member of The Nyadire Connection just back from Zimbabwe remind Diane Miller of the power of prayer and the need for special preparations for international Volunteers in Mission trips.

Volunteers in Mission from Western PA are all around the globe this month. Diane Miller requests prayer for them and provides updates of VIM activity as she prepares to travel to Thailand.

As Mother's Day approaches, Diane Miller remembers giving her children a flip answer when they asked what may be an age-old question:  "When is Children's Day?"  She'd say, "Every day!"  But she knows that for too many children, that's not true. She offers some ideas for how to  reach out to children and include them in the life of the church. 

 Greg Forrester, the Northeastern coordinator for United Methodist Volunteers in Mission, came to Western PA in late April to train volunteers to coordinate ramp-building projects and lead VIM teams. As a key organizer of United Methodist UMVIM procedures and policies in Haiti, Greg offered insight into the situation and how to connect with projects there. As part of the training weekend, 20 volunteers assembled a 62-foot handicap ramp at a home near Grove City in 4.5 hours.

 Bishop Bickerton and his colleagues travel to the massive Central Congo area, where they find many challenges facing God's children and leaders in the United Methodist Church. They are inspired by the spirit of the people and their determination in providing ministries of health care, congregational development and evangelism.