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| Mission Memo |
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| Spotlighting Our Local, National & International Outreach |
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In this issue of the Mission Memo, let's get an accounting of some of the impact First United Methodist makes in our community and the world. |
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A total of 180 gift bags were delivered to Salvation Army this past winter. The bags included treats, coffee or tea, and a $40 gift card to either King Soopers or Safeway. Olga, at Salvation Army, distributed the gift bags to needy families and unhoused people on her list. The Christmas gift bags were funded by your donations and through the King Soopers rewards program, an easy and painless way to give to this program. |
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More than 40 children with incarcerated parents benefited from the Angel Tree program. Kudos to all involved in purchasing, collecting and distributing these presents to the children. Special thanks to Terry Gindlesparger and Pam Erickson for leading this effort once again. In some cases it was not easy to contact families and deliver the gifts, but the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The gifts are given on behalf of the incarcerated parent and in the case of at least one of the deliveries, the parent had written to his son saying he was doing a good job and how proud he was of the person he was becoming. This ministry help maintain a strong bond between parents and their children. |
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Volunteers from our church showed up at Sam's Club on several Saturdays leading up to Christmas to ring the bell for Salvation Army. The Army keeps precise records! We collected $3,822.26. |
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We have a very generous congregation. A total of $8465.75 was collected for the Christmas Offering. Proceeds from the offering were distributed equally between Community Kitchen, an UMCOR hurricane relief effort, and Noor El Salam. Noor El Salam, which helps refugee children from Syria, sent a heartfelt thank you to our church and recruited Pastor Lee to join their board, so see her to find out more about the program. |
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Three church families that needed a little help this winter each received gift bags with $100 gift cards. Surely this made their Christmases a little brighter. |
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You are the church. With your mission offerings and involvement in church and community work ... |
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This Easter, the offering will again be going to three charitable organizations. |
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On the local level, we will be supporting Meals on Wheels of Loveland and Berthoud. They prepare and deliver hot nutritious meals to older housebound folks in our community. The deliveries also provide the opportunity for daily contact and wellness checks. |
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Nationally, a third of the offering will be going to UMCOR Disaster Relief to address the Los Angeles fires. And the final third will also go to UMCOR to provide relief to Ukrainians as the most recent invasion enters its fourth year. |
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In January, we welcomed a new member to the missions committee. Carl Williams and his family have recently joined First United Methodist. Carl has a passion for cooking and stated his desire to put his skills to use in support of fundraisers and other church functions. He has already prepared a delicious breakfast for the volunteer appreciation event held last year. We look forward to having him on the committee. |
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Challenging
The annual mission trip to Guatemala with Pura Vida, which usually happens in February, was rescheduled to Tuesday, January 21st due to a conflict. It just so happens, that date coincided with the deep freeze that hit the U.S. extending down to Houston and closing the airport on the day of departure. After a couple of cancellations, rather than spending the better part of the next day trying to connect through Houston, the consensus was to take the red-eye the next night through Los Angeles. Arriving early in the morning on Thursday, the team met up with translator Mario and chicken bus driver Eden for the three hour trip to Hotel Santo Tomas in Chichicastenango, home base for the crew for the next six days. A few were even able to get a little sleep on the bus on the trip there.
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After a lunch at the hotel, everyone loaded into a van for the long (40 minute) drive up the mountain on narrow roads, with beautiful vistas of the surrounding countryside, to the worksite. Normally this would be the dry season, but there was a light rain making the drive a little scarier and the footing at the worksite on the side a hill a bit treacherous. After meeting Petronila, her husband Cesar, and three of their four children (their daughter was being shy), the work started in earnest as the crew formed a line to move the cinder blocks from the road down the hill. Not long after, Pura Vida Guatemala board members, Prof. Amilcar and Lic. Fausto showed up to bless the family, the team, and the project. Then, work continued through the remainder of the afternoon as block was moved and an actual bucket brigade was formed to move sifted sand down to the build site where it could be mixed with concrete into mortar for the blocks.
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The next couple days focused on the foundation and preparing the rebar ladders to give the home structural integrity. Blocks were laid in the trenches forming the outline of the two room house. Dirt was moved to fill in the trenches once the mortar was set. A large part of the hillside along one side of the house was dug out to give sufficient clearance for drainage. Finally, the room floors were leveled and the foundation was complete. |
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Although there was some concern that the construction wasn't further along, it was decided to take Sunday off. Sundays in Chichicastenango are market days and most everyone went to wander through and haggle for bargains. Others had student visits. Pura Vida focuses on educating Guatemalan children and some of the team members sponsor students. And then there was Charlie Bouchard's daughter, Anna, who got recruited for a photo shoot; expect to see her modeling career take off. |
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Sunday afternoon, the team visited the Tulujan family. Many of the crew had worked on constructing their home in February of 2024. It was good to see the completed house and how they had transformed their space. Plus the team was introduced to the latest addition to their family.
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With just a day and a half left to finish half the house, the crew kicked it into high gear. Walls went up quickly. Many on the team were seasoned veterans of prior builds so Diego, construction site lead, didn't have to hover over them with his hammer to give those final adjusting taps to align the blocks. The last block was laid and the house was blessed by 11am Tuesday leaving plenty of time for a tasty lunch at a local restaurant in Chichi before heading to Antigua for some well deserved R & R and an early (ohhhh! dark thirty) return to the States on Thursday.
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This is just a taste of what happened this trip. Hopefully this has whet your appetite to take a deeper dive. On Sunday, March 9th at 11:30am following service, members of the Guatemala mission trip will present a slide show and talk followed by a question and answer period, so mark your calendars to attend. |
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Guatemala Mission Trip Presentation
Sunday, March 9th @ 11:30am
Coy Hall |
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The Missions Committee would like to send a special word of thanks to all who signed up as virtual team members or contributed to the Pura Vida Mission Trip. You were able to cover the cost of materials and labor for half the house and more. The total of all contributions came to $5050. With that, we not only cover the construction, but there is money left over to purchase a stove and furniture. Thanks so much for your generosity. |
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A few days before Valentine's Day, the missions committee surprised the secretary at Truscott Elementary with a delivery of gift bags for the teachers and staff at the school. The new administration in Washington, D.C. has indicated that they are willing to conduct raids at schools and churches in order to round up the undocumented. Our neighbor has a predominant Hispanic demographic. The threat of a raid weighs heavily on the Truscott families and, in turn, on the teachers and staff at the school. The missions committee just wanted to lift their spirits and let them know that they are supported.
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Now in his second year, Jordan Clegg, Community Engagement Specialist at Habitat for Humanity, Loveland, is tweaking the Faith Build program yet again. Instead of a limited number of weekends in the summer, every Saturday in July, August, and September is designated as a Faith Build day. Members of the faith community have priority with a separate signup portal. In addition, Jordan is looking for more engagement. He is introducing the theme, "Feed, Pray, Build", a twist on the book title, "Eat, Pray, Love". His idea is to recruit churches to not only provide labor to help build a home, but to feed lunch to the volunteers and crew and to pray for the work, workers and homeowners on those Saturdays. |
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First United Methodist Church has already committed to two of the Faith Build dates, July 26th and September 27th. The Missions Committee will provide lunch on those dates and send someone to pray. We hope to see you sign up for one or both of these days to lend a hand in constructing a home ... no experience necessary. In addition, these two days are part of Rev Lee's initiative for monthly community engagement, so let's get out there for FUMC. |
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Join First United Methodist Church, Loveland
for
Habitat for Humanity Faith Build
Saturday, July 26th and/or Saturday September 27th
Click here to sign up
or contact Mark Elliott
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