Patti Ross

Celebrating our Senior LWML District Presidents!

As you probably know 21 of our 40 LWML district presidents (DPs) are elected one biennium and 19 are elected the other biennium. This past week in St. Louis, 21 of our presidents attended their final Board of Directors Meeting as representatives of their districts. This is the year of district conventions and elections will be held and new leaders will take their places as presidents in their districts.

These “senior” DPs, as they are known, have been in office for four years. Past LWML President Kay Kreklau welcomed them to their first board meeting in January 2015. I’m sure as they look back they remember how much they didn’t know and how nervous they were. Now four years later they can look back and see how God walked with them and provided them with what they needed to do their jobs.

Those senior DPs were there to welcome me to my first Board meeting in 2016. They have been instrumental in celebrating our 75th Anniversary, welcoming a new LWML logo, and examining convention changes, restructure proposals, and financial issues for the organization. They have worked hard for the national organization besides the work they do in their districts.

As they gave their farewell last week, they presented me with a knockdown, gorgeous quilt. This quilt was made of fabric given from each district and constructed by LWML Nebraska North District President, Crystal Miller. To say it is fabulous in an understatement! In the corners, the new icon of LWML and the logo from Albuquerque convention are stitched. In the third corner is a butterfly with all their names on it. I believe there are around 400 butterflies on it either appliqued or quilted into it.

I’m going to bring it to convention in Mobile so all of you can admire it. I’m so honored to receive such a fantastic gift.

My butterfly theme, “Engage, Encourage, Equip, and Enjoy” has represented what I, personally, see as what LWML Women in Mission do. The butterfly represents God’s grace that is at the heart of our faith, our work, and our joy.

Thanks to all the senior DPs for what they have done for the Lord!

Thanks for the lovely reminder of the abundance of God’s grace! It’s overwhelming.

Love, Patti

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2: 8).

Birds at bird feeder

You can waste a lot of time watching birds, can’t you! Especially during this recent cold snap! I have multiple birdfeeders and suet cakes hanging from trees in the yard positioned so I can see them from the kitchen area. They were certainly busy the past few days as the temperatures here in Tulsa dipped to 6 degrees overnight. (I know that’s not much to my LWML sisters in Iowa!)

It was interesting to see that a lot of the time they didn’t want to share with the other birds. Some of them seemed to spend more time chasing other birds away than they spent eating the seed. Sometimes it was more than two of them going at it.

Given the abundance of birdseed, there was no way that one bird could consume the entire birdfeeder full of seed. You wanted to yell at them that there was enough for all so just cool down, eat, and enjoy.

Do you ever wonder if God sees humans doing the same thing? Fighting to claim “their stuff”? Not realizing that God has provided enough for everyone? Spending so much time trying to “get more stuff” that they don’t enjoy or appreciate the stuff they have already been given?

One of the things I love about my LWML sisters is that they recognize that the Lord has given us all enough and it is our privilege to make sure that the blessings are shared and distributed to all. We aren’t perfect at it but we try. We are always asking, “how can we help?” which translates into “how can we share the blessings we have been blessed with by God?”

Of course, the best spiritual gift, that of our salvation in Jesus Christ, is what we want to share the most. That’s why our life is seen as Lutheran Women in Mission. By sharing our time, talents and treasure the Holy Spirit works through us for those who don’t know the Savior. We know that there is plenty of God’s grace to go around for all! Let’s not be like the birds but be people who welcome and share this gift with everyone.

The birds have all gotten their fill and are roosting in the big magnolia tree out back. Being filled up with seed has brought them a sense of contentment and peace. God desires all of us to live in His good grace and to be filled up with contentment and peace as well. May we be found faithful in sharing this abundant grace of our Savior to all.

Love, Patti

[Jesus said] “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Matthew 6:26)

Someone dropped their Mite Box! Coins go rolling around and people scramble to help find them all! It’s another Mite Box Sunday at our church — the first Sunday of every month when we invite the congregation to bring their Mite Box offerings in and add them to the big Mite Box. We then dedicate those offerings to God for spreading of the Gospel message.

It reminded me of the power of those Mite Box collections when they go rolling out of the box. Just this past month we have delivered the first two of our mission grant awards.

One was to Franklin Avenue Mission who sponsors Mercy House for Women and Children in Flint, Michigan to remodel, add on to, and provide a shelter. In Flint 46% of the general population and 66% of the children live below the poverty line. This mission outreach will help unwed, pregnant, abused, homeless Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic mothers and their children. Can you see those coins rolling out into the community?

The second grant was the grant for Current Missionary Need to support LCMS missionaries overseas. As you know, LCMS missionaries must raise their own money to finance their mission work. The $100,000 grant will provide $10,000 each to assist nine missionaries/missionary families already serving in Kenya, Togo and Ethiopia, Africa; Hong Kong; Peru; and St. Petersburg, Russia, as well as another missionary who has been called to serve in Thailand. Can you see those coins rolling out into the world?

I hope whenever you see a spilled Mite Box you’ll think of those coins spilling out into the world — making a difference in someone’s life for eternity.

Let’s keep those coins rolling!

Patti

And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, “Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all; For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had” (Luke 21:1–4 KJV).

Check Presentation inside the offices at Mission Central

Check Presentation at Mission Central
LWML Treasurer Marilyn Schroeder presenting the check to the personnel at Mission Central for the grant Current Missionary Need

Check Presentation to Mercy House personnel, pictured outside of Mercy House's facility

Check Presentation to Mercy House
Pictured from left to right: Sue Aussen, Mercy House Program Manager; Michigan District President Susan Gruber, Kaye Wolff, Vice President of Special Focus Ministries; Pastor Bradley Yops, Mercy House Director; MaryBeth Heikkinen, Michigan District Vice President of Communication.

I’m writing this on Epiphany Sunday evening here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At home we have added the Wise Men to our manger scene. In church our Gospel message was the account of the visit of the wise men from the Gospel of Matthew.

The Lutheran Study Bible has some wonderful notes on this passage so I would refer you to them rather than do my own comments. However, I got to thinking of their return to the East where they came from after experiencing and seeing what they saw. What did they tell people?

My husband and I, my son, John, and my cousin and his wife went back to Pasadena after Christmas to work on the Lutheran Layman’s League (LLL), Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM) Rose Parade float. It was so fun and I hope you saw it on TV if not in person. I met quite a few LWML women working as Petal Pushers on various floats for the parade from all over the U.S. Way to go LWML!! But I digress.

While there, I had a chance to visit with Eric Gates, LHM’s regional director for Africa and the Middle East, about the work that our grant #7, Christian Hope through Mass Media in Egypt, is funding. He was recently returned from Cairo where a November 6^th taping involved more than 40 people including cameramen, actors, writers, and back-stage production crew. This is being done through a partnership with LHM and SAT-7, the first and largest Middle East and North African Christian satellite network, co-producing a television series from the SAT-7 studio in Cairo, Egypt, that will begin airing in January 2018. This broadcast will potentially reach tens of millions of viewers in more than 20 countries spanning from as far west as Morocco to as far east as Iraq and the Persian Gulf.

I often wonder what the wise men told people as they journeyed back east to their home countries. It’s so exciting to see that the Word about our Savior continues to travel back to the East. As we fund this mission grant we pray that the Holy Spirit will open hearts along the way.

Learn more about this TV programming in the January-February 2018 issue of The Lutheran Layman or at lhm.org/MENA or lwml.org/mission-grants.

Happy New Year!

Patti

This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel (Ephesians 3:6).

Learn more about LWML here

Happy New Year! Our guest blogger this week is our LWML Junior Pastoral Counselor, Rev. Mitchel Schuessler. He and his wife, Penny, live in Troy, Illinois where he is pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church.

I pray that your 2017 went well and 2018 will be a blessing to you. Me? 2017 saw me elected to the office of LWML Junior Pastoral Counselor. WOW! Never thought it would really happen but the Lord does amazing things.

Do you have a favorite tradition you do around Christmas/New Years? Penny and I do. We make raviolis on the day after Christmas. It is always an adventure that ends in a very tasty fashion. It is amazing how, even after doing this for years, we forget what we are doing. After the first set of raviolis come out of the press, we start to remember. “Oh yeah, that is what we do,” is often said. Fun times and good eats are a part of this Schuessler/Rex tradition.

What tradition do you have in your family? One tradition that I never had in my family was the LWML. As I look back, I wish that my mom would have been involved in the LWML but she was not. I did not grow up with the LWML but I did raise my family knowing and participating in the LWML in various ways.

Penny and I have been active throughout the past 35 years, which is hard to imagine. The day we brought our daughter Rachael home from the hospital, I took her over to the church at Trinity, Harvel, IL, to meet the ladies of the LWML society. From that point on, she has been a part of the LWML, a tradition we have handed down to her and to our son Matthew. We look forward to one day passing it on to the next generation.

Happy New Year and enjoy those traditions.

Rev. Mitchel Schuessler
LWML Junior Pastoral Counselor

Pastor Mitch and his wife Penny

Visit LWML Here

My son’s family has a lovely nativity set from Italy which is displayed each Christmas on a separate table. This table is kid-friendly high. Starting with the first of three kids, the baby Jesus of the set tended to travel a lot!

Baby Jesus might end up in the hayloft of the set. He visited the dollhouse. He connected with dinosaurs, ponies and robots. He spent several days riding the train around the Christmas tree.

It was interesting that Mary or Joseph or any other character was left in place! The focus was on baby Jesus. For some reason the children focused on the Christ child in his manger. Maybe as children they related to Him being their size or having mom and dad watching over them. Maybe it was because the baby Jesus is usually portrayed with open arms reaching out to them.

It makes a point for me. Christ Jesus has come with open arms, reaching out with His love to all people. He is present everywhere, as the glorified Son of God, not simply reflected in some expensive exhibit to be admired, but there with us at our work, in our homes, during times of travel and change. He’s there among us with understanding, love and support as we experience every nuance of our lives.

Some of my friends will spend Christmas with hospitalized relatives. Some will spend Christmas feeling alone as they only have family at a distance. Some are fighting cancer, depression, or a first Christmas without a beloved spouse or mother. Whatever the circumstance, if they know Jesus by faith through the Word they can take that baby Jesus with them and treasure the joy of knowing He came for them. He is always reaching out to them and is with them wherever they happen to be this Christmas time.

My prayer for all of you is that you find that baby Jesus and focus on him. Put him in the place where you happen to be. Praise be to God for sending Baby Jesus, our Emmanuel to be with us and among us.

As LWML women we desire all people to know the peace and joy that our Baby Jesus brings to us at Christmas. That’s why we do what we do as LWML—Lutheran Women in Mission!

I hope your baby Jesus ended up in your nativity set this morning! Christmas blessings to you all!

Learn more about LWML here

Guest blogger this week is LWML Senior Pastoral Counselor, Rev. Robert Mundahl. He and his wife, Peggy, recently traveled to the Holy Land. My best wishes to all of you for a week of safe travel and joyful preparations for Christmas, family visits and Jesus’ birthday. – Patti

O little Town of Bethlehem is one of my favorite songs at Christmas, but after traveling to Israel last month my perspectives have changed. Bethlehem is no longer the little town of Jesus’ day. Instead of being a town of 300 to 1,000 people when He was born, Bethlehem has grown to envelop almost 76,000 people within its borders. It is quite easy to sit in Jerusalem and see Bethlehem in the distance. It reminds me of our spreading metropolises where every town simply runs into the next. The six miles Mary and Joseph journeyed to the Old City for Jesus’ purification is now filled in with walls, homes, and businesses. It’s hard to imagine that old little town anymore.

No matter the size of this town, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is considered to be the place where Jesus was born. Even though the Church is currently under renovation our tour group had the opportunity to enter down into the place set aside for His birth. Many paintings depict the cave like place understood to be where it all happened.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger (Luke 2:11-12).

I’ll still sing the song with reverent joy as I celebrate His birth again this year. Bethlehem is the place. The Savior was born there. Jesus is still God’s gift to us. I was blessed to see and touch and mark the place where the Word became flesh.

Thanks be to God – Joy to the World!
Rev. Robert Mundahl

What do you do at an Interdepartmental Meeting? Just ask an LWML committee member. Enjoy this article written by Public Relations Team member, Beth Weber, from the Rocky Mountain District! -Patti

We came from far and wide to St. Louis where we were Engaged, Encouraged, Equipped, and definitely Enjoyed our time together.

Meeting Manager, Leslie Jaseph made sure that we all had transportation, worked with an awesome hotel staff securing comfortable rooms, and fed delicious food.

As Lutheran women in mission, we brought Gifts From the Heart, mites, and purchased many LWML products and devotional materials from the LWML Store hosted by Bev England of the Public Relations Team and Karen Andersen.

We sang songs led by Carrie Brumbaugh, Chairman of the Committee on Young Women.

We met as committees, planning the activity of the LWML for the 2017-2019 biennium, focused on nurturing faith in Christ; making our faith meaningful; and sharing encouragement. To learn more about the LWML Committees’ and Teams’ Purpose Statements, visit lwml.org and click on the About tab.

LWML President Patti Ross, our very capable Captain and Navigator, led us on an exploration to discover the opportunities that God has chartered for us during the next two years. The committees and teams mapped out these possibilities by writing and presenting informative and entertaining sketches which brought much laughter to all.

The Interdepartmental Meeting closed as we gathered in worship. Rev. Robert Mundahl officiated and Rev. Mitchel Schuessler assisted with the closing service where the Word and Sacrament were offered and received. After many hugs, we departed St. Louis to return to our homes far and wide; energized, enthused, and enabled to use our unique God-given gifts in gladsome service to our Lord.

God’s Blessings,

Beth Weber, Public Relations Team 2017-2019

On the road again! LWML Treasurer Marilyn Schroeder and I traveled to New Orleans, November 16-18 to attend the Lutheran Church Extension Fund Conference, love.BOLDLY! Men and women across the country involved with LCEF met to be inspired to love, boldly, in their Christian lives. Individuals and ministries who have loved, boldly over the past year were recognized.

A ministry familiar to LWML received the Lietz Mission Project Award. Redeeming Life Maternity Home, (Redeeming Life Outreach Ministries), Sanford, Florida, a 2015-2017 LWML mission grant recipient and the founders, Rev. Ed and Sheryl DeWitt expressed thankfulness to the women of LWML for the grant they received.

There was a great lineup of guest speakers over the weekend who motivated attendees to love boldly which included Herman Cain, Gregory Seltz, Dave Dravecky, and Rev. John Nunes. Also addressing the assembly were LCMS President Matthew Harrison, Rev. Tim Carter, LCMS Southern District President Kurtis Schultz, Megan Miessler, and LCEF Board Chairman Rev. Max Phillips.

Rev. Ulmer Marshall, Mobile, Alabama, was proclaimer at the Sunday worship service.

The Rev. Max Biesenthal, LCEF Senior Vice President—Ministry Support since 2011, served as conference host and emcee, opening and closing the conference through biblical applications of the conference theme, “Love BOLDLY!” Biesenthal is the son of the late Marie Biesenthal, a dearly loved LWML sister.

LWML past presidents were also in New Orleans for meetings during the week which included the LCMS Foundation Board (Kay Kreklau, 2011-2015) and LCMS Board of Directors (Gloria Edwards, 1995-1999).

Marilyn and I were pleased and honored to be invited to attend. It was a joy to see one of “our” mission grantees receive the Lietz Award. We enjoyed meeting many of the LCMS District leaders and their wives and other LWML women in attendance. We also heard many positive comments about the mission of LWML!

And what is that positive mission? LWML loves boldly! We boldly step out of our comfort zone in service to the marginalized and those in need. We step up to fund ministries, like Redeeming Life Outreach Ministries. We step out boldly to serve on LCMS boards and committees. We love our LWML sisters like Marie who have lasting impacts on our lives.

We are Lutheran Women in Mission!

Love boldly and serve gladly!

Patti

“Blessed to be a blessing” is something I have always reminded myself during my lifetime. I have so many blessings from God, the best blessing being called to faith in Jesus Christ and living my life as a Christian woman. I am blessed that God led me to work in the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League.

This Tuesday, LWML—Lutheran Women in Mission across the United States have the opportunity to share their blessings during our participation in “Giving Tuesday”. www.lwml.org/givingtuesday I know you’ve been reading our posts about Giving Tuesday and how to participate. One thing that is very exciting and makes you feel so good about it is that two donors who wish to remain anonymous have provided matching funds of a total of $20,000. What that means is that anything you give up to $20,000 will be tripled. If I give $10 dollars, LWML mission grants will receive $30!

These donors trust the LWML to use their hard-earned dollars, their blessings from God, to bless the recipients of our mission grants. They are saying, “I want to support these grants and I want all the other LWML women to contribute what they can, as well.” We should jump on board with them. If two people can give $20,000 shouldn’t the rest of us be able to pull together and contribute that much?

If we raise $40,000 we can fully fund a grant like the Tanzanian Sewing Center for $25,000. Or, we could fund Nursing Students Serving with Mercy Medical Teams for $25,000. We could also fund Prison and Jail Ministry Synod-wide Conference in 2018 (August) for $36,500!

Giving Tuesday income can fund a complete mission grant!

Our delegates in Albuquerque said they wanted to fund all these grants by March of 2019. Let’s get out there and tell our friends and family about Giving Tuesday. If you can’t donate on Tuesday or don’t have computer access, you can mail a contribution and mark it for Giving Tuesday until November 30.

Let’s show our faithful matching fund donors and our mission grant recipients that we stand behind our vote and our promise and that we consider ourselves,

Blessed to be a blessing!

Excited to serve!

Patti

Our mailing address is:
LWML
3558 S Jefferson Ave
St. Louis, MO 63118

Celebrating our Senior LWML District Presidents!

For the Birds

Coins Go Rolling!

Spreading the Good News — Then and Now

Traditions

Where’s Baby Jesus?

O Little Town of Bethlehem

LWML Interdepartmental 2017

LWML – On the Road

Blessed to be a Blessing

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