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God Provides!

Several weeks ago I mentioned LWML Vice President of Christian Life, Jennifer Huecker’s experience while flying back from the Utah-Idaho convention and encouraged you to ask her about it. Well, here is an answer to all the inquiries she has received. Welcome, Jennifer!

God Provides! Absolutely!

On my return home from the 2018 LWML Utah-Idaho District Convention, I experienced a special time with my fellow traveler.  God’s blessing was so evident throughout this interaction and I only had to respond to her comments with the word “absolutely”. Here is a summary.  

During my flight from Pocatello to Salt Lake I sat next to a woman and commented on her beautiful beaded earrings. We talked about what brought us to Pocatello. She was Native American and had come to take classes on tanning hides. We had great discussions about cultural foods, our families, life in rural Missouri, life in Southern California, etc. We also talked about why I had come to Idaho — to attend the District Lutheran Women’s Missionary Convention — and that led to her questions.

“Tell me about this missionary ladies group?” she said. So, I told her about how Lutheran Women in Mission try to help people around the world meet their physical needs and to help them learn the truth about Jesus. I shared how women contribute through Mite Box offerings and that our mite goal for 2019 is over two million dollars.

She said, “Tell me what Lutherans believe.”

I said “Well … ” while considering how to begin, but she continued, “Do you believe in grace?” To which I said, “Absolutely! We are saved by God’s gift to us. I certainly couldn’t be saved by what I might do.”

She said, “Do you believe in one God, the Father; Jesus, the son; and the Holy Ghost?”

“Yes, yes!” I responded.

Then she said, “Do you believe that once saved, is always saved?”

“Absolutely!” I replied. “God is love, He will not leave us. We are sinners and will sin again, but God is always there for us. His love and forgiveness are ours because Jesus died to save us and His forgiveness is a free gift.”

Then she said, “I haven’t been to church for a while. But I want to find a church that sings hymns and tells the true words from the Bible. Is that what you Lutherans do?”

Stunned by how the Holy Spirit was at work and all I had to do was respond, I replied, “Absolutely!”

She told the message of the Gospel to me, and I only had to agree with her by saying, “Absolutely!”

Isn’t it amazing how God is so active in our world?

Absolutely!

Isaiah 55:11

 

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Summer is Here! Now what?

This week’s blog is written by Tina Bentley, a member of the LWML IT committee who faithfully receives my blog postings.

Patti

summer

As we enter summer it conjures images of sun, beaches, lazy days, and children on break from school. I am a teacher in the homestretch of my school year, I am looking forward to my summer. I look around my school and I see tired teachers, staff, and students who are ready for a break from the routine of school. Most of the students and staff are eager to leave school and embrace their summer freedom.

However, a few students seem moodier than usual and not quite themselves.  What is going on? I thought all kids lived for their break from school? Are they tired like the other students? Yes. What’s the issue? Many students have a hard time transitioning from school to summer. That might seem strange, isn’t summer the best time of the year for students? Not for all of them.  Summer can be a time of uncertainty for many students in our communities. School is a place of safety and routine and gives many students a sense of security. This is where they know they will be cared for and fed each and every day.  Summer is a season of uncertainty. Will they have food to eat? Will they have someone to care for them throughout the day? Where will they spend their days? 

What does that mean for us as ladies of the LWML? How can we impact these children in our communities? How can we share Jesus with these vulnerable children? Here are some ideas:

  • Talk with your local schools and other community organizations to see what programs they have in the summer where you can offer your services.
  • Volunteer for your congregation’s VBS, perhaps offer to take neighborhood children who wouldn’t be able to attend otherwise.
  • Volunteer to help with the libraries summer program
  • Donate to your local food bank, they need the donations in the summer as well. They might even have a summer program for students. 
  • Contribute to or start a fund to send local children to summer camp for a week
  • Host an open gym or other activity with your society., perhaps partnering with your youth group

Use this summer as a way to share the love and comfort of knowing Jesus to children who desperately need it.

The ultimate freedom comes from knowing the love of Jesus. We don’t need to go out of the country or even out of the county to share the love of Jesus with children.  Share Jesus with the children in your community, they need it so much as we all do. We have freedom in Christ, which is much better than the freedom from school.

Gal 5:1

Tina Bentley
Guest Blogger 

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Delays

My blog is late this week because I was late getting back from Mobile today (15 hours). The LWML Convention Programming Committee and the LWML Executive Committee met in Mobile, AL last week to start planning the 2019 LWML 38th Biennial Convention for next year, June 20-23. On the way home Sunday, Houston and Atlanta had storms and things became interesting. LWML Convention Manager, Marguerite Christman, and I were traveling together. We ended up getting the last flight out of Mobile to Houston, spent the night in Houston, had our morning flight to Oklahoma City delayed a couple hours and then when we got to OKC I had to rent a car and drive to Tulsa since all Houston to Tulsa flights were full. We met some interesting people along the way. Fellow travelers, fellow tired travelers.

I thought Marguerite and I traveled well together. The gate assistant, Maria, in Mobile went out to the plane and re-tagged our bags when we changed flights. The LWML travel agent, Tammy Hemsath, at Midwest Managed Travel interrupted her Sunday evening to rearrange our travel. The steward on our flight out of Mobile ended up being on our flight from Houston to OKC. Meeting Manager, Leslie Jaseph kept an eye on everyone’s travel. One big happy family.

There are some really nice people out there. As you travel this summer, take time to notice them, thank God for them and of course, thank Him for His travel mercies He extends to you. Ask Vice President of Christian Life, Jennifer Huecker, about her “witnessing” experiences on her way to Mobile last week.

Oh, by the way, Mobile is a really cool city! So much to see and do I hope we can keep you all interested in being in the convention hall! Lutheran Women in Mission there are already working hard on the Host Committee to make it a great experience for you next summer. Thanks to all of them who made last week so pleasant and thanks to the Circuit 11 pastors and wives who shared dinner with us while there!

Can’t wait to travel back there. Think I’ll drive next time!

This Memorial Day weekend we remember those who gave their lives for our country.

Love, Patti

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Checking out Mobile, Alabama

Bags are packed and as of 6:50 a.m. Monday I will be on my way to Mobile, Alabama, site of our 2019 LWML Convention. It will be our 38th Biennial Convention and the second time a national convention has been held in Mobile. The last one was in 1973. I did not attend but my mother did and I have some photos from her visit there.

June 20-23, 2019—put it on your calendar and start saving up to come praise the Lord with your LWML family. The theme is from 1 Chronicles 16:23-24a, Sing to the Lord, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations.

This week the Convention Programming Committee (CPC) and the LWML Executive Committee (EC) will be meeting in Mobile. In addition to our regular business meeting we will be able to tour the convention center, visit the hotels, look at possible field trip locations, and tourist areas to recommend and meet some of the convention center personnel. This is always an exciting initial glimpse and vision of how the convention may look.

The Convention Programming Committee plans the business, worship, entertainment, speakers, audio-visual, activities, and what needs to happen. The Host Committee, which is made up of members of the Louisiana-Mississippi, Gulf States and Florida-Georgia LWML districts, plans the transportation, decorations, ushers, servers, gets the musicians, handles the banners, offerings, works in the exhibit hall, and many other duties. It takes several hundred volunteers from now until next June to create a friendly and efficient environment to make your convention experience as pleasant as possible.

Thanks be to God for these wonderful volunteer workers! Please include them in your prayers and give them encouragement between now and next June. And come check out their handiwork in Mobile next year!

Love, Patti

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Mother Like Mine

There’s a song by one of my favorite bands, The Band Perry, that I love and that makes me think of my mother and, perhaps, the way I’d hope my children thought about me someday. I’ll share the lyrics with you. Try to pull the song up on your phone and listen to it. My Mother’s Day greeting to you!

Mother Like Mine

She’s the sky that holds the clouds
She’s the lady of the house
A blind believer in all I dare to be
There’s no safer place I’ve found
Than the shoulder of her white night gown
Oh I’ve got the best and the worst of her in me
And I’d share her if I could

So the wars would all be over
‘Cause she’d raise us all as friends
And no one would ever wonder if somebody wanted them
We’d walk on grass that’s greener
And our cares would all be freer
If the world had a mother like mine

She’s our father’s one great love
She’s the one he wanted most
She’s the light in the window of the house I grew up in
She takes the midnight call
She’s the bravest of us all
Still she sings in the garden she lets her hair down in

Oh the wars would all be over
‘Cause she’d raise us all as friends
And no one would ever wonder if somebody wanted them
Tonight would be easier
And our dreams would all be deeper
If the world had a mother like mine

Don’t go away
Don’t go away from me
Oh I understand
She is a helping hand
Still I have to say

She’s the sky that holds the clouds
She’s the lady of our house
We all need her
But no one more than me

Oh the wars would all be over
‘Cause she’d raise us all as friends
And no one would ever wonder if somebody wanted them
We’d walk on grass that’s greener
And the dishes would all be cleaner
If the world had a mother like mine

 

I hope you get to spend Mother’s Day with someone you love!     Patti

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Reign in My Heart

I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday attending the LWML Gulf States District Convention in Birmingham, Alabama. This is one of the most enjoyable things I do as an LWML President. I get to attend several of our district conventions that meet between April and October.

Outgoing District President, Judy Lessmann, chaired the convention. Judy and I go way back. She and I were on the LWML Board of Directors as presidents of our districts and our time overlapped during two of those years. She was president 2002-2006 and I was president of LWML Oklahoma 2004-2008. We then served together during my time as Vice President of Christian Life. She served on our Christian Resource Editors committee and our Christian Life Committee. It was great to be at her district convention. I got to meet her two granddaughters who served as pages during convention!

Their theme was “Reign in My Heart” from Colossians 3:15, 17. By the end of convention we were all rejoicing that the peace of Christ reigns in our hearts.

This district is one of the hosting districts for the Mobile convention next summer, June 20-23, 2019. They are excited and are starting to work on their parts of convention. They are looking forward to showing us all some great southern hospitality. Start saving and planning now so you can attend!

They elected a new LWML District President. Gwen Marshall is from Mobile. She has already been a key helper when we have had questions about Mobile. She will be there to welcome us all. In May the Convention Programming Committee and the Executive Committee of LWML will be meeting in Mobile to get the lay of the land and make some connections with the convention center.

It’s hard to believe it’s the month of May already! My goodness, where does the time go! I hope you are not as far behind in getting things ready for summer as I am! I have a sign in my office that says, “The sooner you fall behind, the more time you have to catch up.”

Vice President Kaye Wolff, Junior Counselor Rev. Mitchel Schuessler and I get to attend the Multiethnic Symposium at Concordia Seminary St. Louis this week. I’m really looking forward to it.

Please attend your district convention and spend some time with women who love mission outreach! It’s very encouraging!

Patti

 

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Grandma’s China

This Easter I set the table for dinner with my grandmother’s china. It’s not particularly stylish or an expensive set but it is rich in associations. My grandmother like many of yours lived through the Depression and moved from place to place with my grandfather and father as they sought out jobs to put food on the table and a roof over their heads.

When we got it, it was still kept in a wooden, slatted, crate with sawdust for packing. It was in really good shape. I like to use it in the spring because it has so much pink and pastel colors in it. I’m pretty sure most of you have something like this that you cherish.

Just think of the depression and the shortages of WWII. There may not have been a lot to put on these plates but I know they were used for Sunday dinners and celebratory occasions. There was a little extra effort put out whether the feast was big or meager. I look at photos of my grandparents and father during those years and note how remarkably thin they were. Did you know that one of the main reasons for rejection to serve in the Armed Forces in WWII was poor dentition? Bad teeth? Most likely from poor nutrition during the Depression.

I think of some of these things when I use these dishes. About how my grandparents endured much more than I have had to. How they didn’t blame God or give up going to church. Also, how they practiced hospitality, enjoyed beautiful things, and had family meals every day.

I hope you, too, have something that evokes memories of inspirational people who have gone before you. Let’s thank God that He gives us examples of living and loving both here, now, and in His book, the Bible.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

-Patti

China Dishes

Patti’s Easter table

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Sorry to Interrupt!

This past Friday and Saturday I spent a wonderful two days with my LWML Oklahoma District friends celebrating our 90th Anniversary of LWML organized in Oklahoma. We had past LWML presidents Virginia Von Seggern and Linda Reiser there who presented on LWML history. We had 17 descendants of the original women organizers come to be recognized. Cindi Steinbeck led Bible study on our theme, “Great is Thy Faithfulness” and Rev. Dr. Brent Smith spoke on missions and missionaries.

The first Lutheran Women’s League (LWL) society was established at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Apache, under the direction of Ida Hrbacek, President on January 17, 1923. This led to the establishment of the first district, the Oklahoma District LWL to be organized on February 8, 1928, at Zion Lutheran Church, Oklahoma City. 

In honor of the LWML Oklahoma District’s 90th Anniversary, our members were invited to assemble a replica of the first OK District Mite Box and fill it with a special 90th Anniversary offering to be divided between five different missions. Their goal was to unite to further mission work, particularly in Oklahoma. In 1942 they became one of the 15 original charter members of the national Lutheran Women’s Missionary League. Since that time Oklahoma LWML has grown to include women of 74 congregations and a membership approaching 1450. 

I attended an interest session with Rev. Dr. Brent Smith from Mission Central. He was speaking about several missionaries and missions. We got to laughing in the room because I raised my hand about five times to interrupt and relate how LWML grants had significantly helped the missions he was talking about!

 He graciously acknowledged the key role LWML plays in mission work and said he should have done more homework before he came!

Don’t hesitate to interrupt! Let your district and national speakers know when they are talking about something that your LWML mission offerings have helped finance! God has been faithful to the Oklahoma LWML for 90 years, providing women who want to serve the Lord. He is faithful to our national organization for 75 years! Give thanks for His faithfulness, mercy, and love.

Christ is risen, He is risen indeed! Patti

 

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Great is Thy Faithfulness!

Oklahoma Convention logo LWML Oklahoma District Convention is this weekend! My district! We are celebrating God’s faithfulness in the lives of Oklahoma Lutheran Women in Mission for 90 years! Our LWML district president, Dianna Just, will preside over this anniversary convention. We have around 20 descendants of the original organizers attending! It’s even taking place in the area of the first organizing churches, the Lawton Zone.  

The Lutheran Women’s League of Oklahoma, organized in March of 1928. Women from six cities—Apache, Chickasha, Norman, Shawnee, Lawton and Oklahoma City—gathered at Zion Lutheran Church in Oklahoma City to start a district organization to further mission work, particularly in Oklahoma. In 1929 they held their first convention. First mission projects included money to purchase bed linens for St. John’s College, Winfield, Kansas and a canning project for the Lutheran Home Finding Society, an orphanage at Winfield, Kansas.

Those attending have a wonderful group of speakers and Bible study leaders to get to know. Many of you will recognize the names of past LWML Presidents Virginia Von Seggern and Linda Reiser. Bible study will be lead by Cindy Steinbeck, who also led our study at our 80th Anniversary convention. Brent Smith from Mission Central will also bring news from the mission field.

Also taking place this coming weekend is the LWML New England District convention in Enfield, Connecticut. President Barbara Lis will be leading her district women with the theme of “God’s Jewels”.

I hope you will go to your LWML district convention if at all possible. God gives us these opportunities to be equipped and encouraged— to worship, work, listen and learn along with your sisters in Christ!

Please remember these district conventions in your prayers this week.

Patti

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An After-Easter Card

Happy Easter! Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

At Christ the Redeemer, Tulsa, Oklahoma we had a beautiful, inspirational day of worship and a fun day of family activities. We got to see children and grandchildren of our friends who came to town to visit. So many cute babies and kids dressed in their best! Lots of visitors and members who can’t come every Sunday. I pray you had a great day, as well.

I got to thinking. Maybe I should pick one of the visitors and write a note to them telling them that their attendance added to the joy of my worship. Nothing long or theological, just a “glad you came and worshiped” kind of note. I think I will do that!

What if all of us, Lutheran Women in Mission, took it as our mission this week to write a note to a visitor from Easter services? That would be thousands of people contacted even if we all wrote just one. You could ask your church office for the name and address of someone who came. If you saw someone you know, but who has been coming infrequently, you could write them.

If you have some Mustard Seed Devotions, put one in the note. Let’s see if we can contact thousands of people who were in our churches visiting this Easter Sunday!

We are heading out to Los Angeles tomorrow for the week to visit our son. I’m going to write my note now! Don’t wait, write yours as soon as you read this!

Now, shall I write with purple ink?

Patti