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March Madness to March Gladness!!

Last week I wrote about it being a week of March Madness as we worked hard to make our Mission Goal with one week left. Today I can happily report that we will be celebrating last week as a week of March Gladness! You did it! The Goal was met and although we have not gotten our reconciled numbers yet from our LWML accountants and Treasurer, Marilyn, we did make it and I think went a bit over!

To God be the Glory, His Grace and blessings are immeasurable! May the funding of our Mission Goal make an eternal difference in people’s lives! Praise be to God!

We will be sharing exact amounts with you probably by the end of the week so watch the LWML website and LWML Facebook!

It was a week of March Gladness for me as I got to award several grant checks for you in St. Louis. LWML was celebrated at the LCMS International Center with a reception and lunch. The final three grants going to the LCMS were awarded after Chapel services. The Sierra Leone Seminary received $20,000 for upkeep and remodeling of student facilities. The LCMS Medical Missions received $25,000 to scholarship nursing students on mission trips. The Deaconess Ministry received $7,000 for Liberian deaconess training. Lots of smiles all around!

President Patti delivering a grant check

Later that day at the Seminary Library, a grant check for $40,000 was presented for African Graduate Student Scholarships. It was another very happy group attending!

Monday evening, LWML hosted a dinner and program at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, for Vicars, Deaconess Interns and spouses. This was a great opportunity to talk about LWML with these new church workers before they go out to many of your congregations next year. I pray they will find welcoming LWML groups who will invite them to come and see what LWML is all about and see how we can partner with them in ministry. About 113 people attended, including Seminary President and Mrs. Dale Meyer.  Along with me were LWML PR Director, Michelle Zollinger, who did most of the planning, LWML Business Manager, Vanessa Johnson, and LWML Administrative Coordinator, Karen Andersen. Those attending were presented gift cards from LWML.

I wish you all could have been with me to feel the “gladness” at these events! You all made that possible. Whether large or small, given with love and prayer, your Mite Box offerings have impacted many lives during last week’s March Gladness!

Let’s continue to Serve the Lord with Gladness as we start the next biennium! Come to convention in Mobile, Alabama, June 20-23 and get excited about mission outreach! Come and be part of choosing the next mission grants. Elect a new President and other officers. Jump start our 2019-2021 Mission Goal by participating in the Mission Pledge Walk, the Golf Tournament, and bring an offering for the Mission Goal at the Opening Worship.

See you there!

Patti

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You Will be Busy Next Week!

Great news for March so far! Here is an unofficial totals for the Mission Goal giving as of March 14, 2019. Unofficial in that it doesn’t report some of our electronic giving and hasn’t been reconciled by our accountants and Treasurer yet but it’s in the ballpark!

Mite Box

District Mites         $51,751.58   

Thrivent                      $6480.00        

Restricted                   $2785.00

Mite Gifts                 $24538.00

Mite Challenge         $9066.00      

Total:                         $94,620.58       

Total needed officially as of February 28th was $156,821.

This puts us within $62,000! We have until March 29 to receive any contributions towards this 2017-2019 Mission Goal. Remember electronic giving must come in by March 27.

As a reminder of who we are helping, I will be in St. Louis in a week’s time to present checks for several of the mission grants you have funded. You will be with me through your offerings! You will be helping train deaconess students in Liberia. You will be remodeling and updating student quarters at the Sierra Leone Lutheran Seminary. You will be helping put in place a program for high school students to learn how to converse about life issues with their peers. You will be providing funding for an African graduate student to attend Concordia Seminary, St. Louis to return to teach in his home country.

You have a busy week ahead next week! Stay strong and praise the Lord for your work for His Kingdom!

Patti

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Random Thoughts

I was sick with RSV several days last week and haven’t been up to much so this blog is a little bit random.

  • Our Mission Goal for 2017-2019 is still short. We need to have electronic donations by March 25 and mailed donations by March 29 so that all can be in the bank by March 31. We are SO close!! Please check your Mite Boxes and take the $5 per member challenge!
  • Early discounted registration for the 2019 Mobile convention ends on the 13th (this Wednesday). Save $20 by registering before then!
  • The new LWML history book by Carolyn Blum will be available at convention. This book covers from 2005-2017. It has gone to print!
  • Several new Bible Study/Devotionals will be available at convention. Bring some funds from your congregational group to buy and save shipping by putting them in your suitcase!
  • There are some great Lenten devotions out there, many by our various mission grant recipient organizations. Be sure you are using several! See how they all blend together but present some different ways of looking at certain scriptures. LWML was asked to write one for the Lutheran World Relief series if you care to find it.
  • Plan an Easter dinner and ask some people who might be alone this year. It follows to say, “Hey, why not go to church with me before we have dinner!”
  • If you know women in your group who can’t attend convention in Mobile, make sure they know it will be live streamed on our website. Also, ask them to donate to your Pledge Walk! We are doing it early morning again this year with a BAND to lead it! Should be a lot of fun! The pledge walk donations make up 9% of our Mission Goal during a biennium so your walk is worth a lot!

That’s it for this week. I’m hoping to feel stronger this week and get back into gear!

Love, Patti

Sing to the Lord, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations (1Chronicles 16:23-24a).

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Last Minute Push to Mission Goal

Click on the image to see the Mission Grants

When this is posted on February 11th we will have 59 days to finish funding our Mission Goal for the 2017-2019 LWML Biennium. Oh, that I would live to see the day that we don’t have to make this final last minute push, pull, grab, squeeze, or whatever you want to call it, to make our goal!

I guess we could lower it next time. We could make it something easy for us to attain. We could then sit back and pat ourselves on the back about a job well-done. But if we did that it wouldn’t really be a goal. I think of a goal as something you want to work towards that you haven’t reached before.

We could reduce the amount. Our grant recipients could just look elsewhere for funding. But they’d have to find someone who prayed for them, learned about their work, put out publicity about their work, or someone who would be inspired by their work.

We wouldn’t have to work so hard trying to raise money—the “M” word. We could quit having bake sales, craft sales, pledge walks, or offerings. But then the opportunity to witness and share the “why” we do those things gets taken away.

We could withdraw into our own little congregational groups and not worry about the big, bad world out there and all the lost souls. Let someone else do that—decreases my workload!

Yes, I guess I’ll just have to participate in the push, pull, grab, squeeze, or whatever it takes to meet our Mission Goal this year and probably every year going forward because that’s what I do as a woman in mission. I want to fund our mission grants so that God’s Word will be preached to all. So that God’s children will be cared for. And, so I will be reminded of the blessings of God given to me to share.

Patti


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Racing to the Finish!

It’s time to put on your racing shoes!! LWML has 11 weeks to collect $449, 159.01 in order to meet the biennium’s Mission Goal. There are still grants to pay and other expenses that have to be fulfilled by March 31, the end of our 2-year Mission Goal cycle.

This past week the LWML Mission Grant Selection Committee met in St. Louis to go through 81 grant submissions for the next biennium and narrow those down to 31 to put on the ballot at our convention in June in Mobile, Alabama. They were all good opportunities to support missions and missionaries who, working with the Holy Spirit, are spreading the Gospel and doing works of mercy. It’s a shame to have to turn any of them down.

The grants we have this biennium are also great opportunities for you to support when you can’t do the work yourself or when you have a ministry that you are especially attuned to. But, we are short in our Mite Box offerings for grants. We still have several that need payment. If you go to our website, www.lwml.org and click on the Missions tab, you can see the grants that still have to be paid and a breakdown of each month’s Mite Box offering receipts.

What can you do to help? It’s easy to donate online and or to send a check to the LWML at our new address of 801 Seminary Place, Suite L010, St. Louis, MO 63105. Please keep our Mission Goal and the fulfillment of it in your prayers and then open your heart and pocketbook to give some extra offering to the Lord.

At the grant meeting it was discussed as it is every biennium, lowering the Mission Goal. Financing less ministry. Not having to work so hard. The economy is forecast to go down or stagnate, the church is losing membership, the LWML is not promoting the mission grants like they used to. Are we to give in to that type of thought? Are we that weak that we can’t take on a challenge and meet it? Are we to abandon the promises we made at the Albuquerque convention to those grant recipients depending on our financing?

I say NO! We are strong, we have prayer, we have resources, and we just need to work a little harder over the next 11 weeks! So put on your running shoes and let’s race to the finish, together!

Patti