2014 Women s Retreat. June 2014

Transcription

1 June Women s Retreat Christ the King Retreat Center in San Angelo was the site of the 2014 Women s Retreat. Presbyterian women from Tres Rios and Palo Duro Presbyteries joined on March 28 and 29 for a short 18-hour retreat entitled Morning, Noon, and Night: The Fragrance of Christ is Our Lives. We are the aroma of Christ to God -- a fragrant offering that brings God pleasure and glory as we live in harmony with one another, love as Christ has loved us, and proclaim the Good News in all we say and do -- morning, noon, and night. Many are the ways we interact, express, and serve as the fragrance of Christ throughout our lifetime. The same is true for the hours of each day, filled with various aromas, rituals and routines that fill our senses and define our priorities. Together, the women considered what it is to be the fragrance of Christ for God. The presenters were Rev. Kary Fry from First Presbyterian Church in Sweetwater, Rev. Janice Six from First Central Presbyterian Church in Abilene, and Rev. Alissa King, recently graduated from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and currently seeking a call. Installation of Officers During the retreat, Tres Rios PW installed new officers, raised money and collected canned meat for Project Dignidad in San Angelo and helped our Presbyterian Women s Global exchange participant, Karen Bartholomeo, raise money for her upcoming mission trip to the Caribbean. All attendees enjoyed the serene surroundings of the retreat center. Over sixty women attended the retreat, with twenty-five of them from Tres Rios. This was the first year that the women from Tres Rios were invited, and we were as excited to be a part of this wonderful event as the Palo Duro ladies were to have us. We are already looking forward to next year s retreat and hope that a larger group of women from Tres Rios will attend the 2015 retreat!

2 PW Coordinating Team At the PW Retreat at Christ the King Retreat Center, the following women were installed as officers: Linda Allen (from Ft. Davis) -- Moderator Karen Boozer (from El Paso) -- Moderator-in-Nomination Vicki Maline (from Ft. Davis) -- Secretary Roberta James (from Sonora) -- Treasurer Rev. Marcie Brown (from Sanderson) -- Together in Service/ Mission Opportunity Bea Torres will serve as an advisor as Past Moderator. The following women will continue to serve their offices: Peggy Gilchrist (from Ft. Davis) -- Historian Cindy Dunagan (from Ft. Stockton) -- Horizon Representative Susan Holstedt (from Big Spring) -- Willie Hall Black-Barstow Scholarship CLUSTER COORDINATORS Molly Owen (from San Angelo) -- Concho Valley Helen Glass (from Big Spring) -- Creation/Crossroads Mary Grube-Beard (from El Paso) -- Desert Rose Jane Sager (from Alpine) -- Mountain SEARCH TEAM Karen Bartholomeo (from San Angelo) -- Concho Valley JoAnn Laird (from Odessa) -- Creation/Crossroads Jane Sturgis (from El Paso) -- Desert Rose Doni Whigham (from Ft. Stockton) -- Mountain

3 2014 WOMEN S CONFERENCE AT MO-RANCH The theme of this year s Women s Conference at Mo-Ranch was The Sacramental Life -- Living Your Sacred Story. Every life lived fully is a sacrament to God. Towards this challenge, each of the workshops offered thoughts, encouragement, and insights into how we can embrace our own inner truths. Some of these wonderful workshops were: Our Lives As Story: The Power of Owning Your Whole Story -- the key word here is whole. Kris Crawford shared not just her pretty, socially acceptable story, but the darker times as well. Owning your whole story will lead to greater spiritual awareness. Days Too Dark to See Sacrament, a workshop guided by Joan Scott Curtis, explored what to do during the darkest days of our lives. Dishes, Laundry and List Making: the Sacrament of Daily Living -- Omi Ford helped us look at simple ways to remind ourselves of who we are and to whom we belong in the middle of piling dishes, laundry, and list making. As women, we spend a lot more time doing what seems mundane than on life s mountain-top moments. Let God join you in the daily. Be Still Bead Prayer -- Ann Hoch led her women in making prayer beads to be used in a prayer workshop created in the Iona Community in Scotland. The beads remind us to be still and know that I am God. The book study, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life -- Lynne Lockett led this workshop which focused on the importance of dreams, how to remember dreams, and what they can reveal about who we are. Being aware of what God says to us in our dreams is pure gold. Praying Our Moments was led by Fran Shelton and helped us discover the Prayer of Examen, an ancient practice of prayer to experience the nearness of God in our daily life. Hearing With Your Heart was Anne Wilson s workshop to lead us in a visioning process to discern God s intention for each of us. During the Bible Study Conference and during a workshop in the Women s Conference, Susan Jackson-Dowd gave an overview of this year s Horizon Bible Study, Reconciling Paul: A Contemporary Study of 2 nd Corinthians. These were just some of the wonderful workshops offered during this year s Women s Conference; and as you can imagine, it was hard to choose only three to attend! Not to mention, the keynote speaker, the Reverend Dr. Joan H. Watson. Her theme was Life is short; stay awake for it. You must live life in the present tense. Don t live it on autopilot -- just responding to distractions. Doing more than one thing at a time means we aren t truly present for the task we are doing. We need to develop the discipline of ceasing one thing before beginning another. Seeing the holy in things around us requires being present.

4 2014 WOMEN S CONFERENCE AT MO-RANCH continued... She related to us that she used to use a product called Super Bloom on her flowering plants. They bloomed beautifully all the time, until they died -- no doubt exhausted! We, like flowers, cannot bloom all the time. We need the rhythm of rest and renewal. Sabbath keeps us in the divine rhythm -- it says we must rest! We must admit our personal limits and admit we are called to set limits. If you missed this year s conferences, make plans now to join us next year. May or May 29-31, with the Bible Study Conference sandwiched between them. Fran Shelton will lead the conference with the theme, The River of Life.

5 Mission Work for the Homeless The women from Sweetwater who attended the P.W. Retreat brought with them a dozen mats made out of plastic sacks on which homeless individuals can sleep. These mats were donated to the women from Nazareth Presbyterian Church for their food and clothing cupboard, Project Dignidad. This mission assists the homeless as well as people from their community. The ladies at the retreat raised $175 from selling items and contributed several boxfuls of canned meat for the mission. The Tres Rios C.T. toured this facility on March 28. There are three small rooms that serve as the food cupboard and office; next door to these rooms, there is a large room filled with shoes, clothing, baby furniture, books, and baby clothing. What a wonderful outreach to the people of San Angelo! Grace Presbyterian Church in El Paso enlisted help from its youth to fill 96 gallon Zip Loc bags for the homeless. These bags each had three snacks, a water bottle, socks, a wash rag, a tooth brush, toothpaste, and Band Aids. Congregation members may take a few of these bags and carry them in their vehicles to give to the homeless as they drive around El Paso. They plan to make more in the fall and add warm hats and gloves. Grace P.C. also has entered into a partnership with HOPE Institute House of Peace which is a home for homeless female veterans in Northeast El Paso. It will have eight beds, an office, an education and training room, as well as the kitchen, dining area, living room, and four bathrooms. Hope Jackson, the founder of the home, intends to open this shelter before the fall. In addition to housing the women, Hope has plans to educate these women for entering the work force by teaching them computer skills, writing resumes, and financial matters, as well as nutrition, self esteem, and personal hygiene. The Grace PW hosted Hope Jackson (herself, a retired Army Lt. Colonel)on May 24 at its annual Mission Luncheon and presented her with $700 to continue finishing the house. They will also host a shower for new and gently used household goods before its opening.

6 Little Dresses for Africa Over one million dresses for girls in Third World countries have been made and sent to Africa, Mexico, Haiti, the Philippines, Honduras, and Guatemala. These simple and cute dresses can be made out of pillow cases or fabric remnants. One PW circle in Ft. Davis has several members who are making these dresses. There are also patterns to make shorts for boys out of T-shirts. The parents who have received these dresses say that they have made their children safer because they look cared for. They also raise the self esteem of the girls who receive them. The Tres Rios PW Coordinating Team is urging all the women of our presbytery to take part in a sewing project this coming fall by joining together to make these dresses for girls who so badly need them. You could encourage the Scouts in your area to assist your group in making them. (They can even earn a badge for sewing by doing this project!) A proposed date to take part in this worthwhile mission project will be ed to Tres Rios churches in the near future, or you can select your own date. You can obtain patterns by looking for free sewing patterns on the home page of nancysnotions.com. You could begin looking for pillow cases or material this summer! PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN S GLOBAL EXCHANGE Karen Bartholomeo was selected early this year to represent the Tres Rios Presbyterian Women and Synod of the Sun Presbyterian Women as an exchange participant at the 2014 Global Exchange on the upcoming mission trip to the Caribbean. She sold jewelry and scarves at the spring retreat to help with her expenses on this trip. If you or your group would like to help support her, you can reach her at karen1509@verizon.net or call her at (home) or (cell). Her address is 1509 South Jackson, San Angelo, TX