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1 S H R E V E P O R T D I S T R I C T U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T W O M E N J an ua ry, Issu e Isaiah 40:31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E : Message from our District President Marilyn Turnley Reports from District Officers Pat Mosher & Jan Nelson Report from Program Resource Chr, Junie Jamison Broadmoor UMW Russian visitor. New St.Luke s Pres! M E S S A G E F R O M O U R P R E S I D E N T, M A R I L Y N T U R N L E Y LET US WELCOME THE NEW YEAR 2016 WITH THANKSGIVING as Thess. 5 instructs us, meeting trials with complete confidence in God. We have many plans for fellowship, worship, study and witnessing. But remember when these plans turn out to not coincide with God s, that His ways are ALWAYS best! Watch for Jan s notifications of the special retreats and meetings and their locations. The study clusters remove the pressures of organizing and providing a presenter while keeping us informed about what is going on in the world and finding our places in it under God s guidance. We do not have to always agree with the studies (Do you really agree 100% with everyone??? I don t!) but we do need to be informed. The studies are to make us think. We can also share ideas with others than just our local church family. We are all sisters in Christ. I always wanted a large family; now I have one! Try to carpool to the special Social Action Study on Human Trafficking on March 5, 2016 in Pineville. The site is about equal distance for all in the conference. There will be several speakers with up-to-date information that will hold our attention and challenge us. As always, please call me day or night to ask questions or to chat ( ), or for a prayer re- quest. Marilyn Turnley President Shreveport District UMW Marilyn at the November 7 Shreveport District UMW Annual Meeting and LELT, First United Methodist Church, Shreveport, LA F O R M S & D O C U M E N T S T O B E U T I L I Z E D A N D R E V I E W E D Benton UMW Report & E&I Chr, Peggy Evans report Robin Jones,Treasurer Report General Conference Quiting Project A list of the latest Forms available are on line at the United Methodist Women s website. You can go to the website at: Shreveport_Page.htm Attached to Grapevine: Pineville Social Study Registration Form 2016 UMW Calendar District Team Contact List

2 Page 2 D I S T R I C T V. P, P A T M O S H E R Pat Mosher District V. President Our goal is to work toward mission giving (Financially, Physically, Mentally, Verbally and Spiritually). Happy New Year everyone! We had a great 2015 year and we are looking forward to having the same in Please remember to plan events ahead of time and get them to Jan Merten for our District Newsletters. We need pictures and news of our units. We want to support and be part of you every way we can. Our goal is to work toward mission giving (Financially, Physically, Mentally, Verbally and Spiritually). I look forward to continue visiting your churches. This January I m speaking for UMW Sunday at Mooringsport UMC the 24th and Plain Dealing UMC, Jan 31. I love sharing the Word and our United Methodist Women s Purpose. Our Spiritual Growth Study this year is Created for Happiness. I m planning on using this theme throughout the year. True wisdom is found in God and true happiness comes from pleasing Him. Please contact me if I can be of any support to your mission and units. Remember, it is good to give cheerfully and to accept graciously. God Bless! Pat M. onthelake@bellsouth.net Or S P I R I T U A L G R O W T H C O O R D I N A T O R J A N N E L S O N At the core of all we do as United Methodist Women are spiritual growth and theological development. This helps us to better understand how we can be a part of God s mission in the world. One of the ways we can grow and develop is with prayer. Many years ago I bought a book on prayer at an estate sale. Some of you may be familiar with Frank C. Laubach who was well known 50 years ago. The book I purchased, Prayer The mightiest Force in the World, was first published in 1946, immediately after the end of WWII. There was such an urgency expressed in his writing for the need for prayer to save the world. The world had experienced two horrendous wars, including the use of atomic bombs for the first time. There was the fear of communism and what this was doing to the world. There truly was an urgent need to save the world from complete destruction, which was a fear at the time. He writes how, during the war, there had been millions praying for their family members, even their country to survive the war, but Frank Laubach states that these prayers are too small. He writes that every prayer should include God s will be done for His world. He states that we set aside our prejudices and our strong desire for a specific political/social/personal outcome and pray in earnest for God s will in whatever situation. While we are at it, let s pray for our acceptance of His will and for all our actions to be guided by His will. Jan Nelson Shreveport District Spiritual Growth Coordinator The blessing of any spiritual practice can be a personal transformation by the love of God. This can change our lives in ways we can not even imagine I believe there is an urgent need today for prayer. There is so much suffering and violence around the world, not to mention in our own part of this world. There are huge problems many of which are not adequately addressed because of infighting among various factions. Pray for all elected officials and others, that God s will brings them to the correct action. Again, this isn t what we see as the right outcome but PRAY FOR GOD S WILL IN THIS AND ALL SITUATIONS. We, United Methodist Women can be a prayer army. There are those who would pray in earnest if they knew that they could save the world in the name of God, as long as they are praying for His will and not the outcome which we believe is the right outcome. I pray that you are part of a praying army in your church and unit of UMW. Remember to pray large prayers! Use our prayer calendar to pray for our missions and field staff. Don t forget to buy prayer calendars for gifts for friends and family so they can pray for our missions and staff. Praying is a transformational thing, not just for those who are recipients of prayers but for the pray-er! The person who prays is also transformed if the prayers are from the deepest place in our hearts. Pray large! Jan Nelson, Spiritual Growth Coordinator

3 Page 3 S E C R E T A R Y O F P R O G R A M R E S O U R C E S, J U N I E J A M I S O N Greetings to all of you and Happy 2016! I will be serving as your District Secretary of Program Resources for this year. I hope to continue in Clara s footsteps, for she did a great job for us! In the fall we all received our Reading Program 2016 list of books and began reading. We can read for credit the books from Our District did great last year with 113 readers, but let s add more readers this year! This year we have one book that is only available as an e-book: My Life and Lesser Catastrophes by Christina Schofield. Hopefully some of us will read it and give some feedback. I just read the Nurturing for Community 2016 book, Miss Brenda and the Loveladies on my Kindle while traveling. This is a very good read and funny at times as Miss Brenda starts a ministry with female parolees. I have several favorite books from our lists. In the area of Spiritual Growth, I really enjoyed Praying for Strangers by River Jordan (2014). It is about a mother who listens to God, and turns her worries about family into focusing on others. In the Nurturing for Community area, I enjoyed the novels Red Sky in the Morning by Elizabeth Laird (2014), and The Round House by Louise Erdrich (2014). I know that many of us love a good novel! Some in my local unit have said that Good God, Lousy World, and Me by Holly Burkhalter (2014) is a very readable book. It is about struggling with our faith, and is in the Education for Mission area and is a Bonus Book. I have just started reading it. I also plan to read soon the 2016 Leadership Development book, I am Malala: The Girl who stood Up for Education and was shot by the Talib a n b y M a l a l a Yousafzai. I look forward to meeting and hearing from many of you this year. If I can be of help, contact me at o r junie.jamison@ymail.com or 425 Brandon Estates Dr., Many, LA Blessings to all! Junie Books Junie recommends: My Life and Lesser Catastrophies by Christina Schofield Good God, Lousy World, and Me by Holly Burkhalter Red Sky in the Morning by Elizabeth Laird The Round House by Louise Erdrich If you enjoy reading the Grapevine and would like to receive it by , please send your address to: Camelliapoint@Gmail.com or call Jan Merten at If you are already receiving it by and your address changes, please notify me accordingly. Many Thanks! Jan B R O A D MOOR U MW H OS TS RUSSIAN VISITOR Ludmilla Garbuzova, not only a wonderful disciple of Christ, she is also a gifted musician and composer and editor of the first Russian Hymnal of the UMC. While at Broadmoor, she sang and played several familiar hymns that she had translated into Russian. (See Page 4 for this story)

4 Page 4 T h e g r a p e v i n e B R O A D M O O R U M W H O S T S R U S S I A N V I S I T O R If Response Magazine has the Bright Lights so did Broadmoor UMW on a rainy day last November. Streets were flooding as our guest, Rev. Ludmila Garbuzova, was dropped off at the door by her friend from Shreveport, Irina Gibson. Bursting with enthusiasm and overwhelmed with joy, she told us how she had for so many years longed to see Broadmoor, their sister church. For several hours she entertained us with stories of the early days, when her church, the First United Methodist Church of Moscow, was in its infancy after the Berlin Wall came down and Russia broke apart. She spoke of holding church services in places like Red Square on Easter 1992 and of how the Communists hired people to carry signs boycotting them. Honesty was the best policy when asked who they were by a Russian bureaucrat with authority to shut them down. They answered We re Methodists and the bureaucrat, thoughtfully rubbing his chin, said that it was good!! Russia needed people who were methodical. They would be good educational role models! Ludmila is not only a wonderful disciple of Christ, she is also a gifted musician and composer and editor of the first Russian Hymnal of the UMC. While at Broadmoor, she sang and played several familiar hymns that she had translated into Russian. Her church supports orphanages in the Moscow area...there is a huge need...every hundredth child in Russia lives in an orphanage. As she says God invites us to take care of our children. Over the years they have brought many orphans into the church through an active youth program and through music. Many are now leaders in the church with families of their own. Rev. Ludmila and Rev. Konstantin Vaganov have begun five other churches in the Moscow area with another planned! They have a soup kitchen one day a week and oversee drug and alcohol recovery programs. Seven of their members have graduated from the Russian UMC Seminary. Praise God! This year, after 20 years of worshipping in temporary spaces, Ludmila says God helped them buy a permanent home for their church. It is the first floor of an apartment building near the center of Moscow. Although they have raised much of the money to pay for it (Ludmila sold her own apartment for the down payment) they are in need of help paying the remainder. Please keep them in your prayers. As she says May God abundantly bless all people, every heart, every hand who can help our small Protestant church in Moscow. If you would like to help with a donation, please follow the instructions below.: Go to Click on the red Give Now button In the left column of the next page, click on search for project Fill in Russia Mission Initiative where it asks for project name. Click Find Click on Eurasia in Mission Together, Russia and Belarus Project # 11510A Click on the red Give Now button Fill in the information In the Gift designation box fill in your church name to give your church and conference credit There are also instructions on this page for donating by check. Ruby Stewart President, Broadmoor UMW DEBBIE LAFFITTE, New President of St. Luke s UMW, Shreveport! I have attended St Luke's UMC since 1994 when I moved to Shreveport from the Haughton Area. Since joining St Luke's I jumped right in and have been very active in church activities as well as the UMW. I had been attending the Lunch Bunch UMW at St Luke's due to my working full time, I was not able to devote much time to UMW. However, that all changed in December of last year when I retired after working as an LPN. Since retiring I have been busier than I have been and loving every of it. We have re-established "The Crafter's" at St Luke's and have a day and evening craft group. In fact the evening crafters will officially become an evening UMW group in January. I also have a card ministry and make cards to be sold in our church library and the funds help support our "Pastor's Purse" which purchases food and gas gift cards for those walkins in need. So as you can see I stay very busy, and look forward to being president of St Luke's UMW. Use what you can, delete what you cant. Blessings! Debbie Laffitte

5 Page 5 B E N T O N U M W R E P O R T I N G I N! Benton UMW had a g r e a t w e supported over 23 mission areas in our church, community and world. We sent 40 Shoe Boxes to support Samaritan s Purse Mission. Our UMW Sunday is planned for February 7th and Rev. Cheryl Nelson will be our speaker. A major event for us is our Tables of Love Style Show a nd L un cheo n, March 12th, We would love to have your group attend. We decorate our own tables with a theme and they are beautiful. Let me know and I will get the $20 tickets out to you. If your unit wants to create a table that is possible too. We are planning a trip to UMCOR, April to work at the depot. If anyone wants to join us, let me know soon and we will see how many are signed up. Happy New Year to everyone from Benton UMW! Pat Mosher President Pat Mosher President Benton UMW P E G G Y E V A N S E D U C A T I O N A N D I N T E R P R E T A T I O N C O O R D I N A T O R Hello! This is Peggy Evans. I am the new Education and Interpretation Coordinator. I am extremely excited to see 2016 begin with wonderful Cluster Groups happening throughout our District. On January 16, Haughton UMC hosted a Cluster Group on the book Created for Happiness: Understanding Your Life in God by Cynthia Bond Hopson. Shirley Lindholm, Haughton UMW President stated they served coffee, juice and light breakfast items for the event. The excellent program presenter was Loretta Haskins. A soup lunch was also served since this was a four hour presentation. When United Methodist Women gather, ACTION happens and I mean Social Action. First UMC of Pineville is hosting an extraordinary meeting on March 5 on Human Trafficking. If you are unaware of the number of humans who are moved through our geographic area that are sold and used as slaves, please come to this meeting. This will be a very important study for your local women. I encourage you to go to the web site to gather your forms so you may register your group s attendance at the Mission Studies. You will be sending these forms to Peggy Evans, 1612 Shady Lane, Shreveport, LA Remember, each event does require a follow-up action. I know you will be inspired after attending either of these events. For 2016, consider what activities your group will want to attend: Mission U in July, Mini-Mission U in August or the District Conference in the Fall. Please discuss how your pledges are being used so all the members of your group understand that pledges don t just pay for paperwork, they actually bring your love into action for women and children. My address is plschenk@yahoo.com. My home telephone number is , and my cell number is

6 NEWSLETTER TITLE Page 6 R O B I N J O N E S D I S T R I C T T R E A S U R E R Robin Jones District Treasurer The Shreveport District should be proud of its giving spirit. We met our goal of $40,000 in pledge to missions. We set $40,000 as our goal for this year also. Everything that is given for Pledge to Mission, SMR pins, Gift to Mission, Gift in Memory, World Thank Offering, and the mission candle goes to fund mission projects both nationally and internationally. Keep on giving as God calls you to give. UMW will soon be celebrating 150 years! In conjunction with this anniversary the Legacy Fund has been established to perpetuate the work of UMW for future generations. I encourage each unit to have a program and pledge service for the Legacy Fund. For more information and ideas look at me n.o r g/1 50 /t o o lk it. Please keep a record of anyone who gives. This includes name, address, and amount given. The national office is requiring that we submit this information. The actual celebration of Christmas is over, but the light of Christ is within each of us. Let us remember to whom we belong with each thought, word, and deed G E N E R A L C O N F E R E N C E - Q U I L T P R O J E C T Each labyrinth will be tagged with a card identifying that the labyrinth is handmade with love and prayer by United Methodist Women. Labyrinth pattern United Methodist Women s engagement in the prayer ministry for General Conference 2016 is in full swing with the arrival of the first quilted finger labyrinths following the appeal distributed in October. As a reminder, one of our UMW prayer ministry activities planned is to offer quilted finger prayer labyrinths for delegates and guests. We are actively seeking UMW members that enjoy quilting to assist us by making the finger labyrinths. Do you have women in your conference, district or local units who would like to help by volunteering to quilt finger prayer labyrinth squares for the delegates and guests? We need 2,000 and the variety of labyrinths made by women from all over the country will bless the recipients and lend to the support and outreach we hope to extend. Attached is a pattern and picture for the finger labyrinths. Each labyrinth will be tagged with a card identifying that the labyrinth is handmade with love and prayer by United Methodist Women. Please circulate this request and the attached pattern among the UMW with whom you have contact. Share that anyone interested in quilting the finger prayer labyrinth squares should GCprayer@unitedmethodis twomen.org with an estimate of how many they might be able to make. Labyrinths are to be shipped by January 15, 2016 to: Brooks Howell Home Attn: GC Prayer Ministry 266 Merrimon Avenue Asheville, NC If there are questions, e m a i l m e a t GCprayer@unitedmethodis twomen.org. Quilt Hand-Labyrinth Instructions Materials: 8 ½ x 8 ½ quilt top fabric 8 ½ x 8 ½ batting 10 ½ x 10 ½ quilt backing fabric Labyrinth pattern (see left Contrasting thread for machinequilting the design Center quilt top fabric (face up), batting, and quilt backing (face down). Baste or pin together, leaving 1 surplus of quilt backing around all edges. Center the paper design (face up) on right side of the quilt top and pin or baste the paper pattern to the three layers. Or, you can trace the design on the right side of the top fabric. Using a straight stitch, sew all four pieces together, following the labyrinth design, being sure to stitch all circuits of the design. Shortening the stitch length on your machine will help the paper tear away more easily. Tear-away the paper pattern. Using a satin or tight zig-zag stitch, retrace the entire labyrinth design on the straight stitch path. Finish edges. Begin with corners, folding the backing over itself at 45 degree angles toward the quilt top, covering raw corners. Stitch each mitered corner in place. Then, fold the backing of each of the four sides in half way, then fold again, over the raw edge. Finish with a 1/4' - 3/8 seam allowance