Annual Conference 2009

Well, I don't think it could have been better. WOO HOO...United Methodist Women in the Missouri Conference are alive and doin' splendid. Our third annual Walk for Mission Giving, at Conference, was an outstanding success. We sold all of the RED HOT Shirts and many individuals and Units contributed. About 200 actually walked!
We started off with a prayer from Bishop Schnase (who by the way was extremely gracious and interested in the event) and the women of Pitts Chapel, Mt. Carmel and the Springfield Districts out did themselves with tasty treats. We have such great members!
We were able to have a little time on the stage to announce Assembly 2009. Start saving your money now for the event of a lifetime in April in St. Louis. More details on our Website!
My heartfelt thanks to all who supported this event. A special thank you goes out to those of you who worked the Booth. The whole weekend was a textbook example of working together in Mission.

And we do Local Mission......

Today, I received a call from Clara Black. In my mind, Clara is a shining example of what we as United Methodist Women are all about. Clara supports United Methodist women by attending Coperative School of Christian Mission and other events like our annual Spring Retreat. But, woo hoo,she also does local mission! Clara volunteers at the Clothes Closet for the Veterans' Administration Medical Center in Kansas City.(Most of us think of it as the VA Hospital.) Last month, she told me that there was a real need for men's items of all kinds, especially clean used jeans and soft duffle bags. Of course there are women Vets, too, and she needs shorts and tops for them.
Sometimes veterans come to the Hospital with absolutely nothing. They need the essentials. Our Vets are in need, people, and we who have so much to thank them for, could really help them out!
Clara is a member of New Hope UMC in Kansas City. And she is surely an angel of mercy.
If you can donate some items to this cause, (She is willing to receive donations at Cooperative School in Fayette, next month.)contact me and I will pass on her number.

ABORTION

My best UMW Friend and I agree to diasgree on the issue of Abortion Rights. Both of us feel very passionately about what we believe to be the "right" thing. While both of us know that abortion is legal, one of us feels that it is a fundamental right of a woman to choose what happens to her own body. That no government should force a woman to carry and birth a child that she does not want. The other friend believes that abortion is fundamentally wrong. She feels that no "person" should be aborted, for whatever reason.
We know that we are never going to agree on this issue. We discuss the issue. We argue, but, we remain friends.
Recently, I had to deal with a woman who had told her Unit that she had read that United Methodist Women funded abortions. I don't know what group is spreading this kind of misinformation, but I can make an intelligent guess.
United Methodist Women DO NOT fund abortions. United Methodist Women follow the Discipline in all matters pertaining to the Social Issues of the UMC. UMW, however, does belong, through the Women's Division of the United Methodist Church, to the Coalition for Reproduction Choice. This is not a group that funds abortions. This is an education group, dealing with information ONLY. This group has never told a United Methodisst Woman to have an abortion.
Neither my good friend nor I have any intention of leaving United Methodist Women over this issue. We feel fortunate to belong to an thinking woman's organization and to a thinking person's denomination. We have room to disagree.