NEW MISSION VOLUNTEER FOR MAUA METHODIST HOSPITAL!!!!
PLUS INFORMATION ON FRIENDS OF MAUA AND OPPORTUNITIES TO HAVE MMH STAFF VISIT YOUR AREA AND CHURCH!
SO FIRST; THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! (DRUM ROLLS PLEASE!)
The General Board of Global Ministries has announced that KATHIE MANN will be assigned as the new Mission Volunteer for Maua Methodist Hospital! Here is a photo of Kathie and Sue from a trip we made together to Maua in 2012, in preparation for Sue's and my time there as Individual Volunteers!
This is a very big deal indeed! If there is one person in the US who has volunteered the time and energy to coordinate teams to MMH, and who has consistently showed a passion and understanding of the uniqueness of Maua Methodist Hospital and its ministries, it is Kathie Mann! To have her now posted as the Mission Volunteer (formerly known as Individual Volunteer) to the hospital is an amazing gift of God's grace.
Kathie will be leaving her employment at The Texas Annual Conference, where in her tenure she built up the most successful Partners in Mission program in the entire United Methodist Church!
She has also written and updated the most complete manual of leading and participating in mission trips that we have ever seen, and almost all who are reading this have benefited from her skill and knowledge of Kenya and East Africa.
And did we mention she has an amazing passion for MMH!?
Stop and think how many times over the years Kathie has helped...
Charles, our AIDS Orphan Homes foreman, get the people and the funds needed to build homes for hundreds of children and their elderly guardians.
Or helped organize....
Tens of thousands of school children for the hospital's deworming program!
Or worked with...
Stanley Gitari and me (and all former CEO's) to keep the work teams and resources coming that make MMH so special!
Whatever the future holds for children such as these....
...Kathie and you will be a part of it!
YOU CAN HELP SMOOTH THE ROAD FOR KATHIE!
So many of you have been generous with your support for Sue and me while we served in Maua for three years. Truth is, we could not have done it without you!
Kathie needs that same backing. You can help support her work and that of the hospital by continuing to donate through the Advance Special, at www.umcmission.org, using the advance number #982465. You will find her name on the list of Mission Volunteers.
We can tell you from first-hand experience that it makes a difference!
Kathie is making preparations to be in Maua in October, to make sure all is safe, secure and in readiness for teams to come and do the good work God has called us all to in that far off corner of the world! She will also be with us in Ft. Worth for the Friends of Maua Gathering in November! She will be able to give us the most up to date information about security and the current situation at the hospital!
SPEAKING OF WHICH!
FRIENDS OF MAUA GATHERING!
Remember to make your plans for the Friends of Maua Gathering in Ft. Worth, November 12, 13 and 14.
We will meet at Arborlawn UMC
And a special rate of $99/night plus tax has been arranged (Thank you Central Texas Annual Conference, our hosts!) at:
The Hyatt City View Hotel...
Hyatt Place Fort Worth/Cityview
5900 Cityview Boulevard
Fort Worth, Texas, USA, 76132
Tel: +1 817 361 9797
Fax: +1 817 361 9444
The agenda seems to grow daily, but we will be talking about fundraising methods for your teams for their VIM trips; the Friends of Maua 501(C)3; setting priorities for hospital projects; medical professional opportunities and needs at MMH; and a host of other matters!
We hope to have with us:
- Bishop Joseph and Pauline Ntombura, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church in Kenya;
- Stanley and Mary Gitari
- Rev Grace, Senior Chaplain at MMH, and training in Memphis, TN (information with be forth-coming on how to help her with her living expenses)
- Kathie Mann, Mission Volunteer GBGM, MMH
- Bill and Jerri Savuto, former GBGM missionaries at MMH
- Hopefully other staff from MMH!
- Oh...and us, too...
IF YOU WOULD LIKE ONE OF OUR KENYAN PARTNERS, OR KATHIE, OR SUE AND ME TO SPEAK TO A GROUP OR CHURCH AROUND THOSE DATES, LET ME KNOW!
Also, we will need some financial support to even make their trips possible! Let us know if you can be a part of that as well!
It will be a time of fellowship, education, singing, and working together to make the lives of people in Maua just that much better in the name of Christ!
We will talk about how to help older women like her have a more secure future;
She had eyeglasses so out of date that she could only react to noise when our van passed her on a dirt road one day. Haunts me still.....
We will find ways to share the load....
...and make the road of life smoother for all....
...not that there are any rough roads in Kenya....
Blessings to you all, and we hope to see you in November!
Jim Monroe and Sue Owen
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