United Methodist Annual Conference #3

El Paso has a special place in my heart as it is the home of my daughter and her family. Annual conference delegates heard a report from the Lydia Patterson Institute which provides a high school education near the border for needy students. Of the 72 graduating seniors this spring, 70 are going on to college. The following information is from a CNN report on Lydia Patterson Insititue May 20, 2009

Since Mexican border towns became battlefields in the drug war, American towns like El Paso have become refuges for middle- and upper-class Mexicans.
For students at Lydia Patterson, who live in Juarez and cross the bridge each weekday, the small, United Methodist preparatory school has become a safe haven in the months since drug-related violence in Juarez has intensified.Our students are exceptional, and I always tell them I respect them and I admire their courage because they're living through this horrible time," says the school's president, Socorro Brito de Anda.

About 70 percent of the institute's 459 students live in Juarez. Some are American citizens with Mexican parents; others are Mexican citizens who carry a student visa to any one of three U.S.-Mexico border checkpoints in El Paso that serve tens of thousands of students, white-collar workers and day laborers each day.

Annual Methodist Conference #2: Mozambique

I hear little about Africa and it's problems here in the middle of the U.S., but I am aware that the problems are overwhelming. Carol Kreamer, Mozambique Initiative Coordinator, reported that more than 700 United Methodist congregations, groups, and individuals in Missouri have covenant partnerships
in this country. Despite barriers of geography, language, culture and economics, good things happen. Not only are churches and individuals supported in the faith, but humanitarian projects such as safe water, malaria prevention and leadership development improve daily living.

One pastor shared this meaningful benediction: "Grace is a gift from God to me on its way to someone else."

Missouri United Methodist Annual Conference

According to Bishop Robert Schase, the extraordinary generosity of the Missouri annual conference in 2009 is humbling; Missouri is one of three or four conferences in the entire USA that can say that 86.3 % of congregations gave money for all their church apportionments. Church apportionments cover maintenance and running of camps, retirement and health care for pastors, missions, and partnerships with numerous organizations. To name a few: "Nothing but Nets" for the prevention of malaria, colleges and universities, educational events for young people, the Mozambique initiative to improve the quality of life in that country.

Attendance in the conference increased by 500 in 2008 and local church budgets have increased 10.6%.

In spite of the emphasis on numbers, delegates to the conference were encouraged to return to their local churches with the message . . ."It is not about taking care of me, it is about taking care of others."