LWML

	Bethlehem Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod 1423 Eighth Avenue North, Jacksonville Beach, Florida 32250, 904-249-5418

LWML Meetings

LWML meeting the first Wednesday of every month at 7:00 pm.

We informally meet each Wednesday evening during the Wednesday night dinners from 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm. All women are welcome to join us.

MITES

Please remember our MITES. The contributions have been considerably less than usual. The money goes to help fund over 30 missions worldwide. Please place your loose change (or bills) in the MITE box in Disciples Hall.

Congratulations to Toni Skorusa on her election as First Coast Zone President.

LWML – THE MIGHTY MITES

Toni Skorusa, Carol Pietrasiuk, Lois Marquardt, Rita Wells and Shea Skorusa recently attended the LWML FL-GA District Convention held in West Palm Beach. This event is when two delegates from each church in the district have the privilege of voting for missions to receive grants derived from the mites gathered from their congregations. 60% of mites collected are available to the District to award in grants and scholarships.

This year the amount available was $80,200 in mission grants and $30,000 to go for scholarships. The following were the grants awarded:

Trinity/HOPE – Feeding Haitian Children - $4,750 – Feeding students in one specific Lutheran School in Haiti. The average child in Haiti has six or seven meals a week. This will provide a noon meal for 125 children (an average school)

Concordia Theology Seminary Food Co-Op - $10,000 – The food purchased with this money goes directly to the students to help offset their financial burden.

Lutheran Blind Mission Outreach Center - $5,000 – To help fund the opening of a new outreach center in Pensacola, FL and to provide training for the new outreach center director.

Pregnancy Resource Center/Warner Robins, GA - $10,000 – The state of GA has one of the ten highest abortion rates in the U.S. These funds will help secure rented office space, hire a Director and begin to offer pregnancy-related services to at-risk women and families of Houston County, so that they can build bridges to the community in order to bring the community to the church.

Eyeglass Missions in Nicaragua - $15,000 – To assist First Lutheran Church, Gainesville, FL in their ongoing mission by helping to purchase and distribute eyeglasses, supplies, equipment and Christian material to the needy in Nicaragua.

University Lutheran Peer Ministry - $8,000 – To support the "Peer Ministry Project" so that the faith and witness of specially committed students might enhance this ministry where students are involved in ministry among their peers.

Hispanic "The Street Kids" Outreach Ministry, Naples, FL - $15,000 – To meet the need of a bus/van to transport the neediest of people to Worship Service, Fellow-ship and Lutheran Doctrine Classes and to purchase Bibles and Luther’s Small Catechism printed in Spanish.

Moving Hurricane-Affected Black Missions Forward - $6,000 – This project will help fund an assessment team to determine which congregations might not be able to rebuild and where new congregations might be planted. It will also fund crisis counseling training for pastors.

China Lutheran Seminary Building Project – Taiwan - $2,210 – China Lutheran Seminary currently enrolls approximately 400 Taiwanese students with a five-year projection of increasing that enrollment to over 800 students.

Christ Lutheran Mission Church, Kathleen/Perry, GA - $2,210 – A mission outreach meeting for informal worship on a weekly basis at a funeral home in Perry, GA. To help rent adequate space for worship to bring the word and teachings of Jesus through outreach and a vision of a feeding the hungry program, along with community activities for families and Vacation Bible School for children.

Hmong Mission of Central Florida - $2,210 – To assist with financial needs for the Hmong Ministry enabling Pastor Yang to lead the growing mission effort.

You can see how just the change from our pockets counts up when pooled together. Our congregation contributed $787.50 in mites over the past two years. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who bring in your mite boxes and we urge you to continue this practice. We also invite you to walk over and empty your pocket change in the mite containers located in the Narthex and Disciple’s Hall any time you are there. Just think how much that would produce if each of us did just that!

What Does Bethlehem's Women's League Do?

Over the past two years we have had several fund raisers. We have had two rummage sales where we've made over $1,200 altogether. WE also had two Pecan sales that netted over $700. In addition, we sold Christmas ornaments and items form our Christmas store and made over $500. Currently, we are selling Bethlehem cookbooks and have already made over $200.00.

With the money we have raised, we have been able to support many missions such as James Russell Fund, Guardian Lutheran School, Children's Home Society, Heifer International, Bethesda Lutheran Homes, Bethlehem Quilters, Bright Kids, Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Project S.O.S., Gifts of the Heart, Lutheran Haven Foundation, Bethlehem Luther Youth, Gideons International, and Community Connection in Jacksonville. Since Bethlehem has the funds, we have sponsored our Young Woman's Representative to attend the convention which is usually paid for by the District which did not have the funds the last two times. We also paid for our delegates' registration for convention.

Our service does not stop with just sending money to missions. We support Pablo Towers each year by hosting a Christmas party for them. We provide food, entertainment (main attraction being the Bethlehem Pre-schoolers), and gifts. We send nice used clothing to the seminary wives. We also collect Campbell's Soup labels to support Alimacani Elementary School.

Our meetings are held on the 3rd Sunday of every month following the 11:00 service. All women of the church are invited to participate.

Campbell's Soup Labels

LWML is collecting Campbell's Soup labels for Alimacani Elementary School to help fund their art program. Please save your Campbell's Soup labels and place them in the soup box in Disciples' Hall on the LWML table. Theresa Cripe is overseeing this mission.

Mission Projects

Bethlehem has a commitment to serve a meal to the homeless at the Mission House on Shetter Avenue the third Friday of each month. We need volunteers to assist in this very worthwhile cause. There is a sign-up sheet posted on the bulletin board in the Narthex. It only requires approximately one hour of your time once a month. If you feel you can serve in this capacity, please take a moment to volunteer by signing up for one of the upcoming months.

Volunteers are desperately needed to join and/or lead a team. If we have twelve teams, your commitment will be one Friday each year.

What is LWML?

It is an organized assembly of Lutheran women who come together to spread the gospel and to provide service to others.

LWML consists of four different levels:

1) Church Unit - each Lutheran church has its own unit of women who hold meetings, elect officers, raise money, and perform mission service. A church may have one or several sub-units depending on how many women participate. At Bethlehem we have only one unit.

2) Zone - Each state is divided into many zones. We belong to the First Coast Zone which includes units from Celebration, Grace, Guardian, Holy Cross, St. Peters, St. Pauls, Our Redeemer, Holy Trinity and Shepherd of the Coast. Each zone has a rally twice a year and a retreat once a year. This provides an opportunity for the women of all Lutheran churches in Jacksonville to come together. Each zone has elected officers.

3) District - Districts are generally state wide. WE belong to the Florida/Georgia District. Each district has a convention every two years and a retreat every two years, in alternating years. They are held in a different zone each time. Each district has its own elected offiers.

4) National - Every two years all the districts come together for a national convention. Officers are elected and new mission projects are determined.

What are Mites?

Each church unit collects change (mites) which may also be in the form of paper money or checks. Each month it is counted and submitted to the district Mites chairman who distributes it to the various missions which have been selected at the conventions. Generally, there are 12-15 mission projects being funded at the district level for anywhere from $1,000 to $15,000 per mission. The Florida/Georgia district usually allocates about 1 million dollars over two years.

Of the total mites that are collected at the district level, 25% of that money is submitted to the national LWML mites missions. At the national level there are generally 15-20 different missions that are funded. The average total amount of national mites is about 1.5 million dollars over two years. A list of the missions being funded for each district, as well as nationally, can be found in the Evangel and LWML Quarterly. (Click below to go to Quarterly)