We pray, we give, and we send folks, but have you ever wanted a real taste of what our Missions Team experienced in Mozambique?  Now is your chance!

Coming Friday, October 22nd at 6pm, YOU can come and share a typical Mozambique dinner and a presentation by the mission team that traveled to Mozambique, Africa this past summer.   Come make ministry a part of you.   You’ll be glad you did.

This past weekend, the misssion team representing Salem UMC met to review their plans for the upcoming trip to Mozambique, Africa.  The team will leave on Thursday July 29th at 7:00 A.M. from the church, and will return on Wednesday August 11th at around 10:00 P.M.

Their plans include visiting the original Methodist mission station in Mozambique, the Methodist hospital in rural Mozambique, a childrens orphanage, two Methodist seminaries, and most importantly our sister church, Dondo UMC.  We will worship with our brothers and sisters in Christ in the new chapel on the last Sunday that we are there (the 8th).

HERE’S WHERE YOU CAN HELP: The team asks for your prayers for safe travel and blessings for all. YOU can be in mission with them!  Thanks in advance!

Coming up on Sunday June 27th, the Shakespeare’s Pizza truck will be at Salem UMC! YUMMY!

Sales of the pizza benefit the July Mozambique trip.  It will be outside the West entrance from 11:30 to 1pm.  If alternate pickup is needed, please contact Lisa Jordison at 453-0140.

By The Rev. Kathy Noble*
9:30 P.M. EST April 25, 2010 | AUSTIN, Texas (UMNS)

To Wilson Pruitt, there’s no need to debate whether efforts should be made to stop suffering from malaria in Africa. “It’s a simple issue,” he says, “There’s no conflict. There is no one who is for malaria.”

Pruitt, a member of First United Methodist Church in Austin, was among nearly 2,000 people gathered on the lawn of the Texas State Capitol on April 25, World Malaria Day, for the official launch of Imagine No Malaria. The initiative is The United Methodist Church’s campaign to raise $75 million toward the elimination of deaths and suffering from malaria in Africa by 2015.

Grammy and Dove Award-winning Christian rock band Jars of Clay headlined the event that brought Austin area bands, singers and drummers together with United Methodist leaders and representatives of the United Nations Foundation and other partners to spread a common message: Malaria is preventable; malaria is treatable. One out of five children in Africa under 5 does not need to die of the disease. The gifts of United Methodists that have provided insecticide-treated bed nets and education are already making a difference.

“What I’ve learned about malaria today is that it is a very treatable disease,” Dan Haseltine, lead vocalist of Jars of Clay, said. “What makes it such an injustice is that over 1 million children die every year of malaria.”

“It blows my mind there are people dying of this disease,” Stephen Mason, Jars guitarist, said. “We can do something to stop it. That’s not true of a lot of diseases today.”

Family and friends of Salem UMC raised $2,428.23 towards the completion of the chapel at Dondo United Methodist Church in Mozambique and met the immediate goal of $1,400 to complete the roof for the building.

According to Pastor Octavio Simoes Jone, approximately $5,400 is still needed to finish the chapel. Materials and labor for doors, window, floors, and painting are items that will remain following the completion of the roof.

During Annual Conference this June there will be an emphasis and therefore an offering to be taken to complete all church building projects in Mozambique (some of them have been in process for several years). Those of us representing Salem UMC at Annual Conference will be privileged to “bring forward” our offering for Dondo.

Dondo UMC under construction

If you have not had a chance, or if you would like to make another contribution to provide our partner church in Dondo with a chapel, please include your gift in the offering plate over the next three Sundays or send it in to the church office. Just mark it Dondo UMC Chapel, and we will make sure that it gets included with what we already have.

Thank you and God bless,  Ken McGrail

As we prepare for Lent, Pastor Doug has thrown down the gauntlet of the Lent Simplicity Challenge!

We know (or should know) that Lent is the time of preparing our spirits for the commemoration (and celebration) of Easter.  Lots of people “give something up for Lent.”  For many of us, this usually works about like our New Year’s resolutions.  That’s why the Challenge. Let’s make this more meaningful!

So, (uh oh, here it comes) pray about something that you have or do regularly that you’d be willing to set-aside for the next 40-days (until Easter).  The Challenge is NOT to do this just for the sake of doing it. There is a purpose.  Whatever it is you sacrifice, you are challenged to pledge that to our sister congregation in Dondo, Mozambique.

For example, say you sacrifice a soda each day (about a buck).  After 40-days, can you imagine what that would mean to our Dondo borthers and sisters?!  Can you imagine what a whole congregation doing this could mean??!!!  WOW!

Pray, make a choice, tell a friend, and pray some more!  YOU HAVE BEEN CHALLENGED!