mountainside

The Mission committee has reserved the week of August 1-7 too send youth and the week of August 29 – September 4 to send a group of 10 adults to McCurdy Ministries in Espanola, NM, which is an outreach of the United Methodist Church.  We will eat and sleep at facilities at McCurdy, and work on construction projects, maintenance, painting, and cleaning jobs. Our mission budget has funds to help cover room and board and supplies for our projects.  Please pray for McCurdy ministries who have been sharing the news of Jesus Christ and helping others in the Espanola valley for over 108 years!  If you feel called to serve, please pick up information in the Welcome Center or contact Anne Merkley   annemerk@yahoo.com   505-401-5345

P.J. DePalma is stepping back from HopeWorks on the food serving side for now to work on a degree in Counseling.  He might even become involved in the counseling program at HopeWorks!  We wish him well.  We now are looking for someone to fill his shoes as our volunteer coordinator for 4 meals a year; organizing the meal prep from 2-4 pm, then serving the meal from 4-6 pm with other volunteers. Mountainside UMC has been involved in this ministry for over 20 years!

If you are interested or have questions, please contact Mission Leader Anne Merkley 505-401-5345 or annemerk@yahoo.com

Rob reports: Things are going well here in Guthrie, Oklahoma, USA.  Sons, Mike and Jeff, were recently here for a week.  We worked on estate planning, spent time with their Oklahoma aunts, uncles, cousins, and their children, sampled various Guthrie eateries,  and did a little home improvement by grass-seeding my back yard.  We’ve had some rain, so the grass should be sprouting soon.  Mike and I spent time in the Oklahoma Sports Museum, here in Guthrie.  Lots of pictures and memorabilia, for heroes such as Mickey Mantle, Warren Spahn, and Johnny Bench, to mention baseball players. Next big event for me, if all goes as planned, is a Rail Trip in July.  Taking a train from Chicago to National Parks in the West — Glacier Park, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Arches, Canyonlands, a few other stops, and I will finish in Denver, where Jeff and family live.

Border Ministries: Two United Methodist Churches, El Calvario in Las Cruces, NM and St. Paul’s in El Paso, Texas have received donation requests from the immigrant shelters they support in Juarez, Mexico. These shelters are serving 100 legal immigrants a day with food, clothing, and shelter. The immigrants have already been processed by ICE and have received a court date somewhere in the US with a sponsoring family where they need to be transported to. At the shelters, the immigrants are separated in sections by men, women, and families. According to their April 2021 update, the shelters need diapers, baby bottles, masks, Clorox, disinfectant sprays, toilet paper, trash bags, toothpaste and brushes, powdered milk, rice, and beans. There will be a labeled bin in the church Welcome Center to collect these items during the month of May, then delivered the beginning of June.  Monetary donations are also welcome by check made out to MUMC or through the donate button on the MUMC website: www.mountainsidemethodist.org  Thank you and please label with Border Ministries.

Maintenance Support Ministry  Can you fix a leaky sink or a broken garbage disposal? Are you handy with small maintenance projects around your home would like to share your talents to serve others?  Well, a list of handy volunteers with varying repair skills is being put together in order to perform these chores for people in our congregation and others in the East Mountains. If you feel called to serve in this new ministry, then please call Bob Moyer at 214-597-7068