Dear
Parents and Leaders,
One day
we hope to meet each one of you. Thank you for your love and support of these
superior missionaries. They are remarkably resilient and patient as we navigate
the ever changing world of serving during this pandemic.
As local
circumstances change, we continue to follow the brethren and the local and
state government leaders to keep your missionaries as safe as possible and to
help them keep our older and at-risk population safe. The possibility of a
vaccine is now a reality and we look forward to the changes that will allow us
to move more freely in public— hopefully without masks! For now, however, the
Covid numbers are climbing and similar to your states, we will need to pull
back from gathering in large numbers. We will replace some
in-person meetings with virtual meetings as the government mandated
guidelines continue to change requiring us to do so. Our mission covers five
states, and we directly monitor the guidelines for each state and county. Yes,
and counties. It can be quite a challenge at times!
We went
from 170 missionaries in March 2020 to 248 missionaries now serving in the
WVCM! Our missionaries now speak 15 languages and have assignments in over 25
countries. Great news... We just received our first set of Senior missionaries
as our Office Secretary and our Financial Secretary- Elder and Sister Metge.
They served here in the mission just a short time when the pandemic hit. They had
to turn around and return home. We are so grateful they were just approved to
return to the mission field!
We have
seen many miracles which testify that God is in Control. He created the
technology that would move His work forward. This pandemic wasn’t a surprise to
Him. One companionship asked one thousand people to be their friend on
Facebook. One person finally accepted the invitation to be taught the restored
gospel. Think of how long it would have taken those missionaries to knock on a
thousand doors. They were able to find someone in the comfort of their
apartment without any restrictions on mileage, locked communities or bad
weather. What a blessing to witness this!
Also, we
are serving in the community through local projects that are identified and
then approved through the JustServe program of the church. In every corner of
this large mission, we are serving our fellow citizens. As missionaries
serve in the community, they ultimately create goodwill, make friendships,
build understanding and they even find people to teach, although that is not
what they are instructed to do. They are asked to “Just Serve!”
The
holidays will be an opportunity for these great missionaries to truly focus on
the Savior— His life, His purpose and the blessings we have because of Him. We
have reached out to the Stake Presidents throughout the mission, asking them to
communicate to each ward and branch to make sure that the members remember to
include the missionaries in their holiday meals. Missionaries cannot eat in
members’ homes, but they can receive a meal from them. Sister Newman and I plan
a few special treats in an effort to show our appreciation and lift their
spirits and you may help. We are planning to deliver a treat bag to each
missionary the two days prior to Christmas. We would like to include items such
as toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, chapstick, mini hand sanitizer,
etc.. We will provide the candy, thus the tooth brushes. :-) We prefer not to
use tithing funds to supply these treats for 250 missionaries, so if you would
like to send us some of these items as stocking stuffers, please let the office secretary,
Sister Metge know by Friday, Nov. 20th. by sending her an email:
2011778@churchofjesuschrist.org.
We need
to RECEIVE the items by Friday, December 4th.
Items can
be sent to the mission office at:
839
Chestnut St. South Charleston, WV 25309
We have
seen spiritual and mental growth over these past eight months. We have seen
some of the highest numbers of people being taught and baptized. RECORD
NUMBERS! The work continues to move forward at an accelerated rate. We just had
a virtual Mission Tour with Elder W. Mark Bassett of the Seventy. He reminded
the missionaries that they were foreordained to serve at this time under these
circumstances. The Lord has great trust for these valiant sons and daughters.
We wish
you and your families all the best the Lord has in store for you. Have a Happy
and Blessed Thanksgiving and a Sacred Christmas. We pray that 2021 will be
another year of miracles and that the COVID-19 virus will be eradicated!
All Our
Love,
President
and Sister Newman
