Jogging With Jesse
God has totally blessed New Hope UMC with good folks like you - and you - and you. We had a great year 2011 in the New Hope UMC. We began in January preparing to expand our Fellowship Hall. Thanks to Doug Morgan and his crew the expansion was completed in July. Thanks to your good giving the expansion was paid for upon completion. Several members painted and did other things that made the building attractive.
Our great choir has faithfully presented beautiful music Sunday after Sunday plus beautiful cantatas. Our Worship Team. Mission Team, Council on Ministries, Children's Ministry, Youth Ministry, Trustees, United Methodist Women and United Methodist Men has done so much to make 2011 a good year. Thank you and you for your faithful attendance and your good giving. Put it all together, you and you and you have made New Hope United Methodist Church a good church. We have received 31 new members. 15 of these have been on Profession of Faith. 4 babies were baptized.
THANK YOU - THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO AND FOR MAKING NEW HOPE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH A GOOD CHURCH.
Looking forward with great expectation and anticipation to the year 2012 at New Hope UMC.
This is a beautiful story I want to share with you:
"She was 92 years old, well poised and proud. She is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably coifed, and her makeup perfectly applied, in spite of the fact she is legally blind.
Today she has moved to a nursing home. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making this move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, where I am employed, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her room, including the eyelet curtains that had been hung on her window. "I love it" she stated witht the enthusiam of an eight-year-old having been presented with a new puppy. "Mrs. Jones, you haven't seen the room ... just wait," I said. Then she spoke these words that I will never forget.
"That does not have anything to do with it," she gently replied. "happiness is something you decide ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not does not depend on how the furniture is arranged. It is how I arrange my mind. I can spend the day in bed counting the difficulty I have with parts of my body that no longer work, or I can get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do work. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I will focus on the new day and all the memories I have stored away .. just for this time in my life. Life is like a bank account. You withdraw from it what you have already put in."
Let us decide "ahead of time" that the year 2012 will be the best year. Let us now "arrange our minds to love it." There are going to be some exciting and good days in your personal life and in the life of our church, New Hope United Methodist Church, in the year 2012. Thank you God for the privilege of serving you, your church and your people in 2012.
God bleesyou and yours,
elaine & jesse
