A
newsletter presented by the:
Provincial Women's Board
A letter from our President:
Dear Sisters,
I will be completing my service to the Provincial Women’s Board
in a couple of weeks. It has been a joy to serve on this board for the past 8
years. I have had the pleasure of serving with other women on the board who are
dedicated to the work this board does for the Southern Province. I will
certainly miss serving on the board and the members I have come to know so
well.
The greatest enjoyment has been meeting many women from other
churches that I normally would not meet. The women of the Southern Province are
awesome. I am constantly amazed at how well the Women’s Fellowships function in
the communities they serve, as well as in the community we share as Moravians.
I look forward to the continuing work of the board and the opportunities to see
many of you again.
The board and I thank you all for your support of the Provincial
Women’s Board.
We could not do anything without you all.
Blessings to you all,
Pam Prevatte
MEET OUR MEMBERS
We continue to share two bio in each newsletter of our
members. This issue we have Judy Albert
of Mizpah in Rural Hall and Tina Cockerham of Grace in Mt. Airy.
Judy Pfaff Albert
When you’re of a certain age, there’s much that can be said
about one’s life and probably lots that doesn’t need to be. So, let me
start with the important stuff:
I’ve been blessed to work with the Provincial Women’s
Board. I believe we have an important role to play in the life of the
Moravian Church and in the lives of Moravian women and the fellowships where
they work as the hands and feet of Jesus. And on a personal level, I’ve
made many lifelong friendships that I’m very thankful for.
Staying with the personal level, I am married 54 years to Eddie
who claims I dragged him down the aisle, when it was him who begged me.
I’m a shamelessly proud mom of two adult children, Zack (Becca) and Brooke
(Andrew) and an equally proud grandmother to three girls (Caroline, Anna and
Phoebe).
College was a given at my house, so I headed off not knowing
what I would do. But it was the 60s, and I wanted to change the world and
so, I majored in Religion and Philosophy. After college and a few odd
jobs, I quit to stay home with babies and when it was time to get a real job
(Eddie’s words), I ended up in Government Relations at Reynolds American.
Now, you can’t tell me that God doesn’t have a sense of humor because He saw
fit to put me there when I was the most politically indifferent person I
knew. But it grew on me, and I retired from the Legislative Policy and
Advocacy group in 2009.
Retirement has afforded me the opportunity to get more involved
with my home church of Mizpah, and while I’m doing lots of different stuff
there, one of my favorites is teaching Sunday School to adults, which was
intimidating to begin with but they are loving and supportive. But my
heart is teaching children, which is intimidating on a whole different level.
I’ll leave you with one of my favorite scriptures, which I dare
say doesn’t come to mind first to most people. But it’s so descriptive of
what a blessing it is to be a part of our Unity:
1 How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down on the collar of his robe.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.
Psalm 133
Tina Cockerham
I am Tina Cockerham from Mount Airy,
NC. I grew up in Level Cross, NC. I graduated from Surry Central High
School in 1974, Catawba College in 1978, and Gardner Webb College with Masters
in 1986. I married John Cockerham in 1981. We have been married for
Forty-three years. I have two grown children, Amelia, 39 years old and
John Morgan 33 years old. Amelia is married to Joe White with my only
granddaughter, five year old, Camille. They live in Greenville, NC.
John Morgan lives in Chapel Hill, NC. I grew up in a Methodist Church,
but our family joined Grace Moravian Church, Mount Airy, NC in 1996. I
taught First Grade in Mount Airy City Schools for thirty years (retired 2008),
then I taught in Carroll County VA for eight years (retired 2016). Since
retirement, I enjoy reading, gardening, scrapbooking, walking my Goldendoodle,
Maggie, enjoying my friends, and traveling with my husband. I filled a vacant
position on the PWB in 2022, after attending a Spiritual Life Retreat. I
have met wonderful women while being on the board the last couple of
years. I hope to have many more years to enjoy life!!!
News from YOU!
Konnoak
Hills
There's
a lot going on at Konnoak Hills Moravian Church these days.
We continue to collect food on Sunday mornings from 11:30 to
12:30 for Sunnyside Ministry. The support of our congregation AND our neighbors
remains strong.
Monthly we gather on an evening for "Tuesday at
Table". We share a meal and work on a project for our community.
On Thursday mornings we meet for an online prayer Zoom. Later
Thursday mornings we meet at the church for chair yoga. All are invited to
participate in either or both of these activities.
Members of our congregation will be commissioned on June 9th
before going to Washington for the Bread for the World Advocacy Summit.
Prayers appreciated!
Mark your calendars please....
On Sunday evening, July 28th we will host one of six concerts in
the Sounds of the Season summer organ concert series. All are invited! Submitted
by Martha Johnson
Friedland
The
Women's fellowship has had a busy and fulfilling Spring. We have
continued with our fundraising to refurbish the Fellowship Hall with new
lights and flooring and have met our goal.
For our Mission outreach we have had two significant
events. First, the three Circles assembled and donated 101 homeless kits for
the Sunnyside Blessing Box that Hilda Cieza-Regalado made for her Girl Scout
Gold Award project.
On Saturday, April 29, 2023, we had a Saturday Morning Women's
Retreat at church from 9AM until noon. It included breakfast prepared by
several of our women with service and cleanup by 7 of our men. Tickets were
$10. There were 60 in attendance. The speaker for the event was Julie
Tomberlin, Director of the Women's Unity Desk and author of our current Mission
study book. We presented Julie with a donation for The Unity Women's
Desk. To conclude the morning the attendees were invited to participate
in making cards and pockets ( for using as gift containers) for the SECU
house residents to use.
Submitted by Sarah Brent
Christ Moravian Women
Our April General Meeting began our
second quarter of our calendar year.
It seems as if this quarter does
not have as many demands as first quarter, however, you will find a group of
our ladies making chicken pies twice in the month of May.
Our bulletin board in our church
building has been updated and will continue to have rotating news. Very
attractive.
We are a very benevolent
organization striving to help some who are less fortunate.
Thank you to Donna Tesh, whom we
lost to death, we have a Sharing Box in our parking lot. Items of food and some
clothing are placed there for those needs. Also some of the neighbors
contribute as well. This has become a community effort. Not only do we
contribute weekly to the sharing box. We contribute to many other causes:
Sunnyside, City of Dwellings, mission fields, and many more especially Ray of
Hope. Michael Tesh grew up in Christ Church and together he and CiCi (his wife)
run this orphanage.
Once a quarter we purchase fast
food cards and bus tickets for those in need. It is our practice to give away
all of our proceeds.
We are working on our fall event
which is held the last Saturday in October. More to come on this.
Our goal is to never forget our
special friends throughout the whole year. The Easter card boxes made them very
excited. Prayer shawls are made by our ladies and given to our people as
needed.
Jo Brown, President
New Philadelphia
New Philadelphia’s Women’s Fellowship circles continue to meet
monthly. The WF led the church wide candle making and we made over 2,500
candles for the 2024 Christmas lovefeasts. Chicken pies were made and sold. We
have fed “His Path” ministry that uses NP space daily for their school. We have
also fed the youth in the past as well. Bereavement visitations are also
provided from our WF. We placed flowers on the graves at Easter.
Our “sewing ministry” has started back. Ladies are making and
decorating “pillow case” dresses for little girls in foreign countries. We are
also sending t-shirts for little boys so they won’t feel left out.
We may not meet much in the summer, but we will be ready to
serve when called. Our ladies are awesome and are very giving of their time and
talent.
Jane Shore
ARDMORE MORAVIAN CHURCH
Women’s Fellowship at Ardmore
Moravian Church has continued to emphasize Bible study, fellowship, and the
following projects by individual circles:
Member
Outreach: Cards and phone calls to church members including homebound members
and college students. Visits and gifts to church members.
Financial
Support Locally: Sunnyside Ministry, Rescue Mission, Salvation Army, City with
Dwellings, Friends of Moravian Prison Ministry, and Ardmore’s Blessing Box.
Additional
Gift Donations: Missionaries, World Vision, Compassionate Heart International,
St. Jude, Rise Academy, Christian School in Iraq, Mercy Ships.
The three Women’s Fellowship
Circles combined their efforts for the following projects: Day of Prayer: On
February 28, 2024, Women’s Fellowship sponsored Ardmore Moravian Church’s Day
of Prayer, attended by 71 persons to hear Rev. Kelly Moore, our guest speaker.
Decorating Graves in God’s Acre: On
Saturday, March 30, 2024, church members placed flowers on two assigned squares
in the men’s section and then placed flowers on six unassigned squares in the
women’s sections for a total of 258 vases.
Installation Luncheon for New Pastor:
On April 21, 2024, Women’s Fellowship coordinated a luncheon welcoming Rev. Joe
Moore and family as our pastoral family. Attendants included PEC
representatives, the pastor’s extended family and former church members.
Upcoming Events:
June 2, 2024: Recognition of June
school graduates
June 16, 2024: Father’s Day
Breakfast June 23, 2024: 100th Anniversary of Ardmore Moravian Church
Fairview
The Women of Fairview have had a
busy Spring and are looking forward to an equally busy Summer. We have enjoyed
the Lenten Season with its Days of Prayer, the fellowship while decorating the
older graves in God’s Acre, and making candles for our Christmas Eve Lovefeast.
We had a successful Shredding Event in April.
Our project for April was
collecting items for The Elizabeth and Tab Williams Adult Day Center of Senior
Services. In May, we collected food for Sunnyside Ministry.
We are grateful for our
congregation’s support of our projects. We couldn’t do everything that we do
without them.
Our June project is a bigger
version of our monthly Food Drive for the Food Pantry at Bethabara Moravian. We
are calling it the Stuff the Bus Food Drive. It will be on June 8th from 10:00
am until 1:00 pm. We have invited the area churches to join us in this outreach
mission. Our band will play at some time during it. We are reaching out to the
Media and hope for coverage.
On June 1st, we will
have a Congregational Birthday Party. They have always been a fun evening that
we haven’t had since before the Pandemic. Our members that are 90+ years young
will be recognized.
Once again, we will participate in
Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Ministry. Our Kick-Off date
is Sunday, July 21st and our closing date is August 25th.
Wishing everyone a good summer, Melinda
Yarbrough
Please join
the Provincial Women’s Board in thanking the following members who will be
completing their time of service to the board:
Kaye
Brookshire, Ardmore
Diane
Clifton, Kernersville
Pam Prevatte,
New Hope-Newton
Vicki
Stanfield, Friedberg
Kay Vance, Unity
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SAVE
THE DATE:
Fall Celebration
Saturday September 28 at 9:00
(Coffee)
Pastor
Matthew Allen will be reviewing his Bible Study book:
The
Story of August 13 – A call to prayer for renewal
Olivet
Moravian Church
MORE
INFORMATION TO COME
Home Moravian Church
Home Moravian Church Women’s
Fellowship
Deepening relationships with God
and one another through Christian fellowship and service to all.
Women’s
Fellowship thanks our sister Jean Craddock and her team for their incredible
work on the2023 Candle Tea. After a successful Candle Tea in December, the
women of Home Church spent the early months of the New Year deciding where to
donate the proceeds of the Tea. The Candle Tea Committee invited the women of
the church and Tea volunteers to suggest agencies and projects in our
community, the province, and beyond to which we could make financial gifts. In
April, the women of the church voted on the proposed distributions and the
Candle Tea Committee disbursed funds to the following groups:
Board of
World Mission
HMC World
Mission Team
Jan
Blahoslav High School
Unity
Women’s Desk
Archives -
Southern Province
Commission
on Congregational
Development,
Southern Province
Laurel
Ridge
Salemtowne
Sunnyside
Ministry
Albania
Bathore Project
Estamos Unidos
Moravian Ministry
Friends of
Moravian Prison Ministry
HMC Youth
Ministry
Moravian
Music Foundation
Moravian
Theological Seminary
Salem
Academy
Salem
College
Wachovia
Gardens
A Bed and
A Book
Center for
Exceptional Children
City with
Dwellings
Crisis
Control Ministry
Crisis
Control Crop Walk 2024
Diggs-Latham
Elementary School
East
Stokes Outreach Ministry
Enrichment
Center
FC Family
Support Network
Flourish-
the Shalom Project
Forsyth
Jail and Prison Ministries
Forsyth
Humane Society
greenNest
iCan House
Mission:
Feet First
Old Salem
Museum & Gardens
On Wings
Like a Dove
Riverwood
Therapeutic Riding
Center
SECU
Family House
Second
Harvest Food Bank
Meals on
Wheels
Shepherd’s
Center W-S
Sunnyside
Freedom School
The
Dwelling
W-S Street
School
W-S Rescue
Mission
As we get
ready for summer holidays, Circle 7 has invited the church to join them in
donating new and gently used home goods to World Relief Triad for refugees
moving to our city; we are preparing to host the Church Women United 2024 Human
Rights Day Breakfast on August 24th with speaker Russ May; and planning our HMC
Women’s Retreat lead by Nola Knouse at Higgins Lodge, Laurel Ridge, September
20-22.
All Photo’s in this newsletter are from this year’s Spiritual Life Retreat in April. Thanks for all who sent photos.
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A facilitators work is never done...
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| God let us know that he was there with us, on the mountain. |
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