Casa II, Thank you

A Street in Copan, Honduras

I am continuously amazed and humbled by the great love and generosity of the people of this community. On January 30th, I posted Casa here on What’s the Good Word, briefly explaining the conditions of a lady I met in Honduras. The response was immediate. People who have never met Reyna and Pablo opened their hearts and wallets to provide a new house for them. Thank you! I do not know everyone who gave, and would not make those donations public without permission anyway, but I can tell you the following.

Stratford Community of Christ recognized the need and raised $704.52 last Sunday morning. (And this was in addition to their regular offering!) Thank you, that is impressive.

North Bay Community of Christ responded by giving $500.00 from their congregational funds, and then individual members went beyond that and personally added to this total. I am blown away.

In addition, several individuals have told me personally that they read and enjoyed the blog, and would be sending a donation to World Accord to help with this project. If you are one of those who gave, thank you so much! I am touched and deeply grateful.

If you have thought you would like to help but have not yet done so, there is still time, and there is always a need. Donations can be sent to:

World Accord
1C-185 Frobisher Dr.
Waterloo, Ontario
Canada N2V 2E6.

Another team leaves for Honduras on a World Accord build on Saturday. This is a large team of 18 people. Their task is to complete the school addition the January team began. Because there are so many, however, I understand that some of them may get to work on preparing the site for Reyna's new home. I know she will be amazed and moved by their generosity. They will have friends in Honduras who will remember them for life.

Of the eight people that made up the team that went to Honduras to help build a school in January, seven were from Western Canada. They have also been active since returning home. Because some of you have indicated you would like to read more in What’s the Good Word about Honduras, I will have more to say about that next week.

In the meantime, all I can say is thank you. Your generosity reminds me of the speech by King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon: “When you are in the service of your fellow beings you are only in the service of your God.” (Mosiah 1:49)

Posted by Carman

PAT - A Testimony

Last year the world church encouraged each member to try to increase their generous response by $10.00 a week; the cost of a movie or a couple of fast food meals. We were reminded that the increased giving would have the power to really change lives. While $40.00 a month does not seem like a great deal, when you are trying to live on a small pension and already coping with increased living expenses it seemed an impossibility for me.

I was well aware that the majority of our small Wiarton congregation were trying to live on small pensions also. The Wiarton branch has always given generously in the past and I knew they would desire to meet this new challenge; but I wondered “HOW” we could possibly do so.

After prayer, and considerable contemplation of my already tight budget, I decided the answer, for me at least, was preauthorized monthly giving (PAT). I was aware that despite faithful attendance and giving in the past, I was not always faithful in putting in my local offering when I was absent due to illness or attendance at another branch or mission event. (Thankfully however, many in this congregation were already doing so.) Also, I acknowledged that sometimes the current sum in my wallet on Sunday morning had some relationship to my giving. I knew too that I did not always give equally to the world church and the local congregation.

When I estimated the difference a small increase and consistency through PAT could make, I shared my “awakening” with the priesthood, Sunday school and 11:00 a.m worshipers. I do not know how many used my particular method to increase their contribution, but I was thrilled to report to the congregation in January that Wiarton had increased their giving by not 8 or 10%, but by 12.5%, AND it was almost equally distributed between local and world church initiatives.

I just wanted to pass this on. Little changes and “consistency” can make all the difference! It’s a brand new year, give it a try.

- Dorothy Burdette, Co-pastor Wiarton Congregation

Editor's Note: The PAT form can be found on the CEM website or by clicking here.