Think of Marvin's NOAH Ministry as a boat that keeps people afloat during crisis times. NOAH is “the calm in the storm.”

NOAH stands for Net-working, Organizing, Ad-vocating and Healing. The Missions Office works closely with PATH, St. Paul Children’s Foundation and other helping agencies in our community to find the best care for those in crisis situations. We receive a large number of referrals from social workers in our church and community.

Marvin members and oth-ers in our community have turned to this ministry in

times of need. All inquiries for assistance are treated confidentially.

In the first 6½ months of 2009, we were able to help 121 families in the amount of $12,032 for utilities, overnight lodging, medical expenses, funeral ex-penses, transportation, groceries, rent, gas, school uniforms and Tyler Transit tokens! This amount al-ready surpasses the total amount of assistance we

You are invited to partici-pate in Marvin Day at Be-thesda Health Clinic from 7:30 a.m. until noon on Saturday, Sept. 19. We need doctors, dentists, nurses and other volun-

teers to help run the medi-cal clinic that day.

If you are interested, con-tact Melissa Brigman (mbrigman-@marvinumc.com).

NOAH

Fall Marvin Day at Bethesda

HEARTS AND HANDS V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 6 A U G U S T 2 0 0 9

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Marvin youth and children at work

2

East Texas Rescue Mission

3

Help at St. Paul 3

Great photos! 4

Mission week overview

5

Care for our military

6

Help the Russia Hope Fund

6

F I N D O U T M O R E

• For more in-formation about any-thing you see in this news-letter, visit the Missions pages on Marvin’s web site (www.mumc family.org/ministry/missions).

A N E W S L E T T E R

A B O U T M I S S I O N S

A T M A R V I N

U N I T E D M E T H O D I S T

C H U R C H

were able to give in 2008—the needs are so great!

The Marvin budget has $1,500 set aside for the NOAH Fund, so the ma-jority of the funds come from second-mile gifts. Two or three communion offerings per year are des-ignated for the NOAH Fund. Many people like to give a donation directly to the NOAH Fund, or re-member loved ones through honorariums and memorials.

The NOAH Ministry is a wonderful way for our church to put Christ’s love “in action!”

Steve Spain, Cathy Hirt and Dierdre Leung at Bethesda

P A G E 2

PATH School Supply Train

Bring supplies to Marvin through August. We are collecting Fiskar’s blunt-tip scissors, pink beveled erasers, construction paper, highlighters and Crayola eight-pack bold color markers.

Meals on Wheels client and a Sizzlin’ Summer Missions student

Youth summer of missions

Mission possible: kids at work Our children have been busy with spring and summer projects. Here are highlights of projects completed by our 2-year-olds–fifth-graders. Thank you mission hearts!

• Lunch Buddy Program– $147.35 raised to pro-vide lunches for those in need

• During VBS, we col-lected 44 beach tow-els, 65 cans of sun-

screen, 58 cans of bug spray, 67 flashlights and $194.25 for the Salva-tion Army Kids Camp

• 1,450 pieces of Agape were signed and sealed for Mission Week workers

• 25 kids participated in Mission Week

• Sizzlin’ Summer Mis-sions packed 11 boxes for the Military Care Group, painted 14 trays for Meals on

Wheels, delivered 15 Meals on Wheels, worked at East Texas

Food Bank and baked and served cookies for the East Texas Rescue Mission.

build a home in New Orleans, but God had other plans. They took apart an already-built sub floor that was too close to the property line and cleaned up Camp Hope to prepare it for new home construction. They were featured in a New Orleans newspaper for all of their hard work.

The mid-high youth took over Mission Week by helping complete the 21 projects on this year’s list. Throughout Mission Week, the 26 young par-ticipants painted, raked, poured cement, built and helped transform two yards. The mid-high were

so dedicated they didn’t even go home at night to rest, but instead stayed at Marvin each night.

Thirty-seven high school youth took the last mis-sion trip of the summer July 19–25, back to New Orleans to volunteer for Mission Lab, aiding in the continued effort to re-build the city after the damage done by Katrina four years ago.

Thankfully, service won’t end with the summer. Starting this fall youth of all ages will serve Tyler the first Saturday of every month with a new ministry called Service Saturdays.

Each summer Marvin youth from middle school to college stu-dents spread God’s love and represent Marvin on three mission trips.

To start things off, 12 college students traveled to New Orleans and worked with Habitat for

Humanity May 25–30. The team intended to

College mission trip

to New Orleans

H E A R T S A N D H A N D S

Meals on Wheels volunteers

East Texas Rescue Mission P A G E 3 V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 6

During Mission Week, a wonderful group of women worked inside the mission to do some interior projects and major cooking for the men participating in the mis-sion! In addition, several folks helped put on a July 4

celebration at ETRM!

Did you know that every third Tuesday of the month is Marvin

night at the East Texas Res-cue Mission? This is a great mission project you can do with your family. We help with dinner and chapel on that night. To sign up, con-tact Shannon Pogue (spogue@marvinumc.com).

Another group of volunteers from Marvin has been assist-ing with prayer calls for ETRM. If you have some time and are willing to make some phone calls, contact Melissa Brigman (903.592.7396 or e-mail mbrigman-@marvinumc.com).

• Food pantry—Monday from 9 a.m.–noon; Mon-day, Wednesday or Fri-day from 2–5 p.m.

• Clothes closet—Monday from 9 a.m.–noon; Mon-day or Friday from 2–5 p.m.

Come volunteer at the St. Paul Children’s Foundation. The following opportunities are available:

• Front desk—Monday or Friday from 9 a.m.–noon; Wednesday from 2–5 p.m.

• Data entry/filing—Monday through Friday, any time from 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

“I was in awe of the men and youth who came to help build the addition in the back of the mission. Everyone who came had a servant’s heart and willingly worked in 100 degree weather to ac-complish their goal. WOW! They touched so many

hearts that week.

“God bless you as your con-tinue to minister to people in your community.”

We received the following letter from Tony Chung, president of the East Texas Rescue Mission.

“I know you have heard this before, but THANK YOU so much for all you have done for the homeless at East Texas Rescue Mission.

Mission Week workers at ETRM

ETRM says thanks

Volunteer opportunities at St. Paul

P A G E 4

“The combination

of trying a new

tool for the first

time, sharing

lunch and dinner

together and

laboring in the

heat leads to fun

and special

memories that

keep hundreds of

volunteers

coming back ….”

Faith in Action

H E A R T S A N D H A N D S

See more Mission

Week photos at

www.mumcfamily.

com/photos/

mission_week_09

Faith in Action P A G E 5 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 6

by Michelle Anderson, Summer Missions Intern

The largest volunteer group in Tyler’s Mission Week history put their faith in action this summer despite triple digit temperatures.

Throughout the week of June 19–27, more than 575 volun-teers from Marvin UMC, St. Paul’s UMC, Pollard UMC and Whitehouse UMC joined forces and showed the cities of Tyler and Whitehouse what this year’s theme, “Faith in Action,” looked like.

Volunteers of all ages (from 4 to 96 years old!) worked to-gether to complete 21 pro-jects throughout Tyler and Whitehouse free of charge to the families and organizations that were served.

Each year Mission Week grows in volunteers and funds due to the generosity of those who have become involved over Mission Week’s 22-year history. Because of the tre-mendous growth, the week ends with more people served than originally expected. Out

of the 21 projects done this year, only 14 were on the original agenda.

The original project list included seven families whose homes needed general repairs, new paint, roof work and yard work while one home needed a new wheelchair ramp.

The pediatric dental and medi-cal clinics at St. Paul Children’s Foundation were completely repaired, repainted and cleaned while the St. Paul’s grounds were cleaned up throughout the week.

Two houses were demolished and lots were cleaned up in the St. Paul’s neighborhood. The empty lots will serve as growth space for the minis-tries of the St. Paul Children’s Foundation. Thursday night volunteers put on a neighbor-hood festival with free food, games, a petting zoo, dancing and face painting not only for the neighborhood surrounding St. Paul’s, but as a way for vol-unteers to relax and take a break from a week of hard work.

East Texas Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter for men that opened in October, received an expansion due to their

rapid growth. This ministry houses around 80 homeless men per night. Several volun-teers also prepared and served food throughout the week and formed lasting bonds with the men and staff at the Rescue Mission.

The Wesley Foundation on the Tyler Junior College cam-pus received general repairs and maintenance along with some new concrete slabs and landscaping.

By the end of the week volun-teers had added seven more projects where they saw addi-tional needs in the community.

Mission Week isn’t all work. The combination of trying a new tool for the first time, sharing lunch and dinner to-gether and laboring in the heat leads to fun and special memories that keep hundreds of volunteers coming back each year.

While the goal of Mission Week is to better the lives of those in the community, many volunteers walk away feeling like they got more out of help-ing than the people they served!

Melissa Brigman and Michelle Anderson at the kick-off dinner

David Tucker and Terry Hawkins

“… Many

volunteers

walk away

feeling like

they got

more out of

helping than

the people

they served!”

packages were mailed!

Our next mailing will be in November.

To add people to our mailing list or to update addresses or tours of duty, please contact committee chair Buddy Powell (buddya5@aol.com) or Melissa Brigman (mbrigman@marvinumc.com).

The Military Care Committee sent encouragement packages to our men and women serv-ing our country at the end of June. In addition to the com-mittee, a group of Marvin chil-dren from the Sizzlin’ Summer Missions Program and a group of children from the YMCA participated in this great out-reach project.

The packages included socks, washcloths, snack food, toilet-ries, American flags, letters and cards and an encourage-ment letter from our pastors.

Thirty-seven encouragement

Encouragement for those who serve

DIRECT OR OF MISS IONS:

MELISSA BRIGMAN MBRIGM AN@ MARVINUMC.CO M

903.592.7396

Bits and pieces Communion offering

Our August communion offering will be dedicated to the Russia Children’s Hope Fund. Since 1996, members of our church have made annual mission trips to help orphanage children in Tomsk, Siberia. Funds collected will be used to provide or-phans with the basics (food, clothing, medical care and orphanage repairs). Thank you for helping these precious children of God on the other side of the globe!

Mission Week 2010

It’s never too early to plan: Mission Week 2010 is June 18-26l

Thank you Mission Hearts …

… for providing fans for PATH!

… for donating children’s underwear and socks for St. Paul’s!

… for buying school supplies for PATH!

… for recycling your glasses and hearing aids for those in need!

… for bringing hotel-size samples for St. Paul’s!

… for donating more than $21,000 in July for PATH’s “25 for 25” Drive!

We’re on the Web! www.mumcfamily.

com/ministry/ missions

Marvin children work on military care packages.

P A G E 6