PW's Newsletter Announces Fall Gatherings

The June 2008 issue of The Grapevine newsletter from the Presbyterian Women of the Des Moines Presbytery is now available! Presbyterian Women's Moderator Emily Seeger has included information on the PW Fall Gathering coming up this in October. You'll have two choices to attend, October 17 in Guthrie Center at the First Presbyterian Church or October 18 in Hartford at the Community United Presbyterian Church. Registration begins at 9 a.m. So mark your calendar to attend at the location nearest you!

If you'd like to submit to the Presbyterian Women's quarterly newsletter, the next deadline is Friday, November 28, 2008. Please submit articles in Microsoft Word or compatible format; digital images and photos are both acceptable!

This issue of The Grapevine and archived past issues are available on the Presbytery's Web site. Go to the Mission page and scoll down in the left-hand column under Presbyterian Women Section. If you have problems opening the pdf-formatted attachment, please let us know. If needed, you may download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

If you have questions or would like a hard copy, contact the Presbytery Office Manager Betty Dyer at 515-276-4991.

Attend the Care for the Caregivers Training, Sept. 10

Many of our Presbytery churches have planned mission trips to the areas devastated by the tornados and flooding. Volunteer teams usually report that upon arrival they see a noticeable degradation of emotional stability of the victims and their families as well as those coordinating the mission teams due to the severe stress of the situation. The pastoral care needs in these situations are more than all of the pastors in Iowa can provide. Most flood victims are in a state of mourning. Normally, when we have a loss, family and friends rally together in support on our behalf. In the case of a natural disaster of this magnitude, the entire community is in mourning, and the healing is a long, drawn-out process. So, we need to reach out to them in this time of need.

The Des Moines Presbytery and PC(USA)’s Presbyterian Disaster Assistance are sponsoring a Care for the Caregivers Training to be held at the Presbytery Office, 2400 86th St., Suite #20, Urbandale, on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008. Pastors, laypersons and mission coordinators are encouraged to sign up and attend this three-hour training from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., lunch will be provided.

The presenters for the training are Rev. Bruce Wismer, pastor of Pine Shores Presbyterian Church in Sarasota, FL; Meg Scott-Johnson, Kerrville, TX, a licensed clinical social worker, trained in Critical Incident Stress Management by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation and Trained Spiritual Director at the San Francisco Theological Seminary; and Rick Turner, of Greer, SC, who is trained as a Certified Pastoral Care Provider by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation.

This is an opportunity to help others with spirituality during crisis. If you are interested in attending, contact Betty Dyer at 515-276-4991 or pbydesmoines@qwestoffice.net with your contact information and how many will attend by Monday, Sept. 8. This will reserve your spot and lunch while giving us an exact number of attendees in case we need a larger venue for the training.

Adopt-a-Home MissionContinues in Gulf Coast Area

The Presbytery of Des Moines received this message from our friends in the Presbytery of South Louisiana with regards to rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. And now, with the downgrade of Hurricane Gustav to a tropical storm after it hit the Louisiana and Texas coastline this Labor Day weekend as a Category 2 hurricane, I thought it appropriate to send out this plea for renewed help in rebuilding the Gulf Coast Region.

Thank you for keeping me on your web update list. We pray and hope that recovery is continuing to eastern Iowa. I remember coming up there on business after their '93 flooding and hoping it would never happen again. Every hurricane season we hope for a ‘pass’ on hurricane season. We never know until after September.

In our rebuilding endeavor for the New Orleans area, we have encountered a few homeowners that have unmet needs in their building material funds, and even with our volunteer assistance in rebuilding, there is a need for more funding to help them finish and move in. I have a reluctance to ask you to publish or pass around these homeowner’s needs because of your own state’s needs so I would like you to let me know if it would be appropriate to ask I understand if it would be awkward; so let me know. Here is an example of a home to adopt.

Richard Maag, Project Homecoming
The rebuilding effort of The Presbytery of South Louisiana