Newsletter

May 15, 2024

Hello everyone!

Ron and Cris Warzyn are on a well deserved vacation this week visiting with Ron’s family! While Cris is out, I (Pastor Mary Beth) am covering for her in the office. She will return on May 22nd.
Last Sunday, we celebrated the Feast of the Ascension on the last Sunday of Easter. To continue to be an Easter people, we are a people who preach a change of heart and life, and we start by changing our hearts and lives. And we are able to do this because God changes us. Thanks be to God!

This coming Sunday, we celebrate the Day of Pentecost. The artwork outside of our sanctuary will be replaced with Pentecost artwork. Another thing we are doing to celebrate Pentecost this year is decorating our sanctuary windows with the Lord’s Prayer in 41 different languages. Acts 2 tells us that on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended upon God’s people and everyone began to praise God in different languages, yet everyone was able to understand each other! This story is a sort of reversing of what happened with the Tower of Babel. Instead of different languages being a source of division, on Pentecost, the Spirit uses different languages to bring God’s people together. It is a beautiful story that reminds us once again that God is for all people. So to remember this, we have the Lord’s Prayer in 41 different languages outside our sanctuary. We may not be able to understand all 41 languages, but it is the same prayer, and how beautiful that is! One Pentecost tradition a lot of churches observe is to wear red to church that Sunday, so you are encouraged to wear red on Sunday!

There are some exciting things happening through our church! This Saturday, May 18th, we will have a float in the Payette Apple Blossom Festival Parade! We will decorate our float with our “You Matter” signs, some flags, and some balloons. The theme for the festival is Mardi Gras, so we also have some masks for our participants to wear and we have beaded necklaces to hand out. I am excited to be the church that tells people they matter! If you are available on Saturday, you are encouraged to join the parade! You can either walk alongside the float and hand out necklaces OR ride on the trailer (there is a ramp). The parade lineup is at 10:45 AM on Saturday on 3rd Ave. N. (in front of the courthouse/Primary School).

Our UMM is hosting the annual Best Ball Golf Tournament on Tuesday, Juny 25th at Scotch Pines Golf Course in Payette. The tournament will start around 10 AM and lunch will be served afterwards. If you do not want to golf but still want to join, plan to come to lunch! 

Monday Morning Coffee is on hiatus until Monday, July 8th. For those of you who do not know, I am currently working on a Masters in Education through Arizona State University (online). This is a fairly short program designed for people who work full time, so it is perfect for me! Part of this program involves interning and student teaching, and over the summer session (which begins this week), I am doing a preschool internship at Nampa UMC’s Kid’s Stuff Early Learning Center. For the next six weeks, I’ll be at my internship almost every Monday, so coffee is on hiatus until I complete the internship. There is a complete schedule of my summer internship on the green board in the church office if you want to know which mornings I will be at the school. On the days when I am at the school, I will be there from 8:00-1:00. I’ll spend the afternoons working for the church either from a coffee shop or in my office, and I’ll be available via phone or email. If you have any questions for me about this, please reach out! Also, while Monday coffee is on a break, I would still love to have coffee with you! If you’d like to set up a time to caffeinate and chat, just let me know.

We have several prayer requests this week:

We learned from the Elks Lodge that Stan Pierce passed away in 2023. Please pray for his family.

Bob and Macy Steckley’s granddaughter, Clarity, has a mass on her kidney. She will be traveling to Portland for further answers. Please pray for Clarity and her family.

Rudy Boyd’s daughter, Judy, passed away. Please pray for the Boyd family.

We continue to hold the Sandquist family in prayer as they have been traveling and moving.

Pray for Ron and Cris Warzyn as they travel to visit Ron’s brother, Jim. 

Please pray for some friends of myself and James, the Taylor family.

Please continue to pray for the family and friends of Gene Winchester who was killed in his home recently.

Pray for Roxanne Irwin to find comfort in the midst of back and knee pain, and pray for her doctors to find answers for her.

And continue to pray for Peggy Roach, Hugh Homan, Lis Williamson, Shannon Osborn, Anne DeBord, Irene Jeffries, Jim Warzyn, Jerry Hall, Grace Hammon, Noah Howard, and Peyton.

We also have some praises this week! 

On Sunday, Brandon Baumler told us his grandfather was going to have another procedure. Brandon updated yesterday that his grandfather is doing well and out of the hospital! Thank you for your prayers!


Shannon Osborn celebrated a birthday this week as well! Happy birthday, Shannon!

As we prepare for Pentecost, we are reminded that the Holy Spirit encounters us in many different ways that speak to us. May you encounter the Spirit anew this week and forevermore.

May the God of grace bless you, keep you, and give you peace.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Mary Beth