JANUARY 2018
Newsletter

Love Overcomes All
From the Desk of the Community Lay Director:  

I would like to wish all in our Emmaus Community a Happy New Year. I am both humbled and privileged to serve as your Golden Isles Emmaus Board chair for 2018. I sense great enthusiasm and energy in our community for this New Year. I believe that this is, in part, due to the Walks scheduled for March. Please pray for the Board and our community throughout the year.

During the past Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, I often thought about the many reasons that we have to give praise to God for his many blessings. Fellowship, family and gifts are so much appreciated and enjoyed during these holiday times. This excitement carries forward with us to the new year.

Please be in prayer for Pam Herndon and Bill Hohenstein as they prepare their teams for the March Walks. Training will begin soon and the team members will be finalizing their respective area responsibilities. I encourage sponsors to submit all applications as soon as possible. We are looking forward to powerful, life changing experiences for these pilgrims. Training sessions will be held January 13, January 27, and February 10. Set up at the Lions Camp will be done on March 1. The Men’s Walk will be held March 8-11, and the Women’s Walk will be held on March 15-18.

Paul writes in Thessalonians, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” It seems to me that our Emmaus community has very much assumed this challenge. Prayer, praise and celebration are at the core of our people. Our Walks, Gatherings and other activities are punctuated with all of these elements. That provides such a special blessing.

On behalf of the Board, I would like to encourage all community members to contact us if you have any questions or concerns. We represent all members and work to make Golden Isles Emmaus a thriving, dynamic group of Christians in worship and service. Your input is very important and welcome.

Please plan to join with us at the next Gathering. It will be held at Blackshear United Methodist on January 5, at 7:00 pm. 


Thank you for your support and prayers throughout 2018 and beyond.

De Colores!

Phil Scott
The following individuals are rotating off the Board of Directors at the end of 2017. 

The GIWTE Community wants to thank you for ALL the dedication and energy you have brought to your positions during your tenure. 

Melinda Hollington
Darrell Joiner
Amy Hitt
Carolyn Capps
Dudley Hendrey
Cheryl DeZouche
Upcoming Events
Community Gatherings

January 5th--Blackshear UMC 7 PM

If you would like to offer your church to host a Gathering in the future, or would be interested in sharing a Fourth Day testimony, please contact  David DuBois  for more information regarding what is required of a host church.
A Lesson in Giving

Jeanie Hoffman
Coastal Georgia Walk to Emmaus #65
Bill and I recently went to The Methodist Children's Home in Macon to deliver crochet hats I made for the children.  

We were having lunch with a couple of staff and the chaplain who serves there with the children. A young boy, about 10, came over to our table several times to talk to the chaplain, and he was so excited. After he left, the chaplain told us his story.

Each of the children at the home is given $10 for Christmas by two different families, so each child has $20 to spend as they wish for Christmas. This boy was at church Sunday, and when the offering plate was passed around, he gave the $20 he had received back to the church (everything he had). An usher in the church saw that he had given the whole $20 and was very impressed that one so young would do this. He told the chaplain at the children's home and they decided they should do something special for this child. They decided to take him and a friend out to a nice restaurant to eat dinner that evening.  

What a wonderful testimony for The Methodist Children's Home - these children are loved and nurtured. They are happy, and well-cared for. There is hope for future generations.
What is Love?

Trisa Chancey
Golden Isles Walk to Emmaus #2
Table of Mary
Love is so many things, it is difficult to define. But those who have felt it know. This December has been unlike any I have experienced before, but the love I have felt at Christmas time for the past 50 years of living has been more evident than ever.

Lori Durham told me that our Emmaus newsletter theme this year would be “Love Overcomes All.” My first thought was “not everything,” when I thought of my two divorces. Why was that my first thought? I don’t know. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized the truth contained in “Love Overcomes All.” Human love may not, but God’s love does.

Why has this December been so different from previous Decembers? Quite frankly, because my husband had a kidney and pancreas transplant November 30, and we have spent most of the month of December in the hospital, including Christmas Day, due to a series of complications.

Our youngest daughter, Mary, has been staying with my mother while we’ve been in the hospital. Mom brought Mary to us on Christmas Day, and we had a great visit!

The doctors and nurses here provide excellent care, both to my husband Keith and to me. My sister Darcy has come to stay with me a few times when she knew her presence was needed to comfort me.

I don’t know what 2018 will hold for you, for me, for any of us. But I am grateful for the generosity of the family who provided their loved one’s organs so Keith could have his transplant. I am grateful for the proactive care Keith has received while we’ve been here. I am grateful for the many people who have expressed God’s love to us through prayer, presence, and presents.

I am grateful for the opportunities I have had here to be the hands and feet of Christ. I am equally grateful for those who have been Christ’s hands and feet to me.

God IS love. And HIS love truly does conquer all.

I look forward to writing for this newsletter another year, and share my 4th Days with you. Happy New Year!
Golden Isles Walk to Emmaus Board Meeting

GIE Board Meeting January 20th, 9 AM Brunswick FUMC, Miller Building.

Emmaus community members are always welcome at Golden Isles Emmaus Board Meetings normally the third Saturday of each month at the Miller Building behind Brunswick First United Methodist Church.  
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