I’m just checking in because I’m feeling happy right now. We had a huge DfG event yesterday in Wenatchee, 2 hours north of Yakima. It was part of a city-wide Make a Difference Day. This event has been held every year for the last 25 years! Today we joined the fun.
It’s been a full year now, since I learned that I’d have to walk away from my full time DfG work to answer this missionary call. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. My head and heart were so full of people and projects and events and things I loved doing. I sometimes wondered why I was being asked to leave, but trusted, knowing my perspective is minuscule to His. I walked away with tears in my eyes.
In the process of learning to direct my thoughts to a new home, I started meeting some new people. One was Toni McBean in Yakima, whose sister came to our DfG events in Orem and passed the word on to her. The other was Kathi Irving in Wenatchee, who was a friend of my dear friend Nena, in Vernal where we helped get DfG work started.
I started visiting with both of these wonderful women long before I arrived here in July, and sent information and DfG Stuff to both of them. And now, with their wonderful help, DfG has come to our Mission area. We’ve had several events in the Yakima and Selah areas, and yesterday we kicked things off up north in Wenatchee with this group of women:
Meet Kathi Irving and Margie Kerr, who helped organize the Make a Difference Day in Wenatchee. Kathi and her team organized our event beautifully. Margie spent her day visiting as many of the 60 or more events going on all over town. When she walked into the Stake Center where we were meeting, her jaw dropped and tears filled her eyes. She was absolutely astounded to see about 200 women and girls hard at work. She’d never heard about Days for Girls. We showed her what we were doing and explained why. She was thrilled with what she was learning and immediately started thinking about ways to involve more churches and civic groups in Wenatchee. She’s an amazing woman and I am grateful to know her.
Tonight I received this note from her. I am feeling so happy.
Dear Ann…
Since meeting you yesterday and learning about the Days for Girls project, I can think of nothing else!
I’m eager to meet with our newspaper editor tomorrow…and a special news reporter to help publicize the phenomenal event that occurred on Saturday, and to get the word out about Days for Girls and how to become involved.
I also plan to talk with the Social Concerns team at Grace Lutheran and the similar team at First United Methodist Church (I’m quite ecumenical in my church attendance/ activities..).
Thank you for sending me all the websites and Facebook sites. I googled Days for Girls before heading to bed last eve. Tonight I’ve been perusing all the articles and videos.
I am so inspired by your dedication and efforts. I look forward to joining this life-changing project.
Hopefully our paths will cross, again, in the near future.
Should you (and your husband) ever need a place to stay while in Wenatchee, my “welcome mat” is always out.
Fondly,
margie kerr
Here are a just a few photos of what she saw and of some of our beautiful missionaries. The rest of the photos are on our Days for Girls Yakima facebook page.
Maybe it’s good sometimes to start over in a new place. It helps us appreciate what we love and it also gives us opportunities to share and grow in ways we may not have.
