To Do this week -

Finally started delivering the Prayer Shawls this past week!

Couldn't wait to get started, but we had a few small delays. The lady that is making our gift labels ready kept telling me that they were ready to go, but I don't have Microsoft Publisher to print them out. She was going to work something out at the church office, but I haven't heard anything about it in weeks. Perhaps she was otherwise occupied...

Last week I worked up a new label and got them ready to go, picked up about half of what needed to go out, and began giving them out at church. We'd decided against this originally, and the group wanted to go out two by two to deliver them at home.

At the last meeting, I had no one interested in going out to make the deliveries (only 3 other members were attending.) Of two other people I asked last week, one is now not feeling well enough to do it and the other wasn't sure about her schedule this week. I gave up asking after that. I probably could've found someone else, but by the time I lined up everyone's schedule with everyone else's we wouldn't have made a dent in the number that need to be delivered. (Since this is the first delivery, it would've been over 25 deliveries.)

I've lined up 5 so far for today, and will call a few more this afternoon if I can squeeze them in. 5 were delivered Sunday at church. I think that's a good beginning! Friday is designated for another delivery day for me. Ideally, all will be delivered by Saturday evening, as I'll be out of town next week.

Lesson - It's ok to depend on others, but when they don't follow through, it's no reason for you not to. Making tons of items to give out and never giving them is the same as never making them at all!

Prayer Shawl Ministry update

As a group, we've been knitting and crocheting our hearts out since the beginning of the year. The results were on display this past Sunday, April 26th before the entire congregation for our very first mass blessing. What a wonderful way to included everyone in the spirit of the ministry!

To date we've completed the following to be dispensed to our shut-ins, sick, elderly or otherwise in need:

24 Shawls, 23 Scarves, 6 Lap Robes, 6 Afghans/Blankets, & 5 Hats

64 completed projects in 4 months! Wow! What an amazing group we have. However, realize that it's not only the hands of these ladies at work but, the hearts of the entire congregation. It takes every person in the church to make a ministry thrive.

Prayer Shawl Ministry update

It's been so long since I posted about the group. We been making leaps and bounds into the direction we want to go.

Due to lack of storage space, growing yarn and project stash I moved all of the goodies to the church, once I found a spot. Our church, which is older and has a huge Sunday School extension, was considering sharing space with another smaller congregation for awhile and the extra rooms that we had available were on hold until those issues were ironed out. Three weeks ago we were assigned our official room (pictured below)!

The past two weeks have been spent clearing out the old tidbits and remnants from the previous usage. As I'm only at church on Sundays and Wednesdays and occupied for most of that time, this was a slower process than I'd hoped. Our most recent meeting was the last Sunday in March and we were unable to meet in our room because there were still lots of craft items to be relocated. However, I finished that up last week and we'll be able to use the room fully now! (Special thanks to Linda S. and Lauren T. for helping move all of our goodies from our old spot to the new room.)



Remaining stash





Bins laden with finished projects!



To date we have 20 people signed up in the ministry and most are very active. We have 18 shawls, 5 lap robes, 19 scarves, 4 children's hats, and 4 baby blankets turned in! Phenomenal, especially if you consider that 1/2 of the participants maintain a full-time position and a few are suffering from illnesses themselves.



Finished projects




As we won't be limiting ourselves to shawls, we've decided to take on a more descriptive name for the ministry. We're a Moravian (not Mormon - that's a little different) congregation and our motto is:

In essentials, unity;

In non-essentials, liberty;

and in all things, love.

Jesus said that the greatest of these is love and since we're attempting to share that love with others we decided to name the ministry "Wrapped in Love". It's very apt, don't you think?


Our first blessing is scheduled for Sunday, April 26th, at which time we will bless our work alongside the entire congregation during worship. The following week members will begin dispensing the projects to our sick, shut-ins, and anyone else that we find in need in the congregation.



Our goal is to eventually be able to branch out further into the community. Perhaps we can team up with some nursing facilities, Hospice, cancer treatment centers, and the like. We're looking into this now. If you have any ideas or links, please let me know. I'd also love to hear about the great things you're doing or wish to do in your work.