The annual Hands on Mission Rally for Teens and Young Women was held on Saturday, Feb. 4 at Adel United Methodist Church.  The United Methodist Women ladies, girls’ unit, teen girls and other youth numbered 30 in attendance.  Adel UMW President Debbie Buckholtz led the meeting and rally.  Those in attendance participated in the Ministry through Meals project which Adel has just begun. 

This project sprung from the mind of an Adel youth, Brandon Holt.  Brandon visited Nashville United Methodist Church and assisted in their Jesus and Meals (JAM) ministry.  Brandon felt led to start a similar ministry in his own community.  From his idea came the reality, serving sandwich lunches to those in need throughout Adel.

This was the third week of operation and the UMW president asked if our hands-on rally could be a part of the project.  Our help was graciously accepted.  Everyone assisted in making sandwiches, packing the brown bags with juice, chips, snacks and a Bible verse, and then placing all the 500+ bags in large boxes for delivery.  The group joined hands and surrounded the loaded church bus and had a heartfelt prayer for the ministry before it left the church for various corners in the Adel community.

Susan Roberson, Valdosta District UMW president, welcomed everyone and thanked them for being a big part in this new Adel UMC mission project. The youth were questioned about what mission means and the teens and pre-teens were eager to give their thoughts.  Debbie Buckholtz, Adel UMW president, then gave a slide presentation of the youth Haiti study.  The youth divided into two teams and made a list of ‘products’ they could remember from their previous study.  They then played a game of ‘21’ questions trying to guess the product that the other team had selected.  There was a lot of laughter and fun, and the girls gained a lot of information.

A time was then set aside for Stacy Spears, Valdosta District vice-president, to share her experience of a recent mission trip to Paraguay.  The girls were eager to hear about the trip and had lots of questions.

The District Mission Rally was a time of sharing and caring, questioning and thinking about what we all need to be doing as far as mission is concerned.  The event ended with a pizza lunch for all.   We hope all our young ladies will plan to attend the 2013 Rally.  You can have another chance to see what United Methodist Women are a part of throughout our own community, nation and world.