Prayer Quilts WCBC: 2018

Thursday, December 27, 2018

Christmas 2018

Sunday, December 16, 2018

December 2018: 532.Joy Reed; 533.Barb Jorgenson; 534.Mark; 535.Catt; 536.Randy Wiese; 537.Jan Sims

Good morning ladies. Looks like the fog is gone but it is a dreary day. We just need to put some special light into it.

We had a good night last night. We missed some of you. We had lots of good food.

523.Joy was happy with her friendship quilt. We all will continue to pray for her.

524. Barb Jorgenson who has stage 4 lung cancer….

525. Mark…Nikki’s Dad, who had total shoulder replacement on Tues

526. Catt…my daughter Cheryl’s friend,….who has aggressive stage 4 breast cancer…Catt is a young 34 year old Mom of two girls…age 3 and 6

527. Randy Wiese…Marian’s son, who is having back surgery Dec. 18^th

528. Jan Sims ... Doug Sim’s sister-in-law,…..has stage 4 melanoma cancer.

Continue to pray for these individuals and families as we draw near to Christmas.

Thank you ladies for the generous Christmas gifts that you gave me. I’m going to Stan’s and see if they have anything left that would work on an old lady……I am what I am. You all are so very special to me. It takes each one of us to make a quilt.

Wishing each one of you a very Blessed Christmas.

Love you,

Joyce

Thursday, November 29, 2018

November 2018: 518. Dale&Sue Holvett, 519. Russell Beldin, 520. Deb, 521. Jon Bundy, 522. Tim&Karen Schrepel

November 27, 2018

Good morning ladies on a gray cloudy day. We will just need to make our own light shine.

We had a busy but great night last night. We prayed for 5 quilts:

518.…for Dale & Sue Holvett, Mary Hofmann’s sister dealing with medical and some social problems…..

519.....for Russell Beldin, Amy Meehan’s uncle…who has been in the hospital for 6 weeks with a termanal illness…..

520. for Deb, Sandy McElhatton’s friend…who is dealing with medical problems….

521. for Jon Bundy….who has been very sick but improving in a Sioux Falls hospital……

522. for Tim Schrepel..Joyce’s son…who will be having (I think) a new hip Dec. 10^th.

Continue to pray for each of these individuals. This is our mission. May God continue to bless our mission.

I don’t always hear of needs so be sure to tell me when you know of someone wo would be blessed with a quilt.

Last night was our last work night in 2018. We will have our Christmas party on Dec. 12^th at 6:30. Just bring some type of food to add to our table which ends up to be very generous. We will not go home hungrey…..bring something healthy or unhealthy…salty…sweet …hot …cold..it all works out. We will not be sewing but we will have a couple of quilts to pray for. Jan. 8^th, 2019 will be our next work night.

It has been another good year. Welcome to you new ladies. We hope you will continue to come. There is always work to do and what good fellowship and prayer time we have. How good it is for us to give of our time to give a bit of happiness to someone else.

Always remember that each one of you is very special and I love you all.

Joyce

This should be a joyous time of year. May we cherish the real meaning of Christmas and

not let the hustle and bustle all around us make us forget that Christ is Christmas.

Thursday, November 15, 2018

November 2018 513.Gabriel 514.Elsie Wiese 515.Mary Askren 516.Marli Wiese 517.Charity

Good morning ladies on a bright sunny day. It is going to get warmer.

We had a good night last night. Those of you that were not here to write on Joy’s quilt can stop any time. My door is open. The quilt and pens are back in the apartment. We want to have it ready to pin on Nov. 27^th, which is our last work night of 2018.

We had a busy night with all 5 machines running. We prayed for

513. Gabriel Gitzen…the little 3 year old boy battling cancer…

514. for Elsie Wiese…Monte Wiese’s 95 year old aunt who just went into the Bethel Nursing Home….

515. for Mary Askren…the writer from the Daily Leader who wrote such a good story for our quilting group…and put it on the front page of the Daily Leader….how refreshing to read a positive story……

516. for Marli Wiese….Marli will be representing us out at Pierre…

517. for Charity…an acquaintance of Stephanie’s….Charity was badly injured in a car accident last Thursday night.

Keep these individuals in your thoughts and prayers.

Mark Wed. night, Dec. 12^th, for our Christmas Party.

Thank you to all of you. May each one of you know that you are special.

Joyce

“Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.”

Saturday, October 27, 2018

West Center Baptist celebrates quilting ministry

Photo by Mary Gales Askren

EACH LAP QUILT made by the women at West Center Baptist Church is finished in the same way, with women praying for the recipient as they tie the knots that bind the layers together. On Sunday, at a celebration of the church ministry, Angela Peters (left), Karen Logan and Betty Wilbur were among those demonstrating this final step.

Posted: Thursday, October 25, 2018 3:21 pm

By MARY GALES ASKREN, Staff Reporter

Delora Sims looked chic on Sunday afternoon, wearing a denim cap as she moved from table to table in the basement of West Center Baptist Church, talking with friends.

Having finished chemotherapy for endometrial grade 3 carcinoma, an aggressive form of cancer which begins in the lining of the uterus, she was glowing with well-being. Like others there, she had come to celebrate a church ministry which had blessed her personally -- the quilting ministry.

Sims had received one of the 500 quilts which has been constructed by a group of faithful women who had also lifted her up in prayer.

"How do I explain it?" she replied when asked how it felt to receive a prayer quilt, and then paused to reflect on her experience.

"It's a blessing," Sims said. "You know that people are praying for you and love you."

She used the quilt when traveling, when napping, when reading.

"You know you are surrounded by prayers. While they were tying each knot, they were saying a prayer," she continued.

Those prayers were a comfort to Sims.

The pie and ice cream social was held to celebrate an unplanned ministry. More than a decade ago, the women who both craft the quilts and pray over them began a bible study with a quilting theme. This theme was explained on the program for the celebration.

"If our lives are like a quilt, then surely God is the Divine Quilter. How lovingly He gathers up the scraps and remnants and leftovers of our experiences, our brokenness and our joy. With the skillful needlework of grace, He stitches it all together to make a wonderful whole," the program read.

Joyce Schrepel, the group's guiding hand, helped the women in that bible study craft a project to reinforce what they were learning.

"I taught them to make a table runner," she recalled.

The quilt ministry grew out of this study and this project.

"Someone challenged us to make prayer quilts for those with needs," Schrepel said.

"It kind of mushroomed from there," Marian Wiese said. "It grew and other people joined in."

Wiese is both a quilter and has been a recipient of a prayer quilt as was her husband, LaMonte, who died last year of brain cancer. She said she initially felt she didn't need a quilt when she had knee surgery, but was grateful to have received one.

"We have touched so many lives," Wiese said.

Each of the quilts measures 45x60 inches and takes approximately 12 hours to make. Each is unique, because a variety of patterns and fabric are used.

"She [Schrepel] comes up with all kinds of patterns," said Mary Kenyon, one of the 15 women who meet on alternate Tuesday evenings to quilt.

The former owner of a quilt shop, Kenyon said she became involved with the group as soon as her schedule allowed her to do so. She believes the fellowship shared by the women is an integral part of the ministry.

"The quilting forms this community of women doing it together, and having it become a ministry is the best part," Kenyon explained.

The women meet on the second and fourth Tuesdays every month. The ability to sew is not a required skill to participate. The women can engage in other related activities such as pressing fabric, cutting quilt blocks, or pinning the top, batting and backing together.

"Nobody gets to just sit around," Kenyon said.

In addition to working during the allotted time, some women take home projects to work on, according to Schrepel. They may finish quilt tops or hand-stitch the bindings to finish the quilts.

The ministry relies entirely on donations -- either financial support or material donations. Schrepel said one woman donated over 300 yards of fabric. Batting is purchased in bulk by the bolt.

For her, quilting is a creative process, one which includes the same elements other visual artists consider in their work, but prayer adds a unique component.

"I love design," Schrepel said. "I love color. I think the most satisfying part is praying for the individual."

Regardless of who works on a quilt or where the work is done, all of the quilts are finished in the same way -- with prayer.

"The last step is to put the ties in," Schrepel explained. "We put the quilt on the table and pray for the individual."

For those, like Sims, who have received quilts, that final step may be the one most appreciated.

"I don't know how you make it if you don't have strong faith," she said, referring to the battle many wage with cancer.