My UMW Experience

By Kacie Reeves, "The Beacon," Mississippi UMW Newsletter

It's hard to believe it's already been a year since Hannah and I went to the Limitless Conference (for women) in Durham, North Carolina. Since then, I've learned a lot about the United Methodist Women (UMW) organization and have had the opportunity to participate in a couple of conference meetings.

Kacie Reeves

I was honored to be asked to write an article for "The Beacon" and share with you my UMW experience and what it means to me. One clear goal of UMW is to get more women from the younger generation involved. This can be quite the challenge as young women, especially mothers like me, have so many other obligations. With work and taking care of children, it can be difficult to find time for meetings.

My circle meets at night and fortunately our church provides nursery for convenience, which is an enormous help. Each member takes turns bringing a meal for the group so the rest of us don't have to worry about dinner. You can just come as you are. It's really special to meet with the same group of women each month for fellowship. Sometimes the conversation is light and we end up just catching up with each other on what's been going on in our lives.

Other times we get really deep into our study. Hearing what other Christian women think about a particular topic brings new perspectives and challenges me in my own faith, allowing me to become a more open-minded individual.

At the Conference UMW executive committee meeting in January, we were challenged to be involved in more "hands-on" missions in our districts. I took this back to my circle and we started to talk about ways we could be more involved in our local community and spread the love of God to others. We decided that we would like to visit a few ladies at a local nursing home. We coordinated with one of the staff members at the home to find out which residents did not have family close by and therefore didn't have a lot of visitors. Now, once a month, we divide and visit five residents, sometimes bringing them a little gift. The residents always seem to look forward to our visits. We hope to find other projects to be involved with as well.

Being a part of UMW is something truly special. It is my hope that members are reaching out to the younger generation of women to join this wonderful organization.