Rest in the Word

            9/17/25 Leadership Retreat  Stetson Memorial UMC 9/21/25 Dear, Stetson Memorial UMC families, this past week we have been praying, singing, and reading the Psalms together. I was especially joyful at our leadership retreat last Wednesday. We played icebreakers and laughed together. While playing Bingo, we learned fun things about each other. Now we know Rick grew up on a farm. Jean is left-handed. And Dee doesn’t usually read books—so we encouraged her to read Scripture instead!  But most of all, when we read Ephesians chapter 4 about the unity of the Body of Christ, I realized again how much God loves this church. God has blessed us with faithful leaders, each one serving in their part of the Body. And God has joined us together in one Spirit.  In the weeks to come, I want to hear more of your Psalms—your prayers, your stories, your songs. Because the Psalms are not only David’s. They are the prayers of God’s people. And we too a...

            Tree planted by the streams at Riverfront Park (Psalm 1, Matthew 5:1-12) 9/14/25 Stetson Memorial UMC                              WOW Denise’s Psalm Dear families of Stetson Memorial UMC, last Sunday, we heard God’s beautiful psalm through Denise’s testimony. Even though her life has not been easy, even through years when God seemed silent and absent, we saw that God is not dead! God is alive among us—especially when the whole congregation came forward to pray for Denise. I felt the presence of God. I didn’t expect the empty pews when I asked people to pray with her. That’s our church. That’s our church’s psalm—a song dedicated to God, written by God, and sung by God. Thankfully, Denise shared her testimony with the Combined Women’s Bible Study in WOW (Women Of Witness) last Tuesday. We all cried, held each other’s hands, and blessed Denise’s life together. Her l...

             Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh 9/7/25 Stetson Memorial UMC                                                  The first week of July with Mary Miller and Paula            The Last week of August with Victor     <A New Journey> Dear Stetson Memorial UMC family, what a journey we have shared. For the past two months, we have been walking together on this new path. From Mary Miller’s sermon ,  “Holy Covenant,”  to Victor’s sermon,  “Journey,”  at our combined service, God has blessed us with His presence among church members, new families, and the other three churches. Last Sunday, 103 people gathered from Houlton, Hodgdon, Mars Hill, and Stetson Memorial UMC. When our choir and the Hodgdon and Houlton bands sang and played with many instruments, th...

My Honeymoon  My honeymoon has been both bitter and sweet. The bitter part was separation from my family and my country when, after marriage, we moved to the United States. But the sweet part was that Victor became my new family. Another bitter part was learning how to live together. Even though we had been in a romance for two years and two months, we soon discovered that we were both opinionated and strong-willed! Yet the sweet part was discovering that the only way to truly become one was through God. We surrendered not to each other, but to the Lord. Prayer and communication became the two keys to working through our struggles, and we felt deeply that God wanted us to be united in the one Spirit. My honeymoon with Stetson Memorial Church has also been both bitter and sweet. The bitter part is the separation from my three other church families and no longer being able to worship every Sunday with the whole Han family together. But the sweet part has been gaining a new family ...