PURPOSE

The organized unit of the UNITED METHODIST WOMEN shall be

a community of women whose PURPOSE is:

-  to know God.
-  to experience freedom as whole persons through Jesus Christ.
-  to develop a creative, supportive fellowship.
-  to expand concepts of mission through participation in the   
-  global ministries of the church.

MEMBERSHIP
All women, including teenagers, in a Methodist church are automatically members of UMW if they wish. United Methodist Women is devoted to furthering both local and global missions of the United Methodist Church. Members work together both locally and globally and have developed the largest women’s organization in the world.

MEETINGS
Where:

     Regular:  Woodland United Methodist Church Lamp Room
                      212 2nd Street, Woodland, CA
     Special Events:  United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall
                      212 Second Street, Woodland, CA
When:  Second Saturday of every month.
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Contact the church office for more location details, (530) 662-6274.

 
MISSION
The mission of the Women’s Division is:
- to build a supportive community among women;
- to be an advocate for the oppressed and dispossessed with special attention to

  the needs of women and children;
- to engage in activities that foster growth in the Christian faith, mission,

  education, and Christian social involvement throughout the organization.
 
DISTRICT AND NATIONAL UMW
The local group, as part of the larger UMW organization, helps support several thousand mission projects worldwide and in the nation, such as the

Gum Moon Residence and the Mary Elizabeth Inn in San Francisco, CA.
 

LINKS
UMW Delta District: http://cnumw.org/deltacnumw

UMW California/Nevada Conference: http://cnumw.org

UMW Women’s Division: http://umwmission.org

UMW Mission Resource Center online store: http://missionresourcecenter.org

Caring for Mother; a Daughter’s Long Goodbye, by Virginia Stem Owens is one of the two newest books in the UMW Reading Program Library. In this moving and life-affirming book, Virginia Stem Owens gives a clear and realistic account of the many challenges of caring for an elderly loved one. Along the way, Owens notes the spiritual crises she encountered, not the least of which included fear of her own suffering and death.

“During the almost seven years I spent with my mother’s dementia,” she writes, “it often seemed as if she were trapped under the rubble of an earthquake, her rationality, curiosity, humor and generous spirit slowly suffocating under the wreckage of her ruined brain. . . .Nothing had ever confronted so forcefully my faith that an ultimate graciousness dwelt at the heart of the world and cared for us.”

This book will be a helpful companion to those who have recently assumed the role of caregiver, helping them anticipate some of the emotional turbulence they will encounter along the way. It was a 2007 Christianity Today Book of the Year.

“Through essays as incisive and insightful as Didion’s, this account succeeds on multiple levels: medical detective story, personal memoir, flawless description, philosophical and spiritual exploration. . . .Owens offers not self-help but hope as she bears witness to the grief and glory of life’s ending.”
                      Publishers Weekly, in a starred review, comparing Caring for Mother to
                                                                     Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking.