Prayer Mail

Dear Friends,

This is our public prayer mail of Sunday, 29 November 2015, the first day of Advent. 

This week:

A) Enjoyed Thanksgiving with Julie, Hannah, and Lydia. Touched base with other family members. Brought Hannah down from Albany and returned her to Albany. 

B) Finished a family history scanning project, choosing from among materials formerly belonging to Julie's aunt (now deceased), the next step of which now involves sending 10 boxes of materials to my brother-in-law in Virginia.

C) Held an interactive preaching class on Saturday. Possible Internet disruption at the Belize end of things in the middle of it. But since this is a distance learning course, I posted my notes for students' later consumption as they are able. Regardless of what happened today, I like this course.

D) Planning for 2016 continues, one step at a time. I have had several State Department world-wide travel warnings for U.S. citizens this week. Even though I doubt I would ever run into such incidents in my own travels that these warnings are concerned about, my immediate plans do not involve airline transportation. At the moment I am busy in Connecticut with what I need to do for the Diocese of Belize in relation to my courses. 

Your prayers are requested for the following:

A) For the current preaching course that I am teaching, and course scheduling/planning for 2016. For the printing of the Spanish Prayer Book in a timely manner. 

B) For parish visitations, sermons, potential trips, and other matters over the next few months. For safe and timely travel, no matter what the mode of transportation, especially as the weather gets colder. 

C) Family members continue to face major decisions, and your prayers for all of us are always welcome on these matters both now and into 2016.  

E) For family members. For Lydia and Julie in their studies. For Christmas plans. For family members' health related issues.

F) For God's provision for all our needs.

Thank you for praying. I pray for you every day.

God bless you. 

Shaw, and on behalf of Julie.

Manchester, CT

Prayer Mail

Dear Friends,

This is our public prayer mail of Sunday, 22 November 2015. 

We are wishing you a very blessed Thanksgiving.

This week:

A) The editing of the Spanish Prayer Book was completed. The next step is the printer. I have been invited down to Belize for my work on the project at some point in the future. There was a lot of going back and forth this week making it happen.

B) The distance learning Parish Development and Stewardship course is now ready for students as of this week. It begins at the end of January, and it may be presented in either live or 24/7 format. Now, onward to the tests for the General Church History and Liturgy course. Survived some interesting moments on the Internet.

C) Planning for 2016 continues.

D) Completed the follow-up matters from my recent Belize trip.

Your prayers are requested for the following:

A) For the current preaching course that I am teaching, and the course scheduling for 2016. For the printing of the Spanish Prayer Book in a timely manner.

B) For parish visitations, sermons, and other matters over the next few months. God has graciously arranged for me to do only one service on Christmas Eve, so now I can spend time with my family, after the 4 pm service.

C) Thanksgiving time with family. Some plans are still in the works. 

D) Family members continue to face major decisions, and your prayers for all of us are always welcome on these matters both now and into 2016. The Holy Spirit is doing a fantastic job of pulling things together, and at the same time, life could be interesting for some folks in 2016. 

E) For Lydia and Julie in their studies. Julie's courses are planned to be complete in mid-to-late December. Lydia is planning her course schedule for next semester. 

F) For Hannah's health - she met with a specialist this week, and she is waiting on test results.

G) For my mother getting settled back into her area dwelling after several months away.  

H) For God's provision for all our needs.

Thank you for praying. I pray for you every day.

God bless you. 

Shaw, and on behalf of Julie.

Manchester, CT

Prayer Mail

Dear Friends,

This is our public prayer mail of Sunday, 15 November 2015:

This week:

A) Have been working on several projects, and following up on matters from the Belize Trip. Hopefully we can bring closure to the final editorializing of the Spanish Prayer Book soon.

B) Preaching course continues. 

C) I am in the early stages of planning for calendar year 2016.

Your prayers are requested for the following:

A) For more on the follow-up to the trip, for continuing to develop the final courses in the curriculum, and for the current preaching course that I am teaching. For closure to the Spanish Prayer Book project.

B) For parish visitations, sermons, and other matters over the next few months. I am at St. Mary's in Manchester for the balance of the year.

C) Family members continue to face major decisions, and your prayers for all of us are always welcome.

D) For Lydia and Julie in their studies. Julie's courses are planned to be complete in mid-to-late December. Lydia is planning her course schedule for next semester. 

E) For Hannah's health - she meets with a specialist this week.

F) For God's provision for all our needs.

Thank you for praying. I pray for you every day.

God bless you. 

Shaw, and on behalf of Julie.

Manchester, CT

Prayer Mail

Dear Friends,

This is our public prayer mail of Saturday, 9 November 2015:

This week:

A) Last Sunday, All Saints Day: attended All Saints Anglican Church in Belize City (All Saints Day is its patronal feast), also its 60th anniversary and 21 confirmations. Turns out that confirmation class met weekly for two years, with a final exam, and apparently, whenever I was teaching something in my online courses, that was being passed to the bulk of the class. The principal catechist is one of my students. By the way, in a case you are wondering, this is not the norm for catechetical instruction except for this parish. Service was 3.25 hours long, with an hour of interaction afterwards.

Later that day, led the service, celebrated Holy Eucharist, and preached at Church of the Good Shepherd in Lord's Bank in the late afternoon. My role for this second service gradually unfolded as the Bishop was driving me on the way over to the Church. When we started on the way to the parish, all I knew was that I might be doing something in the service, and the full scope of what I was to be doing did not unfold until we pulled into the parking lot of the parish. The Bishop was a congregant. I am pleased with the results, and apparently, so was the congregation. Praise God for the leading of the Holy Spirit!

B) On Monday, arrived back in the United States: to continue with the ministry for Belize from here, as usual. The Diocese of Belize calendar for 2016 has not been printed yet, and I wait to see what unfolds for future trips.

In the meantime, I continue in my role as intermediary with the companion Diocese in England, and continue in my role as Examining Chaplain and Director of the Anglican Theological Institute of Belize. As with more and more missionaries these days, much is accomplished by Internet as well as in person on the ground. This kind of hybrid world mission work is becoming more popular, I am finding out, made possible by the Internet. In this way, I continue as a full-time SAMS missionary, year-round.

C) From Tuesday through Friday, this week, attended the priests retreat in the Diocese of Albany this week, led by the Rt. Rev. Kenneth Clark, Mission Director of SAMS UK & Ireland. Totally awesome. In hindsight, the whole retreat. Everyone there.

D) Upon returning home, I faced a mountain of items that needed attending to. It is now a small hill.

Your prayers are requested for the following:

A) For the follow-up to the trip, for continuing to develop the final courses in the curriculum, and for the current preaching course that I am teaching. Two transitional deacons have joined. 

B) For parish visitations, sermons, and other matters over the next few months. I am at St. Mary's in Manchester for this Sunday (8 Nov), than am preaching and making a missions presentation as part of parish mission conference at St. James in Farmington, next weekend (15 Nov).

C) Family members continue to face major decisions, and your prayers for all of us are always welcome.

D) For Lydia and Julie in their studies.

E) For God's provision for all our needs.

Thank you for praying. I pray for you every day.

God bless you. 

Shaw, and on behalf of Julie.

Manchester, CT

Newsletter

November 2015
Mudge Making a Diffference Newsletter
Belize City, Belize

 Dear Friends,

 This month, I am including excerpts from an article that I wrote about Belize Cursillo 11, October 22 to 25, entitled “The Pathway Ahead”, at the request of Bishop Philip of Belize: Cursillo weekends in the Diocese of Belize have been held every other year; this was the 11th such Cursillo weekend. Over 230 people have been on a Cursillo weekend in the Diocese of Belize at one time or another since Belize Cursillo weekend number 1, about 22 years ago.

In the tradition of Cursillo, this weekend (number eleven) was a substantial retreat, starting on a Thursday evening and continuing through a Sunday Eucharist, held this year at the Baptist Training Center in Camalote. 32 men and women arrived as candidates. They came from various parts of the Diocese, such as: St. Andrew’s in San Ignacio, Christ the King in Dangriga, St. John the Baptist in Belize City, and elsewhere. Among the candidates, there were several non-Anglican teachers from Anglican schools, whose principals had invited them to attend in order to learn more about Anglicanism. In addition to those who came, about 10 other people who were signed up for the weekend could not attend, for various reasons.

At least 24 support team members helped make the weekend a success, from preparing meals and arranging for transportation, to clearing tables, guiding the program along, and leading all aspects of the worship services. Special mention for outstanding work throughout the weekend goes to the Rev. Lynda Moguel as Spiritual Director, Mr. Austin Onyia as Lay Rector, and the music ministry from Christ the King in Dangriga (their primero and segundo drums provided the only instrumental music at the retreat). Many people had supported the weekend financially and in prayer, and quite a few had sought out participants to apply. This was a huge diocesan-wide undertaking of time, talent, and treasure, including the participation of clergy (bishop, priests, and deacons) as well as many lay people. Bishop Philip celebrated the closing Eucharist, at which time Fr. Sinclair Williams from the Diocese of North East Caribbean and Aruba (NECA) delivered a powerful sermon on the Cursillistas’ pathway forward from here. Fr. Williams received a standing ovation. Clergy and lay people delivered many excellent inspirational talks and meditations throughout the weekend, including talks related to piety, study, and action, such as the phenomenal talk by Bishop Philip on the sacramental way of life. It was brilliant. Photos which were taken during his presentation are on the Diocesan FaceBook Web page.

The official goal of Cursillo is “to Christianize our environments through apostolic action of Christian leaders in all areas of human activity.” And, this weekend was about laying a foundation for that way of life, to paraphrase what Fr. Williams eloquently and passionately stated. The people attending the weekend have made a first step in that direction. Like all spiritual disciplines, a way of life takes practice over time to become good at it. Attending Cursillo reunion groups and ultreyas can be helpful in this regard. This Cursillo weekend held up a vision of congregations making a difference in the country of Belize, transforming workplaces and communities where we live and work, one person at a time, a way of life summarized perhaps in the vision of the Diocese of Belize: “a Christ-centered, Spirit-filled, vibrant, growing community of believers who are making a difference in the lives of all God's people.”

Many good testimonials came out of the weekend. Some edited comments from FaceBook about the Belize Cursillo 11 weekend include: 1) It was a beautiful and blessed experience, filled with lots of laughter and love. 2) It was a well spent four days with some good experiences, singing and praying with friends we met for the first time. 3) An awesome weekend and closing Eucharist. 4) Got to meet so many people. 5) A very powerful retreat!

Weekend number 12 is on the horizon for 2017. Cursillo is an international movement that started in the Catholic Church in Spain in the 1940s, and for many decades there has been an Anglican version (which we use) particularly in the United States since 1970, and in the U.K. since 1981. The Catholic version has been endorsed by four popes, including Pope Francis. Anglican Cursillo has been commended by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, as well as by the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu. Cursillo is active among Anglicans elsewhere in the Caribbean. Other versions of Cursillo have emerged over time, such as Tres Dias (generic Protestant, but used by some Anglicans) and Walk to Emmaus (Methodist, used by some Anglicans). Much information about Episcopal or Anglican Cursillo in the Caribbean, the U.K., and the U.S. can be found on the Internet.

The article above may privide you with some perspective about the context of mission work in Belize. I pray for you every day, and may God bless you in whatever you are doing, Shaw Examining Chaplain, Anglican Diocese of Belize Assistant Spiritual Director, Belize Cursillo 11 SAMS missionary Support. Please pray and continue to make checks out to: "SAMS". Put "Shaw and Julie Mudge" in the memo, to support what we are doing. Your continued support makes the work in Belize possible. Mailing address: SAMS, P. O. Box 399, Ambridge, PA 15003-0399. Or on-line, at http://goo.gl/nll8ut

Prayer Mail

Dear Friends,

This has been another eventful week.

A) Have a blessed All Saints Day, and may your time change be minimally disruptive. We do not change time here. Our temporal equivalency with the United States shifts from US Mountain Time to US Central Time. 

B) I am attaching our November newsletter which focuses on the Cursillo weekend.

C) Our English visitors and I met with the Bishop and Commission on Ministry yesterday. I am pleased with the outcome. There was a lot that happened. Interesting dynamic: I was representing the Diocese of Belize along with a few of my colleagues on the Commission on Ministry in discussions with the English companion diocese. That rocks. 

And in the evening, there was a reception for our English visitors in the evening, and I enjoyed that, mingling with folks, and networking. It is part of the relational culture and deepening ties with people in the Diocese of Belize.

D) We traveled to the north Thursday, to St. Peter's in Orange Walk, then to St. Paul's by the Sea in Corozal, and since we were close to the Mexican border, we drove near it and caught a glimpse of the other side.

D) Wednesday, the English team met with Diocesan clergy and myself, and this was followed by a visit to Mission churches along the Belize River as I have mentioned earlier. As per the previous report, various matters were attended to in the early part of the week.

E) Today, I had the initial interactive distance learning session of the preaching class. Then, Belizean Lay Ministers, Clergy, and I attended the workshop on How to be a Welcoming Church, presented by two members of the English team. Very good one.  

As a result of networking with the English team (and as of today), I am now using my Twitter account. It has been dormant for about 3.5 years ever since I created it. Much to my surprise, apparently, I have had 60+ followers who have watched me do absolutely nothing with the account for 3.5 years. Why Twitter? That is because it is the English route of preference for me to be able to communicate with my 50-something English counterpart.

F) Tomorrow, I travel with Bishop Philip perhaps to two parishes for All Saints Day, one of which is the parish of All Saints, so it is its patronal feast day, and then to Good Shepherd in Lord's Bank, near Ladyville, out by the airport. I believe confirmations are the order of the day, and while I have not heard anything directly, based on what I have heard indirectly, I suspect I will have a role to play at Good Shepherd.

G) Working in Belize: the path may not be what we expect at any moment in time (and may change many times without warning in the course of a day), but in the end, the Holy Spirit does great things. The way to think this through is to walk expectantly into the future, and not try to hold on to the present. What may initially appear as annoying detours to some are in fact the main event. So, I have started to look at detours here as the next step or as a main event.

Chart it out this way. You have a plan. It moves from point A to point B, but what God does in Belize is take you by way of points C, D, E, and F, and in fact you accomplish much if not all of B, long before you get to B. I can sense your prayers in this amazing and very rewarding process. The Holy Spirit is at work here in a wondrous fashion that leaves me in awe. It is truly amazing.

Your prayers are requested for the following:

A) This is election week. US elections on Tuesday, and national Belizean elections on Wednesday. Pray that God's will be done.

B) For my remaining time in Belize, for safe and timely travel home on Monday.

C) For a meeting in Connecticut on Tuesday morning, the ability to get out and vote on Tuesday, and for the Diocese of Albany clergy retreat from Tuesday evening through Friday lunch.

D) For what Jesus would like me to do as follow-up to this trip.

E) Family members continue to face major decisions, and your prayers for all of us are always welcome.

F) For Lydia and Julie in their studies.

G) For God's provision for all our needs.

Thank you for praying. I pray for you every day.

God bless you. 

Shaw, and on behalf of Julie.