cOVID-19 Update
As of June 9, the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) reported the following number of new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population by county:
- 7 cases per 100,000 in Bernalillo County
- 7.9 cases per 100,000 in Los Alamos County
- 7.9 cases per 100,000 in Rio Arriba County
- 7.9 cases per 100,000 in Taos County
While infection numbers remain low, McCurdy continues to implement health and safety measures regarding COVID-19 protocols to help ensure the safety of the children and youth we serve as well as our staff and volunteers. In addition, VIM team members are required to be fully vaccinated before serving at McCurdy.
To review the latest McCurdy COVID-19 Protocols: LINK
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New Mexico wildfires
Major wildfires in New Mexico this spring have caused poor air quality conditions in northern New Mexico. The Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon fire, which is located east of Española, has burned more than 318,599 acres since early April. The Cerro Pelado, which is southwest of Española, has burned 45,605 acres. The Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon fire is now only 65% contained and the Cerro Pelado fire is 95% contained.
Unfortunately, because of the poor air conditions caused by these wildfires, VIM teams scheduled to arrive in May were cancelled or postponed. Please keep the firefighters and citizens of New Mexico in your prayers as they deal with the worst wildfires in the state’s history.
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More VIM teams needed!
There are still several weeks this summer and fall when there are no teams scheduled to serve the McCurdy Ministries Community Center. If you have a mission team or youth group that is looking for a mission opportunity, please prayerfully consider scheduling a team to McCurdy. Your help is needed now more than ever!
If you are interested in possibly scheduling a VIM team for any week this year, please contact our Volunteer Registrar Eufemia Romero by phone at 505-753-7221, ext. 210 or by email at eromero@mccurdy.org. She can tell you which weeks are still open.
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A Journey of 6000 miles (Part One)
by Sarah Allen
A Journey of 6000 miles begins with visiting the first church. In this case, the McCurdy Ministries Community Center 2022 journey began by visiting First UMC in Breckenridge, Texas on May 15th. The journey this summer is similar in purpose to the hundreds of trips and gatherings over the past 110 years of McCurdy Ministries history – to be in connection with those who pray for and are a vital part of our ministry of creating hope and empowering lives in Española, New Mexico.
After miles of fields, cattle, and oil rigs, Breckenridge, Texas, with its beautiful lake, seems like a welcoming oasis. It is a community of around 5,500 people and First UMC is a beautiful older church with many vital mission services and modern additions. Upon our arrival, Charles Evers, a mission team member and leader for many years, met us in the Narthex and introduced us to Pastor David Ferguson who had arranged for me to have a few minutes to speak to the Congregation. It was the Sunday recognizing their high school graduates which was a great connection to McCurdy, who had been known for decades for our exceptional graduation rates from high school. Most everyone in the congregation knew of McCurdy and they were eager to hear about how our current programs were making a difference.
After we arrived home a month later, I finally had a chance this week to look back at our summer adventure. I thought about all of the places, churches, and people we visited. It made me realize it is the missional heart of each church and each person – that deep rooted caring for others, not the size of the town, that makes the difference. Thank you for continuing to welcome McCurdy Ministries and the children and families we care for, into your hearts.
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Remembering Our Fathers
As we prepare to celebrate our fathers (both living and deceased) on June 19, I know that I will take some time to reflect on the cherished memories I had with my Dad. I also hope that each of us will pause to reflect on the precious moments that we have witnessed our Heavenly Father at work in our lives – supporting, guiding, sustaining, nourishing, and caring for our every need.
Following is a special poem that reminds us how our Fathers are always with us.
Never Alone
by Rodney Belcher
I feel you in the morning
when I first awake . .
Your thought is always with me
with each decision that I make.
You’ve been around forever
since the first breath that I took . .
Now I have to go on alone
but for your love, I need not look.
For by what you have bestowed
in out short time together ..
Will live on in my heart
always and forever.
Although you’ve left
and now walk on above ..
I’m never alone
as I’m wrapped in your love.
Enjoy now, your long waited reward
feel peace that your love lives on ..
What was taught to me, will be taught to mine
’cause you live on in me, after you’ve gone.
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2022 McCurdy Fiesta
We hope you are making plans to attend the McCurdy Fiesta scheduled for Friday and Saturday, October 28 and 29, 2022. Current planned activities include:
- a Public Private Partnership Dinner for special guests,
- an antique car show,
- volunteers dressed in period costumes,
- games on the lawn,
- “Trunk or Treat” for the kids,
- a Silent Auction,
- a Virtual 5K walk/run,
- a special anniversary celebration presentation,
- dessert for all,
- and much, much more.
Stay tuned as work continues for many fun-filled activities to celebrate McCurdy’s 110th anniversary! If you have an idea for an activity for this year’s celebration, please share it with Sarah Allen: sallen@mccurdy.com
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McCurdy design contests
We are looking for some creative ideas for the design of a special tee shirt or a 2023 calendar to help commemorate McCurdy’s 110th anniversary this year. You are invited enter these design contests by simply summitting artwork or a photograph reflecting the various seasons in the Española Valley or the various places McCurdy has had schools throughout its history (Santa Cruz, Velarde, Alcalde, and Vallecitos).
All entries must be artist’s original work or photograph and no more than two entries per individual. Everyone is eligible to enter, no matter the age. Entries must be received by August 1, 2022. Winners will be announced by August 31, 2022.
Prizes for winners:
The winner of the tee shirt design contest will receive a McCurdy tee shirt, a McCurdy 2023 calendar, and a $50 gift card.
For the calendar contest, there will be one winner for the calendar cover who will receive a free calendar, a McCurdy tee shirt, and a $50 gift card. Their entry will also appear as the graphic for one month. In addition, there will be 11 monthly winners who will receive a free calendar and a $25 gift card.
Contest rules:
For the full list of entry rules and a contest application form, go to the McCurdy website: https://mccurdy.org/.
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Other ways to
support McCurdy
If you would like to help support McCurdy on an ongoing basis, please consider one of the following ways to help maintain this vital ministry to the children, youth, and families of the Española Valley:
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Set up a monthly online donation using the DONATE button on the McCurdy website: https://mccurdy.org/give-now/
- Set up your AmazonSmile account and designate your support of McCurdy Schools of Northern New Mexico (McCurdy Ministries Community Center's legal name). The AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to the non-profit organization you select.
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Select an item or two each month to purchase from McCurdy’s Amazon Wish List. (It operates like a wedding registry site.) Just be sure to select McCurdy Ministries Community Center on the address list at checkout so your items will ship directly to Española. LINK: https://www.amazon.com/registries/custom/1EOD3JA3OX4EE/guest-view?ref=gr_search_page_result
- Set a time to pray daily for the McCurdy staff and for the future of the ministry as they work to provide services to the Española community for 2022 and many more years to come.
Thank you for your support of our ministry!
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Here’s another great recipe from McCurdy’s very own collection, Recipes of a Century Past, published in 2012 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the ministry. This recipe was contributed by Mr. and Mrs. Enoch Rodriguez.
Empanadas with Meat Filling
Empanada Dough:
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1-1/2 cups luke warm water
- 4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup lard or shortening
Meat /filling:
- 1-1/2 pounds beef, pork or tongue
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup applesauce
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup dark syrup or molasses
- 3 teaspoons cloves, ground
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups pinions or chopped nuts
- 1/4 cup sherry wine
Dissolve yeast in water, set aside. In a bowl mix flour and salt, then cut lard into dry ingredients, mix well. Knead dough until smooth and roll out thin on floured surface and cut with a biscuit cutter.
To make the filling: Cook meat until tender, cool, and then grind. Add raisins, applesauce, sugar, dark syrup, ground cloves, cinnamon, salt, pinons, and sherry wine, mix well. The filling should be thick and moist. If it seems dry, add more liquid.
Place a small mound of filling in center of pastry circle and fold over, moistening one half of the edge. Tightly seal the pastry with a fork. Try in hot lard or shortening until brown. Drain. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, serve with ice cream or plain. Makes 6-9 dozen.
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Here’s the story behind another favorite Methodist hymn. The information is taken from the Believers Portal website.
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
“If Isaac Watts is known as the father of English hymnody, William Williams (1717-1791) is considered by many to be the father of Welsh hymnody.
In 1738 Williams heard a sermon by the revivalist preacher Howell Harris, a fiery Welsh layman who had been influenced by the Methodist movement in England. It was through this sermon that Williams discerned his calling to go into the ministry.
Williams first pursued becoming an Anglican priest (in the Church of Wales) and entered as a deacon in 1740. However, he soon came to discover that his heart was with Harris and his itinerant work, and before long he left his small curacy in the mountains to join with the traveling Methodist preachers.
The revivalists realized that the Welsh language was lacking in hymns—the church in Wales was still primarily singing metrical psalms in their worship services. In order to promote the creation of hymns, Harris put together a hymn-writing competition between the different preachers.
As Louis Benson relates, ‘the prize fell easily to William Williams, who had the poet’s passion and a gift of verse-writing. Therefore it was not very long before he was recognized as poet laureate of the Welsh revival.’
Williams would go on to write many hymns in both Welsh and English. ‘Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah’ appeared in Welsh in 1745. Twenty six years later, in 1771, a Rev. Peter Williams translated the first verse into English, prompting William Williams to translate the rest of it into English as well.
It is fitting that Williams should be the author of a hymn about the Christian’s pilgrimage on earth since as a traveling Methodist preacher, he was a pilgrim in both the spiritual and physical sense.
Williams made an extraordinary record as an itinerant evangelist. He took the whole of Wales for his parish. His travels for forty-three years are said to make an average of 2230 miles a year, at a time when there were no railroads and few stage-coaches. In this way the greater part of Williams’ life was spent, not in a preacher’s study, but in the great world of out of doors. …
It was a picturesque life, but it was not an easy one; for nature is not always kind. It involved much exposure and constant fatigue. It incurred also that menace of the mob of which all these revival preachers were victims. …
Such self-sacrificing years of evangelism and those weary thousands of miles sum up the remainder of Williams’ life.”
Use this link to read the full story as well as the original hymn’s verses: LINK
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Do you have a favorite hymn or scripture that helped you through a difficult time? If so, would you be willing to share your story with me and with our readers? If so, please email it to me at lpolson1966@gmail.com.
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You Matter More Than You Know
By Lysa Terkeurst
“Isn't it funny how time passes by quickly, but a lot of our days sometimes end up looking the same?
…We hear about other people's accomplishments that seem so significant and compare them to our lives and wonder if we're making any kind of difference at all.
In the middle of all that seems so ordinary about our everyday tasks, it can feel like we're missing out on fulfilling a much bigger purpose or assignment. With a desperate sigh at the dailiness of life, we get to the end of these days, and we think, Is this all there is to my one life? Or does God have something more for me?
Scripture tells us that hearts set on eternity are inside of us. (Ecclesiastes 3:11) We know it. We feel it.
It's a sacred stirring – we sense it so deeply that we know it's not an inkling of our imagination but rather an igniting of God's revelation. God is pointing us in the direction of something. A blurry vision of how our seemingly ordinary lives could change the world.
The ordinary can be so very, very holy. If we are obedient to God in the midst of our ordinary lives, extraordinary impact is always possible.
When we get to heaven, I think we will be surprised by what actually mattered the most. What actually changed the world. What actually fulfilled the purpose for which we were created.
And the small places we showed up and served in obedience will actually be what prompts Jesus to say, ‘Well done. Remember when you took the time to share encouraging words with someone who needed them? That's the day you helped change the world.’
Friend, you have a calling, a unique and wondrous calling from God, every day of your life. We find this truth spelled out clearly in Ephesians 2:10:
We are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Today it could be in the line at the grocery store; tomorrow it could be a phone conversation with a friend. Wherever it is, whatever it is, remember: You were created to participate in God's divine activity.
We don't know how our lives could impact eternity, how our stories could unfold, how our talents could be used and how God could redeem what feels purposeless in the everyday to bring hope to a world that desperately needs it.
He will not only use your life for extraordinary impact, but I fully believe God made the very DNA of your being to carry His hope and bless the world with it. Your life has never been and will never be wasted in the hands of our Creator. Every aspect has purpose, and every moment has potential impact ... even when you cannot see it.
So today take what feels very ordinary and place it into God's hands. Ask Him how He would like to use it. Ask Him to reveal who needs the extra dose of encouragement today, and ask Him to help you to really see others' needs as you journey along the path He has called you to.
Dear Lord, thank You for using me today. Even if my everyday moments feel insignificant, I know You will use them for great impact. I need Your help as I learn to say ‘yes’ to Your calling on my life to participate in Your divine activity. In Jesus' Name, Amen.”
Use this link to read the full devotional: LINK
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McCurdy Ministries Community Center creates hope and empowers the lives of children, youth, adults and families through education, life skills, and faith-based programs in Española, New Mexico.
The month of June brings abundant flowers, a vast array of summer fruits and vegetables, and a desire to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. May you take some time to renew your spirit as you soak up some of God’s abundant splendor during this first month of summer!
McCurdy Board and Staff
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Through our Volunteer Newsletter, we are providing the latest information about volunteer opportunities at McCurdy Ministries Community Center and sharing helpful tips about planning a mission trip to Española. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or suggestions about articles or resources. Send your suggestions or questions to Linda Polson at lpolson1966@gmail.com. Linda is an MMCC Board Member and experienced VIM Team Leader.
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McCurdy Ministries Community Center creates hope and empowers the lives of children, youth, adults and families through education, life skills and faith-based programs
in Española, NM.
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