\u201cBeautiful friendships! and a better understanding of Anabaptism.\u201d Lois Friesen from Towanda, Kansas, USA, has no doubt about what she receives through connection with the global family. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs Anabaptists we believe in community. You need people to cheer you on, people who will undergird you; you have to have somebody\u2019s shoulder to cry on,\u201d she says. \u201cIf you\u2019re not supported, community falls apart. We need to gather around as a whole.\u201d <\/p>\n
Life experiences have shaped Lois Friesen into a gatherer and a giver, interconnected with the global family. From past Assemblies to service experiences and travel, her web of relationships connects Europe, South Asia \u2013 and even Canada \u2013 to her local congregation, Zion Mennonite Church in Elbing, Kansas, USA. <\/p>\n
As a Goshen College graduate in the 1960s, she worked on restoring a war-damaged farmhouse in France that was to become an orphanage. <\/p>\n
As an MCC service worker in Akron, Pennsylvania, USA, she and her new husband gathered family, friends and an overseas relative to attend the 1962 MWC Assembly in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. <\/p>\n
When Assembly was \u201cin her backyard\u201d in Wichita, Kansas, USA, in 1978, she helped with the artists\u2019 reception and hosted relatives who camped on the property. Hosts and guests went in many different directions during the Assembly, \u201cso we had a \u2018conference\u2019 after the conference to catch up,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
For the Paraguay Assembly in 2009, she didn\u2019t travel. Instead, under the leadership of then-Deacons Commission secretary Bert Lobe, she took part in a local committee that hosted Cynthia Peacock from India and other MWC leaders on a speaking tour in the USA. <\/p>\n
\u201cCynthia Peacock really brought home for me the great responsibility of the MWC Global Deacons,\u201d Lois Friesen says. \u201cWhen I heard her talk about her duties and still maintaining a home\u2026 All I could say is there is no reason not to support MWC. Look at the outreach and the support the Deacons offer to keep us connected, to keep the centre of Anabaptism alive.\u201d <\/p>\n
Before the Harrisburg Assembly in 2015, she facilitated then-MWC chief development officer Arli Klassen\u2019s trips in the Kansas region. <\/p>\n
For Lois Friesen, giving uses all her gifts \u2013 financial and relational. \u201cI think of being willing to talk to people, willing to host people, travelling as necessary. People have all kinds of skills to give. Think about it and give what you are able.\u201d <\/p>\n
Watching her father give by tithing provided early lessons in generosity. \u201cMy dad didn\u2019t talk about it very much, but we knew that was part of being the church.\u201d <\/p>\n
The church also encouraged the children to tend a plot for a mission project. \u201cWe were reminded of the need to give.\u201d <\/p>\n
Refugee stories also motivate Lois Friesen to give. The Scriptural calls to take care of orphans and widows has a personal connection. Her husband Joachim (Joe) came to the USA from Germany with his widowed mother, sisters and grandmother after six years of displacement during and after World War II. \u201cYou have a calling to offer comfort \u2013 physical and spiritual \u2013 to those in need.\u201d <\/p>\n
Supporting the MWC family, Lois Friesen is guided by Micah 6:8: What does the Lord require of you: do justice, love kindness and walk humbly.\u2019 \u201cWherever\u201d that takes you,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n