What is Centering Prayer, and how can it help you quiet your mind and bring you closer to God? The Rev. Adam Trambley explains in this fifth segment of our series on Personal Prayer:
Other videos from this series:
Personal Prayer Part 1 – Developing Your Personal Prayer Practice
Personal Prayer Part 2- Praying with Icons
Personal Prayer Part 3 – Praying the Daily Office
Personal Prayer Part 4 – Walking the Labyrinth
9:00am Friday, March 22 – 9:00am Saturday, March 23 at St. John’s, Sharon
St. John’s, Sharon, is hosting a 24-hour Lenten Prayer Vigil for the Diocese, its congregations, its people and its communities from 9:00am on Friday, March 22 through 9:00am on Saturday, March 23. The church and chapel will be available for prayer throughout the day. Additionally, we will gather for time of structured prayer throughout the day. All are welcome to join us in Sharon or to join us in prayer from your own location. For more information, contact Adam Trambley (atrambley@gmail.com) or Vanessa Butler (vbutler@dionwpa.org).
Schedule
9:00am. Morning Prayer
10:15am Prayers for every church in Diocese of Northwest PA and Western NY
12:05pm Stations of the Cross
3:00pm. Prayerwalk
5:30pm. Eucharist
7:00pm. Healing Service
10:00pm Compline
11:00pm Oral Reading of Gospel of Mark
8:00am. Morning Prayer
This post is the seventh installment of our “Meet the Deputies” series, introducing our eight representatives to the 79th General Convention. To view other “Meet the Deputy” interviews and follow General Convention coverage, click here.
Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. 1 Peter 4:10
Sharing of self, using our gifts to help others, reaching out to neighbors and developing relationships, sharing our faith by words and actions with the support of prayerful “senders”………that is what mission means to me.
I was blessed again with the opportunity this past January to be part of an enthusiastic short-term mission team to Danli, Honduras. While we were billed as a “veterinary team”, less than half of us were veterinarians. The rest were there to offer their assistance however possible. Randy Doutt and 
myself from St. John’s, Franklin joined a team composed of 7 veterinarians, 1 vet technician, and 8 helpers (willing laymen, spouses and 1 teenager). We had all volunteered to work with SAMS (http://samsusa.org/) missionary Jeannie Loving to supplement some of the spotty veterinary services in the church communities where she serves. Veterinarians were recruited by Christian Veterinary Mission (https://cvmusa.org/), an inter-denominational mission group. We were joined by several individuals willing to help in any way that they could, and their efforts were invaluable to the success of the mission. The “helpers” led devotions, prepared team lunches, lassoed cattle, carried supplies, sorted and loaded equipment and medications, performed crowd control, and helped with the construction of a newly planted church. With the addition of 3 local drivers and 2 student interpreters from St. Mary’s Episcopal School in Tegucigalpa we were a large enough group to split into two work teams.
We began each day with a morning devotion, followed by breakfast and then traveled to one of the more rural communities near Danli. One of our teams would care primarily for livestock while the other was mainly engaged with pet animals. (note: “pet” has a totally different connotation in a 
poor, rural, third-world area than the image of a pampered, American house pet). Animals were driven, dragged, and carried to our work areas throughout the day. During our stay we were able to provide medical or surgical services to over 1800 animals. Some of the men also spent a few days working alongside local villagers to construct a newly planted church in a previously unserved community.
Perhaps more enduring than the animal care are the relationships that our team has built. We work primarily in villages where the Diocese of Honduras has a church presence so we are supporting the work of the local missionary and clergy. Many areas are used to seeing mission groups swoop in once and never return, but the people that we have worked with have learned to know us and we them because we have returned to the same location annually over several years. Because we have been consistent over time we have developed friendships and trust.
One of the highlights of our 10-day mission is always having the opportunity to participate in Sunday church services alongside the local people that 
we have been serving. This past year we received communion together with the new congregation of Iglesia de Santa Maria Magdalena. We worshiped in the same open-air community center where we had spayed dogs just a few days before. Following the church service, the community proudly led us to the foundation of their new church, which some of our team had helped to construct and which they hope to complete before we return next January.
Surely one of the blessings of this outreach endeavor was in the participants working hard each day to totally use all of their gifts and knowledge and strength for the benefit of their Honduran neighbors. This is one case where the cliché was absolutely true: We did receive much more than we gave.
Dan Paulo and his wife Kathy are members of St. John’s, Franklin. Dan is a retired veterinarian who has long been interested in mission, and has made multiple mission trips to Honduras, as well as Haiti, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Mongolia, and Nigeria.
God gave me an idea and a nudge at a meeting of the Daughters of the King Province III board last year. I should invite those present to join me on a mission to Honduras. Carol White from the Diocese of Southern Virginia accepted the invitation followed by Joyce Frenz from my own chapter at St. John’s, Franklin. It wasn’t long before her husband Randall, a Lutheran pastor, signed on as well. We had a team!
I now marvel at the path we took to get to Danli, Honduras. We were four individuals answering a call but really not sure what God was calling us to 
do. We sometimes wandered off the path and I was reminded of Proverbs 3:5-6, Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
A mission trip was not new to me – I had accompanied my husband numerous times on his veterinary mission trips, but this time I would be leading a team with a very different mission. Lord, what would you have me do? My husband’s veterinary team was working with SAMS missionary Jeannie Loving, who just happened to be a Daughter of the King. We communicated with her and after much correspondence, prayer, and a shared daily devotional, God guided us to a plan: a quiet day, a Bible study, and a service project. It was a very ambitious plan that would require money for materials, interpreters, and in-country transportation for us and the participants. We applied for and received a generous grant from the National Daughters of the King Self-Denial Fund to cover those expenses. God gave us the plan and provided the means. Now we had to trust Him to show us the how.
Ten months later, February 10, 2017, we finally arrived in Honduras. The first task was to organize our service project. Our plan was to assemble and distribute mother/baby kits to the public health clinics. In Honduras, any woman going to the hospital or clinic to deliver her baby is required to 
bring with her a shirt, cap, socks, receiving blanket and two diapers for the baby and two sanitary napkins and an adult diaper for her. Many families earn an average of only $20 a month and it can be a real hardship to procure these items. We had brought with us more than 200 each of baby onesies, hats and pairs of socks donated by individuals in the US. With the help of local Daughters, we packed all the required items in a 2 ½ gallon zip lock bag. We included a card written in Spanish stating this kit was from Honduran and US Daughters of the King who were praying for the mother and baby. These same Daughters accompanied us to the clinics to deliver the kits. At one clinic, the doctor in charge clapped his hands and exclaimed he was so thrilled it gave him goosebumps. He ushered us into a room where two very young women had just delivered babies. We prayed with the new mothers and handed each of them a kit. Priceless.
Extra baby items and cash to purchase diapers, etc. were left with the local Daughters of the King so they could continue with this project.
Meanwhile Pastor Randall met with ten women for a Bible study. They came from four different Episcopal churches and some had ridden about an hour on a non-air-conditioned bus to get there. They were attentive, inquisitive and faithful in attendance. We left extra study books for these women to lead Bible studies in their home parishes.
The main event was our Quiet Day which was attended by more than 50 women and about a dozen children. The morning program was a series of 
songs and scripture readings with intervals of silent meditation. After lunch, we opened with a guided meditation followed by a service to admit nine new Daughters of the King to the Order. A celebration of Holy Eucharist closed out a beautiful, spirit filled day. It was a great day in the Kingdom!
I had a vision but I never envisioned the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us. We hope by reading this you will be inspired to step out in faith to do a mission at home or abroad.
Kathy Paulo is a member of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Franklin, PA, and has been a member of the Daughters of the King since 2005.
The conviction that praying shapes believing is part of our Anglican heritage. Prayer is a core practice of our Christian faith and serves as both a foundation and covering for our common mission.
I invite you to join me in prayer for our diocese at St. John’s, Sharon, on March 17-18 from noon to noon. We will set aside 24 hours to pray for each other, our common life and mission, and our communities.
Please join us as you are able. I recognize that not everyone will be able to join us in Sharon, but I hope that you will offer prayer from wherever you are during that time.
+Sean
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The schedule for the prayer vigil is below. As you can see on the schedule, we will be praying from noon to noon with services and events planned throughout the vigil. All are welcome to join us for any portion of the vigil, whether that be attending a single service, coming just to pray on your own for a time, or being present for the full 24 hours. There will be food provided throughout our time.
We will also have a form on the website for those who would like to submit prayer requests to be prayed over by our intercessors. You are welcome to submit as many as you would like.
If you have any questions about this event or submitting a prayer request, please contact Vanessa.
Schedule for Prayer Vigil
March 17-18
St. John’s, Sharon
12:00 PM Stations of the Cross
2:30 PM Centering Prayer teaching and prayer time
5:30 PM Evening Prayer
7:00 PM Healing Service
10:00 PM Compline
11:00 PM Oral Reading of Book of Revelation
12:00 AM Private Prayer/Intercession over submitted prayers
7:00 AM Morning Prayer and Praise
9:00 AM Prayerwalk & prayers for community
11:00 AM Eucharist
12:00 PM Lunch with St. John’s Family Kitchen (if you wish to stay)
The Forward 