Category: News

by Leisa Parsons and Kristen Pack, Area Media Specialists

“We have so much more in common” said Pastor Beth Wyndham speaking of the two faiths that came together last Saturday to help prepare a new space for her Episcopalian congregation. She continued, “When you think about the pain in the world and how so many are so angry, it’s an affirmation of why churches need to be here. A need is a need.”

Helping to answer the need was a small army of missionaries and members from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The “need” on Saturday was to gut and clean out what was once The Front Porch Bar and Grill on Main street in Bulverde and help start its transition into a place where the members of St. Nicholas Episcopal Church can worship.

Pastor Wyndham was explaining her vision for the new space to one of her congregants, Scott Perrin, and told him she “didn’t want to bring in a contractor because it’s expensive.” Shortly after, Wyndham says that Perrin called her and said, “I’ve got some guys coming tomorrow. If you’ll be there with a list and point us in the right direction we’ll get to work.”

“This is a pretty big deal” said Pastor Wyndham, “because of their [Perrin’s] relationship with his neighbor, we’ve been blessed with this help.” Scott and Nancy Perrin have a close relationship with their neighbors Cami and Brett Rush. They both describe their relationship as “family”.

Cami Rush, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, said, “When this task came about and Scott saw how daunting it would be, he actually knew who to call. He knows we have an army of resources in our Church. He didn’t hesitate, he knew the missionaries would be willing to help.”  

“I think that is so fantastic that he [Perrin} knew they’d serve, and that Heavenly Father would want our missionaries to be known for serving others as Jesus Christ did.” said Rush.

The group worked to remove signs and old fixtures and to help transform the space from a restaurant and bar into a place of worship. Pastor Wyndham brought her sharpie marker with her and had everyone who showed up to serve, write a prayer or their favorite scripture on one of the walls that will eventually be painted, that way, their service would “be a part of them.” Kristen Pack, from the Smithson Valley congregation said: “It was really sweet actually, seeing that row of missionaries … writing down scriptures that were most meaningful to them.”

This is the first new “plant” or church in the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas in 15 years. The Diocese takes in an enormous 66,000 square miles of west and south Texas. Pastor Wyndham and the Diocese started looking for a place for their new congregation in January of 2019, finally settling on the Bulverde and Spring Branch area.

Perrin said, “We’re looking to be a part of the community [in Bulverde and Spring Branch] and serving the community, that is what drew us to this church.” He continued, “That’s also the role of the Mormon community — to serve others.”

Pastor Wyndham said, “St. Nicholas is all about joy, which is what I want to communicate to the community. Joy is beyond how we’re feeling at the present moment.” She quickly noted, “There’s nothing like having a church centered on joy and having a pandemic to test that…. God is teaching me faith through this process…. God is saying just trust Me.” Currently their congregation averages 35 on any given Sunday. Pastor Wyndham said,”It is a great start for an Episcopal church not even two years old and coming off of Covid.”

“It’s not efficient to leave the ‘ninety and nine’ and go and find the ‘one’, but that’s what we’ve been called to do. We’re not called to efficiency, we’re called to relationships.” said Pastor Wyndham. Relationships are what made this whole opportunity for service possible — relationships of love and service between the Perrin and Rush families.

by Leisa Parsons, Area Media Specialist

August 1st will signal the reopening of Haven for Hope’s Intake Center. They closed down their intake facility over a year ago due to Covid. During the shutdown, their intake area was being used to quarantine those homeless individuals who actually had Covid and to avoid spreading it to other residents.

Chuck Atanasio, who oversees service opportunities for the San Pedro congregation, had been reaching out to Haven for Hope for several months. With Haven now resuming their normal operations, they contacted Atanasio with word that they needed volunteers. Over a dozen members from three congregations in the Church’s San Antonio North Stake showed up to help clean.

Their intake area needed disinfecting and paint clean up. Haven for Hope has a painter they have contracted to repaint the space, however they needed volunteers to clean up. “They had it all taped off, so we’ve pulled up all of the tape they had,” said volunteer, Mindy Clayton. She continued, “We’ve also been cleaning where they overpainted and the splatters.” By removing the splatters and tape, it helps Haven for Hope’s budget by avoiding more overtime costs.

Bishop Bruce Baillio, busy cleaning one of the bathrooms, mentioned that each of the rooms had about 6 metal cots and mattresses that needed disinfecting. He said, “We disinfected all of the mattresses and all of the frames and loaded them to a truck and took them to their courtyard.”

The volunteers worked for just over five hours, disinfecting and cleaning. They also removed furniture from offices still needing to be painted in anticipation for reopening. With Haven for Hope resuming normal operations, they are also opening back up to many volunteer opportunities.

By Ron Cooley & Ken Jarvis

From the end of March through most of May unaccompanied migrant boys who crossed into Texas from Mexico were sheltered at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio.  

Several San Antonio area JustServe volunteers worked with Catholic Charities to care for these young boys ages 13 to 17.  At one time, there were as many as 2,400 boys housed at the Coliseum. Most of them were from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Acting as mentors and counselors, the volunteers ensured their safety, provided proper treatment and even taught them some English.  

Area JustServe Coordinator, Ron Cooley, said that just being a listening ear to their hardships and aspirations for a new future was very beneficial.  “As I got to know these young men, I would ask what made them decide to come to the US? ‘Did you just say I’m going or did your parents tell you to go?’ Most said that their parents told them, ‘Just go…go.  Life will be better for you.’”  

Cooley said he could tell it was a sacrifice based on faith for a young boy to leave home.  “I could sense overall a deep respect for God. That was quite evident when I saw several boys wake up and kneel down next to their cots to say their morning prayers.”

He was impressed with their commitment. “The journey was hard, but their eyes were filled with hope for a better future.”

by Leisa Parsons, Area Media Specialist

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had the privilege of partnering with the Helotes House of Neighborly Service for the past few years. Helotes House is an ecumenical organization in the Archdiocese of San Antonio. Helotes House provides food, toiletries, clothing, school supplies, and other assistance “to our brothers and sisters in need” said Joe Beach, President of Helotes House. Today, a warm thank you for the partnership was given by Beach to Phillip Moore, of the San Antonio West Stake High Council. The San Antonio West Stake has sponsored the Church’s Humanitarian aid over the past few years.

In conjunction with a Food Drive done earlier this year, the San Antonio West Stake has asked and received a grant for the Helotes House to the Bishop’s Storehouse for the past few years. The additional commodities from the storehouse help with the Helotes House’s mission of supporting the more vulnerable in our community.

The beautifully framed recognition certificate lists the wards in the San Antonio West Stake and then says: “In recognition of your contributions and sacrifices over the years in support of Helotes House of Neighborly Service. We sincerely appreciate your tireless efforts you have put forth in supporting our love for the poor in the communities of Helotes and Northwest San Antonio. On behalf of our Saint Vincent de Paul members, we express our gratitude for your sincere and dedicated contribution to our important mission of serving our Brothers and Sisters in need.”

The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, of Our Lady of Guadalupe Conference in Helotes, manages the Helotes House of Neighborly Service. The Helotes House is located at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Annex in Helotes.

By Peter Hightower, Area Media Specialist

The sister missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving in Del Rio, Sister Ruiz and Sister Sherman, recently received an invitation to appear on a local radio morning show. Morning host, DJ Jay Gonzalez became familiar with the sister missionaries through the content and videos they have been posting on their Facebook page over the last year. He became curious after seeing their videos on his feed over many months and he finally decided to reach out to find out more about them and their mission. 

Sister Ruiz explained “When he messaged us on our Facebook page asking to meet with us at the local diner, we thought he wanted to learn more about the Church so we thought we were just going to teach an introductory lesson about Jesus Christ and the Restoration.” When they sat down to meet, they quickly realized he had something else in mind. Sister Ruiz continued “He was just asking us all kinds of questions about who we were and what our purpose was. After a few minutes, he asked if we would be interested in coming on his morning show to talk about it.” 

They accepted enthusiastically and after getting permission from Texas, San Antonio Mission President, Jason Teveten, they agreed to appear on the show on Tuesday, March 23rd. 

The station is KDLK 94.1 which plays mostly country music. In the small studio, Jay is the voice of Del Rio and produces the show every weekday. His co-hosts, Lupita De la Paz and “Sam” provide balance and comic relief. The three are all Del Rio natives and are passionate about their community and making it a better place to live and work. They’ve been broadcasting together for several years and view themselves as a small family. 

During the 30 minute on-air segment, the sisters spoke about their purpose in bringing people to Christ and also highlighted much of the volunteer work they are doing in the community. They mentioned working with Val Verde Loaves and Fishes, the local food bank and volunteering Saturdays at the COVID vaccination clinics. They were also able to plug their mission-wide virtual language classes which help people to learn both Spanish and English. They invited anybody who was interested in learning more to visit their Facebook page at /ComeUntoChristInDelRio or in Spanish at /VenidACristoEnDelRio. 

One subject that came up was how their work has changed in the era of COVID. Ironically, their appearance on the show was a direct result of the new on-line strategy that missionaries world-wide were forced to adopt in the past year. To close the segment, the sisters were able to share a message of Hope and invite anybody who was feeling despair or discouragement to call them to request a personal meeting to pray with them or to share an uplifting message centered on Christ.

By Tish Rodriguez, San Antonio East Stake Young Women counselor, and Marci McPhee, San Antonio East Stake Just Serve Specialist

The Holy Spirit and the spirits of the dead? It proved to be a perfect combination for the youth of San Antonio East and Pecan Valley Stakes. Recently they had a spiritual experience, literally, as they went to various cemeteries throughout the city of San Antonio. The youth and their leaders took pictures of tombstones and grave markers to be recorded digitally on Billion Graves. With the phone app, pictures of headstones along with the coordinates for its location are uploaded to the Billion Graves website. The pictures and location are then available to those searching for a particular family member’s grave. The youth had the option to transcribe these markers onsite, or just take the photos and transcribe at a later time. 

Initially, this activity was to take place at the Ft. Sam National Cemetery, which could have accommodated the entire group. But at the last minute, COVID precluded a gathering of this size. Sister Welch of the Pecan Valley Stake was not about to give up on this wonderful project. She and her presidency did some fast work in locating several cemeteries in downtown San Antonio which needed to have headstones photographed. They divided up the territories so that the youth volunteers could all work “together” (in groups of ten). Welch and other leaders mapped out the assignments and directed the work. Twelve groups of youth photographed graves in Agudas Achim Cemetery, Alamo Masonic Lodge Cemetery, Anchor Masonic Cemetery, City Cemeteries #1, #2, #3, and #5, Emanuel German Lutheran Cemetery, Hermann Sons Cemetery, Old St John Lutheran Cemetery, St John’s Lutheran Cemetery, St. Michaels Polish Cemetery, and Temple Beth-El Cemetery. 

One of the youth commented that it was “so cool to see families grouped together” they liked the fact that even the babies that had died in infancy were buried by their mother, “so she could still take care of them.”  

Thanks to these stalwart youth, headstones at most of San Antonio’s city cemeteries have been captured. The information provided is now available for those throughout the world who may be searching for information regarding their loved ones. 

By Margot Millard, North Stake Media Specialist

During the recent Christmas season, members of San Antonio’s North Stake partnered with Seton Home on their annual Angel Tree program, which provides dozens of at-risk pregnant and parenting teen mothers with personal gifts and essential items for their babies’ care. Under the direction of Amy Livingstone (Sonterra Ward), volunteers inventoried, sorted, and wrapped hundreds of gifts for teen moms, and organized a festive Santa’s Workshop where girls could  “shop” for gifts for their own babies.

This latest collaboration between Latter-day Saint volunteers and Seton Home, a residential facility providing comprehensive care for pregnant and teen mothers, served two important purposes: providing new mothers with necessary baby supplies, as well as helping them experience and enjoy positive holiday traditions that can be incorporated into their children’s lives.  

As explained by Livingstone, who also serves on Seton Home’s Governing Committee, “Christmas can be fraught with trauma for many girls who have not had stable homes and happy Christmas traditions. Personal gifts let them know that they are valued and worthy of nice things.  And when a mom goes shopping in our Santa’s Workshop ‘baby boutique’ and picks out gifts for her child, she gets to wrap them herself and experience the simple pleasure of giving to a loved one – something we take for granted.” 

Preparing this kind of meaningful experience involved the recruitment of dozens of Latter-day Saint volunteers from around San Antonio, many of whom answered the call from their ward’s Just Serve specialist. Early volunteers organized wish lists and created ornaments for distribution within the broader community, representing each mom and baby’s hopes. 

Then, for three weeks, men, women, and teens worked in 2-4 hour shifts, 3 days weekly, converting a training room at Seton Home into Santa’s Workshop. There, volunteers decorated their surroundings in a winter wonderland theme, inventoried and sorted donations, chose gifts for the moms, and prepared a “store” filled with hundreds of items that girls had requested for their babies. After “shopping” for their child’s presents, moms headed for the gift-wrapping stations stocked with colorful paper and ribbons. Volunteers also wrapped each girl’s personal gifts so they would have a special Christmas morning.  

This year’s Angel Tree project, complicated by the Covid-19 pandemic, virtually eliminated the familiar sight of Christmas trees hung with “wish” ornaments in business, church, and school lobbies. Donations this year, however, exceeded expectations, resulting in surprise presents for the girls.  Other stakes pitched in, with the Hill Country Stake making over 150 gift donations, enough to fulfill the wishes of six traditional Angel Trees!  

According to Kari Stewart, Vice-President of Programs at Seton Home, “It was overwhelming, the impact that Amy and her group made.  We could not have done it without them since we would have needed to pull ourselves from our daily work to help manage all the donations.  They really took the pressure off of us.”

During the past few years, San Antonio’s North Stake has teamed with Seton Home on several service projects, hoping to improve the lives of young moms and babies in challenging circumstances.  Says Stewart, “These girls are trying to learn a new way.  They are survivors, brave young ladies who are trying to make a better life for themselves and their children. “

Those of us who have worked with Seton Home are proud to join in helping these young women achieve their goals.  After all, these are the same desires we have for own children — that they, too, feel loved and encouraged to grow, with ample opportunity and support to become their best selves. 

By Leisa Parsons, Area Media Specialist

St. Peter-St. Joseph Children’s Home, affectionately called St. PJ’s received a large donation this afternoon from Relief Society sisters in the San Antonio North Stake. Sisters were given an opportunity to show their love by bringing much needed items to aid some of the most vulnerable in our society. The donations were in conjunction with their stake’s Women’s Conference held last Saturday. St. PJ’s mission is to help children in crisis.

Selena Brooks, who organized the drive said, “I did it for selfish reasons…. Three of my children are adopted, two were in the foster system and one in an orphanage. I know the issues. Children are the most vulnerable among us, they have no control over their lives.” Brooks did some research and loved what she found at St. PJ’s. Their goal is to be a “safe and loving refuge for children in crisis and to accompany them on their journey to healing and wholeness, breaking the cycle of abuse and neglect one child at a time”.

Donations poured in Saturday morning during the conference. One sister said, “I think our ward got the fun assignment. I loved shopping for educational toys and board books to donate.” Each ward received a different assignment so that a good variety of items would be donated.

Donations ranged from diapers and other baby items to craft supplies. Snacks along with hygiene products for teenagers also made the list. Items like towels and bedding for dorm rooms and clothing also rounded out the list besides the toys and books.

Brooks was thrilled with all of the donations, “Children can have everything taken away during a crisis. It’s wonderful when they can have something they can hold onto for security — something that is theirs,” she said.

St. PJ’s also helps with a families. They have a “Family First“ program to help with education and material assistance to expecting or new parents. They also provide much needed referrals for other assistance such as employment opportunities, healthcare, housing and education. To learn more about Catholic Charities and their work at St. PJ’s visit: http://www.stpjhome.org/

By Ken Jarvis, Area Media Specialist

When the local fire department received this call, units were immediately dispatched.  The resident who called it in could not see any flame or smoke but could smell it.  Fire fighters went through all the rooms of that and adjacent apartments and finally discovered the fire burning inside a wall.  

In the meantime, other firefighters started hooking up hose to the hydrants. Unfortunately, the hydrants were dry. No water. Tenders were called in to haul water from distant hydrants that were working.  But even with trucks from 15 departments and 75 firefighters there just wasn’t enough water and the building was lost. Thirty-two apartments gone. Thirty-two families left homeless.  

The Red Cross transported the residents to nearby Johnson High School for food and a place to rest. Fortunately for the residents and firefighters, no lives were lost nor was anyone injured.  

That’s what most of us remember seeing on the television newscasts. It is easy to think that the story ends there.  

But for the residents the hardship was just beginning. All their possessions were gone. They were without food, clothing, toys, cherished personal items, medicine, the list goes on. Fortunately for the residents that was also the beginning of the story for the army of volunteers that moved in to donate, sort and distribute the many items desperately needed by these families.  

The apartment building was located within the boundaries of the Cibolo Hills Ward of the Hill Country Stake. According to Stake Relief Society President, Cindy Beattie, “The next day members of our stake were asked to help with organizing and distributing donations.” 

“By Saturday morning close to 100 volunteers including 30 Elders and Sister missionaries from the Texas San Antonio Mission, came ready to help,” said Sister Beattie.  “Donations were so abundant, we soon realized this was going to be no small task.”

“For the missionaries it was a weeklong effort,” said Sister Cathy Merris, a senior missionary in San Antonio.  “They worked in teams to deliver food, water, beds, couches, kitchen essentials, and personal hygiene products.  Because of the generosity of so many people in San Antonio, a secondary distribution point had to be established at a nearby vacant retail store.” 

Besides collecting and sorting the massive amounts of donations that came in from all over the city, the missionaries also did a lot of heavy lifting. They helped move couches and beds and set them up in apartments within the complex as families were relocated. Elder Van Valkenburgh said: “We had opportunities to help and talk to a lot of people who lost everything. It was a really cool feeling to be a part of helping people get back on their feet.”

When asked about her response to the emergency Sister Dayna Scott, Cibolo Hills Ward Relief Society President, deflected any praise directed at her and gave credit to the support from the Stake.  “How does the Stake Relief Society eat an elephant?  You pray, then devour that elephant one bag of clothes at a time. Then, when that 100 bags of clothes and other donations multiply to 300 overnight you pray again.”   

She went on to comment on how it felt to be overwhelmed by the time and labor required to accomplish the task.  “When you see that this will require more than a day or two, you pray, then you put out calls for more missionaries, more high school friends and parents, teachers, and principals. You accept help from and enlist other community churches, and you put out a call for items that are in short supply.”

As a few days stretched into more than a week Sister Scott and the other leaders realized that new, vacant rooms were finally becoming homes.  She summed it all up with this reflection, “What a blessing it was to watch this community, who, for an entire week, made time to be available. One bite at a time.”

By Peter Hightower, Area Media Specialist

Many communities across Texas are still scrambling to recover from the blackouts and water interruptions caused by last week’s record-setting snow storm and freezing temperatures. One week after the power was restored to most areas, some smaller communities still don’t have access to potable water and remain under boil orders from their local governments. Grocery store chains are struggling to restock shelves with perishable items such as meat, dairy and produce that were spoiled during the power outages. Bottled water and paper goods don’t last more than a few minutes on the shelves even with the stores imposing per-customer limits on purchases.  

District President Ross Davidson, who oversees branches of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Uvalde, Carrizo Springs and Cotulla, recognized that the Church was in a position to provide life-sustaining help during this time and submitted a humanitarian request to the Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City. The Church responded by sending seven truckloads of food and water that was distributed over two days to small towns throughout the district. 

One truckload containing 20 pallets of water was delivered to the City of Uvalde Emergency Services Department on Thursday. Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin was on site to oversee the delivery and personally offer his thanks to President Davidson. “We are so grateful for this help right now and we’re going to be able to help so many people because of it.” He explained that some of the smaller satellite communities in his county were still without power and water. “We are going to send a lot of this shipment out to places like Camp Wood, Sabinal and Rock Springs where they’re still boiling their water.” 

President Davidson estimated that this donation would impact approximately 16 communities throughout the ten counties in his district. He continued “Clean water is a necessity that we all take for granted until we don’t have it any longer. Every single person in this area was impacted by this weather event and we’re so happy to be able to provide some assistance to help get our communities back to normal. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe that through this type of service we can follow His example and help bring His light into the world.”