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eMatrimony.org Supporting, Encouraging, and Challenging the WWME Community |
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| News - Local Rochester/Buffalo, NY Area Leaders "On A Mission From God" David & Claire Hall Following is a letter from our newsletter by our new Area Leaders, Ed & Leo Rivera. They have inspired our community to reinvigorate our area by distributing over 8,000 take-home flyers to Rochester and Buffalo Diocesan schools. We call the campaign “Through the Children – A mission from God.” We now have 18 registered for our June 24-26 weekend, with three and a half weeks to go. Ed & Leonor’s commitment to ME is awesome and the future looks very bright for the Rochester/Buffalo Area. On March 11, 2005 we held our Sixth Annual Lovers’ Ball at the Burgundy Basin Inn in Pittsford, NY. Forty-five couples and our area priest Father Jack Murray attended the event. Our theme this year was Mardi Gras (a little late, but incredibly fun). The following article describes Pat & Pam Clark, who were honored for their years of service to Marriage Encounter. As new Section 2 contact couple for eMatrimony, we look forward to bringing you all the news that’s fit to print from NEW YORK!!! Love,
Letter From Our Area LeadersBeloved M.E. Community, Hello. We are Edwin & Leonor Rivera (Ed & Leo) and we are “On a Mission from God”! Together with Fr. Jack we have chosen this as the theme for our first year as Area Leaders. This theme evokes sounds of “Mission: Impossible” music. The main difference is that our mission is POSSIBLE. What is our mission? It is simply to change the world, one couple at a time. This sounds big and even scary but over the last 17 years that we have been involved with Encounter we have seen this happen over and over again as couples have had miraculous transformations right before our eyes. We believe in the miracle of the Weekend. The fact that you are reading this article months or years after your Marriage Encounter Weekend tells us that you experienced something so special that you decided to stay involved. You, perhaps, recognized that the secret of keeping the renewed love you found on your Weekend is to stay around married couples that are devoted to each other and in love with each other. Your couple power is irresistible to all those who meet you. Couples want to know your secret but the secret is not a secret at all. As a matter of fact it is something we should all shout from the rooftops. The secret is the Marriage Encounter Weekend. Attending the Weekend is the first step. Living the Weekend is the next and most important step. How do you live the Weekend? You do that by actively using each tool that you were taught on your weekend:
As a presenting team couple, we present and attend weekends 2 to 3 times a year and each time is wonderful and different because we as a couple are constantly changing and facing new joys and challenges. We wish all of you could attend as often. We hope you will put it on your calendar once a year on your anniversary or maybe once every 5 years to truly celebrate. The other thing you can do to keep your Weekend alive is to invite others to attend a Weekend. When we attended our original Weekend in October 1987, we saw a banner that read:
That banner helped us realize that WE had to do something to reach as many couples as possible to give them hope and most of all give them a concrete way to keep their marriages a priority in a world that stresses our marriages every day. We saw Marriage Encounter as the possible cure to a cancer that was destroying marriages and families at an alarming rate of 50% of marriages ending in divorce before their 5th anniversary. Being passionate about inviting others ignited a passion in our own marriage and this passion continues today 17 years after our original Weekend. If you knew the possible cure to cancer wouldn’t you want to share it with everyone you know? Our answer is YES! That’s why we invite everyone to a Weekend. Couples hear about the Weekend in many different ways. Did you know that 44% of the couples that have attended a Weekend heard about Marriage Encounter from a friend? 32% of couples on Weekends have heard about Marriage Encounter from a relative! Talking to our friends and relatives really works! Now as new leaders we have decided to challenge ourselves to do one inviting activity daily; just like we dialogue daily, we invite daily. This could be as simple as putting up a small M.E. date card with all the 2005 dates on a bulletin board in a Bill Gray’s entry way, or it can be bigger like sending ME flyers to over 200 school families via their children’s school back packs. Statistics show that people need to see Marriage Encounter information an average of 6 times before they call. Whatever you do, big or small, every effort helps us come closer to changing the world and helping couples live out Jesus’ commandment to “Love One Another As I Have Loved You.” We hope that you will make a commitment to do something, anything, small or big to spread the Word and bring others to the Weekend and thereby closer to each other and to God. Somewhere there is a couple wondering, “Is this is all there is?” You can help them find, not only hope, but also purpose. Our purpose is to be modern day apostles. To live this we must all be every day disciples. We do that by keeping our marriage a priority, followed by our family and then using this strength and stability with Christ’s grace, to reach out to others. Thank you for all that you do and will do. We are looking forward to continuing to ride this wonderful ride called life along side you. Hold on, there will be ups, downs, twist and turns. There will never be a dull moment. We invite you to join us in changing the world, one couple at a time! On a Mission From God! Click here for a printable version (PDF, 22KB)
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