10 Hawaii Women’s Missionary Union (WMU) Members Join National WMU in Hand Writing Letters
by Gail Gierhart

If you thought handwriting letters was gradually being replaced by email and printed correspondence, you might be surprised that WMU leaders across our nation handwrote 18,000 letters in the month before Christmas. These were not Christmas cards, but letters to Southern Baptist churches who are not giving through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

The national WMU set a goal of helping the International Mission Board (IMB) raise $175 million for the 2020 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering in honor of IMB’s 175th anniversary. Sandy Wisdom-Martin, Executive Director of the national WMU, was shocked to hear that almost half of our Southern Baptist churches do not give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. She recalled that Annie Armstrong wrote 17,000 letters herself in one year for the support of missions. Sandy decided she herself could handwrite 175 letters in honor of IMB’s birthday and find others who would also handwrite notes.

Ten Hawaii WMU leaders took on Sandy’s passion for this project, and joined the effort to handwrite and encourage 216 churches in Hawaii, Nevada, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to participate in the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Some letters were even written in Spanish to many of the Hispanic churches. Even with their busy schedules (including some home
school mothers), our WMU leaders were blessed to write and pray for a cause they believe in—missions through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

Gail Gierhart is Hawaii WMU president and former IMB Missionary to Japan and Australia. Her husband, Bob, is pastor of Nu’uanu Baptist on Oahu.