For those of you who missed it on Sunday morning, here is the letter Miss Mary wrote to the church regarding her retirement:
From Mary Sheffield
Friday, August 28, 2021
Dear Church Family,
After having had the great blessing and privilege of serving as the PHBF church secretary
for 18 years, it is with great joy, mixed with some sadness, that I am starting an exciting
new chapter of my life. It has taken a great deal of patience and perseverance, but I feel
I now have Josh adequately trained as a dynamic and grammatically correct shepherd of
the church flock. Therefore, I feel I can confidently hand the reins over to the next
person to serve in my stead, and so I have decided to retire and move to live with my
daughter and son-in-law in Montana.
All joking aside, I did not make this decision lightly. I love each and every person in this
wonderful church family, and had I the secret to the fountain of youth, you would be
stuck with me indefinitely. I am so grateful to be able to say that there was never a
single day that I wished I could stay home rather than go to work. This job was not a
“job.” It was God’s daily pouring out of abundant blessing on this, His undeserving
servant.
With that said, I have recently begun to feel less than confident in things like keeping up
to date with technological advances, navigating the Parker traffic, and remembering
that Josh is off on Mondays. Along with this, we all know that I am no longer a spring
chicken, and consequently am beginning to feel the aches and pains that are a natural
result of having been blessed with 88 years (and counting) of a wonderful, busy, active
life. God, in His all-knowing wisdom, has perfectly orchestrated this life transition.
My love and thanks to all of you for being a part of my life. Please continue to be a part
by keeping me in your prayers, and maybe dropping me a note now and then at my new
address, 727 Fish Hatchery Rd., Libby, Montana 59923.
Wishing God’s richest blessings to all of you…
Miss Mary