by Bonnie Willy as told to Ella Reff

What was your early church life? 

I attended Catholic church and school as a child. I was a practicing Catholic until about 10 years ago.

When did you make your personal commitment to Christ? 

I consider my confirmation in 5th grade my commitment to Christ. 

In what ways have you served the church and the community? 

Over the years I have served on various committees.

Would you like to share any experiences in your life where you felt God was especially comforting or near? 

As I have battled cancer since the summer 2020, naturally, my faith has kept me going. The prayers of many friends and family have been a blessing. Every week I have some kind of breakthrough that can only be attributed to prayer. God is simply not finished with me yet. He has more work for me to do on earth.

In the vein of the way Paul wrote to the various churches in the New Testament, would you have anything to say to our people for comfort in these trying times?

These are extremely trying times worldwide. Stopping to say a prayer when we hear troubling news is a small way to honor those in difficulty.

Do you have a favorite Bible passage or verse? I fell in love with Psalms in 3rd grade because of a special nun who shared and explained a verse for us every day before recess. Those were special times.. The day JFK was killed, our priest shared a Psalm and talked about the importance of ignoring hate, praying for our country, and praying for our church. Looking back, a knee-jerk fear was that JFK was killed because he was Catholic and Catholics may have hate shown toward them. I think of that day often when we hear hate speech for any particular group in our country.