BAY MINETTE — The Women’s Retreat for the women at Union Baptist was a huge success. The retreat was held at Gulf Shores, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 9-10. Everyone met at the church Friday morning to leave at 9 a.m. It was a blessing. We had ladies to attend up to 80 years old. Once we arrived and got unpacked, Pat Boykin and I got ready to go fishing.

That was certainly a lot of fun. We caught a total of about 40. Some way and some how we made our way back up to the house to get dressed to go out for dinner at Lulu’s After we returned, we had teachings from Pat Boykin, our pastor’s wife and from Deaconess Rosetta Cannon. Sister Boykin taught on being thankful while Sister Cannon taught on using our eyes, ears, mouth, feet, hands and knees to serve God.

We sang our theme song afterward. Then we recalled our secret sisters from 2006. Then we played a game Fantastic 3. It was lots and lots of fun, plus we had gifts to give everyone who came.

We were all about ready to hit the sack but, not everyone. A serious scrabble game got underway that lasted until about 2 a.m. Well, I woke up the next morning to the smell of bacon and sausage cooking down stairs. Wow!!! What a breakfast. We had grits, sausage, bacon, eggs, biscuits, pinwheel croissants, strawberries, grapes, bananas, pineapple, jelly, plus several flavors of juice.

Then after breakfast everyone had an opportunity to speak on an assigned subject. We just thank God for such a blessed event. Our theme was “Being a Witness for the Lord — If I Couldn’t Say One Word I’d Just Wave My Hand.” Thanks ladies for helping to make the retreat so special.

This coming Sunday, Nov. 18 at 3 p.m. Morning Dove Baptist Church will celebrate their 100th Year Church Anniversary in Perdido.

Morning Dove was organized in July 1907 by the Rev. Ed Smith. It began in an old building. The Gipson Place. Materials were donated to build the church. Once it was completed, Douglas Williams gave the building the name Morning Dove Baptist Church.

After having problems getting to the church sometimes due to the train, it was decided to relocate the church to the other side of the tracks. The lot was donated by Leon Coleman and the church decided to build a brick building. Throughout the years the church has been lead by different pastors who served well.

The present pastor is the Rev. Stanley Cox who was elected in 1996. A new sanctuary was built under the Rev. Cox’s leadership in 2003.

Everyone is invited to come share with Morning Dove as they celebrate their 100 years anniversary. Special guest will be Grove Hill Baptist Church of Uriah and their pastor the Rev. Thomas Douglas will deliver the message. This is sure to be a great time in the Lord.

As a special request, I am personally asking you to save a date on your schedule for Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. at Faulkner State College. Community Action will be hosting a fashion and talent program as its first annual fundraiser. I promise to give you more details on it next week, but please save this date, Dec. 1 at 6 p.m.

Until next week let’s ask the Lord to help us be more thankful for His Grace and Mercy.