Even though she wasn’t able to join Tracy Lutheran Church youth on their recent mission trip to Kanas City, Amy Munson found a way to be a part of it — both in spirit and with a special project that came from her heart.
“She knew her gifts and surrounded herself with the people that she needed to accomplish God’s plan,” said Missie Erbes, who shares both Munson’s love of God and children at the church. “She was the fun one, she was the one that would have these brilliant ideas. For the missoin trip, he had come up with something called ‘blessing bags’ that they could hand out to people in need.”
It was about six weeks before the group boarded a bus to Kansas City that Munson had decided she wasn’t up to traveling that far.
“We got the details in order and had the time to put together these ‘blessing bags,’”Erbes said. “She had put a request out to people and our church to drop things off. It’s just random it’s that people donated; on the drive down, the kids created little blessing cards, and whatever supplies had been donated, they would then stuff the bags.”
Erbes said she has had a love for children since her high school days, but it was Munson who turned that love into a true mission of building a relationship between the kids and God.
“It was her example that truly changed my life,” Erbes said. “That allowed me to follow her example as well deepen my faith and my relationship with our Lord. That has allowed our church programs to only grow. Her enthusiasm and childlike nature — even though she was supposed to be the responsible one in the room … she was the one who was always causing the fun, and kind of fueling the mischief from time to time for a great cause.”
Erbes said Munson, who would host morning Bible study on Fridays during the school year, had the power to pull people together in the name of God and inspire them to continue their spiritual path.
“Her impact is so huge and so inspiring,” Erbes said. Longtime friend Kari Meyer found the words to describe what Amy meant to the church and community hard to come by. Meyer said Munson exuded sincere happiness and a certain presence about her.
“She was amazing and so full of faith — she was committed to that faith and shared it with others,” said Meyer. “She loved being with the kids; when she was on mission trips, she would quietly push the kids and get them out of their comfort zone and do things … Amy wanted them to do.”
Munson was known to possess an unending amount of positive energy, which showed through her ministry.
“On our mission trips, there was always something that happened, something that went wrong, and Amy never worried,” Meyer said. “She was just always, ‘It’ll be fine. It’ll be fine.’ And everything always worked out. It was amazing.”
That impact continued well after Munson was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022. A lively, always-smiling youth minister, Munson was able to keep up her ministry schedule.
“It is truly the most amazing thing I think I’d ever seen,” Erbes said. “She knew two days after her (chemo) treatments would be her day of extreme nausea and exhaustion. She continuously requested that her chemo be on Monday, which meant her day of illness would be on Wednesday — youth group night. She would do everything in her power … to be at the best that she could when 6 o’clock rolled around so she could be there for the kids.” Even though she might not have been feeling 100%, Erbes said sharing Jesus with children was her No. 1 goal “with every breath she took in life. She still does it now; she doesn’t even have to be breathing on this earth for this to still continue to happen. She absolutely made that her mission.” The Munson’s house is literally large enough to hold a church service in, and Munson, the mother of eight, definitely didn’t mind seeing it full of people. “They bought that house so they could fill it up,” Meyer said. “She loved having her house full of kids. She just loved her house being full.” Munson’s positive attitude served her well through her battle with cancer, Meyer said.
“Through it all, she was, “I’m gonna beat this, I’m gonna get my miracle,’” Meyer said. “I think we all thought if anyone was going to get a miracle, it’s going to be Amy. Maybe that is her miracle, that she didn’t suffer as long as some people who have cancer do.”
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She loved being with the kids; when she was on mission trips, she would quietly push the kids and get them out of their comfort zone and do things … Amy wanted them to do.
— KARI MEYER
