"Margarita" and Margarita

Two friends... one we know as Margie but is often called "Margarita" by her friends and now family in Costa Rica.  The other Margarita is her friend, student, and helper at UBL

Margie says they refer to each other as "toycaya".  

Tocaya is the one with whom you share the same name!!  Margarita has been my sweet, sweet friend and companion here, "mi tocaya" since I first arrived in Costa Rica and UBL.  Here she has come up to the office where I am now spending most of my hours, it's the Development and Publicity office occupied for the past 4 years by missionary Becky Harrell!!  Margarita and I are working to get all the rooming arrangements made for one of the many groups of missioners who come to volunteer their labors here at UBL.  I really still am LOVING all the tasks which folks here ask me to do---except I HATE the ones related to the computer!!! (You know me, Bonnie).
As long as these are people-related tasks, for groups, for translating documents, letters, sermons, lectures, books, as long as I can be alongside a student in helping with their thesis like I will be doing this weekend with Beauvais from  Haiti, or Albertina from Chile over internet, or Mimi from Korea---I am a very "happy camper"!!!  much love, Margie 

This is a quick up date from our dear friend, Margie.     She doesn't lack for places to fill, hearts to warm, and laughs to keep the spirits up.   

One Great Hour of Sharing

A back view of the new Maternal and Child Healthcare Unit at
Kissy United Methodist Hospital in eastern Freetown, Sierra Leone.

The Kissy United Methodist Hospital in eastern Freetown, Sierra Leone, now provides better care through a newly constructed Mother and Child Health unit. The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)—with major donations from organized partners within the Indiana Annual Conference and the Brother’s Brother Foundation—partnered with USAID’s American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA) program to complete this $750,000 construction project. The new building was dedicated on October 26. Gifts on One Great Hour of Sharing Sunday pays for the overhead for UMCOR.  (Copied from a larger article that is considered one of UMCOR's inspiring stories.) Use the link to read the entire piece. 

 

The connection between Valparaiso 1st UMC and the new Maternal and Child Healthcare Unit is one of those quiet unknown or unrecognized outreach ministries that started in 2004 when a mission team lead by David Byrum went to Freetown, Sierra Leone and opened up a whole new world for those who joined the team.   Over the years Bob and Carol Stoner have lead teams to continue the work there and all the while they raised funds to implement an overall plan for improving the health and well-being of new mothers and babies.  Notice the "red" section in the 1st paragraph.   It refers to the Indiana Annual Conference as being one of the big partners in this project.   That's US!!  Working with Indianapolis St. Luke's UMC, we helped paved the way for the big partner in the project, USAID.    Some members of our congregation have made special donations so that the operating rooms will be equipped sufficiently.  We make a difference.    

 

March 30 is the day you are invited to join others with supporting a special offering throughout the denomination...One Great Hour of Sharing.   Because we support that offering even with small gifts, we make possible the grant such as was provided to Kissy Hospital because we have help pay for all of the administrative costs for running UMCOR.   The offering also gives the "emergency fund" needed cash to use when there is a disaster.   If they had to wait until churches collected the funds, they wouldn't be able to respond immediately.    We remember so well the tornado that tore through Indiana a couple of years ago.   UMCOR sent $10,000 immediately to take care of the immediate needs of people who had lost everything.   Without One Great Hour of Sharing funds, this would not have been possible until maybe 3 months down the road.    Every dollar that we send designated to help in a particular part of the world or state, arrives at that destination at 100% thanks to this offering.  

For the cost of a coffee at Starbucks, we have an opportunity to really make a difference in our world through UMCOR.  Thanks for sharing your "bucks".   

Resourcing VIM teams...

Margie and her friends at UBL

Being part of the UBL family is what captures Margie once again.  The times she spends with her "dorm" friends really make San Jose, Costa Rica a second home.   One recent occasion was a celebration of the International Day of the Woman on March 8.  The men in the dorm prepared and served a lunch for the women.  Good food, wonderful gesture, and full of laughs.  The women with Margie are studying at UBL to be better leaders in their faith communities back in their home countries of El Salvador, Peru, and USA.   

Paradise Valley UMC, Arizona mission team with Margie.  

Volunteers of the University of West Virginia with Margie.  

One of the new assignments this winter is to resource and connect with the teams of volunteers who have been scheduled to do various jobs around UBL. (She hasn't indicated what these volunteers are doing but I'm sure we will find out soon.)    She is translating English to Spanish and Spanish to English as well as to represent the University to the visiting volunteers.  

In addition to working with teams, she continues to teach English to a group of students weekly and assists many students to complete their papers with that extra eye on grammar and sentence structure.  Plus there are numerous trips to other parts of the country when teams are out and about before returning home and generally these are planned by Margie.  She now has a new title under her name,  Travel Agent Extraordinaire.   

Final work day... another set jobs

We were pleased to learn that our Wednesday jobs were different than Monday and Tuesday.   For the warehouse crew, they welcome the relief of standing all day on the concrete floors  and/or lifting 16 - 18 foot boards.  Deb, Bonnie, and Sandy continued to sew one-handled book bags.   Then some of the women plus Mikie and Mike worked on unpacking and packing health kits...no smashed toes from dropping the boards today.  Gene and a few women checked some flood buckets.  They learned all sorts of things about those "soft" sponges being in a tight bucket for a long time.  It became a bucket of mold!!!  

Glenda is getting the towel and wash cloth sets ready for "rolling up"
in a health kit. 



Lois has a box of nail clippers that will be included
in the packing party that is about to begin. 

 

Mikie carries the towel/wash cloth sets and he was also
designated to take all the bucks tucked inside the incoming
kits.   We think he knew where to put them!!

Glenda is now organizing all the items for a  health kit

Gene (just in case you can't read his name tag) and Della are inspecting
and replacing items in the new cleaning buckets. 

We have had a great 3 days of volunteering and some are already signed up to come back next year... March 9 - 13, 2015.    Mark your calendars... let Mike Strayer know real soon if you want to be included on the list of potential volunteers.  

A summary of Tuesday...

Deb and Kathi use a hacksaw to cut the dowels before having
to pound them and glue those while filling the newly
drilled bolt holes.

Tuesday was more of Monday. Working on the old bleacher boards that have been salvaged from a nearby school.   Since Kay has been the queen of removing gum with her cohort Della, they returned after lunch with a fresh pack of gum to share with all.   Most wanted to see the original packaging before accepting gum from them.   Now Kathi wouldn't let her crew chew gum but that's because they were into drilling, gluing and planing (or it could be she just doesn't like gum chewers.) 




Kathi is drilling new holes to standardize the bolt holes that need to be
plugged. 

It wasn't long before Deb's back gave out as she plugged the holes
with the shorter dowels. 

Kathi takes instructions very well from Mark.  

Mikie (to differentiate from Mike) pulls boards from one pile and passes them
to Gene and Mike.

Gene cuts the board so that one part is 11'10"... reason: so they would fit under
the storage frame.   Lots more wood coming next week so they are helping
 "summarize"the wood already there. 

Mikie places the board, Gene cuts it, Mike takes the 11'10" piece
and puts it under the storage frame (didn't get a photo and
he refuses to go back to the depot warehouse to capture
it...  board work is over!!!

After moving "umpteen" boards, they actually refused to empty a truck until they had a break.  That's the sign of a good team leader.   When your team needs a rest, the team leader steps up and says so.   Good job Mike. 

Gene spent the morning in the dorm because his back was really "biting".   But he came back in the afternoon and lifted and cut an entire pile of boards before the end of the day.   Some people will never rest.  

Now here are some of the accomplishments of Tuesday's women!!  (see the photos below) You understand because we (and other volunteers)  had labor to give, MMDC was able to gather good wood and save a ton of money.  They calculated the amount of board feet of used lumber would cost over $50,000 and if they had to purchase that much board feet of new lumber the cost would be over $155,000.  We have to keep reminding ourselves that all of our hard work will be so appreciated by the children of Haiti, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia.     

All of the boards on this pile are now ready for planing to get
parts for the desks.  They have been de-gummed, drilled, and plugged.



Della and Kay were the main gum removers of
all the bleacher boards on several piles like this. 

A First! Day and Jobs

What a great first day ... we learned lots of new things that happen at MMDC.   We'll use some photos to give you an idea about the day...


Our great MMDC Mission  Team 2014...what a fine looking group. 



Gene, Mike and Mike unload the truck.  

Mike, Gene (Mike not pictured) are removing any metal from the
bleachers so that the planer does "choke" when the boards go to the
next phase. 

This is a real first... to take old school bleacher seats planks off the truck (they emptied the truck in record time), remove the metal, scrape the chewing gum off the boards, drill holes where the bolts had been, and plug the holes with a dowel, then plane the dowel to the right length kept most of our team busy today.   Generally our team has been on the what we now know is the last phase of desk-making which was to get a desk ready for shipment.  

hey need to get these boards to the place where they may be stored more efficiently as another truck load of bleacher seats is due next week.   Mike B., Mike S. Gene, Kathi, Della, Deb, Kay, Karen, and Bonnie spent either all of their day or a part of the day doing these tasks.   Enjoy the photos below. 

Della is planning off the dowel after it has been
pounded in with glue. 



Deb is plugging holes.

Karen and Kay are removing gum.

Glenda and Lois unpacked health kits and threw them in a bin
for further inspection and repackaging.  

Sandy is tracing patterns for other volunteers to take home and
sew the items that have been requested. 

 



 

The MMDC team arrived safely...

The team was consecrated before leaving to serve at MMDC in the
9:15 worship service



Gene says he could take more luggage and/or food.
 

We hope there are not quick stops along the 4 hour journey to
Chatham, IL

Mike, Deb, and Mike look serious now but that didn't last long!!!

Glenda is taking her turn sitting next to Gene.   She was informed that
she didn't have to do that every time. 

Our team arrived safely, got checked into the rooms, kitchen organized, and settled down for instructions and devotions.  We are blessed this year with 1/3 of our group being "newbies".   The old timers, Mike Strayer, Gene and Bonnie Albert, Karen Fritz, Della Bozarth, Kay Morris, Lois Smith and Sandy Coolman are pleased to show the ropes to Mike Boyll, Glenda Ketterman, Kathie Thompson, and Deb Wuebbling.   We will have new posts on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings.   Hope you will come back and learn about what happens while at MMDC.    

Health Kit Volunteers...

Not everyone can go to Sager Brown in Baldwin, LA  or Midwest Mission Distribution Center in Chatham, IL but you can be part of assembling kits of relief supplies that are sent around the world during times of disaster or hardship.   Come to the Tower Chapel on Sunday, March 9 and help assemble some health kits. 

 

We will have some kit materials ready to be assembled.   If you want, you could bring items to be assembled as well which will mean more supplies to be shared with MMDC.   Our mission team leaves on Sunday, March 9 and will take these kits to MMDC for distribution.  

 

See you in Tower Chapel after the 9:15 service and before the 11:00 service.    

Kit Contains:

• 1 hand towel (15” x 25” up to 17” x 27”, no kitchen, cleaning, or microfiber towels)
• 1 washcloth
• 1 comb (large 8” & sturdy, no pocket sized or picks)
• 1 metal nail file or fingernail clippers (no emery boards or toenail clippers)
• 1 bath-size bar of soap (3 oz. or larger in original wrapper)
• 1 toothbrush (single brushes only-in original wrapper, no child-size brushes) 
  (no multi packs) (no dentist name or phone number)
• 6 adhesive plastic strip sterile bandages (3/4” to 1” size, wrapped in a rubber band.)

Wrap in a towel and place in a 1 gallon zip lock bag.   Include $1 for each kit to purchase tooth paste.