Early stages of the parsonage

The Valparaiso 1st's Mission for Dominican Republic includes continuing the construction of a parsonage.   Our team will assist local workers.   Here are a few photos of the beginning of the parsonage in late February.   They will continue to build as long as they have money for supplies.   We are one of the few places in the world that can borrow money to build a house.   Most places must raise the money as the building goes up.  In some mission areas our church family has visited, a home or church may take 10 years or more to build.   And when it is done...it is completely paid for.   May be worth thinking about. 

Working with the Dominican laborers ensures that we will get to know the people of this beautiful island.   Team members are encouraged to learn a bit of Spanish.   We will have interpreters working with the team, however, any attempt to speak Spanish is much appreciated.  So team...for those with no Spanish language skills, let's work on the greetings and some common phrases to start with.   Even 10 new words will make a difference. 

Our team is complete...



Monte Rojo Church will be our home away from home in June

With a full team we are now in the final stages of preparation for our mission journey to Dominican Republic June 13-21.  All our held airline tickets have been filled with wonderful, faith-filled, adventurous people.   Our team is unique with the following makeup...

• 4 females and 8 males   (usually it is the other way around)
• 5 adults and 7 youth/young adults   (great energy!!)
• 7 members of FUMC  (3 who have not been on an international mission experience)  
• 5 college youth and 2 experienced high school youth (the HS youth have been on 2 previous international mission trips)
• 4 youth who have command of the Spanish language (we are so blessed with these Spanish language learners!!)

In the next 3 months our team will begin to prepare to be with the churches in Dominican Republic and our Missionaries Ardell and Gordon Graner.  One of our challenges will be to raise enough funds for the project.   We have been asked to provide $3,000 to $5,000 to assist the church in Mt. Rojo with the construction of a parsonage.   Each team member is financially responsible for all ($1,600) of their own expenses which includes airfare, room and board, insurance, ground transportation and a portion of the project cost. 

 

We may also be invited to plan children's activities for the churches in the area.   We will need to collect supplies for art projects and maybe some other things that will provide the opportunity for us to develop a relationship with their church family.  You can be part of our "home" team by praying for our journey,  you can be our "Cheerleaders" as we prepare, you can help support the mission with your gifts, you can help us collect the art supplies once the supply needs have been shared.    

Let the painting begin!!!

Thanks to all who "Chipped In to Spruce UP" the dorm rooms at the Latin American Bible University (UBL).   Today $600 was sent to the school via Margie Miller so that paint can be purchased.   Soon students will be leaving the school to go home for the break or they have finished their program, then these vacated rooms will be cleaned and painted in preparation for a new students.   Be sure to check back for photos in April...I know our inside person will get a few before she returns to Valparaiso in May.   THANKS ALL.  

 

Dominican Republic Mission team...

Dominican Republic shares the Island with Haiti.   Our mission church will be on the northern peninsula in the mountains north of Samana.  The map above shows clearly the little peninsula where Mt. Rojo is located.  Mt. Rojo is about in the
middle of that peninsula.    

One more seat (on the plane) is available for our mission with the church in Dominican Republic for June 13 - 21.  There is something special about having a team of 12 ready to serve.   Right now our team consists of 3 females and 8 males.   We are 3 retired folks, 1 employed adult, 5 college students, 2 high school students.   Looks like a high energy group.    About 4 of our young people are somewhat Spanish Language proficient.  That puts pressure on the others to learn a bit of Spanish before we depart. 

 

One of the side trips is hopefully a trip to the baseball stadium that is the training ground for many of the DR youth and a feeder system for our National and American Baseball leagues.   We also will try to get a glimpse of the beautiful beaches in that country. 

Here's a bit of information shared by a team that went to Mt. Rojo in February. 
"We were there to mainly build a relationship with the people of the Iglesia Evangelica Domincana, a church formed by Methodist, Presbyterian, and Moravian churches.... We worshipped with church members, did Bible School type activities with the children, made banners with the women, painted on of the church's capillas, shared many meals, and mainly cheered as they added a cement roof to their new parsonage.  Samana, where we stayed, is a small city known for whale watching...so we had an afternoon of whale watching."  

 

Ardell and Gordon Graner are the missionaries in Dominican Republic and are taking time to make the arrangements for our team.   In early March, they posted an article about the mission team that just served with the church where we will be visiting.   Check out the March 2 blog post.

 

I'll update this post when I get some photos of our project.  Looking forward to a great week. 

 

Wrapping it up at MMDC

 

A time lapse video of some fancy work with the desk boards that were once bleacher seats that left many people with splinters.  This was a morning session of desk boards being prepared for making amazing desks that will fill the schools in Haiti and Liberia.    

 

Tiffany and Johnson putting the desk together.   What's
funny to watch is after it has been put together, they have
to take it apart and get it ready for shipment.  

One great looking team.   

Scary!!!!

 Traveling back home Thursday.   Be safe.    

Day 1 report from MMDC

 Glenda is at it again.   She's counting band aids into groups of 5.   In years past she and others who have been assigned this job have worked with a couple from nearby Chatham.  This year Marilyn and Steve are not going to be there as Steve fell and is now in rehab.  Mike Strayer and the other "old timers" will surely miss the smiles of Marilyn and Steve.   

 

Sue Larson and Tiffany Black are working on the old  bleacher boards.   There is some discussion as to whether these are the boards that we scrapped the gum from last year.   That's doubtful because as schools give up their old wooden bleachers, MMDC receives a truck load of gummed up boards.   There are always "new" ones coming in which means a new batch of hardened gum. 

 

I think Della has become a "flipper" of the boards.   I've heard that Johnson has been helping with the routing of the boards.  

Sandy is taking bulk trash bags and preparing a group of maybe 10 and ready to be placed in one of the cleaning buckets.   In years passed we have cleaned cleaning buckets that smelled like pickles, strawberry or cherry pie filling. or who knows what.   Sometimes we have packed the cleaning buckets.   And one year we were there when the buckets were loaded up and sent to an area that had just been hit with a tornado.

There's a mole in the dorm this week.   The word out is the Bachelor is on the TV and a Susan, Mary and Sandy are settled with a bowl of popcorn, glued to the TV.   Humm...looks like Mike has joined them.

 





This is all the proof we need.   Yes, Mike and the girls and taking in the Bachelor!!!

For the 9th year ...we are blessed by serving at MMDC

Back row:  Mike Boyll, Mike Strayer, Johnson Black, Tiffany Black, Sandy Coolman, Glenda Ketterman
Front row:  Della Bozarth, Susan Larson, Mary Spruitenburg

Here is the 2015 version of the MMDC Mission Team.    Seems like just yesterday that the first team ventured off to connect with UMCOR through Midwest Mission Distribution Center in Chatham, IL.   The "new" dormitory with full kitchen and general living space had been completed to give volunteers from beyond easy driving distance an opportunity to share in getting emergency supplies prepared for shipment around the world.  

 

How appropriate for our team to go at this particular time.  Sunday, March 15 is one of the 6 Special Giving Sundays for the United Methodist Church.   ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING.   We have a unique opportunity to support UMCOR ...make a small gift and it will cover the cost of doing business and providing the "up front" money for the many disasters that happen world wide.  When every church gives something, it is together that we can really make a difference. 

 

Remember your $'s to One Great Hour of Sharing make it possible for the funds we send at the time of a disaster go to the project at 100% because the OGHS money has taken care of  'getting' it there.    

Making treats... plus CHIP IN and SPRUCE UP

 In the kitchen of the dorm where I live, about 12 of us gathered to learn the art of making delicious pupusas (a quite popular and common delicious Salvadoran  food) under the direction of Luisa and her daughter Gabi!!  We are students and volunteers here sharing in the fun, UBL "family" activity!  Yes, my dear ones, I DO really do some serious WORK here, too, but you surely KNOW that a very important part of my WORK is just "being there" with others here!!    Love to all,  Margie

 

Bright and early this morning we got an note from our good friend Margie Miller from her home away from home.   While most of us would want to live in an apartment when spending 3 and 4 months at a time in a far away place, our Margie prefers living in the dormitory where she has constant interaction with students as noted in the above story. 

 

It seems the Dormitory where she lives and "plays" needs painted ... rather each room needs to be "spruced up" a bit after years and years of students moving in and out of the room and not enough funds to do this kind of maintenance.  These rooms have not been touched for longer than any one can remember.   Margie has asked if we could partner with her and come up with funds to cover the cost of paint.    

 

The easy thing to do would be to ask UMW or UMM to fund this but instead, we are giving everyone an opportunity to show Margie how much we appreciate all she does at UBL.   You can support Margie in this request by 1) signing a document of support and 2) giving $5 - $10 toward the purchase of paint.   They have plenty of workers or volunteers who can paint the rooms but the funds to purchase the paint are not available.   Will you be among the 120 people who love Margie enough to want this project to happen during the month of April?        

 

Mission in the future is going to be more and more about not only sharing financially with our gifts but joining hands in a partnership.  This is a perfect 50/50 partnership because we can support the project with paint and they support the project by getting the paint in right places to give the dorm a face lift.  Find a member of the National/International Mission team and be part of the Spruce up the Dorm project.  

See Connie/Max Roach, Eldon Versteeg, Bonnie Albert, Mike Strayer, Mike Yohe, or Julia Young to  sign a sheet and share a message with Margie as well as make a donation for paint.  

 

Together we can make this happen.  Thanks for your support.   See you in Church.  

Sunday, March 8 update:  We are on our way to get that dorm painted...with over 50 supporters and now $310 in donations after our 1st attempt at reaching people.  
It's not too late to be part of the CHIP IN and SPURCE Up... check the welcome table for a place to write a message to Margie and share in the purchase of paint for UBL.  
  

Let's meet another graduate of Africa University

Sandie Petronella Sikazwe Chanda is a young woman with a small connection to our congregation in the late summer of 2000.   Sandie was one of 4 students to receive a bit of financial support from the Valparaiso 1st Mission team to AU.    While the team did not meet her in person at that time, we have managed to keep in touch through the years thanks to the internet...especially for the last 10 years.   Sandie did meet the team from Valparaiso 1st in fall of 2011.

Since our first connection, she has graduated from Africa University, found employment in Zambia with various NGO's.    Currently she is working in Solwezi, Zambia which is an  underdeveloped mining community located in a northwestern province of Zambia. This cooper mine is operated by an Australian company and now the 8th largest in the world.   Here is how she describes her job:

Under Fhi360 (a US NGO) we are complementing Governments efforts at reducing HIV and AIDS through promotion of the following services: provision of ART to those living with the virus, reducing prevalence rate through promoting interventions like male circumcision, prevention of mother to child transmission, counseling and testing and educating the public through trainings, sensitizations. We also renovate government hospitals and furnish them with relevant medical equipment with regards to HIV and AIDs.

This job is a new one and important for the overall care of her family.   Her 3 children now reside with her parents in Botswana so that she can get a new household set up and move forward in her career.   Childcare outside the confines of the child's home are nearly non-existent in most places in Africa.   Family is much preferred for childcare even if it means child and parent live apart.  Like many Africa University graduates,  her long term goal is to get more education so that she can direct humanitarian programs that will make life better in her area of influence. which would likely increase the "family" income.   

Reducing poverty, improving job opportunities for young people, respecting the environment in the business and personal arena, equalizing the distribution of power, resources, and opportunities for all are a few of her hopes for the education process for Africans.  

Africa University has prepared her for the future and gotten her down the road to full employment.  Sandie, like many Africans with a job, they feel the increased responsibility to provide for not only their immediate family but for many in the extended family. 
(Working on getting a photo of Sandie.  She's a busy woman these days so... we wait.)    
  

Dominican Republic and MMDC teams updated.

With less than a week before the deadline to put the names on the seats in the plane, we are getting closer to having seats filled.   If you have been considering going to DR this summer (June 13-21) and haven't let Bonnie know, you need to contact her immediately.   We are at 11 of 15 seats filled for sure with 4 still thinking.   bonnie@albertmail.com   March 10 will be the last date we can change the number of seats. 

 

The Midwest Mission Distribution team will depart on Sunday for Chatham, IL.  They still have room for more people and plenty of food promised to feed everyone.   You know this particular mission trip is a food fest as well as an amazing glimpse at the work done by UMCOR.  If you are interested (just $200 for and all inclusive experience), contact Mike Strayer.   jstrayer@netnitco.com 

 

We are blessed through serving.