TREADMILL at Kissy Hospital

Trent just returned from his journey to Sierra Leone ... and one of their stops was to visit Kissy Hospital.   You will remember several years ago our National/International Mission Team hustled around to get a treadmill to load on the Operation Classroom container headed for Sierra Leone. 

Well... here is the Physical Therapist Steven showing us one of his prime pieces of equipment.  

South Bend Volunteers from November 4.

Don Pettit,  Dennis Deeter, Les Sauer, Bruce Cordray, Pam and Bob Westfall and mystery man.  

A team of volunteers continue to go to South Bend for finishing up the job left by the floods of 2016.   

Bob McMurtrey writes:   There has been some buzz from several directions for a group to go on Thursday of next week, November 16.   If you are among those who’d like to work on a Thursday, I’d appreciate a response as to whether you’d be interested in participating November 16.    As time goes on new people each week have expressed interest in donating their time and talents.    It’s very gratifying to me and very appreciated by the people in South Bend, both home owners and volunteer coordinators. If anyone expresses an interest, please have them give me a call or email at mcmurtrey1@comcast.net.

Other suggested dates :   Since Saturdays have proven popular, I can offer  Saturday Nov. 11,  Nov.  18, and Nov. 25.  

Within about 2 days before each work date, I’ll let those going know who else is going and try to share contact info among that group and share the necessary location, time, and type-of-work info so you know how to prepare.    People often decide to go fairly late in the process, and these people are welcomed and paid the same as those who signed up early.  

Bob McMurtrey

(Cell) 219 242-7738

Margie at work...

Peruvians Herold and Naty with Fredimil helping out. 

Dear Bonnie,

Notes in her notebook.

  Here you have some beautiful photos showing some fun moments of study and preparation!!!! (in the kitchen, no less)!!! before having their interview this week by phone with great hopes for ordination as Methodist pastors in the Peruvian Methodist Church.  What beautiful people are Herold and Naty, and here also with the BLESSING of Fredimil, and fellow student and Moravian pastor from Nicaragua...(we all know how important the Moravians were in the spiritual life of John Wesley.)

  You can see that Herold and Naty not only are studying the Bible but also the details of the Peruvian Methodist Church along with a book of John Wesley theology with the help of Margie.  Included also are the notes from a notebook which they have taken to be particularly well prepared for the ordination interview this week.  ALL is in readiness!!!!

Mucho carino para todos!!  Los quiero mucho. God is good, all the time.  Margie

Serious work for Margie...

South Bend "UMCOR" team

UMCOR is the last one to go home after a disaster.   A team of men went to South Bend this past Saturday.  The floods of South Bend took place more than a year ago.  Team members Bob McMurtrey (main organizer), Bob Coolman, Bill Blake, Larry Pincus, and Bob Larkin reported for their volunteer assignment in South Bend on October 14.  Thanks Bob M for the photos and information.  

UMCOR sent funds to assist families who qualify to provide materials and to hire a case manager and construction manager for the South Bend Area floods of 2016.  Allison Curts, Indiana Conference Disaster Relief Coordinator is working to find teams to complete the work on the homes in the South Bend area.  

Before 

Bob McMurtrey says, "They can use more volunteers.  The only paperwork in advance is a medical information sheet.  They do ask for a list of meds and health insurance information and a signature on their form.  I can send you a blank form to run off and do in advance. I would  recommend packing lunch  unless we hear last minute that they will provide one.   They don’t have much of a budget compared to the work that needs to be done.  It worked well assembling at Asbury Center north of the church, leaving from Valpo at 7:45am and leaving South Bend around 3pm our time. "

After

This isn't a men's only event.  Women don't hesitate to join in the fun,  it would be good practice for Sager Brown or Midwest Mission Distribution Center trips.  Please let Bob know if you plan to go.   It might be we could have enough volunteers for two or three repair assignments.  

Bob M.'s contact info:
mcmurtrey1@comcast.net
464-4422

October Mission Focus

In the Valparaiso 1st UMC we have two mission teams.   One is the Local Mission team which includes many different parts and pieces of being in mission right here in Valparaiso.  The Men's Shelter, Rays of Hope, Breakfast Club, and many others ministries fall under this group of dedicated "missionaries".   We also have a National/International Mission team and our task is to connect beyond the local community.  We are the group that sends out mission teams, keeps us connected through the global church.   

October our mission focus is the Hispanic Ministry in East Chicago - Torre Fuente Ministries.  Bernardo Gonzalez will be making a presentation about the ministry and the current need for a new roof on the building in Tower Chapel between 10:30 - 11:00.   Grab a cup of coffee and a donut and come listen in, ask questions, and hear about what the Methodists are doing in East Chicago.

Pastors Ezekiel and Suri Beccaras

So why is Valparaiso 1st interested in Torre Fuente Ministries in East Chicago?   We are part of a huge "church"... one that extends around the world and we believe in supporting brothers and sisters wherever they are.   We might learn from them as to how to "grow younger" for they have more children than they can fit into their spaces.  They do great community outreach.   

 The Mission Offering will go to this ministry to assist them in Making Disciples of Jesus Christ in the East Chicago area.   Please give generously.   Maybe even hilariously!!!   

Our Costa Rican Connection... at UBL

The lush green campus of  UBL.  

Our "CURTAINS FOR CERTAIN" (covering windows in the dorm- atory) fundraising was so successful there was money left over to be used for "covering" other important and necessary needs at the Latin America Bible University.  (UBL) 

In a country where rain is often a daily occurance, this tool is an essential for the vegetation can get away from the gardeners. The cost of the "Grass Trimmer" was $105.     

Margie has a few new jobs this time back and one of those is teaching several classes of English.   She has quite a schedule in addition to helping individual students with proof-reading their papers before they turn them in for scoring.   By the way ... skye and Facetime allows her to do that with individuals all year long regardless where the student lives or the where the teacher is.   Thanks for keeping us connected.  

Here's a word (or two) from our Missionary in Costa Rica...

Because of your generosity, there was enough money given to not only purchase the fabric to finish the curtain project (which will happen when the volunteer Nancy arrives here again to do the sewing, thus matching the other curtains she made and are already hanging!) but also purchase this new lawn cutting machine for the UBL (the old one had broken and it would cost more to fix it than to buy a new one!).  Our administrator asked me for "consent" to use some of the $ for this purpose!! Also we have set aside $500.00 in a scholarship fund from our contribution to pay for the airfare for a student who will be returning from Peru to complete his thesis and degree in Bible.  So...you can all see that our FUMC gift is going a LLOOOOOONG way!  Hallelujah, and thanks so much from both ME and the UBL!  I continue to be so very grateful for BOTH of my families!!!

Would you please be so kind as to share this info with ALL the NIM team and any others who might like the news!  Much love to each and all.  God is good, all the time!!
Margie

Volunteers Needed in our Backyard...

With the events of the past 10 days or so, weather and its wrath has dominated the news.   Whether it be wildfires on the West Coast , Harvey flooding in the Houston area, or pending hit through Florida and the Eastern coast by Irma, we are well aware of how our weather has made an impact on people all over the country.   

We (Indiana Disaster Relief Response Team) are still dealing with the aftermath of the flooding that took place in South Bend nearly one year ago. And that one barely broke into the news cycles anywhere in northern Indiana.   Getting people back into their homes is a priority and volunteer labor is what is needed.   

Maybe folks from Valparaiso 1st can put together a small team of volunteers to go to the South Bend area to help get one family back into a home that is safe and healthy in late October.   Putting ones self in the position of a homeowner who experienced severe flooding will help get us in the frame of mind to be responsive to answering the call for volunteers. 

Are you interested in being a volunteer?  Sometimes getting out and putting hands into the situation is a way to get in touch with the issues in a real way.   Let Mike Strayer or Bob Westfall know if you are interested in being part of the outreach.  UMCOR has helped with providing funding and the UMCOR dollars go further when we can use volunteer labor.   

UPDATES on your generosity- THANKS. 

UMCOR donations last Sunday (September 4) were about $3,700.
Donations for ManUp with Kokomo Urban Outreach was $1,500 which included some funds from the Mission budget and about $1000 from the August Mission Offering.     

HARVEY Response...

I've been asked several times in the past few days, how do I support what the United Methodist Church is doing during this disaster in Texas and other coastal cities along the gulf coast?   

My first response is UMCOR.   Plain and simple.  An easy way is to give online.  Here's a link to help you get to the right place.  You can even indicate giving as a member of Valparaiso 1st near the bottom of the page.  Giving to US Disasters provides funds for local communities/conferences to receive funds to assist with the immediate needs of those around them in time of disaster and helps with all the organizational work of getting houses cleaned up and rebuilt for those uninsured damages especially for the poor and disadvantaged. 

UMCOR is on the scene with emergency supplies (WHEN THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES ASK FOR THEM).    UMCOR does not just assume supplies are needed.   They wait to be invited.  All the cleaning buckets in the world would be useless there now...they would sink or drift away in the rivers of water going down the streets.  These buckets will be sent when appropriate.    

If you want to help send emergency supplies then write a check to our church (Valparaiso 1st UMC) and write MMDC on the memo line.   This will go to Midwest Mission Distribution Center (our team will go there March of 2018 to assemble kits and buckets).  Last Fall you may remember we collected $7,000 to send for supplies to get the kits and buckets back on the shelves for the next disaster. Your donation allows MMDC to purchase supplies needed at wholesale prices and replace all of the kits and buckets that are going out now. 

Where UMCOR really shines is when the emergency phase is over (and the emergency phase is not close to being over in Texas), they will help families and individuals rebuild and get back into their homes.   Red Cross is there for the emergency phase.   UMCOR is there for years after the storm getting people back home.  UMCOR joins hands with UMVIM and teams of volunteers will come to Texas when invited to help with the various stages of putting buildings and lives back together.  Volunteers will be needed in Texas for years to help with the rebuild.  Contact Mike Strayer  jstrayer@netnitco.net if you would like to become a leader for a team to go to the Houston area in the future.  

Prayers are always needed.  Right now lives are in chaos so for the next few weeks we will pray and donate what we can to purchase needed supplies through MMDC and/or help UMCOR respond in the long haul.   Maybe next year at this time we can go to Houston area to help with the rebuild. 

United Methodist Committee On Relief  (UMCOR)

United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM)

Are you planning to be with us?

Lee Wallace, director of ManUP

ManUP young people are cleaning up the area.  

ManUP youth pick corn for use at KUO

Food Pantry clients will have a great food choice. 

Sunday, August 27 Lee will be with us during worship, leading a discussion at 10:30 in Tower Chapel as well as our after lunch presentation. 


Lee and Jeff Newton of KUO will be leading a discussion/workshop after the pizza/salad lunch in Tower Chapel on Sunday as well.   Please make sure you have signed up in Fellowship Hall or call the office to let us know you are planning to be with us for lunch and further conversation with Lee and Jeff.  

As our church seeks ways to be the church in the community, we will be inspired by what is happening in Kokomo.  Not that we want to be a "Valparaiso Urban Outreach"...but we do love to hear success stories and use those stories to help us find ways to be engaged with others. 

In addition to picking the corn, volunteers from local church and the food pantry clients also got together to "put up" corn in the freezer for use this winter.   KUO feeds about 800 people every Sunday evening all year long.  Using this corn at those meals in the middle of winter will be a real treat for all.  

We hope you will give generously to the August Mission Focus to help the ManUp program at KUO.   They need some equipment to keep all those young men busy this winter...snow shovels, gloves, and boots for starters.  Thanks for your gifts... always appreciated. 

August Mission Focus KUO

Rev. Jeff Newton outside the food pantry.

What is KUO?    Well, it is a ministry in Kokomo, IN ...Kokomo Urban Outreach.   The ministry began through Trinity United Methodist Church in Kokomo when the congregation was dwindling and the community around them was hurting.   So the pastor of the church (Rev. Jeff Newton) thought about what can we do to reach out in the community around us.   That was about 12 years ago.   The church's congregation is still small however, that church is buzzing every day of the week with young people  and adults "stepping up" to be all that God intends under the direction of Jeff Newton.    Jeff had pastored in Lowell before returning to his home area of Kokomo.   The economic conditions in Kokomo demanded that the church become a leader to be there with the people and he was the perfect one to do so. 

 

Since beginning with community dinners on Sunday evenings, the ministry has grown in ways I've not even discovered.   Here's the website to help you understand the scope of the outreach within Kokomo.  http://www.kokomourbanoutreach.org/ On July 1, Jeff no longer is pastor of any church.  Last year he pastored and was the overseer for 5 small United Methodist Churches in addition to being the director of KUO.  Now he has been appointed by our Bishop to be an extension pastor for KUO.   I can't imagine what will happen now that he can devote fulltime to being in the "neighborhood".  Pastor Kevin is well acquainted with this ministry as he served as board chairperson for the KUO board in the very beginning.  

 

Last week they received 150 dozen ears of corn and have had volunteers from the community come together to "put those up" for use in the winter.   Last summer, they had been delivered 250 dozen ears of corn just before the tornado tore through their building.   Another UMC in Kokomo, pitched in and moved the corn preparation and freezing to their church so that the corn did not go to waste.  

 

Sometime in our future, we will plan a "fieldtrip" to Kokomo so you can see first hand how being the church in the community makes for a vital place to be.   Please give generously to our focus this month.   In particular we will be giving a "handUP" to their manUP program.   It has grown so fast they can't keep up.   Starting one year ago with 2 high school students looking for a better way to live, they now have almost 100 young guys hoping to be part of the program.   Growing pains for sure.   Thanks for your support.   

Great Presentation on Sunday

Thanks Jenna and Ryan for your words, your heart and your service around joining a team of volunteers who shared God's love with people near Grecia, Costa Rica.

Jenna shared the vision and mission of service in Costa Rica.   Reaching out to places where children are seeking a way forward to find their place in society is at the top of the list for the mission.   From feeding children to teaching children martial arts, from mentoring children to empowering women in the pockets of poverty, the mission is vital for all.

  

 Much of our time this year was constructing the mission center for future teams and community use.   One task was digging out and around the septic tank that had collapsed during a big rain fall (those happen regularly especially this time of year).  See your septic dig team.  It took them two days to dig out and just 1/2 day to fill the hole back up again.  

 

Denzel (back), Ryan (sun hat),
Collin (orange) and Jordan (only girl)...
missing Joey.   This was the septic team.

The garden team...weeded the corn, bean and squash

patch.   Then prepared the ground at the top of the hill

for new plantings.   They worked hard to get to the place

where they were the ones to do some of the planting.

Another task was to complete some tiling around an outside hand-washing station.  Bob and Gene also finished a working sink in the shared bathroom for the interns.  They missed our outing to UBL because they wanted to complete the task before leaving on Thursday am. 

Always VBS is a fun part of our mission experience.  The kids from the neighborhood were brought in to see what we had to offer.  Bible Stories, crafts and out door activities kept all of us busy from 2:00 - 4:00.    



Sunday... July 30

Sunday, July 30 at 10:30 a.m.

TOWER CHAPEL

Jenna Dambek

and Members of the Costa Rica Mission Team

Presents:

Our Mission in Costa Rica

 



 

Kids always steal the show.  We had outdoor play time two mid afternoons.   Soccer and bubbles are sure winners. 

Jenna learned to drywall and put up tin siding and Ryan McBride dug out a septic tank landslide then filled it back in again.  

 

Join us in Tower Chapel for a first hand report from our Costa Rica Mission team.   A fun 30 minutes is waiting for you.  

 

Back home and moving on...

Transiting from being on a mission team and being at home takes a while.  The events of the past week fade but memories are stored in photographs and continued contacts.   Our group of young people bonded and I expect they will stay in touch for a long time.   Their shared experiences in Costa Rica will live on.   There is always talk of a next time.  Some of our young adults have experienced an international mission journey at least 4 times and more in the past 10 years.  Their faith journey is enriched by not only where they go but with whom they serve.  

 

Returning to Costa Rica for some meant, connecting with local people they met in 2011 and earlier as well as making new connections.   Meet our old friends and a new one. 

 

Wilberth with Jenna

Jenna worked with Wilberth Mora.   He's the construction foreman for the mission and has been with this mission since the beginning.  Our team met him in 2005 and you'll see him in many photos as he is ever present with the teams. 
Luis Rameriz and Luis Alvarado have helped with team transportation the entire time we've been coming to Costa Rica.   Luis Alvarado is the only person who has ever met us at the airport.  Luis Rameriz drove our bus to and from work when we worked at the orphanage in 2006 and 2007 as well as other times throughout 2003 - 2010.   We were thrilled to have him drive us to UBL this year.

Luis, Luis, and Hailey

I share these connections because they are some of the reasons we return to Costa Rica.  They have become family for us.  I can't find a photo of Ana, our cook.   She's been there since 2010 and let me tell you are meals are outstanding.  I'll keep looking.  We had camera's and phones everywhere photographing it all. 

Below is Charlie Strong and Hailey...he came to Costa Rica in 2003, met a wonderful young woman and was married prior to the arrival of our first team in 2005.   Today Angela is a very important part of the mission team in Costa Rica.   The mission would not be the same without her. 

A happy day for sure when Luis surprised me by being our
driver for our trip to UBL.   Very happy time for all of us. 
Gene, Luis Rameriz, and Bonnie

Hailey writes:  I met Charlie, the director of Strong Missions, in 2007 on a mission to Costa Rica. God radically transformed my heart through that experience and has continued to show me what truly matters in life. Loving God and loving people. I'm so grateful to have had these opportunities and can't wait to see where God leads me next. Please keep Charlie and his beautiful family in your prayers as they continue changing lives in Costa Rica.









Charlie and Hailey...she has special memories.



Our garden crew worked with Warner (Wilberth's brother).
He also worked with our construction crew in 2011.  

We arrived home on Saturday evening, tired and weary but filled with the spirit of being loved and have given love to others.  Our team of 21 - 7 adults and 14 young adults came from not only the northern part of Indiana but Kentucky, Arizona, and Ohio.   Taylor and Ariel, our granddaughter's from Phoenix, and Denzel and Joey from Ft. Campbell in Kentucky and our awesome team member from near Toledo, Ohio made our team special.  

See you Sunday... we are winding down.

Wilbur and Jenna.   Another mission connection with Valparaiso 1st.



Gene, Luis, and Bonnie.   Luis was our bus driver from 2005 - 2010.
Really great to reconnect with him.   

 

I got a little behind with the blog posting.   To do this requires more time and internet than I have to share.   The internet is very slow so.. I'll post more photos when I get home.   It's been a great time with some awesome young people.  

Here's our team of 21 plus Wilbur - (he's in the back row, next to Gene Albert, in the red shirt.   Wilbur is on staff at
the mission assisting the construction part of the outreach there.  Ryan McBride is on the right (tallest one), Jenna Dambek is in the first row, third person.  Bonnie Albert is one the first row, 1st person and Taylor and Ariel Albert are on the 1st row last two persons.  Bob and Sandy Coolman are in the back row.  (squint to find them).  

Day 1 of volunteering in Grecia

Today was a heavy volunteer day.   Digging around the septic tank (rain had caused a land slide), gardening where corn, beans and squash all grow together, welding the brackets for the tin siding, preparing for VBS, organizing the donations brought for the mission, greeting the kids in the afternoon for VBS story, crafts and outdoor activities, and plumbing a new sink and tiling the bathroom wall.   Let the photos tell the story. 

Ronaldo keeps his garden crew of Ariel, Taylor, Brittney,
Kaitlyn, and Miranda in line.  They have enjoyed working
with Ronaldo...he's practicing English and they are
practicing Spanish.
 

There's always one photo that won't behave.  Well guess what,
these guys didn't either.  (Gene and Bob in the bodega getting
tools for the task. 

Jenna is reading the Spanish version of
1st Corinthians 13, then the kids memorized
Love is Patient; Love is Kind

A quick game of soccer is always appropriate in CR.
Ryan McBride got out of the septic tank dig to play
with the kids.

 

 

Back up plans have been over rated today

Serious phone usage. 

Well today has been special.  Plane was delayed in Chicago for mechanical problems so we missed the last flight out to CR.   Arrived in Dallas to learn that the next flight to Costa Rica would be at 2:50 p,m. Sunday.  
Taylor was in Dallas before we left Chicago.   Was nearly on the Costa Rica flight when she realized we were not going to make it.   She made excellent contacts to get some solutions to her problem before we landed.
We arrived too late for our scheduled flight so we have been booked on a flight to Miami.   We will then get to spend the night in a hotel with all expenses paid by American.  


Bob and Jeff just chatting.

Sunday morning we will fly to San Jose arriving at 9:45 or some other random time!

Stay tuned... more information will be posted when we get to our destination.




Getting comfy while we wait for a plane to Miami

Fast game of UNO

So they are sideways...that's what this picture wanted to do.
Just cock your head sideways to match.   

Tommorrow ... we begin our journey

We will land in Alajuela and go to Grecia (not shown on the map). 
We will travel on Thursday to the East coast to Cahuita National Park. 

In the previous post I shared that two our team members were going to be unable to be part of the journey.   I put a note on Facebook to see if someone was hoping to be part of something really special.   Our long time team member Collin...came through with a recommendation.  So our team is anxious to meet the newest member to the team... Jordan Axel from Kendallville, IN.   Saturday I'll try to get a photo in the Dallas airport to post below so you can see the whole group.   This will be the first time that all 21 of us will be in one space so we will begin the team building immediately.

 

Thanks for joining us on the journey with your prayers and by checking in with the Blog.   Watch for us on Facebook.   Our team of 14 young people will surely be posting as well me - team leader, Bonnie Albert.   I have lead 10 teams to Costa Rica and looking forward to new experiences as we are going to a new place.

 

Team members: 

Bonnie and Gene Albert

Taylor and Ariel Albert

Myrna and Miranda Arnold

Jordan Axel

Bob and Sandy Coolman with grandsons Denzel and Joey

Hailey Crawford

Jenna Dambek

Cheryl Morris

Jeff and Cathy Fleming

Elijah Fleming

Kaitlyn Galey

Brittney Goralske

Ryan McBride

Collin Wilson

   

 

 

Costa Rica Mission team is in the final countdown...

On Saturday, July 8th, another Valparaiso 1st mission team departs for Costa Rica.   We have lead a youth focused team to a Central American country on the odd years since 2007.    This will be the 6th journey with one young adult on the team.  While Collin is not from Valparaiso 1st, he and his family joined our team in 2007.   Collin is joining us this year for his 6th mission experience with us as a recent Indiana University graduate and he takes leadership roles in leading our team of 7 adults and 13 young adults. (Just yesterday we received confirmation that one UM couple from Wabash, IN will not be with us as they have had a death in the family so our team has gone from 22 to 20. Please say a prayer for Marvin and Mary Ann Mast.  Marvin's brother passed away yesterday).   

Each mission experience has a children's component.
Children's activities are a great way to get acquainted in a
community.  

Ryan McBride is coming with us for the 3rd time and Jenna Dambek is joining us for her first time.   She's looking forward to the entire experience and the opportunity to use all that Spanish she has taken at VHS.  Bob and Sandy Coolman are taking two of their grandsons (Bob's oldest daughter Kim's sons).  Gene and Bonnie Albert are taking two of their granddaughters (Taylor and Ariel).  

Construction (especially with concrete) is also a component
of a mission team.   Working beside or with local
construction people is another way to relate to the people of
the community. 

Watch this blog during the week of July 8 - 15 for updates and photos of our experiences in Costa Rica.  We ask that you keep our team in your prayers.  Our team always appreciates the home base being present with them during a journey.   
 

One of the many waterfalls in Costa Rica.
Several years ago some of their waterfalls
were destroyed by an earthquake.  

Africa University and Valparaiso 1st. (Part 2)

Tatenda's smile hasn't changed.  He's just 14 years older than the
last time we saw him.

Africa University students appear in our church from time to time over the years...especially since our team was there in 2000 and again we (Gene and Bonnie Albert) went again in 2011.   Friends have been made through these visits to the university and subsequent contacts with students.

Let me introduce you to Tatenda Katsidzira.   Most of you will not remember him.   He came to us for the school year 2002-03 as an exchange student at Kalamazoo College.   Let me give you a little background.  

Webster, Joyce and Bonnie talk about how this must
happen again... we can't wait another 14 years.

Tatenda was born at the mission hospital in Ol' Mutare, went to school at the Methodist Mission School near that hospital, and then walked down the hill and enrolled in Africa University in the field of Agriculture.   He never ventured away from Mutare. 

In 2002 he received the full grant to be the Agriculture Department's exchange student in the US.   Since our team spent time with Joyce, Tatenda's mother, she reached out to us to be a contact for him on this very special journey in his life.  

We agreed (several families got involved).   In the late summer of 2002 we met him at O'Hare.   Can you imagine how he must have felt to be traveling on an airplane and landing in the US?   His travel experience is something you and I would never have... he was guarded the entire time he was in the London airport as he changed planes.   If you remember this was the time when tensions were high with the political situation in Zimbabwe.   So we found a young man who was very happy to be with a family even though we only had a relationship with his mom. 

Bonnie, Tapuwa, Tatenda, and Gene

The rest is history...we were his family while he attended Kalamazoo.  He spent holidays with us and came to church with us.   There will be some people who remember him as you were very generous in getting all those supplies needed for starting that college experience. 

Time passes and with the economic climate in Zimbabwe worsening, Tatenda was granted a visa to come to Canada to try and make a way for himself and be near a sister who had emigrated there previously.   That was in 2008 so when we were in Zimbabwe in 2011, we could visit with Joyce and Webster and hear about Tatenda.

Out of the blue earlier this month, Tatenda sent me a Facebook message.   He was coming to Michigan to be with his wife's family and discovered that we didn't live far away.   As you can see, the plan developed quickly and what a joy it was.   After 14 years we were able to be with Tatenda and it seemed like little time had passed. 

Our church has not only supported students with giving funds to build a dorm or to endow scholarships, we have had the opportunity to be with them and be their friend over the long haul.  

 

African names are always interesting.   Tatenda means "thank you" in his native Shona language.   Tapuwa mean "God is with us".   Notice that the parents names reflect the British rule under colonialism.   The "official" language is English (again from colonial times) while this area of Zimbabwe also speak Shona.  They left colonialism in 1980 under Robert Mugabe who remains their president today.  

Africa University and Valparaiso 1st (part 1)

Valparaiso 1st had a great team of volunteers who traveled to Africa University in August 2000.   Jim and Lois Stone, Bonnie and Gene Albert, Dorie Lebio, and others went to see the new dorm that had been completed at the university and to learn more about the university.   Our church had provided enough funds to have a room with a plaque indicating our support for the university.   I remember clearly how important Indiana people were to the growth at that time of this young university. 

Well, this year the University celebrated 25 years of existence.   I'd like to introduce you to one of the graduates from this 25th year.  Pambi Jatuhu is a student we (our UMW) has supported since her 2nd semester of her 1st year.   Pambi graduated this year with a degree in Psychology.   She lives in Nigeria and has just returned to Nigeria to do her 1 year of volunteer service for the government.  We helped pay tuition in her first year and have maintained contact with her throughout her years at Africa University.   She was a top student and was part of the Africa University choir.  She considers our women as part of her spiritual family.

One of the activities she did before graduation was to be invited to participate in a photo shoot for some publicity photos.   Keep her in your prayers as she completes her volunteer time and begins the process of seeking employment.  

 

 

 

 

 

Our continued support through the Indiana Conference AU Campaign was much appreciated and will be used for generations to come in two ways.   1) A professor's salary will be underwritten in the endowment fund by the 1st million dollars Indiana Churches gave and 2) at least 4 students will receive tuition assistance each year.  Our generous gift of $29,000 was recognized as one of the 17 churches in our conference where the gift was at least $10,000 or $100/member.   

 

Our congregation donated about $15,000 via 3 Christmas Eve offering and several Monthly Mission Focus offerings,  $3,000 came from Jane Roberts Memorial to be used for AU, and $12,000 came from the endowment from the Mel Crisman gifts to the National/International mission team.  Thanks to all who participated.   We are changing the lives of many highly motivated and talented young people.   

You still have time...

What a great Sunday worship this week.   We were together as one family.   We had highlights everywhere.  

• Seniors being recognized for academic accomplishments.  
• University graduates being honored for that next step in life. 
• Youth Choir ... and the youth Praise Band ... had us on our feet, before during, and after the service. 
• Pastor Jacob thinking he's giving us his last sermon...I think he has another one in there.   Come on Jacob. 
• Communion with the "family".  
• Getting dessert before lunch with the nice reception put on by the Staff Parish Relations Committee.  (The word is we get another one on the 11th.) 

And we had a great response to the Miracle Offering for Global Health.  $1,688  was received to be taken to Annual Conference with all additional funds being sent at the end of the month.    So if you happen to have missed all the going's on last Sunday (June 4), you can still participate in the Miracle Offering any time this month.   This is the great part about being a connectional church.  TOGETHER WE definitely ARE ... MORE.