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).