Challenging cultural adjustments enhance YWAM missionary training
Rachel Smallish has begun formal training for mission work, beginning with five months at a Youth With A Mission discipleship training program in Ghana. You can read posts from Rachel on her online blog. Thanks also for being a prayer partner for Rachel; she greatly appreciates it!
Westminster members join others in building in Costa Rica
Roger and Phoebe Vance recently returned from a two-week mission trip to Costa Rica. They were part of a long-established Methodist group that works annually in Costa Rica, usually sending two teams for a total of a month’s effort during January and February – the dry season in Costa Rica. (Dry, but not especially warm this year; it was necessary to bundle up at night, as buildings are not heated.) Westminster’s mission committee provided money for some of the mission team’s building materials.
The aim this year was to bring the new educational building at the Mansiones church to the point of usefulness.
Besides much painting, the building – pictured below, behind the church – was wired and plumbed, and the kitchen entirely tiled. The building currently encompasses a kitchen and one large room. The large room is designed so that sliding walls (not installed yet) can divide it into four Sunday school rooms. The mission team was pleased with its smooth progress, allowing team members to depart with the place ready for fellowship and education.
Team members were also blessed from day to day with interactions with church members, greatly fostered by their living on site, sleeping on the church floor. The ladies took time out to teach knitting classes, which drew in neighbors and were a source of huge enjoyment.
An “extra” for Roger and Phoebe were their visits with Julie Chamberlain, former Westminster Christian education director, and now director of the Spanish Language Institute nearby in San Jose.
Teams for ’08 will be forming in the fall. Consider joining this important and rewarding mission group. Please contact Roger and Phoebe Vance for more information.
|
|
Detroit Presbytery aids Katrina victims
Westminster members Ron Fairchild and Andy King joined seventy others for a week in November at a Presbyterian Disaster Assistance camp rebuilding homes and lives in Pearlington, Mississippi. The mission team members came from eleven churches in the Presbytery of Detroit.
If you haven’t seen the aftermath of the storm in person, it’s difficult to grasp its magnitude and the disaster it created. Here are some facts: The center hit land just twelve miles east of Pearlington. The storm was close to 200 miles wide with winds up to 175 mph in the Gulf of Mexico and 120 mph when it hit land. Almost 2,000 people died. Current estimates are that Katrina caused $84 billion in damage. The surge flooded Pearlington to a height of 14 feet and left 85% of the residents homeless. It was an immense catastrophe.
Perhaps instead, consider the stories of just a handful of homeowners directly affected by the hurricane and some of the work done by the Detroit Presbytery mission team on their houses.
Freda Burton, in her mid 30’s, was at home with her 17-year-old sister Jasmine who was seven months pregnant when the surge hit Pearlington. They tried to get to Freda’s car but were swept away by the water, praying the whole time. Freda had Jasmine by one hand and her dog under her other arm. Neither knew how to swim but somehow they made it to the big tree in the neighboring church yard. They climbed up into the tree, still praying and thanking God for getting them to the tree. When they looked back at their house all they could see was the very peak of the roof sticking out of the water. They spent over eight hours in the tree watching water moccasins swimming by below not knowing what to do. Eventually someone came by in a boat and rescued them. The work team installed plumbing in their damaged home, a water heater, washer, dryer, kitchen counter and sink and bathroom cabinetry and toilet. The interior walls were textured and painted and the exterior walls and garage were painted. One of the team members, George Dwelley, related how Freda came to see the progress on the house and was crying and laughing at the same time because she was so happy.
Marshall Collins, a widower in his 60’s, had his mobile home totally destroyed. Marshall is mentally challenged as are two of his three sons. His wife died a few years ago from complications from diabetes. By the time the Detroit team arrived, the Christian non-profit group Walls of Hope had erected a new modular home that stood five feet off the ground. Marshall had built a ladder out of scrap wood so he could go in his house and walk around, dreaming of what it would look like when it was finished. The team installed permanent stairs, insulation and started on the drywall. Marshall was very proud of the ladder he built and was blown away by the stairs we built.
Jan Rabe, in her mid 60’s and divorced, also saw her house totally destroyed. She’d salvaged some furnishings that she kept under a large tattered and torn tarp next to her FEMA trailer. She had a good start on an elevated shed that will eventually be a utility room for her new house. The team installed a window and door and some interior wiring in the shed. They also installed the roof and covered it with metal, and applied the vinyl siding. Jan was thrilled that she could now store her possessions out of the weather.
Mildred Wheat’s (83 and widowed) house was the only one standing on her block after Katrina, although it had to be totally gutted. Her sons who lived next door lost everything. The team removed the old roof on Milred’s house, repaired the underlayment and then reroofed the entire house. The team also replaced most of the wiring inside the house.
Beverly Ferguson and her disabled husband were able to purchase the house next to theirs for their daughter who is currently relocated out-of-state. The house had to be totally gutted as did their own. The team put on a new roof and reinstalled most of the wiring.
|
