Your support helps the families of Maria and Roberto

Church and Community Worker Brynne Howard, here with her husband,
as she was sworn in by the Iowa Bar Association.
She writes here about one of the many stories from JFON.
(photo courtesy of Brynne Howard)

Maria and Roberto first came to Justice for Our Neighbors (JFON) in 2007. Maria, a US citizen, wanted to apply for her husband, Roberto. Because he initially entered the United States without a visa, Roberto had to return to Honduras to proceed based on Maria's petition. Roberto had his first visa appointment at the US consulate in Honduras in September 2009. Unfortunately, the consulate was understaffed at the time and Roberto's application was lost in a huge backlog of cases.

After several months Maria, desperate to be with her husband, moved with their three children to Honduras. Unfortunately, the living conditions were very difficult for Maria and she was unable to find a job to support her family there. When Maria came back to the United States, she was forced to move in with family and sadly lost her home, her car, and other possessions.

Despite these challenges, Maria never lost faith that she and her husband would be reunited. With the help of JFON, Roberto was finally granted his permament residency and was allowed to re-enter the United States in December 2011. After a long and painful separation, this last Christmas was a special one for Maria, Roberto, and their children.

Maria and Roberto's story is just one of the many stories we have seen this year of families separated by our unjust immigration system.

Learn how you can help support JFON as we provide vital legal advice to these immigrant families by checking out the Iowa JFON website here.

You can also support my ministry with Justice for Our Neighbors, as well as the ministry of Church and Community worker missionaries across the US. Learn more from the bio page of Brynne Howard and make an online donation to missionary salary suport.

Christmas Is About Giving

Kim Cruz, son of missionary Ken Cruz, remembers what Christmas is all about.
(photo courtesy of Ken Cruz)

Without any signs of delaying, Christmas is poised to barrel its way into our busy lives once again. For many, the time of year has come to mean the accumulation of material possessions. And yet, so little of our Christmas cheer transcends the shiny boxes under our Christmas trees. This year, I realized that God epitomized the greatest form of generosity by giving us Jesus. Yet modern day presents have wrapped and confined our gifts into shallow conceptions when they can be so much more.

By Christmas, I will have finished my undergraduate degree in Development Studies. Had it not been for your unselfishness, your gifts, I would not have been able to cultivate the gifts that God has given me. I know that many people in the world are not as fortunate. Many have yet to experience the deep and meaningful gifts that God has in store for them. This is why I plan on pursuing a job in the area of rural development.

Just as you have given to me, I plan on giving to others in order to continue the cycle of generosity that God inspired. Just as you have given to me, I plan on giving onto others. Indeed Christmas is about giving, and as it draws near, I am reminded of those that have given, and those that have yet to experience the deep and meaningful gifts that God has in store for each and every one of us.

A very warm thank you. Merry Christmas.

Kim's father is a missionary serving in Cambodia. Learn more by linking to a bio of Kennedy Cruz.

Read about the Community Health and Agricultural Development (CHAD) ministry in Cambodia, by linking to the CHAD Cambodia blog.

World AIDS Day: Youth Speak Out

Global Justice Volunteers Africa participants wrote reflections on HIV and AIDS after their experiences volunteering with HIV/AIDs organizations in Kenya. 

Here are prayers, letters, and poems from the volunteers' experiences.

                                              

Pauline Kome Odinga, a United Methodist Global Justice
Volunteer, advocates for women's rights and social justice.
(photo by Ake Ble Leon Nathan)

Recommendation

Youth and Young Adults,

I know we are discriminated against, but this is the great moment in the Lord God has given us. 

Let us defend women's rights and defend social injustice all over the world.

I love you all wherever you are. Amen.

Pauline Kome Odinga, Democratic Republic of Congo

Madira Bwaza, Global Justice Volunteer,
leads Bible study. (photo by Gabriel G. Mungai) 

AIDS Poem

AIDS. AIDS. AIDS.

Who am I?

I'm the god and king of the earth.

People fear me though they don't see me physically

And talk about me in every gathering

I break apart families and cause injustices in communities

Leaving orphans and other vulnerable people

Because I am the boss.

I make the fat become slim

I fear no person, even rich, poor, strong, weak

Educated, uneducated, and people of high integrity obey me

Regardless of their position and religion

Even the devil fears me too because my weapon is strong.

I make people suffer in all sorts of lives.

I am tough but nobody can see me

and I make you more beautiful and handsome to spread me.

I feed on blood that fights against other diseases in the body.

Hahaaa! I only obey God.

If you keep far from me, I will keep a distance

But if you come in contact with me, I will deal with you and make you die.

Take care.

AIDS is real.

Madira Bwaza, Uganda

Recommendation 

Youth and Young Adults,

This is not the time for crying or weeping but the right moment to raise up our minds because of building a nice and wonderful future.

When we hear from the TV and radios and some friends, we suffer ourselves from injustice, violence, discrimination, and many other issues in the world. We feel sad and disappointed, but this is the moment to defend our right to basic education, to speak, to employment, and to many other opportunities. By the help of God, we are conquerors and winners.

Mwilambwe Shabanza Cadet, Democratic Republic of Congo

Youth Speak Out: United Methodist Youth Responding to the Challenges of HIV and AIDS

Young adult Global Justice Volunteers Africa participants wrote reflections on HIV and AIDS after their experiences volunteering with HIV/AIDs organizations in Kenya. Here are some of their prayers, letters, and poems. 

Together!

John Atoyo shares his experience with Global
Justice Volunteers. (photo by Gabriel G. Mungai)

No one can deny

That a united people

Will never miss what they want

For it doesn't matter

Whether we are in Africa, Asia or the US

But imagine, all in one mission

And showing justice, mercy, and love to everyone

Yes! You can't separate them.

Today is our power.

Why wait for tomorrow.

And we know our mission

Is to make disciples of Jesus Christ

For the transformation of the world.

Give hope, life, to the rejected.

Together we can do

Great things as simple things.

John Odhiambo Atoyo, Kenya

Public Notice

HIV and AIDS have seriously claimed the lives of people in Kenya, leaving some dead in the streets, some dropped out of school, and some physically challenged. Stigmatization, discrimination, and tribalism have become the order of the day. People die of hunger; children and mothers have been abandoned by husbands and society. "HIV/AIDS is not man-made."

We need to intervene in this ugly situation to help save the lives of innocent souls. Remember "different culture, but one people." Let's stop the attitude of "it concerns not me" but unite together in this big fight because no one knows what tomorrow may bring, and that God requires us to love one another, and Christ died for our sins without any discrimination. With Jesus being the center of our foundation, we will succeed together in solidarity, and let's use the energy we have now to go forth and conquer. Remember, your actions will create a big impact in the lives of people. Think about it and act now.

Florence Kadie Lassayo, Sierra Leone

Rev. Kat Sal Nenette leads the group in 
singing. (photo by Gabriel G. Mungai) 

Letter to Women

I'm praying the Almighty God to help women who are always being discriminated against, rejected, and dishonored in the society.

O God, women are always the subject of discrimination, and their voices are not listened to by people in the community. Women don't have the right to talk and share their ideas with others. They are always rejected and affected. God, you are the only one who can fight against this. They are marginalized by others.

Women, let's work together and fight for our own rights. Let's help those who are not empowered. It will be good to share our experiences, ideas, and knowledge which will unite us and work in togetherness. Let us put our trust in God, and our voices will be heard by the church, by society, and also by the community.

Rev. Kat Sal Nenette, Democratic Republic of Congo

United…People Living With HIV and AIDS against Injustice

I'm shouting out for people who are living with HIV/AIDS

Never give up because God loves u.

Just continue to be hopeful, prayerful, and support each other.

United, you'll successfully gain over

Stigma and discrimination

This century is a new era for all of you.

Instead of crying, hiding and fearing,

Come together, fight for the implementation of

Equity, human rights, economic empowerment, and build the world.

Duhimbarwe Lionel, Burundi

Finding Love in Cambodia

Missionaries Marilyn and Joseph Chan shared their story of the
persistent power of love and faith. (Photo by Melissa Hinnen) 

by Melissa Hinnen*

Perhaps I should not be surprised that a road trip in Cambodia with a missionary couple named Mary and Joseph (okay well actually Marilyn and Joseph) would be full of amazing stories. From the moment they greeted me at 7:00 a.m. in my hotel lobby in Phnom Penh, I felt a sense of pure joy from the Chans--they are truly extraordinary people who radiate love.

We drove for about three hours to the rural area of Svay Rieng Province. We met with pastors, visited churches, studied the Bible, ate at a wonderful roadside restaurant, made some pastoral-care visits, and stopped in a village community where with the support of the Women's Division, women are learning basket weaving from church leadership to generate income.

It was a very full and rich day, and I heard many stories of how the Methodist Church in Cambodia is growing and how ministry with the poor is integrated into the fabric of the mission initiative. The community outreach is not exclusive to Christians, and their evangelism does not condemn the dominant Buddhist faith. They live out their faith as models of Christianity and invite others to share in the Good News.

I learned about their dream for starting a senior center when they retire (Joseph is 67). "Many people want to help children," said Marilyn, "but it is hard to find support for the elderly."

Woven into our visits, I heard a powerful love story. Joseph and Marilyn met once as children--her aunt was married to his cousin and they did not see each other again until ten years later in a Thai refugee camp. Marilyn was raised in the northern part of Cambodia in the northwestern Siem Reap Province, where she went to high school. Joseph was raised in Cambodia but attended university in Yugoslavia. In the late 1970s, he returned to Cambodia to Phnom Penh in the southeast because he wanted to help the people who had just come under a communist government--the Khmer Rouge.

Because they were educated, both Joseph and Marilyn were targeted by the government and forced into labor. While many people around him were slaughtered, Joseph survived because he had agrarian skills like "being able to catch eel in a bamboo shoot and planting rice." Marilyn survived in spite of herself--life had become so difficult that she attempted suicide repeatedly.

"When we were imprisoned in the temple, others were begging for their lives, but I was just relieved that finally all of this pain would be over," she recounted, showing me a photo of the temple that still stands in the village where she grew up. She was released after only a few days and put back to work.

They both escaped, making their way on foot over the border into Thailand. Joseph's journey took more than two months. Marilyn remembered that she had a relative (Joseph) who she believed was studying in Europe. She had hopes that, once she crossed the border into Thailand, she could contact him, and he would sponsor her to go to Europe. At the refugee camp in Thailand, she turned around and was surprised to see Joseph standing right behind her. "You have come to sponsor me?" she asked. He looked at her without recognition and replied, "Do I look like someone who can sponsor you? Look at my clothes--I don't even have any shoes. Do I even know you?" Marilyn removed her scarf and said her name, and as the pieces came together in their minds, they both cried.

Less than a week later they were separated and brought on buses back over the Thailand border into Cambodia. The bus released them into the forest and many people ran toward the river for water. Suddenly a landmine exploded and countless people were killed. Marilyn and Joseph each assumed the other had been killed. Stranded in the forest with no food and terrified of going to get water, they saw the situation as hopeless. Marilyn said that parents were forced to leave their young children to die because they could not carry them. Joseph spoke of people lying on the ground dying and begging for water.

There was a hole that they had to jump over that was filled with landmines. Those who were too weak fell into the ditch and were killed. Joseph crossed the ditch, and when he looked back he saw a child about to jump across by himself. Joseph crossed back over the hole and helped the boy across. He did this repeatedly because he could not think about watching anyone fall into the hole. When Marilyn got to the hole, someone helped her across because she was too weak to do it on her own.

Eventually, Marilyn and Joseph reunited. They made their way to Marilyn's mother's house. Marilyn's mother had been caring for refugees who had come her way with the hope that someone would be caring for her family in the same way. Arrangements were made for Joseph and Marilyn to be married because, Marilyn said, "we did not want him to get separated from me again." It wasn't quite that easy. After they married, they decided to escape again.

Joseph went ahead of Marilyn and her family to find the best way. Unfortunately he was not able to get back to them. Marilyn was determined not to lose her husband and set out after him. The path forked into three paths, and, having no idea which way to choose, she took a guess. Fortunately it was the same path Joseph had chosen. Finally they were reunited and walked to the refugee camp in Thailand. Marilyn commented to me that she is still amazed they kept finding each other. After 30 years, families are still reuniting in Cambodia, but she and Joseph were continually drawn together.

The Chans, on the left, are praying in Cambodia.
(photo by Melissa Hinnen)

It was in the refugee camp that Marilyn and Joseph converted to Christianity. The first Scripture they learned was Matthew 6:33: "But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Joseph said that at first they thought it just sounded good and was superstition. Soon their hearts were changed, and Joseph began teaching Christianity in the camp. Marilyn said that through Christianity they came to understand that it was not just that they were "lucky" to have survived and found each other in this ordeal, but that God had a purpose for them.

"Thank you for sharing your story," I said as they dropped me off at my hotel and handed me some fresh bananas. "The story is not finished," Joseph reminded me. "Please pray for our senior center."

Joseph's and Marilyn's love for each other, for Christ, and for all people--especially those living in the margins, "the invisible and discarded," as Marilyn says--is simply and authentically beautiful. Sometimes you meet people who open your heart just a little more in a way that is transformational. Marilyn and Joseph had that effect on me. Cambodia is blessed to have them sharing the love of Christ throughout their country. I am blessed that they shared their love with me, and I pray that the light of Christ will shine a little brighter in me thanks to their witness.

(I suggested to Marilyn that they write a book, and as it happens there is already a book written about them that is part of the United Methodist Women 2012 reading list: Because He Lives by Catherine Guess. Proceeds will support the senior center.)

*Melissa Hinnen is the information officer of the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. 

To learn more about Marilyn's ministry in Cambodia, visit the missionary bio page of Marilyn Chan. To give to this ministry of love through the Advance, link to the secure page at Giving for Missionary Marilyn Chan.

To learn more about Joseph's ministry, visit the missionary bio page of Joseph Chan. Make an online donation through the Advance, the designated giving channel of the United Methodist Church at Giving for Missionary Joseph Chan.

Giving Thanks in Vietnam

On Thanksgiving Day, Melissa Hinnen, information officer for the General Board of 
Global Ministries, shared fellowship and fresh fruit with a Bible study group in Vietnam. 
(photo courtesy of M. Hinnen) 

It’s well past my bedtime here in Vietnam and I just spent my first Thanksgiving away from my family. I contemplated ordering the prix fixe ‘Thanksgiving’ meal that was being offered to tourists but I realized that it’s not the food I’m missing. It’s the buzz of the kitchen, gathering with family, everyone lending a hand to bring together a wonderful meal. So I ate a delicious one pot meal and was thankful for the nourishment, for the people who prepared it, and for the opportunity to spend time in this country where in spite of many obstacles, the United Methodist Church continues to grow.

After eating Thanksgiving dinner by myself in a nice restaurant, I met up with Global Ministries missionaries Ut Van To and Karen Vo-To and visited a house church. A dozen of us gathered around Van’s (our host), dining room table for their weekly Bible study. The group included new Christians who were deepening their faith as well as pastors from various churches in the area.

There was a time of welcoming and a time of praise music followed by a reading of Mark 10:46-53 – the story of the blind man, Bartimaeus asking Jesus to heal his eye sight. The people tried to shut him up but he kept calling out to Jesus in spite of the people getting in his way. As I sat around a table with people who have continued to seek Christ - meeting in homes as the first Christians did, I saw the story of Bartimaeus in a new way. Some of the people in the group told me that their families did not accept their new faith but that they decided to continue anyway. Others have witnessed to their families and like Bartimaeus, their families now follow Jesus with new vision.

After praying for and with each other, Van brought out plates of fresh fruit and we had some time for fellowship. I explained to them that today in America is a day to spend time with family and to give thanks for our blessings. Today I was thankful for their hospitality and for our global church family that continues to grow.

To learn more about Karen's ministry in Vietnam, visit the missionary bio page of Karen Vo-To. To give through the Advance, link to the Advance's secure page at Giving for Missionary Karen Vo-To.

To learn more about Ut's ministry, visit the missionary bio page of Ut To. Make an online donation to Ut's ministry through the Advance, the designated giving channel of the United Methodist Church at Giving for Missionary Ut To.

Twirling in Joyous Dancing

Bill and Jerri Savuto, United Methodist missionaries, describe the celebration
as they complete their service at Maua Hospital in Kenya.
They have been missionaries for nearly 40 years. 

Without God we are nothing. Thus we are hopeful when you finish reading about our day, Saturday, the 5th of November 2011, you will give God all the glory and honor.

For us the event started at 11am when Stanley came to our home and asked us to come down to the Chapel.  Bill and I were dressed and ready and I had been praying I would not cry all day. I thank God for the answer to that prayer.

As we reached the side of the Chapel there were two lines of AIDS Orphan grandmothers and caretakers that faced each other with enough room for Bill and I to easily move between them.  Bill started down the right side shaking the hands of the women and I started down the left side. As I shook many hands I made a point of looking into their eyes and saw Jesus Christ in their beautiful, smiling faces.

After shaking about 15 to 20 hands I found myself whirling and twirling in joyous dancing, laughter, and joy with some of the women. The line of women went from the Chapel through the hospital gate to the first entrance to the School of Nursing (at least 700 women were in those lines) and then back up the school field to tables and chairs under a cover. As I walked to my chair, I pinched myself to make sure I was still alive and hadn’t somehow found my way to heaven but if this was heaven, I’m ready!..

Jerri planting a tree in Kenya.

Somewhere in-between the groups, we were taken by Stanley and Mr. Mailutha, the CEO of the hospital, to the Hope Companions office to plant two podocarpus trees that were dedicated to the work we had done with the AIDS Orphan’s and Hope Companions. First I planted a tree and then Bill planted one. We can’t think of a better way to be honored than to plant indigenous trees.  

Women dancing at the celebration.

On Saturday, Stanley Gitari and his Community Outreach team, AIDS Orphan’s workers, and Hope Companions staff gave Bill and me the most amazing, incredible farewell event. During the event Stanley told us that Scott Brown, a mission work team leader and wonderful friend from Memorial Drive United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas, had given a large donation to pay for the event. 

Thus we are so very grateful to God, Stanley and his marvelous team, and Scott Brown for possibly the best day or our lives in Maua, Kenya.

           
To support the Savutos work, visit the Savuto's page.

Showing Up

I came to Nicaragua as a lay missionary from the New England Conference for what was then going to be a year. But many of you who have felt a call know that God often has other plans for us if we are willing to say yes.

So that is the first and more important part of being a missionary, continually saying yes, over and over again to God’s call and direction. My pastor Rev. Joseph Crocker once said that what is required of us in life is to show up and the rest is revealed from there.

That first year I was here I worked really hard to solve all of the dental problems of Nicaragua, thinking that it was all up to me, and often worked myself into a tizzy when I realized I would not reach the goal. At the end of that year when I was heading back to the US to discern the future, I was visibly distraught and guilty at leaving so many new Nicaraguan friends in their dire state and social challenges.

A wise Nicaraguan named Salvador Ocón said some very important parting words to me, “Belinda,” he said, “It is wonderful that you have come to offer your dental skills and care for that big problem here in Nicaragua and extract lots of teeth. But what is more important is that you took a year of your life to live with us and learn from us and now you go back to tell your people in the United States about our reality. That is your gift to us.”

Missionary Dr. Belinda Forbes, left, cares for the dental needs of children in Nicaragua with dental team member,  Isa Guti, right. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Forbes)

These words helped to shape what would become now twenty years of ministry that has me working in everything from dental programs to partnership relationships between churches and now international relations that include the cultural exchange program that Anya (Patterson) and Kesley (Kelly) are participating in.

Kesley and Anya will be with young people from Norway, Kenya, Brazil, Madagascar, and the Philippines. It is my privilege to help them participate in this exciting cross-cultural program that is designed to motivate young people in global issues and solidarity.

So my role as a missionary has diversified over the years, it is still very technical and focused on a specific skill in dentistry that I was trained for, but the longer I am here, the more my role is about presence and accompaniment, mentoring and facilitating, and generally being a resource to connect people across miles and cultures in creative ways help to serve the poor and build God’s realm on Earth.

My faith community is made up of committed and talented colleagues here at AMC which include my husband Gerardo, but also the extended community on whose behalf I serve – my supporting covenant churches in the United States who have made a commitment to not only give financially, but make me a part of their local church ministry and use my missionary presence as an extension of their congregational life. That support and representation is essential for the spiritual nourishment of a missionary and to enable us to be effective in our work.

So to close I would just sum up this reflection in three points.

1. Remember to say yes, whenever God is calling.

Missionaries Alex Devoid and Belinda Forbes with youth leaders,
Kesley Kelly and Anya Patterson (Photo courtesy of Belinda Forbes) 

2. Try not to do mission all on your own – find your team both locally and globally, and find your replacements – whether they know it or not, I have three of them sitting right here with me.

3. The most important thing that God may want from you today is most likely NOT on your To Do list. God may be calling you to stretch your gifts and talents in new ways.

Then shall your light shine like the dawn.  Amen.

Belinda Forbes is a missionary of The United Methodist Church through the General Board of Global Ministries. Read more about Dr. Forbes at Dr. Forbes's missionary biography page. 


To find out more about the ACM, Accion Médica Cristiana, Christian Medical Action, link to: http://new.gbgm-umc.org/Advance/projects/search/index.cfm?action=details&id=3016939

Message from South Sudan

Dear Friends,

His name is John and he is sixteen years old. He accepted Jesus as his Lord when he was fourteen years old. His family wanted to send him to a witch doctor but he refused to go and deny Jesus, so his family abandoned him and put him out on the streets. He came to the church and was given a place to live, school fees for an education, and food to eat. He is now a leader in the church youth group, in the youth choir, and helps to lead worship. He works to clean up the church compound and helps the church women when they are cooking for groups at the church. When we first met John he would not smile, but just look at him now.  

(Photos courtesy of Libby and Fred Dearing)

Thanks to your gifts, John’s life has been transformed and renewed. 

  

Grace and Peace, Fred and Libby     

Libby and Fred Dearing are from Mafair United Methodist Church in Kingsport, Tennessee, part of the Holston Conference. Fred is serving as the district superintendent and Libby is advocating to build a United Methodist children’s home in Yei, South Sudan. They are Individual Volunteers. To find out how and when you can to train to become an Individual Volunteer, link to http://new.gbgm-umc.org/about/us/mv/programs/individualvolunteer/orientation/

United Methodist Volunteers in Mission teams have been traveling and are continuing to travel to South Sudan to serve with the Dearings. If you are interested in leading a team, please email the office at  sejinfo@umvim.org.

Fleeces for Bolivian Church Women

In pink with the blue stole, Justina inspects fleeces and barters with vendors.
(Photo by Deborah Rissing)

I couldn’t help thinking of the nursery rhyme, Baa, baa, black sheep, as we shopped last week for sheep, alpaca, and llama fleeces. Instead of three bags full, we bought nine whole alpaca fleeces and two complete sheep skins for a total of about $40 US dollars.

It’s shearing time here. Once a year, farmers shear their wooly animals, and take the bales of fleece to a huge market at Kasani, a small border town that straddles Peru and Bolivia. We could have walked the eight kilometers (about four miles) from our home, but because of the massive crowds and the bulky wool, we took a minibus both ways – for about 60 cents round trip!

Textile lovers that we are, we were thrilled to learn of this market and to be able to shop there with an expert in natural fibers. Justina, Pastor Juan Paz’s wife, who taught us a lot about shopping for alpaca and sheep’s wool.

There were literally acres of alpaca, llama, and sheep fleeces and hides. They were sold raw, fresh off the animal, burs, grass bits, and dirt intact. The price per pound hinged on quality – length of fibers, and absence of knots and tangles -- and ranged from $3 to $5. By the way, the kinkier wool from the two sheep fleeces we bought, one black and one white, will be blended with the alpaca fibers during spinning to add strength.

We bought all this alpaca and wool for the women of the five Bolivian churches we serve. They’ll clean the fleeces by hand, spin it into yarn, then crochet or knit scarves, hats, stoles, slippers, leg warmers, baby clothes, hacky sack balls … for you!

When we return to the States, from November 20th to December 27th, we’ll be selling all sorts of natural-fiber, hand-made, wearable art. (To learn more, read Debbie's Blog published at her home church, the First United Methodist Church in Downers Grove in Illinois. Watch for more details in her posts there.)

Money raised in this effort will go toward the church goal of raising 20 percent, or $5,000, to help build a residential center for abandanados, extremely poor people abandoned by their families; usually these are seniors too old to work, but often children are abandoned.

This post was written by Deborah Rissing (photo courtesy of D. Rissing) and Jeffrey Wasilevich, long term Individual Volunteers, who began their two years of volunteer servie earlier in 2011. They work with Mision Fronteras in the Lake Titicaca region of Peru and Bolivia. 


To view a short video of their work, link through YouTube at Mision Fronteras.


Find out how you can serve as an Individual Volunteer through the General Board of Global Ministries.

Give to Individual Volunteers Making A Difference.

Constantly Learning and Sharing

At ARI (Asian Rural Institute) the struggle continues. We learned this past week the pork and chicken that we recently butchered shows traces of radiation. While the level of contamination is far, far, far below the government standards, it is still contaminated. As a school, we have decided to eat the meat.

This incident is another reminder that our decision to continue ministry in this area is not something to be taken lightly, but in fact is a difficult one that we must constantly ponder. It also reminds us that much of our ministry right now is simply about being here and continuing life here in this place at this time.

This reflection is from Satomi McClurey, who with her husband, missionary Jonathan McClurey, ministers with the people at the Asian Rural Institute (ARI) in  Northern Japan. (Photo courtesy of the McClureys)

Although troubles are coming and we have plenty of reasons to run, we continue to be here. I think I’m slowly beginning to understand incarnational ministry through this experience.

As we have joined with local people to work on ways to clean up the radiation and take back our community from the fear of the unknown, we must believe that people not only here but around Japan are being blessed; that a physical manifestation of God’s presence, of the good news, is being witnessed. These are the channels through which the gospel of Jesus Christ can then flow, giving the full good news of salvation through God’s grace in God's time.

At the same time, we are being encouraged to go forward...

To read more of the McCurleys' reflections, visit their blog at: http://proverbs169.wordpress.com

To support the missionary work of Jonathan McCurley, link to: http://new.gbgm-umc.org/work/missionaries/biographies/index.cfm?action=results&key=2&criteria=mccurley&Submit=Go

Palestinian Christian Remembers 9-11

Rev. Alex Awad, Global Ministries mission worker, reflects on hearing the news from New York ten years ago on the streets of Jerusalem. (Photo by Mike DuBose)

On September 11, 2001, my son and I were walking along one of the narrow streets of East Jerusalem when suddenly we began to hear voices coming from here and there. One voice said, "America is attacked!" Another said, “Take a look at the TV; New York is under attack!”  

Thanks to modern technology, people in shops in Jerusalem and in Bethlehem were watching the drama unfold in New York. Shopkeepers, customers, and tourists became glued to TV screens watching the savage attacks on the World Trade Center. When I entered one of the shops to see what the fuss was all about, my heart sunk and I felt sick at my stomach. I hurried home to watch the rest of the tragedy with my family. 

I was one of the many Palestinians who totally deplored the attacks. I knew from the outset that the majority of Palestinians who felt like me would be ignored by the media and the few Palestinians who celebrated the attacks would have prime-time coverage. In spite of the fact that not one of the attackers were Palestinians, Palestinians suffered much after the attacks.

Now, ten years after 9/11 and after America has carried out a decade of retribution on Afghanistan, Iraq, and radical Islamists around the world, it is good for Americans, and especially American evangelicals, to ask some hard questions and seek real answers—questions like, "Why did the attacks take place?"

Have evangelicals in the US followed the teachings of Christ in seeking and endorsing revenge on their enemies? What could evangelicals do today to bridge the gap between them and their Muslim neighbors? And how should we act in the next 10 years to shine with the light and love of Christ to the Muslim world? As evangelicals remember 9/11, I pray, God bless America and may America learn how to live at peace with the rest of the world!


Rev. Alex Awad is a Palestinian Christian who was born in Jerusalem and serves on behalf of Global Ministries as Dean and professor at Bethlehem Bible College and as pastor of the Jerusalem Baptist Church. To learn more about Rev. Awad, link to: http://new.gbgm-umc.org/work/missionaries/biographies/index.cfm?action=details&id=26  


To read Rev. Awad's reflections on the Arab uprisings and the Christian response, link to an earlier Global Ministries story at: http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/full_article.cfm?articleid=6008

The Great I Am

New missionaries of The United Methodist Church.
(Photo by Dan Randall, missionary)

May the Great I AM Hear You Deliver You
Protect You

May the Great I AM
Provide for You
Nourish You
Guide You and Lead You

May the Great I AM
Teach You
Train You
Transform You

May the Great I AM
Redeem You
Restore You
Rejoice over You

May the Great I AM
have all of your lives -
all of your faith, hope, and trust,
all of your doubt, anxieties, failures, and shortcomings
that you may know the Great I AM in ever deeper and fuller ways
because the Great I AM - the triune God - was, is,
and will be for you...forever.

Alleluia.
AMEN

***
Dan Randall, missionary, posted this prayer on his blog. He wrote the prayer for the 26 young adults who are being trained and are about to serve in communities throughout the United States and throughout the world through The United Methodist Church. (Photo by Dan Randall)

In the story of Israel's exodus and exile and relationship with God, "I AM" is the name given to Moses by God in the book of Exodus, and it is a name by which Jews and Christians continue to call on God today, as seen through the stories of the Old Testament.

For more on Dan's reflections, link to: http://randallsreflections.blogspot.com/2011/08/great-i-am-prayer-for-young-adults-in.html