Congo partnership update

Dear friends,  I got this update from Jonathan Baker and thought you all would enjoy hearing what is going on. God is SO good!

    Cataract Mission Team – Dr. Kapembu and Dr. Yohadi; Dr. Manya and a host of Congoleses staff that will care for those who come for healing of mind, body and spirit. I am simply blown away by what the Diengenga community has done to prepare for this including finishing the new Operating Room!!! Our US team will be Donna Baker, Dr. Kris Karlen and his associate, Charles Narh both from California. Judy Ingalls, while not going with them, has been so involved in gathering all the supplies. Thanks to Emily and Jan McCarty, a member of Epworth and International officer for Lions Club, for getting us hundreds of eye glasses that have all been sorted, cleaned, sterilized and individually packed to provide for those who come for the screening and can be helped by the glasses! Thank you, God!

    Prayer concern: The commercial flight from Kinshasa to Lodja has closed! That requires Jacque to fly all our teams and supplies from Kananga to Diengenga. Add this to his already busy schedule with the Law Funeral in Wembo, Annual Conference in Wembo and the 100^thAnniversary Celebration it is going to be very challenging. But Jacque is a great person of faith and we know God will strengthen and protect him and us.

     Agriculture Team: July    Jack O’Day, David Heistand and Wes Heistand. This is a very important time in so many ways as we plan for the future at our Diengenga Farm, discern the possibilities of another farm, and how we move forward in light of the tragic death of Tshala whom we used for consultation and training. I believe God is raising up new leadership right in Diengenga that God will use in the future!

    MPASA and Miriam’s Table:  Sue Keefer and Miriam will be arriving in early August to help launch Miriam’s Table and work with the MPASA staff. She and Miriam will also fly upcountry to Diengenga and Wembo Nyama to experience this wonderful part of the Episcopal Area and the heart of the Congo

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    Wembo Nyama – Children’s Ministry, Annual Conference and the 100^th Anniversary of Methodism in the Congo celebration!  Jackie Unwu will join me for 3 weeks in Wembo as we support our Children’s ministry and represent our Partnership at these major events.  People will be coming from around the world for this celebration.

   Donna and I leave Friday so we covet your prayers. She will return the end of July and I will return Sept 2. If you have any questions while I am away, please contact Sue Keefer until she leaves and then Donna will be home so you can contact her.

 

    New Web Site and Facebook updates! Check out our new site which now has the foundation information and ready for us to move forward in exciting ways. We are blessed to have a professional volunteer to handle this for us as he is so moved by what the Partnership is doing. The Congo Partnership Page on Facebook is how Donna and I will be trying to keep everyone informed. We will rarely have internet connection but will upload whenever possible.  If you aren’t already connected to this site, go to it and “like it” and ask to receive information and it will post something on your site whenever anything new is posted there.

      I’ve also attached a sheet for contact information of people in the Congo.

Lots of things are unfolding as people hear about our Partnership and want to become involved. Be in prayer about a University in NY that may be sending one of its professors in the Architecture Master’s Program to Kinshasa this summer to meet with me and look at some possible projects for their students to design and construct working with the local people. The University wants every student to have a mission experience they believe will transform their lives and also provide valuable service to others. Amazing!

    Bet you can’t tell I’m excited! Looking forward to seeing you in September. Be blessed…be grateful…just be.

 

May the winds of God’s Spirit bless you with abiding joy and peace!

 

Jonathan

Jonathan Baker

1980 Odessa Circle

The Villages, FL 32162

Second Mile Giving

                                                                                                                          February 2013

Dear Members and Friends,

            Second Mile Giving is a Lenten tradition at St. Paul's. Each year the Missions Team chooses one or two ministries to lift before the congregation as a focus for worthwhile giving beyond our regular contributions.  Every dollar contributed is forwarded to the specifically selected ministries.  This year our theme is “Helping Our Neighbors”. We have selected two ministries for Second Mile Giving –  Mt. Joy Kitchen Project and Disaster Relief in Crisfield and Somerset County.

           

            Mt. Joy United Methodist Church has been ministering in the Southbridge community in South  Wilmington for more than 135 years.  Presently Mt. Joy's kitchen's roof has a leak and five of the stove burners do not work, and help is needed. Since St. Paul's has had a “Sister Church Relationship” with Mt. Joy for more than twenty years, the mission team would like to offer the members of St. Paul's an opportunity help with this situation through Second Mile Giving.

           

            Also, in desperate need are our neighbors in our conference in Crisfield and Somerset County, Maryland. When disaster strikes, it changes lives.  Last fall as Hurricane Sandy bore down on millions of people, the United Methodist Church responded immediately and continues to respond today. In the relief phase of the disaster response, the immediate focus was meeting the basic human needs – food, shelter, clothing, safety. Now in the recovery phase of the response,  communities have begun to try to rebuild and restore their lives. Planning and action in this phase includes rebuilding and restoration of homes, and the re-establishment of routines in daily life.

            After the storm, our Conference Disaster Response Team went to Crisfield and has been working with town emergency management officials to organize the relief stage of the disaster. FEMA  assessed the damage to be about $3 million. So far, $1.4 million has been paid out. No trailers may be used there because the land is below sea level, so temporary housing has had to be found elsewhere. Due to the mold potential in all of the homes in Crisfield and unincorporated areas of Somerset County, it was determined all (about 125 homes) will require some form of mold eradication. The Long Term Recovery Committee in the conference has determined at least $50,000 will be needed to help repair and rebuild homes in Crisfield and the unincorporated parts of Somerset County. VIM (Volunteers in Mission) groups are scheduled for the next few months. Building materials and supplies are needed. Part of the Second Mile Giving will be used for this purpose.

            The 2013 Second Mile Giving campaign will extend from February 17 (the first Sunday of Lent) to April 7 (the Sunday after Easter).  Please put the enclosed envelope in the Sunday offering or send your check to St. Paul's United Methodist Church, clearly marked "For Second Mile Giving." The Missions Team asks that you remember all those in need, including our neighbors, in your prayers, as well as your financial support.

                                                                                                        St. Paul's Mission Team

                                                           

                                                                                    

Bishop Peggy Johnson and the Peter D. Weaver Congo Partnership, Jonathan Baker – chair

Greetings to the churches of the Peninsula-Delaware Conference

In this season when we celebrate the advent of the Prince of Peace, we have recently learned of the devastation of our Congolese sister and brothers on the eastern border of the country as war has broken out creating a massive refugee situation.  Please read the details of the following Declaration, forwarded by the Council of Bishop’s office, from Bishop UNDA YEMBA, recently elected bishop of the East Congo Episcopal area where our Partnership has one of its agriculture projects. We encourage you to:

1.     Please pray for peace with justice for this war-torn area and for those seeking to respond to this disaster and the refugees.

2.      Offer financial support of the humanitarian efforts. All funds will be channeled through the General Board of Global Ministries. Any contributions can be sent to the Conference Resource Center and you can use your Benevolence Remittance Form, line 42, and designate Advance 00381A – Emergency Disaster East Congo.

Thank you for your prayerful consideration and extravagant generosity.

Declaration from Bishop Gabriel UNDA YEMBA

East Congo Episcopal Area, United Methodist Church

on the current critical situation in the North Kivu/Goma area

of Democratic Republic of Congo

I. General situation at Goma and in nearby areas around the city –(Provincial capital of the province of North Kivu)

This cry of alarm that we must sound at this particular time is predicated by the atrocities of war that plague this part of our Episcopal Area.  The military confrontations between the M23 rebel forces and the regular armed forces of the DRCongo have dire consequences. The noose that is tightening around the city of Goma this afternoon of November 19, 2012 is sending the local populations into an indescribable chaos:

·         Massive displacement of the population: around 200,000 are fleeing from their homes and temporary shelters to escape the war.  United Methodists are among those who are seeking refuge.

·         Consequences:

o   Lack of shelter, lack of clothing

o   Lack of food, lack of water

o   Lack of medical care to treat rampant disease

o   Total insecurity

o   Death, especially of women and children

In short, the region has become unlivable, due to the horrors that the men, women and children are left to face alone.

II. Extremely Urgent: Proposal for a Solution

1.    The United Nations Security Council has a great responsibility:  it alone can intervene to bring an end to the hostilities by using its force in the region.

2.    Urgent humanitarian aid of all kinds is needed by the local churches so that they can begin to meet the needs of the huge populations who are victims of the war.  If not, they will be decimated.

More than 6 million people have died in the region since 1998.

3.    We ask that the United Nations Security Council impose a peace process for sincere negotiations between the warring parties, for a lasting peace in the area.

Thank you for your prayers and may God bless you abundantly.

                                                    

Bishop Gabriel UNDA YEMBA

                                                     East Congo Episcopal Area

Reclaim Christmas

Want to Reclaim Christmas? Check out this site. http://rethinkchurch.org/

Hurricane Sandy has blown through our lives and our land these past few days. It has left an indelible mark. 

Last year.. about this time you were asked for your assistance for response to Hurricane Irene and TS Lee.  We still have years of work to help communities changed by those storms.   They are pleading, "Dont forget us!"

Now this......so what do we do?

We have the opportunity to serve...to spread the love of Christ through our words and our actions ..in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth .

  

Use this time to put together Cleanup buckets  as  current supplies are exhausted.  Go to UMCOR.org to get the official lists of contents.  

Please give to the UMCOR Advance.  Please help now. Please help in years to come. Donate to UMCOR US Disaster Response, Advance #901670, and select Hurricanes 2012 from the drop-down menu. You can also text the word RESPONSE to 80888 to give an immediate $10 donation. 

Help Needed

Hurricane Sandy has left her mark on the Salisbury District and we have brothers and sisters that need our help!  The Somerset County/Crisfield area was especially hard hit.

We can help by donations of money, food, our time, clothing, and other items.

Immanuel UM Church, 206 West Main Street, Crisfield, MD, 21817 is the central point for delivery of all physical items (clothing, food, blankets, etc.)  In Salisbury, items may be dropped off at Zion UM Church – Community Hall, 31104 Zion Road, Salisbury, MD  21804.   We are in process of coordinating additional drop-off sites in the Salisbury area to receive items on a temporary basis – items will very promptly be picked up and delivered to Immanuel UMC in Crisfield.

Monetary donations may be sent to: Peninsula-Delaware Conference, Attn: Bill Westbrook, 139 N. State Street, Dover, DE, 19901.  Checks should be payable to Peninsula-Delaware Conference and please notate Somerset County/Crisfield Recovery on the memo line. 

If you are able to go to Somerset County/Crisfield to help, please  have your pastor or pastor’s designee call to make the offer/arrangements for your work crews.

If you are a part of a VIM Team or want to be part of a VIM Team, please call Rev. Karin Tunnell 302-378-2420.            

Please follow these above requested guidelines in providing your help.We want to avoid disappointment and distress and that assistance, whether food, clothes, or workers, gets into the hands of those who need it the most!   We want to make the best and most effective use of all resources!!

The Baltimore-Washington Conference will be sending teams to help this week and the Virginia Conference is sending teams on Wednesday and Friday this week to provide strong backs and helping hands.  Other conferences have contacted us to find out ways to help.

This will be a long term recovery process.  Thank-you for your continued prayers and your help in the coming days!!

God bless,

Rev. Lawrence Purnell, Salisbury District Disaster Coordinator

Rev. Rich Walton, Peninsula-Delaware Conference Disaster Coordinator 

Red Bird Mission Trip leaving May 4, 2013

Red Bird Mission Trip leaving May 4, 2013, and returning May 11, 2013

 

Don't miss this opportunity to show God's love in rural Appalachia. In 2012 we completely replaced the bathroom and painted the exterior of the Wagers home. They were the most appreciative family you could ever meet. We also did some maintenance work in the office on campus, and helped in the opportunity store. We took baby supplies to Suzanne Pohli ( a missionary from our conference) for her missionary work she does with the Women’s and Children’s Ministries at Red Bird Mission. We also re-visited the home of a lady we did work for in 2008. She was pleased that we remembered her.

 

You don't have to have a skill. You will learn one. At people's homes there is roofing, painting, plumbing, general fixing-up and an opportunity to share the love of Jesus.

All kinds of tasks are needed on campus, too. There is office work, craft store help, community store work, and general maintenance.

The week will lift your spirits as you commune with your fellow Christian workers and the local residents.

In May 2012 we took a group from 6 different churches, from all over our annual conference. Age doesn't matter either, the age of our group is between 20 and 71.

The Red Bird Mission is in Beverly, KY. You can go to their web site www.rbmission.org to get an idea of what they are all about.

If you would like more information please call or e-mail me. I can also come to your church and do a group presentation on the Red Bird Mission.

Please let me know if you are interested in going by December 1, 2012. Final decision by December 31, 2012.

Eileen Parton, CLM

Red Lion UMC

1545 Church Road

Bear, DE 19701

eap3141@aol.com

Cell phone: 302 981 0293

Church phone 302 824 1599