In 2008, nearly 550 people took part in Mission Journeys in the U.S.A. and several other countries. They worked hard and represented Jesus very well! Here are some highlights...
In the Gulf South, we continued to help rebuilding efforts in New Orleans, LA, and Pascagoula, MS, as well as Bayou La Batre, AL.
In late March, a team of 43 from First Church of Christ (Burlington, KY) worked on several homes in the area as well as helping repair the St. Margaret's Nursing Home.
Several of the students were able to spend time with the residents and were heavily impacted by the encounter.
FCC Youth Minister Mark Graham commented:
The people in New Orleans were just overwhelmed with gratitude (even though we weren’t directly working on their houses). I have never experienced anything like that before.Fred Franke (director of Operation Nehemiah in New Orleans) said it was one of the best groups he's had in quite some time.
Teen Mission, USA, began its third year of sending teams to help with disaster recovery work in the town of Pascagoula, MS, with a team from Hazelwood (IN) Chr Ch, Mar 29-Apr 4.
Although Katrina took place nearly 2 1/2 years ago, there are still many homes in the city of Pascagoula that remain damaged from Katrina's flood waters.
Our team helped with home repairs in the area as well as working at a local church and school. Not only did they work hard, but they worked as a team for Christ.
This year, we’re also working in the community of Bayou La Batre on the gulf in Alabama. [Yes, the same town mentioned as the birthplace of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company in the 1994 movie, Forrest Gump.]
It’s a pretty amazing story. As a result for the Katrina relief, a vacant church was re-opened.
Some amazing things are happening with this infant church, the Hemley Road Church of Christ.
While there are only a dozen adult members, they have a youth group of over 25 non-churched kids who are there every time the doors are open. Many of these kids are from very underprivileged home situations. What a mission field!
We had our first work team in AL, March 24-29. They worked on the church building and on homes in the community as well as ministering to the youth who’ve been coming to the church.
In the Appalachian region, teams served in Kentucky & West Virginia, helping poorer communities with home repairs and by doing various ministry projects. A new project was launched in St. Albans, WV, where TM is partnering with a local church to help families in great spiritual & physical need.
Teams worked on 4 different Native American Indian Reservations in Arizona (Apache & Navajo), South Dakota (Crow Creek Sioux) and Washington (Yakama).
Work on a new Christian Camp continued near Saltillo, Mexico.
Host Ernesto Fuentes said:
Teen Mission blessed us by sending an awesome group. We are sure God is going to bring fruit for eternity for the hard labor they did at Praise Valley (the camp).
Bill Teegarden led a team to Barbados, West Indies (July 3-12), and reports 34 decisions (9 baptisms) for Christ during a Crusade with the Ruby Christian Church!
Chuck Perry emailed from Ethiopia where he worked with missionary Shelly Hilvety in June:
God’s blessings abound. New stories to relate, Great opportunities: Feeding-Teaching over 200 HIV adults, 3 home visits with food and encouragement, Church leaders’ Bible Study & Devotionals, an Ethiopian Wedding; Wonderful 2 weeks.
Ken Henderson and his wife, Carol, were in Tanzania, East Africa, this summer and wrote the following:
Our trip to Tanzania went just great. The team and the people at Haven of Peace Chr Ch hit it off wonderfully. The worship was incredible—they now have a sound system and fancy keyboard. Adding that to the swing and African style singing, it was wonderful...
This has been not only been one of the best teams for harmony & cooperation, but also one of the most generous teams I’ve ever coordinated.The team gave money for rice and well pump repair at a refugee camp. They also gave offerings at several churches, plus many other gifts of medicines, furniture, clothes, bedding, food, gas money, prayer bears, soccer balls, crafts, VBS supplies, etc.
Added to this were labors of love in painting, teaching, praying, playing, laughing, and learning Swahili.
Our team in Taichung, Taiwan, reported: "The Sports & English camp ended on a high note. There were 13 decisions for Christ with 7 of those being baptized before we left camp. The Lord held the storms off just long enough for us to get all the baptisms in without rain."
Teen Mission returned to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, for the first time since 2003 with two summer teams.
Sam Bowles said the following of his team's experience in Honduras:
This team worked as hard and accomplished as much as any team I’ve been a part of. We had the opportunity to disassemble an old church and pour the foundation for a newer and larger one that will be built on the same location. We had plenty of opportunities to evangelize as well. The group particularly enjoyed going into some very rural villages, crossing streams and climbing over mountains to go door to door and visit with the area people.
Dufailly, Haiti [Jan 21-30] -- Chuck Perry traveled to Haiti and worked with Kendall & Yvrose Johnson. Kendall was part of the 1st-ever Mission Journey team in 1985 (to Haiti). He fell in love with Haiti and later returned as a full-time missionary. While there, Chuck did a one-man VBS for the children in the afternoon and held a week-long revival at the Dufailly Christian Church at night.
Ghana, West Africa [Feb 04-15] -- Ken Henderson went to Ghana for a setup trip, with intention of sending groups in 2009. He was very pleased with the possibilities. Much work is available for and at the Ghana Chr Univ.
In the villages, Ken was able to visit churches, orphanages and medical clinics where teams could be valuable helpers.
Among the visits, Ken visited a completely Muslim village where the chief (far right in top photo) was quite receptive. The missionary allowed the chief to fill two boxes with books of his choosing. He chose 90% Christian books, and is very attentive to the gospel. It was an amazing meeting.
Ken also had opportunity to teach Creation and Ancient Egypt in classes and chapel at Ghana Chr Univ.
Cayenne, French Guiana & Port-au-Prince, Haiti [Apr 03-14] -- Leonard Stone (GBS Administrator) traveled to French Guiana and Haiti where he passed out French translations of the GBS lessons and recruited many new students.
Accompanying Leonard to French Guiana was Haitian preacher Dr. Sule Jean Marcel. The two worked with three young churches, teaching on leadership development and the New Testament church concept.
On his way back to the States, Leonard visited Dr. Sule's church, Carrefour-feuilles Church of Christ, in Haiti.