HANDS
TRANSFORMING LIVES
WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE WE GOING?  THANKS TO YOU...


WORLD MISSIONS

Episcopal Diocese of West Texas  
October, 2015


  GRACE IN HAITI 
from Trey McCarty, Youth Minister (Grace, San Antonio)



The Grace Episcopal Church Mission Team traveled to Haiti this summer from July 10-17th.  Our mission was to serve a ministry named Harvest House Haiti. Harvest House is a "non profit organization committed to bringing the love of Jesus to the beautiful people of Haiti." Our objectives involved constructing a roof on a village church, connecting with the local youth, leading a VBS, and organizing medical supplies for future teams. Our team was made up of 15 teenagers and young adults from different areas and churches, but we all came together to serve as the Body of Christ.

We resided in a village named Les Cayes where we held youth meetings and connected with the youth of the local church by playing games, singing songs, and performing skits. One of our team members, Alicia Brummet, led VBS at the local church on Sunday and team member Fabian Avina gave the Sunday sermon. The church was extremely energized by all the new faces. Later during the week, we visited an orphanage a few miles from where we housed in Les Cayes. Our team brought clothes, played games, and ate snacks with the kids. It was difficult for us to leave the orphanage because of how well we connected with the kids. We were thankful to know that they were healthy and being cared for by responsible adults.

The second place we visited was St. George, a small village that resides on the southern coast of Haiti. St. George is a "safe home for special needs children and children suffering from AIDS." Our team was astonished by its natural beauty. While at St. George, team member and nurse, Genese Villani, helped lead us in organizing medical supplies for future teams. Other team members assembled bunk beds, measured windows, and picked up debris on the shore at St. George. After organizing supplies and assembling various items for the village, the locals treated us by boiling fresh lobster.

Our last stop was to the village of Twa Mango in the mountains of southern Haiti. While there, our team alongside village locals, assisted in the construction of a new roof on the village church, led VBS for two days, and organized a village soccer game.
 
Judy Foster and Pastor Etienne accommodated our team while we were in Haiti. They were extremely welcoming, well organized, and both have a passion for seeing Haitian lives transformed by the love of Jesus. Our hope and prayer is that we maintain a long-lasting relationship with Harvest House Haiti and the people involved in the ministry. The team plans on returning to Haiti in the summer of 2016.
 
A very special thanks to Judy Foster and Pastor Etienne for the hospitality, the Diocese of West Texas for matching the funds we raised, Grace Episcopal Church for sending us on the trip, Dr. Bill Cruse and his patients for helping raise money, Cathy Villani for preparing VBS, Fabian Avina for bringing his camera equipment in order to capture our trip, and all others who supported us with prayers and finances.
 

AFOYO
from Rev. John Hill (St. Margaret's, San Antonio)
 

I wanted to write and say Afoyo (Afoyo in the local Ugandana language of Alur is thank you)!  Thank you for your support of the mission trip to the Diocese of Nebbi in Uganda. It was incredible! God did amazing work in the lives of 152 men in the town of Goli. One of our goals on the trip was to meet with men from the Diocese of Nebbi to talk about being faithful Christian men in their business enterprise and their family. The other goal of the trip was to check on the already flourishing ministry to women at the Women's Center and confirm that we would be able to continue the amazing ministry partnership we have with the Nebbi Diocese. 

The team that left the U.S. were Marthe Curry, Kaitlin Reed, and myself. We met up with our fourth member of the team, Joseph Oneka, in Goli. Joseph and I were able to meet with the men for three days walking through the biblical view of business enterprises, working on a case study of a business, and having groups break into four sections to develop a business plan for a particular business. In the family section we talked about ways the men could show their wife and children they loved them in both words and actions and what things they had to give up to do this. We also talked about the threats to families in their community and ways in which they could defend against this as a Christian in community. At the end of this time 152 men made a pledge to meet once a month to learn and support one another as Christian businessman and as men in their families. I was in awe of what God did in this short amount of time. 

I would like to support these men in the diocese by raising $10,000 for a revolving bank similar to what has already been set up for the women. It is the perfect way to help these men take a loan from this bank at a very low interest in order to have the capital to start or grow a business. They will continue to learn more business skills as they meet together and pay back their loans as part of their business plan. The money will continue to be used for development of new and expanding businesses. It has been successful with the women and can and will work for the men as well. It will also support ongoing training for the men.

On Sunday I had the opportunity to worship and preach at the cathedral and visit Prayer Mountain. I came away from this time amazed at the worship of this community. They praised the Lord with all of their heart, and it was evident in their lives. The people I met loved the Lord and were trying to live that out in their daily life. No matter how hard it may seem, they praised the Lord anyway. I brought back to our community at St. Margaret's the importance of worshiping God in all circumstances. God is God no matter what is happening around us. 

While Joseph and I were meeting with the men, Marthe and Kaitlin were checking on the wonderful work that is being done with the women. They were astounded by the continued fruitful ministry that is happening and how well it was being done by the Women's Center and diocese. We met with the Bishop to express our heartfelt thanks for our partnership and made our way to Kampala to meet with the Archbishop. We had a great meeting with the Archbishop and felt good about the opportunity to continue in partnership with Nebbi Diocese. 

Thank you again for your support. I know that your prayers were answered as God did amazing work in our time in Uganda. Please keep the Diocese of Nebbi in your prayers as well as the men who are working to be Christian leaders in their business and in their family.

The Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders is hosting their annual Short-Term Mission Leaders' Training November 13-15, 2015 in the SAMS office in Ambridge, PA.We train team leaders how to train their team.  Leaders will leave SAMS confident in their ability to recruit, train, serve overseas, and get their team members home. The cost, including food is $99.00.  Please follow the link for more information and to register.http://samsusa.org/content/leader-training-dates-and-locations.

CATCH A GLIMPSE

from Michelle and Mark Sharrow, YWAM Missionaries to Tijuana

   

 

There's really no way to condense all that God has been doing into one email, but I hope to give you some highlights to give you just a glimpse. We finished the summer off with almost 100 Mexican and Canadian students participating in ten days of our mission adventures program. We hosted about 500 students altogether, and we saw many lives transformed by the gospel. We built over twenty houses from August up until this last weekend, and the ball keeps rolling. 

It's been an amazing summer, and we are about to enter into a season somewhat foreign to us. Mark is stepping away from his role in operations of the base to focus on the Bible school, and I am in my third week of school online. I'm working towards a bachelor's degree in pastoral care and counseling with a double major in Bible and theology. As exciting and wonderful as this summer as been, and although we are looking forward to our next three years here, we truly need your prayers and support. 
  • We would appreciate your prayer for the new challenges ahead in working with schools and studying online. Managing our time will be key. 
  • Financial aid is covering the cost of my first semester of school, but we're not sure how far it will go, so we need to start saving more. 
  • Although we see God doing amazing things every day, there is an incredible heaviness that comes and goes in working with people on the streets of Tijuana. In the last year, three of the men that I'd met through our ministries were murdered. One of them was 14-year-old Joshua who I met almost four years ago. He came to see us every week because he wanted to hear about Jesus, and he wanted to be a preacher or a missionary like us. His life was so short and so full of pain and abuse. I can only hope that he is at peace now with his heavenly Father.  

 


WE'RE STILL LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD MISSIONERS

 
The Rev. Nancy Springer (St. John's, McAllen, [email protected]) announces two mission trips.  Team members are needed for both. Please contact designated persons (below) if you are called to serve on any or all of these:    

  

November 1-7: Medical Dental Mission

We provide dental and basic medical care for people in the indigenous Mayan regions of Guatemala, setting up temporary clinics in churches and schools.  We need dentists, dental assistants, doctors, nurses, and non-medical people.  If you are interested please contact Lorena Rojas [email protected] or Jim Chase [email protected].  The estimated cost for the trip is $1300 per person (a more definite cost and commitment deadlines will be available as the trip draws closer).


DID YOU KNOW...
      
There are THREE components to world mission:  GOING, GIVING, PRAYING.  
  
You know about GOING AND GIVING, but did you know that Virtual Mission is a group of PRAY-ERS who participate in team trips by attending team meetings, reading the team devotional books, staying connected with the team as they go, and PRAYING daily for the team?  If you'd like to be part of Virtual Mission, contact Libby Templeton for more information ([email protected]). 

 PRAYER GUIDE & TEAM LIST    
DATES  PLACETEAM   DESCRIPTION
October 8 & 9 Mexico (Piedras Negras) Connie & Tommy Bye, Team Leaders, Linda Appleton, Elizabeth Clark, Carolyn & Rod Davis, Sally & Ladd Smith, Nancy Lee & Mike Staggs, Anne Thevenoit & daughter Sewing classes, construction, art classes  
October 21- November 5 Uganda Helen & Garry Schnelzer, Team Leaders  Threads of Blessing 
November 1-7GuatemalaJorge & Lorena Rojas, Team Leaders, Nancy SpringerMedical/dental mission (St. John's, McAllen)
November 10-17 SE Mexico Valerie Kirk, Team Leader  Veterinary mission 

ADDITIONAL PRAYER REQUESTS

from Missionary Alison Barfield (Uganda)
  • PRAY FOR THE TOTAL HEALING OF HER MOTHER, MARTHA BARFOOT, WHO IS RECOVERING FROM CANCER SURGERY AND WILL HAVE ADDITIONAL RADIATION THERAPY.
  • PRAY FOR ALL THE NEEDS OF THE FAMILY AT THIS TIME.
  • PRAY FOR ALISON'S TRAVELS TO MEET COMMITMENTS IN THE U.S.
 
from Missionary Jeannie Loving (Honduras)
  • PRAY FOR CONTINUED RAIN IN VALLE DE JAMASTRAN AND A GOOD SECOND GROWING SEASON. (CALLED POSTRERA). 
  • PRAY FOR A SOLUTION TO THE LACK OF WATER. 
  • PRAY FOR JEANNIE'S CONTINUED GOOD HEALTH AND ENERGY ON THE MISSION FIELD. 
  • PRAY FOR THE GROWTH OF THE MISSION IN SAN DIEGO, HONDURAS. 
  • PRAY FOR HILDA TO HAVE SUCCESSFUL SURGERY ON HER ANKLE.
                MEMORIALS AND HONORS                            

Given by:
In Memory of:
Rt. Rev. & Mrs. Jim Folts
Edith Downing





TO MAKE A DONATION TO WORLD MISSIONS:  
(You may give to specific designations or "Where Most Needed.")
 
 
Or make checks payable to DWTX and note "MISSIONS" on the 
memo line.  Mail to DWTX, PO Box 6885, San Antonio, TX  78209.

Or call Betty Chumney 888/210-824-5387.


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Episcopal Diocese of West Texas World Mission