UMVIM Central America

2006-11-03T06:23:00.000-08:00

New Church in Nicaragua

Alcance Nicaragua is pleased to announce the dedication of Mision Evangelica Methodisa in Ruben Dario, Nicaragua! Dr. Jim Lowry, board members of Alcance Nicaragua and a short-term mission from Norcross First United Methodist Church (GA) were present for the ribbon cutting dedication on September 19, 2006. The dedication was a part of a week-long celebration at the new church.

Alcance Nicaragua remains committed to planting churches in Nicaragua to bring together people so they may develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The church building is quickly becoming an important gathering place within the community. Alcance Nicaragua supports a feeding program for 160 pre-school children five days a week. At this breakfast meal the children receive a meal and a vitamin approved by a local physician. Breakfast time at the church is a lively time of fellowship, nutrition and opportunity for prayer as food is prepared for the children

An additional program at the church is the preparation of food for elementary thru high school students in the neighborhood. Food will be provided by the government and will be prepared by church members and school parents at the church. Approximately 1100 kids are fed daily, five days a week. This program will begin in late January 2007.

Alcance Nicaragua continues to seek partners for continuation of the work in Ruben Dario. During the next year, we will focus on building the support for Mision Evangelica Methodisa and developing additional outreach activities in the community. Your prayers, service and financial support are all necessary for these programs to grow and reach more people for Jesus Christ.

Further information about Alcance Nicaragua can be obtained at the website www.nicaoutreach.org or by telephone at (770) 448-4142, Extension 103.

2006-10-31T08:11:00.000-08:00

Giving Thanks in Belize

by Cally Curtis, UMVIM Individual Volunteer posted to Belize

October 30, 2006
Buttonwood Bay
Belize City, Belize

Dear Friends and Family,

I hope this finds you well and your hearts full of praise in this season of Thanksgiving. In October, throughout the world, I think, the sunlight must be as gold, the clouds as huge and white, and the skies as blue and beautiful everywhere. Here, it is quite a magnificent show, for sure.

Every day in Belize City I pass stalls or bicycle carts full of produce - bananas, papaya, pineapple, sugarcane and other exotic fruits I'm only now discovering. The Mayan family at the fruit and vegetable stand at the corner of my street are up before dawn and there after dark. I saw them already working at 4:30 am last Saturday morning when I was up to catch the bus for a school trip to Chetumal.

October is the time of celebrating the harvest here. I've never seen services more moving or humbling. At every church, one "Lord's Day" (or Sunday) is set aside for giving thanks for the harvest. The first of the three services is for the boys, the second for the girls, and the last for the youth, choir, men's and women's groups and other organizations within the church.

"read the rest of this wonderful and inspiring story - click 'comment' below:

2006-07-28T07:06:00.000-07:00

Costa Rica Missions Project (University Carillon UMC @ K37)

The Costa Rica Mission Team set off before the crack of dawn on Sat. morning. The last 2 months were filled with orientation meetings and fund-raisers to prepare ourselves for a new culture and experience and the day was finally here!! For many it was their first mission trip and the excitement was almost unbearable.

We flew to Miami where we connected to our flight to San José, Costa Rica. The two hour time difference put us into San José at mid-afternoon. The airport was congested but we managed to go through immigration and customs without incident. Our minibus and Daniel, the owner/driver was there to meet us and we loaded up and began our 3 hour drive to San Isidrio, the halfway point to our final destination.

Click here for photos

Click 'comment' to read the rest of the story ......

2006-07-25T06:26:00.000-07:00

HONDURAS INITIATIVE GATHERING

United Methodist Mission Church in Honduras

When: Oct. 19-21, 2006

Where: Tarrytown UMC, Austin, TX

Purpose: To fellowship and network with representatives of the young Honduran church and other interested volunteers and friends of this mission, and to explore opportunities for mission team service with the people of Honduras. VIM Coordinator, Ron Davidson and Hondurans DS, Roberto Peña Nazario and experienced volunteers to Honduras will be in attendance. Come learn and share what God is doing in Honduras.

More information and registration information is available at the Honduras Initiative web site - http://www.gbgm-umc.org/hondurasini/

and from:
Jim Burris – jebky@msn.com
Sean Rutter – sean.rutter@ey.com
Sally Willson – sallyjwillson@aol.com

2006-03-05T17:44:00.000-08:00

Spanish Immersion Team to Guatemala - Nov. 11-26, 2006

The annual UMVIM Spanish Language Immersion team will be returning to Guatemala Nov. 11-26. The team will be studying Spanish in Xela at the Sakribal language school, staying in a Guatemalan home, and using the new language skills in interaction with the local church and community. The team will be led by long time UMVIM team leader and student of Spanish, John Benson. To learn more, click here.

2006-03-04T07:19:00.000-08:00

Nicaragua & El Ayudante

A quick update on El Ayudante:
We now have 2 team houses on the property in Leon. The medical clinic is completed on the property and medical teams are needed! There are currently 20 precious children in the orphanage, with more expected any day. We have 45 teams scheduled for 2006 and are scheduling for 2007 now. (There are still some weeks available this year in the fall.) We are concentrating our efforts in the communities surrounding Leon, especially helping the schools with construction and school supplies. We continue to work closely with local pastors in helping to equip their churches. We are providing assistance in the areas of well drilling, water purification, medical care, ministry in the dump, and the list goes on and on. Our staff in Leon just keeps getting better and better. Our Methodist missioner, Juan Carlos, is just having a tremendous response in Ruben Dario. A lot of our UMVIM teams are working with him. He's having 3 worship services each week, with sometimes over 100 in attendance. It's exciting!
We are expanding to Matagalpa, about an hour north east of Leon, and 1 1/2 hours from Matagalpa. We have been given some land on a beautiful mountain on a coffee plantation and are planning to build a team house there. This area is completely untouched as far as outside help is concerned and the needs are tremendous.
We have a few teams going to Matagalpa in 2006 to help get things going, working with some wonderful people there and staying in a hotel. We will build the team house as God provides the funds.
Our web site continues to be a wonderful source of information for folks: http://www.nicamissions.com/.
Thank you for all your office has done to help this ministry! It's amazing to see what God has done for the people of Nicaragua through so many volunteers!

Daphne MosesPastor of Caring MinistriesNorthside UMC2571 N. Highland, Jackson, Tn 38305731-668-0617

2006-02-17T04:52:00.000-08:00

Georgia volunteers in Nicaragua

Anyone who has participated in a short-term mission team knows the way God can unify diverse personalities and gifts in pursuit of his purposes. This usually is more dramatic when the mission is to a remote location complicated by language and cultural barriers. The team of Middle Georgia Methodist missionaries who spent January 28th through February 4th in Leon, Nicaragua came together in service and song.
Twenty members from nine different Middle Georgia United Methodist churches made up the team that served people of poverty-stricken Leon, Nicaragua. The Rev. Bill Huddle, pastor of the Dixon UMC, and his wife Terry, assisted by the Rev. Whit Kirkland, pastor of the Jeffersonville UMC, led the team. The Rev. Sam Lamback, pastor of Park Memorial UMC was the third clergy member.

for more about this awesome trip, click 'comment' below.

2006-01-09T04:53:00.000-08:00

North Alabama Conference in Mission

from Bishop WIll Willimon

Patsy and I have just returned from a great Volunteers in Mission (VIM) trip to work with our missionary in Panama, Rhett Thompson. For more than 20 years Rhett has connected the United Methodists of North Alabama with the people of Panama. I’m proud of Rhett and I am proud of the scores of Alabamians who support Rhett’s work

to read more, click "comments" below

2005-12-19T09:31:00.000-08:00

Volunteers in Mission – Guatemala

by John Moore

I recently participated in a Volunteer in Mission team in Antigua, Guatemala sponsored by the Southeast Jurisdiction of United Methodist Church. The team lead by John Benson of Raleigh, NC, consisted of 11 members from various parts of the USA. The primary purpose of the mission was to study Spanish at Centro Linguistico La Union Spanish School in Antigua. Secondary purposes were to learn more about Guatemala culture and its people, and to grow together as a small Christian community as we participated in various social outreach projects. My personal goal was to improve my Spanish and to learn more about VIM trips so that I might lead one next year to El Salvador. For this reason, I went to Guatemala for an extra two weeks before the VIM team arrived, a total of 4 weeks in country.

To read more, click on "Comments" below

2005-12-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

Spanish Language Immersion Program

A group of 11 vimers in a group sponsored by SEJ-UMVIM recently spent 2 weeks in Antigua, Guatemala studying Spanish, learning about Guatemala, learning about the Methodist Church in Guatemala, learning about outreach opportunities in Guatemala, and working with a local day care program. The Spanish study consisted of 4 daily hours of one-on-one instruction at the La Union Spanish School. Team members were housed with and fed by local families. Highlights of the trip were getting to know the staff of school, becoming part of a Guatemalan family, meeting lots of kids and sharing with them, and meeting the leadership of the Guatemalan Church. Each team member gained a better understanding of Spanish and a better understanding of the Guatemalan culture.

Another trip similar to this is being planned for 2006. If you are interested in being part of it, contact team leader John Benson at jbenson23@earthlink.net.

2005-11-16T06:13:00.000-08:00

Here are some updates from the BBC, Guatemala Human Rights Watch and Rights Action. These highlight the need to recapitalize the agricultural sector in the Highlands.

GUATEMALA FACES HUNGER 'TIMEBOMB'
[Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/4426240.stm. 2005/11/10]

Parts of Guatemala are facing a starvation "timebomb" in the aftermath of Hurricane Stan, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. Hundreds of people were buried by landslides after a week of intense rains in early October. But Trevor Rowe of the WFP says there are fears even more may die from malnutrition unless they get help soon. "We suspect that by the end of the year most people's food will have run out," he says. "We're talking about subsistence farmers, who live a hand-to-mouth existence."

AID SHORTAGE

Many farmers had lost many or all of their crops, or even lost their land altogether, he told the BBC News website. "There's concern they will be facing a severe hunger crisis" if international aid is not forthcoming, he added. The WFP has launched an appeal for $14.1m (£8m) to help feed 285,000 people over a six-month period. Mr Rowe said only $4.5m had been raised so far, from three countries: the US ($3.5m), Norway and Switzerland. "The severity of the hurricane hasn't been fully grasped yet," he said. "Compared to Hurricane Mitch [in 1998], the impact on Guatemala is much worse."

ANOTHER NIGER?

He said even before Stan arrived, Guatemala had chronic child malnutrition of 50%, with 80% in some areas. "The bottom line is that these people will not be in a position to cope by the end of the year. "Without the necessary food aid to help them these people are severely vulnerable. "What we want is to avoid what happened in Niger," he said, referring to the famine in West Africa that was predicted by the WFP and others, but only got international attention and donations when pictures of starving victims appeared on TV in July, when it was too late for many. The situation in Guatemala, he says, "is a timebomb waiting to go off... the fuse is lit".
===

[News as summarized by the Guatemala Human Rights Commission, www.ghrc-usa.org]

COMMUNITIES REMAIN WITHOUT AID

Although President Óscar Berger has declared an end to the emergency, communities throughout Guatemala continue to face the devastating effects of Tropical Storm Stan without government or international aid. "Nobody has come to see us here, not even the mayor or the media - nobody," said Abelardo Robledo Diaz, of Nueva Esperanza, San Marcos.
In Palo Blanco and Independencia, Ocós, San Marcos residents are still in dire need of clothes, provisions, heath care, and medicine. A group of volunteers who visited the area reported that children and adults have respiratory infections, fungus, and diarrhea. Local government officials have reported a severe shortage of clean water.
As of October 25, the National Coordinating Committee for Disaster Reduction (CONRED) counted 669 dead, 844 disappeared, 1,158 communities affected, and over 9,000 houses destroyed. . . .

CONRED'S WEAKNESSES EXPOSED

Experts and officials have criticized the National Coordinating Committee for Disaster Reduction (CONRED) for an inadequate warning system, a lack of prevention, and poor organization in confronting Tropical Storm Stan. Critics say CONRED failed to learn the lessons from Hurricane Mitch in 1998 that could have prevented the high mortality rate of Stan. . . . Sergio Cabañas, former undersecretary of CONRED, said that the communities themselves have been better organized than the emergency response organizations. "The aid flows only when . . . the population takes charge of the distribution. CONRED is only prepared for the emergency," he said.

LAND OCCUPATIONS AND PROTESTS EXPECTED

A study by the Secretary of Strategic Analysis (SAE) and the Ministry of the Interior predicts social unrest in the areas affected by Tropical Storm Stan, in the form of protests, roadblocks, and land occupations. They expect people to protest high gas prices and inadequate aid. The Guatemalan army has fifteen vehicles patrolling the highways and fifteen watch stations in order to maintain order in affected areas. . . .

EXHUMATIONS PLANNED IN PANABAJ

The Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation (FAFG) plans to exhume the bodies buried in Panabaj, Sololá in a mudslide caused by Tropical Storm Stan on October 5. José Soasnávar, a forensic anthropology expert, maintained that the bodies could not stay where they were because families need to identify their relatives and give them a proper burial. The exhumations will allow the relatives to move through one stage of the grief. The anthropologists' have promoted the plan as a response to the families who have approached them, asking for help to recover the bodies of their loved ones. Soasnávar explained that exhumations do not present a health risk, according to the Pan-American Health Organization manual on the treatment of bodies in a disaster. On October 17, community members in Cua, San Marcos, asked Human Rights Procurator Sergio Morales to intervene so that the area would not be declared a mass cemetery.

POOREST MUNICIPALITIES WERE HARDEST HIT

Forty-one municipalities in the southwestern region identified by the Programming and Planning Secretariat (SEGEPLAN) as priorities in addressing extreme poverty are also among those most affected by Tropical Storm Stan. Hugo Beteta, head of SEGEPLAN, said a comparison of the maps of poverty and the areas affected by Stan reveals that most of the municipalities with the greatest vulnerability to hunger are also those hardest hit by Stan. In the departments of San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, and Sololá the percentage of people living in poverty ranges from seventy-eight to ninety-nine percent in some areas.

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.
- George Washington Carver

2005-11-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

from the Highland Support Project, Guatemala:

Hurricane Stan recovery report

Dear Friends,

Thanks again to everyone who has offered their prayers, good wishes, and helping hands to HSP during this busy time, as we work with our communities in Guatemala to respond to the devastation caused by Hurricane Stan, while continuing our transforming work with our women’s circles.

Several of you have sent emails in recent weeks expressing an interest in volunteering, and you have asked many questions about trip dates, collecting supplies, financial needs, etc. In an attempt to address your concerns and questions, we are sending you this update of our current response to Hurricane Stan, including our current needs:

• Financial Support:

Our greatest need continues to be for financial support. We are in desperate need for major contributions to our newly-established microlending fund to help the Maya people recapitalize their agriculture production, i.e. help cover lost investments and produce new crops, all of which were destroyed by Hurricane Stan. For example, those of you who worked in Chuicavioc will remember the beautiful flower crops, which are that community’s major source of income. All of the flowers were destroyed by the hurricane, and the women need immediate assistance to help plant new flowers. This will take time, and it will also take money, which they do not have since the sale of their flowers is what they rely on for income. The same can be said of vegetable crops, which provide both food and income to all of the communities with which we work.

In addition to accepting contributions to our microlending fund for agriculture recapitalization, we are also accepting donations for a tree fund to continue our reforestation project, the importance of which was made more apparent by the devastation from landslides caused by Hurricane Stan. The tree fund provides income to one of our women’s circles who collects and cares for old tree samples. It also provides income for the women who do the planting. This is both putting money into the local economy and helping to solve the environmental problem of deforestation, which is the root cause of landslides, contaminated water, and many other serious problems.

You may send your contributions to: Highland Support Project, P.O. Box 7185, Richmond, VA 23221. Please specify in the memo line of your check if you would like your contribution to go towards a specific project. If you do not specify how you would like the money spent, we will use it in the area of greatest need.

• Construction Teams:

We will be sending construction teams to Guatemala in January, February and March, leaving on the second Saturday of the month and returning on the third Saturday. We will be building homes for 56 families who lost their homes. If you would like to join one of these teams, please contact us and let us know which dates you are available.

• Stove Building and Reforestation Teams:

For over ten years HSP has been taking teams to the Guatemalan highlands to build stoves and plant trees. We will continue this important work, working directly with our women’s circles, and we will be taking teams down from January through the summer 2006. If your church or organization would like to form a team (10 or more people), or if you would like to join an existing team, please contact us and let us know which dates you are available.

• Supplies:

We will continue to accept vitamins, medicine, blankets and yarn to distribute to those affected by Hurricane Stan through Friday, November 25. You may bring any items you have collected to AlterNatives (our sister store in Richmond’s Cary Town), 3320 West Cary Street, 804-342-5886, anytime during working hours: Mon.-Sat. 10-6:00, Sun. 12-5:00.

• Scarves and Bags:

We hope to have scarves and bags, handmade by our Maya women’s circles, ready to sell in Virginia by the end of November. If you would like to have some of these items to sell at your church or organization, please let us know. Include the number that you think you can sell. We will contact you when they arrive.

Thank you again for your interest, your patience, and your support. We look forward to hearing from you again, and hope to work with you in the near future.

Sincerely,

Anita Mays
Program and Office Manager
Highland Support Project
P.O. Box 7185
Richmond, VA 23221
804.643.8635

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.

- George Washington Carver

2005-11-09T08:48:00.000-08:00

Costa Rica News

Recently we were blessed at the UMVIM office to have a visit from Wil and Yolanda Bailey, coordinators for Costa Rica Mission Projects of the Methodist Church in Costa Rica.

They have been doing an outstanding job of receiving teams in the beautiful country of Costa Rica, and the feedback we have been getting from teams that have worked with them has been outstanding.

Their priority project for the coming year is the Methodist Camp K37, in the south of the country. The property has fallen into disrepair, and needs major renovation and construction. It will serve as a connecting point for the Methodist churches of the area as well as a camp for youth and spiritual retreats.

You can learn more about their work with the Christians of
Costa Rica at
http://www.costaricamissionprojects.com
/pages/1/index.htm
or email Wil at wil@costaricamissionprojects.com

2005-09-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks for visiting the new UMVIM blog! Here you will have a chance to talk about your past or future experiences with UMVIM, and each other. On the right menu bar you will be able to select the UMVIM blog about the country or area you have, or wish to visit. There we encouage you to inspire with your words, inform others about your experiences, and interact with members of the UMVIM family.
If you wish to post your own story, please send an e.mail to SEJ Info, by clicking here, and we will get you set up.
To comment on a story, you must become a blogger.com member. To do this, click on 'comments' below, and sign up for a free blogger account. We hope this will become a useful tool for future teams and a way to share experiences about the past with others.