Alabama Day 2

Good evening all,

Well all are here! The last group (Rich & Parker) pulled in around 9:45 PM CT. The Illinois crew got here about 2:00 PM CT. Shortly after they got here we headed out to the jobsites for a tour. But wait, I'm getting ahead of my self here. Let's start a little earlier.

Last night most of us headed for bed pretty early around 10:30. The younger ones stayed up awhile longer conversing on their phones with those back home. After a 10 hr drive the air mattress felt pretty good. Why I woke up at 3 AM I'll never know. So laying there in the semi quiet with the AC turning on and off, a few snores from across the room and the hum of the fan I said a prayer, "Lord please be with us this week. If at all possible keep the heat down. Help us to be safe and may we serve the people as you would have us serve." I drifted back to sleep. Just before the alarm was to go off at 6 I got up. Bland and Tony were already stirring. Apparently Richard's double stuffed air mattress sprung a leak in the middle of the night so he didn't sleep as well. Davis never stirred. Before heading for the shower I gave the keys to Tony and he and Becky made the coffee, Bless them!  After a refreshing shower I headed over to the kitchen.

Now Henryville UMC has there coffee fellowship at 8:30. The team was up, some slower than others, and got our breakfast and was ready to go by then. After being greeted warmly by everyone that came in we were then invited to eat some more breakfast that a women's group had made for themselves for their 8:00 meeting. Being good Methodist we didn't turn down food.

We broke up and went into various Sunday School classes. The one that Becky, Brittney, Nancy and I went to was taking a contemporary Christian song and breaking it down and explaining what it meant to them. The song we discussed was one by Chris Rice, "The Color 9". The service today was about the Great Commission but about the fact that God would be there at all times. Through the entire service it just felt like waves and waves of the Holy Spirit were washing over us. Afterwards the people kept coming up to us thanking us for being here and welcoming those of us that had been before back. It was like a homecoming. Even the youth on the team spoke up on the ride to the restaurant about the energy and excitement that they felt during the service. What a great way to start off the week.

After stuffing ourselves at a local all you can eat dinner called Bruce's we headed back to the church to change to go out to look at the jobsites. After a quick meeting and welcoming the May's (Ed, Kevin & Colin) we were meet by Pastor Marvin whom we followed out to the jobsites on his motorcycle. We have two houses to work on. Both received roof damage in the tornados. The first house. Ms. Lang's, is mostly sheetrock finishing, painting, some framing, hanging cabinets and some trim work. The other house, Ms. Brutley's, is a little more complex. I'll give more info on both of these people a little bit later.

After our tours of the houses the team split and some headed back and some headed to Wal-Mart to get our supplies for the week. Several team members picked up Alabama t-shirts.

We headed back to unload and relax a bit before dinner. Dinner was much lighter than we had planned thanks to a very big lunch. A few brave souls (or foolish depending on your view) went for a run. Fortunately they all made it back. The rest of us pulled out some leftover pizza and sandwich items and got dinner laid out. A little while later we had our team meeting. Nancy lead us in a get to know you game where we were sorted by our birth month and then we gave our name and said why we were here. After the icebreaker Peyton, Katy and Kaelyn lead the devotion. Peyton read from Ezra 3: 10 and the foundation of temple. Katy and Kaelyn then talked about how a house must be built on a strong foundation and this being their first mission that this mission was laying the foundation for their faith. Wow, what amazing youth we have with us.  Afterwards  handed out the cards that Melissa Ward hand made for each of the team members. There were a few teary eyes as folks read what she had written to each. We discussed our plans for tomorrow and then we broke.

Everyone but Rich and myself have headed for bed. I'm going very shortly. Thank you all for your prayers and support. We mention you all in our prayers. We shall see what the Lord brings us tomorrow. So from Guntersville, AL good night and God Bless!

Jeff

Alabama Mission Trip Day 1

Hey All,

 

The first wave of the mission team (11 of us) made it down to Guntersville fine. It's hot and humid. Our internet connection is iffy so I will do the best that I can to get info out to all.

 

We were greeted to today by Pastor Marvin McCormick and his wife Kim. It was great to see them again. Once again we were given the keys to the church and he went over the only two rules, Have fun and make yourself at home. Once we unloaded and had a tour we headed out for pizza. Everyone is settled in and looking forward to seeing all tomorrow at church.

 

We know that we have two houses to work on. It sounds like sheetrock and painting mostly. Will know more tomorrow afternoon.

 

Thanks to those that came out to see us off. A big thank you to those that donated drinks and snacks!

 

The rest of the team will becoming in tomorrow. Please keep them in your prayer. We will be praying for each of you throughout the week.

 

More as it develops!

 

In Christ,

Jeff

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Ways to serve this spring & summer

"For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve..." Mark 10:45

Farmville UMC is always buzzing with mission opportunity!  Our biggest event this spring will be Change the World on May 19!  Change the World is a movement to connect United Methodists across the world in service on May 19th, 2012, one weekend-locally and globally.  Lyndsie has been hard at work including our whole community and trying to get other area churches on board!  Our event will be held from 7:30-12:30 with a free lunch to follow.   See below, the mission opportunities we will have available that day!  Feel free to call our office so we can sign you and your family up for one!

Did you know that our church has committed to be a part of the Habitat for Humanity Apostle Build? the Farmville Area Habitat will begin an “Apostle’s Build,” whereby twelve (or more) local churches partner together in raising funds and providing volunteers to build a Habitat house in Prince Edward county. Rich Meiser is leading this effort and can use your help!  He can be reached at 392.8089.  There are things everyone can do from providing snacks & drinks for workers to helping with roofing.  Call Rich and he can match your ability with a project.  You can also find out more about this project by visiting the 

Habitat Website! 

Guess what?  We have a new USDA coordinator for FACES!  Congratulations for Sheila Hight!  The 4th Saturday of each month is the day we ask FUMC volunteers to help at FACES.  If you can help on any 4th Saturday from 7:45-10:30AM please contact Sheila at 392.4886 or sahight@embarqmail.com!

We have a team leaving for Honduras on Saturday, June 2.  They will be participating in the annual Medical Mission Trip.

We ask that you be in constant prayer for them and the lives that they will touch! 

Those traveling on this trip are:  Linda & Bill Hogan, April & Kate McBride, Patti Wagner, Jen Roller, Kindle Higgins, Pam Evans, Russell Cheatham, Hadley Sporbert, April Shular, Daniel Myers, Kelli Baker, Melissa Nagle & Jessica Cambridge.
 They will return on Sunday, June 10.

  

Our June Midweek & Mission will be held on Wednesday, June 6 at 5:30PM!  Following a picnic dinner we will begin mission work focused on improvements to our own facility!  Join us for yard work, painting and other various small projects around the church! Reverend Paul Baker & Property Chair, Bill Hogan will be leading this effort.

On July 7 from 7-noon Our Haiti Mission Team will be a part of the 100 mile yard sale.  

We will host a yardsale in our social hall basement.  

You may begin bringing items to donate now and placing them in the shed!

All proceeds will benefit the upcoming Haiti mission trip.

As part of the Farmville District Youth Mission Camp, we will be a host site for dinner and a mission on Sunday, July 15!  Our church will be providing dinner for the youth and we will couple it with our annual Operation Christmas Child ice cream social and shoebox wrapping party!

You can help by bringing in empty shoe boxes, homemade ice cream or dinner items!  Contact Lyndsie Blakely at 392.4686 or Sarah Stokes at 223.8988 for more information.

To end July, Jeff Postans will be leading the Summer Mission Trip to Alabama.  We are still in need of a few team members.  Contact Jeff if you can attend at rjp@kinex.net.

check out the video from the last mission trip to Alabama

We hope you find something in missions to get passionate about this spring and summer!  Contact us at fumc@farmvilleumc.org or 392.4686 to learn more about these and other mission opportunities!

Spring Into Missions at Farmville UMC!!

Mission Update at Farmville United Methodist Church

There certainly is a lot going on, as always, in missions here at Farmville United Methodist Church!  Last night concluded a month long fundraiser push for our Honduras Medical Missions Team.  

They hosted 2 pancake events, a Brunswick stew sale and of course in December they had their Angel Tree for people to donate money for medicine for the children of Honduras!  Thank you to all who donated generously and God Bless those on the Mission Team who have worked so hard!

Some other fantastic Mission work that has gone on has been our Souper Bowl of Caring where our Fusion Youth Group collected $650 and over 70 not perishable food items!  Our Youth Group is always so focused on mission - Thank You to Lyndsie for leading our awesome youth through such  positive experiences!

This year's Souper Bowl of Caring monetary collection goes toward Stop Hunger Now, which brings me to yet another important mission that our church will participate in!  On March 7th, we will gather for our "March Midweek Meal & Mission"  We will partner with the Longwood University community for Farmville's largest Stop Hunger Now meal packing event yet:  20,000 meals!  We as Farmville UMC have committed to raising the $2500 it costs for half of those meals!  This Lenten season, how will you prepare yourself for the remembrance of the death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ?  Will you commit to praying and providing one meal a day during the 40 days of Lent to help feed God's children?  That is only 25 cents a day, or $10 total to provide 40 meals to someone who may otherwise not eat!  You may place your contributions in the offering plate or bring them to the church office.  Simply add "Stop Hunger Now" to the memo line!  Together, we can reach our goal of raising $2500 to pack & provide 10,000 meals for those in need around the world!

Spring Break is right around the corner, which is hard to believe since we just had our first snow fall of the season!  The Wesley Foundation is going to Guntersville, AL the week of March 10-17.  17 have signed up for this mission to do tornado repair in the Guntersville area.  Please Pray for this Mission Team.  We are also collecting monetary donations as well as donations of drinks & snacks for the trip!  Contact Rich Meiser, Campus Minister for more information at 392.8089 or farmvillewesley@embarqmail.com. 

Also, coming up in April, Farmville UMC will host a Conference UMVIM(United Methodist Volunteers In Mission) team leader training seminar on Saturday, April 21, 2012.  Our mission team will be responsible for meeting & greeting, providing food & drinks as well as technical support.  We are also hoping church members may be interested in taking the training themselves! Visit http://www.vaumc.org/page.aspx?pid=424&cid=3&ceid=736&cerid=0&cdt=4%2f21%2f2012 for more information & training registration forms!  Contact Rick Swayne, Missions Chair if you can help that day at swaynere@fuquaschool.com.

These are just a few of the many great missions that go on in & outside of the walls of Farmville UMC.  To make a contribution to any of these missions simply place a check in the offering plate with the designated mission in the memo line or bring your donation by the church office between 9-3 M-F!  To participate in a mission or get more information call our office and we will put you in touch with a mission leader!  392.4686 or fumc@farmvilleumc.org.

Haiti Mission Trip Days 8...and 9

October 15, 2011

We left around 11:30/12 from the Methodist Guest House so we could drive around the city some before going to the airport.  We stopped by a grocery store to pick up some coffee.  The grocery store looked much like a small grocery store in the U.S. except there was an armed guard at the door.  It took a while to get to the presidential palace because the traffic was so backed up.  When we got there, the car was silent for a few minutes as we looked at this huge mansion (like looking at the White House) that had huge cracks in the wall and portions that had collapsed on top of one another.  Here's a good before and after picture of the presidential palace: Haitian Presidential Palace.   As we stopped on the side of the road to look and take pictures, many Haitians came up to the car trying to sell us paintings and carving and food.  One man pointed to the palace and said something like "We call that the devil's house because it was full of corruption."  After spending a week in Haiti, I still have no concept of how it would be to live in a country whose infrastructure is in the shape it is in Haiti.  We only got glimpses into life in Haiti, but what was apparent is their hope.  Haitians are so resilient and have so much hope for their future.

We continued on to the airport, where we were warned we would need to hold on tight to our bags from the time we got out of the van until we got inside the airport.  There were many people surrounding our van hoping to carry our bags so they could get some money.  It was a short walk into the airport, and when we got in, an employee of the airport asked how many were in our group.  He already had our boarding passes printed and ready for us!  It was wonderful!  What wasn't so wonderful is finding out when we got in that our flight was already delayed.  Rich and Colleen spoke with the airport employees with American Airlines because the employees were pretty sure we could miss our next flight from Miami to Virginia since our layover was already only about 1.5 hours to get through customs and immigration and recheck our bags.  The American Airlines employees went ahead and tentatively booked us on a flight out of Miami the next morning as well as reserved hotel rooms for us in case we missed the flight.

As we waited in the airport, we read, played cards, and talked about our week.  Our flight was pushed back again, and we started getting nervous that we really wouldn't make the next flight.  The plane arrived a little earlier than they expected, so we were holding out hope that we'd make our connecting flight.  When we landed in Miami, we had just enough time to make it if everything ran smoothly.  Unfortunately, our run across the airport didn't help because our bags took much too long to get off of the plane.  We finally found all our luggage and got through customs only to be met by an airport employee who told us we would not make it to the gate because we had about one minute until scheduled flight time and the gate was on the opposite end of the airport.  So, he printed out meal and hotel vouchers for us and we caught a shuttle to the airport.  We ate a late dinner together in the hotel restaurant then went to bed in preparation for our morning flight.

October 16, 2011

Unfortunately, around 4am, Josh was struck with food poisoning (we think from something he ate at the Port-au-Prince airport).  This made travel pretty much miserable for him.  Our flight was on time, and we finally made it back to Virginia.  Josh was still feeling so horrible, that we ended up staying with his parents for the day and night, not trusting having to be in a car for 3 hours.  The rest of the team carried on to the Farmville and Hampton Roads areas.  Soon after departing, the Farmville area team members that went ahead got into a car accident.  Other than sore muscles and Rich getting a burn on his arm from the airbag, everyone was thankfully okay...but the car was not.  They all piled into Don's car (who was right in front of them and also got hit from the force of Rich and Colleen's car getting hit) and continued on to Farmville.  They got a little ways down the road and got a flat tire!  It took a long time for them to get back, but they finally made it.  Josh and I left the next day and made it back to Farmville finally as well.  After an amazing week in ministry in Haiti, go figure that making it home would be the hardest part of the week!  I am so thankful for my experience in Haiti, and I am so thankful for Colleen who continues to answer God's call on her life to lead teams to this amazing country.  I hope you will prayerfully consider joining the 2012 (or even 2013) trips to Haiti as we continue to be in ministry with the people in Haiti.  Thanks for joining me on this journey as I relived my experiences, and thank you again to all who were praying for us throughout our time in Haiti.  Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti and all those in ministry there. 

Grace and peace to you!
-Lyndsie

Haiti Mission Trip Day 7

October 14, 2011

We made it back to the Methodist Guest House!  What a treat to have a bed with a mattress, fans and most of all--a real toilet!!!  We were told yesterday that the vans would arrive in Odee between 9:30 and 10am.  So, before breakfast we took all our donations down to Solomon's house (which we were told would be the best way to get our donations distributed to the community) and packed up our cots.  We had an interesting assortment of food for breakfast: grilled cheese sandwiches, watermelon and pumpkin stew.  I didn't end up trying the stew, but Rich said it was delicious.  We had a nice farewell from Solomon who thanked us over and over again for our sacrifice of coming here.  Then we waited....and waited....and waited.  It was just going to be "10 more minutes" for 2.5 hours.  Finally at noon, when we were all hungry for lunch, the vans arrived.  We loaded up and said our goodbyes.  The engineer decided to hitch a ride with us all the way back to Port-au-Prince.  So what was already a pretty crowded and hot van, became even more so.

As we winded through the mountains, we saw a crowd of people on the side of the road.  Then I noticed random items in the middle of the road--car seats, stereo speakers and other debris.  We looked over where the people were and a truck had rolled off the side of the road.  As we were passing, I saw people pulling a man out of the truck.  We debated whether to stop (Would the presence of a medical professional cause more chaos and issues?  Would we be safe in the midst of a crisis?  What are the laws in Haiti...would we be liable if there were any deaths from the accident?).  Then Gary said, "It's the story of the Good Samaritan for goodness sakes."  So we pulled over and Rich, Colleen, Gary and Patrick went down to the crash site with supplies (we didn't have much left after our clinic yesterday) while the rest of us stayed on the side of the road.  Most of the cars and motorcycles that came by stopped to see what was going on.  But, we watched as several cars just drove on by.  We asked our driver how these situations worked in Haiti: are there ambulances you can call?  Do you call the police?  Does the UN help?  He told us that there are ambulances but they are few and far between.  The police and UN will help if they are around.  And while we would offer to drive the injured man to the hospital, in Haiti, if the man died while in his car, he could be found guilty of the man's death.  Just after the conversation, a UN vehicle drove by without stopping.  Maybe that is part of the reason why many Haitians don't appreciate the UN's presence?

A big dump truck stopped and we found out later agreed to take the man to the hospital.  They lifted him on a blanket which Colleen was really worried about because there could have been a spinal injury, but there was no changing their minds.  Colleen said she thinks he may have had some internal injuries.  We realized as we continued down the road that we were only about a mile from Partners in Health (the leading hospital in Haiti that we were able to stop at on our way to Hinche earlier in the week)!  The dump truck that transported the man was still out in front of the hospital.  We are praying that he is getting the care he needs and will recover.  We definitely scared Patrick.  He was on edge the rest of the trip.  We realized that if the vans had not been late, we would not have passed that accident and been able to stop and offer our assistance.  God was present!

When we arrived at the guest house we unloaded all our stuff, had a cold Coke and did a little shopping around the compound.  We bought some really neat things!  Josh and I took some pictures of the Longwood University scarf around the guest house.  Longwood is hoping to spread school spirit all over the world and therefore are asking people to bring and take pictures of the scarf wherever you go.

There were more people here than we expected-- 3 teams.  Dinner was rice, salad, avocado, plantains, watermelon and goat!  The goat basically tasted like beef.  After dinner we played some cards until it was time for our debriefing session with John (the accountant for Haiti UMVIM).  We talked about what went well, what could have been better, perceptions, expectations, etc.  It was a good meeting and resulted in a lot of laughter and stories from our time together.

We had a chance to shower which is the cleanest I've felt in a week, even though the water was cold.  Our flight tomorrow is at 4pm, but we will leave here at 11am so we can do a little driving tour of Port-au-Prince and see the Palace.  Then, we should be back in Virginia at 11:30pm tomorrow evening.

Haiti Mission Trip Day 6

October 13, 2011

Today was our last day in Hinche.  After breakfast (pancakes and bananas!) we headed back to the church to start on work...except the rocks still hadn't made it there.  Roshnee, the engineer, said a few people could work on moving the mounds of dirt from digging out for the foundation.  Josh, Don, Rich and Gary helped with that while the rest of us sorted and took down supplies to set up for the clinic.

Rich came over a little while later and said we should walk over to where they were trying to get the truck of rocks up the hill.  We were cautioned not to walk to close to the edge of the cliff because the rain had softened the ground so much that some of the bank had already collapsed.  Several workers were shoveling dirt into the road in hopes of giving the truck more traction, but nothing worked.  They tried and tried, and made one last effort of driving the truck up the hill in reverse, but the road was just too muddy.  They decided to send the truck to come in from the other side of town.

Later we all decided to walk down to the other end of town to see if we could find the truck.  It was stuck again.  This time the road was too narrow at one point for it to get through.  So, we decided we would go ahead and start the clinic.  We had some group teaching on brushing teeth, washing hands, and taking vitamins.  Then Colleen met with most of the people individually--taking blood pressure, giving out medicine for headaches, rashes, and indigestion, and bandaging minor wounds.  We gave out almost all of our vitamins during the clinic, and the health kits were distributed in no time flat.  We definitely want to assemble and give out more of these next year.  We had paper and crayons for the kids to draw pictures while the parents were waiting to see Colleen.   After being seen by Colleen, many people were hanging around, so Josh and I went back to the church and grabbed a soccer ball to encourage some of the kids to go play because it was getting crowded and chaotic.  We took a break for lunch and then finished the clinic around 3:15pm.  Good work was done, and Colleen did a fantastic job, along with Patrick who translated all day.  We all got showered before dinner (homemade lasagna--Lulu's favorite meal to cook, chicken, rice and Coke and Sprite).  At the end of dinner it started raining so we rushed back to the church.  We're worried that the van will not be able to get up the hill tomorrow if it keeps raining.  It will be interesting for sure!