Missions and Learning Opps

CROP Walk

The Indiana CROP Hunger Walk will be held on Sunday, October 4th from 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. The 10K walk will begin at Grace UM Church and end at Calvary Presbyterian Church.

Organized locally, the Indiana CROP Hunger Walk is looking for 100+ walkers and hopes to raise over $7500 to help stop hunger here in our community and around the world. A portion of the funds raised here in Indiana County will go to the food collection efforts of the Indiana County Community Action Program (ICCAP).

Our local ICCAP Food Bank recieved over $1500 from the 2008 Crop Hunger Walk for use locally in providing food and servies to over 1500 families throughout the county. For more information, contact Tom Van Dyke (724-349-3335) or Ed Kennedy (724-463-3898) or the Trinity Church Office (724-465-2015).

In-House Ops
We are always in need of readers, ushers, special music performers, newsletter helpers, nursery care, and event set-up/clean-up. Also holiday baking is right around the corner, please consider baking a few extra dozen cookies for upcoming events!

Operation Christmas Child
Fill a shoe box with Christmas gifts for a child so that they can experience the joy of Christmas.

Since Operation Christmas Child was started by the Samaritan’s Purse organization close to 70 million shoe boxes have been delivered to children in over 120 countries. They are delivered to the poor and needy all over the world. Along with the shoe box each child receives a book of Bible stories, written in their language, and millions of children have come to know Jesus because of the book. For many children this is the first Christmas gifts they have ever received and the first they have heard about Jesus.

We hope many of you will take part in this project over the next few weeks. We need to have your completed box at the church by November 8 through 15 . If you th th need instructions for filing your box, there are copies of directions in the church office.

Also, there are some books about Operation Christmas Child at each entrance to the sanctuary for anyone who would like one. The book tells about different countries that have received shoe boxes and gives examples of how lives have been changed through this project.


VOLUNTEERS IN MISSION UPDATE

Your Conference VIM Team to Israel/Palestine WPA Annual Conference has an Israel/Palestine Task Force that has been advocating study and action with regards to the Israel/Palestine peace process. The following are the members of your conference VIM team to Israel/PalestineOctober 11-24): Carl Ackley (from upstate New York), Linda Bell (Sugar Creek UMC), Jim Bickford (Johnstown Oakland UMC), Marilyn Kay Durst (Ambridge Fellowship UMC), Mary and Dick Hart and Connie Johnson (California UMC), Rick and TC Lyle (Warren First UMC), Diane and John Miller (New Castle First UMC), Alice Moore (Mcknight UMC), and
Gretchen Woeste (Bethel Park Christ UMC). These folks have chosen not to pull back in fear, but to step forward in faith. Not only do they expect to experience a unique pilgrimage, learning more about the geographic and cultural setting of our Bible, but they will volunteer their time and efforts to work alongside Palestinian Christians harvesting olives. Please pray for these volunteers – that they might prepare themselves mentally and spiritually for this trip, that they might be patient, flexible, and safe, and that the team might be in tune to God’s leading as they listen and learn and respond to others.

Setting up our experience in the Holy Land are Janet Lahr Lewis, General Board of Global Ministries VIM Coordinator in Israel and Tina Whitehead, WPA volunteer with Sabeel, an ecumenical Palestinian Christian organization working for “a just, comprehensive and enduring peace informed by truth and empowered by prayer and action.” If you wish to make a money donation to the ministries that Janetand Tina connect with, send your gift to The UM Conference Center, 1204 Freedom Road, Cranberry Township, PA 16066-0002. Mark “Israel/Palestine VIM” on the memo line of the check.

Project Chacocente
A VIM team from Christ UMC in Bethel Park traveled to Chacocente, Nicaragua, this past July and had a powerful experience. From film footage taken during that trip, Gwen and Clay Kisker of Christ UMC produced a wonderful audio-video package for UMTV. The Kiskers have their own production company and have done an excellent job telling this story! On our Conference web site you can access this video clip from their package. Check it out: http://www.wpaumc.org/ (Ministry Battles Poverty in Nicaragua).

Korean Methodist Hospital in Paraguay
The debt ($35,000) for the Korean Methodist Hospital in Paraguay is now paid in full. There are many worthwhile projects with the Methodist Church of Paraguay. For instance, a benefactor in the U.S. has been paying President Pastor Pablo Mora’s salary. That benefactor lost all investments and went bankrupt in the past year. Expansion/construction of the Methodist Seminary where many VIM participants stay when they volunteer in Paraguay has slowed due to directing all resources toward theKorean Hospital. Contributions should be marked “Paraguay Conference #SS0003200S”.

Church World Service Early Response Training Webinars
website: http://www.cwserp.org

Oct. 6, 2009 Getting Organized for Recovery
Nov. 3, 2009 What is Disaster Case Management?
Dec. 1, 2009 How Case Management fits into the recovery process
Jan. 5, 2010 Emotional and Spiritual Care
Feb. 2, 2010 Finding and Managing: Money, Muscle, Materials
March 2, 2010 Hosting and Using Volunteers
April 6, 2010 Construction Management
May 4, 2010 Children and Youth in Disasters
June 1, 2010 Cultural Sensitivity
Home of Hope Outreach – The Nyadire Connection
Through the Home of Hope Outreach program, The Nyadire Connection enables hundreds of
orphans and vulnerable children of the Nyadire region in Zimbabwe to remain in school by
providing fees, a backpack of school supplies, and establishing a personal connection with each
child. Especially vulnerable in the fragile environment of Zimbabwe are hearing impaired
children. At the Nyadire United Methodist Mission primary school, Teachers Mwoyosyi Tapfuma and Desmond Dzemwa have 30 hard of hearing or deaf children in grades 2 – 7. These children from homes in the Mutoko/Murewa/Mudzi region come to Nyadire, live in dorms, eat in the dining room, attend church, and play sports every day. Using sign language, they are taught English, Math, Environmental Science, Social Studies, Religious and Moral education, Home Economics, and AIDS education.

The Nyadire Connection is searching for a church, organization, or individual to sponsor this ongoing program. The yearly fee for each child is $200. Financial support is critical, but equally important is the opportunity to connect and share with these enthusiastic learners who now live in one of the world’s most troubled spots. To donate money to educate these children, contact Elsa Zollars at elsazz@verizon.net or 412-835-1408.