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Mission News

 

April 28, 2008

Partnership in Action

Partnership in Action, GO International, First United Methodist and Refuge of Peace Methodist Church, building churches in Mexico and Honduras, bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to what we would call - the ends of the earth or the middle of no where! Gathering together God's lost sheep from the remote mountains and plateaus telling them the good news. We are sharing this free gift of salvation with these hard to reach folks because that is what God commanded us to do - it's what he expected from us - so here we are.

This process began about five years ago under the leadership of pastor Jose Padilla in a remote village in Mexico. There worship experience began with six members and the pastor’s family meeting in a rented facility. Nearly all of there finances went to rent. Collecting money to build their dream church seemed so far off. but they did eventually began the purchase process for some property recently where they are now meeting in a tent.

The property lies at the foot of the mountain “el Cerro de la Silla” or in English Saddle Mountain because it is shaped like a saddle. (See photo below)

el Cerro de la Silla

The pastor, his family the congregation of six worked very hard clearing the property. See the following slide show to see the pictures sent by Pastor Padilla of what was happening just a few weeks ago in March.

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Congregational Cleanup

Report from Honduras

This report is from our Partners in Action, GO International, a message from the field by Larry Cochran. he and group of volunteers were at the Guadalupe, Colon, Honduras site. (They have just returned in the last few days. We hope to have more in depth report very soon.) The area is inhabited by poor farm workers. The church they are building has access to about 300 families now, but area is growing. Pastor Herman Maldonado and his wife, Maria have been working in the area for about one year. Larger work remains under the supervision of Francisco Pavon.

The following photographs were taken at the Honduras site.

Frame and Brick

Frame and Brick Structure, the beginnings of a church

Pastor Herman Maldonado, his wife, Maria, and a parishioner pray over the church site.

Come - Matt 11:28; Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Tarry - Luke 10:38-42; As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.

Go - Matt 28:19-20; Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

 

April 14, 2008

Special Mission Letter

Special Letter from Marilyn Wykes, Missionary to Indonesia

Thank you for your part in the ministry here in Indonesia. You are a blessing to me through you prayers and financial support.

Latest News on the Summer 2008 Mission Trip to Mexico

Mission Team to Monterrey, Mexico
July 10 -19, 2008

Irving First and Go international are teaming up with our ministry partner Rev. Jose Padilla to assist with the planting of a new church near Monterrey, Mexico. We are looking for 10 people to join the Go International team to help raise the walls of the new church and participate with an evangelistic outreach and prayer ministry to the Monterrey neighborhood.

Requirements:

  • Passport with expiration no later than Dec. 19, 2008

  • Good health and willingness to serve

  • Cost:  $900 plus airfare to Monterrey. This includes ground transportation, food, lodging, insurance, project and miscellaneous costs.

Eight scholarships of $1,000 each are available to the first 8 that sign up. Additional funds are also available. If you want to go, we will find a way. If you want to register for the trip and a scholarship, please contact Pastor Dave. Dr. Phil Thornton from Go International will be here during the Missions Conference to answer any questions you might have regarding the trip.

The deadline for registering with our church is May 11th, 2008.

Don’t miss this opportunity to invest in kingdom ministries with our neighbors to the south.

 

March 30, 2008

Update from the Missions work area.

As we announced on Sunday, through your generous support of Faith Promise last year, our church is assisting in the building of two new Methodist churches in Honduras and Mexico through a partnership with Go International. I’d like to share a portion of the letter Go International received from the pastor of the church in Guadalupe, Mexico. These are his own words, translated with the help of his sister. You can just hear the excitement in his words and feel the heart he has for his church. Please lift him and his congregation up in your prayers and prayerfully consider traveling to Mexico this summer with the Go International team to help raise the walls of this new church.

Greetings in the name of Jesus.

I am Pastor José Padilla, Pastor that is establishing a new Methodist church in Guadalupe, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, which is next to Monterrey.

My bishop, brother Raul Garcia, informed me about your interest in work together in the foundation of a new Methodist church.

Our History: About five years ago, God moved me and my family from Matamoros, Tamaulipas to Monterrey , with the vision of planting a new church. We started with 6 member and my family. We started to preach at open squares and in houses, the gospel of God, during this time we have been renting a place. Three weeks ago, after a great search of a land, and a deep praying intercession, God has blessed us with a property, where we plan to build our church "Refugio de Paz" (Refuge of Peace).

We are still doing the Sunday's services at the local we rent, because, we need to build bathrooms, and to clean up the property to set a tent to move maybe in two more weeks to the property, and to have all services over there.
Now we have a congregation of about 70 people in average.

Our vision is to establish a church dynamic in the evangelism ministry, prayer ministry, discipled and to build with that purposes a building that have: the temple, fellowship , Sunday school classrooms, and a tower for praying.

Also, we have the dream to have missionary center, where we can have dormitories up to 34 people at a same time, and to recieve and to give support to missionary teams from all over the world that wants to do missionary work in our city or Monterrey area, evangelistic teams, medical groups, dentist groups, praying groups, construction groups, social aid groups, etc.

We have a project that has been done by two Methodist architects, that have donated their professional work to God. So we are ready to start building the first fase, which is, the foundation of the half of the first floor.

Yours in Christ.
Jose Padilla

February 18, 2008

The last weekend in April will be a very special time for our church. There will be guest speakers, and of course, extra meetings! Some of those will include food! This year there will be a special effort to involve everyone in the church in this weekend. The children’s department will be working on a surprise for the conference!

One of the last things Jesus told his followers to do was to go and “make disciples of all nations.” This is the “mission” of the church. Not just our church, but “the” church. Missions Conference is an opportunity for each one of us to focus on the lost of the world around us, near and far, and decide what we are willing to do to spread the gospel of Jesus to the world. Helping others is a good thing, but telling others about Jesus and how they can have eternal life through faith in Him is REALLY helping others!

We will meet some people during our Missions Conference weekend who are dedicated to Christ and to fulfilling His “great commission” to make disciples of all nations. We will have the privilege of coming along side them in prayer and in financial support. Listen to the leading of God’s Spirit and discover where you can be in missions, too!

January 6, 2008

At the last meeting of the Missions Work Area we voted to spend $32,000 to build two churches in South America with the assistance of GO International. Larry Cochran who spoke at the Revival and Mission’s Conference leads GO International and has primary responsibility for building new churches. $8,000 in assistance will be offered for those that are selected to go and help build one of the churches. Qualifications for this assistance will be determined soon by the new Missions Work Area members. This trip should be very exciting for those that can go . . . spreading God’s word . . . building a church . . . seeing the Love of God growing in another country. Get that passport ready and go with us to build a new church in South America. More details will be coming soon.

October 29, 2007

I am not always the best at writing so I guess it is time to update you on what is going on in the Mission’s Work Area. We have had several Missionaries move, get promoted and move, or have had no change. We have had the wonderful problem of how to spend the money that has been donated wisely to help spread God’s Word.

Tommie MoonYou may well know by now that Tommy and Sue Moon are back in the US. Sue’s mother has a rare auto-immune disease and they have moved close by to take care of her. Tommy has accepted a position at Northwest College in Orange City, Iowa, as their Missions Director in the Department of Spiritual Formations and Vocation.

Morgan Stephens will be moving to Nashville Tennessee; it is my understanding that it is a promotion for all the great work he has done. He will still need our support and we will do our part. We congratulate him on a job well done. He has done some great work in Austin bringing young college students to Christ. Morgan has become a church budget item as well as the Faulkners. What this means is that they are no longer paid out of the Faith Promise Undesignated account, which is money people donate to Mission’s and do not specify where to spend it. This was usually a year-to-year promise Mission’s made with the Missionary. The budget is a long term commitment to them.

Charles and Becky JacksonWe have sent emails to our Missionaries asking them what they need to do their jobs. Charles and Becky Jackson are developing a mini-loan program that makes small loans of approximately $100 to women primarily. They say women are much better at paying them back. They train the women in business processes and how to manage their lives and money. They hold regular church services and perform a number of baptisms. We have sent them $3000 to start two mini-loan programs.

The Savutos in Africa help at the Maua Methodist Hospital in Kenya. The people there are very poor. They are unable to pay for the medical treatment they need and they can always use our help. You may remember when they were here last they told us about the number of people suffering from the AIDS epidemic. It leaves many young children to be raised by their grandparents. The grandparents are barely able to make it and now have children to raise. We sent them $3000 to help with the hospital bills. Their unpaid bills run Jerri and Bill Sovuto$30,000 a month. We have pledged to sponsor the Jay and Teri Whitten’s Missionary trip to China. We have pledged to sponsor them for three years at $100 a month. Jay and his wife Teri are friends of Ralph and Sue Wilson who referred them to us and we were glad to help sponsor their trip. It will be quite a change for their children but one they say they are ready for.

I am sure you remember Larry Cochran of GO International, our speaker at the Revival and our Mission’s Conference. GO International builds a lot of churches and schools around the world. We are planning to build a church with the help of GO International. We are reviewing all the different options they have and hope to send a group to help build it. We will let you know as details are confirmed. This may be something that you may want to do yourself.

The Mission’s Conference will be the last weekend in April. We are beginning plans now. We have sent the Missionaries we support notice asking them to attend if possible.

That’s all of the latest new in Missions. Our meeting is the second Sunday of the month at 5:00 pm in .Room 204W. Stop by if you have a chance.

Thanks,

Gerald Stanford

(for more information on missions and missionaries that FUMCi sponsors, go to the Missions page.)

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