BRIDGE OF LOVE INFORMATION SHEET
Special Relationship Between
Rocky Mountain Conference UMC and the UMC in Angola
The BOL in 2008 will fund the needs of children in both of Angola’s UMC conferences. Half your gifts will purchase food for students of a brand new boarding school at Quessua.
The blank shelves shown in photo below indicate the serious shortage of books for instruction and literacy in schools of the West Angola Conference. The second half of your BOL offering will purchase books in Portuguese for these libraries and classrooms.
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| Library at a school sponsored by Alegria (Church of Joy) in Luanda - Capital city of Angola | The gardens of beans and other crops will not ripen until later in the school year, and food must be purchased until that harvest. The boys shown working in the gardens live in the new dorm, while the girls are housed at a facility in nearby Malange. | |
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| Boys from the Orphanage in town move into the new dormitory on the Quessua campus, where they will attend school in a newly restored classroom building. | Carol and Tim Crawford, newly appointed missionaries to Angola, meet Angola's two bishops Jose Quipungo and Gaspar Domingos |
The BRIDGE OF LOVE began in 2003 as a project of the Board of Lay Ministry of the RMCUMC. Under the leadership of the Conference Lay Leader, this offering addressed the needs of children in a nation where Peace Accords had just ended 27 years of civil war.
Local churches were invited to gather offerings of loose change for the BRIDGE OF LOVE. Delegates brought these gifts in dramatic presentations to Annual Conference. In 2004, East Angola Conference Bishop Jose Quipungo was present to receive the gift. In 2007, the gift was received by West Angola Conference Bishop Gaspar Domingos, giving visibility to this special relationship.
The $56,945 raised since 2003 has provided:
- a shipment of medicines addressing the health needs of children
- a pump and piping to bring water to the community of Sessa, saving women
and girls hours of walking each day
- a catchment tank and delivery pipes bringing mountain spring
water to Quessua Mission's newly restored church, classroom
building, dormitory, and missionary residence
More information is at the blog/journal of Tim and Carol Crawford who are beginning their new ministry at Quessua: http://caroltimcrawford.blogspot.com/.
Other news about mission and ministry in Angola may be found on the Angola Advocates Website at http://www.gbgm-umc.org/angolaadvocates/.
Also contact the members È of a 2003 UMVIM trip for a program or to learn more about Angola:
Burl Kreps (719-637-0258)
angoadvo@msn.com
Grace Harris (970-282-7214)
graceharris@frii.com
Becky Lasswell (303-988-5542)
rlasswell@ comcast.com
Derek Detoni-Hill (970-522-0104)
revsdh@kci.net
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