Stories and Photos from Around the World

Church Members Serve through Volunteers in Mission

They came from all over Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. They ministered to sick people, gleaned potato fields for food banks, played with orphans, repaired and built homes, churches and a medical clinic, readied Buckhorn Camp for the season and served in many other ways. They fostered relationships with people in 19 US states and 7 international countries. They came in teams from individual churches and multiple churches – about 60 congregations were represented. There were volunteers of all ages, from grade school to senior citizens.

These were the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) teams of 2007!  There were reported 90 UMVIM teams from the Rocky Mountain Conference last year, with a total of 1464 team members. These groups served for 6772 work days! Value of monetary and in-kind donations to the ministries served was $263, 586. Including the team member costs, total monetary investment in UMVIM was $1,188,118!

The team members returned from their mission trips with changed lives and stories to tell. A team from Utah who went to McCurdy School in Espanola, New Mexico, got the school ready for the upcoming academic year. They were impressed by both the quality of education and the hope the school provides to many less fortunate children. All the team members felt they had made a difference in the lives of young people.

There were three medical teams from the RMC in 2007. They were all a tremendous blessing. A Conference-wide team went on a medical mission to Cambodia. Led by June Essing, RMC UMVIM Coordinator for Health Care Volunteers (marv4june@aol.com), the team worked in 6 villages and saw 1620 patients, who were diagnosed with a variety of illnesses. The dentists saw over 280 patients, many requiring multiple extractions. Village people were measured and fitted with prescription eyeglasses. The physical therapist helped children who were unable to walk. One patient, Chan, was very sick due to a snake bite. Due to the team’s efforts, he is now hospitalized and on medication. Chan expressed his appreciation as follows: “I am very thankful and grateful to the Rocky Mountain team for their great help to me and my family. Please kindly continue to help the poor Cambodians who cannot meet their basic needs. Now, I understand how God’s love gives me new hope in life.” 

Jeanette Augenstein from Colorado Springs returned to Uruguay to teach quilting techniques and be in fellowship with other United Methodist women. She reported, “We strengthened the relationships more and made even more new friends…We come from the same Methodist faith that helps us know the unconditional love of our God and the Wesleyan roots to ‘do all we can, as long as we can, for as many as we can!’”

There were 21 teams who went to the Gulf Coast to help with the long term hurricane recovery effort, in addition to many groups who traveled to Holly, Colorado and Greensburg, Kansas to help with tornado recovery. In September, we led a team from four United Methodist churches to DuLac Louisiana to help a wonderful family repair their home damaged by Hurricane Rita. We learned much about the Houma Native Americans, learned some construction skills and shared life and food with the neighborhood people. One night we participated in the blessing of a newly-rebuilt house. The homeowners were thrilled that Bishop Warner Brown was on our team and that they had a Bishop to offer the special prayer!

In 2007, there were mission teams hosted by churches in the Rocky Mountain Conference, too. For example, a team of youth from Louisiana came to Monte Vista UMC, restored the 75-year-old church doors and enjoyed worship, music, food and fellowship with the San Luis Valley UMC congregations.

The UMVIM program is a great way to put our faith into action – the very heart of our Christian calling. There are hundreds of projects in the Rocky Mountain Conference, the USA and around the world, at which you can serve for 1 day to 1 week or more. The UMVIM program offers comprehensive team leader training, host site support and projects that have been established as invitational, valid and priority for the United Methodist Church. We also provide small scholarships to people who would like to serve but need financial help. The benefits of a mission experience can be enormous, especially the relationships, the learning and the simple pleasures of serving.

Feel free to contact us if you would like to take an UMVIM mission trip! If you are already planning a trip for 2008, please let us know. We can advertise your trip if needed, share your stories when you return and include your trip in our annual data.

A Volunteer in Mission team member from Utah reflected “The feeling of satisfaction and doing God’s work was uplifting both spiritually and physically. I can’t remember three days of my life better spent. I encourage everyone to treat yourself to a glorious experience with God and your fellow Christians.” Another team leader who went to Guatemala to help build a medical clinic summed it up as follows: “We all experienced God’s blessing – it is not possible to out-give the Master Giver.”

Betsy Keyack, bkeyack@att.net

Ann Fort, annfort8269@comcast.net

Co-coordinators, UM Volunteers in Mission, Rocky Mountain Conference

WUMMP Mission Trip to Guatemala

August 18-26, 2007

by Ginny Hmalmarson

Purpose and Task

A group of fifteen persons from (UTAH) Wasatch United Methodist Mission Partners (WUMMP) took a mission trip to Guatemala during August 18-26, 2007.  The task was to help build a clinic for Salud y Paz and the Guatemala Methodist Church in Cunen, Guatemala.  The purpose was to share Christ’s love with the kind and faithful people of Guatemala.

Helped Build a Clinic

We were the fourth team to work on the new clinic, the first in Cunen, a town of 16,000 people.  The previous teams built the foundation and walls.  Our task was to build the forms for the concrete roof.  We cut and ripped planks, installed posts and framing.  We cut, bent and wired rebar together.  On Tuesday Hurricane Dean passed over the Yucatan peninsula to our north.  Since we were on the south side the winds and rain were light.  We had rain on four of five days which slowed the work but not our spirits.  A hail storm chased us inside the adjacent church building with a metal roof that provided shelter but a deafening racket.  Our Guatemalan construction leaders, pastor Alejandro, Aurelio and the pastor’s grandson, also Alejandro, were very patient with us.  Tying rebar together and making it tight without breaking the wire takes a good touch.  After breaking several wires Larry looked at the younger Alejandro and said, “Somos payasos” – we are clowns.  He grinned but Larry noticed he did not dispute the statement.  In spite of our lack of skill and the heavy rains we accomplished a great deal, gracias a Dios (thanks be to God).  Even those who did nothing but haul lumber and supplies all day played an important role allowing those on the roof to work without climbing up and down, a team effort that the Guatemalans greatly appreciated.  The Holy Spirit had a great deal to do with this indeed.

Geronimo prepares for a medical team

On Thursday Pastor Geronimo visited Cunen to prepare for a medical team coming two weeks later.  He and Pastor Alejandro made all the arrangements, planning to convert some of the hotel rooms to be examination rooms.  They also visited a nearby town that would also be visited by the team.  It is easy to see why the visiting teams always have such good experiences since so much preparation occurs in advance.

Thursday Worship

After a quick shower and supper we returned to the church and worshipped with the congregation giving thanks and glory to God.  Three pastors led the service – Alejandro, Geronimo and Brian.  Pastor Alejandro, 78 years old and unfazed even though earlier in the day had dug a deep foundation for a column in the mud and rain, praised God for answering prayer and for being so faithful.  Pastor Brian taught us that this was the most important church we have attended – it is THE church, the Body of Christ, against which the gates of hell cannot stand.

Good byes

The work ended at 4 PM on Friday when the power saw finally burned out due to the heavy use all week.  We visited with Alejandro and Aurelio about the work and the teams.  On Saturday morning we prepared to leave.  Pastor Alejandro accompanied us on the bus to a village.  He blessed all of us, promised his prayers and then gave a special blessing to our driver, Layo, for safe travel.  We said good bye.  We dropped Megan at a bus station to travel to Quetzaltenango.

We were each changed in some way most of all that the relationship and difference in purpose and task was now very clear.  New leaders sprang up from the group – Jessica and Liz plan to lead teams next year.  We all experienced God’s blessing – it is not possible to out give the Master Giver.

 

 

Team Travels to New Orleans

We were in New Orleans May 18-25, staying at the Wesley Foundation Center at Tulane University.  Our pastor, Rev. Dee Dee Azhikakath, split us up into three work teams.  The first two days we were all sent to the same work site.  We worked on this older woman's house, gutting it.  The third day of work, Wednesday, my work team stayed on at this ladies house, to finish what we could while the other two work teams went on to different work sites.  Thursday and Friday my team went to another house and did some painting outside around some windows, and a little bit inside the kitchen.  Because of rain and too much moisture we weren't able to paint the awning around the house like hoped for. 

Besides all the work we did, we also did some socializing with some college groups from Southern Methodist University and Dickenson College.  We also took a tour to the 9th Ward to view the damage there and learn more about it.

-Grant Weins