Pastor Gwyneth will be part of a delegation of 7 people from United Methodist Churches in Maine and Massachusetts traveling on a mission trip to Nicaragua April 13-20 (departing the day after Easter). This includes two pastors (including myself) and five laity. We will be traveling to the communities of the South Atlantic Coast (RAAS-Region Autonoma Atlantico Sur) beginning with Kukra Hill and traveling north to the Laguna de Perla. Once we arrive to the coastal area, we will ride horseback for transportation.
We will be traveling with the AMHC (Amanecer Mobile Health Clinic) which has recently expanded to include more than 70 of the most isolated communities in Nicaragua, providing both medical and dental care on a quarterly basis. We will have the opportunity to work with Jairo Lezama who is Director of the AMHC, and with Dr. Maria Elena Espinosa and dentist, Dr. Antonio Arguella. Please keep Dr. Aruella in prayer - just this week both of his sons, ages 25 and 7, were killed in a motorcycle accident.
We will be staying in the homes of pastors in each community. The AMHA has communicated the greatest needs for medical supplies, which we will be bringing in. These include trip-antibiotic ointments, children's vitamins, Tylenol, Motrin, and anti-fungal medications. If you would be willing to make a donation, Peoples Church is being asked to focus donations on anti-fungal medications (athlete's foot medications such as Lotrimin, and yeast infection medications such as Monistat, etc.). However, we have been warned that if one medication is found that is within 6 months of expiring at the airport baggage check, they will refuse to accept any of our medications and will confiscate them. Therefore, please ensure they are dated later than mid-October 2009. Easter Sunday is the last day to make a donation of medicine. In addition, financial donations will be accepted and go to Nicaragua.
In addition to traveling with the health clinic on the East Coast, we will also spend time helping at the sewing program and one of the feeding programs near Managua. We will attend worship services in several communities and also spend time at one of the Iglesia de Cristo schools where children receive tuitions from the Nicaraguan Covenant with the United Methodist Church in New England. We will travel through the Managua dump where a community has thrived for a number of generations which is currently served by the AMHC.
The United Methodist Church focuses less on a short-term projects but rather on long-standing relationships and long-term justice issues, working with the medical clinic and churches in Nicaragua to bring long-term solutions to solve issues of poverty, health and education. The delegation leader, Sandy Melius from Weston, MA said: "You will be introduced to a people whose needs will make you weep and whose courage will make you humble." The United Methodist Church generally sends delegations between 5-7 people per trip as this places less burden on the families with whom we stay than larger delegations. For more information on the United Methodist Church covenant and partnership with Nicaragua go to http://www.neumc.org/page.asp?pkvalue=177
Many have asked me why I have felt led to make this trip. As most of you know, I have travelled in other countries vastly different from our own, including Turkey and a mission trip in Cuba. Any such trip expands our worldview, softens our hearts toward all of God's children, inspires our faith, increases our dedication to the Gospel and opens new doors for mission possibility even if just by opening eyes to the poverty right in our own neighborhood. I do covet your prayers for safe travel and fruitful mission.
Several churches in New England have begun sibling church relationships with churches in Nicaragua. This kind of relationship might be possible with Peoples Church right here in South Portland. The possibilities of such a relationship are endless: financial support, Sunday School children communicating back and forth by letter, doing joint Bible studies, and maybe even some others from our church making a trip sometime. Please be in prayer about these possibilities!
Dios te Bendiga!
We will be traveling with the AMHC (Amanecer Mobile Health Clinic) which has recently expanded to include more than 70 of the most isolated communities in Nicaragua, providing both medical and dental care on a quarterly basis. We will have the opportunity to work with Jairo Lezama who is Director of the AMHC, and with Dr. Maria Elena Espinosa and dentist, Dr. Antonio Arguella. Please keep Dr. Aruella in prayer - just this week both of his sons, ages 25 and 7, were killed in a motorcycle accident.
We will be staying in the homes of pastors in each community. The AMHA has communicated the greatest needs for medical supplies, which we will be bringing in. These include trip-antibiotic ointments, children's vitamins, Tylenol, Motrin, and anti-fungal medications. If you would be willing to make a donation, Peoples Church is being asked to focus donations on anti-fungal medications (athlete's foot medications such as Lotrimin, and yeast infection medications such as Monistat, etc.). However, we have been warned that if one medication is found that is within 6 months of expiring at the airport baggage check, they will refuse to accept any of our medications and will confiscate them. Therefore, please ensure they are dated later than mid-October 2009. Easter Sunday is the last day to make a donation of medicine. In addition, financial donations will be accepted and go to Nicaragua.
In addition to traveling with the health clinic on the East Coast, we will also spend time helping at the sewing program and one of the feeding programs near Managua. We will attend worship services in several communities and also spend time at one of the Iglesia de Cristo schools where children receive tuitions from the Nicaraguan Covenant with the United Methodist Church in New England. We will travel through the Managua dump where a community has thrived for a number of generations which is currently served by the AMHC.
The United Methodist Church focuses less on a short-term projects but rather on long-standing relationships and long-term justice issues, working with the medical clinic and churches in Nicaragua to bring long-term solutions to solve issues of poverty, health and education. The delegation leader, Sandy Melius from Weston, MA said: "You will be introduced to a people whose needs will make you weep and whose courage will make you humble." The United Methodist Church generally sends delegations between 5-7 people per trip as this places less burden on the families with whom we stay than larger delegations. For more information on the United Methodist Church covenant and partnership with Nicaragua go to http://www.neumc.org/page.asp?pkvalue=177
Many have asked me why I have felt led to make this trip. As most of you know, I have travelled in other countries vastly different from our own, including Turkey and a mission trip in Cuba. Any such trip expands our worldview, softens our hearts toward all of God's children, inspires our faith, increases our dedication to the Gospel and opens new doors for mission possibility even if just by opening eyes to the poverty right in our own neighborhood. I do covet your prayers for safe travel and fruitful mission.
Several churches in New England have begun sibling church relationships with churches in Nicaragua. This kind of relationship might be possible with Peoples Church right here in South Portland. The possibilities of such a relationship are endless: financial support, Sunday School children communicating back and forth by letter, doing joint Bible studies, and maybe even some others from our church making a trip sometime. Please be in prayer about these possibilities!
Dios te Bendiga!
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