MALAWI MISSION JOURNEY
FEBRUARY 2-9 , 2024
WELCOME HOME TO THE IPC MALAWI MISSION TEAM
Chiapas Chiapas
God’ s Beautiful Creation God’ s Beautiful Creation
The first few photos are from Irma and Salvador's beautiful ranch casa and all around the surrounding mountains and waterfalls we visited to keep cool.
The other photos are of Las Palmas, an area Irma is developing for area children to learn and play. This immediately reminded us of Henry Edmond's vision for CFAF. We definitely recommended IPC return to Chiapas to continue in ministry and relationship building there, but mid-June or later is best due to late May heat!
Thanks be to God for our relationships and journey!
Last & Favorite Night Last & Favorite Night
Our last night at Nuevo Sonora was our favorite, mostly because it involved our spending the whole time with about 75 children and their parents at nearby El Divino Redentor Church. This is the church closest to Irma and Salvador's home and is beautifully painted a warm yellow with twin towers reaching to the sky.
We opened the craft kits prepared by IPC children and watched the magic of children unfold! And yes, there were soccer balls and basketballs shared before sunset. There was great joy and a sense of togetherness no matter our 3 separate languages.
Irma has a big heart and is especially focused on creating spaces for women to be empowered and to learn parenting skills and language skills, and also a place for children to grow and learn. Irma showed us some space she is going to build out for these purposes.
Earlier in the day we visited a beautiful place called Las Palmas, where Irma is developing little cottages where she plans to take the children so they can run and play in this beautiful place and also learn how to swim in the beautiful nearby river. This immediately made us think of the Children's Fresh Air Farm! After more beautiful prayers from a woman of God, we enjoyed guanabana and pineapple juice.
El Buen Pastor El Buen Pastor
We visited with Pastor Freddy and elders at El Buen Pastor Church at Ejido 20 de Noviembre. Our 2022 and 2023 mission teams worked and visited at El Buen Pastor and it was their and the church leaders' shared concern about the kitchen and cooking conditions which initiated the IPCF grant which is now funding the elevated kitchen ceiling, better ventilation, and larger cooking area.
We were deeply blessed as a dear woman of God prayed fervently over us in her native language, Ch'ol. The Spirit moved among us in powerful ways during this prayer and the many other prayers we received from church members and pastors during our week with them.
Getsemani Church Getsemani Church
Getsemani Church at Ejido Chancala Zapote is a sweet and beautiful congregation. We women led worship because the pastors were delayed and many of the church members were at a local community meeting related to upcoming June 2 local and National elections.
There were many children and their mothers at Getsemani Church and we loved worshipping and visiting with them in two languages. Luke Zimmerman found a new Spanish speaking friend and they'll keep in touch and help each other learn.
God is so good!
Sinai Church Sinai Church
Sinai Church is one of the biggest churches in the presbytery. IPC teams have worked here in the past to help construct parts of this large church and Sunday school meeting rooms. Sinai Church has regular worship and study but also hosts many larger gatherings of the presbytery and are in need of building a larger, more efficient kitchen and expanded dining room.
Worshiping & Working Worshiping & Working
alongside Horeb Church alongside Horeb Church
THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MISSION JOURNEY MISSION JOURNEY
IPC’s Dominican Republic Mission team traveled to Hato Mayor with Meeting God in Missions (MGM), a non-denominational Christian organization providing short-term mission trips to the Dominican Republic
Mission Team: July 15-22, 2024
Angela Jones Margaret King
Helen Walthall Kennon Walthall
The English-second-language ministry table in the foreground and the VBS table in the background, outside the eye clinic.
VBS in full swing at one of the campuses.
The main crop of Hato Mayor: Sugar Cane.
Angie Jones and Margaret King get to comfortably ride in the truck cab!
Acres of lush, green sugarcane fields stretching out as far as the eye can see.
The MGM preferred modes of travel: school buses and flatbed trucks.
The mission team joined the sugar cane workers in prayer as they asked to be saved.
Helen Walthall, Margaret King, and Angie Jones working the English-second-language table.
Margaret King working the VBS table at settlement “16.”
More English-second-language work. A satisfied eyewear customer. Margaret King with Alberto, our Interpreter, and Juan Carlos from Grace Church in Erie, PA.
Helen teaching knitting to Eva.
Nightly gathering for an extended “Roses, Buds and Thorns” session.
NAIROBI NAIROBI
MISSION JOURNEY MISSION JOURNEY
At the beginning of our journey, we visited a Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) preschool, Lifespring Academy. We enjoyed coloring and kicking soccer balls with the children. Ms. Lillian is their teacher and she and Elder Albert are doing a beautiful thing to provide loving care for twelve toddlers who live (as does Lillian) in the slum village next door and who wouldn’t have daily care without this preschool. The children are loved, fed porridge, and taught early learning skills. IPC Community Ministries and IPC Foundation provided funds for the porridge during recent years’ historic droughts.
We drove a few hours north of Nairobi to Karatina and Tumutumu, passing beautiful countryside. Our first stop was to visit PCEA leadership at their new Kirimara West Presbytery administration building which IPC Foundation helped to build. The presbytery contains numerous churches, and their leaders along with representatives from PCEA Karatina Church and others, were so warm and welcoming. They proudly showed us the new Administration building and fed us a delicious lunch.
Afterwards we visited with a couple hundred school children who attend the PCEA k-12 school next door. The children were eager to shake our hands, hug us, and tell us their names. Then they sang for us, and we introduced ourselves. We then drove to four different churches to visit and pray with them before heading to our guest house at Tumutumu.
We drove to Kalandi where the Presbytery is building a Home for the Aged with funds from IPC Foundation and Kirimara West Presbytery. They were gifted 3 acres of land with many different trees and plants: avocado, macadamia, eucalyptus/blue gum, and bottle brush. Reed and Gray Warburton helped plant two trees an endangered Cyprus and a common palm.
We also dedicated the cornerstone of the Home for the Aged, which is still very much under construction. During the past they had laid the foundation and had cinderblock walls/rooms. They have also graded the property next to this building and will expand. They intend to put a second floor on the first property and will eventually add a third building, which will include a chapel and pharmacy. Rev. Chris was so glad we visited and were able to see with our own eyes and experience the beautiful people and land for ourselves.
We were warmly greeted by Rev. Wilson Maina and the elders and deacons of PCEA Karatina Church. There was a lot of excitement as they prepared for the students to lead Sunday worship. The one-hour service turned into two hours of dynamic worship—music by several choirs, prayers, and announcements of the many ministry opportunities in the church and presbytery. Our group was invited to introduce ourselves, and Rev. Patrick preached from Hebrews 12:1-2, the Presbytery’s theme for the year.
After the English worship service, we were ushered back to the Vestry room to receive more prayers and prepare to process into the Kikuyu service. We were introduced and then after a few hymns and prayers, the entire congregation processed across the way to break ground for Karatina Church's new social enterprise: A five-story apartment building which will produce income to support the church's missions.
We took a tour of the PCEA Tumutumu Hospital with its many new and modern upgrades, the PCEA School for the Deaf, and PCEA High School for Girls. It was an enlightening and fulfilling afternoon spending time with the deaf children as we played soccer and volleyball, learned about medical care from hospital administrators and nursing school directors, and learned about the high school curriculum and leadership opportunities for girls.
We headed from Tumutumu toward Masai Mara, stopping at an elementary school in a remote area. The school has seemingly been forgotten by the government. There’s no electricity or running water, and the 100 children learn in classrooms that are old, dark shipping crates. One of our drivers who is from the area vowed to return to make a difference.
We passed over the Equator a couple times before stopping to make photos. We also stopped at Thompson Falls before arriving at our safari lodge. Along the way back to Karen, Kenya, where our guest house near Nairobi is, we enjoyed driving up Maimahiu Mountain and stopped at the top to view The Great Rift Valley.
We followed the advice of IPC member Pat Forman and visited the nearby Kazuri Bead Factory. It’s a wonderful social enterprise dedicated since 1975 to be a beacon of hope for single mothers and to create employment opportunities.
In the afternoon we visited a special school, The Green Garden School. Created in 1970, the school is a place of academic learning and Christian faith development.
mwandi Mission mwandi Mission Journey Journey
AUGUST 15 - 28, AUGUST 15 - 28, 2024 2024
Mwandi Mission is comprised of a United Church of Zambia congregation, a hospital, school, Orphan’s and Vulnerable Children’s Center, and Kandiana, a home for elder orphans. Almost every summer for the past 25 years, IPC has sent a mission team to Mwandi to complete a maintenance project and to work with the local school, church, and orphan center.
MISSION TEAM: AUGUST 15-28, 2024 MISSION TEAM: AUGUST 15-28, 2024
