Work and Witness
Work & Witness 2010
January 24th - February 7th
We will be staying at The Lighthouse mission center near Puerto Barres.. The missionary there is Tommy Matthews. Each day we will be taking a boat ride and then a bus ride to the work site. The district superintendent of the Atlanta District is adopting a baby and currently his office is in their living room. With this new baby they need to have more living space. We will be using their chapel factory system and building an office for him. We will also begin the construction on 4 new Sunday School Classrooms for a church. We will be conducting VBS on several occasions and visit an orphanage.
The team members are:
Eaton Rapids Church of the Nazarene
Tom and Tammy Banker
Tom and Melissa Brown
Charlie Hurd
Don Luttrell
Jeff Doyen
Perry Church of the Nazarene
Jackie Hurd
Jo Banker
Lowell Church of the Nazarene
Gregg Hovey
Woodview Church of the Nazarene
Richard Near
For more information, contact Tom Banker at tntbanker93@yahoo.com
Emails from our Guatamala Work and Witness team:
January 31, 2010
Hola Everyone!
Today was our first Lord's day in Guatemala. What a great experience. Yesterday we were able to finish putting up the walls at the Vera Cruz church in Guatemala. Gregg took the time to cut out a cross above their entrance to the church. Today we worshipped with them. Each of us gave our testimony and why we were in Guatemala. Tommy, our missionary, translated for us. Don's birthday is today so the Guatemalan congregation sang happy birthday (we think) and gave him lots of hugs.The team took up a collection this morning at devotions that we gave to the pastor so the church can purchase more cement to finish the columns and stucco. It is amazing how the Love of God can unite all of us even if we don't speak the same language.
We had chicken noodle soup for dinner at Carlos home, one of the congregation. Please pray for his wife. She was so gracious and fixed us dinner but she still has not made a commitment to follow Christ.
The rest of today will be spent relaxing and celebrating Don's birthday. Tomorrow we will be putting the roof on another church about 1.5 hours away from where we are staying.
It is hard to believe the trip is half over and again we are so grateful for our family, friends, and church back home who have supported us with their love and prayers.
Tammy
January 29, 2010
Hola,
We have had a couple of great days. Yesterday we put up walls for a church in Vera Cruz. This church is about four years old. They have worked hard to put in a cement floor, roof, and 3 courses of block on their own over the last couple of years. Yesterday we put up three walls in one day. Tomorrow we will put up the last wall and weld everything in place. We also had another VBS with approximately 60 kids yesterday. This church is only 4 years old and has already partnered with another church to begin a church.
Today was a day off. The weather was beautiful today so we went to an area in the jungle/woods that had a stream and several small pools/ponds. It also had a waterfall. The water was cool but very refreshing. We met three local boys that played in the water with us. We ate lunch at the district superintendents home and did some shopping. On Sunday we will be worshipping with the Vera Cruz church.
A couple of the guys, Charlie and Jeff, have had some upset stomachs but fortunately it hasn't lasted long.
Thank-you for all of your prayers and support. I would like to send photos but due to their internet access if we send too many it will shut off their access for the following day.
Tammy
January 24, 2010
Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to send everyone a quick message to let you know that we arrived safely in Guatemala. We are staying in Guatemala City tonight at the seminary and will be going to Puerto Barres tomorrow. Our trip went very well. God has been answering prayers all along the way. One of our team members, Dick Near, left his luggage at the airport. There was a little confusion at the airport but we are very grateful to a God that watches over every detail of our lives. When Dick, Tom and the missionary returned to the airport they had the luggage waiting for him. We had a great spaghetti dinner, took a tour of the seminary, and already did some shopping. Thank-you to everyone back home for your support and prayers.
Tammy
Work and Witness began in 1974 in the Church of the Nazarene. There have been over 190,000 participants since the beginning with over 5000 years of donated labor. In 2007 alone there were 651 teams that traveled world wide. This averaged to approximately 13 teams per week. There were 10,695 team members in 2007 who donated over 337 years of labor.
Work and Witness has been a great tool for the Church of the Nazarene in building God’s Kingdom. Everyone can have a role to play. Will you be included as a participant in Work and Witness in the coming year? When we make ourselves available, God will make a way. The words of Jesus still ring true “The fields are white unto harvest”.
