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General Information about the Area Office
North Indiana Conference Office
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Prayer Guides
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Seashore District Volunteer Center VIM project -- Completed
Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
HOOSIER UNITED METHODIST
Mission Opportunities
For Mission Tuesday April 8, 2008
This newsletter is paid for through your annual conference connectional ministries giving.
Edited by Daniel R. Gangler, director of communication dgangler@inareaumc.org.
FOR THE LATEST IN DISASTER NEWS AND RECOVERY LOG ON TO www.disasternews.net and www.gbgm-umc.org/umcor
DEATH NOTICES – Hamilton, Mullen
HELEN L. (BROWN) HAMILTON, widow of the late Rev. Ernest W. Hamilton (NIC), died Wednesday, April 2, 2008 in Muncie, Ind. A memorial service was held on Saturday, April 5, with burial in the East Maplewood Cemetery. E-mailed condolences may be sent to RJFuneralSvc@aol.com. Survivors include: daughter, Virginia Pugsley Tobias; son-in-law, Dr. Ellis Larsen; 7 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; and 1 niece.
GREG L. MULLEN, husband of Debbie Mullen (NIC and former manager of the Indiana United Methodist Federal Credit Union), died Sunday, April 6, 2008 in Bunker Hill, Ind. Friends may call from 3 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 10 at the Allen Funeral Home, 136 S. Elm Street, Bunker Hill, Ind. A memorial service is scheduled for 10 a.m., Friday, April 11 at the funeral home.
THIS WEEK’S EVENTS
NORTH IND. TO HOST VIM TEAM LEADER TRAINING AT KOKOMO APRIL 12
- April 12, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at St. Luke’s UMC, 700 East Southway Blvd. in Kokomo, Ind.
- For more information: Contact Bonnie Albert or phone 219-464-1447.
- Registration deadline is Friday, April 4. To register, send name, address, phone number with area code, church, city. Make checks payable to North Indiana Conference, memo VIM training and mail to P.O. Box 869, Marion, IN 46952. For registration form, log on to www.nicumc.org.
PERU CHURCH ASKS FOR ASSISTANCE IN APRIL 13 MISSIONS FAIR
- April 13
- For more information and ways you can support Main Street UMC Mission Faith, contact Miles Straly, mission commission chairman, home phone: 765-472-2273, cell phone: 317-850-1448 or by e-mail: mstraly@mcremc.net. Home address: 1859 S 400 W, Peru, IN 46970.
MISSION NEWS
FAITH COMMUNITY EXAMINES DISASTER RESPONSE
The Rev. L. George Abrams, the disaster response coordinator for the Pacific Northwest Annual (regional) Conference of The United Methodist Church, left full-time church ministry as a pastor in Washington two years ago to follow a call from disaster ministry. He was among disaster response leaders who met March 29-April 1 in Nashville, Tenn., with peers from other conferences and denominations for the 2008 Church World Service Forum on Domestic Disaster Ministry. The Rev. David Watson, a United Methodist theologian, led several worship services that helped participants examine the relationship between a hopeful faith and disaster-caused pain. The role of the faith community in disasters is not to proselytize, Watson warned, but to act as signs directing the way to God’s love amidst situations where control is lost. – UMNS
UGANDAN CHILDREN’S CHOIR TO SING AT GENERAL CONFERENCE
A slender young woman stands behind the audience – well out of the limelight. Twenty-three pairs of young eyes watch her every move. She smiles; they smile. She enunciates each word; they pay close attention. She sways. She directs. She cradles the children in her capable hands. “Auntie Lydia” is the conductor and manager for the Hope for Africa Children’s Choir and Academy. Namageme serves as the right hand of Tonny Mbowa, the choir director. She lives with the children at the United Methodist school in Nasuti, Uganda, that has rescued them from lives of poverty. The 23 children live together night and day and are preparing for their “first ever international tour.” The highlight will be two performances at the 2008 United Methodist General Conference in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 28-29. They then will tour and sing at United Methodist churches in Arkansas, Georgia, Wisconsin, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee until the end of July. – UMNS
CHURCH RESCUES CHILDREN IN DISPLACED PERSON’S CAMP
Dorothy Lakol walks a few steps outside her family’s hut to her mother’s gravesite. Lakol’s mother, Betty Amon, died two years ago of AIDS at Layibi, one of the internally displaced persons’ camps established by the Ugandan government during the country’s 20-year civil war. Dorothy’s father, Solomon Ochen, her brother, Regarha, 12, and her sister, Phoebe, 6, all have the same deadly disease. Only Dorothy, 10, has escaped the sickness that soon will take the rest of her family away from her. She is one of 23 children rescued and recruited by the Uganda Conference of The United Methodist Church to become part of the Hope for Africa Children’s Choir. Dorothy has no doubt about why she is here. “I am here by God’s grace,” she says. –UMNS
PASTOR BRINGS CHURCH TO VULNERABLE PEOPLE
Dust kicked up by the occasional passing car adds another gray layer on the babies’ skin and turns everything the same dull color. The Rev. Titus Olaka looks distinguished in his white shirt and tattered wool suit jacket, sweat beads glisten on his face. Bible in one hand, he welcomes visitors to his parish – the Opit Camp for Internally Displaced Persons in rural northern Gulu, Uganda. It is a hot, miserable place where thousands of people have been forced to live in mud huts crammed tightly together. Thatch roofs are fire hazards and many times a spark sets off a fire that destroys hundreds of homes before anyone can get to water to put out the flames. Olaka has been pastor of the Opit United Methodist Church for about a year. Four children have been saved from this harsh life by The United Methodist Church’s East Africa Annual Conference. Pamela, Sawiya, Gladys and Moses have clean clothes, food and shelter and soon will go to the United States as part of the Hope for Africa Children’s Choir. – UMNS
GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP TAKES AIM AT MALARIA DEATHS
United Methodist Bishop Janice Huie joined Ted Turner at the United Nations on April 1 as he announced an expanded global partnership to help end malaria deaths. The hope is that the partnership, led by the people of The United Methodist Church and Lutheran World Relief and organized by the United Nations Foundation, will raise $200 million to fight malaria in Africa. Development of the partnership has received support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. United Methodists already have worked with the United Nations Foundation – founded a decade ago by Turner, a businessman and philanthropist – and other partners on the Nothing But Nets campaign to purchase and distribute insecticide-treated bed nets for Africa as a malaria prevention tool. The campaign raised more than $18 million by the end of 2007, its first year.
Huie, president of the denomination’s Council of Bishops, told United Methodist News Service that she expects the denomination will “accept Mr. Turner’s challenge” and become engaged in the effort, “which we see as an entry point into the diseases of poverty.” – UMNS
ZIMBABWE’S ECONOMY ADDS TO RETIREE’S MISERY
Selling little yellow balls of “Cockroach Kill” used to help the Rev. Kenneth Shamu put food on the table in Harare, Zimbabwe. Now even income from that small business is gone because the soaring inflation rate in Zimbabwe has made it impossible to buy the ingredients — sugar, eggs and Borax. Creative solutions have helped the Shamus survive since his retirement as a United Methodist pastor in 1995. Shamu stopped receiving any pension funds from the church in 2004. Even before they stopped, he was not receiving enough to live on, he said. Zimbabwe’s political and economic situation only adds to the misery. The United Methodist Church’s General Conference, its largest legislative body, has launched an effort called the Central Conference Pension Initiative to ensure retirees and surviving spouses retire with dignity and hope. – UMNS
TABITHA KATSANDE: ‘IT WAS DIFFICULT TO SAVE ANYTHING’
Every Sunday morning, Tabitha Katsande dons a bright yellow choir robe and robustly lifts her voice in praise to the Lord. Revelation United Methodist Church in Harare, Zimbabwe, would not be the same without her. In addition to her choir duties, she is chairperson of evangelism, serves as conference and district women’s society adviser, and works with the women’s group in the church. She is still a faithful member of the last church where her husband, the Rev. Alfred Katsande, was pastor before he died in 1998. He retired from Revelation United Methodist Church in 1997 at the age of 72 after 40 years of service. “My husband had good vision and foresight,” she says. “He built this house and the cottage in the back, which I now rent out.” Katsande needs the income because she is not receiving pension funds from her husband’s long career in ministry. The United Methodist Church is beginning to respond to Katsande and others like her through the Central Conference Pension Initiative. Mandated by the 2000 and 2004 General Conferences, the initiative is developing models for pension systems to serve retired church pastors, lay workers and surviving spouses in Zimbabwe and elsewhere. More information is available at www.ccpi-umc.org. – UMNS
NEWLY LISTED MISSION OPPORTUNITIES
None listed this week.
PREVIOUSLY LISTED MISSION OPPORTUNITIES
BOOKS OF WORSHIP NEEDED IN SIERRA LEONE
When I was in Sierra Leone recently, I had many requests for the 1964 Book of Worship. If you have a copy you are not using and would like to pass it on to a pastor in Sierra Leone, you can send it to the address below or you can bring it to conference to our truck at the ingathering. If you bring it to conference, please let me know soon. – Joe Wagner, Operation Classroom, Inc., PO Box 246, Colfax, IN 46035, call 765-436-2805, e-mail ocmisson@frontiernet.net or Web site www.operationclassroom.org.
FIRST YEAR MEDICAL RESIDENT SEEKS INTERNSHIP IN AFRICA
Annetta Alexander, MD, MPH is a first year resident in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at East Carolina University. She is seeking an African location, preferably in Ghana or Uganda, to fulfill a 3 to 4 week elective rotation during March, 2009 as a part of her residency training. Annetta has previously volunteered with medical missions in the Dominican Republic. She prefers working with the pediatric population. Annetta lives in Greenville, N.C. and would connect with a team by flying out of either the Raleigh or Charlotte, North Carolina airports. In order to contact Annetta, do not respond to this e-mail but to her directly at netta365@hotmail.com. Thank you.
MISSION OPPORTUNITIES REMINDERS
More information about these opportunities as well as a listing of ongoing projects and contact information can be seen at www.inareaumc.org/general_info/mission_opportunities_listings.htm, which has all the details for these opportunities.
FLOOD RECOVERY IN NEED OF VOLUNTEERS TO ASSIST CASE MANAGERS
- For those wanting to volunteer, contact Van Wyck at mevanwijk@hotmail.com or by phone at 219-261-2273 or John Mayfield, case management supervisor, at jmay49@hotmail.com.
- Churches wishing to make monetary donations to assist victims of the recent flooding in North Indiana may send funds to: North Indiana Conference UMC, PO Box 869, Marion, IN 46952.
- Note memo for Flood Relief in North Indiana – Account 030401.
PENNIES FOR PEACE MISSION PROJECT IDEA FOR THIS SUMMER’S VBS
- For more information, contact Operation Classroom at ocmisson@frontiernet.net or log on to www.operationclassroom.org
POTATOES FOR VACATION
- For more information and to order the material, go to www.endhunger.org
SEWING MACHINES NEEDED IN SIERRA LEONE
- For more information, call the Bloomington District office at 800-919-8161 or 812-339-1445.
UMCOR’S SAGER BROWN DEPOT NEEDS HELP WITH KITS
- For more information, log on to www.umcor.org and click on “Help Sager Brown Deliver Kits of Hope.”
UNITED METHODIST VOLUNTEER IN MISSION TEAMS NEEDED IN MEXICO
- Contact information: Jerry Hill jerry.hill@bsumc.com or call 864-320-3165
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR NEW CONSTRUCTION AT CENTERVILLE, IOWA
- Contact the church office at 641-856-3862 or the Trustees Chair at 641-895-0381.
TERRE HAUTE DISTRICT OFFERS TRIP TO MISSION DISTRIBUTION
- April 16-18
- For more information on these mission opportunities please contact the Terre Haute District Office at 800-919-8165 or 812-237-0101.
MISSION AGENCY TO HOLD SUMMIT FOR MISSION INITIATIVES
- April 17-18
- Plano, Texas
- For more information, including registration and lodging, log on to: http://new.gbgm-umc.org/news/events/?C=2923&i=16762.
TWO OPEN SLOTS FOR UNITED METHODIST VIM TEAM TO CUBA
- April 18-30, 2008
- For more information, contact the team leader, Larry Burke: ljrdburke@comcast.net
OPERATION CLASSROOM PACKING PARTY IN TERRE HAUTE DISTRICT
- April 24, at 9 a.m. at Breden Memorial UMC, 2228 S. 7th St. in Terre Haute
- Please contact the Terre Haute District Office, 1403 Chestnut Street, Terre Haute, IN 47807. Call 812-237-0101 or 800-919-8168.
HENDERSON SETTLEMENT OFFERS PROGRAM FOR SENIORS APRIL 20-26
UNITED METHODIST VIMS NEEDED TO BUILD MONTANA PLAYGROUND
- May 2-5, 2008
- For more information, contact: Barbara Galusha Karst, High Plains Coordinator, bgkarst@vcn.com.
RX CONNEXION TO HOLD ANNUAL CONSULTATION IN LINCOLN COUNTRY
- May 2-4
- Fees: $75 - Meeting Registration, 3 meals, snacks (no breakfast)
- Lodging: $65 - Reserved Room at near-by Baymont Inn or $15/night Limited lodging space is available at the Midwest Distribution Center
- Optional Tour: $10 Lincoln Springfield Tour Saturday evening
- Registration Deadline is April 15 (tax day).
- For more information or to receive a registration form, visit www.gbgm-umc.org/northcentralvim/rxconnexion.html or write umvim-ncj@brookings.net for a copy.
OPERATION CLASSROOM SCHEDULES MORE WORK TEAMS THIS YEAR
- Pine Creek – May 3. Rev. Bruce Mowery is coordinating the project. For more information contact bemowery@hotmail.com.
- Bo Centenary School – June 19-July 11. For more information contact Kay Hess at: hess100@juno.com.
- Itabuna Methodist Church, Brazil – June 27- July 11. For more information, contact Carolyn Wagner.
- Henderson Settlement – July 20-26. Applications are due March 12. For more information contact Anne at annekumeh@aol.com
- W.PL. Brumskine UM School – Oct. 4-19. Kay and Lamar Zeigler are the team leaders. Contact the OC office or Tom at ttillett@ralis.com for more information.
NORTH KATANGA ANNUAL CONFERENCE DELEGATES COMING TO INDIANA
- May 5-16
- If your church, cluster or district is interested in hosting a day or an event, contact Lourdes Gonzalez or Bob Walters at the conference center.
OPERATION 2008 CLASSROOM TEAMS
- Sierra Leone
- May 6 to 22 – Sierra Leone – Koidu Secondary School - U of I, Lang Brownlee, team leader
- June 18 to July 9 Sierra Leone – Bo Centenary School, Kay Hess, team leader, hess100@juno.com
- To Liberia
- June 24 to July 11 – Liberia – Tubman-Gray School, Ken and Kitty Decker, team leaders, ken.decker@prodigy.net or kitty.decker@prodigy.net
- October 9 to 28 – Liberia – W.P.L. Brumskine School, Lamar and Kay Ziegler, team leaders, lamar@rnthompson.com
MISSION TO CUBA HAS AN OPENING FOR MAY 17-28 TRIP
- Please contact Neil Vander Linden ( ngvl@charter.net – 864-859-3652)) for further information.
SOUTH INDIANA CONFERENCE UPCOMING MISSION TRIPS
- June 2008
- Harrodsburg UMC to Henderson Settlement, Ky.
- Youth District Mission Trip Location TBA
- July 2008
- July 12-19 – Mooresville First UMC to Calnali,, Mexico
- Summer 2008
- Bedford First UMC to Louisiana
- South Indiana Native American Mission Trips
- September 2008
- Sept. 20-27 – Ames Chapel UMC to John’s Island, S.C.
- Sept. 22-29 – Mooresville First UMC to Henderson Settlement, Ky.
MISSION OPPORTUNITY – TRAVEL TO MEXICO WITH COLUMBUS D.S.
- June 14-21
- For more information including a brochure visit the Columbus District Web site www.coumc.org or e-mail Brian White.
GARY, IND. TO HOST FIRST EVER TEACHUM FAIR
- June 15-19
- Marquette Park UMC in Gary, Ind.
- For registration, schedule and further information, visit: http://www.gbgm-umc.org/northcentralvim/teachum.html or write/call umvim-ncj@brookings.net; 605-692-3390.
PEDIATRIC ANESTHESIOLOGIST NEEDED FOR LIBERIAN VIM TRIP
- June 19-July 5
- Cost is $3,500
- Contact: Team Leader, Julie Warren, steadleaze@charter.net or call 817-453-2682 or 817-975-9216.
MINNESOTA MEDICAL MISSIONS TO SIERRA-LEONE NEEDS PHYSICIAN
- June 26-July 8, 2008
- September 27-October 7, 2008
- For further information please contact Doris Acton, RN at doris.acton@nhylandsumc.org or at 952-835-7585.
MISSOURI CONFERENCE SPONSORING HEALTH VIM TRIP TO MOZAMBIQUE
- Late June through early July, 2008, sponsored by the Missouri UM Conference
- For more information, call Tom Mitchell if you have questions or want more information. Phone 314-725-4003 or e-mail TomM8132@aol.com.
NORTH INDIANA SCHOOL OF CHRISTIAN MISSION
- July 9 for the Drive-In Day
- July 9-July 12 at Manchester College, in North Manchester, Ind.
- More information and registration to come.
OPERATION UTAH INVITES VOLUNTEERS TO UTAH MISSION TO NAVAJOS
- July 9-21
- For more information, contact Scott or Anita Pattison by phone at 260-347-0056 church or 260-347-3621 home or e-mail them at gspattison@sbcglobal.net
KOKOMO CHURCH INVITES OTHERS TO UTE INDIANA NATION VIM TRIP
- July 17-July 29
- If you are interested in finding out more information about this opportunity call the cell number below. I look forward to hearing from you! Seeking God’s Horizon, Paul Rogers, cell phone: 765-863-0127.
SMITH VALLEY UMC MISSION OPPORTUNITY AVAILABLE
- Cartagenta, Colombia, South America
- July 19-26
- Contact Pastor Joe for more details at 317-432-6706
SOUTH INDIANA SCHOOL OF CHRISTIAN MISSION SCHEDULED FOR JULY
- July 26-Super Saturday Session
- July 27-30 Weekday School.
- For more information check out the “Southwind” newsletter by logging onto: www.gbgm-umc.org/sicumw/
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR GULF PORT HURRICANE RECOVERY IN AUGUST
- Gulf Port, Miss., Aug. 9-17
- Contact Peg and Arley Ellingson, 203 S. 1st Ave Hinton, IA 51024, phone: 712-947-4551(h), 712-947-4553 (o), 712-203-8068 (c) or e-mail: pellingson@usa.net.
MADISON CHURCH PLANS MISSION TRIP TO ENGLAND IN SEPTEMBER
- Sept. 22 through Oct. 1
- For more information, call Debi Partridge at 812-273-4601 or email her at partridge2@verizon.net. The price for this trip is $3,000 and the team is almost full.
DETROIT CONFERENCE VIM TEAM PLANS TRIP TO HAITI FOR NOV. 7-14
- Nov 7-14
- Contact Curtis Bartz, 313- 278-4849 or jbartz@mich.com for information and an application.
TWO MISSION DISCOVERY OPTIONS AVAILABLE FOR CHRISTMAS BREAK
- Spice Island, Grenada
- Dec. 26 to January 6, 2009
- Cost is $1,600
- Application deadline: Aug.1
- Contact Beverly Nolte, bnmedical@aol.com, (515-237-8544)
- Curacautin, Chile
- Jan. 9-19, 2009
- Contact Oscar and Joyce Carassco, ocarrasc@umcnic.org, (847-931-0710 X 10)
- For application and more information on both of these teams, log on to www.gbgm-umc.org/northcentralvim/mission_discovery.html or write to umvim-ncj@brookings.net.
WARSAW DISTRICT PLANS 2009 MISSION TRIP TO LIBERIA
- Jan. 10 through 24, 2009
- If you are interested, call the Warsaw District Office at 800-783-6111.
Compiled as a service of Indiana Area United Methodist Communication in Indianapolis.
Last updated on 04/08/2008