Mission Outreach Commission

Burundi Mission
In February of 2009, St. Michael’s Church is sending a team back to Burundi in support of the ministry of our sponsored missionary, Simon Guillebaud and Great Lakes Outreach. The team will leave Charleston on Wednesday, February 4th, and return two weeks later on Tuesday, February 17th. The primary purpose will continue to be evangelism through loving the people and sharing in the hope of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, with the additional component of offering healing prayer ministry with the leadership of the supported ministries of Great Lakes Outreach.
The team will visit orphanages, villages and churches, and continue to work with Simon in the ongoing ministries of Great Lakes Outreach, most especially Youth for Christ, and Harvest for Christ. The team presently consists of Peet Dickinson, Dave Soutter, Linda Soutter, Lynn Lawrence, Newman Lawrence, Charlotte David, David Fine, Randy Gobel, Paulette Gobel, Georgia Lucas, Joe Nicholson and Lilly Petrey. The team desires your prayers and support.
Continue to watch the pages of the Messenger for more news about this mission and be on the lookout for the Burundi Mission team as they mobilize their hearts and homes in preparative for the transformation of their hearts for Jesus Christ in this Burundi Mission.
~ Bob Lawrence+


Rural Mission Angel Tree:
We have a wonderful opportunity to once again assist Rural Mission families with Christmas giving this year! You may either buy for a child and return the gift(s) to the church for Rural Mission to pick up and deliver; OR, this year, we have many children that you and your family may visit and deliver gifts to on your own. This will allow us the opportunity as a parish to “mobilize” our families to reach out to families less fortunate, in keeping with our new mission statement. Please visit the Angel Tree table after each service beginning Sunday, November 30, and help make another child’s Christmas brighter. Call Nicole Nicholson 559-4413 or 991-7600 with questions.

Christmas Giving Opportunities
This year we will have two great opportunities to make someone else’s Christmas a lot brighter. St. Michael’s parishioners can adopt a child from Rural Mission or from HALOS. Rural Mission serves underprivileged children in the Johns Island area. HALOS helps children who have been abused or neglected and are in the Charleston County DSS foster care system. Look for us after church beginning in the next week to “adopt” your special child for Christmas giving. Any questions about Rural Mission please call Nicole Nicholson 559-4413. For HALOS questions, call Noel Kunes 588-6262 or Barbara Simmons 588-0296.

Annual Christmas Party
On Sunday, December 7th, from 4:00 until 7:00 in the evening, Healing Farm Ministries will once again host their annual Christmas Party at Thornhill Farm in McClellanville. Please come for one of the most fun and moving Christmas celebrations around. The Charleston Community Band will start the evening off with carols and great music. The afternoon will include opportunities to roast marshmallows around the bonfire, play games, enjoy hayrides and a visit from a Christmas Elf, and concluding with the reading of the Christmas story and a live manger scene enacted by God’s special children. It will touch your heart like no other Christmas celebration around. Come celebrate Christmas with Healing Farm Ministries on what always proves to be one of the most popular and memorable nights of the year.

St. Michael’s Healing Mission to Ukraine: Changing History
John the Baptist was in prison. He sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you he (the Messiah) or should we wait for another?” Jesus said, “Go tell John what you have seen and heard.” Each member of the Healing Mission team has many accounts of what we saw and heard and experienced in a short week in Ukraine. We are blessed beyond measure to have been involved with the ministry of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior in a country that was legally devoid of Christianity for more than three generations under the communist control. Even our host families shared stories of the persecution, imprisonment, and torture to their families.

Pastor Peter’s Village Church is growing and they have a vital ministry to the community. He is overwhelmed and grateful for the team’s presence and all who supported this mission! The mission donations will provide funds for outreach to the poor; through Food, Firewood and Medical Assistance Funds. Thanks to the generosity of people in Charleston and beyond, Pastor Peter can purchase a farm tractor, to be used to increase crop production and to provide assistance for the village poor.

We packed over 800 bags with food and small gifts for hands-on distribution in two nursing homes, five conferences, and about 60 homes. We carried the Good News of the Gospel as we loved them and prayed with them. We saw Jesus Christ in the graceful smiles of dear souls with their kisses and tears of joy and in the warm affection of the toddlers, little children, youth and handicapped, many in wheel chairs. We saw joy in the adults whose debilitating pain left. There was obvious peace in those who asked for forgiveness and were reconciled with others and Jesus. Our own hearts were filled with awe as we prayed. It was a humbling experience as we proclaimed the redeeming power of God and watched as Jesus healed and ministered to his people.

Following are brief accounts of God’s healing and some inspiring stories:
~ A mother held her feverish infant who cried during an afternoon session. We laid hands on the baby and prayed. The fever left and the baby fell asleep.
~ A handicapped child would not allow anyone to touch her. No smiles. Angry. With patient love and tenderness from a prayer team, the child warmed to the team. She began to weep when it was time to leave. They took her photograph and promised to pray for her upon return to US.
~ A woman sought prayer for her body which was slowly becoming paralyzed. The team prayed for healing of her neurological system. Her eye cleared and she was able to walk unassisted.
~ A 35 year old pregnant lady lives in a one bedroom apartment with her nine children and husband. The buildings are typical 6-8 story concrete and steel, communist built of substandard construction. Instead of finding another heartbreaking situation as we had seen numerous times before - people living in a state of depression and poverty - we found a shining example of the joy we can all receive from a life in Christ. The lady and her children, radiating joy and peace, said she and her children evangelize and help their neighbors. Although we went to minister to her, she was the one who ministered to us. With the declining economy and the associated worries, one team member commented that he will remember the family and their witness in living in the power of the Holy Spirit.
~ A man flagged us down on a dirt road. He noticed we were Americans and he begged us to come to his home to visit his wife. We smelled alcohol, but we went to his home. Our translator said his wife was sick. She was an English teacher and it was her heart’s desire after 40 years to hear the English language spoken again. We prayed for healing and in hysterical tears of joy she thanked God over and over again.
~ A one-legged man, living in a filthy, small shed while his farm house was being renovated, listened intently to the Good News of the Gospel. Without hesitation, he prayed and invited Jesus into his heart.

The last two healings occurred after lunch in a rural village in Eastern Ukraine where no church has been for about 80 years. Many atrocities against Jews and Christians occurred there, thousands were put to death and pushed into mass graves. The regional leaders received recognition for their faithfulness to the communist regime.
~ A lady attended the conference but left early to help prepare our lunch. During the conference, she heard us say that the greatest healing of all is our relationship with God. If anyone had never accepted Jesus as Savior, they should ask a team to pray with them and then to ask for physical or emotional healing. Immediately following lunch, she asked the team to pray for her salvation and for healing of her knees. She accepted Jesus, and He healed her spirit and her knees.
~ An elderly, lethargic lady lay sick with severe head pain in her home. A team was invited to pray with her. They prayed three times. Then she said, “Something just peeled off the top of my head and the pain is gone!” Joyfully, she got out of bed, put on her shoes and walked them to the road!

God is changing history in communities in Ukraine! The people halt their daily work to attend the conferences and they prepare the best they have to care for us. A leader said, “The people wait for you (the Americans) to come. When you come, it is like a holiday to celebrate!”

“Reflecting on these five years that we have gone to Ukraine, I am still in awe of the loving God that we serve. We have witnessed many miracles of the blind seeing, the lame walking, and people receiving the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus. We prayed with many people in pain and with complications from botched surgeries. We see transformation in their appearances from hardened, sad faces, to faces that shine with joy. This year we had an additional privilege to minister to the handicapped and their parents and caregivers. We prayed, God touched them and the pain left.”

Hopefully, you have a sense of what our heavenly Father did this year. We look forward to the healing mission in 2009 and the people with whom we shall share Jesus our Lord! It is with grateful hearts that we thank you for supporting this mission to Ukraine!

If you want to hear more, contact Jean Corbett at 843-559-0524. The Team is especially grateful for your prayers and financial support for the ministry in Ukraine!
~ Michele Bryan, Jean and Johnnie Corbett, Swain Marion, Arthur Ravenel, Peggy Reeves, David Richardson, Susalee Sasser, Weezi Shaw, and Margie Williams

Reflections: An Amazing Honduran Mission
John and I were blessed to be part of a Water Missions International (WMI) team to Tocoa, Honduras in late September. It was an eye-opening and heart-warming experience.

Molly and George Greene, co-founders of WMI, led a group of ten from Charleston, Florence, Charlotte and Boston on a “hands-on” Honduran mission to Tocoa and surrounding villages and towns. The purpose of the mission trip was to encourage Water Missions workers and pastors as they bring to very poor rural communities both safe and Living water as well as seek to improve sanitation.

Upon arrival we visited a church in Tocoa which is closely affiliated with WMI work. It was meaningful to tell communicants in Spanish that our church back in “Carolina del Sur” was praying for them. The people were very warm and receptive to us.

WMI is a non-profit Christian organization whose mission is to provide safe, sustainable “Living Water Treatment Systems” (“LWTS”) to areas in need worldwide. Founded in Charleston eight years ago, both safe drinking water and “living water” from our Lord Jesus Christ are introduced to communities in desperate need. WMI recognizes that basic physical needs must be met before hearts are open to hear the Word.

Our goal was the completion of latrines begun by the youth of St. Phillips earlier this summer. The project involved very basic work of assembling doors and subsequently providing commodes for the latrines. Working in the Honduras heat and humidity made an August day in Charleston pale in comparison! Even so, under the direction of local WMI technicians, we were distracted from climatic challenges.

Once assembled, we loaded doors and equipment onto trucks and climbed in for an exciting trip to the mountainous countryside. Real challenges arose in traveling un-graded dirt roads with pot-holes big enough to lose a truck! The local church youth who joined us to work with children in the community also loved the great adventure.

The country-side was stunningly beautiful with palm trees, bananas trees, pineapple and orange trees in full fruit. When one looked beyond the natural beauty to the living conditions of these people, however, you saw bamboo-sided huts with dirt floors and thatched roofs and/or patched tin roofs with no running water or electricity. Usually, there were no churches in these villages. Daily living was very difficult, yet we often found a sweet spirit among children and adults.

People poured out from every corner when we arrived. They were excited to see us because they had already labored to dig 4’x 4’x 8’ deep holes for the latrines and were justly proud of their efforts. We interacted through interpreters, divided into teams and started working at individual sites adjacent to the homes. We were also privileged to distribute Spanish Bibles.

Most rewarding was seeing an entire family (sometimes as many as twelve) gathered at the completed latrine to have a blessing by a local pastor. God is good – seeing His hand at work with willing participants to provide dignity and sanitation to these precious people – what an important step toward a healthier life.

Our days began with George leading a devotional. In anticipation of the installation of a water treatment system, he reminded the team of the innumerable scripture references to water. Some read were Isaiah 55:1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters..” and Mark 9:41 “…Anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name welcomes me…”. Beginning our day as such kept us focused on our ultimate “living water” mission.

At mid-week we loaded trucks and trailers with required water treatment equipment. En route we visited several communities which had working systems. The water systems are designed to last 20+ years and are relatively simple to maintain. Available water comes from contaminated rivers, creeks and shallow wells. As such, drinking this local untreated water, results in parasitic diseases, eye problems, and other public health issues.

WMI involves the local community, therefore, the people are invested and committed to the program. A small fee (if possible) is charged for the 5-gallon container the people bring to fill and return home with safe drinking water.

We asked Molly, “Don’t the people really adapt to local water conditions, however, imperfect?” She replied, “Actually, they don’t ever live healthy lives – this potable water makes a transforming difference for them.”

The assembling of the water treatment system for the community of 3,000 went smoothly with Hector, the Honduran engineer and Country Director, and George guiding the work plus many children and adults observing the muti-hour process.

We also had a few surprises. At one point, water under high pressure caused a hose to come loose and John had a sudden cooling down as he was “baptized”. We all thought it was hilarious! Team members, Brad and Anne Munday had contributed the water system we installed. Brad surprised his wife, Anne, by naming it in honor of her father who had died a year previously. What a great joy to have celebrated on site with them.

The high-light of the day was hearing remarks by the local community leader who said “We appreciate so much the work you North Americans are doing for us so our children will not be in the hospital so much and our adults will be healthy now.” This was followed by the pastors’ dedication of the system with the community present holding hands and praying together.

To celebrate this major event, Hector had arranged to share the “Jesus” film on a large out-door screen in a nearby open field. Everyone watched while cows were herded home through the street. Again, a local pastor introduced the film in Spanish and the people were receptive to the presentation.

Great news -- Since returning, we have learned a number of outreach programs have been initiated. Hector wrote that his church plans a door-to-door Gospel Outreach and evening movie presentation in the mountain village of Betania, as well as a medical outreach program.

As we reflect on our experiences in Honduras, we think of the beautiful children, warm adults, and welcome extended to us. The needs are so great one can feel overwhelmed. We realize, however, it’s not about us – it is all about responding to His call and taking one step at a time. These needs are not too great for God!

This is an opportunity for all whether volunteering with WMI and/or supporting them with your gifts and prayers – we would welcome your questions (557-0967). John and I so appreciate and thank you for your prayers for us, the team, the work and Honduran people. Again, the Honduran community was very touched by your prayers for them.

~ John and Ellen Hollingsworth

The Saints Alive Christmas Market
The planning for the Saints Alive Christmas Market is in full swing! All types of items are being sought. Members of St. Michael’s will be calling parishioners for donations for food items to sell and to increase awareness of this event. Please sign up to help.

We are going to have casseroles, cakes, brownies, jams, jellies, pickles, soups and, especially, your special contribution. Questions about food items call Beverly Howell at 724-3425.

We are also looking for gifts from your “gift drawers & closets.” Perhaps a new item that you have purchased and put aside for those “Oh no!” times when you need something for a friend, or, a birthday that is today and you’re having a senior or junior minute! Please call Linda Soutter at 559-8737 and she will coordinate pickup or delivery.

Items already contributed for you are: Christmas bows for wreaths and trees, wreaths made of herbs and succulents, ribbon headbands, hand painted bird houses and swings, hand painted children’s chairs and stools, necklaces, note cards, calendars, pocketbooks and totes, aprons and name other handmade items. These are one of a kind items made for you by members and friends of St. Michael’s.

The artists of St. Michael’s are participating in this event with donations of their work. Karen Larsen Turner, Chris Snedeker, Amelia Rose Smith (Bryan), John Dunnan, Sally Smith, Audra Gibson, Janice Waring, Ella Walton Richardson(photography), Susannah Hubbell, and Kit Coker to name those signed up so far. Kit Coker (849-7557) is in charge of this portion of the Market. Contact Linda Soutter 559-8737
~ Eunice Logan


Visit the Ukraine Page for the latest

Ukraine Reports on November 2nd at the 9:20 am hour.


Keep The Wheels On Meals On Wheels!
“For want of a nail, a shoe was lost!” For want of a wheel, a meal was lost! For want of a coordinator, a program was lost! My metaphors are spinning out of control! The Meals on Wheels project is in need of a new coordinator. Now, with all due respects to those who have so valiantly performed this task in the past, it does not take a rocket scientist to make this program work!
Every other week (we share the delivery program with another church) St. Michael’s volunteers carry meals to the homes of about 15 individuals who are incapable of cooking for themselves. Roper Hospital prepares the meals. The whole process takes about two hours between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm. As the coordinator, you would (1) add to the volunteer corps as needed, (2) plan the delivery route to efficiently use time and petroleum, and (3) provide a solution when one of the regular volunteers calls in sick. (Of course, this is a rash oversimplification, but I’m on a roll and I’m selling!)
The bottom line, my dear friend, is this: You need this ministry, you need this involvement. You need it more than the people that receive the meals! It will fill your soul! Go ahead…pick up the telephone and give me a call. ~ Ken Coker 724-7590

For more information on Meals on Wheels ...

Rural Mission Oyster Roast
Nov. 16, 2008 from 3 - 6 pm
Bowens Island Restaurant

To benefit the outreach ministry of the Rural Mission, Inc. Join the friends of Rural Mission for roasted oysters, fun, food, drinks, music and the best sunset view anywhere! Directions: Bowens Island Restaurant on Bowen Island between James Island and Folly Beach on Folly Road. Tickets: $20 in advance or $25 at the door. Call the Mission at 768-1720.
Can also be purchased through Etix.com through
www.ruralmission.org. By mail: Rural Mission, Inc.
P.O. Box 235, Johns Island, S.C. 29457

For more information on Rural Mission




 

 

.