Father & Son to serve in Central Africa

Tim & Nathan Harley are leaving for Africa. This is routine for Tim. But this will be Nathan's first time to go to the Central African Republic. They will serve in Bangui with Integrated Community Development International (ICDI). Please pray for safety in travels, stamina in serving, and opportunities to encourage the ICDI staff, the Central African children and adults, and one another. The Harley crew will be in country from July 3-20.

Amazon Adventure begins tomorrow

Amazon Adventure Team, July 4-18, 2012

As people in the United States of America celebrate July 4, a team of seven will depart to serve Jesus on the Amazon River in Northern Brasil. The team will conduct evangelistic events with churches along the Amazon River from July 4-18, 2012.

Pastor Ivanildo Trindade will return home to lead the team. Pastor Bob Doerr (RAD) will also co-leaad this team. Everyone on the team intends to develop into a more fully devoted follower of Christ on this trip. Poised to help in any way they can, the team will work alongside churches to do outreach starting in Belem, Brasil.

Please pray for the team:

• Ask God to give them strength as they travel many miles and hours from the USA to Northern Brasil.
• Pray for team unity, spiritual alertness, and godly character so that God is glorified in their interpersonal interactions.
• Ask the Lord to empower each team member to grow in depending on God for their stamina and safety.
• Pray for the outreach events to bring people to Christ.

You can read more updates here as well as on Pastor Ivanildo's blog www.ivanildotrindade.com/

Mobilizing Students to Reach Out with God's Love

We are mobilizing our church to reach out this summer. The High School Ministries has "No Regrets" as its theme.

You can follow the three trips they are taking this summer on their short term missions blog--www.smtrips.com/ The teams will depart for their destinations in June and July. A helpful overview can be found at this blogpost.

Dates & Destinations:

• June 18-24 Hagerstown, MD
• June 31-July 7 Philadelphia, PA
• July 8-16 New York, NY

Equipping Central Africans to take over [Guest post--Tim Harley]

Equipping men to mix cement

Tuesday, October 18 in the CAR

Today was another day at work.  We continued work on setting posts for the barn, the African staff mixed cement by hand on the ground.  One of our goals is to teach the Africans so it was exciting to see them catching on to how to use the transit and set the posts and make them perfectly level.  We just stepped back and let them do it.  It is also great to see our guys bridging the language barrier teaching them with hand signals and also laughing at each other.  We look forward to working with them tomorrow.  Rick and Bruce continued working making adjustments on the tractor and getting the equipment ready to go to the fields.  We did a little sight seeing at the end of the day and enjoyed sodas sitting down by the river.

More tomorrow.

Tim

[PHOTOS] Family missions trip to DR

Some pics of our journey so far to the Dominican Republic (DR).

Old part of airport as you enter

Paperwork to enter the country

Roads in Punta Cana

Bus ride to church

10:30pm Post service farewells

Melissa thanks Robinson our translator

Our worship is LOUD!

Last night we experienced church Caribbean-style!

The experience began before the bus ride. We had to go to a bus stop on a street-corner after the sun went down. The walk went down streets lit with an occasional street lamp glowing amber in the dark night. We passed and greeted Dominicans out after a long's day work. We guessed we walked about .75 miles to the church bus stop.

I tried to take a video of us waiting but the camera did not have enough light. So I waited for a passing van to shoot some grainy footage. I'll try to upload a short clip or two if I have time and have extra time with the internet access being so slow.

Anyways, we graciously declined rides from other buses, vans, and taxis. Then the bus arrived. What a relief! Standing on a darkened street corner where the street light is not working with your family in a foreign country takes faith or naivete. I had both. Yet my brother-in-law Jeff has been here many times. We praise God for his leadership on this trip. So we stepped into the school bus for our 30 minute trip to the church and school campus.

We arrived late; culturally acceptable here. And the pastor's wife greeted us with a hug and a kiss. We met a couple from Warsaw, IN, the Wildman's. I met Rod on January 1 at the polar bear plunge in Winona Lake, IN.  Others greeted us with a hug and kiss too. We felt tremendous warmth and love.

Upon arrival the church meeting and the kids meeting competed for who was going to be louder. I'm serious! The volume for each sound system seemed to be red-lining. My girls followed their cousins and aunt Stephanie into the raucous children's church. Scripture set to merengue music and dancing overwhelmed them as they entered. What a cultural experience!

We entered the church service amid a full merengue worship band fanfare. Praise choruses on Spanish Powerpoint directed our praise to God. Hands raised, eyes closed, and dignified dancing surrounded us. Praise here in the DR is embodied with total and complete engagement. You must worship with your whole mind, soul, body, and strength. I joined in  as "wild" as a Grace Brethren could. :)

I have much more to write but I'll end here and try to upload some pictures tomorrow. We got back very late. As one church attender put it, "Our worship is loud!" It sure was. My ears are still ringing this morning. Thanks for praying. We get to visit the school tomorrow.

First Day in DR--God is working

Arrived with God already working ahead of us.

My bro-in-law Jeff informed us that we were also taking seven desktop computers to the Christian School in Bavaro where Dominican Pastor Pasquel needed them for their Christian School.  We did not know how we were going to get them to the school once we landed.

The Lord provided a way!

Our desire on this missions trip as a family centers on three core values:

1. Glorify God
2. Love the people from the culture
3. Love one another

We want to glorify God now.  We packed light, checking in only five bags which allowed us to add the seven computers. Our God is great!  Then we arrived at the airport in Punta Cana hoping to connect with the courier who would transport the computers to the school while we went another way to go to our accommodations.

We don't speak Spanish. So this complicated things. Yet God is awesome!

While getting ready to locate the computers in baggage claim, Jeff met the expediter, Renardo. As Jeff was signing for the computers and showing his identification. Jeff told Renardo why we brought the computers and who we brought them for. Renardo hooted and smiled even bigger. He knows Pastor Pasquel. In fact, Renardo is also a pastor working as a Continental expediter.  How great is our God!

So Renardo helped us through customs navigating the red tape and contacting our courier. We got through as quickly as you can in a Caribbean culture. (\[Side note: in the airport there was not one visible clock. Culture shock for my kids who wanted to know what time it was. :)] All praise to God who reigns on high. He is at work and we praise Him.

I reflect on this somber day that people here did not stop in silence. 9-11 only affects we US Citizens. Regardless, we stopped in silence to remember. Even though another part of the world goes on with life without remember those heroes ten years ago. May God be glorified in our services today. We will post pictures as we can. Internet is limited here. But I will seek to post as soon as I can. I walked over to a hotel lobby to access the internet.  God bless! Daron for the Buriff-Butler tribe

Contrast of darkness & Light in Cambodia

Internet wasn't working last night, so tonight I am writing for two days.  Yesterday we visited Angkor Wat which is a large complex of ancient temples and cities.  This helped us to understand a little more about the religion of many people here.  I am including a picture that sums up our thoughts on this day.  Here you see a tree's roots clutching the temple rocks. These are everywhere.  It reminds me of how the Evil one takes people into his clutches, destroying lives, and not letting go.  This is what I saw with people bowing down before stone statues.  Satan has them in his clutches for sure. We even saw an elderly couple with a flashlight searching in a dark part of the temple looking for a water well that supposedly contains holy water that will heal them.  They dipped a bucket into the dark well and pulled out the water placing their hope in that. Very sad.

 

Today was a much brighter day!  The day we have been waiting for.  The day we get to go to Grace Place and see the kids.  Vannak surprised us when we arrived at the hotel with about 25 of the kids there to greet us.  That was so awesome to have them there hugging us already.  After spending some time with them, they returned for lunch and we checked into our hotel.

 

After lunch, we met Pheakdey and headed out to visit some children that GROW is looking to bring into a new GROW home in Cambodia.  We had to walk quite a way due to the rain making the roads bad then down a bike path to meet the three children.  They are living with their aunt and uncle and their two kids on $3 a day.  The children do not have enough to eat and are in desperate need of being cared for.

 

We then traveled to Grace Place. Wow what fun we had.  Nathan played guitar while Zac drummed out a beat on the chair and Val sang, we played snakes and ladders which we brought (a big hit), we ate dinner with them, and danced.  Zac spent about an hour with Nga imitating everything she said in Khmer.  Most of the kids gathered around and laughed at the scene. It then went to mimicking motions and soon broke out into dance. Volleyball, soccer and lots and lots of hugs rounds out the list of things we did with the kids.  We were exhausted when we left tonight.

 

Hope all is going well at home.  We miss everyone, but couldn't't be happier than to be at Grace Place.

 

Mealtime at Grace Place Battambang

 

Sharing with our kids at Grace Place Battambang

 

 

Our Kids!

 

 

Zac trying to repeat Khmer words to everyone's laughter

 

Surprised by Vannak & kids at TEO Hotel

 

Orphan Children to Rescue

 

 

Road to Village

 

Angkor Wat

 

Harley's visit the Killing Fields & the Homes of Love in Cambodia

It was important for today that I arranged for us to visit Tuol Slang and the Killing Fields to get a better understanding of what people here have experienced and what lurks in their memories.  For those of you not born yet in the mid-70's or for those who really didn't learn what had actually happened here, I will only briefly share now. Basically the Khmer Rouge, a group of Cambodian people aligning themselves with the Communists, attacked their own people killing 2 million of them in the worst possible ways.  The educated, the professional, the wealthy, the leaders, and their families brutally murdered.  The vision of the Khmer Rouge was to reduce Cambodia to a non-thinking group of slaves who did whatever the Regime told them to do.  They set out to destroy Cambodia financially, socially, spiritually and physically.  They wanted to destroy the culture and make pure, innocent, loving people into killers.  Just about everyone you meet here has been directly effected by this event.  Some lost their parents, some fled the country, some were taken into the military where they were taught to steal and kill.  It was a great tragedy and still has its ugly evil fingers trying to grip the people of Cambodia.

After an emotionally heavy morning, we decided a visit to the Asia's Hope Christian School would be a great way to end the day and lift our spirits.  We played with the children during their recess. Tim and Zac played vollyball using the tree branch as a net and a soccer ball. Then we visited the classrooms, Nathan, guitar in hand, and played some songs they knew in English ,and they sang some we knew.  It was a great time of fellowship. [Please note that Pastor Daron will post pictures later]

Tomorrow we head up north to Siem Reap. Thank you so much for your prayers. Keep them flowing please! So please leave a comment of encouragement.

Short Term Missions Trip to Alabama

NEWS

Tornado Southern US Relief: Informational Meeting to send a team to Alabama to help in the relief efforts. Please join Pastor Daron @ Wooster Grace 4599 Burbank Rd Wooster, OH.  We will gather in Room 425 on Sun May 29 at 12:15pm. More information to be added later.  Pass the Word!

Today in the CAR [guest post by Rick Ratzel]

PK22 land provided by CAR government

From facebook today (Thu Apr 7) "Today in the CAR..We walked around the new ICDI ag center land today checking out the 360 acres there.

(We) came back after lunch and started working on clearing land till the skidsteer shut down..Worked on it till it was time to leave,so yes I got dirty already.

Thankful for my leatherman cause tools are scarse..Should sleep good,it was hot today..Again,thanks for all your prayers,we sure appreciate them."

Please leave a comment for the team so that they can gain encouragement from your visit at the blog. 

Thanks to Pastor Tom Peters for the pictures of PK-22 from FB.  Pictured below are the tools Rick used for the day. These are the kind of things the team is working with in Bangui, CAR.  Please pray for their great health, physical stamina and rest, and godly relationships.

Skidsteer

 

 

 

 

Leatherman

 

Sharing thoughts from tomorrow

It is Thu Aug 25 at 10am in Battambang, CAMBODIA.  I have not been able to get a decent internet connection. The TE.O Hotel has poor connectivity. Our team has also been busy with many projects and learning of Cambodian names.  Regardless, I will share several posts from my written journal from the time that I have been here; snippets really.

I will also try to upload a couple videos if I have time. Uploading videos is time-consuming.