We support 3 Missionaries Paul Webster, Ash and Stephanie Norton. Our Missionaries are great at keeping us up to date on their work! Here’s a little bit about the work they’re doing:
Ash and Stephanie are mission interns with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church, serving initially with Haitian Artisans for Peace International (HAPI) in Mizak, a mountainous section of La Vallee in southeast Haiti, west of the city of Jacmel. Ash and Stephanie are both natives of Kalamazoo, and are members of Westwood UMC. Mission interns serve half of their three-year terms in international assignments and half in their home countries.
Paul Webster works at the Mujila Falls Agriculture Centre in Kanyama, Zambia. Paul’s work as a rural economic development specialist serves the needs of poor, rural peoples in both Zambia and the Dominican Republic of Congo. He works to promote programs in education, health, sustainable and appropriate agriculture, community development, evangelism, and church construction thereby addressing community, social, economic and health problems holistically, thus empowering participants.
Here are the latest updates!
Hi friends,
This past week HAPI had a visiting mission team help out for 7 days. The team was from Graham, TX and brought 17 people with them. They organized themselves into two groups, one went to the clinic, and the other worked on construction projects. The medical team included: four nurses, two nurses performing home visits (on a motorcycle), one dentist, one doctor, a pharmacist, and a dental hygenist. The construction team performed some home repairs, painting jobs, and excavation at the Merlet Center. It was wonderful having people come to visit HAPI. We had so much fun and did a lot of good in the community. The clinic saw hundreds of patients from all over the community. The dentist reported that she pulled about 140 teeth and we took turns giving her hand massages each evening. The construction crew repaired a home that had been damaged in the earth quake two years ago. One woman taught the artisans at the co-op an embroidery technique that puts the design on a bar of soap.
Ash and I received a care package from home and are so happy to have some comfort foods. Monique (office administrator/secretary) and I have been making reports in Creole, French, and English so that everyone participating in the Merlet Center is able to easily understand what is going on. Things are going very smoothly and we are ahead of schedule on the project. I met with the directors of an orphanage last week and put together six water filters for them. Ash has been navigating the world of international shipping and customs. We are trying to find out the cheapest and most efficient way to export HAPI products.
On Christmas Ash and I plucked chickens for our family’s lunch, a new experience for us both. Later in the day we visited friends and their families in Mizak and Ridore. Christmas here is very relaxed, and feels a lot like Memorial Day in the USA. On New Years Day we went to the beach in Jacmel with the mission team and played in the water.
Thank you again for your correspondence, prayers, and support.
Blessings,
Stephanie Norton
Dear Faithful Supporting Congregations:
It is with sincere thanks that I acknowledge your generous gift to my salary support through the Advance Special of the General Board of Global Ministries.
I returned to Zambia and the project in mid-October. Since then we have purchased a tractor, disc harrow, plow, and corn planter. The logistics of getting the equipment to Mujila Falls was daunting, but God was favoring us all of the way. Since then we have planted over half of our project fields and continue to work between the numerous rain showers to get everything planted.
We also hosted our first VIM Vounteer of this three year cycle. Al Roesler came out to Zambia with the sole goal of “planting corn in Africa”. Despite the challenges and several setbacks, we were in fact able to fulfill his dream. His spirit and knowledge were greatly appreciated here at Mujila Falls. He was also able to take some side time to repair the swings and see-saw at the Mama Roxanne Day care, and vaccinate our sheep, goats, and cattle.
It was a great five and a half months as Andre and I toured much of the Eastern and Upper Midwestern U.S. speaking at current and perhaps future supporting churches. We hope during that time you were able to schedule us into your Congregation. Andre’s song and dance routine was greatly appreciated where-ever we went. The dozens of homes we stayed in were greatly appreciated and the extra side trips to farms, factories, zoos, museums, parks and other Americana were all greatly appreciated. I think Andre has seen more of America than most Americans ever get to see. He was well treated where-ever he went and had no bad experiences.
For Andre the abundance and variety of food available in the U.S. was astounding. He was very adventuresome at this restaurant in Maryland to try a variety on seafoods that are not normally eaten by Lunda People.
He also enjoyed the “Church Basement” food we normally were offered at most presentations.
God has promised us that we can “ live abundantly” and He has given the resources of land, water and sunshine regardless of nationality.
Your continued support of my salary and our Mujila Falls Agriculture Project is making food more abundant here in Zambia as well as neighboring countries.
May God Richly return the blessings you have bestowed upon me and our Mujila Falls Project, To directly support the work, please consider giving to Advance Special #15026A.
Rev. Paul L. Webster