Our summer teams have returned but we actually have four trips scheduled for this Autumn. Our Costa Rica Women’s team is full for Sept. 25. We are also having our first ever trip to Macedonia on Sept. 20. In November we are going all the way to India for the very first time. Just three years ago, we made our first trip to Africa and now we are moving into Asia!
Our first trip to Bolivia on Sept. 4 is in need of more team members! This is a very unique trip that requires backpacking and camping high in the Andes. If you are an adult male with an adventurous spirit and in good physical shape, we could use you! We have never done a men only trip before but this is truly unique! The SIFAT organization has been working with the village of Quesimpuco, that is isolated by a rushing river. The only way the children of this village have of getting to their SIFAT sponsored school is to cross this river by gondola. This is very dangerous so our mission is to build a footbridge for the villagers to get across the river safely. Please join David Dollinger, leader, and two of our pastors on this one of a kind mission trip from September 4-13.
MBUMC has a long history of providing timely help when disaster strikes! Over a decade ago, south Georgia had a streak of tornados and floods. Mt. Bethel bused teams to Albany among other places, to clean debris and chainsaw fallen trees. Some of our members, including a Youth Team, went to the Florida panhandle after Ivan to help down there. Our members sent a truckload of gifts to Pennsacola the following Christmas.
We all remember the response to Katrina, sending truckloads of bottled water and other donations to Gulfport, MS and sending numerous teams, twice weekly for the first few months. We are still helping to rebuild on the Mississippi coast.
Our latest efforts are in flood ravaged Iowa. We donated 200 flood buckets that we have been storing and are now planning on collecting 400 more. You can help by writing a check for $50 or by shopping for the supplies yourself. Go to www.umcor.org to find the list or stop by the “bucket table” outside the Sanctuary or CAC on Sunday morning.
We have already sent Paul King to Iowa to “scout” for us and are sending our first team to Iowa on August 24 to 29. If you want to go, please pay $225 by August 3 so we can purchase the tickets. Contact the Mission Office at 678-560-7527 if you are interested in joining a team.
What a better way to have fun and fellowship than dancing, singing, and acting in this year’s Music Week Production of Disney’s Aristocats, Kids? This year children from 1st to 6th grade will rotate through drama classes, dance classes, bell and chimes classes, music classes, and the children’s favorite class, lunch. These kids will have many opportunities to have fun with their friends while learning music and acting skills through fellowship shared with our talented Music Ministry Staff. Be sure to check out the final product this Friday, the 25th at 7:00pm. Meow!
Learn more about the ministry of Camp Hope and what happened last week as well over 200 volunteers and 150 children came together to play, worship, and learn. Rev. Jody Ray and Encounter worship leader Nic Slade came out to camp to talk to the Camp’s founder and President, Rev. Diane Parrish, on how the camp began and its impactful ministry to children of men and women who are serving time in the Georgia State Prison system. While there, they also interviewed a camper who has grown up in the ministries of Camp Hope since its inception in 1999. This camper is now a counselor. You need to hear what all they have to say!
It is safe to say that Camo night was a huge success. I was a little bit scared when the rains hit on Sunday but little did I know God had a bigger plan. The rain stopped just in time for Camo night to happen. At 8:00 students (45+ of them) started showing up with their friends and headed down to the pavilion by the field. It was funny that every time you turned around you saw another design of face paint on each student. The most popular one was the black stripe under each eye. Anyway after a prayer and some quick rules we divided into teams according to birthdays. We divided up into a red team and blue team. The first game we played was Capture the flag. I had the opportunity to sit out and be in charge of the mega phone to start and end the game. It’s sad to say but we had to call the game a tie. As the students were coming in I told three of our Adult volunteers to go and hide in the darkness, when all the students gathered they were given ten minutes to find the three volunteers and they got to use flashlights! Needless to say the students won this one and within the 10 minutes the three adults had been found. Then we played more games of Capture the flag. What made the night fun is you really had no clue who was who because of the face paint and it being dark outside. Also because of the rain the fields were soaked and people would be sneaking around then step in a big puddle and scream because they just got wet thus giving away their location. After the last game of the night (which the red team won) we gathered for a prayer and thanked all people that were involved in making the night happen. It was really funny to then talk with students not only covered in face paint but covered in mud and hearing how they happened to get mud on them. The last fun thing that happened that night was seeing the faces on the parents when they had to let their student get into the car and to overhear the topic of getting hosed off before you walk in the house tonight. I have told multiple people that Camo night this year was one of the best times I have ever had at Mt. Bethel. I miss it and can’t wait till the next time we do it.
(written by Erica Rountree, about her experience on our recent mission trip to Costa Rica)
Today was our last work day at the Mount of Olives Church in Barrio Mexico. As we were planning our day last night, I will admit to a trace of skepticism. Our list of tasks included: Installing two more drop ceilings in the parsonage, painting the entire sanctuary of the church, presiding over up to 130 kids at VBS and hosting a Fiesta slash American style cookout for the entire neighborhood. With no gas grill. OK, lets be honest here…I was pretty sure there was no way it was all going to happen. But it did! And Im not even all that tired. Pure adrenaline, peeps. I recommend it.
The neighborhood fiesta was awesome. It was only mentioned yesterday and today at VBS, and once on the VBS invitations we handed out at the school every afternoon…but we had about 250 people come through the church tonight! An amazing number that I think Pastor was very happy with…the majority was most likely made up of unchurched people from the surrounding area. Hopefully they got a taste of the joy and exuberance for the Lord that lives at the Mount of Olives church, and they will want to come again to get sommadat!
The children have really warmed up to us over the past four days, and tonight they were flat out adorable, showering us with kisses and hugs and holding our hands. As a mama dearly missing her own kids right now, it couldnt have been more wonderful for me to hold these children and shower them with compliments and love. Pastors wife made four huge, beautiful iced cakes for the party (in her tiny kitchen with two stoves and zero countertops…Im going to post some pictures of it when I get back…you cannot believe how cramped and pieced together this thing is, but the food that emerged from there daily was far superior to any restaurant food Ive eaten this week…and weve had some great meals!). When the cakes came in, the whole crowd applauded and the kids faces literally lit up! Pastor had the team come up on stage and thanked us for our work, showed the crowd the cross we and the children made for the church and then he announced una sopreza…or a surprise! And at that moment, through the church doors walked a complete Mariachi band! The crowd went wild, to borrow a phrase, and the band sang and played for us…it was unbelievable. Afterward, all the kids started asking us to sign bits of paper or paper plates or even their shirts and arms. All of a sudden, we were feeling like rock stars for God!
As the party began to break up, everyone came over to us to say Adios, Mucho Gusto, Gracias and I Love You. The church ladies, which is what I called them in my mind all week, hugged our necks tightly and wished us blessings and safe travels. My special friend tonight, 5 year old Paola, came over to hug me and kiss my cheek and put a piece of her own candy in my hand. I showed her very pregnant mama (she is due in one week, and was at bible school with her two kids every day!) a picture of my two girls and a few minutes later Paola brought me a picture of herself with her cousins and aunt. In the picture, she is holding a baby doll and laughing. I looked at it and handed it back to her, but her mama said something like… Paola dice para usted, which means Paola wants you to have it. I choked back my tears and leaned down to tell her…Tu familia es muy linde…I hope she understood my broken Spanish.
As we drove away from the church for the last time, with the neighbors waving and following the bus down the street, the feelings were naturally mixed. A contented happiness that we were able to accomplish many things for them, mixed with a heavy sadness that we would not be seeing their beautiful faces again. At least for a while…
Hey Guys! This is Student Ministries and we just wanted to update you all regarding the trip that Mt. Bethel just participated in down in Panama City Beach, Florida called Big Stuf! All eighty of us crammed into one floor of a beautiful beach front hotel. The camp consisted of around 1,500 students from all around the nation from Texas to Indiana. The main theme of the camp was BROADCAST, meaning that everyone’s life broadcasts something, usually what we care about most. They challenged us, leaders and students alike, to question what messages we were sending out into the world and how we could better represent the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in our everyday lives. Big Stuf also partnered with an organization located in Kenya called Compassion which seeks to use our bountiful resources to aid children from Kenya to give them a hope and a future. To better understand what type of experience we had we would like to tell you more about what we learned from Big Stuf and BROADCAST and the Compassion organization.
The camp itself consisted of two daily sessions which included two talks from either Clay Scroggins or Jared Herd, phenomenal speakers, and an incredible worship band! Like we touched on the BROADCAST theme, each session focused on a sub-theme such as Live Loud, Live Clear, or Live True. We feel that the material focused on and the BROADCAST theme was incredibly relevant to all 1,500 of the students, middle school to college, which elected to say “yes” to Jesus and give Him a week of their lives. All together we believe that the kids walked away with a great message and a challenge to live out the message of Jesus Christ and broadcast His love to the world. One of the coolest things that we saw coming from this camp was the fellowship and general love for each other among our students. This was greatly developed through the sessions but mainly flowed from the small group times where the kids were able to be real with each other and get into each other’s lives. We believe that this week fully prepared each of the 1,500 students to now make an effective decision to follow Christ and broadcast His message to the world.
Earlier in the letter we mentioned Big Stuf’s partner organization, Compassion, located in Kenya. The kids were each given an opportunity to sponsor a child in Kenya for 32 dollars a month. This money provides food, education, and medication to allow these children a hope for the future. We believe that whether or not the kids decided to sponsor a child it truly made them question the stewardship of the material that they have been blessed with by God and to open their eyes and make them aware of the poverty throughout the world.
In closing, we as the Student Ministries team would like to thank you for giving your child the opportunity to experience the Big Stuf camp in Panama City Beach. We hope that your child will tell you all about their experience and share with you what they learned. We greatly enjoyed the fellowship that was ignited among us through the sessions, amazing praise and worship, and small group talk. We hope that you will encourage them in their jog with Jesus and encourage them to continue to stay involved with us in student ministries. Let us know if there is anything that we can do for you or your children and we will hopefully see you soon!
This Sunday, I will begin a 3-week series on “What’s all the Fuss About a Jewish Carpenter?” The first in the series is titled “Did Jesus rise from death?” (John 11:25-26). Each week, I’ll provide thought-provoking questions and statements printed in the bulletin. These questions will be available online as well in PDF form for group discussion. Please join me as we explore what the “fuss” is all about…
Just like we did for the recent 
