The children spent most of two days here and on Sunday were treated to Jan and Kathy’s delicious food! As usual, the maintenance department was extemely helpful. It was easy to see the outpouring of love from the staff and members for these Kenyan children. Gaylyn and the youth department shared their spaces and volunteered their services as ushers for the Love offering and did a fabulous job. Of course, our eight host families were wonderful!

MBUMC was very generous in their offering and will be a huge blessing to these children for years to come.

Sherry

Post from: Mt. Bethel UMC

Thank you for your help!

However, the ministry of the Methodist church that we supported was truly inspiring.  Monday through Friday a hearty band of 3 men and a woman prepare and cook meals for more than 100 people, deliver them to their homes, and then clean out the returned containers.  (There are 2 sets of containers for each person that allows for one container to be left and replaced the next day with the second container.)  These people really hustle in the true sense of the word.  We would go along on the route as they delivered the meals and they were gracious enough to let us meet some of the people.  I say gracious because their delivery was like a paper route and the faster you make the deliveries the sooner you are done with the task.  There is a certain momentum that develops in making the deliveries and allowing us to deliver all the meals would have delayed the meals for these people.  This wonderful mission made me think about the early days of the Christian Church when we were known for our acts of kindness for the sick and dying.  These missionaries have a special place in heaven.

We also had a couple programs for children led by Nancy Naidu who was awesome.  She didn’t speak Macedonian and they didn’t speak English.  It didn’t matter; she jumped right in and had them singing and working projects in no time.  The second meeting we made S’Mores which were a big hit.  The children had never seen marshmallows before.  Their reaction when the marshmallows caught fire was worth the trip alone.  City kids.  They are the same everywhere.

We finished up the trip by visiting Philippi and Thessaloniki.  Imagine being able to retrace literally the steps of Paul on the Via Egnatia in Philippi.  You get a real sense of what Paul was going through while he was imprisoned there.  As I was walking in the Palaestra near the Agora, I could almost hear the shouts of the vendors selling their wares and the sounds of hoofs and chariots along the cobble stones of the Via Egnatia.

As is my experience on mission trips, I go to help and instead I am the one who receives the help.  The Christian message is evangelized in a special way in Macedonia by some very committed Christians.  Our partnership with them is another special part of the Mt Bethel Community.

Post from: Mt. Bethel UMC

Macedonia Mission Trip

Saturday morning, October 4th, marked the running of our 15th annual Mt. Bethel Habitat Framing the Future Road Race.  The race proceeds from sponsors and participating runners will help to build Mt. Bethel’s 25th silver anniversary Habitat home for a working mother of two young boys.

A total of 505 participants entered the 5k road race, 1-mile fun run or tot trot braving the elements of incredibly beautiful weather and invigorating temperatures under a heavenly-painted blue sky.  21 phantoms registered their support for the cause along with over 40 volunteers.  31 vendors from the East Cobb local community provided food tasting, coupons, and giveaways while another 28 showed their support with door prizes.

The $46,000 raised does fall short of our need, $55,000.  You can still show your support by purchasing leftover t-shirts at the Chapter & Verse Bookstore.

1 shirt for $20 —– 2 shirts for $30 —– 3 or more for $12 each.

Proceeds support Mt. Bethel’s 25th Habitat home.

You can view the results of the race here (PDF), or check out a whole bunch of photos from the event.

In addition, you can view even more photos at TrueSpeedPhoto.com, and can even find your photo using your bib number.

Post from: Mt. Bethel UMC

What a great day for a race!

After landing in LaPaz at about 13,000 ft altitude and riding a bus for 12 hours, they had to pack down about 4,000 feet in altitude to the worksite and then pack back out again at the end. In between they moved 1500 lb. cables from one side of the river to the other. SIFAT will send future teams to finish the bridge.

SIFAT did a great job of getting them home when their flights were suddenly canceled and by the Grace of God, no problems but extreme fatigue! Their families are greatly relieved, since they were supposed to be back on Saturday!

Post from: Mt. Bethel UMC

Bolivia Team safely returns at last!

Dear Family and Friends of the Bolivia Mission Team,

The mission trip has been a great success. We all can´t wait to get back and tell you all the wonderful things that have happened. Unfortunately due to very recent political issues the US Ambassador has been asked to leave the country. As a standard precaution, American Airlines has suspended all incoming and outgoing Bolivian flights. The unrest is currently isolated in a distant part of the country, and both the mission team and SIFAT feel that we are safe with no need for worry; however, this has caused us to make alternate arrangements to return home. Together with SIFAT, the following itinerary has been scheduled:

• Depart La Paz via Lan Chile Flight 965 to Santiago on 9/14/09
• Depart Santiago for Miami on American Airlines Flt 912 on 9/14/08
• Arrive Miami at 5:10am on 9/15/08 
• Depart Miami Flight 1664 at 8:15am  arrive Atlanta 10:20am on 9/15/08

We are all looking forward to coming home and seeing our loved ones. Right now we are headed out the door to go eat lama kabobs!

In Christ´s Love,
Carey Akin

Post from: Mt. Bethel UMC

Update from our Bolivia mission team

This month, Nic and I talked with Carey Akin, Mt. Bethel’s missions pastor, about our strategic partnership with the 410 Bridge and our work in Kwambekenya.  We also had several special guests in the studio: Ashley Fryar, formerly Mt. Bethel’s Missions Director now with 410 Bridge, and fellow co-worker, Jack Odhiambo, formerly a resident of Kwambekenya.  We also had Justin Brasuell in the studio, who is co-founder of BrightPoint for Children and a Mt. Bethel member.  BrightPoint has an incredible mission to provide for the children of Kwambekenya.  I hope you’ll tune in to here their exciting stories.

I promise you will be blessed to hear about what God is doing in the lives of the people of Kwambekenya and the people of the Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church!

You can download the Pocast here.  Thanks for listening, and we’d love to hear your feedback.

Jody Ray

For more information about these awesome ministries, check out the following websites: 

The 410 Bridge at www.410bridge.com
Jack Odhiambo at www.heyjackradio.com
BrightPoint for Children at www.brightpointforchildren.org

Post from: Mt. Bethel UMC

What’s Happening Now? Mt. Bethel Missions and 410 Bridge

Post from: Mt. Bethel UMC

Iowa Mission Team

Post from: Mt. Bethel UMC

Bolivia mission team is on their way!

Once a month, Ed and Mary Ettel host what they call packing parties. You’re never sure who you will see at each session. They may be friends, neighbors, Sunday school classes or complete strangers. But you won’t remain strangers for long. Mary will see to that while serving her famous breakfast buffet; diets are suspended temporarily.

But we don’t gather here to only eat, much as we may like. There is work to be done, important work. As you see after breakfast, Ed and Mary have converted their basement into a warehouse to better serve their mission, the AnySoldier.com project.

AnySoldier.com allows members of the armed forces to go online and request items that they cannot obtain or obtain in enough quantities while they are deployed. People, such as Ed and Mary, review the posted needs and select names for the anticipated number at that week’s party.

A typical box may contain toiletries, snacks, magazines, DVD’s, snacks, and items to give to children. All shipments include cards and letters of encouragement.  Also included is a photo of everyone involved in that day’s packing session. The products are either bought by the Ettels or donated.

The last packing was the largest they have had to date. 43 people squeezed into the basement with 800+ pounds ready to be shipped around the globe. To date, over 1,468 boxes weighing 22,552 pounds have been shipped. That is over 11 tons. 1,050 military units representing 36,536 military personnel in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Columbia, Djibouti, Iraq, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, The Philippines, Qatar, Serbia, and the United Arab Emirates have been supplied with goods from these shipments. How many of these countries can you find on the map?

After the packers are gone, Ed ships the boxes via U.S. Postal Service and a local UPS store. This UPS store, recognizing the nature of what is being shipped, gives Ed a substantial discount on their normal shipping cost. Even with this discount, it costs an average of $1 a pound to ship. In other words, $800 was needed to ship after the last party.

More details about future packing parties can be found at http://www.ettel.typepad.com/anysoldier/. I look forward to seeing you at a future party. I’m sure Mary will be glad to feed one more. Contact her at maryettel@bellsouth.net and find out for yourself.

Dave Boyer

Post from: Mt. Bethel UMC

Any Soldier

Mark your calendars NOW and plan to participate on Saturday, Oct. 4.

The first 500 entries will receive a very high quality t-shirt so get your entry in early by registering for the race here.

The 5K ROAD RACE features a flat and fast course leaving the church parking lot at 8am.  The course follows Lower Roswell Road to a left on Woodlawn Road, Right on Johnson Ferry, and Right on Lower Roswell heading back to the church.  Come to cheer our runners on along the course.  At 9am, the ONE-MILE FUN RUN will get underway and, shortly after, the TOT TROT will take off on the gym’s indoor track.

Check out our highlight video from the 2007 races!

Other ways to participate:

• Phantom Runner - $25 (t-shirt eligible)
• Company Sponsor (Informational Brochure PDF)
• Spectator
• Individual Giving (donate online)

If you have any questions about the race, please contact Lesley Satterlee at (770) 977-7014 or lesleys55@bellsouth.net.

Post from: Mt. Bethel UMC

Framing the Future Road Race