Adult Missions looking back, looking forward!!

As the summer wanes and folks return to a regular schedule, Adult Missions is looking forward to another very active year! Having just completed a strategic planning meeting, we are excited about living out our local, regional, national, and international missions calling. Locally, we will be involved in assisting low income seniors that are in need of wheelchair ramps or need home repairs through Wake County's Resources for seniors program. In addition, we will be hosting another "Stop Hunger Now" event, where we package up to 30,000 nutritious meals in our parish hall--all for shipping overseas to communities suffering from chronic malnutrition. Regionally, we will become involved with a gleaning program, where after-harvest vegetables -- probably pumpkins -- will be collected from farmer's fields and delivered to shelters and soup kitchens. We will also continue our commitment working with migrant farming camps through the Episcopal Farmworkers ministry. Each month from late Spring-to-early Fall, St. Michael's provides a volunteer team that hosts an activity for Hispanic migrant men. This has become an important, much appreciated break for men that often work 70 hours each week harvesting food while living in very difficult camp circumstances.

Of course, there are opportunities for many St. Michael's parishioners to volunteer part of a Saturday and join one of these teams! Later in the spring, we will also be investigating and beginning a project designed to help military veterans cope w/ re-adjusting upon return from combat zones.

Nationally, we will be hosting at least two missions -- one in early October with the Appalachia Service Project (ASP), and a second to the Gulf Coast following the Christmas holidays. ASP is an ecumenical home repair ministry started by the United Methodist Church to serve low income families in Appalachia. St. Michael's will send a mixed Adult/Youth team to an ASP year-round center over a long weekend. We are also excited to return to the Gulf coast,where there are ongoing severe needs stemming not only from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 but also from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike very recently. During Spring Break, we may send a third team on a weekend-style mission, place TBD.

Internationally, we will be thrilled to return again to Holy Cross Anglican School in Belize(see post below). Last spring, we had a very moving experience helping with floor and wall construction for the new computer learning center, hosting an after-school Bible and recreation program for students, working in the classroom as teacher aids, providing daily devotions and song-leading for many classes, teaching classroom religion, and leading songs and preaching for weekly worship (again, see below). It was a wonderful week, but it went all too fast!! In fact, it went so fast, and we were so busy, that we had little time for posting blogs!! But, pictures we did take and pictures we do have--and many many thanks to Alan Cox for taking these and for posting on the following web-site: here!

This year, our trip will be during Holy Week, which also coincides with the Wake County Public Schools Spring Break -- so it will be a mixed Adult/Youth team. We are tentatively planning a Vacation Bible school and a construction team, but the possibility is also there to bring a small medical team with us. As always, music will be a big part of our trip, and we hope to make a recording of some of the children singing!

As we look ahead to Belize 2009, we are mindful of the many recent blessings and large challenges at HCAS. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and leadership of Episcopal lay missioners Francis and Vernon Wilson, HCAS has developed rapidly. But, it still cannot meet the needs of approximately 200 children that had to be turned away due to lack of space at the school. Nonetheless, it has grown from about 65 to about 500 students in just three years, resulting in significant financial needs. Adult Missions along with members of previous-year Belize team(s) will be attempting to raise awareness and hopefully funds as the year progresses -- through art work that will show beautifully framed pictures of the students, through publicity stemming from the Outreach event "Gifts of Grace," and through a CD project entitled "Songs for Holy Cross."

Drum roll please -- and that's not all!! We have just completed making the initial commitment to send a team to the L'Acul mission in Haiti based on the results of last year's fact-finding trip. The Haiti mission will take place next fall, in 2009. And, we will also be exploring the possibility of sending a team in a future year to work on the Navaho reservation in western New Mexico/eastern Arizona.

Our vision is: "St. Michael's living the Gospel through missions." We are blessed with a fabulous Adult Mission committee, wonderful clergy leadership (thanks to the Rev. John Gibson--but also to the vision of Rector Greg Jones and the participation of other clergy!), and clear direction..... Now all we need is YOU! Maybe God is calling you to be a part of one of these exciting opportunities for service this year. Looking back, maybe God had it planned all along...

JohnnyMac