> Volunteers In Mission 

Lay Leaders VIM pilgrimage to Malawi, spots available! (from TNUMConnects 11/9/11)

You are invited to be part of a Tennessee Conference Lay Leaders VIM pilgrimage to Malawi. Malawi is a small land-locked nation in southeastern Africa with a dynamic and fragile United Methodist Church. With few trained pastors, the lay leaders are the backbone of the church.

The United Methodist Church in Malawi was started 25 years ago by Malawians, not by missionaries. You will discover an exciting church with few resources but with great hope.

The team will join with Malawi UMC Lay Leaders for a training weekend. We will visit village churches, nursery schools and the new Conference farm. We will be inspired by the singing, dancing, and praying. The hospitality from the people of the “warm heart of Africa” will stir your heart.

We hope to visit the 360 mile long Lake Malawi as well mountains, tea plantations, and a lot of maize (corn) and vegetable gardens. Of course there will be visits to craft markets.

We will stay in small hotels and guest houses that have private baths and mosquito nets over the beds.

- Meet Lay Leaders from the Malawi United Methodist Church
- Find your faith inspired by the worship and hospitality of our brothers and sisters in Malawi
- Learn about the dynamic growth of this newest conference in United Methodism
- Provide much needed encouragement to the lay leaders of this vibrant young church

Dates: April 9-23, 2012
Cost: Estimated from $3,600 - $4,000 per person
What is included: Airfare from Nashville to Malawi and back, all in-country transportation, accommodations in Malawi, most of the meals, registration, and insurance.
Size of group: We will go with as few as five persons or as many as twelve.

Interested? Want to learn more about this trip? We will be happy to answer your questions and send you an application. Contact Herb and Sue Mather by November 15 at h.mather@comcast.net or call us at 615.730.8945.

Sue and Herb Mather are actively involved in Belmont UMC in Nashville. They spend time in Malawi each year and currently serve as the “Consultants for the Malawi Initiative” with the General Board of Global Ministries.

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UMVIM, SEJ priority alert (Press release, 9/6/11)

United Methodist Volunteers in Mission September 6, 2011   Weekly Update -Women for Women of Sierra Leone is searching for 1 Volunteer Nurse Practitioner to serve December 3, 2011- December 17, 2011. Also searching for a Volunteer Nurse Anesthetist for early June 2012. If interested, please contact Georgiana Abisordun Johnson at wwslinc@gmail.com.    -George Murphy of Salado TX is looking for one team member to fill a slot for his team to Haiti for the dates October 20-28. Total cost of trip is to be around $1900. If you are interested, please contact George at temeg@embarqmail.com   -North Carolina- The Disaster Response Call Center may be contacted at (888) 440-9167 or via email at  disasterresponse@nccumc.org. Further updates regarding Hurricane Irene Early Response efforts in the NC Annual Conference can be found on the UMVIM, NC and the NC Conference Outreach Ministry web sites.   If you have updates you would like distributed, please email our office at sejinfo@umvim.org UMVIM, SEJ United Methodist Volunteers in Mission

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News Flashes from Malawi - Summer edition (from TNUMConnects 7/28/11)

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Malawi news flashes from the Mather's (from TNUMConnects 4/13/11)

Several important items have developed recently that we want to share with you.

Meet the Crum's:
Ted and Sylvia Crum from North Alabama are being assigned as
General Board of Global Ministries missionaries in Malawi. They will arrive in Malawi near the end of June and begin their service with the Malawi United Methodist Church. Ted will work as the Conference Administrator and Sylvia as the Projects Coordinator. We look forward to working with this fine young couple.

The Oliver's return home:
Kara and Jeff Oliver will complete their two years as volunteer missionaries on Malawi when they return to the U.S. on July 14. The Malawi United Methodist church is mourning their departure. Partners will miss their presence there and the excellent assistance they have provided us. However, we are delighted that GBGM is able to replace them with the Crum's.

VIM teams heading to Malawi during the remainder of this year include:
- Belmont UMC, Nashville, TN June 1-13
- Church of the Resurrection, Leadwood KN June 22 – July 2
- La Porte City, Iowa, June 24 – July 5
- Church of the Resurrection, Leadwood KN, July 13 – 20
- Ankeny FUMC, Iowa, July 20 – 30

Vehicles purchased:
Two new (used) vehicles are now in the stable of the Malawi United Methodist Church. Funds from Church of the Resurrection purchased a four-wheel drive pickup with an extended cab. Funds from Belmont UMC purchased a four-wheel drive pickup for use by the Agriculture Specialist.

Gathering:
Partners will gather May 27-28 at the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Missouri to explore ways all can work together to align with what God is doing in and through the Malawi United Methodist Church. This meeting will help the partners prepare for the Roundtable meeting in Blantyre on July 6-8.

Partnership between the U.S., Germany, and Malawi:
Bishop Nhiwatiwa has invited partners from the USA and Germany to attend a Roundtable meeting in Blantyre. Partners and Malawian church leaders will pray together, plan together, and strategize the common work for the coming years.

Continuing education:
Seven lay pastors are currently attending classes in pursuit of their Form V certificate (High School diploma). Scholarships from Belmont UMC have made it possible to cover their tuition. Some of these pastors will be important MUMC leaders in the near future.

WorldHope Corps, Inc. contributions:
WorldHope Corps, Inc. continues to support the Hope Tailoring School, Hope Scholarships, and Village Well projects connected to Mzuzu UMC and CCAP. Additionally, this year we've raised $60,000 for new village wells. Responding to a proposal by Pastor Copeland to build a "House of Hope" to support Hope Scholarships, they've raised $25,000 toward a $30,000 goal. Read about their House of Hope at http://michael-christensen.blogspot.com/2011/03/help-us-build-house-of-hope- in-mzuzu.html.

Gardening for life:
Roger Swier from Denver, along with family and friends, has been instrumental in helping pastors develop gardens. With guidance from Damiyo (Lester) Mhone, seed and fertilizer donated by the Swier Group, and a lot of effort by pastors families, many have very nice gardens to help provide healthy eating during the year ahead.

One day to plan:
Many of the partners will gather at Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas from noon May 27 to noon May 28 to encourage one another and to seek ways to work promote better synergy with the Malawi United Methodist Church. This meeting will help prepare the group for the Roundtable meeting in Malawi from July 6-8. It will be led by Bishop Eben Nhiwatiwa.

If you have information that you would like us to share with friends of Malawi, please forward it to Sue and Herb Mather at h.mather@comcast.net.

Zikomo quambiri.
 

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Volunteers In 'Risk-Taking' Mission (excerpt from The Connector, April 2011)

by Norris Allen

La Toma is a community about  a 10-minute drive from the small town of San Antonio, Guatemala and about 20 minutes from a more modern town of Mazatenango. Most of the people there work at the main sugar cane fields or at the rubber plantation earning a very low wage. You do not see many of these people shopping at Guatemala’s “Wal-mart” or at the mall. They have to do most of their shopping at the local markets where they can buy the local basic items at a very low price.

The road to La Toma originally was a trail through the sugar cane fields. Years of natural erosion has cut deep into the field to the point that it is now just large volcanic stones forming the road surface. There is a natural speed limit of one mile per hour because you just don’t want to drive any faster. Traveling along the road you don’t see any houses with driveways with garages, however there are many one-meter wide paths going to homes sometimes miles away.

Our VIM teams have traveled that road 5 years as we worked with the people to help address some of their many needs and other ways that they shared their faith in Jesus.

This past October Rev. John Wesley Hembree and I traveled that road again to give the community some good news. At an earlier visit they had requested that we come back and help on the many needs of the school. An enrollment of 627 students this year overcrowded the facilities that have only 3 working latrines.

We were back to inform them that our VIM teams were planning to return in January, February, and March, 2011 to help them!


To read more about Norris and VIM's experiences in Guatemala, pick up a copy of The Connector on April 1, 2011!

Norris Allen has been involved with VIM for more than 20 years and has been traveling to Guatemala for the past ten. Norris is a member of Dickson First United Methodist Church in Dickson, TN.
 

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2011 VIM Teams

VIM Teams for 2011

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VIM Scholarship Info and Application

CLICK HERE for VIM Scholarship Info and Application

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Conference member receives Titans Community QB Award (from The Connector, March 2011)

The Hickman County Long-Term Recovery Committee (HCLTRC) is happy to announce that John Blackburn, a member of the Centerville United Methodist Church and Columbia Volunteers In Mission, was the recipient of the 2010 Titans Community Quarterback Award. The Titans Community Quarterback Award program is a statewide contest that recognizes outstanding volunteers and leadership of non-profit organizations in Tennessee.

The winners were awarded grants from the Tennessee Titans Foundation that totaled $17,500, bringing the total grants awarded since the program started in 2000 to $233,000. John was select from more than 100 applicants all of who are outstanding volunteers for their respective communities.
 

John serves on the Hickman County Long Term Recovery Committee (HCLTRC) as Vice Chair and Chair of the Unmet Needs Committee. This honor also gave the HCLTRC a much needed $10,000 grant for our work with flood relief in Hickman County. We salute John and honor him for his contributions to our community!

For more, please read the official Titans press release by CLICKING HERE

> Download John's nomination application: CLICK HERE
 

This article was featured in the TN Conference newsletter The TNUMConnector. Get a full year for only $12!
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