Time to build our 4th house in the villages past Tijuana with Amor Ministries. Please, pray for the project, the family that receives the house and the team: Matt and Andrew Colby, Andrew Cox, Nathan and Amy Hinze, Curt Getting, Kara, Michelle and John Synhorst, Maxx Peate, Gavin Lubbin, Kim Roberts, and Jerry Theberge.
The semi annual Church to Church Conference was held on March
25th-26th at the Green Valley (UMC) Community Church. This vital group
maintains a strong connection among United Methodist churches in
border areas, and Mexican Methodist churches in the border area of
Northern Mexico.
The meeting promotes Christian connection and understanding of our
Mexican brothers and sisters. We share fellowship, concerns and
information on both sides of the border. There were meals provided by
the host church, Green Valley Community Church, with much animated
conversation facilitated by the several bilingual members of the
group. Rev. Delle McCormick presented the program, “Migrant Christ:
Faith and Solidarity in the Borderlands”. And the meeting closed on
Thursday with a communion service, and lunch before the members
departed for their homes.
Our Missions chair, Dee Berman acted as one of the interpreters.
Dee Berman and Gela Lopez, wife of Pastor Diego Lopez of Fuente de Vida Methodist Church, our sister church in Agua Prieta, MX.
Mexican District Superintendent, Felipe Ruiz, and interpreter Marianne Hutchinson, of Desert Foothills UMC in Phoenix.
This holiday season, the fourth, fifth, sixth grade class of Vista de la Montana is reaching out to the families of deployed personnel from Davis Monthan Air Force Base. The families are facing many obstacles in addition to the emotional and financial stress of trying to prepare for the holidays in the absence of the father or mother.
The class is collecting phone cards, gift cards from area stores such as Target, Walmart, and various grocery stores, New toys are also needed. The collected items will be delivered, by pre-arrangement, to the head of Family Services at Davis Monthan Air Force Base.
If you wish to share this effort with the children, please send or deliver your gift cards, toys, and contributions to cover the purchase of cards or toys, to Vista de la Montana United Methodist Church, 3001 E. Miravista Lane, Tucson, 85739. The church is located just south of Catalina, two tenths mile south of Golder Rd. then west off Oracle.
The project is under the direction of Barbara Johnson. For more information call Barbara at 818-0277, or the church office at 825-1985. Your assistance will be an additional lesson for the Vista class, and most deeply appreciated.
Tucson Hospitality Inn
Tucson Hospitality Inn is the newest outreach project of the Mission Team. The Inn is a home away from home for out of town patients and their families to stay while getting urgent medical treatment. Typically the Inn serves the families of patients in the hospital, those here for extensive treatments for cancer and other serious illnesses, and those awaiting organ transplants. For $45 per night, with up to three people in a room, it provides a safe, comforting environment for those experiencing a medical crisis.
THI offers a safe, comforting environment in a lovely, secluded home located at 2539 Edison Street close to UMC, The Heart Hospital, The Cancer Center, TMC, and St. Joseph’s Hospital. More than just a hotel, it projects a feeling of peace. It offers a lovely living room, a kitchen in which to prepare food, laundry facilities, a swimming pool, and separate locked bedrooms with a television in every room. On site manager Lou Tompkins, in spite of being visually impaired, has truly created a haven for those who stay there and who are experiencing a terrible upheaval in their lives.
Unfortunately, the Inn has been operating in the red since its inception four years ago. Individuals, mainly board members, its manager, and volunteers have kept it going by their donations of time and money, but it can’t continue to operate this way and will be forced to close. The Inn needs help in a variety of ways: monetary donations and donations of supplies to help offset the running expenses, support from the community in the form of volunteers to take on a variety of jobs, and an awareness campaign so Tucson and the towns in Southern Arizona know it exists. We are working on all these areas, but there is an immediate need for volunteers to help the manager, Lou Tompkins, with varied tasks. If you’d like to help or make a donation, contact Kay Gragg.
To take a tour of the Inn, go to: www.tucsonhospitalityinn.net
The planning for the Aqua Prieta trip will be a part of the Mission Meeting for April. Call Dee Berman for information on the Aqua Prieta Mexico for the new community center. This trip will be on April 4th leaving at 6:30 A.M.
Don your Sherlock Holmes cap and get out your magnifying glass to solve the case of “The Reading Of Aunt Louise’s Will.” Several relatives have been invited to dinner for the reading of the will. Many in this eccentric family hope to gain, but have much to lose if Aunt Louise hasn’t been generous to them. Please, mark your calendars for this fun evening which will be hosted by our youth group to help fundraise for their summer Mexico Service Project. Tickets will go on sale soon! Don’t miss it.
Each May, in honor of Memorial Day, funds are collected for the purpose of providing phone cards for our deployed troops to call home. In addition, we donate funds to “Hearts Apart” family support program at Davis Monthan Air Force Base.
Contact 520-825-1985 leave message for Dee.
This church is Visa’s sister church in Mexico. We are currently chairing an Economic Advancement Program (Opening Doors to Success) in the Colonia La Empacadora where the church is located. Vista has financed the construction of a computer classroom, its furnishings and computers, and initiated a pinata factory, a pinata and party goods store in downtown Agua Prieta, in addition to a sewing program that includes the manufacturing of school uniforms, clothing, curtains and bedding. Annually used Christmas cards are collected at Vista for the purpose of providing the materials for the Women’s Co-op to create handmade, decorated, new Christmas cards for sale. We also sponsor scholarships for Seminary, Community College, High School, and Jr. High students. Each year school supplies are collected for the children in the Colonia and a Celebration of Learning Festival is held in the Fall to honor the children who have achieved a B+ or better average in the previous school year. Each year work teams are organized for various construction and improvement projects in the Colonia. Each winter a collection is taken at Vista to provide wood and propane for heating of the Coloina and it’s church.
Our goal is to help this improverished Colonia to know God’s love and achive economic independence and improve their quality of life.
Contact 520-825-1985 leave message for Dee.