One Down, More to Go

The link for this week's live-streamed service is here.

We had great excitement on Sunday morning as our mission team reported on their trip to the Dominican Republic and their work with House Upon the Rock. 

They served us a typical DR mission lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches plus lots and lots of tropical fruit, some sweets we'd never seen before and bags of snacks beloved of teenagers. Not the usual SPPC after church lunch.

A slide show followed, some of which I've included here. 

The medical clinic is a major part of the mission. Those full shelves on the bottom of this photo show the meds our team brought with them, especially vitamins and pain killers. Living in our rich country, it is hard to imagine the amount of malnutrition in Pedregal, but it is endemic, so all those bottles of vitamins are much needed.

Oddly, the team, this time, was made up of family groups -- mother and son, grandmother and grandson, father and daughter . . . That turned out to be an unexpected blessing as it drew family members closer together. 

One of the benefits of returning to the same place over a number of years is the opportunity to see the results of your work. Our group got to see the completed houses that they had begun in 2013. They got to meet the grown up children they had played with 10 years ago. They got to see changed lives, as folk who had shunned the church now came to Christ because of the interaction with our mission team and others.

This house for Anthony and Rosa is a case in point. You can see in 2015 that they were living in a leaky shed. the picture at right shows Rosa standing by the door of their clean, dry, cement block house.

The mission team on this trip was made up of 14 members from two different churches, SPPC and Saanichton Bible Fellowship. These two congregations are not alike, yet the Holy Spirit moved within them. They came together as one with a single purpose, built relationships in the DR and at home, and felt God's blessing upon them. 

They also brought home grateful hearts for the congregations that had supported them with prayer and donations. 

Those congregations are  grateful to the missionaries for sharing their excitement, their joy, and their stories of life and work in the mission field with House Upon the Rock.

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Even as one mission ends, needs around the world remain. One place of desperate need is the Ukraine. As the war drags on, the number of those who have lost everything grows. The Compassionate Resource Warehouse, is one of the organizations that we support in filling those needs. They have sent out a new request.

 If you can help with any of the items listed here, please bring them to the church for drop off.  If you are coming mid-week, check with the office, 250 656-2241, before you arrive to be sure the doors are unlocked. Once we have collected a load, it will be delivered to the CRW.

    COMPASSIONATE RESOURCE WAREHOUSE UPDATE

CRW is working on loads for MOLDOVA, POLAND & UKRAINE

CRW will be loading out 2 container loads in the next while for MOLDOVA, POLAND & UKRAINE

These loads are targeted at children who are living in orphanages, group homes, safe homes, and families who are experiencing difficulty in providing for their families.

There are homes for children with special needs; children who have experienced trauma; children who have been trafficked, children who are internally displaced and or refugees.

We are especially in need of

1. hygiene: toothbrush/paste, wrapped soap, lotions, hair combs and brushes, etc

2. art supplies: paints/brushes, art paper, glue sticks, scissors, beads, colouring books, etc

3. non-word games- checkers, matching, dominoes, etc

4. 1st aid supplies

5. outdoor play- balls, skipping ropes, Frisbees, etc

6. child clothing and shoes

7. infant and child dishes, cups, bowls, plates, bottles etc

8. child re-useable diapers

9. 1st aid supplies

10. coloured face cloths and towels

We are looking to load out one in mid-May and one in later May/early June.

Thank you in advance for partnering with us in sending much needed supplies and a box full of "care, concern, and hope" to those who will receive our gifts.

Thank you to all who have given to the Compassionate Warehouse before and who continue to support this vital work. Christ called upon His followers to "feed my lambs." 

At his coronation this weekend, the new king, Charles III, took the gospel message for his pledge to his realm, "I come not to be served, but to serve."

Each of us, to the best of our own abilities, can serve in God's kingdom here on earth, and feed His lambs.