Dear All,
Below is an update received from Derek this afternoon. I am also copying in the team members of the Sierra Team that they may share in the carry over from their own great work.
Blessings,
Linda
Dear Family and Friends of the Leone UMVIM Team and the Child Rescue Centre,
It's incredible that it's been a week; before any more time flies by, I wanted to write an update to you all.
First, the entire team is healthy and happy--our days are filled with time spent with the children and the staff, serving one another and making friends. In the evening team gathering, there is a devotion and a sometimes tearful, always laughter-filled time of each member sharing where they saw Christ in their day.
To me, since I'm not teaching a class and can roam around, the day looks like herding cats; with T Butz and Carolyn Prillaman working crafts and storytelling for the younger set of children, and the other teachers rotating subjects with the middle and older youth, the CRC is a controlled buzz in the morning and a happy cacophony in the afternoon elective sessions.
Up until today (Friday, July 31st) the children rotated between the various locations on the CRC facility, but with the coming of a rainy morning and the Great Hall being used for a local seminar for the CRC Foster Program, the children stayed in place and the teachers rotated. Heather Flor has been ubiquitous as she not only teaches her own English class, but is ever on the move to assist the success of each of the other classes.
Erin Bennet and Jim Summersgill are working magic in the primary English block as they bring their contagious enthusiasm for the language arts to children who need to learn this second language in order to succeed academically.
Jim is then doing double duty working behind the scenes in the computer lab to manage the equipment while John Petrosky and (our other ubiquitous helper, and photographer) Albert Johnson work with the children on basic computer skills.
Matt Summersgill, with his youth and guitar skills has been a round-the-clock hit with the teenage boys. Besides working with Steve Dement to do basic math skills, Matt is carrying on guitar lessons begun by the first team, as well as helping to lead the entire UMVIM team in our contribution at the "Talent Show" the children put on for us last night (Thursday).
Along with doing primary math with Jason Harris and geography and personal finance with Michael Bradstreet, Carol Bronick visited a parcel of land on the other side of the city with me which, we hope, will become a farm for the CRC--I could tell she was in her element as she and Amidu (one of the longest standing employees of the CRC) walked the land and took soil samples for her to test back at our base of operations, the Missionary Training Center (MTC).
Both Jason and Michael have brought a high level of humor to the trip, both for the team and for the children
All this activity is being undergirded quietly by Julie Spyres who is sharing her professional passion for coaching and life leadership skills through three different class sessions teaching the Stephen Covey "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" material to the CRC staff, the secondary school students and the Mercy Hospital senior staff. Not a day goes by when both Julie and a staff member independently come to me to excitedly describe a powerful lesson/application they learned/saw.
We will see more of this as the Partnership adopted the 7 Habits model to bring a common thread of independent and interdependent living to the way the Partnership conducts business, all future UMVIM teams reinforce with the staff and children, as well as how the staff at the CRC and Mercy Hospital live out this common mission we have before God with these children.
Well, I can hear the next wave of rain starting up--that may it slow down but probably not put a damper on this afternoon's soccer match.
I know I can speak for the entire team when I say we are grateful for your covering prayers and support. I also know that, for many, it is a sacrifice to have your loved ones so far away from home for so long; it is not only the team members who are working hard in their discipleship to be in mission. Thank you.
I will try to keep the team in regular contact via telephone or email. I'll send out another update in the middle of next week.
Blessings,
Derek Reinhard
Co-Leader, United Methodist Volunteers in
UMVIM "Leone Team"
