Garfield Memorial Church Pepper Pike Ohio 2012 Missionary Trip to Camphor Mission, Liberia

A workout to remember certainly happened when members of our team and Chris, a recent college graduate with a degree in sports conditioning, was schooled by John T by participating in Camphor’s soccer team daily workout, jogging to the village while doing soccer moves and exercise along the not too smooth road to be sure!  Words fail to describe it- had to be there! 

We at Garfield Memorial Church are honored and blessed by the opportunity to put our faith into action by serving at Camphor Mission Liberia and by their gracious reception of our gifts of time, talents and resources.  We look forward to continued growth in our faith journeys together to bring our long standing relationship with James A Garfield Church  and Camphor Mission to a deeper level as we all learn to see and feel God through each other.    Sandy VerDuin, Mission Coordinator, GMC UUS

Garfield Memorial Church Pepper Pike Ohio 2012 Missionary Trip to Camphor Mission, Liberia

Games and Songs we abundant as all had permission to let loose, and let God in!

What a privilege to serve in an environment that so freely loves and celebrates  their relationship with their Lord!

Garfield Memorial Church Pepper Pike Ohio 2012 Missionary Trip to Camphor Mission, Liberia

The Team fully embraced the introduction of Bible skits to their Bible studies with the presentation of the Good Samaritan which was done in Sunday worship service, a first for the church indeed!  The place exploded during the David and Goliath skit when  Goliath(Bishop) went crashing to the floor 

As our grand finale on our last day there,  an all church skit (125 children and adults)brought the story of the  10 Plagues of Egypt to life as never before!  Twenty leaders (including Evelyn of the girls dorm) lead the masses to have plagues descend upon Egypt in the most loving Christian way of course!  How fun it is to bring the Bible to life in ways children will never forget! What an honor, what a blessing!

Garfield Memorial Church Pepper Pike Ohio 2012 Missionary Trip to Camphor Mission, Liberia

The Adult Student Leadership Team formed by Sandy and the students in 2010 expanded with new members who proudly wore leadership shirts provided by Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Aurora Ohio.

Providing much needed clothing in a school program for controlled distribution was a wonderful experience as kids designed their own shirts after hearing how the Bible scriptures answer any question or complaint you can have!  The Leadership Team did an outstanding job in presenting the holy support that the Bible brings to all! 

Garfield Memorial Church Pepper Pike Ohio 2012 Missionary Trip to Camphor Mission, Liberia

A medical suitcase from MedWish International was a welcomed gift and shopping in  Buchanan produced much needed medicines for the clinic as well as identifying on ongoing need of a fetal  heartbeat monitor for the midwives in the villages.

Garfield Memorial Church Pepper Pike Ohio 2012 Missionary Trip to Camphor Mission, Liberia

The church parsonage renovation has begun with  a new non-rust roof complete with a water retention systems to utilize the rain water and help reduce wear and tear on the hand pumps~. A small addition of a bathroom and closet will soon happen along with new doors for all rooms and tiling and paint for two rooms.  Other rooms will be addressed soon we hope to complete the home.  Time spent with Reverend Kulah and others to plan the construction project produced valuable tools for planning future projects and enabled all to better understand the different approaches our two cultures bring.

Garfield Memorial Church Pepper Pike Ohio 2012 Missionary Trip to Camphor Mission, Liberia

The sister relationship between the two churches enabled many dreams to become reality beginning with a  new coat of paint inside and out for the church! Be sure to wear your sunglasses as the labor of love by so many radiants from the hilltop! In addition to salary support, the purchase of motorcycles for the church ministries, and a generator to bring light to the church, in six short days Camphor folks joined hands with the team and accomplish many tasks all the while building the kingdom of Jesus Christ together. Praise God, Lord Almighty!

Garfield Memorial Church Pepper Pike Ohio 2012 Missionary Trip to Camphor Mission, Liberia

This was Sandy VerDuin’s third service at the mission which enabled relationships with Camphor staff and students to grow even deeper.

The two day expected travel to reach Camphor Mission turned into 4 days of travel so the team hit the ground  running knowing time was short. In addition to salary support, the purchase of motorcycles for the church ministries, and a generator to bring light to the church, in six short days Camphor folks joined hands with the team and accomplish many tasks all the while building the kingdom of Jesus Christ together. Praise God, Lord Almighty! 

Thoughts from Sandy VerDuin from the Garfield UMC in Pepperpike Ohio . . .

I'm back from Camphor Mission and it was SO WONDERFUL delivering the Bibles to the class. I stayed just a bit and did a fun how to use their Bible activity with them.  I would love to coordinate with you on anything else you or Bob Gibb from Trinity UMC in Denver are planning to do with BIble study as I've been working with CM and would love to work with you so we don't duplicate and maybe even put together a good program for them. As I shared with you this was very meaningful to me as the class began with me and my fellow servers in 2010!  Seeds really were planted on fertile soil to say the least! This time I concentrated on teaching the CM Leadership Team on how to develop and present skits for the BIble Stories! They had never seen the scriptures acted out before but caught on quickly and loved it!   It was wonderful and we began with the Good Samaritan which Rev Kulah also had us do in the worship service,(which was another first as they had never had that in worship before!   Followed up with David and Goliath ,, and then my favorite was an all church (about 110 students and adults doing the 10 plagues of Egypt - with the Leadership Team and our team in helping to direct it!  VERY FUN and good discussion - I know those kids will remember this story- or at least what plague they played(in the most fun and Christian way of course) I left a few more skits for them in their Leadership Team notebooks along with many games, group builders, teaching aids for that 3rd grade class. Etc Unfortunately all the curriculum I left before had vanished- so we begin again.   It was very moving for me when the leaders who were still there who had worked with me in 2010 still had their Leaders Notebooks from then and brought them to show me.  YEP my heart overflowed AGAIN. As I have so many years in CE and love it, I'm thinking IF they wish I'd love to work with not only the school teachers in that Bible Study class but also teach/send along curriculum for the Sunday Morning church school as they have non there either.  Once Rev Kulah gets a dependable email address I hope to follow up on that.