Updates on the Israel Mission Trip

Want to receive updates on what is going on with the Israel Mission Team?  Check out www.tallohoodtoday.com, the Youth Ministry blog.  The blog will be updated throughout the trip with posts from the five mission teams.  Currently it has a picture of each of the five teams, which could be helpful if you want to put names with faces as you pray.  Check it out!

Our Intrepid Mission Team

What a great group!  Here is our Spring Break Mission Team in front of the church that has become “home base” for the week.  Thanks to Bob McSpadden for the photo!

These Tallowood members used their Spring Break to rebuild houses in the Seabrook area.

Houston Chronicle Story

Tallowood’s Spring Break mission trip to the Galveston area has made it into the Houston Chronicle, albeit briefly.  Check out the link below to see more:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6314745.html

I was able to go down yesterday to see some of the work our people are doing down there, and it’s great to see the many ways our team has been helping out.  From painting to putting up sheetrock to installing baseboards to renovating bathrooms our people have done it all.  Stay tuned for video tours of some of the homes our team was working in, as well as other snippets of footage I was able to get.

Leaving Tomorrow!

The Galveston Mission Trip leaves tomorrow!  And headed down to Galveston will be dozens of Tallowood members of hundreds of pounds of clothing, food, and toiletries.  How much?  Well, we had to rent a 20-foot U-Haul truck to carry the load! At the beginning of our emphasis we started storing the items in the old Outreach office at the Tallowood Center.  After a few weeks that proved to small to handle the load, so we expanded to a second room, which is now full as well.  All we can say is thank you, for all the items you have donated over these eight weeks.  We have been overwhelmed!  We can’t wait to bring this overabundance to the Galveston Mission Center!

Pray this week for our Mission Team, that all would be safe and healthy, that they would find numerous opportunities to be of service to the community, and that they would be able to share their faith in Christ through words and deeds.  It looks like the bulk of the work will actually take place in Seabrook, since many of the houses in Galveston are simply not ready for the kind of work our team will be doing this week.  We can’t wait to hear the stories of the team when they come back!

There’s Still Time!

Friends, there is still time for you to bring your items to the church for the upcoming Galveston Mission Trip.  We will be accepting items until Thursday, March 12, and the trip leaves on Saturday, March 14.  We are collecting clothes of all sorts, non-perishable food items, and toiletries for the Galveston Mission Center which will distribute the items to the many residents still recovering from Hurricane Ike.  Click Galveston Items List for a more detailed list of items.

We have received so much that we are now moving on to our second storage space at the North Campus!  Keep it coming!  We can’t wait to show up at the Galveston Mission Center with a truck full of your donations.  And there is also still time for you to sign up for this mission trip.  Consider using your Spring Break to serve others in a community right next door.  Now that’s what we call Worship in Action!

Safe and Sound!

I am happy to report that our Kenya Mission Team returned safe and sound on Sunday to a well-deserved rest.  (Of course, they were all awake at 4:30 in the morning because of the time zone difference!)  Thankfully the possible protests never materialized in Mombasa.  After hearing briefly from Cliff and Eddy the amount of people that your gifts were able to reach was simply extraordinary!  I’ll let Cliff provide you with a detailed list and report, but here is the truth that God is teaching me: when God changes our plans it’s because He has something better in mind.

You may remember that our original intention was to partner with missionaries in Nairobi to work with an orphanage for street children.  However, only a couple months before the trip was supposed to leave that door was closed amid a set of frustrating circumstances.  It was then that the door to Mombasa opened up and great things started happening!  Your gifts reached many more children than we had ever anticipated, and we were able to provide in ways we had never intended.  God always seems to have something bigger in mind than we can dream up.  But I’ll let Cliff fill you in on the details.  Right now I simply have a grateful heart, both to you for your gifts, and to God for the unexpected workings of His will!

Update from the Kenya Mission Team

Good news from Kenya!  Last night I was able to speak with Kenya Mission Team members Cliff Lusk and Brent Palermo by phone.  It was 5:40 AM their time, but they were already up and getting ready to go to several schools to hand out malaria nets and tell everyone who can hear about Jesus Christ.  Things are going exceptionally well, and they have already been to several schools, churches, and orphanages, handing out nets and spreading the word of Christ.  Over the next few days they will go to several more schools and orphanages, and even a prison.  This is truly an exciting opportunity.

Cliff and Brent were also excited to report that, in addition to the pencils and notebooks you donated, the extra money we received has been used to buy a vast quantity of school supplies for local schools, in some cases enough to see them through the school year.  You cannot imagine what a blessing this is to these schools, where even a single pencil is like gold to a student.  Thank you for your generosity!  We can’t wait to hear what God does during the rest of their time in Kenya!

Worship in Action: Galveston

After several months of seeking God’s face about a new direction He has finally opened a door.  For the next six weeks we’ll be focusing on an area close to home: Galveston, Texas.  On September 13, 2008 Hurricane Ike swept through Galveston and the surrounding coastal area with a powerful storm surge that left thousands homeless.  Mission Galveston, a local Baptist organization that works with the homeless and disenfranchised, lost its building and all its supplies of food and clothes.  We want to replenish their supplies so that they can assist the many victims still trying to recover from this devastating hurricane.

You can help by donating non-perishable food, clothing, and “hotel-sized” toiletries at the Re:Action Center each week.  And you can also go with us to Galveston on the Spring Break Mission Trip from March 14-18 where we’ll be assisting some of the many recovery projects on the island.  Both skilled and unskilled laborers are needed.  For a specific list of what kinds of things you can donate pick up a card at the Re:Action Center before or after our worship services.  We’ll have the detailed list posted on the blog soon as well.

Join us in showing the love of God to the people of Galveston.  This is Worship in Action!

Change of Plans

Sometimes God opens doors, and sometimes He closes them.  In December it became clear to us that God had closed the door for us to take our mission trip to Nairobi as we had intended.  But God is always gracious to lead us in a different direction, and recently He opened the door for us to go to Mombasa, Kenya instead.

Mombasa is a large city located on the coast of the Indian Ocean in southeast Kenya.  Pastor Eddy Hallock has missionary friends there that will be hosting our team on the trip which takes place from February 26-March 8.  If you are interested in going, places are still available on the team, and the cost is only $2850.

So what does that mean for your gifts that were intended for places around Nairobi?  The school for Rwandan refugee children and the compound for street children will still receive the resources we had planned to give them.  Furthermore, because you gave so much and surpassed each of our goals we will be able to take on similar projects in Mombasa while our team is there!  In addition, the nets will be distributed in the lowland Mombasa area where malaria is significantly more prevalent than in the highlands around Nairobi.  Ultimately your gifts will impact two of Kenya’s major cities simultaneously, for the glory of God!

Worship in Action Kenya

Since July 2007, Worship in Action has taken us around the world, serving and meeting the needs of people in Honduras, Myanmar, Houston, and Brazil. Along the way we’ve been reminded that worship cannot be reduced to one hour each weekend. Instead it is a lifestyle of obedience to Christ’s leadership.

This fall, Worship in Action will take us across the Atlantic to the country of Kenya. Located in East Africa, Kenya is a country of 34.7 million people. 23% of the population lives on less than one dollar per day, and the government is one of the most corrupt in the world according to the Corruption Perceptions Index. We will be focusing on three of the biggest challenges facing Kenya today – the devastation of a widespread malaria epidemic, the incredible poverty of overcrowded slums, and the tragedy of countless numbers of orphans and street children.

Around the world, malaria causes almost 3 million deaths per year, yet is easily preventable. Ninety percent of the world’s malaria cases occur in Africa and in Kenya, malaria is found in all areas of the country outside Nairobi, and each year kills twice as many people as AIDS. We will be partnering with HIS Nets to provide insecticide-treated mosquito nets to the people of Kenya. These nets can reduce the occurrence of Malaria by almost 70%. The cost to purchase each net is only $6. Over the next three months, our goal is to purchase 1000 nets.

Kenya has some of the largest slums in the world. In Nairobi, home to Kibera, the second largest slum in Africa, as much as half of the population lives in only five percent of the land area. This problem has been exacerbated in recent years by the influx of refugees from neighboring countries in crisis like Rwanda and Somalia. One missionary has established a school for Rwandan refugees that gives them an education and one hot meal each day. But school supplies are almost non-existent. We want to provide the basic necessities they need to continue their education. Over the next three months, our goal is to collect 250 notebooks and 250 boxes of pencils for these children.

Kenya is also facing a catastrophic orphans crisis. In a country with an average life expectancy of less than 49 years, with countless impoverished families, and the constant threat of diseases like malaria and HIV/AIDS, the number of orphans in Kenya has climbed to 1.5 million, with 100,000 living on the streets of Nairobi alone. With no place to go during Kenya’s cold nights, many of these street children become addicted to sniffing glue because of its numbing effect. Some of the missionaries in Kenya have begun a project to reclaim the lives of some of these street children and return them to society. Using their own funds a group of missionaries has purchased land outside Nairobi and is using it to build a compound for street children. A local pastor lives with the children, and provides discipleship training and job training. The compound still has many needs including additional housing and other facilities, furniture, and tools and animals for farming. Over the next three months our goal is to collect $5000 to help with these projects.

Perhaps these tragic truths stir in you not only a desire to give, but a desire to go and minister to the people of Kenya. If so we invite you to come with us as we go to Nairobi from February 19-February 28, 2009. There, we will be handing out malaria nets and school supplies and assisting with the improvement of the compound for street children. Meeting each of these needs will provide us with an incredible opportunity to tell people about the life-changing love of Jesus Christ. If you are interested in learning more, fill out one of our mission trip interest forms at the Re:Action Center or online, or simply contact Eddy Hallock at ehallock@tallowood.org.

As always you can bring your donations to the Re:Action Center located in the Tallowood Center lobby on Saturdays and just outside the gym on Sundays. There you can find out more information about Kenya, our projects, and our upcoming mission trip. Stayed tuned to www.worshipinaction.net for more opportunities and information. Join us as we bring Christ’s love and provision to the people of Kenya. This is Worship in Action!