Stories of Mission

Miraculous Turnaround at Lezha Academic Center

We have been through our share of fires this year at Lezha Academic Center. The first months of our ministry here were full of conflict. Each of us had days when we felt like throwing in the towel, but somehow we made it through.

God is a Rewarder!

Muslims are thirsty. We don’t want to just give them a drink, but to see their eyes opened to the well, to drink deep of God’s love for them, so that those rivers can begin to flow out from them as healing for their nations.

Winds of the Spirit

The Spirit blows at will, we are told. We do not fully know its direction nor can we ever adequately predict its affect. We can, however, see some of the results and we have been told what fruit to look for. We do well to continue to look for “love, joy, peace” as evidence of where the Spirit is blowing.

In Christ, All Things New

Being unaware of the importance of marriage in God’s eyes, my marriage at a very young age soon proved to be a tragic mistake. After escaping that trap of anguish, I began pursuing what I hadn’t found. But this search only caused more suffering.

Much Given, Much Required

Scripture says that to the person who has much given to them, much will be required. Throughout my week in Belize, I was humbled and challenged by the training and counseling given again and again, the prayers offered, the food given freely.

Jamaica Mennonite Church Leader Dies

Pastor Morris Baker died in Kingston on February 15, 2012, after a five-month illness. He served as pastor of the Alpine Mennonite Church since 1995. He was appointed president of the Jamaica Mennonite Church in March 2011.

Global Sisters Enrich My Life

I have the unusual privilege to visit church sisters in the Caribbean region several times a year. Talking with the women in their settings is heart-warming, and sometimes heart-rending. Global sisters show me that holding onto faith is imperative in this uncertain world.

A Pause for Prayer at Life’s End

My patient was a young man with right leg swelling of several weeks’ duration. A large abscess in his thigh pressed on the large vein nearby, causing it to clot off. Clots of this nature are dangerous, because they can break loose and travel to the heart and lungs.

Seeing in the New Year in Belize among the Deaf community

On December 31, all of Orange Walk, a tiny village in northern Belize, was preparing for welcoming in the New Year. Lots of people were shopping for food and drinks. The intermittent showers made us wonder if there really would be fireworks put off at midnight. At 8 p.m., Nancy Marshall’s house became “the place…

Maranatha School for the Deaf celebrates Christmas with program

The poinsettia plants and Christmas bushes filled with white flowers bloom profusely along the roadsides, in gardens of well-kept homes and on the rough mountainsides. It’s Christmas time in Jamaica! There are fewer decorated houses and shorter celebrations on this Caribbean island, but the spirit of Christmas is wide spread. Everyone loves to give and…

The eye-opening reality of being sent, from everywhere to everywhere

As the boat cut through the grey water of Lake Toba, the stiff breeze slapped our faces awake. It was 7:00 am and the volcanic sides of the Northern Sumatran crater were still shrouded in morning mists. It occurred to me that my two Thai friends might need that chilling wind in their faces to…

Extreme Makeover theme sparks renewal at Italian retreat

The annual retreat/vacation for Italian Mennonites took place this summer on the “heel” of Italy among the pine groves that shade the Ionic seacoast. Participants convened from extreme ends of Italy, from Turin in the north to Sicily in the south, with most coming from central Italy—representing various church affiliations. Following prayer time each morning,…

Service sows passion to see German youth grow in God

In reflecting over this past year on my mission-intern assignment in Kaiserslautern, Germany, I have been astounded in God revealing more of the passions and skills He has placed in me. I have the opportunity and blessing to live with nine Germans currently between the ages of 16-19 years old. The youth live here for…

The difference between hope and despair: refugees in Ecuador

As I was enjoying the company of a few Ecuadorian friends in late June, my cell phone unexpectedly rang. The anxious Colombian voice on the other end explained the details of a dilemma that has become a common story since I began working with the Colombian refugee population in Ecuador in December of last year:…

Marie Shantal’s story: a very bad day in Haiti

Eight-year-old Marie Shantal went to school just like the other children in her middle class Haitian neighborhood on that fateful day in January 2010. But, as she walked home from school with her friends, the ground began to shake. Buildings fell around her. Thousands of people ran, screaming, into the streets! She got separated from…

Remember, remember not

One of the paradoxes of the Bible is God’s call to remember but not dwell on the past. “Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there,” declares Deuteronomy 24:18 (NRSV). That memory forms the basis of Israel’s identity. When remembrance turns to nostalgia, however, God has…

Virginia youth build relationships with Jamaican community

On July 5, fourteen senior high youth and four adult leaders from Mountain View Mennonite church, in VMC’s Southern District, left the mountains of Virginia for the mountains of St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. We were going to do a work project in the Top Hill community, where Rodney & Lindsey Nice were serving as missionaries with…

Music educator shares in worship with the Italian Mennonite Church

When Phil and Marcia Lehman left Bari, Italy in 2009, Centro Koinonia prayed fervently that God would provide musicians. Over the past two years, these prayers have been answered through church members like Luigi, Elena, Valentina, Francesco, Chris, and Melody. However, the church desired more training, prompting them to request that VMM send me as…

Humility and growth: Partners in Mission turns 25

When I began working at VMM one year ago, the organization was in the midst of routine transition. A new strategic plan was in development, and several program directors were moving on from their posts. Like a plant entering a new season, the ongoing process of growth was being felt more acutely, in exciting and…

Lezha Academic Center opens first school year

The sounds of school ring loud and clear this September at Albanian Christian School’s Lezha Academic Center (LAC) in Lezhe, Albania. The city is located along the Adriatic Sea in the northwest corner of the country at the foothills of the Albanian Alps. Virginia Mennonite Missions has had a presence in this city of approximately…

Children in Bari, Italy, enjoy meaningful activities at “Happy Week”

What occupies the long summer days for children who live in high-rise apartment buildings in densely-populated Italian cities? Many parents ask this same question! In the South, parks are usually few, crowded, and poorly equipped. Apartments have limited space for active play. Recognizing this opportunity to meet a felt need, the Mennonite churches in Italy…

Educator lays foundation for new partnerships in Israel, Palestinian Territories

Partners teams have traveled to the Palestinian Territories and Israel over the last 5 years to volunteer at Nazareth Village and teach English to local children. These groups have traveled the land, stayed with host families and learned quite a lot about Arab & Israeli history, life and culture in the Galilee. Through these successful…

Virginia youth build playground, relationships with Jamaican community

What neither we as leaders and planners nor the youth anticipated was the rich fellowship with the deaf community of Top Hill… Over the coming years, I anticipate that these experiences will be the most valuable “things” that they brought back from Jamaica.

Partners pedals to Pittsburgh

It was a hot day in the City of Bridges as the group wound their way along bike paths and city streets. They were following a couple they met on the Three Rivers Trail a couple miles earlier who had offered to lead them in to the Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh and were telling…

Indonesian Mennonites promote interfaith dialogue

From mid-January to the end of March 2010, my wife Cathy and I were in Indonesia on a short-term Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) assignment during our sabbaticals, mine from Park View Mennonite Church, Cathy’s from Eastern Mennonite University. We stayed on the island of Java, in the city of Salatiga, centrally located on the island…

International team takes leadership at Cornerstone Church, Lezhe, Albania

After faithfully serving the Albanian church in many capacities during the last five years, Leon and Naomi Zimmerman (Rosedale Mennonite Missions workers) have terminated their missionary service. Leadership of the Lezhe church has now been passed on to a newly chosen “church council” composed of three Albanian believers who will collaborate closely with the three…

Introducing new Virginia Mennonite Missions staff

Aaron Kauffman, Global Ministries Director Aaron Kauffman will begin serving in a quarter-time position as Global Ministries Director for VMMissions on June 1. This new position convenes and leads a team of four regional directors with responsibility for VMMissions’ global relationships and ministries. Aaron served in Ethiopia with Eastern Mennonite Missions and more recently with…

It all looks different

Learning to drive in Thailand is a metaphor for our first year here. Driving on the left side of the road makes for a whole new view of the journey. Shifting gears and looking in the mirrors are all reversed. Passing and turning are challenges requiring careful thought. Which way do you instinctively look first…

Playing, laughing, talking, building relationships

There are many teenagers in Palermo (population about 80,000) and just 2% of them know what it means to have a personal relationship with God through Jesus. Andrea and Sheila Crocivera are involved with Youth for Christ and tranSend in a project to reach them. In November we opened a youth center called MY SPACE…

“Full circle” after forty years

With youthful excitement, we eagerly researched the Italian city where we would serve after language school in Florence. Finally, we were going to fulfill the call to missions we’d both received years before! Vasto—a coastal city amid vineyards and olive groves on the foothills of the Abruzzo mountains in central Italy—was to be our destination.…

LCC International University hosts ecumenical conference

About a month ago, LCC hosted our 2nd annual Congregational Development Conference on the theme, “Proclaiming the Gospel in Contemporary Lithuania.” Once again, there was a good response and participants from almost all church groups in Lithuania. Steve had a brief opening address on “Discussing theology in a liberal arts setting.” He attempted to share…

Inside and outside the hospital in Honduras

God works in mysterious ways, so mysterious that it is often easy to miss the ways He’s working, especially when times get challenging. Thank God His plan does not depend on whether we understand it or not. That is how I would sum up my first year in Siguatepeque, Honduras—recognizing a call without fully understanding…

Anticipating God’s amazing ways

Wow! What a year it has been. A year ago I was busily finishing my last semester of college while preparing for this mission year by accomplishing seemingly endless forms, personality/spiritual tests, interviews and trainings in Pennsylvania. I knew I was being called into missions, but wasn’t exactly sure where, how or when. May EMU…

Actions speak louder than language barriers

“Good morning.” “Buenos dias.” “Alli punsha.” In the small Ecuadorian jungle community of Arajuno, these three languages, English, Spanish and Kichwa, flowed together harmoniously as a group of 10 men from Nebraska, three Colombians and I worked alongside the local indigenous people to help them construct a new church building. During a week of hard…

Investing (missionally) for long-term dividends

Our first term here in Bari was spent learning; culture, language, people and places. When we came back for our second term, we had no idea what God had in store for us, but we felt it would be good. We can now confirm that it has been a wonderful experience! Upon our return in…

Closeness and joy through shared ties

In November 2010 the country mice became city mice, and moved from their lush, green dairy farm in Dayton, Virginia, to a block house in the center of the concrete-covered world of La Mesa, Colombia. Since that time we have been learning to live in a completely different way, interpreting the new sounds of honking…

Planting Seeds in Jacó

We call the program Vida 220 referring to Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Nine participants from four different countries live in community at the mission base in the mountains near Heredia, Costa Rica. Every week we attend classes, hear lectures on a…

Miracles of transformation among the deaf in Belize

Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you. Psalm 9:10 Miracles of transformation: This year two more young deaf people were baptized. Both are in their 20s. One has been coming to our church ever since the first time we gathered for worship in…

Company, connections and comfort food

I vigorously mashed potatoes by hand in the stainless steel kettle to feed nine persons around the table. Being emotionally exhausted this week, I had felt that I needed to push myself to do each of my responsibilities: Tuesday morning Bible study at the church in the village of Kemishtaj, Wednesday afternoon English lesson at…

Living out our faith like Monjira

Recently, I have missed my family. The cultural divide between me and my neighbors has seemed huge. In thinking about how the cultural practice of seclusion hurts women, I have felt in despair. Every Thursday I go to Monjira’s neighborhood and meet with three women to study the Bible. They are wives of men who…

God’s unexpected movement in Jamaica

In the past year God has been moving in our community here in Top Hill, Jamaica. One way we’ve seen this is in the growth of our Wednesday night Bible study from being nonexistent to consistently having more than 15 persons attend. In the course of working at ministering to persons in the community by…

Prayers felt in Albania

God gives us the opportunity to be His servants. He enables us to serve Him as He inspires and motivates us to do His will. My work with the Roma people has its up and down seasons. All of this brings me closer to God. Right now I am giving praise to God for the…

Jamaica Mennonite Church Conference Delivers Deep Impact

The 53rd annual conference of the Jamaica Mennonite Church was held March 4-6, 2011, in Kingston. Delegates gathered on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday to discuss reports from congregations and directors of various areas of church work. Rajin and Sheriza Sookharry represented the Mennonite Church of Trinidad & Tobago at the conference.

New witness launched in central Italy

Termoli, an ancient and modern city several hours north of Bari, Italy, of approximately 50,000 people, is situated among the coastal hills overlooking the Adriatic Sea. Guarded by a picturesque castle, it nestles among flourishing olive groves and vineyards. Although without an established believers’ church witness, God is at work to carry out His purposes…

The Global Family of Faith

A church conference dare not exist for itself. Myopic or extended self-absorbed attention tends to devolve into defensiveness and mere maintenance. It is for these reasons that I believe in missions. The church must always think beyond itself and risk its life for the sake of others.

A tribute to Paul Kropf, long-time missionary

On behalf of VMM, I wish to recognize the significant service rendered by Paul and June Kropf, long-term pioneer missionaries to Albania with Eastern Mennonite Missions. Paul died unexpectedly on Christmas morning. With great sadness and sense of loss, we remember Paul and his contribution to the Albanian church. Upon their arrival in Lezhe, Albania,…

Seven Joyful Baptisms in Trinidad

Richard and Margaret Keeler I had the privilege of participating in the baptism of seven people on January 30, 2011. As we stood under a few coconut palms and heard testimonies from all the baptismal candidates, all of us rejoiced to see God at work. I gave each one who was baptized a special verse, then myself and Bro. Ramon, a lay leader, baptized them.

Transformed, Transforming.

All of us at Virginia Mennonite Missions share in common the desire to be instruments of God’s transformation. Then, transformation turns around and continues to change us! Thinking we were the ones changing others, we discover that we are the ones being changed.

Mennonite Church in Trinidad Now “Totally Local”

Borrowing from a popular local slogan, Pastor Ganesh Kalloo described the signficance of the day at Sangre Grande Mennonite Church in Trinidad as “Totally Local.” On Sunday morning, January 9, the Mennonite Church of Trinidad and Tobago (MCTT) commissioned and installed the first Trinidadian as their conference overseer. Rawl Gunpath had pastored for many years…

Amor Viviente pastor challenges Italian Mennonites

“Although God cares about poverty, suffering and pain, these human problems are not His first priority. He sent Jesus to bring forgiveness, to seek that which was lost, to give new life-abundant and eternal. Jesus commissions us to continue His ministry and make disciples. The message must be so clear that people either believe and…

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