Today is Friday, April 4, our Madison Global Mission 2008 is almost over. What a fantastic trip this has been. We have had 6 days of work on the church, and we are planning a very special ceremony at the new church tonight. When we arrived here just 7 short days ago, there was no church, only a concrete slab. Today, all exterior and interior walls are up! Our young people have laid well over 10,000 block! We will once again work on the site this afternoon, to clean everything up and make it presentable for Sabbath.

 

Mr. Jamieson, Mrs. Gatling, and I are so very proud of our young people, all 22 of them. We have been told that the expectations of the local church members (who had been meeting in a Pathfinder building) was that we would only complete maybe one wall. Each day that we worked, another wall went up, and we had many people watch in amazement as these American young people built a church in six days. The church will soon be ready for a roof, and we cannot wait to see the pictures of the finished building.

 

We had a very special day yesterday, our excursion day. The Lord opened up ways for us to go to the Country of Uruguay! We traveled to Uruguay and went to a very neat waterpark, complete with several water slides, a wave pool, lazy river, water massage area, etc. We had so much fun traveling the countryside, and the kids loved getting their Passports stamped with another country!

 

The food here has been great, with more than enough for our group. There had been a labor strike going on here (it is now over), and so food was somewhat more expensive than normal for our hosts to supply us with. However, the Lord provided wonderfully for us! Our cook lived in the US for many years, so she was well aquainted with the ´tastes´´ of America. The sponsors all agree that the food has been the best of any mission trip MGM has been on in the last 5 years. So God has been wonderful. Also, this may be the first mission trip I have been apart of that no one has gotten sick on! So that is such a blessing as well.

 

We cannot wait to see our loved ones on Sunday, just two days away. We will see you all at the airport at around 1:30. Please pray for a safe trip back.

 

God Bless,

 

 

 

Richard Stephenson

Director, Information Technologies

Kentucky Tennessee Conference


3-31-2008
 

 

Here is update number 2!

 

It is now Monday evening, and we have already worked three days at the job site. We have gotten all exterior walls up! There are a great many locals who stop by the street to watch the American kids build a church (something that they have Never seen here). The church is quite a large one, but it is necessary for the Adventist population here. There are so many Adventists in this community!

We have breakfast each day at 7 AM and are at the job site by 7:30. We break for lunch at around 12:30 each day, then we are back at the site from 1:30 till 5:30. Supper is usually around 6:30. The past two evenings we have been treated to some delicious homemade ice cream. It´s great! We are trying to figure out how to get some back to the States without it melting! So far we have laid several thousand block, and we have 5 more courses to lay. Then we start on the interior walls. We are all very excited about the progress the Lord has blessed us with.

 

So far no one is sick, and we are all enjoying this adventure.

 

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers,

 

 

 

Richard Stephenson

Director, Information Technologies

Kentucky Tennessee Conference


3-27-2008

Just a quick note to let you know that all 60 of us have arrived here in the capital city safe and sound. And while our 10 hour flight from Dallas to Buenos Aires was not exactly comfortable, it was still enjoyable nonetheless. Today we toured alot of the Historical capital city. We have seen the Casa Rosada (their White House....except it's pink!), Government Square, visted the vault of Evita Peron and toured three or four other historical areas. The weather is great, Sunny most of the day, with temps in the 80s. There are so many trees in this city, it's beautiful. This evening we are eating Pizza, afterwhich MGM will start the 6 hour bus ride to the building project and the Choir will retire to various Church Member's home's. Tomorrow morning (Friday) we begin our building project! Our students are very excited.

To: rstephenson@kytn.net
Subject: RE: Greetings from Madison Academy!
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 00:50:15 +0000

Hello Richard!
It was good to hear from you. We're glad you arrived safely back home.
God is wonderful!
Tonight I was in our prayer group, and the Juan's daughther (the guy that helped out buying the supplies for the construction), was thanking God because your coming had been such a blessing for her father. His wife died 4 months ago, and he was very depressed, but your coming helped him get out of himself, and serve God and the church. She told us that on Sunday, after you left, he went out to his garden, that had been abandoned for 4 months, and started weeding (4 ft weeds!), and working on it, and the family was soooo happy and thankful!
She also told us how impressed they were with the prayers you left on the bricks. The people from the church said they had to keep going with the construction since that church was being "prayed over" by all of you.
It reminds me of what happens when you throw a stone to the water, you never know how many lives you can touch and influence for the Lord.
We are so very thankful! I could go on and on.
Gaston went on Monday to the travel agency and gave the bus money to the lady, so that's taken care of.
Please, say hi and thank you once again to the kids and to Pam, Bridget, Andrew, Tim and and Brad.
God bless you all,
Adriana



April 4

 

Please continue to keep us in your prayers,

 

 

 

Richard Stephenson

Director, Information Technologies

Kentucky Tennessee Conference

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Madison Academy 

Click for People of Peru Web News

Around 8 o´clock this morning we arrived in Iquitos, Peru along with a group of faculty members, students, and parents from Madison Academy. After breakfast, a restful nap, and delicious lunch we headed off to the Belen market. The market was unlike anything we have ever seen. Piranhas, yuccas, and snake skins were for sale on the garbage strewn streets. Children ran barefoot through the raw sewage, and made me feel guilty that I had the pleasure of wearing shoes. We saw how people less fortunate than ourselves live, and it made us realize how spoiled we Americans can be sometimes. After we were done looking around we took a moped-taxi back to the People of Peru Project building. It was a very religious experience since I felt it was necessary to pray whenever it looked like we were about to have a wreck which was about every sixty seconds. However, it was still a great and thrilling experience that I will cherish. I look forward to seeing how God will change and use all of us on this amazing trip.

God Bless,

Jennifer White

Madison Academy

Madison Global Mission 2007

Kids church and more kids!

 Hi to everybody back at home..... I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to be here with this group. Though I may not be a student at Madison anymore, I am ecstatic to be sharing this experience here in Iquitos, Peru. Right now, it's about 1 o'clock. I feel like we have already had a full day. We got up this morning for a delicious breakfast of fruit and oatmeal and then headed out to share a Sabbath service with the community of Santa Clara. We walked around the neighborhood, inviting the children to come to our Sabbath School. We sang songs and told Bible stories. Afterwards, we all sang "Lord I Lift Your Name on High" as a group and then my friends Kelly, Pamela, and I led out in a Spanish song service for the church. Pastor Angel preached an inspiring sermon (in Spanish), that was a blessing to everyone. As we are beginning to share the message with the people of Peru this week, I pray that you would continue to keep us all in your prayers, that we may truly be able to turn our eyes upon Jesus!!

God Bless,

Sarah Hamm 

Hola amigos en el U.S! We are very tired tonight but for the fourth day in a row there are no complaints and everyone is very willing and happy to be here. Today is Monday and it is our second day working, we have acomplished alot in my opinion. Yesterday the sun was quite strong and today is was quite humid but both days the heat is very intense. I'm not sure we have ever sweat so much! We are really enjoying ourselves quite alot despite all the uncomforts. Last night we brushed shoulders with Monterey Bay Academy while celebrating the V.P. Julio's birthday. The singing, food and birthday celebrations were very Peruvian! The food here is so delicious in my opinion, some people don't think so highly of it but for me it has made my body feel very healthy and energetic! The staff here works very hard to make us comfortable here, it is quite impressive to see the teamwork and willingness they posses. I do not know what we would without the translators, we have a few Spanish speakers in our group, a few people who can barely communicate and alot who speak nothing at all so we are greatly indebted to them for helping us not only get around but also helping at the Vacation Bible Schools we have put on for the children here. Ah, VBS, it is by far the highlight of the trip for me as well as some of my friends. The children here are absolutely precious beyond belief! Some of them I am so impressed with that I would be willing to try to smuggle them back home with me. Tomorrow we are hosting a VBS at a small Adventist church in the poorest part of Iquitos, Belen. That is, if the Amazon River has not risen so far we cannot acess the church. This shall turn out to be quite an adventure and I am sure you will hear about that later. For now hasta luego, estamos muy bien!

May Christ be with you as well as here with us in the Amazon!

Staria Clark, Madison Academy

Madison headed for the jungle this morning here are some pre-departure pictures.

We will let you know who survived in a few days!

Madison Academy Jungle Trip

We spent last two nights in the jungle in tents. On the way there we toured the Amazon. We also got to stop and trade with the Bora tribe for souvenirs. They performed a couple of dances for us and some of us got up and danced with them. The people there at the Bora tribe were not dressed very modest. The women’s shirts were basically necklaces that barely covered them. Even so it was a very neat experience.

The boat going to the jungle was very cramped but the scenery made it worth it.  When we got there after supper, we went to bed pretty early so that we could get protection from the mosquitoes in our tents. The jungle was very beautiful. We were there on a porch like structure about nine feet off the ground with a thatched roof over our heads. We basically slept above the river. We wore boots to get around in the mud from the rising water levels and the stairs were slippery. I fell down them and bruised my arm and thigh.

In the morning we put on a vacation bible school for the children in the jungle village. There were about twenty kids there.  The children loved it when we blew bubbles and played with our squirt guns with them. It was really fun. During VBS we told a stories, sang songs and colored pictures with them. They all got prizes.

We asked a mother what the name of her baby was and she said that it wasn’t old enough to name. It was 13 days old and they name them when they are 2 or 3 months old. They do this after they see if the baby will survive.

 After the vacation bible school, we came back by boat to the main base camp. On the way back I saw a dolphin jump and thankfully I was on the boat that we less cramped. The other group was on the cramped fast boat which had broken and they had to wait. Today was awesome and I don’t think it will be possible for us to forget our adventure in the jungle! We are jungle survivors!                                                         ~ Amy Joy Beard ~

Paul Opp director of People of Peru Project and Bridget (Jones) Sharp were reunited after 30 years. Both attended Mt. Vernon Academy in Ohio. Bridget is now a nurse anesthetist and her years of knowledge in the medical field were a huge asset during the medical clinic that POPP conducted in a small village outside Iquitos. (not to mention "aggressive" medical treatment to keep Paul's leg from falling off after the motor cycle crash) Thanks Bridget

                         Madison Global MIssion Amazon 2007
          Click Here to Donate for the MGM Amazon Jungle 2007 Mission Trip

Destination: Iquitos, Amazon Jungle, Peru
 
Dates: ( March 29 to April 8)
 
Price: ($1700)
 
Location: ADRA (Adventist Development & Relief Agency) Orphanage, School, and Medical Clinic
 
Projects: Light Construction, General Remodeling, Vacation Bible School, Medical Clinic, Evangelism


Location Description:





2006 Trip

Peru is located in Western South America, bordering the South Pacific Ocean, between Chile and Ecuador. The total area of Peru is 1,285,220 sq km, which is slightly smaller than Alaska.

Iquitos, Peru is known as the Gateway to the Amazon. Accessible only by boat or plane, Iquitos is situated at the convergence of two rivers, which come together and form the Amazon. The Peruvians here are the descendants of the Incas. This large city of 400,000 people is driven by the combination of the lumber industry and tourism. Many jungle excursions begin and end in Iquitos. Many of the people of this region consider themselves separate from the rest of Peru, as they are isolated from the capital Lima by miles of jungle and the Andes Mountains

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_{Madison Global Mission 2006  Lima, Peru}    

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We just wanted to inform you that our Mission Team in Peru is doing fine. We are working on the University Library and the choir is singing in some of the areas surrounding Lima.  The choir is touching many lives throughout peru. We have sang twice already and are singing tonight at the largest adventist church in peru. Everyone is extremely impressed of what we are doing. Thanks so much. sincerely from peru,