Welcome to Lakewood UMC Missions

We hope that this site will give you a better understanding of LUMC’s missions program.  Here you can read short reports on recent mission trips, see pictures from these trips, as well as leave your comments for others to share.  Please take a few minutes to look around.  Anyone is welcome to participate in our program by going on mission events and trips, providing financial support, prayer, and more. 

The mission trip planning for 2010 is well underway.  If you are interested, please contact the team leaders shown by each  of the planned missions below.

• Disaster Recovery – There will be a number of mission trips to the Galveston area and others as needed to work with UMCOR in helping families recover from natural disasters.  Work will include all types of home repair.  Watch the weekly bulletin for dates or contact Jack Aulick (zjwa02@comsast.net) for more information. 
• Storm Mountain – Lakewood plans to again send a team to the Methodist Camp in South Dakota called Storm Mountain Center.  The LUMC teams have helped the camp with various construction activities over the years.  Tentative dates for next year are July 4 thru 9.  This is a great trip for the whole family.  Contact Betty Duelm (yellowrose1845@sbcglobal.net) for more information.
• Matamoras Mexico – Lakewood has been sending teams to this area of Mexico for several years on medical missions to provide free dental and health clinics.  The 2010 trip will be October 21 thru 24.  To learn more, contact Scott Johnson (geescott@sbcglobal.net). 
• Kenya, Africa – Lakewood will be returning to Kenya next year from July 1 thru 17.  The team will work with the Maua Methodist Hospital as well as on a new church in the Kwangware area.  Additionally, the team will likely conduct a VBS session(s) for local children.  For more information contact Colin Wilkinson (colinwilkinson@entouch.net) or Jim Robertson (JHRRobertson@aol.com).
• Bolivia – LUMC plans to send another team to Bolivia in 2010.  The 2009 team helped in the building of a church in Cotani and had a wonderful experience.  Dates for 2010 are not yet available.  For the latest information contact Tom Smith (n5ama@comcast.net) or Maggie Dickson (maggiedee@mac.com). 
• Costa Rica – Lakewood plans to send two teams to this beautiful country in 2010.  Tentatively the dates for the 1st trip are May 22 thru 30 and the 2nd trip will be June 5 thru 13.  The teams will work in the small community of Puntarenas on the west coast and do construction work on a local Methodist church and conduct VBS for local children.  For the latest information, please contact Jack Aulick (zjwa02@comcast.net) or Amanda Whitlow (AHilty@bairhilty.com) or Eric Johnson (ericj@mybciteam.com).

If you would like to learn more about the Missionaries that we support, please go to the Missions and Ministries page of Lakewood’s home site. 

Thank you for your interest in Lakewood’s missions program.   If you have questions or would like more information please contact me via the email address below. 

Jack Aulick - Missions Committee Chair

zjwa02@comcast.net

Team Goes to San Leon Tx to Help In Hurricane Ike Recovery

In December 2009 a team went to San Leon TX to help a family in their recovery from Hurricane Ike.  The family was a disabled couple that lost their home in the hurricane and recently received a new trailer home.  The deck and disability ramp that was initially built for their new home needed refurbishment.  The team was able to shore up the deck and ramp, put up safe hand rails, and replace almost all the decking making it safer for the home owners.  The family was very grateful for their new deck.  We got rained out a couple of days on the deck project, so we worked at the FUMC of La Marque (our host church) helping them prepare for housing more volunteer teams in the future by painting and assembling bunk beds. 

The team thanks all of the Lakewood congregation for their support and making this mission possible.    See pictures of our trip below.

Lakewood Mission Team Goes to North Dakota

In early August 2009 a team of six traveled way, way, way north to Valley City North Dakota.  Valley City endured flooding in the spring as the local Sheyenne River, which runs through town, came out of its banks due to excessive snow melt.  Valley City residents, in conjunction with FEMA and other agencies, prepared the town for the rising river the best they could.  Residents of the town filled sand bags and built levees for days/weeks in advance of the flood.  The town endured flooded streets and buildings, as well as temporarily losing its sewer system.  The loving people of Epworth UMC in Valley City opened their doors to help the whole community before and after the flood.   Meals were prepared at the church for over 30 days to feed a significant part of the community and volunteers.

 While flooding directly from the river was somewhat contained due to the community’s preparation, there were a number of basements that were flooded.  One of the ‘casualties’ in the flood was the basement of the parsonage of Epworth UMC.  Pastor Dan Bader and his family live in the parsonage, across the street from the church.   The basement represented a good portion of the area of the house, and after the flood water forced them out of their basement, the Baders have been more than a little cramped.  Members of Epworth and other volunteers ‘mucked out’ the parsonage basement soon after the flood.  It took several weeks for the basement to dry out enough that ‘rebuild’ could begin.

 The LUMC Missions Committee heard of the North Dakota flooding via the United Methodist Reporter in April.  After a short discussion, a few emails from Committee members to folks in the Dakotas, and a couple of phone calls; we learned about the need for basement repair in the Epworth UMC parsonage.  This need ‘struck a cord’ with some folks and efforts began to see what LUMC could do to help in this need.  In addition to sending a team of volunteers to help in the repairs, we were able to contribute funds from the LUMC ‘Kingdom Fund’ to purchase building materials to be used in the repair of the parsonage. 

 The LUMC team finished preparing the basement for framing, framed up new walls in the basement, added walls for new closets, installed insulation and some wiring, and began putting up sheetrock on the new walls.  We had a great time working along side of the Bader family all week.  None of our team are professionals at any of the things we did, but He was there to see us through each day.  We all had a wonderful experience as we strived to be His hands and feet.

 One of the best parts of the week was meeting many loving people of Epworth UMC.  Every day a family or group of Epworth folks would make lunch and dinner for us, plus every morning and afternoon snacks and coffee were available.  The team was humbled and amazed by the loving and serving hearts of these folks at Epworth and so enjoyed the fellowship at every meal.  We cannot thank these folks enough for their labor in preparing meals for us.  Also, we want to thank Joel and Jon from Epworth for taking care of us regarding tools for the week, and VirLyn of the church office who kept all the food and logistics support for us moving smoothly.  We stayed at the Methodist camp of Wesley Acres located about 20 miles north of town.  Wesley Acres directors Anita and Kevin Tulp made this beautiful camp feel like home away from home with their warm hearts, comfortable quarters, and good food.  Lastly, the Bader family (Nathan, Mathew, Monica, and Dan) were such exceptional hosts for us.  We worked together all week, shared many stories, ate most meals together, shed a few tears together, sang together, and prayed together.  They are special people. 

 The LUMC team wants to express our sincere gratitude to all the Valley City people for making our week so special, and the entire LUMC congregation for their support and prayers. 

The slideshow below shows a few scenes from our week.

May 2009 – LUMC Costa Rica Mission

Lakewood UMC sent a mission team of seven members to the beautiful country of Coast Rica for about 9 days in May 2009.  The task for the Mission Team was to contribute to the construction of a Methodist Church in the small town of Palmares; the church name is Inglesia Evangelica Metodista de Palmares.  The team met most of the people in this small congregation at the two worship services we attended, plus some of the congregation would help in the construction or stop by during the work days.      Even though there was a bit of a language barrier, the team easily felt the love and appreciation of the local people through their smiles, hugs, laughter, tears, and hospitality.  At times the work would be  be hard and laborious, yet all contributed and did what they could.  However, all of our team members were very willing and able to contribute to the purpose of the Mission, which was to share the love of our Lord with our Costa Rican brothers and sisters in Christ.  The fellowship that was had with the people of Palmares as well as other team members is what always makes mission trips a wonderful experience. 

We worked on the church for five days.  Our work included re-topping a dirt road going into the work site with more dirt as it had deep ruts and much erosion hampering delivery of building materials by large trucks.  Also we painted/coated several joints of metal square tubing that will be used to construct the roof supports of the church.  Lastly, we built two sidewalks along two sides of the church.  The building of the sidewalks took up most of our work week.  We all learned a great deal about mixing cement by hand!!!

After our week of work in Palmares, we traveled by bus to the west coast of Costa Rica to the area called Manual Antonio.  This area is right along the Pacific Coast and is beautiful.  The whole team went whitewater rafting on the Savangre River and did a little site seeing in the area. 

Costa Rica is a beautiful country, and the people that we met and worked with in Palmares have beautiful and loving hearts.  Our team again wants to thank all the people of Inglesia Evangelica Metodista de Palmaresfor their hospitality and friendship.  Further the team wants to express our gratitude to the Lakewood UMC congregations for making this blessed opportunity available to us through their prayers and support.

Pictures from our mission are shown below.

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Lakewood Mission Day in Hitchcock

On December 13, 2008 approximately 40 LUMC members dedicated their day to help 3 families in Hitchcock Texas in their recovery from the flooding of their homes caused by Hurricane Ike.  The team worked on 3 houses that day that were selected by UMCOR.  The work included cleaning homes of water soaked goods/furniture, removing sections of sheetrock that was soaked during the storm, removing trees that were damaged, removing insulation from under a house that was ruined due to high water, etc.  We had a wonderful day helping those in need as well as meeting members of our own church family that we had not met before. 

Thanks to all the folks that gave of their time and talents that day, we pray that our efforts glorified His name. 

LUMC 50 Man Mission Team Goes To Port Arthur

A team of about 50 men from the church worked with the UMCOR Disaster Recovery team in Port Arthur Texas over the week of November 3^rd 2008.  We worked on five separate houses over the week.  The work included tearing out and replacing flooring,  putting in new ceiling tiles, repairing sheetrock walls, tearing out damaged porches and rebuilding, replacing soffit, replacing light fixtures and old plumbing, jacking up houses and replacing portions of the sub-structure, building a room addition on a house, tearing off old shingles, and more.  The families from the five houses that we touched were very grateful for the work done and shared their love with the team.  In two cases, they provided lunch for the teams.  All participants had a wonderful mission experience and say that they want to again participate in future LUMC missions. 

 

LUMC thanks all those who donated their time and talents to this effort and pray that you will again follow God’s calling in reaching out and serving those in need. 

 

A few pictures from the week are shown below.

Hurricane Relief Mission; October 2008

A team of eight persons from Lakewood went to Port Arthur Texas for a week to work in the UMCOR Disaster Recovery program in East Texas.  This team worked on the house of Mrs. Chaney that was damamged in Hurricane Rita in 2005.  The team did a number of repairs including providing new substructure under the house in several places, tore out old flooring and replaced with new, put in new water heater, replaced the front and back doors, put up new wall paneling in one room, and layed new linolium flooring on the bathroom.  At the end of the week, Mrs. Chaney was absolutely delighted and very grateful.  We all enjoyed her enthusiasm and loving heart. 

It was a great week of fellowship and hard work.  Please see a few pictures from our week below.

Costa Rica 2008

Lakewood UMC sent a mission team of 20 members to Costa Rica in August 2008.  The team was sent to:

1. Share the love of Jesus Christ and Glorify His name
2. Contribute to the construction of Inglesia Evangelica Metodista de Palmares, which is a Methodist church in Palmares, Costa Rica

 None of the team members had ever been to Costa Rica, so this was a new experience for all of us.  And, for sure, we all loved the trip and are already planning to go back in 2009.  The people that we meet in Costa Rica made the trip very special.  The people of the small congregation at Inglesia Evangelica Metodista de Palmares have very loving hearts, and they shared that love with us.  There was definitely a language ‘challenge’ between their Spanish and our English, but even so, you could see love in their faces and feel it in their embrace.  Too, we were all energized by the vibrancy in which they worshipped and praised The Lord, there is no doubt that they have a deep love and reverence for the same God that we worship at Lakewood.

All the team would like to thank the congregation of Lakewood for making our trip possible, we could not have done this without their support, prayers, and love.

Click this line to see a slide show of our trip –> cr_2008_presentation_auto (be patient please as this large file takes up to 5 minutes to load)

If you are in a hurry, see a few pictures below.

Honduras 2008

My youngest daughter and I just returned from a mission trip to Tegucigalpa, Honduras.  I really appreciated the balance that the Hope for Honduras ministry and everyone on the mission team had in helping people physically and spiritually.  It is hard to hear the Gospel if you have starved to death, so the physical part is important.  But just meeting people’s physical needs and ignoring their eternal needs would be very short-sighted.

Unemployment is very high and many homes do not have a father.  The area was settled 10 years ago when floods from Hurricane Mitch forced people to flee to higher spots in the mountains.  Crime is a serious problem in Tegucigalpa, though we were kept safe throughout the week.

This was a great trip for any mission minded person.  You could be a first-timer or an experienced missionary and still get and give a lot.  Their web site has a brief but thorough overview of their ministry.  Check it out.

Some of the highlights:

Sponsor kids – Many of the team members had been there one or more times in the past and reconnected with children they sponsor.  It was a joy to see them together and encouraging to hear how much progress they had made.  You always want to ensure that any mission trips or organizations you support are actually making a difference, and this one does.

School - We helped with Bible / craft classes for younger kids twice a day.

Food distribution – Each day a few team members would distribute food to the children in the area.  For some it is their only meal of the day.

More food distribution – We took 100 lb. bags of rice and beans made 5 lb. packages of each and delivered them to every house in the area. 

The Gospel – The ministry helps spread the Gospel in all their activities.  We also passed out roughly 300 copies of the Gospel of John (or more accurately, the Gospel of Juan) with the bags of food.  I pray that many families read them and are transformed by God’s word.

House – We helped build a house for a family of 9.  The new house is a vast improvement for them but still about the size of your master bedroom.  The houses were somewhat similar to what I’ve helped build in Kenya, but we got to use power tools here.  That made it much easier, though I was amused when they handed me a rather sizable nail gun and expected me to use it.  Fortunately it has a safety feature on it.

The people - The kids were fun to interact with, although, as you might expect, they aren’t the most disciplined.  We’d stop working around 3:00 each day to spend time playing with them in the street.  The adults were very gracious.

As my daughter noted, when you look around the whole world these people are the “normal” ones relative to their living conditions.  We just think we’re normal.

Medical & dental clinic- We took a lot of supplies and bought medicine while we were there to restock the shelves.  This is an important outreach for the mission.

Spanish – My daughter taught me a little Spanish before we left and I picked up some more words there.  It is always fun to use a bit of the local language.  She was a huge help in translating for other members of the team, especially when talking to the families of the children they sponsored. 

Devotions – The team had a morning devotional and evening sharing time to discuss the events of the day and how we saw God working.  There was a heavy emphasis on the spiritual aspect of the whole enterprise, which I really appreciated.

Classes for women – They have a weekly Bible study / craft time for women in the area.  I imagine that is one of the highlights of their week, where they can do things they never got to do as kids and can take a break from their normal duties and learn about God and be encouraged.

The airport- We were warned that the landing is tricky in Honduras, but I just assumed that meant we’d get Continental’s best and brightest pilots.  Hey, that’s what prayer partners are for!

Accommodations – I anticipate roughing it a bit on mission trips, but we stayed at a very nice and very safe hotel.  Nice rooms, good food, beautiful rooftop for devotionals and meetings and even a TV in the room so we could watch the Olympics at night.

The team – Faithbridge United Methodist Church sponsored the trip, though several of us attend other churches.  The team members had a variety of backgrounds and were a delight to serve with.  I never get tired of hanging out with people who love the Lord and are committed to his word and to serving in his name.  Our leader, Lesa, was terrific and displayed an amazing balance of organizational skills, spiritual focus and passion. 

Prayer - We prayed a lot for the people and I’m sure we’ll keep doing so. 

Going with my daughter – It was literally a dream come true to do a mission trip with my youngest daughter (The original plan was to go to Kenya with my oldest daughter, but that fell through due to the political instability in place during the planning stages.  Hopefully that will play out next year.).  But this trip fell in our laps with perfect timing and she was excited to go.  She did a great job all week regardless of the task.  I couldn’t be more proud and I could thank God 24×7 for the next month and that wouldn’t be enough.

I’m planning to go back to Honduras sometime but I need to help my wife go on a trip there first.  She’s been a great sport in holding down the fort while I’ve gone on these trips.  The timing is always a challenge, though.

God is so good.  Mission trips are a joy.

Kenya 2007

A team of 16 from Lakewood United Methodist Church went on a mission trip to Kenya from September 20 – October 6 to share the love and truth of Christ.  We had the opportunity to do many things, such as helping build three homes for AIDS orphans, doing some maintenance at the hospital (mainly painting), visiting with the local church, sewing, dentistry (we had a dentist on the team), teaching some workshops, visiting remote clinics, worshiping and much more.  Here are a few highlights.

God is so good and we were blessed throughout the trip.

View all the pictures here.  You can view pictures individually, see a larger slideshow or download them.  Here’s a sample:

AIDS orphans homes

The main project we do is to help construct homes for AIDS orphans and their caregivers (often their grandparents, but sometimes just someone in the community).  These homes give the kids a safe place to live, help them stay off the streets and out of drugs and prostitution, and help them attend school and having a place to study.

In addition to all the great things it does for the children and their caregives, the program makes a great witness to the community.  It helps the church evangelize and spread the Good News of Jesus when the community comes out to see the houses being built and dedicated.  The local leaders challenge the people to share with each other and encourage one another. 

The purpose of the AIDS Orphans’ Project is to provide food, schooling, medical care and improved housing for AIDS orphans and to train their guardians in caring for these children. This project was established in response to the needs of the increasing numbers of AIDS orphans within the region that the hospital serves. Maua Methodist Hospital serves a district of 600,000 people as their only full service hospital. The AIDS orphan children are in desperate circumstances. The hospital is reaching out to them to share the Love of Jesus Christ by helping to care for their basic needs, and by giving hope for a better life.

Food distribution

We got to witness a monthly food distribution for those in the AIDS orphan program.  These ladies are incredible.  They sing and dance with such joy over receiving a 30-40 lb. bag of grain, then they put it on their backs to carry it several miles back to their homes.  What incredible gratitude!

Hospital work

Helping the hospital with repairs, maintenance and construction - financially and with our labor – helps them serve people who can’t afford any services at all.  Here’s an example of who this helps written by Jeri Savuto, a missionary at the hospital:

On Thurs. 20 Sept. 2007 Linnet W., a 24 year old mother of two, was brought into the hospital by neighbors. She had been found lying in the bush near her home. The night before her husband had come to their home, dragged her out and using a panga had cut her 25 times. He cut off both hands and her right foot was dangling. He cut off one ear and cut her back, legs, chest, face, and head. He had left her for dead.

When the neighbors brought her into the hospital she was in shock, which had caused the wounds to stop bleeding, and was covered with insects, dirt, debris, and dried blood.

To everyone’s amazement, Linnet was alive, able to talk, and move all limbs. She was cleaned, given blood, and immediately went to surgery. The day of her admission, the Senior Nurses met and were all asked to pray for Linnet. Each of us have visited her to pray and comfort her. Many of the staff bring her food and take part of their lunch time to feed her and spend time praying for her. In my visits with Linnet, I am amazed at her strength, her will to live, her hope and faith in God.

She has a five year old and one year old child. Her husband turned himself into the police the next day thinking she was dead. He is being held in prison.

Linnet will spend months in our hospital. She will need more surgeries and much care. She has no money to pay for her care but she will be taken care of because Maua Methodist Hospital is committed to care for the least of these. At present her hospital bill is already 30,000 Ksh ($448). Maua Methodist Hospital can take care of Linnet and many others without money because of our Advance Special #09613A – Maua Hospital Service Fund, Kenya”. Bill and I are so grateful to each of you who have given to the Service Fund. Usually $150 saves a life in Maua. Today I ask you to join our staff in praying for Linnet. As you pray please remember that a gift of $15 – $20 a month to the Service Fund makes a huge difference in the lives of many. It brings healing, hope, and love.

Money goes a long way in Kenya. 

• For $15 per month, you can feed, clothe and educate a young AIDS orphan.
• For about $100 per year an AIDS orphan can be fed three nutritious meals per day. For about $80 per year, she could be in primary school.
• For $2000 you can build a home for a guardian and several AIDS orphans.
• $1 pays for a malaria test for an outpatient
• $2 pays for a doctor to diagnose an illness
• $3 buys medicine to cure a child with malaria
• $10 buys antibiotics to cure a patient with typhoid
• $100 cures a baby with pneumonia and malaria as an inpatient for seven days in the hospital
• $26 provides antiretroviral drugs for one month in the Palliative Care program to keep a mother with AIDS alive to raise her children
• $5 pays for immunizations for all childhood diseases for the first year of an infant’s life
• $10 pays for medication to prevent transfer of AIDS from a pregnant mother to her baby

Should you wish to participate, please send your donation directly to the following address.

Lakewood United Methodist Church
11330 Louetta Road
Houston, TX 77070

Please make your donation payable to Lakewood United Methodist Church and add a note indicating this is to be used toward ‘Kenya Missions-Maua Methodist Hospital’ along with any other specific instructions you would like to provide.

Worship

Worshiping in a foreign country is a great experience.  The churches we visited sang many of the same songs, but mixed some Swahili songs and messages into the services.  The people were passionate, joyful and evangelistic.