WMUV – Woman's Missionary Union of Virginia

The Updraft team has still not been able access the internet, but were able to call back to Virginia.

Today they were at the baby house for a little while, and then went to the toddler house. There they were given instructions on how to sort and clean a supply garage. The Door of Hope volunteer thought it would take the team several days – they finished it in 3 hours.

They really connected with the “aunties” at the toddler house. Most of the aunties are refugees from the Congo. They have very little and many are separated from their parents and even their children. Staff told the team that the aunties needed special love as often times, understandably so, the babies get all the attention, prayer, and love. The team is excited about developing relationships with the aunties and finding ways to bless them.

Back at St. Peters, they talked with Shaaron, the director and an Anglican priest. Shaaron gave them the background story about St. Peters. She also discussed the ramifications of apartheid in South Africa and how they still manifest themselves today. During the group reflection, Kristen led the team in a discussion about the Biblical meaning of shalom.

One of the girls asked what day it was. “Thursday” was the reply. “But it’s not supposed to be Thursday yet!” The time is quickly passing.

Please pray for them as they learn more about the culture, the mission of Door of Hope, and the stories behind the children there. Also pray for the children waiting to be adopted, some as old as 5 years old.

Internet connection has been elusive for the team, thus the following information was relayed through a phone call.

The Updraft South Africa team woke up this morning at St. Peter’s Place after a good night’s rest following their late night arrival. Their hosts at St. Peter’s provided them with a large breakfast, and then they were off to the nearby mall to exchange  money and buy phone cards.

After that brief stop they headed to one of the baby houses where Door of Hope staff oriented them. The number of babies there just about equaled the numbers of the team, thus giving each them an opportunity to spend quality time with one child.

Sandy Pinkerman, one of the adult leaders, took the rental van out with one of the Door of Hope volunteers to better learn how to drive in Johannesburg. She had to learn how to deal with driving on the left side of the road and shift gears with her left hand as opposed to her right. After a few laps around the block, she got the hang of it.

By afternoon, as the babies were beginning to fall asleep, the affects of traveling 2 days made them a bit sleepy too. They perked up during a small party for a couple of summer volunteers that were heading back to the States after 11 weeks of work. About 5:00 they headed back to St. Peters for dinner, reflection, and calling home.

Overall, they are in good spirits, safe, and humbled to be able to serve God through Door of Hope.

By Michael J. Clingenpeel

FORT YATES, NORTH DAKOTA—Like most Southern Baptists over the age of 50, my first taste of missions came at the hands of Sunbeams and Royal Ambassadors. Missions was summed up in three words—pray, pay and send. Missionaries made it a career, mostly outside the United States.

This changed during the final quarter of the 20th century. We added a fourth word—go.

Missions volunteerism, a.k.a. partnership missions, is an accepted fact. We don’t want to watch someone else’s photographs and hear another person’s stories. We hunger for the experience.

Virginia Baptists linked up with Baptists in New England about thirty years ago. A few churches made connections with sister churches in what Southern Baptists called “pioneer” areas, but it never scratched the missions itch.

Then came a partnership with Tanzania. This featured a tangible goal—build 100 church buildings in three years across this nation in East Africa. Virginia Baptists got excited.

Later came simutaneous revivals in Costa Rica, construction projects in the Czech Republic, Seeds for Croatia and Bible distribution among the Kuna Indians in Panama. Partnership missions was here to stay.

This missions partnership with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is different than most of those undertaken by Virginia Baptists in the past.

For one thing, the population numbers are small. Only 17,000 people live on the reservation, 10,000 of whom are enrolled in the Sioux Tribe.

Joe Teefey, member of River Road Church, Baptist is Richmond, organizes medical supplies to be used by a team that is traveling to all seven communities in the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation for health checks.

For another, there are only two Baptist-related churches on the reservation—Tipi Wakan in Cannon Ball and First Baptist Church in Fort Yates. Only Tipi Wakan has a full-time pastor, and he and his wife live off their retirement income and the modest support provided by some generous friends. The work is difficult, and the traditional measures of success—bodies, bucks and buildings—are almost non-existent.

So what are Virginia Baptists doing here?

Making friends.

Bob Hetherington, who came here for the first time over 15 years ago, says this partnership is “about people, not projects.”

How do Virginia Baptists go about making friends 1,800 miles away?

Simple deeds. Acts of kindness.

Here’s what’s been happening this week. Hypertension and diabetes are common among the Native American population, so a medical team is taking blood pressures and testing glucose levels. They are giving away toothbrushes and toothpaste, doing eye tests and reading glasses to those who need them. At seven sites they are serving free lunches and dinners to anyone who shows up.

They are leading recreation for children and youth, teaching a Bible story each day, reading aloud and giving each person three books a day, They are doing woodworking and teaching computer skills. They are learning names, entering conversations and smiling a lot. They are fitting children and adults with shoes donated by Middle District Association churches and winter coats from Poplar Springs Baptist Church in Richmond.

Elizabeth Boone, a May University of Richmond graduate who moved here for a two-year appointment as a Virginia Baptist Venturer, said it this way: “Virginia Baptists go where the spotlight isn’t. We are here because there is a need.”

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From an email sent by Kristen White:

Just a quick note to tell you we have arrived safe and sound in Jo’burg, South Africa. Our flights were very smooth (even arrived early to both Amsterdam and Johannesburg!) and our team is doing healthy, happy, and we have all of our luggage too!

After getting through customs, we met up with our contact at Door of Hope as well as the folks from Pretoria, SA who are letting us borrow their van (or “kombi”) while we are here.

We have arrived this evening at St. Peter’s Place, where we’ll be staying during our time here. It was formerly a monastery, then a theological training school, and is now a lodging place for folks like us.

We’re pretty tired after travelling for 2 days and skipping over 6 hours, and it’s nearly midnight here, so we’re heading to bed. Tomorrow will be our first day of ministry at Door of Hope, caring for these sweet babies that God has allowed us to love on this week. Everything was mostly closed tonight, but we will also be exchanging money and some are planning to buy international phone cards tomorrow.

We are so confident that God has come here to Jo’burg before us and with us. He has prepared the way and we are excited to serve Him here. We appreciate your continued prayers on this journey!

By Michael J. Clingenpeel

FORT YATES, NORTH DAKOTA—There was a time when law-enforcement officers granted ministers the opportunity to join them for a shift in a squad car. Pastors got a close-up-and-personal view of life on the right and wrong side of the law. A night on the beat never failed to supply perspective.

My job on the mission trip to Standing Rock is to “ride-along.”

For one week I get to go from one mission site to another, observing, asking questions, taking pictures and, on occasion, making myself useful by toting a box or talking to a child. To justify my existence, I tap out this blog each day, and maybe a story or two at the end of the week.

There are no awful jobs on this mission trip, but mine has to be the best.

Yesterday I talked my way into the van of Maria Lynn, Adult Missions Coordinator for Woman’s Missionary Union of Virginia. People refer to the late George Steinbrenner as “The Boss,” but they have not met Maria. When it comes to Virginia Baptists at Standing Rock, she is “The Boss.”

The Standing Rock partnership landed on her plate when she was hired by WMUV a little over two years ago. The partnership was expanding to gather in volunteers from outside the Roanoke Valley Baptist Association, where it originated under the vision of Bob Hetherington and his late wife, Judy. WMUV saw it as a project they could promote, and Maria was the logical person to coordinate the statewide emphasis.

Missions is a family affair for the Lynns. A little after 9:00 a.m. yesterday, Maria’s husband and two daughters climbed into the WMUV van, along with me, and more boxes than Federal Express jet. We drove north to Cannon Ball, a community of about 850 people on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. There we off-loaded about half of the boxes and Maria’s family, who joined other volunteers at that site.

Cannon Ball is the location of Tipi Wakan, a chapel led by Pastor Boots Marsh and his wife, Jackie. Before we left, volunteers had already begun sorting medical supplies and the many dolls, jumpers and shoes contributed by Virginia Baptists. Others were slapping primer on the single-wide trailer which soon will house two Virginia Baptist Venturers.

From there, Maria and I spent the day driving to the remaining six communities on the reservation where some of the 240 or so volunteers were deployed. Fort Yates. Porcupine. McLaughlin. Bullhead. Little Eagle. Wakpala.

We started in North Dakota and, by early afternoon, we were in South Dakota. We passed prairie dogs, buffalo herds, horses, grasslands, buttes, amber waves of grain and two places where Sitting Bull is buried, one in North Dakota and the other in South Dakota. Don’t ask.

At each site Maria handled lots of logistics with skill. Need more people to help with the traveling team. Check. Need transportation for seven people to a work site. Check. Boxes were mistakenly sent to the wrong site and need to be moved. Check. A child arrived at one site with a personal crisis—what do we do? Check.

Over 200 volunteers don’t show up in North Dakota, deploy and get something done without coordination. Maria Lynn is the one who makes it happen for Virginia Baptists.

We returned to the hotel ten hours and well over 200 miles after we left. This is a big reservation, with big needs, and Virginia Baptists are doing big work here.

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WMUV sent approximately 240 volunteers to work with the Standing Rock Indian Reservation last week, following a week of 200 volunteers from the Roanoke Valley Baptist Association.

Read the Day 1 update. Learn more about WMUV’s work with Standing Rock at www.wmuv.org/standingrock.

By Michael J. Clingenpeel

FORT YATES, N.D. — Most of life involves just showing up.

That old adage applies when it comes to Virginia Baptists doing missions in North Dakota.

North Dakota is right on the way to where you’re going if you happen to be Meriweather Lewis, William Clarke or a member of the Corps of Discovery. They passed within sight of our hotel’s location when they sailed up the Missouri River over 200 years on their epic journey to the Pacific.

In my case, it took about six decades to get here. I managed to set foot in 44 other states, including Hawaii and Alaska, prior to leaving my footprints in the square at the center top of the United States map.

It’s 1,831 miles from Richmond to the Prairie Knights Casino, a 98-room hotel and wagering emporium situated in the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. That’s the odometer reading on Earl Banton’s Dodge pickup when he arrived two and one-half days after leaving Richmond on Thursday morning. He made the trip alone, pulling a trailer loaded with supplies needed by the 150 or so volunteers who traveled here for a week of mission service on the Reservation.

Earl’s trailer had a bad tire which rolled its final mile in Kentucky, where he stopped at a ubiquitous Wal-Mart to see if they would change it. Changing a tire on a heavily-loaded trailer is not a one-man job. They changed the trailer tire for the spare he had brought along, didn’t charge him a cent, and sent him on his way. It’s the kind of thing that is covered by our prayers when we ask for “traveling mercies.” Hikers call people like that “trail angels.”

Most of the volunteers from Virginia traveled like I did, by plane. They stopped in places like Minneapolis, Chicago or Detroit, but most of them arrived without incident, wearing teal-colored tee-shirts bearing the symbol of this mission partnership and the motto “heart and hand.”

“Heart and hand” describes what this mission is about—people holding out their hands to grasp the hands of others in friendship. It’s a two-way street. Both give. Both benefit.

When this week’s volunteers gathered Sunday afternoon in the town of Cannonball, North Dakota to get acquainted and get our marching orders for the week, Bob Hetherington, director of missions for the Roanoke Valley Baptist Association and visioncaster, along with his late wife Judy, for this partnership, urged us to “focus on the people.”

Today, Monday, everyone will scatter across the Standing Rock Reservation, in land area the size of Connecticut, and begin doing just that.

Learn more about WMUV’s work with Standing Rock at www.wmuv.org/standingrock.

It all began well over a year ago.

Sara Hubble had concluded her term as a WMUV/VBMB-sponsored Venturer in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her year had been spent at Door of Hope, a place for abandoned babies to be loved and cared for while they wait for an adoptive family to take them home. Her stories and pictures were awe-inspiring and set the stage for other young women in Virginia to have a similar experience through Updraft, WMUV’s hands-on mission experience for students.

Initial plans were made and the search began for a small team of college-aged women around the state who were called to take on such a mission. In early 2010, after an application-references-interview process, the Updraft South Africa team was selected.  Team members began fund-raising, sending off passport applications, and preparing their hearts for what would occur later in the year.

A two-day training took place in May to work through the deep questions like “Why do we do missions?,” “How do we handle team conflict that might arise?,” and “What cultural differences can I expect?.” The team also addressed logistical questions, including “When should we be at the airport?,” “Will we go on a safari?,” and “Will there be toilets?”

With Stage One (Preparation) complete, we are about to embark on Stage Two, perhaps the most exciting part of the adventure, as we love and care for babies in this transitional phase of their lives. The Updraft South Africa team will leave from Dulles Airport on Monday, August 2 and return on Thursday, August 12.

Those who are interested may track our flights – Delta 9385 (Dulles to Amsterdam), Delta 9600 (Amsterdam to Johannesburg), Delta 103 (Johannesburg to Atlanta), and Delta 150 (Atlanta to Dulles) – and our journey here at www.wmuv.org and on Facebook (www.facebook.com/wmuvengage). We will update you as often as we are able.

Team members are:

• Rachel Ledden – Living Word Fellowship, Fredericksburg
• Catie McCoy – First Baptist Church, Martinsville
• Sasha Doss – First Baptist Church, Martinsville
• Mara Doss – First Baptist Church, Martinsville
• Lindsey Heldreth – Wytheville Baptist Church, Wytheville
• Sandy Pinkerman – Virginia Heights Baptist Church, Roanoke
• Kristen White – WMUV

We covet your prayers as for safety, good health, and most of all, God’s grace along the way.  May we be focused on Him and committed to serving Him wholeheartedly.