Please click on the link below for more information on World Vision CareKits:  http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/getinvolved/caregiver-kits-church-volunteer-activity

 This year the Escalon C.A.R.E. facility was cleaned and new storage units were purchased.  Volunteers gathered at the facility and installed four (needed) new shelving  and storage units. They also cleaned the entire facility including the floors.  Then the stock on hand was organized and placed into the new storage units.

It was a good day for all, and much was accomplished by the volunteers from our community.

Thank you everyone for your help this year on our “Faith In Action Day.” 

The Call To Go, Listen and Partner – Pastor Troy

Two years ago, when we prayed for Josh and Virginia on their last Sunday with us – many of you came up to me after the service and said, ―if it were ever possible for our church to partner with them on a mission trip to Africa, we would heartily support it.

Well, half a year later, Josh and Virginia, moved by the poverty and the starvation in particular villages surrounding the capital, were moved to begin using their tithe money to feed hungry people. A connection was established with a village and conversations began with their small group bible study here at the church concerning support. This blossomed into a church-wide effort to send mon-ey monthly to the Giddens’, who would, in turn, purchase food-packs and deliver them to the church. We called this mission: First Fruits Zimbabwe.

A year later, one of the mission elders, Dick Nelson, approached Jeff Jarchow (who has facilitated the First Fruit ministry from the beginning) and myself and encouraged us to take a trip to Zimbabwe, to see how the mission was working on the ground, to encourage and support the Giddens (who have had difficulty connecting with a local church), to explore new opportunities to serve and to see if a future mission trip there would be feasible and helpful.

Jeff had been desiring to go to Africa for some time now (you can read this in his article inside) and I had been deeply desiring such an opportunity after the years of exposure to the need in Africa that I learned about through the Global Church Con-ference we partner with at First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley. In fact, the former senior pastor

of FPCB, Mark Labberton had encouraged me early on during my time in Escalon to do what he has done – to make a yearly habit of getting oversees to visit the poorest and the most troubled regions of the world and to enter into their struggle. He said I would not be an effective Christian pastor otherwise.

At this year‘s Global Church Conference, entitled ―Overflowing Joy and Generosity in a World of Pain and Scarcity, Greg Foulke was able to join our mission team in attendance. At the closing Question and Answer session, we both listened to the power-ful appeal of Mr. David Zac Nringiye Assistant Bishop, Diocese of Kampala, Uganda, who, when asked the question about what idols he sees in the American Church, responded:

Safety and security. This is the antithesis of the Gospel. . .following Jesus is not safe!

I sometimes find prayer as a cop out when you actually could get on with it. I know that this church [FPC Berkeley] organizes trips to the Congo. Stop praying about it. Go. Just stop praying. Why do you need to pray about it? Your brothers are experiencing it. Go and see them. Make the choice to go to the risky places – you will meet Jesus in a way you have never known him.

God is speaking, how else do you want God to speak? I have a struggle with prayer, prayer, prayer, when God is speaking. Get out of here. Save money. If you have it, just take the next flight.

His words floored us and Greg leaned over to me and said: ―I know you and Jeff are going to Zimbabwe in the spring. If you‘re willing to have one more, please let me go. Realizing that God was speaking to Greg, (how else do you want God to speak?), and knowing that Greg‘s organizational skills facilitating many mission trips through Habitat for Humanity (see his article inside) would be of essential value for us in considering a future mission trip to a country with very few mission organizations presently on the ground – well, the decision, quite frankly, was easy. Now, a year and a half after the Giddens left, we‘re sending three to Zimbabwe.

One of the caveats the good bishop gave us was that the church in America needs to move beyond its inability to listen. Putting it all together, this is what we learned at this conference: the church in Africa doesn‘t just want resources (though they desperately need them), they want partnerships, and they want churches who are willing to listen to them, to enter into their struggle, rather than simply prescribe for them what we think is best. In many ways, on this trip, we will be going to enter into their struggle and listen to them.

To be clear to our church—the funds used for this reconnaissance trip are not from the monies you have donated to the First Fruits Ministry to Zimbabwe. We also have not requested permission from Session to engage in extensive fund-raising from the trip – the majority of it will be raised personally from key mission partners here and elsewhere. If God opens the door for a future mission trip to Zimbabwe, then at that point we will ask for your partnership – for it will be an extension of First Fruits, our partnership in ministry with the people of Zimbabwe.

What we do ask of you is that you pray for us now as we prepare for this trip and as we go on this trip. Pray for the Giddens. Pray for the people of Zimbabwe. Continue your support of First Fruits. As for the three of us – well, we‘re just taking the next flight.

The Purpose of this Trip – Jeff Jarchow

We leave for Zimbabwe in a couple of weeks. Zimbabwe, Africa? Am I nuts? Possibly. However, I am excited!

Ever since I became a Christian 14 years ago, I have sensed God’s call in my life to bridge the “work world” and the church. This is how I was created to serve God and the church in my skills, gifts, and passions.

In today’s world, there are a lot of exciting developments in the areas of technology, entertainment, and mak-ing life easier for us. But, while we are sipping our $4 lattes and surfing the Web at Starbucks, there is a different reality in Zimbabwe and Sub-Saharan Africa. There and around the globe, the wealth gap between the rich and the poor grows at an alarm-ing rate. The wealthy are getting richer and the impoverished are get-ting poorer. This is true in Zimbabwe, where more than 83% of people live on less than $2 per day. Life expectancy is only 37 years. Everybody in the country has been affected by the AIDS epidemic in a personal way, with over one million children orphaned. Unemployment is over 80%. 1.5 million Zimbabweans will not eat today. To say the least, Zimbabwe is different from our comfortable Starbucks culture.

Flashback to 1996 – In college, I worked as a summer camp counselor in the second poorest county in the U.S. Campers built outhouses, painted houses, fixed roofs, and helped the poorest of Grundy County, Tennessee. The verse our team chose as our charge was 1 Timothy 6:17-19:

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with eve-rything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Zimbabwe is an extension of that de-sire to “take hold of the life that is truly life”. Escalon Presbyterian is taking hold of that life in making a difference in Zimbabwe, and, God willing, we will continue.

Thanks to Josh and Virginia, we have “feet on the ground” in Zimbabwe, delivering food to a village in East Zimbabwe and teaching people how to grow crops themselves through the partnership with Farming God’s Way. In our upcoming trip, we hope to expand our ministry.

Our goals for this trip are to determine how we can help with sustenance (food & safe drinking water availability), AIDS (many children have lost parents to AIDS and need God’s love shown to them), and empowerment (microloans – typically $50 to $100 – to help women start small businesses to sustain their families.) Our “take home final exam” for this trip is to have a plan developed for a mission trip to Zimbabwe for our church in 2011. You are invited to join us on this mission through prayer, financial support, and seeking God. Will he call you to take a huge step of faith? Will you be one to step out of your comfortable life in our wealthy nation to serve the people of Zimbabwe, one of the poorest countries in the world?

I am excited for this trip and to help lead EPC to continue learning to take hold of the life that is truly LIFE!

Planning for the Future – Greg Foulke

It‘s not hard to find concurrence that there is significant poverty and sig-nificant need in this world. It‘s also not controversial to say that this great need lies largely and primarily outside the United States. Sure, we cer-tainly have pain and misery right here at home, but not on the scale of Haiti…India…Africa. Most of us in the states have seen the videos and heard the stories of people in the farthest corners of the earth living in abject poverty, famine and disease. These images evoke in me feelings of guilt. I feel guilt for being as blessed as I am, guilt for not doing more (or any-thing) to help, and guilt for not appre-ciating just how blessed I am.

A ticket to for one person to fly round trip to Zimbabwe is $1,800. The first question that comes to mind is: Surely this money is better spent if we sent the money, rather than a person…the money must be able to do more good in Zimbabwe than a visit? I struggled with this while I was on a Habitat for Humanity trip to South Africa to build homes with the Zulu people to help put AIDS orphans in homes. While I was working one afternoon on a cinder block home, I calculated in my head how many more homes could be built if my team of 18 Americans would have simply sent the money they spent on hotels and airfare and hired local workers to build the houses instead.

I asked this very question to Pastor David Majola, a local Zulu (Lutheran pastor) who lived in the village where we were building. Pastor Majola (who has since died, in the service of these orphans) told me that money sent from America would build houses, but would only build houses. People coming, however, would build life-long friendships, and carry the plight of these fellow children of God back to the states, to pass the passion and the mission on to more people, who would come, build even more houses, and share their lives in the process.

I later learned that my team was the 12th team to come build in this South African Zulu village because one man in Arizona felt the calling, and decided to recruit a team to go build, rather than simply send money. Since my trip, over 31 teams have been to this Tshongwheni Valley (land of a thousand hills) in rural South Africa, and they are still com-ing! We have built an eternal spiritu-al connection with these Zulu people as we built homes with them, ate with them, sang with them, cried with them, and worshipped the one true God with them.

My role on this ‘advance team‘ to Zimbabwe is to coordinate the logistical side of sending a team of our congregation 10,210 miles away to Sub-Saharan Africa and one of the poorest countries in the world. Where do we stay? What are the safety/security risks? What work will we do? How does the team get trans-ported around in country? How long should the trip last? What time of year is best? What skills are needed? How much will all the airfare, trans-portation, lodging and food cost? What immunizations are needed? What are passport/visa/immigration issues? These are some of the ques-tions I am tasked with discerning while in Zimbabwe.

Sometimes sending money is appropriate (relief for Haiti is a good example of this). Sometimes putting on the sandals of the gospel of peace and loving our neighbor face to face is what God is calling us to do. I am convinced the latter is the case in regards to the gifts of our congregation and the need in Zimbabwe. I am going because God calls me to.

• Presbyterian Assistance Assistance
• World Vision

In June, we began to transition to a less expensive food supplier, cutting costs by 40%.  This transition will fully take effect in July.  Ongoing, the mission of First Fruits is looking to multiply by supplying food to a possible second village with these cost savings.  In addition, Josh and Virginia are going to produce “input packs” with seeds and fertilizer in conjunction with the ministry of Farming God’s Way to teach the villagers how to be good farming stewards to grow their own food.

The most recent food production forecast is that this year will not to be very good, prolonging the food crisis in Zimbabwe for at least another one to two years.

Please pray for Josh and Virginia that they are able to sell their Subaru car as they recently purchased a larger SUV for food delivery, for their safety during their deliveries, and for wisdom as EPC and Josh and Virginia’s work to expand the ministry to the people of Zimbabwe.  Thank you again for your continued participation and prayerful support for this work and ministry.

Jeff Jarchow

A View From Guatemala

As I was standing on top of the brick building that was designed to be a church, pounding nails through the incredibly dense wood that we had erected as trusses, and sweating profusely in the hot and humid air – I looked toward the village and saw quite a sight. Atop the church roof I looked past the soccer field where the children were playing, without shoes, and looked towards the large tree that seemed to mark this village, the village of La Gomera.  Underneath the tree was the make-shift building that housed our medical and dental clinic.  And I saw a long line of people, along with our vehicles, making their way from that clinic, making their way towards the church.  The clinic was now closed.  The medicines which were stored in a temporary pharmacy were now packed.  Our short-term mission trip was coming to a close.  The long line of people walking towards us choked me up, I hadn’t seen this many people gathered together since we’d been there.  I guess we wouldn’t be leaving this village quietly.

 Working alongside Pastor Juan, I pounded one last nail into the truss-support and he looked at me, waved his arms, and said, “no mas.”  No more.  Our work on the roof of the church was done – they expected to finish it the following day with the tin-roof.  Now it was time for the closing service.  We gathered in the middle of the guts of this exposed whale – a larger church structure than I had anticipated, completely dwarfing their old hut to the side.  Pastor Juan gathered the people into a circle underneath the roof trusses, which were still being supported from the ground by beams.  Others looked through the open-air windows as we stood on the dirt floor – the village of La Gomera and seven Americans easy spotted in their midst.

 Based upon conversations I had during the week – it was safe to say that there were many in attendance for this “closing service” that were not Christians.  Some even had assisted in the building of the church.  Many had arrived at the clinic.  But relationships were being made with the leaders and the LifeWind trainers.  And, to be sure, they were intrigued that a small group of Presbyterian Americans would show up.

 Pastor Juan spoke for the community and thanked us for taking the time to travel to La Gomera to work on this roof for the worship of the people.  His prayer was that many more in the village would become Christians and learn what it means to believe in and follow Christ.  The size of the new church was built in hope of such outreach.  He thanked our team for their long hours of work in the clinics and their playing with the children.  The first day of the clinic had over 88 sign-ins, I stopped keeping count the next two days.  Lastly, he asked that we extend their gratitude to our own church, for praying for them, for supporting them in these projects, and supporting the team in going.  He said that they now had a debt they could never repay.  I responded saying that the only debt that matters has already been paid.  We couldn’t have asked for a more gracious hosts.  We parted ways in prayer and hugs.

 I can’t tell you how proud I was of our team.  They worked tremendously hard all day long.  They served these wonderful people will their hearts and their energy.  They struggled, at times, with illness and the heat.  But they came to Guatemala to serve with joy – and they did.  I found myself beaming and choking up at numerous times as I watched our team work.  I also found myself thanking the Lord for using us, a small team from a small town, on a short-term trip. 

 Thank you Escalon Presbytery Church for your prayers, for your support, for donations, for sending us in faith.  Yet, this trip is only a small piece of the puzzle for the Christ-centered mission of a church.  If we pray that the Lord will open our eyes to more ways in which we can serve in his name – what might we see?  What might we do?  Where might we go?  I dare you to pray it.

 Guatemala

The gospel often goes to people with naked feet. There were many people in the small village where we went, who did not wear shoes.  Children ran around, playing soccer in their bare feet.  Adults walked down the main red dirt road into the village, past houses made of corrugated tin, to a makeshift medical and dental clinic which came several times a year.

Life Wind had worked in this village for three or four years.  A new medical clinic was being built, a large water tower powered by solar pumps, provided clean water for the village. There was no electricity, nor refrigerators. There was one small shop which sold soda and potato chips. At one time in the history of this village, the people almost decided to disperse rather than stay.

To an outsider, the prospects for this village were grim. The men, who worked, worked as laborers in sugar cane or corn fields. Numerous young men in their 20′s were unemployed.  Many had the idea that their only means of economic survival was to come to the United States.

I had small prayers each day as I worked with a group of men who built a roof on a new cinder block church. I prayed for clouds and rain as a relief to the high humidity and piercing sun. On most afternoons we had sufficient clouds, a slight breeze, and a bit of rain and no mosquitoes.

Overall, it would be easy for people to be discouraged. As I worked with people, listened, observed, there was a vibrant faith which resonated through both work and worship, a profound sense of gratitude, which was expressed audibly. I John 4:20,” “Whomever loves God must also love his brother.” The Mam villager’s faith overflowed in their relations with each other, their speech to one another, and their work with one another.

Overall, against a rather bleak backdrop, a new church with a tin roof has risen, raised by people with naked feet and a profound sense of gratitude for deliverance from their sins.  Their prayers are loud and ardent.  Their services often run for hours.

Guatemala

Seven of us had the opportunity to represent EPC this past month on a mission trip to Guatemala.  We felt the unity of the church behind us in prayer, and financial support, as it took the entire church to make the trek possible.

It was such a blessing to experience Christ as we traveled as a team to assist a small village in roof construction, and medical and dental assistance.  Thanks to the generosity of many of you we were able to take supplies that were needed and utilized.  Our group learned to be interdependent on each other as we were immersed in another culture.

Community Health Evangelism that is the basis of Life Wind’s ministry was perfectly represented by Dr. Hugo Gomez, and his team.  As we traveled with them we got to know the people, seeing their love for Jesus, as well as, their need and appreciation for support.

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm.  Let nothing move you.  Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.  1 Corinthians 15:58

Guatemala

I was extremely honored and blessed to be able to go to Guatemala on this mission trip.  I had never experienced or done anything like it before and at first I was a little nervous.  Once we got to Guatemala I knew right away that this was what God wanted me to do.  For me it was mostly a learning experience, but I do believe that I did my best for the people in La Gomera. 

 When I was in the village I helped in the clinic giving out patients’ prescriptions and when I wasn’t doing that I was playing with all the kids (usually soccer).  Playing with the little kids gave me time to learn their personalities and a little bit of their culture. 

 One thing that I’ll always remember about the people in La Gomera is that they all were so loving and cared for everyone in the village whether they were family or just their neighbors.  Another thing that I will remember is that you can use your hands when you play soccer with them (its called using what you have for your advantage).

 There was a little boy there named Julio, who I became friends with and one day we were all sitting in the back of a truck after they all got out of school.  He gave me his schoolbook to look at.  I then started pointing to pictures and telling him what they were in English.  He became very interested and pretty soon he learned apple, banana, tree, six, one, and the one he will never forget, monkey.  When I got to teach him some of my culture it felt really good and made me feel like we made a better connection by doing that.  I know that they made a lasting impression on me and I hope that I did the same for them.

 While I was there I learned that no matter wherever you are in the world, you are all connected to each other by your love for God and that will stick with me forever.  I thank everyone for all your support financially and spiritually and I hope I have another opportunity to do this again.

Guatemala

I again want to thank everyone who gave me the opportunity to go to Guatemala.  This has been a once in a lifetime experience that I hope definitely doesn’t just happen once.  Going to Guatemala has thought me so much, and has opened my eyes to so many of the bigger pictures, beyond Escalon, beyond America and beyond Earth.  This trip has opened my eyes to a little bit more of what the missionary field is like and that it is something that I definitely want to be involved in someway.

 I learned so much from this trip, but possibly the most important thing I learned was flexibility, flexibility, flexibility and I realized how important it really is, not just for mission trips, but for life.  Sometimes you think you’re doing things right and then things get thrown in your way and its hard to see what it is that you are really supposed to be doing for God.

 I was excited about putting a roof on this church because I felt like I had the experience to be able to help and I would really be useful to serve God and these people in that way.  On Monday I was working pretty hard because I was excited about doing it and I knew we were going to have to work hard to be able to finish it in the three more days we had.  I ended up finding out Tuesday morning that working in the sun of Guatemala that hard all day isn’t something that you can do.  I couldn’t do anything on Tuesday and it felt so terrible, everyone else was working on the roof, and I could barely stand up.  I felt useless and I didn’t understand why I was sick when I was just trying to do God’s will.  I knew I couldn’t work on the roof so I went over to the clinic.  I ended up learning so much that afternoon from the people at the clinic and from the kids running around after school.  I was able to hang out with the kids all afternoon, and that was the most amazing part of the trip for me.  The opportunity to make so many relationships with the kids of La Gomera.  I ended up hanging out with the kids in the afternoons for the rest of the week, and I definitely feel like that’s where I really left my mark.  I will never forget those kids and I imagine they will remember me.  This just taught me that we don’t always know what we are supposed to be doing but we just need to do it because if you really want to do God’s will you have to be flexible with whatever is thrown at you.  I hope that this trip has taught me that I don’t always know what God wants me to do, and I need to handle everything that’s thrown at me with the attitude to do what God would want me to do.

 I am so glad that I was able to go on this trip and I hope and encourage the church to keep doing mission trips, because it is such an amazing experience for those who go on it.  I will never forget this experience and I hope to be back to La Gomera someday.

Guatemala

After months of planning, study, prayer and preparation, our seven person mission team, was finally flying into the Guatemala Airport.  The city below was lit up like a huge Christmas tree.  Around 7 million people live in and around Guatemala city, and the view from above was breath taking.  After going through customs and meeting up with Abel, we loaded the van and made our way to the Pan American Hotel for the night.

The next morning our group walked through the ancient town square, had breakfast and began the journey to Champerico.  The roads and rules of driving in Guatemala are not like anything I have ever experienced.  There are families on motorcycles, brahma bulls grazing, machete wielding maintenance crews, bicyclists, traditionally dressed women and men with huge baskets on their heads or loads of firewood on their backs, joggers, and huge brightly painted buses that stop anywhere they want, to pick up passengers traveling to work, to school, wherever. 

All of these sights were on the highways and freeways along our way.  The next morning it was off to the village of  La Gomera, where we were graciously greeted, then assigned  to the tasks at hand. 

That day the construction of the roof  began, the clinic was set up, and the rain began to fall.  Soon after the downpour slowed, we were invited into the church for Sunday service.  Sitting on wooden benches and plastic lawn chairs, we worshipped in a bilingual service with scripture readings, singing, Pastor Troy’s sermon, and prayer that was initiated by a single lay person, but immediately joined by the entire congregation.  Their prayers were spoken out loud, heart felt and though hard to comprehend in Spanish, you could understand the words “God” and “Thank You” repeated over and over.  I am still in awe at how thankful this group of villagers were.  They lived in shacks with living trees as the posts that held up their tin roofs.  The floors were dirt and they cooked on open fires.  Their clothes were spotless but had holes  worn in them from scrubbing them clean against the rocks.  Some people had shoes and some did not. 

Our week passed quickly and after the final patient was seen, we disassembled the clinic, and had a short service under the newly constructed roof of the church.  Again, I was overwhelmed with the prayers and thankfulness of this small, yet spirit-filled village. They prayed for the week’s accomplishments, the continuous work of God, our safe travel, our church in Escalon, and our friends and families who supported this mission trip.  They closed with saying that they would never forget us and our generosity we shared through Jesus Christ.  I can truly say that I will never forget them, their thankful hearts, and especially their God-filled Spirits.

 Humbly In Christ,

Laura Alcantor

Guatemala

Within the eight days that I shared with my six fellow Presbyterians, I came to realize a few things.  Firstly, no matter how hard you looked outside your room, it always seemed much easier to find a critter inside. I can reflect on a few events in which I had to act quickly to rescue Laura and Jen from the attack of the one inch tree frog. I am not sure why, but it seems that all of the beautiful amphibian inhabitants also liked to shower. Apparently the rain wasn’t warm enough though, so they took the liberty of joining us in the shower.

Second, no matter how much mud seemed to be on the ground there was always a larger amount accumulating on the bottom of your shoes and the base of your pants. This got better throughout the week so I can’t really rant much about it, but I did find that interesting.

Third, it was sometimes easier to try and communicate in a language that you were unfamiliar with, than it was to speak with your own team members. I know that this sounds nearly ridiculous, but through the week, with lots of prayer and an amazing work of God, it was visible that this small team of seven could really function as the body of Christ. Even in a small church, and as close-knit as we are, we still don’t know how to approach every situation gracefully. This week our team grew together in their walk with the Lord. Thank you for all of  whom were able to pray at home because we felt your love. 

 Thank You Again.

Samantha Alcantor

 To View Guatemala Pictures Click Here:  Guatemala Pics or Guatemala Pics 2

Please be in prayer for us.  Here is a list of the team members and a tentative schedule for our work.

Mission Village:  La Gomera, Guatemala

Team Members: 

• Dan Adams
• Dick Nelson
• Laura Alcantor
• Troy Onsager
• Andy Schmidt
• Samantha Alcantor
• Jennifer Schmidt

 Team Schedule: 

• Friday – July 18

Arrive in Guatemala City at 9:03 pm.  Dr. Hugo Gomez/team will pick us up from the airport and drive us to the Pan American Hotel in downtown Guatemala City.

• Saturday – July 19

Eat breakfast in Guatemala City and drive (approx. 5 hours) to the town of Champerico, where our hotel is located.  Check in to hotel, receive debriefing instructions from LifeWind team, eat dinner and prepare for first day of work. 

• Sunday – July 20 – Wednesday – July 23

Commute to Village of La Gomera (25 minute commute), starting early in the morning.  On Sunday we work in the morning and join the village in worship in the afternoon.  Our projects will including putting a roof on a new church building, working with children and assisting with dental clinics. 

• Thursday – July 24

Drive to the city of Antigua and spend the afternoon in Antigua, learning more about the Guatemala culture and history.  Debrief our trip over dinner. 

• Friday July 25

Drive to Guatemala City and fly out of Guatemala City at 12:14

Thank you to the congregation for their prayers and support.  We raised more than our goal for the trip and the donations for the ministry bags exceeded our expectations.  Glory be to God.