Representatives of the Church of God in Myanmar met with Dr. Paul Maxfield, executive director of Children of Promise, in Manila to receive the funds raised through the collaborative efforts of Church of God Ministries, Children of Promise, and Women of the Church of God. The generous donations of individuals and churches allowed for $70,000 to be given to help the church in Myanmar begin to recover from the devastating effects of Cyclone Nargis.

Fifty thousand dollars is earmarked to make repairs to the church buildings and provide food, water, and shelter for church families and others in their communities. The remaining $20,000 is specifically for families of the Children of Promise program to assist them in rebuilding their homes and obtaining any aid that they need.

Forty-two people from First Church of God and Great Lakes Eye Care, both of Saint Joseph, Michigan, recently completed a two-week mission trip to Obligado, Paraguay. Working alongside the people of Paraguay, a 4,500-square-foot church building was erected in Obligado by members of First Church of God. Dr. Ron McKey led four people from Great Lakes Eye Care to conduct an eye clinic in Encarnación. Working with local eye doctors, they provided needed cataract and other eye surgeries in a poor section of the city where these services are usually not available.

Church members used personal vacation time and paid their own way to accomplish this mission, and the people of Paraguay were grateful. Even a national newspaper, El Nación, took note of it:

04-27-08

Today is Sunday, the day of the Costa Rican Church of God Festival that is going to be held at Maranatha de Rodeo a beautiful park in the mountains just outside of San José. Of the nine Church of God congregations in Costa Rica, all but one was present at the festival. This festival is the equivalent of our North American Convention.

We got up this morning and had breakfast before we boarded the bus to go to the park for the festival. Once there we were made to feel right at home. A band was set up on a basketball court, and on the small hill surrounding the court were the names of each of the churches that would be present and also a sign that said “USA.” That’s us. We are so honored to be able to participate in this great event of the church. It began with the band leading us in wonderful time of praise and worship. It was especially exciting to be able to sing along in English on the song “Lord, I Give You My Heart.”

04-25-08

Today is our final day in Las Vueltas. Yesterday, we made good progress on the wall and were able to get the outside of the church painted. The electrician showed up very late and was unable to finished installing the lights, so today he returned to finish the job. Our goal today was to finish the wall with enough time to get cleaned up for church in the evening, and to finish painting the inside of the church building.

The Church of God in the town of Tuqurique began meeting in a horse pasture. Each Sunday they would meet under a temporary roof set up in the pasture and learn about the love of God. People from the surrounding villages would walk to take part in the services; however, when the rainy season came, it was difficult for the people from the surrounding villages to attend. The rains usually came in the afternoon, so going to church in the morning meant that they would have to make the return trip home in the rain. For this reason and because of the distance, the people of Las Vueltas began meeting in homes. Eventually, the home meetings grew into a full-fledged congregation with their own church building. Now the church has reached the point where they have a vision for the new church at the new site. Pastor Noily Hernández wants to reach out to the community through this new facility. She even has a dream of having a football field (soccer to us gringos) next to the property so that the children from the community can play ball near the church.