Volume 9 No. 2: February 27, 2020

OUR 2020

OPC Short-Term Missions Opportunities Update

Where would you like to serve
this year?

Below you'll find the latest volunteer opportunities our OPC mission fields have, both near and far! Please consider how you can serve the Lord this year!

Uganda Opportunities

Uganda

The Uganda mission (Mbale and Karamoja) is looking for an adult leader for their summer team. Contact David Nakhla to apply. Other opportunities include:

Check our website to get contact information for the above opportunities.

Czech Republic

Team Praha
Only 7 spots left! Apply by March 15, 2020.
Contact Kathleen Winslow, on behalf of the Presbytery of Southern California

More about Team Praha 2020

Quebec City

E nglish for Kids
One week left to fill--July 13-17, 2020. Individuals and groups welcome!
C ontact Pastor Ben Westerveld

More about Quebec City

More about Asia

Asia

English House
Teach English conversation and live in a university student residence for the month of July.
Contact Rev. Douglas Clawson

Missionary Associates
Missionary Associates needed to serve as full-time instructors of interactive English conversation at a university near our missionaries in Asia. This is an exciting opportunity to invest in the lives of students who are uniquely positioned to impact this region of the world!

Apply by May 31: Contact Rev. Douglas Clawson

More about Uruguay

Uruguay

The OP Uruguay Mission in Montevideo, Uruguay, is seeking Missionary Associates to assist with outreach, evangelism, and music in the worship service.

Applicants must possess at least a limited working proficiency in Spanish.

Length of Term: 3 months or longer.

Contact Rev. Douglas Clawson

More about Key West

Key West, Florida

Year-round opportunity:
For over 30 years, OPC Pastor Bill Welzien has been presenting the gospel in an engaging open-air fashion three times a week at the famous Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square in Key West, Florida.

Bill invites you to bring your team to Key West to receive classroom training and practical experience in evangelism!

Contact Rev. Bill Welzein

More about The Boardwalk Chapel

Wildwood, NJ

The Chapel has openings for summer staff on their music and evangelism teams. There are also openings to join their evangelism training. Training is great for those who are seeking to do the Kingdom work but need some encouragement to get the point of feeling ready to go forth and obey the call of the Lord on their lives.

Schedule for Summer 2020

May Weekends for Work and Prep
Training Week One: June 1-5
Training Week Two: June 8-12
Training Week Three: June 15-19
[All program weeks are full!]
Training Week Ten: August 22-29
Training Week Eleven: August 29-Sept 5

Contact Elizabeth with any questions or comments to boardwalkchapel@gmail.com.

Churches Helping Other Churches

Is there a local outreach event (such as a VBS), community service project, church ministry program, or facility improvement plan, that you could take on if you had the help of a team from another church or presbytery? Let us know and we'll help you gather a team. Contact David Nakhla today!

Update: The Czech English
Camp Team 2020 is Full!

Sherry Wagner reports:
Our team is now complete, praise God. They are now in the throes of lesson planning. This is a major undertaking since our camp will minister to about 120 Czechs. We will provide morning English lessons, afternoon activities and evening programs during the week of camp. One special concern this year is that most of our team are new to this type of ministry with only a few veterans. The unknown can cause a lot of fear and trepidation so we ask for them to know the comfort and encouragement of the Holy Spirit in their planning. Technology is a beautiful thing so we can use it to share ideas and examples of lessons which is huge! Since our team is formed from members of the OPC from all over the US, staying in constant contact this way helps us form up as a team long before we actually meet each other in Prague. In fact, our two official planning meetings are actually held via Skype!

Our theme this year is Exploration so we will be gathering decor items, prizes and skit costumes all of which will be hand-carried over by the members of the team along with lesson plans, copies of worksheets, American candy, makings for s’mores, craft requirements, etc. Our evening lessons will be on the subject of Exploring the Bible with the adult talks led by Pastor Roger Wagner who has led our camp since its inception in 2004. Two regular members of our team that will be sorely missed are Pastor George and Eileen Scipione.

Please pray for our team to find its confidence in the Lord and to keep the furtherance of His kingdom in the forefront of their hearts and minds as they prepare.

The Case for Short-Term Missions

Japanese carpenters (left) with Mark Palmer (center), Missionary Woody Lauer and (celebrity carpenter) Bill Looft

Celebrity Carpenters in Japan

by OPC deacon & disaster response volunteer, Mark Palmer

The OPC Disaster Response ministry was in need of experienced carpenters to go to Japan. My wife, Patti, noticed on Facebook their request for help to rebuild after the typhoon in October, 2019. As I waited for others to volunteer, I wondered if any were waiting for the same reason that I did, so I signed up. In the end only one other man did volunteer with me. (He was not in the OPC or an experienced carpenter-- but still came to help.)
     Woody Lauer (OPC missionary to Japan at the Nazomi Center) and his family were helpful in getting us started and in providing housing and translation.
     We flew over and started work. "Open Doors of Japan" was heading up relief workers and it functioned as the coordinators of all the volunteers from Japan. We were Americans joining their organization. Once they heard that I had been to Japan seven years ago to rebuild after the tsunami, they were very impressed. (Extra bows!)
     There were hundreds of houses needing new flooring. The typhoon had flooded the crawl spaces of homes with water and mud. Workers had already taken up the flooring to remove the mud and dry out the homes. We were the first ones to start

putting back new flooring. (It is really just sub-flooring as thick grass mats that goes over it). It was also experimental as it was important to see how much we could do in a day. They had to have a plan to get flooring and houses organized so the next team could make a lot of progress.
Japan’s national TV was doing a piece on rebuilding while we were there. When they saw Americans had come to help, they changed their focus and did a story on us. It was aired just after Christmas.
In my interview, I tried to emphasize that our church sends out volunteer relief workers. I mentioned that I look forward to Mondays, not Fridays. They chose not to mention these things in the interview as I had hoped. Also, we did not mention the name of Christ; they would have edited this out of the interview. But we were able to mention the Nozomi Center (a Christian organization).
Volunteers go to places of disaster to assist those in need. It is never clear in advance how our work will be used: it might be that an individual or the whole country gets to see a glimpse of Christianity. It is important to go as a team, no matter how large or small.

__________________________________

About the author:
Mark Palmer and his wife, Patti, live in Harvest, Alabama and attend Providence OPC in Madison, AL. Mark has been an OPC deacon and trustee for decades and a carpenter for over 30 years.

Read Mark's diary and look at more photos from his trip

OPC Disaster Response

Register today with OPC Disaster Response to let us know your interest in helping when a disaster response team is being organized. After registering, you'll receive the OPC "Disaster Response Insider Post": a newsletter that gives the latest news on what the OPC is doing in Disaster Response.

There are 175 volunteers currently registered.

The Houston Story

Watch the OPC Disaster Response video, "The Houston Story" to see why helping others in their time of need is so important, and why we need as many volunteers as possible when a disaster strikes.

The Mercy Minute

Are you an OPC deacon or do you know one who may not be receiving our diaconal ministries newsletter? Let us know! Contact David Nakhla.

Get a printable summary of this S.T.O.R.M. Report:

OPC Short-Term Missions and Disaster Response is now on Twitter!

Follow us @OPCSTM

Our Websites:

Check out our websites where you can find previous issues of our newsletters, "S.T.O.R.M. Report", and "The Mercy Minute." Sign up to be added to the OPC Disaster Response Registry and you'll receive "The Disaster Response Insider Post"

Short-Term Missions