2010 - Barquisimeto, Venezuela
In 2010 our team went back to Barquisimeto, where we helped in heightening a security wall for one of the cell church sites that have grown from Restoration United Methodist. We also ran a vacation bible school for this site.
2009 - Barquisimeto, Venezuela
Our team helped put up concrete walls and a concrete floor the first floor of Restoration United Methodist Church, a church of about 500 people in the middle of a city of over one million people. The building was designed to have a window to the street to feed the homeless. We ran vacation bible school classes at night at 3 of the cell church locations that Restoration has started throughout the city, and had as many as 150 joyful energetic kids. As in 2007 and 2008, we were able to bring down many Spanish bibles to give away to people who have never owned a bible.
2008 - Buenos Aires, Venezuela
This was our second trip to Iglesia Metodista Restauración. Our team helped put up a 150 foot long security wall. Security walls are very important in Venezuela and most properties there have them. This wall will stop the erosion of the church property which was starting to cause damage to the church buildings. This wall also will keep out the many stray dogs that live in the area. At night the team ran a vacation bible school for as many as 80 people. There were games played, songs sang, and puppet shows, At the end of the week we rented a bus and took many of the people to a river in the highlands for swimming, a barbecue, and relaxation.
2007 - Buenos Aires, Venezuela
Our team helped to construct a small Sunday school classroom at Iglesia Metodista Restauración. This is a small congregation in the community of Buenos Aires, half an hour outside of the major city of Barquisimeto. At night we put on a vacation bible school for the children. One of the highlights of the trip was playing baseball with the church in an open field surrounded by mountains. Thanks to generous donations from everyone at Utica UMC, we brought down several bats and gloves, which we left for the church to use as an outreach in their town.
2006 - Xiabej, Guatemala
Our team worked with the Highland Support Project, a Christian group from Virginia, to build homes for a Mayan community displaced by earthquakes and mudslides. We built homes for a newly settled village on a mountain-top above the clouds. We also brought with us a lot of yarn to give to the Mayan women, who used this to make clothing that could be sold to buy food for their families.
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