Mobilized to Serve

Written by Jason Schoff

"Serving immigrants to Christ and mobilizing them to serve" has been our mission statement since the beginning of Mission Adelante in 2005. Not only does this communicate our heart for people to come to know Christ, it also emphasizes the importance of them growing in service for the kingdom.

For the past two years, three of our Latino church families have stepped in to help Molly Merrick staff our resource center every Saturday morning. This translates into coming early on Saturdays, cleaning and straightening the shelves, and befriending those in need with prayer. These small costs end up paying huge dividends when most of the families in need come back multiple times, no doubt due to the kindness and affection they experience. We often see them return with items they would like to donate to other families in need. What a fun sight to see!

Our resource center can better serve the needs of our immigrant community because of these few Latino volunteers who take part in serving and suggesting ways to best meet the needs of our neighbors around Mission Adelante.

Would you or your church be willing to do a winter coat and clothing drive? We are quickly approaching a season of cold weather during which we will be addressing needs of the Latino and Bhutanese communities. Please contact Jason or Molly if you interested in helping meet this need at jasons@missionadelante or mollym@missionadelante.org .

In other news:

• David & Holly Stetler and big sister Anna welcomed baby Isaac Michael into their family on October 24. Everyone is doing well.
• The Leaders In Training pre-teen girls got together Saturday night for a fun time organized by our new Kids Adelante Intern, Courtney Colin. They played relay games, watched a movie, and studied the Bible.
• Brooke Coon, our new Latino Kids Ministry Coordinator and other volunteers took 11 Latino Teens to Shawnee Mission Park last Saturday for hiking, a cook-out, Bible study and a bonfire.

Prayer needs:

• "The Art of Growing in Christ" is a series of training workshops for our Latino church members about learning how to disciple others. Please pray for those that attended the initial workshop last night to respond to the challenges that were presented.
• Please continue to join us in praying for God's presence and guidance for a mom in our community that has been separated from her family for a number of months.
• Please pray for peace for Bhutanese immigrant families who are encountering difficulties related to adjusting to life in a new country, and for wisdom for those of us ministering to them.

Current needs:

• Kids' and adults' winter coats, outerwear, and shoes to stock our resource center. The arrival of cold weather in Kansas City has found many families in our neighborhood unprepared.
• Beds, couches, tables, and chairs for newly arrived Bhutanese refugee families. Please contact David Stetler at 913-579-6115 or davids@missionadelante.org. It would be preferable if you could drop items off, but pick-up of items may be possible.

Upcoming dates:

• Thanksgiving break: No LIT the week of November 22. No Bhutanese outreach activities on Tuesday, November 23; no Latino outreach activities on Thursday, November 25. Mission Adelante office closed Wednesday, November 24-Saturday, November 27.