July 13th@5pm: A Concert to Benefit Mission Adelante and other Ministries!

Lenexa Baptist Church is hosting a benefit concert to raise awareness about several Kansas City area ministries! Enjoy an evening of family fun and music with "The Isaacs."   The Isaacs are an award winning family group based out of Hendersonville, TN, who began singing 35 years ago. Their musical style has been influenced by many  genres of music including bluegrass, rhythm and blues, folk, and country, contemporary, acoustic and southern gospel. Buy your tickets here!

This benefit concert is sponsored by and designed to raise awareness for the following ministries:

Champions Special Ministries, Empower Sudan, Freedom Fire Urban Ministries, Hope's Heart Orphan Foundation, Hope Family Fellowship, HopeFaith Ministries, House of Hope KC, Hope Network of Raytown, Lenexa Baptist Church Adoption Ministry and Nicaragua Housing Ministry, Mercy and Truth Medical Missions, Mission Adelante, Mission of Hope Clinic, Pizzultelli Missionaries to China and Shalom Retreat Center.

A Small Gift with a Big Impact

By Lauren Timberlake, Bhutanese ESL Director

Devi is happy to have a pair of reading glasses. The refugee camps in Nepal don’t use the written word very much, but in the U.S., being unable to see clearly has kept her from learning to read. This makes shopping confusing, filling out forms at the doctor’s office very difficult, and passing a U.S. citizenship exam impossible.

A few weeks ago, we placed a request in this newsletter for donations of reading glasses. We quickly received nearly 20 pairs from several sources. Almost all of those have found new homes with English students. When students wear the new glasses, there is an immediate sense of relief. I have already noticed greater letter recognition, increased confidence, and less fatigue by the end of class. There is still a lot of hard work that goes into learning a new language, but being able to see well is a great start. The reading glasses are a small gift with a big impact for these students.

Thank you to those who donated glasses, and to anyone who has met a practical need at Mission Adelante. We believe that the opportunities and challenges in our community are God-sized, and that meeting them requires partnerships among believers. Members from 26 different churches come together to become conversation partners, after-school LIT mentors, Kid’s Camp leaders, employers, and more for members of our community. Even more families and individuals pray over our newsletters, run extra errands to donate a physical need, or share part of their paychecks each month to fund our programs and staff salaries.

It’s important to recognize the beauty of the body of Christ in our city working together in big ways and small ones to show hospitality to our newest residents. May our partnerships please Jesus and allow us to see Him at work around us.

In other news:

• We're so excited to have Emmanuel Baptist Church hosting our third--and final--week of Kid’s Camps this summer.  We kicked off  the week with a BBQ and viewing of the movie “Frozen” with our community, which was a hit!  We are very blessed to have such amazing church partners that engage the kids in our community in such fun activities, while helping us reach out to even more neighborhood kids!
• Both of our Bhutanese Interns have recently had grandparents arrive in the United States from Nepal. It's wonderful to share in their excitement about being reunited! In the coming months many people from our Bhutanese community will be welcoming family members who are resettling here. The resettlement process is a long and arduous journey for refugee families, and we are excited to welcome these families into the community as they make the United States their new home!

Current needs:

• Leaders in Training, our after-school leadership development and tutoring program, is getting excited about technology!  We are currently looking for tablets that are in new or very good condition to be used for learning activities during the 2014-2015 school year. If you have one you would like to donate please contact Kristen Maxwell at kristenm@missionadelante.org or Megan McDermott at meganm@missionadelante.org.

Important dates:

• Summer break: July 1-5 No programs.
• Get-acquainted Days: Tuesdays, July 8 & 15 (Bhutanese)/Thursdays, July 10 & 17 (Latino) 6:30-8:30  Have you wondered what all goes on around here on a typical evening of programming?  Here's your opportunity to come and see for yourself!  Come on up to 22 S. 18th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102.

Community Driven Program Launched by Chin Refugee Leaders

By Kristen Allen, Community Development Director

Pastor Run Tho of Myanmar Christian Church
delivers a message on the first day

One of my greatest joys in working cross-culturally is seeing amazing leaders rise up to address needs within their community. As the Director of Community Development, it is my privilege to work alongside men and women who are dedicated to using their God given abilities to transform their communities. My focus in the Adelante Empowerment Network, one of our community development initiatives, is empowering leaders to achieve their vision. There are beautiful stories of how vision is becoming reality and the Galilee Learning Center is just one example of the incredible capacity of the men and women who have immigrated to KCK.

My friend Lal is an entrepreneur in every sense of the word. She is always praying into how God can use her and her family and I enjoy how we share our dreams, encourage each other, and build upon our ideas together. Last year, Lal shared how God was laying on her heart to do something for the youth in her community and she started planning for a children's program to launch the summer of 2014.

Teacher Mawi Te leads the kids in a song

The vision of a children's program that focused on the Bible and provided Burmese and Chin language instruction couldn't be fulfilled without additional men and women who saw the need within the Chin
community and were willing to be a part of making it a reality. Leaders stepped forward and became the teachers needed to make the program run. One man volunteered his skills in leading worship, another decided to move his Burmese language program to Galilee Learning Center so he could help additional kids, and several Sunday school teachers from various Chin churches volunteered to develop the program, curriculum, and schedule.

GLC participants enjoy lunch at the end of the program day

I wish you all could spend a morning at Galilee Learning Center and see the hope that comes from a community focused on developing their youth. The sound of children's voices and laughter fills the air. Our space is full of praise songs as the group comes together to worship Jesus. It is beautiful and just a small glimpse of the blessings that God pours out when we work together.

The vision for Christian community development in our KCK community is being realized through Galilee Learning Center. It is community born, developed, and driven. We pray for more leaders to rise up and can't wait to see what issue God calls His people to address next. 

In other news:

• The Bhutanese summer interns are reading with the Bhutanese LIT students every Thursday at the library. It's a fun way for the interns to invest in their community, practice leadership, and help make sure that the LIT kids don't lose any of the skills they worked so hard to gain during the school year.
• Many of our English students have enjoyed seeing more clearly with the reading glasses provided by donors last month. It’s amazing what a difference it makes when they are learning to read and write. Thank you!
• One of our English students passed the Citizenship test! We are excited to interview her in our class to give the other students hope of becoming a citizen one day in the near future!
• Our thanks go out to Bright Ideas Signs & More for providing our eye-catching new sign in front of our building.  www.brightideassigns.com

Current needs:

• Leaders In Training, our after-school leadership development and tutoring program, is getting excited about technology! We are looking for tablets that are new or in very good condition to use for learning activities during the 2014-2015 school year.  If you have one you would like to donate, please contact Kristen Maxwell at kristenm@missionadelante.org or Megan McDermott at meganm@missionadelante.org.

Important dates:

• Summer break: July 1-5 No programs.
• Observation Days: Tuesdays, July 8 & 15 (Bhutanese)/Thursdays, July 10 & 17 (Latino) 6:30-8:30  Have you wondered what all goes on around here on a typical evening of programming?  Here's your opportunity to come and see for yourself!  Come on up to 22 S. 18th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102.

Summertime: New Friends and a Ton of FUN!

By Megan McDermott, Latino Children's Ministry Director

 At Mission Adelante, the summer is always an invitation and an exciting opportunity for our community to invest deeply in our children. This week, a group of about twenty volunteers from Shoal Creek Community Church came to invest in the Bhutanese, Latino, and Chin children's ministries. At Mission Adelante, our mission is to make disciples by serving, sharing life, and sharing Jesus with people from other places.  Because of this, we were excited to begin the summer with our first Kid’s Camp with such a diverse mix of kids! Between games, Bible study, and some awesome crafts, an incredible change began to happen.

Many of the kids attend the same local schools and know each other. However, cultural differences can sometimes hinder friendship. Many of our kids struggle to find their niche between their native cultures and the American culture. The first night of the camp, amongst seventy exuberant children, we noticed that the kids were shy around each other. They didn't know what to make of each other and were hesitant to interact.  As the camp proceeded, though, we noticed that through games, dance parties, charades, a fun skit about King Nebuchadnezzar (pictured right) and incredible teaching by the Shoal Creek group, the kids began to play and laugh together. The shyness evaporated as the kids began to see that they weren't so different from each other and that maybe, just maybe, this new friend that they had made might be able to understand them in a really deep way.

As the summer goes on and the kids continue to engage in various activities, we are excited to see how God moves. His heart for these children is amplified when they are in a mixed context because, though these kids seem to be so different, they are all children of our Most High God.  What a blessing to see the many faces of our Father reflected in the sweetness of these precious kids! 

In other news:

• We were privileged to host the wedding last Saturday of a young Bhutanese couple that we became acquainted with through our Teens ministry. It was a wonderful ceremony! We celebrated aspects of Nepali culture, Narbu Tamang and Anjana (Monger) Tamang’s love for one another, and the Lord Jesus’ love for all of us! Please pray for this young couple as they begin the exciting and difficult journey of married life.

• Celebrating culture is one of our core values and a local community partner, Catholic Charities, is hosting World Refugee Day on Saturday, June 14 from 2:00pm-6:00pm. This is a great way to celebrate the cultures, histories, and community contributions of our Bhutanese friends and other refugee groups in KCK. Join the fun at 2220 Central Avenue, Kansas City, KS 66102.

• One of our men’s discipling groups is moving beyond just studying together and we’re beginning to serve together too, by visiting community members in their homes.

Prayer needs:

• The buildout of Chin Hills Restaurant continues. Please pray that construction can stay on time and our friends from the Chin community can soon realize their dream of using their grocery store and restaurant to fund programs for the youth in their community.

• Please pray for unity and spiritual hunger for our interns.

• Please pray for some special members of our Latino community who are moving to Texas in the next couple of weeks.  We will miss them!

• Continue to pray for our kid’s camp during the month of June! It is a great opportunity to reach out and share Jesús with kids in our own backyard.

Current needs:

• Leaders in Training, our after-school leadership development and tutoring program, is getting excited about technology!  We are currently looking for tablets that are in new, or very good condition to be used for learning activities during the 2014-2015 school year. If you have one you would like to donate please contact Kristen Maxwell at kristenm@missionadelante.org or Megan McDermott at meganm@missionadelante.org.

Important dates:

• Summer break: July 1-5 No programs.

We envision a growing multicultural community of disciples making disciples, where immigrants and others are thriving and using our gifts together to transform our neighborhood and the world for the glory of Jesus Christ. New Look -- Same Vision loving people from all places We're pleased to introduce you to our new website!  It has been designed to reflect the ways Mission Adelante has matured and developed over the years and it looks toward the future we believe God is calling us to embrace.  In our first nine years, we've learned a lot about "loving people from all places". Our mission remains focused on making disciples by serving, sharing life and sharing Jesus with people from other places, but we've grown in the scope and reach of our ministry.  We're excited to have a new tool that will more effectively communicate who we are and what we're dreaming with our community! We invite you to take a few minutes and learn more.   www.missionadelante.org In His Grace, Jarrett Meek   Copyright © 2014 Mission Adelante, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you have shown interest in hearing more about Mission Adelante and have chosen to receive email updates. Our mailing address is: Mission Adelante 22 S. 18th Street Kansas City, KS 66102

Sunset and Washing Dirty Feet with Interns

by Jarrett Meek, Pastor/Executive Director

As the sun went down on the second day of our internship launch retreat, we were all finally starting to feel
comfortable with one another.  After all, our group included an unlikely mix of white, Latino, and Bhutanese-Nepali youth from our neighborhood.  We were all a bit worn out from our marathon afternoon of playing four different sports in the hot Kansas sun.  We started with volleyball, which was the most comfortable of the activities we did, and then moved on to baseball, American football, and soccer.  The interns went swimming after all that, but I opted for a nap.  Now we were all relaxed (and exhausted), as we settled in on the back deck of the Barn Bed and Breakfast Inn, a secluded place located somewhere off the beaten path in rural Kansas.  It was a peaceful environment to study one of Jesus' most important lessons on servant leadership.

We talked through John 13 that evening, reflecting on what it means to be a leader.  A leader is a servant, according to Jesus' definition.  The God of the universe humbled himself and became a man, taking on the role of a slave, and he washed the feet of his disciples.  He taught them that they also ought to wash one another's feet.  So, we did.  We washed, we worshiped God, and we prayed for one another.

The young man who washed my feet and prayed for me has grown up in and around Mission Adelante.  If you knew him six years ago you wouldn't recognize him now.  He has overcome some extremely difficult circumstances to get to the point he where he is today.  When he put his hand on my shoulder and began praying I felt like I was seeing into a heart that has been broken, shaped and re-made through the trials of life; trials that most people can't even imagine.  His prayer was one of the most sincere and beautiful prayers I've ever heard in my life.  Courageous, faithful, intelligent, wise, genuine, hungry, and determined are the words I'd use to describe him.  The work of Jesus in his life is unmistakable.  Maybe someday he'll tell his own story for all to hear.

In other news:

• In preparation for the launch of our thrift store, the vision of the Resource Center is changing. We are no longer accepting donations of clothing, furniture, or housewares.  Look for information on the revised vision of the resource center in upcoming issues of the Adelante Express.

Prayer needs:

• Each summer, the Youth Ministries of several of our partner churches lead three or four-day Kids Camps on our soccer field. They're a great time for all students involved, and they kick-off next week. Please be in prayer for good weather, safety and fun!

Important date

• Summer Break: July 1-5 No programs will meet.