the ambassador - charlottesville district...

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THE AMBASSADOR “So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20).” Volume 13, Issue 2 A newsletter for the Pastors and Lay Leadership of the Charlottesville District February 2015 Don’t forget! February is Heart Havens Month, a time to remember your brothers and sisters with intellectual disabilities, your neighbors, in Heart Havens homes right next door and across the Virginia Conference. There are many ways to help and we have a menu of opportunities from a speaker, to a paper drive or showing a video. Please share this information with your congregation, add Heart Havens to your church calendar, and contact Heart Havens for more information at 1-877-442-8368 (toll-free). Sara Becker Development Assistant Heart Havens, Inc. 812 Moorefield Park Drive Suite 301 Richmond, Virginia 23236 [email protected] Phone: 804-237-6097 Toll Free: 1-877-442-8368 Fax: 804-237-6098 www.hearthavens.org C’ville District Wide Fundraiser for Heart Havens- Save the Date!!!! Saturday, May 16, 2015 8:00am-1:00pm This will be a huge yard sale plus other activities. We will have this event at 3 churches across the District!!! Mega Media Sale On Saturday, March 21st, 2015 a Stanardsville UMC Life Group plans to hold a used multi-media sale to benefit Heart Havens. It will be held at the American Legion Post 128, 638 Madison Road in Stanardsville, 22973. We need to get the word out now so that persons in the district will begin saving their used books, tapes, DVDs, and CDs for donation to the sale. The only media that cannot be accepted are used sets of encyclopedias. Here are the drop- off sites for the mega media sale- Nelson UMC- Wed 10-2; Sundays 9:45-12:30 or call Crozet UMC Ivy Creek UMC Aldersgate UMC Amissville UMC-call Culpeper UMC- Mon-Fri 8:30-4:30 Trinity-Orange - Tues, Wed, Fri 9-12

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THE AMBASSADOR “So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians

5:20).”Volume 13, Issue 2 A newsletter for the Pastors and Lay Leadership of the Charlottesville District February 2015

Don’t forget! February is Heart Havens Month, a time to remember your brothers and sisters with intellectual disabilities, your neighbors, in Heart Havens homes right next door and across the Virginia Conference. There are many ways to help and we have a menu of opportunities from a speaker, to a paper drive or showing a video. Please share this information with your congregation, add Heart Havens to your church calendar, and contact Heart Havens for more information at 1-877-442-8368 (toll-free).

Sara BeckerDevelopment AssistantHeart Havens, Inc.812 Moorefield Park DriveSuite 301Richmond, Virginia  [email protected] Phone:  804-237-6097Toll Free:  1-877-442-8368Fax:  804-237-6098www.hearthavens.org 

C’ville District Wide Fundraiser for Heart Havens- Save the Date!!!!Saturday, May 16, 20158:00am-1:00pmThis will be a huge yard sale plus other activities.  We will have this event at 3 churches across the District!!!

Mega Media SaleOn Saturday, March 21st, 2015 a Stanardsville UMC Life Group plans to hold a used multi-media sale to benefit Heart Havens.  It will be held at the American Legion Post 128, 638 Madison Road in Stanardsville, 22973.  We need to get the word out now so that persons in the district will begin saving their used books, tapes, DVDs, and CDs for donation to the sale.  The only media that cannot be accepted are used sets of encyclopedias.  Here are the drop- off sites for the mega media sale-

Nelson UMC- Wed 10-2; Sundays 9:45-12:30 or callCrozet UMCIvy Creek UMCAldersgate UMCAmissville UMC-callCulpeper UMC- Mon-Fri 8:30-4:30Trinity-Orange - Tues, Wed, Fri  9-12

Annual United Methodist Day at the General AssemblyOnce again, we are extending an invitation to our brothers and sisters across the Virginia Conference to join us for this day of fellowship, advocacy, meeting with legislators and hearing from individuals who are well versed on issues before the General Assembly.  The 2015 event will be held on Thursday, February 5.      To obtain information about the event, go to the Virginia Conference website at www.vaumc.org.  Click on "conference calendar", then click on Feb. 5, 2015.

Bishop’s Convocation on PrayerSaturday, March 21, 2015Trinity UMC, 903 Forest Ave., RichmondBoth laity and clergy are invited to attend.Registration Cost: $10 – includes lunchRegister at www.vaumc.orgDeadline to register is March 16.

The Rev. Sue Nilson Kibbey, Director of Missional Church Initiatives in the West Ohio Conference UMC, will be the

plenary speaker. There will also be small group learning opportunities in the areas of prayer and Wesleyan spiritual disciplines.

Robert Rogers to speakRobert’s worldwide ministry called Mighty in the Land, (www.IntoTheDeep.org) brings his testimony to congregations of all denominations and sizes, and to various secular organizations. Robert is an accomplished musician, songwriter, pianist, author, and Christian speaker who has been featured in Focus on the Family magazine and Billy Graham’s Decision magazine. He is the author of several books including Into the Deep, and A Life of No Regrets. Integrity Music has published Robert’s original composition, How Can I Glorify?

In addition, Robert has founded Mighty in the Land Foundation, (a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation), dedicated to advance adoption and care for orphans and special needs children worldwide. The foundation has funded the Melissa Home (Russia-2006), Makenah’s Home (Rwanda-2009), and Alenah’s Home (Beijing, China-2010). Robert’s vision is to sponsor at least five worldwide orphanages to honor each of his heavenly family members lost in the flood.

We have arranged for Robert to come to our church on Sunday, February 8, 2015 at 2:30 PM. This special one-time appearance is open to our entire community. Robert’s ministry calling is to turn the hearts of people to God, and the hearts of parents and children to one another worldwide. I promise you, if you come to witness Robert’s amazing artistry of sacred music, Christian Scripture, and personal testimony, your heart will find itself turned to God in ways you never thought possible. Make plans now to join us on Sunday, February 8, 2015 at 2:30 PM, at Stanardsville UMC, 25 Court Street, Stanardsville.

In Christ,Pastor Chuck

District Youth District Youth Retreat

February 27, 28 and March 1, 2015Westview on the James

All youth grades 6-12 invitedCost:  $75 per person by February 2.February 2-9 cost is $100 per person

No registrations accepted after February 9.  A nonrefundable deposit of $35 per person is required with

registration form. Register early and save!

Retreat begins Friday at 7 p.m.Plan to eat before you arrive!

 Each church is challenged to raise $150 for the Stop Hunger

Now Packaging Event that will be held at the Retreat.  We will also be collecting Campbell Soup Labels for the Henry Fork Service Center in Rocky Mount, VA and toiletries for TOP

(Teens Opposing Poverty).

Questions?  Contact Rebecca Wagner at 434-823-4645 or [email protected]

 SAVE THE DATE!

 

Fifth Sunday Praise and WorshipMarch 29, 2015

3-5 p.m.Mineral UMC will host.

The Academy for Spiritual Formation® Since 1983 The Upper Room has offered The Academy for Spiritual Formation® as an in-depth experience in Christian spiritual formation for clergy and laity.   This letter is to announce that a two-year Academy (#37) will be starting August 2015 in the Southeastern Jurisdiction.    

As a way to help your Conference benefit from this unique offering, following this note you will find information about the matching grant program which will provide up to $5000 to help individuals from your Conference participate.

The Academy is an intense two-year program which brings participants together for 40 days (5 days each quarter) for worship, silence, covenant groups and study.  Sixteen courses form the backbone of the Academy; worship and small groups shape its heart and soul.  Once called “the best kept secret in the United Methodist Church,” an independent research study funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment confirms the Academy’s effectiveness.*  Participants emerge with a deeper relationship with God, a better sense of self- and soul-care and more creativity and freedom for the practice of ministry.

While ecumenical in outreach, the Academy is Wesleyan in spirit, balancing an emphasis upon personal and social holiness. During the first year, emphasis is placed on deepening one’s life in Christ; during the second year participants are encouraged to focus on engaging the needs of the world. Disciplines of body (health and wellness) as well as mind and spirit (lectures and worship) provide renewed vitality on many levels. 

This is an expensive and time-demanding program.  That’s why we developed the matching grant program which we call Encouraging Spiritual Leaders (ESL). Here’s how it works.

We invite you to identify up to five persons in your Conference (clergy or lay) whom you feel could benefit from this program and who would be a benefit to others. After they’ve applied and been accepted into the Academy (usually routine), The Upper Room will match the Conference support up to $1000 per participant and up to $5000 total per Conference. You are free to select the individuals using whatever process you wish. For more information about how this process works, see the enclosed letter. 

Academy #37 begins August 3, 2015. All sessions will be at the Sumatanga Camp & Conference Center in Gallant, AL. More information about the Academy, including the dates for all eight sessions, is available on our website.  Copies of our brochure and prospectus are available online or upon request by emailing [email protected].

Thank you for your commitment to spiritually vital, alive leadership in the UMC!

Sincerely,Johnny SearsDirector, The Academy for Spiritual Formation and Emerging Ministries

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“I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the company of … the congregation” (Psalm 111:1, ESV). It lifts my soul to sing your praises, God!

5 Talent AcademyRegistration is now open for the 5 Talent Academy’s February 21 Ministry with the Poor event. Our keynote speaker will be Shane Claiborne, author and visionary leader of The Simple Way, a faith community in inner city Philadelphia that has helped birth and connect radical faith communities around the world.

Registration is open to all Virginia Conference churches regardless of previous membership or affiliation with the 5 Talent Academy. Visit http://www.vaumc.org/5Talent  to register today. Join us on Saturday, February 21, 2015 from 9 AM- 3PM for this important event.Do you want to make a difference in your community by partnering WITH and serving alongside the poor? Then this is the event for you! Bring your outreach team and your chair of missions. Come with your Sunday School class or your UMW. This event is designed for all who desire to be in mission in new and different ways. Group discounts available. 

This event costs $25/person and lunch is provided. We encourage you to bring a team from your church so that together you can experience the event and can take the information and new ideas back to your church together. For this event we are offering an incredible discount. If your church registers four attendees, you may register a fifth attendee for FREE. So, you can bring a team of five and will only be charged the price of four ($100). This offer is only good at the time of registration—all 5 attendees must be registered together at one time.

This event will take place at 10 locations across the conference to bring it within about an hour’s drive of your church home. Please be sure to select the proper location when you register. 

• Eastern Shore: Grace UMC   (Parksley) 18484 Wilson Ave, Parksley, VA 23421

• Lynchburg: Park View Community Mission 2420 Memorial Ave Memorial at Wadsworth, Lynchburg, VA 24501

• Martinsville: First UMC 146 E Main St, Martinsville, VA 24112

• Richmond: Woodlake UMC 15640 Hampton Park Drive, Chesterfield, VA 23832

• Roanoke: Thrasher Memorial UMC 707 E Washington Ave, Vinton, VA 24179 

• Shenandoah Valley: Bridgewater UMC 219 N Main St, Bridgewater, VA 22812

• Stafford: Ebenezer UMC* 161 Embrey Mill Rd, Stafford, VA 22554

• Tidewater: Grace Harbor UMC  3328A Western Branch Blvd, Chesapeake, VA 23321

• Winchester: Macedonia UMC  1941 Macedonia Church Rd, White Post, VA 22663

• Yorktown:  St. Luke’s UMC   300 Ella Taylor Rd, Grafton, VA 23692 

*The event will be broadcast live at Ebenezer UMC in Stafford. 

We look forward to seeing you in February. For more information contact the Center for Congregational Excellence.  -The 5 Talent Academy Leadership

Change of Date: Culpeper UMC VIM trip to Georgia will be April 26 - May 2, 2015. The next team meeting will be February 15, 2015 at 4 PM at the Culpeper UMC. Any person over the age of 16 that wants to put feet to faith is invited to join the team. For more information contact Arthur Fellows - 540-229-6693 or [email protected] his service,Pastor Art

UMW EventsFEBRUARY5th - United Methodist Day at the General Assembly - Richmond. 7th - 2015 Charlottesville District local officers training 10-12am, location TBAMARCH6-7th - Virginia Conference Executive Team Meeting in Dumfries District President only7th - District Lenten Event. Program and location TBAAPRIL FYI Dian will be out of the country from April 25th to June 1st. 11th.......Executive Team meeting 10am at Aldersgate, Friendship room upstairs.Newsletter articles to Communications Coordinator by the 19th.

Save the Date-Imagine No Malaria

Tuesday, March 17, the Charlottesville District will have a Spirit Day at the Chick-fil-A on Woodbrook Drive in Charlottesville. More information will be given in the March newsletter.

2015 College ScholarshipsCalling All High School Seniors . . . membership at VUMCU gives students access to apply for the following scholarships:·        $1000 VUMCU Scholarship·        $1000 Richmond Chapter of Credit Unions Scholarships (2) Any member of a United Methodist Church or organization within the Virginia Conference is eligible for membership at VUMCU and just $5.00 opens an account. The scholarships are for freshmen entering college in the Fall 2015. Applications are due late March. Email [email protected] to request an application.

Fearless Caregiver ConferenceFriday, March 13, 20158:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.Drysdale Student Center, Lynchburg College 

The Beard Center on Aging and Home Instead Senior Care, in collaboration with the Caregiver Media Group, will be hosting The Fearless Caregiver Conference. This is the first time this national conference will be held in Virginia and the event is part of the conference’s 20th Anniversary tour.

Guest speaker will be Gary Barg, author of The Fearless Caregiver and editor-in-chief of Today’s Caregiver magazine. As a former caregiver himself, Gary has a unique insight into the stresses and problems that caregivers face on a daily basis. His presentation is educational and entertaining, as he interacts with his audience. Gary will also host a guest panel of experts in eldercare and caregiving to answer questions from the audience.  

The cost for the conference is $15 for family caregivers and

February 2015 Page3

$35 for professionals. A limited number of scholarships are available.  The cost of registration includes lunch and

refreshments.  The event is open to the public and reservations must be received by March 10, 2015. To register, call 434.544.8456, email [email protected] or register online.

 

Mission Trip Hello, on November 22, 2014  my wife Heather and I left for 14 days in Cuba. We flew out of Reagan National to Miami; we then had a 15 hour layover until our flight to Cuba. Needless to say we were a little tired when we got to Havana. We had the pleasure of staying at the Methodist center there. We spent Monday getting paper work done and visiting the work sight. We were going to be working on the houses for seminary students. For the rest of the trip that's where we would be. The women had "women's" work to do. They painted the steel window frames in one of the houses. The paint was thinned with gasoline. They used old paint brushes. The men worked on many different things. Some of us sifted sand for cement. Some dug dirt out of the houses to level the floors. We also bent rebar for the support of the cement columns we would pour our second week there. We shoveled and moved stones infused with clay. It was hard work. We had an old beat up wheel barrow, three short handle shovels, a pick, and a cement hoe.  

The first Wednesday and Sunday we traveled to Artemesa where our sister church is. Wednesday was a church service. Sunday was church school in the morning then a church service in the evening. We had the pleasure of being at a baptism for six of the members on Sunday.  It was very different to see people worship God with out fear of what others thought of them. They danced and wave their hands as they felt moved. It was amazing to worship with people that had a new young love of Christ. We as a team spoke very little Spanish but we tried. The Cubans did the same with English.

The second week we finished the dirt removal. We put in the rebar supports and built forms around them. Then we mixed and poured the concrete. We mixed it on the ground and shoveled it into the wheelbarrow, then added more water and shoveled it into 3 gallon buckets and handed it up to the guys pouring it.     

The trip was a spiritual roller coaster. The country is very controlled but the people we encountered loved us for coming and what we doing. To see people in their spiritual infancy and worshiping how they feel was truly amazing. They have only been able to publicly worship since the early 1990's. They express their love for Christ how they feel moved.

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I am still processing everything that happened there. Being a Christian and having been raised in the church, it is very different to work and talk with people who could have been put in jail for their beliefs.

Thank you for your support and helping us have the opportunity to show Christ's love in a different country. Scott Fellows

Editor’s note: The Charlottesville District supported this Mission Trip with $1,200.00 for expenses.

Giving from Abundance - During Lent, we are called to pray, to sacrifice, and to give. Imagine No Malaria helps us put our faith into action as we think about the blessings in our lives and give so that others may life, and live more abundantly!The Giving from Abundance Calendar invites us to think every day about our access to resources and services that support our health. Clean water, electricity, transportation, medicine: many of us take these “necessary conditions for life” for granted. In reflecting upon our abundance, we are called to help create abundant life for others. Visit www.imaginenomalaria.org for more stories and to make donations.

February 2015 Page5

These proposed gift amounts will generate giving around $100 over the course of Lent for an average household. You can add the money in a jar as you go or note the amounts each day and make one big donation at the end of Lent! The giving calendar ends on a Saturday, and Easter is the following Sunday. Make sure to bring your donations on Easter Sunday so that you can celebrate lives saved with your congregation!

February 2015 Page6

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

15 16 17 18Ash Wed:Commit to saving lives this Lent!

19$.10 for each medicine bottle in your home

Learn about health and poverty at www.imaginenomalaria.org

21$1 for every sink in your house

22Pray for health and healing for all people across the world.

23$5 for each time you traveled out of the United States this year

24$5 if you live within a ten minute drive of a hospital or clinic

25$1 for every purse or wallet you own

26All the coins in your pocket or purse

Read about global poverty myths:  http://annualletter.gatesfoundation.org

28$.25 for each light switch in your home

1Pray for doctors, nurses, and community health volunteers.

2$1 for each time your family visited a dentist

3$3 for every toilet in your home

4$.50 for every device in your home that can access the internet

5Tell a stranger about Imagine No Malaria today!

Read about how churches are built b/c of Imagine No Malaria: www.inmiowa.org/sierraleone

7$1 for each type of fruit in your home

8Pray for children under the age of 5 who are the most vulnerable to illness

9$5 if you have a garage, $10 if you can’t park in it

10$.25 for each soap dispenser in your home

11$2 if you got a new toothbrush this year

12$3 if you have Band-Aids in your home

Watch Jennifer’s story:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K10ZFJgJyj8

14$1 for each doctor in your address book or contact list

15Pray for women who are pregnant all over the world

16$.25 for each pair of shoes in your home

17Tell a stranger about Imagine No Malaria today!

18$1 if you have ice in your freezer

19$.05 for every drinking glass in your home

Read Muriel’s story – your actions matter!www.inmiowa.org/muriel

21$.10 for each electric outlet in your home

22Pray for researchers working on malaria vaccines

23 $5 for each person who has been vaccinated in your family

24$10 for each car in your family

25$.50 for each step in your home

26$1 for each television in your home

Read success stories from around the world: http://imaginenomalaria.org/news

 28$5 if you vacationed in the last year, $25 if you flew

29Pray for families mourning the loss of life to malaria.

30$.50 for each phone in your home/family

31$1 for every load of laundry done this week

1Tell a stranger about Imagine No Malaria today!

2$.25 for every window that has a screen

Watch Seeing the Beauty in Sierra Leone:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOPWk907wus

4$3 for every bottle of bug spray in your home

Emanuel Youth MissionMany of you have heard for almost 10 years now about our in-country missionary, Marvin, who is the bridge between the people of Taura, El Salvador, John and Jonna Clarkson and all of you who are partners with us in Emanuel Youth Mission. This seems a good time to better introduce you to him, as just this December, so much in his life has come full circle. Marvin and we give all thanks to God!

Marvin at 21 in

2005 2014 in Taura, El Salvdor University graduation December, 2014

José Marvin Benavides was born on Chaparrastique, the volcano in eastern El Salvador in 1983. The civil war had been raging since 1978; Marvin was born into a war zone. As a child, Marvin did not know that trees had limbs; they had all been shot off. A bomb crater was just outside the hut of his humble home. Gun shell casings covered the ground. The war tore his family apart; his father served as a soldier; his mother had an emotional breakdown and disappeared, leaving 6 year old Marvin to look after his 3 younger siblings. He covered them with a mattress when bullets flew through their home and looked after them until the war ended. His father returned, dispersing them with distant relatives all over El Salvador; then he came to the United States with Temporary Protected Status. Marvin, age 9, was left with an uncle who operated a welding workshop in the city of San Salvador. It was a very lonely life. Marvin had been left behind and forgotten. He learned the welding trade and was a slave to the family, doing all the household chores, as well as 12 hours in the workshop. At 15, he knew he could survive on his own. He ran away and found his mother and grandfather in a rural jungle village named Taura, where they had been given land after the war.

At 17, with his mother, a wife and baby daughter to care for, they were starving on the $4 a day he could make welding WHEN there was work. He wanted a better life for his daughter than he had had growing up during the war.He went to the United States Consulate in San Salvador to ask how he could get a visa to come to the United States, find his father and work to save his starving family. Even though he tried several times, he received the same answer: Poor people cannot get a visa. So, at 19, Marvin borrowed money and came illegally. He travelled to Guatemala where he got on a boat going to Mexico. Terribly overloaded with other desperate families, the bottom fell out of the boat in the middle of the night in shark infested ocean waters. Marvin clung to a gas can and prayed. They were rescued by an early morning fisherman. Mexican police met them, robbed them of all they owned, dropped them at the Texas border, and showed them how to enter the United States. Marvin was apprehended and released to his father’s care with an immigration court date. He came to Virginia and worked with his father on a construction job in

Charlottesville where John Clarkson was a brick mason.

John noticed this bright new laborer who took such initiative and had great aptitude with brick work. With a little high school Spanish, he introduced himself to Marvin. Thus began the Love that only God can give that has led to a life changing relationship for both men and the birth of Emanuel Youth Mission. Marvin asked that John teach him English during their lunch break. They both came to look forward to that shared time that eventually grew to Marvin spending weekends and vacations at our home in Nelson County, Virginia. One day at work, Marvin’s father said, in front of Marvin, he had many children, John could have Marvin. The fear and rejection on Marvin’s face quickly changed to a big smile when John quickly and gladly accepted the offer and shook hands on it! We attended immigration court with Marvin. The judge was impressed that Marvin showed up. 1% of undocumented immigrants do. The judge granted Marvin voluntary departure rather than deportation and told him he would have the opportunity to return to the United States again legally. That gave Marvin hope that he would one day return. He so trusts God that he believed if God did not provide a legal way for him to stay, God must have a purpose for him in El Salvador. When Marvin returned to El Salvador in July, 2005, John went with him. They went to the United States consulate as instructed, where Marvin was told that the judge was wrong, and he would never return to the United States.

John has witnessed poverty in the United States, both in rural and urban areas, but he had never seen such pervasive, extreme poverty with no resources, no help at all. Whole families lived in one room; make shift homes with dirt floors, no furniture, cooking outside over fire, using an outhouse if they had one or digging a hole, eating one meal a day and only if they worked. No transportation, no clean water, no good shelter, no medical care, and barely any food. Babies died; parents prayed they would live to age 5 when they would have a chance to survive. Families could not afford to send children to school, so poverty had repeated for generations.

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John was very moved at the great need, but also very impressed with the open, loving, friendliness he was greeted with. He fell in love with Marvin’s people. Marvin had been left behind and forgotten so many times in his young life! As John was leaving, he said, “Don’t forget me.”

John could never forget Marvin or his wonderful people and the extreme poverty they suffered with no hope of change. Now that Marvin had been out of El Salvador and had seen the potential that life holds, he burned to find a way to help his people. John and Jonna both visited Taura that November. Together, we brainstormed ideas about connecting the

abundance in the United States with the need in rural El Salvador, to raise awareness here and to raise the standard of living there.

Marvin recognized that education was key to progress for his people. When he returned to El Salvador, he began his education, completed high school, and just this December 2014, graduated from the University of El Salvador with a degree in civil engineering. We were blessed to be present with his family to see that monumental occasion, the first from his community to ever go to college. Marvin shared his celebration with all of Taura in a church service. Pastor Manuel blessed Marvin’s success, all thanked God, and Marvin fed 100 people. He works for the government in his local region, designing and supervising construction jobs, while also building, supervising and managing all our mission projects. As if God was validating Marvin’s trust in HIM when he returned from Virginia to El Salvador in 2005, this December held yet another miracle. Marvin applied for and received a visitor visa to the United States. He did return to Virginia to end 2014 and begin 2015. We had a wonderful week visiting people he had hosted in El Salvador, reconnecting with mission team members and their families, and enjoying time together.

Marvin returned to Taura, his work for the Salvadoran government, and our mission, to help his country with engineering skills and to address the physical and spiritual needs of his people. He is beginning his own engineering company and continuing to work but is not sure what comes next; perhaps graduate school, perhaps in Virginia. He trusts that God will lead him to accomplish God’s purpose to serve God

and help others.

We hope you feel like you know Marvin better. Consider his early life and how God has led him. It truly is a miracle! God is with us always, knows our need, and shows us His way that leads to our greatest JOY.

Emanuel Youth Mission is the result of this God connection, a 501-c-3 non-profit charity, dedicated to listening to God’s calling and obeying wherever He leads. It is no coincidence that Marvin, who never felt loved as a child, came 2,000 miles on a desperate, treacherous journey that led to Virginia where he met us, where we all loved immediately, despite so many differences. God is the LOVE that connects, and God’s love continues to lead Emanuel Youth Mission to do the projects that share His love in the world. God’s love is giving HOPE to people who now know they are not forgotten! They are God’s children, and they have Christian brothers and sisters right here in Virginia, all of you who have partnered with us to make this difference. Thank you all for your faithfulness. May you be inspired, uplifted and much blessed in this New Year 2015.

Sincerely, John and Jonna ClarksonEmanuel Youth Mission, P.O. Box 582,Lovingston, VA 22949

Papa John and Marvin in Taura Marvin in Dulles Airport December 2014

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The United Methodist Church

Charlottesville District Office 914 E. Jefferson St., Suite 104Charlottesville, Virginia 22902 http://CharlottesvilleDistrictUMC.org Email: [email protected]

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Newsletter Deadline - February 15Please send your submissions for the March 2015issue of The Ambassador to Carol Frost at [email protected] by February 15.

The Ambassador by emailIf you would like to receive The Ambassador by email, or if your email address has changed recently, please send an email to the District Office with your request to [email protected].

February 8 Robert Rogers speaking at Stanardsville UMCFebruary 15 Bill Henderson Concert to benefit Heart HavensFebruary 21 5 Talent AcademyFeb 27-Mar 1 District Youth RetreatMarch 17 Spirit Day-Fundraiser for Imagine No MalariaMarch 21 Bishop’s Convocation on PrayerMarch 21 Mega Media Sale at Standardsville UMC

February 2015 Page

Non-profitOrganization

U.S. POSTAGEPAID

Permit No. 180Charlottesville Va

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