Covenant Annual Meeting, Estes Park

I arrived home yesterday after a great week in Estes Park, CO.  I was commissioned along with other Short term and Project Missionaries for service through the Covenant Church.  Here is a video if you are interested in the service (our section starts at about 19min in the video): http://vimeo.com/25469164

It was great to see old friends and make new connections too.  I sometimes forget about the supportive church family that I have spread throughout the country and the world.  I was thankful for the opportunity to speak with so many people who have been in Congo and have a heart for the work there.  I had a Congolese flag attached to my name tag, and that's how I made a lot of new friends.  People would yell from across the room "Congo?!" and I would respond "Congo!".  Instant friends.  

Of course we were in stunning Colorado so I had to take advantage of the awesome hiking around us.

My friend KB and I at the top of Bible Point, Estes Park.  KB will be a missionary in East Asia teaching English.  

It was called Bible Point because there was a young man who died in an accident in the early twentieth century.  This mountain top was his favorite place to come and reflect on life and God, so his family keeps a Bible in the mailbox, and honored him by putting a cross at this site too.

Anyone could write their prayers on a notebook in the mailbox, so KB and I added our meditations. 

The last two days I spent in Fort Collins, CO with the Noren's.  Here is Karl with baby Michael near the top of Horsetooth Pass.

Ruth was a super trooper! She climbed one section of the mountain all by herself! Everyone we saw on the trail were very impressed with little Ruthie.

And here is the whole Noren family with Mama Mary.  It was a lot of fun to get to know them better through our hiking excursion.  They will be serving in Rainforest International School in Yaounde, Cameroon.

And our gracious hosts! David and Debbie Williams will be serving with me in Congo, so it was great to see their home and learn more about their community and family.  Their granddaughter Jayla was great to get to know too, I hope she comes to visit her Grandparents in Congo!

VBS

Last week I had a great time volunteering as a "tribe leader" for Vacation Bible School at Winnetka Covenant.  Everyone did a great job of organizing a week filled with activities that were creative, educational and fun. I know the kids had a great time.  One of the girls in my group told her mom "I wish I could go to Bible School for infinity!" Oh my. 

Another exciting part of the week was that my ministry in Congo was the cause the VBS committee chose to raise funds for! I had an opportunity to share with the kids about clean water and nutritious food, and how much of a struggle it is for kids in DRC to have both on a regular basis.  It was amazing to see how the kids repsonded to that, and how many questions they had.  I spoke with one of the Sunday school teachers, and she is interested in having me skype with the kids sunday school classes while I am in Congo so they can continue to learn about the differences and similarities between their lives, and the lives of kids in DRC.  I am passionate about bridging knowledge gaps between cultures, so this is something I am really looking forward to.  Maybe someday these Winnetka kids will have the opportunity to meet the kids in Congo that they have heard so much about!

Some pics from the week (thank you Jess Carley!):

Tie Dying Pillowcases

Loom Weaving with Miss Joan - This is a cool idea for an income generating activity in Congo too!

Planting seeds at the farm

Making clay beads


The total amount of money raised through VBS was over $800! I feel humbled and blessed to have such a wonderful community of support.  It was very rewarding to share about my work and generate interest in this generation for transformational development and social justice.

METE continued

Thanks to my new friends Josh and Lori, here are some more pics of our Covenant Missionary Training (METE) so you can have a little insight into the last two weeks of my life.  I really valued this time to connect with my new team members and to experience spiritual renewal.  Every morning we had solitude time built into our schedule, and I was reminded of the power of PRAYER.  When we take the time to be quiet before God incredible things can take place in our hearts.

This was one of our first nights out together - ECC President Gary Walters had us to his home, and we played a game that was a mix between charades and catch phrase.  This is one of my Congo teammates, David, acting cold?! We did not win this round:)

Mary (with Michael), on the left will be working at the International School in Cameroon, and Lori (with 9 week old Charlie) will be serving in Central African Republic (CAR). Lots of baby love in this group!

One of our learning excursions was a cultural analysis walking around Devon Ave.  Of course the best way to start conversation is by going to the salons! So we had henna done.  It was part of the assignment!

Lori had the Evangelical Covenant Church symbol done so we could discuss religious symbols and what they represent to us.  I've heard people say that this symbol looks like four guys in a hot tub...:)

Paul and Gretchen DeNeui had us over for a Thai dinner on our last night.  It was great to have so much opportunity to get to know the Covenant World Mission staff.  They are truly wonderful resources and friends for us.

It was fun to see everybody talking about where in the world they had been and were going around the world map.  We are a very well traveled crowd!

My country of service, DRC.

This is Paul, with one of my Congo teammates, Debbie.  It was a blessing to meet her and her husband.  We are going to share some exciting adventures together! 

We were taught a Thai string tying  ceremony  that has been adapted in the Thai church  from traditional local religion.  A beautiful example of contextualization done well. 

The whole group with our string blessings. I am thankful to know these folks, and am excited to see how God provides for us as we embark on our fundraising and missionary journey!

Cincinnati and METE in Chicago

June is flying by!  I started this month with a trip to see my brother Carl and cousin Dave in Cincinnati.  We went to Findlay Market the first day to pick up some organic farm fresh produce.

These strawberries literally tasted like sunshine.  No joke.

I also had the opportunity to do the children's sermon at my Aunt Kathleen's church , Immanuel Presbyterian in Clifton, and share a little bit about my work in Democratic Republic of Congo.

My big brother Carl helped me with my mini geography quiz.  The kids did a great job!

After I returned from Cincinnati I jumped right into a two week intensive training for new Covenant missionaries.  I met 11 other folks who are fundraising and preparing to serve as an extension of the church all around the world.  A large number of us were headed to Africa, so it was a great opportunity to get to know my teammates and talk about everything from cross-cultural sensitivity to packing ideas.  One of the nights I took some of my fellow missionaries to see the bean in Millenium Park.

Chicago is always fun (especially in the summertime, and more especially when Iron and Wine is playing a free concert!), but I look forward to the days when I can share pictures of the Congo River and tropical African forests.  Those days will be here before I know it!

website and summertime

My friends Philipine Kidulah and Christine Reiher have put together an awesome website about our work in Western Kenya.

Check it out: www.jitokeze.org  

I am excited to share in this important work that serves women with strength and potential across Africa.

On another note, I am beginning my crazy summer training/speaking schedule next week! Here's what I'm up to:

+ METE (Covenant Missionary Training) Chicago, IL - June 1st - 12th
+ Covenant Annual Meeting Commissioning, Estes Park, CO - June 27th-29th
+ CHE (Community Health Evangelism Training) Vancouver, BC - July 24th - 27th
+ Speaker for VBS at Montecito Covenant, Santa Barbara, CA - Aug. 1st-5th
+ Tropical Agriculture Training, ECHO Farm, Fort Myers, FL - End of August

If you will be in any of these areas, I would love to speak with you more about my work with the Covenant in Africa.

Kimia (Peace).

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Covenant World Mission

I have been back from Kenya since December, graduated from my International Development program, and have officially accepted a position with Covenant World Mission on their team serving in Democratic Republic of Congo! I am excited to continue my work of serving women who are struggling with food and income security, and providing space for them to acheive empowerment and employment.

I am fundraising for my position with the Covenant, so please feel free to email me at christine.buettgen@covchurch.org if you are interested in partnering with me through prayer and/or financial support.





I will be living and working in Gemena, in the far Northwest of the country (not labeled on this map)

 

This is a seasonal river bed during the dry season in Kenya.  This river now has a sand dam built into it to trap the rainy season water to provide filtered water year round for the Pokot community.  Clean water access is a major issue in most of rural Africa, so I hope to continue this work in DRCongo!

 

This Pokot girl will no longer be sharing a water source with the cattle.  Shallow wells will prevent feces from contaminating the water, resulting in healthier communities.



I love the kids looking over the fence! A large part of my work in DRC will be related to sustainable agricultural development and reforestation.

And working with women's associations like this one to promote savings, economic support and trainings in health and agriculture.

introductions

Let me introduce you to some of my community and life in Kenya.  Here I am demonstrating how to use one of the latrines that Yang'at constructed just a few months ago.  This is the first time this interior community has had sanitary excreta disposal, which will drastically improve health and reduce prevalence of water borne diseases.

Pini brought us to her home in West Pokot for our internship.  We have been so blessed to be taken care of by her family and community.  Pini is the founder of Jitokeze and spent the past two months researching the impact of food insecurity on women in this region.  Here she is doing a Pokot dance in the traditional beads.

Meet Keela, my classmate and dear friend from Vancouver.  We share the muzungu and Yang'at experience together.

This is Micah, our security guard, and his son Joshua.  We have been blessed to share life with Micah, and he has taken great care of Keela and I. One of our goals is to raise funds to increase the salary of our co-workers like Micah.  He is currently without salary, volunteering full-time.  Yang'at supports him when funds become available.

Here I am interviewing one of the girls that Yang'at sponsors for school fees.  On the right is Deborah Katina, the co-founder and director of Yang'at.  She embodies what it means to be a servant leader, and she has graciously welcomed Keela and I into the Yang'at family.

Lilian (left) and Everlyne are diligent hard-working volunteers that we have come to love at Yang'at.  I will share Lilian's story in a post to come.  Both girls are praying to secure funds to attend University in the coming years.

And our dear co-worker Elizabeth.  She is a field co-ordinator at Yang'at, facilitating construction of sand dams, latrines and teaching on health, hygiene and sanitation.  Here she is speaking to a community where we performed baseline surveys.  Sand dam construction will commence here in the coming weeks.