Our Tanzania mission team of (6) individuals is just 30 days away from our departure to Mwanza, Tanzania. This will be a twelve day journey traversing thousands of miles as we partner with our friends at the Mwanza Bible Institute (MBI). The trip itinerary is full of engaging Bible teaching, plans to share in fellowship while discipling those we come in contact with and building the foundational truth of faith in Christ for the younger students attending the Hope Royal School as well as local children in the area. While we finalize the last few remaining details of our trip, we humbly request your prayers for the petitions of our team. That our team fundraising goals are met by the end of December ’23. For biblical guidance and the Holy Spirit’s leading in preparation for teaching, discipling & fellowship. (Gal. 5) For the salvation and/or edification of those we come…
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The Calvary Church missions team of (6) people has been hard at work the last few months preparing for their trip to Mwanza, Tanzania which runs from 1/17/24 to 1/28/24. The goal of this trip is to provide support to the Mwanza Bible Institute where we will be teaching systematic Bible theology to the adult students. We will also be ministering to the student spouses, facilitating Bible teaching to children who attend the Hope Royal School and also putting on a vacation Bible school for children who live in the area. As we near our time of departure, we humbly request prayers for safe travels and also wisdom from the Lord as we embark on this journey. Should you be convicted to help sponsor financially, we are still welcoming donors to be a part of this very important work. Just login to your mycalvarygr.org account, click “Missions” in the top…
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Today is bittersweet as we close out an incredible week of serving at All4Aid. Each of us had the opportunity to choose our area of service today, and it was amazing to see how God opened opportunities to share with women who came to the center today. Today, we offer just a snapshot of our week. Jobs included handing out towels and helping women access the showers, assisting women who visited the shop for clothing, playing with kids (we made homemade play dough in our hotel rooms last night!), and providing foot rubs in the spa. We each have so many stories to share, too many for one blog post! We each feel honored to have been able to represent Calvary Church this week, being the hands and feet of Jesus. Tomorrow, we plan to debrief in Athens before flying home on Sunday. Thank you all for your continued support…
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Today marked our third day working in the center. Energy levels are a little lower today, and we are are examining different emotions as we experience helping those who endure so much suffering. Feelings have ranged from compassion to confirming to even recognizing the contrasts of life’s circumstances. We grapple with guilt when we are distracted by lost luggage while those we serve have lost seemingly everything. We feel compassion when we spend a few moments braiding a young girl’s hair and pray a silent prayer over her as we do so. We feel conflicted when we offer a foot massage to a woman who’s trekked cross-country to escape persecution and certain death. We also recognize the contrasts of providing respite in a world so torn with war and oppression. It is hard to say no to people when there are limited resources. It is difficult to want to heal…
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While we are actually four days into our trip, today was our first full day working at the All4Aid Center. We spent the first two days traveling to Lesvos, arriving on the island in time for dinner Saturday night. On Sunday, we went to church, worshipping with people from all over the world, including a group of people living in the camp who come from Ethiopia. Then, we spent the afternoon touring a bit of the island, getting to know our host, and preparing for our first day at the center. Today, we received a brief training before dividing up to do various jobs including hospitality, operating the shower room, and spending time with the women and children who come to the center to receive services. A few members of our team helped sort clothes and prepared to open the store tomorrow. We are rejoicing that the center will open…
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On October 6 through 15, a group of six women from Calvary Church are traveling to Lesvos, Greece, to serve with All4Aid, a faith-based organization from Germany that serves refugees. This will be Calvary’s first short-term missions trip back to Lesvos since 2019, when five different teams went to serve with this organization. All4Aid hosts The All4Women Centre on the island of Lesvos, where refugee women and children can access clean showers, wash laundry, utilize the foodbank, and enjoy a moment of respite from life inside the refugee camp. During this 10-day trip, the team will serve refugee women and children who are among thousands to have fled their countries due to war and persecution and are living in Lesvos as they seek asylum to other parts of the world. The team will be there to serve them, spend time with them, and share the love of Jesus with them….
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The separation anxiety has begun. Even before our plane touched the ground in Grand Rapids, the conversations of how to get back to Cyprus had begun. As we picked up our luggage from baggage claim and hugged our families who came to great us, the group lingered. Many of the youth had been waking up at 5:30am every morning to watch the sun rise and do devotions together. What does that look like tomorrow? And the day after? There was already a group text sent out before many of us even arrived home from the airport. During our debrief time, we threw out words that immediately came to mind about this week, and the word “family” was mentioned. Because each member of the trip had already accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, we were already brothers and sisters in Christ before the trip started. But we became family in…
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Hey everybody! My name is Sam Wolowski and I’m the intern for Calvary’s 7th-8th ministry this summer. I’ve had the privilege and opportunity to serve and walk alongside these wonderful students this week. It’s been a week of hard work, sweat, perseverance, and dependence on the Lord. We’ve seen God working through our students and through the many challenging and exciting experiences the Lord has presented to us this week. This morning we spent time reflecting on this week and the commitments we made and prayed over last night to the Lord (to pray and read the Bible, spend time in God’s presence, witness to a friend, etc). God showed up big this week and we are all so grateful! To celebrate how the Lord worked this week through our team, we took a trip to Sandusky, Ohio to ride some rollercoasters at Cedar Point! I truly believe that we…
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It’s amazing how refreshed we look on the seventh day! Truthfully…we didn’t look this fresh. We don’t smell so fresh either. This photo was taken on Sunday, and I think everyone would tell you that Sunday seems like a lifetime ago, but in the very best way possible. Thank you for your faithful prayers this week! We anticipated that God would be present during Holiday Club/VBS. Many of us have served or attended VBS before and thought we knew what to expect, but we would agree that this experience has surpassed our expectations. There’s always an element of connecting with the children in attendance, but it was harder saying goodbye to them than normal. Over 80% of the children in attendance do not attend Larnaca Community Church, who hosted this week. Yes, we wanted to pass out from the exhaustion of this week, but we still felt the urgency for…
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