The villagers of Buenos Aires are currently preparing for the new schoolroom by providing the labor for the pouring of the concrete foundation and by gathering some of the necessary materials and tools. Michael Irvine will be traveling down to El Salvador a few days ahead of the rest of the team to ensure that all the required materials are ready upon the team’s arrival.
This year’s team will have a few other tasks in addition to the construction of the new schoolhouse. One of the other tasks is to perform routine maintenance on the school that was built by the church in 2002. As a part of the maintenance of the main school building, the team will look at the developing problem of erosion at the school site. Michael Irvine has made a three-year commitment to the church to serve as a grant writer. Therefore, while in El Salvador, Michael will work with other team members to collect materials and information that he can use to obtain grants to fund future projects. The team will also be working to identify potential future projects for the community.
As in previous years, the St. Andrew congregation has been extremely generous in their support of the El Salvador Team. This year’s mission has also received a significant amount of funding from our annual Fourth of July hamburger booth. If you would like to contribute to this year’s projects or to future projects, please mail a check to St. Andrew Presbyterian Church at 16290 Arnold Drive, Sonoma, CA 95476. Tax-deductible donations can also be made to New Horizons USA. P.O. Box 2015, Sonoma, CA 95476. Please be sure to write El Salvador in the memo portion of the check and to indicate whether or not you would like a receipt.
The 2007 El Salvador Team will leave San Francisco airport on Friday, October 19th and will return early in the morning on Sunday, October 28th. This years team participants are: Robert Bernard, Kitty Brenek, Cathy Collier, Guillermo Gonzalez, Dave Haflich, Pat Ingram, David Irvine, Michael Irvine, Bob Jones, and Gary Stein. All team members are volunteering their time and funds to participate in the mission.
We would like to introduce the participants of this years mission trip to you:
Robert Bernard is one of our first time participants and we are extremely excited to have him as a part of our team. Robert has extensive experience in construction and drainage control and because of his expertise he will lead a small sub-team that will take care of some routine maintenance that needs to be done on the original school.
Kitty Brenek has been a valuable member of all of our previous mission trips to El Salvador and we are very pleased she has decided to join us again.
Cathy Collier has also participated in all of our previous missions projects in El Salvador. Cathy led the last trip during which the team built a community center for the village.
Guillermo Gonzalez, a native of El Salvador, is the reason the church is working in El Salvador. His heartfelt devotion to his country after the devastating hurricane of 1999 and earthquake of 2001 were the inspiration behind the creation of this church’s mission in Buenos Aires. Guillermo is also the board president of USA New Horizons, a 501(c)3 that supports the church’s work in El Salvador.
Dave Haflich has long been a supporter of the church’s efforts in El Salvador but up until this year Dave has not been able to participate in any of the mission trips. If Dave can lay block as well as he makes hamburgers he will be invaluable on our upcoming trip.
Pat Ingram has also been supporting the church’s efforts in El Salvador from the start and like Dave, Pat has yet to join us on one of our mission trips. Pat is also a board member of USA New Horizons.
David Irvine will be returning to El Salvador again as the church’s staff member in charge of the trip. David led the first mission trip in 2002 during which the team built the original school.
As mentioned above Michael Irvine will once again be participating in this year’s trip. After participating in the first mission trip in 2002 Michael returned to Buenos Aires in August of 2004 and stayed working as a volunteer until September of 2005. Michael has returned to El Salvador a number of times since his thirteen-month stay, including a trip with Guillermo and Pastor Rich Gantenbein in February of this year to reestablish St. Andrews’ commitment to Buenos Aires.
Bob Jones is the last of our new team members and we are very fortunate to have him on this years’ team. Bob is experienced in volunteering abroad and has just recently returned from Romania where he spent three weeks working with a local vacation bible school.
Gary Stein is the tenth a final member of this years’ team. Gary’s vast knowledge of construction and his experience from participating in the church’s first two mission trips to El Salvador make him an easy choice to serve as this years’ trip foreman.
As you can see all of our volunteers come from different backgrounds and have various levels of experience. Most don’t speak Spanish but all share a passion for helping others, which is the most important criteria for a team member. If you are interested in joining us on a future trip or if you would like to help in any other way please contact David Irvine at (707) 996-6076 or dirvine@andrewpres.org.
Throughout our trip this website will be updated with the events of each day. Please check in daily to stay up to date with this year’s mission efforts.
