| How can I find out more information about Mission work in the United Methodist Church?
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| To find out more information on the mission work of the United Methodist Church visit the General Board of Global Ministries web site at gbgm-umc.org.
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| Who are the Missions & Outreach that represent Divine Savior?
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| Terry Henderson and Muriel Henderson. Select either of our Missions & Outreach to learn more about them.
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| How will Divine Savior be involved in Mission work this year?
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| We are a church that truly is in “mission” beyond our walls. There is a closeness and warmth that we feel as we worship, sing, do puppetry, teach, be a friend to others in need, and the many other ways that makes us a family of Christ. But we are also in ministry to others, locally, across our country, and around the world. We are an active church, with Divine Savior members reaching out to others in many ways--by donating food, preparing the meal, delivering it, and the giving of our time to work at the Homeless Shelter; by delivering food and serving at the Wexford Pantry; by giving blood; by connecting with the Wexford Ridge residents; through The Master's Hands Puppet & Mime Ministry and the Youth missions trip to Alabama; walking and riding for CROP; by responding to our world in crisis with our gifts; by supporting the many UMW activities and missions projects, and through our tithes and offerings. First, it is time to celebrate our involvement, and then to ask “How can I do more?”
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| Muriel A. Henderson
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| Muriel Henderson is a missionary of the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church assigned to the Methodist Church of Mexico with her husband, Terry–also a GBGM missionary–where they have served since 1972. Muriel serves as the office manager, fundraiser and teacher for the "Give Ye Them To Eat" Advance program, an integrated development program for rural Mexico. "The objective of this social outreach program," she says, "is to collaborate with village families in their effort to secure a better life by providing development opportunities." She also organizes leadership training events in Christian Education on the local, district and conference levels in the Southeast Annual Conference of the Methodist Church of Mexico.
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Muriel reflects on her work: "When I travel out to the village churches to give 'Teacher Training' classes, I work with teachers who are men, women and youth with little formal education. As I see them get excited about the effective ways they can teach the Bible and share their faith, I am convinced that God works through this ministry."
Through the Hendersons' coordination, training events are offered to men, women and youth in their village setting and at the program's Learning and Livestock Center. Through these practical learning experiences they acquire skills and knowledge related to group dynamics and leadership, nutrition and family health care, appropriate technology, alternative methods of construction, as well as sustainable farming practices, and environmentally sound livestock management practices.
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| In addition, rural families can receive high quality, food-producing animals to integrate into their agricultural endeavor. These types of activities help to accomplish the goal which is to alleviate hunger and poverty in rural Mexico as families and communities progress and share their knowledge and resources." A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Muriel earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Education from Arizona State University. Prior to going to Mexico, she served in Chile at the El Vergel Agricultural School. There, she was a dormitory mother and taught classes in art, physical education and English. Muriel and Terry have two adult children, Terrell and Tony, and five grandchildren. They hold church membership in the Desert Southwest Annual Conference.
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| Terry D. Henderson
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 Terry Henderson is an agricultural missionary assigned
to the Methodist Church of Mexico with his wife, Muriel, where they have
served since 1972. As director of the “Give Ye Them to Eat” program, he
oversees the work of this integrated development project which is sponsored
jointly by the Methodist Church of Mexico and the United Methodist Church
through the Advance program of the General Board of Global Ministries. |
| Mr. Henderson describes his work: “This social outreach program complements
the evangelistic work of the Methodist Church of Mexico. We offer classes
and courses in a variety of subjects including leadership development, nutrition
and family health, appropriate technology, and alternative construction
methods. We also offer training in sustainable agricultural practices that
will increase family income and improve their lands. Environmentally-sound
livestock management practices are also taught and quality livestock are
distributed. |
Reflecting on his mission, he comments, "When needy people have the tools for development, they can solve the problems within their own community. The knowledge and skills to make their land produce in a way that in environmentally sound and economically feasible provide farm families with the means
to remain on their land rather than migrating to crowded cities where only
urban poverty awaits them. With the addition of food-producing animals,
fewer will have the need to go beyond their national borders to look for
a way to feed and support their family. When I see people reaching the potential
that God has placed within them, I have no doubt God is working through them
and this outreach ministry." |
| Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Mr. Henderson studied at Mesa Community College,
Arizona state University, the National Autonomous University of Mexico,
and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona campus. He worked as
an evaluator-trainer for the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation
for the State of Arizona; as an agricultural mechanic for the University
of Arizona Experimental farm, and as a social worker at Wesley Community
Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Prior to going to Mexico, Mr. Henderson served
at the El Vergel Agricultural School in Chile where he taught classes in agriculture
and related subjects. |
| Terry and his wife, Muriel, are parents of two adult children, Terrell
and Tony and five grandchildren. They hold church membership in the Desert
Southwest Annual Conference. |
| GYTTE Program
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The GYTTE (pronounced JITTY) program works with men, women, children and youth, providing them with development opportunities in six program areas:
- Community Development: The objectives are to better family and community life; decrease human drudgery through appropriate technology; promote an atmosphere of mutual support and increase the people's awareness of the nature and causes of their problems and the possibilities and ways in which they can be overcome. Training is offered in appropriate construction for low-cost housing; construction of fuel-efficient mud stoves and solar cookers; low-tech methods of pumping water for family use and irrigation; latrine construction and the recycling of resources.
- Community and Family Health (More Than A Bandage): The objective of this program is to give rural families the opportunity to learn about preventive health care as well as to address health issues. This is accomplished by equipping village women as volunteer workers for community-based health care. From their training these women are able to share what they have learned, thus empowering people to prevent serious disease by changing the conditions, which cause it, and to treat illness in its earliest stage right in their own community. The health workers attend 3 one-week courses where they learn the basics on topics such as nutrition; basic sanitation; family planning; prenatal care and infant healthcare; dental hygiene; oral rehydration; medicinal plants; and first aid.
- Agricultural Development: The objectives are to preserve and improve the condition of the land; improve agricultural production; and increase family income. Courses are offered in contour terracing and other methods of soil conservation; composting and manure usage; composting worms; family gardens; planting and use of multipurpose trees and medicinal plants.
- Livestock Development (Pueblo Partners): The objectives are to genetically improve the livestock of the region; increase livestock production; provide animal protein for families and increase their income. This is accomplished by training people in environmentally sound livestock management practices and by distributing food and income-producing animals. The commitment of the project participants is to share an offspring from their animals as well as their new-gaining knowledge with others.
- Church and Faith Development: The objective is to be supportive of the spiritual growth of the Methodist congregations through training events for laity and clergy as well as the production and distribution of specific Christian Education materials for the local church such as Advent and Christmas resources, Lent and Holy Week materials and Vacation Bible School curriculum.
- The A.W.A.R.E Program: AWARE stands for Alternative Work/study and Reality Experience. The objective is to create awareness in regard to the reality of our interrelated world. This is done through study and work experiences that offer alternative ways of working, living, building and, in general, treating the earth in ways that do not put the creation at risk and that empower people for development.
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| A Letter from Terry & Muriel Henderson
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| March 5, 2007
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| Hola Amigos (Hi Friends): |
| From all the cards, letters and e-mails we’ve receive it’s obvious there is a lot of mission interest back home in the USA. We are so very grateful there are people and congregations that pray for missions and missionaries. Prayer is ALWAYS good and needed. Thank you for your prayers and mission support. |
| We want to share some of the recent happenings with the “Give Ye Them To Eat” program. It is a busy life at the Tree of Life Training Center for Integrated Development where the GYTTE program staff host a variety of activities. Staff members also supervise village groups where rural families have started their own development projects and teach workshops and classes in villages, schools and churches. The winter schedule has been a full one and we anticipate this spring will follow the same pattern. |
| A Christian Education workshop on learning styles and age-appropriate teaching was taught at a Methodist church in Veracruz. The staff also hosted several groups at the Center for the daylong introductory class on appropriate technology. As the people listened to the theory behind the technologies, toured the Center and saw low-tech methods put to use for agriculture and livestock endeavors as well as for home use, they had a lot of questions. Many people signed up to take courses this spring so they can learn how to put some of these technologies to use on their land and in their homes. |
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| Villagers living in the vicinity of the Center have been coming for monthly classes on health issues and hygiene. The men and women are very enthusiastic about taking these classes that help their families have improved health. |
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| A two-day workshop on the construction and use of Solar Cookers was given to students from a rural vocational school. This technology is simple and economical. They are made from used cardboard boxes from appliance stores and re-purposed for home cooking. The total cost to make one solar cooker from used boxes, newspaper, tin foil, glue, cotton cord and a pane of glass is only $15.00 dollars. On a sunny day water can be pasteurized and food cooked without searching for firewood or spending money on gas. So you can see why these students are eager to teach this technology in their own communities. |
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| A medical team from California came to serve at the Good Samaritan Clinic at the mountain village of Tatoxcac. GYTTE-trained health workers went along to teach about heath issues to the patients waiting in the lines to see the physicians and dentists. There will be three more medical teams serving at the two conference clinics this spring so more community-based, primary health workers will be invited to share health information with the villagers who come in need of health care. |
| In January and February volunteers from Pennsylvania and South Carolina and teams from Nebraska and Kansas came to the Training Center to serve and thaw out from the cold winter weather back home. Everyone worked really hard on a number of construction projects. They also worked on contour terracing on the hillside and garden plots that not only will produce vegetables and feed for the livestock but will serve to demonstrate soil conservation methods and gardening options for agricultural development classes. |
| Two staff houses and a small shop were painted and a ceiling plastered. The natural paint made with quicklime, water, prickly pear juice and yellow soil gave the new shop a warm mustard color that looks great and cost next to nothing! |
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| The rock, reinforcing wire and barbed wire used to fence the front of the property have given the entrance to the Training Center an esthetic and effective boundary to protect the grounds from open grazing. Hungry livestock wandering through the area during these months of drought have destroyed the lands and agricultural endeavors of many farmers. Although labor intensive, this fencing method clears acres of excess stone, and provides an economical and effective protection for productive farmlands. |
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| Flagstone from Tlancualpican was laid on the seating area cut out of the hillside surrounding the sports court and paving stones were laid around the four sides of the court. Basketball backboards and hoops were made and put into place. Possibly there has never been a court as striking as the Samuel Hartman Memorial Sports Court! |
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| Another project this winter was the palm branch-thatched roof that was built over the mud oven that was constructed last fall by another team. Although the oven was made for bread baking it is bound to have a Mexican style pizza made in it occasionally. The oven and roofing system are two more technologies that villagers can adopt and adapt for their own needs. |
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| Besides the various work projects and learning experiences at the training center the teams and volunteers repaired a church parsonage, visited a livestock project and observed a class on High Blood Pressure taught by GYTTE-trained health workers. While visiting a primary school the Kansas team noticed the backboards and hoops on the playground were broken and in danger of falling on the children. Being the team now had experience in making basketball backboards, they decided to make new ones for the school. A couple days later they installed them for which the students and teachers in the village of El Limon were very grateful. |
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| These are just some of the activities in which the GYTTE staff and we, your missionaries, are involved. Thank you for helping us to continue this outreach ministry in the rural sector of Mexico. We are grateful to you and for you. |
| Your Mission Partners, |
| Muriel and Terry Henderson |
