2010 Group Schedule

Weeks in 2010 for mission groups to travel to Chiapas to work with Pablo & Jan are filling up fast! Please note the following reservations received to date:

1/9/2010 Salem Presbytery Medical Caravan (multi-state participants)
1/16/2010 Salem Presbytery Medical Caravan (multi-state participants)
Other Jan weeks Open
February, 2010 Open
3/20/2010 Westover Hills Presbyterian (AR)
Other March weeks Open
April, 2010 Open
5/02/2010 Open
5/09/2010 Open
5/16/2010 Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community (PA)
5/23/2010 OPEN
5/30/2010 2nd Presbyterian, Bloomington, IL
6/06/2010 OPEN
6/13/2010 OPEN
6/20/2010 River Forest Presbyterian (IL)
6/26/2010 Salem Presbytery (NC)
7/04/2010 Salem Presbytery (NC)
7/11/2010 Maumee Presbyterian (OH)
7/18/2010 Presbytery of Eastern VA (VA)
7/25/2010 First Presbyterian of Virginia Beach (VA)
7/25/2010 River Glen Presbyterian (IL)
8/02/2010 Pastor's Course in Ocosingo

Proposed Extended Stay Missionaries: Alan Desjardins (April - September), Maggie Mills (several weeks, not yet defined).

For more information about scheduling mission trips, applying for internships or orientation information, please email jgmills@att.net.

Pablo & Jan's Itinerary

Pablo & Jan in the US ~
Fall, 2009 Itinerary

AS OF: 7:38 Saturday, Nov. 7th

Wow! Pablo & Jan's itinerary is CRAZY!!! At this point, we have requests from about 20 churches, organizations and individuals to arrange for them to visit in 8 states during 6 weeks. Whew! This is gonna be tough.

So, please consider this your resource for the most up-to-date information about confirmed and tentatively scheduled appearances by Pablo & Jan.

If you have received an email from me proposing specific dates, please get back in touch with me ASAP to express your regrets or confirm your plans to welcome Pablo & Jan to your group. Use this blog entry as your source of the most current information about their availability!

Red = confirmed engagement
Green = open for now but invitations extended
Orange = probable but not confirmed

• October 8th: Arrival at the Piedmont Triad International Airport, Greensboro, NC
• October 9 - 10th: Open but awaiting confirmations from several NC churches
• October 11th: Oak Ridge Presbyterian, Oak Ridge, NC
• October 12th-13th: Open
• October 14th: Millbrook Baptist Church, Raleigh, NC
• October 15th-17th: Open but awaiting confirmations from several NC churches
• October 18th: Speedwell Presbyterian Church, NC
• October 18th in the afternoon: POSSIBLE Hebron USA Board Meeting
• October 19th: Open
• October 20th: Salem Presbytery meeting, NC
• October 21-24th: PCUSA World Mission Celebration, Cincinnati, OH
• Octover 23-25th for Jan: Women's Retreat, Maumee, OH then on to Detroit
• October 25-27th: Twin Oaks Christian Church, Detroit area
• October 28th: Orchard Lake Presbyterian, Orchard Lake, MI
• October 29th - 31st: The Village Presbyterian, Northbrook, Illinois
• November 1st: Worship at 2nd Presbyterian, Bloomington, Illinois
• November 2nd & 3rd: River Glen Presbyterian, Naperville, Illinois
• November 4th-6th: Virginia Beach, VA
• November 7th: Hebron USA Chiapas Mission Conference, Winston-Salem, NC
• November 7th in the evening: POSSIBLE Hebron USA Board Meeting
• November 8th: Open but awaiting confirmations from PA and NC churches
• November 9th-10th: Gladden United Presbyterian, PA and others in the P'burgh area
• November 11th-12th: Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
• November 13th - 15th: Pittsburgh, PA (including worship at Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community on Sunday). Other details to follow.
• November 16th: Travel Day, Pittsburgh => Greensboro, NC
• November 17th: Curriculum Planning Meeting, Oak Ridge Pres., 3:30 pm
• November 18th-19th: Open but awaiting confirmations from GA and NC churches
• November 20th-23rd: Arkansas Presbytery, preaching at Westover Presbyterian on Sunday
• November 25th-30th: Reserved for family time in Grand Rapids with Jan's family but may consider requests to appear in Michigan
• December 1st: Tentative return to Chiapas. May extend their stay if there have been substantial requests for appearances that have not yet been fulfilled.

HOST FAMILIES confirmed:

• While in NC: Brad & Melinda Morton, Greensboro, NC
• While in Northbrook, IL: Carolyn Vogel
• While in VA: Randy & Leslie DuVall, Virginia Beach, VA
• While visiting Gladden UPC, Elizabeth Broschart
• While visiting PTS: Don Dawson
• While visiting Hot Metal Bridge: Sonja Van Dijk
• While in Arkansas: Liz and Bill Branch

Email all confirmations, regrets, questions and details about host families to: jgmills@att.net

LAST UPDATED: Saturday, Nov. 7th

Last updated: Thursday, September 24, 2009

New Ministries Update

March, 2009 Update

Dear Partners in Missions,

Trusting that God has work for us to do in the US as well as in Mexico, we've all been hard at work redefining our ministry since moving back to NC. Each organization that we are now serving may be of interest to you or someone you know. Please check out the websites below and let us know if you'd like more information about Full Life Counseling, ECHO Clinics or El Buen Pastor/Latino Community Services.

Full Life Counseling

Ginny's new private counseling practice ~ dedicated to supporting families whose lives are affected by alcohol, medications and drug. So no one suffers alone. For those who are reluctant to reach out, "house calls" are available by special arrangement. www.Full-Life-Counseling.com


ECHO Clinics (Empowering Church Healthcare Outreach)



John's new employer - ECHO - dedicated to consulting with and for churches seeking to establish free medical clinics and medical ministries in their communities. John is currently supporting churches in SC, TX, FL and OK.


El Buen Pastor Iglesia Presbiteriana en Winston-Salem

Holly & Maggie's volunteer site where they tutor Latino students receiving afterschool care and homework help. This PCUSA church is led by Rev. Rosa Miranda, one of the very first ordained female PCUSA pastors who completed seminary training in Mexico.

***************************************************************

Although we may live in NC now, our hearts and minds are still connected to the ministry in Chiapas. Here are a few updates of interest:

• Sign-up for Summer Mission Trips is underway. Deadline for Salem Presbytery trip registration is March 15th. See the Salem Presbytery Mexico Mission site for details or email Wil Gibble.
• Randy DuVall of First Presbyterian in Virginia Beach will be serving as the Missionary in Residence in Ocosingo from April to August. Although we are still able to answer questions and help with some practical matters, most trip planning details should be directed to Randy's email.
• Pablo & Jan's son, Josue, was married to Ana Brito in Mexico City in January. They are continuing their studies at Dordt College in Iowa.
• Despite reports of rampant drug violence in other parts of Mexico, Chiapas continues to be relatively violence-free. The only significant change in our recommendations for travelers would be to avoid making currency exchanges in the Mexico City airport.
• Clinic construction is ongoing, in large part because of a significant gift from The Village Presbyterian Church in Illinois (Carolyn Vogel's church).
• Holly & Maggie plan to intern with Pablo, Jan and Randy for several weeks this summer. Others interested in interning should contact us or Randy DuVall.
  

All in all, the transition has been okay, but we all still miss our friends and "family" in Chiapas. We love our miracle machines (the ones that wash dishes and clothes) but miss our life in Ocosingo. For those who are able to travel to Chiapas this summer, enjoy! For those who are not able to travel this summer, please consider making a contribution towards clinic construction through Hebron USA.

Su hermano y hermana en Cristo,

John and Ginny Mills
Mills Family Mission

Clinic Gift

This past week, just before Thanksgiving, we learned of a $25,000 gift from a church in Illinois to help with clinic construction. It came at the perfect time! In addition to the logic of giving us one more thing to be thankful for, it also came at a time of discouragement --- as if to say, "hang in there...it'll get built...just be patient and faithful." Boy, what a message we needed to hear!

The team in Mexico that has really driven the process of clinic construction is very experienced. They've built churches and Sunday school buildings, cisterns and seminaries, houses and school buildings all over Chiapas and even a few in neighboring Tabasco. But they'd never built a clinic before. Even in Mexico, clinic construction is overseen by the government and has different construction requirements. To the best of my knowledge, the government doesn't get involved in the other types of construction we've done there. But clinics have special requirements. For example:

• They have to be able to withstand an earthquake.
• They have to have fire safety systems in place (like sprinklers).
• They have to special anti-bacterial fibers mixed into cement for interior flooring.
• The list goes on and on.

So what have these requirements meant? More details. More time. More money. And a LOT more of all three! Cost estimates for final completion have continued to rise, even though it looks like we're about 85% to 90% completed! But meeting those requirements is all part of the process of demonstrating that we are faithful to honoring the law and the spirit of the law, which is surely to insure that those who are served there will be safe...no matter what.

Yes, there's irony in that because of our horrific experiences in the Mexican government's healthcare system. And yes, it's extremely frustrating to be so close and yet so far. Nevertheless, we are reminded of the patience of the Mexican people. They build when there are funds and wait patiently (without losing the vision) until those funds are available. THEY will not lose sight of the dream. THEY will not get discouraged because they are used to having to wait for things that are important. THEY will remind us that good things come to those who wait.

But still... the gift from Illinois was a much needed encouragement for those of us on THIS side of the border....those of us who have poured out of time, our money, our sweat and even our blood to help get Clinica Tzeltal Manos de Cristo (Hands of Christ Tzeltal Clinic) ready to serve those in need.

So for those of you who are like us.....impatient and eager and teetering on the edge of discouragement, please give. For those of you who can't give, pray. For those of you who can be patient and faithful in confidence that God will provide, pray for the rest of us.

Amen.

Koinonia at Prodigals Community

My friend, Jim Walker, talks constantly about the importance of Koinonia - the idealized state of fellowship and community - shared communion. One of our consulting projects these days has us spending time with a community that long ago established koinonia in an intentional Christian community comprised of newly recovering addicts and alcoholics. Not exactly the type you expect to find in an intentional Christian community? Well....let me tell you!!!!!...

Last Monday night, I attended the Prodigals Community "Step Up" (or graduation) worship service. Their stories varied in details, but their message of hope was the same. "I came to experience freedom from my addiction through the transforming power of Jesus Christ as shown to me in this community...in this "family"... in this collection of broken brothers and sisters who walk together." They spoke of their desperation upon joining the community. They spoke of the pain they had caused others. They spoke of the total and complete despair caused by addiction. They spoke of the same they felt about themselves and their doubt that they would ever deserve anything because of how they'd lived their lives in addiction.

But they also spoke of their determination to stay on the recovery road because NOW they have finally come to believe that they can have hope. They spoke of how it feels to know that they have succeeded in a program that only graduates 1-2 people a year. They singled out those who had specifically helped them succeed - including some they didn't like, some they learned to respect, and some who had pushed them, challenged them and refused to be manipulated by them along the way. They praised the program at Prodigals, but most of all, they praised God.

I had so hoped to be able to share this message and experience with Pablo & Jan Feliciano while they were visiting in NC, but they were not able to join me. The message of hope that is shared by someone who has been so hopeless is truly different from messages of hope pronounced by someone who simply navigates the usual troubles of life. The message of gratitude that is shared by someone who has stolen from, abused and crushed the spirits of those who love them is different from messages of gratitude from those whose family and friends have never questioned their love or commitment to them. The messages of faithfulness from someone who FINALLY came to believe that only God could save them from themselves (not man, not self, not pills, not money, not anything) is different from messages of faithfulness from those who have never waivered in their belief that God is real and present and working in their lives.

You see, those who have made it through 18-24 months at Prodigals Community are truly like the phoenix --- having gone down to death in utter flames and now reborn thanks to the redeeming love of Jesus Christ and the presence of brothers & sisters in Christ around them to support, love, encourage, challenge and show the love of Jesus. These brothers in Christ are still on their journey of recovery and will be for the rest of their lives. But today, they are able to walk that journey with the knowledge that they are never alone, have people to support them, and are capable of living without drugs or alcohol to get them through their pain. One of those who graduated, did so for the 2nd time --- an important reminder to all that the journey of recovery requires setting recovery and relationship with God as the most important things in their lives.

I felt honored and humbled to be in the presence of those who have come so far. If I measure my journey against their's, they have come much farther, under much more challenging circumstances, and with so many strikes against them for so long. But this isn't a contest or a race. We CAN choose to be in this together, especially when we allow those opportunities for koinonia with those from all walks of life.

To learn more about Prodigals, go to their website. To learn more about their 3-fold model of 12-step, therapeutic, Christian community, email me for more information. There's a story to be told here - a program to be replicated - and wonderful reasons to praise God for his power to redeem even those who seem too lost to be found.

Pablo & Jan in NC

Right now, we feel really close to our Mexico missionary identity since we are helping to coordinate Pablo & Jan's schedule in NC for the next 3 1/2 weeks. They are visiting churches, meeting with pastors, reconnecting with old friends and generally doing their part to enrich and grow the partnership between the Tzeltal Presbytery and Salem Presbytery. Their schedule is available on the Facebook group, Livin' on Pablo Time, but for those who don't have Facebook accounts, major church-based plans can be summarized as follows:

• Sunday, October 26th - Guilford Park Presbyterian
• Saturday, Nov. 1 - Hawfields Presbyterian's evening contemporary service
• Sunday, Nov. 2 - Starmount Presbyterian - morning worship
• Sunday afternoon, Nov. 2 - Caswell County Presbyterian churches at Red House Pres
• Sunday, Nov. 9 - North Wilkesboro Presbyterian
• Wed., Nov. 12 - Decatur Presbyterian, Decatur, GA
  
• Sunday, Nov. 16 - First Presbyterian Church, Boone, NC
• Wednesday, Nov. 19 - Rumple Memorial Presbyterian, Blowing Rock, NC
• Thursday, Nov. 20th - departure to return to Grand Rapids, MI

Feel free to join us at any of these gatherings and let us know if you have specific questions. As always, we're grateful to have these two incredible examples of Christian servant leaders in our midst, and we invite you to reconnect with them while they're here.

Is there value?

When we lived in Chiapas, there was an internal sense that people were genuinely interested in what we were doing, how our lives were being transformed through the missionary experience, etc., and so there was a sense that we should be writing about it. As time went on, we heard from people that they really did enjoy reading this blog, really appreciated the inside-look at life on the mission field, and so forth, so that internal sense was validated. Now though, being back in NC, it's really hard to know.

Does it make sense to keep writing? Do people still read now that we're back on American soil? Do the ramblings have value or should we share some kind of less-frequent email update about what's happening in Chiapas and leave it at that? Hard to know, y' know? So what do you think? If your here reading, you must have chosen to do so, and your input is valuable to us.

Life in NC is good. We are continuing to be challenged by the time-sensitive nature of this culture and other aspects of American life that we had come to gladly relinquish in Mexico. On the other hand, God is continuing to place important opportunities for ministry and service in our path every day. John's work with ECHO to help churches start medical ministries is exploding! Our consulting with Prodigals and Ginny's counseling at Trinity Center are keeping us both busy in Winston-Salem. And of course, Holly & Maggie are running in a hundred different directions being teenaged servants, students and friends. Young Life has proven to create the perfect vehicle for making new friends for Holly, and Maggie is plugged back into her lifelong best friend, Stephanie.

So, let us know your thoughts about the blog continuing (just comment on the blog posting).

God is good - all the time. All the time - God is good.
Amen.

More at home in churches & new ministries than in our house

So we've been back in our house for about 10 days now. Boxes clutter the dining room, and the walls remain bare. But perhaps the most odd aspect of the experience of moving back into our house is the neutral color scheme. We repainted and put down new carpet to make the colors more neutral for tenants who would be renting our home. The result? It doesn't look like our home, it doesn't feel like our home, and yet we're supposed to feel like we've finally come home. Hmmm....

On the work front, it's been a slow start for John & Ginny, but high school has been friendly to both Holly & Maggie thus far. Both John & Ginny are consulting for Prodigals Recovery Ministries, John has finally begun work for the ECHO Foundation, and Ginny is building a counseling caseload at Trinity Center. These activities feel like logical extensions of our ministry and, in that way, help with the transition.

In the coming weeks, we hope to revamp our website to reflect our ongoing ministry activities - in part to make a statement to those who have been our Partners in Ministry here in the US. One of the most important ways in which God prepared us for the return to life in the US was a sermon delivered by a traveler in the River Glen group in July. Lindsey, who had served in the Dominican Republic for 5 years, helped prepare us with these reminders:

• Mission trips build servants hearts while on the mission field, but we often forget the lessons learned when we go "home"
• Longer mission experiences help us make missions part of our psyche, our hearts, our way of life
• Missionary service is not "location dependent." Once missions become a part of who we are and how we live in the world, it doesn't matter where we live. We are missionaries wherever we go.
  

So, the Mills Family Mission website and this blog will continue but with a broader spectrum. We will include ongoing activities from Chiapas and Hebron USA, but we'll also include our new ministry activities.

We're also working hard to make our way along "the supporting churches road tour!" We've visited:

• 1st Presbyterian, Mt. Airy, NC
• 1st Presbyterian, Boone, NC
• Millbrook Baptist, Raleigh, NC
• Oak Ridge Presbyterian, Oak Ridge, NC
  

but have SO MANY MORE TO GO! Speaking of "road tours," Pablo is now on the PCUSA's Peacemaker's Tour and then will connect with many in NC on his own "supporting churches road tour." There's a Facebook group entitled, "Livin' on Pablo Time" that shows his travel schedule and host churches along the way, so you may want to check it out too.

For now, we still haven't found out telephone or our can opener, but we have found great comfort in the ministry opportunities available to us here in NC and know that God is continuing to minister to us through others who love us. For those who have been praying for us, thank you and please continue and know that you are loved!