When the chidren of Israel came to Elim, they had arrived at an oasis in the midst of the wilderness; Mission First today provides a place of spiritual as well as physical refreshment in the middle of a needy area.
After having been blessed by mission teams from FBC Jackson to Oadby England for three years, a team from Oadby has finally made the return trip to Jackson. Six adults and one baby got to stay at Mission First in West Park for a week to learn about this community transformation programme first-hand and to help where we could.
We had some experience of working with children, young people and older people in church, school and community settings, and trusted the Lord to link these to ministries at Mission First. We were soon given the vision for the whole development from Lee Thigpen, the executive director, which described the progress from initial prayer walks in the area, through magnificent provision of volunteers by God's prompting and the efforts of His people. Eric Troyer then became our task master, sorry, projects coordinator, and he helped to sort us out and suffer our daily abuse of the American language. Eric had us painting with brushes and rollers, cutting with mowers and trimmers and generally helping to get the place ready for the annual Fall Festival. This event helps to share fun, food and fellowship with the families of all the children who come to the OASIS after school programme at Mission First. The day went really well, and a bit of rain was not allowed to dampen any enthusiasm!
For us, we will take back fond memories of God's love in action through children's work, health, dental, legal and sporting activities that are all building up the local community and restoring dignity to people's lives. We will also take many ideas for what we should do in our area in order to put 'Mission First.'
- The Odbe England Team
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