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Global Missions

 

Dr. Salvador de la Torre & 

Mrs. Irma de la Torre

Medical Benevolence Fund 

Haiti and Mexico

Salvador and Irma are a doctor-nurse team who have extensive teaching and clinical experience at hospitals and universities in Mexico, Haiti, Kenya and Zambia. Salvador is a consultant to the Christian Health Association of Kenya (CHAK), the overarching agency for all Christian hospitals, including three hospitals of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA). He helps medical institutions improve their management systems. Salvador has also served as project manager for the US government sponsored assistance program for people with HIV/AIDS, making sure that patients received the drugs and equipment necessary for anti-retroviral therapy.

Irma has helped in the formation of three primary schools in remote areas of Kenya and continues to advise them. Salvador and Irma are now coordinating Presbyterian mission teams who work alongside Mayans in Chiapas, Mexico, building Presbyterian churches, teaching Bible School, and providing medical care. 

Ramelim Primary School: In 2004, a Goldsboro FPC mission team helped build the Elim church in a very poor village in Kenya with no access to a school.  The following year, with the support of FPC's Foundation, our church decided to build and sponsor a preschool classroom beside Elim Church. Since that time the Ramelim Christian School has grown to a full Prek-K thru Grade 8 Primary School, sending well prepared students to secondary schools and in some cases on to university. FPC continues to partially fund teacher salaries, facility needs and nutritional support, with a goal of seeing the school become self supportive. 

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Ramelim Primary School

Presbyterian Church of

East Africa - Kenol, Kenya

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Mwandai Formula Feeding Program

Zambia, Africa

Mwandi Presbyterian Mission Hospital in Zambia: In 2007, FPC mission teams began work in a remote fishing village on the Zambezi River. Renovating a house for visiting doctors, upgrading the hospital facility, helping with the construction of a new sanctuary, providing clothing/supplies for the old folks home and local orphanage, and teaching Bible School to hundreds of enthusiastic children were some of the projects our FPC teams completed by 2013. In the process of working in Mwandi, the devastation in families caused by the AIDS epidemic was obvious. FPC's response was to begin funding the purchase of formula for HIV-babies born to HIV+mothers who were too sick to safely breastfeed. The FPC Formula Feeding Program grant included individual donors beyond our congregation. Hundreds of vulnerable babies have survived thanks to the continued generosity of many caring individuals.  

Chiapas, Mexico: In 2016, at the invitation of Salvador and Irma de la Torre, FPC mission teams began making yearly week long trips to villages in Chiapas, Mexico to work alongside Presbyterian Mayan Indians in need of church buildings. In July of 2019, a newly completed Macedonia Presbyterian church was dedicated. The celebration included a large parade of families, workers, and officials, a feast for everyone, a mariachi band and much joy expressed in English, Spanish and Chol. Other projects during the last four years included building an outdoor kitchen/fellowship area, painting church interiors, pouring concrete floors, buying sewing machines in support of women, and conducting Bible Schools in many settings. The next project will be the building of a sanctuary/outdoor kitchen/playground for a very poor and remote congregation that we visited in 2019. 

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Macedonia Presbyterian Church

Chiapas, Mexico

Mr. Dustin Ellington &

Mrs. Sherri Ellington

Justo Mwale Theological University and College

Lusaka, Zambia

The Ellington's: Well-trained pastors who can faithfully proclaim the Scriptures is a growing need in southern Africa, and it drew the Ellingtons to Justo Mwale Theological College. This new assignment comes after serving for five years in theological education in Egypt. "I would like to make an impact through investing myself in current and future leaders of the church in Zambia and surrounding countries," Dustin says. "As I teach people to interpret Scriptures for themselves and their ministries, my goal is to give them a skill that can make a difference in keeping them encouraged and sustained in their ministries."

The Fletcher's: In January 2009, John and Gwenda Fletcher were appointed to serve with the Presbyterian Community of Congo (CPC) in the Kasai region of Democratic Republic of the Congo.  John works with the Christian Medical Institute of the Kasai (IMCK), helping the staff build and maintain a unified network of all the CPC's mission hospitals. Although John's primary surgical responsibilities are at the Good Shepherd Hospital, his broader charge is to work with the CPC medical director in support of the CPC medical program. He teaches medical residents, medical students and nursing students at the IMCK and other mission hospitals.  Gwenda fills a position that World Mission has long been recruiting for: education consultant. She works with the CPC, helping the church with teacher training, administration and community involvement.

Mr. John Fletcher & 

Mrs. Gwenda Fletcher

Congo Pouch,

c/o Africa Area Office 

100 Witherspoon St.,

Louisville, KY 

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Mr. Tad Gilmore & 

Mrs. Jane Gilmore 

International Student Ministries 

Greeley, Colorado

The Gilmore's: Tad and Jane's ministry is friendship evangelism with different foreign student populations who are studying at universities in Northern Colorado.  Many of the foreign students, and their wives who accompany them, feel very isolated in a new culture.  Jane and Tad do one on one tutoring, facilitate conversation groups, to introduce them to our culture and practice English in a safe environment, host Bible studies in their home and hold many fun events throughout the year.  Added to this, they enlist American Families to become Friendship families for the visiting scholars.  The Gilmore's experiences living in other countries has equipped them in a special way for this particular ministry. They have previously served as PCUSA medical missionaries in Africa and Nepal.  Tad is a retired general surgeon.  Jane is a Bible teacher and language tutor.

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