First Baptist Church of Kalamazoo is proud to have its very own Community Arts Program.

For additional information about the C A P, and a schedule of upcoming events please visit the Community Arts Page

Every third Thursday of the the month, Pastor Mary Beth meets some of the men of the congregation for a Men's Breakfast at Poor Richard's Cafe on Mills Street. They usually have alot of "stuff" to talk about and sometimes a few shenanigans occur. All men are invited to come. The fun starts at 8:30 a.m.

Maundy Thursday brought many folks together for a traditional Passover Seder Meal. The meal consisted of most of the original foods that Jesus ate with his disciples during the Last Supper. There was also a responsive reading and traditional song.

"Deep and Wide; Deep and Wide; there's a fountain flowing deep and wide", sang the group of 14 mostly hight school and college students. They were spending their Christmas vacation in a remote region of Nicaragua, sharing the love of Christ by building a health clinic. During this

10 day trip, the love of Christ flowed deep and wide as the students dug holes, arried sand, and constructed support beams, partnering with folks from the community of El Encanto to build the first ever health clinic.

El Encanto is located in the mountains of Matagalpa, 120 miles north of Managua. In this community of 500 people, half are under the age of 14 and all live in dire poverty. They lack access to any health care and struggle to meet even the most basic needs such as food, water, and shelter. More than 80% struggle to survive on one dollar a day or less.

Since 1999 when Hurricane Mitch wreaked devastation throughout Nicaragua, American Baptists have been sending mission teams to not only help with the rebuilding effort, but also and especially to build new clinics in some of the most remote areas.

This recent trip, sponsored by the West Area, drew participants from First Baptist Church Muskegon, First Baptist Church Kalamazoo, and Ceresco Baptist Church. The joint effort enabled what no one church could do alone, living out the mission emphasis of ABC-MI as well as of Christ's call.

I would like to start by thanking you—our family, through this church—for offering your support through your prayers, donations, and generous responses to our fundraising efforts. Thank-you! This trip would not have happened without your support. You have given all of us a new life to live and I hope we can share that experience with you.

I’m going to briefly describe a little of our trip first and then each of us will share an experience with you.

El Encanto was the rural—very rural—village we traveled to. It was only supposed to be a 4 hour drive but it turned into an 8 hour ordeal! The journey itself was an experience. We all grumble about pot holes and road construction here in Michigan but in Nicaragua roads are much, much worse, especially going through the mountains. We got an 8 hour roller coaster ride complete with a ‘Splash’ ride at the end! That is to say, halfway there it started to rain. Maybe not so bad—except that we were riding in the back of a cattle truck, a glorified pick-up truck. The only thing that kept us going was our excitement about meeting the community.

When we finally arrived--a real miracle!—we were greeted by what felt like everyone in the community---and tons of children. In El Encanto, half the community is made up of children under the age of 14, and they followed us everywhere. They were there when we went to bed at night and there when we got up in the morning. They followed us to work and, of course, they followed us to play!

About that work—our project was to build a health clinic. The foreman of the project was a man named “Wilder.” He was also the person that the community had elected to be the “Health Promoter,” that is, he would be the person to be trained in giving basic health care to the community and the person who would work out of the health clinic. And he was so excited that we had come!

We began by digging 2 foot holes for the foundation. Those holes then turned into trenches outlining the framework for the building. Other people in our group worked on making the rebar—or metal structures—that would anchor the corners and secure the building structure. Because of the rain—oh, did I mention that we had 3 days of near constant rain?!—we were not able to mix the cement or begin to lay the stone for the building, a real disappointment to us. But then Wilder told us that the rain was exactly what the community needed for the bean crops. As we listened in our mud-clad clothing, Wilder explained that without the rain, most of the crops would have died and the people would have starved. This rain allowed for a second harvest and really was a miracle.

I have been on many mission trips and in many different places but each time I am surprised and

humbled by the miraculous ways in which a community of strangers comes together to open their hearts and their homes for us, by the generous ways in which they cook for us, wash our clothes—and this time they were very muddy clothes!!---and gives us a place to sleep, and always—and I mean always—they give us the best of whatever they have and the best of whatever they do. We go thinking we are the ones who are going to be giving and instead we end up receiving far more than anything we have given. That heart-felt generosity brings us together and touches our lives in ways we can only begin to explain.

You all know that my last name is “Hernandez” but you may not know that I am not fluent with Spanish and the Spanish I do know, I am pretty shy about speaking. But what I discovered was that I did not need Spanish to understand the work that needed to be done, to make friends with people in the community or to play with the children. What this made me realize is that even though there were many things that separated us—such as a language barrier—there were more things that brought us together: being created by the same God and called to love each other.

This became especially apparent to me during the two worship services that we attended, one at an Evangelical church and another at a Catholic church. Even though I didn’t know what the hymns were or even what they meant, I found myself singing along because I could feel the meaning in my heart. It was so amazing to me that all of us who were so very different could worship the same God under the same roof. That experience of coming together, of true community touched my life deeply and the lives of all of us.

What really impacted me was the time we went swimming in the creek. I had been getting pretty frustrated at not being able to communicate but when we all went swimming, there was no communication problem at all.

We laughed and splashed and it was a lot of fun! There was a bridge over the creek and the kids from the community were jumping off of it. There were rocks in the creek below and I wasn’t sure where to jump but the kids took my hand and took me to the place to jump. They showed me how to do it by pointing. I followed them and jumped too. We all did flips off of the bridge. It was a lot of fun!

We swam and played just the same as if it had been my American friends. We really felt like one big family.

One day I was working on the foundation for the clinic all alone. It was raining and we didn’t have to work but I really

wanted to get as much done on the clinic as possible. So I was working all alone in the rain. Then some kids from the community saw me and came to help work too. I tried to tell them that they didn’t have to work. But they laughed and said they wanted to help. So, together we dug trenches. The dirt was very heavy from the rain. And it was really muddy. It was hard work but I didn’t feel alone because of the kids helping.

Danica already mentioned the worship services but I want to add that I too was really impacted by being able to worship in the community. When we attended the Evangelical church, they wanted us to have

seats of honor. They gave up their seats so that we could all sit in the front of the church. I could tell how excited they were that we were in their church worshipping with them. The pastor told the congregation how we had come from so far away and all the people had seen us working on building the clinic. They were all so thankful that we were there. At the end of the service, they shared some special sweet bread that they had gotten especially to share with us. That bread was the best bread I have tasted, made sweeter, I suppose by knowing how much the community had given up to give us such a treat! There was such a feeling of unity as we sang together and shared bread together. I will always remember that!

Unlike some of the others, I do speak Spanish and so I was able to talk more with people. I talked a lot with the Health Promoter who was going to work in the clinic we were building. His name is Wilder Gomez. Coming to a rural community of Nicaragua I never thought that I would meet such an extraordinary person and make such a wonderful friend. I am inspired by Wilder's strong moral character, enthusiasm to learn, and his outgoing personality. Although we are both just 22 years old we couldn't be living more different lives. Yet in less than a week we were able to share a bond that crosses cultural and national borders. I can't wait to visit Wilder and his family again and I know that he is eager to visit mine.

I was keeping a journal and I asked Wilder to write in my journal. This is what he wrote:

“Me siento muy emocionada por que por primera vez he tenido la oportunidad de poder conversar con un groupo tan amable como ustedes. No quisiera que estedes se vayan de estas tierras. Se que tengo mucho que decirles pero es tanta la emocion que no puedo expresarme.”
Wilder Jose Montenegro Gomez

"I am so excited that for the first time I have the opportunity to share an experience with such a wonderful group. We (the community) don't want any of our new friends to leave. There is so much that I want to say that I can't find the words to express myself.”
Wilder Jose Montenegro Gomez
(Translated from Spanish by Evan Escamilla)

I am so glad to have such a new friend and I really hope that we can bring Wilder here so that all of you can meet him.

First of all, I must add my ‘thanks’ to what Danica already said. Your generosity really contributed to a generosity of Spirit amongst us all, so I thank you for that.

Second, I have to say how very hard all these kids worked---because they won’t brag on themselves. But they really worked hard….as for the mud, I’m still washing it out!

Then one day we were sharing family names, or last names. As we each shared our last name, I said “Hernandez” Immediately, Misael’s eyes lit up.

“Hernandez!” “Hernandez” and he vigorously pointed from me to him. It didn’t need to be said in Spanish

What we really discovered through our time in El Encato was the name that drew not just us Hernandezes together but all of us together:

As you have listened to each of us, I hope you have heard that while we started out this trip with more that was different between us and the community, we ended up experiencing how we were all one community in Christ. As we continue to worship, I hope we each realize that while there are many differences among us even here in Kalamazoo, we are really one family in God.

As Paul said. “There is One body, One Spirit, One Lord, One faith, One baptism, One God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”

As we celebrate that unity, our Oneness in God, I’d like to invite you to reach out and take the hand of your neighbor as we close with a prayer.

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give us all a spirit of unity among ourselves as we follow Christ Jesus so that with one heart and mouth we may glorify God and love each other.” Amen.

We are so thankful for the generous donations that made this trip possible and that made possible the building of a health clinic in El Encanto. Although we were not able to finish the project, we got a good start on it. Your donations helped to completely cover the cost of materials for the clinic so it will be completed by people in the community. The People of El Encanto were extremely thankful to have a health clinic built in their community as the closest clinic is hours away. For all of us on this trip, your support, prayers, and donations helped this to be a life transforming experience both for the people of El Encanto and for all of us who went. Thank-you so very much!

You can still get FBC t-shirts!!

If you are interested in purchasing a FBC t-shirt, give the church office a call. T's are long sleeve, of 100% cotton in a natural color. The FBC Y'all Cometh logo is on the front, right chest area. They sell for $20 each and the profits are benefiting the youth who went on the mission trip to Nicaragua.