MISSION  PAGE
Scroll down for the part you are interested in
1. UMW
2. All Church Mission
3. Liberia- LiberIa Mission Report
5. Local Mission-Food pantry-Thrift Shop
6. Krueger  Mission Update-Pictures
7. Other Mission Outreachs
8. Red Bird Mission

UMW
United Methodist Women have an ongoing Mission outreach throughout the year with a membership of 32. Meetings are held bimonthly with a special Prayer and Self Denial program each year at which time a special offering is given which is used to help finance women and children needs in poverty areas of the world. Members particiapate in a Secret Sister program with a catered dinner in October. A reading program is also encouraged. During the year health, sewing and school kits are put together and in October they are taken to the District meeting to later be shipped to a distribution point where they are then sent to wherever there is a need.
Below for your convenience are listed the items needed for Health, School and Sewing Kits. A drive is made annually in October for these kits and over 1000 were made by members from the Port Huron District this year. This is an ongoing year around outreach in which the UMW is involved. Our church took nine school kits, nine health kits and six sewing kits to the Annual meeting held at Bad Axe this year.
Health kits: 1 hand towel, 1 wash cloth, 1 sturdy regular style comb, 1 pair clippers, 1 large bar of soap, 1 packaged toothpaste, 1 packaged toothbrush, 6 adhesive band-aids. Wrap items in the towel and place in a zip lock plastic bag.
School Kits: 1 pr blunt scissors, 2 pads 8x11 ruled paper, 1 twelve inch ruler, 1 pencil sharpener, 6 unsharpened pencils with erasers, 1 two and one half inch eraser, 12 sheets construction paper, Box of 8 crayons. Place in a 12x14 inch cloth bag with handles. These bags can be used for back packs.
Sewing Kits: 3 yards of cotton or cotton blend solid color or print fabric, 1 package of needles, 1 spool of thread, 6 matching buttons, 1 pair scissors. Wrap sewing notions in the fabric and place in a zip lock

ALL CHURCH MISSION
In addition to the UMW we have a Mission Committee which makes Mission decisions for the church. Crystal Roggenbuck and Barbara Thompson are the Co-Mission Leaders. Missionaries shown below are some of those whom our Church helps.
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LIBERIA
Heritage has always been interested and involved in the church in Liberia. Now we have been assigned a specific church in that Country. It is the Gwissken UM church in Grand Gedeh county which appears to be one of the largest counties in Liberia. This country located on the western coast of Africa on the Atlantic Ocean, has been ravished with civil war for the past 14 years and in many parts of the country there is a lack of running water and electricity. We ask for prayers for the sister church we have been assigned and for the Pastor of this church, Rev. Samson Dartu. Also pray for the new leader of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf who was recently elected. She is the first woman to be elected the leader of an African nation. She is a Harvard-educated banker and so, her supporters say she was the perfect person to get the economy of Liberia up and running. Others also said the country needed a healing, woman's touch after being destroyed by the men.
LIBERIA MISSION TRIP REPORT
The Mission team from the District that went to Liberia were not able to visit the Grand Gedeh District where our assigned church is located because of the rainy season which made the roads impassable. However, their new District Superintendent, Rev. Fannah T. Tartieh, was able to travel to Monrovia to greet the team. There is a great need for the rebuilding of churches, parsonages and schools that were destroyed during the civil war. It is hoped that we will be able to send work teams to aid in construction and also medical and educational teams sometime in 2008. This is in the planning stages now. The visit gave them hope that they were not forgotten. More recently we have a way now to be in touch with the district superintendents from each of the three districts by Email. However, they have to travel to Monrovia (The Capital City) to receive the mail and pay for time at the cafe to download the messages. We can contact the District Superintendent from our Distirct, Rev. Fannah Tartieh at : revfannah@yahoo.com Also now, Liberia has a Radio Station. Although it is just a small 300 watt service, the United Methodists are now broadcasting in Monrovia. They currently broadcast during the daytime hours until 5:00 PM. Through it messages of healing, love and reconciliation will be broadcast to bring encouragement to the people.

LOCAL MISSION-FOOD PANTRY ~ THRIFT SHOP
The Food Pantry is open the last Tuesday of each month from 3 pm to 4 pm. The Thrift Shop is open each week on Wednesday and Friday from 10 am to 4 pm. It is located one block north of the only stoplight in Snover on the west side in the former UM church. Call the office during the office hours of 10 AM to 1 PM for further information. Phone number 810 672 9101.

Office: humc@greatlakes.net
Web Address: heritageumchurch.com
Office Phone: 810 672 9101
Webmaster: gblank@greatlakes.net
Church Mission leaders: Crystal Roggenbuck, Barbara Thompson
UMW Leader: Lori Moyer 

LATEST KRUEGER UPDATE-JANUARY 18, 2008
Dear Friends,Once again we wonder how the time can have gone so fast.  Seems like we just got off the plane here in the U.S. and now in only three days we will begin our return to Guinea.  The past six months have been a whirlwind of activity for us.  We knew it would, but are thankful for the many ways God showed Himself faithful during this time.  Let us take you on a quick summary of what all God did through and for us. 
June 2007 - We celebrated Rebekah's graduation from high school and welcomed all of our kids back to be with her for that event in Africa.  We returned to Florida the end of the month and only one week later Dee needed to have emergency gall bladder surgery.  God oversaw the right time, place, personnel, and transportation details.  It showed us once again that God is never late or early but right on time. 
July 2007 - We traveled to our national meetings with other missionaries, and Rebekah spent the majority of the month going to LIFE and her re-entry seminar.  Mark made a quick trip to Indiana to pick up a car that God provided for us.  One of our faithful supporters gave it to us.  Ruth enjoyed being home with us for the summer and we put her to work helping us tear off and start replacing our patio deck.  We thank God for the ones that He sent our way to help us with that project.  The end of July was also the first time for us to be with our new grandson, Thane William, out in Cheyenne, Wyoming where his dad and mom live and work.  Nathaniel finished his studies in May in nursing and now is working full time in a hospital there in Cheyenne.  Rachael is loving being a full time mom.  We returned home from there and two days later hit the road again for the northern states
 August 2007 - We spent the month on the road between Florida and Michigan.  We were able to see many of our family members along the way.  We had a chance to be with our daughter Rachel and son-in-law Joel in Kentucky and their "kid" Kitsune, a beautiful little dog.  We were in many different churches to speak on the Sundays and even had a chance to have a team meeting with our colleagues, the Dueck's, who were getting ready to return to Guinea.  We helped to get Rebekah installed at her new residence, Taylor University of Fort Wayne.  She joins Ruth there who is now a senior.  Seemed like just a few days ago we were there helping to get Ruth settled in as a freshman.  We returned to our home in Florida and then two days later hit the road again.
September 2007 - Our first major speaking event took place over Labor Day weekend as we were the featured missionaries for the district family camp retreat at Lake Swan in Florida.  We finished that and four days later, Dee was on a flight to Texas to visit her best friend for about a week.  Upon her return we traveled to district conference and Dee spoke to the Alliance women at Port Charlotte, Florida.  We were able to get in a brief visit with Mark's brother in the Naples area.  We got home and had a week to work on getting the deck mostly finished and prepare for our first Fall missions conference.  That one was at our home church, Rainbow Springs Village Church.  We appreciate them so much for all that they do for us both while we are at home and when we are in Guinea.  
 October 2007 - We left again for a week of visiting in Wyoming.We then started our Fall tour schedule.  We were in the New England district-specifically in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.  It was lovely to be there for the Fall season colors but not only that, we were excited to see what God is doing in the churches there in the northeast.  We made many new friends and recruited new prayer supporters. 
November 2007 - We finished our Fall tour in New England and then flew on to upstate New York to visit with a friend we made in Guinea a year ago at her and her husband's orchard farm and store in Albion, NY.  They also had one of our Fula friends from Timbi staying with them for a six month internship.  So we had a couple of days of  answering all of his questions in Pular that he wasn't able to ask in his broken English during the last six months!!  We will be seeing him in Timbi soon.  We got home to Florida and two days later hit the road again.  This time we headed for Indiana and Michigan for the Thanksgiving holidays.  We picked up our girls at school and then on to the relatives.  God even granted Mark the chance to enjoy being in snow for a day or two while there.  On our return trip, God again showed His faithfulness, Ruth was in need of a car and someone in her church had been looking on and off for about a month without success.  We told Ruth that we would only have about a half of a day to help her with getting one.  So on the Monday that we were to leave for home, Mark was doing a bit of research for a car and God led him to one that was exactly what Ruth was looking for.  We were able to call the owner,see the car, and then purchase it before we left for Kentucky that afternoon at 3pm! 
 December 2007 - We started off the month by attending Dee's mother's 80th birthday bash and had the privilege of having her mom come and stay with us and do some oil painting for about ten days.   During this time, we also had Mark's dad come to stay with us for the entire month of December. Then our kids started to come for the holidays. Ruth and Rebekah joined us on the 14th and the came after Christmas and stayed through New Years.  It was great to have all of our children and their spouses here.  We also had a wonderful time enjoying Thane's first Christmas.  The deck project was given it's finishing touches with Mark's dad here to help just before New Years.. (Whole family at left above. Mark and Dee prayer card and picture below) 
January 2008 - We began this month by sending Ruth on her way to school on the 1st. .  We had been working on getting our outfit ready over the past few months and so now the time had come to get it to port.  We had planned on using Dee's mom's van and our small trailer to haul it to Virginia.  But her vehicle became un-road worthy so we wondering what to do.  God reminded us that "you have not because you ask not" .  So just a day before we needed to start out on the voyage, Mark asked our pastor to make a short announcement in church that we were in need of a pickup or a van to use.  God answered our request by sending not only one response but three different ones and then He gave us an almost new truck with an enclosed trailer to use.  That afternoon we loaded it up and were on our way again the next morning.  Rebekah and Mark made the trip and it was just in God's timing.  We arrived in Virginia the next day just in time to have them load the outfit into the container heading for Guinea and the container was then finished and loaded onto the ship even before we got home to Florida!!  During this time we were wondering if we ourselves would be leaving on time as Guinea's political situation began to deteriorate at the beginning of this new year.  However, God has intervened for the present and so things are at least calm for a few more weeks.  
That's been our short but full home assignment.  Now we go back again for another two year term.   One nice thing about going back now is we don't have to face any more of those election campaigns bombarding you every minute!
Pray that we will know God's wisdom as to what are the best things for us to be involved with when we return. 
Pray that we will have a great working relationship with our colleagues the Dueck's. 
Pray for the country of Guinea to find real peace through Jesus Christ and that they will have a stable transition in government. 
Pray for God's guidance for Rebekah as she seeks what she should have as a major in college. 
Pray for Ruth to finish well her college studies and to find a suitable position working in her major. 
Pray for Nathaniel and Rachael and Rachel and Joel to persevere in the day to day grind of work and that God will guide them in what might be their next steps for serving the Lord.   
Thanks Again for holding us up in prayer during our past whirlwind of home assignment.  Maybe we can get a bit of rest in Timbi (Dee says I doubt it). 
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." Jim Elliot
Through Christ,
Mark  & Dee Krueger