Bruit article

I sent this to IMS for publication in Bruit. They indicated it may be too late for the current issue.

Iowa Mennonite School Class of ’60 Kicks off 50th Year Since Graduation
The IMS Class of 1960 kicked off their 50th year since graduation by organizing and participating in a “mission trip” to Shell, Ecuador, January 16—31, 2010.
The trip was led by Omer (Class of 1960 president) and Mary Jane (Burkholder) Troyer. Fourteen people participated in the trip – 11 were IMS graduates and 3 were from Troyer’s church in North Port, FL. In addition, several other 1960 classmates participated by making donations that went to La Casa de Fe, the orphanage where they worked in Shell, and to La Escuela Esperanza, a church-sponsored school. Shell is located at the edge of the Amazonian rain forest and is about five hours south and east of Quito.
The two weeks were spent working at three main projects—construction of 60 school desks, childcare and tutoring at Casa de Fe, and working on construction of a new building for the orphanage.
Five or six participants worked mainly at constructing school desks for La Escuela Esperanza, where the Troyers had spent the 2007-08 academic year. This work consisted of grinding off the “burrs” left on the previously welded frames, and cleaning and painting the frames. Then they cut and bolted on plywood seats, desk tops and a drawer for books. All wooden parts were sanded and given several coats of polyurethane. A day after completion, the team visited the classrooms where the desks were already in use. The students thanked them profusely, promised to take good care of the desks, and wished God’s blessing on the team.
The women on the team worked at the orphanage taking care of toddlers, tutoring older children, caring for infants in the “baby house,” sorting clothes and other supplies, and doing other work as requested. Several women worked on the desks as time permitted. While the men split their time between working at the construction site or on the desk project, they also took opportunities to take some of the children for walks to a nearby playground. Work at the construction site consisted of digging and moving rocks for water and sewer lines, and doing electrical work.
Casa de Fe is an orphanage run by Patti Sue Arnold, an American who retired from the military and wanted to do something meaningful for the rest of her life. About eight years ago, she went to Ecuador and soon answered the call to take in a foster child. The requests for her to care for children kept coming and she now has about 60 children, ranging from infants to 12 years old,. A number of children have physical disabilities and other special needs. Although Patti Sue lives in a house with five infants and two pre-teen girls, the rest of the children live in a concrete structure that functions as dormitory, school and playground.
The current building is most inadequate, so she has purchased 3 hectares (a bit more than 7 acres) just outside of the town and has begun work on a multi-use building. Patty Sue’s vision is to have 15 cottages with 6 children and 2 house parents in each, surrounding the multi-use building now under construction. The entire operation is a venture in faith.
The initial contacts in Shell came from another 1960 classmate. After graduation from IMS in 1960, Phyllis Detwiler married Eldon Yoder, class of ’58. They were led to a career as full time missionaries in Ecuador with Gospel Missionary Union. Fast forward to retirement years when the Troyers met up with the Yoders in Iowa. This meeting resulted in Omer and Mary Jane traveling to Ecuador several times, once for a full academic year at La Escuela Esperanza, a school begun by the Yoder’s church near Shell. In February, 2009, Jim and Lois (Kieffaber) Bare, Goshen, Indiana, met Omer and Mary Jane, and Marvin Stoltzfus, Sarasota, Florida, in Sarasota. Omer broached the idea of a class of ’60 mission trip, the others were receptive to the idea, and the trip was planned.
One of the concerns of Team members was that jobs not be taken away from local people who were unemployed. On the last night in Shell, Patty Sue led the team in a “debriefing”. She was asked whether the team should have stayed home and instead sent the money that was spent on travel costs. Her response was “That is not God’s plan. Keep sending work teams”. The team’s goal was to help where needed, not to do for the people what they could do for themselves, and it was felt that this goal was accomplished. One illustration of this was the expressed astonishment among the staff of La Esperanza that 14 people, from various vocational backgrounds, and some who had not seen each other for up to 50 years, could see what needed to be done and go about doing it without someone telling them what to do.