Shopping with PurposeAs you start shopping this holiday season, please remember SIFAT! There are many ways you can help SIFAT while choosing gifts for the important people in your life. SIFAT Village StoreDid you know we have a gift shop on our campus? Gifts from around the world made primarily by family microenterprises and cooperatives are available with all proceeds benefiting SIFAT. To schedule a time to shop or purchase a gift certificate for the Village Store, contact villagestore@sifat.org. If you are unable to visit the Village Store in person, Peggy and Marie will be glad to help find the perfect gift for your friends and loved ones and ship it to you or directly to them. You can also purchase limited items online: sifatvillagestore.ecwid.com Online RetailersThousands of popular retailers offer a percentage of your purchase as a donation to your favorite charity — SIFAT! Use either Goodshop or iGive to find coupon codes and shop at your favorite stores (you will be redirected to the retailers’ sites). Sign up for a free account to your giving, so you can see how much you raise to benefit SIFAT. goodshop.com/nonprofit/servants-in-faith-and-technology-sifat or iGive.com/sifat Do you shop on Amazon? For a portion of your purchase to benefit SIFAT, use AmazonSmile for when you make a purchase and choose SIFAT as your charity. smile.amazon.com/ch/63-0776048 Commemorative BricksHonor a loved one by ordering a commemorative brick for our Open Spaces, Sacred Places garden. We broke ground this fall and bricks will be placed soon. Order online at www.bricksrus.com/order/sifat or contact Marie, lanierm@sifat.org, for more information. In Honor / In MemoryNot sure what to buy for someone one your list? Give a lasting gift by donating in his or her honor/memory. Send your donation to SIFAT with the name and address of whom you would like us to send an acknowledgement.
Ecuador: Intern Luci’s Last PostEditor’s Note: High school junior Luci Bryson, daughter of SIFAT training director Kathy Bryson, is spending six weeks this summer as an intern with SIFAT Ecuador. Having already been part of Learn & Serve programming and training events both on our Galilee Campus and internationally, Luci is helping our teams in Ecuador and improving her Spanish translating skills. You can read her first entry and second entry. It’s been one week since I’ve returned to Sweet Home Alabama. I’ve never felt more exhausted in my life, but I’m warm and content. Today is my second day at home as we went to Brasher Springs Camp Meeting and the Flippen-Shaw-Barkley family reunion. Wednesday, Jennessa, Evie and I are traveling to visit Brianna in Chicago. It’s been seven months since we’ve last all been together, so it will be nice to use this little window of time before Jennessa goes back to school in Boston, and Evie and I start our new life in Costa Rica with Mom. If it’s one thing from this summer that I’ve learned, it’s how much of an importance family has. But family is a broad term.  During her summer in Ecuador, Luci found an extended family in Aida Leon.
Ecuador: Intern Luci Checks InEditor’s Note: High school junior Luci Bryson, daughter of SIFAT training director Kathy Bryson, is spending six weeks this summer as an intern with SIFAT Ecuador. Having already been part of Learn & Serve programming and training events both on our Galilee Campus and internationally, Luci is helping our teams in Ecuador and improving her Spanish translating skills. You can read her first entry here. Greetings to all! You’ll have to forgive me for not writing to you all these past two weeks–to tell you the truth, there really never was a free moment to sit down and write! Since I last wrote, we have had three different teams of which I’ve had the pleasure to work with two of the three–Faith United Methodist Church and Guntersville FUMC . Aldersgate UMC was the third team, and I only had a chance to visit with them at night in the hotel.
 Add Felipe’s babysitter to the list of the many ways Luci is helping this our teams this summer! Felipe is the son of one of the ladies who cooks for the teams serving in Aida Leon. Ecuador: Intern Luci’s First Week in QuitoEditor’s Note: High school junior Luci Bryson, daughter of SIFAT training director Kathy Bryson, is spending six weeks this summer as an intern with SIFAT Ecuador. Having already been part of Learn & Serve programming and training events both on our Galilee Campus and internationally, Luci is helping our teams in Ecuador and improving her Spanish translating skills. This is the first installment of her trip journal. June 11 — Today marks day 11 of my internship here in Ecuador. It seems that there hasn’t been a single moment to sit down and write. This past week, I worked with a medical team from Pensacola translating, and wow, how very eye opening it truly was for me! Literally. One time, I translated for an older gentleman who had never experienced glasses. Being able to translate his words to the doctors– connecting two languages for a clearer vision really cleared my own. I’m not only here to translate, but I am here as a bridge between two cultures. This first week, I have been hit hard with how much of what I considered “common sense” to really be another word I used for past experiences. It amazed me how shocked many were, even in tears, at the poverty that is so prevalent here in Quito–especially during the home visits at Villaflora.
 Luci Bryson, SIFAT Ecuador intern, translated for VBS and a medical clinic, hosted by the St. Luke UMC (Pensacola) mission team, during her first week in Ecuador. Ecuador: Mission Team Members Needed!We need you to join with us this year to serve the people of Ecuador! Several of our 2018 teams need extra members now to complete their teams. In February, SIFAT broke ground on a new construction project in Aida Leon in the southern part of Quito. Teams will be working with SIFAT graduate Pastor Wilson and his church for the next three years on a project called Gotitas de Esperanza, Teardrops of Hope. When completed, this building will allow for care of an additional 200 children who might otherwise be on the streets when not in school. We need construction and VBS workers on each team. Please consider joining one of the teams listed below today while airline tickets are still available.
 Construction has begun on the Aida Leon project in Ecuador! Team members are needed to fill spaces on several teams this year! Available DatesThe following teams have openings and are asking for people to join their teams: 5/12 – 5/20 Clear Lake UMC, Clear Lake, Texas (all ages welcome) 6/2 – 6/9 St. Luke’s UMC, Tupelo, Miss. (youth team; great for youth, college students & young adults) 6/9 – 6/16 Faith UMC, Pinson, Ala. (all ages welcome) 6/30 – 7/7 Eufaula FUMC (youth team; great for youth, college students & young adults) 10/13 – 10/20 Bonifay FUMC, Bonifay, Fla. – medical team (doctors and nurse practitioners needed; may be serving a different SIFAT Ecuador project site) |
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