Mision Vida y Paz (MVP) Is Officially Back!

After a long, few years of Covid-19 pandemic and school closures in El Salvador, Mision Vida y Paz (MVP) is officially back!

A big thanks to all the people who make the ministry of MVP possible, and a very special thanks to our volunteers who began serving a few weeks back in the school Fransisco Morazan in Nejapa. We are currently working with almost 400 students, who will receive classes with MVP about “caring for self/others/the earth, good communication, and stewardship of time and resources” for the rest of the school year. It is encouraging and energizing to be back in contact with students on a weekly basis, and we are grateful for this opportunity to serve them.

We are also preparing a new team of volunteers to work in the school Palencia in Tacachico and supporting a third school in the community “Aguacate” in Quezaltepeque. In Tacachico, the majority of volunteers come from the Church of God that is just a few blocks away from the school. We are excited to bring MVP to these new communities — both schools and churches!

As we accompany these schools, we’ve seen the conditions of the schools and the entire school system deteriorating more and more each day. It is heartbreaking to see buildings falling apart, the school food program that was robust and successful before the pandemic now barely surviving, and the scarcity of materials for teachers and students. One principal shared that he had two teachers fighting over a blackboard for their classrooms — a blackboard! The annual budget that each school receives to cover its daily supplies has been reduced enormously by the Department of Education. Now, in addition to their actual job responsibilities, teachers and administrators are also fundraising for their schools to try to survive.

Thanks to your support, we were able to provide 100 pounds of beans to the two schools where we are primarily working: Palencia in Tacachico and Morazan in Nejapa. These sacks of beans will provide almost a month’s worth of food for the nearly 400 students at each school. As you can imagine, the principles of both schools were deeply grateful. At the school in Aguacate, MVP was also able to donate items to support a recent fundraiser for the school — a horse race!

In Tacachico, the principal has asked for help to repair (or rebuild) their bathrooms. During our visits to the school, we have seen the conditions of the bathrooms — they are inhumane. There are only two functioning bathrooms for nearly 400 students and teachers, and they are in terrible conditions. As we work to prepare our new team of volunteers to teach our MVP curriculum in this school, we are also working to see how we can help them repair their bathrooms into a more dignified condition.

Now that we are back in the schools, we are experiencing the painful reality that many students are living without a mom or dad due to the “State of Emergency” that has arrested nearly 75,000 people in the past 15 months, many of whom are still unjustly in prison. Students are facing big challenges, not just economic, but also psychological. MVP is committed to helping in the ways we can and finding support to help with cases that are beyond our expertise. This is a new challenge, but as a ministry, we want to build up the new generation, and many young people are suffering from El Salvador’s current situation.

As we look ahead, the tasks at hand are more challenging than they were when supplementing MVP began. We find ourselves supporting new areas of need — the schools’ food programs, finding ways to help with small infrastructural improvements, and connecting students with psychological help as needed. This, of course, is on top of our usual work of meeting weekly with students to teach Gospel values through practical tools to live in peace and find hope, as we build relationships with and love on these children and youth. The need truly is great, but we are hopeful that through MVP, we can impact lives and dream of a brighter future.

We are forever grateful for you, our great MVP family, who walks alongside us on this journey of ministry. Please pray for us — that we might be faithful to the work God has called us to and that through that, we might see glimpses of the Kingdom of God here in El Salvador.

With gratitude and hope,

Eliberto, Molly & Elliot Juarez, DCBC International Ministry missionaries in El Salvador and Members of FBC Silver Spring

DCBC shares the following notable events in the life of the Convention and its members

 Pastor Leah Grundset Davis (far left) is pictured with Anna Rullan-Garcia (on right) who was ordained, Sunday, June 11, at Ravensworth Baptist Church in Annandale, Virginia.

 DCBC extends condolences to Dr. Robert Cochran (past DCBC Executive Director/Minister) and his family on the passing of his mother in June.

 DCBC Executive Director/Minister Rev. Dr. Miller Manarin is pictured above with DCBC Vice President, Rev. Dr. Saw Ler Htoo, Pastor of Calvary Burmese Church in downtown Washington, DC, during the church’s Food Festival (shown above right and at right) on June 17, 2023.

 Rev. Michelle Nickens, Pastor of Washington Plaza Baptist Church and Vice President of American Baptist Churches-USA (ABC-USA), speaks during the American Baptist Churches-YSA Board Meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

 DCBC’s Carmella Jones, International Ministries Global Servant to Hungary & Liberia and a member of University Baptist Church in College Park, Maryland, speaks at the International Ministries Luther Rice Society Annual Event Dinner held during the ABC-USA Meeting.

 DCBC Vice President, Rev. Dr. Saw Ler Htoo, DCBC Ministry Roundtable member Roi Ji Mario, DCBC Executive Director/Minister Rev. Dr. Manarin and others serve at the American Baptist Churches (ABC) Stand & Act for Burma during the ABC Meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

DCBC took part in two major international Baptist gatherings this summer. In addition to attending the American Baptist Churches Meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico (see images on preceding page), DCBC’s Executive Director/Minister, Rev. Dr. Trisha Miller Manarin, represented the convention at the Baptist World Alliance Annual Gathering in Norway. Rev. Dr. Manarin serves on the General Council, the Commission on Transformational Leadership, and as Vice President for the North American Baptist Fellowship (NABF) and European Baptist Federation’s Mission Summit – SENT.

 Rev. Dr. Trisha Miller Manarin (DCBC), Rob Kirbach (American Baptist Churches of the Great Rivers Region), a church leader from Chin Bethel Baptist Church in Norway, Jim Bell (International Ministries (IM)), Charles Jones (IM) had a blessed time together, drawing connections among our churches from the Myanmar/Burma diaspora in the USA and in Norway.

3 Thursday Morning Prayer* (Zoom, 8:25 a.m.)

7-9 PNBC Annual Session (St. Louis, MO)

10 Membership Committee Mtg. (Zoom)

14-17 Lott Carey Annual Session (Greensboro, NC)

28-29 Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (Heritage Baptist Church, Annapolis, MD, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.)

4 Labor Day | DCBC Closed

7 Thursday Morning Prayer* (Zoom, 8:25 a.m.)

12 Pastors’ Chat (Zoom, 10 a.m.)

13 Chapel/Staff Mtg.

14 Membership Committee Mtg. (Zoom)

16 Worship Reboot (9:30 a.m – 12:30 p.m., (Second Baptist Church SW)

18-20 Emergency Response Trauma/Crisis Chaplain Training (Mission Center DC, Manassas, VA)

5 Thursday Morning Prayer (Zoom, 8:25 a.m.)

10 Pastors’ Chat (Zoom, 10 a.m.)

11 Chapel/Staff Mtg.

12 Membership Committee Mtg. (Zoom)

27-28 DCBC 147th Annual Gathering of Churches

30 DCBC Closed

*Weekly Thursday Morning Prayer at 8:25 a.m.

Good will come to those who are generous …do not forget to do good and to share with and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with others, for with such sacrifices God justice. Psalm 112:5 is pleased. Hebrews 13:16

The friends of DCBC offer a way for individuals to transform lives and communities through their generous giving. Your support of the Friends helps the Convention provide opportunities for courageous missional engagement by a network of congregations, organizations, entities, groups, and individuals committed to our values and the fulfillment of the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment.

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