The Volunteer Issue 4 2020

the

VOLUNTEER A Publication of Maranatha Volunteers International

I S SU E 4, 2020

FORWARD IN FAITH

How God led Maranatha in 2020

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VOLUNTEER

Julie Z. Lee Editor Heather Bergren Managing Editor/Designer Dustin Comm Writer

UNITED STATES HEADQUARTERS: Maranatha Volunteers International 990 Reserve Drive Suite 100 Roseville, CA 95678 Phone: (916) 774 7700 Website: www.maranatha.org Email: info@maranatha.org IN CANADA: Maranatha Volunteers International Association c/o V06494C PO Box 6494, Station Terminal Vancouver, BC V6B 6R3 CANADA All notices of change of address should be sent to the Maranatha Volunteers International United States address.

Maranatha spreads the Gospel throughout the world as it builds people through the construction of urgently needed buildings.

PARADISE, CALIFORNIA, USA Jamie Johnston and Richard Clark are ecstatic about their new shed, provided by Paradise Seventh-day Adventist Church and Maranatha Volunteers International. Upon seeing the flatbed truck pull up with the structure, Jamie shouted, “Oh wow! We could have lived in that!”

Jamie and Rick are one of the thousands of people who lost their homes in the Camp Fire of 2018 in Paradise, California. After a year and a half, they were finally able to move back and into a house, but they didn’t have a garage.

There was no place to put their

tools and theft was still an issue in town. When Jamie heard about the Camp Fire Shed Project, for which Maranatha has constructed 452 sheds over three projects, she signed up and received a building in August 2020.

“I am really honored and blown away by the generosity and the thought that went into this,” says Jamie. “People have nowhere to put things, and a lot of people actually had sheds on their land before they had anything else. So it tells you how important it is. I appreciate it so much. Thank you.”

About the Cover: Sydney Bwalya is a member of Maranatha’s Zambia team. When volunteer projects were postponed due to the pandemic, he and his fellow team mates kept the mission moving forward by continuing to build classrooms, One-Day Churches, and water wells throughout Zambia.

Photo by Christina Lloyd

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SHARING THE

Mission

GOD’S WORK ON MY HEART AND YOURS

By Deanna Paxton

Excitement mounted as we prepared to land in Mozambique, in southeast Africa. I had limited experience with international travel, away from the familiar sights and sounds of my own cultural background. From the moment our family had agreed to participate in this mission trip, organized by our church and Maranatha, I had had conflicting feelings of fear and keen anticipation. I knew from the start that this would be a life-changing experience.

However, I kept asking myself, “Why would I want to go far from home to help people I don’t know?”

The answer to that question is nested within the Maranatha mission statement, which reads, “Maranatha spreads the Gospel throughout the world as it builds people through the construction of urgently needed buildings.” It made sense—we would go and build, we would worship and sing together, we would join hands and become one family with those impacted by our work. How could I not respond, when I knew the need was great?

Two weeks later, March 21, 2009, I was standing in front of a packed congregation in Chimoio, Mozambique, inside the very church that I had just www.maranatha.org

helped to build. I was introducing the congregation to my parents, whose donation from their trust had funded the project. I told them that I hoped God would continue to bless this church and that many would come to know Christ as their personal Savior through this gift; my parents’ lives reflected the mission of Maranatha as they were always giving to make life easier for others and to spread the Gospel.

This was my first experience with Maranatha, and it changed my life.

Fast forward to 2020. I am now a member of Maranatha’s team at the headquarters in Roseville, California.

My role at Maranatha, depending on the day, includes tasks such as opening the mail, making calls or sending cards of thanks to our generous donors. I may be the first to see a note of encouragement sent our way or a promise of prayers offered for our organization.

Our faithful mission partners each have stories of why they felt compelled to give or participate on a mission trip, and why they trust Maranatha to use their gifts to build for eternity. I am getting to know some of these family members and I treasure these relationships.

I think of Bernice, who writes, “What a privilege to be in God’s army!”

Nadine, when I called said, “I love this organization and am so happy to support the work.” Karl donates because he lived in East Germany, during the war, and his community did not have a church.

He knows what it is like to be without a proper place of worship.

Recently, I opened an envelope with a donation inside; the gift included a handwritten note that read, “I wish I could send more than $10, but I can’t.” I saved this note, because it is a reminder to me that whether we give out of our abundance or sacrificially, the heart of the giver is what matters most to God. He is in charge of blessing both the giver and the gift.

God is working on my heart and yours, molding us step by step into His image, finishing His work.

Deanna Paxton works in Maranatha’s Advancement Department.

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AROUND THE

World

A snapshot of volunteers and projects in the mission field.

BRAZIL Erivaldo and Vera Batista and family are thankful for a new water well at the SĂ­tio Mimosinho Seventh-day Adventist Church, where they attend.

ZAMBIA Community members gather at the new Lwamabwe Seventh-day Adventist Church water well.

INDIA Local crews break ground on seven classrooms for the Pola Adventist School.

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CÔTE D’IVOIRE Kindergarten students line up in new classrooms in the town of Abbebroukoi. The school is starting with kindergarten and plans to expand.

UNITED STATES Forty volunteers remodel the Camp Lawroweld lodge in Maine with new flooring, pine paneling, tile, showers, plumbing, and electrical.

ZAMBIA Local crews finish a girls’ dorm at the Emmanuel Adventist Secondary School, providing living space for girls who are currently spread out over the campus in garages and other houses.

INDIA Members of the Balgi Seventh-day Adventist Church try their new water well. www.maranatha.org

KENYA The Kitui Seventh-day Adventist congregation gathers at their new One-Day Church.

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News + H I G H L I G H T S

Thanks to our volunteers, Maranatha held another successful project at Sunset Lake Camp and Retreat Center in Washington.

This was one of 11 projects Maranatha has had in the United States in 2020—9 of which have been since June.

SERVING AT SUNSET LAKE

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n late October 2020, Maranatha wrapped a volunteer project at Sunset Lake Camp and Retreat Center in Washington state. The major focal point for the 22 volunteers was remodeling an aging two-story house used for married staff housing during the summer and as a guest house during the off-season.

Extensive demolition took parts of three days as the house was prepped for new flooring and a remodel of the kitchen and two bathrooms. Volunteers also replaced unexpected dry rot and spent six days replacing old electrical lines. The group’s youngest volunteers helped by clearing brush around the property and cleaning tack (horse equipment) in the barn.

“It was a small group of mostly skilled workers who enjoyed putting their talents to work on the renovation,” said project coordinator and Maranatha’s international volunteer manager Rebekah Shephard. “The camp presented their long-term plan for the ministry and the volunteers enjoyed being a small part of advancing its mission.”

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NEW CONSTRUCTION IN TENNESSEE

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n October 12, 2020, volunteers started construction on a new building for the Ooltewah Spanish Seventh-day Adventist Church in Tennessee. The congregation was formed about 10 years ago and became an official church in 2019.

Without a permanent place to worship, they turned to Maranatha to utilize volunteer labor and our standard North America Church design, which provides substantial savings on architect fees.

In this first phase of construction, 57 volunteers worked to erect the frame and run electrical. The weather proved challenging at times–heavy rain created ankle-deep mud. A forklift became stuck and strong winds delayed work on the gables. But the determined group overcame these challenges and completed their portion of the project.

In the coming months, more volunteers will help with tasks like drywall, painting, hanging doors, and doing base work.

Longtime Maranatha volunteer and

board member Roger Hatch served as the construction superintendent for the project and has committed to helping the congregation through the entire process. “They are extremely grateful for what we are doing,” says Hatch.

“They were surprised at how fast the volunteers worked and how quickly it went up. They can’t wait until they have

a place to worship in. Currently 65 to more than 100 people attend worship each week, and they’re doing that in a tent. I think this church will be a real shining light in this community.”

ISLAND DRILLING MAKES FOR UNIQUE WORKFLOW

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n 2019, Maranatha started a water program in India, where half of the population doesn’t have access to clean water. Most of this work has been accomplished through a traditional large rig, but recently, we started drilling in the Sundarban Islands, a delta system on the Bay of Bengal, an effort that required a unique process.

Traditional large drilling rigs aren’t able to reach the islands, so materials are transported by boat to the nearest shore, where they are carted to the drilling site. Although a small machine

www.maranatha.org

is used in the drilling process, much of the work is done by hand. Each length of pipe must be inserted manually, with a worker at the top of a temporary tower guiding it into the hole.

From here, workers walk circles around the hole as the drill is slowly driven into the ground, ensuring the soft clay doesn’t cave in. This is an arduous process that can take 5-6

days! Maranatha has drilled 26 wells in the Sundarban Islands at Seventhday Adventist churches, bringing clean water to hundreds of Indians in need.

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GRATITUDE AND blessings IN KENYA

How Maranatha surpassed expectations for Kenya projects in 2020

By Julie Z. Lee

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020 was going to be a big year in Kenya. Maranatha had planned on building 100 One-Day Churches, drilling 10 water wells, constructing school campuses, and mobilizing four volunteer groups to serve in the country.

So in March, when the World Health Organization announced that COVID-19 had become a pandemic, it seemed logical to lower expectations for the year. After all, travel in and out of Kenya shut down almost immediately and for an indeterminate amount of time, and all scheduled volunteer projects were cancelled. In the capital city of Nairobi, where the Maranatha staff is based, everyone and everything was on strict lockdown.

Fortunately, in the more rural parts of Kenya, Maranatha’s crews were able to keep working on select projects. One team finished up construction work and landscaping at the Kiutine Adventist School. At the Kajiado Adventist School and Rescue Center, another team steadily continued work on expanding the campus. At both school sites, the campus had been emptied of students, and crews were able to shelter in place on site.

But One-Day Church construction and water well drilling had come to a halt. It wasn’t until May when Kenya began slowly opening up. There were still restrictions in some parts of the country, but Maranatha sought out regions that

“What we were able to accomplish was beyond what we thought we could do this year.”

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www.maranatha.org

The Kathome congregation stands proudly in front of their new church.

This group started with two people, worshipping under a tree. They prayed for God to provide a real church. This year, their prayer was answered with a One-Day Church from Maranatha.

www.maranatha.org

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“As long as we’re allowing God to lead us and we watch for the doors that open... it’s going to be okay.”

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were open to travel. One such place was a remote area in central Kenya, east of Nairobi, called Ukambani. There is little Adventist presence in the area, and it is a new mission field for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Already, the crew had constructed 20 churches in Ukambani at the beginning of the year, pre-COVID. But the plans for Ukambani had always been much greater.

“The Adventist Church in Kenya has had Ukambani on its wishlist for a while, and we would regularly get inquiries from locals about why we weren’t drilling water wells in Ukambani. The answer was we just hadn’t gotten there yet,” says Kyle Fiess, vice president of volunteer projects. “We started on the churches this year, but we didn’t have a chance to start on the wells before COVID hit.”

In May, all that changed. “Geographically, where the team was located, we could get to Ukambani without having to go through restricted areas. It was accessible,” says Fiess. “We drove the rig over to start the process of drilling wells and just stayed. So far, it’s gone really well.”

Maranatha also restarted their One-Day Church efforts in Ukambani, building 61 more structures in the region over the next several months. The churches and clean water has been a tidal wave of blessings for communities in Ukambani. Ron Kedas, Kenya country director for Maranatha, says that the gratitude has been abundant. During a recent trip to Ukambani, Kedas was showered with gifts from the various villages where Maranatha had worked.

“I think of all the places that I have ever worked in my life, I have never seen this kind of appreciation for Maranatha. On one trip, I got seven goats and 12 chickens! It speaks volumes,” says Kedas. He tells the story of a village where the congregation waited for hours to meet him and say thank you. At another site, where Maranatha had drilled a well, a man approached Kedas to express his gratitude.

“He said, ‘I am 60 years old and for the first time I have drank clean water from a well,’” Kedas recalls, marveling.

At a town called Matu, Maranatha constructed a church at a border security training school, where there are several Adventists. When Kedas and his wife went to visit the campus, one of the officers came out to greet him.

“He saluted me. I think it was something to show his appreciation,” says Kedas. The officer told Kedas he was grateful to have a church on campus where employees can come back from potentially stressful situations at the borders and refocus with their faith community.

At many sites, Kedas noticed that the congregations had already started building

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the walls of their new One-Day Churches, despite having had them for only a few months. Some were already done. “Every place we visited, people were baking bricks for the walls,” says Kedas.

Overall, he says people are excited at the developments, and it has recharged the congregation and given new motivation to the pastors. “The president of this new mission field is saying that there is no way they could have accomplished this much on their own. The leadership and the pastors are saying this is very good and it’s drawing people to the church,” says Kedas.

The work in Ukambani, along with several other locations, has resulted in Maranatha meeting the goal of building 100 One-Day Churches in 2020, as of November. Maranatha has also started fabricating another 20 kits at our local shop in Nairobi, and those will be erected before the end of the year, bringing the total number of churches to 120. Crews have also drilled 44 water wells, surpassing the initial goal for the year.

In addition to Kiutine and Kajiado, Maranatha’s team completed several classrooms at Chumviere, a village near the city of Isiolo in Meru County.

This was a project that was initially scheduled to be constructed by volunteers in March.

“Other than the volunteer component being reduced, I don’t think COVID has really slowed us down,” says Fiess. “What we were able to accomplish was beyond what we thought we could do this year.”

As Maranatha wraps up what has been a memorable time for the organization and for world history, Fiess is already looking forward to plans for next year. In 2021, Maranatha will www.maranatha.org

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start our sixth year in Kenya, which is unusual; Maranatha typically doesn’t remain in one country for longer than a few years. But Fiess says “the need is enormous” and the impact of the work is significant and continues to grow. So far, the scope will include Ukambani and Kajiado.

Maranatha is also setting the groundwork for drilling water wells in Ileret, an extremely remote village near the Ethiopian border. There is also talk of heading into Lodwar and Eldoret, both areas in need of much help. There’s big work ahead without solid projections on how long the pandemic will last. But Fiess isn’t worried.

“As I look back at the 25 years that I’ve been here, and the 50 years that Maranatha’s been in existence, I can see so clearly now how God has led,” says Fiess. “And it gives me confidence to know that it’s okay that I don’t know what is going to happen next week in Kenya or what’s going to happen next month in Peru. As long as we’re allowing God to lead us, and we watch for the doors that open for us and we go through those doors, it’s going to be okay. That’s a lesson that I’ve taken to heart.”

BUILDING LIVES:

1 A small watering hole in Ukambani, a very dry region.

Any form of water is often difficult to access and requires people to walk quite a distance.

2 A local man marvels at the well drilling rig in his village.

3 The old Myumbuni church, where the congregation used to meet. They have been waiting for a church for 14 years. In 2020, they received a new One‑Day Church and a well.

4 The Happy Life congregation poses in front of their One-Day Church.

5 Ron Kedas, Kenya country director (center), poses with grateful friends at a border security school in Matuu, where Maranatha built a One-Day Church.

6 In Myumbuni, the congregation cheers as water sprays from the ground, where Maranatha just drilled a new well.

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EARLY GROWTH IN CÔTE D’IVOIRE

By Dustin Comm

“Seeing the start of their dreams actualized is a breath of fresh air, if not a sigh of relief.

Especially since, for a while, it felt like these buildings might never come to fruition.”

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ith only 10,000 Seventh-day Adventists in the entire country, Adventist leadership in Côte d’Ivoire had been waiting for this day.

On September 12, 2020, two new churches would be dedicated on one Sabbath, built by Maranatha’s volunteers and devoted crews.

The anticipation of this moment had been building for a long time. Even before Maranatha’s team in Côte d’Ivoire began pouring concrete, fabricating steel, or laying blocks, Adventist leadership here was referring to their Church history as “Before Maranatha” and “After Maranatha.”

With the completion of the Anan and Abbebroukoi Seventh-day Adventist Churches in the Abidjan area, the reality of this new chapter has now begun to sink in. Leadership knows there is a long way to go to reach their goals for church growth, but seeing the start of their dreams actualized is a breath of fresh air, if not a sigh of relief. Especially since, for a while, it felt like these buildings might never come to fruition.

Volunteer groups successfully served during the first couple months of 2020 as Maranatha was ramping up activity in Côte d’Ivoire. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, cancelling future volunteer projects and bringing Maranatha’s local team to a temporary standstill. Soon, with approval from local authorities, Maranatha’s country director, Gilberto Araujo, implemented a plan for crews to resume the work at the construction sites.

“First, we reduced our team so that we’d give enough space for social distancing,” said Araujo. “Then, we gave them meals here. We provided them with some mattresses where they could sleep here. We gave them gloves.

1 They used masks. They also use gel to clean their hands. And this was how we were able to work here for months.”

Steadily, the work resumed, and each week brought more progress and attention to the projects. By the time the buildings were complete in September, local news stations wanted to cover the ribbon cutting ceremonies and learn about this organization that was providing new buildings in Côte d’Ivoire.

The day of dedications began at the Anan Church, Maranatha’s first completed project in the country. Here, Aruajo and Adventist leaders, including the President of the Adventist Church in West Central Africa, thanked all involved in the project.

Later, a ceremony took place at the Abbebroukoi Church,

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where members expressed their gratefulness to the Maranatha team for their tireless work, even through the pandemic. The transformation of the property here was so stunning that members now want to add “Eden” to the official church name.

It was a high Sabbath for all who participated in both the joyous celebrations. Within weeks, there would also be happy squeals coming from new classrooms next to the Abbebroukoi church.

In October, kindergarteners flooded the school building Maranatha also constructed here, the start of a new Adventist primary school. Because of the strong reputation of Adventist education in Côte d’Ivoire, an Adventist school is a welcome addition to the neighborhood. The kindergarten class has 31 students enrolled so far, with plans to expand to more grades in the future.

Charles Assandé, Education Director for the Adventist Church in Côte d’Ivoire, knows how important schools are in reaching more souls with God’s love. “School is a powerful factor of evangelism,” said Assandé. “Because education and redemption are one and the same. When you have a school with six classrooms, you have six churches.

So the more classrooms we have, the more churches we have. And it will boost our missionary work. That’s why it is extremely important to have many schools here in Côte d’Ivoire.”

Since completing the structures at Anan and Abbebroukoi, Maranatha has turned its attention to the construction of a new secondary school in Niangon. The local Adventist church here www.maranatha.org

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has around 170 members, but they want to grow.

Niangon is the largest and most populated suburb of the metropolis of Abidjan, with more than 1.5 million residents. “We have not grown as we should according to the population of this area,” said local pastor Paul Baka. “We think with a school, we will grow faster. People will know the church.”

Maranatha will be constructing five classrooms and two labs next to the Niangon Church (land is very expensive in Côte d’Ivoire so most of the school projects will be built on church property).

It will be the only secondary school in the neighborhood, fulfilling an urgent need while introducing the community to the Adventist Church.

These early churches and schools are just the beginning of a new point in history for the Adventist Church in Côte d’Ivoire. Each completed structure will serve as a beacon for the Gospel in every neighborhood and city where they are erected. The dedication ceremonies at Anan and Abbebroukoi celebrated two specific sites, but they also mark a new era for the Church. Slowly but surely, the Gospel will continue to advance in this “After Maranatha” Côte d’Ivoire.

BUILDING THE FUTURE:

1 The Anan Seventh-day Adventist Church was the first structure completed

by Maranatha in Côte d’Ivoire.

2 Local press and community members attended the dedication of the Abbebroukoi Seventh-day Adventist Church.

3 Maranatha’s local crew sheltered in place at the Abbebroukoi site to continue the work.

4 Maranatha’s fabrication team sheltered in place while producing steel components for current and future projects.

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FULLY IMMERSED IN Service

How one volunteer found belonging and faith at the Paradise Shed Project

By Julie Z. Lee

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andy Purviance had planned to be in Paradise for 15 minutes, max. The stop was a favor to his good friends, David and Susan Woods, who worked for Maranatha Volunteers International. They were leading a volunteer project to build 200 storage sheds for survivors of the Camp Fire, a wildfire catastrophe that had nearly wiped out an entire city.

“Randy, you have to come and see what’s happening in Paradise. It’s really, really special,” David had said.

At the time, Randy was finishing up a health program at the Weimar Institute, located east of Sacramento, California. He was eager to get home to Idaho and to see his wife, but curiosity got the best of him, and he agreed to visit the project on his way out.

So on November 21, 2019, Randy loaded his vehicle and headed 90 miles north, to Paradise.

When he finally arrived at the project location, he got out of his truck and walked over to the construction site. It was an audio and visual cacophony of buzzing saws, pounding hammers, and busy-body volunteers scurrying this way and that along a long assembly line that stretched 100 yards. Randy just stood there, watching, taking it all in.

“It took me 20 minutes before I called my wife and said, ‘I think I need to stay here.’”

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Photo by Lisandro Staut

Randy is a fourth generation Seventh-day Adventist who grew up attending church and attending church schools in Idaho. He later graduated from Boise State University.

“I studied English and philosophy. I could never get a job as a philosopher, but at least I can understand why,” he jokes.

But he did get a job—a series of jobs that took him all over the world with the Adventist Church.

Shortly after getting married, he and his wife, JoElla, headed to Africa as missionaries. Eight years and two children later, Randy and JoElla returned to the United States, and a couple years later, Randy started a new role that required him to travel extensively, managing projects all over the world. In 2003, the Purviance family moved again, this time to lead humanitarian work in central Asia. It was here that Randy’s life took an unexpected turn.

Eighteen months into Randy’s new job, the work got intensely complicated. There had been an incident that wreaked havoc on the operation, creating a diplomatic mess. Surprisingly and unfortunately, Randy’s employer offered him little to no support; he was left to bear the burden and repair of the damage, alone. To Randy, the abandonment felt like a betrayal by the church that www.maranatha.org

he had served his entire career. But with no other choice but to carry on, he worked on resolving the situation for the next year and a half. It was emotionally brutal and exhausting, and by the end, Randy was done with missions.

“I decided it was time to come home. I think I felt well and truly beaten,” says Randy. So in 2006, the family returned to Idaho for restoration and a fresh start. “I thought, well things will get back to normal. We’ll enjoy life here and those things will just disappear. Well they didn’t disappear.”

Things only got worse. Following the incident, Randy had already started to show signs of depression in the mission field, but by the time he got home, Randy was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). “I think in doing humanitarian work, especially field based, there’s a constant exposure to trauma. Other people’s trauma, and it can be traumatic—you can experience traumatic things yourself. So there’s that cumulative effect of a number of years that I worked internationally.”

Years of buried anguish unearthed, and it seeped into Randy’s entire being. He fell into a deep depression, and the routines of daily life dissolved into anxiety, including his faith. Since his work had been with the Adventist Church, his

LIFE IN THE FIELD:

Randy Purviance spent much of his career in a mission field. It is work that is highly rewarding, but it can also take an emotional and physical toll.

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“I felt in the Maranatha context that my humanity meant something as well. I felt valued.

I felt appreciated.”

angst was tied to it, too, and going to church became stressful, uncomfortable, as it was a trigger of his past.

“I found it was easier to just stop going. It was hard to explain to my family and to my friends,” says Randy. “And the longer I didn’t go, the easier it was to stop.

Just to not give it any thought.”

“I would say that God and I were not on close speaking terms for quite a while,” he continues. “He may have been talking to me, but I couldn’t hear him.

That speaks to pain, and sometimes it’s very hard to hear God’s voice when you’re struggling.”

While Randy had quit speaking to God, JoElla was still sending up prayers for her husband. She watched as he slowly faded away.

“When things were really bad, he would come home from work on Friday and go straight to bed and not get up except to quickly eat something,” JoElla remembers. “He wouldn’t get up until Monday morning. He would be in bed, straight through.”

As the years passed, with a series of ups and downs, Randy only got worse.

“He desperately needed help. He got on all these medications—he just was not healthy,” says JoElla. She began searching for treatment plans and came across the Weimar Institute in northern California. They offered NEWSTART, an on-site, whole-body wellness program centered in healthy living and a connection with God. JoElla felt impressed to send Randy.

“I went, sort of kicking and screaming, but I went because, you know, she’s usually right,” says Randy. “And I was just unprepared for what I experienced there. What can I say? ...I was very overwhelmed by the empathy and the love and the care that I experienced there. Prior to going to Weimar, I had been on any number of drugs to help with some PTSD symptoms. I was left spending days at a time with a pillow over my face because I didn’t want to see the world. And Weimar changed that.”

Randy returned home from his session fully off his medications and with a new lease on life. But then a fall resulted in a head injury which upheaved his progress,

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and Randy relapsed. He returned to Weimar again, and a third time for another follow up session.

It was during this third session, in November 2019, that a new factor entered his life. His longtime friends, David and Susan Woods, lived close to Weimar, and they came to see him. The Purviances met the Woods while serving as missionaries together in Malawi, and they had maintained a close friendship over the decades.

For the past 13 years, the Woods had been working for Maranatha, coordinating projects in Africa and the United States. David told Randy about a Maranatha project he was currently running in Paradise, a town located two hours from Weimar. On November 8, 2018, the Camp Fire burned through the communities of Concow and Paradise, consuming 153,000 acres, 18,804 structures, and 85 lives. It was the most destructive wildfire in state history, and both towns were destroyed. During the one-year anniversary of the fire, more than 350 Maranatha volunteers had come to build 200 sheds as part of a collaboration with the Paradise Seventh-day Adventist Church.

“David and Susan—how can I say this—they were very convincing. I was ready to go home after 18 days [at Weimar], and Dave insisted, ‘No Randy, you really need to come and see what’s happening at Paradise,’” says Randy. “I said, ‘Dave, I’ll drive through. I’ll spend 15 minutes and see what you’re doing.’”

So a few days later, after he wrapped up at www.maranatha.org

Weimar, Randy headed to Paradise. He drove up the highway, along the narrow ridge smattered with blackened trees and through the charred remains of a town that had been decimated. At the sign for the Paradise Adventist Church, Randy turned right and into the parking lot. He got out of his car, walked up the stairway that had once led to the church door, and stepped onto the patch of scraped, red dirt where a sanctuary had once stood before the fire devoured it. Then he turned and saw a small army of volunteers building sheds.

“It was—it’s hard to put into words, the most amazing act of worship I’ve seen,” says Randy, his voice cracking. “In that burned down church parking lot, those Seventh-day Adventists were, despite their own losses, helping their neighbors. It’s hard to just say how powerfully that impacted me.”

He ended up staying three days to help deliver sheds to people who had lost everything in the fire. With each delivery, he listened to stories of escape, pain, and survival and, ultimately, a hope found in the kindness of strangers.

“I experienced a whole new dimension of empathy, and I also felt in the Maranatha context that my humanity meant something as well,” says Randy. “I felt valued. I felt appreciated. You can’t resist those things. They draw you in.”

David recalls watching the change take place almost immediately. “I remember being so happy to see Randy’s excitement grow from the first afternoon there. He quickly engaged with some

SERVICE HISTORY:

Scenes from Randy and JoElla Purviance’s life in the mission field.

Photos provided by Purviance family

T H E V O L U N T E E R ISSUE 4, 2020 | 1 7

Photo by Susan Woods

of the community volunteers, as well as the shed recipients, and had a great rapport with them.

We could hear, in his voice, the fun-loving, compassionate Randy that we remembered.”

Eager to keep Randy involved, David, who is the director of North America Projects for Maranatha, asked him to help the Paradise church with their grant proposals and action reports to donors, as Maranatha was planning a second shed project. Randy agreed.

A couple months later, Randy texted David to tell him he was driving back to Paradise for some meetings. While there, he planned to go to church.

“I decided Paradise was a place where I could put my feet back in the water, so to speak. Where I could go to church. What better place for a troubled person to go than to a church where everybody has experienced loss,” says Randy.

That Sabbath, Randy took his first step back to church. To worship. To the faith community he grew up with. To God. When JoElla first got the call that Randy had decided to stay in California for a few more days, she was disappointed. She missed him at home.

But in the days that followed, JoElla could hear the change in his voice. Randy was happy. He was back in the mission field.

“It was cool. If he was excited about it, it was a great thing,” says JoElla. “And my first thoughts

Photo by Julie Z. Lee

were, ‘Are we going to end up doing Maranatha full time?’ I started budgeting in my head to figure out how we would do this. To know that he was getting so excited for this, I knew I had to start preparing.”

Just as she predicted, Randy was ready for more mission trips. He got involved in planning with Maranatha and writing grants for more sheds, and when the second Paradise shed project rolled around in September 2020, Randy signed up, along with JoElla. Together, they spent three exhausting but joyful weeks building sheds and making new friends.

“Being there with Randy, working together, was like how we were in Africa. It was just so wonderful to be on the same page again. To see the Randy that used to be,” says JoElla.

When Maranatha announced a third Paradise shed project in late October 2020, JoElla was determined to return. But the trip was scheduled during a busy time at her job; all paid time off was frozen and everyone was expected to be at work.

Despite this, JoElla put in her request for vacation, and it was no surprise when her supervisor turned down the request. But she wasn’t ready to take no for an answer.

“I broke down and told her how much it meant to me. I was losing my sense of mission, and I needed a mission,” says JoElla. “I told her, ‘I feel it’s my mission. I want to go. I need to go.”

Her supervisor told her to pray about it and left. A half hour later, her supervisor returned and

MISSIONARIES: (Left) Randy Purviance and David Woods at the Camp Fire Shed Project, in Paradise, California.

(Right) JoElla Purviance at the Camp Fire Shed Project. After three shed-building sessions in the past year, Maranatha volunteers constructed a total of 452 sheds for the Paradise community.

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said, “JoElla, tell your family you’re going. I don’t want to stand in the way of your mission.”

In the end, Randy couldn’t go on the project but JoElla went anyway. She worked long days to build sheds and even helped cook some meals. Every night her body ached from pain but her heart was full.

“I was hurting. I was exhausted. And it was wonderful,” she says. “I have a new family here. Quoting from the Heritage Singers song, I love the thrill that I feel when I get together with God’s wonderful people.”

It’s been a year since Randy first stepped onto the project site at Paradise. It hasn’t all been smooth sailing since then.

After all, PTSD and depression are complicated conditions that require persistent care. But even so, Randy’s life is different. His perspective has changed. He’s been actively working on restoring broken relationships from his traumatic time in central Asia.

“If it hadn’t been for the Paradise experience in particular and working with Maranatha, I don’t think I would have taken those steps.”

It’s hard to believe that just a few days on a project could alter the trajectory of a person’s recovery. But for Randy, serving with fellow missionaries was redemption from his painful past in the mission field. It’s an experience that’s been transformative for him and his wife.

JoElla is talking about going on an international project, next. Randy is on board to keep serving wherever he can.

Both of them have found a way back into the mission field. Randy says at Paradise, he found “a place back in the church, at a burned out church... a place for my own burned out heart.”

There are varying estimates of how long it takes for a forest to regenerate after a wildfire. Sometimes, you can see signs of life after a few years. Sometimes, it can take decades for the forest to come back. For Randy, the healing has been slow. But growth is definitely taking place. And for him, Maranatha has been a catalyst.

“How does Maranatha change people? It’s a complex question. Each of us come from different backgrounds. Each of us has different experiences. But there’s something in the act of service that makes us vulnerable. It draws us together.

It changes deep within us how we look at the world, how we look at God, how we look at our faith community. We aren’t bystanders. We are participants, fully immersed.”

www.maranatha.org

PTSD: LIFE AFTER TRAUMA

By Randy Purviance

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is not limited to those who serve in combat, as you are well aware, and a too-high percentage of frontline aid workers suffer from debilitating symptoms. I can’t even guess at the number of people from Paradise who were traumatized by the Camp Fire experience and for whom daily life is an endless struggle with depression, anxiety, and avoidance of anything that might trigger flashbacks and nightmares.

When I decided to go to Paradise the first time, I was concerned that I risked being triggered by interactions with people traumatized by the fire. I had to be very deliberate with how I processed what I heard, and I conscientiously practiced the coping strategies I have learned. Sometimes I had to stop what I was doing and take time to sort things out, like the day a CalFire Blackhawk helicopter flew over Paradise, and my mind was instantly filled with racing images of a helicopter crash I once witnessed, the sound of gunships flying in the middle of the night over our house in rural Zimbabwe, followed by the distant rattle of machine guns as innocent villages were strafed. It begins as panic and turns into a deep, gutwrenching anxiety that can debilitate, if left unchecked.

I could see those feelings in the faces of people in Paradise. I had deep concerns about some of the church staff who experienced the horrors of the fire, and struggled to somehow put their lives back together while living under the cloud of personal trauma, and then having to hear similar experiences day in and day out as they worked to counsel and comfort others. Even listening to the traumatic experiences of others can result in vicarious PTSD. There is an ethos in our faith community that the symptoms suffered after traumatic experiences point to a lack of faith, so our people try to be stoic and soldier through it. But it doesn’t just go away, the same way a broken leg or a heart attack doesn’t just go away.

Thankfully, there is a lot of help available for PTSD sufferers, and if we can educate and encourage them to seek out help, their lives will be much brighter. For me, it came after years of patient professional counseling, but especially from experiencing the wonderful healing and loving fellowship with my people at places like Weimar and with Maranatha. There is life after trauma, and there is even the possibility of finding, as I did, the joy, beauty, and healing that comes from rediscovering a life of service to Someone who is all about joy, beauty, healing, and loving second chances.

Learn more about support for PTSD for humanitarian workers: www.headington-institute.org

T H E V O L U N T E E R ISSUE 4, 2020 | 1 9

HOW YOU’VE

Helped

A look at how your support is making a real difference for communities around the world.

KALENDE, ZAMBIA

BEFORE Earlier this year, a fire destroyed the Kalende 2 Seventh-day Adventist Church, forcing the congregation to meet under a tree.

BUILDING YOUR

AFTER Now, the congregation has a strong One-Day Church to meet under and clean water from a new well.

Legacy

While watching Maranatha Mission Stories, Kay Dickerson saw the great need for clean water around the world and wanted to help. She and her husband, Roy, brought the idea of sponsoring a water well to their church board at the Roundup Seventhday Adventist Church in Montana.

“I just felt it was such an important thing,” says Kay. “There’s so many people in need and for so many people, water is everything. You can’t have a garden, you can’t do anything [if you don’t have water]. “ Over the course of two years, money slowly trickled in. Church members put donations in a wooden box on top of the church organ. Others gave to the project as they returned tithe. Eventually, they raised $10,000–enough to provide a water well to the Libwe Main Seventh-day Adventist Church in Zambia. Dickerson is proud that, despite the smaller size of her congregation, they were able to make a big impact.

“You may think your congregation is small, but if everyone believes in a cause that is for the good of others, it is possible that you can do this,” says Kay. “Everyone, just a little bit at a time, can reach the goal you set.

Kay’s church didn’t take long to celebrate–they have already set their sights on sponsoring a second well!

PROJECTS THAT NEED YOUR HELP

This year, Maranatha is working in 10 countries to provide churches, schools, and water wells to communities in need. Here are a few programs that urgently need your prayers and financial support.

WATER WELLS

Throughout 2020, Maranatha has been able to continue the work of drilling water wells in four countries: Brazil, India, Kenya, and Zambia. The impact has been significant, as we have provided water for nearly half a million people! There continues to be a great need for water, and we want to continue drilling wherever we can. Please help us keep the momentum going for clean water. Make a donation for water. Or sponsor a well, at $10,000 for Brazil, India, and Zambia and $30,000 for Kenya.

ZAMBIA ONE-DAY CHURCHES

Maranatha has been very busy in Zambia building One-Day Churches (ODC). As of November, we had already constructed 66 ODCs. These structures are a huge blessing for congregations that have been worshipping under trees or in substandard buildings.

The steel structures provide a strong framework for groups to build a solid church, and they give a boost of motivation and energy to the existing membership.

We currently need more support for the One-Day Church program in Zambia. Full sponsorship of a One-Day Church starts at $7,500 or sponsor a share for $1,500.

PERU

After many months of lockdown due to COVID-19, the local crews in Peru have been making good progress on a number of projects. But there is still much work that needs to get done in 2021! Many congregations are patiently waiting for us to get started on their churches. Please help us with a strong return to Peru by making a donation! www.maranatha.org

Countries

I N 202 0

Here’s where Maranatha is working this year.

BOLIVIA BRAZIL CANADA CÔTE D’IVOIRE CUBA INDIA KENYA PERU UNITED STATES ZAMBIA

CHURCHES SCHOOLS WATER WELLS CAMPS

P ROJ ECT

Calendar

Anyone can join a Maranatha mission trip! Check out our upcoming opportunities here or go to maranatha.org for the most updated list.

DATE

PROJECT NAME

PLACE

LEADERS

SCOPE

Mar. 11 - 21, 2021

India Project

POLA, INDIA

Loretta Spivey

School classroom construction, outreach

Mar. 24 - April 6, 2021

Zambia Project

LIUMBA, ZAMBIA

Susan and David Woods

School construction

Apr. 11 - 21, 2021

Camp Yavapines Project

ARIZONA, USA

Carolyn Houghton, Charley Chavez

Camp renovations

Apr. 14 - 28, 2021

Blue Mountain Academy Project

PENNSYLVANIA, USA

Betty Beattie-Chrispell, Ernie Riles

School renovations

Apr. 15 - 25, 2021

Peru Project

LIMA, PERU

Judy and David Shull

Church constructionfoundation and structure

May 2 - 9, 2021

Camp MiVoden Project

IDAHO, USA

Melody and Doug Wheeler, Jerry Wesslen

Campus renovations

May 4 - 20 , 2021

Jamestown Adventist Church Project

TENNESSEE, USA

Roger Hatch, Betty Beattie-Chrispell

Church construction

May 23 - Jun. 4 , 2021

Camp Lawroweld Project

MAINE, USA

TBD

Renovations

Jun. 2 - 23, 2021

Mount Pisgah Academy Project

NORTH CAROLINA, USA

Ernie and Jeanice Riles

School renovations

Jun. 6 - 18, 2021

Milo Adventist Academy Project

OREGON, USA

Leroy Kelm

School renovations

Jun. 6 - 18, 2021

Union College Project

NEBRASKA, USA

TBD

Dorm renovations

Jun. 16 - 29, 2021

Kenya Project

KAJIADO, KENYA

Loretta Spivey

School classroom construction

Jun. 17 - 27, 2021

Family Project Peru

ICA, PERU

Steve Case

School construction, outreach

Jul. 1 - 11, 2021

Young Adult Project

ICA, PERU

Angela Boothby

School construction, outreach

Jul. 15 - 25, 2021

Ultimate Workout 31

LIMA, PERU

Lisandro Staut, Rebekah Shephard

Church construction, outreach

Dec. 17 - 30, 2021

Family Project India

INDIA

Karen Godfrey

Construction, outreach

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KASHIBA, ZAMBIA A young girl triumphantly carries a jug of clean water from the new water well at the Kashiba Seventh-day Adventist Church. Maranatha drilled the well earlier this year, and it will likely serve more that 600 people in the community. Additionally, the wells support community livestock (which is often the main source of income for families in rural Zambia) and farming.

Wells have been a big focus for Zambia this year; crews have drilled more than 200 boreholes in 2020.

Photo by Luke Johnson

Non-Profit U.S. Postage

PAID

Roseville, CA Permit No. 111

990 Reserve Drive, Suite 100 Roseville, CA 95678

Travel into the mission field and see how God is leading ordinary people to make an extraordinary difference in communities around the world with our television program, Maranatha Mission Stories.

HOW TO WATCH BROADCAST CHANNELS (all times PT)

CREATE A FREE WILL WITH MARANATHA

A new resource to protect what you love Do you have a legal will? Everyone should have an estate plan in place so that you can protect your loved ones and the things you’ve been blessed with. To make the process easier for our community, Maranatha has partnered with FreeWill to provide a free will-writing tool. You can protect what you love and get peace of mind for the future, in 20 minutes or less. It’s also an easy way to create a legacy with Maranatha and build hope in communities for years to come.

Call us today or visit our website for more information.

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Sunday, 8:30 p.m.

ON DEMAND

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YouTube Go to www.youtube.com/missionstories to watch. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and automatically receive 2020 w w w . m aupdates. ranatha.org

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24 | THE VOLUNTEER I S S U E 4,

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