MISSION TRIP CALENDAR

• Mexico - March 1-8, 2008
• Gulf Coast - March 2008
• Russia - July 18-27 2008
• Haiti - November 7-14, 2008
• Global Mission Sunday - February 1, 2009

RUSSIA - Ryazan, Russia- Hope Baptist Church- Beginning in 2003 First Presbyterian Church began a partnership with Hope Church, a small but vibrant community of faith in the military training center city of Ryazan. Led by pastor Pavel, Hope church struggles under the weight of persecution from the surrounding culture and serves as a beacon of hope in a city that finds itself spiritually and socially bankrupt after the fall of communism. In 2006, pastor Pavel and two staff members of the church, Olga and Lena, traveled to Charlotte to visit the life of First Presbyterian. FPC travels to visit our friends in Russia every other year, engaging in a ministry of presence with the congregants, helping to lead a 3-day Bible School, and visiting in the homes of congregants around the city of Ryazan.

MEXICO - Yucatan- Accion Ministries- For almost two decades, First Presbyterian Church has engaged the Mayan people of the Yucatan through Accion Ministries, a mission dedicated to building homes, schools, and churches throughout the region. In the Fall of 2006, Villa Infantil Maya, a Mayan children's village that houses and serves children who would not otherwise have access to a secondary school education opened its doors after multiple mission trips with adults, youth, and families from Charlotte helped to construct its walls. Each year teams of adults and youth have traveled to lay foundation, build walls, and construct hope with Accion. The work continues today as the children's villiage expands to help spread education and the gospel of Jesus Christ to the region.

HAITI - Bayonnais, Haiti- Outreach for Christ in Bayonnais- In the mountains of Haiti is a school and worshipping community that is providing hope to over 1,000 children who live in desperate poverty in this, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. Led by the Reverend Actionnel Fleurisma, director of Outreach for Christ in Bayonnais (see Missionary page for more details about Actionnel and the school). Mission teams have traveled to Haiti every other year, since Fall 2007.

GULF COAST - Presbyterian Disaster Assistance- Throughout the year, small group mission teams travel to Mississippi and Louisiana to continue in the cleanup and reconstruction efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. These teams help raise spirits as well as roofs as the people of the region restore their hearts and homes.