Creekside Church - Short Term Missions

Short Term Missions

Paul & Katrina Annunziello

Paul and Katrina went on an 11 month mission trip to 11 countries around the world to share God's love with humanity. It was a program called "The World Race" and was run through a Christian organization known as "Adventures in Missions" in the USA. They travelled to Central America, East Asia and East Africa in a team of 6 people and in each country they partnered with local ministries to make a difference in their community.

Some of the work that they might have done included orphan care, prostitution ministry, vacation bible camps, construction projects, feeding distributions, hospital visits and care for the elderly. They left everything behind to share love and hope with those who are lonely, sick and hurting around the world.

For more information about their journey click here.

David & Muriel Clarke

David and Muriel have served in a number of countries in various missions capacities over the years. Their most recent projects have included works in Entrepierre, France and Tegucigalpa, Honduras both with MSC Canada. On both of these trips, they were involved in construction projects as well as painting, cooking, and cleaning. Other past trips overseas have included time in Angola where Muriel helped with nursing care and Mexico where they were both involved in church construction and evangelism.

In addition to their work internationally, the Clarkes have also been heavily involved in reaching out locally to university students and other groups. David and Muriel have a heart for reaching the lost and vulnerable and enjoy serving the Lord whether at home or abroad.

Tom and Sandra Dale

In August 2009 Tom and Sandy went as volunteers to Jinja, Uganda with Give International. Sandy spent time in an orphanage caring for infants and time with a local pastor`s wife and her ladies groups. Tom and Sandy together spent 6 days going out into the rural villages delivering family kits to the poor. Tom also spent a week at a home for children with severe disabilities putting up a water collection system.

It was on this trip that Tom met Henry and ``Mel`s street boys``. From this meeting Tom and Mel started The Sanctuary project, which is now a registered NGO in Uganda and a registered charity with International Teams Canada. Tom has returned twice and Sandy once as they continue the work that God has put on their hearts.

To find out more information, click here.

Melissa Maertens

Melissa travelled to Jinja, Uganda in December of 2008, where she spent her time volunteering at a local orphanage. During her time in Uganda, she met many children who lived on the streets. The longer she spent with them and the more she got to know their stories, the more she realized that God was calling her to do something for these children. She started out by taking care of a few of the boys' school fees, but soon realized that just helping them with their educational needs was not enough. These children needed a home, a safe place where they could call their own - a Sanctuary.

With the help of some key people, including Tom and Sandy Dale, The Sanctuary was born, and in December of 2010, they purchased their first home. The Sanctuary's vision is to foster the life skills of the boys, to aid them in developing independence, and to encourage them to become supportive citizens in their churches and in their community. The Sanctuary is now under the umbrella of International Teams.

To find out more information, click here.

Sarah Marr

As a result of Creekside's partnership with Carmen Bajo Church in Quito, Ecuador, Sarah led 2 short-term teams to Quito. While on her second team, she learned of a need in the Youth World finance department (Youth World is the organization that hosts teams that go to Carmen Bajo).

Throughout her time in Quito Sarah has been very closely involved with Carmen Bajo church. Probably the most important part of her time in Ecuador has simply been spending time with people - getting to know the pastor, the people in the church and getting a better understanding of the issues that exist in the community. Sarah has also been involved in leading a girls discipleship group, starting a micro-credit program, opening a second-hand clothing store, and assisting in the finances and communication back to the Impact Ecuador program in Canada.

Links:
Youth World; ITeams

Ann Martin

Ann has served in Aroland, Northern ON; Uganda; and most recently Cambodia. Each trip had similar objectives: to engage the children and youth of the community, to befriend the people of the community as a whole, to teach and proclaim God's message, to serve the poor both with physical needs and emotional needs, and to try to learn the various cultures.

These experiences confirmed in Ann the desire to serve in a more intentional way and one day perhaps on a full-time basis. The people she met stay with her and are a constant reminder not to get too comfortable in her day-to-day living and thus lose sight of her true calling to love and serve God's people around the world no matter what the cost.

The following are the websites of the organizations Ann went with in order of her travels:
Care Force International; Give International; WEC International.

Mike, Janice, Joseph, & Jacob Onotsky

The Onotsky Family spent time in Jinja, Uganda in the summer of 2009 working with orphanages, schools, a disabled children's home, and handing out aid kits in remote villages. The experience forever changed each member of the family and after their return to Canada, a decision was made to continue to support individuals they had met as well as working to further education needs in the country.

Since then, Mike has begun working with CH Global as their Uganda Coordinator and at the moment is starting education projects in the neediest areas as well as helping to start micro business projects, adult literacy training, and other community support projects as well as church planting and discipleship projects. Since the summer of 2011, Mike also leads teams to Uganda to reach out and educate others on the needs of Ugandans.

For more info, please click here.

Tony Rivers

Tony served with an organization called e3 Partners Ministry in Nicaragua in 2011. e3 Partners is the parent organization for I Am Second. This was Tony's first mission trip and he did not consciously realize that he had been preparing for it for years through the teachings of his pastors, small group and bible studies.

People in the area of Nicaragua, which they served, are poor and have the same problems that we experience here in Canada, drugs, alcoholism, abuse and a lack of hope. Many are lost and have a desire to hear the Word of God. Using some of the discipleship tools from I Am Second their team taught the local people how to gather together in their homes and how to create a sustainable home church environment. The team was able to see a solid group of new believers come together to form a church in this mountainous region and now that the team has left, churches from the capital city are working hard to sustain and grow the newly budding work in Cuajiniqil and neighboring villages.

Link: I Am Second

Ron Toews

Ron served on a missions team with the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada World Partners in 2007 and 2008. Both trips were to El Salvador, and the team worked mainly in a small village called Las Brisas, which is located on a hillside just outside of San Vicente.

Due to an earthquake, many who had lost their homes were settled on this hillside and were living impoverished lives in crowded tiny shacks. The team was primarily involved in building better homes for these people. Concurrently, a medical clinic was run in a community centre in the village, and Ron served in it as a physician. The team worked closely with a pastor in San Vincente, who oversaw an outreach ministry in Las Brisas.

Link: EMCC

Henry & Cory Zech

Henry & Cory Zech traveled to rural Kenya in November 2009 to participate in a Global Alpha Training mission trip. While in Kenya, they ran 2 three day conferences teaching local pastors and church leaders how to run the Alpha course as a tool for evangelism. Their team consisted of 4 Alpha leaders from Ontario, 4 local Kenyan Alpha leaders and 4 Kenyan student leaders in training. Attendees listened to sample Alpha talks, learned how to run Alpha effectively in their cultural context, learned how to lead small discussion groups and practiced prayer ministry.

For more info about Alpha click here.