TREK adds second, shorter track

The Botswana team (top to bottom): Matt Wall (Forest Grove Community Church, Saskatoon), Matt Loewen (South Abbotsford MB Church, Abbotsford, B.C.), Brad Davies (South Abbotsford MB Church), Amy McDaniel (Willingdon Church, Burnaby, B.C.) and Krista DeBoer (First Presbyterian Church, River Forest, Ill.).

On March 9, Youth Mission International’s TREK program commissioned two new teams, for ministry in Botswana and Peru. This is the first year that TREK has added a second, half-year program. The original TREK program for young adults runs from September to June each year, providing an opportunity for teams to be in the mission field for seven-and-a-half months. (This year, there are three of these teams, serving in Ecuador, Edmonton and Brazil.) The new program, also for young adults, runs from January to June, giving participants an opportunity to be a part of cross-cultural missions experience for three-and-a-half months. Both TREK programs begin with a two-month discipleship training time in Abbotsford, B.C.

The first of the new teams will be working in Gaborone, Botswana with MBMS International missionaries Bryan and Teresa Born and pastor James Mpopang of the Naledi Baptist Church. They will be serving alongside a team of Batswana college-age youth, working with the church, youth and others in the community. The leader of this team is Matt Loewen.

The other team will be working in Piura, Peru with MBMS International missionaries Gerald and Shirley Falk and Rolando Neyra of the Miraflores MB Church plant. They will be working with the church and teaching English to university students. Erik and Jamie Toews are co-leaders of this team.

The Botswana and Peru teams will serve from March 10 to June 19. They will return to Abbotsford for a week of debriefing along with a TREK dessert celebration for all five TREK teams on Friday, June 20 in Abbotsford.

More information about the YMI TREK program can be obtained by phoning TREK director Sam Dick or assistant Beth Gray at 1-877-YMI-INFO or by checking out the YMI website.

The Peru team (clockwise from left): Odetta Lorimer (Westview Christian Fellowship, St. Catharines, Ont.), Jamie Boge (McIvor Ave. MB Church, Winnipeg), Jon Schroeder (Parliament Community Church, Regina), Erik Toews (Dalhousie Community Church, Calgary), Jen Wittner (South Abbotsford MB Church, Abbotsford, B.C.) and Jamie Toews (Dalhousie Community Church).

—MBMS International news release