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Mission Teams Looking for a mission work experience? We welcome your inquiry! Volunteer work teams are essential to the work of Agua Viva Ministries. John provides supervision of construction projects while RoseMary organizes clothing and food distribution as well as translation during visits to local families. Groups are responsible for their own expenses and costs relating to outreach in Agua Prieta. Visitors either fly to Tucson, AR or drive to Douglas, AR. Accommodation is reasonable at border motels. From Douglas it is only a short drive across the border to the area where Agua Viva Ministries is working.	Playing with the children is a favorite and welcomed role of visitors
Pastors Brian de Vries and Wade Koenen of the Heritage Reformed denomination joined a large group of their church members to work in Agua Prieta for 10 days in December/January 2007. The group did much construction work on the distribution centre and area homes, visited families with gifts of food and fellowship, taught and preached God’s Word and held a daily Vacation Bible School attended by 80 children and 25 mothers! Thank you ALL for your service in Agua Prieta!
Dec/Jan 06 - Visiting team from Heritage Reformed Churches Middle: RoseMary and Mrs. VerWys (John’s mother) Far right: Pastor Brian DeVries	My visit to Agua Prieta Correen Slawson Fort Macloed, Alberta Lona Nijsse Grand Rapids, Michigan Bernita Van Hierden Fort Macloed, Alberta
High school teacher, Jody Terpstra, has been taking a group to Agua Prieta each year since 1993. Her students are enthusiastic about their experience and Agua Viva Ministires values their energy and contributions. She says, “We are so blessed in Canada - seeing the poverty in Mexico and how these people are happy with so little is a real eye-opener for young people.” Students in Jody’s groups pay their own travel and accommodation expenses. They raise funds to pay for building materials, food hampers, medical costs, etc. by soliciting donations from family and friends, car washes, bottle drives, etc. Participants frequently remain supporters of the Ministry as well as other humanitarian organizations, fulfilling Jody’s goal of cultivating a giving heart in her students. Jody Terpstra with Mexican children
Doing what needs to be done Since 1993, thirteen groups of high school students from Timothy Christian School in Chilliwack, British Columbia, have traveled to Mexico to work with John and Rosemary at Agua Viva Ministries. Each year the work we perform differs: we have repaired homes, painted the church, deloused children, given hair cuts, dug trenches for septic pipes, helped ill mothers clean their homes and do their wash, sorted clothing, helped with distributions, bagged beans, and the list goes on. The emphasis is on service, on doing what needs to be done. In Galatians 6: 9-10 Paul states “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” This year (2007), for the first time we built a basic home from start to finish. Other groups have done the same. These one room houses are framed on the church property and then transported to the building lot. With the assistance of John VerWys and two constructions workers who came with us from Chilliwack, the students were able to complete the entire project within five work days; a great accomplishment! In a special ceremony we handed over the keys to Isidrio and Norma who will live there with their two children, Gloria and Nathaniel.
	Isidrio and his family and their new home built by Timothy Christian School students and chaperones in March 2007
We also held a vacation Bible school for the first time. As no one in our group is fluent in Spanish, we relied on translation and actions to tell the Bible stories: Daniel and the Lion’s Den and The Good Samaritan. The children particularly enjoyed our donkey, who brayed enthusiastically when the good Samaritan lifted the injured man onto his back. The children were attentive and participated eagerly in the various activities.
RoseMary Townsend with Agua Prieta children and volunteers from British Columbia and Alberta (March 2004)
Volunteers from British Columbia and Alberta (March 2006)

© 2007 Agua Viva Ministries. Created by Curtis Les.