IN-DEPTH MISSION TEAM UPDATES POSTED ON OUR BIG IS GOD BLOG!July 27: "A Part of Their Lives" ~ Reflections on the 2009 Mission Trip, by Anastacia and Alexandra Taylor, on the BIG IS GOD blog!July 3: 2010 Mission Trip tentatively scheduled for June 9-16 Just received notification from Madre Ivonne that we have been invited to provide a Mission Team for the Hogar from June 9 - 16, 2010. It is certainly early, but something you may want to think about. Madre Ivonne usually asks for a commitment by the early Fall so that she can block that week into her schedule. Please get back with me if you are at least tentatively interested at this point.
Looking ahead: since the Hogar does not have a permanent priest, I have been invited to serve at a special event in the life of their community on the weekend of October 17-18. As of now, I have tentatively agreed, and will inform the parish of traveling details in the future.
June 19:
I wanted to bring up an item of two that would further supplement my summary of our Mission Team trip from yesterday. In terms of "interconnected events," or "meaningful encounters," when we arrived at the Hogar, we were introduced to a long-term missionary by the name of Ben Logan. Ben is from an OCA mission in Nicholasville, KY (Southern Diocese). Ben was a retreat participant last September when Madre Ivonne was here as our guest and retreat leader. As we all were, he was deeply impressed by her presentation of the Hogar... Continued on our Big is God Blog...
June 18:
Having returned from a week at the Hogar San Rafael Ayau in Guatemala City, I would like to offer a summary of this year's Mission Team activities and experiences. Over-all, I can write assuredly that the entire trip was muy excellente. I believe that we maintained a good balance between our work project assignments, and accessibility - and thus fellowship - with the ninos, ninas and senoritas...
Continued on our Big is God Blog...
Posted June 17, 2009: MISSION TEAM RETURNS, HOGAR DONATIONS TOP $4000
Our Cincinnati Mission Team 2009 has returned from Guatemala "safe and sound" and is all accounted for, I believe. For this we thank God. I will send out a more detailed report by the end of the week. I did want to briefly mention here, that on the Sunday before we departed for Guatemala, we had another great collection that took us beyond $4,000.00 in raised funds. BIG IS GOD! Again, I will provide more details soon.
Posted June 6, 2009: CHURCH SCHOOL RAISES $440 FOR THE HOGAR:
The Church School sponsored Charity Sundae Sale brought in $440.00 for the Hogar! Thank you for buying a sundae and supporting our Mission Team to Guatemala.
Over-all, our Hogar collection has been tremendous. In addition to many items - including new clothing for all of the older senoritas - we have collected close to $2,500.00! "Awesome," especially when you take the economy into consideration. Yet, there will be one more Sunday for those of you who would also like to make a contribution. We will have the basket by the Cross following the Liturgy.
Posted May 23, 2009: HOGAR MISSION APPEAL UPDATE
Our appeal for sponsorship of the senoritas at the Hogar in Guatemala received a tremendous response already, and thirteen of the fourteen senoritas are now covered for receiving a special gift from our parish faithful! We deeply appreciate the commitment and concern - together with the generosity - of our sponsors. May God bless your efforts. I am hoping that someone will agree to sponsor one last senorita. Please get back with me if you choose to do so.
We will continue to receive monetary donations for the Hogar on the next two Sundays with a basket by the Cross. There is also a list of other items requested by the Hogar in case someone would like to make a donation from that list. That list has been sent out, but please let me know if you would like to see it again.
These developing, expanding and essential ministries to prisoners [via the
Kairos Prison Ministry] (MATT. 25:31-46) and to "abandoned, abused and orphaned children" (DEUT. 24:17, 21; JM. 1:27) are a deeply encouraging sign of spiritual maturity within the parish. It is the application of Gospel principles to real-life situations and needs. I hope our parish circle of participants will continue to grow. And may the Lord continue to bless and strengthen our endeavors.
~ Fr. Steven
Posted May 19, 2009: HOGAR COLLECTION HAS SUCCESSFUL BEGINNING:
We had an excellent opening collection yesterday for our donation to the Hogar in Guatemala that our parish Mission Team will deliver in about three weeks time - we will depart for Guatemala on June 8. There is hardly a greater ministry than supporting "abandoned, abused and orphaned children." Please lend your generous support through a monetary donation or by volunteering to purchase some of the items on the "needs list" - mailed out last week, I believe - to be brought to the church for eventual packing. Please see below entry for May 12 for the Hogar "Needs List."
~ Fr Steven
Posted May 12, 2009: UPDATE AND APPEAL FROM PRESVYTERA DEBORAH, MISSION TEAM LEADER:
Dear Parish Faithful,
Christ is Risen!
Our mission team will be assigned a painting work activity and we will need to raise $500 to cover expenses for this, so monetary donations are greatly welcomed (make donations out to Christ the Savior and earmarked for Guatemala).
In addition, the orphanage is in urgent need of the following items:
1) Clothing - Teenage girls
2) Toiletries - Diapers medium & large
3) Dormitories - Plastic Matress Covers (Twin Bed)
4) Kitchen/Refrectory/Nannies - Plastic silverware, Blender, Jelly
Plastic Glasses/Cups
Trash Bags (Medium & Large)
Teen names and sizes are forthcoming. There will be a donation sign in sheet on the table in the fellowship hall and a designated table for donations. Please be sure to sign in with any donations that you bring. Thank you for your prayers and generosity of behalf of these abandoned and orphaned children.
In Christ, Presv. Deborah - Team Leader
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Posted May 1, 2009: MISSION TEAM MEETING, FUNDRAISER, MORE:
From Fr Steven: Monday evening, May 4, we will have an organizational meeting for our Mission Team to the Hogar in Guatemala in June. We are hoping to then begin a month-long project of purchasing needed items for the Hogar, a Church School sponsored fund-raiser, and a general donation fund etc. for those who would like to contribute to the welll-being of the orphanage. Details to follow.
An Ice Cream Sundae sale sponsored and prepared by the Church School in order to raise funds for the Hogar San Rafael Orphanage in Guatemala City, is scheduled for Sunday, May 31 following the Liturgy.
Scroll down for a slideshow covering the Consecration of the new Church at the Lavra Mambre in Guatemala, the monastic "parent" of the Hogar Rafael Ayau orphanage.
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March 27, 2009: 2009 MISSION TRIP DETAILS FINALIZED:
From Fr. Steven ~ We have sent in our final information concerning our Cincinnati Mission Team to Guatemala and the Hogar for June 8-15, 2009. Actually, we have a multiple-parish team, but Cincinnati is where it has been organized and where our team leader is from. It was a bit of a challenge, but we were able to put together a twelve-member team:
- Christ the Savior/Holy Spirit - Cincinnati
- Fr. Steven Kostoff - team priest
- Presvytera Deborah Kostoff - team leader
- Anastasia Kostoff
- Paul Kostoff
- Luke Loboda
- Anne, Anastacia and Alexandra Taylor
- All Saints of North America Mission (OCA) - Columbus, OH
- St. Elias - Sylvania, OH (Antiochian Archdiocese)
- St. Paul - Dearborn Heights, MI (OCA/Bulgarian)
After Pascha, we are hoping to begin a collection of needed items that the team will take down in June. This will be our first return to the Hogar as an organized team since 2006.
Fr. Steven
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Scroll down to find:
- Slide show from the consecration of the Lavra Mambre's new church.
- Fr Steven's reflections on our recent Autumn Retreat
- Articles on the Retreat by Francis Fowler-Collins
- A slide show covering the retreat
- A brief history of our involvement with the Hogar
- Links to the Hogar's website, and info on how you can donate and help support the Godly work of the nuns.
COMING SOON:
- A look back at previous CTS Mission Teams
- MP3 Audio Files from Madre Ivonne's talks
We hope to continue to add more features over time to this page, so keep checking back! Remember to scroll down to see all the sections!
Big is GOD!
