Pat Storey Newsletter (Winter 2021)
Greetings!
I hope you are all doing well and are staying healthy in the midst of all this craziness—COVID-19, protests, election and so much more. What a year! Will 2021 be better? I hope so! Will Jesus come back for His church this year? It could happen! Are you ready? It’s an exciting, if scary time to live.
At Teen Missions things have certainly been turned upside down. Nearly all of our Boot Camps worldwide, as well as our Bible schools were cancelled and shut down for a time, but God has provided many ways to serve Him anyway. COVID-19 relief projects in many countries and Sunday schools that opened back up at the request of the government in the Philippines are just a couple of opportunities that our staff have been able to take advantage of.
More recently, our staff in Malawi, Honduras and Zambia have been able to run their Boot Camps. They look a little different than usual—some had to shorten their time because of altered school schedules, some had to wear masks and take much more care with hand washing than ever before, but people have heard the Gospel and many are responding to it. Our last reports from Sunday schools told us that many have received Christ! Other Boot Camps had opportunities to share with thousands of people and hundreds came to know the Lord. That is the reason we’re here doing what we do!
As for the summer of 2021, we are hoping and praying that we can have a normal summer ministry with 19 teams traveling all over the world. We are moving forward until we have to stop. In the meantime, we are considering creative ways to possibly alter our summer so the ministry can continue. Please pray with us for an effective summer of ministry no matter what it looks like.
As of now, we are beginning to plan and promote our annual Mud Run which is a great fundraiser where all proceeds go to help needy orphans overseas. The date is May 8, so please pray for that event also or better yet, come and participate or volunteer. We would love to have you here!
We have begun printing t-shirts for the summer and are working on several projects around the headquarters property here in Florida. The warehouse where I pack duffel bags for our teams always flooded when it rained, so the guys have put in a new floor to keep the water out, repaired the roof, put in a ceiling and I spent many days at Christmas time filling it up so I can be ready to pack for this summer (I had help from my one-time roommate, Loretta).
Our old Print Shop is being completely remodeled and will be a bigger and better student center for our Bible school here. We are all very excited to see it finished. The new student center will also allow our Conference Center to expand so that we will be able to house about twice as many people as before for retreats.
I was able to travel to Malawi in November and be there for my very good friend’s wedding. It was such a fun trip and a beautiful wedding! Thank you, Cheyenne and Jahswel for including me in your special plans. Thank you also, Seth and Emily Phippen, for making me feel like part of the Malawi family! It was so much fun to visit and to meet the staff and students there—something I’ve been wishing for for a long time now.
I now have a full time “assistant” in my office. Greta is serving her internship this year and is helping me with the overseas auditing and the Sunday school ministry as well as many other odd jobs that pop up every day. Many of our Sunday schools that had to close because of the virus are beginning to open again. Please pray with us that they will be able to continue with no more interruptions.
Our winter volunteers are working on several projects—repairing old quiz seats, measuring and checking tablecloths that were beautifully crocheted by the people in Zimbabwe. If you’re interested in purchasing one, let me know. They are also creating new “boot signs” for the entrance to TMI and sorting through many authentic cultural costumes that were used when we ran the MTA program years ago.
We have spent hundreds of hours this year cleaning out storage buildings and just cleaning up the property. It’s something that has been needing done for some time and having this summer without our normal ministry has given us the time to do it. So even though we all would have preferred to have Boot Camp, we have been very busy.
Once again, I am so thankful for Teen Missions and it’s ministries and I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of it. Thank you very much for your prayers and financial support! I just can’t express how much it means to me. I pray that you have a very happy, healthy and blessed year.
In His Mighty Name,
Pat
