January 2020
1/12 — The Advisory Board of Four Friends International met to review last year and plan for the year ahead.
1/13 — Contribution statements for 2019 were mailed. If you gave directly to Four Friends International, you will receive your statement from us. If you gave through your local church or through The Baptist Foundation of Alabama, you will receive your statement from those institutions.
1/15 — Registration begins for the next medical and church-support mission trip to Jalapa, Guatemala. We will leave Saturday April 25 and return Friday May 1. Activities will include medical care at the two clinics, finishing and furnishing the pastor's apartment at Los Pinos, and various church support ministries. Cost is $1500, all inclusive. Both medical and non-medical volunteers are needed. If you want to be added to the list, call or text Randy Stewart (256-302-4296).
February 2020
1/12 — The Advisory Board of Four Friends International met to review last year and plan for the year ahead.
1/13 — Contribution statements for 2019 were mailed. If you gave directly to Four Friends International, you will receive your statement from us. If you gave through your local church or through The Baptist Foundation of Alabama, you will receive your statement from those institutions.
1/15 — Registration begins for the next medical and church-support mission trip to Jalapa, Guatemala. We will leave Saturday April 25 and return Friday May 1. Activities will include medical care at the two clinics, finishing and furnishing the pastor's apartment at Los Pinos, and various church support ministries. Cost is $1500, all inclusive. Both medical and non-medical volunteers are needed. If you want to be added to the list, call or text Randy Stewart (256-302-4296).
February 2020
2/15 — Registration for April’s mission trip will close. Flights will be booked at that time.
the mountain area near Jalapa
April 2020
4/25 — mission team departs
4/26 — church support in Jalapa
4/27 — clinic at Los Pinos
4/27-28 — apartment finishing/furnishing
4/28 — clinic at Los Laureles/Operation Amalia
4/29-30 — clinic at mountain village
4/25 — mission team departs
4/26 — church support in Jalapa
4/27 — clinic at Los Pinos
4/27-28 — apartment finishing/furnishing
4/28 — clinic at Los Laureles/Operation Amalia
4/29-30 — clinic at mountain village
May 2020
5/1 — mission team returns
5/1 — mission team returns
July 2020
TBD — North Alabama FFI charity golf classic
TBD — FFI Advisory Board meeting
7/1 — registration begins for October mission trip
TBD — North Alabama FFI charity golf classic
TBD — FFI Advisory Board meeting
7/1 — registration begins for October mission trip
August 2020
8/15 — registration ends for October mission trip
8/15 — registration ends for October mission trip
the clinic at Los Pinos
September 2020
TBD — Birmingham FFI charity golf classic
TBD — Birmingham FFI charity golf classic
10/3 — mission team departs to Jalapa
10/9 — mission team returns from Jalapa
patients waiting at the church at Los Laureles
THE 2020 GOALS OF FOUR FRIENDS
INTERNATIONAL
- To continue to fund and operate the clinics at Los Laureles and Los Pinos, providing free medical care and medications this year to over 15,000 patients in the name of our Lord Jesus.
- To support with prayer and action the churches adjacent to both clinics, as well as the downtown Jalapa church that started these mission churches.
- To continue investigating the possibility of a future clinic in Haiti and a “clinic-on-wheels” in Jalapa, perhaps starting one of these new endeavors in 2021, appropriate funding being the major obstacle.
- To send two medical and church-support teams to Jalapa, in late April and early October, to minister face-to-face once again, reestablishing and deepening our relationships with these wonderful Guatemalan people.
- To realize as never before that the credit for any success in 2020 should go to God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ and that He should be our source of wisdom for any decisions made in the coming year.
If you were
to travel to the city of St. Petersburg in Russia, you could visit the Museum
of Emotions there. In one room you would see a collection of sculptured heads,
each dangling from the ceiling by its own cord. On each sculpture you would notice a different
emotion forever etched into its face. Collectively, you would see hanging above
you every conceivable human emotion. In a way, that is what 2020 looks like as
we enter its room. During the coming year, we will experience the whole gamut of
emotions. The question for us becomes: what will we do with them when they come?
Will we, as Jesus did, funnel them to God’s glory? Or will we, almost
reflexively, let the emotions rule us rather than vice-versa. May we all pledge
in the coming year to weep as Jesus wept, to laugh as he laughed, and to be
awed by what inspired him. May we be angered by the things that angered him and
be amazed at what amazed him. May we handle the mundane and the monumental of
2020 the way he handled them in the first century. Above all, may we not be afraid
to shed tears, whether of joy or sorrow, as we travel this year’s road. “I
shall look at the world through tears,” wrote Nicholas Wolterstorff after the
death of his son. “Perhaps I shall see things that dry-eyed I could not see.”
As of today, donations have been received to fund both clinics through March 18. Thank you for generously supporting this ministry.
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