Molelwane Village Church
Community Center and 
Feeding Program

The La Casa Board of Trustees, meeting in August 2007, approved a three year partnership with Helping Hands in South Africa (HHIA). The project is centered in Molelwane Village near Mafiking, South Africa. We will build the church community center, provide a five-day-a-week feeding program with the children in the village, orphan care, AIDS education, and the cost of calling a pastor, for an amount not to exceed $150,000.00 over three years, until January 2011. The church is possible through the gifts of La Casa! From this there will be a base for the church to reach out in the community, have Sunday School and VBS, a feeding program and much more La Casa's partnership with South Africa began several years ago, when a member of La Casa, Ron Meister, approached our pastors with a dream of serving in South Africa. His employer had visited South Africa through a group called Helping Hands in Africa (HHIA). To learn more about HHIA, go to www.helpinghandsinafrica.org . As was mentioned by Pastor Garman in a recent sermon, we are called to go to "Jerusalem, Samaria, and the ends of the earth" to share the Gospel.

On Thursday, July 9, the La Casa Mission Trip Team of: Kalli Butters, Emma Cameron, Jodie Clark, Griffin Hatlestad, Tim Hatlestad, Chris Fluharty, Herb Fluharty, Diane Meister, Ron Meister, Matthew Olmut, Noel Olmut, Monique Ostash and Gary Winebrener departed for Mafeking, South Africa. The team flew to Atlanta and then on to Johannesburg, South Africa via a 15-hour non stop flight. They stayed overnight in Johannesburg before embarking on a 4-hour bus ride to Mafeking.

While in South Africa, the team assembled playground equipment, put in a sprinkler system for the grass under the playground equipment, and conducted a VBS for 20-children. All activities were in the Molelwane Village.

We packed nearly 500 pounds of school supplies, T-shirts, books, games, VBS materials, etc. The team would like to thank all who contributed to help buy playground equipment, school uniforms; and the other “take-alongs” that were so kindly donated.