The Decision Has Been Made! :)

Dear Friends,

As many of you know, we’ve felt God nudging us to do something different next year. Thank you for the prayer support that so many of you provided as we explored many different missions and humanitarian relief organizations. After much prayer and discussion, we feel led to begin work in Guyana (South America) in August.

What We’ll Be Doing
We'll be working with an organization called WorldTeach, which for the past 20 years has placed teachers in struggling public schools of developing countries around the world. We feel called to Guyana for several reasons, some of which include: the official language is English, there are openings in math and science (areas that we have experience in), we’ll be able to interact with native students in a rural setting, and WorldTeach provides training to teach in a manner consistent with the culture of the country. Guyana desperately needs teachers; locals who get trained as teachers rarely return to their native towns, leaving for the Caribbean or the US (where pay is higher). The average Gayanese high school freshman is performing at a level equivalent to 6th grade in the States.

What is World Teach?
World Teach is not missions-based; it is a non-profit, non-governmental organization affiliated with the Center for International Development at Harvard University. However, World Teach has made it clear that getting involved in a community spiritually is an excellent way to become better connected with the community’s students and families. We plan to bring our instruments and contribute musically to the church as well as provide support in other areas. If we are able to raise more than the $10,000 needed to cover living and classroom necessities, we hope to contribute to local church programs and community development projects such as water treatment, etc.

Ways to Stay in Touch
Internet & telephone accessibility varies greatly throughout Guyana. That being said, email is still the fastest way to communicate with us (although it may take us up to a month to be get to a spot with internet access. We do not have an established mailing address yet, so the safest bet is to send “snail” mail through Thomas’ parents: 11409 Quincy St.
Holland, MI 49424.

Prayer Support
For those of you who have asked about prayer support, thanks so much! Here are our current prayer requests:
-That we'll be placed in a community where we can witness to others and expand the reach of an existing church
-For good health and wise decisions on which vaccines and meds to take (malaria is present throughout Guyana)
-For safety as we move our "stuff" across the country and proceed to New York for an August 1 departure
-For staff relations at the school that we’ll be teaching; from what we’ve read, it sounds like tensions can run high

Also, if you would like to make a tax-deductible financial contribution to this project, you can make a check out to Rosewood Church (with Guyana: Thomas & Carrie in the memo line). The Church's address is: Rosewood Church, 10115 Rose Street
Bellflower, CA 90706.

Future Plans
Our current tentative plan is to switch from WorldTeach to Interserve next summer. This missions organization places engineers on community development projects in some of the larger cities of Middle Eastern and Asian countries. Carrie would likely be teaching missionary kids or ex-pats at an international school. From there, we'll take it a step at a time.

Thank you all in advance for your support and prayers and we look forward to what God has in store. Though we do not yet know the reliability or availability of e-mail or telephones, we will try to keep you updated as much as possible throughout the year.

Yours in Christ,

Thomas Brand & Carrie VanderZwaag