Missions Resources

An important part of being involved in a global mission team is being aware of the country you are going to visit.  The more aware you are of the country you are visiting, and the more of its language you know, the better your experience will be.  The Missions Resource Library has been created focusing on our Global Mission partnerships.  Each one of these books or movies highlights an area of focus for Sheridan Missions and provides great insights into what to expect on your mission trip, and how to apply your mission experience to your daily life.  Below you will find resources for learning Swahili, Spanish and Haitian Creole.  You will also find Lonely Planet Travel Guides for each partnership country, and one book or DVD pertaining to that country's history.  There are also general books on Short-Term Missions that are helpful in preparing for your trip.  All of these resources are available to be checked out in the church office.  You may also contact Pastor John with any questions or to request a resource.

Lonely Planet Country Guides

  • Bolivia
  • Dominican Republic & Haiti
  • Nicaragua & El Salvador
  • Tanzania

Pimsleur Language Resources (Swahili, Spanish and Haitian Creole)

The Pimsleur Method provides the most effective language-learning program ever developed. The Pimsleur Method gives you quick command of Swahili structure without tedious drills. Learning to speak Swahili can actually be enjoyable and rewarding.

The key reason most people struggle with new languages is that they aren't given proper instruction, only bits and pieces of a language. Other language programs sell only pieces -- dictionaries; grammar books and instructions; lists of hundreds or even thousands of words and definitions; audios containing useless drills. They leave it to you to assemble these pieces as you try to speak. Pimsleur enables you to spend your time learning to speak the language rather than just studying its parts.

When you were learning English, could you speak before you knew how to conjugate verbs? Of course you could. That same learning process is what Pimsleur replicates. Pimsleur presents the whole language as one integrated piece so you can succeed.

With Pimsleur you get:

  • Grammar and vocabulary taught together in everyday conversation,
  • Interactive audio-only instruction that teaches spoken language organically,
  • The flexibility to learn anytime, anywhere,
  • 30-minute lessons designed to optimize the amount of language you can learn in one sitting.

Millions of people have used Pimsleur to gain real conversational skills in new languages quickly and easily, wherever and whenever -- without books, written exercises, or drills.

Other Language Resources:

  • Teach Yourself Swahili Complete Course Package (Book + 2CDs) - From Danish to Spanish, Swahili to Brazilian Portuguese, the languages of the world are brought within the reach of any beginning student. Learners can use the Teach Yourself Language Courses at their own pace or as a supplement to formal courses. These complete courses are based on the very latest learning methods and designed to be enjoyable and user-friendly.
  • Lonely Planet Swahili Phrasebook - HABARI! The ever-present greeting you'll remember long after your trip. But travel in East Africa is so full of encounters, being able to interact in Swahili will turn your trip into the travel experience you're hoping for. Whether you're sailing on a dhow off Zanziba r, scaling the heights of Kilimanjaro or having a quiet drink with your host in Nairobi, this book will help you communicate the way you want to.
  • Creole Made Easy (With Pronunciation Guide) - Creole Made Easy. A simple introduction to Haitian Creole for English speaking people. Sixteen easy lessons cover the basic elements of Creole grammar and how to pronounce Creole words. The lessons include simple exercises and translation keys. A thorough up to date dictionary of over 4600 words Creole to English and English to Creole word translations is included. A 2 CD set pronunciation guide is included.
  • Learn in Your Car Spanish -This audio language-learning program provides comprehensive grammar and vocabulary to beginners and advanced students, offering guidance in pronunciation in addition to language fundamentals. Updated for the 21st century and re-recorded with fresh voiceovers, Learn In Your Car includes terminology for cell phones, computers and the Internet, as well as contemporary currencies and usages. Listeners learn pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar of a new language without the need of a textbook: Level 1: Key words and phrases, basic grammar skills, emphasizes travel needs; Level 2: Expands vocabulary, new grammar concepts, more day-to-day activities; Level 3: Broadens vocabulary base, more advanced grammar skills, enriches conversational ability. 9 hours of audio on 9 compact discs, 3 booklets with recorded text for reference & grammar notes, Zippered CD Wallet, Travelogue DVD. 

General Mission Resources:

  • Short-Term Missions Workbook - Going on a short-term missions trip can be a life- and faith-transforming experience. It can enrich the way you view the world. It will cause you to rely on God more fully. It is an opportunity to develop deep relationships with your team and the people you serve.A short-term missions experience can also involve weeks of physical and spiritual distress. An unprepared team can wreak havoc on each other and the people they intend to serve. To get the most out of such a missions trip, you need to go prepared. Whether you are going on your own or with a team, the keys to preparation are here in Tim Dearborn's workbook.
  • The Essential Guide to the Short Term Mission Trip - David Forward has written a practical guide for short-term missionaries and their team leaders, a response to the modern-day phenomena in missions of sending increasing numbers of volunteers to undertake specific, time-lim ited missions projects.
  • Mack & Leeann's Guide to Short-Term Missions - Short mission trips can put feet on our knowledge of God and give us a God-sized picture of the world. In the process of going we will grow, and even though we may feel inadequate or scared, we will also give much to those we go to. "This excellent book makes short-term missions a possibility for everyday Christians. Yet it has not avoided problem areas, and so brings a realistic and honest perspective to this exploding movement. The biblical illustrations and their personal stories from their wide experiences means this is a must-read book for everyone going overseas." John Kyle, Senior Vice President, Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies.
  • 10 Ways to Build Your World Vision: A Mind for Missions - There is increasing pressure on Christians today to "seek personal comfort and ease, to look for a self-centered relationship with God," writes Paul Borthwick. Instead of becoming world Christians, we're becoming worldly Christians. A Mind for Missions helps you break that mold. In these pages you'll discover ten building blocks for sensitizing yourself or your group to the needs beyond our borders. From prayer and giving to current events and lifestyle choices, Borthwick leads you to practical ways of sharpening your world vision right where you live.
  • Six Dangerous Questions to Transform Your View of the World - However you see the world, this book could blow your view apart. It's got six sticks of dynamite in it--in the form of six questions-- that could remake the way you see other countries, cultures, and ethnic groups. Take the risk to see the world as Jesus sees it.
  • Missions: God's Heart for the World - Beginning in Genesis the Bible is the story of God pursuing his people. This brief guide gives us a survey of how God reaches out to the world--through Jesus and through human ambassadors like us. The call to "missions" is not for a select group but is part of God's call to every Christian. In this guide you will discover your part in God's plan. This LifeGuide Bible Study in the new revised format features questions for starting group discussions and for meeting God in personal reflection, as well as a "Now or Later" section in each study. Includes 9 studies for individuals or small groups.
  • When Invisible Children Sing - Do you see our invisible children?" writes Huang, at the conclusion of his touching and sometimes painful book about the street children of La Paz, Bolivia. Huang, the founder of the Bolivian Street Children Project and an attending physician at Boston Medical Center, went to Bolivia to work with homeless children when he was fresh out of Harvard medical school. Looking to fulfill a sense of Christian mission as well as to come to grips with some of his personal history, he committed to spending a year caring for homeless children in an orphanage. His ministry quickly expanded from daytime medical care at the orphanage to nighttime care for the children on the streets of La Paz, and it is these later stories that Huang tells. He gives only enough of his own story to let the reader understand his lens, but it is the children's stories Huang cares about. Told simply and without exaggeration, each child's account speaks for itself, demonstrating the humanity of those who are usually invisible. Always honest about his own anger, frustration, confusion and even his doubts about God at times, Huang inspires readers to reach out, even to just one child, and make a difference in a life. (Oct.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
  • Haiti in Focus - During two centuries of independence from colonial rule, Haiti has developed into a society quite distinct from those found in the rest of the region. Hollywood-derived images of black magic and Graham Greene-inspired conceptions of a "nightmare republic" do scant justice to the reality of life for those who make up the third largest population in the Caribbean. How did the slaves of France's most prosperous colony defeat the armies of Napoleon, Spain, and Britain? Why did the U.S. occupation of 1915-34 fail to establish a plantation economy in Haiti? Haiti in Focus is an authoritative and up-to-date guide to this fascinating country. The guide explores the land, history and politics, economy, society and people, culture and environment, and includes tips on where to go and what to see.
  • Mountains Beyond Mountains - At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant, world-class Robin Hood, Farmer was brought up in a bus and on a boat, and in medical school found his life’s calling: to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. This magnificent book shows how radical change can be fostered in situations that seem insurmountable, and it also shows how a meaningful life can be created, as Farmer—brilliant, charismatic, charming, both a leader in international health and a doctor who finds time to make house calls in Boston and the mountains of Haiti—blasts through convention to get results. Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity" - a philosophy that is embodied in the small public charity he founded, Partners In Health. He enlists the help of the Gates Foundation, George Soros, the U.N.’s World Health Organization, and others in his quest to cure the world. At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope, and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb “Beyond mountains there are mountains”: as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too.
  • Welcome Forward: A Field Guide for Travelers - Welcome Forward is an education resource that will help you experience travel that will forever change your ways of seeing, eating, "helping," and conversing. Welcome Forward does not attempt to offer readers - presumed to be global travelers in the many ELCA and ELCA-related international travel/mission opportunities - a complete or in-depth knowledge base regarding global travel. But it allows for individual and group processes for travel preparation, engagement, and follow-up. Welcome Forward thus is a book and accompanying CD that will guide your learning into a future that only God knows at this moment. The book includes sections that help you prepare and plan your international trip, guides and tips for your journey, and reentry assistance. Sidebars offer leader tips, scriptural quotes, thought starters, and imagined "journal entries," each the source for further thought, discussion, or conversation.

Movies:

  • The Mission - This film pulls the viewer into the question of pacivism vs activism in missions.  Fundamentally whether the missionary is there to do things for the people, or there to support the people in their own journeys.  One Amazon.com reviewer writes, "this is an excellent film ...the cinematography, the acting and especially the score are well above par of anything that has come out of tinseltown in the last 10-15 years. a great film for history students, theologians AND general audiances. a gripping story of the struggle between pacifism and aggression. pulls at your emotions and makes you question which method of defense is the right one. whatever side you come down on you will question yourself anyway. well worth the 125 minutes, rent it, or better yet, buy it today."
  • The Children of Leningradsky - Since the fall of the Iron Curtain an estimated four million children have found themselves living on the streets in the former countries of the Soviet Union. In the streets of Moscow alone there are over 30,000 surviving in this manner at the present time. The makers of the documentary film concentrated on a community of homeless children living hand to mouth in the Moscow train station Leningradsky. Eight-year-old Sasha, eleven-year-old Kristina, thirteen-year-old Misha and ten-year-old Andrej all dream of living in a communal home. They spend winter nights trying to stay warm by huddling together on hot water pipes and most of their days are spent begging. Andrej has found himself here because of disagreements with his family. Kristina was driven into this way of life by the hatred of her stepmother and twelve-year-old Roma by the regular beatings he received from his constantly drunk father. "When it is worst, we try to make money for food by prostitution," admits thirteen-year-old Artur. The pair of Polish filmmakers in this raw and very effective documentary even succeeded in filming an incident where the police patrol beat one of the street children and smear an entire tube of glue into his hair and onto his face. It is precisely this sniffing of the glue fumes that gives these children the possibility to at least for a little while escape the unforgiving world around them. It is a life of fleeting possibilities and danger.
  • Invisible Children - Invisible Children: The Rough Cut is a film about the plight of child soldiers and night commuters in northern Uganda. The documentary was filmed in 2003 when three young men from Southern California—Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole (then 24, 21, and 20)—traveled to Sudan "to find a story".  Instead, their adventure took them into the depths of northern Uganda where they discovered thousands of people affected by the brutality and attacks of a rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The documentary chronicles their experience as young Americans learning firsthand about a conflict largely unknown to the international community, while also informing audiences about the great humanitarian crisis of child soldiers.
  • Romero - In El Salvador, the new bishop speaks out against the death squads and the terror campaign the government is using in an attempt to crush the guerilla war that is being waged against them. This is seen as disloyality and the number of priests attacked goes up and even churches are shut down by the government. Based on a true story, Romero was assassinated in March, 1980. [IMDB - John Vogel] REVIEW: "Romero" is about injustice in the world but presents this theme without "preaching." It draws in the viewer through the excellent performance of Raul Julia (rest his soul! he is missed!). "Romero" is also about class differences and the intolerance of the powerful towards social change. It's a great film for teaching Americans about what life is like in the rest of the world. It's a Hollywood film that managed not to go Hollywood. [kserbin, San Diego] ++++