Times and dates are subject to change. Information courtesy of umcmission.org. Special thanks to Joan Hackett.
Jeffrey Hoover & Ellen Hoover
Monday, Sept. 14
Leavenworth UMC, Potluck and Program, 12pm
Cashmere UMC, Potluck and Program 5pm
Tuesday, Sept. 15
Lake Chelan UMC, Coffee and Chat, 9:30am
Manson UMC, Lunch and Program, 12pm
Methow Valley UMC, Dinner and Program, 6pm
Wednesday, Sept. 16
Oroville UMC, 12pm
Thursday, Sept. 17
TBD (possibly Grand Coulee UMC)
Spokane Valley UMC
Friday, Sept. 18
Spokane: Fowler UMC, Lunch, 12pm
Saturday, Sept. 19
E. Wenatchee: Trinity UMC,
Seven Rivers District UMW Meeting
Wenatchee: First UMC, Dinner Gathering,
4pm-6pm
Sunday, Sept. 20
Pasco: Riverview UMC, Worship, 10am
Monday, Sept. 21
La Crosse UMC, Potluck Dinner & Program, 5pm
Tuesday, Sept. 22
OPEN
Benton City UMC, Meal and Program, 6pm
Wednesday, Sept. 23
Kennewick UMC, UMW Lunch, 10:30pm
Prosser UMC, Meal and Program, 6pm
Thursday, Sept. 24
Sunnyside UMC, Lunch
Friday, Sept. 25
HFCA 12pm
Yelm UMC
Potluck Dinner, Program 5pm
Saturday, Sept. 26
Stanwood UMC, Program 4pm
Sunday, Sept. 27
Coupeville UMC
Worship & Lunch, 8:45am & 11am
Bremerton UMC, Meal and Program, 6pm
Jeffrey Hoover
Serving At: Katanga Methodist University
Location: DR Congo, Africa
Home Country: US, North America
Spouse: Ellen Hoover
Dr. J. Jeffrey Hoover is a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church assigned since 1979 to the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire.
Dr. Hoover is a professor at Katanga Methodist University, both in the theological college as professor of church history and in the School of Information Technology.
Jeff also serves as chief librarian, overseeing a computerization and recataloguing project, and has served as founding dean of the School of Information Technology and as a vice-dean for the theological college.
Dr. Hoover has been involved in international accreditation issues, development of Congolese faculty, and the development of both concepts and curricula for the new colleges of the university.
Jeff shares that he is deeply committed to the development of a viable United Methodist-related university at Mulungwishi which can help address the critical needs of the Congo that are emerging after three decades of the Mobutu regime and five years of war. In a country where French rather than English is the principal international language, a Congolese university can better and more cost effectively serve the needs of its country while following the principles and values of an African University for English-speaking Africa.
Jeff continues to maintain his ties with the public University of Lubumbashi, one of the three Congolese state universities which for two decades had a monopoly on higher education. He teaches pre-colonial African history, the field of his research, and is also interested in Bantu historical linguistics and social anthropology. He continues to concentrate on teaching beginning undergraduates as well as facilitating the development of Congolese staff.
In addition to teaching, Dr. Hoover has also served as a consultant to government and international organizations involved with development projects in Katanga province. From 1985-92 he served as administrative director of a medical infrastructure project with the cooperation of USAID, the Zairian government, and several Christian denominations, all managed by the Southern Congo Annual Conference.
Dr. Hoover received his B.A. degree in history and biology from Luther College in 1969, and earned his M.Ph. degree in 1972 and his Ph.D. in African History in 1978, both from Yale University.
Ellen Hoover
Serving At: The English-speaking School of Lubumbashi and Katanga Methodist University in Mulungwishi
Location: DR Congo, Africa
Home Country: US, North America
Spouse: Jeffrey Hoover
Dr. Ellen Titus Hoover is a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo (also called DRC or Congo-Kinshasa). She is a part-time professor at the United Methodist University in Mulungwishi where she teaches courses in Islam and church history in the college of theology.
Ellen also works with The English-speaking School of Lubumbashi (TESOL), an elementary and middle school for children of missionaries, full-time church workers and other English-speaking families in a city where French is the common language of instruction. After helping start the school in 1987, she served on the Administrative Council and as director of the school.
Dr. Hoover holds a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University and a Ph.D. in African History from Yale University.
Ellen entered missionary service in 1979 and is married to Dr. Jeffrey Hoover, also a GBGM missionary who serves in the DRC. Their family includes their children Jane, Jeremy and wife Lindsay, and Mark.
Nan McCurdy & Miguel Mairena
Thursday, Sept. 10
OPEN
Friday, Sept. 11
Spokane: Manito UMC
Potluck & Program, 6pm
Saturday, Sept. 12
Spokane: Covenant UMC
District UMW Meeting,
9am-3pm
Sunday, Sept. 13
Goldendale UMC,
Worship, 9:30am
White Salmon UMC,
Lunch and Chat, 12pm
OPEN, 5pm
Monday, Sept. 14
Battle Ground UMC
Salmagundi, 12pm
Ridgefield UMC
Meal & Program, 6:30pm
Tuesday, Sept. 15
OPEN
Kelso UMC
Potluck & Program, 6pm
Wednesday, Sept. 16
Chehalis, 10pm-2pm
Federal Way: Sunrise, Evening
Thursday, Sept. 17
OPEN
Friday, Sept. 18
Port Townsend
Lunch & Program, 12pm
Saturday, Sept. 19
Coupeville UMC
Puget Sound District UMW Meeting
Sunday, Sept. 20
Puyallup UMC
Worship
8:55am & 10:35am
Nan McCurdy
Serving At: General Board of Global Ministries
Spouse: Miguel Mairena
Nan McCurdy is a United Methodist missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries. She and her missionary husband, Miguel Mairena, are serving as Mission Advocates for the Western Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church.
Mission Advocates are active missionaries assigned to help annual conferences, districts, and local churches in the United States to understand and participate in global mission. Their work has a particular focus on mission personnel, including support of missionaries through the Advance.
Nan served the people of Nicaragua as a missionary from 1985 to 2014. She and Miguel most recently worked for some 15 years with youth and children through the Women and Community Association in San Francisco Libre.
Of her call to mission, Nan says, “We are called to follow Christ’s example: to accompany and promote the inclusion of the poor, the women, the outcasts, the old, the sick, the challenged, the children—all those not included fully in society. As God’s children we are called to be about the making of a just society here on earth, one that fulfills the Jubilee (the liberation of slaves, restitution of the earth, forgiveness of debt, and redistribution of riches).”
“’Sell all your things, give to the poor and follow me’—this is Christ’s most difficult message for us as US Christians,” Nan observes. “Our worth and well-being are so wrapped up in what we have, in contrast to people in countries like Nicaragua who have nothing but their faith.”
During the war in Nicaragua in the 1980s, Nan and her late husband, Philip Mitchell, worked in a pastoral ministry of accompaniment with people. After the war, she assisted in the Foundation for Nicaraguan War Victims. Phil died in 1991—their daughter Nora was one and their son Daniel was three. She married Miguel Mairena in 1995. Nan and Miguel’s blended family that includes 3 daughters and 3 sons in four countries.
Nan and Miguel promote Christ’s example in their work. They spend a lot of their time networking and supporting people in different organizations who are working in favor of the poor, in favor of the life of the community, and providing an example of service to their neighbors. At San Francisco Libre, Nan and Miguel promoted community development, gender equality and prevention of violence against women.
Nan is a very grateful to be a breast cancer survivor and holds degrees in biology, ecology, and pharmacy, and has done extensive non-degree studies in gender in the fields of development and community development.
Miguel Mairena
Serving at: General Board of Global Ministries
Location: USA, North America
Home Country: Nicaragua, Latin America and the Caribbean
Miguel Mairena is a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church serving with his missionary wife, Nan McCurdy, as Mission Advocates in the denomination’s Western Jurisdiction in the United States. He was a missionary in Nicaragua from 1997 to 2014.
For Miguel the words of Jesus from Matthew 25:40 are a guide for mission: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
Miguel graduated from law school in December 2008 and finished a master’s degree in criminal law in 2011. In Nicaragua he provided legal counsel to women dealing with situations of (physical, psychological, and economic) violence. He also counseled men about reproductive responsibility and to prevent violence against women. He and Nan worked for many years with the Women and Community Association of San Francisco Libre.
A theologian at heart, Miguel weaves religious reflections into his personal encounters while going about his daily work. Miguel also studied Christian education at Wesley Theological Seminary.
Coming from a large, religious, impoverished Nicaraguan farming family, Miguel had few opportunities to study until he was 20 years old, when he began first grade. Growing up on an island in Lake Nicaragua he learned farming, fishing, and boat skills, and worked during his teens as a mechanic and boat driver.
Most of his studies took place during the years of the Sandinista revolution. He then worked in community and agricultural development projects serving farmers and war veterans through the Nazarene Church, World Vision, and two different ecumenical centers. He is grateful to have had the opportunity to continue studying as an adult and constantly encourages other adults to keep studying.
Miguel and Nan have an international and blended family that includes three daughters and three sons currently in four countries.
Nan and Miguel are members of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference.
