Martinez meets with mission team in Valley

Bishop Joel N. Martinez visited a work team from a United Methodist mission force last week in the Rio Grande Valley.
U.M. ARMY volunteers—50 teenagers, 10 college students and 30 adults—were encamped in the Valley to provide free home repairs for elderly homeowners in the cities of Pharr, San Juan, Alamo and Edinburg.
The workers came from United Methodist churches in Austin, Dripping Springs, Del Rio, Wimberley, Columbus and Buda. Their work ranged from relatively simple tasks—installing grab bars in bathrooms—to more complex roofing work.
Work sites were selected with guidance from the Area Agency on Aging and other organizations.
“I saw them living and practicing their faith,” Martinez said, “and doing so with humility and conviction.
“I was impressed by the cooperation between agencies and the Methodist churches.”
U.M. ARMY—which stands for United Methodist Action Reach-Out Mission by Youth—began in 1979 in Houston and has been invited by churches in Louisiana and Oklahoma to help set up similar programs in those states.