CMTS Newsletter
The warehouse building project is moving along. With the foundation complete we have been busy getting the steel ready and ordering lumber. Please pray that God will send the needed people, equipment, supplies, and finances to complete the project. We praise God for the amazing things that have happened to date. Continue to check Facebook regularly for pictures and updates.
Andy and Nancy are both back from Belize, and the trip went great. Please pray as we get geared up for the summer rush. Also please pray for all the CMTS cars and vans going out, containers we help pack, work teams to come out and help, and daily upkeep on the facility.
Please keep CMTS in your prayers regarding staff. At the present time we have the best staff in place that we have ever had. We thank the Lord for them, but we need to keep praying about more. There are still some gaps in our family that need to be filled. Likewise, it’s always sad but exciting to see staff move on. Recently Joseph Ciasulli, along with his wife Lindsay and daughter Isabella, accepted a position as a youth pastor in Scranton, Pa. We are heartbroken to see them go, but excited about what God has for them in their future.
A huge prayer request in the past has been for help with office work. Nancy has had a very difficult time keeping up with the growing demands as the ministry expands. But praise God, with new computer programs, new services, and added personnel, she is gaining on the situation. Please pray for God to send more servants here that can do more alongside her.
CMTS is shipping another school bus to Belize. The bus is full of needed car parts, tires, tools, and supplies we and other ministries in Belize have asked for. Please pray for safety for the drivers and the bus as it’s shipped by boat to Belize.
Ministry Spotlight: Loaner Cars
Summer is approaching and there is a high request for fleet car requests. So we figured this would be a good time to talk about this very unique and important part of CMTS. When missionaries come home on furlough they often have problems finding transportation. So before leaving their perspective field, they contact us and reserve a vehicle inline with their needs.
The fleet consists of three main categories. First is Small cars, this includes cars like Ford focuses and Chevy cavilers. These cars are great for singles and couples with minimum luggage. Second is normal cars, they include cars like Ford Tauruses and Buick la sabers. This category is good for small families with moderate luggage. The last category is minivans.
Almost all of our minivans are MOPAR, Chrysler Town and Country, or Dodge Grande caravans. These vans are good for moderate size families with a lot of luggage. We do have other style cars like station wagons and crossovers but just lump them in with other categories. On occasion, we get requests from a very large family, and in those cases, we send them out with one of our full-size vans. At the moment we have two full sized 15 passenger Ford Club wagons, and a 12 Passenger Mercedes Sprinter.
Besides missionary use of fleet cars and vans, we have a fleet van and bus program for domestic churches. If a church work team or youth group has a program or mission trip, they can borrow one of our vehicles. For this program, we have the three fore-mentioned vans, a 36 passenger charter bus, and three full-size school buses.
A lot of manpower goes into keeping all these vehicles going. Our full-time fleet coordinator, Macallen Houser, is constantly taking requests from missionaries and churches. She is also in charge of making sure that all of our vehicles have registration, insurance, inspections, scheduled service in the shop, and are clean and ready to go for the day of pick up. Macallen works directly besides Nick VanWert. Nick is the shop manager. As the shop manager, Nick is responsible for the overseeing of the repair and maintenance of the forty-plus cars in our fleet. Besides the fleet cars, Nick is also responsible for the repair and maintenance of all the buses and vans, purchase cars for missionaries, maintenance vehicles, like our rollback, dump trucks, and box trucks. He maintains all landscaping equipment and yearly Belize Trip convoy. We have three full-time mechanics serving under Nick. They are Irvin, Tom, and Buzz.
These vehicles have been a huge blessings to both missionaries from around the world and domestic congregations. If anyone knows of a missionary in need of a car for furlough or a church looking for transportation to an event, contact Macallen to discuss options and scheduling.
