Bill Baird

I am the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director of Management Services of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. In this role, I oversee Fiscal Services, Facilities, Risk Management, IT and Investments. I joined the Archdiocese of Baltimore in July 2010 from Brown Advisory, where I was the Managing Partner of Brown Advisory Securities, in charge of the broker dealer division. Prior to that, I spent 18 years at Alex Brown and its successor companies, Bankers Trust and Deutsche Bank. I served in various capacities including Branch Manager of the Greenwich, San Francisco and Baltimore offices and as Head of Business Supervisory Office overseeing compliance, legal, audit, and surpervisory functions for the branches. I hold a Bachelors of Business Administration and Masters of Business Administration from Loyola University Maryland. I also serve on the Board of Sponsors for the Sellinger School of Business, the Board of Trustees at Loyola Blakefield and the Board of Trustees at Catholic Charities.

Tyler DeVan

I grew up with my parents and two sisters in Bel Air, MD and am a 2009 graduate of Loyola University Maryland. I currently work at a Army Contracting Command in Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. In my free time, I enjoy tennis, traveling, and being outdoors.

Church of the Nativity's Nigeria mission embodies the core of our Christian values. By serving alongside the marginalized populations of Nigeria, we are pushed beyond our normal comforts and routines, and challenged to shift our perspective in response to the needs, struggles, and spirit of the global Church. I am looking forward to personal and spiritual growth throughout the experience and the chance to learn from the strength, resilience, and giving spirit of the Nigerian community. Can't wait!

Adrienne Brooks

I feel called to help in Nigeria because I have been given so much in my life. In high school, my eyes were opened to poverty all over the world, especially in Africa. Ever since then, I have begun to develop an education of the continent and the many plights of the people there. I saw the trip to Nigeria as a learning experience spiritually, because I am sure I will be tested in my faith, but also educationally because it will be my first time in a completely different culture and civilization.

I love astronomy. I read books, look at pictures, and keep up with space news in my free time. And I will be in Charleston, SC on August 21, 2017 because that is when the next total solar eclipse is.

But something more meaningful, I love listening to Christian radio because it is more relaxing and it generally makes me feel better. Songs today can have really dumb, meaningless lyrics, but Christian music is just more upbeat and it actually means something to me.

Joey Barczak

I felt drawn to participate in this year's Nativity Nigeria missionary trip as I really enjoy traveling the globe, learning about other peoples and cultures, and helping out those in need. I have had the good fortune of being able to travel internationally a number of times in the past and have been to Germany, Poland, Israel, New Zealand, and Australia. I have learned a lot in my travels and am excited to learn even more when I travel to Nigeria. I have been involved with a number of trips to Mississippi to help with post Hurricane Katrina relief work and have taken a lot away from my experiences. While I have learned a good amount about Nigeria by keeping up with
the news and reading about the country, I am really looking forward to going over there and experiencing the country firsthand.

Emma Baird

I was called to help in Nigeria by my dad because he wanted to go, but I have been looking for some kind of mission trip since I got back from my trip to a Jamaican orphanage about a year ago. I feel called to do service in general and especially in going to Nigeria, because my relationship with God becomes stronger and deeper when doing His works. I think that the greater our relationship, the better chance I have of living the life I am truly being called to. I am eighteen years old and I am going to be a freshman at Boston College next year. I am going to be studying nursing. Being able to go to the Faith Alive Hospital is just incredible because I can see how a hospital works in a developing country and maybe after I get my degree in nursing, I can go back as a nurse and be able to help that much more.

Gin Gin Diokno

It's deja-vu all over again, as Yogi Berra would say.

I am so blessed to have this second opportunity to join our Nigeria team this summer. In 2009, I was part of the Faith Alive Hospital team and nothing short of life-changing has my post NATIVITY:NIGERIA journey been. I can only look back in awe of what God has done in my life just in the past couple of years. So the mission's leadership did not have to twist my arm when they asked me to lead the Anawim Home Team this year.

I look forward to immersing ourselves in the daily lives of Sister Oresoa and her family at Anawim with the other sisters, the children and young mothers. We will be witnesses and participants of the great wrk that they do to make differences in the lives of others - especially the less fortunate. We'll be able to enjoy the fruits of Advent Conspiracy I with the well that helps to provide clean water. We'll get to eat authentic Nigerian cuisine. And the though of watching an African sunset gets my photography juices flowing. That's just the tip of the iceberg. As excited as I am for myself, I am pumped for the rest of my team members who will also be blessed by this experience and the Faith Alive Hospital group who will be enriched by the loving community in Jos. By the second week of August, I will have been one of a few people who have gone to both places. How cool is that! God IS great!

This is my prayer: God, grant us the grace of your presence on this trip and watch over our friends and families who have given us all the love and support.

Mary Joan Jordan

I have been married 49 years and have 5 children and 11 grandchildren. I volunteer for Meals On Wheels and St. Joseph Medical Center Spiritual Care. I worked at College of Notre Dame for 18 years, during which time I assisted participated in assorted projects with Campus Ministries, particularly outreach in West Virginia. I have also had the opportunity to volunteer with our small group from Nativity at Paul's Place and Our Daily Bread. NATIVITY:NIGERIA Home Team seemed a perfect opportunity to continue volunteer work. Every little bit that we can do to give to others, hopefully, makes their lives a little better.

Donna Saxon

My dream, my passion is to reach out and help relieve human suffering.

As Christians, we have a high calling. We have been commissioned by God to reach out and love one another (1 John 4:12). We should be involved in helping the poor and needy.

We live in a would that is crying out for help. A world where more than 1 billion people live on less than $1.00 a day...where diseases such as AIDS are taking the lives of young and old at an alarming rate...where nearly 16 thousand children die from hunger-related causes every day. And at lease two-thirds of the population also does not know Jesus Crist as their Savior and his love for them.

Although I am not traveling to Nigeria. I can help support the preaching of the Gospel by supporting ministries and outreaches that relieve the suffering of those less fortunate.

Jeanette Coury

I was fortunate to hear Dr. Christian Isichei speak at the Nativity years ago. As the Director of Youth Ministry, Chris Wesley asked Dr. Isichei to say a few words to our students during our Sunday teen crowd programs, Uprising and Resurrection. I was so moved by his passion and commitment to the Faith Alive Hospital ministry. His vision was awe inspiring and I remember looking at the faces of our teens and thinking WOW he was reaching them. He spoke about his call to serve and his deep faith that God was leading him and would help him to overcome any challenges. His talk was resonating and our teens were totally engaged, something difficult to do with that audience!

Over the years I enjoyed following our Nigeria mission trips through the message guide, emails and videos at Sunday masses. During that time, I continued to work with our teens and helped to develop a program where Nativity students could answer their call to serve - Student Impact. The vision was to create a framework to empower students to use their God given gifts, time, talents and experience to serve in the Nativity community. Today we have many teens actively working in ministry, 39 in Vacation Bible School alone!

I have wanted to expand the mission of Student Impact - deepening students faith by encouraging them to find purpose and meaning in their lives through service outside of Nativity as well. In the spring when I heard the announcement for Nativity:Nigeria I knew this was my call to serve. It became clear that I should explore this reach outside of the Nativity community and relay that work back to our teens in the fall. I hope that my work on the Home Team will inspire teens to serve God’s vision through our church, to move them from being served to servants, to shape them into more grateful people and to inspire them to become servant leaders and role models to their peers and younger children.

Mary Anne Fisher

I joined Nativity 7 years ago, and have never had been as involved in a church before until I came to Nativity. I wanted to meet more people, and joined a small group, as well as started working in the cafe. After three years of working in the cafe, I felt compelled to help on the Nativity:Nigeria mission. I had been hearing about the NN mission, and more importantly, the Holy Spirit was guiding me in this direction. I've never had this experience before (at least consciously) and realized that this was part of what Father White had been talking about in his homilies for going deeper in our faith and commitment of discipleship to others.

Last year, I was part of the Home Team and how amazing it was for me to see the great things the missionaries did in Abuja and hear about their life-changing experiences. And, I'm looking forward to seeing their work again in Jos and Abuja.

Kathi Rogers

I have been attending Nativity for about eight years. I am married to Dennis Lahey and have two children; Chase who just celebrated his one-year wedding anniversary with his lovely wife Susan, and Rian who plays drums in a successful band. Dennis and I have been “empty nesters” for about five years after thoroughly enjoying raising Chase and Rian. It is a major joy in my life to watch as they successfully and joyfully chart their own course as adults. My husband and I are enjoying a new chapter in our lives and thankfully find it enriching and fulfilling.

I have been working with families experiencing separation and divorce for the past twenty years in a variety of roles. I am a mediator, evaluator and therapist working specifically with this population. I have taught school in the past and always enjoyed working with children.

For many years I have watched as Nativity prepared for their Nigeria trip each summer. Every year I felt a strong desire to participate however never followed through with the application process thinking that other activities in my life took precedence over a mission trip. This year I decided to make it a priority, completed the application process and here I am.

I feel fortunate to be able to make this trip to Nigeria. The opportunity to be able to experience another culture, interact with people whose lives are so different than mine, and assist them in any way that may be helpful, is a gift. It provides the chance to “give back” in a small way, given all the blessings that have been bestowed upon me. I am willing and excited to participate in any way that may be useful at the Anawim Home. Whether that will be by utilizing my clinical skills, engaging in physical labor, assisting with education, or comforting a child, it will be done with integrity and kindness. If one person is affected in a positive way by my decision to go to Nigeria, I will be thrilled. However, whatever help or assistance I think I may bring to the people I meet while in Nigeria, I have a deep sense that I will be the one who will be the recipient of much more grace than I could ever hope to give by this experience.

Jess Brown

I am currently an Interdisciplinary Biology and Psychology major at Loyola University Maryland. I enjoy being involved on campus, participating in service activities and competing as a member of the Swimming and Diving Team. In addition, as the oldest of four, I love working with children and building relationships as a diving coach. God has opened another door for me as I enter my senior year of college and begin applying to nursing school. I feel called to be a part of the Nativity:Nigeria mission to hopefully have an impact on at least one more child at Anawim.

I am looking forward to this unique opportunity to immerse myself into an unknown society of people, to open my eyes to God’s work, and to bring back a powerful story to my home community. I hope that my experience in this mission trip will expand my knowledge of marginalized people, especially those victimized by poverty and disease, so that I might better serve in my future profession and ministries.

Jonathan Sanchez

Hello, I am 22 and although being born in Jersey, I’ve lived here for most of my life, so I guess that makes me more Baltimoron than Brunswickian. Currently I am working in the Microbiology Lab over at Hopkins, but earn most of my money cage fighting exotic beasts on the weekends. I enjoy long walks on the beach, arts and crafts, and writing in my dream journal.

On a serious note, I applied for Nigeria:Nativity as a faith strengthening adventure. An adventure that would not only bring excitement with presenting me with experiences that I have never had before, but also in challenging the fabric of my faith—forcing me evaluate the principles that I have established to live by and at the same time, adding new levels of depth with my relationship to God.

I shift gears a lot, but I always remain sincere. I am genuinely excited for what this trip will change about me, especially how my perspective and reasoning will evolve after coming home. This experience is something that few have the opportunity to have, and I treasure it as a blessing.

Brian Crook

I am so excited to be going back to Nigeria this August, especially to visit the Faith Alive Hospital for the first time. I've been diving into my new position as Director of Missions at Nativity for the past year, and am so fortunate to stand on the framework built by Bob Barczak and all the past Nativity:Nigeria missionaries. I have the honor of leading the Faith Alive team this year -- I'm definitely looking forward all the people we'll meet in Jos and also getting to see my team members experience Nigeria for the first time.

I'm 26 years old, went to Furman University in SC, live in Towson, and have one older sibling, my sister Elizabeth -- who's pregnant with my first niece Emma! I have been on staff at Nativity for the past three years and grew up in the church way back when Tom was the "Youth Minister." I've played tennis all my life, but I've been rekindling my love for soccer this past year playing in a couple leagues.

In some ways I have always felt called to Mission work. And I've always had this sort of an affinity for Africa, something that must have come from movies and books. When my faith was beginning to grow as a teenager, I was involved in service all the time -- it was always just a part of my relationship with God. If you read the words of Jesus in the New Testament, he talks a lot about serving the poor and vulnerable, in fact when he began his ministry he announced that's exactly what he had come to do (Luke 4:18-19). So although serving and sharing life with our partners in Africa can be challenging, it is something I feel called to do.