Team Building Begins

One of the most important components of preparation for NATIVITY:NIGERIA teams is team building and education. Our teams spend a significant amount of time getting to know each other, their stories, and their families. Each team spends time working with the large NATIVITY:NIGERIA team, as well as the smaller site teams. This past week's meeting was packed with a discussion about what brought each team member to NATIVITY:NIGERIA and ended with the "human pretzel" completed in record time.

Photo 1-3: Team Building with Anawim Home Team & Faith Alive Hospital Team.
Photo 4: Jonathan and Tyler.

The Preparation Begins

All three of our teams met together for the first time this past week. All of the missionaries met each other for the first time and we had a huge turnout of ministers volunteering to serve on the Home Team. The teams will be meeting regularly throughout the spring and summer in order to prepare, pray, learn, and serve leading up to their trip in August. Stay tuned for regular updates, spotlights on missionaries, events that you can get involved with, and projects that we are partnering on both here and abroad.

Photos:
1. Faith Alive Hospital Team: Brian Crook, Jonathan Sanchez, Bill Baird, Emma Baird, Megan Koren.
2. Anawim Home Team: Kathi Rogers, Jess Brown, Tyler DeVan, Joey Barczak, Gin Gin Diokno

Applications Due

Remember that completed applications for this summer's NATIVITY:NIGERIA trip are due by this Sunday: March 27, 2011. After that time, individual interviews will be conducted with all applicants.

Please submit all completed applications to the Information Desk at Church of the Nativity or nigeria@churchnativity.org

Please direct all questions to nigeria@chuchnativity.org

Information Session

NATIVITY:NIGERIA will be hosting an Information Session for all of those interested in becoming a team member for 2011 after all Masses this weekend (3/12-13) at Church of the Nativity. This will be an opportunity to learn more about this years program, ask questions, and hear from past and present team members. If you will not be able to attend the information session but would like additional information, please contact nigeria@churchnativity.org

2011 Application

Above you will find the information and the 2011 application for the NATIVITY:NIGERIA mission this upcoming summer.

Please note that the application is due by March 27, 2011. After that time, individual interviews will be conducted with applicants.

Please submit all completed applications to the Information Desk at Church of the Nativity or nigeria@churchnativity.org

There will be an information session at Church of the Nativity after all Masses on the weekend of March 12-13, 2011 for all those interested in learning more about this ministry.

Please direct all questions to nigeria@chuchnativity.org

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.