Note #9146 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06103 Feb. 17, 2006
3 dispatched to mission posts
by Pat Cole Worldwide Ministries Division
LOUISVILLE - Two new Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) mission workers have begun overseas assignments, and a third will follow suit in March. All three completed mission personnel orientation in January.
Carlos Cardenas
(www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/profiles/cardenasc.htm) is serving in development and disaster relief in Nicaragua. Working with the Council of Evangelical Churches of Nicaragua (CEPAD), he trains community leaders involved in development projects and helps augment the skills of CEPAD staff. He also assists the council in market-development and food-security initiatives.
When disasters strike, he will be available to travel throughout Central America to lend assistance. Before his appointment, Cardenas worked with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance for three years in El Salvador. He helped with the construction of 240 houses for people whose homes were lost in two earthquakes in January 2001.
Cardenas, a native of Honduras, is now a citizen of Nicaragua. His experience in development and disaster relief includes service with the Irish Agency for Personal Service Overseas, the American Friends Service Committee and Nicaragua's Ministry of Social Action. He earned two degrees from Friendship People's University in Moscow, Russia - a bachelor of science and a master's in agricultural science.
Cardenas is a member of Our Lady of the Ascension parish in Juigalpa, Chontales, Nicaragua. He and his wife, Maria Auxiliador Alvarez, have two children, Rosaura Aracelly and Carlos Roberto.
David Walter (www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/profiles/walterd.htm) is serving as the Worldwide Ministries Division's regional liaison for the Pacific region. From his home base in Holland, MI, he relates to partner churches in Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. He also is an advisor to the Presbyterian Hunger Program, a role that could take him anywhere in the Pacific.
From 1998 to 2001 Walter served as a PC(USA) mission worker in Vanuatu, where he taught English, science, computer science and religious education at Onesua Presbyterian College. Since leaving Vanuatu, he has returned for visits several times, including last summer, when he taught a special English as a Second Language immersion class.
Walter has had a varied career, including several years of service as a U.S. Army officer. From 1990 to 1997 he was president and owner of America Multimedia Systems Inc., a Grand Rapids, MI, firm that specialized in high-end animation and multimedia computer applications.
Walter is a member of First Presbyterian Church in Holland, where his wife, the Rev. Linda Knieriemen, is pastor. Walter earned bachelor of arts degree from Penn State University.
The Rev. Shirley Hill
(www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/profiles/hills.htm) will leave on March 1 for Cameroon, where she will serve as an HIV/AIDS consultant. She will work with the HIV/AIDS ministry of the Presbyterian Church of Cameroon as it cares for people affected by AIDS and provides prevention education.
Hill, a registered nurse, was recently ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament by Heartland Presbytery at Gashland Presbyterian Church in Kansas City, MO.
From 1997 to 2002 she worked at Liberty Hospital in Liberty, MO, as a health educator and parish nurse coordinator. As a parish nurse coordinator, she taught nurses how to develop health ministries in congregations. She has also taught HIV/AIDS prevention as a volunteer for the Red Cross.
She entered Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA, in 2002, where she earned a Master of Divinity degree with a concentration in family pastoral care and counseling. Before her appointment she was a resident chaplain at Northside Hospital in Atlanta, GA.
Hill is pursuing a certificate in spiritual direction from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA. Her nursing degree is from Missouri Western State College. Her work in Cameroon will be supported by the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands campaign (www.pcusa.org/joiningheartsandhands), a five-year effort to raise funds for overseas mission personnel and domestic church growth.
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