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 1804 South Ninth
Mattoon, IL 61938

217-234-7740    firstbc1@consolidated.net

Below are three of our Special Interest Missionaries.  Please visit ABCUSA International Ministries for more information on American Baptist Missionaries around the world.
Davidson Family

Kari and Dwight Davidson - Yokohama, Japan

Kari and Dwight Davidson serve  the Lord in Yokohama, Japan. Dwight serves as missionary chaplain at Kanto Gakuin University, a school related to the Japan Baptist Union (JBU). The vast majority of students and many faculty members at the university are non-Christian. 
 
Kari ministers to young mothers and children in the Yokohama community. An outreach to Japanese women who have school-age children is greatly needed. Most Japanese women stay at home while their children are studying, so there are many opportunities for friendship evangelism and community building.
 
Both Dwight and Kari also serve in education and evangelism through Japan Baptist Union churches.

See the Davidson's International Ministries profile.

Kristy Engel - Dominican Republic

Spending time as a mission volunteer in Haiti helped Kristy to realize that God was calling her into medical mission. After completing nursing school, she returned to Haiti and worked in pediatrics at Good Samaritan Hospital in Limbé for eighteen months. Now she works with the Good Samaritan Hospital in La Romana, Dominican Republic, ministering to Haitians who are among the poorest in the country. She travels daily to batey (work camp) villages and barrios providing medical attention where so many have been unwilling or unable to offer these services. "I also work with my dog, Kobe, to teach children proper hygiene by brushing his teeth, bathing him and brushing his coat,"

See more about Kristy's work on her International Ministries profile.

Kristina Gutierrez - Nicaragua

Kristina Gutiérrez works in a variety of ways to encourage and equip those God is calling into leadership in Nicaragua.  Her primary assignment is to work with the Baptist university in Managua, the Universidad Politecnica de Nicaragua (UPOLI).  Kris also assists in the training efforts of CEPAD (www.cepad.org.ni), PROVADENIC (www.provadenic.org)  and the Baptist Theological Seminary.
 
Kristina's work with the UPOLI has included both training nursing students and starting a chaplaincy program at the Baptist Hospital of Managua. The chaplaincy program is unique in Latin America and has begun sending trained chaplains to accompany patients and family members in different public hospitals in Nicaragua.  She has also been training women at the UPOLI’s urban public health center to be Promoters Against Family Violence in their community.

See more about Kristina's work on her International Ministries profile.