Good Works is co-sponsoring a project in Brazil with United Youth Corps! This project will take place in Maloca de Moscou from Dec. 16, 2014, until Dec. 25, 2014.
Earlier this year Good Works sent Paul Syltie, a soil expert, to evaluate the farming practices of the local villagers in this remote location. Based on his finding we will be sending volunteers to work directly with villagers to prepare land to be farmed. Conditions will be rustic; the volunteers will be staying in tents and will be helping with food preparation.
The team met up in the Miami airport on December 16, 2014. Check back on December 26th for blogs and updates.
Nick lives in South Dakota with his wife, Megan, and their two wonderful children! He currently pastors six congregations which cater to the brethren in North Dakota, South Dakota, Northern Nebraska, and Western Minnesota.
Since a very young age Abigail has been planting her own garden with the help of her parents, brothers, and sisters. She was always outside running around and playing with the animals on their farm in the Texas hill country. After high school she received her associates in art in east Texas and then a bachelor’s in Fashion Design at the University of North Texas. While Abigail was interning with Dallas fashion designer Michael Faircloth she was offered a job at Redstone Kitchens in Dallas designing kitchens and bathrooms. She was able to earn a degree in interior design while she worked. In 2012 she volunteered at Legacy Institute in Thailand for a year teaching the Sustainable agriculture program as the farm manager, teaching Bible I, and leadership classes. She still works at Redstone and enjoys her free time by painting, singing, playing guitar, being active, and spending time with friends. Abigail hopes to bring her background in agriculture to Brazil where the locals are learning how to grow their own personal vegetable gardens and help sustain their food supply for the future.
No Bio Info Available
Paul Syltie was raised on a crop and dairy farm in southwestern Minnesota, where he spent his formative years helping on the beautiful family farm within a closely knit rural community. Desiring to remain on the farm, he first obtained a Bachelor's Degree in soils from the University of Minnesota, and following his marriage to his high school sweetheart Sandy he continued on for a Master's Degree in soil fertility at the University of Illinois. That effort was rudely interrupted by being drafted into the U.S. Army during the Viet Nam War. Fortunately, his two years were spent in Germany in a military band. It was at this time that both he and his wife were called into God's Church, where they began attending services in Frankfurt, and he narrowly avoided being court marshaled for insisting on keeping the Sabbath. In Germany their first child was born. They were both baptized upon his return to Illinois to complete the Master's Degree, in early 1971, and then they returned to the home community in Minnesota for what they thought would be a lifetime of carrying on the family traditions.
As Christ predicted, He came not to bring peace but a sword, and after a year of struggling to survive within a depressed farm economy, with parents who despised the new-found faith of their children, they were forced to leave their beloved community but were welcomed at Ambassador College, Big Sandy, Texas, where Paul enrolled as a married student, faculty member, and manager of the vegetable and fruit operations. That welcome lasted two years, at which time Paul accepted a farmer managerial position in southeastern Wisconsin. Three years later he enrolled at North Dakota Sate University in Fargo and completed the degree of Doctor of Soil Fertility, with a specialty in crop and animal nutrition and biochemistry.
Paul returned to Texas in 1980 to work with Dale Schurter as scientist to support international marketing of a soils and crops program, and continued in that capacity until 1995, when he joined Vital Earth Resources in Gladewater, Texas. The cropping program initiated there has expanded to many countries across the world, and is currently improving crop yields and quality significantly.
During the course of these many years the Sylties have added five more children to their household, and in 2012 moved to Sinai, South Dakota, where Paul continues to work with Vital Earth as research director. He and his wife of 47 years now have 10 grandchildren, and are enjoying the fellowship of brethren on the northern Plains. He has authored several books and many articles on scientific and spiritual topics.
Jorge and his wife Kathy serve the Dallas (TX) and Lawton (OK) congregations. Jorge was born in Portuguese East Africa, now Mozambique, and also lived and served the Church in South Africa. He is also responsible for God’s Work in the Portuguese language, and has been visiting Portugal, Brazil and Angola at least once a year. Kathy was born in Pennsylvania and also served for a number of years in South Africa. They are the proud parents of five children, with 12 grandchildren and live in Allen, north of Dallas (TX).
