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Alton & Helen Buck

SIM USA

 

Ministry Information

We retired May 1, 2001. In May of 2003 we moved to a basement apartment in the home of our daughter Cindy. We joined a local church in July and jumped right in with both feet to serve the Lord in this new place of ministry. Both of us were on the staff of VBS last summer. And we are both involved in Awana. Alton was elected to the deacon Board in December. Helen is a co-captain of the church prayer chain and leads one of the ladies Bible studies.

When we discovered that missionary prayer letters were ending up in a file instead of being prayed over, we shared our concern with others in the church. As a result we were able to form a Missions Support group. Excerpts from prayer letters are now printed in the bulletin every Sunday. Each month one of the missionaries is chosen to be highlighted in a power point for 4 Sundays. It's exciting to see the congregation getting involved in praying for missionaries again.

We are so privileged to be able to be reaching out in our local church and in our neighborhood. We pick up children for Awana and are building bridges of friendship to their parents. Pray that we can win these boys and girls and their parents for Christ.

We continue to be in touch with a number of the friends we ministered to in Chicago during our 7 1/2 years there. We recently made a special trip to visit a friend who is really hurting and needed to talk with someone. We were able to meet with a nearby pastor who then visited her and took her a large print Bible.

And, of course, who can put a value on ministry in the lives of our grandchildren? We live in the same house with four of them and live within an hour's drive of seven more. We are so blessed! We have 3 more grandchildren in Georgia and 4 more in Africa.

Our Thirty-Six Years with SIM

We first arrived in Liberia January 27, 1968. We left June 28, 1989. Helen was able to put her nursing expertise to good use at the ELWA hospital. She worked as a medication nurse, and in the operating room and the pharmacy. She supervised central supply, the operating room, the kitchen, and laundry. She did purchasing for both the hospital and a Christian youth camp located on our Mission compound. She did enough sewing of linens for the operating room to wear out at least one sewing machine. She also taught sewing one year at the ELWA Academy.

Alton was the hospital chaplain and X-ray technician for many years. In 1977 he was able to turn over the X-ray department to three Liberians whom he had trained. As Chaplain he worked with two other missionaries in setting up structured, in-house Bible classes for the Liberian employees, numbering in the seventies at the time. A three-year curriculum was followed. As many as 11 classes were held each week and all three shifts were covered. He helped with the writing and revision of the lessons. As coordinator he was in charge of seeing that there were teachers for every class. One week he taught seven classes!

When we returned from home assignment in 1985 Alton began working with the church development division. He led services and did Bible teaching on the large Firestone Rubber plantation about 27 miles from ELWA. He also wrote a series of lessons on the Gospel of Mark for use on the plantation. At that time about 100,000 people lived in over 90 villages in an area about seventeen by 22 miles.

We were not able to return to Liberia after our 1989-91 home assignment due to the ongoing civil war. We moved to Chicago June 2, 1991 and joined the SIM Ethnic Focus Team working in that area. We were there until October 11, 1998. We were able to meet and befriend immigrants from many different countries including Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria, Liberia, Mali, Cameroon, Haiti, and Chicago. We were able to help many with improving their language skills and knowledge of God's word.

We moved to the SIM Retirement village in Sebring, Florida, on January 16, 1999. This facility is home to over 150 retired missionaries. Helen worked in the nurse's office and Alton drove retirees on shopping trips and to medical and dental appointments. He also did dishes and mopped floors for awhile in the assisted living facility.

Field

Now that we are in retirement, we are still actively serving in our local church.

Contact Information

Address:
1378 N 650 E
Rochester, IN 46975-8490
Phone: (574) 893-4504
Email Address: ahbuck@fcremc.coop

 

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