He previously served as mission chair at Clinton Frame, which supports the Lindell Detweilers. Gerald said he wants to model an alternative to the idea that the only valid mission trip is with a hammer, nails and paintbrush. Mission is building relationships with people. Spending time with your mission family is more important than building a building. The Yoders were impressed with the Lindell Detweilers' work in community health and holistic development.
Mission work takes years to get to know people and build relationships.
The Clinton Frame visitors spent two weeks at the Lindell Detweilers' house in Benin's rural Dassa region. There, they got to eat village cuisine and see the chickens butchered for their dinner. When they traveled to the Edwinase Mennonite Church in Ghana where Phil was preaching, the Yoder girls liked the dancing, loud singing, and the waving of white handkerchiefs. Bontrager, a high school senior from Middlebury, Ind., also enjoyed the worship. Everyone was into it - no one was holding back.