Covenant News

Pomeroy Work Team Returns from Laos

POMEROY, IA (March 5, 2001) - A group of members from the Pomeroy Covenant Church this weekend celebrated their return from northwestern Laos where they helped reconstruct four of six metal grain storage bins donated by the church earlier this year.

The church secured surplus storage buildings from their region, dismantled them and shipped them to Laos in support of an agricultural development project being directed by Covenanters Peter and Ruthie Dutton. The accompanying photo shows three of the eight team members - Dave Welander, Dean Christoffers and John Alne - working on the first unit.

"Our team is back from Laos, safe and sound, and mostly recovered from jet lag," said Pastor Dave Benedict, who added, "returning to an Iowa winter was a little harsh!" The pastor said team members have many good photographs and an equal number of good stories.

The church responded to a call for help from the Duttons as part of a project to begin growing corn and soybeans in Laos - crops that are quite familiar to farmers in the Pomeroy area. A key part of the project was developing ways to store grain once harvested. That's when the church came up with the novel idea of dismantling and shipping existing units.

Mike Nedved, a member of Resurrection of Our Lord Catholic Church in nearby Pocahontas, donated 25,000 new bolts used in reconstruction of the units in Laos and accompanied the other team members, including Eric and Ellen Lantz, Kevin Gordon and Web Ekstrand.

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