Please Join Us on this Journey
An Invitation. Thank you for visiting our Peacebuilders Webpage! We’d love to have you apply for one of the Peacebuilder Programs, described below, by simply emailing the persons listed for that Program and expressing your interest. Once you do this, we’ll be back to you with more information and an eagerness to explore next steps with you. If the Program you selected is currently full, we can discuss alternative Programs.
Community of Christ has been counseled to “create pathways in the world for peace in Christ to be relationally and culturally incarnate. … Pursue Peace.” (Section 163.3, Doctrine and Covenants) We believe the Programs listed below will create pathways for peace in the world, as they help produce the “magic” that occurs when two people of different nations/cultures spend time together and come to recognize how much they have in common, and how much they aspire for the same things.
The Programs. The current menu of Peacebuilder Programs is as follows:
- Yaxunah Project – Assist with the construction of needed facilities (e.g., chicken coops) in the small Mayan farming village of Yaxunah, located in Iowa’s Sister State of Yucatan, Mexico;
Contacts: Doug Anthony, dougieman55@gmail.com , (402) 202-5581 (cell and text), and Chuck Montgomery, crmontgomerydsm73@gmail.com , (515) 777-0340 (cell and text)
- International Visitors Program – Host an international visitor for a meal, a day, a week, a few months, or a school year;
Contacts: Kay Herring, ondinonk@gmail.com , (515) 208-8160 (cell and text), and Chuck Montgomery, crmontgomerydsm73@gmail.com , (515) 777-0340 (cell and text)
- Growing Hope Globally – Help sponsor a “Growing Project” that offers assistance to a farming community, in a low income nation, and travel there, or to a similar community, and experience life as it’s lived there (those 40 and younger may have up to 75% of the cost covered);
Contacts: Max Pitt, (641) 442-5468 (cell and text), and Chuck Montgomery, crmontgomerydsm73@gmail.com , (515) 777-0340 (cell and text)
- Companion Congregations – Match your Congregation with another Congregation located in a different nation or culture, and participate in joint activities via Zoom, and eventually in person;
Contacts: Jeannine Ward, dalejeannineward@gmail.com , (515) 988-9029 (cell and text), and Chuck Montgomery, crmontgomerydsm73@gmail.com , (515) 777-0340 (cell and text)
- Sister Cities/ Sister States – Join one of Iowa’s many Sister City or Sister State organizations that foster ongoing relations with a City or State elsewhere on the globe (e.g., Iowa’s Sister State of Kosovo).
Contact: Chuck Montgomery, crmontgomerydsm73@gmail.com , (515) 777-0340 (cell and text)
International travel may be available in connection with your chosen Program, and Peacebuilders has funds to help pay for some of the costs.
Background: Iowa has an amazing history of Peacebuilding that is grounded in person-to-person contact between citizens of different nations. Iowa PBS debuted a documentary on this entitled “Citizen Diplomacy” in November 2023, featuring some of the highlights of this history: (i) the Roswell Garst (Iowa farmer)-Nikita Khrushchev (USSR leader) relationship in the late 1950s at the height of the Cold War; (ii) the Xi Jinping (China’s leader)-Muscatine, Iowa, relationship at a difficult time in US-China relations; and (iii) the Iowa Hog Lift to Japan not long after the end of WWII. These highlights of Iowa Peacebuilding history demonstrate the surprising ability of individuals, and small groups of individuals, to impact international understanding and peace. For more details, see the Iowa PBS documentary at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzyJDF3D5dY
Also, use this link to read the “Peace Through Corn” article by Graceland professor Eric Elliott regarding the Garst-Khrushchev relationship.
If you wish to download Eric Elliott’s Master’s Thesis introducing the reader to The Cold War Clash of Harry S. Truman and Henry A. Wallace, click this link.
The story of the “American French Fry Brother” spotlights what a single person can do to advance international understanding by simply being generous and caring while visiting another nation. See the following article for more details: https://www.ibtimes.com/french-fry-brother-jason-loose goes- viral-china-random-act-kindness-photos-701321
Community of Christ Podcasts. Iowans, indeed Midwesterners in general, have a reputation for being particularly good at bridging gaps in international understanding. We believe Community of Christ is also gifted at this form of Peacebuilding. See the linked podcasts hosted by Apostle Robin Linkhart for a discussion of this: https://www.projectzionpodcast.org/podcast/670-grounds-for-peace-citizen- diplomacy and https://www.projectzionpodcast.org/podcast/850-whats-brewing-citizen-diplomacy- peace-builders/ .
Please reach out if you have questions. Chuck Montgomery
515-777-0340 (Cell & Text) crmontgomerydsm73@gmail.com