What caused these two 91����Ƶ alumni to make such a move, leaving behind full-time teaching jobs in Harrisonburg, Virginia?

The couple was inspired both by a love of travel and new places, and a strong familial and spiritual link to the home. Fortress of Hope was founded in 2008 by in Hartville, Ohio. The Yoders connected with Maple Grove and the children’s home through Mitchell’s father, Dale Yoder. Dale knew a few of the members on the board of directors for the home and wanted to become involved.

Soon his church, of Pigeon, Michigan, embraced the nonprofit, and Dale joined the board of directors. That bond between Pigeon River, the church of Mitchell’s youth, and Forteleza de Esperanza is strengthened with the couple’s role as communication directors.

Now nine months after their move, “Papa Mitchell” and “Mama Lauren” have formed a new family. Although most of their job as volunteer communications directors involves administrative work and translation, the couple has enjoyed strong relationships with the children of Forteleza de Esperanza.

“I enjoy giving hugs to the little ones as I walk through the gate and having deeper conversations with the older children and staff,” Lauren said. “These are all things that take a lot of time and effort, and they are by no means quick and easy, and they give me the most joy.”

Help and stability for children in family transitions

Known as Centro Integral para la Niñez y la Adolescencia: Fortaleza de Esperanza (or more popularly CINAFE in the city of Managua), the nonprofit organization provides a home for 20 children. Some are orphans, some are waiting for a relative to adopt them, some are offered shelter after their family can no longer afford to raise them and others are offered impermanent refuge from a temporarily dangerous situation at home.

“We have been trying hard not to call Fortress of Hope an ‘orphanage,’ because the majority of our children have families of some sort,” Mitchell said.

Forteleza de Esperanza’s biggest goal is to be only an interim living situation for children. Parents can often reclaim their children after going through therapy or treatment. However, the children’s home remains a long-term home for some, and as children reach young adulthood with their 18th birthday, Forteleza de Esperanza helps them search for employment, enroll in a university and find a safe place to live.

For both Mitchell and Lauren, volunteering at the home is a way to pass on the love that nurtured them through childhood and young adulthood.

“We both feel like our lives up to this point – our friends and families, our Mennonite upbringing, our 91����Ƶ college experience, our church family at [in Harrisonburg], our teaching jobs in Harrisonburg – are all things that have filled us to the brim with love. Now, we are able to give that love to the kids here,” Lauren said.

Devotions a favorite time of day

Both Yoders graduated from 91����Ƶ with teaching degrees, and after a few years in Harrisonburg City Schools, they traveled to Nicaragua on spring break. Mitchell had first visited the children’s home in 2009 with family and friends to truly understand the work that his father was involved in. It wasn’t until March 2014 that he returned with Lauren.

Once there together, the couple saw that their connection to the board of directors in the U.S. could be useful in a communication role. In order to fill that role well, they took two months of intensive language classes upon arrival. Now, they speak directly with the staff at Forteleza de Esperanza to relay messages, ask and answer questions and provide an avenue for communication on behalf of the U.S. board.

Due to the voluntary nature of their work, both Yoders had to find full-time employment elsewhere. At Nicaragua Christian Academy Nejapa, Mitchell is the head of the English department, and Lauren works as a kindergarten assistant. Despite the difficult balance of a busy schedule, Lauren and Mitchell spend at least two hours a day with the children at Forteleza de Esperanza.

“The hardest part for me is knowing that there are lots of interactions and celebrations that we are not able to be a part of because they happen while we have other commitments or are unavailable,” Lauren said. However, the couple is included in many events the home hosts, whether it be dramas at church, birthday parties or devotions, which they lead twice a week.

“My favorite part of my day is devotions,” Mitchell said. “The staff gathers around with all the children, and everyone has a chance to spend time singing and talking about God. It’s a great picture of children who are loved, safe and learning about Jesus.”

‘God at the center of all we do’

Living as missionaries reflects many of the values reinforced through an 91����Ƶ education. 91����Ƶ taught Mitchell that “the time we spend working should also be spent seeking God and sharing His love” as well as acting as a reminder for Lauren that “this world is bigger than [us].”

Both themes still hold true in their work and their lives. “I think that 91����Ƶ’s education program kept our worldview at the center of our teaching, and has helped us keep God at the center of all we do,” Mitchell said.

While mindful of their past and the community that has brought them into their current home, the couple is still grateful for present support: by Forteleza de Esperanza itself, through the donations of other churches, and their Mission Support Team in Harrisonburg comprised of friends and family, including members of , and Eastside Church.

provides health insurance benefits and has helped to promote the couple’s mission work. VMM also assists the couple through their Partners in Mission program, and a mission coach meets with them about once a month.

Maple Grove Mennonite Church provides administrative support through the board of directors. It leases the building, and is continually working to find ways to own the property that the home sits on as well as open up more green space for a playground. Future programming goals include English classes for the children and staff as well as vocational training for young adults who age out of the program.

Pastor Myron Weaver, a board member of the organization, said that when Mitchell and Lauren approached the board with the idea to move to Managua, “no convincing was necessary.”

“It takes very little to recognize the image of God in Mitch and Lauren,” said Weaver, who has known the Yoder family for more than 30 years. “They model the Kingdom of God in a powerful way.”

The band formed when four friends started playing music under the name The Federation during their time at 91����Ƶ (91����Ƶ). It’s been together in some form or fashion for more than five years, but the last few months have been big for the local band.

The group now includes Seth Crissman, Greg Yoder, his wife Kristina Yoder, Jackson Maust, Mitchell Yoder and his wife Lauren Yoder, Adam Schmid and Mike Yoder. Most of the band mates are 91����Ƶ graduates.

“We’re friends and we play music together,” Crissman said. “It’s sort of in that order.

“[It] just sort of naturally progressed and emerged from friendships,” he continued, adding “On a given night, we’ll get together and play bocce [ball] in someone’s backyard, we’ll get together and cook or we’ll get together and play a show.”

Sacred Space

The Walking Roots Band released its first album this month – a compilation of 11 “reclaimed hymns,” or spiritual songs that “had fallen out of the general circulation of being sung in churches,” Crissman explained.

The new album, “Shelter: A Hymn Reclamation Project,” is a patchwork of centuries-old, lesser-known sacred texts, more identifiable hymns and the band’s own unique touch.

For example, the song, “Come Down, O Love Divine” is based off text written in 1367 and arranged into a song in 1906, while the new album also includes a rendition of “It is Well With My Soul” with lyrics tweaked to reflect the Shenandoah Valley.

Crissman, 27, of Harrisonburg, wrote eight of the album’s songs, which is just the first of three albums the band hopes to produce in the upcoming months.

The next project will consist of folk songs, while other albums will be a collection of “farming songs.”

“A lot of the people in the group have connections to agriculture,” said Greg Yoder, a band member who has worked for a local farmer the past two summers.

“We think that connection to the land is really important; it’s sacred in some ways.”

Finding A Niche

Greg Yoder, 26, of Penn Laird, describes the band’s musical offerings as acoustic Americana that’s not exactly bluegrass, but rather “blue-ish grass.” It’s “folky” music with some rap intertwined, he explains.

“We’re hoping for a new category at the Grammy’s,” he said.

Bands such at The Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons and The Steel Wheels influence the local group.

Group Effort

While the band’s style is hard to pinpoint, it’s also difficult to identify the lead singer or who plays which instrument.

The Walking Roots Band shows likely include six to eight instrument swaps, with all the members adept at some combination of the guitar, mandolin, banjo, harmonica, accordion, Cajon – and the list goes on.

For more information on the band, the new album and upcoming tour dates, visit thewalkingrootsband.com.

Article courtesy Daily News Record, July 20, 2013

Their first album “” was released in June 2013.

“There are many really meaningful texts in old hymns,” said Seth Crissman, a 2009 91����Ƶ graduate, who is also a current student at . They have deep profound spiritual truths that are sometimes inaccessible because of the music.”

Greg Yoder, a 2009 graduate of Goshen College added, “Seth found these great hymn texts that he wanted to use at , where many people who come to worship didn’t grow up singing hymns.”

Eastside Church is a recent church plant in Harrisonburg where Crissman serves as a music pastor.

“Music is incredibly formative,” Crissman said. “We are being shaped in our theology and our understanding of who we are by music.

“In churches where ‘praise music’ is the main music, we generally only sing things written in the last 10 to 15 years, when thoughtful writers have been writing music for churches for 1,500 years. There is rich theology that can be accessed by arranging these hymn texts so that they are appealing to a more modern ear.”

One example is a hymn called “Come Down, O Love Divine.” The text was written in 1367 by Bianco da Siena. Crissman encountered this song in the “Hymnal: A worship book.” The arrangement was written in 1906, but most members of the band had not sung it often despite many of them singing hymns in their congregations.

“It’s a good introduction to the richness of the text,” said Mitchell Yoder, a 2009 91����Ƶ alum.  “For people who have grown up singing traditional church hymns we chose a lot of texts that people tend to not sing.”

Several of the band members started playing worship services at 91����Ƶ in 2007. In 2010, they added band members Greg Yoder and Michael Yoder. In 2012, they became The Walking Roots Band, which they describe as “acoustic Americana, faux-folk, blue-ish-grass, roots music.”

“Even though we are mostly a folk band, faith and church music is definitely where our roots are musically and personally, so it made sense to do this album first,” said Jackson Maust, a 2009 91����Ƶ alum.

They will be touring Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana in early July. The group intends to release a folk album in the fall of 2013.

“We aren’t just a band that plays reclaimed hymns,” said Greg Yoder. “If you come to a concert you’ll hear some of our folk music, some silly songs and some reclaimed hymns. We are Christians in the world, and we’re also complex people and we want our music to reflect that.”

To see The Walking Roots Band tour schedule, order a CD, or hear a sample of “Shelter: A Hymn Reclamation Project” visit their website at . The band will be playing in Harrisonburg on . Tickets are available at the door.