Blog

Mennonite Voluntary Service
Each year, the San Francisco MVS unit is invited to gather together and craft comforters for themselves. Karen Kreider Yoder, a member of the unit's host congregation, First Mennonite Church of San Francisco, hosts the group at her home for this annual tradition. At the end, each participant takes home their own cozy comforter to use during their service term and beyond! Left to right: Keyan Krabill, Bella Kephart, Emmi Scott and Ana Neufeld Weaver. Photo by Karen Kreider Yoder.
International ministry
The segundo basico students pose for a photo in the avocado grove on the Q’eqchi’ Bezaleel Mennonite Educational Center campus.
Receiving and giving the gift of language
By Stephany Rudeen
Guatemala
Alumni Reflection
​Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks to a crowd before a march in Chicago. Photo by Neill von Gunten.
Stories from 2025
During a South Africa Just Peace Pilgrimage, the group met every day for reflections and Bible studies. Photo provided.
Favorite stories of service from 2025
By Zachary Headings
South Africa
Each year, the San Francisco MVS unit is invited to gather together and craft comforters for themselves. Karen Kreider Yoder, a member of the unit's host congregation, First Mennonite Church of San Francisco, hosts the group at her home for this annual tradition. At the end of the day, each participant takes home their own cozy comforter to use during their service term and beyond! Left to right: Ana Neufeld Weaver, Keyan Krabill, Emmi Scott and Bella Kephart. Photo by Karen Kreider Yoder.
MVS and Service Adventure
The 2025-26 Anchorage, Alaska, Service Adventure unit . Left to right: Ian Unzicker, Ruben Veigel, Adriana Duerksen and Mir Knego (unit leader). Photo by Michael Oyer.
Peacebuilding
Peacebuilders has been leading workshops on peacebuilding tools in different parts of the country. As we continued this work, we began to sense a deeper need: to reflect more intentionally on what Scripture teaches us about peace. In response, we launched a new course that is currently running virtually, with some in-person sessions as well. Our goal is to help Anabaptist congregations—and others interested in the work of peace—build a biblical theology of peace. Throughout the course, we are using various academic texts alongside Scripture-based reflections.
50 years of MVS
First Mennonite Church of San Francisco
Solidarity Pilgrimage
The pilgrimage included a tour of Monument Valley, on the ancestral land of the Navajo Nation. Monument Valley is considered sacred by the Navajo people. Despite this, it was mined for uranium in the 1940s-60s, leaving behind nuclear waste, abandoned mines, and numerous health hazards for the local Indigenous population. Photo by Myrna Krehbiel.
Christ at the Borders
Mya Cook looks up at a cross placed on the border wall. Photo by Jonathan Wenger.
Mennonite Voluntary Service
Photo by Ali Zolghadr on Unsplash
Mangos remind us to welcome a stranger
By Emily Keefer
Alamosa
The Cobb family at Drift Creek Camp in matching SOOP shirts. Top row (left to right): Sydney, Ivan, Garrison, Emma. Bottom row (left to right): Alyssa (Ivan's wife), Jen, Adam. Photo provided.