Read letters from Barbara and Larry Moir
October 12, 2011
September 15, 2011
November 28, 2010
October 5, 2010
September 29, 2010
April 2010
December 1, 2009
October 1, 2009 September 18, 2009 August 2009
For older letters, contact Mission Connections
Rev. Larry and Barbara Moir
Larry ad Barbara Moir ended their term of service with the PC(USA) in 2012.
About Larry and Barbara Moir's ministry
Appointed in July, 2009, the Moirs teach English at the Bethel Evangelical Secondary School (BESS), an institution of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY). One of Ethiopia’s most highly regarded schools, BESS is located in the Didessa Valley, the “bread basket” of Ethiopia, about 200 miles west of Addis Ababa.
BESS teaches students from grades 9 through 12. About half of the students live on campus, so BESS forms its own community on the outskirts of the town of Dembi Dollo. BESS runs a small farm both to train students in modern agriculture and to help feed the students who board there.
The EECMY is a long-standing partner church of the PC(USA). In 2009 it celebrated its 50th anniversary as an independent church. In those 50 years, the EECMY has grown from 25,000 members to more than 5 million, with congregations across the country of Ethiopia.
Download a prayer card that lifts up the work of Barbara and Larry Moir in Ethiopia.
About Barbara and Larry Moir
In describing how her sense of call came to her, Barbara writes, “I have a long-standing interest in church mission. This interest has grown and intensified since our visits to South Africa. My interest was first sparked in the early 1990s when our congregation in West Virginia hosted David Jenkins of the Presbyterian Medical Benevolence Foundation. My husband and I were both so moved that, almost simultaneously, we said, ‘I want to serve in Africa as a missionary.’ This sense of call has intensified as we became acquainted with Dr. and Mrs. Fred Stone, former medical mission co-workers in Malawi.”
“We are both teachers by calling, inclination, education and experience,” says Larry. “Key to our present sense of call as teachers is our passion to use our experience in areas beyond the classroom and curriculum development. In a real way, we have ‘been there, done that.’ Now we seek another outlet for this call.”
Barbara taught fifth grade at Linville Hill Mennonite School in Paradise, Pennsylvania, for eight years before her appointment as a mission co-worker. She had previously worked as a substitute teacher at General Brown Central School in Dexter, New York (five years), and in Marion County in Fairmont, West Virginia (five years). She began her teaching career as a fifth and sixth grade teacher at Stillwater Central School, Stillwater, New York, where she served for nine years.
From 2001 to 2009 Larry served as solo pastor of the Cedar Grove Presbyterian Church in East Earl, Pennsylvania. During that time he was a member of Donegal Presbytery’s Umtata South Africa Partnership Task Force and chaired the “Mission Beyond the Presbytery” division of Donegal Presbytery.
In East Earl Larry was a board member of the New Holland Recreation Center. Larry has also served as the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Watertown, New York (five years), First Presbyterian Church of Fairmont, West Virginia (five years), and Stillwater United Church of Stillwater, New York (14 years), where he also served as board member, treasurer and president of the Mechanicsville Area Community Services Center.
Barbara holds a master’s degree in education from New York State University College, Brockport, New York. Larry holds an associate degree in history from Niagara County Community College, Niagara Falls, New York. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history and secondary education from New York State University College, Brockport, New York. He was awarded his Master of Divinity, with majors in theology and the Bible, by Colgate Rochester Divinity School, Rochester, New York.
Barbara is ordained in the PC(USA) to the office of elder. She is a member of Cedar Grove Presbyterian Church, East Earl, Pennsylvania. Larry was ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament in 1977 and is a minister member of Donegal Presbytery. The Moirs have four grown children.
Birthdays:
Barbara - November 27
Larry - November 20
