Tumaini/Huruma Children's Ministry Update June 2024

On my recent trip to Tumaini-Huruma Children’s Ministry in Nyeri, Kenya, I was able to visit with Tumaini-Huruma board members, worship with and visit the staff and children, while also discussing changes that have taken place at their homes since the last visit in July of 2023. Eighty-six children are in the Tumaini-Huruma Children’s Ministry with 59 of these children being reintegrated into the homes of their parents or guardians. Two social workers are making regular visits to the homes of these children, supplying them with needed food and personal items. These social workers, Ms. Falisa and Ms. Njoki, live at the Huruma home and are key to the reintegration program helping make functional homes for these kids to go back to.

John McCall (PCUSA) Update May 2024

I am always amazed in Taiwan to hear the stories of new Christians. Only four to five percent of the population in Taiwan is Christian, so becoming a Christian here is no easy thing.

Most Taiwanese consider themselves Buddhists or Taoists, also worshipping traditional folk gods. These gods are people who did something heroic and then were deified. Traveling throughout Taiwan, you will see many temples full of different images of these folk gods. The most famous god here is Matsu, who was a young girl in southern China. One day, her father and brother were fishing in the sea when they encountered a strong typhoon. Matsu, knowing of their trouble in her dream, held onto them to save them. But her mother called her name and she unintentionally let go of her father, only having saved her brother. She became the goddess of fisherfolk and is now revered throughout Taiwan. She is often called the Holy Mother of Heaven.

Asia, Missionaries, Partnership, ProjectsThe Outreach FoundationMay 22, 2024John McCall, Taiwan

Todd Luke — October 2023 Update

Thank you for your prayers and continued support! In 2023, we built twenty-eight family-owned cisterns — seven in the village of Castilla Brito, eight in Tres Huastecas, twelve in Cristobal Colon, and one cistern in Xpujil. We have now built 667 cisterns that capture, store, and dispense more than 7,000,000 gallons of rainwater per year. That’s over 12,000 gallons per family-owned cistern.

Mission teams from Colorado, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina grabbed buckets, wheelbarrows, and shovels to significantly lighten the load for our local partners.

JOSÉ CARLOS PEZINI – September 2023 UPDATE

Greetings to all of you in the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus. We would like to express our sincere gratitude for participating in ministry in Brazil. We appreciate your financial support and your prayers. Just like the apostle Paul's experience with the Philippians, the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPIB), SARA, and I have also felt the bonding experience with you as our partners in the Kingdom of God: " And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19.

John McCall — May 2023 Update

As I travel around Taiwan, and this year around the United States, I have been observing young people. We live in such an uncertain time with so many problems facing the world that I have been interested in how young people are coping.

We know the sobering statistic of the high rate of anxiety among young people. Global warming, the increasing disparity between those who have and those who have not, geopolitical tensions, and an uncertain economy all feed into this anxiety. The use of social media, instead of helping young people feel more connected, often leads to isolation and self-shaming.

Global Workers, Missionaries, AsiaThe Outreach FoundationJune 6, 2023John McCall, Taiwan

Todd Luke — March 2023 Update

In January and February, our little partnership built seven cisterns for seven young families in the village of Castilla Brito. That’s where our cistern ministry began back in 2002. Not surprisingly, we share a bit of history with our newest cistern owners. Most of them grew up drinking rainwater from cisterns we built with their parents a long time ago. Those kids grew up, got married, had kids, and built their own homes. Like their parents before them, they need a year-round water source to keep their families healthy.

John McCall — March 2023 Update

Alang, of the Bunun tribe of Taiwan’s indigenous people, grew up in a village in the shadow of Mount Jade, the tallest mountain in Northeast Asia. He was the youngest in a large family and when he was in elementary school, his parents drank a lot. He often relied on older siblings for care. Then there was a spiritual revival in their village Presbyterian church, and his parents stopped drinking cold turkey. His father became an elder in that church, and Alang saw a dramatic change in his family.

Asia, Global Workers, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationMarch 9, 2023John McCall, Taiwan

Dan and Elizabeth Turk — September 2022 Update

Elisabeth Razanalivao was beaming when she told us that this past year that 100% of the students from the FJKM primary school at Soatsifa of the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM) passed the national primary school exit exam. This is no small accomplishment because Soatsifa is located in the far south of Madagascar which has been experiencing famine-like conditions over the past several years with high rates of acute malnutrition, especially in children. Mrs. Razanalivao and her husband, Marc Ranarianirina, who is the principal of the school, came to Soatsifa 28 years ago as missionaries of the FJKM to start a school to help children get a good education.

Bob and Kristi Rice — August 2022 Update

Young men and women leaned in thoughtfully as I described how Ida B. Wells risked her life to investigate and publish the truth about the lynchings that were happening across the U.S. in the late 1800s and early 1900s. “The environment in South Sudan is a lot like that,” one young man said, “you cannot speak the truth about the injustice that is happening. You will be silenced.” The youth were impressed by how Ida Wells endured opposition, threats, and discrimination to write and speak tirelessly about the brutal culture of lynching and how it opposed God’s standard of justice. While many churches at that time feared speaking out even if they opposed lynching, Ida Wells carried on.

Nyadak, one of the youth leaders, led us in a Bible study about God’s view of justice.

Africa, Global Workers, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationSeptember 6, 2022Bob and Kristi Rice, South Sudan

Prayer Request for Kenyan Elections

We just received this prayer request from Lauren Scharstein, Deputy Director of Mission for the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) in Kenya:

Dear friends of PCEA,

Receive Christian greetings. We ask that you join with us in prayers for peace and security, as Kenyans go to the polls to elect a new president on Tuesday, August 9, 2022.

Africa, Global Workers, Missionaries, Partnership, ProjectsThe Outreach FoundationAugust 7, 2022Kenya, PCEA, Lauren Scharstein

Don and Martha Wehmeyer — July 2022 Update

Dear friends,

It is good to write to Outreach Foundation supporters. Martha and I have been blessed by your ministry for over 30 years!

Hopefully, we are near the end of the COVID pandemic. The whole country of Mexico is most anxious that it be so. The burden it has placed on the church and society has been enormous.

Todd Luke — July 2022 Update

Thank you for the prayers, gifts, and hands-on participation that have made 2022 a very good year.

Cisterns Built in 2022
March
Four cisterns in the Village of Felipe Angeles. It was our first time building there. We worked side by side with fantastic families who love the Lord and will not hesitate to break a sweat and get their hands dirty.

May
Four cisterns in the town of Xpujil for four families who live beyond the reach of the town’s water works system that only distributes water about once a week (if that).

Girls' Education and Rescue Centers – Mother Esther School – July 2022 Update

It has been a heartbreaking season in the life of the world, but we worship the God who has journeyed through the depth of pain and heartbreak for us. Each year at Easter, we celebrate the promise that through Jesus Christ, God brings hope out of despair, abundance out of scarcity, and new life out of death. At Mother Esther School, we have certainly witnessed new life emerge from situations of despair, and we have experienced joy — fierce and defiant — in the face of hopelessness.

José Carlos Pezini - July 2022 Update

May the blessing of God the Almighty Father be upon each one of you. I praise God for the wonderful ways He has used each of you as instruments in His hands for the expansion of His Kingdom.

This year, despite the effects of the pandemic, God has been faithful to us, and everything seems to be returning to normal. Of course, we also realize that a great number of pastors still fear being exposed to the virus.

SARA ministry retreats are once more taking place. From April to June, we had 12 mentoring retreats with an average of 13 pastors per retreat for a total of 156 pastors.

Bob and Kristi Rice - June 2022 Update

The greatest joy for me serving in South Sudan these five years has been my students. I am always amazed by their curiosity, thoughtfulness, intelligence, good humor, hard work, and care for me as their teacher and brother in Christ. This semester has been no different. In Philosophy of Religion, we have tackled questions such as “Why is philosophy important?” “What is God’s central attribute according to many theists (believers in God)?” “What analogies help us better understand the Trinity?” “How can Jesus be both fully divine and fully human?” “What is the major weakness of Calvinism?”

John McCall - May 2022 Update

Often pastors call to invite me to preach and speak in their churches or in other youth or leadership events with the words, “please come and encourage us.” In these uncertain days, we all need words of encouragement. But as I return home after visiting these churches, I often find that I have been the one who has been encouraged by the way I see God at work in churches around Taiwan.

Global Workers, Asia, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationMay 9, 2022John McCall, Taiwan

Bob and Kristi Rice - May 2022 Update

The South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SSPEC) recently collaborated with the Episcopal Church of South Sudan (ECSS) and Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) to host a national Training of Facilitators and Training of Trainers in South Sudan. As a result of the collaboration, fifteen new facilitators were trained, and seven new facilitators were certified for the Healing Hearts Transforming Nations (HHTN) workshop. It was the first time that the training of new facilitators for this workshop was held in South Sudan.

José Carlos Pezini - May 2022 Update

May the grace and blessing of the good and mighty God be upon each one of you. I am thankful always for your faithfulness, generosity, and love towards us and our ministry.

Our lives have almost returned to normal from the pandemic. April was one of our busiest months. Mentoring retreats, church revitalization talks, and lay leadership training have resumed. This brings us great joy because we can be with the pastors again and help them in their ministerial journeys.

Partner Updates