Dustin and Sherri Ellington - October 2017 Update

Dear friends,

A church that supports our ministry recently sent us interview questions focused on prayer and God’s presence. I (Dustin) responded and thought I’d share the results with you. The questions are based on a book by Walter Brueggemann called Praying the Psalms. He says that Christians pray for all kinds of people in all kinds of situations, and he mentions three ways of knowing how to pray for others. One way is to attend to what’s happening in our own lives and surroundings, since we share a “common lot” with all people.

As you read my answers, Sherri and I would also invite you to consider: How might you answer the questions below for your own life, and for the unique place where God has placed you?

Dan and Elizabeth Turk - October 2017 Update

Dear friends,

We are in the U.S. now for a few months, where our two children are in college. Robert is a senior and Frances a freshman. We visited Frances’ campus as a family. She got the feel for where her classes will be, and now we know where she will be living for the next four years. We also enjoyed hearing about Robert’s plans for life after college, most likely graduate studies in counseling and art therapy.

In the next two months, we will be visiting as many churches as we can fit in, from Florida to New York to Iowa. Unfortunately, we won’t see all of you during our interpretation. So, here is a brief description of some of the exciting ways God is working in Madagascar to give you a flavor of the growth which we are blessed to be able to participate in with our partner church, the Fiangonan’i Jesoa Kristy eto Madagasikara (FJKM).

Africa, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationOctober 4, 2017Dan and Elizabeth Turk, Madagascar

Michael and Rachel Weller - September 2017 Update

Dear friends,

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve written. Truth: We’ve been arguing about who is going to write this one. Since February, Michael has been officially “only a teacher.” I think that means he has time to write a newsletter. He doesn’t think he has anything to say! So, we argue (silently) instead of write.

We’ve been mostly together since February, a significant life-change for us. A good change. Michael spent the winter and spring months (northern hemisphere – we don’t have those seasons here) “just teaching” at the two EECMY Bible Schools in Gambella. He learned a lot in those months. Neither school is functioning at top quality. Most of the students are not prepared to be studying at the level in which they are studying. He was teaching in English; many of the students cannot understand simple English. He learned that he speaks “difficult English.” He also learned that people do a lot of comparing of the two of us – especially in our ability to communicate. He hasn’t been living in Gambella as much as I have and so hears a lot less Nuer than I do and speaks it less than I do. Africans have no taboo against saying, “She is much better than you are.” Being “just a teacher” has proven to be more difficult than he imagined.

Africa, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationSeptember 27, 2017Michael and Rachel Weller, Ethiopia

Church Construction in Kenya - September 2017 Update

Dear friends,

This is a story about a congregation in Kenya and how brothers and sisters there are reaching out to the community. In 2013, we partnered with Kinamba Church to help build their place of worship. The building was dedicated on November 10, 2013.

At the dedication ceremony, I challenged the congregation to start a school in their old church – and they did. By the end of 2014, they had forty children in their school, Green View Academy. In late 2016, they came to Outreach to see if we could partner with them to build two classrooms as their student population was getting close to 100. We helped build two classrooms in late 2016 and two more in August 2017.

Green View Academy is expecting approximately 200 kids in January 2018, and they are well on their way to providing classes for kindergarten through eighth grade. Besides providing a quality Christian education, they also feed these children. For many it may be the only meal they get all day. The church has also started feeding children on Sunday – they provide meals for about 200 children every Sunday.

Africa, Projects, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationSeptember 12, 2017Church Construction in Kenya, Kenya, Stu Ross

Jeff and Christi Boyd - September 2017 Update

Dear friends,

Aisifuye mvua imemnyea.
One who praises rain has been rained upon.

In much of Africa, where a large portion of the population depends on agriculture for survival, rain is strongly felt as a blessing. Therefore, the Swahili proverb above means that those who count their blessings are able to do so because they have experienced blessings.

We have been rained upon. We are blessed, and this letter is meant to express our thanks to all who in various ways engage in God’s mission with us.

Every three or four years, we leave our area of service to spend half a year visiting congregations in the U.S. to give witness to how God has been at work through the global church. That is what we have been doing for the last couple of months, and we will continue to do so until November. While in the U.S., we are sharing about the work of the Church in Africa. We share about how ministries with vulnerable children help them heal from the trauma of armed conflict. We tell of families finding one another again after abandonment. We describe how education reaches about 220,000 children each year through the nearly 1,000 Presbyterian schools in the Congo. And we explain the instability congregations in the Greater Kasai region encounter because of intensive militia activity in their area.

Africa, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationSeptember 8, 2017Jeff and Christi Boyd, Democratic Republic of Congo

Frank Dimmock - August 2017 Update

Dear friends,

It is a joy to write you in my new role as an Outreach Foundation mission staff member. As you might know, Outreach’s part in Kingdom work has involved ministry with vulnerable children and families. After decades of Public Health work in Africa with HIV, AIDS, and Ebola affected groups, I have developed a passion for trauma healing. With the assistance of The Outreach Foundation, I have been trained as a Children’s Trauma Healing Master Facilitator and will now help prepare African partners to work with traumatized children. As part of an Outreach team, I recently visited with South Sudanese refugees from four camps in western Ethiopia. The number of refugees was astounding; their stories were shocking. They had ongoing traumatic stress. Many of the refugees were members of the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan. The UN reported recently that more than 10,000 unaccompanied minors were among the 380,000 South Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers in the camps in western Ethiopia. Thousands more are fleeing to neighboring countries each month from an ongoing civil war and famine. Based on the current trajectory of displacement, conflict and man-made famine, roughly half of South Sudan’s population will be at risk of starvation or will have fled the country by the end of 2017 – that is more than three million human beings severely traumatized!

Africa, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationAugust 9, 2017Frank Dimmock

Bob and Kristi Rice - August 2017 Update

Dear friends,

I exchanged friendly greetings in Arabic with Ms. Niemat, who sells bread and vegetables in one of our favorite little shops in Juba. I then looked at her wares as she asked in Arabic, “what are you looking for?” The only word I recognized was “what,” but I understood, and attempted the word for bread. She corrected my pronunciation, and then asked how many I wanted. “Four,” I responded. “No,” she corrected in Arabic, “you say, ‘I want four pieces of bread.’” I knew all the words, but I just hadn’t been quick or confident enough to put it all together without her prompting. So, I dutifully repeated the phrase and knew that it would come easier next time.

Here we are again, folks. Back to feeling like little children as we learn to hear and form the sounds of a new language and probably sound rather like children as we slowly put together a phrase and get corrected for our pronunciation. As we put ourselves in this humble position of learning the basics of a new language, we are grateful for the great patience and encouragement that many people are giving to us – much needed on the long road of learning a language.

Africa, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationAugust 8, 2017Bob and Kristi Rice, South Sudan

Bill and Bette Bryant Crisis Nursery - August 2017 Update

An Outreach Legacy Story
In Lusaka, Zambia an abandoned three-week-old baby boy was brought to the House of Moses where the caregivers named him Jacob and called him Jake. He spent his first two years living and thriving in this amazing rescue home. Although the social workers worked tirelessly to try and find relatives to care for him, they were not successful.

When Jake turned two, he transitioned to the Bill and Bette Bryant Crisis Nursery where he continued to develop as a healthy toddler. He enjoyed the Learning Center of Joy and interacting with the other children. Last September, Jake was cleared by government authorities and placed into the Foster-to-Adopt program where, after a thorough matching process, he was placed with the Libuku family. The threesome began the bonding process. Jake has settled easily into his new family and is curious about everything in his new world. Best of all, he knows he has a mommy and daddy of his very own.

Church Construction in Kenya - July 2017 Update

Dear friends,

Stu Ross, The Outreach Foundation’s mission staff in Kenya, has been busy this summer with visiting volunteer church teams and church dedications. In this update, Stu shares stories about three of the PCEA churches in Kenya that were recently completed and dedicated – Nagum, Olosirkon, and Suswa.

Stu writes about the dedication of Nagum Church: “This beautiful church was dedicated today, July 16. One of the remarkable things about this church is that it is in a very remote location with no water, no stores, and no roads. But people are there, and the church was crowded. The people were so happy with their new church.

The group from First Presbyterian Church in Thomasville, GA that built Nagum Church did a great job, traveling almost three hours each way to the site. This is the sixth church we have built in this growing area. The people there are asking for another church even further afield. The hospitality from this church was unbelievable; they were very welcoming.”

Dan and Elizabeth Turk - July 2017 Update

Dear friends,

The year is only half over, but 2017 has probably held more monumental change for us than any year thus far. As you may know, Dan’s father passed away in March. This June, we celebrated a wonderful milestone – Frances’ high school graduation. It was even more special having our son, Robert, and Elizabeth’s father, Bill Warlick, in Madagascar with us to celebrate the moment. Robert enjoyed being back. It was great to be together again as a family in Madagascar. We are currently in the United States to get Frances settled into college. She will be near Orlando. We will be based out of Mission Haven in Decatur, GA through October as we visit churches and speak.

Ministry with PC(USA)’s partner church in Madagascar, the FJKM (the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar), continues with exciting results. Here are a few highlights of new collaborations and results from older partnerships. We hope these examples will encourage you as they have encouraged us.

Fruits Changing Lives
What difference do a few trees make? In 2010, the FJKM Development Department helped over 70 households at Antanetibe Ankazobe plant tangerine trees – about 20 trees per family on average.

Africa, Missionaries, ProjectsThe Outreach FoundationJuly 24, 2017Dan and Elizabeth Turk, Madagascar

Presbyterian Street Children's Ministry in Kigali, Rwanda - July 2017 Update

The “Centre Presbytérien d’Amour des Jeunes” (CPAJ) is a faith based non-profit organization working under the authority of the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda. CPAJ is responsible for the rehabilitation, re-education and reintegration of street children into their families. This requires effective training and an appropriate plan for the children and their families. This is one of the reasons it was important to have a building where the CPAJ children could gather with their parents and CPAJ staff. Due to our good partnership with The Outreach Foundation, we received funding that helped us build such a facility, the multipurpose hall. This hall is being used to accomplish this goal as well as for many other needs of the children and the community in general.

The main objective of the new multipurpose hall is to improve our rehabilitation capacity by promoting recreational and educational activities for the children and providing knowledge to the parents through conferences and other educational tools.

Holistic Evangelism in Tete Province - June 2017 Trip Report

Dear friends and supporters of Tete Province,

This was the eleventh time I traveled to Tete Province, and it may very well be the most memorable! The nine person team, sponsored by The Outreach Foundation, included my wife Elizabeth and fellow Trustee Tom McDow. We arrived at the Tete Province border on Thursday, June 8 with Rev. Nedson Zulu and Sebber Banda and project assistant Rev. Carlos Faquionne. Over the next four busy days, we visited with pastors and church leaders at wells, churches, and schools and witnessed a drama performance on preventing malaria and cholera. These events alone would have made a very successful mission trip. But we also experienced the dedication of the long- awaited Leadership Training Center (LTC).

We arrived at the LTC in the village of Tchessa, near Zobue, on Saturday afternoon and helped Nedson, Sebber, and Carlos attend to some last minute details for the dedication and worship on Sunday. Choirs from all over Tete Province started arriving about 5 p.m. on Saturday. They had come early to sing and praise God for the dedication of the LTC.

AfricaGuest UserJuly 12, 2017Holistic Evangelism in Tete Province

Dustin and Sherri Ellington - July 2017 Update

Dear friends,

One of the parts of my work which I (Dustin) feel most strongly about is mentoring master’s students and fourth-year bachelor’s students as they carry out research and writing projects. The young African church has many serious matters to think through, and all of my students are sorting through challenges facing their churches as they do their academic work. Let me share a little about my current research students and the significance of their areas of focus.

Rev. Bannet Muwowo is a Zambian Presbyterian pastor writing a master’s thesis that seeks to describe what the process of mature biblical interpretation should be like and what it should accomplish in Zambia today. Rev. Muwowo believes people’s poverty tends to take control of what they are able to see in the Bible; poverty drives interpretation.

Bob and Kristi Rice - June 2017 Update

Surrender
“Father…not my will, but yours, be done.”
Luke 22: 42

On the morning of Wednesday, June 14, 2017, Kristi went for a bird watching jaunt with the Nature Kenya group. I stayed at the guesthouse and took some time to rest and do some therapeutic, meditative coloring. While I was tempted to color in the page with the theme of “Healing,” I was drawn in my spirit to color in the dramatic “S” for “Surrender.”

Surrender feels like the greater, all-encompassing theme of our lives, while of course we are earnestly seeking and praying for healing. We came to Nairobi three weeks ago from Juba regarding a couple of health issues which were badgering me. First was a fish bone I swallowed in Kinshasa which left my throat perpetually disturbed. Second was an inexplicable tiredness and lethargy that still won’t let me go. Over the last three weeks we have been to see the doctor four times and had two multitudinous rounds of tests performed.

Africa, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationJune 27, 2017Bob and Kristi Rice, South Sudan

Celebrating the Life of The Very Rev. Bernard Muindi, Great Partner and Friend of The Outreach Foundation

We're saddened to announce the recent death of the Rt. Rev. Bernard Muindi, former moderator of the Presbyterian Church in East Africa, former pastor of the Riamukurwe Parish at Nyeri, and visionary advocate for the needs of vulnerable children at Nyeri and beyond. His daughter, Anne, shared with us that the scriptures he selected for his funeral service are Joshua 1:1-9 and 2 Timothy 4:1-8. He has indeed fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith. Please hold his widow, Eunice, in your prayers, along with all his family and the parish and denomination that he served. The following letter was sent to the Presbyterian Church of East Africa from Executive Director Rob Weingartner:

AfricaThe Outreach FoundationJune 13, 2017Tumaini Children's Ministries

Rebuilding Hope in South Sudan - April 2017 Update

South Sudan has been in crisis since December 2013 because of a civil war which has devastated the land, killed tens of thousands of people, and driven millions into Internally Displaced Person camps inside the country or into refugee camps outside the country. The Outreach Foundation has re-framed our mission with the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan (PCOSS) to rebuild hope among the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have fled to camps in Ethiopia.

One of those refugees is John Jock Gatwech. I met him in 2013 when he was a teacher at the leading school of the PCOSS, Good Shepherd School in Malakal. John also worked in the Department of Education of the PCOSS. In addition to being trained as an educator, he has also studied theology.

The next time I met John Jock was in Gambella, Ethiopia in 2015. He had fled for his life when the civil war reached Malakal, headquarters of the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan. Living in Gambella with an uncle, John had no income and had lost most of his belongings. But John wanted to make a difference through his calling as a teacher.

After we met John Jock on our initial visit to the refugee camps, he sent us a proposal to establish preschools in three of the parishes of the PCOSS that had been established in the camps. The target group would be almost 400 children. Additionally, adult literacy classes would be started. All the classes would be taught by volunteer teachers.

Bob and Kristi Rice - April 2017 Update

Just after Thanksgiving last year we got a text message from our leadership at Presbyterian World Mission: “Don’t buy your tickets back to Congo yet. We need to talk.” In the ensuing conversations with our leadership we learned that our church partner, the Congolese Presbyterian Community (CPC), had asked us and another mission co-worker not to return to Congo because of instability in the country and conflict within their denomination. There were discussions between Presbyterian World Mission and CPC through December and January to see if the door might still be open for us to return as planned. In February, it was concluded that the door has indeed closed, and we would not be able to return. If you receive the e-mail version of our newsletter you should already know this news, but we wanted to say it again for those who get only the print version.

God has given us peace and hope in the midst of uncertainty during these months of transition. Plenty of other emotions have also hit us. We grieve having to give up our Congo home and leaving friends we had grown to love. On the other hand, we also felt relief when the decision finally became clear. We are grateful for the prayers and words of encouragement and comfort received from so many of you who have heard this news. We worry and grieve for our friends in Congo living in the challenging reality of conflict.

Africa, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationApril 25, 2017Bob and Kristi Rice, South Sudan

Tumaini Children's Ministry - April 2017 Update

A message from Rev. Nicholas Miriti, new parish pastor

Dear Tumaini ministry partners and friends,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. “Bwana Yesu Asifiwe” which means Praise the Lord! I am humbled as I write this inaugural message as your new pastor. As I introduce myself, I would like to first thank the Almighty for his provision of life and for giving me a flock to shepherd here in Kenya and abroad.

Nehemiah 2:18 says, “…Let us arise and build.” During this time of Lent, it is worthy to remind ourselves of the noble work of building that is being continued through the death of Christ on the cross. Building means either starting a new structure or repairing an existing one. Christ came in order for us to be established and built up as Christians.

As Christ sacrificed his own life in order for us to be united with God, we also need to sacrifice in order to help our brothers and sisters who are less fortunate. Through our partnership with the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, Riamukurwe parish, and The Outreach Foundation, Tumaini and Huruma schools care for hundreds of vulnerable children.

Africa, Projects, Vulnerable ChildrenThe Outreach FoundationApril 6, 2017Tumaini Children's Ministries, Kenya, Nyeri

Partner Updates