We are often asked, “What is life like in the Congo?” Maybe the following story, which is played out over and over again throughout the Congo, will give you a bit of a glimpse into what life is like for many of our Congolese neighbors.
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Dear Friends,
At this season of Advent and Christmas, Odete and I feel like Mary, the mother of Jesus, who “magnified the Lord” for the “great things he has done” (Luke 1:46, 49). Indeed, God has done amazing things in our lives and through our ministry among pastors and leaders here in Brazil.
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Dear Friends,
Our monthly church visits to the farming community are a wonderful time of fellowship. It is a witness to the congregation that our faith is important to each of us and that the people of the community are important to us, too. In this picture you see us gathered around a church member’s table. After our worship service, we stop at her house for regional food and a great time of sharing and laughing. The young people often bring their boyfriends, so it helps the local folks realize that men are welcome in the church, too. A young couple joins us when we go, showing that families and young people are a strong part of the church.
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Dear Friends and Family,
Almost thirteen years ago, just after our arrival in Russia, I made a trip with Donald Marsden and other colleagues to the city of Surgut in western Siberia. It was March, the beginning of the end of their long winter but still cold and lots of snow on the ground. There are more than one hundred small, native people groups in Russia. Donald had seen the early efforts of missionaries in this region to reach the Khanti people and invited Harold Kurtz to share good missiology as a guide to their efforts.
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Dear Friends,
I left the seminary where I live high above the city of Taipei and waited for a bus to take me to the subway station. I was leaving for two days of preaching in an aboriginal presbytery. I took a train to a city in the center of the island where an aboriginal friend/pastor/artist and his wife and son picked me up. I got to know this couple twelve years ago. When I met Pastor Lai and his wife, he told me a dream he had had a few months before.
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Dear Friends,
George, one of seven students from Malawi currently at Justo Mwale Theological University College, is finishing his studies this year. He has written his 50+ page senior thesis, and I (Sherri) have had the privilege of editing the English for him. I finished working through it last night, then opened up the Bible this morning and was struck by the similarity between what Matthew and Jesus describe in Matthew 9:36-38 and the situation George describes in Malawi.
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Dear Xpujil Mission Friends,
Prayer. We know how important it is, but we sometimes let it slide. To hand over our thoughts, concerns, and plans to God through prayer is an act of humility and power. I invite you to take a moment to read this letter as a prayer. May it unify us before our Lord and lead to many blessings.
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Madagascar has been in crisis since a coup d’état in March 2009. A foreign diplomat recently noted that there is no rule of law in Madagascar. Crime is way up in both urban and rural areas. Recent assessments found that over 90% of the people are living below the poverty line. To make matters worse, locusts have been destroying crops in many parts of the country, and bubonic plague is on the rise.
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Boyd Jeff and Christi 2013 handoutJeff and Christi Boyd were commissioned as PC(USA) mission co-workers in 1990 and have since served in Tanzania, Zaire/Democratic Republic of Congo, and Cameroon
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Dear Friends,
With a wavering voice and shaking hands, Kapinga haltingly asked me for the money to pay her secondary school tuition and fees. She was due to begin 11th grade, but her family had experienced a difficult year and there were no funds to pay for her schooling. While the story of hardship leading to lack of money for school fees is a familiar one, Kapinga’s situation was unusual.
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Friends,
Micah 6:8 is a verse I have been thinking about a lot over the past several years.
What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
There are a lot of things to say with that verse as a theme, but I won’t bore (or amuse) you with my amateur theology. This verse, however, has been a guide to much of what I have chosen to do. This week I was faced with a situation. It has not disappeared, of course. I am still in a dilemma
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Dear Friends,
We arrived at the Taipei International Airport after a direct thirteen-hour flight from Paris. From the plane we could see the barren deserts of Iran and Afghanistan. We flew over Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and then across Western China.
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Dear Friends,
We are indebted to you who have graciously supported Outreach’s mission to China. I would like to highlight the following programs, projects, and partnerships that we have had the privilege of carrying out over the last few months to connect U.S. Presbyterians and others with our brothers and sisters in China.
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Dear Friends,
The month of April was filled with the challenge of balancing the demands of ministry with our personal life as my wife and I sandwiched a move to a new apartment in-between pastoral retreats in different cities. But God was good, and I am excited share with you the impact of these retreats.
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Dear Friends,
Greetings from Xpujil. Thanks to all of our partners on both sides of the border, cisterns continue to be built in the name of Jesus Christ, families are solving their own clean water problems, and neighbors are coming together to help one another. At the same time, Presbyterian farm families are testing new technologies in their own fields.
Dear Friends,
Holy Week celebration at the Sacramenta congregation was wonderful. The adults participated in special services. The children helped make a bulletin board with the important events of Holy Week, created a variety of artwork, and sang at the Easter worship service. After the worship service, we celebrated the fifth anniversary of the congregation with cake and soft drinks.
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Dear Friends,
Almost everyone has either broken a bone or knows someone who has experienced a broken bone. There are also certain particularly unfortunate individuals (Evel Knievel comes to mind) who have broken many bones, many times. Motorcycles have become a primary form of transportation in the Congo. One thing that is not much different between the U.S. and DR Congo is that if you crash a motorcycle you will likely get some broken bones! Improperly treated fractures can lead to serious handicaps which may impair a person’s ability to earn a living. In the United States expert medical care is readily available, and even serious fractures can be properly and promptly treated. As you might imagine, things are slightly different in the DR Congo.
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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Martha and I are grateful for your support and honored to be your ambassadors here on the Texas-Mexican border and in the Yucatan. This Easter we were reminded of how short our lives are. Reverend David Legters, one of the key founders of the San Pablo Seminary where I am a professor, died recently and has left a great vacancy in our lives and in the school. Please keep Jean, his widow, in your prayers. We pray too for the Sureste Seminary in Villahermosa, Tabasco that is going through difficult times. Life in Mexico is always a challenge, but the church the Lord has raised up continues to witness to his love and to change the lives of lost sinners into shining lights of clarity and purpose. For this we give thanks to our Lord.
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