Dear Friends,
Greetings from Madagascar. It is still dry but starting to get much warmer. Frances and I returned in August after a quick trip to the States to get Robert settled into Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA. He is doing well. If you would like his address, please contact us. Dan’s return in September was delayed due to the Air France pilots’ strike. It is good to have him home finally!
Read MoreDear Brothers, Sisters and Friends,
Greetings in the name of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ! I am writing this update with much joy and enthusiasm as I think on the opportunities that I have had to mentor and coach pastors all over Brazil. The demand is great. Every single day I receive phone calls and emails from pastors asking for help. Many of them are facing burnout.
Read More“Exuberant” would be the first word which comes to mind when you meet Rev. Ma’an Bitar. Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Mhardeh (Ma-har´-day), he follows in the footsteps of his father, who was pastor there before him. Located about 20 miles northwest of Hama on a major and strategic road to the nearby mountains, this village of about 23,000 is almost completely Greek Orthodox, except for the 1,200 Presbyterians who call it home. And for the last few months, it has been caught in the cross fire of the sundry wars raging inside Syria.
Read MoreDear Friends,
Orphaned at age 12, Isuku Isuku (nicknamed Socrate) has experienced some tough times in his short life in the far west of Congo. Compared to many other orphaned Congolese children, however, he was fortunate in that a local woman, Mama Micheline Kakene Kikar, agreed to be a foster mother to him and two of his siblings.
Read MoreDear Friends,
I am encouraged by the wonderful impact that The Outreach Foundation has made in the ministry of our global partners in China over the last six months. Our partners working on developing a Sunday School curriculum in the Chinese context are facing some technical difficulties. They are committed to overcoming these problems, and we are ready to support their efforts by continuing to facilitate the training of the curriculum writing team.
Read MoreDear Friends,
In May we celebrated Family Month by having a week of daily Bible studies each evening, led by a different person. Many of the people asked to lead the studies said they didn’t feel that they could do it, but everyone did a wonderful job. It was refreshing to experience different styles of presentation.
Read More…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age…
This familiar closing to the “Great Commission” of Jesus has taken on a deeply personal meeting to the Rev. Mofid Karajili, pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Homs. Arriving as the new pastor for 140 families, following the 37-year tenure of its previous shepherd, the Rev. Samuel Hanna, the war was beginning to make itself felt, intermittently at first, in this large city. Within a few months, the city was besieged, half of the families had fled as their homes and businesses were destroyed, and in May 2012, heavy shelling in the area brought down large sections of the sanctuary roof, knocked out all the utilities and blew apart most of the pews.
Read MoreDear Friends,
Greetings from chilly Madagascar!
Our year of transition progresses well. Robert graduated from the American School of Antananarivo on June 6th. On June 14th, we had a small ceremony with Malagasy friends and colleagues to mark the end of Robert’s childhood in Madagascar. It was wonderful to have those who have been a part of his life since he was 1½ be there to pray for him and send him off.
Read MoreToday was the grand opening of the Ditekemena program, an initiative of the Congolese Presbyterian Church (CPC) to address the challenges faced by families as they care for their children. The program intends to rescue 20 children from the streets of Kananga and place them back into their families of origin or find homes that will welcome them.
Read MoreDear Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the name of the Lord! Martha and I want to thank you for your continuing support and prayers. We try to answer all emails as quickly as possible; the best address to use is dwehmeyer2@gmail.com.
We continue to divide our time between Del Rio, Texas and Merida, Yucatan.
Read MoreDear Friends,
In this update I would like to tell you a little more about a part of my ministry that is growing and expanding beyond anything I could have asked or dreamed of. It is the ministry of mentoring.
Read MoreWhat are the things that might keep you away from church on any given Sunday? Perhaps, you were worn out by a long week of work, or maybe a cold or allergies have you feeling punk. Depending on where you live, weather can easily be a determinate; yet one more snowstorm or torrential rains that make getting out just too much work. And, if we are willing to admit it, there are those Sundays when our favorite preaching pastor is out of the pulpit. I, like many of you, have given myself a “pass” on a Sabbath morning, using many of these excuses. But their shadowy “validity” left me feeling a bit sheepish, as they made a review through my head on a Sunday this January when I and our team from The Outreach Foundation sat in worship in the Presbyterian Church in Damascus.
Read MoreDear Friends,
If sleeping on the ground outdoors in the cold, or with mosquitoes biting in the heat, will help him preach good news to the poor and freedom to the oppressed, our student Mphatso Matemba (pictured here) is willing to do it. On one level, I think any follower of Christ would be. But how often do we actually do so – put ourselves in places where we must make physical sacrifices on behalf of others?
Read MoreDear Friends,
Cistern building season has arrived. During the next two weeks, our Presbyterian partners, both American and Mexican, will work with six families in the village of Polo Norte to build six cisterns. God willing, by July, we hope to have built twenty cisterns. Most of the families with whom we will labor together are not Presbyterian; so there will be ample opportunity for us to create with our hands, love with our kindness, and hopefully win their respect.
Read MoreDear Friends,
You are my brother, you are my sister!
Pastor William Pender preached regarding our oneness in Christ (Bob translates into Tshiluba).
Greetings from Mérida and Del Rio. Martha and I are so excited about the wonderful opportunities the Lord has placed before us.
Read MoreIt is already February, and I am keenly aware that I have been quite out of touch. The time between then and now has been very full. I was traveling in November to visit colleagues in faraway places, but in December I returned to the U.S. to await the birth of our grandson.
Read MoreOn Wednesday, December 11, 2013, I stood at the front of a small Presbyterian Church in the village of Nuevo Campanario—about four miles south of Xpujil. Outside, it was a shade darker than twilight and raining. Fat raindrops seemed to fall faster than the pull of gravity. Water pelted the church’s tin roof. Victor Guzman and Felipe Torres were with me.
Read More
