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

John McCall - August 2017 Update

Dear friends,

Occasionally in life, we are able to experience a slice of heaven here on earth. I recently saw God’s Kingdom in technicolor.

For the seventh time, we took a group of 28 Taiwanese male and female university students, seminary students, and young pastors to a Christian community called Taize in the rolling hills of rural France. Many of you know Taize from singing Taize prayer songs. But Taize is so much more than a style of singing.

Last week, there were 2,300 young people from all over the world who came to Taize by bus, by train, and by bicycle. As we waited to join the orientation on that first Sunday, we met a large group of Indonesian youth who had traveled farther than us to get to Taize. Our group sang a song to them in Mandarin that says, “In Jesus Christ we are one family.” The Indonesians then borrowed a guitar from one of our students and sang the same song in Indonesian. During the week, we enjoyed learning some Indonesian from our new friends and also heard from them something of what it is to be Christian in that largely Muslim land.

That first night, I also met a very tall young man from Lithuania who plays on the national basketball team for his country. He told me that he loves music. I mentioned to him that we have a young Taiwanese man whose voice sounds like an angel.

Asia, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationAugust 31, 2017John McCall, Taiwan

Gordon and Dorothy Gartrell - August 2017 Update

Dear friends at The Outreach Foundation,

The grace and peace of the Lord be with each one of you. Dorothy and I are doing well. In July, we attended the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPU) which was held in São Paulo. Our Regional Liaison, Dennis Smith, and Valdir França, PC(USA) Mission Coordinator for the Caribbean and Latin America, were present as well. The IPU invited us back for another term beginning in January 2018. This will be the first time in over 23 years of ministry in Brazil that we have been invited back to the same location (Mangabeira) in which we have been serving. We are comfortable with that decision. We have served in seven different locations during our time in Brazil as a couple.

During our first two years here in Mangabeira, the adult group at our church lay dormant. This year they decided to come alive and participate in the life of the church. They plan special events and commemorations and are in charge of making things happen. They were instrumental in helping one of the ladies of the church, Dona Maria, celebrate her 80th birthday with a devotional and cake. She was most appreciative. For Mother's Day, the ladies in the adult group made aprons to put clothespins in to make it easier to hang clothes to dry since folks where we live do not have dryers.

Missionaries, South AmericaThe Outreach FoundationAugust 17, 2017Gordon and Dorothy Gartrell, Brazil

Philip and Bacilia Beisswenger - August 2017 Update

Greetings to you from Cobán in Jesus’ precious name!

Psalm 133 declares, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in harmony!” Such harmony, explains the psalm, is like the dew of Mt. Hermon falling on Mt. Zion. As it turns out, snow-capped Mt. Hermon stands at Israel’s northern limits, whereas Mt. Zion is down south, near the desert. The message seems clear. Harmonious living isn’t just a local affair. Its blessings extend from north to south and vice versa.

A lot of “dew” has fallen upon Cobán in recent months. In April, a mission team from Toronto, Canada helped break ground for the theological training center at the Presbyterian Complex. Since then, one Presbyterian partner after another has descended, coming from Nashville, TN; Fairhope, AL; Charleston, SC; and Cincinnati, OH. They each brought a harmonious spirit, injecting enthusiasm and energy, reaching out to the needy, to children and the community as a whole. Now the training center’s first level is nearly finished. We’re boldly praying it can be dedicated by year’s end.

Other fantastic teams came from churches in middle TN; Williamsburg, VA; and Dothan, AL. They all enjoyed serving in partnership with churches in remote places like Sayaxché, Petén; Chajul, Quiché; and Limón Sur, Alta Verapaz.

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

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

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

Don and Martha Wehmeyer - June 2017 Update

Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus, Savior and Redeemer of God’s elect,

We have had some very busy months here. I have been teaching at both San Pablo and the Mints program. Mints is a non-residence program that has become popular in many countries. Here in Mérida, I had nine students (four pastors and five lay folks) for Soteriology (the doctrine of salvation) and now with the same group I have just started Patristics (theologians from the first seven or eight centuries of church history). The picture here is a few of the students at Gethsemane.

I was officially installed in the Seguidores de Cristo (Followers of Christ) mission church as pastor for a period of up to three years. In the Mexican Presbyterian church, pastors are installed for one year (pastor oficiante), for three years (pastor comisionado) and up to five years (pastor instalado).

Todd and Maria Luke - June 2017 Update

Dear friends,

May is the wild card month for the Xpujil region’s agrarian communities. With immeasurable toil, families have cleared their land and are ready to plant. But sowing seed must wait until the rain returns. So, the farmers wonder. Will soaking rains come in May or in June? The good news is, some rain has already fallen – enough to refill our nearly empty guest house cistern. But more is needed.

Here is a worthwhile prayer: Lord, send the rains that refill family cisterns and farmers’ hopes.

May is also festival time in the county seat, Xpujil. Two weeks of games, rides, food stands, and men who hawk blankets, pots, utensils, and pans with their voices electronically amplified to eleven. Eleven is also the volume level setting for the nightly concert/dances which begin, appropriately, at 11:00 p.m. and last until the break of dawn.

Missionaries, The AmericasThe Outreach FoundationJune 7, 2017Todd and Maria Luke, Mexico

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

Alan and Ellen Smith - April 2017 Update

Dear friends and family,

People so often ask me what I “do” in Russia. It is a question that never ceases to perplex me, but I always answer in the same way, “I drink tea.” It is not the answer these same people want to hear and sometimes they even get irritated with me, but I can explain (and usually do). Our Russian partners don’t need me to “do.” They want me to visit often, but they generally won’t let me “do” anything. I am cared for at every turn, for Russians have a deep sense of hospitality. Often my visits start at a table over tea, followed by a ride in a car to another church and another pot of tea. And as we drink tea, we talk deeply and listen closely. They share what they are trying to accomplish, what obstacles they perceive, how Christ has led them through such challenges before, and the joys they have in the midst of real struggle.

They want to hear about my walk as well. Isolated during more than 70 years under the Soviet Union, they want to connect and connect deeply. I vividly remember a time when I was trying to organize a marriage seminar that they had asked for.

John and Gwenda Fletcher - April 2017 Update

When we first met Idriss, he was 12 years old. He came to our house seeking medical treatment for his friend Jean, who had a sore leg. The two boys had formed a bond when they met at a center for homeless children a few years earlier. Jean was diagnosed with osteomyelitis (an infection of the bone) and admitted to Good Shepherd Hospital where over the next several months of treatment, he slowly recovered. Throughout Jean’s hospitalization, Idriss slept on the floor beside him, brought him food, helped him get to the bathroom, cajoled him into taking his meds, entertained him, and otherwise played the role of patient guardian. That was quite a responsibility for a 12-year-old, but Idriss had grown up fast in the year since his mother died and he was left on his own.

Idriss was born with albinism (a congenital disorder characterized by the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes), and his father had abandoned him and his mother shortly after he was born. In Congo, people with albinism are said to be “people without a race” and they are widely discriminated against and ostracized. The biggest medical threat here to people with albinism is skin cancer.

Gordon and Dorothy Gartrell - March 2017 Update

Dear friends and family,

We are south of the equator, so this time of year is our summer. It has been very hot and unfortunately seriously dry. Our church work, however, has NOT been dry, but lively and refreshing. Presbytery meetings here are held yearly and last from Friday to Sunday, beginning with committee meetings on Friday afternoon. We have only seven churches in our presbytery spread out over this large state. The last few meetings have been in a meeting center in the capital, Salvador. We hosted the January 2017 meeting. It was a wonderful experience for us and those who attended. There were about 40 people there. Our church members have the gift of hospitality and are realizing they can serve the Lord by opening their hearts and homes to others. They are good cooks, so their meals are delicious. The attendees spent two nights and ate five meals with us. They slept in our homes and ate together at the church. Our church used to have an elementary school, so it has a small but nice kitchen in which large meals can be cooked. The presbytery meeting began with a meeting of the Adult Group on Friday afternoon.

South America, Projects, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationMarch 23, 2017Gordon and Dorothy Gartrell, Brazil

John McCall - February 2017 Update

Dear friends,

This past weekend was a four-day holiday in Taiwan to commemorate the February 28th memorial when thousands of people were slaughtered by incoming forces from China in 1947. Many of the Taiwanese leaders were taken away at night and jailed or killed. For years this was a taboo subject, but as democracy flourished here it became a part of the history of this land.

Last year we took a group of pastors to Montreat Conference Center in North Carolina (see September 2016 update). We planned to have a retreat here in Taiwan for these pastors six months after our return, to check in with each other and to see how this experience shaped them and is still shaping them. We had pastors from every corner of Taiwan join in this experience, so Sunday afternoon they drove down from the high mountains, or took a several hour train ride from south, east, north, and west.

Asia, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationMarch 7, 2017John McCall, Taiwan

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