10 Sep Update on Reina Casco

Reina Casco at the Glendale Hispanic church which she pastors in the Los Angeles area.

Reina Casco, wife of Bishop Denis Casco of Mexico Conference, entered a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday with an aneurysm. The Cascos live in Monrovia, Calif. Bishop Casco posted the following (with some editing–English is his second language) on Tuesday, September 10.

Bishop Denis Casco, Mexico Conference

Today Reina is talking a little more than yesterday, and that’s a good sign for recovery. I’m counting each day as a gift of life for all my family, because today I learned more clearly that we can die in a second, and that’s what would have happened with Reina. Aneurysm is highly dangerous if not treated immediately. Reina could have died, but God did not allow it because it is He that gives life and takes it away.

Reina is slowly responding. She continues in ICU under strict medical care. Pain will be in her head for a few days, so they have to deliver morphine.

Everyone here in my family is very grateful to all of you for taking care of me with your text messages, phone calls, visits, and especially for your prayers. God has listened carefully and responded to all of you with such love and mercy for Reina. Please keep praying for Reina. This is a very critical period for her.

Address:

Reina Casco
2427 Rochelle Avenue
Monrovia, CA  91016

09 Sep Honduras: Three Days of Fasting and Prayer

Superintendent Juanita Chavez (third from left) with Honduran leaders during the three days of prayer and fasting.

Jeff Bleijerveld (right), Director of Global Ministries

Juanita Chavez, superintendent of Honduras Conference, wrote about a conference-wide three days of prayer and fasting. It stretched from 6am-6pm on August 25, 26, and 27.

Some leaders met together during this prayer summit, but all members of their 115 churches were encouraged to join them. They were inspired by the example of Moses, Aaron, and Hur who climbed to the top of a hill in Exodus 17:10-15, and together held up Moses’ hands so that the Israelites would prevail over the Amaleks.

So what did they prayer about?

• A revival throughout the church as a result of hearing and obeying the Word of God.
• Willingness of their leaders to submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit, recognizing the Lordship of Jesus over His church.
• Reestablishment of the “family altar” among their families, so that Christ would be evident in their family lives.
• Bethel School and its financial needs.
• The Retreat Center and the projects underway to complete it.
• Their country and its leaders–that the fear of God would awaken in their hearts.
• Wisdom from God for the difficult decisions and situations that we see around the world in these times of crisis.

They also shared their anticipation in joining with others from September 30 to October 20 for the 21 Days For Global Harvest. This is the first year that Global Ministries has invited our worldwide body to join this prayer campaign for fulfilling the Great Commission in this generation.

08 Sep Reina Casco Undergoes Brain-Related Surgery

Reina Casco, wife of Bishop Denis Casco of Mexico Conference, underwent surgery on Sunday, September 7, for what Bishop Casco described as “brain bleeding.” The surgery was done at Huntington Memorial Hospital in the Los Angeles area, where the Cascos live.

Denis later wrote: “Reina’ surgery was successful. She is doing well,. She is in Intensive Care Unit for her recuperation.” He expects her to remain hospitalized for another ten days.

Reina is pastor of a former United Brethren church in Glendale, Calif.

Address:

Reina Casco
2427 Rochelle Avenue
Monrovia, CA 91016

27 Aug January 2015: Work Trip to Jamaica

Global Ministries is sponsoring a trip to Jamaica during January to work at the Malvern Camp. The team will continue work on the new dormitory at the camp. The first floor is completed, but work needs to begin on the second floor.

Dates: January 3-10, 2015.
Team Leader: Dwight Kuntz (right).
Cost: $750 per person, plus airfare.

The $750 includes in-country travel, food, lodging, supplemental health insurance, and cost of materials.

27 Aug Supplies for Ebola-Ravaged Kenema

L-r: Peter Kainwo, Bishop John Pessima, and two pastors from Kenema.

Rice and other food items for UBs in Kenema.

Unloading food supplies.

Kenema, the third-largest city in Sierra Leone, is at the center of the Ebola outbreak. The city has been sealed off by government troops. The Kenema hospital is the primary hospital for dealing with Ebola. A number of healthcare workers there have contracted the disease and died. One was a United Brethren pastor’s wife.

On Saturday, August 23, Bishop John Pessima of Sierra Leone Conference took rice and other food items to Kenema for United Brethren pastors and members in that area. He was accompanied by his four superintendents. Three of them were stopped at a checkpoint. However, Bishop Pessima and Superintendent Peter Kainwa were allowed into Kenema with the items.

Bishop Pessima writes, “On behalf of the conference, I want to thank Global Ministries for their support during this crisis, Dr. and Mrs. Jusu in Kenya, Faith UBC Church at Lumley, and many more that are supporting us. It is not yet over. We are still raising more food for Kenema, because it is really had for them at this time.

11 Aug Sierra Leone Breaks Ground in Pujehun

Various persons took their turn in the ground-breaking.

On the left is John Pessima, bishop of Sierra Leone Conference.

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries

Sierra Leone Conference held a groundbreaking for a Christian school in Pujehun. The conference has been doing extensive evangelistic and church planting work among the primarily Sunni Muslim population of this province.

The conference has used education to support church planting efforts in other regions, and hopes this will provide further opportunity to evangelize and disciple young people and their families.

A champion of this work has been Rev. Micheal Mudge (right), pastor of Bethany House of the Lord, a UB church in Cumberland, Md. He has raised tens of thousands of dollars from his local church, churches in his cluster, and groups and churches outside the United Brethren denomination.

06 Aug Ebola Claims a UB Pastor’s Wife in Sierra Leone

John Pessima (right), Bishop, Sierra Leone Conference

The following is excerpted from an August 6 email from Bishop Pessima to Donna Hollopeter, associate director of Global Ministries.

A United Brethren pastor’s wife, Mrs. Mbaindu Laggar, died from Ebola on Sunday at the treatment center in Kenema. She was a nurse.

We appreciate all UB churches and members in the US who are praying for our country and for us your partners. By the grace of God this Ebola epidemic will be over very soon.

We have all joined hands together with the government to fight this deadly epidemic. A national religious leaders task force on Ebola has been formed. I happen to be a member of that 11 man committee of both Christian and Muslim leaders in the country. We always come together to fight a national cause.

During the war, this group went into the bush and talked to the rebels to seek reasons for peace, and it worked. After this past election, this group again brought the President and the opposition leader together in the name of peace. We have again come together to fight this epidemic which, by the grace of God, will be over soon.

We are happy for what Jeff Bleijerveld is doing, promoting our cause on this epidemic. We are eagerly waiting for funds to go to our people in Mattru, Bumpe, Rutile and even Freetown for sensitization, as other denominations are currently doing.

04 Aug November Sierra Leone Trip Cancelled

A construction team had been scheduled to travel to Sierra Leone November 7-22 to work at Mattru Hospital. Because of the Ebola outbreak, Global Ministries has cancelled this trip.

30 Jul Pachecos: First UB Missionaries from Honduras

Since United Brethren ministry to Spanish-speakers began in 1951, Honduras National Conference has grown to include over 115 churches, an international school, a retreat center, and a theological institute. However, an unfulfilled ambition has been to send missionaries overseas.

Introducing Milton and Erika Pacheco. In April, Honduras approved them for missionary service in partnership with Global Ministries. The location is yet to be confirmed, but Thailand is a serious consideration.

Milton holds an undergraduate degree in business administration and a graduate degree from the conference seminary. He currently works for Habitat for Humanity, and he regularly ministers as a singer/songwriter in local churches. Erika works with Marilyn Reeck with the Summer Institute of Linguistics. Both Milton and Erika plan to spend about a year at Huntington University studying missions.

They will be the first United Brethren missionaries sent out from Honduras.

29 Jul Ebola: Resistance, Rumors, and Conspiracy Theories

About 1100 cases of Ebola have been reported in the neighboring West African countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia. Since this is the first Ebola outbreak in West Africa, people are unfamiliar with the disease and unequipped to deal with it. Plus, rumors and conspiracy theories make people suspicious of healthcare workers. It is very difficult to convince people of the truth about Ebola.

Ebola came to Sierra Leone in May 2014, brought by a woman who was infected by persons from Guinea. Family members ignored a local quarantine. She died, and since tradition only allowed other women to touch or wash her body, the next cases were also women. A local quarantine was ignored, and the disease spread.

Sierra Leone officials have since banned traditional funerals, and the bodies of Ebola victims must now be buried by health workers wearing protective clothing. Many Sierra Leoneans find this disrespectful. Tradition calls for the manual washing of dead bodies, but merely touching the body of an Ebola victim can transmit the disease. People resist having loved ones removed from a family’s care and their bodies buried in mass graves. Ebola victims are often hidden by family members, who resort to traditional treatments.

The epidemic is complicated by local opposition and conspiracy theories.

In Liberia:

• Doctors Without Borders abandoned a rural clinic after a mob attacked, claiming foreigners were spreading diseases. Something similar happened to the Red Cross.
• A mob tried to raid a morgue to recover the bodies of family members, wanting to give them a proper burial.
• In another area, armed men chased off government health workers.

In Guinea:

• There is widespread belief that foreign health workers are spreading the disease.
• Health workers have found their vehicles surrounded by hostile crowds armed with stones and machetes.
• Log barriers block access to some villages.
• At least 12 villages are inaccessible for security reasons, even though persons there probably have Ebola.

In Sierra Leone:

• On July 25, thousands of people gathered outside the country’s main Ebola hospital in Kenema, threatening to remove patients and burn the hospital down. A former nurse had spread charges that the Ebola scare was invented to conceal cannibalistic rituals at the hospital. Police fired tear gas into the crowd.
• Near Koindu, family members removed four victims from a community health center to prevent them from being taken to a government hospital.
• A man in Kenema left an isolation ward and traveled to Freetown, where he was treated in a private home for a week before medical officials located him and returned him to Kenema.
• An estimated 60 persons—suspected and confirmed Ebola cases—have escaped from hospitals and gone into hiding.
• One woman fled an ambulance sent to take her to the hospital, but emerged from hiding after the symptoms became unbearable. She recovered.
• In Freetown, family members forcibly removed a woman from a treatment center and took her to a traditional healer. A nationwide hunt ensued. She was found, but died in an ambulance en route to a hospital.

Ebola Awareness and Prevention Project

Sierra Leone Conference has devised an ambitious plan to educate people about Ebola. Most of the 78 UB churches in Sierra Leone are located in areas with confirmed cases of Ebola. Global Ministries is hoping to raise $15,000 to help underwrite the project. One UB church has already committed to sending $1000, plus additional funds as needed.