26 Mar Prayer for Darlene Eberly

We’re asking for prayer for Darlene Eberly, a former missionary in Sierra Leone with her husband, Bob. Darlene had been treated for melanoma, but it has now returned in an aggressive fashion. She has begun radiation, and will have another biopsy in the next couple days. It’s a very serious situation. Bob and Darlene Eberly are members of Otterbein UB church in Greencastle, Pa.

Their daughter, Brenda Moore, and her husband Chris, an ordained UB minister, are endorsed staff with Global Ministries; they serve with Here’s Hope Ministries, which operates in Belize and several other countries. Bob Eberly is founder and president of Here’s Hope Ministries.

Address for Darlene Eberly:

Darlene Eberly
PO Box 323
Greencastle, PA 17225

14 Mar The HU Baseball Team in Nicaragua

In January, 21 persons participated in a baseball ministry team which spent about two weeks in Nicaragua. The team included 12 members of the Huntington University baseball team, five soccer players, and two United Brethren ministers–Jeff Dice, associate pastor of Brown Corners UB church (Clare, Mich.), and Josh Kesler, pastor of The Well (Huntington, Ind.). A similar team went in 2012.

They conducted baseball and soccer clinics for Nicaraguan children, and also competed against Nicaraguan semi-pro baseball teams.

It’s am amazing story in several ways, but especially in what happened within the team of Americans. Twelve members of the team were baptized in the Pacific Ocean by Josh Kesler.

The complete story has been posted here.

13 Mar Missionary MaryAnn Hancock has 12-Hour Cancer Surgery

MaryAnn Hancock underwent a 12-hour surgery on Tuesday, March 11. A routine physical in January led to a diagnosis of parotid glandular cancer, located behind the left ear. The physical was in preparation for returning to Jamaica, where she and her husband, Harold (right), are Global Ministries staff working at Regent College of the Caribbean.

The doctor told the family that all of the cancer was removed. He did not have to remove and transplant the facial nerve, which they originally thought would be necessary. Also, the mastoid bone did not have to be removed, just shaved so MaryAnn’s hearing was not impaired.

Next come six weeks of radiation treatments, five days a week. That will start once MaryAnn has had time to heal and recuperate. She will be in the hospital at Ann Arbor until next Tuesday.

Cards can be sent:

MaryAnn Hancock, Room # 4123
University of Michigan Medical Center
1500 E Medical Center Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5066

11 Mar Masaya Conference Center Nearing Completion

Jeff Dice (right), a member of the Global Ministries staff who spends part of each year in Nicaragua, stopped at the national office in Huntington and talked about progress on the new conference center in Masaya.

“We have progressed quite a bit. When we first floated the idea, it was mainly because after having been there numerous times and seeing how much money we invested in using other people’s buildings, I thought it would be good to invest in our own building. Along with that, we want the conference to become self-supporting. If someday the US becomes less involved than it is today, the church in Nicaragua could still flourish.”

Masaya is a city of over 140,000. Other groups in the city would no doubt be interested in renting the building for meetings and other events. The conference could then use the income for church planting and conference ministries.

“It’s a two-story building,” Jeff explains. “When completed, it will have two dormitory style rooms which can sleep 12 in each one, 24 total. Then there are three hotel-style rooms with their own bathrooms. Two of them are basically doubles, and the third is a larger room which a family could stay in. Downstairs is a dining room and meeting room.”

How will the conference use the center? The conference, of course, will use the center for training purposes (like seminars for ministers and laypersons). But it will also provide a safe place for foreigners to stay, when they come for ministry opportunities. Jeff mentions three types of groups.

1. Mission groups. Two major logical needs confront every group that comes to Nicaragua to minister—where to stay, and what to eat. The center answers both questions.

2. Retired people. “Nicaragua is a wonderful place to spend the winter months,” Jeff says. “If people want to combine the desire to be warm and the desire for ministry, we have a ready-made place for them to stay.”

3. College students. The center would be ideal for college students who want to spend a semester or summer in a cross-cultural experience.

The three hotel-style rooms are completed. Additional work remains to finish the dormitories. All the rough plumbing and electrical work is done, but work remains with tiling, toilets, and sinks. They also want to build a couple of balconies—not necessities, but nice to have.

A youth group from Brown Corners will work on the center this summer, and will stay in the hotel-style rooms.

“Latin America is a great place to visit,” Jeff says. “If you’re a friendly person, they are a friendly people. My experience in Nicaragua is vast acceptance of the aid foreign people are trying to give.”

If you or your church are interested in serving in Nicaragua, you may contact Jeff Dice at:

Office phone: (989) 386-2702
Email: thedices@hotmail.com

27 Feb 2014 Easter Mission Offering

Missions Moments – Easter 2014 from Global Ministries on Vimeo.

Jeff Bleijerveld (right), Director of Global Ministries

It may not seem like Easter is just around the corner, but it is. In the coming weeks, United Brethren churches will receive bulletin inserts and other materials for our annual Easter Missions Offering.

This year, we will raise support for the following projects, all of which involve the UB international fields:

• Mexico: leadership development,
• Nicaragua: completion of the new conference center in Masaya.
• Sierra Leone: continued renovations at Mattru Hospital.
• India: HIV/AIDS ministries.

Along with the inserts and other materials your church may have requested, we will send a DVD promotional video. You’re welcome to preview the video above.

25 Feb Openings on Jamaica Work Team – July 5-12

Union Chapel UB church Fort Wayne, Ind.) is planning a work team for July 5-12. They will work on the dining complex in Jamaica at Regent College of the Caribbean.

There is room for several more on the team. Cost is $800 plus airfare. You must have a valid passport to go.

If interested, contact Dwight Kuntz at d.e.k.63@live.com for more details. As of today, total cost to leave from Fort Wayne, airfare and expenses is $1300 – $1400. The quicker we can buy tickets, the cheaper.

19 Feb Recognizing the Chinese New Year

February 14 marked the last day of the Chinese New Year celebration. The festivities always last two weeks, and end with a big bang on the final day.

On January 31, the first day of the celebrations, the Global Ministries staff sent the above photo to our Chinese church leaders in Hong Kong, and to the Global Ministries staff in Macau and China. A number of our United Brethren colleagues in the Far East responded with appreciation.

Frank was born in China and lived there until age 7.

17 Feb Surgery Feb 19 for Roger Reeck

Marilyn Reeck reports that her husband, Roger, saw an orthopedic surgeon on Monday morning, February 17. At 8 am on Wednesday, February 19, Roger will undergo an ankle bone fusion. They would appreciate your prayers. Roger has suffered from this ankle problem for a long time now.

Roger and Marilyn Reeck are Global Ministries endorsed missionaries serving with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Honduras. They both frequently travel to other countries, including nations in Africa and South America, to do training and consulting.

11 Feb Philippines Typhoon Relief: $7473

Typhoon Haiyan devastated parts of the Philippines in early November. We have about 20 United Brethren churches in the Philippines.

As always happens in the aftermath of major disasters, United Brethren people wanted to help. Our practice, through Global Ministries, is to partner with organizations which specialize in disaster relief. We partnered with Samaritan’s Purse following the 2011 earthquake in Haiti, and after the 2012 tsunami in Japan. UB churches and people were invited to channel money through Global Ministries, all of which was sent on to Samaritan’s Purse (Global Ministries doesn’t take a cut). That amounted to roughly $70,000 for Haiti and $11,000 for Japan.

The same process was used with the Philippines, as we once again partnered with Samaritan’s Purse. As of the end of December 2013, Global Ministries had received $7,473 for Typhoon Haiyan relief.

Franklin Graham, President and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse, described Haiyan as “one of the strongest storms in history. Over 6,000 people died and another 4 million people were displaced. He wrote, “The destruction was the worst from  a storm I have ever seen. Entire towns have been reduced to piles of sticks. It’s hard to imagine how anyone survived.”

Even before the typhoon moved away from the Philippines, Samaritan’s Purse dispatched a team to the country. The next week, they airlifted 100 tons of emergency supplies, including a field hospital, aboard a 747. Another chartered 747 soon followed, this one carrying 8 million square feet of heavy-duty plastic–enough to build emergency housing for up to 10,000 families. And much more help followed. A special airlift of over 60,000 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, many of them packed by survivors of Hurricane Sandy, was sent to the Philippines.

11 Feb A Good Two Weeks in Sierra Leone

Dr. Ron Baker (right)

A short-term team spent January 22 – February 9 in Sierra Leone, doing medical and construction work. Upon returning, Dr. Ron Baker sent this report.

I am convinced that what made this such an excellent trip is that we had so much prayer coverage. This morning in church, I mentioned to several there that this was not just a very successful trip, but even more importantly it was significant and hopefully will help future teams.

Our team was blessed to have Kadie Allie, a friend who lives in Naperville, Ind., help co-lead with me. In addition, we had Dr. Abu Minnah on our team, a surgeon practicing in South Africa who was on leave in Sierra Leone. He willingly gave of his time to be with us and did all the surgery. So, this was actually an international team, which was a real blessing.

It was great to have on the team Dr. Jerry Sell, family physician from Rockford, Ohio; Mike Smith, anesthetist and pastor from Van Wert, Ohio; and Michelle Berg, nurse from Traverse City, Mich. (who had been a missionary nurse with us back in the late 1980s). Each one added areas of expertise and giftedness that the Lord used.

I felt so honored and grateful to be a part of this team that I believe the Lord brought together. I also want to mention how thankful the whole team was for the invaluable behind-the-scenes help and planning given by Donna Hollopeter of Global Ministries!

Almost 30 surgeries were done. In addition, we a lot of patients. We also had the opportunity to make some excellent contacts which I pray will help the hospital in the future, did a radio interview, and were able to have quite a few people over in the evenings to share several meals of rice together and enjoy their fellowship.

The first Sunday, our team was able to hold a service in the Moyamba prison. That afternoon on the way to Mattru, we were able to visit my brother Norman’s grave site where I once again shared with the many villagers who accompanied us the story of how God used his tragic death to shape my life.

The following weekend we were on our way back in to Freetown, where I was interviewed by a local Freetown newspaper. Last Sunday, our team was able to worship at the Lumley UB church before we headed out to the Lungi Airport and on home.