From Jean Bell, UB Endorsed missionary in Brazil

Because none of the churches in our small Brazilian community hold an Easter Sunrise service, we missionaries meet together to worship and celebrate Christ’s resurrection. But this year’s service was not quite the normal service.

The setting was near the baseball diamond of our school for missionary children. We sat about 25 feet from home plate. To our left grows an enormous rubber tree along with two gigantic mango trees, and to our right the school’s playing field, just in front of the elementary wing of the school.

After our favorite Easter songs in English and praying in English–oh, what a treat!–a colleague began his Easter meditation. Hardly had he begun when in our our peripheral vision we perceived movement in the air: a toucan. Not more than a few minutes later, a second toucan soared by and landed in the nearby rubber tree. Then, yes, 3 more that joined the others. They were very quiet for toucans, not squawking or making their deep clicking noises.

A former student leaned near my ear to whisper, “They’re Christian birds.”

“Congregating, right?” I returned.

Within minutes of the rising sun, swarms of small, raucous parakeets and parrots dipped and circled overhead. I whispered to Wes, “All we need now are the ibises and blue-gold macaws.”

Within minutes the ibises honked and hooted overhead, but the macaws never joined our worship service.

Needless to say, we missionaries and our families had our powers of concentration tested at the Easter Sunrise Service.

From Francis George, layperson from the Wellington UB church in Freetown, Sierra Leone

We started celebrating Easter by organizing a passion week service which lasted four days.

On Palm Sunday, the young adult group, which consists of about 24 persons,  presented their program which they called “Africana Sunday.” They gave prizes to the best Africana dress, both to men and women.

To raise fun, a competition was organized. We divided everyone into two groups, and each group selected a candidate to be the Africana Star. One group chose sister Mariatu Lengor, and the other group chose Brother Francis Alie Simbo. Brother Simbo finally won the competition as Africana Star.

The young adults decided to give 60% of the funds raised to the church (since the church is under construction) and 40% to the group.

For Easter Sunday, the men and women competed to raise the highest offering for that day. It is rather unfortunate that the women defeated the men.

From Brenda Anderson, UB endorsed missionary (with husband Ron) in Spain

Typical of Spain are the religious processions. People carry elaborate statues that weigh thousands of pounds, lifted by up to 200 men and marched through the streets with candles atop, with bands playing funeral music behind. People line the streets in their best clothing, and special pastries are made. Most hope to return to their home town to participate.

The privilege of carrying these platforms with statues of Jesus or Mary is handed down from one generation to another. It is all very full of idolatry, and one can sense a religiosity without spirituality of knowing God.

Therefore, many Christians try to escape all this. Instead, they have Christian retreats from Thursday through Sunday, including special times of worship and ministering from the Word of God, good food and games, and relaxing together at a camp or other place. This year we did not attend one of these camps, for we are beginning a church plant and it didn’t seem to fit, but we did have a sunrise service, followed by breakfast together, and a special communion service.

We headed back to Freetown from Bo, passing mud brick homes with thatched roofs. The road from Bo to Freetown is completely paved, so it’s an easy trip.

We visited the farm in Waima yesterday with Billy Simbo and Randy Fennig. They’re doing a lot of experimental stuff to find out what works best. Randy has a great team working with him, mostly young guys keen to learn and be discipled.

From there we visited the village of Waima. Kids were either all over us or running in the other direction. We had a lunch they prepared with rice from the first harvest.

Later in the afternoon we visited Mattru Hospital. It was good to hear of people that have come to Christ recently and of the improvements being made with help from Global Ministries, the First Lady’s Foundation, and the United Nations. We had a serious discussion about the need for reports and financial updates, and they responded very well. The new doctor’s name is Dr. Skahr Lemgor. Rev Tom Macavoray of Riverside UB is the acting administrator.

This morning we visited briefly with Rev. John Labor and greeted Rev. Emmanuel Farma in Bo. We also met with some of the UBC leaders and discussed the water filter project that Brian and Gail Welch have proposed. The conference is very interested in helping to work with towns, villages, hospitals, schools, and orphanages that could benefit from the placement of sand filters. Due to the need to periodically maintain the filter, volunteers from local churches will need to make regular visits. It is hoped that the contact from UBC members will lead to opportunities to share the gospel and even plant new churches.

After this meeting we met with the president of the Rotary Club in Bo. Wil Kline, member of the Rotary Club in Huntington, Ind., delivered greetings and some small gifts. We delivered a proposal from the Welches that would link US and Sierra Leonian Rotarians and result in some matching grants to further support the water filtration project.

We’ll be having lunch with the Fennigs and Billy Simbo in Jui to continue discussing the agri-business projects and other business-as-mission initiatives. Randy and Toni have really thrown themselves into their work at the Evangelical College of Theology and the farm project. They are mentoring students and workers everywhere they go and are making an impact on people’s lives.

Jeff Sherlock and Wil Kline have also been a real blessing. Our first few days we spent a lot of time listening and asking questions, but it seems the creative juices are flowing at this point, and we’re having great discussions about both the near and distant future.

Things all seem to be falling nicely into place at every stop. We can certainly tell that we are being prayed for and that God’s hand is upon us.

Arek and Donna Delik (right), endorsed missionaries serving with Operation Mobilization in Kutno, Poland, sent this report.

Janek, our co-worker, who is now taking care of the church, had a serious car accident two weeks ago. We received this news when we were in Thailand for an Operation Mobilization conference.

On March 14, Janek took Peter (an alcoholic) from Kutno to Teen Challenge (about 400 km from Kutno) to receive treatment. Teen Challenge is situated in the middle of a thick forest. As Janek turned into the forest, he lost control on the icy road and hit a car, with four passengers, coming from the other direction.

The van was totally smashed and Janek lost consciousness for awhile. To his horror, he couldn’t move his neck when he woke up. The police and ambulance came to the scene very quickly and took Janek and 2 ladies from the other car to the nearest hospital for emergency treatment. Janek had a big wound on his forehead and received 10 stitches, and worst of all C1, C2, and C3 vertebrae were broken. One lady had a fractured leg while the other had a broken hip. After stabilizing their conditions, they were all transferred to the main hospital in Gdansk 200 km away. A week later, Janet was discharged to his home in Kutno.

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I had the privilege of meeting with Brian and Gail Welch of Fremont, Mich., earlier this year. The Welches were missionaries in Mattru for three terms. Gail was an RN at Mattru Hospital, and Brian taught at Centennial Secondary School in Mattru.

Through their non-profit organization, CoolWater, Brian and Gail are working to set up family and community water filters in places like Sierra Leone. They decided to focus on water filter projects due to the high mortality rate among children and the difficulty of providing safe drinking water in many villages, hospitals, and orphanages.

They first purchased the filters through International Aid. When the doors were closed, Dick DeVos (of Amway fame) began selling filter canisters. The actual filters are manufactured by Cascade Plastics in Grand Rapids. They can filter up to 70 gallons per day for 10-15 years, removing parasites, bacteria, and viruses. (Read more about the filters at Hydraid.org.)

CoolWater would like to place filters in small villages, schools, hospitals, and orphanages. The cost is about $60 per unit, plus $40 for shipping. The Rotary Club is providing matching grants, and the Welches are working on other grants as well. CoolWater has raised $4000. They would like to initially send 150 filters to Sierra Leone.

My suggestion to Brian and Gail was to first consult with Billy Simbo and see if there is any interest from the Sierra Leone Conference. In order to be successful, training and maintenance of the filters is required.

Aside from ensuring access to safe drinking water, this might also be a tremendous “in road” for evangelism and church planting in some villages and small towns. A volunteer from a neighboring UB church would set up the filter and provide training regarding its use. They would then make regular visits to check on the filter. As the relationship builds, the doors for sharing the gospel might also be opened.

L-r: Jeff Bleijerveld, Jeff Sherlock, and Wil Kline.

Jeff Bleijerveld, Jeff Sherlock, and Wil Kline arrived safely in Sierra Leone late Sunday night. Their flight out of London was delayed by three hours, so they didn’t reach Freetown until 12:30.

Jeff Bleijerveld wrote this morning (March 29):

“The trip across from the island airport was pretty at night. The moon was quite bright. We traveled over a mountain to get here rather than travel through the towns, and it worked out great. Slept on a king-sized water bed. No heater, so it was amazingly cool. What a great idea. Woke up about 8:00 to dogs barking and roosters crowing. We’ve had our bucket baths and breakfast, and will be headed to Bo by about 1 pm.”

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries, leaves for Sierra Leone tomorrow, March 27. He’ll be joined by two members of the Global Ministries Leadership Team, Wil Kline and Jeff Sherlock, both from College Park UB church in Huntington, Ind. They’ll return the following Saturday, April 3.

The trip will focus on three areas:

  • Meet with Global Ministries missionaries Randy and Toni Fennig to see the progress of the agricultural development projects, and visit the farm at Bo.
  • Visit Mattru Hospital to see the progress of various projects there.
  • Talk to Sierra Leone leaders about a possible water filtration project.

At the time of this writing, I have now finished the first day of my second week at Pui Va school. Things have been great so far. In week one, I got to meet the 200 students, spread across four classes, that I will work with for the final 10 weeks of the semester.

I shared a bit of my story and experiences with the class to give them a chance to get used to the way I speak English. After a few questions to confirm comprehension, I conducted a survey so that I could get a sense of their English level along with some suggestions for what they might be interested to study. The school has given me freedom to teach however I choose, as long as the students are learning conversational English. I wanted some feedback so that I could create engaging and valuable lessons.

On each of my last two trips to Macau, I have had the chance to spend a day walking around the old parts of town with Living Stone members Jeffrey, Carolina, and Tyrone. All three of these friends have spent parts of their lives living in more Western cultures. Jeffrey attended high school and university in Canada, Carolina lived in England for a number of years, and Tyrone is from the Philippines and has traveled a lot of places for work.

This past Saturday, the four of us decided to head out on the town again, talking in our usual jumble of Cantonese and English. We ate at a Mexican restaurant (surprisingly good) and then walked around Taipa for several hours. Finally, we stopped to get something to drink and ended up sitting and talking about culture and language (including a small competition on who knew the most world capitals) until after 2 am!

Even though it took me a few days to catch up on my rest, it was a wonderful opportunity to build friendships with people at Living Stone Church. While I am attending Living Water Church on Sunday mornings, I am happy to be able to connect with the people of Living Stone during the week.

On March 16, Roger Reeck had arthroscopic surgery on his knee in Mobile, Alabama. Marilyn reports that it was successful.

The orthopedic surgeon feels that there is only a 40% probability that he will need the second surgery. He will remain in the US for a month doing heavy exercises to strengthen the muscles, and after that a decision will be made. In the meantime Marilyn will remain in Honduras working on projects involving the Garifuna language.