03 Dec Plans Change Regarding Missionary Homecoming

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries
I previously mentioned that we postponed the missionary homecoming, which we had planned for next summer. This is disappointing, because we were looking forward to gathering nearly all of our missionaries in one place at one time. 

But in light of the economic situation in the United States, we felt it was necessary. 

We were well along in our planning. Meeting place, accommodations and meals were in place. Volunteers were lined up. About two-thirds of the money we needed was committed (though not received). 

The next step was to reserve airline tickets. That was the point of no return. 

Finances are tight all around right now. We considered where our churches might be in another six months, and where Global Ministries might be. We felt we could raise enough money for the Homecoming. But was this a good time for asking churches to give above and beyond what they normally do, in order to help fund this major event? 

e didn’t know what churches will be facing by mid-2009. Would they end up “robbing Peter to pay Paul”? It didn’t seem appropriate to put this huge challenge before our churches at this time.

So, we made the call to put the Missionary Homecoming on hold. At the US National Conference, Saturday night will still focus on missions, and we’ll make it a very special evening. We just won’t have dozens of returned missionaries in attendance.

26 Nov Mattru Hospital and the First Lady

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries
Recently, the First Lady of Sierra Leone invited Billy Simbo to the presidential residence in Freetown. She was interested in having her foundation come alongside Mattru Hospital. She has a particular interest in pediatric health and in lowering infant mortality rates. 

The First Lady expressed her interest in developing a working relationship with the United Brethren church in Sierra Leone. She is a United Methodist member, and her husband is a member of the Wesleyan church. 

Although the meeting went well, Billy didn’t get his hopes up. He didn’t even bother telling me about the meeting. But then he received a letter from the First Lady’s office confirming everything they had talked about.

We don’t know where this will lead, but it certainly can’t hurt having the nation’s First Lady on your side. 

10 Nov Update on Billy Simbo

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries
Billy Simbo has returned to Sierra Leone after an extended stay in the States. He had been attending a month-long training event in South Dakota which focused on multiplying disciples in a missions context. About 32 other leaders from around the world were there, too. The organization conducting the conference covered all of the costs.

I met with Billy and his wife, Mamei, for a few days in Philadelphia. Mamei is dealing with a blood disorder which limits her ability to live in Sierra Leone. She plans to go for a number of months beginning in January. 

Billy has been doing a great job of mentoring young leaders and preparing for real solid transition two years from now. He set up five regions for Sierra Leone Conference and is developing a new leadership structure as well.

03 Nov Beds–and Much More–for Mattru Hospital

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries

We have some exciting news for Mattru Hospital in Sierra Leone!

We’ve been studying how to make Mattru Hospital in Sierra Leone stable, healthy, and financially viable. One great need is equipment.

We put together a list of 150 items for the hospital to accommodate medical teams and do surgery, plus some real basic hospital supplies. One item was more beds. Ron Baker told that the beds at Mattru have never had mattresses. Part of it was more of a wish list.  We began circulating this list to various organizations, including International Aid, Medical World Mission (the medical side of Samaritan’s Purse), and Brother’s Brother.

The first to respond was Brother’s Brother. A hospital had just given them 400 crank-type beds which were only three years old. They said we could have 53 of them, which would fill one shipping container. We would get the beds nicely packed in a shipping container, ready to go. We just had to get the container to Sierra Leone. That’s expensive–up to $13,000 for one container.
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28 Oct A New Logo for Global Ministries

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries
As far as I know, Global Ministries has never had its own official logo– something that signifies who we are, what our values are, and gives Global Ministries its own identity.

The national office went through a branding process during the past year which resulted in the name Healthy Ministry Resources, with its own logo and this website. Now the national office has its own identity underneath the United Brethren umbrella.

Global Ministries needed something similar. And so, we worked with a design firm, and the result is the logo above.

The logo emphasizes partnership, which portrays much of the work of Global Ministries.

• We partner with local churches to support UB mission work.
• We partner with other mission agencies.
• We partner with our international fields.
• We encourage partnerships between local churches and missionaries.

The logo is based on Ecclesiastes 4:12, “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” There is strength in working together.

You’ll be seeing this logo on our various materials. Stationery is being printed, and in the months ahead, we plan to redesign the UBMissions.com website.

27 Aug Notes from the Olympics

One of our staff members in Macau writes:

Going to the Olympics was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me. I’m not actually that huge of a sports fan, but I’ve always thought it would be fun to experience the atmosphere of the Olympics…and it was!

I think the thing I enjoyed most was just the excitement and joy among all of the Chinese there.  They were so excited and proud to be hosting the Olympics. The volunteers were all very sincere, and knew enough English phrases to at least tell us to enjoy the games. Many of them were retirees, and I’m sure they had never imagined that China would have an opportunity like that.

This year will go down in history for China for so many reasons, and I’ll be glad I got a close-up glimpse of it.

15 Aug The Venetian

The amount of construction occurring in Hong Kong and Macau is amazing. All you hear is pile drivers. It’s like walking around Manhattan…except better. 

I got a tour of the Venetian, the world’s largest casino. Located on the island of Taipa in Macau, it was built in just three years. The Venetian used to be part of the South China Sea. In those three years, they not only erected the buildings, but filled in the sea in order to create land for the casino.

The casino follows the Venice theme, with gondolas, canals, street actors and musicians, and opera singers serenading shoppers.

Our tour lasted three-and-a-half hours, and we never even went into the gaming area. It’s an enormous complex. Now they are working on Phase Two of the Venetian. And that’s only the first of many mega-casinos under construction in Macau on the Cotai Strip.

You can watch a time-lapse video showing the Venetian’s construction on YouTube.

24 Jul A Different View of “Pure”

I’m in China participating in the English camp for Chinese teachers. We had the teachers participate in a values survey.

• The number one value among our teachers: “Respect and honor your parents and grandparents.”
• Least important: “Keeping oneself disinterested and pure.”

This requires some explanation. What they mean by this is that they want to remain connected with people, in touch, not aloof. “Pure” in this context is seen as negative. It implies that you are unwilling to be “dirtied” by others. I like that.

16 Jul January 2009: Haiti Medical Team

The United Brethren Church in Canada is organizing a medical mission team to go to Haiti January 23 – February 3, 2009. They’ve got slots for more team members.

04 Jul Samaritan’s Purse Partnership

Global Ministries is developing a strategic partnership with Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian relief and development agency headed by Franklin Graham. When a hurricane, earthquake, or some other disaster occurs, it’s much better for us to channel contributions from UB people to an organization that specializes in such situations, than for us to organize relief efforts on our own.

Why Samaritan’s Purse?

• I previously had excellent experiences working with them in Darfur and Ethiopia.
• Some organizations take the attitude, “Send us the money. We’ll do the job.” But Samaritan’s Purse is open to partnering with other groups to address all needs in a particular area.
• In many places, they already have people on the ground and contacts with national churches.
• Their administrative fees are very low–only 6% for fundraising and 4% for general administration.
• Samaritan’s Purse has a good reputation, partly due to the connection with Billy Graham’s family (the president and CEO is Billy’s son, Franklin).