03 Jun Political Situation in India

India’s recent elections saw the Hindu Fundamentalist party (BJP) lose power to the more moderate Congress party, which is headed by Sonia Gandhi, wife of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1991. Sonia, despite controversy over the fact that she was born in Italy, was eligible to become Prime Minister. However, she didn’t want the job, and instead proposed Dr. Manmohan Singh for the job. He was sworn in on May 22.

Our couple in India are encouraged by the change in government. They write, “Dr. Manmohan Singh is nationally and internationally known as an outstanding economist. He has a clean image, a simple lifestyle, and a good name among all parties. He says he will focus on the poor and give secular and stable government. Under his leadership, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians feel secure. We need to wait and see.

“Amidst the political turmoil in this month, we could sense God’s guiding hand. In Tamil Nadu State, after the Anti-Conversion Bill was passed three years ago, Christian evangelists, workers, and organizations were harassed and their bank accounts were frozen. Those who became Christians had to stand in front of a judge and give reasons why one wants to become a Christian. With the defeat of the Hindu Fundamentalist party, the Tamil Nadu State government removed this act and there is absolute freedom for Christians. The unexpected defeat of BJP shocked all Hindu fundamentalists. They really did not know what hit them. We see God’s hand keeping the doors open to proclaim the Gospel in India.”

03 Jun Update from Luanne Brooks

Luanne Brooks, a UB missionary working with OMS International in Haiti, sent this update on May 28.

“I haven’t written in a while, because, my life has been pretty boring lately. I work during the day, check my e-mails, go to prayer meetings and church, and read. But I do have a couple of stories to share from the clinic.

“First of all, the government inspected the clinic this week and rated us a 9.5 out of a possible 10. We have also been approved to start a feeding program for the malnourished. Malnourishment is a huge problem in Haiti right now. Food is very expensive and money is scarce.

“On Monday, I saw a young woman who was very ill. The lymph glands on the side of her neck were huge. She had her newborn baby with her that was born last week. I suspected HIV, and after testing her, I found that I was correct. This was one of the many times here that I was hoping I was wrong. It was up to me to tell her.

“She took the news very stoically. I don’t think she was totally surprised with the news, but she was very quiet and when she did speak her voice cracked. I asked her if she had Jesus in her heart, and she said no. I asked her if she would like to, and she said yes. I praise the Lord, that there are many perons like her who are so open to asking Him in. We just need to ask. She has been referred to a church near her. We gave her a new testament in Kreyol and I pray for her daily.

“She is the second young woman I have led to the Lord in the past two weeks. The other was a young woman, Angelina, who has had three children, and all have died. Her husband now has rejected her and is being very cruel to her. I talked to her about her relationship with the Lord and she accepted Him. She came back this week and visited with me. She said her husband is still very mean, but she now has a joy in her heart that he cannot take away.

“On a funny note: Monday a young man came in and complained that when he drank a lot of wine, he vomited. I laughed and told him not to drink the wine.

“I have been consulting all my patients without a translator. I have them talk slowly, and I am able to understand most of what they say. I repeat what I understand their problem to be, and they tell me if I got it right. They are all so patient and sweet. Most of them enjoy helping me understand. My biggest fear was that they would not want to see someone who didn’t understand them completely, but it doesn’t seem to be a problem.”

03 Jun Three New Missionaries

Two newly endorsed missionaries are currently raising support to get to their respective fields. If you would like to partner with them, they would appreciate the support.

• Linda Neely is preparing for fulltime service with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Linda, who previously spent a year as a volunteer in Macau, is from the UB church in Cochranton, Pa.
• David and Jane Arends are preparing for fulltime service in Belize with Mission to the World. They are from the Otterbein UB church in Waynesboro, Pa.

03 Jun Leadership Changes in Macau

With Jana redirecting her focus to other areas, Jennifer Blandin will serve as team leader in 2004 with Gary Dilley assisting as “remote director” from the US.

03 May Wilber and Mossie Sites Returning to Jamaica

Bishop Emeritus Wilber Sites and his wife, Mossie, will return to teach at Jamaica Bible College this fall. They will be there for two terms, stretching from September 7 to late March. Mossie will teach Practical Christian Education to second-year students, and also volunteer at the New Hope Orphanage, which has 25 children under the age of 5. She has also been invited to teach at a Women’s Ministry center, where young women, most with babies, learn a skill so they can provide for the baby and for themselves.

Wilber will teach Systematic Theology and Homiletics, Romans, and Administrative Leadership. They will also lead a small group on Thursdays during chapel, speak several times in chapel, assist with the annual fundraiser in November, and speak in various churches on Sundays.

29 Apr Klines Get Settled in Macau

David and Melissa Kline arrived in Macau at the beginning of April. David sent this report on April 23.

“Things have been going real well here. We are so busy with setting up our apartment, studying Cantonese, getting together with old friends, getting to know our new jobs, and spending time with the other staff.

“First, we have a three-bedroom apartment on the second floor of a 24-floor building. It has lots of windows that make it bright during the day and beautiful at night because of the lights from buildings around us. We have received our washing machine and bed and are still waiting on furniture, a desk, and a futon for anyone that is brave enough to stay with us. To get an idea of the size of everything, the kitchen is the size of a normal American bathroom, even though this kitchen is nice because it has cabinets. The bathrooms are small and tile from head to toe. The one thing really different about these bathrooms is the water heater takes a shower with you. I mean, the water heater heats the water as you use it and it hangs in the shower on the front wall. The bedrooms are small but very adequate and for Macau standards have tons of built-in storage–what a blessing!

“The next thing that has been taking a lot of time is language study. We have been focusing on sounds and tones. Cantonese is made up of 7 tones for each sound in the language. As you can imagine, tone-deaf Americans struggle a little with this language. We have been doing pretty well, since Melissa knows quite a bit from her previous year-and-a-half in Macau, and from my three short trips, I survive. To give you an example of what can happen, consider two words written with English phonics, touh ngo and touh ngo. As you can see, the sounds are exactly alike but in the first word the tone for the second part of the word is low. This means hungry. In the second word, the second part’s tone is high and this means diarrhea. You can imagine the fun that the people here have listening to us try to speak.

“This weekend we are heading for Hong Kong for two days for a staff retreat/building time. Russ and Nellie Birdsall will be leading two sessions and time set aside to fellowship with each other. Then when we return, we have a couple of days before a short-term team comes from the states. We will be taking them around Macau to show them the sites and make sure they see what we do in our daily ministry.”

28 Apr Updates from Macau

Here are some more updates from our director in Macau.

• Of new arrivals David and Melissa Kline, “This is an answer to years of prayers that God would send more long-term workers to join us. Praise the Lord for David and Melissa. Pray for all of us as we come together as a team and seek how we can best serve God together.”
• Attendance has increased at the Friday morning Women’s Bible Study. In early April, Jana and Jennifer Blandin traveled to Shanghai with five of those women. One of them was from Shanghai and invited them to stay at her home. Jana writes, “I was able to have a lot of quality conversation with the ELP students with whom I traveled. I also just enjoyed seeing a new part of China and being in vacation mode.”
• “At the end of May, I will step down from being field director of our work here. I will remain on the team, with a focus on teaching and evangelism, which are the things I love to do. Please pray for our team and for me personally through this time of transition. Pray that God will also use this time to take our local churches one step further in their independence from missionary leadership.”

25 Apr Update from the Grigorians in Russia

Doris Grigorian sent this note on April 14. “Nikolai returned from a short stint in Omsk, West Siberia, at the Bible College where he previously taught in 2000-2001. He left in early February 2004 and returned on March 20. At the College he taught Romans, Christian Discipleship, and Russian Literature. He preached, translated, spoke at a young people’s meeting, revisited several new church plants that were started over two years ago, and attended a new church dedication.” The Grigorians are from the Roseville UB church in Ontario. They serve with European Christian Mission.

25 Apr Update from Luanne Brooks

Luanne Brooks, a UB missionary serving in Haiti with OMS International, sent this report on April 24.

“Sometimes I feel like one of the most blessed people in the world. God has given me the rare opportunity to share his love in places where many cannot go. Thank you for sending me. Thank you for being my support.

“I’m sure you are all wondering what Haiti is like now after the change in government. Let me share with you my first impressions upon arriving. First of all, we had to go to Port au Prince to clear immigration, because it is not up and running yet in Cap Haitian. As we flew closer to Cap Haitian, we could see that there had been some flooding. But what was not under water was green and beautiful. I had tried to prepare myself for what I might see when I arrived. But I was still saddened by the shape of our little airport. All of the buildings were either destroyed or severely damaged. We had to wait for our baggage in a large concrete building that was missing one entire wall. I was prepared for the worst as we drove through the city, but was pleasantly surprised that it was pretty much the same. Cap Haitian was stillwellit was still Cap Haitian. We had to take an alternate route home, because the severe rain and flooding had washed out part of the main road back to our compound.
(more…)

24 Apr Update from Dave and Jane Arends

Dave and Jane Arends and family are currently in Colorado Springs for cross-cultural training at Mission Training International. They wrote on April 18,:

“It has been a fantastic course thus far and further deepening our call to serve in Belize, Central America. We recently participated in the mission’s conference of Salem United Brethren in Chambersburg, Pa., where we received a very warm welcome. Their zeal for missions and outpouring of support was a great encouragement and example to us.

“We are currently at 63% of our monthly support need and are continuing to search for the supporters that God has planned to join our team. We hope to be on the field by the end of this June. We wanted to express a huge thanks to the folks at Otterbein UB in Waynesboro, Pa. (our home church) for all their love and support. We couldn’t do this without them.”