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Melissa Hull has been one of our missionaries in Macau with the English Language Program. On Saturday, March 21, she was married to David Kline. The wedding was held at Banner of Christ UB in Grand Rapids, Mich. The Klines plan to go to Macau in the spring of 2004 to serve together as missionaries there.
Troy and Julie Hendricks and family are planning to arrive in Spain at the beginning of August, where they will serve with SEND International. They are UB endorsed missionaries from Lake View UB in Camden, Mich. Troy is finishing the year as a high school teacher in Angola, Ind.
The Global Ministries Leadership Team has endorsed three new missionaries–one family and two singles.
Jim and Michelle Kegerreis are from the Otterbein UB church in Greecastle, Pa. In 1998, they began working with a ministry that built family-style homes for children at risk in Honduras. Jim oversaw the construction of nine buildings and the overall infrastructure, while Michelle helped with bookkeeping.
In November 2002, they joined Providence World Ministries as self-supported missionaries. Jim will lead teams of volunteers to build facilities near Tegucigalpa, Honduras. PWM aims to reveal God’s love to orphaned and abandoned children, widows, and the poor through direct and practical help. For this, they are creating a new kind of orphanage, in which 100 children will receive basic necessities, education, and medical attention. They will be nurtured by Christian, native house parents in family groups of eight children. The presence of elderly widows means the children will receive the love and nurture of grandmothers as well. A medical clinic and school will also minister to the community.
Mark Stephan is from College Park UB in Huntington, Ind. He serves in the Middle East with Mission to Unreached Peoples, an organization based in Seattle. MUP has over 100 missionaries in 16 countries. They focus on evangelism and church planting in places which are often closed to traditional missionary work. In Mark’s case, it involves ministry to Muslims.
Bridget Ho, a Hong Kong native, committed her life to Christ in 1989 at St. Luke’s UB church. In 1993, she volunteered to help plant St. Mark’s UB church, and has been very active there ever since, doing some of everything–secretary, deaconess, worship leader, piano accompanist, Sunday school teacher, and more.
Bridget holds a degree in Translation from Hong Kong Baptist University, and has worked as a translator. She also earned two Certificates of Church Ministry from Ecclesia Bible College, and has acquired significant training in evangelism through several programs.
In 1994, sensing God calling her into mission work, Bridget traveled to Thailand to visit the UB work there. She asked herself, “Could I spend a year or a few years in the mission field like Pastor Lee in Thailand?” She visited Thailand again the next year, and also in 1998. In 1999, Bridget began working for Operation Mobilization as Assistant Personnel Officer, and continued in that role until August 2002. She then decided to join OM’s Asia Challenge Team. She is now serving in Sri Lanka on a two-year assignment.
Marshalee Brown, a UB from Jamaica Conference, has arrived in Ethiopia to begin her missionary service there. An eight-hour flight to London, where she stayed for a few days, then a ten-hour flight to Addis Abada, Ethiopia (which a stop-over in Alexandria, Greece). She arrived at 1 am on a Tuesday morning.
“On the aircraft to Ethiopia, it finally hit me hard that I was going away for a long time to a foreign country. That was when the tears started to pour. I had to command my eyes to stop their raining and my heart to be glad in expectancy of what God has for me in my new home. I repeated some of the many promises God has made to me–that he will be with me, and his joy will be my strength. I arrived in Ethiopia 1am Tuesday morning. I cried myself to sleep because I felt so lonely. This time it was very difficult to command my eyes and heart to do anything, I just gave them free reign to do as they will…but eventually I slept and it was a sweet sleep, I did not get up until 10:30 the next morning!”
Marshalee will spend six months attending language school in Addis. She also spend a week and a half visiting Mekele, which is where she will be working.” I was able to reconnect with some Ethiopian friends from my last visit and I was able to find my way around a bit, so I do not feel totally foreign and out of sorts.”
She adds, “From my window I can hear reggae music blasting round the corner. I have been to three different places today and they were all playing Bob Marley music. So in a way, not everything is strange. Actually, if I do not speak the language, I pass as an Ethiopian.”
Emma Hyer, R.N., the first UB missionary nurse in Sierra Leone, passed away February 26. She served at the clinic/dispensary at Danville from 1936-1942, and 1952-1955. Miss Hyer came from the UB church in Coleta, Ill. The first UB missionary doctor, Leslie Huntley, had been serving at Danville since 1934 without trained help, so her arrival was a welcome relief.
Luanne Brooks will leave for Haiti on March 27 to begin her missionary service with OMS International. She is a fulltime UB missionary on loan to OMS. Luanne’s funding is not yet at the 100 percent level, but OMS felt it was close enough to go ahead and send her.
Paul Coy, former missionary in Macau, has begun his second semester at Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary. He writes, “I am taking classes in Church History, Evangelism, Cultural Anthropology, Church Administration, Pastoral Care and Counseling, Character Formation, and Interpersonal Communication. I enjoy my classes, and thank God for the opportunity to study. This semester will finish April 3rd.
April, May, and June are our summer classes. I will not take summer classes, but will do two internships. The first one will be at my home church, First Church of the Nazarene, in Huntington, Ind. I will be in the States, April 7–May 21. My second internship will be in Bangkok, Thailand, May 23–June 30. I will teach English at the Thai Pattana Language school and help with a new church plant that began this year.
I believe God will stretch me and teach me in incredible ways through both internships. By doing my two internships this summer, I will be able to graduate a semester earlier than I had originally planned. I will get my Master of Divinity degree in two-and-a-half years, finishing at the end of October 2004. I do not yet know my plans after graduation, but will let you know as God guides and directs me.”
Jennifer Blandin writes from Macau about events during the Christmas season.
Dave and Becky Spencer had planned to be back in Brazil in January, returning to field service after many years of stateside administrative roles with Wycliffe Bible Translators. However, they felt God clearly telling them to remain in Orlando a while longer–maybe a year, maybe longer. Fortunately, they hadn’t yet sold their house in Orlando or bought plane tickets. And there are vital roles for them to fill at the Wycliffe USA headquarters.
