26 Jan Updates on New Missionaries

• Abby Farmer (right), one of our newest endorsed missionaries, is leaving this month for Papua New Guinea, where she will teach missionary children. Abby is from the Blue Rock UB church in Waynesboro, Pa.
• Angie Swanson, a member of First UB church in Findlay, Ohio, is extending her stay at Jamaica Bible College through July 2006. She has been teaching a variety of classes, has mentored a number of students, and has been involved in a local United Brethren church. Angie needs an additional $3000 in support to get her through July. Contact missions@ub.org if you’re able to help.

• Mike and Jennifer Burtnett and family (right), also new endorsed missionaries, left the staff of Hillsdale UB church (Hillsdale, Mich.) this month to join Wycliffe Bible Translators. They will serve at Wycliffe’s World Mobilization Center in Orlando, Florida.

22 Dec Practice Services at New Taipa Church

Carlson Becker, missionary in Macau, reports that they started “Practice Church services” on November 20, as they lead up to formally launching a new church on Taipa Island on February 28. “We had 9 people present, with most of them being staff members. Michael and his wife (Michael is our co-worker in the ELP and Church), the Chinese tutor that Jen Blandin and Naomi and I are studying under, and his wife came along with the American staff. So we had 4 Chinese and 5 Americans. We are working to put together a worship service that will minister to the Chinese congregation that we are trying to build. Our tutor is very open to help us evaluate the services and how they relate to the culture here.

“After church they all come over to our apartment for a waffle feed and fellowship. We are still working to make the ‘center’ look more inviting for worship, and we are making some headway on that. We have put up a cross made of stone for ‘Living Stone’ church and we are dealing with a sink that is located in the front corner of the sanctuary space. It’s not big enough to be a baptistery unless we baptize cats or other small animals.

“Next Sunday we are planning to go out for Yum Chow after church. The group is bonding and we will probably invite in a few other Chinese folks we are coming across before the actual launch on February 28. We want to have a good core to greet and work with the newcomers at launch time. We are printing literature to mail before the launch date and have some outreach events planned. Our goal is to develop a Chinese church so that the American missionaries can back out and it will continue and multiply in the future. We may find that there are enough English speaking people on Taipa who are looking for a church that we will need an English service also, but our plan is to not make Living Stone primarily dependent upon English speaking people.”

06 Dec Welcome to Julie Datema

Dave and Cathie Datema are the parents of a new baby girl–their third daughter and fourth child. Julie Violet Datema arrived on November 9. She entered the world with breathing problems, and spent eight days in the hospital before coming home on November 17. The Datemas are endorsed UB missionaries serving with the US Center for World Mission in Pasadena, Calif.

06 Dec Gary Dilley and Joe Abu Head for Sierra Leone

Global Ministries Director Gary Dilley left for Sierra Leone on Wednesday, November 30, and will return on December 10. Joining him is Joe Abu, a Sierra Leonean who now pastors a UB church in the Philadelphia area. They are doing some leadership development work with people from Sierra Leone National Conference. Global Ministries is seeking to finish the transitional steps needed to move Sierra Leone from “mission field” to independent “national conference,” a process that was interrupted by the civil war in the 1990s. This has become exceedingly important as the Middle East floods Sierra Leone with funds to help spread the Islamic faith.

06 Dec Short-Term Mission Trips

Join a UB short-term team to the Philippines for an outreach crusade and medical service March 29–April 8. There will be diverse opportunities for ministry. For more details, see the Global Ministries website at ubglobal.org or call the Global Ministries office.

Brown Corners UB (Clare, MI) will send their second construction team of the year to Nicaragua on June 8-20 to assist a church plant in building a house of worship. They currently have six spots still available on the team, and would like to invite churches and/or individuals who would like to partner with them in this ministry experience. For details, contact the Global Ministries office.

Also, check the website for details on two 2006 denominational mission trips:
1. Medical team to Honduras in March (deadline is December 15).
2. Polish English camp in June

29 Sep Death of Archie Cameron

Archie Cameron, a missionary pioneer with the United Brethren church, passed away at 2:30 a.m. Thursday morning, September 29. He was 87 years old. His death occurred at the hospital in La Ceiba, Honduras. Archie had lived in Honduras since 1952.

For much of this year, Archie had been battling physical problems, including an enlarged heart and kidney ailments. Roger Reeck, a son-in-law living in La Ceiba, said Archie was spending several days a month in the hospital. He had gone into the hospital on Wednesday, September 28, and this time he didn’t leave.

The funeral will be held Sunday, October 2, at the Amor Viviente (Living Love) church in La Ceiba. This is not a United Brethren church, but the Bethel United Brethren Church, which Archie founded, wouldn’t be big enough to hold this funeral. Having lived in Honduras since 1951, Archie is extremely well-known and beloved throughout northern Honduras.

Archie will be buried in La Ceiba next to his wife, Maisy, who passed away April 23, 2003. Archie has three daughters–Heather, Sharon, and Marilyn–all of whom were born in Canada and arrived in Honduras with their parents in 1952 aboard a ship. Archie and Maisy also adopted three Honduran children: Robert, Dean, and Arthur. Robert and Arthur live in La Ceiba, while Dean lives in Canada. Marilyn and Roger Reeck, missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators, also live in La Ceiba.

Archie is credited with starting the Spanish-speaking United Brethren work in Honduras. When his family arrived in July 1952, we were working primarily with several English-speaking churches which had affiliated with us in 1945. Those churches, however, chose to go independent in early 1953. Archie immediately cast his full attention to the predominant Spanish-speaking population. He soon founded the Bethel UB church in Honduras, and it became a launching pad for much of the UB work which exists today in Honduras.

Archie, along with family members and laypersons from Bethel, conducted evangelistic meetings in villages throughout northern Honduras. People were won to Christ, and churches arose in those villages. Often, Archie and his group were the first evangelical witness in those villages.

Today, Honduras National Conference has nearly 90 churches, along with a thriving school (which Archie also started), a campground, and other ministries. It is the fastest-growing of the nine worldwide UB national conferences. Honduras oversaw the starting of mission work in Nicaragua in the 1960s, and Honduras and Nicaragua now oversee mission districts in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

A book about Archie’s life, and about the history of Honduras Conference in general, was published in 2001. It is called Tio Archie. Copies can be ordered from the United Brethren Bookstore for $5 each.

08 Sep The Denomination and Katrina

People continue asking about Hurricane Katrina relief efforts by the United Brethren church. United Brethren people have a history of responding with funds and as volunteers when disaster strikes. When hurricanes hit Florida, we worked through our UB churches there providing relief. After the tsunami last December, we worked through our workers in India. Because we do not have any close United Brethren connections in the area that has been hit by Katrina, we are referring people to other reputable organizations that are able to mobilize this relief effort. Several reputable organizations are listed below, on a post made August 31. We’d like to add one.

Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian relief organization led by Rev. Franklin Graham, is helping to facilitate groups of people who want to help Hurricane Katrina victims repair their damaged roofs and clean up their properties. Their website is www.samaritan.org. This is the same organization that many UB churches have partnered with in Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.

Here is the note on their website: “Perhaps your church or group would like to send a work crew. We need groups of at least five individuals. The minimum age is 18. Construction skills are helpful but not necessary. If you are interested, call the Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Relief staff at (828) 262-1980 or email disasterresponse@samaritan.org.”