02 Dec Bishop Simbo Returns to Sierra Leone

After spending four months in the United States caring for his wife, Mamei, who was hospitalized for much of that time, Bishop Billy Simbo has returned to Sierra Leone. He arrived on November 24.

He reports, “I had a debriefing meeting with Rev. John Pessima, the Bishop-Designate, and I am very happy to report that he took care of things during my absence.

“I am adjusting to the heat, and the sweet (LOUD!) sounds of Freetown, and I know the next two months are going to be busy.

“One of the many things I enjoyed doing whilst I was in the US was attending the Abington at Edge Hill Rotary Club meetings for breakfast every Thursday morning. Tomorrow I get to go to my home Rotary Club, The Freetown Rotary Club after 4 months of absence. I am looking forward to it.

On Saturday, November 27, he and John Pessima headed up-country 200 miles for a church dedication the next day.

22 Nov Fighting Cholera in Haiti

Fonda Cassidy with a Haitian boy

Fonda Cassidy

Fonda Cassidy, a nurse, is from Mt. Olivet UB church in Mt. Solon, Va. She has led or participated on UB medical trips to Honduras and Sierra Leone. Here, she writes about going to Haiti in October with Samaritan’s Purse.

In October 2010 I left for Haiti to work with Samaritan’s Purse. I did not realize until I arrived that there was an outbreak of cholera. This is a bacteria that spreads by contact or contaminated water. None of the 5 doctors nor myself had worked anywhere where we have witnessed this. Once you see it, you truly do not forget.

They came with fear frozen in their eyes, drawn up and over with incredible abdominal pain, with profuse emesis and diarrhea. What you soon realize is that the little ones and the older generation will soon die if not cared for properly. They need oral hydrating salts and/or IV solutions to replace their fluids, and an antibiotic.

So we ran cholera camps where we were treating only cholera. If they did not get treatment within 12 hours, they usually died. It is so hard to see death where you are working. Sometimes we would start treating someone, but it would be too late. They would have to be taken out right away and buried. At each clinic we did a lot of teaching and had a pastor to pray with the people.

I worked in 4 different locations in Haiti. One clinic took us about 2 hours to reach. Others were closer. We were able to share Christ with our patients. Personally, I was blessed to lead about 4 of my patients to the Lord. There would be follow-up by a Haitian pastor.

I was able to visit 4 orphanages that were run by Samaritan’s Purse. I taught in about 4 different classrooms about cholera–how it spreads and how to prevent it from happening. I will gladly return to Haiti to help in any capacity that God would want me to.

We have 22 United Brethren churches in Haiti. I was able to meet with the leader, Pastor Oliam Richard. He was a very precious man. He took me to two sites in Cite Soleil where there had been two churches. They now are rubble. Both toppled in the earthquake. There are plans to rebuild.

Safety and security is very important in Haiti. Each time we left the secured compound we had to radio a safety code, and when we arrived at location we also had to radio that we were at our destination.

I witnessed people dying and I witnessed a person being killed by rocks as he tried to steal–the police stoned him to death. Haiti is very rough, but there are thousands of people living in that country that God loves and cares for. He has asked us to be his hands and feet in ministry. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve.

22 Nov Milestones in Mamei Simbo’s Recovery

Billy Simbo, bishop of Sierra Leone Conference, will return to Sierra Leone Monday night, November 22. On Saturday, November 20, he sent this positive report on his wife, Mamei, and her continued recovery after spending three months in the hospital.

Mamei has gone from just making progress to actually recovering from all of the things that have happened to her over the past three months. This week, she reached several key.

The first milestone came on Thursday when the speech therapist cleared Mamei to take liquids by mouth and eating solid food for the first time in over two months. Mamei must have anticipated this by faith, because last Saturday when her cousin, Julie (Beah) Williams was visiting, she told her she wanted Julie to prepare a special kind of rice for her. She told her what sauce to cook with the rice and then Julie was to add some green leaves to the rice to make it slippery. Anyway, today Julie came with the rice and Mamei ate a small portion! The first time she had eaten rice in three months. Now those of you who know us Sierra Leoneans, especially a Mende person, you know that is a long time of suffering.

Her spirits are up, and her speech and thought patterns are much clearer than they were a week ago. She still gets a little confused sometimes, but she can put thoughts together and actively participate in conversations and discussions.

But the biggest milestone came this afternoon. As I sat next to Mamei, she suddenly started to clap.

(more…)

15 Nov Jennifer Blandin Home on Furlough

Jennifer Blandin, Global Ministries staff in Macau, returned to the States on November 3 for an extended furlough. Beginning in January 2011, she will be available to speak to United Brethren churches and other groups about what has happened in Macau during the past three years.

Jennifer also plans to complete her Masters degree by August 2011, which is the reason her furlough is being extended.

15 Nov Malvern Building–Before and After

This building at Jamaica's Malvern Camp needs to be rebuilt.

This is what the new building at Malvern Camp will look like.

As already announced, a series of work teams will head to Jamaica in January and February 2011 to help rebuild the dining hall/activity center at Malvern Camp. This is a 50/50 partnership between Global Ministries and the Jamaican churches.

These dates remain available for volunteers:

January 22- 29
January 29 – February 5
February 5-12
February 12-19

We’re looking for team leaders and about 7-8 people per week. Cost per person will be $225 plus airfare to and from Montego Bay. Contact Donna Hollopeter for more information.

09 Nov Mission Project: Send Jamaican Women to Zimbabwe

06 Nov Mamei Simbo Leaves Hospital After 9+ Weeks

Billy Simbo, bishop of Sierra Leone Conference, sent this update on his wife, Mamei, who has been hospitalized in Abington, Pa., for the past nine weeks.

I am happy to report to you that yesterday, Friday, November 5, Mamei was discharged from Abington Hospital to Brookside Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Roslyn, Pa. She has made enough progress with her medical care that the hospital deemed that what she now needed was support and rehabilitation, and she can get that outside of the hospital.

So after 9 weeks and four days, we left Abington Memorial Hospital at around 7:30 pm to transition to Brookside. This is a very nice long term-care facility that Mamei came to last year after her second knee surgery. Many of the staff remember her, and they have been to her room to renew acquaintances. We are happy to leave the hospital behind after such a long period of admission.

Mamei will have kidney dialysis three times a week for the foreseeable future. Her kidneys are not producing any waste, so dialysis must take place to get rid of toxins in her blood. Brookside has arranged for outpatient treatment. This means ambulance rides to the dialysis center 3 times weekly.

We are grateful to all of you who have been praying with us from the very beginning of this whole episode in our lives. We thank all of you who have supported us in various ways, letters, phone calls, email, and personal visits either at home or at the hospital It has been a blessing to have all of you as our base of support.

Please pray for the following specific items.

1. That Mamei’s two significant bedsores will heal as quickly as possible without spreading.
2. That Mamei would be given the strength and courage she needs to cooperate with the rehabilitation regimen, as she faces long period of rehabilitation for her knees and the lack of mobility in her left arm and leg. She has a very low pain threshold, but this is a time when she needs to be able to withstand pain related to doing the exercises required.
3. Pray for the continued dialysis. It is a 2-3 hour process that usually leaves Mamei wiped out and tired. We are trusting that her kidneys will pick up after a while, but no one is giving any guarantees. The multiple myeloma does affect kidney functions.
4. After family consultation and consultations with the Global Ministries Office and the Conference personnel in Sierra Leone. I have booked my return flight to Freetown for Monday, November 22, and will arrive on November 23. This will give me about two weeks before the start of our Bi-Annual Conference in Bo. I will be coming back in January after the installation service for the new bishop. Pray for added strength and grace to do the things I have to do back in Sierra Leone to end my term of service, especially with the 3 months absence from the field.
5. Pray for the rest of the family who will have to step in and be by Mamei during the time of her stay here at Brookside.
6. Pray for strength to pack up our personal effects. Mamei and I had planned to work on this between the time she would have normally come to Sierra Leone in November and when we would have returned to the US sometime in the Spring of 2011. Now all of those plans have changed and I have to wrap things up on my own.

Thank you for your willingness to take on our prayer support.

05 Nov January 2010: 3 Perspectives Classes in Northeast Indiana

Global Ministries strongly recommends the Perspectives class, which is taught in various locations throughout the country.

Catch the vision for God’s glory, his heart for the nations and the advance of his kingdom to the edges of the frontiers. This course will broaden your understanding of how you are connected to the global church in bringing the glory of God to every tribe, tongue, and nation.

Three classes will be held in northern Indiana beginning the second week of January:

Berne: First Mennonite Church
Sundays, 6:00 – 9:15pm, beginning January 9, 2011
Contact: Luke Johnson 260.849.2932

Bluffton: Life Community Church
Mondays, 6:00 – 9:15pm, beginning January 10, 2011
Contact: Chad Flechter 260.307.6043

Columbia City: First Church of God
Tuesdays, 6:00 – 9:15pm, beginning January 11, 2011
Contact: Heather Ward 260.229.0106

There are 15 lessons divided into 4 sections with classes that meet once a week. Different instructors will offer a wealth of experience from week to week and various levels of study are offered from an interest level to certificate or college credit.

The UBGlobal website tells more about the classes, with some videos you can watch to learn more. In addition, brochures are available from the Global Ministries office.

04 Nov Roger Reeck Seeking Medical Treatment in Portugal

Marilyn Reeck sent the following message on Wednesday, November 3. She and her husband, Roger, are missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators and part of the Global Ministries endorsed staff.

We were in Guinea Bissau in September. We returned to Dallas in October to attend workshops at the Wycliffe center there. It had been decided that Roger should return to Africa to finish the consultant checking that he had started (the book of Luke in Caravela) and to mentor a new translation consultant.

Our daughter Amanda, who is a 4th year medical student, was there in Guinea Bissau finishing a rotation at a mission hospital.

Roger arrived early on Saturday, and a few hours later experienced flashing lights in one eye and since then has been having “floater” episodes and some pain. Amanda consulted with others and did research and determined that the most likely prognosis is a “posterior vitreous detachment” which could lead to a complete retinal detachment. After seeking advice from our bosses and others, we decided that Roger should leave on the next flight out. He will be flying to Portugal and will arrive very early tomorrow morning. Amanda is accompanying him.

We contacted a missionary in Lisbon who will pick them up at the airport and help them find a doctor.

We appreciate your prayers.  We praise the Lord that the condition has not progressed rapidly.

UPDATE (11:25 am Thursday, Nov. 4):

They arrived safely and a few hours later made it to a hospital and were quickly seen by a doctor who speaks English!

The doctor declared that Roger does suffer a posterior vitreous detachment (tear), but so far the retina is not detached. There is a possibility that this could lead to a detachment, so she advises that for the next few weeks he remain close to adequate medical care.

She gave him permission to travel, so he will return to the US and is trying to change his ticket.

27 Oct With Samaritan’s Purse in Haiti

Fonda Cassidy, from the Mt. Olivet UB church in Mt. Solon, Va., is currently in Haiti with a Samaritan’s Purse team. She sent this report on October 26.

The Hatiian people are in the midst of a crisis with outbreaks of cholera. Our first day of clinic on Sunday was only treating cholera. Really critical patients were placed on gurneys and IV’s started. I am happy to say that a lot of the IVs I brought were used in the first day!

There were times when someone would come running with a very limp and emaciated body. I believe in all my travels it was the first time I have encountered cholera.They have profuse emesis that they describe as “rice water,” and that is exactly what it looks like.

Each time as people of around 30 per room would vomit, or have diarrhea, we would have a cleaning lady come and mop. Do you know what it is like to mop on an old cement floor? We were wading through it! They brought in white boots for us to wear.

We were told not to touch our face. They set up hand washing stations with bleach water. I put a mask on even though cholera is not air-born I was afraid I would be accidentally touch my face.

Mid-day now, it is very hot! We saw young and old alike go on to meet their maker. That was the first day!

Now today the third day of clinic, our cholera team actually saw fewer patients. CNN has been here and interviewed Samaritan’s Purse several times, We have seen planes come in with supplies.

It is exciting to be witnessing for the Lord. We have rejoiced with many who have received Christ. We have pastors that will be following up with each patient. Today the clinic where we were working saw 131 patients, and we had 7 first-time converts.

I saw a lady who was 53. After I examined her, she looked at me and smiled and said, “I want to receive Christ into my heart!” What a true blessing.

Also, I was excited today to talk by phone to the United Brethren pastor who is in charge of the work here in Haiti. He is coming tomorrow to see me here in Citi Soilel. I tried 2 times yesterday to get in touch with him but no ringing of the phone. Today the phone rang–he answered and he is coming tomorrow–so I am hoping to get to see our Haitian churches tomorrow!