(260) 356-2312
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.
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.
Two women from the Golden Spring UB church in Jamaica are participating in a mission trip to Zimbabe, in southern Africa, November 18 – December 4, 2010. Miss Paulette Anderson and Miss Trician Sang will be involved in teaching, teacher training, and construction at a school in Zimbabwe.They each need $3000 (US) to cover the trip expenses. The $3000 covers airfare to and from Zimbabwe, a contribution to the project, and all expenses once landed (visa, taxi fares to and from the airport, food, and lodging). You are invited to help contribute toward their expenses.
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.
Thank you for your willingness to take on our prayer support.
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 260.849.2932Bluffton: Life Community Church
Mondays, 6:00 – 9:15pm, beginning January 10, 2011
Contact: Chad Flechter 260.307.6043Columbia 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.
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.
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!
Deon McClennon, from Jamaica Conference, sent the following:
Every year Camp Malvern hosts the Jamaica Conference summer youth camp. At this camp over 100 youth attend and many give their souls to Jesus; others rejuvenate and strengthen their commitment to the Lord. Many other spiritual retreats and functions are also held at Camp Malvern.
The camp site is now in urgent need of repairs and development. Work teams from the United States will come to Jamaica in January and February in a 50/50 collaborative effort to develop Camp Malvern.
Since the beginning of the year, fundraising efforts in Jamaica have raised substantial funds for Camp Malvern. On October 17, at the Jamaica Conference midyear conference, the ”UB Torch” was launched. The UB Torch is a four-foot-high replica of our logo with a large square in the middle, which holds the development plans for Camp Malvern. Members who made contributions can sign in the square around the development plans of Camp Malvern.
It is called the UB Torch because it will travel to every church in Jamaica (similar to the Olympic torch), where members who have contributed will sign. The torch will continue to build the momentum as we approach the start of the project
Billy Simbo, bishop of Sierra Leone Conference, sent a report Oct. 20 about his wife, Mamei, who has been hospitalized for the past 7 weeks in Abington, Pa. He writes:
Today’s report begins with thanksgiving and praises! Mamei has overcome the setback that happened last Thursday. The pneumonia is under control, she is off the breathing machine, and she is smiling and interacting with us and the nurses. She was alert because they took her off the sedatives.
It was such a pleasant sight to come in last night and see her sitting up, smiling, and giving the nurse a hard time!
Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries, is in South Africa attending the 3rd Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization. He sent this note on October 20.
We were majorly challenged in this morning session’s. John Piper spoke on Ephesians 3 emphasizing that prayer and suffering are normative to the spread of the gospel and fulfilling the eternal purposes of God. This was followed by testimonies about people who have lost their lives for the gospel in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan.
The story from Afghanistan was shared by the widow of a man who died along with 11 others just two months ago. To say I was overwhelmed by their faith is an understatement. I’m going to be processing some of this for a long while. I don’t think I’ll read Ephesians 3 the same way I have in the past ever again.
We focus on the last verse — immeasurably more — and think in terms of what God will do for us. In reality it refers to what he wants to do in us to bring us in line with His cosmic purpose of bringing salvation to all who would otherwise be nothing more than objects of wrath. In Paul’s world, and the world of the majority of believers where the church is growing, this will always take place in the context of prayer and persecution, not prosperity.
