30 Sep Four Sierra Leoneans Attended Ghana 2013 Conference

Delegates from Sierra Leone at the Ghana 2013 conference. L-r: Mr. Edward Jusu Jr., Mrs. Sally Conteh, Bishop John Pessima, Mr. James Abdulie.

Bishop John Pessima and three other persons from Sierra Leone Conference attended Ghana 2013, a conference on disciple multiplication in Accra, Ghana. It was held September 25-28.

This conference focused particularly on the African context. The first conference of this nature took place in Tokyo in 2010. Although speakers at this event were primarily from Africa, there were also speakers from Asia, Latin America, and North America.

The three persons joining Bishop Pessima are:

• Mr. Edward Jusu Jr., the youth and young adult national coordinator.
• Mrs. Sally Conteh, the Women’s Missionary Fellowship national president
• Mr. James Abdulie, national president of the Master’s Men International.

Global Ministries was able to assist these four delegates using funds from the Antioch Fund. The Sierra Leoneans paid for their visas and conference registration, and the Antioch Fund paid for their flights.

The fund is designated to assist our United Brethren international partners in missions and mission mobilization.

If you would like to make a contribution to this fund, send your gift to Global Ministries, 302 Lake St. Huntington, IN 46750. Indicate that your gift is for the Antioch Fund.

25 Sep With Supt. Chavez in Western Honduras

Juanita Chavez amidst a group of praying Hondurans.

Juanita Chavez and a Honduran young man.

A circle of Hondurans praying in an outside location.

Juanita Chavez, superintendent of Honduras Conference, recently traveled through the regions of El Copan and Santa Barbara in Honduras. The intent was to bring encouragement to a number of church planters. She and her fellow workers also held a number of church-based theological classes for pastors and church leaders.

During their time, they participated in a number of worship services. On one such occasion, three teenage girls decided to become followers of Jesus. They also met a 20-year-old man in a mountain village who gave a parcel of land that is part of his inheritance so that a new church could be built.

Continue to pray for the work of Honduras Conference. With more than 100 churches, they have only just begun to multiply churches throughout the country. Pray, too, as they consider how God might be calling Hondurans to become engage in foreign missions.

23 Sep Death of Alan Wright, UB Missionary in Sierra Leone

Alan and Marilyn Wright with their daughters, Carol and Joanne.

Alan Wright, a former UB missionary in Sierra Leone, passed away on September 18. He was a former physics teacher at Centennial Secondary School in Mattru during the 1960s.

Alan Wright was born in London, England, and graduated from Exeter University. He felt called to serve as a teacher in Sierra Leone. He taught for one year at a boys’ high school in Freetown, and in 1964 joined the staff at Centennial.

At Centennial, he met Marilyn Saufley, a nurse at Mattru. She was the daughter of Charles and Ruth Saufley, who had served as UB missionaries in Sierra Leone 1928-1932. She wrote, “Having been reared by faithful Christian parents, I cannot recall the time when I did not believe in the Lord. I considered mission work a way to come closer to the Lord. Perhaps this fact and an early impression that I should serve as a nurse in the country where my parents served, led me to my present position.”

Alan and Marilyn were married in July 1963, with Rev. Jerry Datema officiating. The Wrights became members of Salem UB church near Chambersburg, Pa. At the time of Alan’s death, he and Marilyn were living in Abbotsford, British Columbia.