04 Feb 2013 Canadian Work Team to Haiti

The Canadians and Pennsylvanians who made up Team #10

Top: Bins and cases waiting to be sorted; sorting the tools. Bottom: two tables were needed to accomodate the entire work team.

A team consisting of UBs from Canada and from King Street UB church in Chambersburg, Pa., arrived in Haiti on January 25, 2013. This is a construction team which will work on building a new church in Limbe, in northern Haiti.

A medical team will come to Haiti February 5-12. They will be joined by three ladies from Mission of Hope and Dr. Robinson Germain, a Haitian doctor. This team will go to Les Cayes, in the south, to hold several medical clinics.

Joan Sider (right), from the UB church in Toronto, has visited Haiti numerous times, and participated on both of these teams. And, as she always does, she sent back regular reports. What follows is an account of the first group (you can read about the medical group here). Unless otherwise indicated, all of these daily reports come from Joan.

Friday, January 25

We have arrived safe and sound with all 24 pieces of luggage. We arrived earlier in Port Au Prince than we thought we would. We left Toronto with a temperature of minus 10, and came to one of 32 celcius–warm indeed, but pleasant.

There was a lot more scrutiny with the luggage this trip. When we picked up the bags off the carousel, we noticed several bins had been opened and inspected; they had a tape around the bin saying it had been opened for inspection. I guess that happened in New York. Customs officials here in Haiti opened up a number more. We’re not sure if they were looking for anything specific. One did ask if we had any drugs.

We need to pray now that the next team’s meds all get through without any difficulty.

The airport is amazing–the changes made since even December when I came with Hermmy are quite remarkable. They are truly trying to make it a first class airport. There are still many porters who all want to help you–and get your tip–but even that is better organized.

Our American friends came in earlier than we did and were here waiting to meet us.

The big task of sorting all the materials we brought was next on the agenda. Everyone pitched in, and all is now in readiness for tomorrow’s journey up to Limbe. It is a 6-8 hours trip. We know the highway up as far as Gonaives is good. (more…)

04 Feb Thailand Part 2: Sunday on the Mountain

The Global Ministries staff on the church platform (click to enlarge).

Brian Magnus, bishop of the United Brethren Church in Canada, under the church sign in Lo Mah Village.

Bryan and Emily Gerlach (right) with some Thai youth.

Jenaya fascinates some Thai children with her camera.

Sunday on the Mountain

On January 20-24, a Global Ministries Staff Summit was held in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Attending were 28 persons, most of them Global Ministries staff serving in various countries. Jeff Bleijerveld, director of Global Ministries, and associate director Donna Hollopeter sat down a few days after returning to talk about the event. Previously, they talked about the sessions they had together. Here, they talk about the opening day–Sunday, January 20–when the entire group worshiped with the United Brethren churches high in them mountains of northern Thailand.

Donna Hollopeter: On Sunday, we went up to the mountain churches, where we have two churches and one church plant. It was about a two-and-a-half hour drive in a van, with very steep and narrow roads, one curve after another. We left about 6:45 for the 10:30 service.

Jeff Bleijerveld: At one point, we stopped and looked directly across the border into Myanmar. Even where the church is located, you’re within a mile of the border with Myanmar. It’s quite a porous border, which is a concern for the Thai authorities. They have the drug traffic fairly well controlled, and have tried to stamp it out. But some of the other countries don’t have the same capabilities.

Donna: The Thai churches all combined in one location for that Sunday morning service. We had a very good worship experience. Jeff spoke. Interestingly, his words went through three translators who were on the platform with him. He spoke in English, the next person translated into Mandarin, the next person translated from Mandarin to Thai, and the last person translated from Thai into Akha, the language spoken by the people in that village. So you have four different people up there saying the same thing (we hope)

Jeff: I have no idea what the Akha people heard me say. I tried to stay with a simple narrative—Jesus and the disciples and the storm on the Sea of Galilee, and how God is greater than the waves.

Donna: People came to church in their traditional tribal dress. They were very welcoming and gracious, and invited all of the guests to come up front. The women had made bracelets for every person attending. Some got two. Each bracelet had the words, “I love you.”

The people were intrigued with the Kline children, because the weren’t used to seeing three blond-headed kids. The kids came away with a lot of loot. They made a purse for Mia Kline, bracelets, and a necklace. The people kept rubbing their hair, because they were intrigued by how wavy and curly it was.

The church sits on a hillside. After the service, we went down the hill to a vacant lot where they played their own version of soccer—a little bit different than the soccer we know. Brandt and Mia Kline played soccer with the Akha kids.

Jeff: In the mountains, when you kick a ball out of bounds, it goes way out of bounds. The Thai kids were careful to keep it in bounds.

Donna: After that, we were invited back to the home of one of the pastors for tea and fruit. Then we went to see the other church building. Finally, before we left, we went to Pastor Lee’s home for lunch.

04 Feb Good Principle, Flawed Translation

Frank Y, associate director of Global Ministries, found this sign in a Hong Kong market. He thought it would be perfect for his own boss, Jeff Bleijerveld. After Frank returned to the office on February 1, he presented it to Jeff. (That’s Frank in the background, and Jeff holding the sign.)

04 Feb Update from the Deliks in Poland

Arek and Donna Delik (right), UB endorsed staff serving with Operation Mobilization in Poland, sent this update on their work on February 3:

“The weather here is very depressing, dark, wet, and cold. We hope you have better weather than us. We are really looking forward to our visit to Hong Kong–warm, sunny, familiar food! Of course, more important is seeing our dear friends there. It’s a pity that we just miss each other!

Recently a friend helped us make a video for our building project. Please continue to remember us until the completion of the whole project, and that we will be able to pay back our loans of around $120,000 US by the end of 2014.

Please also pray for 3 people who are going to be baptised on February 17. They are now having the pre-baptism course with Arek. This will be held in the unfinished main hall.

02 Feb Help Finish the Dormitory at Jamaica’s Malvern Camp

A lot of work remains to be done on rebuilding the dormitory at Malvern Camp in Jamaica. Global Ministries set dates for three work teams this spring, to get the building in shape for the 2013 youth camps:

Team 1: February 16-23, 2013.
Team 2: February 23 – March 2, 2013.
Team 3: May 11-18, 2013.

The work will include but not be limited to laying concrete blocks, mixing cement, putting up rafters, and roofing. The May trip will probably also do painting and finishing work on the building’s interior and exterior.

We need 7-8 persons each week. But at this point–February 1–nobody has signed up for any of the teams. If you’re interested, please contact Donna Hollopeter in Global Ministries.

Another option: Owen Gordon, a Jamaica pastor, suggest that if you can’t be part of a short-term team to Jamaica, you consider sending a monetary gift to help with the project. They’d really like to get as much of it finished as possible. You can send funds directly to:
Global Ministries
302 Lake Street
Huntington, IN 46750

Indicate that the monetary gift is for the Malvern Camp.

02 Feb 2013 Honduras Conference Report

All of the pastors and spouses of Honduras Conference on the platform at the end of the meeting.

The 54th annual session of Honduras National Conference was held January 9-12, 2013. However the activity of its members and delegates got started on January. That’s when they began a journey of 100 Hours of Prayer. Each pastor spent one hour in prayer leading up to the conference itself.

They prayed for:

• A revival for the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.
• Their church leadership.
• The work of the 54th National Conference.
• Their nation’s government leaders.

The conference theme was “Back to Basics,” based on the Book of Acts, and the speaker was Rev. Eric Rojas, a United Brethren pastor in Costa Rica. During their time, they enjoyed a number of presentations regarding teamwork, the foundations of effective ministry, and the family.

Rev. Juanita Chavez (right) was re-elected as General Superintendent, a position to which she was first elected in 2009.

All 114 churches (consisting of 8181 members) were represented at the conference. During 2012, Honduras Conference recorded 921 conversions and 322 baptisms.

01 Feb Prayer Need in Honduras

Gonzalo Alas (right), a Honduran church planter, leads our churches in El Salvador. We just learned (Feb. 1) that he had a heart attack followed by various complications. He is doing better now, but the Alas family would appreciate our prayers.

(Earlier, we reported that it was Rev. Alas’s father who suffered the heart attack. That was an error.)