21 Mar Update from the Reeck Family

Amanda Reeck with her certificate of acceptance.

Roger and Marilyn Reeck, UB endorsed missionaries serving with Wycliffe in Honduras, sent this update on March 17:

Exciting news: Yesterday, in a formal ceremony our third daughter, Amanda, was handed the announcement that she has been accepted to the internal medicine residency program at Southwestern University Hospital in Dallas (that was her first choice.) Her sisters Teresa and Elisa were able to be with her. She graduates from med school on May 24. We praise the Lord for making all of this a reality!

We have now survived (and thoroughly enjoyed) three of the many workshops that we will be involved in this year and we are very happy with the outcome of each.

In February, Marilyn taught a “Learning that Lasts” (how to teach adults so that they retain the information) workshop. Twelve Garifuna pastors and leaders attended. It was quite exhausting for her, but she was thrilled with how well the group understood the methods, which were successfully displayed during their practice teaching.

Next, Marilyn set out for Guatemala along with three Garifuna leaders to attend a Scripture Meets Culture workshop. The men learned how to identify their cultural rituals, search for what the Word says about these practices, and then make a decision as to accept, reject, or change them. The three men readily embraced the teaching and came up with a very detailed plan of how to share this with all of the Garifuna Christians.

Immediately after arriving back, a One Story workshop was held here in Honduras. Thirteen stories form the book of Acts were learned and discussed, and church planting principles were drawn from each of these.

Now, Roger is on his way to Suriname to hold two One Story workshops. The first one will be held in a Lokono language village and the second in the capital city, Paramaribo, with 5 different language groups. Doing this all by himself will be a rather awesome task. He has spent the last several weeks relearning the Sranan Tongo language which he will use to teach the classes. He still experiences much pain in both legs and especially while travelling.

Marilyn stays back here in Honduras finishing off many different projects and preparing materials for several teaching opportunities. It is so wonderful to have our daughter Chrysti and her family just an hour away.

We will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary in June!

20 Mar God at Work in the Mexican State of Queretaro

Bishop Denis Casco (right) of the Mexico National Conference sent this report on Saturday, March 19.

This is a report from Mexico, where God is powerfully acting through a campaign of evangelization that Bishop Denis Casco launched with the help of pastors, leaders, and members of the United Brethren in Christ churches Mexico.

Today, March 19, more than 400 United Brethren members from ten churches met in one of its church buildings in the state of Queretaro to celebrate The Regional Conference of the Cluster 3, located two hours from Mexico City.

Highlights of this conference:

• Over 400 people attended the event.
• Bishop Denis Casco anointed the leaders with oil in an inspirational ceremony in which there was prophecy, anointing of the Holly Spirit, and Word of exhortation.
• All who met in this conference committed themselves to take the spiritual leadership of cities, villages, indigenous groups, youth, the family, and the children to reach them for Jesus Christ.
• After a beautiful worship service in which people were moved by the power of the Holly Spirit, we ate a delicious meal together food, sharing with the families and other friends that were invited to the celebration.
• Finally, we are so thankful to God because the building of the UBC Evangelical Center Church of Begoña was finished and their doors are open to receive to all people who are needy and heartbroken.

17 Mar Student Ministry in Macau

Jeff Bleijerveld with the Macau team. L-r: Jenaya Bonner, Mia Kline, Jeff, Brandt Kline, David Kline, Melissa Kline, and Bridger Fetters.

Jenaya Bonner meeting with some students in Macau.

Jeff Bleijerveld, Director of Global Ministries

Throughout the world youth show signs of apathy, but perhaps not more so than they do in Macau. Surrounded by Mainland China, with a rather confused national identity and a future of simply serving as Asia’s gambling capital, jobs and money come easily to the youth of Macau, but the future seems rather bleak.

Our team of Jenaya Bonner, Bridger Fetters, and David and Melissa Kline work in local schools as English language teachers and conversationalists. This lends legitimacy to their presence in Macau, but also provides opportunity for them to get close to students, hear their pain, and share the gospel with them in meaningful ways.

Working alongside the Living Water and Living Stone United Brethren churches, they network with church members so other Macanese believers can be brought into the circle of friends they form. This ensures that the gospel message is not simply dismissed as a Western cultural phenomenon, but is relevant for Asian culture as well.

Just after I left Macau on March 7, I received a disturbing message from David Kline. The body of one of his students was found floating near the ferry piers. While nothing was said to indicate it had been suicide, and would not in this culture, neither was there indication that a criminal investigation had been launched.

Both David and Bridger teach at the same school and ask for prayer as numerous significant conversations are taking place with students trying to deal with the tragic loss of a classmate. Pray that out of this tremendous loss, many will find hope in Christ.