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Liberty UB Church (Stockport, Ohio) will celebrate its 150th anniversary on Sunday, October 14. Bishop Todd Fetters is the guest speaker for the 10:30 a.m. worship service.
The next Sunday, October 21, Bishop Fetters will speak at another anniversary–the 20th anniversary of Anchor UB church in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Mark and Ruth Ralph, retiring after 43 years in ministry.
Pastor Mark Ralph speaking to children.
Mark Ralph with his father.
On Saturday, September 29, a retirement party was held for Pastor Mark and Ruth Ralph, who have served in pastoral ministry since 1975. Of those 43 years, all but about ten years were spent at United Brethren churches.
The celebration was held at Mt. Zion UB church in Wayne, Ohio, the congregation the Ralphs have served since 2012. Here are the other UB churches:
Some folks from Mark’s previous pastorates attended the retirement celebration. Also present was his father, now age 96, a longtime minister in the Evangelical Congregational Church. Mark was present for his father’s last Sunday in fulltime ministry. His father returned the favor on September 30, hearing his son preach his final sermon as pastor of Mt. Zion.
Mark graduated in 1974 from Huntington University with a degree in Bible & Religion. Now age 67, he and Ruth are retiring to a home in Ohio City, Ohio, near where their daughter lives.
Missionary Roger Reeck is undergoing a bone fusion operation on his right foot today (October 1). Marilyn says an orthopedic surgeon from Oregon is flying to Honduras with a team to spend a week doing surgeries. She says, “Besides for straightening the foot, potentially it could lead to less pain.”
Roger and Marilyn Reeck (right) are endorsed UB missionaries serving with Wycliffe Bible Translators. They are based in La Ceiba, Honduras, but consult with Wycliffe projects in Africa and Latin America.
Roger returned to Honduras from Brazil on Thursday night, where he worked with the Yaminawa translation team. One of the four persons was from Bolivia and the other three from Brazil. They checked half of Luke, Mark, and Acts during the three week session.
Marilyn returned from Colombia on Friday night. She had travelled to the Colombia/Venezuela border where a training session was held for Venezuelan pastors and their wives and other church workers. There were two groups of 36 people and seven trainers.
Marilyn writes, “There are so many stories of the suffering of the Venezuelan people. Great groups of people are trying to migrate to other South American countries, and a great number of them do not have money to travel by bus. They walk for several weeks. But, in order to get to the adjoining country and beyond, they have to walk over a high mountain pass. They do not have adequate clothing to keep them warm and many have died. They walk for several weeks. Pray that God’s people find ways to set up assistance along the way.”
UPDATE ON TUESDAY FROM MARILYN: “The operation lasted 4 hours but everything turned out great.”
The biennial UB Women’s Conference kicks off on Friday, September 28, in Toledo, Ohio. They have a capacity registration of 250. The conference will be held at Renaissance Toledo Downtown Hotel.
Three former Sierra Leone missionaries from Grace UB church. L-r: Audrey Fiederlein, Kathy Jones, and Shirley Fretz
Shirley Fretz, who served 18 years as a United Brethren missionary in Sierra Leone 1967-1985, passed away Wednesday, September 26, 2018. She had suffered from Huntingtons Disease during the last several years.
Funeral time: 1pm on Saturday, October 6, 2018.
Funeral location: Grace UB church, Sherkston, Ontario
Shirley Fretz
During her 18 years in Africa, Shirley received a letter from her mother nearly every week. The letters often arrived three or four at a time. “She was very happy when I became a missionary,” Shirley said of her mother. “She had been praying for Sierra Leone before I was even born. Tears came every time I left for Africa, but she knew the Lord wanted me there.”
Shirley grew up at Grace UB church in Sherkston, Ontario, a church that has produced a number of missionaries over the years. She dreamed of being a missionary like Olive Weaver and Ruth Benner, two women from the church who were then serving in Sierra Leone. Shirley spent ten years working for law firms, but couldn’t get missions out of her mind. She eventually responded to an altar call by Bishop Clyde W. Meadows, a call to serve Christ wherever God wanted.
Before she knew it, she was contacted by the UB missions office. They needed someone to oversee the Minnie Mull boarding home in Sierra Leone. Was she interested?
Shirley arrived at Minnie Mull in April 1967. The school had over 400 primary-age girls with 104 staying in the boarding home. Shirley procured supplies, kept financial records, helped supervise cooking and laundry, counseled children, and generally served as a mother to over 100 youngsters.
Her second term, which began in August 1971, found her in a whole new role: business manager of Mattru Hospital. She spent the next ten years handling the payroll, bookkeeping, banking, and other non-medical responsibilities. After the 1974 arrival of Dr. Ron Baker, Shirley watched Mattru develop into a thriving hospital.
Shirley decided the hospital needed a male administrator, especially since the culture favored having men in supervisory positions. So after her 1981 furlough, she moved to Bumpe and spent two terms working in Christian education. For four years, she devoted much of her time to the Bumpe Primary School children. After school, kids walked to her house for Bible classes, and she often provided one-on-one spiritual counsel. Later, her job was placed under the direction of the national church’s Christian Education Department. They held clinics and workshops in various districts, helped with the camping program, and emphasized Christian Endeavor.
During her furlough in 1983, Shirley had a difficult decision to make. Her father had been hospitalized with cancer almost continuously since July 1982. Should she stay home and await his death, or return to Sierra Leone in December as scheduled?
Shirley later recalled, “My dad was very alert right up to the end. He knew exactly what was going on, and I’m sure that if I had visited him the day I was supposed to leave for Africa, he’d have said, ‘What happened? Why didn’t you go?’ I knew he would be gone soon, and it would be good for me to be there, but you can’t just stay home and wait for something to happen.” She left at the end of November and arrived in Bumpe on December 6, 1983. The next day she received a telegram saying her father had passed away on December 6.
Bishop Jerry Datema was in Sierra Leone at the time for annual conference. He led a memorial service at the Bumpe church the same day as the memorial service back in Canada. The church was full of people — they didn’t know Shirley’s father, but they knew Shirley. The Bumpe primary children sang a couple of her father’s favorite songs, and then Bishop Datema preached. Shirley said, “It was almost like being home for the funeral.”
Although Shirley fully supported the 1985 nationalization process, it brought an end to her position. Everyone knew Shirley was leaving the country—this time for good —on Monday, August 19. The stream of constant good-byes began on Saturday. “I must have had 50 people visit my house between Saturday afternoon and Monday morning. To Sierra Leoneans, people are important. When they know you are leaving, everybody wants to come and spend time with you. It was rather hard saying good-bye to all the people I had grown close to during my 18 years there, knowing I might not see them again.”
Wanting to remain in some kind of mission work, in December 1985 Shirley became receptionist-bookkeeper for the Brethren in Christ mission office in Stevensville, Ontario.
L-r: Brandon Baker, Andrew Franks, Eric Griffon, Cody Morehead, Julie Llewellyn, Nick Balsiger, Lissa Litka, Tomi Cardin, Dennis Wood, Cyle Young, Brad North, Bob Bruce (instructor).
Eleven persons took the two-day United Brethren History Course on September 24-25. The class was held at the United Brethren National Office in Huntington, Ind. The instructor was Bob Bruce, pastor of Caring Ministries at Emmanuel UB church (Fort Wayne, Ind.).
The participants:
In the United States, we are currently watching Hurricane Florence pound the Carolinas. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, United Brethren in Hong Kong and Macau are preparing for Super Typhoon Mangkhut, the largest storm recorded anywhere in the world during 2018.
Mangkhut had wind speeds of up to 200 mph before slamming into the northern Philippines Saturday morning as a Category 5 storm. The wind speed is now around 165 mph (losing the “super” status).
Mangkhut is expected to hit Hong Kong, where we have about ten churches, and nearby Macau on Sunday afternoon. Hundreds of flights have been cancelled, and numerous other emergency preparations are being made. One report says Typhoon Mangkhut could be the strongest storm to hit Hong Kong in 60 years. In 2017, ten people died in Macau from Typhoon Hato, the strongest storm to hit the city in 50 years.
David Kline, associate director of UB Global and a former missionary in Macau, writes:
“As we watch the US deal with a big storm, our brothers in sisters in Hong Kong and Macau have an even bigger storm heading their way. Please pray not only for their safety, but also for opportunity that God can make himself known in the region.”
He said he had talked Friday morning with Jenaya Bonner, one of our missionaries in Macau. “She has stocked up on water and resources (the last storm knocked out power and water for 4 days). She has also been praying for opportunities to serve the people of Macau through this storm. Let us join her in praying!”
During your Sunday morning service, perhaps your church could remember in prayer the people of Hong Kong, Macau, and Guangdong Province, and particularly the United Brethren members and missionaries in those places.
The next UB History Course has been scheduled:
Date: September 24-25, 2018
Location: UB National Office, 302 Lake Street, Huntington, IN 46750.
The United Brethren History Course is a requirement for ministerial licensing in the United Brethren denomination. However, people who just want to learn more about United Brethren history are welcome to take the course. The course is held periodically in regional settings.
For United Brethren ministers, the course qualifies for 12 credit hours.
The cost is:
The instructor is Rev. Bob Bruce, Pastor of Caring Ministries at Emmanuel Community Church in Fort Wayne, Ind. He has been teaching the course since 2012.
Nancy Ngele, a former United Brethren missionary in Sierra Leone, is offering her home, at a very reasonable price, to someone who has served as a United Brethren pastor or missionary for at least eight years and is ready for retirement. The home is located on the Carson City Christian Camping Center in Central Michigan.
This house has two bedrooms upstairs and a ground level room that can be used for a master bedroom or a family room with a Franklin stove and gas furnace. One bathroom has a vintage tub, and another that is handicap accessible, has a step-in shower. Appliances include electric washer and dishwasher, gas water heater, dryer and a new gas wall furnace in the kitchen. Large storage drawers and enclosed shelving are built in, along with handy kitchen cupboards. An attached garage has room for one car and lots of storage or space for a workshop. A free-standing shed at the back of the house and garage is available for additional storage. Green, steel roofs cover the house, garage, and shed. The house might also be considered for a summer cottage or hunting lodge.
For further information, call Nancy at 989-235-4448.
Here are details for the viewing and funeral for Rev. David Bell, who passed away Saturday, September 8, 2018.
Viewing: Tuesday, September 11, 2-4 pm and 6-8 pm.
Funeral: 11 am Wednesday, September 12. Viewing one hour beforehand.
Location of viewing and funeral: First UB church, 1900 Eastbrook Road, New Castle, PA 16101.
