More Souls Are Added To The Kingdom In Cameroon...

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings to you all in the name of Jesus whom we preach. We do hope you are doing great in all that you do.

We are doing our best, many still have struggles here in one thing or the other. We praise God that we are alive, and we still have energy to worship and obey God’s command in our lives.

Our students continue daily and weekly to grow as time is running out for them to prepare themselves for ministry. Many spend time in their personal meditation and research. We shall begin writing third quarter exams for the long courses by the end of this month while we await, by His grace, the arrival of a short course instructor, elder Randy, to come and teach the book of Hebrews. Keep him in your prayers.

This week, youth all over the country were meeting in Banga Bakundu along Kumba road for the annual youth retreat, on the theme “Being Good Stewards of God’s Blessings.” Our youth were there and they made their way back safe and sound.

Some of our students went to 8 different congregations for weekend evangelism. They left under a torrential down pour of rain, but we must go for souls at times even when it is risky. We know God is there to always help us. One of our students, Assah Menge Peter, was soaked with the heavy rain because his area for weekend evangelism can only be reached by motorcycle. When he arrived the congregation had their Bible class. He entered the church hall and could not teach because of high fever and cough. He could not stand, so he was rushed to the nearby hospital. I went to the place on Saturday to check on him and to buy drugs. He is a bit more calm now. Please keep him in your prayers.

Over the week, I paid another visit to the Buea central prison, which we sent an application to in order to start a prison ministry there. It was an opportunity to meet with the administrator who was also happy to welcome me in his office and gave me access to share the good news on printed papers. Many thanks to Mission Printing and all those concerned that facilitated the bringing of the ocean container of tracts to us. The brethren in the prison whom brother Vincent baptized while in detention were filled with joy to see me and how I am struggling to pave the way through the administration in prison to be sending them preachers to come and help them grow. It was a moment for those who have weak eyes to cry as you see people eager and thirsty over their souls, not the physical affliction of their bodies. The converts who are not vested with the scripture continue to manage organizing worship every Sunday for two hours as the prison laws demands. The administrator wants me to come back within the week for us to finalize access to the prison with wine. I told him even though wine is prohibited in prison yards in Cameroon, but the church of Christ cannot worship without us using wine on the Lord’s table. I assured him that there is wine that is non alcoholic, that we are using in our congregation. He said I should buy one and show him when next I come. Keep this tussle in your prayers.

It is worth it for us to do it. Many of the prison officers took tracts from me and said when next I come they will ask questions after reading, if there are questions.

Sister Florence now is my newest neighbor. She came to Wotutu barely two months ago, and she lives opposite my door in the same compound where we are renting. She can hear our “Back to the Bible” program loud and clear and she stopped me to find out many things after few days. I gave her some tracts to read and get back to me as she needs clarification, wow, a staunch apostolic member with her children. One early morning she came to stay with us in the church hall and watch us as we preached to the entire community. Afterward, she remained and attended our morning devotions with our students. Oh, what a God, who calls His own to Himself. This week she said, “It is true there is but one body, the church. I am ready and happy to become a member of the body of Christ, the Church of Christ.” Oh, with tears of joy in me I shouted thank you Lord. She said, “I will be more serious than I was in the denomination, because I am now starting to work for God.” She speaks both English and French. Please keep her in your prayers. She will be a vessel that the Lord can use from many angles in His church.

After her baptism, sister Florence said, “If I have the opportunity to dance for Jesus, then I can do it, but the Bible does not say so.” She said, “There is life in Christ.”

Sister Lilian obeyed the gospel. She lIves far from the church hall, but she can hear the message preached every morning and our tracts, with contact information, are in almost every house in Wotutu. Keep our efforts in your prayers.

Sister Yvette Enongene also obeyed the gospel. Keep her in your prayers.

A total of 3 souls obeyed the gospel last week in Wotutu, while we had 3 souls also in the Mile 16 congregation, who came to us and said we should be sending our students to come and help them. This morning the congregation who used to have 45-50 in worship, worshipped with 74. It means the weekend evangelism that is trying to get backsliders to come back is working. Many will love to attend worship where they know they will understand the message from someone competent. That is what I can see in this congregation, as we started working with them these past 4 weeks. Keep praying as we train preachers and put them on pulpits all over the nation. Our other weekend mission fields are healthy as we still struggle to meet up with the weekly work no matter the bad weather conditions and poor roads to some villages. This is what the “Counting the Cost” class is doing for our new converts.

Plans
We are making plans for the work in Isokolo, which is still pending. We are still struggling to get a house to rent for worship. Keep this work in your prayers.

Appreciations
God bless you for being there for us because, if not of your prayers, love and support it would not have been easy for the smooth running of this work. God bless you and watch over you. Keep us in your prayers. Do your best to share this report with others.

Make a great week.

Elangwe and family
By His grace director CBIW

Students Are Set For Graduation At The WCSOP...

By God’s grace we have gone through another month of study and other related activities. Classroom work went successfully with both teachers and students attending class regularly and promptly.

Campaign for Christ
We had a campaign at Sofokrom, a community about five (5) kilometers away from the school. It started on Monday, the 21st and ended on Friday, the 25th of July, 2014. This is a congregation which was established by the school in 2010. Two souls were baptized. A list of prospects who expressed willingness for further studies has been compiled and given to the church for a follow-up.

Graduation Gowns
November 15th has been scheduled for our next graduation. About eighteen students who have completed the two-year course will graduate. We have a few gowns and there is the need to have additional gowns, about eleven (11) more. A gown would cost GHC80. We would be grateful if funds would be made available to us to sew the additional eleven (11).

Preachers and Leader’s Seminar, 2014
As you are all aware, this year’s seminar originally scheduled for September 8-11, 2014 has been postponed. A statement from the Health Ministry has cautioned against mass gatherings due to the threat of the Ebola virus which is currently hanging on the neck of the West African region.

School Land
To ensure security of the school land, avoiding private encroachers and attendant litigation, we requested that the school’s landed property be demarcated well for us. This has been done by the surveyors. Also, the landowners have offered two and a half more additional plots at a total cost of GHC 7000. This will bring the total number of plots to eight and a half (8 1/2), about two acres). This additional plot is offered subject to our acceptance and payment of the stated amount. However, we here believe there is the need to accept the offer which can give us the opportunity for any future development.

Again to ensure the property is secured, we urgently need to document it. 

Payments and completion of these documents will take us to the second phase where we would submit them to the local District Assembly (LANDS DEPARTMENT) for their approval of what we are doing up here. We will only know the cost upon submission.

There is also the urgent need to wall the entire plot area. We have decided that if we cannot right away afford the use of sandcrete blocks for the wall, we use barbwire to do it. If this is approved then an estimate will be prepared and sent to you.

The total cost of the items listed above needed for the first phase is GHC13,100.

Admission
As we present this report, a total of nineteen students have accepted the school’s offer of admission beginning September 1, 2014. There were other prospective students who were coming from Liberia and Nigeria, but for now their admission process have been stalled due to the prevalence of the Ebola virus in these nations.

Daniel Ampadu Asiamah 
Reports from his wife indicate he is responding to treatment in Accra. We ask for your continuous prayers for him and the family.

Additional Instructors
Two additional teachers have agreed to begin work with us from September 1st, when the new students arrive to begin classes.

Prayer Request
We continue to ask for your fervent prayers for the work here. Pray for God’s guidance and protection for us from this threat of Ebola virus. We know you already do as we also do for you.

Thank you.

Charles Mensah

Ukraine Work Set To Begin in Ternopil...

Dear brothers, families and churches.

It’s been 2 months that we have lived in Ternopil, Western Ukraine. During this time, we managed to rent the office space for our school and the church, get acquainted with the local congregation and travel to Carpathians with them.

The tension between eastern and western Ukraine is quite obvious. Even though local people treat us well, there are still some signs of distrust and fear. The process of finding a place to rent was quite difficult. Some deals weren’t signed because the owners didn’t want to work with representatives of Donetsk and Lughansk areas. Many people perceive our presence as temporary and undesirable. But through God’s providence, we managed to find a place at the good part of the city. It consists of a big hall for the Sunday services (and it will also be used as a classroom), second classroom, an office for the secretary, a library, small kitchen and a WC. We spent almost a month restructuring, painting and cleaning it. Now the place is almost ready to be used. We already moved some furniture in, and we still have to buy some more. We brought some books from Gorlovka, and we ordered more Bibles and songbooks. We plan to start church services in the middle of August. The classes at the school will start in September. At the moment, we have 5 second-year students and 4 potential students for the first year class.

It’s a very difficult situation now in Gorlovka. The town is being shot at almost every day. Many thousands of people already left the town. Stores and banks don’t function there anymore. There’s no water or electricity there. The town is deserted; there are only elderly people there and those who don’t have money for the travel expenses. We don’t know what will happen to our building. There are still DNR representatives and their families there. We are praying that there will be fewer victims and that our building will be taken back. Even if the building is freed in the near future, I think coming back to Gorlovka immediately is not an option because there will be active raiding groups which sabotage peaceful life and restoration in other towns that were freed. The armed insurgents often put bombs on the highways, which lead to the town and lay an ambush for Ukrainian army. I’m afraid there will be too many victims of such “accidental” explosion in peaceful time.

The situation in Donetsk is still complicated. Almost all the churches of Christ (there are more than 15 of them there) meet in conspiracy. Some transferred their Sunday services from the church buildings to apartments and houses. Others stopped worshipping together. Many people will remember these horrible events for a long time. Please keep praying for our brothers and sisters who stayed on the occupied territory.

During the time that we were in Ternopil we managed to make good contacts with the local congregation. We went to the Carpathian Mountains together with them and stayed there for five days. It was a good time of fellowship. Maybe that was a part of God’s plan for us to be in this part of the country, spread the sound doctrine here, help local congregations and find students among Ukrainian-speaking population.

My family, BVBIU stuff and all those who moved to Ternopil send you their greetings. Thank you for your support of our ministry. We need your prayers and appreciate your input in spreading the sound doctrine in Ukraine.

Your brother and co-worker for the Lord’s cause,
Dennis Sopelnik

Returning Students In Chimala Prepare For The Fall Quarter...

I just returned with a group of young adults from the Rossville Church of Christ to begin the new fall quarter at Chimala. The group included one of the church’s deacons, two school teachers and four college students. We were going as a survey trip to see about continued help for the work at the Chimala Bible Institute. 

We attended chapel every day and fellowshipped with the returning students. They all had been busy at their home congregations preaching and teaching what they had learned while at school. The chapel service was inspiring by there singing and heartfelt prayers. We spoke on the importance of continued faithfulness in sharing the “unsearchable riches of Christ” that was the unique role for which our students have been training. A 75-page notebook, which outlined every Bible book with themes, supplemented our class on the advanced survey of the Bible and other study helps. This material was edited by myself, but paid for by generous contributions of Christians in the area. One of the tasks of the group was to fix up and paint our student dorms along with other projects that arose. Their worshiping with and encouraging our students was well received by the faculty and students at CBI. 

 As usual, in my task as the Bear Valley Bible Institute coordinator, we spent hours meeting with the teachers to discuss recruiting and schedules for the upcoming quarter and year. A long list of fine students have shown an interest in coming to train at CBI. We are also excited to report that the second class of master’s students is scheduled to begin in the near future. The teachers and students at CBI are continuing to “keep the faith” in a troubling time. There commitment to the cause of Christ and desire to serve was a unique encouragement to the group from America. A special bond was formed of brothers and sisters in Christ working together to help the church in both Tanzania and America. As I contemplate the amazing work both groups are doing I realize this is what the work of the Bear Valley Bible Institute has always been about. Yes, we do “train preachers” and provide the opportunities of all of us who serve Christ to be involved in this great partnership.

Garry L. Hill
Coordinator/Instructor
Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver

6 + 6 = The Number Of Souls Added And Restored In Nigeria...

Beloved in Christ,

Greetings from Southwest School of Evangelism (SWSE), Ibadan and Lagos campus, Nigeria.

Brother Adeyehun Raphael, one of our year 2 students reported this morning the conversion of four souls (Lebi Benson, Lebi Florence, Adeoye Margret and Michael Osage) on Sunday and the restoration of two erring Christians (Lanre Adewole and Blessing Meroyi) at the Ayede and Igbotako congregations of Ondo state.

Another student named, named Gabriel Ishom, reported the conversion of two souls at Kotangora - Niger state while brother Tsado Jonathan reported the restoration of four brethren at the Bachita congregation - Kwara state.

We deeply appreciate your contribution toward the growth of the Lord's church in Africa, most especially our great country-Nigeria. May the Lord continue to bless our joint effort is our fervent prayer in Jesus Christ name, Amen.

Your fellow laborer in Christ Jesus,

Makinde Ebenezer Olufemi (Director of Studies)
Southwest School of Evangelism (SWSE), Ibadan & Lagos campus, Nigeria West Africa

The Providential Working Of God Brings 7 Souls To Christ...

Sometimes, saying farewell is a very difficult thing. When beloved brethren move to a different location it leaves a sad void in the congregation. This happened a few years ago at the Kwa Mrombo church of Christ, the congregation where I serve as the local preacher. Our sister, Salome Remmy, moved from Arusha to Dar es Salaam, a city well over 7 hours away. Salome’s husband had taken a new job and required their move. Salome’s husband was not a Christian and it was easy for him to uproot and move.

When Salome moved to Dar she was a baby in Christ. She took with her a tract titled Lifahamu Kanisa la Kristo which, translated, means Getting to know the church of Christ. For over a year Salome searched for a congregation where she could worship. I spoke with her several times trying to encourage her and give her directions to congregations I was aware of but to no avail. Dar is a city of over four million people and it was all but impossible for her to find a place to worship.

While doing her best to find a congregation, Salome studied the tract she had taken with her. Not only was she studying it, she began using it to teach others what it said as well. In her neighborhood there was a Pentecostal church where her husband sporadically attended. Salome did not want to attend, but her husband forced her to do so.

While attending Pentecostal Bible studies Salome used the tract to ask the preacher questions. Time after time he failed to give a satisfactory, biblical, answer. This piqued the curiosity of those who were in the class with her. The class took the tract, made 15 copies, and all of them read it. All of them wanted to study further! Salome gave me a call asking me to come to Dar to conduct the Bible studies. Instead of me going, I informed her that there were plenty of brethren in Dar who would be glad to come and help with the studies. I called one of our graduates, Edwin Kashumba, to see if he would be willing to go and he quickly replied that he was ready for the task. Shortly thereafter, Salome called me crying, saying, “I didn’t know that one day I could help someone find the right way to heaven!” This call came after she had seen 7 souls added to the kingdom the night before and one of them was her husband! What a joyful occasion!

We thank God that He is so good. Please pray for Salome, her husband, and the congregation they have started in the Tegeta area of Dar es Salaam.

I am reminded of the apostle Paul’s words when he said “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6).

Let us keep on planting the seed, keeping it watered, and have faith that our Lord will give the increase. To Him be the glory!

Charles Heberth

Always Be Ready...

East Africa Gospel Meeting
This week saw the culmination of months of planning on the part of our local brethren. The Kisongo congregation, with the support of all of the area congregations, hosted this year's East Africa Gospel Meeting. Brethren came to visit from several East African countries. It was a time of reunion, professional development, and evangelism. Each morning was spent in lectures centered around the theme of "The Promises of God." Then, each afternoon the participants went out and conducted Bible studies in the area. It is an interesting approach to a Gospel meeting. Next year it will be hosted in Uganda.  

Being Ever-Ready
You never know what's going to happen on the mission field. Due to unforeseen circumstances, no translators showed up for Wednesday evening services. In fact, apart from an American visitor (Jerry Bates) and myself, there were no men around at all, but there were plenty of women and children. What to do? What to do? There is a crowd gathered but I had no way to teach them. Time to improvise!

Victoria, a 10-year old little girl, knows some English. She helps Tiffany in the children's class, but has never translated in an adult audience. Yet, she bravely agreed to give it a try. Jerry and I excused ourselves while Paula Bates did a short class for the children, then Tiffany shared some thoughts with the ladies (while holding a sleeping toddler). The day was saved thanks to a child stepping out of her comfort zone, and two godly ladies ready with the Word of God in there hearts.  

Teacher Seminar
A strong emphasis on children's Bible school is not really a traditional part of the culture here. So, this is an area that training is badly needed. Great strides have been made, and the local women are trying hard. They have been making use of the resource room that has been set up at the Arusha Bible School. Saturday, Tiffany conducted a teacher training seminar for the ladies at the Arusha church. It was well attended and appreciated.

August at the Arusha Kanisa la Kristo
This month, I have been invited to teach a Sunday series at the Arusha church on the parables of Jesus. This week we focused on the trio of "lost" parables in Luke 15. I am enjoying the study and it is always great to get to visit with other congregations in the area.

Daniel Gaines

To see Daniel’s report with pictures, please click here.

The Gospel In Every Corner Of The Globe...

Another quarter of studies at the Bear Valley Bible Institute begins Monday morning. Students from all over the country have traveled to be involved in preparing themselves for service in the Lord’s kingdom. After orientation, it was clear this is a strong group of men and we are excited for them as they begin this journey. Please pray for these men and their families as they will face many challenges over the next two years.

The various extension schools reporting this week continue to show the power of God’s hand blessing their efforts. There are changes in finding the right location for the school in Ukraine, as Howell Ferguson’s report indicates, but the school will continue to train students even in difficult times. More souls were added to the kingdom as reports from Cameroon, Nigeria, and India indicate. 

The extension training program is answering the need in many locations. We are certainly privileged to be a small part of the work these men and women are accomplishing around the world. Their dedication is to be commended. Their hands are to be held up. Their love for the Lord and the lost are to be noted. They are strong in faith and determined to make sure the gospel is heard by all.

In every corner of the globe, the gospel is being proclaimed and your prayers are needed to help the beautiful feet of these disciples carry the message of Jesus to their part of the world. We also need your prayers for the men who are doing the same in this country. God is good all the time and we appreciate your help in this effort.

Now on to the other reports...

Coordinator Updates
Reports from the coordinators are now located on the website, under Staff Reports. The address is http://www.wetrainpreachers.com/extension-schools/

The latest report from Howell Ferguson can be read by clicking here.

Extension Reports 

CBIW: The Village Clock: Every morning near Wotutu village, the gospel is proclaimed and the reputation it has given the church is changing the lives of those in Cameroon.

Expanding The Development Of VVBC In India: Students at the Visakha Valley Bible College are experiencing new areas of learning and development to support their work.

Fourteen Restorations And Four Conversions In Nigeria: Recent evangelistic efforts with the Southwest School of Evangelism witnessed a God-given increase.

Final Thoughts 
What a blessing it is to be fellow workers in the kingdom of our Lord. You are a blessing to us and to the work being accomplished. Thank you for your involvement in the Bear Valley Extension Program. We need you and we appreciate your dedication to the work of training preachers. 

God bless
Bob

Fourteen Restorations And Four Conversions In Nigeria...

Beloved in Christ,

Greetings and appreciation for your partnership! We (myself & brother Kayode) evangelized on  the weekend Alakia, Egbeda, Olukeye and Asejire-Osun state with some SWSE students that are serving in these three congregations. These students and some members are seeking the lost and encouraging erring Christians in the three cities in Ibadan and one in Osun state on Saturday, August 2, 2014 between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm.

On Sunday, August 3, I taught on “Acceptable Worship” at the Egbeda congregation while a WBS convert connected to the West Olive congregation, Peoria, AZ, named Samson Omotunde, admonished the church from Romans 8:1-11. We are 27 in attendance with total collection of N1,150.

Brethren, reports reaching me this evening from brother Kayode Eniafe, brother Felix Rotimi Oladipo and brother Adeyi Gideon Kehinde show that our joint effort of August 2 at Alakia, Olukeye and Asejire-Osun state resulted into seven restorations and two conversions. Four restorations at Alakia-Ibadan; three restoration at Olukeye -Ibadan and two conversions at Asejire-Osun state. TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

Our students will return to campus on August 11, 2014 from a month of teaching practice. Likewise, we are beginning the 2014 / 2015 session on August 11, 2014, Lord willing. Our 12th annual Bible Lectureship / Graduation comes up from the afternoon of August 21 through the 23rd, 2014. Keep on praying for us! This year’s Bible Lectureship will center on “The Christian & Politics.

I will travel Wednesday through Friday with the SWSE instructors and some foundation members to participate in this year’s lectureship at the West Nigerian Christian College & School of Biblical Studies, Abeokuta, Ogun state, Nigeria.

We deeply appreciate your brotherly kindness and love! May The Lord keep on using you all for His glory in Jesus Christ name, amen.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Makinde Ebenezer Olufemi (Director of studies)
Southwest School of Evangelism (SWSE), Ibadan & Lagos campus, Nigeria   

CBIW: The Village Clock...

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings and love from your brothers and sisters in Wotutu, here in Cameroon. We are happy to bring to your knowledge the happenings here and how God continues to make Himself known through the preaching of the gospel daily.

Accept great love from the CBIW family here. We do hope this report finds you doing great in all that you must do for your family and the family of God.

CBIW students continue with their studies fervently as they approach the day of their departure from CBIW and their enter into the field for full time mission work. Even though some are sick, they still struggle to make it to class and the library to get their assignments done before the new class. I appreciate and admire their zeal for the work. I pray this zeal will grow as they continue to serve the Lord.

This week during our chapel period, we were talking on the topic “Team Spirit.” We are making sure our students have that team spirit to work with one another because no particular human is an island. We are preparing them for ministry to make sure they are connected to one another, so that it will ease the work God has called them to do, trusting that God is the best employer and will never owe his workers.

CBIW students, and some members of the Wotutu congregation, spent 6 hours on Saturday praying and fasting on the theme “Team Spirit.” With team spirit the work of the church will grow fast. We made them know that each and every one of them is a partner in the ministry of Christ. As some were on their knees, others stand and lift up their hands, to empty themselves to God for Him to use them for His glory.

Sister Vivian Ntoko obeyed the gospel today. The husband obeyed the gospel one month ago through the early morning program back to the Bible. They were just visitors to Wotutu and were captured by our early morning preaching. Many in Wotutu call the church of Christ in Wotutu, The Village Clock. This is because we get up early to preach and many will get up because of the waves of our speakers and listen to the word as they make preparation to go to their farms and other businesses.

Brother Itoe David baptized sister Gladys into Christ in Wotutu. She was always rude to us as we shared the gospel in the compound that she lives in. She would stay behind the house as if she did not want to listen to our teaching when we were out for evangelism these past three years. She seems as if she detests the church of Christ and she would go behind and counteract our preaching after we left the compound.

Today was Gladys’ second time to worship with the church after 3 years. God is faithful. Last week, she reluctantly took the tract from Mission Printing, “From My Heart To Yours.” She read through it and early this morning, as we were preparing for worship, she came to my office to greet me. She said I have decided to come again today to worship with you people. After worship she came to my office again for more clarification about “There is Only One Body.” She is a chorister in her denomination. After talking again with her, she said in my young age I was deceived for a long time, but I found the truth now. She obeyed the gospel with joy. She is just here for holidays in Wotutu, but before she leaves we will connect her to the nearest congregation in her town,

Our students went out for mission work, but could not really do evangelism because after the prayers and fasting on Saturday. They embarked on their journey and many arrived at their destinations late, but God is blessing the work here as we keep the dead congregations alive because our students are there every week.

Keep praying for Cameroon because of the planned strike, which was suppose to take place last week, did not hold. The prices of basic commodities are still in the increase, life will become harder and more difficult for many people here. Those of us who are not connected to the government are seeing that many children may not go back to school because most parents will not have enough to live on and  enough to pay fees. Many cannot afford hospital bills in this time that many are sick. What a society we find ourselves in. Please, please pray for us.

Plans
Isokolo’s work is still pending because of the amount of rainfall. Isokolo is found on the west coast of Cameroon and those areas are the wettest place in Cameroon.

We continue in the new work in the Bolifamba congregation. They need our students so that they will employ one at the end.

Appreciations
God bless you for accepting to help the work here. We do appreciate your prayers, love shown,  and deep concern in many ways towards the success of this work. If not of you, we doubt how this work will have been. God alone will reward you and keep you strong for more of His services in Jesus name.

Do your best to share this report with others. We appreciate your comments and thoughts.

Elangwe and family
By His grace director CBIW

Expanding The Development Of VVBC In India...

Dear Brethren,

We salute you in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior and redeemer. We have been thoroughly blessed with the great opportunity of training our men to be evangelists. By the grace of God and your encouragements, our Bible college continues to be a shining light in this part of India.

Fishers of Men:
We had a wonderful visit with brother Tim Wilkes II & Heath Rhodes, who work as missionaries with a program called Fishers of Men. It is an excellent practical evangelism program, indeed very useful in India as well. It was an excellent 5 day program with over 60 preachers including our preaching students at the  Visakha Valley Bible College. They provided some very useful material. These classes are very condensed and we are planning for the actual full length of 12 week classes for next year. Our students were thoroughly blessed with this program. It is quite a practical way of learning the process of evangelism. Indeed it helps the young evangelists to be more effective communicators of the Gospel of Christ.

We were very encouraged by this program as we think in a very large spectrum. That is, with their permission we shall be translating the material into the Telugu language and use it for ourselves; we are excited about that. Our students and faculty really benefited from these classes, which is far beyond our imagination. May the glory be to God. 

New Computers & Copier:
By the grace of God we finally got the copier and desktop computers installed at our school and they all ready for use. We appreciate the brethren at Lake Houston for filling the need, you brethren have indeed given us a great lift up in the mission work. The copier is going to help us in printing more gospel tracts to distribute among villages and with teaching material for our students. Another exciting thing is desktop computers for our students; we tell you that they are excited about this. We are planning on hiring an instructor to teach our students Computer Education a couple of times each week. This will certainly open up doors for the preachers who will not hesitate to be full time students at Visakha because they are not only getting a great Biblical Education they also get some trade education. Kindly pray since we are looking forward to starting a tailoring institute.

Gospel Tools:
Bicycles: In the country whose economy is growing like anything (according to the figures), bicycles are still an effective gospel tool. Out of the 1.2 Billion people, the majority of them are  poor and under middle class only. No wonder we find preachers being evolved in that category only. Our old graduates who do not have a bicycle, for the purpose of traveling in villages and around, are blessed with a bicycle.

Counseling Classes:
In the rapid developing country of India there is a drastic change occurring in the community, I mean among the people. These changes are causing confusion, confusion in the relationships which are leading to mistrust there by tending to harm each other. It is pathetic to see how this development is impacting the changes in the minds of the people. Of course people want to grow financially and want to live a better, life but while everybody is in this race, sadly social values and respect are being lost.  

In this kind of situation, which is affecting Christian families as well, we are thinking about opening up an avenue of help. That is through a Christian Family Counseling Center, a place for counseling awareness. We would like to teach our faculty to be aware of this subject first, following the preachers around. Indeed Christian counseling is necessary to concrete the relationships between wives and husbands, parents and children. It will help them during the times of difficulties, misunderstanding, disagreements etc., Since we do not have a premarital counseling process before a couple is wed, the depth of relationship is being ignored, the promises and vows are just forgotten. What else can we do other than educate them about understanding the relationship and keeping them up.  Kindly pray that we would have those classes held at our school. Do pray that some brethren would come forward to help us with these classes.   

Gratitude:
We thank the brethren at the Lake Houston and the overseeing congregation, the Strickland Church of Christ, our coordinator, the elders of Bear Valley, and the director of the Extension Schools. We convey our thanks to all those who are doing their portion of the job in producing preachers through the Visakha Valley Bible College. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragements. Most of all we thank you so much for your prayers.

We thank you so much for your prayers towards brother Harinath, one of our students. He is still in the hospital just surviving on medication and fluids. We do not know how long this will continue, but we are pleading to God to restore his health.

We thank brother JY Brown, who is one of the Elders at Lake Houston Church of Christ, who was instrumental in providing new tools for the school.

In Christ and His service

Samuel Raju & John Dean
Visakha Valley Bible College

Orientation, Changing Lives, And A Bright Future...

Orientation for the new students in Denver begins this coming Friday morning. The two-year journey ahead of them will change their lives forever and, Lord willing, the lives of all they influence throughout their lives. The time they share in classroom experience, studying together, and relational activities will build bonds into the eternal realms. Please pray for these men, both the ones who are single and those with families as they enter their studies.

In other related news around the world, the reports this week are extremely encouraging as the influence of the gospel is impacting each location. Please take a few moments to read each report, as the work in Togo is changing the lives of both student and congregations where they were involved in serving before becoming Christians. The radio program is also making major changes for those who are listening.

The direction for the future looks incredible as plans for the new school in Haiti comes to fruition in just a few weeks. We are also looking at several new locations for potential partners in extension training with Bear Valley for 2015. The planning stages are moving forward through the processes required to establish the relationship expectations and responsibilities. As always, we appreciate your prayers for us in the development of these areas.

Now on to the other reports...

Coordinator Updates
Reports from the coordinators are now located on the website, under Staff Reports. The address is http://www.wetrainpreachers.com/extension-schools/

Extension Reports 

God’s Blessing On The Cameroon Campaign: The most recent campaign in Cameroon continues to show the hand of God giving the increase to the efforts of these students.

The Gospel Is Changing Lives In Togo: The incredible work at the Center for Biblical Studies is bringing persecution, but also God’s blessings in changing the lives of many.

Twelve Restorations, Four Conversions, And A Plea For Help: The preaching practice for the students in Ibadan, Nigeria is generating fruitful results.

Learning To Sing In Swahili: Daniel Gaines shares some of the joys of working in Tanzania and he provides a little Swahili for a song we are familiar with in English.

Final Thoughts
Thank you for considering the work at Bear Valley trustworthy of your involvement and support. Plans for the future will bring exciting changes as we look forward to sharing in the weeks ahead. We appreciate your willingness to be involved in one of the greatest works in the world. Until next week…

God bless
Bob

God's Blessing On The Cameroon Campaign...

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from Cameroon. We do hope this report meets you all in good health and sound faith. We are doing better even though many here are still sick. Some students are sick and the medicines through our nurse do not seem to help the situation, so I will be sending them to see the doctor that will send them to do some findings from the lab. Keep our brothers and sisters in your prayers because the intensity of the rainy season is causing lots of health problems to many here.

I am writing this report a little bit late because I was waiting for all the students who went out to return with their reports. The rainy season is making the roads almost impassable now because most of the roads we are using to get to the villages are earth roads.

Students keep growing as they are preparing themselves for the mission after their graduation in December 2014, by His grace. Weekend evangelism helps our students get connected to congregations which will need them to come and work with them full time. As of now many of our students have openings with congregations, some newly established, revived and existing congregations to work with. Keep praying for them.

During the first batch of students there was a campaign where married students went out at least once with their wives for evangelism and that helped expose the wives to the mission, as they started seeing what will be expected of them as preacher’s wives, but this batch may not do it because of a lack of finances, as we have more married students than the first batch. While we have more students than the first batch, it is an exercise which is awesome if we can do it. We are still hoping we can do it because the campaign in September will be the last mass campaign for the current batch as they will be graduating in December 2014.

It was my pleasure to visit one of our graduates in his congregation. Evangelist Awatt Manfree was happy to welcome me and my son Raymond Chris Jr. in his congregation. They gave me the opportunity to teach Bible class, it was refreshing to him and it was good for the Christians to see me again after a long while. Wow I love what I did and I will continue to visit many more to see how God is blessing these brothers in different capacities to help the church of Christ grow in Cameroon.

Evangelist, Awatt Manfree, led in songs in the Tole congregation. He is doing a great job with the Mission Printing tracts, as they have boxes of those tracts in their hall that they use to reach out to the community. Three visitors asked me a question during my teaching about what they read from the tracts. I had good studies with 2 ladies in Limbe at a restaurant about the church of Christ and what all mankind needs to know. As I share with them from some of those tracts, we were waiting for food. I decided to share with them the food that if they eat it they will never be hungry again, it was great for me to see how many are thirsty for the pure word, but they don’t have the opportunity to get it. They were connected to one of the three congregations in Limbe town and it would have been good to share pictures of these people, but it is not welcome to some to get a picture of them if they don’t know you. The owner of the restaurant took some tracts with my contact and she said she will be placing them on every table so customers will be reading it while they wait for their food, rather than watch TV. Wow that is what God can do. I also placed the number of those preachers in Limbe, so that they can contact them and continue the studies.

The construction that is going on in the Wotutu congregation is helping those who are working there to come closer to the gospel. One man, who came to help in the construction site, was so happy to know about the church of Christ, who are these people, he came the next day and demanded for a tract. He read through it and promised to come and study the Bible with us on Wednesday, and the next day when he came to work he decided to obey the gospel. Keep brother Nelson Ashu in your prayers. He is the first to become a Christian in their family and he is eager to learn. He took some tracts to share with his family in Wotutu and they are listening to our early morning program “Back to the Bible.” Your prayers will help open their eyes and minds to see the truth. The Lord added two souls in Koba this weekend also, a total of 3 souls came into the family of God this week in two different locations. All the other areas of our weekly involvement continue to witness changes for the Glory of God.

Sister Florence Embie, a blind sister, came to church today in Tole for worship. The husband abandoned her with her children, but we thank God that her children can hold her hands and show her the way to the worship hall. Today, with the torrential down pour of rain, they came smiling to come over to worship. She walked about half a kilometer to the worship hall with her children. Children are really a gift from God. Cameroon schools will resume in September and many parents face it hard to get their children back to school with the high prices of all things. What will be the fate of children like this? Please, please keep praying for Cameroon. We are getting news of a planned nation wide protest against high prices. Many African countries will start like that and finally get into a full flesh civil war and stuff like that. Pray and pray again. Cameroon is a very peaceful country in Africa, don’t let satan step in.

Plans
More evangelism is planned in the months ahead even though rainfall continues to disturb. I told the students we must arm ourselves with good clothing as we move because we don’t have salt in our bags that we will be afraid that rainfall will destroy our salt.

Appreciations
We continue to use words to thank God and you for all that you are doing in our ministries. God bless you. We don’t have anything to give or use to thank you for the good work you are doing for God. We say thank you and God will continue to bless you because if not for you we doubt how this work would have been unfolding. Do your best to share this with others. God alone will reward you.

Elangwe and family
By His grace director CBIW

Learning To Sing In Swahili...

What a month!  Since our last newsletter, we have been busy, busy, busy.    We left off last month telling you about a campaign being conducted by a group from Hoover, Alabama at the Ilkiurei congregation.  The next week, a group from Oklahoma was here to do some work with the church at Usa River.  Then we welcomed Jonathan Page from Kentucky.   Jonathan is here to spend the month working with the church in Moshi. 

The highlight of these visits from American workers for me was this past week when my brother, Jared Gaines, was here.  Jared helped out with follow-up work left from the great campaigns we just had.  He also conducted a workshop to help in the professional development of the staff at the Andrew Connally School of Preaching.  Meanwhile, his wife and mother-in-law (Lena Gaines and Karen Baskin) helped Tiffany conduct the inaugural children’s seminar (VBS) at the Njiro Chini congregation.

All in all, in the past few weeks hundreds of mosquito nets were distributed to the community along with literature about the church.  Numerous Bible studies have been conducted.  Dozens of baptisms and restorations have resulted, and the church is growing.  For example, the attendance at Ilkiurei has nearly doubled during this time period.  God is good, and He is blessing His work!

Planning for Furlough
It is time to plan for our first furlough back to the States.  Our plan is to be there for the holidays.  I would like to get around to report to as many congregations as possible, but there is only so much time available.  If you would like for me to make a presentation to your congregation, then send me an email, and we will get you on the schedule. 

Communication is the most important part of teaching the Bible. When you work in a country where you cannot fluently speak the language you heavily rely on translators to relay what you are saying. While we are trying to learn Kiswahili, we do not know enough to teach alone. We can decently get through day to day interactions, but not an in depth study. Thankfully we are blessed with sound, hardworking translators that are often ready at a moment’s notice.

Our translators work to translate Bible studies, sermons, Bible class, ladies’ lessons, children’s seminars, written songs and lessons and so much more. These men and women will leave their work to translate for campaign groups and meetings. (Sometimes when you campaign for a week it is easy to forget that the next week other’s come and do the same thing using the same hardworking translators.) Communication could not happen here without teamwork and we are definitely blessed with a great team of translators.

Just recently I had my sweet friend, Neema, translate some children’s songs into Kiswahili for use in Bible class. Now, I can teach them to the ladies at the Preacher’s Wives Class that we hold each month and they can in turn teach them to the ladies and children in their congregation. We have teams of Tanzanians that translate Bible pamphlets, correspondence courses and booklets for use while studying It is such a blessing to have those who are willing to help communicate the need for Christ! I will continue to learn Kiswahili, but while I learn I am so thankful that there are those willing and able to be my mouth and ears when mine fall short.

Here’s a well known song in Kiswahili AND English:

Anipenda ni kweli (Jesus loves me this I know)
Mungu anena hili (for the Bible tells me so)
Sisi wake watoto (Little ones to Him belong)
Kutulinda si zito (they are weak but He is strong)
Yesu Anipenda! (Yes Jesus loves me!)
Yesu Anipenda! (Yes Jesus loves me!)
Kweli Anipenda! (Yes Jesus loves me {truly})
Mungu amesema! (The Bible tells me so!)

Daniel

Twelve Restorations, Four Conversions, And A Plea For Help...

Beloved in Christ , 

Just 4:30 Nigerian time! Happy Lord's day to you all.

Brother Olorode Samuel, one of the SWSE students that is with us for his final teaching practice, admonished the church at Onikokoro / Gbongudu, Ibadan from Matthew 26:69-75, while I led in songs. In the afternoon at the Workers' Class, I taught on “How to Prepare an Expository Sermon,” and in the evening, I taught on “The Role of the Youth in Church Development.”

Brethren, reports reaching from our students serving in Kwara, Niger, Abia and Ogun states shows that our students, with the help of God and the cooperation from brethren, were able to record twelve restorations and four conversions in week 2 of their teaching practice.

Beloved, just a few days to go and brother Doug Wheeler will be wiring funds for God's works in Nigeria. We are still in need of $4,500 for the roofing of SWSE guest house. Thanks be unto God for the gift of $500 from a godly family in the USA toward this roofing.

Beloved, you can also be part of this great project for the Lord. Send your gift to brother Doug before August 30, for he will be wiring to Nigeria on August 31, 2014. The Lord and SWSE Ibadan count on you, our wonderful supporters, with the hope that our labor in the Lord is not a labor loss! Let us join hands to build for the Lord in this part of the world.

May the Lord keep on using you all for His glory in Africa and the world as a whole is our fervent prayer in Jesus name, Amen.

Happy Lord’s day to you all.

Your fellow laborer in Christ's vineyard,

Makinde Ebenezer Olufemi (Director of studies)
Southwest School of Evangelism (SWSE ) Ibadan & Lagos campus, Nigeria

The Gospel Is Changing Lives In Togo...

Joint Service at Alikpoji
A joint service was organized by the fourteen congregations in and around the Kpalime area. This lectureship is an annual event which brings brethren together to discuss issues confronting the church. The theme for this year’s lectures was “The Christian in the Community.” There were 184 in attendance at this service. There was a fellowship meal after the service. Such meetings are used to encourage these new congregations.

Meeting with Church Leaders
During my recent visit to Kpalime, I had the opportunity to meet the area preachers to deliberate issues affecting our outreach efforts. I also used the occasion to tell them about the Gospel Chariot, and how it will be used to serve our outreach needs in the region. We all agreed to organize an outreach program in Kpalime this July.

End of year Exam at CBS
All too soon, this batch of students is writing their final exams to bring the first year to a close. I was informed by the instructors that the students are doing well and are taking their lessons very seriously. I am greatly impressed by their courage to give up denominationalism and embrace simple New Testament Christianity. Most of them have been persecuted, but are resolved to continue as members of the Lord’s church. I know it has not been easy to make this decision, but they did. Let us do all we can to encourage them.

Meeting with CBS students
On my recent visit to CBS in Kpalime, I also had the opportunity to address the student body before they left on vacation. The key issue centered on where they will be working upon their graduation and how they will support themselves. I used the occasion to inform them that we have planned to give them some training in animal rearing and other income generating ventures.

The students expressed their thanks and appreciation to the teachers and Gabriel Oaks church for their support of the school.

World Radio: Kpalime,Togo
The World Radio presenter in Kpalime, Togo is Cephas (principal of CBS). The program is aired each Sunday evening from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. The theme for June was “ Faith that Saves.” The program in Kpalime is impacting the Kloto region so much that the denominational pastors are beginning to ask “what must I do to be saved.” This has resulted in a recent seminar organized for forty one (41) denominational church leaders and pastors.

During the month of June the radio program had seven (7) prospects who are currently studying with the church and some have even visited. There were also five (5) phone calls. After each preaching session, listeners are given the opportunity to call into the program with questions and comments. We wish to thank our sponsors.

Mini Gospel Chariot for Togo
The Gospel Chariot for Togo is almost ready for use; it has both sitting and cargo compartments. All the items needed for effective outreach have been purchased. The Chariot will be “out-doored” with a maiden campaign in Kpalime from the 24th-26th of July. Elders from Lome and several preachers have been invited to grace the occasion. The campaign will end with a thanksgiving service on Sunday.

Students and preachers were able to observe David, an electronic technician, demonstrate how to use some of the electronic equipment. He spent two days teaching all of us how to set up for an outreach program.

Seven (7) Denominational Pastors attend seminar
God has continued to surprise us. A few months ago I was informed that some pastors were troubled by the rate at which their members were converting to church of Christ. These seven pastors did not see any harm in allowing their men to come to CBS to increase their knowledge in the word. However, after a few weeks they were surprised that these men had changed, their leaders claimed the students had become false teachers. Some of these students were not allowed again to use the pulpit they once preached from. It was at this point that these pastors decided to come and investigate the church, and thus called for a seminar. I understand these pastors were almost persuaded to become Christians.

Some of the topics discussed included: 

-What is a denomination?
-The difference between a denominational church and church of christ
-Are there saved ones in the denomination?
-Why should one become a member of the Church of Christ?

These pastors left the two day seminar convinced that there is One true Church. They requested that the next meeting should be held in the City Hall and that the entire public should be invited. This is the power of God’s word at work. Continue to pray that the word will be preached with boldness.

The total number of participants was 47. This number included students, recent graduates, instructors, and the seven pastors.

The Lord adds three souls to the Tsame congregation
In a recent report I mentioned that David, one of our current students who was converted from denominationalism, had five congregations under his leadership prior to his coming to CBS. Now that he is member of the Church of Christ, he has the responsibility to make sure all those five churches become churches of Christ. David was able to baptize those he personally taught. This means that David understands the difference between the denomination he used to belong to (The International Mission for the Salvation of Souls) and the Church of the Bible.

The Tsame congregation needs CFA 15.00 a month or CFA 180.00 a year to rent the land on which their structure stands. The owner is willing to sell also. This structure is made of bamboo poles with palm branches. The question you may want to ask is what happens when it rains? The simple answer is, worship service is either dismissed or suspended. Let us encourage David by helping to rent the land and provide funds for a shed.

H. Willie Gley
williegley@gmail.com
P.O. Box AN 19611 Accra North, Ghana

Set To Begin...

Students arrived in Denver last week and more are scheduled to arrive this week as a new class of students is set to begin their studies at the Bear Valley Bible Institute in Denver. At this point, 18 students were able to get support together to attend classes this fall. There are others who are still working on their support and hope to join this group in just a few weeks. Please pray for these men and their families as they work on preparing themselves for service in the kingdom.

Additionally, students are also beginning and continuing classes in various locations where we are able to partner with the training of students in 14 countries. We are quickly approaching the beginning of the new work in Haiti. This is an exciting work as the Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver, Freed-Hardeman University, and the brethren in Haiti are coming together to partner in this training effort. We look forward to reporting more about the development of the International School of Theology as classes begin in August.

We are a few weeks away from the annual staff retreat in Denver for the local and extension staff in this work. The time to focus on the development of the program is exciting. The updated reports encourage everyone in the great work of God that we are able to participate in on a global level. Thanks to so many wonderful supporters, this work continues to be a blessing for everyone involved and souls are rejoicing through their obedience to the gospel that is preached. This week’s report shares some incredible information about the growth of the kingdom.

Now on to the other reports...

Coordinator Updates
Reports from the coordinators are now located on the website, under Staff Reports. The address is http://www.wetrainpreachers.com/extension-schools/

To see Denton Landon’s latest reports, please click here.

To see Donnie Bates’ latest report, please click here.

Extension Reports 

A Marriage, Family Evangelism, And Growth In The Church: CBIW experienced the marriage of a student, studies for family outreach and church growth.

Back In The Classroom: Students at the Kenya School of Preaching are returning to the classroom for their final quarter of studies in preparation to graduate in August.

Persecution Plagues Students In Togo: Becoming a Christian and preaching the gospel in Togo brought persecution to students at CBS in Kpalimé, Togo.

Conversions, Restorations, And A Little History: The work in Nigeria demonstrates the power of God’s hand since 2003 in the work of SWSE in Ibadan and Lagos.

Rejoicing In The Blessings God Has Provided: Graduates from the Andrew Connally School of Preaching in Tanzania continue to show the increase God is giving to the work.

Traveling In Africa Can Be Interesting: A recent trip by Daniel Gaines proved to be interesting and exciting. To give you a perspective of traveling in Africa, please read on.

Final Thoughts 
This was an exceptional week with several reports. Thank you for all you continue to do for the work of Extension Training. Your involvement at every level of this work is appreciated far more than we will ever be able to express. The Lord needs you! The church needs you! We need you! The staff and students in each location need you, and the lost need you. You are a blessing in every way. Thank you!

God bless
Bob

A Marriage, Family Evangelism, And Growth In The Church...

Dearest in Christ

Greetings from Cameroon. It is a great pleasure for us to share with you what God is doing in our communities. We do hope this report meets you in good health.

Our sincere thanks goes to God for His care and providence to us in our needs. The weather continues to be what it is, rainfall is constant and provokes many to get sick. Rainfall also disturbs and makes our weekend evangelism more stressful as our students will leave school on Friday night and some of them will be getting to their locations for weekend evangelism after midnight or 1 a.m. the next day because of the deplorable conditions of the roads. But because we think souls we must go for souls, so that we may rob from the strong man’s house.

Brother Mella Ferdinand, our current student, and sister Evelyn were able to come together and get a picture together. Brother Mella came into CBIW as a single student but by His grace he will leaving CBIW in December graduation as a married evangelist. They finished their traditional rites and sister Evelyn, a sister in Wotutu congregation, is now married to brother Mella. Please keep them in your prayers as they prepare themselves for ministry.

This month we are working on the general theme in the Wotutu congregation on the topic “Family Evangelism.” We are aiming at involving families in our congregation to start evangelizing those in their families with the pure message of Christ. We also encouraged families to take their family members to other places to share the gospel on house to house. My wife and my son, Raymondchris Jr., walked in Kongwe village as we spent a day there with the congregation. The entire road was messed up, but we trekked to the village. Keep our efforts in your prayers.

This weekend, the Wotutu congregation played host to a seminar that helped train sisters to know how to teach children in their class. As we think about the growth of the church we are also thinking about the sustenance of congregations, that is why teaching sisters to know how to teach children classes is a burning passion in our ministry because the children are the future church. If we mess up their foundation today, then we don’t need to expect a better church tomorrow. God forbid. Keep this gesture in your prayers as sisters of 7 congregations around Wotutu came to be part of the training.

More mission printing tracts keep leaving Wotutu. We have less than 400 cartons now, as the news about the availability of tracts in CBIW goes to the ears of many congregations all over Cameroon. Many will hire a car to come and get their quantity for their use. Many congregations have tripled their evangelistic efforts because of these tracts. Please keep praying for the work in Cameroon.

This weekend took our students to two new congregation who have been calling us to come and help them. Mabonji congregation and Mile 16 congregation, all in southwest region of Cameroon, sent their appreciations for working with our students. Mile 16 congregation is not too far from Wotutu and they need us to send students on a weekly basis. Today, the congregation worshipped with 56, so they can help get our students back and forth. A total of 3 souls were baptized and 2 restorations were recorded in our weekend work.

The Koba and Dikome congregations will continue to expect our students late night or early morning because of the nature of the road, but the Christians will remain awake waiting for the arrival of the students. This problem will only be solved when a student graduates and goes there permanently after December.

Plans
Most of our plans are being distorted by the weather conditions. As we continue to plan for mass house to house evangelism in Isokolo, it is still pending because weather does not permit.

Appreciations
God bless you and keep you strong. You are a meaningful partner in God’s business here. If not for your love and deep concern it would not have been possible. God replenish all your sacrifice.

Please do your best to share our reports with others.

Elangwe and family

Two Reports For The Price Of One...

Landon Mission Report January - March, 2014
Greetings Brethren. Thank you for your part in training preachers in their own countries.

Most years January is a time of preparation for teaching later in the year. This year however was different. The school in Ukraine needed someone to teach Isaiah to the first year students. Ukraine in January is, is a word, cold. Daytime temperatures on average were about 10 - 15 degrees. Some days there was a 10 - 15 mile per hour wind. A couple of evenings the temperature dipped below zero.

The first year class began the year with five students but one needed to drop out due to health issues at home. Of these one man is a fairly recent convert. One of the students is close to retirement age. After graduation in May of 2015 he plans to return to his job in the mines and retire about two years later. He then can preach for the church and not need financial support.

Chapel serve is conducted everyday. Most of the serve is conducted by the students with the faculty speaking occasionally. Here is a picture of a student speaking during chapel.

Youth Night

One activity of the local church is a weekly youth night. On this trip I was ask to speak for one of the meetings. I spoke on the difference between the religion of God as revealed in the New Testament and the other major religious systems. In the Bible God provides historical markers for people to check out for accuracy. People, places, and events are mentioned in the context which invites verification. No other religious system I know of does this.

February
Following the Freed Hardeman Lectureship in February the extension staff meeting was held at the North Jackson congregation in Jackson, Tennessee. One exciting piece of news involves new schools scheduled for the near future. Several are in the early stages and not yet certain but a new school in Haiti set to open sometime this year. This will be a joint effort between Freed Hardeman University and Bear Valley.

March
In mid March I traveled to Fort Worth, Texas for three days of work with Gary Fallis. One piece that developed out of these work days is the beginning of a teacher training program. Some of the native teachers in our schools requested some additional training. Gary and I discussed these requests, considered what areas are the most needed for these new teachers and worked out a proposed training program for them. We set a goal of September 1 for the completion of the first four classes in the program (to by Gary and two by me).

March should also be a time of preparation for returning to Ukraine in mid-April to teach Jeremiah. However, the uncertainty of Russian intentions in the eastern portion of Ukraine led to the postponement of that trip. Please keep these brethren in your prayers that they will remain faithful through these challenging times.

Thank you brethren for your participation in this work. 

God bless,
Denton Landon

To see Denton's report with pictures, please click here.

Landon Mission Report April - June, 2014
Greetings Brethren. 

Thank you for your continued mission support for training preachers in their native countries. April, as was reported in the last newsletter, was when I was scheduled to teach Jeremiah in Ukraine. However the unrest in the eastern region led to the cancellation of that trip. In God’s providence the school was able to conduct graduation ceremonies on Saturday May 2014. The following day about 25 armed men entered the building during Sunday worship and declared the building now belongs to them and the only recognized church in that region is the Russian Orthodox Church. After some negotiations the brethren were allowed to remove most of the school’s personal property such as student desks, chairs, computers, etc. with a few exceptions.

The staff has relocated to the central and western regions where they are safe at this time. The Director, Dennis Sopilnik, has rented a meeting place in the city of Ternopil. Ternopil is located in the far west about two hours from Lviv (also spelled Lvov). They have established a congregation and committed to locating the school there for one year. Howell Ferguson, the
coordinator for Ukraine, and I are planning a trip in early September for the beginning of the new school year. Howell and his wife Mary are moving, Lord willing, to Tanzania in January to work there full time as missionaries. He plans to continue working with Ukraine as coordinator but as ask me to help as an assistant for Ukraine. Since I already teach in both the preacher training program and the Masters in Ukraine it seems like a good fit.

I spent some time in May working with a some students from Nigeria with the Extension Masters In Ministry program. These men were involved in the Masters program when we were working with a school in southeast Nigeria.

In June I was privileged to teach Advanced Hermeneutics in Paraguay. The missionaries there know of three churches in the capital city, Asuncion.

These are, to their knowledge, the only congregations in Paraguay. This is a country with a population of 6.7 million people according to the CIA World Fact Book online available at: (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pa.html)

One exciting thing about the school in Paraguay is the presence of Elias from Panama. He graduated from ITL, the school in Guatemala, in 2013 and is now working as a missionary and teacher in Paraguay. Elias is studying Guarani, the second official language along with Spanish, one day a week. Later in the week he is studying the Bible with his Guarani tutor. It is exciting to see men such as Elias graduating and going into areas where the church is small and the need for men with training is great. Elias is also beginning the In Ministry Masters Program with Bear Valley.

Your support is contributing to this and so many other mission efforts of the church throughout the world. Thank you for your continued support for training men in their native countries to preach and teach the saving message of our Lord’s gospel.

Denton

To see Denton’s report with pictures, please click here.

Traveling In Africa Can Be Interesting...

Last week we had the honor of being invited to attend the wedding of one of our local brothers. He was going to be married in Chimala, a village in the southern part of the country. It was going to be an awfully long trip, but we relished the opportunity to witness this aspect of Tanzanian culture and to strengthen our relationship with this good family. Chimala is also home to one of the oldest mission points in the country, and we have long desired to visit this work. Additionally, our new friends the Evans family and John Strong work in Iringa (located between us and Chimala). It is always a great idea to visit with other missionaries when the opportunity arises in order to trade ideas and encourage one another. With the chance to accomplish all of these things at once, we decided to take our very first African road-trip! Let me tell you, it was A LOT different from any road-trip I've ever taken before. Take a look at these images from the trip, then let me tell you all about it.

First of all, this trip was much more interesting than the typical interstate trip. The cross country scenery was amazing, and we saw a variety of African lifestyles along the way. Unfortunately, our Tanzanian road map doesn't make a distinction between nicely paved roads and long, rough dirt roads. This resulted in us driving for one stretch of over 100 miles on a dirt road. Can't say I ever did that back home. Fortunately, the traffic was very light on that road... with the exception of giant buses driving way too fast as they carried their passengers on cross country trips of their own. Several times we just had to pull off the road to avoid being flattened. 

One of the really enjoyable aspects of the travel was the wildlife encountered on the way. At home we were accustomed to seeing the occasional deer or raccoon. Here we had to stop to let zebras cross the road, and a variety of other animals as well. We even encountered a sign detailing the fines incurred by running into different animals. Running into an elephant or giraffe will cost you $15,000. However baboon roadkill will only set you back $110.

The convenience that we missed the most was fast food. Aside from a bag of peanuts from a village street vendor, we pretty much only had the food that we carried with us. There were very few restaurants along the way, but being out of our home turf we had no way to know if they were safe or not. They would almost certainly have been extremely slow anyway. 

However, we planned for this situation, and Tiffany packed picnics for us. We stopped at a pretty little spot along the way and prepared for a pleasant meal of peanut butter sandwiches. Little did we know, we had chosen a spot in the middle of a path that the Maasai used for their livestock. So as Tiffany was making the sandwiches, a small herd of cows and goats came walking right through our picnic! Oh well, TIA (this is Africa)!

The other thing we had to be conscious of was gas, or petrol as it is called here. Gas stations are a little farther between each other here so we start looking for one when we get down to half a tank. At one point things did get a little close. We were about 50 miles from the nearest petrol station and we needed some fuel. We found a garage and asked them with broken Swahili if they knew where we could find petrol. They misunderstood and thought we were searching for a man named Petrol. They asked, "Who does Petrol work for?" I was thinking, "I hope it works for me because I need some fuel!" Eventually we solved the miscommunication, and they sold us 10 liters of petrol that they happened to have on hand. Just another TIA moment!

We arrived in Iringa and had a great visit with our friends, the Evans family and John Strong. It was wonderful to see their work and spend time with our fellow soldiers in Christ. They were very hospitable to us, and we look forward to the next time we'll see them.

We were thrilled to get a chance to visit Chimala Mission. My family almost moved there to work when I was in 8th grade. I couldn't help but wonder as I toured the facility what life would have been like if those plans had come to fruition. 

Chimala is an extensive work that provides many services to the community. There is a hospital, nursery school, primary boarding school, secondary boarding school, and a biblical institute. They were gracious enough to let us stay there for the night.

Finally, it was time for the wedding. It was a festive blend of western and local traditions, and was something that we were fortunate to be able to witness. It was scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m., but in true Africa fashion things didn't get started until about 1:00 p.m. Time moves at a different pace here, and things are more laid back for the most part. Fortunately, we were warned to anticipate this so we arrived late anyway.

When we arrived, the atmosphere was festive. The women from the local congregation had gathered in front of the building, and wearing matching dresses for the occasion formed a joyful chorus. Their singing filled the air and notified the neighborhood that something special was happening that day. This inside of the church building was filled with brightly colored, satiny material and flowers. When the bride and groom arrived, the fanfare hit a crescendo.

The whole experience was designed to be fun for everyone. Things began with the men from the wedding party entering the building. An emcee jokingly rebuked them for leaving the women behind and sent them back out. The men returned with their female counterparts. The emcee then rebuked them for forgetting the bride and groom, and sent them all back out to enter properly. This set the tone for a fun and spirited ceremony.

After the ceremony, a procession went to another location to take pictures of the happy couple. Following the photo session, we all went to a family member's home for a reception.

Here people had the chance to greet the newly weds and present gifts. Rather than being all wrapped up to be opened later, gifts were proudly paraded around in the open and celebrated. Then we all shared a meal together.

Then we went back into the village where a facility had been rented out for a second reception. Here more gifts were given. The guests were all introduced to one another and given a chance to address the crowd. I was asked to speak on behalf of the Arusha residents and offer some biblical thoughts to the couple. Cake was cut, and general festivities continued. The cake tradition is a little different here. There were three cakes. One was presented to each family, then the bride and groom fed cake to each other. Remaining cake was smashed and passed around the crowd where guest sampled pinches of it (kind of like passing the Lord's Supper). I finally excused myself at 10:30 p.m. and they party was still going strong, with a full meal waiting to be served. It was certainly a full day of celebration, and an amazing event to witness. I wish the very best to the new husband and wife.

What a trip! :)

Daniel Gaines

To see Daniel’s report, loaded with pictures worth seeing, click here.