A Recent Campaign And New Library Benefit The Lord's Work In India...

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.  Acts 1:8

Dear Brethren, 

Greetings to you in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. We thank you all for your prayers and encouragement through which we are able to what we do. Thank you all so much for being a big part of this expanding Lord’s ministry in our part of India. May God receive the glory and honor.

Recent government statistics show the least growth of Christianity in the country as a whole, but where as in our state it is growing steadily. We are not so much excited or surprised about it, but we rather see what we can do help with the growth of the churches in our part of the nation.

Campaign Week:
ill area Preachers’ Fellowship meeting: this is the first time ever we visited this remote place in this part of our State. Reaching the Unreached: this was our slogan during the campaign week. Our graduates worked as a team to fulfill what our Lord said ‘you shall be witness unto me in the uttermost part of the earth.’ Certainly these places are in a very remote place, high among the mountains. There was no cell phone service, no regular electricity, and no pure drinking water available. This is one of the reasons these people often suffer with typhoid, also due to mosquitoes, they suffer from malaria and other viral fevers. We often hear such health problems from our students too.  Only very few have TV facility.  They are not uncivilized but they are far away from all kinds of modern facilities and living style. Of course they are good number of young people who had High school education, some even college, which really benefits the efforts our students.  We have students coming from Lambasingi, Lothu Gadda and other nearby villages, where you can only go by walk, you are lucky if you have a motor cycle. They speak three Languages; Telugu is our state language, Odiya (language spoken in the neighboring state of Orissa) and their local Tribal Language.

Before we went to this place we stopped at Narsipatnam to meet with the preachers gathered there. We have taken that opportunity to help the preachers to understanding Word of God and presenting it rightly. There was gathering of 60 preachers for this meeting. We have explained about our School program inviting them to encourage their young men to go through Preacher training for the benefit of the Church as the present government is trying to shut down the missionary activities.

After finishing this meeting we reached our destination ‘Chithapalli’ which is about 2700 Ft above the sea level, 110 Kms from Visakhapatnam.  We were invited by our Bro. Satyanarayana who is preaching in the near by village ‘Kalaparri’, we preached that night about the Church that the Bible Teaches, encouraging them to remain faithful. This congregation is building a Church building but their financial backwardness held it to complete.

Old Students, when they heard about us coming to their hill area, they invited over hundred young people to attend the Preachers Meeting. We had all the students who are graduates of the school were present along with the other young men. That was a great gathering of young people who are interested to learn the Word of God. Our faculty and other preachers who joined with us has done a great job teaching the word of God.

In all our conversations and preaching we emphasized the fact of learning the Truth and Teaching it efficiently to establish the True Lord’s Church in their area. We are thankful to God because through this program we were able to present the need of being trained to become efficient preachers to the young people in this area as a result we have 2 more students enrolled in this batch. After visiting these brethren who are living far away from this modern world, we have decided to make regular visits to the congregations who are being established by our graduates. As our Graduates go to new places and establish congregations great need of encouragement is increasing too.

This encouragement requires time, money and effort, kindly pray that we would be able to form up into teams to encourage the congregations in this area through our regular visit. Certainly these congregations need encouragement as they are in the infantry stage. 

M. Rama Rao: Preachers Fellowship Meetings were giving a great opportunity to meet with the Preachers (some of them are our Graduates) to gather together. We had one full day preachers Fellowship meeting, several preachers have delivered some good lessons from the Epistle of Jude. After the Preachers meeting is over, 3 responded to the invitation and brother Rama Rao Baptized them.

Later, we went into the streets of this village proclaiming the True God and Savior and pleaded the people of this village to believe in Jesus for the remission of their sins. While distributing the gospel tracts in this village we had faced an unique situation, that is there were group of men who are playing brackets/gambling, we stopped by them and encouraged them to realize the value of life and advised them their life would be changed if they believe in Jesus, to our surprise they heard the Word and received the gospel tracts we distributed.

Library:
We are thankful to Brother Jerry Bates who has been very instrumental in gathering more books to our Library. Sister Doris Ford of Grand Prairie, TX donated some books of brother J. Monroe Tharp, who taught Greek at Bear Valley Bible School. Our students are really blessed to have all these books. We are so thankful to  During the hermeneutics class they have learned in detail about using the Library for a better understanding the Scripture. As the number of books are increasing and so as the number of students we are thinking about extending the Library facility so that we would have more room for the students as well as to the books.

Special Guest:
We were very excited to hear about the proposed visit of the Preacher ‘Brother Kevin Hahn’ from Lake Houston Church of Christ in the month of Jan’16. We have met this brother before there was any relationship established between the Lake Houston Church and our Bear Valley Extension School. This brother was very instrumental in establishing the connection between the School and the Church. We are very much looking forward for his visit, hoping to see that we would be blessed with his visit. This is not his first time to come to India, but this is his first time to visit with our school, very much looking forward for that.

Once again we thank the brethren at Lake Houston for their continued trust and confidence in the Lord’s work at Visakhapatnam, we do thank the Elders at Strickland Church of Christ for their concern to oversee the Lord’s work here. Kindly convey our greetings and gratitude to the brethren at your congregations. Greetings from all of us at Visakha Valley Bible College.

In Christ,

Samuel Raju, Director
John Dean M, Dean
Visakha Valley Bible College,
Visakha Patnam
Andhra Pradesh, INDIA

Tension In Nepal Causes Rebellion Among Self-Interest Groups.

Nepal Tension: Eight years ago Nepal got rid of it's king, which meant a new constitution was needed. 7.5 years and millions of dollars later they ratified a new constitution a couple of months ago. It is horrible. Due to a very unpopular public reception, amendments were being proposed within two weeks by the same people who wrote it.  

Many self-interest groups [political parties, ethnic and tribal groups, geographical areas, castes] are in rebellion. Within the past five weeks we have witnessed mob violence that has included hanging one police commissioner, burning a police building with officers inside, and many casualties on both sides. These mobs will never agree or cooperate in a positive way with one another, but they are joined together in this deadly protest. All highways leading into Nepal are basically closed.  India has closed her side of the borders to all international traffic.  The result of border closures, blocking major roads of commerce, and violent mob riots has crippled the whole country. We have no petrol for motor vehicles, no cooking gas, and a dire lack of food supplies. Fuel products are just NOT available. Food and some other items now cost 500% more than they did two months ago.  Many businesses have closed their doors and people are out of work. School are closed because their buses can't bring the children and the staff can't get transportation.

I could go on and on with other details but it will not change things. The unknown end is not in view at this time .... BUT ..... I'm confident there will be an end to the present mess. Nepal is staggered by the earthquakes and followed by this political corruption and ignorance that has exacerbated every area of life with the mob violence cutting off needed supplies.

Keep us in your prayers.
Jerry

A Recent Visit To Gorlovka Strengthens The Church...

Dear friends, 

I want to share with you my thoughts after visiting Gorlovka. Thank you for your prayers. I made it home safely on Saturday. The Lord kept me safe during my time staying in the unrecognized Donetsk republic. I guess the most difficult thing during the whole trip was to see the eyes of Christians who met me with joy. We spent several hours reminiscing of the peaceful times and being strengthened by God’s word. We used apartments of Christians as places for gathering. We read many psalms of encouragement during this short period of time. Some Christians cried. I was touched by what I saw. Despite everything they’ve been through, they didn’t lose their faith. They’ve lived for weeks in a row without water, electricity, and gas. Oftentimes they had to go down to cellars of the apartment buildings, hiding from shelling. Many of them had their homes and windows broken and utilities damaged. Some of them still haven’t replaced the broken glass. They’ve learned to put thin plastic film and fix it with duct tape. But they don’t see it as a problem. They still put their trust in God and see their protection only in Him. 

Thank you, all brothers and sisters who sent me words of encouragement for Christians in Gorlovka. I told them about your love and care. They pray for all those missionaries who came to them. We thank Johnny Mack Young, Shackle Island Church of Christ, Steve Housley and Bear Valley Church of Christ for the financial support for these Christians. Many of them have admitted that this help is essential for them. Even now the social services do not work well in this unrecognized republic. Even though the pensions are being paid, it’s not enough to live by for the whole month. 

Christians in Gorlovka are looking forward to Andrew Zhuravlev’s visit, and want him to come back. I also managed to visit several non-Christian families; their children used to attend our Bible school for kids. They asked about the church and about God, but they are afraid to become Christians, since this pro-Russian republic acknowledges only Moscow Orthodox church. 

Thank you again for your prayers. I hope my trip would be an encouragement for all Christians on both sides of the frontline. There are still so many Christians staying in Donetsk and Lughansk areas without their ministers. I urge you to pray for them. 

Your brother and coworker,
Dennis Sopelnik

If you want to see Dennis' report with pictures, please click here.

Bicycles Make A Difference In Spreading The Gospel In Ghana...

The Tamale Institute of Biblical Studies was a place to be this week; some individuals in the towns in the three regions in the Northern part of the country, past and present students of the Institution and members of the two congregations in Tamale were beneficiaries of a 2-day Workshop sponsored by Bear Valley Bible Institute International and Healing Hands International (USA).

The Resource Person was Brother Ebenezer Udofiah who travelled from Nariobi, Kenya to Tamale, Ghana to share his rich knowledge and experience in Food Security with us. We are very appreciative of the effort of all who contributed to this very successful workshop.

The Workshop which was residential was attended by sixty- five brethren from 37 congregations. Participants were taken through the theories and practical of making composting, raising beds, and farm management. With local materials and a few item brought by Healing Hands International, four beds were made by the participants under the guidance of the facilitator, Brother Ebenezer Udofia.

Thanks to our lovely facilitator for making farming very interesting. Throughout the workshop no one slept because of his motivative skills in teaching.

Our Sisters also contributed immensely to the success of the workshop. Food was always ready on time and of good taste.

The Institute has a land which is approximately one and half acre on campus reserved for this Drip Irrigation Farm Participants were permitted to ask questions for clarification.

Every individual participant was actively involved in the demonstration when we got to the field.

Our able Resource Person took time to answer all the questions. Bed are ready for seedling planting. Everyone was full of joy after the training.

Another thing which is worth mentioning is the making of compose manure. At the end four beds were made and planting was also done.

We once again extend our Greetings from Tamale, the capital city of the Northern Region of Ghana to all our beloved brethren. 

All past students of the Institute were full of smiles when it was announced at the recent graduation ceremony that sponsors provided bicycles to enhance their effort to propagating of the gospel.

In all, thirty-six bicycles were given to the past students. 

It is hoped that with the aid of these bicycles, preachers can now ride to nearby towns and villages to do evangelism and visitations.

The board of directors, staff, and the entire student body of the Institute wish to express a profound thanks and appreciation to the coordinator, brother Steven Ashcraft, and the sponsors of the Institute.

There were enough bicycles for all.

Joseph Okyere Baah

God Crowns Long Years Of Evangelism With Conversions...

Beloved in Christ,

Greetings from BVBIN and my fellow WBSFUW in Oyo and Osun state.

At last, God crowned our long years of evangelism in Ona-Ara Local Government of Oyo state with the conversion of a Pentecostal church at Kuede village on October 11, 2015, with the conversion of another three of her key members on Oct.11, 2015. After the two hours Bible discussion by brother Kayode Solomon Eniafe and two of our year two students on “The Church of the Bible,” they made the decision to change. The three new converts are Mrs. Latifat Adekunle, Mrs. Oladele Deborah, and Mrs. Ishmael Foluke to increase the numbers of the conversion to six from a congregation of about twenty membership. Mr. Sabitu Adeyemi and his wife, Falilatu, were baptized during our Saturday evangelism on October 10, in Kuede village!

Brethren, our school van finally break down at Fasade on Sunday evening on our way back to the school campus from Ibadan.

We towed the van with my jeep from Badeku town to the school campus in Butubutu where the mechanic will work on the engine. The mechanic said it will cost us between N50,000 to N60,000 to ring the engine and other necessary things to put the van in a better position for another one or two years! Nevertheless, we shall continue managing my personal jeep until the time the van is back to the road.

Our WBS team just recruited over 400 new students for free Bible correspondence courses. We shall mail the return Introduction lessons to brother Joel Coppinger of WBSTC California by the end of next week. Those willing to teach more souls the gospel of Christ by correspondence courses should please feel free to contact brother Joel Coppinger.

The BVBIN-Ibadan main campus closed first semester classes today for a month of vocational studies until November 14, 2015. Second semester classes begin, Lord willing, on Monday, November 16, 2015.

The staff and the BVBIN-Ibadan main campus that are going for a month vocational studies in Ibadan and Asejire, Osun state, just returned from Laboro village for weekend evangelism. Laboro village is one of the neighboring villages to Kuede village in Ona-Ara Local Government Area of Oyo state. The majority of the inhabitants of that village are mainly strangers from Cotonou (a close country to Nigeria) and Benue state of Nigeria. In short, this people are really ready for the truth. Even though there is no convert yet, some of them promise us that they will worship with the just converted Pentecostal church at Kuede tomorrow (Sunday). Brother Kayode Solomon Eniafe, and one of our year two students, are going to minister their, Lord’s willing.

Brethren, it's a blessing to be village evangelists! We are proud of this ministry, and we thank you all for the vital role you are all playing.

My second son, Makinde John, will lead tomorrow’s (Sunday) service as the song leader. I will teach on “The Suffering of the Saints” (1 Peter 1:1-8), while brother Bamidele Moses, one of our year one students, will sermonize the church at Onikokoro / Gbongudu, Ibadan, and brother Gabriel Ishom, one of our year two students, and my first son, Makinde Emmanuel, a graduate of BVBIN August 2015, are teaching the youth class.

Brethren, we appreciate your partnership and you are all in our daily prayer. Stay blessed and be strong in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

A big thanks to you all for your prayers, financial support, and partnership. May the Lord of blessing continue to bless all our joint efforts in Christ name, Amen.

Yours in His service,

Makinde Ebenezer Olufemi 
Director of Studies - Bear Valley Bible Institute Nigeria 
Minister - Church of Christ Onikokoro / Gbongudu, Ibadan
​Proprietor - Southwest Institute Butubutu village, Ibadan

An Open Door Opens The Heart To A New Sister In Christ...

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from this part of the globe. We are encouraged that you are all doing well. The climate in Cameroon is changing from severe rainy season to dry season, so many are not in their best of health. Today, I took my son, Raymond Cris, to the hospital at 7 am, and I could only return in Wotutu about 1 pm, which I was not part of all parts of worship. I later took communion and my collection. Keep many this way in your prayers.

Last week in BVBIC-Wotutu went on well. Students continue to gain knowledge and experience as they prepare themselves for full-time ministry upon their graduation. Keep praying for all those who are involved in this work here.

This weekend, we had mass evangelism in two locations: Buea and Bonjongo. The gospel continues to penetrate the hearts of many. Our students sat in the van ready to go. If you are with them you will hear them singing and being happy as they go searching for lost souls.

Several students are in government school and the authorities allow our students and some members of our congregation to tell the students about Jesus and His church. It was an open door to reach out to many who love to know about Jesus away from denominational doctrines, which is rampant in these communities.

Evangelist Ekelle continues to spread the news of the gospel in the Bonjongo Village. He and his wife are doing the ground work, and our students follow up.

A lady from Bonjongo Village opened her door as well as the door of her heart to the gospel to have a place. Today, she worshiped with her 4 children, who also love the way the church of Christ worships, “away from noise,” as I quote what they said today. This is an open door for Bonjongo Village. The gospel will help many who are under the bondage of satanic and denominational influences. If we put all in place, for a place of worship and other logistics, then we may start a new congregation in that village pretty soon. Your prayers will be appreciated.

When the Lord opens the door, no one can close it. We have 11 children coming from Bonjongo Village to attend Brightland Christian Academy. Children continue to tap God’s amazing blessings from the word of God daily as evangelist Nsong continues to teach them. It is surprising to new children, as they are part of our devotionals, which are characterized with vocal singing and no clapping of hands. This is a lesson for them to take home daily. As they grow up with this knowledge, we have confidence of the brightness of their future and the growth of the church.

The kids in Brightland are taught to look inside their Bible because that is where the truth is found. Those who are grown to some age, who can read, are blessed to have a copy of the Bible in their hands to read and see the truth with their own eyes, even though we cannot get copies of the Bibles to all who need it.

Christian ladies do their best, not only to educate the children in Brightland Christian, but they also go beyond their curriculum to teach what is written in the scriptures, to help these children as young as they are. We can use the children to get to their parents. Tracts are put in their school bags addressed to their parents. Most parents appreciate the concern and love from the Brightland Christian administration.

Girls are the dominant population in Brightland Christian academy. We are privileged to be a part of their lives as we do all in our power to promote Christian education and Christian values. There is saying in our communities that, “If you train a woman, you are directly training the communities and why not the entire nation?”

Plans
​Our plans are centered on evangelizing our communities , our nations and the world at large as long as God will that to us. Keep our plans as we evangelize and nurture existing congregation . weekly we continue to have call from different congregations to come over to them and help.

Appreciations
Our God will continue to bless you for all your efforts and love toward the work here. Thank you, and God bless you for making things happening. God alone will reward you in due season if you faint not.

Do your best to share with others.

Elangwe and family
By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu

A Great Week And An Urgent Prayer Request...

After a week of campaigns around the country, students from the Denver campus enjoy a break week before returning to classes on October 19th. Initial reports indicate the campaigns were successful in reaching out to thousands of homes with many opportunities to share God’s word. We hope to provide more information in the weeks ahead after students return to Denver. We trust their efforts to encourage the church and plant the seed of God’s word will prove fruitful.

Next quarter is number two for incoming students in Denver. They did well in their first quarter and we are excited to see them continue this journey. Sadly, this will be the last quarter for two of our students as they reach the end of the journey. Gary Pollard and Jesse LeMay will complete their studies in December and begin a new focus in the study of missions. We look forward to seeing them build upon their foundation for ministry work in the extension program.

The extension schools continue to report about the progress students achieve as they study from God’s word and share the good news with others. The reports below also share news about students returning from campaigns and heading back to the classroom. The ACSOP in Tanzania completed their annual Leadership Conference with great success. Visiting speakers from the US, Cambodia, and other nations in Africa all came together to study this vitally needed subject.

Students in Haiti began their second year of studies. It is amazing how quickly the first year passed by, and students continue their preparations. Information about their recent outreach activities demonstrates God’s fruitful increase. Read more in the report below. Other reports provide news of God’s providential work through sharing the Gospel around the world.

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST: We learned over the weekend of a violent tragedy in Haiti. Sister Roberta Edwards was killed by several men who shot her in the vehicle she was driving and kidnapped a four year old boy who stayed at the orphanage sister Edwards managed. Please remember to pray for her family and the situation surrounding this young boy and the other children affected by this incident.

Now on to this week’s incredible 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

Gaining, Grounding, Growing, Glorifying: The 4Gs At Work in Cameroon: These four ideas are the foundational components of the program involved in the school at church.

Students Return For Their Studies In French-Cameroon: God’s goodness and greatness are seen in the work in French-speaking Cameroon as staff and students return for the third quarter.

After Campaigns Bear Fruit, Students Are Back In Class In Kenya: As students return to study at KSOP, they report about the increase given by God as the Gospel is preached.

The Church Is Encouraged As BVBIU Settles Into A New Place: As the Bible Institute in Ukraine moves to a new location, the local congregation is encouraged by working together.

Graduation Approaches For Students In Nepal: Students prepare for graduation later this month in Nepal and they will head into various locations to help the church grow.

Second Year Of Classes Begin At IST In Haiti: Students begin the second year of studies and reports from the work indicate the success of the program in Port Au Prince, Haiti.

The Annual Tanzania Leadership Conference Was A Success: Reports from the Andrew Connally School of Preaching indicate another successful year at the Leadership Conference.

Final Thoughts
A final word of gratitude to each of you. We are thankful to share in the work of training kingdom workers with each of you. Your involvement in this program is what makes it successful. Your prayers, time, talent, and financial resources continue to bless the Lord’s kingdom across the world. Thank you.

God bless
Bob

Gaining, Grounding, Growing, Glorifying: The 4Gs At Work In Cameroon...

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from Cameroon. It is another beautiful day and we had a great worship with all over here, including 4 new visitors. We were impressed to be part of our worship.

It was another day to welcome all our students who were out for mission work after their one week vacation. They came back safe and sound with good news about the work.

We continued with house to house as we share the saving message to any one we meet along the line. I was sharing the word with one lady who was eager to know more about the New Testament worship. She was bold enough to expose to me her personal life.

“Evangelism is our Mission and our Mission is Evangelism.” We continue to transplant into the heads of our students the 4 Gs, which stands for Gaining, Grounding, Growing, and Glorifying. This goal can only be attained as we go out to share the message, strengthening, developing leadership, and praising God for all His goodness.

One of our students, Etienne Loh, taught this morning about our theme “The Cross of Christ.” We took our Christians to x-ray and make more commitments to the cross. It was great because many see the reasons and deeply study the importance of the cross of Christ.

Sister Senge is a registered nurse working with the government. She came back to the church with smiles and tears saying marriage took her away from the Lord to a denomination for the past 15 years. Because my father is sick, all this while at thehospital where she is working I gave tracts out, “What Must I Do To Be Saved?” Wow! She took also and said, “but where do you belong?” I told her with confidence, “I am a member of the Church of Christ.” She is happy to come back and she said, “I will not leave my God again.” Keep her in your prayers, as her husband is still strongly attached to that denomination.

Thanks be to God we were able to help someone with reading glasses. She took these glasses from me today because we have some reading glasses that we give it out to those who have problem of reading the Bible. She was happy to see the wording again today without stress. She thanked God for all those who donated the reading glasses to us. We are gradually starting a reading glasses ministry which will help many, even those who are not Christians.

Our students carried tracts to keep on the side of the road, so that the minister who came to pick up tracts will take it to his village, which is far from Wotutu. He came to Kumba town because the wife is seriously sick. He left the wife in the hospital and traveled down to Wotutu when he heard about the availability of tracts in Wotutu. He said, “if I return home without tracts it will not be easy for me to come back and get tracts. He traveled and spent one night in my home to get tracts early the next morning and return to Kumba to meet his sick wife in the hospital. He has great faith, as I saw with my eyes. Keep evangelist John Ngoe and his wife in your prayers, so that the work in their area will continue to grow, as they are devoted and committed.

The Lord added a young 22 year old, sister Ayamba, to our congregation in Wotutu. Keep her in your prayers that she will grow. Her aunt is a member and she can easily grow.

After worship today, I travel to another congregation in Bekoko for visit. They cried out to me not to leave them because they don’t have a preacher and the congregation is made of old ladies and gentlemen. The congregation was established around the 1950s or the 1960s by many Nigerians, but most of them have gone back to their country and the church continues to go down. We shall apply our 4 Gs there and we trust God for growth, as we shall start pretty soon to send our students there on weekend basis.

Plans
We were also invited to attend a lectureship in Munyenge by the end of this month, which will be more evangelistic, as our students will storm the village.

Appreciations
God bless you and keep you safe and sound in the faith. We thank you daily for your prayers, love, and deep concern over the work here in Cameroon. You are doing a lot to make things happen here. God alone will reward you and keep you standing fast in the things of God.

God bless you as you share this report with others in your life.

Elangwe and family
By His grace Director BVBIC-Wotutu

The Annual Tanzania Leadership Conference Was A Success...

EVERYTHING CAME IN THE RIGHT TIME...
Over 120 men and women from the Lords church in East Africa and beyond came to attend this year’s Tanzania Leadership Conference. The theme of this year’s conference was “Jesus’ 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.” We were blessed with good teachers from the U.S. People who love to teach the word of God traveled from very far to come and share with us these important principles of leadership. There is no reason we could not call this conference an international conference because we had one brother from Cambodia. It is my hope and prayer that these lessons will be helpful to the brothers and to the congregations they serve. Most congregations in East Africa lack good and effective leaders, and so through this conference many good things will be accomplished in the near future.

ACSOP Alumni Meeting
It was really a fun time when the graduates of the Andrew Connally School of Preaching came together for a meal and to share some cake. Many were able to come this time and learn these leadership laws. People who never met each other were even able to exchange their best sermon of the year during that meeting. Brother Daniel (Director of ACSOP) and Mike Hite (Vice President of BVBI) were asked to speak to the ALUMNI and encourage them to continue the good work they do for the Kingdom. Regardless of many challenges, we understand that many good things have been achieved over the past few years since they have graduated, and the kingdom has expanded greatly here in East Africa.

Two of our graduate students, Idi Nyabusani (Evagist from Dar es Salam) and Charles Ogutu (Director of the Kenya School of Preaching) were given a chance to also speak with the current students. A group of 28 students, both from first year and second year, were present in this meeting. With many words of encouragement, the graduates were able to remind the students about their biggest responsibility of reaching out to many with the gospel of Christ. Their effort to work for the Lord and help these congregations to grow will both give God the glory and promote the school.

I really need to give my special thanks to brother Cy Stafford (the founder of this conference), Daniel Gaines, Ahimidiwe Kimaro, Michale Mitalami, Charles Heberth, and all of the ACSOP staff who made this conference possible and successful this year. May the Lord God bless you as you continue working for Him in his vineyard.

In Him,

Godfrey Mngoma
Dean of Students, Andrew Connally School of Preaching
A Bear Valley Bible Institute International Extension School
Arusha, Tanzania

Second Year Of Classes Begin At IST In Haiti...

Greetings in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. 

It is our prayer that your physical and spiritual health is in excellent condition. Your concernedheart allows us to do the work we are doing. God has blessed us with many open doors and with your encouragement and support we have been able to step through them. Please pray for our efforts as we continue to reach the lost, strengthen the weak and encourage the strong.

“If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever.” (I Peter 4:11)

When the apostle Paul returned from his third missionary journey, he shared with the church all that God had done through his ministry (Acts 21:17-20). We also want to share all things with you. While we cannot include everything, we will try to touch on the high points. If you need more information it will be provided.  If your congregation desires a presentation, we will be glad to visit with you.

Roundup Church of Christ Welcomes You
We had a great mission trip to Roundup, Montana. I was joined by Johnnie Meggs (one of my elders from Lexington, TN) and Pat and Charolotte Evens. Pat and Charolotte are from Henderson, TN. Pat is a professor at Freed-Hardeman University. Our mission was to do minor work around the building and focus on encouraging the membership. There are six members and a few visitors in regular attendance. The Billings congregation sends someone each week to teach and preach. This has been a great encouragement to the local members. With the Billings group, there are about fifteen meeting each Sunday. We rejoice in the advancement they have made and their revived spirit in the Lord’s work. While we went to encourage them, I believe they encouraged us more than we did them. Each day we had a meal together with the members and visitors, followed with a Bible study. We were able to visit with some of the erring members and we pray one day they will return home. Make plans to go to Roundup, Montana in 2016.

A New Year At IST
On August 13th our twenty-four students returned for the second year of school at IST. Brother Garry Hill started the year with a course in Church History. He did a great job showing the growth of the early church and the spread of the gospel. I followed with a course on First and Second Thessalonians and Philippians. Next, brother Johnnie Meggs taught a course on Bible Geography. He did an excellent job presenting how God through his wisdom had planned for the establishment of his kingdom on earth. After a week off, the students returned to a class taught by brother Barry Baggett–The Preacher and His Work–taught in French. Brother Baggett works with the French World Outreach at the Crieve Hall church of Christ in Nashville, TN. He has also provided material for the students in French. I taught a course on 1st, 2nd and 3rd John. The focus was on the assurance of God’s promise of eternal life and the danger of false teachers. We were able to do this via the Internet; we live in a great time!

The students are active in preaching, teaching, and saving lost souls. They are not only eager to learn, but excited to reach others with the message of salvation. Below is a report of their accomplishments over the past three months. 

June –August Student Reports

66 Baptisms
34 Restorations
152 Sermons
158 Bible Classes
God Be Glorified!

New (Used) Van For IST
God has blessed the International School of Theology with a 2001 Ford van with 172,000 miles. Most of the miles were put on before it was shipped to Haiti. This was made possible through a   generous donation by an anonymous donor. There are truly some great people in this work who work on God’s behalf quietly behind the scenes. “If you happen to receive this newsletter, I want to say thank you on behalf of the students at IST and the people of Haiti.” The van has already been used to transport students, provide transportation for a mission team from Bermuda and took some of our students and others on a mission trip to the northeast corner of Haiti. While we hope the van will last for several years, we also hope to wear it out for the Lord and his work.  

Mission Team Comes From Bermuda
We were thankful to have a team of ten from the Brighton Hill church of Christ in Bermuda, six men and four ladies. The team spent time working with children’s homes, making repairs to the Santo Christian School and performed maintenance on vehicles. The ladies taught classes at IST for the wives of our students and women from various congregations. This was the third trip for some of the Bermuda team. We are thankful for these men and women who have committed to the work in Haiti. Please remember them in your prayers.

Henderson County Fair
It is important to reach people around the world, but it is also important to reach people in our own community. Each year Henderson County, TN has a county fair and we set up a booth. We put out tracks, books, and pamphlets inviting people to take them freely. We also encourage people to sign up for a Bible correspondence course and several did. We had over 300 tracts taken.

The printed page still works. People will often take the material and may not read it immediately but it will be available for many years. One young lady was given a Bible by one of our members who put her name and phone number in it. It took eight years before she made contact but she called and wanted a Bible study and obeyed the gospel. Years later her son obeyed and went to a preaching school to be a better servant of the Lord. While he works in the medical field he is also very active in the church. So, while the Internet is a great way to teach and encourage others, don’t give up on the printed page just yet. 

Bear Valley Bible Institute Extension School Retreat
The first weekend in September was spent at a retreat in Denver, CO. The directors from schools around the world gathered to give reports and encourage one another. Bear Valley Bible Institute has 18 extension schools and last year almost 2,000 souls came to Christ through the extension program.  

Youth for Haiti Youth
Last year we started the Youth for Haiti Youth program. The youth in the U.S. help youth in Haiti. There is a twofold purpose for the program.  First, to help our youth be more involved

with mission work. Secondly, to provide an education for a young man or woman in Haiti. The program was started at the Broad Street congregation and we have used this first year to try and iron out the wrinkles. We are now ready for others to join us in the effort. The persons being helped are Christians and must make reports to their sponsors. The cost for the year is $1,200 which provides uniform, fees, books, supplies, transportation and money for a daily snack. The funds are raised by the youth through their work, allowances and classes. Marius is the young man the Broad Street kids are helping at this time. If you, or your congregation would like to be a part of this program and would like more information, please contact us. 

A Special Need
As we plan for the move to our new location next year we will need a generator. We have found a used one with only 92 operating hours for $8,000. It is a 20 KW that will meet our needs for several years. The generator was bought in the U.S. and shipped to Haiti. We have part of the funds but are still in need of $5,000. If you or your congregation is able to help, it would be greatly appreciated.

Larry and Carol Waymire

If you would like to see the Waymire report with pictures, please click here.

Graduation Approaches For Students In Nepal...

Dear brothers in Christ,

Greetings to you all in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May the grace of God, love, and peace always be with you.

I am always happy to share our activities with our brothers and sisters around the world who always help and love us.

Thank you to all:
We must express our thankfulness to all our brothers and sisters who have shown their love and kindness toward all earthquake victims of Nepal. Because of your help we were able to provide their needs. Please convey to all people who gave financial help toward the earthquake needs. May God bless you all.

Guest teacher:
We had guest teacher, brother Jerry Bates and Sister Paula Bates, last month from September 14-18. Brother Jerry taught our students from the book of James. It was really encouraging to our students. They represent BVBID as well as World Literature.

Graduation program:  
This month we are going to have our third batch graduation program at the school. Our 11 students are going to be graduates. We will have a lectureship program on the 13th, and our graduation function will be on the 14th of October, 2015. There will be an interview and entrance exams for new students. Many preachers, graduated students, and family and close relatives of this current group plan to join in our lectureship and graduation.

Bible seminar:
We will have three days of a Bible seminar following graduation from the 15-17 of October, 2015. Brother Mike Brooks and sister Brenda Brooks from Highland Park Church of Christ, Muscle Shoals, Alabama are in Nepal. Brother Mike Brooks will teach three days of lessons from the "Life of Christ.” 

Youth class:
Our yearly Christian youth fellowship will be on the 20-23 of October. We will teach our youth practical lessons from the book of James. Youth from all over Nepal and India plan to join in this youth class.

Big problem and prayer request:
Recently, Nepal got a new constitution. There is much opposition from the Terai (lower part of Nepal) area, people who are not happy with this. India is not happy with this constitution. Many strikes and fighting go on at the India border with political parties over the last 51 days. India sealed all borders for security. We can hardly get food, vegetables, and it is costly. But we are not getting cooking gas, petrol, diesel, kerosene. We are using wood to cook our daily food. Even now wood is difficult to get. Few vehicles and transportation means are in the road. I worry about our preachers and guests and their coming to our meeting. Invitations were sent to all. They will use their wise decision to come to Kathmandu. Please kindly pray for the peace of our country.

Thank you.

Brother in Christ,
Gajendra Deshar

The Church Is Encouraged As BVBIU Settles Into A New Place...

Hello dear brothers, families and churches. 

I want to share with you the latest news about the events in Ukraine, the Bible Institute, and church in Bila Tserkva. I will start with good news. It’s weird, but it’s been a week that there are no sounds of shootings in Donetsk area. People lead a peaceful life on the territories of so-called DNR and LNR. Ukraine recognized de facto these unrecognized republics, and now the long process of peaceful negotiations has started. I think now the main weapon for Ukraine is skillful diplomacy. We would really want for complete peace to start and for the Ukrainians to learn the important lessons from this tragedy. A nation that does not revere God is doomed. 

The classes are going in full speed. Denton Landon and Stas Kuropyatnikov taught at the Institute at the beginning of September. Now, Jim Sherman and Vitaliy Rodichev are teaching. We are thankful for our teachers who try to support the Institute and show great care about it. Also I want to express thanks to Patrick Gallagher who came to support my family and encourage all students to serve God. 

Two more students joined our program in September: Lyudmila (Sergey Pavlenkov’s wife, who is our second-year student) and Sergey Ponomarenko. Lyudmila dreams to serve together with her husband in the church, teaching Bible classes for kids and for ladies. The educational process is very difficult for her, but she does her best. Very rarely I see people who have such zeal for studying God’s word. That means we have 9 people in our program at the moment. And if the Lord is willing, another man will join us in November. He lives in Donetsk at the moment and is applying for the papers that would allow him to cross the border. It appears that people ought to have special passes in order to cross the border of Ukraine and occupied territory. I’m asking you to pray for him and for the Institute. 

We have evangelizing practice scheduled in November. Now we are planning the activities. Most likely we will divide students in three groups and in such a way we will be able to help three local congregations evangelize locally. Maybe this time we will try to work more actively through the church members and invite their relatives and people they know to come to Bible classes. People understand both Ukrainian and Russian quite easily in this part of Ukraine. Therefore, I hope it won’t be difficult for us to spread the information about Christ among the people of this town. 

The church is doing great. It was greatly encouraged by the Institute moving there. I would say it’s like a fresh breath in the lives of these people. I hope that such encouragement and desire to be useful for God will be there constantly. Brethren in the church joined the ministry. Recently I taught a lesson on how to prepare and deliver a sermon I noticed that many brothers would like to preach, but they are afraid and nervous, and what is more important they don’t know where to start. I hope that we’ll help this congregation to grow spiritually and in number. We resumed Bible classes for kids and for ladies. Also we started a program of learning English through the Bible. It’s good to have a team that works well together. We thank Konstantin Kisilenko, a preacher of this congregation, for this fruitful cooperation. 

We continue looking for a secretary for the Bachelor’s program. We don’t want to make hasty decisions. We invite interpreters to work periodically, and we observe who will fit the Institute’s requirements. I have also asked Alexey Mitskutis, BVBIU graduate class of 2014, to be an assistant at the Institute and do the work of recruiting new students. He will start working the beginning of November. I ask you to pray for his ministry and assistance at the Institute. 

We are grateful for all those who support the work of the Bible Institute. We thank you for your prayers and financial support. We continue training ministers due to your care and constant prayers. 

Your brother and coworker,
Denis Sopelnik

To see Dennis’ report with pictures, please click here.

After Campaigns Bear Fruit, Students Are Back In Class In Kenya...

Greetings from the Kenya School of Preaching, 

We pray and trust our God’s faithfulness can be testified by you all on your side. We are doing well here and the 20 students are back from August-September break with a lot eagerness to begin year two, quarter one.

This quarter am teaching “Church History” and “Greek I,” while Elias is teaching “Romans-Galatians” and “Wisdom Literature.” 

We lost two students in the previous quarters, one for personal reasons while one, Clement, got employed by the government to head the water department in his community. I am happy to write that the two have been replaced by two students who dropped after a year and has overcome the weakness and challenges in their life and family, and has been requesting to be re-admitted back to finish second year. 

Our other joy is, despite the employment, Clement has been active in preaching and making calls for help when doing Bible studies and can’t get a book, chapter and verse to give in response to Bible questions. He also showed his love for the school and faculty by coming to officially encourage students, show solidarity with the work of training preachers, and bid everyone bye.

During the break, I led a gospel campaign and students’ recruitment drive in Mombasa, the coastal part of Kenya. It is humbling to see a great number of people sacrificing their time to hear the Gospel through door to door evangelism and open air, and make a sincere request for a Bible. The four day campaign and drive was fruitful with 8 souls obeying the gospel and 16 KSOP application forms given out to prospective students from four churches. We also had the opportunity to work with two KSOP students who come from Mombasa and through their spiritual progress, the school got much praise. While in Mombasa, two denomination leaders had a lot of interest in the simplicity of the gospel we were preaching and wanted us to visit them for further studies, some of the eight were their members. We hope to go back soon, if resources will be available to continue the good work among the souls.

Elias was in his home congregation for another gospel campaign with one soul obeying the gospel.

I just arrived from Arusha where I attended the Tanzanian Leadership conference where I was one of the speakers. I spoke on “The Law of Priorities.” It was wonderful to meet and chat with my former classmates who have kept the faith, meet and learn from new brethren and share great moments with my teachers.

At KSOP, we appreciate all the brethren who showed genuine love for my soul and prayed with us to continue living a life of integrity and above reproach. Thanks brother Cy and Reese for your sacrifice to come over and help.

Based on problem we had, it's worth noting that the environment of the school was part of it and this makes relocation to our own place not an option for the future, it's a need. 

Lastly, I thank God for your prayers and support in various ways that makes it possible for us to keep training preachers.

His servant and yours,

Charles Ogutu,
Director KSOP

Students Return For Their Studies In French-Cameroon...

Hello beloved in the Lord,

I hope all is well because God is doing great, and will keep on doing great things in our lives.

Greetings from our staff, students, and our congregation. We are doing okay, most especially as we kicked off with our third quarter last Monday. All the students were present, only Abraham, who was held behind because of the critical situation with his wife, but God blessed the situation last Tuesday with a bouncing baby boy. They just left the hospital last Saturday and promised to be around by tomorrow (Monday). Brother Norbert will resume this coming Thursday because of his ill health.

The week was characterized with other activities, such as evangelism in Mbanga, and Mujuka, including Mabanda in Douala. We also went to Douala with a student and a staff member to attend a conference organized by some members of the church, with the intent of reuniting the the world in one accord. We also went to Njombe to visit some fallen brothers and sisters, and I believe that God is going to restore His church in this area. One of the fallen brothers worshipped with us after our visit on Friday.

Two souls were added into the church: one in Mbanga and the other in our young assembly in Mujuka this morning. We should keep on praying for them.

Ititi

Campaigns: The Key Word For This Week's Report...

Students in Denver left Friday for campaigns. For the sixteen new students at Bear Valley, this will be their first campaign with the group. We are excited to see them travel to several locations around the country. We know the encouragement they receive and bring to the Lord’s church is worth the time spent. The other benefit is for these students to put into practice what they learn during the quarter.

The first quarter for these new students passed quickly and they all did a wonderful job. We are encouraged by this new group of students as they make their way through the program. All the men who currently study in Denver show a special quality that will make them an asset to the Lord’s church. We ask you to pray for these men and their families while they study and as they enter the ministry. Two will complete their studies in December and begin a new phase in their life as they both plan to enroll in the Masters in Missions program and prepare for missions.

Various extension schools report about the work accomplished among students preparing themselves in the same way. Among the eighteen locations where Bear Valley is privileged to partner in training men to preach, the reports below are exciting. Information about a new class of students beginning their journey, students returning from fruitful campaigns, preparation for a Leadership Conference, and a special dedication, fill the pages of this week’s report. We pray you are encouraged by all that God is doing in this effort.

There are several prayer requests noted in the reports. We ask you to pray for these individuals and the challenges they face. We also ask you to continue praying for us as we move closer to beginning two new schools and preparing for the addition of more in the year ahead. Without you, this work would not be possible. Thank you.

Now on to this week’s incredible 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/

Steven Ashcraft’s latest report can be read by clicking here.

Howell Ferguson’s latest report can be by clicking here.

Extension Reports

A Campaign That Is Exciting To Read About In Cameroon: Students recently returned from their week-long campaign, and the news of souls added to the church is exciting to read about.

A Truth That Cannot Be Changed: The providential hand of God seen in the lives of staff and students in Mbanga, Cameroon, including two weeks of intensive studies, encourages the work.

A New Quarter Begins And Weekend Campaigns Bear Fruit: News from campaigns in Nigeria continue to share the excitement as the power of the Gospel is changing lives.

100+ Baptized Over The Last Two Months In Togo: The work in Togo continues to demonstrate the power of God as more than 100 people were baptized over the last two-month period.

Teaching Others To Teach Others In Paraguay: The goal of the mission work is described beautifully in this week’s report from the Spradlin’s about the situation in Paraguay.

ITL Faces Multiple Challenges In The Training Program: As ITL’s report indicates, the work of training men to preach brings difficult challenges and decisions.

Exciting New Beginnings With The Work In Cambodia: Students and staff are excited about changes implemented for the new school year at the International Bible Institute.

A Bitter-Sweet Farewell To A Friend Of The Work In Tamale: A dedication in memory of sister Avril Keoughan was given at the new location of the Tamale Institute of Biblical Studies.

Adding To The Mission Team And Preparing For The Leadership Conference: New team members move to Tanzania as preparations are finalized for this week’s conference.

Final Thoughts
To express how much we appreciate each of you is an understatement. The schools that benefit, the souls that are saved, the congregations that are encouraged, and the glory that is given to God cannot be measured this side of heaven. You are a blessing in every way and we appreciate the opportunity to walk along side you in this effort of training workers for the Lord’s kingdom.

God bless
Bob

Teaching Others To Teach Others In Paraguay...

A missionary’s job is to evangelize and train. That is exactly what we have been trying to do during all of our tenure in Paraguay and what our teammates did during their time here. Today, we are seeing the fruit of that labor more and more. It warms our hearts to walk into the building and see Paraguayan brethren making preparations for their lessons and then teaching others. This is exactly what Jesus and the apostles desire in us (2 Timothy 2:2). We praise God for the blessing of this growing, healthy church!

Developments at the Avenida Sacramento Iglesia de Cristo
We have completed our series of Bible lessons on “Biblical Leadership: A Study about Elders, Deacons, and Church Government” and it went very well! We are trying to help the church recognize the importance and necessity of having elders and deacons within the Lord’s church. While I taught a few of the lessons, two of the candidates eligible to be elders also taught some of the classes (Pedro Vera is pictured above) and a potential deacon taught one of the classes during the series. There was a lot of interaction and many questions, so it appears the church received it quite well. We pray (and ask that you would, too) that this will soon lead to the installation of elders.

The men of the church have decided to make some more improvements to the building such as adding a glass door to the front so as to make it more “inviting” to visitors. They have a few other plans, as well. However, an investment firm recently bought the two properties on each side of us and are planning to build two high-rise apartment towers. We are hoping we can make a property trade with them so that their two towers will be next to each other and we can have an open property on which to build a new building. We’re praying for the Lord’s guidance and we ask for your prayers. The ladies held their monthly Ladies Tea at the home of Zuny Yegros and her daughter, Evelyn, gave the devotional. Her other daughter, Maria Jose, is due to give birth to her first child soon, so the ladies also had a Baby Shower for the expectant mother at the same event. The fellowship among our ladies is always a good time for them and they are all wonderful Christian examples.

Developments at the Asuncion Bible Academy
This past month was very busy for the students as they balanced a course load of four classes. This is the first time they have had that many all at the same time. We had “The Life of Christ IV,” “Judges and Ruth,” “Acts - Part 1,” and a class on “Sermon Preparation”. Despite the added pressure, the students did very well and are continuing to grow spiritually.

One of our main school projects the students have been working on is the translation of some of our hymns and spiritual songs into Guarani, the true native language of the Paraguayans. It has been fun working with them and, who knows?, their work may turn out to bless the church for many generations! Here is an example of one of the songs (try to sing the melody with each):

English: Spanish: Guarani:

Rejoice in the Lord always and again, I say rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! And again, I say rejoice! ¡Alégrense en Cristo, Alégrense siempre! ¡Alé-grense, Alégrense siempre!

Pevy’a opa ára Ñandejára rérape!

Ha’e jey peême: Pevy’a! (The pronunciation of the letter “y” in Guarani does not exist in English and is kind of pronounced “oo-ugh”)

Contacts / Bible Studies / Activities / Opportunities
I have begun studying Christian Evidences with Natalia Enciso. Since our schedules don’t often coincide, we have been studying together via Skype. She is studying in order to fortify her faith and to also teach her the Bible to her boyfriend who is not a Christian.

I also conducted a counseling session for the son of one of our members. Please pray for Mario, who is the son of Diosnel Arteta. He is struggling with family and spiritual issues and thinking of obeying the Gospel call by being baptized.

Andrea continues her weekly “Searching for Truth” Bible studies with Rosa, Belén, Claudia, and Andrés. She also has two new “Learn English Using the Bible” students, Alejandra and Elsa.

We had an unusual situation arise with one of our regular taxi drivers, Fernando, who has brought his girlfriend over to our house a few times to have us pray for her. We pray this will soon lead to a Bible study with both of them.

I had the opportunity to preach at Ave Sacramento this past month on “The Church’s responsibility to the Great Commission.”

Personal Developments and Activities
Andrea’s “Las Amigas” club celebrated the change of seasons here in Paraguay with a Friends and Family Spring Picnic. It was a gorgeous day with a great turnout (including the U.S. Ambassador to Paraguay) and Andrea took her regular position on the grill and made Steak Lomitos for everyone. They were delicious!

Now that I have earned my black belt in Tae Kwon Do, I have had the opportunity to participate in special training classes and workshops that are only for black belts. The intensity is much higher than of all my previous training and I can really notice the difference it has made in my overall health and fitness.

Las Amigas club members at their annual picnic, along with some talented harpists for a little entertainment.

Andrea has started taking Pilates for the first time this month and loves it! She signed up with a small group of some of her American friends from “Las Amigas” so that they could enjoy their own private class together. We are hopeful this will alleviate much of the neck and back pain that she has struggled with for so many years.

Spring is in the air and we have Texas Bluebonnets in our back yard! Andrea has been busy in her garden again and we’ve been enjoying a bountiful harvest of three varieties of kale, with okra, corn, and squash on the horizon!

Discovering Paraguay
In the News: Students of the Asuncion National University (UNA) began a protest against the blatant corruption and nepotism that had long been taking place among the school’s Rector (equivalent to “President”) and his faculty. They surrounded the administration building, protesting and preventing anyone from leaving, while demanding his resignation. At one point, university staff was caught destroying and trying to remove records. They even surrounded a car of one such faculty member trying to leave and demanded a prosecutor come and examine the contents of what was being removed. Finally, after three straight days of protests, a judge issued a warrant for the arrest of the Rector and others that were involved.

The next day, the Rector turned himself in and resigned his position. A local newspaper reported, “Whatever happens next, the students now know that indignation can lead to action. That by standing together, peaceful but firm, respectful but loud, at least some small measure of change can be achieved.”

Personal Studies - Currently Reading/Have Read:
“When Charity Destroys Dignity” by Glen Schwartz

“The King James Version Debate” by D.A. Carson

“Acts - New Testament History” by Gareth L. Reese

Current Bible reading: Isaiah -Jeremiah, Galatians - Colossians.

I am preparing lessons for classes for the next quarter: 1 and 2 Kings, History of the Church, and Church Planting.

I have also been reconstructing the “Fundamentals of the Faith” workbook in Spanish to prepare for sending it to the publishers soon!

Troy and Andrea Spradlin

To see the Spradlin’s report with pictures and prayer requests, please click here.

Adding To The Mission Team And Preparing For The Leadership Conference...

We are delighted to be able to welcome some new additions to our mission team in Arusha. Justin and Anna Maynard, along with her sister Samantha Edwards, recently arrived to work with us. Justin and Anna are going to focus on helping expand the farming aspect of the work at the school of preaching.  

This is a very important part of the school for two reasons: First, it helps with the sustainability of the work. By cutting food costs, and even creating revenue with surplus foods, the school's budget will be that much less dependent on outside support. Second, the students can learn valuable gardening skills. While the demand for preachers is high (we can't graduate men fast enough to meet the need), much of this demand is from congregations that can't fully support a full-time preacher. Being able to garden will help our students to feed their families while they are working as evangelists. 

Additionally, Samantha has agreed to serve as librarian for our school. She will have the opportunity to be a great help by providing some badly needed organization to our book collection, implementing a system for maintaining that order, and training a permanent librarian for when she returns to the US. This will be a tremendous asset for our students. 

You can catch up with the new workers on their blog here.

Pray for them as they get adjusted to their new lives in Africa, and bless their hearts that they now have to put up with me all of the time. 

Juggling Act
With short courses going on and the Tanzanian Leadership Conference around the corner, we have the pleasure of hosting a large number of guests in the coming days. We are no strangers to dealing with a lot of guests, but usually it is one or two large groups at a time where everyone's schedules are pretty similar. 

The current situation is unique in my time here. We have so many individuals trickling in and out on different itineraries, that we are in the midst of making 10 airport runs over the course of 13 days. Keep in mind that an airport run, realistically takes half a day for the driver. On top of transportation logistics, we want to make sure that all of our guests are well cared for and have everything they need. Almost all of these individual guests also have unique agendas for their visits, requiring personalized attention.

With the unfortunate limitation of only being able to be in one place at a time, there is absolutely no way that I could juggle the current situation alone. That's why I'm taking the time now to praise our faculty at the school. Charles, Ahimidiwe, Godfrey, Michael, and Augustine along with some others here and there have stepped up and taken on new levels of hosting responsibilities. They've had Americans into their homes to eat, helped with transportation issues, and generally been absolutely indispensable resources. 

I hadn't planned it this way, but necessity forced these increased roles. In hindsight (if it can be called that from the midst of the situation), this is actually proving to be a valuable growth experience for local leaders, as well as for myself.

So to sum up the message of this report: Thank God for teammates, both foreign and local. I pray that He blesses them all.

Prayer Request
Our other teammates and dear friends, Cy and Stephanie Stafford are each facing medical situations. Your prayers on their behalf would be much appreciated.

Daniel Gaines

A Bitter-Sweet Farewell To A Friend Of The Work In Tamale...

Tamale Institute of Biblical Studies remembered the late sister Avril Keoughan and dedicated the main lecture hall of the Institute in her memory. This is to express our appreciation for her selfless and dedicated service rendered to students, staff, and more importantly, to God Almighty.

The Institute encountered the saddest experience ever to be thought of a day after the graduation of the first batch of students. As part of the Institute’s effort of producing self-reliant preachers, sought the services of the late sister Avril Keoughan. She visited Tamale once every quarter with her team to teach the students on Primary Health Care. Prior to the graduation ceremony. She informed the Institute of the need to conclude her syllabus with a three–day activity. She was electricuted by a faulty water heater in the bathroom when she was bathing after her first day class activities, and died at the Tamale Teaching Hospital. She was buried at the Bomso Church premises on the 27th of August, 2011.

“The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil”.  (Isaiah 57:1) New International Version

Avril Keoughan was a Canadian Public Health Practitioner who worked closely with the Churches of Christ in Ghana. She started her carrier in Ghana at the Bomso Clinic. She was later engaged by the Village of Hope. She finally came to settle in Kumasi where she worked with the Bomso Clinic.   Her vocation as public health practitioner took her to several towns and villages in the north, especially in Yendi and its surrounding villages, where together with the Yendi church, set up a clinic in Yendi and gave health care to the people there. Together with sister Johnson and brother Bob Williams, all deceased, the Tamale Church was assisted to establish a Clinic at Cheshagu in the Tolon- Kunbungu District in the early 90s.

When the Tamale Institute of Biblical studies (TIBS) was established two years later, she was invited to teach the trainee preachers in public health. The rationale for the above was to enable them get some vocation as a supplement to the preaching work, an offer she accepted with enthusiasm and since that time visited with her team every three months to teach.

Avril Keoughan happened to be one of the resource persons invited by the Tamale Institute of Biblical Studies to its annual lectureship and maiden graduation ceremony held on the 24th and 25th of June 2011 respectively. In addition to the above, she was to take the graduates through their last lectures in public health and to examine them in the subject before they went to the field.  

On the day of graduation, she was invited to present a prize to the most well behaved student.  She also took part in the thanksgiving ceremony held on 26th of June 2011 to express the Institute’s gratitude to the Almighty for making the graduation possible. It was at TIBS, on Monday, the 27th of June 2011, around 9:30 pm, that she met her untimely death. 

She had earlier that Monday organized a class for her students and arranged with them so that they could take their exams the following day (Tuesday, the 28th of June). She was to proceed to Kumasi that Tuesday after conducting the exams for them (the students). However, Tuesday, the 28th of June 2011 never came to meet her alive. 

She was going to take her bath that fateful Monday night after watching a television program on CBS that she was electrocuted by a faulty wall heater and died when she was being rushed to the hospital. True, therefore, goes the saying that we know where we were born, but not where we shall die. Yes, she was born in Canada, but ended her life in Tamale, Ghana.  

At age 62, the normal expectation was that she still had some meaningful years to live on this earth. Nevertheless, things did not happen the way we thought. We loved and cherished her dearly for her immense contribution to the church and TIBS and wished she had stayed a bit longer to teach the subsequent trainee preachers their lessons in public health, but our expectations have been shattered at our feet. We really did not understand why things happened this way, but the Almighty knows best, and it is his will that must prevail.

At this moment, we are at the crossroads ready to part company with her sense. Her physical body will soon be lowered into the grave and today will be the last day we shall be setting eyes on her. However, we still nurture the hope that we shall meet one day in heaven where the saints will forever be comforted.

Avril! Farewell
Avril! (Farewell in Dagbani)Ti chepsi- a
Avril! Damrifua Due

Exciting New Beginnings With The Work In Cambodia...

"New Beginnings" 1 Co. 15:58

A new class began with a new school program this month and we are excited about the result that it will yield. There are so many significant changes and upgrades to IBISR that we can’t help but be excited. The rotation of teachers and the adding of English and Computer courses in the program not only benefits the students, but the teachers as well. We are truly blessed in Siem Reap!

I was invited to teach a short course in Yangon, Myanmar on the Kings and Prophets of the Old Testament to a group of 40 plus people, 5 hours a day for 7 days! It was an enriching experience for me. Spending time with the brethren there brought me back to my early days in Cambodia. I can see the similarities and potential for the Lord's kingdom to expand in Myanmar. There is potential for a proper Bible school there to keep the Christians growing in their faith. Please keep them in your prayers. 

God also added Phearom to His church this month. Phearom is a first year student. Please keep him in your prayers as he walks a new life with Christ!

Next month, I will join Wes Autrey and Mike Hite from Bear Valley, in Tanzania to speak on a Leadership Conference put on by the brethren there. I am really excited for the opportunity to meet the brethren in Africa! It will be my first time ever and I can’t wait to learn from them. I will update you next month about our trip to Africa!  Please keep us in your prayers as we serve God in that part of the world. 

Phanat

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

ITL Faces Multiple Challenges In The Training Program...

Dear Family and Friends,

¡Saludos de nuevo de Guatemala! (Greetings once again from Guatemala!) 

It is our hope that you are enjoying good and many blessings. The three of us are doing well, thankfully. We are doing our best to tie up loose ends before we make our end-of-year trip to the U.S. and to Europe. 

Let us start by saying THANK YOU for your involvement either financially or through prayers in the Lord’s work here in Guatemala and especially with the preacher’s school Instituto Teológico Latinoamericano (ITL), aka Latin American Theological Institute. Because of people like you we are seeing ITL and its graduates making a big difference in the Spanish-speaking world. We have graduates that extend all the way to Paraguay. 

Although ITL has been very successful and we believe it is a very good work that should continue, we also understand that no work is without its difficulties. On this occasion, we want to share news about our most recent class, the Delta Class, that is unique in the school’s history and we hope will not happen again. Still, we all have learned from the experience and believe we are all better because of it. We have delayed sending this information because we were waiting for our students’ sponsors to receive the news first by means of regular mail. 

Due to situations beyond our control, it was necessary to dismiss the entire student body of our Delta Class. By mid September, the last family went home. Please allow us to explain why. Normally after a quarter of studies, we are more aware of our student body’s strengths and weaknesses and begin to help them improve on the former and work on the latter. All student bodies have come to ITL with various challenges. Normally, by the second quarter, the students begin to adjust to the lifestyle and discipline of the school, eliminating old habits and developing new ones. However, with this class, it did not occur quite this way. Sadly, well into the second quarter, we still had not seen the needed positive changes that we believe are healthy and necessary for those who are going to serve in the ministry full time and whom we can send into the field with the school’s name behind them. In fact, we believe that we may have even been too patient with most of them in order to see if we could make things work. 

Let us further share some of the challenges that we faced and why the ITL staff made this final decision. The students were dishonest on several occasions. We tried to work with them in this area, but to no avail. It got so bad that we did not feel confident to leave them alone to take any exam. Additionally, just about every rule in the ITL manual was violated and they consistently neglected fulfilling the cleaning responsibilities assigned to each of them. Aside from this, the students lacked respect for the ITL property and failed to take responsibility for their actions. They or their children broke numerous items. The student body would always deny knowing anything about things that were broken, unless we actually saw them doing it. ITL would purchase needed items, like a crib or new dustpans, and in just weeks, these things would be ruined or destroyed. Even though ITL incurred additional costs because of this, it did not seem to bother them to ask for additional funds for personal items. It appeared that the more the school 

gave to the students or to their children, the more they expected of the school. The situation with the younger children got so bad that the cook/babysitter turned in her resignation unless we found someone else to take care of the children. She complained that the children were uncontrollable and that the parents would often just pamper or defend the children. And, as if all this was not enough, there was the final circumstance that made it impossible for us to allow them to continue at ITL: most of the students failed more courses than the ITL manual allows. In other words, they academically disqualified themselves. This student body was given opportunity after opportunity to make changes, but did not take advantage of them. 

We hope that you can understand our dilemma and the decision that came after much effort and prayer. Needless to say, we were discouraged. However, we found comfort in knowing that this is only a setback and not an end. ITL is not closing. We believe that the Lord has used this institute to make a vital difference in the Spanish-speaking world. We believe that He will continue to use ITL in the same way. Despite the setback in the full-time program, the Saturday program continues to move along strongly and the students are doing an excellent job. 

Lord willing, we will begin another class in the full-time program in April of next year, just seven months from now. We already have some prospective students who were waiting to start in 2017, but now will be able to start one year earlier. We will use the next few months to promote ITL and to seek a qualified student body for our 5th class. This will require additional traveling for the staff during this extra promotional period, which will produce some extra expenses for ITL. However, in the long run we believe it will be worth the time and additional funds needed. And, we have faith that God will, as He always has, provide for this need. 

Please pray for ITL, for our past student bodies, and for our present Saturday students. Especially pray for the Delta Class so that they will learn from this experience, they will value what ITL was able to give to them, and they will let God transform them. In addition, please pray for the future students that God is preparing for ITL to be trained to work more effectively in His vineyard. And, lastly, pray for us to train them patiently, lovingly and correctly. 

Let us close by thanking you again for being a part of the work in Guatemala. Also, please feel free to contact us if you should have questions or concerns about this news or any other part of our work. May God continue to bless you and keep you! 

Con amor en Cristo (With love in Christ), Sus Servidores (Your Servants), 

Hawatthia
Byron and Snezana 

To see information about a recent landslide in Guatemala that buried approximately 125 homes, please click here.