Please Read This Encouraging Report From Brother Cy Stafford...

Greetings Fellow Servants,

It is with great joy I am able to write this Short Report. Our God is a great God, for this I give thanks. The family of God is the greatest family, for this I give thanks. The prayers of the faithful church family are mighty and powerful. I am able to write this report because God is, the faithful prayers of thousands, an amazing supportive family, and the professional health care I have received. Thank you all so very much for all you have done and continue doing, making my life possible.

Health Update: My journey began back in November when I became ill. It would lead to our return to America for additional medical treatment where I was diagnosed with AML Leukemia with Flt3 genetic mutation. I began Chemotherapy on Dec. 25th.  Unfortunately I would develop some serious complications. The medical community did all they could and at one point said, “it is finished.” My family, friends and God said it is not over until it is over.  Long story short, I have just finished round three of Chemotherapy (one to go).  Yes, prayer is powerful and God is amazing.

A journey it has been and continues to be. The type of Leukemia I have has an 80% possibility of returning within a year of so, …then there is the 20%. The prayers of the saints and the mercy of God adds a whole lot more to the reality of my (all our) life. I give you this short update to simple say, I am much better and I thank you all. It is my hope and prayer that we are able to make (at least) short-term trips back to Tanzania later this year.

I want to thank you all for your continued payers and support for God’s mission work in Tanzania. I continue to be amazed as to what God has and continues to do through His family, particularly in Tanzania, East Africa.

I want to thank the Tanzania mission team on the field both Americans and Nationals for doing such an amazing work in my physical absents, a testimony to Who is in control, God!

I want to thank my amazing family (especially my amazing wife) and friends who have been by my side every min. of every day providing all the support I have needed.

I am thankful for every new day God blesses me with. My prayer is that God will use me up in His service with each and every remaining day I am blessed and privileged to live.

We close with joyful and hopeful hearts. We plead with you for continued prayers, support and involvement in this great mission work of God. We truly believe God has just begun and the best is yet to come when it comes to the saving of the lost of this world.

Until all have heard…

In Him, Cy Stephanie and Granny

Souls Added To The Church Through Daily Activity Of ACSOP Graduates...

Equipping the saint for every good work…
As I was thinking on what to write to you this week, I found it necessary to let you know that many good things are taking place here in Arusha and east Africa in general. Many souls are added to the church daily by the good work done by the graduates of ACSOP who are working day and night in the Lord’s vineyard. I really thank brother Charles Herbert for the statistics he gave on our student outreach program for the month of April. Truly it is very encouraging to see faithful men of God working together toward that one goal of discipleship. I can tell just from those numbers that there are still many people who have never had an opportunity to hear the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we still need more people to be involved in our Father’s business of seeking and saving those who are lost. 

Congregation Marriage Seminar: Beginning this month, ten congregations around the area will be blessed to receive different teachers and preachers from various congregations to conduct a marriage seminar. Soon after we had finished the Spiritual Disciplines Seminar and saw how successful we were, we decided to move on with the marriage seminar. Five teachers with their Timothy’s will be teaching on a marriage seminar (strengthening marriage and families) - a series of lessons that has been prepared from a book titled “What Every Family Needs.” Teaching these kinds of lessons will help congregations as they prepare to have elders in the near future. We really thank brother Cy for his wisdom in introducing this kind of series seminar, which will be taught in Sunday Bible classes and worship service. The Arusha church of Christ happened to be number one to be visited by these seminars. Members were very happy to receive the first lesson by our brother Ely who taught the men, and his wife who taught the ladies in a different class. My fellow worker in the kingdom, Charles, taught in the worship service, God bless you. 

Let us continue to pray as ten men continue to strengthen these congregations in the area of marriage. 

Thank you again for your love, support, and prayers for this work as we all continue working for Him and the Kingdom.

In Him

Godfrey Mngoma
Dean of Students, Andrew Connally School of Preaching
A Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver extension school
Arusha, Tanzania

Sixteen Souls Were Added To The Kingdom With Recent Evangelistic Efforts...

Dear Brethren,

By God’s grace another month of operation has ended. We are, therefore, sending herewith the operating report for your necessary action, please.

REOPENING/CLASSROOM WORK
The school re-opened on the 25th of April after the Easter break. All students reported on the re-opening date and classroom work began immediately. All instructors were also on hand to handle their various courses.

EVANGELISM/BAPTISMS
Efforts by both instructors and students during the period resulted in the baptism of sixteen (16) souls. (We are sorry we could not take pictures of any of these).

POULTRY
We decided to sell the birds to the kitchen and use the funds to buy new birds. Inquiries from the open market about the price for a bird made us take the decision to sell to the kitchen instead and use the outcome to buy new birds to replace them.

ADMISSIONS – 2016/17 ACADEMIC YEAR
We have begun our admission process for the 2016/17 academic year. Initial response has been encouraging and we ask you to pray this would continue. 

GRADUATION
We have proposed Saturday, the 29th of October, 20016 for the next graduation. Sixteen (16) students would be graduating. We are putting our budget together and will send to you.

CAMPAIGN FOR CHRIST
In our last report, we reported that our first campaign for Christ was due. As you may be aware, this first one in the year takes us to an existing congregation, thus they bear almost all our expenses. We therefore requested that you assist us with $500.00 to take care of our transportation to Esiama and back and also for our medicals and any other emergencies. We are just reminding you about that.

KITCHEN UTENSILS
The cook has been reminding us about the need to replace some of the utensils in the kitchen. As our financial report indicates, we squeezed our finances to buy a few items. We sent a budget on this in our February report and would be grateful if you can assist us to purchase the rest.

Finally, may we say that we appreciate so much all you are doing to keep the school going. We continue to pray for you all as we know you do for us. 

May God bless us all.
Charles Mensah

The New School In Zimbabwe Prepares To Open With 25 Students...

March 2016 Report
We are grateful to God for this opportunity to report on how things are shaping up as we prepare for the opening of Bear Valley Bible Institute, Zimbabwe (BVBI-Z). BVBI-Z is an institution of churches of Christ and is governed by her doctrines and practices thereof. As we near our start date, we have intensified our preparatory efforts and with the Lord’s providence, we are truly more than conquerors.

1.0    Banking Details
We opened a bank account with Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ) and as you may know we had challenges receiving funds for the School with this bank. On the 10th of March we applied for a bank account with Stanbic Bank but we have not yet received any feedback from this bank. We had to use my personal bank account with Ecobank Zimbabwe to send funds to BVBI-Z.

2.0    Start Date
Our start date has been moved from the 4th of April to the 2nd of May 2016. This has been necessitated by the ongoing preparations for the School. We have notified all prospective students of this change.

3.0    BVBI-Z Marketing Campaigns
We continue to publicize the school to the brethren. In March we visited three of the four congregations of churches of Christ in Gweru Urban and talked about the school. We actively participated in the worship services on the days of our visits as well. We intended going to Bulawayo on 11-14 March, but we failed due to some constraints beyond our control. We hope to have this visit the first weekend of April. On the last weekend of April, we hope to attend the Mashonaland West Gospel Meeting and also publicize the school. Mashonaland West is one of the 10 provinces of the country and the Gospel Meeting unites brethren from the churches in the province.

“…commit these things to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2.2)

4.0    Purchased Items
We have managed to purchase most of the needed materials for BVBI-Z. We purchased these items in Harare and had to transport them to Gweru. The following are the items we have purchased so far and we will be sending you details once we buy all the materials. See the attached report on the website.

5.0    Prospective Students
In the previous report we had 19 applicants to BVBI-Z. The month of March saw us receive five more applications from prospective students bringing to 24 the total number of applicants. Our facility will only house 12 male students. Married couples and single ladies may need to organize their own accommodation and transportation to school.

Conclusion
We thank God for guiding us in the preparatory work at BVBI-Z. We continue to seek His guidance so that in all we do His name may be glorified. The coming of BVBI-Z is good news for the church in Zimbabwe. We encourage members within the local brotherhood to partner with us at BVBI-Z in our efforts to ensure that the gospel of Christ reaches all the corners of the world and “…that God would open to us a door for the Word, to speak the mystery of Christ…” (Colossians 4.3, NKJV). May God bless Bear Valley Bible Institute, Zimbabwe! May God bless the churches of Christ! AMEN!

In the service of Christ,

This was the first report by the staff at BVBI-Z

To see the BVBI-Z report with pictures, please click here.

April 2016 Report

Introduction
Bear Valley Bible Institute-Zimbabwe (hereinafter referred to as BVBI-Z) remains God’s project with the mandate of training men and women towards the expansion of God’s kingdom. BVBI-Z (though in its formative stage) remains committed to see this cause for Christ being achieved with help of the Almighty. Though starting on a sorrowful platform, there is light and hope beyond this phase.

1.0 The Passing Away of BVBI-Z Director
On the 2nd of April, the director of BVBI-Z was called home to be with the Lord. Brother Isaiah was involved in a head on collision en route to Bulawayo to meet preachers and church leaders from Matebeleland Province. The intention was to create an awareness regarding the presence of BVBI-Z in Zimbabwe. 10 people died on the spot. So devastated were the people that memories still remain fresh due to the departure of this soldier for Christ. He left behind a wife and 18 month old baby.

2.0 CHANGES
Due to the untimely departure of Isaiah, the remaining but determined staff members unanimously agreed that the work should continue. The opening date was changed to the 6th of June 2016. 

2.2 Staff
Due to the passage of our first director, Brother Mathew Muchingami shall take over as the director, while brother Ishmael Mutichu, the preacher at Nashville church of Christ in Gweru, and a trained educationist, becomes the full time instructor. Brother Howard Suwari and Tawanda Hope Karikoga will serve on a part time bases. 

Conclusion
We continue to thank you all for your moral and financial support you continue to give to BVBI-Z and your desire to see this work on its feet. God’s work will endure forever. BVBI-Z staff is ready to see that the work takes shape. 

Prepared by Howard Suwari, Tawanda Karikoga, Ishmael Mutichu and Mathew Muchingami

To see the BVBIZ report with pictures, please click here.

The Growing Needs For The Church In Northern Ghana...

I arrived in Tamale on the 22nd of April to join Brother Stephen Ashcraft to tour the Eastern Corridor of the Northern region Churches of Christ. This follows the action plan of visiting the past students of T.I.B.S in the three Northern regions. We set off the journey from the 23rd of April 2016 and returned on the 27th of April to prepare for the Seminar to be held in the school on the 28th and 29th of April 2016.

DETAILS

1. From Tamale we stopped over at Yendi to visit brother Stephen Roy and the wife at their residence.

2. Yendi to Bakpaba on Bimbilla road to meet brother Francis Waja and the entire congregation.

3. In Bimblla we met brothers Kwame Lot and Nlakidi Lot, but could not meet with their congregations because we had a mechanical fault with our vehicle. We were caught by the curfew so we spent the night in Bimbilla in a sister’s family house.

4. We left Bimbilla on Sunday morning to worship with the Sibi congregation where brother George Talafor preaches.

5. We returned to Bimbilla to meet with Kwame Lot and his leaders to discuss the challenges facing the church. The Bimbilla church has no place of worship, no chairs and no accommodation for the preacher. He comes from a far village on bicycle to worship. There is need to buy a plot of land for them since Bimbilla is a district capital.

6. From Bimbilla we traveled to Kpandai where we met the following brethren: Godwin Bentikwe and Michel Bingrini,

7. We returned to Damonko where we met brothers Samuel Nayan, a drop out student who wants to come to school. The brother is sick with hepatitis C. Brother Ashcraft gave him money to buy drugs.

8. We visited brother David Waja and Isaac Moakel all of Salaga and their congregations. We spent the night in Salaga and came to Chamber the following day. In Chamber we met with two congregations with their preachers namely Albert Tamanja and Johnson Telinyi. These brethren requested a Seminar to be organized in their area. They also requested for regular visits and donation of used clothes.

9. We finally returned to Tamale on the 27th of April, and the proposed seminar took off on the 28th and ended on the 29th of April. I returned to Accra on the 30th of April.

The purpose of the visitations was to educate the congregations on the need to support their preachers by helping them in farming and with food items so that they may have ample time to serve the Lord in the rural communities. Churches are dying because of lack in preacher’s support.

The issue of the Bimbilla church not having a place to worship was so sad that if care is not taking, we shall loose the church in the district capital. They urgently need a plot for at least a permanent structure for worship. By the help of some brethren, I have got one thousand Ghana Cedis to assist them in the purchase of a plot. The chief and the traditional counsel with the office of the District Assembly has offered them a plot of land at a very convenient place. The price is two thousand Ghana Cedis. We made part payment of GHC.1000 and the plot has been released to them. We need to raise the balance and all land document including land registration will be given to us.

I thank the leadership of Church of Christ, Accra Road for releasing me for such a wonderful mission. I further appeal to the leadership to sacrifice their preacher to help the very needed congregation in the North and any other needed areas in the country including congregations established by Accra Road. I believe this, my humble appeal, will not be rejected.

I thank the Bear valley Institute for training preachers in Northern Ghana. God richly bless them. I suggest preachers who are really on the field working hard to the glory of God and are facing challenges like distance walking to serve two or three congregations must be provided with motto bikes.

Report by brother Francis Ayine
Coordinator

Mbanga School Theme For May, "The Prayer Of The Faithful..."

Cameroon and the rest of the world join to celebrate Mother’s Day. We greet you all from that part of the world as we join to celebrate the induction of the elders in the Bear Valley assembly where the preachers and the members have done well. Congratulations and be of good courage.

Our week was very good even though with poor networking communication in Mbanga, but right now it is better. We are doing great in thee school with the students and our staff, even though brother Philipe is not really sound and has gone to the hospital three times in Mbanga. He has now been referred to another hospital to carry out some examinations, but all will be well.

The congregation was fasting last Friday in which all the students took part and it went on smoothly from six to six after our normal prayer meeting time scheduled on Friday. Our theme for this month on everything we do in school during our devotions is all linked with “Prayer,” which is our theme for the month of May is “The Prayer of the Faithful.”

The Church also visited brother Datouji Silvanus whose wife was just put to bed and it was a sort of fellowship in a big family. Together with the students we presented a gift from the church after we sang and gave exhortation to encourage the family. Brother Sylvanus, the mother, the new born baby, and her elder sister are doing well. Please do not forget to put that in your prayers.

We are preparing for the preachers forum in Buea this weekend, with the presence of some student preachers and next will be the preachers wives’ forum in Mbanga on the 27th and 28th of May.

We pray you remain blessed.
titi

A Historical Day For The Bear Valley Church Of Christ...

Today, the Bear Valley Church of Christ was privileged to witness a historical moment as five men were installed to shepherd the congregation. These five men will add to an already wonderful eldership. We know their oversight of the congregation, the Bible Institute in Denver, and the extension program will continue to fulfill the 50 Year Vision the elders placed before the church in 2008. Please pray for these men as they assume the responsibilities of the highest office on earth.

Prayer Request: Please continue to pray for strength and healing for Evie Graber (and her family) and Cy Stafford (and his family), while they endure difficult health challenges. Both Evie and Cy begin treatments soon. Please pray for them during this time.

Students in Denver are two weeks away from graduation. We are excited about the development of these men who long to serve in our Lord’s kingdom. The next few weeks will be packed with preparing assignments, taking final exams, and the next step into full-time ministry. Please pray for these men and their families as they leave Bear Valley and work to honor our God through leading the lost to Jesus and strengthening the faith of saints wherever they go.

The extension program continues to thrive also as students complete their studies and move closer to graduation. The reports from this week highlight the outreach conducted and souls that were added to the kingdom as a result of their work. The motivation and encouragement received from these reports is immeasurable. I hear from our brethren in each location about the encouragement we are to them, but I wonder if they understand how encouraging they are to us. What a blessing it is to participate in this kingdom work together.

Please remember to update your files to include Keith Kasarjian. He needs to receive your reports, and if there is information to discuss regarding the extension program, please write Keith. He now serves as the new director of the extension program. His email address is kkasarjian@wetrainpreachers.com. 

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/

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

Extension Reports

Students Continue To Make Inroads For The Work In Cameroon: From weekend evangelism to the hospital, students in Wotutu learn how to apply the lessons learned in the classroom.

The Ability To See Blessings In The Midst Of Adversity: The school in Ukraine finds blessings in the midst of the ongoing difficulties in the eastern part of the country.

Reporting, Reconnecting, And Research: The Spradlins’ near the end of the furlough and report on the recent events in the work at Asuncion, Paraguay.

Amazing Outreach Program With Students At ACSOP In Tanzania: The students at the Andrew Connally School of Preaching participate in an exciting program.

Final Thoughts
Coming to end of one week and the beginning of another continually reminds us of the graciousness of our God. Beyond the life He blessed us with, we are privileged to enjoy this life with our friends and fellow-workers in the kingdom. Thank you for the blessing you are to the program of extension training. We thank our God daily for you and this great opportunity.

God bless
Bob

Students Continue To Make Inroads For The Work In Cameroon...

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from this part of the globe in Cameroon, Wotutu. We give praises to God that many who were sick are gaining health. Many thanks to you for your prayers. We do hope this report finds you in good health and a sound faith. God is still on the throne. We are making progress with the work entrusted in our hands.

Last week went on well with not much emotional tension from students and members’ health situations. Students continue to make sure their daily obligations are observed no matter the condition in which they find themselves.

Health is a challenge to many now, but we give thanks to God for His help. Studies are going on well and all our staff are doing amazingly well in sound teaching preparing sound teachers for the church in Cameroon.

Many congregations are still in need of Mission Printing tracts. We are making efforts as we have the ability to give as many as we can to needy congregations who are eager to use the tracts for evangelism.

Our small car can carry as many tracts as we can to congregations who can barely trek far from the forest and we meet them in the nearest town where they will get the tracts and trek back to their villages.

This week our students went to the farm after school hours to get the land prepared for planting in the weeks ahead. This is to help them know some basic agriculture, which can serve as their own tent making in the future as they serve the Lord in preaching and teaching.

Dibanda is a village near to Mutengene. There is a small congregation there of less than 30 people, but they have a tradition of making an annual visit to BVBIC-Wotutu. Their aim is to provide the Bible students with cooked food, juice, and bread. Today, again they were in Wotutu and all the students who were out for weekend evangelism rushed back to school afterwards to be part of the fellowship. Their minister gave the students encouraging words from the word JOY, meaning J-Jesus first, O-Others second, Y-yourself last, reminding them the same story about humility, serving others rather than expecting them to serve you.

I was part of the fellowship, as we ate our main meal - fufu. Our students were very happy as they ate something which hardly come by in their kitchen.

It was a time to enjoy, share vision and passion. This congregation said when they see the great sacrifice from our students who are zealous in evangelism, they can see a glorious church of tomorrow. They don’t have anything to give, but a strong motivation that will drive these students to meet up with their goals. Feeding them for one day is just what they consider doing and they are happy doing this.

We had a family picture made with them outside the church hall to keep memories alive. What a faith that we saw from them. They keep getting into the annals of history for their gestures are always welcome. Our leaders were impressed and gave them much encouragement. They visited what is happening and they were impressed to visit the children at the Brightland Christian Orphanage. They promised a special visit to the orphanage as the Lord blesses them.

Even though with all these activities, and our always busy schedule, nothing on our agenda is left out. The newly established hospital visits on Sunday afternoon were still on as we visited the Chief Masango in the surgical ward. We met three of them in the ward relaxing outside the hall because of much heat. Keep them in your prayers as well.

Plans
reacher’s forum is coming up in the Buea congregation this week.

The Kumbo scholarship lectureship will come later in the week.

Africans Claiming Africa for Christ conference will be in August in Senegal.

Appreciations
Thank you for all that you do to keep this work going. God bless you as you faint not.

Please share this report with others.

Elangwe and family
By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu

Amazing Outreach Program With Students At ACSOP In Tanzania...

Greetings fellow servants, 

The Lord is doing an amazing job through His servants here in ACSOP. All this is because you and many other good friends of God have chosen to help us in spreading the good news (The Gospel).

The following is the number of people reached by the gospel through our student outreach program, only in April.

43 Bible studies conducted (Remember in these studies there is more than one person attending.)
10 souls have been added to the kingdom.
40 Bible correspondence courses have been distributed
100 Bible tracts have been given out.

The student outreach program is the program started by the school for the purpose of helping our students to be better equipped to do evangelism before they go out. Through this effort the surrounding congregations benefit by having extra workers in the field. Students who are coming from congregations that do not have a preacher are given the chance to go home and minister to the saints where they come from. 

One example of this is brother Martin Tulway, who is one of our second year students. He established a congregation where he came from, known as Endamarariek.  He went back this weekend for evangelism on Saturday and worship on Sunday and here is what he wrote, “Evangelism was done on Saturday, three classes were conducted. Clement Boay was baptized…..” This and many more blessings are being bestowed to us through your prayers and support. Thank you so much for all that you do and mean in His Kingdom.

Please do not cease from praying. Our brother, Cy, still needs you prayers because he is about to take another round of chemotherapy. Please continue to pray for us as we continue fighting the devil and his angels.

Your servant in His Kingdom,

Charles Mwanga
Director
Andrew Connally School of Preaching
P.O. Box 14041
Arusha, Tanzania

Reporting, Reconnecting, And Research...

Yes, you read that correctly. It says "research." That is because not only have we been traveling around to visit our supporters to give our annual mission report and getting to visit our families, but I have also been trying to complete all the assignments from the classes I took last month: six books to read, with five book reviews and two 20-page research papers to write! Whew! It has been a little challenging while traveling, to say the least! But all is going well and we have been blessed with generous hospitality and good travel conditions. It has been a great furlough. We hope you enjoy this month's Paraguay Mission report. God bless! 

Baptism
Marcos Dominguez was immersed into the body of Christ after Enrique Albera (one of our former Bible Academy students), taught him the Gospel. Marcos is the boyfriend of our sister in Christ, Silvina Gimenez. He has been coming to services with Silvina for several months. We are excited to see the Word of God working in his life! 

Visiting My Alma Mater
What a joy it was to get to visit with our dear brethren at my alma mater, Southwest School of Bible Studies in Austin, TX! I had the opportunity to speak in chapel and then several of us enjoyed fellowship over lunch.

Developments at Ave. Sacramento
Our annual CONGREGATIONAL RETREAT was held this past month. Around twenty people went to Itacurubi, (located about 90 minutes outside of Asuncion), on a Saturday afternoon to enjoy fellowship with each other and a night of camping. On Sunday, the church hired a bus for anyone else who wanted to attend the event, which left the building at 6:30am. It turned out to be a great day of worship, study, and fellowship, including a baptism! The theme for the retreat was “Worship,” and consisted of four Bible study times (pictured below, with Enrique teaching), followed with worship to God to end the event. There were sixty people present on Sunday. The Paraguayans did all the planning and executed the event without the mission team's involvement. We praise God for an active and working church!

Asuncion Bible Academy Update
Studies, studies, and more studies! The students have already completed several short courses for this quarter. Some of the classes have been via video including Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon which I taught from here in the USA this past month (pictured below). There will be another campaign coming up that will have the students going out to the new church building location in San Lorenzo. They will be door-knocking the surrounding neighborhood, visiting the brethren in that area, and also shadowing the local evangelist, Eliezer, in his weekly ministry.

Troy and Andrea Spradlin

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

The Ability To See Blessings In The Midst Of Adversity....

Hello brothers and sisters, 

Ukraine is such a blessed country, and perhaps these events which are still taking place in the east of the country are a reminder for all of us that God can punish nations for the unwillingness to learn about His will. We urge you to keep praying for the peace in Ukraine and for those Christians who are still on the territories controlled by the pro-Russian insurgents. Next year there might be several Christians from the occupied territories entering the BVBIU program. 

In April we had a wonderful meeting of the church of Christ ministers in Dnipropetrovsk. We made it a good tradition to have such meetings once every 2-3 months and discuss important Biblical matters. This time we discussed such topics: The True Church of Christ and Whom God Considers to Be Saved. Such meetings give some food for thought, and I’m sure they encourage many ministers and church leaders. 

In April, first-year students studied Daniel, Ezekiel, and Luke; second-year students studied Paul’s Prison Epistles, Galatians and Revelation. We are grateful for all of the teachers who participate in training the ministers. This year there will be three students graduating from BVBIU. I’m sure that you remember that this class was recruited in 2014 when the military actions in Ukraine just started. It seemed then that the military opposition would cease soon and everything will be back to normal again. However, it’s been two years since then. In a month we’ll have yet another graduation and will be thinking about how to recruit the new ones. Life goes on, and there are many people in need of sound doctrine and trained preachers. If you are willing and have an opportunity to support the Institute, the future graduates and their ministry financially, please contact BVBIU coordinator, Denton Landon, or me. 

We are still actively recruiting students for the school year 2015-2016. Our worker, Alexey Mitskutis, made several important trips to Kremenchug and Lviv. He preached at those congregations and made presentations to invite men to enter the Institute. There are several good additional contacts with young men who got interested in studying at the Institute. Keep praying for us and for the successful work of the church and the Institute in Ukraine. 

Good weather has been set in Ukraine, and we have started preaching on the streets of our town more often. Almost every time we go to the central part of the town and put out our tables with literature and invitations many people come closer and get interested. Unfortunately, when they get literature and invitations they don’t contact us again. We have given it much thought about how we can tell this town about God’s church and what way of inviting people to study God’s word would be effective. Right now we have an opportunity to put the invitations to the church on huge billboards across the town. I hope that in the near future we’ll start this project, and we’ll pray that this call would aid to God’s word. Of course nothing can substitute the personal contact; therefore, we started playing soccer with students, church members and non-Christians regularly. We pray before the game and have fellowship after it. At first some people didn’t understand our actions, but now they are used to it and what is more important our circle is getting bigger. Moreover, part of our students and teachers started visiting hospitals in the town to give out New Testaments there, to pray for the people, and what is more important to have personal Bible studies. 

We thank everyone who participates in the process of training preachers in Ukraine. God’s work requires self-sacrifice and responsibility. You are demonstrating it continually, supporting the Institute, students, and the teachers. We pray for you, and we know that you always pray for us. 

You brother and co-worker,
Dennis Sopelnik

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

Full-Time And Full-Speed Ahead...

Prayer Request: Please continue to pray for strength and healing for Evie Graber (and her family) and Cy Stafford (and his family), while they endure difficult health challenges. We know how much they appreciate your prayers. We will provide updates as we receive them. Thank you for remembering these great servants of the Lord.

The next graduating class at the Bear Valley Bible Institute in Denver will complete their studies in just a few weeks. We are nearing the end of the journey for several men who are anxiously waiting to begin full-time service in the Lord’s Kingdom. We are excited for each of them and we pray God will work through them to influence many souls for the Lord. As this school year ends, we prepare for another class of students who arrive for classes in August. Please pray for our graduates and our incoming freshman who will begin the journey in just a few months.

The extension program is moving along at full-speed. The reports from several locations provide encouraging news about the growth and development of students who prepare themselves for service in the Kingdom. We consider it a great honor and privilege to share in the journey with them, as they work towards the goal of completing their studies. Based on the lives that are changed while they are in school, we know these men will continue to affect the souls of hundreds and thousands more after they complete their training.

Do not forget to update your files to include Keith Kasarjian. He needs to receive your reports, and if there is information to discuss regarding the extension program, please write Keith. He now serves as the new director of the extension program. His email address is kkasarjian@wetrainpreachers.com. 

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

The Importance Of Prayer Highlights The Need In Wotutu, Cameroon: Brother Elangwe preaches on the importance of prayer and its affect on the work in Cameroon.

Weekend Evangelism Produces Fruit Near Mbanga, Cameroon: The development of students in their second year of training indicates good training as souls are added to the kingdom.

The Value Of Campaigns Explained For The Work In Zambia: The report from Zambia provides a powerful explanation as to the benefits of campaign work.

The Use Of Technology Expands The Work In Cambodia: Director, Phanat Ouch, benefited from the use of technology to encourage brethren around the world.

A Stand For Truth Brings Praise From An Older Generation In Kenya: While preaching in a recent campaign, students witnessed the division truth can bring.

After A Successful Lectureship In Guatemala, A New Class Begins: After concluding the annual ITL lectureship, a new class of students begin their journey in study.

The School In Nigeria Prepares For The World Bible School Seminar: While focusing on studies, the staff and students of BVBIN prepare for a major seminar in Nigeria.

An Impressive Quarter Of Study With Students At ACSOP: As the second quarter of the year closes, staff at the ACSOP are impressed by the work accomplished by students.

Everyone Prepares For The Upcoming “Safari For Souls” Campaign: The season approaches for an exciting campaign year in Arusha, Tanzania.

The Agricultural Development Of The Program In Arusha Is Exciting: As agricultural development increases, the school and community in Tanzania benefit.

Final Thoughts
A closing note of thanks: the expression of our gratitude often seems trite, but please know that our continual efforts to thank you are sincere. We know how much you are willing to sacrifice to help this work grow. We also know that without you we could not see the success of this program. Working side-by-side with God and you makes this a joyous work indeed. Thank you!

God bless
Bob

The Agricultural Development Of The Program In Arusha Is Exciting...

We are happy to report that our 1,000 layer chicken house has been built. We have also
purchased the chicks, and in five months, Lord willing, we will have a large supply of eggs. Many businesses in the area have already contacted us about purchasing large amounts of eggs to sell. Good, quality eggs are very difficult to find in Tanzania. Most of the eggs, due to poor nutrition, have yolks as white as the “egg whites.” Every week we sell out of the 600 eggs our hens currently produce, because buyers are thrilled to have good eggs with yellow/orange yolks. 

We also had a new addition born on the farm this month. Leroy, as Anna calls him, will join the other 2016 calves, Ruby and Otis. He was a very large calf, much bigger than Otis who is already a month old. Both boys will be grown out and at a year we will sell them. Lord willing, we will use the money to add to our milkers. We would like to expand our three milkers to around nine in the future. 

Our corn and beans have grown in nicely and we are thanking God for the rain He has provided. We have several acres of corn and beans planted and harvest time is just around the corner. We have cleaned the shamba for the last time now since the beans have started to flower, so all we will do now is sit back and pray God keeps giving us the rain we need and provides a good harvest for the school. 

This month we have the second year students working in the shamba. They helped us weed our corn and beans. We talked about not wasting anything and using all the resources you have available. The grass was too high in many places and so we used the weeds and grass clippings from where we cleaned up the garden (while doing so we killed two snakes). We then combined those clippings with manure from the chickens, goats, and cows along with food scraps from the kitchen to start a big compost pile to use in the raised beds later. 

Evangelism: 
Anna continues teaching the preachers’ wives once a month and it is going well. Justin is continuing to work with Kisongo’s youth on Saturdays. One Saturday this month the kids came in the pouring down rain, and so did some local dogs! Everyone wanted to get dry and out of the rain. 

Two women were added to the Lord’s Church this month. Mungu ni mwema. 

The evangelism teams are working in Njiro chini this month and next month to prepare for the upcoming campaigns. We look forward to the “Safari for Souls” and are praying for the work being done and that will be done, Lord willing. 

We are thrilled to have our new teammates, Mason and Haley Norman, here with us! We are looking forward to the rest of the family joining us in May and June. 

Thank you all for your constant love and encouragement. We enjoyed taking a picture of the Kisongo kids with their paper hair after they learned about Samson!

Justin Maynard

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

Everyone Prepares For The Upcoming "Safari For Souls" Campaign...

Greetings fellow workers,

I hope this report finds you doing well and your service to God thriving. Here's a glimpse into some of what you are facilitating through your prayers and support of mission efforts in Tanzania. 

John Class
It is very bittersweet for me that we are in the midst of the last regular quarter that I'll get to teach at ACSOP. It's been a pleasure to see this group of second years mature as Bible students. I'm also thrilled that it just so happened that my last class covers the book that I most like teaching - the Gospel John. It gives us such an personal glimpse into the ministry of our Savior!

Pentecostal Seminar
Nesta and I have been having a series of Bible studies with a Pentecostal preacher in the area. He's been an eager student and has been very interested in what we've had to say. So much so, that he has invited us to present a seminar to the entire congregation. This is a fantastic opportunity and we are very exited about it. Please keep this in your prayers as we make plans and preparations for the event. May God be glorified through it!

Preparing for Campaign Season
The area preachers gathered this weekend for our monthly evangelism meeting. Beginning in late May we'll have about a month and a half of steady campaigning. This influx of friends from the US is always an exciting time for the work here. You can look forward to reading in future reports some of the wonderful results of these efforts. For now, pray for both the campaigners and the local workers as preparations and pre-campaign work is being done.  

Children's Seminar
The monthly children's seminar has become everyone's favorite day of the month. Let me share with you Justin's account of this month's exciting seminar:

This month’s women and children’s seminar was held in the Ngorogoro area. For those of you familiar with the Ngorgoro Crater, we were at it’s rim for this seminar. We drove approximately two hours to the small village right outside the crater. When we were within a few miles of the church, our van could no longer travel on the roads. Due to the vehicle we drive, and the long rains turning the roads into a terrible mess, we had to get out and walk the rest of the way to the church building. 

In our vehicle we had myself and Anna, our new missionaries Mason and Haley Norman, and locals Jane and Desdery Massawe, and their oldest daughter Martina. The Gaines were in front of us with a better equipped vehicle for these conditions and all of the material for the seminar. We sent them on ahead and we all got out and walked. The roads we flooded and muddy but no one complained as we headed toward the church. The road vehicles take would have been a very long walk and so the locals led us to a shortcut. This shortcut required us to climb a cliff that leads up to where the church meets. Once again, everyone was in good spirits and even Jane, who is seven months pregnant, did not complain and it was a beautiful journey to the top. 

Given the heavy rains, we did not expect large numbers. However, when we arrived at the top we were happily surprised. Under a tarp held up by tents (this was their church building) was around 41 children and over 30 women waiting on us. Men were scattered about awaiting personal Bible studies. Everyone split up and we quickly began. 

Daniel, Mason, Desdery, Jasper Julius (a local preacher), and I began conducting Bible studies. Tiffany, Anna, Haley, and Jane began their prepared lessons the women had asked they come and speak on. Anna began with a lesson on Christian Life and Tiffany followed with a lesson on Perseverance. By noon both women’s lessons were finished and the rain continued to pour. Every few minutes the women had to knock the pools of water off the tarp to prevent the tent from collapsing in on them. For an hour and a half the women asked questions on marriage and family and how to live a Christian life. Daniel came and helped take over the Q&A with the women so Anna, Tiffany, Haley, and Jane could take the children to do their portion of the seminar. 

Due to the continuous rains, the only place to move the 4 adult teachers and the 41 children was an 8x8 one room, mud home. The children’s faces lit up with excitement over the colored pictures Tiffany showed them as she taught them about the Bible. After Anna taught them about creation and told them each they could take their coloring sheets and one crayon home with them, their excitement bubbled over. There was no room in the small house to allow the kids to color and due to the rain they couldn’t move outside. So, the children were thrilled to have their very own crayon (yes, just one each). 

By three o’clock the rains were still falling and we decided if we wanted to try and make it home, we needed to leave. Daniel loaded his family, Desdery’s family, and the Norman’s into his vehicle (dala dala style) and headed back toward our car. Anna and I walked back down the cliff a few minutes before they drove down because the locals told us one of our tires on the van was flat. The path down the cliff had become a waterfall and there was no way to avoid water on the roads. The walk down was adventurous and cold but we enjoyed it. 

Anna and I reached the bottom around the same time the Gaines car came down with the others. We did indeed have a flat tire. The roads were soft and mucky, terrible conditions to try and jack up our vehicle. However, Daniel, Desdery, and Mason picked up on the car while I climbed under and was able to get the jack in place. We are thankful to God and His protection that we made it home on terrible roads, two hours away, with a flat tire that had to be pumped up every 30 minutes. 

Though this seminar presented many challenges God was glorified and the Word was spread. Pray for the Ngorogoro Kanisa la Kristo as they continue to evangelize the community around them. 

Anna and I have purchased our tickets for furlough. We will be leaving Africa August 25th. While home, in order for us to be able to come back and stay for three more years, we will have to raise support. If your congregation is interested in having us come and present our work email us at: themaynardsfarm@gmail.com. Also if you would like to help the fundraising with a donation please send checks to Horton Chapel Church of Christ 925 Union Ridge Road, PO Box 1100, Belton, KY 42324. Put in the for line Maynard’s Mission Work.  

-  Justin Maynard

You can see some pictures from that day on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TanzanianMissions/)

Thank you so much for the relentless prayers and support that you give on behalf of the work here. God is powerful, and He is being glorified by our service together.

Till all have heard...

Daniel Gaines

An Impressive Quarter Of Study With Students At ACSOP...

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "The things which you have heard from me...entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." II Tim. 2:2

As we consider these words of instruction from Paul to the young preacher Timothy, an obvious thing must come into our mind: How are we putting this instruction into practice today? As I thought about that, nothing came into my mind except exactly what is going on in ACSOP. This instruction of Paul is really being put into practice here.

This second quarter of studies here in ACSOP is impressive. Our lecturers are working harder and harder to impart to these fellows the knowledge of God’s word. They are doing exactly what I have quoted above for this week. The first year students are showing great improvement in their studies. 

On the other hand, things are moving well with the ACSOP staff. All the cooks, cleaners and students are okay. We all are enjoying God’s blessing of heavy rains here in Arusha. The school farm and the vegetable garden are blooming. We hope this year we will have a good harvest of corn and more vegetables. Moreover, please never forget to remember in your daily prayers our dear brother Cy, as he continues to get more strength from his sickness.  

We ought always to GIVE THANKS to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting..." (2 Thess. 1:3) for all you have done, and for your faith in us and the work going on here. "Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified..." (2 Thess. 3:1)

Thank you so very much for your continued and faithful support of our work. May God bless you for your sacrifices!

In Christ Jesus,

Losotwa Michael,
Dean of Academics, Andrew Connally School of Preaching
A Bear Valley Bible Institute International extension school
Arusha, TZ

The School In Nigeria Prepares For The World Bible School Seminar...

Beloved in Christ Jesus,

Greetings from the staff and students of the Bear Valley Bible Institute Nigeria, Southwest School of Evangelism, and my co-WBSFUW in the Western state of Nigeria.

Glory and honor be unto the Almighty God who has brought us to the end of the 3rd semester in BVBIN & SWSE, Ibadan.

All year two students and some year one students performed excellently during our Practicum (Practical Homiletics).

Our students will embark tomorrow in two weeks of vocational studies in Ibadan, Lagos, and Osun states. Fourth semester classes begin, Lord willing, on May 16, 2016 through July 15, 2016.

World Bible School Seminar: We are organizing a two day WBS seminar in Ibadan on May 14 that will be held at the auditorium of the church of Christ, Onikokoro / Gbongudu Sooko road between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm and on May 18 at Butubutu village junction Butubutu, Ona-Ara Local Government between 3:30 - 6:30 pm. Free gospel literature (VOTI vol. 87, WBS course on “How to Get to Heaven,” etc.) to all participants. The  theme of our discussion is “How To Get To Heaven” with three sub-topics: “Heaven & Hell,” “Steps unto Heaven,” and “Worship of the New Testament Church.”

Free Registration and Feeding Leadership Seminar 2016 @ BVBIN & SWSE, Ibadan: In preparation for the upcoming Leadership Seminar of May 23-27 at our main campus in Butubutu, we have painted the three unpainted blocks (Male hostel, Guest & Director quarters, and lastly the Female hostel). We also constructed another ten benches and desks for the classes.

Reports From My Coworkers: Brother Abiola Joseph Olusoji reported the conversion of a soul. Brother Dairo Joseph Abiodun reported that they just began their quarterly lectureship at the Ota congregation in Ogun state, and brother Ezekiel Okoh reported the restoration of a soul at the Iyana-Ipaja congregation in Lagos, while brother Matthew Adeyemi reported the conversion of two souls at Lusada town where he is presently ministering. Brother Ajiteru Olufemi, one of the graduates of our school reported the conversion of four souls (Adeola Temidayo, Onyedika Benjamin, Uche Joseph, and Ajakaiye Oladapo Jacob) in the month of April.

Our Challenge: I have been using my Toyota Rav 4 to convene the students, staff, and co-WBSFUW to the venues of our weekend evangelism & gospel campaigns since January 2016 when our school van finally broke down. In order for the task before us to be lighter and effective, I have disposed my plantain plantation at Tadi village for the sum of N500,000 and deposited the funds with a motor dealer in Ibadan on Wednesday to get us a better three seater van that will be useful for our rural and urban evangelism. I will need another N500,000 to balance up whenever that dealer has the van that is good for evangelism.

Beloved, we thank you all for your partnership. You are all in our prayers.

Thanks and God bless.

Sincerely His & yours,
Makinde Ebens (Minister)

After A Successful Lectureship In Guatemala, A New Class Begins...

This past March 10th – 13th, we celebrated our 7th Annual ITL Lectureship. The theme this year was Practical Christian Living: A Study of the Book of James. The event turned out to be a wonderful time of study and edification. 

We were honored with a well-qualified array of speakers that did an excellent job of making James what the theme suggests—very practical! As you can see from the flyer, there were 12 speakers/teachers. Victor Ajuchan, David Avila and Wilder Ordoñez were speakers from Guatemala. Javier Alfaro came from Costa Rica and Pedro Batres from Nicaragua. The rest came from various parts of the U.S.: Luis Camacho (Dallas, TX), Kevin Hahn (Houston, TX), Bob Turner (Denver, CO), and Kerrie Williams (Jonesboro, AR). In addition, two ladies, Brenda Dean and Sherrie Montgomery came to speak to our ladies and Cherie Dempster taught several children’s classes. All three ladies are from Morristown, TN, where their husbands (John, Tom, and Jim respectively), who also came to the lectureship, serve as elders. Conrad Pinder (Costa Rica) was back to help with the translation and so did Byron’s mom, Aralee Hernandez (Los Angeles, CA), who translated for the ladies classes. Benjamin Montejo and Dulce Ramirez, both from Linda Vista, also contributed as translators. 

Additionally, we also had the honor of having Tom Langley, Anna Pride and Channetta Williams present for the lectureship. Tom (Maryville, TN) is the president of World English Institute (WEI) and a friend from many years back. He was the one who kept encouraging us to host WEI teams in Guatemala and now we have hosted teams for seven years! Anna Pride (Nashville, TN) and Channetta Williams (Lubbock, TX) were here because we are working with them to establish a full-time WEI school in Guatemala in the near future. All of us were able to meet after the lectureship events to discuss how we could see the school become a reality. We all felt encouraged and ask that you keep this project in your prayers. Channetta is currently seeking support to move to Guatemala and we are actively looking for other team members to join this effort. We will send out more details about this in another newsletter. 

As usual, the events for the lectureship began on Thursday and concluded on Sunday. Permit us to share with you some of the highlights. 

Thursday, March 10 – ITL’s President’s Banquet
The President’s Banquet was held again at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Zone 13 of Guatemala City. This is the hotel we have been using for our ITL activities and mission teams. They have been very kind to us, provide the best rate for our guests and offer a few other amenities. 

The banquet always serves as a great way to begin our lectureship activities. We invite all of ITL’s past graduates from both programs (Saturday and Full-Time) to attend. It is a good opportunity to honor their faithfulness and work with their local churches. Also, we take the opportunity to honor our speakers and their guests. Additionally, it provides a good arena to express appreciation to those who make ITL possible. As we were finishing dinner, Hawatthia, the president of ITL, introduced the after-dinner speaker for this year, Kevin Hahn. Kevin preaches for the Lake Houston Church of Christ in Humble, Texas, and he did an excellent job. 

This year, we honored Carlos Ramos and Eusebia Martinez with the President’s Service Award for their unselfish dedication and service throughout the years. We are happy to report that we were honored again to have Dr. Henry España, “ITL’s doctor,” and his wife Dora Alicia. Several other awards and appreciation plaques were given and the program concluded with a photo presentation that looked back at 2015. 

Friday, March 11 – Excursion Day
On Friday, our out-of-town guests traveled first to the historic area of Guatemala called Zone 1, where they visited the National Palace. This year, we could not make the regular lunch stop at Wendy’s because for some reason the restaurant closed. So, we walked an extra two blocks to enjoy Pollo Campero before departing to La Antigua Guatemala. We made a favorite stop at the coffee plantation La Azalea for a tour and coffee (for those who drink coffee). We then made our way to Antigua’s market, where the team haggled a bit for their souvenirs (which most consider a fun experience). For dinner, we enjoyed a meal at Fonda de la Calle Real before making our way back to the capital city. 

Saturday, March 12 – Our 7th Annual Lectureship Begins
Linda Vista again served as the location for our lectureship this year. The city granted us permission to close off the street, so we were able to set up a couple tents and chairs for outdoor classes in front of the building (which was a coveted location because of the cool breeze). 

The day began with some troubles with our sound system. Thankfully, we were able to get it to work and the lectures were on their way. Pedro Batres did a great job of introducing our theme. We have continued to follow the same format that seems to work well. We have several keynote speakers scattered throughout the day, interspersed with workshops, singing, lunch and an open forum, a favorite of the attendees, but not such a favorite with the speakers. We ended the day with a dinner prepared by our local sisters. 

The attendance on Saturday was very good. We had at least 15 churches represented at various times of the day. Some, not including the invited speakers, traveled as far as Chiapas, Mexico and from one of the borders of Guatemala, about eight hours away. There were also people there from other departments and from several congregations in the Guatemala City area. We averaged about 250 in attendance as people came and went throughout the day, but the total number of people easily surpassed 300. 

Sunday, March 13 – Conclusion of Lectureship
For Sunday we had a full house. The congregation in San Antonio, Villa Nueva, worshipped with us and we had several members from other congregations to join the Linda Vista family, so we were packed tightly. Kevin Hahn had the final keynote lesson during our worship and did a tremendous job of motivating us to seek the lost from James 5. If our memory serves us correctly, there were six responses. There was one final Bible class before the event came to a close. Then, all of us enjoyed lunch together. 

A special thank you to so many who helped to make this year’s lectureship a great success. Every area of work was vital and we pray that God will richly bless each person who so willingly served in various ways. Lord willing, we will host our 8th annual lectureship next year. We pray that you will be able to come and be part of this event.

A New Class Begins at ITL
We are thankful that all of our Epsilon has arrived to the ITL campus. The class had one additional student to join it a week into the first quarter, bringing the total of students to six. 

Lord willing, we will be sending very soon a complete update about our Epsilon class. Please continue to pray that all will go well as the new students and their families adjust to their new life here at ITL and as the staff and faculty adjust to having them on campus. 

Serving Jesus in Guatemala! 
Hawatthia, Byron, Snezana

“Teaching the CENTRAL MESSAGE in CENTRAL AMERICA!” 

To see the report from ITL with pictures, please click here.

A Stand For Truth Brings Praise From An Older Generation In Kenya...

Dear brethren,

Silence at times means things are good. It has been quite sometime now since you heard from KSOP, Kisumu Kenya. We are doing well here and thankful to God for making us workers together with Him. We are thankful to God for the rains and the opportunity for many to go and farm.

We had a break and all the 20 students came back and are working real smart to finish the race by August 27 this year. This quarter the students are studying “Minor Prophets,” “Denominational Doctrines,” “1, 2 Timothy and Titus,” and “Greek III” during the regular six weeks, and later they will finish with two short-courses: “Revelation” and “The Scheme of Redemption.” These two short courses will be taught by Wayne Burger.

During the break, we had a van full of books for the school. We thank brother Mike Reese for making this possible and we also thank all who surrendered their books for the school. There is still room for more books. Please contact brother Reese to donate more and provide any assistance.

While the students were on break, we are excited to report of the great work the students were involved in doing. Jeremiah Bor, Sammy, and Tonui organized a gospel meeting with over 20 local church leaders attending. Elias also joined them. Bor stood firm and boldly refuted the errors of Instrumental music, hand clapping, and women leading worship services. This did not go down well with the majority, but it is amazing how the older members, who were baptized in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, accepted Bor’s teachings and said that’s the doctrine they were taught, received, and practiced before it was brought down by the so called “digital preachers” from liberal Bible schools.

The truth presented by these students and Elias led the older generation to shower praise for the good work the preaching school is doing in Kisumu to restore Bible salvation and worship. One denomination with 15 members believed the truth and vowed not to follow men anymore. Bor has been assisting them to be grounded in the truth every Sunday as they requested. The result, the denomination now is the Lord’s church with 15 adult members.

After the gospel meeting, the older generation who accepted the truth organized another meeting to discuss further the errors being practiced with the aim of kicking out the digital preachers who have brought false teaching in the church. The school again sent Bor and Tonui to help the older generation “contend earnestly for the faith” in the meeting. We pray the truth will prevail.

The other men were also at work. I led the gospel campaign in Sigomre with two souls obeying the gospel. I taught “1, 2 Timothy and Titus” to 8 men for one week. Four souls were baptized at Mulusi church, that was led by Solomon, a student at KSOP.

Brethren, know your prayers and assistance for the work of training preachers is not in vain. Preachers who stand firm and fight for the Lord are few, and we appreciate the trust you have in this work to train more sound men.

With love and joy,
Charles Ogutu - Director Kenya School of Preaching, Kisumu.

Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."

The Use Of Technology Expands The Work In Cambodia...

Greetings brethren! 

It's been a fruitful two months serving the Lord here in Cambodia and I'm very excited to share with you about the work of Jesus these past two months. Right after brother Wayne Burger finished his awesome short course at IBISR, I had my very own seminar to teach in Phnom Penh. My topic was titled "The Successful Steward: God's View on Money for His servants." It was held at the University church of Christ, also known as the BEST center. We had about 100 people show up for it and received some positive feedback. 

I was also able to Skype with the youth at the Dripping Springs congregation and shared with them a little about what a missionary does and answered some of their questions. They do this thing called the "Missionary March Madness" where they Skype missionaries around the time of the March Madness NCAA tournament and just try to encourage them and ask questions about their ministry. I’m so honored to be able to share a little bit about the work in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

"We were privileged tonight to be able to Skype with Phanat Ouch who is diligently working for the Lord in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Brother Phanat's personal story about his life, and his labors in the mission field were so up-lifting. I was so happy that many of your youth could be there to hear about the great things the Lord is doing through him, his family, and the dedicated Christians in that part of the world. We admire him so very much, and tonight our hearts were refreshed by his words, and our appreciation for missionaries tremendously increased. We are so blessed to know someone like Phanat Ouch. God bless you brother. The congregation in Dripping Springs is praying for you and your family." -John W. Moore

March 17th was my 7 years anniversary with my wife, Chakriya. We had a family dinner at a new place that just opened up near the riverside. I am thankful for a wonderful helpmeet that God sent my way. Please continue to pray for us to grow in our faith and love for one another.

In April, our long time coordinator Wes Autrey came to teach a short course on "Teaching Methods" and did a wonderful job. His unique teaching style and "yellow" personality always gets our students interested in learning about God's Word. I appreciate his sacrifice and effort in preparing the lessons to teach our students and staff to become better teachers of God's word. 

After Wes left back to America, Cambodia started its New Year celebration so our students got 1 week off for the holidays. They all went home to be with family and for our students it was their first time going back after half a year of study in the bible school. This is a very crucial time for them as they will face much persecution and temptations. Most of our students come back stronger in their faith when they see how much they've changed to their family and friends. This is the time where the staff and older Christians help encourage them and tell them that everybody goes through it. We've all been called a traitor to our culture, but we still remain faithful to our Lord. I pray that you continue to remain faithful to our Lord regardless of the hardships that you face in your part of the world. God bless and keep supporting this wonderful work!

Phanat

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

The Value Of Campaigns Explained For The Work In Zambia...

Dear brethren,

Greetings from Luanshya, Zambia! Our prayers are that you and your family are all doing well in all your endeavors. The students and the staff of the school here are doing okay.

The fourth quarter started on the 13th of April 2016. In this quarter, brother Mwamba is teaching Personal Evangelism and New Testament Worship. I am teaching also two courses: 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and 1 and 2 Peter and Jude. The quarter seems to be very exciting and we look forward to having a very successful one.

At the end of the the quarter, we need to go on gospel campaigns. These campaigns are very important for following reasons:

1. They help to promote and advertise the school for future recruitment.

2. They accord the students with hand on work experience that they need to have before graduating.

3. Campaigns are indeed ways of reaching out to the lost and a means of strengthening the relationship with existing congregations. We believe this is the most important of all the reasons.

We would like to do campaigns in most of the Provinces of Zambia after completing the fourth quarter, but we have obvious constraints on our hands.

At present, we have not put aside any funds for such activities. The funds that are sent each month cover the working budget for the month. Sometimes we run a deficit in the budget. It seems again this month we are running into this because the Zambian Kwacha has really gained against major currencies like the US dollar. This makes it very hard to cover the budget with the same amount of funds we receive each month. And we are truly grateful for the funds sent to the school each month. 

We looked at the pros and cons of having our own facilities for the school here. And we concluded that we can do better to have our own facilities than to continue renting. When you look at our school articles of association (constitution) here, it stipulates that all the assets acquired by the Institute must be given back to the Institute should anything happen to cause the school to close down. Though this is not our prayer! If we continue renting, we may not be in favor with the landlord as it seems at present, and hence he/she might come up with conditions that may prove to be very hard for us. And we would be forced to move to another place. And if the same thing happens we would be forced to move again and again and again. The idea of moving the school from place to place may show some instabilities in the operation of the school. We would not want to see this happening here. 

We were very saddened to learn of the death of the Director of the school in Zimbabwe. Our prayers go to his family, the school and the church in Zimbabwe, and indeed the Bear Valley Bible Institute family.

Brotherly,
Cephas and Fred