Details Of Day To Day Nepali Life...

The report below is from Parsuram Sunchuri, who works as an evangelist in Nepal and teaches in the Extension school where we are privileged to share in the work of training men to preach. His report shares information about the village congregations where he recently visited.

The brothers and sisters in Christ in churches of Makwanpur and Chitwan were continuously asking me to visit them. My last visit to them was in March this year. Since I had not visited them from past eight months, I was also praying and planning to visit the churches there sooner. I have been traveling to that area from last eight years, study the Word of God, evangelism, and worship together with the members of the churches. Brother Uday Bahadur Praja is my usual travel companion whom I know from last ten years. He is one of the key persons who has helped to established many churches there. He is a faithful brother in Christ who has also groomed many men in the churches of Christ in this area. He regularly travels to the churches for Bible study.

December 3, 2011 Saturday, I left Kathmandu on a bus to Tandi, Chitwan at 7 AM and reached there at 12:30 PM. From there I took a local bus to Lothar Bazar and reached there around 2 PM. Uday was there waiting for me. After having lunch with him we traveled to north by foot along the bank of Lothar River to Silinge at 3 PM. Lothar is a small town named after the river that flows south from there and it’s a border line of Makwanpur district on the East and Chitwan district on the West. At 5:30 PM we reached Pangthali from where we had to go uphill to reach Silinge village. In company with four young boys from Silinge we started climbing the hill and reached Silinge Village at 6: 30 PM. Brothers and Sisters were waiting for us there. We had our meal at Jeet’s house and stayed overnight with his family.

December 4, 2011 Sunday, at 8 AM we went to the church building where we had our worship service at 9 AM. Uday led the service. Since I was requested by brothers to preach, my sermon was from Psalm 126. Our service was over by 11 AM and after that, brothers and sisters shared greetings with each other. There were 70+ people at the service and 50+ partook in the Lord Supper. This is one of the growing congregations here. All the members here are from Chepang ethnic group of Nepal, 1 minority group among the people of Nepal. All of them are in the four districts of Nepal. They are Gorkha, Dhading, Chitwan and Makwanpur. They are one of the socially, educationally, and economically underprivileged ethnic groups of Nepal. But they are very gentle, loving and hard working people. I always feel near to Christ whenever I visit the churches, brothers and sisters there.

After having lunch with Uday, we started walking towards Yesharang village across the Reuti Khola River, northwest of Silinge around 1 PM to have afternoon service there. There are eight members, who come to worship at Silinge Church. We reached there at 2:30 PM and started service from 3 PM. There were 38 people, mostly (over 25) nonbelievers whom we preached about Christ and His gospel. We hope and pray that the Lord will bring more people and establish His church there soon. Uday, Bel Bahadur and Rej Kumar (he lives in Yesharang village), are laboring to establish a congregation there. After the service I walked back with Uday, Bel Bahadur and his two younger sisters to Uday’s home at 5:30 PM. On the way we stopped at Uday’s elder brother’s house to visit and reached Uday’s home at 7: 30 PM. Uday is in his mid thirties, is married with two sons and two daughters between the ages of 2 and 10. I feel warm and comfortable staying at his home. His home is almost an hour walk from Church’s building toward west nearby Lothar River.

December 5, Monday at 7:30 AM Uday and I left his home for Khankhare to visit brothers and sister there at that morning. We reached Khankhare at 9 AM. We went to Jatna’s home and visited him, his family and few other brother and sisters in Christ. We prayed together and left Khankhare at 11 AM to Lothar Bazar with Jatna. The congregation there has 35 members and it is also a growing congregation, Uday started it almost eight years back. The congregation meets at Jatna’s house and they are constructing a church nearby building by the help of a US congregation. At 1:25 PM we reached Lothar and Jatna went back home. We took a local bus to Bakular to go to Bhalumara Church at Dahakhani VDC of Chitwan and reached there around 4:30. From there we took a three wheeler Tempo (which has seats for 12 people including driver). But we had a total of 22 adults and 2 children inside and on the roof as well. It took almost one and half hour to reach Mitthu Chowk (around 8 KM) north of Bakular, Tandi. Brother Lal Bahadur was waiting for us there. It was already 5:50 PM and we had to go through the jungle on bicycle. Around six we started our journey through the jungle and reached Lal’s home in Bhalumara Village at around 7:15 PM where brothers and sisters greeted us and we stayed at his home that night.

December 6, Tuesday - We had Bible study from 9 AM with the 14 brothers and sisters of Bhalumara Church till noon. Bhalumara congregation is also a 30+ members church, which started eight years back after the baptism of two members, Lal and his wife. They meet in a tin shed constructed by Lal and his family for the church. There is very good possibilities of church growth because it is a village with more than 100 houses. After Bible study we went to visit Brother Devilal’s family and prayed for his sick daughter. From there we left Bhalumara at 2 PM on Devilal’s motor bike to Club Chowk. From there we took tempo and reached Bakular, Tandi at around 4:30 PM. At Tandi Uday and I separated with each other at 5 PM. Uday went to Lothar Bazar to walk back home next morning from there. I traveled to Bharatpur to get a bus to Kathmandu on Wednesday morning. After reaching Bharatpur I came to know that there was a strike next day there. If I had known about it earlier, then would have stayed with brothers and sisters in Bhalumara one more day.

December 7, Wednesday I stayed at Bharatpur.

December 8, Thursday At 7 AM, I traveled back to Katmandu and reached my home at around 2.30 PM. It is always good to be back home, and be with your family.

Churches of Christ in Chitwan and Makwanpur districts are gradually growing. We need to help the churches there to grow more and mature in the future. So I would like to request with you to pray with me for the churches there and help us in our effort in Him. For 2012, I have the following prayer requests to you for your consideration and help.

1. Help to construct church building in Bhalumara, Chitwan. It is a 30+ member church and their tin shed is quite small for the crowd they get for Sunday service. Brother Lal Bahadur Praja is ready to donate his land for church building and they are praying for a 33’ X 15’ building of brick or concrete block wall and zinc sheet roofing. It will cost around Nepali Rupees 300,000 (US $ 3,600). This is a village of more than 100 houses, church will certainly grow in the future. So please kindly pray so that we can gather help for this.

2. We are in need of Bibles (New Testament) and Song books for the churches in this area as well as for the churches in other parts of Nepal.

3. I have almost 25 Bible study materials in different subjects and books of the Bible translated in Nepali. They are 25 to 100 pages, A4 size paper. They are very useful for our members and leaders of the churches. We can bind them and make study books. We need to print these, distribute in the churches and train our leaders to use these study materials, for their personal study as well as for delivering sermons in churches. Please help us to print these Bible Study materials one at a time and distribute among the churches.

4. I have dedicated myself to visit churches there regularly to encourage and train the church members as well for evangelism in the past which I will continue in year 2012 also. I don’t need any funds for my travel and personal expenses. But we need funds to gather brothers and sisters in a central place and conduct Bible classes and seminars. Please pray and help for this mission. This will certainly help to mature the members and improve leadership of the churches.

I hope and pray that you will kindly consider these prayer requests. I hope to receive your response on this. If you have any questions regarding my prayer request kindly contact me.

May God bless us richly with His wisdom and knowledge through our service to Him. In Christ,

Parsuram Sunchuri
Church Of Christ
57 Su-Marg, Subidhanagar Kathmandu, Nepal
Phone: +977-1-2050163
Cell Phone: +977-9751009200 Email: psunchuri@yahoo.com
cofcktmnp@gmail.com

If you would like to view this report, complete with pictures, please click here.

Go Tell It On The Mountain...

We returned to Chimala for the start of the new school year. I traveled with Howell Ferguson as we prepared to interview the new students and get the school off to a good start. The first two days were for orientation. The faculty had prepared well and the opening chapel was filled with beautiful Swahili and English songs, fervent prayers and pious hopes as we began the New Year.  The interviews of the new students came after an address of student support and encouragement by Bill Stenson, the Chimala administrator. He reminded us of the importance of the work of the Bible Institute in the overall work of the mission. 

The backgrounds of the new students was inspiring and encouraging concerning the future of the church here in East Africa. Jon from Dar es Salaam has already been preaching for four years. He wanted to prepare himself further so “lots of people could be saved.” Kamsona was from Sumbawanga and heard of a church that taught the truth. After finding the church of Christ and being baptized he became determined to save people from false teachers. George has been a Christian for only a year. He was sent by the congregation at Tukuyo because they need a trained preacher to help.

Eric is only 20 years old but has been a Christian for four years. His reason for coming to the Chimala Bible Institute is to be able to preach to young people like himself. John Julius is from the capital of Tanzania, Dodoma. He saw the need to strengthen the congregation where he is attending and is determined to do something about it. Frankie who is a product of the Chimala School of Preaching is over the Bible correspondence courses for the mission, but Frankie wants to do more. He is now enrolled in the Bachelors program as a first year student. 

Micah gave the graduate address for the Swahili program at graduation this November. He is back also enrolled in the Bachelors program because he wants to do more. Nelson retired after teaching Primary school in Dodoma. He has seven children which he is still supporting in school. He also wants to do more. He has come to school so he can be involved in “church planting” in the capital city. At the Chimala secondary school, Shadrack is the teacher of Social studies, but he wants to do more, so now he is enrolled in the bachelor’s program at CBI.

We were encouraged this morning in chapel when Howell Ferguson encouraged the student body to “keep first things first,” based on Matthew 6:33. Tomorrow morning classes’ start and our fervent hope is that we continue to keep first things first in preparing the dedicated and sacrificing students to better prepare themselves to “do more” in spreading the borders of the kingdom.

The week of classes at the Chimala Bible Institute started off well. We had a few students come in late as problems arose in their lives. One student showed up today with a special history. Those of us who work on and love the Chimala Mission are aware of the “old mission” up on the mountain. This is where the original missionaries worked buying the buildings from the Germans who left it after WWI. After years of work it was abandoned. Today the buildings and original church is in ruins. There are a few Christians left at Kitekelo, a small village on the mountain side. One of the grandfathers of the original Christians on the mountain has been studying with his grandson for the last six months. His name is Aminadamu Nsemwa. This young man showed up today with a letter from the few church members left. It requested that we baptize the young man who, after studying with Joshua, our Dean of Students, was determined he was ready. The letter also requested that we enroll him in school so that he would one day return to the mountain and teach the gospel.

We then met with Aminadamu and with Joseph, the head of our Swahili program and Boaz, one of our instructors.  After conferring with them they invited the man to immediately be baptized into Christ…We all piled into the “ole” Land Cruiser and drove to the pond at the back of the mission. Boaz climbed into the murky water with Joseph using a stick to wipe the lily pads and other vegetation away. While this was going on Joshua was preaching to the young man and, satisfied he knew what he needed to do, he took his “good confession.” He gingerly climbed down the slippery bank and Boaz baptized him. As they both climbed out of the water Joshua continued teaching the new brother in Christ reminding him he was now a “new creature in Christ” Joseph then lead us all in a heartfelt pray and we went on our way rejoicing. Boaz has requested that this weekend he take his “piki piki” (motor cycle) up to the mountain and report and preach to the few scattered Christians, but not only are our teachers and evangelists “telling it on the mountain,” but also in the planes and cities. 

Peter is planning on using our students to evangelize in Mbeya. Joshua has been working in Ihanda where the church had died out. They now have baptized five new Christians and that small church has sent one of their own to school here to be able to come back and teach. Joseph, after the WBS “gospel chariot” went to Ntapisi this summer, has been working with that congregation. All of our teachers preached there and over 25 have been baptized. Again, one of their own has now come to school at CBI. 

Seth Ferguson is here from Tennessee and has already been involved in evangelism. He taught with Ezekiel at the secondary school the Bible class today and last night at the mission church to a packed house of over 200 young people, preached a powerful sermon on the “Hope of the Gospel.” Howell Ferguson, our BVBID co-coordinator is here teach and evangelizing. He will present a program tomorrow to the faculty of having outreach seminars. We are all excited about Howell’s leadership and encouragement.  So continue to remember the work in your prayers as we are telling the gospel story not only on the mountain, but everywhere.

Garry L. Hill
BVBID Extension Coordinator

Their Thoughts Are Not Our Thoughts...

Dear Loyal Co-Workers,

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four-hour days.”

AN ELEPHANT NEVER FORGETS…but I did. I spent most of Saturday in Arusha and only at 11 pm when my head hit the pillow did I think about the weekly report which was supposed to be written and sent on Saturday. WHEN AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED, TRY, TRY AGAIN.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN. The TZ2000 Mission Team director, Cy Stafford, his wife (Stephanie) and mother-in-law (affectionately called “Granny”) left this past week headed to the states to report on the progress in East Africa. Many who receive this report will be privileged to hear updates face-to-face regarding all the different aspects of the TZ2000 Mission work and how this one-time dream has become a reality.

LADIES BIBLE CLASS. Trina completed studies on Genesis 1-25. It is the plan to review (asking questions, etc) as we did today to “cement” the learning. The Ladies seemed to enjoy it and it was encouraging to hear their answers, showing the knowledge gained over the past year.

JIMMY...continues to teach the Gospel of John on Sunday mornings (chapter 17 today). His study with Ammon and his wife on Saturday went well. However, concerning baptism, Ammon said (in reference to Jimmy’s sermon last week about listening to God and not man) “Lutherans say there was not enough water in Israel long ago and therefore Christians did not use a lot of water. Sometimes they just sprinkled water on people’s heads and sometimes they even threw dust on them.” Luke 6:46 “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not what I say?”

AGNESS RETURNS. Many of you will remember a very sweet Christian lady who was converted several months ago (6 days before giving birth to her first child, Joshua). She was very faithful in her attendance, even going against the local tradition of staying home for the first 3 months after giving birth. However, a few months after becoming a Christian her husband, Burtwell, decided that she and Joshua needed to go live with a woman cousin (about 10 hours away). We have seen (and heard of) this practice on several different occasions and we are still somewhat baffled. When we asked Burtwell about it, he replied that “Agness didn’t have anything to do.” To which we replied with a laugh (although it was serious), “You’re telling us that a woman who has just had a baby has NOTHING to do?” Our TZ friend told us later that what he meant was, “There isn’t a job here that she can do.” So we suppose she was going to the cousins’ house to help her in some way and the cousin would “support” her there with food and possibly money for any medical care her baby would need. What we have seen is that sometimes when a baby arrives, the husband no longer wants the responsibility/stress/financial burden that comes with that precious little bundle so he ships the wife off to a relative. Finally, Agness has returned and has reunited with the church family in Kisongo. However, she has missed some services so we are hoping to encourage her more.

MARRIAGE SEMINAR IN MAY. Yes, you’ve heard us mention this several times and everyone at the church seems excited. In anticipation of it, it was requested that the married couples begin to sit together (only about 3 couples at present were doing so). It was announced that it would be “practice” for the upcoming seminar. Surprisingly, most couples seem happy to do so (at least the women seem to be) as if they needed a good reason, excuse or permission to do so. It was strange to Trina but the question was asked in the ladies class, “What about the single people or married women whose husbands do not attend? Won’t it make them feel bad?”

THEIR THOUGHTS ARE NOT OUR THOUGHTS. If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Africa, this is one of them. Ha/ha Oh, people are people wherever you go…same feelings, same needs, etc. However, take for instance “taste” in furniture or décor. Trina decided (with Jimmy’s permission) to sell some of the present furniture and replace it with some dhow furniture made from boats used on the coast. This furniture is very sturdy and rustic and Trina can finally live out her dream of  “Little House on the Prairie…in Africa.” We bought a dhow coffee table and after several Tanzanians looked at it, they laughed and said, “If you set that out by the road, no one would take it” and “This is just firewood. We need to take an axe to it!” It was all hilariously funny concerning the differences in “taste.”

GROW IN GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE. Lindsey continues to teach Therasia. Their last study was “How We Got the Bible.” Therasia is no longer working in the shop in Arusha (she quit due to moral reasons) and we have decided to give her a job with us. It is a win-win situation because we can always use extra help in the house and the small salary would mean so much to her. She’s a diligent worker, kind, honest and willing to help.

ACSOP. Jimmy will be teaching a Greek Readings class for the Master's students this week. Then, on Friday evening we are expecting Ted Cherry (Navasota, TX) to arrive to teach two more weeks of Master's classes. Then, after those classes are finished, we will take in a new Swahili class and continue with the second year of studies for the English class, if God is willing. We presently have 22 new students lined up for the new intake. Our goal is 30. We are still in need of support for these students. If you can help with the needed $200 per month, in whole or in part, please send it to the Kensington Woods congregation (the address is on the first page of this report) marked “ACSOP - Student Support.”

FROM OUR HEARTS TO YOURS…Thank you for your desire to see this work prosper and grow. Thank you for all the prayers! It is amazing what can be accomplished when people work together. 

In Christ,
The Gee's

To view the Gee report, complete with pictures, please click here.

One Incredible Week...

This has been one incredible week. The news from around the world demonstrates one reason why Extension Training is vital to the fulfillment of the Great Commission. The premise of training men in their own country / culture and their own language, so they might go out and teach their own people the gospel is bearing fruit worldwide.

The reports below will show the fruitful nature of this work even while these men are preparing themselves in classes. The exciting part of this week’s report is the fact this represents only one week. These reports keep coming every week. I love sharing the news and I hope it is just as encouraging to each of you as it is to me. Each week it thrills me to read the news from each of the schools we are privileged to work with in 14 locations. The development of new schools in 2012 will increase the possibilities even more.

I want to encourage each of you to find one person who has not heard about the weekly report and share the report with them this week. If they are interested in continuing to receive it, please forward their e-mail address to me and I will add them to the list and send it each week. The more who are able to read the news, the more we are able to have others praying, and we can raise awareness to the needs of the work.

Thank you for all you do to make this work possible. I hope you know the difference that is being made because of your willingness to help. I give thanks to God for each of you.

Now on to the reports...

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

Donnie Bates’ report for January share news and plans for the work in Central America. You can read his report here.

Extension Reports 

New Year Ahead And A Summary Of 2011 Worth Reading: This week’s report from Cameroon gives a view of the new quarter and a summary of 2011. This is good.

Meeting The Challenge In Cambodia: True to his resolution for 2012, Phanat Ouch is working to meet the challenge. It is encouraging and will have an impact on the work.

Graduation Is Coming: The Uganda School of Evangelism is preparing for their next graduation. These men continue to demonstrate the growth of the program.

Graduate Reports Show Fruitful Work: Cy Stafford shares reports from three graduates of the Andrew Connally School of Preaching and the work is growing.

Two For The Price Of One...Both Worth The Read: Due to internet difficulties, the Gee Report was not sent last week. This week you can read both and they are worth your time. 

Final Thoughts
How about the reports this week? The news continues to be exciting, the growth is incredible, and the year ahead holds promise of even greater progress. If you enjoy reading about this work as much as I do, then you understand why I love reporting each week.

It is so powerful to see God’s hand at work in the lives of our brothers and sisters around the world. Their dedication, along with your prayers and support, humble me. I am thankful to have a small part in working side by side with each of you.

I pray God will continue to bless us all in our service to Him in 2012.

God bless
Bob

New Year Ahead And A Summary Of 2011 Worth Reading...

Dearest in Christ,

Calvary greetings from your brothers and sisters of the Wotutu congregation and the staff and students of CBIW. We do hope this report will meet you well in all that you do. We pray God will bless you in all your endeavors.

We started our quarter well, with all the students on campus. We give thanks to God for bringing the students back on campus to continue in their last year of studies, as they will be graduating from the college, by His grace, on the 20^th of December 2012. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to prepare men to go into the world, especially our country, to preach the gospel. God is using us in a way to do our best.

The first day in class, God has started working again in Wotutu, as many continue to listen to our radio program in the morning. In the picture above, Alice Ateba accepted Christ as she was baptized into Christ. One of our students, Ashu Evaristus, performed the baptism.

We have started receiving more applications from prospective students and the demand is high. More young men are gaining consciousness to get into the ministry of preaching. Please pray for Cameroon, because it is our conviction that through CBIW many things will change in Cameroon. 

Minister Abasiama, preacher with the Mile One church of Christ in Limbe, taught the students Wisdom Literature to start this new quarter. Keep him and the entire school in your prayers.

Some of the students and I attended a preacher’s forum at the church of Christ in Mudeka. During the forum there was problem about misinterpretation of Bible passages about marriage and divorce, as recorded in Matthew 19 and 1 Cor. 7, so I decided to call for a study seminar for one day on the CBIW campus in the month of March for preachers and leaders in congregations to come and let us reason together. They all agreed. Please keep the program in your prayers and share with us your view on the subject matter.

Brother Ngoe, another student, baptized Helen Marock into Christ this afternoon after worshipping with the church of Christ Wotutu for the first time, but she has been studying with us every Saturday in our evangelism and radio program. Keep all of them in your prayers for them to walk according to their calling.

Minister Bernard Mukom from Nigeria, who arrived last night, is a French preacher. I met with him in Nigeria and encouraged him to come back to Cameroon so that we shall invest ourselves towards the development of the church here in Cameroon. Right after church some brethren came to my house to greet him. Keep him in your prayers as he will travel back and get some of his things in Nigeria. He is a good tool in our vision for the French regions and started preparing our students to be fully bilingual as we live in a bilingual country so that the gospel will penetrate into all hearts.

We have raised our speakers up the zinc, so that the gospel of the saving message will go loud, clear and further than the way the waves use to go, so that more and more people in Wotutu and the villages close to Wotutu will get the message without any problem. This radio is working well. Many thanks to God for His providence. Our worship services are broadcast live and many lives are being touched. Keep our work in your fervent prayers. 

PLANS
1.  We have more and more invitations to expand the sphere of the gospel in our communities. On the 26th through the 29th we are invited to attend four days of house to house evangelism by the church of Christ in lykoko villag,e some 200 miles away from Wotutu.

2.  We are praying on a daily basis as we plan to go to the French community of Nkongsamba to fully establish a congregation. Our program shows that we shall be there on the 2^nd to 5^th February 2012. Please keep this program in your prayers for God to provide and make our movement smooth.

3.  We shall go to the Bakkasi Mondoni village this weekend to fully establish a congregation there. Batoke Ideanua Bali still cries for students to make trips there every weekend to help the church because it was a congregation which was characterized by women, and the lone brother there was an illiterate, so sisters come and sit and go back home without anything, because no one is there to preach to them.

4.  I have the mind to divide our students every weekend to meet up with this demand. I pray God to open the way and make this work fruitful. 

APPRECIATIONS
Thanks very much for all you are doing for the work here in Cameroon. It is bearing fruit both in the brotherhood and outside the brotherhood. We keep lifting up your names in our prayers to God for using you this way to provoke the growth of the gospel. God will never pass you by when He returns with His reward.

Do your best to share this work with others who will love to be part. 

God bless you and watch over you.

Elangwe and Family 
By His grace, Director CBIW 

Below is the summary report of the work for the past year.

Dearest in the Lord,

God bless you all as you read and share this work with others. It is great for me to share with you all that God helped us accomplish in our congregation and CBIW. The coming of CBIW in the Wotutu congregation is a wonderful blessing, not only to our congregation, but to the entire nation and in less than no time, the work will also spread to nearby countries who are still suffering from spiritual malnutrition like Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Tchad and Central African Republic. These are countries that we share the same boundaries with in Central Africa.

Many still consider Cameroon as West Africa, but we are not. We are in Central Africa, and this shows that there is a lot of work in this African sub region. The harvest is really ripe, but the laborers are few. We continue to pray daily for God to encourage as many as He can to come over to CBIW to be trained so that more workers will be sent to the field.

In 2011 the work was like this.

1.  We made a total of 10 weekend evangelism trips. It is really less because we hadn’t enough means to send our students on weekly basis.

2.  We made a total of 12 monthly evangelism trips to congregations on invitation for Bible lectureships, which was highly evangelistic.

3.  We made a total of 4 campaigns which come at the end of each quarter. 

STUDIES CONDUCTED
1.  MONTHLY: at least  5 studies from each students. We started with 22 students and the number dropped very close to the end of the year to 19 students as we continue now with 18.

2.  WEEKLY: at least 2-3 studies per student during our weekly evangelism trips.

3.  In 2011 we had a total of 226 souls baptized and added to many congregations all over Cameroon most especially in Wotutu congregation the seat of the school.

4.  In 2011 we had 170 souls restored to congregations around the country.

5.  Four congregations were established by our efforts in Cameroon.

6.  Seven congregations were revived. 

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED
1.  Sick students with no medical fund in the school as of now.

2.  Many transportation problems delayed, and at times missed our trips, because of lack of permanent transportation.

3.  Because of no transportation of our own, no good follow up in new areas of our work, like to check on new converts and newly established congregation for nurturing. Some congregations were left in the hands of young converts who may not know better the ways of the Lord to teach others.

4.  Lack of Bibles for new converts. 

SOLUTION
By His grace, this is 2012, if many of these problems can be handled, the work will take another level. 

APPRECIATIONS
I give glory to God for all His grace that we enjoyed throughout the year and I equally thank you and your families and the family of the congregations where you worship with for all your great concern, prayers and support for the work here. The work is moving on well. Thanks many times for your love for the gospel. God will not pass you by when He comes for His reward. Thank you, again I say thank you. God bless you.

Elangwe and family, by His grace
Director CBIW

Meeting The Challenge In Cambodia...

In keeping with the tremendous challenge for the new year in Cambodia, Phanat is holding true to writing weekly. I missed getting his first report, so it is attached below, along with the report this week. Great stuff!

This week I've engaged in a conversation about Jesus Christ to 4 new people. My goal is to talk to 100 new people and, as of now, I am on a good pace. If I can talk to at least two new people a week, then I'll hit my goal. I ask that you keep me in your prayers. I hope that these conversations will lead to invites and Bible studies. I want to be an example in opening my mouth to talk about Jesus to my family and those around me and also develop this healthy habit of not being ashamed or timid when it comes to my faith.

The local basketball guys and I did a bike trail at Angkor Wat. One of the new guys I talked to about Jesus is name Chamroen. He rode in the back. Pray that we continue to build our relationship, but more importantly him beginning a relationship with Christ!

Week 1 January 2012

Greetings Loved ones,

For our first week into the new year, Chann had organized a local leadership meeting to come and discuss our experiences in our works in different parts of the country. We had teachers of bible schools, evangelists of local congregations, and children's home staff come and share about their work and how we can improve in serving our Lord. It was a very good meeting and I want to thank Chann for taking the initiative in getting everyone together so that we can lift each other up. This is a blessing to me in that we have local leaders stepping up to organize such events, revealing their spiritual growth and future autonomy. They are not dependent upon the missionaries from abroad to lead or organize such events and that's what I am so proud of.

We also had a wedding ceremony done at the church building for Sokchea (preacher for Leang Dai church of Christ) and Pisey (staff of Hannah's Hope Children's Home)! It was a wonderful wedding! It's really good to see Christian couples forming right before my eyes. This will help out the work and the country of Cambodia a great deal! We are expecting 3 more weddings to happen in the next 3 months! It's amazing how God is blessing the work and people here! What a way to start off the new year! Our God is a tremendous God indeed!

Phanat

Two For The Price Of One...Both Worth The Read

WEEKLY QUOTE:  “When you are the right kind of person, doing the right thing, help and encouragement come from all directions.”

We apologize that we were unable to send the report last week. Our internet has been very unreliable and that was the case on Sunday.  Also, Jimmy was in Nairobi for a few days and couldn’t send it from there. Below is last week’s report. 

BIBLE STUDIES: 
After several studies with Abigail, fifteen-year-old Grace desired to be baptized. However, she felt it necessary (and in this culture it is) to ask her fathers’ permission. After several days, Ahimidiwe (preacher at Kisongo) called the father who said that Grace wasn’t old enough to make that kind of decision and he would not allow it. However, he agreed to a study with Ahimidiwe. Sadly, Grace’s conversion depends on her father’s.

Jimmy’s study (almost a year long) with Lembris and Rosemary has come to an end since they will soon be attending Kisongo Bible School. One of the most active and faithful ladies (Janet Deo) set up a study for Jimmy with Ammon (mid 20’s) and his wife. They have 2 small children and live in a mud hut (with 2 or 3 rooms). Ammon asked, “How do you prove what you are saying is true? There are many religious groups claiming to be right.” After the second study yesterday (Jan. 14), Ammon and his wife attended services today. Please pray for this family as they learn more about God's word.

Yesterday, Trina was privileged to study with Lucy, a beautiful lady aged 30. She is the cousin of my translator, Paulina, and works at the mosquito net factory (6-7 days a week). Lucy was raised by Roman Catholic parents and was baptized as a teenager. Lucy says she is searching for the Truth and said that the Catholic religion did not always agree with the Bible. In the past, Paulina had asked her to study on several occasions but Lucy was not interested. We were very happy to hear that Lucy had requested this study. 

Lindsey was not able to study with Theresia because she was in Arusha working. Because her fatherless family could not come up with 6 months of rent money in advance (normal procedure here) they were forced to move to a mud hut. 

DEMON POSSESSION:
After arriving at Paulina’s house to study with Lucy, Paulina told Trina about a problem her neighbor was having. It seems that her neighbor’s daughter, Rita, was suffering from “demon possession,” according to her family. Friday, after a group from their Lutheran church came over to pray, Rita began crying uncontrollably and was not responding to her own name but saying, “we are many…” She was begging for prayers from others and saying she had no energy. Later, the Lutheran church came over again to pray for her but to no avail. 

Paulina was very perplexed about it, saying that this girl (a recent high school graduate) was a very normal and upstanding person and had never acted this way. My only suggestions were that maybe someone had slipped some kind of drug into her drink, she was just having a mental breakdown or just needing attention. The neighbors interrupted our study a few times asking if we could help. After finishing the study, we agreed to take her to the hospital in town but later they said that a friend was already on their way. When the neighbors first asked if there was anything Trina could do, all she could think of were the words of the little servant girl on the movie “Gone with the Wind:”  “But Miss Scarlet, I don’t know nothin’ about birthin’ no babies…” except  it was “casting out demons.” That was out of my league. :)

AN ENGAGEMENT PARTY! Any visitor who has come to TZ will recognize the names Kambarage and Agnes. Agnes’ father was taught by Andrew Connelly many years ago. Saturday, we were invited to celebrate the engagement of their daughter, Naomi (a third generation Christian…such a rare thing in TZ) to a young medical student who is also a Christian (and his father is a Christian). 

Due to the large amount of time that it takes to write and send this report, we will try to write and send it on Saturdays. After 3 hours of Bible study and worship on Sunday, lunch, then an hour to write it, choosing pictures and then another hour spent sending it, there is not much time to rest and refresh ourselves. 

Friday, we received one of the biggest rains/thunderstorms we have ever witnessed in TZ. Thunderstorms are rare (including this one, we remember 4 in these 7 years we’ve been here). The lightening was awful and it poured down rain in “sheets” for the longest time and all the mud ran down our driveway. This morning in some places the mud was so thick, it looked like swirls of chocolate…looking good enough to eat.

Thank you for your continued love and support! A special “Hello” is extended toward the youth group at West Side Church in Yorktown, Indiana! Thanks for the beautiful picture. 

Today’s News: 
TIME TO CELEBRATE! Abbas and his wife became Christians last year. Their interest in the church began when the church at Kisongo showed so much love and concern when their son (Rubin) committed suicide a few years ago. Today Abbas invited eight non-Christians to the church services and to the celebration at his house afterwards (to celebrate the circumcision of his teen-age son, Samson…a Maasi tradition). Jimmy preached an EXCELLENT sermon concerning the inspiration of the Bible and how we need to follow it and not man. Abbas’s son, Samson, decided to be baptized! So this family had two events to celebrate. If you will remember from another report, Abbas said he hoped to convert his whole family. One down….many to go. 

SPEAKING OF DEMON POSSESSION:
Rita, above, was supposedly cured sometime this week by the Lutheran church after more prayer.  But we’re thinking that this “demon possession” thing may be a contagious virus. Yesterday Elijah woke up before everyone did in order to go to the bathroom. After taking off his soaked Pull-Up, he proceeded to beat it against the walls until a million little pellets of silicon (parents know what I’m talking about) covered the floor like a layer of snow.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR LOVE AND INTEREST IN THE TZ 2000 MISSION WORK! 

Serving Him Together, 
The Jimmy Gee family

Graduate Reports Show Fruitful Work...

Greetings Fellow Workers,

We pray your new year has been blessed with a great start. God is truly blessing your efforts here in Tanzania. I received word that one soul obeyed the Good News at Kioga. Joseph obeyed the Gospel at Arusha today and another restored. Yes, we are blessed by a God Who is able when we are willing. Below are three brief reports from three of our graduates: 

“...I will have to check with other ACSOP graduates to know what they have done but on my side we have 4 new congregations in 2011, Nyahururu, Masat, Sengera and Marega. God bless you and the work. Charles Ogutu

I thank God because the church of MANYIRE is growing well Spiritual, and in number, right now we have 45, but not all of them attend the worship. Last year (2011) we have 19 baptized and we thank God for that, also 2 of those who had fallen away, they have repented and came back to the church. Jackson Andrea”

“...I have been working very much to see that the Gospel is spread and indeed it is. We have preached and converted many people but yesterday was another day that the Lord made for us. Compared to that of converting a pentecostal denomination at Kahiza, where by we did baptize 13 people in one day. Up to now I am still very much happy for these souls. Rymon Mwero”

Stephanie, granny and I leave Tanzania this Wednesday, arriving in the States on Thursday (if the Lord wills). Our calendar is just about full, but there are still a couple of openings if you or someone you know, would like to hear a report on God’s Missions Efforts in East Africa. If so, you can reach me after the 19th at 601-310-6170.

We already have two groups/campaigns planned for 2012. One at the end of May and the other the third week of June. If you are interested in joining us this year and would like to join one of these teams, drop me a note and we will put you in touch with the team leaders.

We close this Short Report with a thank you, a thank you to all who have sacrificed on our personal behalf, making it possible for us to be here in TZ doing God’s will. We look forward to seeing many of you in the coming weeks. And yes, we are very excited about seeing our seven month old grand daughter, Hadleigh for the first time. May our God bless you all richly in the year to come.

In Him, Cy, Stephanie & Granny

Graduation Is Coming...

Dear brethren,

We are doing fine here in Uganda. We thank you very much for your support. Through this support many souls have been saved which would not if you had not be supporting this work.

The Uganda School of Evangelism is going on well. We are in our last quarter, as you know. Students are just now thinking of going home, as we are just remaining with seven weeks to graduation. On the 12th of January, I left Busia going to Kasese (580 klm in Western Uganda for a gospel campaign which the brethren had planed). I taught on the 13th and 14th. I taught about (1) Bible Authority, (2) Church leadership and (3) The church's responsibility to the preacher. 

The church has been in this area since 1997 and no the church has the right leaders, and also no church is supporting their preacher, even with a kilo of maize flour. I left in the evening and  arrived in Kampala at night and I had to stay there for a night. 20 souls were added to the church on Saturday. The meeting ended today and many were expected to be baptized. Today, 15th January, I worshiped with Mbuya church of Christ in Kampala. The brethren gave me a chance to preach. I taught one of the lessons. I had taught in Kasese, "The church's responsibility to the preacher." The brethren saw where they have failed and asked God to help them change for the best this year.

GRADUATION NEEDS:

(1) Buy 12 more gowns at @ $21 per gown that is  $252.

(2) Graduation Cake at $67

(3) Meals for about 300 people $313

(4) Purchase of 100 plastic chairs $750

(5) Hiring 150 more chairs and decorating the place $81

(6) A new Concordance as a gift to the best student and any other good books that can help them in work of preaching.

(7) New English Bibles to the best three students in English class. I have Swahili Bibles for Swahili Class.

(8) $100 for buying paint our kitchen and other places that might need painting.

(9) If we can get drip irrigation kits we can give them.

(10) Brother Glen Addison had promised goats to be given to the students. It would be better if this money comes before graduation so that we can start going to the market place to purchase them. May the Lord bless you as you serve Him. Hope to read from you. 

Yours
Francis Wechesa

Back To A Routine...

I love being back to a regular routine. As much as I enjoy all the holiday season involves, with family, friends, coworkers, and more, I am always thankful to get the new year started and focus on the work at hand.

We are continuing our development of several possible locations for new extension schools throughout the world. We are looking at three possibilities in Africa, one in South America, and another in India. There are a number of hurdles we will need to cross and several areas to be resolved. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated as we strive to complete the preliminary requirements necessary to move ahead.

Last week we talked about some of the financial struggles in a number of schools. We have received a response that will assist the work in Cameroon. However, the remaining schools mentioned face significant challenges if funds are not made available. Again, we ask for your prayers regarding these matters. If you are able to provide assistance, please contact me at bturner@bvbid.org. Also, I ask you to pass along the report to others you know who may be able to help. The more others know, the more possibilities for God to work through someone to provide for the need.

Now on to the reports...

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

Gary Fallis sent a first of the year report. The work is good and the information is here.

Extension Reports 

Students Return, New Year, New Growth In Cameroon: 18 locations were visited by students during their break. Now they are back to classes, preparing for their last year at CBIW.

Challenges For 2012 In Cambodia: Phanat Ouch shares his goals for 2012, goals which should challenge all of us as we approach the year ahead in service to our Lord.

A Year In Review:  The school in Togo concluded 2011 in powerful ways and the plans for 2012 show even more growth to come.

Preparing For Graduation In Chandigarh: Another class will soon be completing their studies at the North India Bible College in Chandigarh. Graduation is planned for February. 

Final Thoughts
As we begin this year together, I hope you know how much your sacrifices are appreciated. Your willingness to support this work is changing lives around the world. As you read through the reports each week and read about the souls who have been won to the Lord, souls who have been restored to the Lord, and ongoing studies, know you are sharing in the fulfillment of the Great Commission. 

I am thankful for God’s Almighty hand to work through each of you as we walk side by side through this world to take the message of Jesus to others. As Paul said on several occasions, “I thank my God daily upon every remembrance of you.” You are blessing to my life and so many others around the world.

God bless
Bob

A Year In Review...

2011  Year in Review
We have planted three 3 new congregations and have baptized thirty (30) to date. 

Five brethren were restored and, currently, we are working in two places, one in Kpalime and the other near Kpadape with the view of planting a church there.

Ninety (91) one contacts were made for Bible studies and three major gospel meetings conducted.

In 2012, we plan, as God enables us, to start 4 new congregations around Kpalime. The students will use the church planting exercises as part of their practical assignment.

Five denominational preachers have been baptized since September 12 when the academic year started. All those baptized are students of CBS.

About 1500 pieces of tracts distributed.

CBS, since April 18^th 2005, has trained eleven (11) evangelists, working in various towns and villages.

112 met for the “Watch Night” service on December 31st  2011. 
There were 112 who attended the watch night service. These people came from six congregations in the Kpalime area.

Willie

Preparing For Graduation In Chandigarh...

Dear Brother,

We had a good time together with the brothers from different places. Even though the challenges are there, we are determined to work for the Lord. 

Last month I did not get time to share with you, but we had a good gathering on the first Wednesday. Brother Francis David and his wife Elsy joined us that day and he presented the message. 

Today also, I had hired the hall. It is a bit expensive but to witness and invite people we have to bear that. Today I preached. The weather was chilling. Not many people could come but we are confident with this effort we may be able to invite many more people as the weather becomes cozy. 

For your information, this time we sent letters to 90+ people and expect at least this much from people across the nation in NIPL 2012 on February 16,17. This year people from Bombay, West Bengal, Gujrat and Chennai have shown interest in coming. I don’t know how to handle this much crowd with the so much limited budget, but still we trust in God and believe that He is Jehovah yireh who provides.  

I did not write earlier that we had given one week holidays to the students and during those days they were sent out to the city people in Chandigarh to share with them the Gospel and distribute among them some literature. The result was thrilling. They all enjoyed visiting people and sharing with them the truth.

Earnest

Challenges For 2012 In Cambodia...

Dear fellow God fearers,

By the time you are reading this, it would be 2012 and a new year, so I want to wish all of you a productive year for the Lord in winning souls for Him! As always, the month of December is a benchmark month for us to look at our previous goals and set new goals for the new year. I want to share with you my top five personal goals that I've shared with the local congregation here and hope that they will start to have personal goals of their own. I think this is a better way to get the congregation involved in growing the Lord's church instead of the local leaders setting goals for the congregation itself. I think we all must have the mentality of putting forth personal efforts and contributing to the Lord's work as the Bible teaches. I encourage you all to develop this mentality to grow the Lord's church in your area. Here are my personal goals for the 2012 year:

1. I will talk to 100 new people that I've never met before and engage in a conversation with them about Jesus Christ and his saving gospel.

2. I will give 50 percent more than what I'm currently giving to God in the weekly contributions as he has prospered me.

3. I will finish translating WVBS's Searching for Truth study guide and posters into the Khmer language by the end of the year.

4. I will take my wife and daughter to a foreign country for our family vacation some time in the year (probably neighboring Vietnam or Laos).

5. I will teach my daughter Katesana to memorize and recite 5 Bible verses (Gen 1:1, Deut 6:5, Matt 4:4, Matt 6:33, and Acts 4:12) by the end of the year. She will be two and a half years old.

I hope you like the new lay out of the website. A new year calls for a new face!. Also, I will begin blogging once a week to keep my blogs from being too long and easier to read as suggested by some of you. Thank you for your feedback. I appreciate your comments very much because it tells me that you are reading and are concern about the brethren and work here in Cambodia! May God continue to bless you and your endeavors for Him!

We continue our student body end of the year trip to the beach in Sihinoukville and this time we invited the children and staff of Hannah's Hope along! It was a wonderful and blessed event. We had a wonderful time both physically enjoying God's creation for us (some for the first time in their entire life) and spiritually with our devotional lessons given by the staff of IBISR. Please view the video in the video section for a clip of the children of HH laughter and enjoyment in touching  the waters of the ocean for the very first time in their lives!

I've also worked it out to where the children of Hannah's Hope get's one free meal every month from a local restaurant (Tangram Garden) that is owned by a friend of mine who plays basketball with me. God is blessing us with so much. I pray that we can get him to learn God's word and become a Christian real soon.

Phanat

To see the full report with pictures, click here.

Students Return, New Year, New Growth...

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from this end. Happy New Year to you and your entire family and the church. Oh, it is a new year and a new beginning for many things. We both end the year in good health and sound faith with readiness to continue our work from where we stopped last time. God blessed us and He is blessing the work He entrusted in our hands. Our congregation is going ahead smoothly and the students of our Bible college are growing. They just returned on campus safe and sound, except for one student who is still to return to Campus. News getting to us shows that he is sick. We pray for him to get well fast and return to school.

Our students went out to 18 communities in our country and came back with wonderful reports that depict the greatness of our God. Let me share with you the news. Brother Awatt Manfree baptized 4 souls in Tole congregation. The picture above shows one of these conversions. We have a total of 32 baptisms and 20 restorations from our entire campaign exercise in those communities, and we succeeded again to fully establish a congregation in Nkongsamba which is a purely French speaking community. We need much follow up to meet us with this opening, if we have the financial means. We shall be sending students on weekend evangelism to continue to water the seed till the 20th of December 2012. By His grace, we shall graduate our first batch of students and a student will likely go and stay there permanently. Keep the work in your prayers.

At our worship this morning it was a thanksgiving day in our congregation where we come together to appreciate God for His care over us. Members came with snacks and food to share with one another. It was great and colorful.

Some students and I were taking pictures during the thanksgiving, eatingbiscuits and having fun with one another after our worship service.

Our student preacher, Mulango Theophile, during his campaign helped a local congregation to make local bricks for their church hall construction in the future. Keep their efforts in your prayers.

One of our students, Awatt Manfree, baptized a soul in Tole congregation. Tole congregation is the congregation that is close to us and the students are doing great work there. It was revived by me when I returned from the preaching school in Nigeria. Much work is still needed to provoke growth. Keep the work in your prayers.

Join us to thank God and to pray for this young dynamic brother Awatt Manfree. He just got married. He has finished all the traditional rites of their culture and the wife has been handed to him. His passion to preach is great, that is why he is preparing himself in all the ways, so that he will not be rejected or looked down upon by leaders in a congregation because he is not married, upon his graduation in the college. Please keep him in your prayers. Those who have come over here can testify to his zeal for the work.

PLANS
We have a lot of demands for us to come over to different communities to help in the work of evangelism. Please we are appealing to you to come and stand with us so that we shall meet up.

Bakassi peninsula was the disputing area between Cameroon and Nigeria. The dispute was solved some years ago. A brother is calling on us to come over to that place and help in the establishment of the Lord’s church there and evangelize other communities in the peninsula.

One of our students, brother Tobias returned from Bali congregation where all the brothers fell from the grace and the three sisters that remain continue to worship and he was officiating on all the items of worship on the first day of the week. Brother Tobias revived some men and they are struggling to stand to do the preaching and leadership of the congregation. We need to send students to go and help teach them some basics while we await December 2012 for a permanent preacher to go there and work. Our congregation is gathering clothes for the children of that community who do not come to worship because they don’t have cloths. Please it is serious. Keep this work in your prayers. Many congregations desire our assistance for the work in their area. It is not possible for all of us to move because we don’t have means of transport of our own to make trips like that as a family. A van will solve this problem.

APPRECIATION
We give all glory to God for His steadfastness over us as we labor in His vineyard. We thank Him for all the successes and challenges we faced and we are facing.

We thank you greatly for all your great concern, prayers and support to make us reach where we are now. We still have a long way to go. Please, we are still appealing for you to continue to have concern for us so that this work will continue to bear fruit for the Glory to our God. God bless you. You are really a pillar in this work. God will never pass you by when He returns with His reward. God bless you.

Elangwe and family, by His grace
Director CBIW

In The Beginning...The New Year

In the beginning... Only by faith can we consider what it was like in the beginning when God created everything new. By faith we enjoy the newness of life having been raised to walk in such through our obedience to the gospel. By faith we anticipate the fulfillment of God’s eternal promises when this perishable body will put on the new, imperishable body. There is something about the beginning, when we have the opportunity to see something new.

The beginning of 2012 brings many new opportunities in the work of the Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver in training men to preach, domestically and internationally. By faith we will see and take advantage of these opportunities. We will have new opportunities to...

...share the message of Jesus to a greater population of the world around us.  

...build up the church that belongs to our Lord around the world.

...better equip the Lord’s servants for teaching God’s word.

...restore brethren who left the faith.

...establish new locations for training new students.

...grow another step closer to our God and live more like Christ.

Opportunities will abound as we plunge into the new year. One of the greatest opportunities is to involve more wonderful brethren in the work of Extension Training. Those of you receiving the weekly report have been the heart of the success we have seen and reported about in the lives changed through this work.

I ask you to share the report with others. Our God has the power to do far beyond all we ask or think according to the power that works within us. If you, me and others are going to be the tools through which God works to help provide for the needs of this program, then we need to find greater ways to share the news. Your assistance in getting the word out to others is appreciated. We have several in the program who are willing to stop by and give a personal report about the work of the Extension Training Program. 

By faith, we labor to meet the financial challenges of several schools in the year ahead. Let me quickly share with you some of the present and urgent needs of the work. 

$600 a month for the school in Cameroon
$800 a month for the school in Chandigarh, India
$700 a month for the school in Visakhapatnam, India
$600 a month for the school in Danli, Honduras
$500 a month for the school in Siem Reap, Cambodia

These are the most pressing “monthly” needs (among others) in the work. Unless we are able to raise the needed funds, students and staff will have to be released until the funds can be raised. With the Andrew Connally School of Preaching in Arusha, Tanzania accepting 30 new KiSwahili students in February, the need grows even greater. We need your help. Thank you, in advance, for your prayers and assistance in taking care of these needs.

Now on to the reports...

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

Howell Ferguson, who serves as coordinator for the schools in Gorlovka, Ukraine and, with Garry Hill, in Chimala, Tanzania, provided the following report.

Extension Reports 

A Safe And Successful Return From Nigeria: The report from Cameroon focuses on a recent trip by Director, Elangwe; it’s value and plans for the next year for students.

2 New Souls Added In Cambodia: Recent studies with Chann Lork saw the Lord give the increase with his two nieces as they were baptized into Christ.

A Blessed Year And A New Year: Looking back at 2011 in Ukraine shows how blessed this work has been and looking ahead at the new year brings the 15th anniversary of the school.

Wishes For A New Year: Earnest Gill, his family, the staff, and members of the congregation In Chandigarh, India send their greetings and wishes for a great new year.

A New School Year Will Be A Busy Year: The Chimala Bible Institute is just a few weeks away from beginning a new class of students. It will be a busy year for all.

A Year Of New Beginnings: Cy Stafford shares the value of new beginnings in the church and Andrew Connally School of Preaching.

Happy New Year, An Interesting Name: Intrigued? You will find this an interesting report from Jimmy Gee about the work and a young lady named...Happy New Year. 

Final Thoughts
My prayer is for God to bless each of you richly as we go through this new year, 2012. As I complete my third year of working in the Extension Training Program, I continue to see the growth around the world. I enjoy sharing the news with you and I appreciate you, far more than you know, for all you do to make this work happen.

You are a blessing. It is a privilege and honor to share in this effort together. Happy New Year!

God bless
Bob

A Safe And Successful Return From Nigeria...

Dearest in Christ,

Accept our warm greetings from Cameroon. I wish you, on behalf of my family great blessings from this end as we start the year 2012. It will be a year of greater devotions to the thing of the kingdom. I am appreciating God for you, for your precious support towards the work here in Wotutu and our preaching school.

It is our prayer that we join together again this 2012 to explore the world of darkness to show as many as we can the light of the gospel. I am waiting for the students of CBIW to come back this Friday, 6th of January 2012, to give you the detail statistic of our work throughout the year 2011.

I thank you very much for your prayers toward my trip to Nigeria to attend the Annual Bible lectureship of my former preaching school (Nigerian Christian Institute). From the lectureship I visited seven different congregations in different States in Nigeria as I share with you.

I was able to meet with some sisters helping me to preach the gospel to a family in a small community. They were receptive. I pray for the congregation there to do follow up and help them out from the bondage of denominationalism.

It was a time to meet great brothers who have contributed much in my life while as I was in the school of preaching. I had opportunity to see a good brother, the president of the Nigerian Christian Institute, who was my lecturer in the Bible College. He was very much happy to see me and to hear of the growth of the work in Cameroon after I left school. The annual lectureship was well attended by many and the Lord added souls to the campus congregation.

After the lectureship in NCI, I moved to other communities to visit congregations, as I had opportunity to preach at the Ogale congregation in Porthourt. The growth of the church in Nigeria is great. We continue to pray and work harder to see the church in Cameroon get some maturity as the years are going by.

It was also time to appreciate God for great infrastructural development in NCI my former campus. God is great.

It was also time to meet with converts I made while in school. After service I took some time off to speak and encourage sister Elizabeth in Ebute congregation in Lagos whom I baptized 6 years ago. I was impressed to see her growing in the faith. On Sunday she was the one that taught the children in the congregation. Please keep her and many of them in your prayers.

My stay in Nigeria was fruitful. I appreciate God for helping me in all my travels in the country. With a lot of insecurity I came back home safe and sound. The Lord blessed my visit by adding nine souls to the congregations I visited. Keep the new converts in your prayers for their growth in the Lord.

Please keep the staff and students of CBIW in prayer as they resume classes this Friday for the final year of their studies. Thanks very much for your prayers. Thanks for being part of our work. God bless you and open more doors for you and your family as we continue to invest our efforts for the lost souls to see the light and follow it. Stand firm in the Lord.

God bless you and give you the desires of your heart this 2012.

In Jesus Name....
Elangwe and family

2 New Souls Added In Cambodia

Happy Merry Christmas from us as the congregation in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We wish you all health in your physical and in your spiritual life.

I count myself as the one who is very blessed that I can get to know all of you, which I never knew before, but through the grace of the word of Christ I can get to know all of you and call you as my brothers and sisters in Christ. I get to know you, not just as my brothers and sisters, but to know your love and kind sharing in the work here.

I am grateful for your love and your support to my family and especially to work that we are doing to serve our God in Cambodia.

Our work is doing great. We have a very close relationship. We share what is best to help one another out. We are very glad to work and to help one another to grow in Christ's kingdom. More likely we help the spiritual, most in sharing and teaching other people, especially to our christian brethren.

We are going to have some events taking place next week. I am so happy for these events, as we will have, weddings, meeting and fellowship with our Christian brethren from the local preachers in Cambodia.

Last Sunday (Dec. 25th) my family, along with two of my wife's nieces, went along with us to worship with the church at Leang Dai. After worship, my wife’s two niece decided to be baptize, so now we have two more souls added into Christ's church.

Their names are Thyda and Jenda. They have been staying with us and studied with us for the past two months and now they are baptized.

Thank you, once again, for your love and your support. 

In Him 
Chann

A Blessed Year And A New Year...

Hello dear brothers, families and churches.

I hope that these December holidays helped you to spend more time at home and in the church with your close friends and relatives, the circle in which you are loved and valued. In Ukraine these days are spent in this way. We are trying to be together with those people who supported us and surrounded us with warmth, attention and care all through the year. They are our family and fellow Christians.

As a rule, we start every New Year as a new page, summarizing what happened in the past year. To my mind, 2011 was a blessed period for us.

First, we were able have 5 students graduating from our school, and it was the biggest graduating class in the last 4 years. All of the graduates serve at the local churches and help their congregations.

Second, we could solve the question of registering the building of English Language University as the church property, and thus secured the future location of the Bible institute.

Third, now we have 14 students, and one more will join us in January (Eugene Tebel from Druzhkovka).

Maybe for some people these things are unimportant, but believe me, we put a lot of effort and strength to have it. God really wants to have His church in Ukraine, and we can see how He cares for it.

Because of the institute’s activity, Ukrainian brethren and visits of the missionaries the Eastern part of Ukraine has more churches of Christ than any other region of the country. The institute takes a responsibility to train preachers and support them if they need it. Every year we are organizing evangelizing campaigns, meetings of the preachers, youth meetings and regularly visit local churches to encourage them and make them stand firm in the faith. Churches of Christ in Ukraine are still relatively young and are in a great need of wise leadership. As of right now, only few churches have elders; others are guided but the brothers’ council. And for as long as we keep on training faithful ministers, knowledgeable in God’s Word, the church in Ukraine will benefit from it.

The book of Acts often tells us how people who heard God’s Word, first of all, wanted to share it with their relatives. We hope that in the next year some more churches will start functioning with the help of our students and graduates. Our student, Roman, has already started a church at his hometown, Dimitrovo. They are meeting at his house for Sunday services. His Sunday school classes are attended by children from the neighborhood. There is also an opportunity to start church in Druzhkovka and preach the Gospel there. Please pray with us for our plans.

Next year we’ll celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Bible Institute in Ukraine. Even though it is still relatively young, there are more than 70 students graduated from this Institute. Some of them are working as preachers or helping preachers in their churches. The ladies who graduated from the Institute organize and participate in ministries for ladies and children. This anniversary is not only our celebration but it’s also yours. Many of you took care of this training program for preachers and ministers for so many years. You keep us in your prayers and share our burdens. The work we are doing together is already bringing its fruits. Thank you for your support, constant prayers and your care for us. God bless you in this service.

Your brother, 
Dennis

To see the report, complete with pictures, click here.

Wishes For A Great Year...

Dear Brothers / Sisters, 

This past year has been a great year and we are thankful to the Lord for all of His blessings in it. We also give thanks for our many supporters, well wishers and to all those who pray for and are encouraging us to spread the borders of the Kingdom in this Northern section, a rather much harder field in the country.

We wish you all good health and may this coming year be your best yet as we work together in the bond of love! 

In and for Christ,
Benu, Earnest, all the staff, and members

A New School Year Will Be A Busy Year...

The new school year is about to start at the Chimala Bible Institute, in just three weeks. Already the excitement is building for our return to the campus. The faculty has been working hard at registering the new students and preparing for the return of the second year class. With numerous e-mail and phone calls, the class schedules and the teachers of those classes have been decided. We are, for the first time, having a day of orientation for all the students. Classes will start on Tuesday morning. 

We will have 14 returning Swahili and English students from last year. These are men who have already shown themselves diligent students and powerful workers in evangelism. One of the many changes we made last year was using the whole student body in weekend evangelism. They have preached, conducted Bible studies, studied with the primary and secondary students and conducted services. Each student goes out every weekend with some of their teachers and is involved in evangelism.

Speaking of our hard working and dedicated teachers; every one of them is working on an advanced degree. Some are enrolled in our Bachelors program, if they are teaching in the Swahili department. Teachers who already have their bachelor’s degree are now working on their master’s. Because of this we are planning for the whole teaching department to teach both Swahili and English classes in the near future.

Besides their daily teaching and evangelism duties, all of our teachers have been given specific roles in the running of the school. We have them over student services, food, the dorms, the two departments of Swahili and English, enrolling the students, and student discipline. Without these hard and dedicated servants of Christ we could not have the school doing the work that it does.  Please pray for Joseph, Remmy, Joshua, Boaz, Peter, Xavier, Lai, Ezekiel, and Frank as they continue to serve God in this capacity.

As for the new students we are enrolling, they are from Dar es Salaam, Kigoma, Dodoma, Mbeya and Kyela, Some have enrolled from Mabadaga, Sumbawanga, Mbozi  and Njombe. What this means is that our teachers, students and former students have spread out all over Tanzania doing the good work of the Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver extension school at Chimala. We have found many good dedicated, hardworking students that desire to prepare themselves to preach the gospel to their country.

What will I be doing when I return? As a Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver coordinator, I will be teaching the classes of Genesis, Jeremiah and Lamentations. Then we will be teaching the short courses on the Gospel of John and Christian Evidences. Then we will travel to Denver to attend the faculty meetings. 

When I will return, I will teach Church History, Exodus and Leviticus. In the second short course section I will teach Joshua, Judges and Ruth and one of the graduate courses. In addition to this, as a Bear Valley Coordinator, I am responsible for the on-site day to day running of the school. This includes chairing the faculty meetings, seeing that the teachers are carrying out their various duties in teaching and working with the students. Every weekend we are at Chimala. We go out to the area churches and preach. We always have teachers and students go with us who are doing evangelism. 

We then plan on returning for the third quarter and teaching Numbers, Deuteronomy and 1st and 2nd Kings and Chronicles. Then the fourth quarter we will be teaching Bible Geography Hebrews, 1st and 2nd Samuel, and World Religions. As the on-site extension coordinator we will see to it that our students get the best, Bible filled education they can receive as they prepare themselves to be better servants of Christ. 

We ask you to keep us in your prayers as we return to Tanzania. We could not do this without the support and hard work of our fellow teachers and supporters. We pray fervently 2012 will be a great year of training and evangelism at the Chimala Bible Institute.

Garry L. Hill
Bear Valley Extension Coordinator