One Amazing Campaign In Cameroon...

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from this end, and we do hope you are all doing great in whatsoever you are doing in your family and the congregation. The week went on well as we were anticipating a welcome of our students back to school after their campaign in different locations and vacation with their families.

God is so kind. As I write this e-mail 26 students are already on campus ready to start their lectures tomorrow, April 1, for the second quarter. One student is still pending to arrive, news reaching us is that he lost the grandmother.

Sister Emilia obeyed the gospel in Mbouda. Please keep them in your prayers.

We are thankful to God for their safe arrival, even though some returned with sickness. God is in control. The reports they brought from different locations are amazing. We sent them to 20 villages to preach and teach, but they went beyond that as they heard the calls from nearby congregations to come over to them and help. This makes CBIW different and very popular in the few years of its existence in Cameroon. Our students and staff enter into places that have been abandoned. Many congregations are dying because there is no one to preach and nurture them. Many continue to praise God for Bear Valley and their visions for the extension program. This program is working well by His grace here in Cameroon. Come and join us do greater things here for the Lord’s glory.

I was able to preach in the morning and also welcome our students back on campus after their campaign and vacation.

Brothers Nguoe Thierry and Mbappe went on house to house evangelism in the community of Mbouda, purely a French speaking community.

Brother Mbappe Guy, our student, was able to preach and pray for sick people in the hospital in that community. Many will go to hospital visits with items to give out, but as a student the director of the hospital gave them the permission to preach and teach without any goods. He praised them for their effort and said the scriptures are life.

Brother Yannick went to Manyemen village. This village is far from Wotutu, and the congregation there was almost collapsed because there was no one to preach for the church. I received lots of appreciation from them, as they shouted that God has heard their prayer as CBIW thought of them and sent a student evangelist to help them.

Brother Yannick sat with the leaders of the congregation, teaching them Personal Evangelism. Our motto impacted those who by His grace pass through us as we trust in evangelism for the growth of the church. “Evangelism is our mission and our mission is evangelism.”

The Lord added souls during this campaign. We pray those on the ground will continue to do the follow up as we shall be involved in weekend evangelism in those areas to continue with the nurturing for maturity.

The Manyemen congregation which was near collapse is now revived because of our efforts of evangelism this past two weeks. Keep this congregation in your prayers for them to remain in the Lord as we continue to prepare the way till a permanent preacher be there. Who will go forth and how will it work? Those are the questions we ask ourselves as we travel up and down the country for mission work.

During the Lord’s Supper, some in the Wotutu congregation will take and bend their heads down to meditate and thank God for Jesus. Our congregation continues to grow.

STATISTICS FOR THE FIRST BETA BATCH CAMPAIGN

Number of villages involved - 23

Number of studies on house to house - many

Number of baptism - 53

Number of restoration - 51

Number of congregations revived - 3

Number of new congregation established - 1

NB
The campaign this time around amazed me a lot as five broken families were reconciled and restored back to the fold. These families, in different locations, part ways because of the truth, as the husband refused many years ago for the wife to worship with the church of Christ. Our students met them and shared the gospel on house to house and discovered them, exposed the truth to them and reconciled them back and also restored them back to the congregation as the husband also accepted the truth with tears.

Plans
1) We are starting full fledge classes tomorrow. There is no time to waste.

2) We shall move to Batoke village this weekend to preach and teach and see if they will be increased and a new congregation will be established there.

Appreciations
We thank you for all your prayers and support. We thank God for using you in the way He is using you in our ministries, that is our preaching, CBIW, and also Brightland Christian academy. Please do your best to share our reports with others who may also love to be part of our work. God bless you and watch over you and your family and the church.

Elangwe and family
By His grace Director of CBIW

Thou Shalt Not Steal...

"Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?" (Job 38:28)

Dear Co-Laborers:

Rain has poured down for the past few days. Much of Kisongo looks like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory...wish it were edible and sweet. However, the mud here is very sticky. Arriving at services, Trina jumped down out of our van (it's a little high) only to sink into the gooey mess, almost covering the top of her open-toed shoes (the parking area is neither paved nor graveled). Her shoes looked worse than those of the people who walked! 

Heather looks at the bright side: the environment around us is now a beautiful green!

As usual, Jimmy taught the New Converts' class, Trina continued Genesis (ch. 40) with the ladies and Abigail taught the children (Judah being led into captivity). Jimmy continued his series on "Worship" focusing on the proper motive. The Moshi congregation just hosted several congregations for their Ladies' Seminar yesterday and the Arusha congregation is planning a Ladies' Seminar on April 13th.  

"Thou shall not steal." While Trina and the kids were waiting in slow traffic one morning, a man reached in on the passengers' side trying to steal Abigail's phone she was holding. While it seemed like several minutes, they wrestled over the phone for "a very scary" 2-4 seconds. At first, Trina didn't know what he was doing and was basically just "frozen" with the shock of it. Being strapped in by the seat belt she didn't think about unbuckling but was just scrambling to get her purse that had fallen (afraid the thief would grab IT). After being here eight years, we have let down our guard some and made the mistake of holding a phone near an open window (no air-conditioning in our van). The man began to slowly walk away from the van into a crowd. Not willing to let him get away, Trina began to yell "mwizi" (thief) and blew the horn to get attention. Thinking it would help identify the thief, she called Abigail's phone. Thankfully, during the earlier struggle, it had dropped to the floor of the car and landed under a bag. If only Jimmy's Aunt Edith had been there, we are certain that her "Annie Oakley" skills would have made us feel more secure. Guess what happened that very evening? Trina's phone was somehow stolen and she doesn't know when or where. 

Teach, baptize, teach: Grace is home from boarding school so Abigail is studying with her tomorrow. Both Grace and Rachel visited us this weekend while on break (Easter holidays). Lindsey is planning on giving Rachel a "Searching for Truth" booklet (although Rachel is a Christian, this Swahili-translated book can help ground her in the truth plus she could share it with school-mates). Speaking of education, the ACSOP students just completed a one-week course on "Bible Geography" taught by Emmanuel Peter. Beginning tomorrow, the students will study "Personal Evangelism" with Isaac Mwangonde... who made the long 16-hour journey via bus from Mbeya.

Prayers are needed for a Christian lady and student of KBS who has had marriage problems for several years now. Her husband recently refused to support her, made her move and is keeping her away from her little girls (ages 4 and 2). Please pray that mother and children will be reunited soon.

"I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long..." (I Tim. 3:14). Not counting today, we have 28-days left in Tanzania. The furlough funds still lacking are only $2000. If this final amount could be received by April 10th, it would help tremendously. We thank you for your kindness and generosity! Please pray that the Immigration Visas for the TZ children will arrive very soon!  

With Love from Africa, 
The Jimmy Gee family

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

Back Home In Tanzania...

Greetings Fellow Workers;

We greet you with joyful hearts. We have seen God’s hand at work through His faithful in a powerful way over the past few weeks. We are privileged to be part of God’s family, serving to His Glory and to the saving of lost souls. You, our friends and faithful supporters, are making this mission effort possible and for this we say thank you and thank God for you. Each of you who made this furlough the absolute best ever we say a very special thank you. To Jimmy Gee, who dealt with all my “normal” duties, to Sean and their family I thank you so very much for a job well done.

We arrived Friday night to be met by Jimmy Gee and Ahimidiwe at the airport. We are often asked; “why do you love the work in Tanzania so much?” Well, here is just one of the reasons: when we got to the house, our brother (who serves as one of our night guards) greeted us with a huge smile and hug and with much enthusiasm. He informed us that he and another had studied with and baptized into Christ a new brother the day before. As we often say; “it is like the work of the first century here in the twenty-first century.” 

In two short months we will begin our Safari for Souls campaigns. We know the months of May and June will be very busy with no less than 40 of our co-workers. This year will be a bit unique in the fact that two large campaigns will be at two new congregations that had their beginnings last year through the SFS campaigns. God is truly having His way here in Tanzania.

We have so much to report and share with you all but, we will close for the week and wait until next week to share some powerfully good news! We hope and pray your week in service to Him and His will be a good one. Again, we thank you and we appreciate your sacrifice making this work possible.

Closing note: Please keep Sean, Anita, Alice and Norman in your prayers. Sean is bringing them to the airport and Anita will be escorting them back to the States.  

In Him, Stephanie, Granny and Cy

Tanzania Chronicles...

Karibuni Tanzania
Greetings from East Africa

We hope that all is well in the Northern Hemisphere and that you are enjoying life, family, work and are at peace in Christ. We are entering our campaign season and will soon be having visitors coming to join with us to offer help in the many areas of work here in the Arusha area. If you are interested in making a trip over sometime just drop us a line and we will answer any questions and do our best to convince you to get on a plane.

I have just finished teaching the first quarter at the Andrew Connally School of Preaching. We started with 12 students and, unfortunately, had to let 3 go due to lack of being able to keep up academically. Of the nine remaining all but one passed my Hermeneutics class. Promising for the first quarter. We will jump into the second quarter in  a few days and I will be teaching the book of Acts. Keep these men in your prayers as they pursue the journey of learning and growing into being effective preachers.

In between day-to-day activities, bible studies, etc., Anita has started a long anticipated project at the ACSOP. For quite some time we have wanted some artwork at the school that would reflect our mission and goal for what we seek to accomplish as a preacher training institution. We gave Anita a broad outline of what we want to communicate and are now standing back to watch her work her artistic magic. The project is an ambitious one as she will be painting a mural that covers the 4 walls surrounding the commons area; each wall is roughly 9ft tall x 50ft long.

The congregation where we worship, the Kwa Mrombo church of Christ, continues to be an encouragement to us and all that worship there. Charles Heberth, the local preacher (instructor at ACSOP, Dean of recruiting, member of our translation team, manager of our garden and rabbits, etc.) does a masterful job of delivering good, balanced, classes and sermons and is actively involved in evangelistic efforts in the area. We recently had Charles and his family over for dinner. Dad asked Charles what he liked to do when he had a day off. I rarely see Charles (whom I now affectionately call Chucky) perplexed but he certainly was when asked this question. His answer was in no way fake when he said “I don’t know what that is, I can take a break when life is over.” If you spend much time around Charles it becomes apparent that he believes those words. Of special note I just received a text from Charles that said “We thank God for His loving kindness, He has added two more souls to His Kingdom. Please pray for Nathali and Prosper as they have begun their Christian life. These are husband and wife.”

One of the reasons we had Charles and his family over was so that they could enjoy meeting my brother Ryan and sister-in-law April. Ryan and April have never been out of the States before so what better way to break them in then to bring them to a third-world country? It is enjoyable to watch the look on the faces of those who have never experienced a place like Tanzania. We thoroughly enjoyed them being here and are certain they returned to the States with a new perspective and appreciation for the myriad of blessings enjoyed by Americans.

We are somewhat melancholy as our house is about to be very empty. Madeleine returned to the States 3 weeks ago to prepare for her wedding and subsequent start of college. Anita and I are still quite weepy about her leaving. On April 1^st mom and dad will  be returning as well. They have really been a big help to us and many of our friends and brethren here in Tanzania. It was a big step for them to move here but one that, by their own admission, was one of the best decisions they have ever made. They, like others, will return to living in a nation that is overflowing with blessings and is, for the most part, unaware of life in a place like Tanzania. We will miss them greatly.

Backstory
I am asked from time to time what a typical day in Tanzania is like. Truth is in some ways its much like being back in the States: Get up, shower, go to work, eat, sleep, repeat. In other ways there is no such thing as a typical day in Tanzania. Generally each day can be measured by the number of difficulties or tragedies avoided or handled. For example, this past Tuesday I took off for school around 7:15am, taught and headed toward home to get ready to take Ryan and April to the airport that evening. On the way home my steering box disintegrated leaving me with good ol’ fashion armstrong power steering. The roads in Tanzania are some of the worst in the world and wreak havoc on the vehicles trying to tame them. I made it home safe, assessed the damage and made arrangements to get it to the Toyota dealer for repair. While preparing to take it in I discovered that my left front shock absorber had broken as well. I requested that the dealer fix both and that I needed to take it to the airport that evening. They assured me they could fix the steering box in time but had no shock absorbers in stock. I called around 4pm and they told me to come down and get it (about a 45 minute trip each way). Nesta dropped me off and took off toward the house. After waiting for 30 minutes the manager called me in to say it couldn’t be finished that evening. Great, “Nesta, come get me they can’t fix it today” 30 minutes later he arrived to get me. Now, while I was waiting for Nesta he called to say he would be a little bit because the other vehicle had a flat tire (We are now up to 13 flats in 8 weeks). Flat fixed and we are on our way home. Nesta and I are chatting and the vehicle shuts off. “Nesta, what’s going on?” “Fuel goes off” he said. “Huh? Are you saying we are out of fuel?” “Ndiyo.” Great again. Off he goes to get some diesel while I wait. He arrives, we get it started and get home. We can’t take the vehicle we were in because the belts are showing through on the tires and it will beat you to death when you go faster than 30 mph. Not to worry, we are replacing them in a week or so. But for now, we are scrambling to leave for the airport on time and get a vehicle to do so. We arrange to take Stephanie Stafford’s Rav4. It’s a munchkin vehicle for sure but we manage to get all the bags in and head toward the airport which is an hour / hour and half away. Under good conditions the road is quite dangerous but add rain, no streetlights, very few stripes and people walking across the road and it will make you a praying professional. Well, we safely got Ryan and April to the airport and headed back. Then the deluge came. Outside of Arusha traffic came to a dead stop. Two cars had collided and shut down the road for a lengthy amount of time. In situations like this there is no order whatsoever. People drive wherever they want, whenever they want. They do not care that, in the end, their selfishness makes the whole situation far worse. It’s chaos in the dark with a lot of rain. Fun, fun, fun. The wreck clears and we continue driving through the deluge to get home. We make it safely back, and sit down to relax, catch our breath and watch a little TV, then the power shuts off. Any of this sound typical? It may not to you but it is an accurate picture of about 80% of our regular routine. It’s odd, but we find ourselves missing these types of challenges when we are away from them for any amount of time.

When all the dust settles, and we are able to do our work, the troubles fade and we are able to rejoice that we have either taught men how to preach, educated and edified the brethren in the local church, or shared Christ with those who have never known Him. In the end, the good far outweighs any bad that may come from living in such a diverse and challenging place. 

We thank you for your support and hope that one day you will be our guest and we can share some of these adventures with you in person. Until that time comes, take care and stay busy in the kingdom of the Lord.

Most gratefully,
Sean, Anita, Mom and Dad

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

Lessons On Giving...

Beloved in Christ Jesus,

Greetings from staff, students and foundation members of the Southwest School of Evangelism (SWSE), Ibadan and Lagos satellite campus.

The 2 day program at Owode-Egba congregation in Ogun State take us to many small cities in Ogun State such as Fidiwo, Ipara, Iperu and Ahuja. The two day program was another success even though there was no convert, but we have many prospects that if the church will follow-up with them will result in their conversion!

The afternoon Christian workshop was attended by over 200 brethren from Ogun, Oyo and Lagos State. I served as interpreter for brother Moses Obakemi who spoke on The Sweetness of Christian Fellowship.

On Sunday at Onikokoro congregation, I taught on Giving in the early church and brother Lawrence Olawale Dada, one of the graduates of SWSE-Ibadan, taught on The Purpose of Christian Giving. We are 59 in attendance with a total collection of N1.630=

In the afternoon, I traveled in the company of some SWSE students to discuss with some WBS students of brother Ken Heflin of the West Olive congregation, Peoria, AZ, with the assistance of brother Kayode S. Eniafe and brother Joseph Adeniji (two of SWSE-year -2 students). Three of the WBS students that were also part of those that attended the WBS seminar of February 28 at the A.D.C. Primary school hall in Apomu, Osun state where brother Doug taught during his 2013 trip to Nigeria. Samson Omotunde (husband), Juliana Omotunde (wife) and their first son of about 21 years of age, named Iyanu Emmanuel Omotunde ,was baptized at Asejire River in Osun State after the one and half hours discussion by 3:30 pm. TO GOD BE THE GLORY !

Brethren, we are very appreciative unto the Lord for His mercy and to you for your partnership. May the Lord of blessings continue to bless all our joint efforts in Christ’s name, amen.

Sincerely in Christ,

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

Short Holidays With Purpose...

Respected brothers in Christ.

Greetings to you all from NCBS. We are doing fine in the Bible school. Our three weeks of short holidays runs from the 29th of March till the 19th of April. I am planning to visit some of our graduate students in the next week. I have a few purposes in visiting congregations:

(1) To encourage our graduate student's home congregations.

(2) To get new batch of students for the next class.

(3) To refresh our minds through visiting different places.

Please kindly remember me in your prayer.

Thank you,

Gajendra Deshar

What Is ITL?

This question was asked by the president of ITL, Hawatthia Jones, at the 4th Annual ITL Lectureship and 2nd graduation. The answer is summed up in the faculty and students who are involved in both the full-time and Saturday programs of study at the Latin America Theological Institute in Guatemala (ITL). The answer would also include the graduates from the Alpha class of ITL, along with all of the potential students for the future. 

Words do not adequately describe the incredible environment that has been created by two men, Byron Benitez and Hawatthia Jones, who have dedicated themselves to the training of students to take the gospel to Central America. Through the challenges and obstacles, these men have demonstrated the tenacity and organizational skills to develop a school second to none.

Hawatthia and Byron have been working in Guatemala for approximately 13 years and this was the 5th anniversary of ITL. These two men, along with staff member, Anibal Ramirez, began a Saturday program five years ago to provide biblical training to students who wanted to grow in their service to the Lord. A year later, Darvin Alvarez was added to the staff and the full-time program was born, along with an annual lectureship to provide opportunity for the church in Guatemala to be encouraged and strengthened in the task of reaching the souls of this country.

First, let me share some information about the lectureship. The theme this year was “Unity Among Brethren, an Answer to the Prayer of Jesus.” Speakers from Central America and the U.S. came together to share in this great event. The lessons were sound and powerful to the need for brethren to be united, not united at any cost, but united in Christ and on the word of God, putting away opinions and standing on truth. “Awesome” is the only word I know to describe how wonderful it was to hear these lessons.

Second, the graduation of the second class of ITL’s full-time program was also a part of this great weekend. Five students completed the program, Eliezer Nieves Pérez Gonzales (valedictorian), Manuel David Avila Chuc, Nohelis de Dardón, Wálter Dardón, and Angel Gabriel Gonzales Morales. Four students, Nidia Aguaré, Elena Aguaré, Maclovio Calderón, and Blanca Pérez (valedictorian), completed the Saturday program. In a wonderful ceremony in their honor, these students received their degrees and certificates for the work they have put into these classes.

Third, everyone was encouraged with the announcement of the great news about the purchase of ITL’s building. I encourage you to click here to read more about the exciting news announced by Hawatthia concerning the funds raised to purchase this property.

One of my favorite lines of the weekend event was Hawatthia Jones in saying; “There’s not a God greater than our God.” How true this thought is and it is seen in the way the work has been developed and the two men who have poured their lives into seeing the success of the program they have developed. 

If could leave you with one last thought, it would be this: I am thankful to be considered a friend of ITL.

Now on to the other reports...

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

Extension Reports 

Husband And Wife Obey The Gospel In Cameroon: Through the broadcasting of the gospel each morning in Cameroon, a couple respond to be baptized.

Outreach In The SOS Clinic Community Bear Fruit: Souls are being brought to the Lord through the outreach of students in Liberia.

The Goal Has Been Reached: The news from ITL in Guatemala is incredible as the goal has been reached in the funds needed to purchase the property.

Radio Planet Is Ready In Togo: A new radio program is about to take to the air as part of the work in the Center for Biblical Studies in Togo.

Asunción Bible Academy Student Information: The new class of students and a list of the staff members at ABA gives a good foundation to this new work. 

Sijui - I Don’t Know: Some information is best left to you in reading the report. This is a story worth taking a few minutes to read.

Final Thoughts
Just a quick word to say, “Thank you.” You are awesome and such a great blessing to this work. I hope the reports continue to encourage you and build you up in your faith in the Almighty God we serve. Truly, there’s not a God greater than our God.

God bless
Bob

Sijui - "I Don't Know..."

"...unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Mt. 18:3) 

Dear Supporters, Family and Friends:         

Thank you for reading this report! Everyone is busy with their own lives, yet you take time to stay involved and informed about one of the fastest- growing mission works that we know of...the TZ 2000 Mission work! Team director, Cy Stafford, says, "What God controls, grows!"          

This report will cover our past two weeks. Last Sunday, the Kisongo church listened to an inspiring lesson on "Unity" preached by Albert, an ACSOP student. Today Jimmy preached an excellent sermon on "Worship" focusing on knowing God as the foundation of worship. The ladies completed Genesis 39, learning from the life of Joseph. 

Last Saturday, Jimmy planned a special surprise and took us to a free horseshow. We met eighty-three-year old Eunice Simonson, who has spent her last fifty-seven years in Tanzania. It was a joy talking about her many adventures in Africa. Jim Klobuchar wrote a book about her and her husband, David, entitled, "The Cross Under the Acacia Tree." (The Simonsons worked with the Lutheran denomination). Eunice wrote her own book a few years ago entitled, "I Count My Blessings." We ordered both from Amazon to simply get a "deeper" perspective of Tanzania. After being in Africa a mere eight years, we've only scratched the surface in our understanding of the people, culture and language. 

Hongara! Congratulations are in order for former TZ missionary, Ben Thompson, on his recent engagement to Elizabeth Box. 

A first-year student, Julius (featured in our last report) asked for prayers for his pregnant wife who has a growth near their unborn baby of 4 months. Right now, his wife is on some medication to help with the pain. He says there is a possibility the doctors will want to operate and "extract" the baby (who obviously will not survive at this stage). Pray this tumor or cyst will stop growing so this baby can grow to be full-term. You may find it difficult to believe what Julius and others have said concerning women and serious medical care in Tanzania (operations, cancer treatment, etc): that is, a grown woman cannot have an operation or treatment for cancer UNLESS her husband or mother-in-law signs for it giving THEIR permission (if single, a woman's father or uncle would probably have the say-so). A woman can be denied treatment based on her husband or mother-in-laws' opinion and she can also be forced to have an operation if the doctor and her husband agree. Simple freedoms enjoyed in America are strange thoughts in other lands, especially in East Africa.          

Sijui (see-jew-ee)  One of our favorite visiting teachers, Buddy Fry, mentioned in his last class that he remembered the Swahili word "sijui" but had momentarily forgotten the meaning. After asking several Tanzanians what the word meant, he was surprised that all the students said, "I don't know." He laughed when our daughter Lindsey finally cleared things up by saying, "The word literally means 'I don't know!'" 

After noticing that Rosie came to Bible class without a Bible, we invited her to our house to get a brand-new one from the supply bought by the Union Grove church of Christ (Cleveland, TN). Their gift is still blessing people. Can you imagine people in the states not having enough money to buy a Bible?     

"We've come a long way, baby!" Speaking of money, the furlough funds still lacking are only $4000. Will your congregation be one of four that we hope will send a check for $1000? Our heart-felt thanks to all the congregations and the many individuals that have sacrificed! The new departure date is April 28th (giving us extra time to receive the immigration visas and make the 10-hour trip to the Embassy in Dar es Salaam). 

No better news could end this report! A soul was washed clean and added to God's Kingdom today!  Esther, pictured on the left with Ahimidiwe, was immersed for the forgiveness of her sins. She was pictured in a previous report and was attending the Kisongo Bible School trying to learn how to read.  

Stop the Presses! We've been informed of another baptism just minutes ago. Witness, from the newly established White Rose congregation, decided to become a Christian. 

Thank you for letting us be a small part of bringing "the Light" to Tanzanians. 

With Love from Africa,
The Jimmy Gee family

Asunción Bible Academy Student Information...

The following information involves the current students and faculty of the Asunción Bible Academy in Paraguay. A picture of the students is attached and the information gives some background to each student as they begin this new program of study.

Enrique Albera (27, fourth from the left) - baptized in October of 2011 and is the son of our sister in Christ, Lina Albera. He was born in Asunción and is a graduate of the National University of Asunción with a degree in Agricultural Engineering. He came to know the church through his family and he converted from a local denomination. He hopes to assist the church in planting a congregation in Pilar (6 hours south of Asunción).

William Arzamendia (24, second from the left) - baptized July 2007 and is the brother of our sister in Christ, Carolina Arzamendia. William was born in Argentina and has studied music, as well as, coaching at several Soccer Academies. He enjoys working with youth and hopes to be actively involved with planting the church in Ñemby, where his family lives (just outside Asunción).

Karen Gimenez (26, third from the left) - baptized 2-2-2002 and is the daughter of our sister in Christ, Lucia Acosta, who is a convert from the first mission effort in Paraguay in the 1970's. She and her mother are members at the "Centro" congregation. Karen has worked at McDonalds and in retail sales. She wants to help with church growth for the "Centro" congregation and the church plant in Ñemby.

Ramón Paredes (27, first on the left) - baptized September 2010. He came to the church by noticing a banner that was placed out front advertising free Bible studies. Ramon has spent most of his life working in construction. He was born in Concepción, Paraguay. He wants to assist in church growth for the Sacramento Avenue congregation in Asunción. He has brought his brother and sister-in-law, Hector and Patricia, to the church and also converted his fiancé, Elvira Dominguez.

Paulo Rocholl (24, on the far right) - baptized in January of 2012 after learning about the church through a flyer he found thrown on the floor of a bus. He has completed an intensive, 14 month, English course offered by the Ministry of Defense and has also worked as Assistent Manager at "Plastec," his father ́s plastic manufacturing plant. He would like to see the church planted in Itaugua (about 40 minutes outside Asunción).

Professors and Administration:

Troy Spradlin, Director
Perry Hardin, Academic Co-Director
Josh Blackmer
Jorge Vera, (preacher for the "Centro" congregation) Pedro Vera
Ike Yegros

Radio Planet Is Ready In Togo...

Student’s performance is encouraging.

As I sat in the worship service to observe how some of the students performed the various roles assigned them, I was so impressed and thanked God for what he has done with these men. Those that came from the denomination are now speaking the language of the Lord’s Church; calling bible things by bible names. The only two remaining students who have not been baptized yet will do so by the grace of God prior to the graduation. I wish to use this medium to thank the Gabriel Oaks Church of Christ and our hard working coordinator, Steve Ashcraft.

Radio Broadcast resumes (Radio Planet is ready)

About a year ago Radio Planet in Kpalime ,Togo had to close down for renovation work to start. I visited their outfit during my recent visit and was reliably informed that they have resumed transmission. We couldn’t transfer to any other station because we were preaching the truth. We therefore had to wait till the renovation was completed. We are starting broadcast today, March 21st.

Proposed date for graduation is September 28th, 2013.

Willie Gley

The Goal Has Been Reached...

Greetings Family, Friends and Supporters of Mission Guatemala!

We hope and pray that you and those you love are doing well and enjoying the wonderful blessings from above. We are doing fine here and continue to find ourselves with plenty to do in our service here in Guatemala.

Our reason for writing is to give you another update on the progress of the fund raising efforts. We are very thankful that many of you allowed God to use you to help us achieve this major milestone for ITL and for the Guatemala work. We are VERY excited that we passed from writing “A Great Opportunity for Guatemala Mission” to being able to write “A Great Blessing for Guatemala Mission.” WE REACHED OUR GOAL!!!! In fact, we surpassed it! We were able to say “yes” without having to seek a loan! We now own (or very soon will own) both properties! We do not have to rent anymore! You can probably tell from all the preceding “!'s” that we are very happy about this. :-)

From the last message that we sent to everyone in our database we made known of a special opportunity that we have to purchase both the house we are renting and the house where ITL, our preaching training school, is located. The owner of the house where we live is the son of the lady who owns the property where ITL meets. Due to circumstances beyond their control they need to sell both properties and have given us first option to buy both of them before they place them on the market. The owner of our house planned to ask for $95,000 for his house but was willing to sell it to us for $70,000. It is a four-bedroom, 4 1/2 bath house, with two additional rooms that can be converted into bedrooms. The second property, which joins our house, is what we presently use for ITL. It includes a three-bedroom, 3-½ bathroom house, a two-bedroom, one bathroom apartment, and a studio apartment. Presently, our students live there and all of our classes for the school take place there. Remember that we have both a full-time program and a Saturday program. This property belongs to our landlord’s mother. She was willing to sell us her property for $80,000. We believed that this presented us with a great opportunity for our work and wanted to take advantage of it.

The total for both properties is $150,000. We already had $80,000 that we previously raised to purchase property for ITL. This means that we needed $70,000 when our first request went out on December 29, 2012. Thankfully, we have raised $83,650. That’s right $83,650! While we do not feel comfortable putting a list of our contributors in a general e-mail, we will be glad to send a complete detailed list of supporters to anyone wishing to receive one. We are thankful to God that we were able to go over the amount. The excess will serve us with funds we need to pay our part of the paperwork for the purchase of the houses. And, with what is left we can make some minor repairs, painting, etc., to the facilities. Thankfully, we have the benefit of a student body (and instructors, of course) that is willing to work hard, which will save us many dollars on labor expenses.

Just one more time, please allow us to remind you of some of the advantages for this purchase:

1. The price for both properties is good for the area where they are located.

2. We will no longer be paying rent and that money can be used in other areas of the ministry.

3. Since the properties are next to one another, this provides an opportunity for the expansion of ITL as it grows.

4. We are already in the facilities. We have lived in our house since 2000 and have rented the other property for ITL since 2009.

5. The properties are centrally located for both the full-time students and for those who study on Saturday. Our full-time students are close to shopping centers and the other things they need for daily living. It is a fairly easy commute for our Saturday students to come where we are presently located.

6. The properties are located in a safe area. Since we also have teachers who come from the U.S. to teach, this is very important.

7. By purchasing the property, we will avoid the additional costs entailed in having to move our residence and the location of the school, and having to rent another house and another facility for ITL, which would likely be much more expensive than what we are currently paying for both.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you very much! Many of you helped us turn this opportunity into a reality. We can never say thank you enough. Some of you even took an extra step and made others aware and for this we are also thankful. May God bless you for your love and concern for the mission efforts that are taking place in Guatemala.

We will close for now. However, please allow us to remind you that the door is always open for you to donate to help teach the CENTRAL MESSAGE in Central America. :-) You have more than one option to get your donation to us. You can always plan a visit to see us and bring your contribution in person. In fact, if you choose to visit, we’ll consider your visit a contribution itself. :-) You can also go to our secured website and donate online by clicking here. You may also send your tax-deductible donation to our overseeing congregation at the following address:

Kingsley Terrace Church of Christ
c/o Dwaine Himes/Guatemala Mission
2031 E. 30^th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46218

Byron and Hawatthia

Outreach In The SOS Clinic Community Bears Fruit...

Greetings,

We extend to you sincere greetings and wish you all God's blessings as continue to share with us in extending the Kingdom of God through training preachers and teachers in the biblical text and ministry. Indeed your kind support continues to enhance the cause of Christ.

Evangelism Update
Weekend evangelism is a key component of LBC extracurricular activities. Students participate in community evangelism each week as part of their outreach obligation. They usually work with local congregations in Monrovia and other places in the areas of teaching Bible classes, doing personal work and visitation. As consequence of their efforts several conversions and restorations take place.

For the month of February 2013 LBC students conducted Bible studies and did outreach. Eight persons received water baptism and three were restored. Several of LBC students actively got involved with outreach for the month under review which is hereby highlighted.

Student Harris Wawellee evangelized in his home town of Kakata that resulted in four persons being baptized and added to the church. He visited ten backsliders and restored three of them to the fold. Harris taught adult Bible class every Sunday on the topic: “The New Testament Church.” He spoke on the local radio program using as theme, “The Old and New Testament Laws.”

For his part Jestine Kamara traveled to his home region of Grand Bassa where he participated in personal work. He baptized one person. He also conducted Bible study prospects in the community.

Tokpateh conducted Bible study with four persons in the SOS Clinic Community. He discussed the topic, “Salvation and the Church.” He taught Bible class and preached at home congregation in Bong County, central Liberia. He led a visitation team to a village called Gormima where two persons were immersed. They traveled afoot a distance of 2 hours and thirty-five minutes to accomplish this task.

Many persons have been enrolled in the WBS correspondence courses. The enrollment exercise of the program is spearheaded by one of the campus students in person of John Uzoamaka. He along with other LBC students do follow up work with correspondence students.

Alassis

Husband And Wife Obey The Gospel In Cameroon...

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from Wotutu. We do hope this report will meet you in good health and a sound faith. Life is moving ahead with us here even though with some tough times. The Lord is making sure He provides to His people and we are grateful.

Sister Bernadeth obeyed the gospel in Wotutu as we continue our house to house evangelism, doing our best to transform the entire village. God will help us as we continue to penetrate the hearts of many.

Last week was also a busy one for me as I left Wotutu to make sure I checked on some students in their areas of campaign and also to be part of the work. In CBIW we don’t point the way, we show the way for the students to follow. The Lord is blessing our efforts, passion and our visions daily.

Let me share with you some pictures, that I took during my very tedious trip to visit some congregations in forgotten areas as I can say in our country. I took the Supe bridge where the transport car that I took had a break down. I was heading to the heart of the rain forest in Cameroon.

I was able to reach the heart of the equatorial rain forest, sweating, but still moving ahead to get to a village that no car or motor bike can reach. As we think souls, we must go for souls so as to rob as many as the Lord wills in the strong man’s house.

Children welcomed me. Oh how children are so hospitable in their poor state. The village is suffering from high birth rate and at the same time suffering from high infant mortality rate. There is no access to any form of health care. Oh they are surviving by the very special grace of God.

I trekked distances above 4 hours in the forest. I made it safe to the village and I was able to stand at the worship hall of the church of Christ in Koba village.

I was able to sit inside the worship hall. God is great, because with all the predicaments that these people are going through per day, but you will still hear them singing and praising the Creator with joy and a simple heart.

Preaching was in the Mudeka congregation this morning on the topic Who are You in Christ? It was a moment of stock taking to all of us, because the Bible gives us moments like this to check out stuff. (2 tim 2:19-20)

The back to the Bible radio program continues every 5 am and now that the students were out I and minister Nsong Nelson, one of our graduates, was ministering to the kids of Brightland Christian Academy. He joins me every day for us to reach out to the communities. The program continues to publicize the church of Christ. Brother Ebenezer attended our Bible class and told us that he has seen the truth after listening to the program for the past 7 months. He saw the New Testament way of worship and after the class he invited us home to share the gospel to his family also. The same day him and his wife obeyed the gospel.

This husband and wife accepted the gospel same day. It is our responsibility to give them the pure milk that will make them grow. I handed to them each a copy of the Bible that they will continue to follow the program and continue to study to observe all things and also to help many come to the Lord.

We met with many in their kitchen to tell them the love of the Lord in the scriptures. It was very interesting as many listened to the truth that is found in the Bible, but was hidden from them. Keep this work in your fervent prayers.

As I am writing this report, by His grace many of our students who were in different locations in Cameroon preaching the gospel will be on their way now to transit to their respective villages for one week vacation. By next Sunday’s report you will get details of their first ever evangelism as students of the CBIW beta batch. Keep them in your prayers for safe travels to their homes and later on back to CBIW campus by Saturday, March 30th 2013.

All our recent plans will be fostering upon their return as we shall increase the number of students on weekly weekend evangelism mostly to areas that we shall go with the aim of establishing a congregation.

Appreciations
Thanks be to God for His grace that we enjoy daily. Thank you for your love for the old rugged cross. God bless you and always give you all the means to continue  praying for us and for the work entrusted in our hands to depopulate hell so that Heaven will be populated.

I love to receive your comments if you have them, or any proposals.

Elangwe and family
By His grace Director CBIW

One Week Ends And Another Begins...

One week ends and another begins. Last week was an incredible week as Donnie Bates and I had the privilege of traveling to Paraguay to see the opening of the Asunción Bible Academy. The missionary team of Josh and Cara Blackmer, Troy and Andrea Spradlin, Perry and Alba Hardin, and Ale and Brittney Yegros have worked with the leadership of the Sacramento Avenue congregation in putting together everything needed for the beginning of the school.

They have been working for the past year to make sure every area was in place to ensure the success of this work. The staff will consist of leaders from the congregation and the missionary team who will fulfill the responsibilities of teaching, directing and coordinating the work. The teachers will consist of Ike Yegros, Josh Blackmer, Jorge Vera, Pedro Vera, Perry Hardin (teacher / coordinator), and Troy Spradlin (teacher / director). 

An added beauty of this school is that the two congregations in Asunción are working together to see this program succeed. The preacher for the Centro congregation, Jorge Vera, will also serve as a teacher in the program. The Centro congregation visited Sunday afternoon to participate in the opening celebration of the school. Families of the students also came to share in the activities of the day, which made this celebration even more special.

There will be five students in this first class: Enrique Albera, William Arzamendia, Karen Gimenez, Ramón Paredes, and Paolo Rosholl. These students have patiently waited over the past year in anticipation of beginning classes in the Bible Academy and it has now come to fruition. If you would like to look at more pictures with some details of the events last week in Paraguay, you can visit Donnie’s Facebook page for the Asunción Bible Academy by clicking here.

As well, the week ahead also holds great events as Donnie and I will be traveling to Guatemala to participate in the 2nd graduation of ITL and their annual lectureship. I look forward to sharing in the celebration of this event with the leadership of the Linda Vista congregation, staff and students of ITL. The news next week will be exciting.

Now on to the other reports...

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

Howell Ferguson’s latest report is below: Click here to read Howell’s report.

Wes Autrey’s report about his recent trip to Cambodia can be seen by clicking here.

Extension Reports 

Students Campaign In 20 Locations In Cameroon: After their first quarter of studies, students in Cameroon are reaching out in 20 different locations with the gospel.

Growth In Cambodia As 5 Obey The Gospel: The past few months have seen fruit born to the work of the church and school in Cambodia.

Health And Raising Prices Create Difficulties At WCSOP: There have been a number of challenges with health issues in Takoradi, complicated by rising prices for fuel.

Along Chimala Trails: Chad Wagner’s report explores a bit of history in looking at events and people from the past who have worked on the mission. 

Final Thoughts
As time continues to bring opportunities for growth in the Extension Program, we are always mindful of the reasons for the success that has been experienced. We thank our God for His abundant kindness and mercy toward our efforts, as we strive to glorify Him. We thank you for being a tool in His hands to provide for the needs of the Bible Institute in training men to preach the gospel around the world. We thank all the men, and their families, who work diligently in each location to ensure students are being trained.

As we work together, the efforts strengthen our bond of fellowship and move us closer to a glorious reward.

God bless
Bob

Returning With News From Cambodia...

Dear Supporters,

I just returned from a 2 week trip to Cambodia Friday the 8th of March. As always it was a wonderful experience to teach and preach the word of God to these young Christians. The photo tries to show that there are 10 students currently enrolled, 6 men will hopefully become preachers and teachers of the word. I taught for 8 days on a course entitled “Old Testament Lessons for New Testament Christians”. Michael Hite, an instructor from the Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver accompanied me and taught a course on 1 & 2 Peter.

Vietnamese
While visiting we had one Saturday free to go and visit one of the villages on the large Ton Le Sap Lake where many Vietnamese refugees have made their home. We have two graduates living on a boat outfitted with a water purification system. Word is getting out that free fresh water is available through this system where they evangelize to the Vietnamese and Cambodians while they load up on fresh water. It is an outreach that has lots of potential and we are hopeful that it has many good returns in the future.

Orphans
I always spend time at the Hannah’s Hope Orphanage to renew my energy and see what these young children are learning from the Bible. Although the orphanage is not affiliated per se with the Bible school, there is a close connection as many of our past graduates have found work running a nearby orphanage. This could very well be a big part of God’s plan for the church in Cambodia.

Thoughts
Over the course of two weeks many things take place. I continue to try and learn more about the culture so that I can relate to the people. Most of our church members are young and have a very good sense of respect for an older American teacher. I am trying to use that to my best advantage while teaching, preaching and bringing lessons. However, I believe one of the best ways to take advantages is by way of an “active encouragement”. Since the “kids” (as I call them) are new Christians, have had no role models, no teaching experience and are shy in nature, I sense a strong reason to “be a Barnabas” and encourage growth in wisdom and maturity in the Word through love. I cannot stress enough how important this is in the growth of the church there.

I should also mention meeting with the staff and church leaders about goals and plans for the school and the church in Siem Reap. We currently are working on plans for a “Saturday School” to take to the villages and also the city where locals can come and learn the basics about the Bible and Christianity. Obviously this has many benefits to the lost, but also will give us a slightly deeper foundation for those wishing to enroll at our Bible school.

We currently have 3 staff members teaching at the school, two of which graduated in our first class 3 years ago and are teaching without any support but for the love of God and His Word.

Other Highlights

• 2 Baptisms within 3 days of each other of our arrival 
• Witnessed a Christian wedding (this makes 7 Christian married couples in a land where that is not approved of ). This is another example of a foundation that is being built for the Lord’s church in Cambodia. 
• One Sunday’s Worship Service had many denominations and Buddhist in attendance for the weeding including one families province Baptist pastor. My lesson was about the characteristics of a Christian and Michael’s sermon was about the church. So, needless to say we gave them a lot of God’s word to think about. 
• Conducted a skype-devotional between the students at IBISR and the teens at the Bear Valley church of Christ - very enlightening for both sides of the world and it went very well. I would recommend that experience to your congregation, especially for the young folks. 

Akun (thanks)
As always I continue to thank God for your support and belief that the seed is being planted and watered in the Siem Reap, Cambodia area. My family here and my family in Cambodia thank you for your support and prayers. You demonstrate the love that Christ has shown and commanded that we actively provide for one another. 

Wes Autrey 

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

Along Chimala Trails...

The Chimala Mission has welcomed a new missionary -- Cheryl Bode! She is a nurse from Oklahoma who is going to work with the hospital to raise the standard of care, educate staff and also do mobile clinics in small, rural African villages. She is fitting in well on the mission and we are very happy to have her here.

The Chimala Bible Institute has many new students. One of the new students is a student from Malawi named Alec Billiat. He has been preaching for 19 years and has decided to come to CBI to get some additional training so that he can serve the churches he works with better. In class, he is quite knowledgeable in the scriptures and also a good leader among the students. He is in my NT Greek class and he is doing well.

At the Chimala Mission Hospital, we had a veteran employee retire at a Shirehe (party). He has been cleaning for many years at CMH. He had quite a big day.

We also are going to have a big day on March 19 as the entire Mbeya region will celebrate National Nurse's Day at the Chimala Mission Hospital. Preparations are in full swing as we are expecting a large number of visitors and guests at the hospital. My daughter Anna has been busy painting poles at the hospital and Cheryl and my wife have been cleaning up several areas of the hospital. We have also tore down the old wooden bridge between the hospital and the church building and are replacing it with a new metal bridge.

Also, through the generosity of good Christians in the USA, we were able to purchase 40 new mattresses to replace the old and torn mattresses at the hospital. Thank you very much!

We have several groups coming onto the mission this year. We have three doctors from China coming in mid-April. In May, we have a group from Oklahoma Christian University coming to do VBS's in local villages and also some work around the mission. Also in May, we have a group of nursing students from Harding University who will be working at the hospital. In July, we have Tony Hopper coming to teach on the Beatitudes at the mission and the surrounding area. In August, we will host the Gospel Chariot to do evangelism work area the Chimala area.  

There is some news for those of you who know the history of the Chimala Mission. We are in the process of re-establishing a presence on the Ailsa Farm (just south of the mission on top of the mountain). We will be planting trees and making a new presence where we have not been in quite a while. We will also be rebuilding some of the buildings and cleaning up the area to enable people to live there again. If you have questions, let us know!

Along Chimala Trails
During the pioneer days of the mission here in Chimala, like Guy Caskey and Eldred Echols, they had several young men come from the USA to do the first 'safari for souls' campaigns. Several men worked long and hard to help build several of buildings here on the mission, plant churches, and many other activities here in the Chimala area. In the spirit of those pioneer missionaries, we would like to invite like-minded Christians to come and work with struggling churches, preach and teach, work diligently in personal and public evangelism, help train preachers and teachers, and equip the local leaders with the needed skills to push the churches to the next level in leadership.  

We often have several groups to come to the mission in May and June. However, we would like for you to consider July 2013 for the 2013 Safari for Souls in Chimala. If you are hearing the call, answer it! Let us know if you would like more information on campaign work at the Chimala Mission. Email us at wagner.chada@gmail.com.  

Wagner Family Furlough
The Wagner family is going to go back to the states for a furlough beginning in late October. We will be visiting churches to make reports, raising support, and also visiting family and friends. The cost of plane tickets will be around $12,000 for round trip tickets. We need your assistance to make this trip happen. If you can consider giving as an individual or by encouraging the congregation, you will be helping our family make this necessary trip. If you would like to contribute, let us know!

Chad Wagner

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

Health And Raising Prices Create Difficulties At WCSOP...

HEALTH
The heat this time of the year brings with it many health problems: malaria and boils leading betimes. Two of our students have had to spend a week each at home for boils and a third left last Wednesday with a dislocated elbow bone. Two others have had malaria for over a week, and one other has had to go home for some ten days now because his wife has been seriously ill. Matthew, our academic dean, could not make it to school last week; he had malaria and diarrhea. I am limping along with a swollen leg and painful back. The teachers held a meeting and decided to relieve me of my teaching for the rest of the term so that I can attend to my treatment and get the needed bed rest. I was able to spend some days at my son’s in Accra at the weekend. I teach only one class a week – the mid-week Bible class on campus, and attend to office duties and supervision. If am better by the first week of April, I shall teach my assigned short courses.

CAMPAIGN
We have had to postpone our Campaign for Christ to March 18-24, 2013 to allow for the recovery of our students.  This will be a first for them and so we want to take along all our students, if possible. Also with the change of date, alternative arrangements must be made for lodging and other logistics.

NEEDS
We have three working computers at the school. With a student population of 20 men, this is woefully inadequate. Since many are now replacing their PCs with laptops and notebooks there is the possibility that you may know of a PC that has been packed and not in use. Please, send them to West Coast. Or you may help us buy some refurbished used-in-Europe computers for 250-300 cedis ($132-158 US) a set. With our energy problems and the fluctuating power we shall need UPS for all computers. A laser printer has been in our need list for several years now. We pray someone can get one for us.

On February 17, 2013, the government increased fuel prices in Ghana between 15-20%. A gallon of Petrol went up from 7.00 cedis ($3.68) to 9.22 cedis ($4.85). Diesel now sells at 9.31 cedis ($4.90) per gallon. LPG was increased by 50% and now sells at 24.36 cedis ($12.82) per 12.5 kg cylinder.

These fuel price hikes have affected everything –food, services, utilities, transportation, medicals, etc., and will surely increase our operational costs. We are going to talk to individuals and congregations to raise some additional local support to help the West Coast Budget.

FOOD SERVICE
West Coast is located on a hill and far from the nearest place one could buy something to eat. Used to, students provided their own meals and we allowed 45 minutes lunch break. It took more than 45 minutes to go downhill to the nearest food joint and back. That affected our scheduled classes for the afternoons. There were times one would go down and find what he could afford was finished and must wait for what was on the fire. And there were those who did not have the means to buy any food. The food service, which provides two meals a day, a mid-morning brunch and supper, has really been a blessing on top of the hill. Teachers and students, the main beneficiaries of the service, are grateful to our sponsors for the great relief. This comes with our love and sincere best wishes to you all who pray for us and sponsor the school, individual teachers, and students.

BRETHREN, PRAY FOR US- these are hard times.

Your servant for Jesus’ sake,
Daniel K Ampadu-Asiamah

Click here to see brother Asiamah’s report with pictures.

Growth In Cambodia As 5 Obey The Gospel...

Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ!

What an eventful month for us here in Siem Reap, Cambodia. First we had Joe Hickey and his group come to encourage the work here and in the villages with aid and teachings on how to farm and grow crops. Joe and another elder named Paul also taught on the qualifications of being an elder in the church. Not only did these men teach how to help us physically but topped it off by teaching things necessary for our spiritual growth. We love their example and care that they continuously show us year after year by their support and sacrifice. 

Then we had our brothers from Bear Valley, Wes and Mike, who spent an entire 2 weeks away from their families and home to impart wisdom from the word of God for the staff and students of IBISR. What a tremendous job they did in providing much needed nourishment for us! This year has been such a blessing so far and I can’t thank God enough for how he does these things for me personally as well as for the local church. As a result of all the activities since the start of the new school year back in September, to Justin and Trent coming in January and then Joe and his group in February, and finally Wes and Mike leaving in the beginning of March, we had a total of 5 new souls converted to Christ! Notice that I didn’t say 5 baptisms, but 5 converted to Christ, meaning these individuals didn’t just get baptized for the sake of baptism, but they truly spent time in the word and observed us as a local church for a period of time before believing that what we say and do is in accordance to God's word! These conversions are a product of what we do as a church and the credit belongs to what we teach at IBISR, verse by verse, the word of God. You may think 5 conversions? That's it? For all the time and money that was sent in support and all you report back is 5 conversions? In India and other parts of the world there are hundreds of baptisms in one month! And I would respond “Amen” to that and glory to God for the increase. 

I would also remind you all of what Jesus spoke on the value of ONE soul found in Matt 16:26. Giving the increase is God's business. Our business is sowing and watering the seed and that we are doing! We ask that you continue to pray for the work here and for it's continual success in winning souls for Christ! We will do the same for you in your part of the world!

Please continue to pray for our new brothers and sisters in Christ in their daily walk with Christ!

Phanat

Please click here to see pictures of these new converts in Phanat’s report.

Students Campaign In 20 Locations In Cameroon...

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from your brothers and sisters in Wotutu and Cameroon in general. I do hope you are doing great in health and a sound mind. God bless you all and help you realize your dreams, most especially as we think souls and map out plans to rob from the strong man’s house. By so doing we will help many come out from darkness to the great light that will shine in their world.

Brother Lah from the Munyenge congregation came to visit us and joined us also as we do house to house evangelism. He is a preacher. He is also part of our early morning radio program.

As I write this mail all students of CBIW have left campus to 20 different locations in Cameroon, both in English and French speaking. The Lord took them to their destinations safe and sound. The work is going well as I get some calls from them. Some have gone down to enclave villages and they cannot get to me on mobile phones till they get out from there. They will be ending their work this weekend. Keep them in your prayers as we shall have a detailed report about their work when they return to school on the 30th of march 2013, God’s willing.

The congregation in Wotutu keeps going ahead and the community continues to listen to the program through our PA system Back to the Bible. It is creating lots of impact with these communities and that provokes many to ask questions and many also persecute us, asking why we are preaching the way we are preaching?

This Sunday we had 83 is attendance and we had 6 fist time visitors. I was able to sit with them outside after worship and appreciate them for their coming and encourage them to come again or ,if they need study further, we can come to their home. My little son, Breedlove, is part of the discussion, even though he cannot understand.

The students are all out. The sisters of the Wotutu congregation spend some of their time after their class to go down on their knees to pray for the growth of the church in Wotutu, in particular, and the world at large. They keep committing the students involvement in mission, how that God should help them and make their trips fruitful. They are crying on to the Lord to help them open doors for them to have something that will empower them also, like a Christian Sisters Vocational Center. That will help them have different skills and it will help them build their homes, because women are pillars in home building.

As we pray together with our families in the morning and in the evening at home, the children in our community are benefiting from Brightland Christian Academy. My son, Ray Jr., is 3 years now and little by little he is turning to a man. In our home we ask him at time to lead in songs and he will sing one song throughout our devotional. It impresses me that my son knows that men lead when we are worshipping God. He wears our traditional regalia as I teach him to know our routes both spiritual and physical. Please join me to pray that he grows up not to depart from these.

Appreciations
God bless you for standing with us to reach out to souls. God bless you and keep you. Continue to pray and continue to stand with us. I leave tomorrow morning for a mission trip for four days to an enclave area.The gospel is for all.

Please share this report with others. Maybe someone besides you may come to the rescue of our sisters here.

Elangwe and family
By His grace director CBIW

Classes Begin In The Asunción Bible Academy...

Greetings from Asunción, Paraguay. Donnie Bates and I are visiting South America for the opening of the Asunción Bible Academy. By the time most of you read this report we will be concluding the opening day ceremonies where 5 new students were welcomed into the program of study to prepare themselves in the Word of God to help plant and strengthen the Lord’s church in this great country.

Sunday was a day of worship and opportunity to encourage the Sacramento Avenue congregation in this undertaking. The men of this congregation made a decision almost one year ago to begin a school where students could be trained in the Word of God. For the past year they have been setting goals, planning the details, discussing the roles of everyone involved, and implementing the necessary changes to get ready for this day.

Next week we will provide additional pictures of opening day as well as information about each of the students in the program. This has been an exciting trip and we look forward with anticipation of the work produced to the glory of God in this new location where Bear Valley is privileged to work the wonderful brethren in Asunción. 

From around the world this week’s report highlights areas where God continues to be involved in giving the increase to the work of students who are laboring in the kingdom. Their efforts each week in reaching out with the message of Jesus continues to change lives everywhere. What a great blessing to see the ways God is working through these areas. 

As many of you know there are great financial challenges to the work around the world and everyone is looking for needed support. The school in Cameroon is one of the schools in need of monthly support. At this time, there is a shortfall of $1,450 per month. If you, or someone you know, is able to help meet this need, please contact me at bturner@bvbid.org or David Ballard at davidgballard@hughes.net. Thank you for your consideration to this need.

Now on to the other reports...

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

Jerry Bates’ latest report about the work in India can be read by clicking here.

Extension Reports 

Students Prepare For Campaign In Cameroon: As students complete their first quarter of studies, they prepare for the first campaign to 20 villages.

The Church Grows As The Gospel Is Preached: Staff and students with the Southwest School of Evangelism in Ibadan, Nigeria witness the growth of the church.

13 Obey The Gospel In North India: The graduates from the North India Bible School are seeing God give the increase to their efforts.

Steps Toward Mission Goals: The work in Paraguay is growing as the church takes steps toward their mission goals.

A Full Schedule Of Activities In Ukraine: As the students continue their studies in Gorlovka, the work continues to keep everyone busy.

You’re A What? A Missionary: You never know what goes on in the mind of a six year old that will hold a great element of truth. 

Final Thoughts
Thank you for your interest and involvement in this work. The success of this program depends on you and others like you who are willing to make the sacrifices you do to provide for the needs of Extension Training. You are a continual blessing to this work and God is working through each of you to make a difference. Thank you!

God bless
Bob