A guest teacher visits Arusha

Grace and Peace to you friends. 

I want to start out with a big "thank you!" to Renee Galloway for providing new uniforms for the Andrew Connally School of Preaching students, faculty, and staff.  It was a huge job, and they look great!   We appreciate all of the time and effort spent completing this task.

I also want to update you on the progress being made on the Cy Stafford Leadership School. This was Cy's last dream for the work and it is thrilling to see it nearing completion.  It is going to be a huge blessing to the church in East Africa!  It should result in more and better elders, deacons, and other church leaders for congregations across the region.  It also paves the way for a significantly upgraded library to be shared with the Andrew Connally School of Preaching.  The exterior is mostly done now and the next need is for doors.

Jerry Bates just returned to the US after teaching a short-course in our graduate program.  This is the first time an American has been able to visit the work since the COVID-19 outbreak.  This marks an encouraging step in the return to normalcy.  We thank God for Jerry's safe travel and effective service.

If your congregation would like a visit or you can refer me to a friend at another congregation that might be open to helping, then I would love to hear from you!  In the meantime, keep praying with me for the church in East Africa.

Till all have heard,

Daniel Gaines
Director
Tanzania Missions

Progress in Zambia

Warm greetings to you all brothers and sisters!! We give honor and glory to God who has given us this rare opportunity to work in His Kingdom. This is a good time to report what is happening at BVBI-Zambia during the month of July, 2020.

It is fantastic to see that in the next few weeks, our students will finally complete their two years of study here at Bear Valley Bible Institute Zambia. Our fourth quarter has not been easy nearly all our students had flu and coughing, but they tested negative to Covid 19 and we continue to pray that none of them catches the deadly virus. They are now busy preparing for their final examinations in the remaining courses.

These courses are: Christian Ethics, the Book of Revelation, Denominational Doctrines, and Church Development. They are really excited to finish and eager to go back to their congregations and preach. Before the end of this quarter, the students will also do another short course with Brother Kennedy. The short course will be “Foundation of Missions” (study of missions in the New Testament). It is always great and refreshing to have Brother Kennedy come over and teach in these short courses.

It will also be in the same period where some of the students will do some catch-up courses in the courses they have missed. In spite of the demands from these courses, they are also tirelessly laboring with the surrounding congregations of Luanshya district and other nearby districts like Mpongwe and Baluba.  As a result of these efforts a soul has been added to the church and six restorations recorded. We have also recorded two more restorations through our alumni and one baptism.

Luanshya Central church of Christ has been meeting at one of the Government schools since its inception. But due to the high prevalence of Covid 19 the ban to do so by the Government has been brought into play. Because of this, BVBI-Zambia realised the dream of opening a congregation at the campus and since we started congregating at the institute, The students have been very influential in reaching out in the neighborhood. They have invited neighbors for Church services and they have also set up more Bible studies in this area. We are very happy to see many people attend the services. Throughout their tenure of study at BVBI-Zambia, the students have been engaged more in personal evangelism.       

Each student has made tremendous progress in what they are doing now. This is also seen in the way they have been cooperating building and gardening. We are hopeful that they will in their individual capacity make a meaningful contribution to the Kingdom of God. And we also believe that they’ve had a very rich and rewarding experience here at BVBI-Zambia.

Thank you kindly to all who have helped in any way to prepare these men for the deep and meaningful task of preaching the Gospel. Special thanks go to Woodland Oaks Church of Christ for their continued financial support, Bear Valley Bible Institute International, Instructors, Donnie our Country Coordinator and indeed everyone involved in this work. 

Thank you all once again!

Brotherly,

Cephas and Fred

Building in Zimbabwe

JULY 2020 NARRATIVE REPORT

INTRODUCTION

The world continues to reel over the COVID19 virus. Zimbabwe is not an exception. There has been a steep rise of cases in the month of July forcing the government to impose more strict measures including a curfew from dusk to dawn. Movement has to be authorised without which one will be turned back by the police. Patrols have been more in the city centres whilst public transport remains banned. Many are realising the need to pray to God so that this scourge may be abated. However, within this quagmire, the word continues to be preached in season and out of season. We are pleased to report the following;

PROGRESS OF LESSONS (THIRD INTAKE)

The new class (BVBIZ’s third intake) which was supposed to commence studies in mid-May on campus are currently being kept busy through online studies. The following subjects are currently in progress;

How We Got The Bible (M. Muchingami)

Personal Evangelism- Theory (H.Suwari)

Public Speaking  (I. Mutichu)

New Testament Church (I.Mutichu)

Life of Christ  (I.Mutichu)

EVANGELISM (SECOND INTAKE)

In 2Tim 4:2 Paul instructs Timothy to preach the word in season and out of season. Even when movement has been curtailed and gathering of over 50 people banned, ordinary evangelism methods on hold, the word of God still has to be preached. The second intake had to find a way to make up for its last practical before their graduation in October. Sermons were preached on Whatsapp and sent out. Prospects received lessons and reading material on the social platforms. Some went to the extent of doing daily devotions to keep members and prospects spiritually fed. At the school’s permanent site, a congregation has since started. The students stationed there preach from 6-8am when people come to fetch water for drinking and from 12-1pm when boys and men bring their cattle for drinking. On average, 20 are coming for services. A baptistery is yet to be built so that these people receive their baptism.  However, a total of 9 people were baptized in the month of July.               

CONSTRUCTION

The following developments took place in the month of August;

·         Construction of the much awaited septic tank began around the 15th of July and is almost complete.  What is left is to fill the soak away tank with stones. The soak away tank measures 5m in length, 2m wide and 3m deep.  Great appreciation to the congregation at Nashville here in Gweru for giving its 85 bags of cement so that the construction is done. These bags costing $680 will need to be given back once their own construction of an auditorium starts possibly within the next two months.

·         An outstanding 4 metre door of the hostel was bought and fixed. Its glasses will be installed in August.

·          Some outstanding plumbing materials were purchased and fixing will also be done in August. The only outstanding items are the kitchen sink, outside sink (to be constructed by the builders) and 2 solar geysers. 

Without the burden of paying rentals, the school is now able to slowly deal with some of the demands though this will take over 10 months. The builders have also been very flexible, offering their labour and then slowly paying them.

CONCLUSION

Despite the pandemic that has changed the ordinary way we used to do things, we remain grateful to God for enabling BVBIZ to make more steps at the permanent site. The Word is being preached in various ways. We are also grateful to you all, that despite this worldwide challenge, you continue to stand with us. May the God of heaven, bless you and keep all of you safe!

Lagos schools back in full force

Good evening from Nigeria. All our students reach their different  destination yesterday evening/ early this morning. I was monitoring their movement through phone from yesterday noon till 12:00am before going to bed and I continue early this morning till they all responded positively.

Agege  & Ikorodu  witnessed 21 students each and 11 in Lagos Island. Lord's willing, the rotational programs continue for the month of August 1,8,15,22 . Bro. Frank to teach on Denominational Doctrines in Lagos Island, Bro. Emmanuel Odo on Godhead in Ikorodu while Bro. Mfon on 1,2,3 John in Agege.

Bro.Kayode S.Eniafe ,Bro.Silas Guda and Bro .Andrew Adeolu will be supervising the students in Oyo, Ogun, Ondo and Ekiti States during their one month teaching practice and Bro. Isaac Olaniyan will be in charge of students in Lagos while I( the Chief servant) will be monitoring those in Abuja, Abia ,Enugu,Cross River and Akwa Ibom States  by phone conversations and those in Kwara by unscheduled visit.

Big thanks for your great commitments to serving the Lord. May the Lord continue to bless our work together in Jesus Christ name,amen.
Sincerely yours in His Grace as a servant.......Makinde

2 Tim. 2:2 in action in Fiji!

 Bible Institute @ Raiwaqa (Fiji) Report

2 Timothy 2:2 – “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
Bula and Greetings in the Mighty Name of our Risen Savior Jesus Christ. Before I move on, please allow me to introduce myself.

My name is Emosi Sailo. I am 52 years old. I am a member of the Lord’s church here in Suva, Fiji Islands. This is my second year in helping out brother Rocco Pierce (Director – BIR) and brother Jason Pierce (Dean – BIR), at the Bible Institute here in Suva, Fiji.

The first day I walked through the doors of the BIR as a student, it was not in my wildest imagination that one day I will be teaching in the Bible Institute. I have been teaching, preaching, Youth Coordinator, and especially bringing souls to the Lord’s church since I was baptized in the year 1999. I thought I had it all, but when I was going through the studies that the BIR is offering, and after completing it at the end of two years and three months, I came to the conclusion that I was mistaken. The Bible Institute has taught me so much in regards to God’s word.

For that, I would like to take this time to thank the Bear Valley Community and family for bringing the Bible Institute to the Pacific. We are really blessed to study under two great teachers of God’s word.
During my first year as a teacher, I have also completed studying online the “Fundamentals of the Faith” through the World Video Bible School page.

So, this is my second year in teaching at the Bible Institute. Some of the subjects that I have taught were, Life of Christ based on the Gospel of Mark, Called to Holiness based on 1&2 Peter and Jude, Denominational Doctrines, Gospel of John (Writings of John), Acts of the Apostles, and 1&2 Timothy and Titus. At the moment I am preparing a lesson to teach on Personal Evangelism based on my personal experience here in Fiji. The Director of the BIR has also given me the task of organizing and implementing our Evening class program for our working brethren which we started in November, 2019, on Monday evenings. At the moment we have 11 (2 being excused for work and family commitments) students for our Evening classes in which bro. Rocco Pierce is taking them on Preparation and Delivery of Sermons.

Teaching at the BIR has also encouraged me to do more personal studies, be a good example of the word, and continue our husband and wife ministry here in evangelizing and visitation to the needy and the sick.
The experience during this one year and four months to be precise, was challenging and at the same time fulfilling.

Once again, Thank you so much! (Vinaka Vakalevu).

Emosi Sailo

Sowing the seed in India

Reporting letter for the month of July -2020

Respected  International director Mr.Keith Kasarjian  , Our coordinator Mr.Mark Reynolds , supporters and prayer partners of BVBI-Tiurpati , A.P,India behalf of our Bible college we convey our greetings to you in the precious and matchless name of our lord and savior Jesus Christ . We hope that this reporting letter may serve us to convey gratitude and thanks to each one of you for your love, prayers and encouragement.

All  the Bear Valley Bible Institute teaching  staff, non teaching staff  and all the regular students and guest students are safe and free from  Covid-19 by the grace of God. But positive cases are increasing day by day in India, as per the current news the schools would be permitted to open from September first onwards, lord willing we may restart our classes from the first week of September, we request you to pray for the classes.

Conversions: In the month of July seven souls 1.Mr.Anvesh, 2.Mr.Jaswanth 3.Mr.Krupadass 4.Mr.Akil 5.sister.Solomy 6. Sister.Krupa and Sister.Bhavani have obeyed to the water baptism. We request you to pray for the newly baptized souls so that they may grow in the image of His son Jesus Christ.

Covid-19 relief supply for the blind people  : Bear Valley Bible Institute has indentified the most deserved visually challenged people  who were suffering lot without food , we have approached Healing Hands International in US and raised $750/ donation .We purchased these following food items Groceries (1.Green dall, 2.red dall, 3.Bengal gram,4. Ravva, 5.Cooking oil, 6.salt packers , 7.washing soup,8. bathing soap,9. tam rid , 10.chilly  powder, 11.coriander  powder , 12,turmeric powder 13. Rice 14.sugar etc..

Total Number of Beneficiaries : 32 blind families (113people in 32 families ) and 16 individuals blind people for 6 times have been benefited.

We are ever grateful to you for your willingness to establish the BVBI in India , hope that in days to come several young men would be trained to spread the boundaries  of the His son’s kingdom(Col 1:13)  in the hearts of idol worshiping people in India. Right now each student has been connected with separate local churches and able to assist effectively with their local preachers for the glory of God. We are ever grateful to you for all your efforts for the great cause of spiritual educational service in India.

Agricultural Kitchen Garden: The Garden has established by the support of HHI , we have completed the first time harvest and planted seeds second time last one month back, the garden is healthy growing , soon we will be enjoying the organic vegetables .

Thanking you.

Yours brother in Christ.

Vijay -behalf of BVBI-Tirupati-India

Thanking you.

Yours brother in Christ.

Vijay&family from Church of Christ&BVBI-India.

Resuming classes in Accra

 JUNE REPORT

ACCRA

The peace and the love of our Lord be with us now and forever. We thank the Lord God how far He has brought us.

All the students, teaching and non-teaching staff are doing well. There has not been a reported case so far unless our normal stressful and malaria ailment.

During the first week of June, the administration met to decide on when to schedule the reopening date. The conclusion was made on resuming 14th and on 15th normal classes commence which was under the authorization of the E. O. Larbi, the director and Kojo Acquah, the national coordinator and Sammy. The full-time school resumed as dates were disseminated across the social media handles.

Upon resuming, six (6) students reported for the class while information reaching us by unreported students is that the covid-19 keeps increasing and one student mother being in sick bed and he being the only person could not permit him to come. Sadly, we have had the information that the mother has passed on. Currently, effective class is ongoing with those students ready for the class.

Courses understudies are being restructured in order to avoid any lacking courses. The structure is that courses to be taught on the second quarter was occupied by the Covid-19 however, the second quarter courses are currently being taught for this third quarter. All courses that should have been taught the third quarter have been shared among the second and the fourth quarters and are going to be taught as short courses. Therefore, there is going to be four short courses this quarter and six short courses the next quarter together with our normal classes period. I will attach our time table for the activities.

This is a sacrificial period to enable our relief the next year, 2021 and to complete them as according to our normal academic calendar.

As the protocols hold, we are seriously observing them to our best in preventing the spread. Records are being kept on periodic checks on the temperature and washing and anointing of hands with the sanitizer.

The Covid-19 keeps increasing in Ghana, yet, none of our students is positive. Remember us in your daily prayer.

Adapting in Wotutu

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from this part of the globe, where it has been rainy since morning. Many of our Christians came to worship wet because they have never had an umbrella nor a rain coat . Hundreds of them still came anyway. I am happy to write what has made news here in Wotutu where we are laboring day and night to grow the church and to keep the Christians under our care focused on Jesus in times like this where many are losing faith and turning against God.

Last week went on well here except that Brother Prisco, our student, is still very sick. We keep going back to see the doctor and to help him in his health. The swelling in his legs is going down a little bit but he is still on his medications. Students are still busy with their studies as they dig deep into the Bible to gain knowledge and to be grounded with the truth. They will be preaching the truth in their respective places as it is less than 5 months until their graduation. Keep them in your prayers because at times like this, they are always facing strong temptation as the devil is not happy that soldiers are about to go out to fight and to depopulated his kingdom.

Keep us in your prayers here. We are faced with lots of challenges with health and daily necessities but we trust God that the tough times will not last for too long because our God is tougher than all of our tough times.

Even though we are praying and teaching, we also make sure our Christians are observing the measures put in place by WHO to help prevent the spread of the pandemic. We have hundreds of masks, hand sanitizer, and hand washing stations to keep us and others safe while we are worshiping. No one enters the hall without doing those things at the door.

I was there to make sure the measures are observed. I was also there to help children know how to wear their masks properly. It is very important for all to obey the rules. Quality face masks were distributed to students as well to keep the fight against COVID-19 alive in school while the students who are preparing for their examinations. Keep these efforts in your thoughts and prayers.

It is compulsory for Bible students to wear their masks before they leave campus for mission work and they are also advised to always put on their mask as they share the gospel on house to house during weekend evangelism.

PLANS

The second Sunday in August we have mass evangelism in Idenau, which is one of the congregations on the west coast of Cameroon. We want to help nurture the church there.

We shall go to the Supe congregation by the end of August to help the church. The Supe congregation is a struggling congregation. They have part of their roof iron purchased and installed but the other part is expose to the rain. They are crying for help to finish it. We shall be there by the end of the month. Any help toward this project will be very much appreciated.

APPRECIATIONS

We can only thank you for all you are doing for the work here. We know God is watching and He will reward you and your family for the extra sacrifices you are making to see that things are happening here for the glory to be giving to God. Please share our report with others.

God bless you and keep you safe. You are in our prayers. Please pray for us as well.

Elangwe and family

By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu

Students sent forth in Ibadan, Nigeria

Beloved in Christ Jesus.
Greetings from BVBIN & SWSE located in Butubutu village,Ibadan,Oyo State. The send forth programme for the 2019/2020 students held on 23/07/2020 @ Doug Wheeler's events center yesterday night and early this morning ended in good mood.
The programme of yesternight started at exactly 8:00pm Nigeria time with I (Bro.Makinde Ebens) as the moderator and songs leader and Bro. Kayode Eniafe delivered a fifteen minutes sermon on the topic   Be of Good Report and TEXT Philip.4:8 after some minutes of praises and opening prayer said by Bro. Andrew Adeolu.
The second prayer was said by Bro. Dele Shotola after the sermon. This was followed by songs of praises to God. Another prayer was offered by Bro. Silas Wayne on behalf of the students as they were about moving to the field.
After the prayer, announcement was made for the students on how they will run their practicum effectively and necessary materials(Tracts in Yoruba language,tracts from Mission Printing,WBS introduction lessons ,500 of VOTI vol.104 &105) distributed to the students and half of the transportation fare to their station.
After this, the closing hymn was rendered, GOD BE WITH YOU TILL WE MEET AGAIN and the closing prayer was said by Bro. Isaac Olaniyan. The programme ended exactly 9:10pm followed by refreshments provided by the school.
We deeply appreciates all our American brethren for their great partnership and supports toward the building of the building of the Lord's kingdom.
The students are expected back in the school on August 24/25,2020 in preparation for our 18th Annual Bible Lectureship / graduation of August 26-28. The new students will commence classes on August 17 Lord's willing.
Thanks once more for your great contribution.May the Lord keep us fit in His loving way till death is our fervent prayers.
I remain yours in His Grace as a servant......Makinde Ebens

Using time wisely in Malawi

Bear Valley Bible Institute - Ekwendeni

Malawi  - July Report

Introduction

Since the the government suspended the schools due to Covid 19 pandemic, we are just being assured of reopening soon but we don't know how soon! Although schools are suspended, but we are making sure we do something that encourages our students and churches of Christ around our country. We are still visiting our students where they worship to make sure they remain active spiritually. We have been conducting lectureships and one to one preaching. We are also grateful to God that the forms for the school land lease are all signed ready to go! We now have the land as a property for the school.

Lectureship

 This month of July, we managed to visit two congregations where our two student comes from respectively and we have been always accompanied by our former graduate Wongani Gondwe. Wongani Gondwe graduated in 2017, he has married a daughter to Clergynton one of the staff for our school here and he is very energetic and zealous for the work of the Lord.

In both congregations, the brethren showed their excitement for our visit. They appreciated the work the school is doing for training men to be faithful and sound teachers and preachers of the Gospel - 2 Timothy 2:2. They told us that the students have helped the congregations to be faithful and remain in the true "Doctrine" which the Bible teaches.

Brother Clergynton also visited Kamanda Church of Christ where one of our current students is coming from. He said was very encouraged to hear from the church leaders that the student ID doing very well and that he teaches the sound Doctrine which has transformed their worship to as what the Bible directs - Worship in spirit and in Truth. From this same congregation, some men have already signed the application forms for the 2022/2023 intake. Brother Clergynton and our student, had an opportunity to visit some Christians who stopped worshiping and managed to restore one soul to Christ. 

Evangelism

Again, one of our students brother Jimmy Banda who comes from Chisangano church of Christ, together with Kennedy Chiwone the preacher went to restore Kamlezi congregation which is about 5/7 km away. Christians at Kamlezi stopped worshiping for some months and some members asked our student to help them as they wanted to start worshiping. The result after doing a visiting trip for a day, 9 souls were restored. Praise God!

Brother Saliwa Nkosi our former graduate has also reported that one prominent Presbyterian elder believed last Sunday. We are encouraged that the students are doing a great job which has "great reward hereafter".

School Development

Finally we can now report that all forms about the school land lease have been submitted to all in authority and we are waiting for the leased to to given after the Minister of lands to the government signs in the office of president and cabinet (OPC). Next week, the beacons will be put down in all boundaries where the school will be situated.

We are always thankful to Bear Valley Bible Institute - International for the great help you give us for this work. Without your help, the work of winning souls to Christ and training preachers, would have been difficult. May God bless your families and protect us all from the Covid 19 - Pandemic.

Your fellow Ambassadors for Christ,

Ephron and Clergynton

Back to business in Arusha

Grace and Peace to you friends. 

I'd like to share with you some words from Charles Mwanga at the Andrew Connally School of Preaching:

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God..” (Rom. 8:28). Though this has been a hard and trying year, but still God is in control and blesses His people.  I would like to take this opportunity first to that the Almighty God for His love and care, and secondly to thank you brethren for your prayers, love and support. Thank you so much.
 
"We (the Churches in Arusha area), would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your love and care. We received funds for COVID relief and those have been able to minister more than 600 souls with food. We thank you so much, life is still hard since the financial situation is getting worse everyday but through your love, many have been blessed. May the Lord bless you all beyond measure.
 
We (ACSOP) have been blessed so much, to the point of returning back to our regular annual schedule. COVID 19 has changed plans for many this year, but we thank God that we were able to resume our classes and stay on the schedule so far. Our students are back, (except one from Uganda, their borders are still closed) and classes are going on well. We have 17 students in the first  year class and six in the second year class. Lord willing we will have our regular schedule and our graduation will be on the same dates as planned from the beginning of the year. We thank you so much.
 
"Leadership school:  The construction is going on well, we were able to put the roof on, put metal bars in the windows, and now are working on plastering the whole building. We would like to thank all the donors and supporters who are helping the work here to be present even after we have all long gone (If Christ is not back yet). These types of investments will help the school to be able to serve the Church in East Africa in a better way. We will be able to host many seminars and campaigns in these facilities. Thank you so much for all that you do to us, and the Lord’s church in general. May the Lord continue to bless you and yours daily.

"Please let us keep praying for one another during these trying times."
 
As you can see, there are a lot of exciting things going on in the Tanzania work!  As congregations begin in-person services again, I am looking to refill my calendar with presentations to churches about this great work.  If your congregation (or another one that you are familiar with) would like a visit, then I would love to make it happen.  Let me know, and I'll get you on my schedule!

Till all have heard,

Daniel Gaines
Director
Tanzania Missions

Going well in Tamale

TAMALE, GHANA

JUNE REPORT 2020

We are very excited at this point in time to give glory to God for the care He endows us with during this pandemic, it’s beyond our imagination as we continue to rely on His safety scheme. We also recall all your kindness and consistent support you executed to effect the dreams of the college and Churches in Tamale and its environs. May He replenish us all for the sacrifice we confer to enable the gospel reach its peak.

STUDENTS BACK TO SCHOOL

Glory is to God for granting our students, safe journey to the school to continue with the remaining courses that would identify them in the preaching field. Thirteen students have happily reported and the temperature of each student was tested and all proved normal. We continue to monitor their temperatures in every three days interval. Each student is given a nose mask to wear during classes and when leaving school premises or when necessary whilst hand sanitizer is kept on the pulpit to neutralize whoever is called to lead; be it class hours or Sunday worship. The buckets are positioned; one at classroom entrance and another one at the kitchen entrance to enable students and anyone coming in to the school to observe safety protocol. We hope that the contingency that is put in place by the school will combat the virus in the school even if there is any outbreak in Tamale Township.

CLASSES

The Pastoral epistle is taught by Brother James Legend, and Marriage & Home is in progress with Brother Daniel Adjei Mensah. The remaining four courses for the term: Preacher & his work, Old Testament 5 {Minor Prophets}, Book of James & 1Peter, 2Peter & Jude} would be handled by the respective lectures. All the lectures for this term; Brother Roger Akumse, Kojo Acquah, Thomas Donzie and Albert Malir are duly communicated. It’s our desire and prayer that this term too comes to an end successfully.

FARMING ACTIVITIES

This year’s rain looks very promising. The school garden looks very beautiful and admirable. As reported before, the groundnut we sowed is ready for harvesting. The yam farm looks promising. Where we did not sow groundnut is already occupied with maize. And with the way the rain is coming, if it continues this way, by the grace of God, we are sure of a good harvest. We are going to prepare the land we sowed the groundnut on and sow maize after harvesting the groundnut.  We thank God for His providential blessings for us.

The good Lord bless us all,

Albert and James

Big challenges in India

Dear brethren in Christ,

Greetings to you in the precious name of Lord Jesus Christ our saviour. Hope this message finds you all good.  We appreciate your prayers which is keeping us safe and sound.

As the number of Corona cases are raising like anything in our country, especially in the state of Andhra Pradesh,  we request your fervent prayers on behalf of us. So many thousands are being infected, death rate is comparatively little but some young people are dying too. We right now under the fear of Corona.

Faculty Meeting:

Our Team work has made the Preaching school to run successfully and been able to complete a decade of training Men to be effective evangelists of the Gospel of Christ. With the same enthusiasm during this Corona situation we met at the Visakha Valley College Campus to discuss the future of the School. Except Bro. Vamsee everyone else attended the meeting. Since lack of public transportation Bro. Vamase was unable to attend the meeting.  Our primary agenda was to see the possibility of restarting the school. As we begun the meeting with a prayer, several things were came into discussion. We rejoiced as we learned that all our graduates are being kept safe from Corona.

During our meeting we discussed about the present situation in India.

How badly this Corona affected us:

• The preachers cannot visit the members of the Church for any reason, even if they are in a difficult situation.

• Fellowship is missing so badly, totally have to stay away from all church activities, like Bible Class, Gospel meetings, Youth Class, Sunday school for children etc., were concerned about the future.

• Income of the congregation, which is affecting the preachers survival and also those that are dependent on the local congregation.

• Its become habit for some one to skip worshiping At the same time 90% of the church is anxiously waiting for the day to assemble like they used to Godliness has increased, church grew up in faith.

• Proclamation of the Gospel has been totally down under restrictions (Physical Distance).  No out reach programs except some visit the local families

Well, In addition to corona we are having continues rains from last two weeks. This is going to cause several to suffer from variety of Fevers, like Typhoid, Malayria, ChickenGunya, Viral fever etc.,

So, after the serious discussion about restarting of the classes, we have decided to begun teaching the students. The students who are available and willing to attend were present in the first day of the Class.

Here we have come up with a problem of brother Vamsee’s classes, since public transportation (Railway) is totally suspended Vamsee cannot attend the classes. During the meeting he was present across video calling. We have discussed about teaching classes through online media, Vamsee agreed to do that. So, we will be buying a laptop, mini speakers, Mic piece and WebCam to establish online video classes for the students. This indeed helps the students to communicate like they are in the regular class. We have made a trial run last week, it went well. In the future we would be able to use the available projector for the same purpose as well. We believe it is a very good option available for time being to keep up with the students, also to attract some new students as well. It might offer a great opportunity for some who would love to do online classes because of their situation.  At the end of the meeting we had a prayer, pleading our loving God to have mercy on us.

Gratitude: Once again, we praise God for blessing us with wonderful congregations which are helping us to run this preaching school. While we are running the preaching school, we are also helping our graduates to establish congregations by conducting Gospel Campaigns, gospel meetings and Preachers Fellowship meetings. Also, during the times of natural disasters we have been able to help them in several ways, this time during Corona Pandemic we were able to help about 100 preachers families in this area of AP by providing Rice & essential goods for their survival. We are grateful to God for His mercy and also for blessing you all with kind hearts to do all this good works. We thank the brethren at Strickland and Lake Houston, also Jerry and Paula for their contribution as well. Attached are some pictures showing the preachers in hill area receiving the Corona Relief.

Local Congregation: Bro. Kavitha who is one of our faculty is preaching at the local congregation that meets at our visakha Valley Bible college facility. All of our students attend worship service here. Time to time bro. Samuel Raju, director of the college preachers here too. The local congregation has come forward to help some of the poor families in the church, where we were privileged to present those items to the brethren who are poor also some who are not members of the Church. Local congregation is growing spiritually and in number due to their remarkable fellowship.

Please convey our heartfelt greetings to the brethren you worship with, our best wishes to your family members as well. Kindly continue your prayers as we do for you daily, God bless you.

In Christ,

John Dean M

An update from Cambodia

Greetings from the International Bible School in Siem Reap Cambodia.
Our hope is in the Lord for all things, including our struggles with the Coronavirus.
We pray for you and your dealings with this disease as well.

Here are some of the exciting things happening at our school and related to our school:

We begin with the most exciting news,WE HAVE 4 NEW STUDENTS!  Our current student body has welcomed them in with love.
We will have joint classes, but also split classes for the freshmen and the upper class students.
Here is a little about each of the new students - please pray for them as they learn about Jesus, God and their purpose on this earth.

Heus
Heus comes from Siem Reap Province nearby the town of Leang Dai (where the preacher and one of our alumni Sokchea Lork is).
Heus learned about our Bible school from Sokchea and would like to learn more about the Bible and English language.
Heus is to be commended for his desire to do something more with his life, because he says this “There is nothing to do at home and people are dropping out of school.  I want to study the Bible and make new friends”.

Saneth
Saneth also comes from the Siem Reap Province near Leang Dai.
He also heard about the Bible school from Sokchea and wants to learn about the Bible and pick up some computer skills.
“I think this is a good school that can teach about being a good person, practical in knowing right from wrong” - Saneth.

Bopta
Bopta comes from the city of Battamban, which is about 3 hours drive from Siem Reap.
He heard about our bible school through our Facebook Page!
“This seems like a good school to learn how to be saved from sin, to be a better person, and improve my Bible knowledge”.

Sreymom
Sreymom comes to us from the Siem Reap city area.
She also found us through our Facebook page and became curious to meet us and see what we were teaching.
She desires to learn about God and make friends who are good people.
“I have a chance now to make friends at a good school, I want to learn more about God, English and computer skills”.

Please keep these and our current student body and staff in your prayers as we work hard at teaching new souls about Jesus and His saving blood for mans sins.

______________________________

We continue to teach through the Bible and take evangelistic and “family” trips together for bonding.
We have just finished Galatians, 1, 2 Thessalonians and Jude.
Currently we are studying the Wisdom Literature books, and the Minor Prophets.

______________________________

Brother Wes Autrey has been teaching us in Zoom Chapels on Friday mornings.
We also join him and the Battambang bible school for a chapel together on Wednesday mornings.

Our staff consisting of Brother Wes, Darat, Piseth, Vannak, Pros join and Phanat from Battambang and Chann from Siem Reap - study each Friday night on a personal Bible study.
Each week we assign a topic and study it during the week and then discuss it together on zoom for some engaging discussions.

Also each morning we have each one of us posts a devotional on our private facebook page so we can begin our day with some spiritual thoughts and grow together each day.
This has been very good for all of us to study some, but also learn to write things down and share our personal growth with.

______________________________

Below are photos of our 4 new students.
Thank you for your kind prayers and love for our teachers, our families and our students!

The Staff at IBISR.

Adjusting in Wotutu

Greetings to you from this part of the globe in Africa. Cameroon is a little better from the so many things that are disturbing. We are still tackling the crisis that has been ravaging our peace for the past four years and now we are also faced with COVID 19 in Cameroon that has kept everything in a stand-still. Untold suffering has come to many families as many cannot even have basics necessities.

But, it is always a thing of joy as the church stands out in this crisis situation to bring relief to families in the church and some families out of the church. It would be great if you could see a video of all of the families receiving rice and other food items and at times are receiving money to buy medications. Oh, how they are jubilating and praising God! We hope you are all doing good over there. Please pray for us as we are continually praying for you also.

The students of BVBIC-Wotutu could not go for their usually end of quarter evangelism because of   COVID-19. Also, we wanted our students to stay under our eyes during this crisis situation. We were moving from one place of security to another to evangelize. We all started classes except for two students who have dropped out because of one or two things concerning their health and family challenges. This quarter we have a great line up of studies. We have PERSONAL EVANGELISM 3, THE BOOK OF HEBREWS, DENOMINATIONAL DOCTRINES, AND BIBLE GEOGRAPHY. WE SHALL HAVE PASTORAL LETTERS AND MARRIAGE AND FAMILY AS SHORT COURSES.

PLANS

Our weekend evangelism is still on but we are careful as we go about it. Keep us in your prayers.

APPRECIATIONS

Our hearts are full of joy for all the wonderful things that the Lord is doing for us here in Cameroon Africa through you. Keep it up!  God is watching! He will repay you in due season. Please share our reports with others.

Elangwe and family

By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu

Evangelism in Cameroon

We bring our warm greetings and salutation from Mbanga Balong were the church of Christ and the students of the bible institute are working hand in hand for the glory of God. We are doing our best in the midst of Covid-19 as we do our very best to keep and respect all the measures put in place by the state and the WHO.

God is richly blessing us with the breath of life and His spiritual food even though sickness has been a great challenge to our community and to our students. By the grace of God, we are gradually overcoming this stage.

We begin with the work of our students and instructors of BVBIC-Mbanga. We are happy to let you know that the students are growing and are now becoming good pulpit men and are also hard working in the field. Their presentation on the pulpit and the level of handling church activities is showing some level of maturity. We are getting good reports and feedback from their weekend evangelism and other mission work. Keep on praying for this 3rd batch of students who are now in quarter 2 year 2 of their studies.

We are still very concerned with health safety during weekend evangelism as we move to neighboring assemblies and to some distant assemblies. As we do make way for evangelism, God is adding to the church of our Lord, such as it should be saved.

Evangelism is a great vocation and God is faithful, giving a way for faithful ones to carry it out as He is prepared to give the increase. Still in our studies, we are also progressing in vocational training as we train them in animal farming and gardening. Paul was a tent maker and we are also training our students to become “tent makers” in the field of tomorrow as one can decide to either enter into animal farming, gardening, or both to help support themselves as they preach for the Lord. God bless Bear Valley for this endeavor.

We also accomplished a mission to Mombo in a mass evangelism program with brother Alfred and brother Giresse. It was a very good mission of sharing tracks and doing door to door. These two souls were also added in the church in another mission to Tombel. Bibles were handed over to the new converts. We are praying for these new converts and for them to use their weapon of warfare to God’s glory. 

Still in our campaigns we handed bibles to the young assembly in Loum. The leader is a new convert named brother Maturin who is facing many challenges after been displaced from the southwest region. As he traveled to Mbanga to collect these Bibles, one of the major challenges he told me about was about a child in the congregation who was suffering from hernia. God used our beloved brother David and the support team to intervene and the surgery was successful.

God added 5 souls during our mission work as we concentrated mostly around Mbanga and some closely neighboring communities. 2 were baptized in Mbanga and 3 others in nearby communities.

  We are now back in class. We started last week on Thursday and we now in our 2 quarter in the 2nd year of studies.  We harvested some maize (corn) from our garden and some melon (like pumpkin) or what is commonly called egusi here.  Thanks so much my fellow workers in the vine yard. God bless you 

 From table of the willing slave in Mbanga,

 Ititi Benedict Nimending

Director BVBIC-Mbanga 

Temporarily on hold in Trinidad

TRINIDAD SCHOOL OF PREACHING. JUNE 2020

Grace and Peace to all ! School is now officially closed for the 2019-2020 period and will reopen as scheduled in September along with all schools.  Our students have all done quite well given the covid19 situation and we anticipate graduation in December hoping all goes well.  Our doors are opened for the new intake and we are looking forward to a great set of fresh men to continue the legacy.

In terms of involvement, both Trovel  Immanuel and I were asked by the church in San Fernando to assist in getting men ready for Eldership. This was completed and with God’s help, San Fernando should appoint elders soon. We are all excited that we could have been involved this way. Let us be praying for this congregation that has housed the TSOP from inception.

We continue to pray for returning students as borders are still closed. However, in the event that they remain closed, classes will continue online, even with the new intake. Also, in terms of mission trips, we await guidelines from all authorities so keep praying for us. Even our Masters students are impacted so much so that Bear Valley has suspended classes until October. Pray for this please.

Allow me to say a hearty thank you to all those who help make TSOP what she is today. Thanks for your prayers, support, encouragement, funds and general well wishes. We remain humbled by your kindness to us. We also extend an open invitation to prospective students for our next class in September. We will not hesitate to say as well that classes may be fully available online by September so you may still join the class and come to school when all of this is done!! Stay tuned for further details . May God bless you richly!!

Classes have resumed in Togo

Report of June 2020

I give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ for His infinite grace. The teachers, as well as the students of BVBI and CBS are doing well. June 8, 2020 was the date on which classes were opened with all the features of the COVID-19 pandemic preventive measures. Classes are continuing, teachers who are far away are now arriving to teach the classes. Everything is normal. The evangelization and distribution of Bible treatises in the markets and other activities planned by the school is respected.

Classes:

Twelve students are present and continue their courses from Monday to Friday, from 7:30 to 8:00, morning devotion. Classes begin at 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with a 30 minute break.

Evangelization:

Today, motorcycles are used to go to the villages and door-to-door evangelism and the distribution of Bible treatises. Last two Fridays, three students went to AMOUIZOUKOPE accompanied by an evangelist ASSOGBAVI GABRIEL as part of establishing a new assembly. It is a place that we have in program for evangelism this year 2020.

Agriculture Project :

When the students are now permanently at the center, we have taken over all the work. For some time they are not available because of the pandemic.

CBS:

Forty students to enter the Bear Valley Institute next fall continue to run every Saturday from 8:00 to 2:00 with a 30-minute break.

May the peace and grace of our Jesus Christ fill all his blessings for the support you bring to the Institute.

Thanks

Your brother

NYEMANTA Essotena

A new congregation in Zimbabwe

JUNE 2020 NARRATIVE REPORT

Introduction

Zimbabwe  has remained under lockdown with a few service providers having been allowed to operate. Schools remain closed, with only examination classes allowed to write their examinations. This means that BVBIZ is also affected. Travelling remains difficult and this means most of the schools programs remain on hold. However, God has his ways of doing things in that we were enabled to make a few strides. We can report the following;

Lessons Start

With the prevailing lockdown induced by the COVID19 virus having prevented students from coming on ground for now, lessons had to start in a way. The new class was due to start classes on the 13th of May. Having been placed in “a new normal,” an attempt to start online classes was made in June and it proved to be a success. Three subjects were put on trial. These are; How We Got The Bible, Life of Christ and Public Speaking. Lessons were done on Whatsapp and Zoom. Assignments that were due in June were turned in whilst others are on-going. We continue waiting for an opportunity to resume classes normally. This resumption will also allow our second intake which is due to graduate in October, to undertake its last practicum.

Gardening

Currently, a small garden is being prepared. Planting of vegetables has already begun. The aim is consumption and minimise costs once the new class is on campus. However, the lack of water in the area, brings an opportunity for us to produce more and sell. The garden needs to be expanded and put under drip irrigation if resources allow.

Impacting the Community

The area surrounding the school’s new site has a huge challenge of water. With the country facing challenges of drought, for two consecutive years, several cattle had died due to water shortage.. The nearest source is 8 kilometres away. The community came together and bought a 300m  poly pipe which draws water from our borehole to a drinking trough outside the school premises. People come every morning from 6-8am to fetch water for consumption whist their cattle drink there from 12noon-1pm. Almost 400 cattle are benefitting from this arrangement.

New Congregation Starts at Site

When schools closed in March due to the lockdown, two students, Batsirai Tengulachepa and Grey Ndoro,  remained on campus and have been with us since then. When the school relocated its property to the new site, they also went there. They have started evangelism in the area, most of which is done when people come to fetch water in the morning (6-8am) and at noon (12-1pm) when cattle are brought. The average attendance is 20. Unfortunately no baptism has taken place yet due to the absence of a baptistery or pool of water. We hope to construct a baptistery soon. Great appreciation to Nashville church of Christ for providing part of the food needs for these students.

Conclusion

The words of Paul in 2Co 4:8-12  can summarise our situation well. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. Indeed, we owe everything to God who enables us to take the extra step despite various challenges confronting us including the COVID19 virus. Great appreciation to Woodland Oaks and all of you for partnering with us one way or another in the expansion of God’s Kingdom. May God keep all of you safe. To God be the Glory!

Back to full swing in Zambia

JUNE, 2020 - REPORT

Warm greetings to you all brothers and sisters! We give honor and glory to God our heavenly Father who through His grace and the love fully expressed in Christ has granted us the opportunity to work in His Vineyard. This report has been written in an effort to provide some insight into the accomplishments that BVBI-Zambia has continued to experience. 

We have continued to receive good report from our former students, the month of June we have been visited by Clive Kabika from Kabwe central province where he is currently preaching, he has visited and preached to our three congregations in luanshya and has restored three Souls.

The classes are back in full swing after eight weeks of break due to restrictions of COVID-19. All students are back and just concluded the backload of third quarter’s work with a short course in homiletics with Kennedy Mukuka. We are thankful to brother Mukuka who besides the risk of contracting corona virus in Lusaka past through to come and prepare these men for the noble task of preaching. We have also been granted permission by the ministry of healthy to be meeting on Sunday for worship at the Institute, we are currently using a car park as a meeting place. This has given our current student body a good platform for preaching and meeting the community already some members of the community are meeting with us during the worship assembly.

For the past eight weeks that the classes were suspended, these men worked tirelessly with their respective congregations. Joseph Ilunga As he graduates before the end of this year he promises to go back and work among his people in the neighboring country of Congo DR. Joseph has also been preaching in two districts since his return at the Institute.

Nelson Sikazindu is also eager to go back and continue helping the congregation at Miyengelwa in Mpongwe District. The church that he is working with is quite small but given time and constant reaching out in the community, this congregation could be one of the vibrate congregations in Mpongwe area. He restored two souls during his preaching. He is also graduating before the end of this year. And he says he cannot wait to go back and continue helping Miyengelwa church of Christ.

Vincent Simwanza and Stembiso Magawa have been sharing the gospel in Luanshya and Mufurila, Vinicent has converted one soul to Christ, they have enjoyed the evangelism program and we believe the results will continue to be marvelous. We have also noticed a great fellowship with our former and current students whenever we come together.

Simon Khazi was marooned in Lusaka during the time of COVID-19 restriction period. Lusaka Province became the epicenter of the pandemic here in Zambia. Hence, all forms of church gatherings were banned by the government. But Simon and some brethren in Lusaka found a way of reaching out and preaching to people. He mentions that they used to move from house to house of members in an effort to encourage them. He plans to go back to Chitungulu village in Eastern Province of Zambia which is His home village once he graduates from BVBI-Zambia. He plans to go and work with the church in that part of the country.  

We continue to be grateful to God for the privilege of helping these men prepare for the wonderful work of preaching. We are also thankful to Woodland Oaks church of Christ for the partnership in this work. Your financial help that you send to the school each month will undoubtedly yield great dividends in God’s Kingdom. 

God bless you all!  

Brotherly,

Cephas and Fred