Telling The Nations What God Has Done In 2006

"Tell the nations what God has done!" Ps. 105:1b (ERV) (Easy to Read Version) ". . . Through Christ, God made peace between himself and us. And God gave us the work of bringing people into peace with him." 2 Cor. 5:18 (ERV) "Also, pray for us. Pray that God will give us an opportunity to tell people his message." Col. 4:3 (ERV)

SEASONS GREETINGS! And may 2007 bring you happiness and success in all you do!

In this follow-up story on BURUNDI in the 2005 newsletter it has been noted how God's Providence brought about the restoration of the church Jesus said He would build (Matt. 16:18) in this small French speaking country in the center of AFRICA. He used people from California, Texas, Tennessee, Switzerland, Tanzania and Burundi: Chuck Poulos in California, had placed my annual newsletters in a web site found by Boniface and Joachim in Burundi who emailed the writer to teach them Bible. They had found false teaching in the denominations and decided they wanted to follow only the Bible. They started six congregations in Burundi without any man-written creed book. Bob and Jan Towell in Round Rock, Texas, sent World English Institute courses wherein both English and Bible are taught. Mike Hale of Round Rock was assigned to help Boniface with the courses. The writer in Abilene, Texas, contacted Barry Baggott of Nashville, Tenn., and Doyle Kee of Geneva, Switzerland to ask if they could go to Burundi to teach Boniface, Joachim and other interested ministers concerning the Lord and the church He built. They spent two weeks teaching both in Burundi and Rwanda to ministers from 35 denominations explaining how they could restore the Lord's church. Also, Teofilo Mukota, a minister who was converted in Tanzania joined those in Burundi to also teach Bible classes. (He is Congolese who left Congo due to the wars there and went to Tanzania. At that time he was a Pentecostal preacher. He attended a school of preaching in Arusha, Tanzania.) Barry contacted Francis Wachesa, a Ugandan preacher working with the school, and asked if he could recommend anyone to meet him in Burundi; Mukota was sent. Gradually, the Church is being restored in a country where there were no missionaries! Please keep praying for their progress. Isn't it wonderful how God got this work done through several from different countries!

NIGERIA, Boxes of pencils saves a life! In a north central town a minister, Simon Dabish and his wife, who had received several boxes of pencils from Healing Hands International, Nashville, Tenn., decided they should share the much needed pencils with the children of their neighborhood. They put on the traditional Muslim clothing so as not to offend anyone they met. "But one day a riot broke out in the Muslim Community. The mob that gathered intended to burn down every Christian church building in town. But before the mayhem completely broke loose, one of the main Muslim leaders in the town stood up before the mob and said: 'It is good to teach the Christians a lesson, but there is one church that should not be touched. They are the ones who gave our children the pencils!' A few months later a second riot broke out. Simon was not home but in a small village preaching. As he was walking home the angry mob saw that he was a Christian preacher. They grabbed him, tied him up and prepared to kill him. They called to their leader to come and do the job. It was the same leader who was a part of the first riot. He recognized Simon and turned to the crowd and said: "We will not kill this man. This is the same man who gave pencils to our children!" God's Providence was at work again! HAITI, It was reported in the Abilene Reporter-News of the work Evelyn Boyd does for the orphans in Haiti. She is 83 and lives in Knox City, Texas. She is being treated for lung cancer. At age 62 she went to Haiti with a medical mission group where she found poverty, illness, joblessness, subsistence living, high infant mortality, mothers dying in childbirth, and many orphaned and homeless children. In 1987 she rented a place in Cap-Haitien and began taking in helpless, sick and starving children, establishing an orphanage. She was its director for 7 years, while learning to speak Creole. Later two more orphanages were started in northern Haiti. Currently 140 children are cared for in these orphanages and Evelyn returns to visit them often. Between trips she speaks about the work seeking support and workers for this work. A foundation in her name is planning to build a medical clinic and vocational school on five acres of land near Cap-Haitien, owned by the Boyd foundation. About two-thirds of the Haitiens do not have a formal job. They also need to be brought out of voodooism and satanism in order to change Haiti. Some families give some of their children to the orphanages so they can feed their other children. In the mid 1990's, during an American embargo, imposed in the midst of political turmoil, Boyd had to depart in a boat from the Dominican Republic to get thousands of pounds of food for hungry Haitiens into Haiti! To help Evelyn help the orphans in Haiti, you can contribute to the Haskell Church of Christ, 501 North Ave. E, Haskell, TX 79501, marked for the Evelyn Boyd Haiti Fund. May God bless this dear sister and help her in His work!

BENIN, WEST AFRICA, George Akpabli, from GHANA, serves as a missionary to the nation of Benin. While a student at the Kumasi Bible College in Ghana, he studied French so he could go to Benin to take God's message. In 1992 there were no congregations of the Lord's church, but due to the efforts of George, World Radio and a training center, there are now 50 congregations in Benin! The Benton (Ky.) Church of Christ supports and overseas the work George is doing. NICARAGUA, Lou Secular, Abilene, TX, wrote: "On Sunday morning, June 11, the churches of Christ of Nicaragua made history. Ninety rented buses and several vans were used to transport 6,568 persons to Managua's Plaza de la Fe, the site of the first nation-wide church service. Local church members worked frantically the day before setting up chairs and snack stations. At the same time, a common prayer was in everybody's heart. 'Please Lord, no rain on Sunday morning!' Plaza de la Fe is a Central Park-like place where special events and concerts take place. Rain on that Sunday morning would destroy days of planning and thousands of man-hours of working. The Lord heard our prayers and there was no rain on Sunday morning. The sun was out for a while causing many to open their umbrellas for protection. Shortly before my time to speak, the Lord sent a cloud and kept it there shielding everyone from the hot sun. I pointed out to the huge crowd that the same Lord who sent a cloud to protect His people in the desert had sent us a cloud to protect us in Managua that Sunday morning. This was undoubtedly the largest gathering of churches of Christ I have ever seen in my 40 years as a Christian. Members left their homes the night before and spent the night on the road while others left their towns at 4 a.m. to get to Plaza de la Fe at 9 a.m. There were also a few who came from farther distances traveling from 10 to 12 hours. After the services were over, there was a short time for fellowship and then on the road again to their homes. One of the Christians told me, 'This is a little bit of heaven,' and I agreed. There was laughter and joy in everyone's hearts in being a part of such a great occasion. The purpose of the congress was to unite the churches in Nicaragua in love and I am sure they accomplished that. BULGARIA, Tom and Sheryl Black of Lubbock, TX. have worked for a number of years in a few cities in Bulgaria. They cannot have long visas so after the few months aloud, they have to leave and return after obtaining another visa. Some young men have been taught Bible and they do the preaching when Tom cannot be there. (Sheryl is a daughter of Richard and Elaine Walker of Lubbock who have been missionaries in years past in Europe.) Brethren from Germany and Switzerland have taken warm clothing and boots to the churches in Sofia, Blagoevgrad, Russe and Varna and taught seminars on Bible subjects. Also Nat Cooper from Lubbock, TX, held a meeting in Sofia.

CAMBODIA, Bill McDonough thinks BIG! He figured it would be a wonderful thing to have a boat built to house a clinic. He had it made in Vietnam and has named it the 'Ship of Life.' This 109 foot, three story, state of the art, vessel will cruise the Mekong River providing thousands of poverty stricken people with health care, the Good News and eternal hope. Five years of planning, working and praying brought it about to its launching March 14 from Saigon. A young Christian surgeon in Lille, France, has volunteered to come for a year of service on the Ship. In fact, Dr. Victoria had been praying for such an opportunity! Her husband, Xavier, will work as a supply officer keeping the staff supplied with groceries, medications, and all of the others things needed. VIETNAM, Saigon, Tom Tune, working in the islands around American Samoa, was asked by Bill McDonough to go to Saigon and oversee the finishing touches of the 'Ship of Life'. While there, Tom noticed the many children on the streets not going to school. The parents have to pay tuition and buy uniforms to send their children to school and with low salaries cannot afford to send them. Tom asked for Christians to donate $144 to pay this expense to see that a child can be educated for a year, etc. Many parents of these children attend the worship services and there have been a number of baptisms. He needs help to pay for renting a place to have services so as to apply to be registered (They have been meeting in a hotel room - too small for the crowd who want to come. He has been asked to leave some of the hotels.) Send checks to Amazing Grace International, P. O. Box 8453, Falls Church, VA 22041 and mark it 'Tom's Kids', or 'for renting a meeting place.' EEM (EASTERN EUROPEAN MISSION), Bammel Road congregation in Houston, sent Russian Children's Bibles for children in schools in the Altai region a couple of years ago. Now they are requesting replacements as the first ones are worn out!!! The State of Omsk, Russia has 1,550 schools with 390,000 students. They have asked for Bibles and Biblical material for all these children! To help EEM do this, donations may be sent to EEM, P. O. Box 90755, Houston, TX 77290. Call 1-800-486-1818 for more information.

The purpose for writing this newsletter is to let you know what is happening in the world with spreading of the gospel. All are in need of financial help and encouragement.