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.