From the Field: “Let Me Translate My Tears”
Sherife, a Mwinika believer who worked to translate the Bible to his native language.
We recently received this update from New Tribes Mission regarding one of our supported missionaries working as a Bible translator in Zimbabwe.
Sherife was more than just a Mwinika tribesman to Bible translator & RBC-supported missionary, P. He was a fellow believer, one of the first Mwinika Bible teachers, and a Bible translation helper. He was also a friend. And now P. sat by Sherife as he lay on his deathbed. P. remembered another time when Sherife lay critically ill in bed – before he was saved, before Bible teaching even began in the Mwinika village. But this time it was different. Sherife was a believer in Jesus. Still, it was hard to watch as tears filled Sherife’s eyes, spilling down his cheeks.
“Let me translate my tears,” Sherife said to P. “I am crying because of my unsaved family members… I know where I am going, but I am worried about them. I didn’t know God until you came and told me about Him. Now I know Him. Now I am going to be with Him. Thank you for coming. Thank you beyond thanking. Thank you.” About a week later, Sherife was ushered into the presence of his Savior.
Of greater importance to Sherife than “translating his tears” was translating God’s Word into the Mwinika language. He was one of several Bible translation helpers that worked tirelessly alongside P. to see this translation come to fruition. But as of his death, the project was not yet done.
Please pray for our missionary P. and the other Mwinika men as they continue translating, looking to the day when the Mwinika Bible translation is complete.
From the Field: Haiti Family Mission Update
Over Spring Break, a team of 21 parents and Jr. High students flew to Pignon, Haiti to serve with RBC-supported national pastor, Francois Romelus (featured here in a previous From the Field). While adults from RBC had visited before, it was the first trip that included students, and it was amazing to see the way the Lord used them.
Pastor Francois runs an orphanage of 50+ children, and it was such a blessing to see the ways that our students could play and interact with them, despite the language barrier. Our students were really able to open up the children there and practically show the love of Christ. On top of playing games of soccer, teaching them to skateboard, braiding hair, and hanging out, we also had several special opportunities with them.
We set up Easter Egg hunt with them and talked with them about the resurrection of Christ. We treated them to s’mores cooked over an open fire, after which everyone licked clean their sticky fingers. We had English classes as they taught us some Creole. And we took the oldest ~20 students to a beach a few hours away. Most of them had never been to the ocean and didn’t know how to swim. It was a treat for them, and a blessing to have fun with them.
We also had the blessing of helping the local church run a VBS-style children’s program. While it was a bit chaotic at times with almost 400 children who couldn’t speak English, it was an amazing blessing to serve the community. Our theme for the week was “Mwen Se Trésor Bondye” or “I am a Treasure of God’s”.
We had a great opportunity to play and do crafts with the children and act out Bible stories, as the national pastors taught God’s Word. At the end of each day, each the church provided a meal of rice, beans, and a little chicken for the children, and it was humbling to see how so little meant so much to them. Please pray for the children to understand that they are God’s Treasure.
Finally, we were blessed with many opportunities to connect with and encourage the local church. Eric Smith, the chairman of RBC’s elders, taught a marriage class. We were able to hear the testimonies of and pray for all of the national pastors and elders of the church in Pignon. Please continue to pray for them as they face many hardships and persecution to lead the church.
Thank you to the many who prayed for this team. We definitely saw the answers to many of your prayers. Please continue to pray for Pastor Francois’ children and their futures, as there are very few career opportunities for them.
**Thanks to all who attended the team review on Wednesday, 4/29 in the Jr. High Room. Please continue to pray for Pastor Francois and the ministry there.
From the Field: Pignon, Haiti
Pastor Francois Romelus and his wife, Madou, have humbly and faithfully led a church in Pignon, Haiti, since 1982. They have a church of over 200 people, run the local elementary school, and care for a large number of widows and about 50 orphans. They were in northern Virginia the weekend of February 22nd, when services were cancelled due to inclement weather. He recorded the following message to Reston Bible Church:
A team of 21 parents and Jr. High students are going to work with their ministry over Spring Break (March 26-April 3). The team will be running a VBS style camp for several hundred neighborhood children, trying to show God’s love for the orphans, and caring for the local church. God is doing much through the ministry there, and we want to be an encouragement to them.
Please pray for:
- The church in Pignon, that their faith in and dependence on the Lord would continue to deepen in the midst of many challenging circumstances.
- Pastor Francois and his wife Madou, that they would be encouraged in the Lord.
- The RBC team, that we would be a blessing and encouragement to the church in Pignon. Specifically, that we would be able to communicate to the children how much God treasures and values them.
Many people have asked about ways to help care for the orphans in Haiti. You can check out an Amazon.com wish list for them by clicking here. There you will find items that will be a blessing to them. You can purchase them off Amazon.com or elsewhere, and drop them off at Aaron Osborne’s office at RBC by Wednesday, March 18th, and we will deliver them. If you have any questions, please contact aaronosborne@restonbible.org.
From the Field: Bolivia
The update below is from Paul & Faith, RBC-supported missionaries serving with New Tribes Missions. Paul serves at NTM’s Training Center and helps oversee their U.S.-based ministries. One of his primary responsibilities is developing a leadership team to cast a vision for mobilizing believers for the task of tribal evangelism and church planting.
– – –
A “new” happening in Bolivia brings an urgent prayer request! On Tuesday, January 27th through Thursday the 29th a group of around 30 Ayoré church leaders and their wives will be meeting together in Bolivia. They come from 10 Ayoré communities where Ayoré Churches exist. Paul’s brother and his wife will be meeting at the Missionary Training Center of Etnos, where they live and minister, for an Ayoré Leaders Conference of Spiritual Refreshment and Teaching. The facilities are available because the students are gone for “summer break” these days. Please pray for them as they will be doing the teaching for the 15 hours of meetings and deeply feel the need for Spirit-breathed inspiration, sensitivity and discernment for both the meeting time together and the hours fellowshipping together those three days. Please pray as well for good weather as it is rainy season and for open receptive hearts for all God has for all of us.
A
bout 72 years ago, five young missionary men gave their lives in the effort of contacting this very primitive, nomadic indigenous people group — NOW, here they are — all these years later gathering together in the name of Christ! Was it worth it all? We LOVED the ten years God allowed us to invest in this work together with YOU who prayed for and supported this work. Our prayer is that YOUR hearts will be as encouraged as our hearts are as we pray for the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in these precious lives. God is at work! Check out this really neat video (below) – It’s an interview with some of our current students here at the Missionary Training Center. You are now investing in the training of these young people who will be scattering around the world to spread the gospel!
Thank you so VERY much for your financial support and for your faithful, faithful prayers for us! We are so very humbled by God’s amazing grace and faithfulness in our lives! We pray God’s ABUNDANT grace and blessings for you in this “new” year and that you will enjoy sweet fellowship with Him!
– Paul & Faith, New Tribes Mission
From the Field: Papua New Guinea
RBC-supported missionary Brian Shortmeier, who works with New Tribes Mission, shared the video below with our church at our 2014 Missions Conference. Dimapatai is one of many primitive Moi tribal people in Papua, who came to know Christ as his savior through NTM missionaries. In this video, Dimapatai shares his unscripted thoughts on Jesus.
Here is a brief update on Dimapatai from the Lambs, New Tribes Mission staffers in Ontario:
Sadly just a few weeks ago we heard that he had passed away. In a culture that typically mourns without hope for days when someone dies, the family couldn’t help but rejoice in their new-found hope because of Jesus. These were Dimapatai’s final words before he went to be with his Saviour. He said, “I am not about to go anywhere but Heaven. To go anywhere else is not possible. I’m going to Heaven.Don’t think that I’m going somewhere else. Don’t be nervous or afraid for me. There are not two paths for me. I am going to be with Jesus.” Praise the Lord that we will one day rejoice together in glory with Dimapatai and some from every tongue and tribe and nation! “O death, where is your victory, Oh grave, where is your sting!”
Please take a moment now to pray for the ongoing work of tribal evangelism and church planting in Papua New Guinea and across the unreached people groups of the world.
From the Field: Ireland
RBC-supported missionaries Steve & Julia left for full-time work in Ireland only a few weeks ago. Here is an update from them:
We have been in Ireland now for 5 weeks and God has been very gracious to us as we get settled in. We arrived during a difficult rental housing marked with little property available and it disappearing fast. In spite of that, within the first week God provided us with a beautiful modern 2 bedroom furnished apartment with lots of windows and light in an excellent neighborhood. God has also helped us get our utilities and broadband set up, find a reliable used car, obtain car insurance, open a bank account, get our Irish version of social security numbers, and begin the process of getting permission to remain in the country. We are living in the suburbs of Cork in southeastern Ireland.
We are currently working with Douglas Baptist Church outside of Cork. Douglas Baptist is one of 14 churches in Cork and Kerry counties that have joined together in coordinating activities and in working together to plant new churches in areas with no evangelic church. There are two new church plants in the works. These churches have one joint service each year; we attended that service at the end of September. It is exciting to see how God has grown His church in southern Ireland as the 500+ people came together for worship and teaching.
We have been able to get heavily involved in ministry here also. There are several Bible studies each week that we participate in along with special ladies’ and men’s meetings we have attended. These activities have been very important in helping us meet people, build relationships, and gain trust for future ministry. Steve was asked to teach a lot sooner than expected and just finished teaching 3 Bible studies and preaching the Sunday sermon in the last week.
We would appreciate your prayers for:
- Gaining permission from immigration to remain in the country.
- Julia, a North American, serving as a coordinator for a wedding on Oct 19 between a Filipino man and a Brazilian woman in an Irish
- church – lots of cultural issues come up.
- Learning the culture – new vocabulary, word pronunciation, and behaviors.
- Steve’s short-term mission trip (Oct 15-22) to Croatia with some men from Reston Bible Church to work on a church building
- Our trip back to the States (Oct 30-Nov 11) to visit family and have our belongings shipped to Ireland
Please be in prayer for Steve & Julia as they begin their new life & ministry in Ireland. Pray for grace and opportunity as they seek to know Christ and make Him known in Ireland.
From the Field: Mae Phae, Thailand
Last weekend, the RBC congregation was blessed to receive a missions report from Scott McManigle, a former RBC missionary who now serves as the associate missions pastor at Faith Bible Church. Scott, along with his wife Annette and their children, spent eighteen years in northern Thailand. Through their service, the Lord used them to plant a church among the Pwo Karen tribe in a village called Mae Phae. Three Pwo Karen church leaders joined Scott last Sunday in praising the Lord for RBC’s support and involvement in sending the gospel of Christ to their tribe.
“Thank you for sending us a missionary. Thank you for sending the gospel. God has saved us from worshiping the spirits; He has saved us from the deceit of Satan through His son, Jesus.”
We praise God for the fruit He is bearing through the faithful proclamation of the gospel in Northern Thailand. Since the McManigles left Thailand in 2006, the church in Mae Phae has continued to grow and the Pwo Karen believers are teaching the gospel in other tribes around their area.
Please continue to pray for gospel to go forth in the Mae Phae village and to other villages throughout the region. Pray that many Pwo Karen tribesmen would come to saving faith in Jesus and that the church there would be a great light for the glory of God. To learn more about the church in Mae Phae and the Pwo Karen people, check out the video below.
(Video credit: Fellowship Bible Church)
From the Field: Mozambique
After an extended furlough to take care of their daughter’s educational needs, the H. family has returned to the bush in Mozambique where they seek to make Christ known to the Mwinika tribe. When they left, many people in the village were convinced that the H.’s would never come back, so the Mwinika villagers were pleasantly surprised when they actually DID return! As is part of the culture, the villagers came with a little something to welcome them back home, and as soon as they arrived, there were LOTS of children to greet them. The Mwinikan boys were anxious to play soccer, but the soccer field had been overgrown with weeds and thorns in the H.’s absence. The morning after they returned, they woke up to find a whole crew of boys out in the field working away to clear up the field so that they could play. While in the U.S., the H.’s had received a bag full of clothes for the children in their area, and they were able to give each boy who helped a new shirt!
It was a great encouragement to their hearts to be back and to see the different groups of Mwinikan believers meeting together. Some are stronger than others in their faith, but the interest in spiritual things is still there. One young couple was recently sent out from the main village to teach literacy and Bible lessons in a village far away from where they live. This was an incredible step of faith for them. As well, many Mwinika ladies tell the H.’s they are ready to start learning to read and write and to study God’s word together! It is amazing to see God’s provision in these ways.
The H. family spent a profitable two-week time in the village, settling back into life there – unpacking, reconnecting with friends, getting reacquainted with the language, and retaking their home back from the bugs. But now they find themselves back on the road again. The H.’s schedule for the next few weeks is very busy. This next week will be spent in Kenya where they will be dropping their daughter off at Rift Valley Academy for the upcoming school year, followed by a number of ministry meetings in South Africa.
Here are a few praises and prayer request from the H. family. Please take a moment now to pray for them and give thanks to God for all He is doing there.
- Praise the Lord for His strength over the past few weeks and for the many things they were able to accomplish in such a short time.
- Praise Him also for the work He is doing in hearts and lives of the Mwinika people. Pray that their interest in the Lord will continue to grow and that the believers there will become more grounded in their faith.
- Pray for the H.’s as they say goodbye to their daughter and for her as she settles into school in Kenya.
- Upon return from Kenya, they will be traveling on to South Africa for several days of ministry meetings. Pray for safety as they travel and for good and profitable results from the meetings.
From the Field: Special Project in Brazil
This is Eduardo’s brother, Evandro. Eduardo led him to the Lord, and he is in our internship program preparing to go into full-time mission work with Open Arms. I love seeing how the Lord orchestrates things.
Eduardo is a Brazilian national supported by Reston Bible Church through the organization Open Arms Worldwide. He and his wife Claudia work with at-risk children and youth in some very tough neighborhoods as well as in one of Brazil’s infamous youth detention facilities sharing the gospel and helping lead young people to the narrow path that leads to life.
Eduardo wasn’t always a missionary though. When he first came to Open Arms as a volunteer at the age of 17, he had just finished serving a year-and-a-half prison sentence for assault, theft, and drug offenses. Today, by God’s grace, he has planted four outreach programs for Open Arms and shared his testimony at youth camps and churches across Brazil.
Just like in the U.S., children in Brazil learn and build relationships through activities like sports, arts, and games. Recently in response to a special request from Eduardo, Reston Bible Church allocated some extra funds for him to purchase new supplies for the ministry that include new educational/strategy games, art supplies, soccer balls (always in short supply), and other sporting equipment. These items are great for getting a child to sit down and just talk with our missionaries or volunteers.
Below is a letter with prayer requests we recently received from Eduardo. Below that is a thank-you video from Open Arms to all who responded and gave to this request!
“I want to share with you some testimonies and also ask for more prayer for our work. Before that though I want to tell you how much of a difference it has made to have the new material that Reston Bible Church blessed us with. Please let them know how grateful we are and how blessed the children have been.
As you know, I have worked with the same group of girls in our soccer ministry in the same neighborhood now for the past 5 years. I have seen girls who lost their way in lesbianism, others that have stopped playing because they have gotten pregnant, but thanks to God who strengthened me and the counsel that you gave me to never give up, today I am seeing many seeds that we have planted years ago begin to grow. It is with a heart full of emotion that I am writing that four of our girls that have been with me from the beginning are going to be baptized. We have been using the community center to do baptism classes with them and on June 29th at a special Sunday service for Open Arms they will be baptized. At the same service there will be an exposition of art that our kids have produced. In fact some of the funds that RBC provided were used to purchase canvasses. Their projects came out beautifully and they will be taking the exposition to other churches as well. Many of the children from our soccer program are now attending church with us on Sundays as well. I was so blessed a few weeks back when I couldn’t pick them up for church they showed up on their own. That’s a good sign. Please keep up the prayers.”
PRAYER REQUESTS:
- Pray that God would protect the girls who are being baptized. They have all been under attack spiritually since they made that decision.
- Pray that God would strengthen and encourage the kids who are going to worship services on foot now.
- Pray that our new outreach to the boys via soccer will be bear fruit as it has with the girls.
- Pray for me and Claudia, as you know we have only been married a short time and we are having a rough first year at home. Pastor Tiago has been counseling us and it has been helping a lot.
- Pray for my college. As you know I have an easy time understanding scripture but not so much with other books and I am having a tough time at school. I remember that you told me not to memorize but to learn. I am trying but since I skipped a lot of school as a child it is hard for me.
- Pray for our health, me and Claudia, because we are working hard and have little time for rest.
- Please pray for Emanoel. I asked for prayer for him some time ago. He was getting beat up inside. Well he was released and we went to visit him at home. He has a drug addiction. He’s only 17. We were able to get him a spot at CREMOS (a Christian drug rehab home) and we are able continue ministering to him there.
From the Field: Croatia
Here is a recent correspondence from G., an RBC-supported missionary serving with Pioneers in Croatia. Here is a recap of G.’s work with youth and church building/planing efforts over the summer:
Another summer is almost over in Slavonski Brod. Six short-term teams with over 80 guests have helped us share the good news of Christ with many young people. The church building is taking shape before our eyes. We look forward to the day when the building is completed and pray that God continues to grow His church that will be meeting in it.
Below I have written more about both the building and our summer activities. I also want to ask you to pray specifically for a man who I have known for over 12 years. He and his wife have shown a degree of openness over the years, but it has never moved beyond an intellectual understanding of what Christians believe. But some things have happened in their lives recently that seem to have caused the husband particularly to consider spiritual things more seriously. He recently expressed a desire to study the Bible with me, and we hope to start in the next week or so. Pray for God to reveal himself to this friend and that he and his wife would one day soon place their trust in Christ! Thanks so much for your prayers and your partnership with me in Croatia!
CHURCH BUILDING: The last time I wrote, I told you of a matching fund that had been set up to help complete construction of the exterior of the Slavonski Brod church building this year. We were hoping to raise $70,000 by the end of June for that to happen. The Lord has seen fit to provide, through many churches and individuals both in the U.S. and in Croatia, $108,000! The building is under construction and we expect it to be under roof in a just a few more weeks. This does not mean an end to the construction process, nor to the need for finances. Now that the building is under roof, it is safe from the elements and we can complete the inside as funds become available. We would love the help of short-term teams to, for example, take a room and fix it up. Please pray for the ultimate completion of the building in God’s timing, and for Him to continue to build His church spiritually, and not just physically, in Slavonski Brod.
SUMMER OUTREACHES: This summer we have had 81 individuals come to work with us for at least one week, including a team of 11 which arrived today! With their help, we have held baseball camps, children’s Bible clubs, and open air concerts, and we have had lots of less formal opportunities to meet and get to know Croatian youth. The gospel has been shared countless times and in many ways. Two Croatian teens have even met with a small group of us to study the Bible. Summer is definitely a time of broad sowing for us as we take advantage of the many short-term workers who come to help us to share as frequently and as broadly as we can. Pray that we will see the fruit of this broad sowing one day soon. I was particularly encouraged this year by one of the teens living in Nova Gradiška who trusted in Christ last summer. One Sunday at church when several unbelieving youth came (because they wanted to say goodbye to the short-term team that was leaving that day), he prayed publicly and boldly, “Lord, I pray that these other teens here today would trust in You and that You would change their lives like You did for me. Amen.” That was a first for him. Pray for him to continue to grow, and that his prayer for the other teens in his city would be answered also!
Would you take a minute now to pray for G., the many Croatian youth who heard the gospel this summer, and for the church in Slavonski Brod?