Sunday, December 9, 2012

"They prayed, God answered."


Our mission is that every village of Liberia will have a healthy church.  Most of the towns and villages of Liberia have no church.  We have worked in over 200 villages in 9 counties; there are 8,700 villages and towns in 15 counties. This month we made 73 mission/ministry trips, visiting 66 villages and other locations.  We have started work in 6 new villages.  Many of the places we visited multiple times, our longest trip was 7 days, shortest a few hours.  We printed and distributed approximately 13,000 pages of teaching material and distributed hundreds of Bibles, 29 were baptized and 36 completed our extensive Bible study program.  We showed the Jesus film 2 times to about 350 people.  We taught a 1 day conference on marriage and a 3 day conference on church planting to about 80 people.  Several factors affect how many mission trips we can go on each month; illness, injuries, motorbikes repaired, the availability of gas and money are some. 

Some highlights of the month

Another Smith from Ohio:  Allison, from Sidney, Ohio (age 27) has come to stay with us for 3 months.  Before she came God had her go to Maryland, USA and had her trained in a literacy program called Tracey Tutor.  She is now training church leaders on how to use the material.  All the churches want to be able to teach their illiterate adults how to read so they can read the scriptures for themselves.  She is tough.  She has been here less than a month and has already had two motorbike wrecks and 1,000 bug bites.  One of those bites also brought her a serious case of malaria.  For four days she was very sick, sickest in her life.  She had much diarrhea and vomiting, was also weak, with headache and full of fever.  Treatment was pills, injections and an IV.  She still has her smile.  I think it is because of what she eats: monkey, assorted rodents, gazelle, and deer mixed with leaf soup on a bed of rice.  Pray that this soldier of the cross does not lose her smile.

Praise God, a new development for WSL:  Two women in Maryland, USA, Stephanie Tracey and Barbara Markland have developed a reading program called Tracey Tutor.  They trained Allison in it.  The program is great and much needed here to train both kids and adults how to read.  They have agreed to give up their copyright rights to us so we can make copies to train and provide material for all our churches!  The overall literacy rate in Liberia is under 25%.  In the remote villages it is about 5-10%.  The two village schools we started will immediately start the program.  All of our churches are being invited to provide a volunteer teacher for the adults.  They will teach 2-3 nights a week.  Every church who we have presented the offer to has eagerly accepted.  We desire to see more Liberians who can independently read the Bible for themselves.  Thank you Stephanie and Barbara!  We gladly welcome you to the WSL team.

The blind school:  Christine has discovered a new blind school in Zwedru.  She saw that the place they were in was rough.  No windows or doors, no mattresses or bug nets, no regular food, no medical care, no school supplies:  A school or just a clustering of handicapped destitutes?  But, they had something powerful on their side: GOD!  Their absolute faith would shame us; their dependence on Him would encourage us.  They prayed, God answered.  We gave some food, medical assistance and bug nets.   Assorted non-profits came in and provided windows and doors, a well with pump, inside toilet and bath, and walking canes.   At this moment we are expecting 13 mattresses on a truck coming from Monrovia, Christine contacted her church in France and they sent the money for them.  “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted…Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matt 5:4-6.

Good news, bad news:  Allison and I were on a long three hour trip into the next county, River Gee, to visit one of our schools there.  On the way back we hit mud going too fast and wrecked hard.  Bike and people hit the ground hard.  Good news – Allison rolled like a stunt woman and came up ready for more and the live chicken tied to the side survived.   Bad news – I wrecked about 3 months ago and damaged ribs, the night before while in bed I realized that for the first time the ribs did not hurt.  Well, back to square one.  Damaged ribs again, much pain.

Marriage conference:  You think the West has problems with marriage.  Wow!  Satan has virtually destroyed it here.  The conference was culturally relevant, well attended and much appreciated!

Widow’s house complete:  We have been working on a widow’s house in a small village over the last couple months.  Well, it is finally finished.  She praises God and thanks us.

Prayer requests:  Pray that we acquire the land next to us.  We want it to start a Bible institute.  And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ.  Pray that we will proclaim it clearly as we should (Col 4:3-4). 

Donations may be mailed to:
Wordsower International                                                                                                                                                16960 Sidney Plattsville Rd                                                                                                                                  Sidney, Oh 45365
Donations may also be made online by going to our web page:  www.wordsowerliberia.com


Thank you for your prayers, donations and encouragement,
kim