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Jestina Wesseh, whom EMAUSA has supported in recent years, graduates from the College of Health Sciences at Monrovia Bible College in July. Jestina will be joining the nursing staff at the ELWA Hospital.
Congratulations to Jestina!! Our dear friend and ELWA Ministries advisory board member, Christine Norman, left this life to be with her Lord and Savior on June 23rd.. We are sad that we will no longer hear her voice, laughter, singing or prayers, but we also celebrate her birth into eternal life. In the first and second century, there are many writings that detail the celebrations Christian family members would have after the death of their loved one. They would literally have a party at the funeral. Their faith in Jesus and in His promise of resurrection and eternal life was so strong that they literally threw a party in honor of their departed loved ones good fortune. Christine had this kind of faith-and she always loved a good party!
Join us in celebrating her life and birth into eternal life. Christine was an international educator, humanitarian, social leader, advocate for peace and reconciliation, and agent of positive change. Since 2002, Christine has been working to provide hope, opportunities, and empowerment to youth, young adults, ex-combatants, widows, orphans and other marginalized groups in her home country of Liberia through her NGO Restoration of Education Advancement Programs (REAP). In addition to serving on the ELWA Ministries Advisory Board, Christine served on the board of directors of the William R. Tolbert Jr. Foundation, which honors the legacy of her father, the late President Tolbert (20th president of Liberia) by providing scholarships, leadership development initiatives centered on character-based leadership and ethics in management for emerging leaders. Christine also co-founded the Isaac A. David Sr. Memorial School in Monrovia, Liberia and served as principal for several years. From 1972 to 1980, she served as Assistant Superintendent of the Monrovia Consolidated School System and then Deputy Minister of Education for Instruction, the position she held until the time of the April 12, 1980 military coup d'état which toppled the Liberian government. After the coup, Christine and her family settled in the Ivory Coast where served as an educator at the International Community School of Abidjan. She started the International Friendship Center, a community and recreational center that hosted educational workshops, vocational training, athletic programs, and entertainment for youth and adults in the community. In 1990, a civil war broke out in Liberia, forcing hundreds of thousands of Liberian refugees to flee across the border into neighboring Ivory Coast. At that time, Christine founded the Liberian Refugee Tutorial Program (LRTP), an educational establishment still in existence today. She also convened and participated in several peace and reconciliation conferences aimed at fostering peace and unity in Liberia. When the Liberian Civil War came to an end, Christine returned to Liberia to found REAP and to assist with the post-conflict reconstruction. REAP focused in the areas of education, skill training, youth and women’s empowerment, leadership development, and peace-building. When Christine's health began to decline, she wanted to make sure her beloved REAP was in good hands. As a great leader who was always prepared, Christine brought on Mr. Julius Wesse to take over the reigns as Director of REAP before her passing. ELWA/SIM missionary, John-Mark Sheppard, is a Bible translator; who has been busy translating the books of the New Testament into the Manya language. The Manya are a group of roughly 100,000 people living in Liberia and Guinea and they are almost entirely Muslim, with just a handful of believers in Jesus. Early this year, John-Mark completed the first draft translation of the New Testament. He is now revising the translation with a variety of people, including Christian pastors and Muslim Imams to make sure the translation communicates naturally in their language and is also faithful to original text. He is hoping to complete the New Testament by the end of 2021.
This was not a written language before he began working there but he has worked with native speakers to develop a writing system. He now runs a literacy program, training hundreds of men, women, and children to read in their own language. It’s been exciting for them to see young men and women reading fluently in their own language and encountering God’s Word for the first time. The Sheppards generally like living in Liberia but have had some challenges recently. There have been several cases of what people call “Jungle Justice” in their local town. When someone is caught stealing, people shout “rogue” and the thief is chased, caught, and mercilessly beaten by a mob, usually to the point of death. This happened one Sunday morning. John-Mark went out to intervene, but it was too late. The mob had beaten him with cutlasses and drowned him in the muddy pond nearby. John-Mark pulled the young man from the water, called the police, but he died a few minutes later with the crowd shouting with glee with what they believed to be justice. The very next day in a nearby village, another young man was caught stealing a $10 mobile phone. The mob chased him for over two miles until they caught him at the top of a hill near the Sheppard's house. John Mark went with their house security guard to see if they could intervene before the man was killed. After securing the kids in the house, Sara walked to the end of the driveway to see if she could hear anything. The mob was marching the thief across the small field near their house, coming straight towards her! The man’s shirt was soaked in blood and they were kicking him and beating him with large sticks. Sarah noticed that many in the mob were their very own neighbors as well as the construction crew working right down the road. They were taking the man down to the river near their house to drown him. As they got near, they stopped and Sara begged them to have mercy on this man’s life in the same way God has had mercy on all of us. John-Mark called the police and calmly stood by the man as the construction workers wanted to stone him. He encouraged the violent, heated mob to please stop and go back to their homes or work. He told them that they had inflicted enough violence and that this man didn’t need to die, that the police would come eventually. Amazingly, the crowd slowly dispersed, leaving the young man to wash in the creek and wait for the police. Sara writes, “Needless to say, these experiences were really traumatizing but we know that God works all things together for good. And through a series of things that I don’t have time to explain now, I realized that God was leading me to show mercy and grace to the very construction workers that we had asked to show mercy to that rogue. Frankly, I was really reluctant. Just seeing their orange workmen’s vests around the community was a trigger, but I couldn’t help but wonder if they had ever experienced grace, or if they knew about God’s love for them. And so, I baked several loaves of bread and three days after the incident, I walked to their working place and thanked them for the mercy they showed that day. To say they were stunned is an understatement, but they warmly welcomed me and invited me to come back anytime. So, I started a Christian-based trauma healing group with these 14 guys, the very perpetrators of that Jungle Justice. They were incredibly enthusiastic and have stopped by the house to share the various ways the counselling group has helped them. In the final lesson, we discussed how we could release our offenders because God has forgiven us and when we release our offenders, we can live peaceful lives, free of anger and bitterness. One young man shared how he was now ready to forgive his stepmother for casting a spell on his birth mother that had supposedly caused her death. Some expressed regret over the violence they inflicted on the rogue. Many wrote prayers asking God to forgive them and to change them into the men that God wants them to be. And I realized that I, too, was at the point of forgiving these guys for the hurt and trauma they caused me. God is truly the great Redeemer! “ EMAUSA would like to introduce you to Moses Gwole, pastor of the International Church of Monrovia located on the ELWA campus.
Pastor Moses’s personal story is one of sinfulness, remorse, sorrow, and finally an awakening to God’s call on his life. Moses was born in Maryland County, in Liberia, West Africa, in September 1956. Because his father served as a pastor, Moses was exposed to the gospel at an early age. His father’s death at age 14 affected Moses deeply. He strayed from his Christian teachings. He started to hang out with a bad set of friends. He got deeply involved in drugs and alcohol and resorted to crime to support his drug habits. Moses’s older brother tried to help Moses by getting him a job in the Bong Mines in Bong County. But Moses left the mines and headed to Monrovia in search of “freedom.” In Monrovia Moses was blessed by his marriage to Ida in 1983. Sadly he continued his bad habits. Moses has said that his wife would have been justified to leave him, but she chose to pray for him every day. Clearly the Lord was at work in both Ida’s and Moses’s lives. About 4 years after his marriage Moses was working at a rice and cement depot. Missionary Daniel Scott came to the depot and asked Moses if he was saved. Moses said yes because he had grown up in a Christian home. Daniel explained to Moses that it is important to read the Bible and follow its teachings. For the next two days Daniel came to the depot to speak to Moses more about biblical teachings. These conversations with Daniel Scott became a turning point in Daniel’s life, for he felt guilty, filthy, and ashamed. He broke down in tears and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior on November 16, 1987. Daniel continued to guide Moses in his Christian walk. Despite the interruptions in his ministerial training caused by the Liberian civil war, Moses persevered. During the ceasefire in 1992, he began attending the International Church of Monrovia (ICM). He attended the Evangelical Bible Training Center and got a diploma in biblical studies in 1996. However, the civil war resumed in April of that same year, and most people left Monrovia and went upcountry into the bush. Later that same year Moses and his family returned to the Monrovia area. In 2008 ICM called Moses to serve as the Senior Pastor. Moses enrolled in the Monrovia Bible College and graduated years later with a BTh. Degree. Today Moses continues to serve as the Senior Pastor at ICM. He and his wife are blessed with 5 children all of whom are serving the Lord. He also provides counseling and prays for patients at the ELWA Hospital. From November 2020 Newsletter - Subscribe We wrote to you about Jestina in our spring newsletter and now we'd like to give you an update. Jestina attended ELWA Academy for 11th and 12th grades and is now in nursing school. She is studying general nursing but getting training in psychology and specializing in pediatrics. She is now in her junior year of nursing school with plans to graduate in the 2021-2022 school year. There is more to Jestina's story. As a member of the Kru tribe, Jestina was paying for her school fees through the buying and selling of fish. The Kru people have always lived along the Liberian coast and have made their living from the sea. The men go out in their small fishing boats all night in the Atlantic Ocean for a catch of fish. In the morning they come back to shore with their catch and the women take the fish to market. This is how Jestina was paying for her school fees for nursing school. Jestina lost four of her brothers and sisters in a fire in their home one year ago. She has persisted in her nursing training despite all these tragic circumstances and COVID-19 lockdowns. Jestina is now continuing her training at a nearby hospital in the "Red Light" district outside of Monrovia. EMAUSA board members have helped Jestina with school fees as well as transportation to this hospital in Red Light during this difficult time. There are many stories of courageous and faithful young people in Liberia like Jestina. Please help Jestina and others that depend upon ELWA Ministries to get their training for key skills to serve our Lord and to support their own families. You can do so by donating to our ELWA Ministries Scholarship Program. Donate |
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