Recently in Projects Category

This year's serving trip to Liberia was an all-guys event, and the projects were scheduled accordingly. Clip Kniffin, Jim and son John Molenhouse, and David and son Seth Parker's plans for the 2 weeks included:

• Dave and Seth teaching addition woodworking classes for the Susie Guenter wood shop
• Repairing the merry-go-round well, and training the staff to maintain it
• Replacing the alternator on the Jahzjet van to get it running
• Clip doing some teacher training at ELWA Academy, and meeting with the Scholarship committee
• A trip to Buchanan to the other Susie Guenter orphanage, to install a swing set.
• Today, Jim, Dave Parker, and the ELWA team will be working in Bentol at the REAP WRT YEE Center, working on the Marian Schindler Building, completing the ceiling, the electrical, etc.

Here's a video describing the wood shop and what the team has been doing.

David Parker wrote on Facebook, "It's Saturday night, Jan 28th, we will leave for Bassa on Sunday about noon, with Jackie and Jeff Jr. as our guides. It's about a three hour drive. We will see the country school, and visit Jackie's pharmacy/clinic there. We will spend one night, and return to Monrovia on Monday evening. We will be eating lots of country chop, and no hamburgers. Last time we enjoyed some craw fish too."

Later, Dave's wife Cathy posted, "Dave just called from Bassa - a village about three hours from Monrovia. Wanted me to hear the singing around a fire in the Bassa language. ... Dave said that Seth winning a couple scholastic arts awards for two pieces of his pottery was worked in as a sermon illustration this morning. I said, "who was preaching??" And Dave said that he was. He said had a feeling that this might happen - so he prepared a bit from Romans 9 ... and sat in the back row. Sure enough he was introduced and invited to preach :)"

Today, Dave had the kids at the orphanage making "pinewood" derby cars (out of mahogany), and a track to race them!

Pray for the team, that they will finish strong, that they will be an encouragement to those they encounter, that God will be glorified in all they do and say, and for protection as they return.

Today we hear from Cherie Snyder Boyer. Cherie's parents, Ron and Gerine Snyder were missionaries with Open Bible, stationed in River Cess and in Sinkor. Cherie spent her first 5 years in Liberia, and it never her heart. We were privileged to have her join our team. As Dan Snyder said, "She's a breath of fresh air!"

April 7th, 2011

Well, I made it back! I returned this past Monday after a 22 hour journey. I can't even begin to explain what an amazing trip it was. I sensed God's presence with me the entire time and really felt the heart beat of God for the Liberian people. Though I had not been there since I was a child 30 years ago, I felt like I was coming home and I wasn't nervous at all. It was so peaceful.

Within an hour of landing, I found myself sitting in the new Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex stadium for the last night of the Franklin Graham Crusade. It was surreal to be in a stadium full of Liberians worshiping God and then even more to watch thousands walk forward to give their heart to the Lord. It is only through Christ that they will find hope and peace from all that they suffered in the war.

During my time in Liberia I was able to be involved in many aspects of ministry. On Monday I had the opportunity to visit the radio station that my uncle purchased just following the war. Through this station, Worship Liberia 101.7 they are having reports as far as Ghana of lives being changed for the kingdom of God.

Tuesday we did two children's outreaches. The second one was the one that impacted me the most. We visited the Susie Gunter Orphanage. At this orphanage there are 39 children. Two of them have special medical needs. I taught a short lesson and told them how each one of them is unique and God created them for a special purpose. I talked about snow, showed a picture of Kate (my daughter) playing in the snow and then showed them how to make snowflakes. They were amazed and I believe through this simple teaching they were able to begin to understand that just as each snowflake is different, each one of them is beautiful and unique too. When we finished the lesson we spent time just playing and visiting with the kids. We loved on them and showed them that we cared for them. We returned the following day to do a similar outreach while a women's conference was going on.

Since returning home to Chicago, my heart is broken for the children I met at this particular orphanage. The staff are struggling to feed the orphans and the special needs children have not received the care they need. Recently, some crucial support staff have been let go due to lack of funding. Please pray for the kids and staff that God would provide all their needs and that God would give me wisdom and creative ideas about how I might be able to help them.

On Wednesday and Friday I spent a lot of time at the hospital located on the campus where I was staying. I served in the maternity ward with the new mothers where I distributed 15 beautiful brand new baby blankets, several beanie babies and spent many precious moments holding newborns and talking with the mothers.

As I drove through the city I couldn't believe the condition the people were living and working in. Many homes are completely destroyed leaving nothing but the cinder block foundation with trees growing up in them. Homes are made from only corrugated sheet metal. The streets are lined with trash and vendors are jammed side by side selling produce, fish, jewelry, old clothes, underwear and anything else they can possibly sell just to make a little money.

There is a great need in Liberia. It is an impossible situation that only God can do a work through. I witnessed God do many things there as a child and during this trip too. I believe through prayer and trusting in Him and the willingness of you and I here in the U.S. we can and will see Liberia become all that God has intended. It was founded as a place of freedom for slaves who were once in bondage to start a new life. Join with me will you, in helping to see Liberia and her people restored to a future of freedom in Christ!

Love,

Cherie

You can follow Cherie on her blog, "Returning to Africa".

Regan Bliss is the youngest son of ELWA and ABC missionaries, Bart and Ruth Bliss. Bart was program director of ELWA Radio, and Ruth was the nurse anesthetist at ELWA Hospital, before they moved up to Yekepa in Nimba County to teach at African Bible College. Regan left Liberia when he was 15, and we were happy to have him join our team as he returned "home". Here are some of his thoughts about the trip.

I would like to say that I had a great time on this now-concluded trip to Liberia. I enjoyed the opportunity of getting to Yekepa to see ABC University as it is called now compared to when it was called ABC or African Bible College. (ed. note: I urge you to check out the Samaritan's purse link for a great article about its work at ABC and the dedication, complete with an excellent slide show).

Becky Chinchen who is the President's wife shared with me in a email before coming to be prepared for a change and yes, it was a definite change to a city that I would call the Shangri La of Liberia. While I was there one of the ABC Alumni who is on staff there told me that Yekepa went from 25,000 to now only about 5,000. I saw buildings that once where homes to families now over grown by the bush or trees, a mess hall that I went out to eat with my family overtaken by the bush, a pool that I learned to swim now devastated. I didn't get to see of all Yekepa, but I saw buildings that looked like were not even touched by the war.

In the midst of all this here I got to see the hope of a University education in a Christian setting by staff who are committed to teaching the Truths for Transformation in order to send out students that would impact Liberia for God. I also was able to:

• see a campus beautifully restored with the help of Samaritans Purse




• see staff that my parents taught



• meet new students



• see my home that I grew up in and to meet the staff staying in there now.

Most importantly, I appreciated being a part of the dedication or re-dedication of ABC as Franklin Graham spoke about having students come from there to teach and to even come back to the US to teach here in our educational system, in order to bring back formerly well-known universities in the US that were originally founded on Christian principles.

Following his return to ELWA, Regan's other highlights included his involvement with the Festival as a Special Counselor, especially sharing his favorite verse, Colossians 3:23-24 with two Liberians who had gone forward to receive Christ as their personal Savior. In addition, he was an outstanding clown at the Children's Festival!

On Monday he joined members of our team traveling to Bentol with Christine Norman, viewing the Youth Enlightment and Empowerment Center (WRT-YEE), and helping with activities for the local children.to be a part of the group that went to Christine's school to hang out and play with the kids. Other of Regan's highlights:

• Settling a fight between two kids that I didn't know I would need to get involved in.
• Seeing Monrovia not once, but twice.
• Visiting and helping at the Susie Gunther Orphanage on a couple of occasions.
• Attending two services at the ICM church. I can remember from when it was in the gym. Seeing Teen Time quiz lead by Dan Snyder.
• Going on the tour of ELWA Hospital to see what is going on there.
• Meeting Jacob Dolo, a long time employee who remembers well working with my Mom. Seeing ELWA radio and listening to an favorite old program, Bible College by Radio.
• Most importantly to coming away with seeing the needs of ELWA and also ABC University for staff, training, and the needs to keep a place running.

Thank you all for letting me be a part of this great trip. It was great to meet the older generation of MK's, along with the Nelsons and to hear some of the stories from some of you from your time at ELWA. Also to meet the spouses of the MK's. I have asked the Lord not to let Liberia leave my heart after what I got to see. I hope that this trip that I got to be a part of could be a spring board for future trips.

Thanks and may God richly bless you all as you serve him,

Regan Bliss

More of Regan's photos can be seen on his Facebook page, our EMAUSA Facebook Page, or at this link.

Greetings,

All of our team have arrived home safely in the US now and are trying to come back down to reality after such a blessed trip. Thanks so much for your partnering with us through your
prayers and financial support, making this trip possible.

It's hard to know where to begin when so much happened, ministry opportunities that we had planned and those that God just presented to us.

My first week and a half was spent working with one of my ministry partners, Christine Norman, who co-chaired the All Liberian Life Festival, sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, where Franklin Graham preached for three nights, which included a Children's Festival.

Highlights of this: Our team was trained by the BGEA to be counselors at the Festival. Anywhere from 18,000 to 24,000 attended each night and over 40,000 children attended the Children's Festival. Around 16,000 people professed salvation and are now being followed up by local churches. Medical teams treated thousands of people throughout the country, some for the first time in 25 years. God truly brought healing, spiritually and physically, to many people.

The rest of our trip was equally as busy. Two pastors on our team from Greenville conducted two days of evangelism training and strategic planning with Youth For Christ, the Evangelical Church Union of Liberia and the United Liberian Inland Church leadership - designed to reach Liberia's youth with the Gospel.

For discipleship, we started the process with YFC and several local churches and Bible Study Fellowship. The BSF West African Director came out to implement their Bible study program. Establishing this two step approach of evangelizing and discipling Liberia's young people has been my burden and my heart's passion for several years.

Also, our two pastors conducted three days of basic Bible doctrines training, we restarted the YFC teen time Bible quiz competition program, had three nights of youth rallies, ministered to former child soldiers, visited and ministered to several orphanages, schools, Awana programs, women's retreats, repaired and installed equipment, water pumps, air conditioners, etc. Many more Liberians gave their lives to the Lord through these ministries.

We had meetings to plan future ministry, as well. We met with the Liberian Baptist Seminary leadership in regards to partnering with a Southern Baptist seminary here in the US to provide help with needed Bible training for pastors. We also have camping facilities available and met with Liberia leaders to plan on taking a team to run a camping program. We also planned to provide a trauma counseling and counseling training. Additionally, we looked into the potential of helping Christine Norman's organizations, REAP, establish an agriculture training program for over 40 orphanages. And the BGEA evangelist, RV Brown, promised to return next year to work with YFC.

Additional blessings from this trip are that both Greenville pastors, Paul Flemming and Ken Forrester, who were on our team have committed to return and to take teams from their churches back to Liberia. They said the needs are so great its hard to know where to start and what to do. I challenged them to bring another pastor friend of theirs on each trip with them to get more churches involved. I will be taking a trip back with one of these churches next year. Also, the Lord worked in the hearts of the ELWA MKs who were there, and some of them have said they will be getting more involved with helping in Liberia.

All of our efforts are clearly designed to show God's love in action, to share His word with the hurting and needy in Liberia. I am so grateful that the Lord has chosen to use me in His service there. And I am honored that He has brought you along side of me, and our teams, as a partner through your prayers and financial support.

The results of this trip will continue to impact lives in Liberia for years to come, reaching
more people with His loving and healing Gospel, not just through our efforts but through those of Liberians with whom we were able to reach and train.

Thanks again so much for making all of this possible, for without you none of this would have been accomplished.

May God continue to use and bless you!

Dan Snyder

Anyone who knows Christine Norman of REAP knows that she is a category 5 force of nature. I stand in awe of what she accomplishes, and how she motivates people, and how she can bring a dream to life. For years she has been tirelessly developing REAP into a highly esteemed NGO though its Freedom Counseling Program, Library/Reading/Learning Center Program, Outreach to Orphan Program, Leadership and Reconciliation Program, and Computer Skills Development Program.

Christine has put forth her extraordinary energy and talent towards bringing her dream of a country-wide evangelistic crusade to Liberia. Partnering with churches throughout Liberia, the Liberian Government, Samaritan's Purse, the Billy Graham Association, and Franklin Graham Life Festivals and more, the at the newly renovated SKD Soccer Stadium in Monrovia, Liberia from March 25 - 27 2011.

The REAP website says

There will be a major prayer event proceeding and at the crusade. This will be a joining together of all Liberians in prayer, forgiveness, and reconciliation for their country and their people. In addition, there will be an emphasis for Liberians to become missionaries to the rest of Africa and to have Liberia become the "spearhead" to bring the gospel to all of Africa.

The Crusade will include a complete humanitarian aid outreach to minister to the needs of the Liberian people, most of whom have not even seen a doctor or medical practioner in 25 years. The Crusade will take place mainly at night and clinics, seminars, and workshops will also be held at the stadium during the daytime to provide needed medical, dental, health, social, financial, psychological, and spiritual assistance and education to the people. Major banks and hospitals have committed to providing needed clinics and seminars.

Christine is eager to get as many volunteers, donations and prayer support as possible, and has asked that we post the following letter.

Dear Partner:

This is a special message from the All Liberia Life Festival to you and all your friends and contacts. Please spread the word about the festival. REAP would appreciate it if you could immediately send this out to your friends, prayer partners, and lists. We would like to spread the word throughout your country and the entire world.

Please Pray for the Franklin Graham (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association) ALL Liberia Life Festival, Mar. 25-27, SKD Stadium, Monrovia, Liberia. Children's Festival Sat 9am. Mar. 26. This is a National Crusade for all Liberians of all faiths and all tribes. This event is an important part of the peace process. The Festival will emphasize forgiveness, reconciliation, and spiritual renewal.

Pray for more churches to commit and help, for churches to be energized, for more counselors and volunteers, for donations and finances.

Pray for: Participating churches, organizing committee, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association staff, volunteers, ushers, choir, mobilizing committee, prayer group, security, set up, planning and for Franklin Graham and his family.

This is only the first evangelical event being planned for Africa. Pray that other countries in Africa would invite Mr. Graham to hold evangelical festivals. Ghana has already issued an in invitation.

If you can help or donate please write or contact: 06833961, 056514390, 06513036 or www.FranklinGrahamLiberiaFestival. Donations for this event can be made in the U.S. through Change Our World Foundation, 3697 Arlington Ave., Riverside, CA 92506, which is the U.S. Festival partner for international donations to the Festival. Please forward this message to all your contacts to spread the word and the blessing.

It has been so long since I've written anything, and much has been happening. ELWA celebrated its 57th anniversary this week (check the Radio page for the program guide for the celebration). I'd like to give a brief update on some of the people and projects we've been following.

Steve and Carol Kejr

Steve and Carol, along with Carol's brother and sister in law, Sam & Sharon Radke arrived safely in Liberia on Sunday, January 9, thanking God that all their luggage arrived undamaged.

Pray for wisdom in how they might best use their time as they will be there a short time (5 months). They know without a doubt that they are where God wants them to be. Please continue praying with them as they adjust to the climate, their health (have already been sick), interactions with people, and choose to spend their time. We know that God is working in this world, in Liberia, and at ELWA.

David Parker and Susie Guenter Orphanage Project

David and his team from his church have built the wood shop and are building wardrobes for the children. The sewing shop and sewing classes are also progressing as you can see if you click on this link. Parker2011Susie Guenter.pdf

Alan and Cheri Shea

Praise God that they are are now less than ten percent away from their monthly support requirement! They still have one time expenses left for vehicle, housing, and outgoing expenses (plane tickets, etc.) Also, pray for Alan as he is just arriving in Congo. The projects the team (Alan and three others) will be working on include repairing lightning damage, grounding against further strikes, and switching the compound over to a different satellite provider for phone and internet access (hopefully it will work now!). He left January18th and returns Feb. 5th.

Youth For Christ Liberia and Dan Snyder

Dan will be on the team returning in March, and will be holding some rallies for YFC. He writes about a need:

Your help is needed! Please feel free to forward to as many and anyone you feel might be able to help.

As most of you know I have been working with Youth for Christ - Liberia. All the YFC staff are 100% volunteers and the only resources they have are what they can raise in Liberia. God has blessed them and they have been able to a lot with very little.

Right now they are in great need of two good laptop computers. These do not have to be new or have the latest software programs. They just need to be good and something that will be reliable for several years.

If you or anyone you know has one please let me know. This gift can be made thru EMA-USA for a tax deductible receipt.

Thanks for your help!

Dan Snyder

Steve Snyder's trip to Nigeria

Dan's brother Steve is leaving for Nigeria on Friday, January 21. He says,

I am very excited about this trip because I am scheduled to return to Hillcrest School where I will be the speaker for its senior class retreat and am also scheduled speak across the country at the four regional campuses of The Nigerian Law School. I will be speaking to every graduate level law student in the country (4,600+). However, I am sincerely concerned about this trip because incidents of extreme violence have flared up again in Nigeria with a bombing in the Capitol of Abuja on New Year's Eve and a Christmas Even bombing in Jos and subsequent area attacks on Christians and churches costing more than 100 lives. I am scheduled to spend several days in each of these cities.

Lots to be praying about, prayer warriors!

David Parker. If you are a faithful reader of this blog, you've read about him and some of his projects. We first got to know David in the '70's when he spent a summer at ELWA as a teen. He made the hearts of the ELWA girls go aflutter, and his intrepid adventures gave some adults palpitations. At night, the ELWA teens would play hide and seek on scooters on the whole compound, but David took it to a new level when he evidently borrowed a scooter to go to Monrovia and was "hiding" for many hours while we were all "seeking" him!

Though absent from Liberia for many years, he never lost his love for the Liberia and it's people. He lead our team in it's first major building project, roofing the Services Building, and since then has returned several times with projects for the Susie Guenter orphanage, across the road from ELWA. (Check out his Merry-Go Round Water Pump project, playground equipment, getting running water for the orphanage, roofing a classroom building, etc. detailed in this blog and on our "Projects" page).

David is preparing another trip next month, with 2 major new projects, with a team from his church. Here is his recent letter, telling about the project.

November 2, 2010

Dear friends,

Susie Guenter Orphanage Director Jefferson and Helena Zeon have looked forward to, and prayed for our trip back to Liberia all year long. We did some planning last January over a rice lunch in the unfinished school building, while I was still there with Seth. Jefferson and his wife Helena were discipled by Abe and Susie Guenter, a missionary pilot and wife, back in the 1960's. Jefferson went to Bible School in Liberia, and started the orphanage as a ministry to orphaned children in the 80's. The 14 years of war forced them into the bush for several years, with the children in their care. They hunted rodents for food and protected the orphans from the fighting. I am so impressed with this couple and their devoted service to the 47 children who now live at the orphanage and the 200 children who show up every day for school.

This year five people from Trinity Evangelical Church in South Bend, Indiana approached me and after some consideration made a commitment to going. The group from Trinity this year includes Lynn Vernon, Kathy and Libby White, and Leroy and Mary Lee Crain. Two others from out of state (Atlanta) will also join us there.

Our team will meet in Liberia on January 9th with plans in place to set up sewing and wood shops for the orphanage. Each child in the orphanage has a bed to sleep on, two feet from the next bed, and that is all. Our first wood shop project will be to make a small wardrobe for each child, along with shelving, tables and work tables for the two shops.

Mary Lee is planning and coordinating the purchase of treadle sewing machines and the sewing supplies. The ladies will be setting up the shop and teaching teachers while we are there. The goal for both the wood shop and the sewing center is to help provide a way for the orphans to learn job skills to carry them into jobs for their adult lives, and to help support the orphanage as they do so. Kathy and Libby White are planning some fun arts and craft projects to do with the orphans.

Sincerely,

Dave Parker for Mary Lee & Leroy, Kathy and Libby, and Lynn.

Trinity Evangelical Free Church
61770 Miami Road
South Bend, Indiana 46614

Please be praying for David and his team as they prepare for this trip.

ELWA Academy is becoming known as one of the best schools in Liberia, and enrollment is over 500 students and growing. Educators like Debbie Sacra and Cheri Shea have helped with curriculum development and teacher training, the Sacras helped raise money for a badly needed new classroom building, and Principal Benedict is doing a great job overseeing the school.

Still, there are major areas of concern that need to be addressed. The computer lab started out with great intentions and donated computers. However, with the frequent power surges most of the computers were "fried". At the last EMAUSA board meeting, Board President Clip Kniffin brought the situation up as a project that needs to be addressed, and we talked about how to get some new computers for the school.

I asked Brother Benedict what Academy needs I could share with you, and on August 15, he replied:

Judy, there are lots of needs at the school. The scholarship project is taking care of one already. Others include:

1. Setting up of the computer lab-need 50 functional computers
2. Update of the library-the present books are old, worn out and outdated. Assorted books are need to reshape the library,
3. Assorted school supplies
4. maintenance- the building are old and need fixing/repairs

The list is endless.

Keep us in your prayers. A lot of parents are pushing for a space at the school because of the kind of school we run: giving parental love, pastoral care,and personal-interactive-learning. process (a do-it-yourself, lots of exercises,etc.). These are the three pillars on which the school is resting upon.

Thanks!!!!

Your friend and brother in His service,

Rev. Benedict T. Nagbe

What followed reminded me of the verse in Isaiah 65:24

I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking to me about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers! (NLT)

The following week, we received the following e-mail from Principal Benedict Nagbe:

Hi friends and partners in the Lord:

We are grateful for all of your support for the past academic year to the Academy. The Lord is GOOD!! He has been so good to the school. He continues to provide all of our needs on a regular basis. He has provided the school with 40 pieces of computers. But there is a greater need to make them more functional and useful. These are Mac or Apple computers. We need the software called "Mac window". When this is installed, it will give access to office: window-word document, spreadsheet, etc. which are necessary to provide instruction to the students. We praise the Lord for His provision.

Thanks for your prayers that the Lord will provide the disc for this program.

Rev. Benedict T. Nagbe

Education Director

ELWA Education

As we rejoiced in the provision of the computers, and sent out an "SOS" regarding the software, Alan Shea answered with a free solution for OpenOffice downloads for Mac computers! Thank you Alan, and thanks to the donors of the computers! Isn't God amazing?

As we go forward, there are several additional ways you can help ELWA Academy:

1. Pray!
2. Donate Mac compatible educational software
3. If you are a principal or leader of a Christian school, e-mail Benedict to encourage him and offer support. His e-mail address is snorseo@yahoo.com

John Corey just sent his August update to his friends and supporters:

Dear Friends,

...The MP3 project is growing, and the demands for the player are increasing. Yesterday I talked with Pastor Momo who is heading up the project in Liberia. He reported that they have set up a program where, after pastors and leaders have read Romans the required 20 times and copied it, that they come together for the presentation. They are then encouraged to continue in their reading of the Scriptures and to meet together to discuss this book and then do the same with other books. He told me, "There are many in my church who have read and reread Romans and have become excited about what the Scripture is saying in Romans and are wanting to do the same kind of study in another book. It has helped so much." Imagine how encouraging this is to a pastor. He said, "Now they understand salvation from God's perspective and not just a human point of view." Pastor Momo is so thankful for this project.

He told me "As we studied Romans in our church, when we came to Romans 13, the people realized that it was God's will that they submit to the governing authority, and they decided they needed to do so." The same is being reproduced in other churches as well. We have at least 350 pastors and leaders registered in the project in Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone with most of them still seeking to qualify to receive the MP3 player. Many others are inquiring about the project. The players contain 823 of Pastor Scott's expositions on many books of the New Testament and Genesis, Exodus, and Proverbs. Funding for this project is a big challenge. That will probably be the biggest limitation in its expansion. This is definitely helping many pastors to get more serious in reading the Word and in teaching it more plainly. For years I have sought to motivate Scripture reading, and expository preaching. Praise God!! If you want to know more, check out my blog at http://mp3project-mp3.blogspot.com/ There are some great testimonies there. Check the back posts. Continue to pray that God will prosper this in helping to build His Church as pastors are exposed to good expository teaching of the Word.

Pastor Daniel in Kenema, Sierra Leone, even though he hasn't received the player yet, told me today, "The book of Romans is a great help to me and to my church. I have actually begun teaching it verse by verse. Many people never read it because they thought it was too hard to understand, but now they are paying attention to it. Several other pastors have also begun to teach it in their churches."

Pastor Kellie in Sierra Leone, who is connected with the association of churches in the Konah district told me that reading and rereading Romans has really helped him to know the way of salvation and how we come to God, as well as giving a better understanding sanctification. Pastors in his area have been coming together to discuss the book of Romans.

What a great movement this project is creating!

Boakai Harleyson, from Kolahun is finishing up his Masters of Church Admin at JETS in Nigeria and will be returning in December. He has introduced this project at JETS and there are 60 pastors now involved in it there.

A team of 3 guys and I leave for East Russia on Sept 5. I will be gone for 6 weeks during which time we expect to hold Bible conferences in 8-9 churches teaching the book of James. Pastor Gary from SW Bible will join me Oct 9th to hold a pastor's conference. He will be teaching the book of 1 Timothy and I will be speaking on the heart of the pastor. God is building His church in E. Russia. What a privilege it is to be a part of this. I greatly appreciate your prayers during this time.

You see, I find I'm not as young as I used to be, and of course I continue treatment for that Myeloma thorn in the flesh. In the last lab test the Myeloma counts went down from 0.3 to 0.2 which was very encouraging since it had been trending up. God seems content to keep me around a little longer. As I have been working on our house this summer, I so often think of how temporal this stuff all is. Still, I do it, whether it's for a year or 20. It has been great to have 4 of our grandsons ( 17-19 years old,) when available, working for me as we tore off a wood shake roof, fixing a lot of rot and replacing it with a metal roof, as well as prepping and painting the outside and many other projects. It has been such a good learning experience for them, not to say that they didn't appreciate the money they made. It has been fun and certainly has deepened our relationship. They are neat kids.

Our family camp-out was near Florence on the Oregon coast where we had a group camp sight. Everyone seemed to enjoy it so much, and with so many teenagers preteens, and parents, there was lots of volleyball, football and soccer. But the two more "mature ones", (just celebrating our 48th anniversary) made up the cheering section. That was hard for me to take, but I valued keeping my knees and shoulders and back functional, so I watched. "Life moves on" is one of my acknowledging statements for more things than I like to admit.

We trust you had as great a summer as we did. And life moves on as Jeanette and I go our separate ways for a while, I to Russia, and she up to spend a couple weeks with her sister, Irene, in Campbell River, on Vancouver Island. Put those two gals together and you have two peas in a pod. It's great!

In His grace,

John and Jeanette

In past posts, we referenced John Corey and MP3 players that Bill and Judy Slater carried to Liberia. Liberia is rebuilding spiritually, and John Corey is on a mission to rebuild Liberia spiritually by training English speaking pastors using expository messages (from his pastor Scott Gilcrist) on key books of the Bible. The bar is high if a pastor desires to join this program, which uses the MP3 players. According to John,

In order to qualify to receive a player a pastor is required to first read the book of Romans 20 times and to copy it word for word into a notebook. When he is presented with the player he must agree to listen through the 109 messages on Romans as taught by Scott Gilchrist of the Down Town Bible Class. He is then encouraged to do the same with the Gospel of John and then each of the books on the player.

Can you imagine your pastor doing this, and what an impact it would have on him and his preaching? Bill and Judy were able to deliver a supply of MP3 players to Pastor Jeremiah F. Kollie, who is the ECUL Todee-Careysburg District Chairperson. In a recent letter to his supporters, also posted on his church's mission blog , he wrote the following exciting report.

Dear Friends,

Imagine pastors throughout Liberia reading the book of Romans 20 times, copying it into a notebook, and then listening to an exposition of Romans in 109 messages, and doing the same with John, Acts, Eph., Phil., Col., 1&2 Tim., 1&2 Peter, 459 30-40 minute expositions, with Genesis, Luke and Rev. possibly to be added? I visualize 1000 pastors and leaders in Liberia and 10,000 and more among other English speaking emerging church countries doing exactly that.

Since 2005 I have been taking mp3 CD players with messages of our pastor, Scott Gilchrist, to Liberia and giving them to key pastors. I upgraded last year and this to an electronic mp3, 4gig player to give to other pastors Since returning from Liberia late Feb., I purchased 40 more of these players at prices from $15-20. But it gets better. A business man, who is connected with our church, living in China and participating in our project, can purchase the players there and deliver them to us for about $8-10 each or even lower. We are expecting the first shipment of 100 by the middle of May with Scott's messages on the above books already preloaded. We are still researching for the best product and pricing, however. Join in prayer that we will come up with a very durable player to meet this need.

Scott's messages are broadcast on various radio stations in America, and have been on ELWA in Monrovia Liberia since 2004 and for about 3 years in Ghana under the name of Down Town Bible Class (DTBC), the radio wing for Scott's ministry. He has taught for many years in the Portland Art Museum under this same name. This class is cross-denominational and designed for any who can come on Wednesdays at 12:15 - 12:45. About 150-175 attend it weekly.

Kolahun leaders

We have set up a project in Liberia that once a pastor or key church leader has read the book of Romans 20 times and copied it in a notebook word for word, he will be presented with a mp3 player containing the above mentioned 459 messages. They are encouraged to read the other books 20 times and copy them as they listen through them. Scott doesn't begin to study a book he is going to preach on until he has read it about 50 times. He has hand copied the whole Bible exactly as it appears in his own Bible, line for line, page for page. Over the last few years he has encouraged us to copy books, and many are doing so. Why not try this yourself? (Deut 17:18-20) He's back to copying the NT again. I asked those I was training in Liberia this past January and February to copy Philippians during the week that I taught it. Several gave testimony that it helped them to understand the context of verses they often quoted. Few pastors have ever read through the New Testament and many haven't even read through very many books. So this is a big leap for them.

Moses Paye "I am having a wonderful time reading Romans the 20 times. It is a great spiritual experience for me. It is so encouraging, reading and playing the messages of the book (Romans). I am enjoying it so much, and am teaching it in my church in a Bible study. Two years ago (15 months) when you were here you challenged us to read through the Bible. I have been doing that and am almost finished now. It has been a new experience for me. I am so glad. This has helped me so much to focus on just one book. So wonderful. Pray this program will open for many others. People see me with the phones in my ears and ask me about it. Then I have to tell them all about it and how wonderful it is. When I get up in the morning I read and at night time I read and any other time I can get I am reading Romans. I am encouraging the people of my church to be reading it. I am telling people about it everywhere I am going."

He was very encouraged that we are opening this up to all pastors who will do it. He said it would be so helpful to the pastors of Liberia. He felt that it would strengthen them and help them to understand good doctrine and to teach good doctrine and not just any kind of things that come to their minds. He repeated over and over again how valuable this is and how happy he is about it.

Moses is one of our lead pastors in associated with SIM international mission). A very godly man. His wife had a near death or death experience a year ago, after an operation to repair her intestines with complications of Typhoid and where her intestines perforated in many places. None of the doctors expected her to survive, and almost immediately after the surgery was finished her blood pressure dropped to zero, the doctors left her, changed their clothes, and two left the hospital. A nurse stopped in from time to time, but there was no response, but then she came again and saw her toe wiggle. Moses and the chaplain had been in a room and praying through all this time. His wife had seen herself leaving and felt she was on her way to heaven, but was told strongly by someone in front of her to go back. She tells that she knew she had gone a long way and didn't want to go back, and felt afraid to go back but because the one in front of her was so strong in his command to go back, she turned around to go back. She has totally been restored, and when I asked Moses how she was doing, he said she is in normal strength. She is an OR nurse and had worked and is working in the same room where she had been left for dead, and where God brought her back. Her story has had a deep impression on many.

Thanks for your participation with us in the gospel. Jesus IS COMING SOON!

John and Jeanette

For more information about the MP3 project, visit http://mp3project-mp3.blogspot.com/, or if you desire to support this project send your contributions to:

DBC - MP3 Project

14605 SW Weir Road

Beaverton, OR 97007/