Special seminar in Zambia

June 2019

REPORT

Warm greetings to you all brothers and sisters! We always give honor and glory to God who gives us the rare opportunity of working in His Vine Yard. We also thank Him for this privilege of sharing what is happening here at BVBI-Zambia.

The institute had a joyful month and the 4th quarter came to a close with students having a short course on “Leadership” that was taught by Brother Kennedy Mukuka. This course started on 24th June 2019 and ended on 28th June 2019. A week prior to their short course they had final examinations in their normal courses. Besides our busy schedule in class we always finds time to do practical in Evangelism and this intake has also proved that they do love to preach as we went on weekends at Roan township here in Luanshya. This was a good preparation to our major gospel meeting of June.

Our Copper Belt Province gospel campaign in Ndola of all the Churches of Christ for this year was a success, the meeting became one of the school’s highlights of their activities. This meeting stated on 27th June 2019 and ended on 1st July, 2019. We had a good participation of our students in all the activities. Brother Cephas Mwamba was one of the main speakers during meeting. The theme of the meeting was “Christian Living in the 21st Century”. He did a tremendous job and encouraged many to run away from sin. Brother Fred Kanangu coordinated with leadership to make sure that a four (4) days meeting was a success. There were also other lessons that were taught by other Brothers from the copper belt and beyond.

And at the end of the Gospel meeting the following statistics were recorded: 445 were in attendance, 19 baptisms and 167 restorations. We had a number of good confessions during this time as people were restored and we give God the glory for this!

It was a very sweet surprise to see Brother Keith Kasarjian visit us on 21st June, 2019. In spite of his short visit we were very happy and blessed that he came our way. Indeed he really made our day!!

At the time of writing this report, our students are engaged in a workshop with Brother John Dube from Zimbabwe. As our next report will show.

Our hearts are truly grateful to Bear Valley Bible Institute International and to Woodland Oaks Church of Christ for the financial support and all the encouragement in this good work. We will continue likewise to pray that God will bless the works that you all are involved in as well.

In His Service,

Cephas and Fred

Good news in Cameroon

Hello people of the Most-High God,

We bring you warm greetings from the church in Mbanga, from the school of preaching, and from my family as well. It is a pleasure to relate and to communicate to you all about the work in French Cameroon.  Our country has still been in serious tension with the crisis in the English-speaking part and also in the northern part where Boko Haram is also terrorizing the people in that locality. We urge you people to keep our nation in your prayers.

Time waits for nobody. This has been a common saying in Cameroon. We are advancing with the training of preachers and before it is time, we shall be having another set of preachers in the field. What a glorious moment in life it is to do the work of an evangelist.

We had our first short course with the third batch of students and our first students’ wife’s class that lasted for one week. “It was awesome to have this,” the sisters testified after I taught them the course on “General Bible Knowledge” while analyzing one book after the other. At the end, many were able to site the 66 books of the bible and could also give out the names of the apostles of Jesus Christ along with many other things. At the same time, the men were taking the short course, “Discipleship,” taught by evangelist Beasem Julien. It all went well as the brethren gained more knowledge in the Bible before going out for field work.

Mission work and campaign.

Immediately after the short course, the students embarked on a very critical mission, that of preaching the gospel and winning souls. Some were so excited to go out and become fishers of men while a few others were still in traumas they began to imagine how they would be going out for the ever first time. The command was given and the teaching that no one puts his hand on the plow and looks behind. Go and preach the gospel and the Lord shall be with you till the end of the age.

The field is vast as demand for students was really high. We sent our 15 students to 10 congregations around French Cameroon. We are still waiting for their return. We pray, “may the Lord be with you all till you return to the campus.”

Brother David Ballard, on his part, was doing personal evangelism both in people’s homes and at the church campus. It was another fruitful time as God added 4 souls with in this period of 2 days of evangelism and all are doing great in the Lord. Some others were distributing some food items to the patients, kids waiting with their parents, and sick one. It was all another sweet moment of fellowship. The water in the campus was able to satisfy and quench the taste of all those who were present. Brother Ballard also handed over a Bible to a new convert.

Our next quarter shall begin on the first of July 2019. We pray for the safe return of the students. Some have traveled as far as to the north of Cameroon.

May our Savior, Jesus Christ continue to be with us.

 From the slave in the Mbanga assembly and the school of preaching in Mbanga,

Ititi Benedict

A new group of incoming students in India

Dear Brethren in Christ,  

I bring greetings from Visakha Valley Bible College. By the grace of God we are doing well.  We thank you so much for your prayers and timely encouragements for successfully training the men to become effective evangelists in fertile lands of India.  Certainly it is a blessing to train up evangelists for His cause. With the rapid changing over in our society both culturally and materially people are becoming more materialistic. Even the generation following will not get a good knowledge on God and Its creation unless this generation is being taught about the Truth. We are very thankful to God for blessing us with this great opportunity to light up several souls with the word of God, it is being possible only through sending of well equipped men of God.

Summer effect:

This summer had been the worst of all;  recently monsoon season has begun, not quite rains but a shower here and there, however weather continues to be very very humid. Visakhapatnam has experienced worst ever record breaking temperature this year. Since it is an industrial area weather is usually pretty warm, in summers it add up to terrible degree. Looks like global warming is true….want to visit  Vice President Algore to appreciate his argument about global warming years ago.

New Bore Well:

While this has been the case we are struggling with,  We had some worst time of the year since the end of April at our school, that is lack of water. Of course We were able to buy drinking water, due to downfall of the ground water level in our water well, it was needed to dig a new bore well at the  same place where we have dogged the well before. It has severed for several years, from last few year water has become scarce almost to the point its dried out, see the pictures 3,4. With the help of the brethren from Lake Houston we are able to  dug a new well. We are thankful the process went well and good ground water was found, it took 4 days to get the installation of submersible pump and also new motor. It is definitely the providence of God that we had those funds to meet our desperate need. We praise God for His mercy.

New Academic Year:

Our new academic year has begun, we have 10 students enrolled for the batch of 2019-21; more to join with this group in a week or two. We are going to have our faculty meeting on the 8th Monday to discuss several things about upcoming academic year. The first two pictures show the newly enrolled students filling the application form and taking the Entrance exam.

The newly enrolled students, would  usually filled up the application form and will take an entrance exam. This entrance exam will help the faculty members to understand the standard of the student.  This batch students have helped so much while the new bore well being dug. We are excited to see these young men becoming part of our Visakha Valley family. Hoping that they would continue their enthusiasm in learning the word of God to become effective evangelists of Christ.

Kindly pray for this new academic year, may God bless us with some more good students who would love to be trained and learned. Brother Jerry Bates will be visiting with us in the middle September to teach a short course. Always love to have Bates, looking forward for their visit. We always welcome any new visiting faculty that would be interested to teach a short course or two.

Gratitude:  

We are always grateful to God for His mercy and providence. We do appreciate our loving brethren at Lake Houston Church of Christ and Strickland Church of Christ. Thankful to God for brethren at Strickland who are overseeing the Preaching School, we work as diligently as possible to keep up the trust and confidence.

Kindly continue your prayers as we also pray for you daily. Give our greetings to the Church you worship with and also to your families. May God bless you all.  We with best salutations from all of us at Visakh.

In Christ,

Samuel Raju Muppidi

John Dean M

Vocational training in Nigeria

Dear fellow soldiers of Christ,

Greetings in the wonderful name of our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ from your fellow servants of God in BVBIN & SWSE, Ibadan.

Below are report of some of our activities in the Lord for this month of June 2019.

OVERVIEW:

REPORT OF A MONTH STUDENTS’ VOCATIONAL STUDIES & BREAK : All our students are now back from a month Vocational Studies & Break which ended on June 2, 2019. The students during the one month vocational training participates in different trade such as Electrification, Fashion Designing, Barbering, Agriculture, Motor Mechanic, Block & Concrete, NAPPMED and Computer. They also involved in daily morning and evening prayers, weekend evangelism, gospel campaign and some of them that are already a congregational preacher taught the mid-weeks Bible classes and Sunday morning Bible classes throughout the one month .

Nineteen souls were added to the body of Christ as the result of their activities and six erring brethren restored and three congregations planted in Uli,Egbomma and Oguta of Imo State and Aroro village / Salako ,Igbo-Oloyin Road, Ibadan. To God Be The Glory & Honour.

FOURTH SEMESTER CLASSES BEGINS ON JUNE 3:

Our last semester for this session begins Lord’s willing on June 3 and will be concluded on July 26 follow by a month student teaching practice between July 27 through August 25, 2019. We are planning to send the 35 students to four out of the six geographical zones in Nigeria. This will cost us between $600 to $700 for transportation and reprinting of tracts for this one-month spiritual exercise.

SPECIAL ACCOMPLISHMENT:

We appreciates Bro. Keith Kasarjian and the BVBID for assisting us to upgrade our electricity gadget from 2.9 KVA to 8.8 KVA generator plant that supplies electricity to our school community

CONCLUSION : We thank you for your moral and financial supports toward the growth of the Lord’s church in Africa most especially in Nigeria. May the Lord of blessing continue to bless all our work together in Jesus Christ Name, amen.

I remain yours in His grace as a servant,

Makinde Ebenezer Olufemi

BVBIN&SWSE, Ibadan

Making a difference in Fiji and beyond

Bula vinaka from the Fiji Islands

We are coming to the close of our second term of 2019 with only two weeks to go. It has been a great term and the students continue to rise to the challenge of keeping up with their assignments and studying for their exams. We have a really good group of students who are engaged and enthusiastic about the classes that are being taught.

We have a couple of things coming up in the near future. Josh Pierce (my 2nd son) and Paul Merideth will be teaching our short courses this term. Josh has over 20 years experience as a youth minister and he will be talking about how to start a youth program in the local church. Paul, who has PhD in Theology, will be teaching our course on church history. This is Paul's second year to teach in the program here. He did an excellent job last year and was well received by our students. The short courses this term will strike a balance between the academic and the practical.

Lord willing, Emosi and I will be taking a trip to the "far North" to the Labasa Church of Christ. Brother Atu Tawake is working with the congregation there. In addition to preaching, Bro. Atu is a gifted song leader who holds singing practice on Saturdays. He has asked us to record their singing on DVD to be distributed to the other congregations to help improve the singing and to teach the other congregations some new songs. This will be the second recording that they have produced. The first one was very well received and there is a demand for another.

When we started the school here in Fiji, this was one of the the goals that I had set for the program. We wanted not only train preachers and church leaders, but help to provide resources for the local congregations. This DVD will be made available to the local churches free of charge as a resource for them
We also have a resource archive in our library where Sunday school teachers can find coloring pages and activity sheets to supplement their lessons. We have had teachers from several congregations to take advantage of this resource.

Thank you for all that you do to make this work possible. May God bless you with fruits of our labor together!
Your servant in Christ,
Rocco Pierce

Continued progress in Liberia

Greetings Brethren,

We bring you greetings from the students and staffs in Liberia- Bear Valley Bible Institute, hoping all is well with you and your families in the Lord's name. We truly appreciate God for your partnership with us in this great work we have to do here in Liberia, West Africa. Below are the happenings for the months of April and May 2019.

VISIT TO SIERRA LEONE

In the month of April, I was privilege to attend the graduation ceremony for the school in Sierra Leone where 16 students graduated and was awarded a Diploma in Biblical Studies. I was so happy to have been part of the graduation and to see zealous men I was involved in teaching finally going out to do the work of an Evangelist.

I also had the privileged to teach the new batch of students for a week in Personal Evangelism, which gave me the opportunity to get to know them and their ability to take the Bear Valley lessons. I am happy for the experience.

GOOD NEWS FROM OUR PAST STUDENTS

It feels so very good to hear back from men you were involved in training from where they are currently working. There are lots of good news coming back to the school from some of our passed (graduates) students where they are working, especially from Brother Alex Power, Elijah Quoi and Prince Vonleh. These three brothers planted three new congregations when they went home and since then, there have been good news coming from their end about how well the church is doing and many baptism taking place. One request that is keep coming from them is the need to do more campaign or evangelism work in those town to strengthen the brethren and expose the church with the presence of our campaign team. Please pray for these brethren as they continue the good work in those different locations.

VERY BAD NEWS

The Bear Valley Bible Institute Institute Liberia regret  to inform you about the death of student Terry Z. Wounuah who died who  on the 16 of May 2019 at his home town. At the beginning of the second quarter, Student Terry Z. Wounuah, felt critically sick on campus and was forced to go home for treatment. He was diagnosed to have Hapititis B. His illness got very serious by the day and finally, he died on the above date mentioned. He was married with three children. That is, our brother left his wife and three children with nothing or no help to cater for them. The youngest is 5 months old and his eldest son is 6 years old. If anyone with a loving heart will want to help his wife start a little business that will help she and her children, please do. She and the children will appreciate it so much.

EVANGELISM

I am always happy to announce the wonderful work that is being done by the students when it comes to evangelism. Their zeal for evangelism continued to sent out the good news and make the Lord's church known in the community and beyond. In the months of April and May, they had the total of seventeen (17) baptism in Ganta especially around the campus congregation. There had also been increase in membership in the worship.

MASTER PROGRAM

As part of my dream to see the Bear Valley Bible Institute grow in Liberia to offer a Bachalor Degree (BA) and more in Biblical Studies, which will be a way of helping minister to rightfully divide the word of truth, I have chosen to undertake the master degree program offer in Ghana by the Bear Valley Bible Institute to prepare myself for the task ahead. Meanwhile, by the help of brother Steven Ashcraft, the west Africa coordinator for Bear Valley Bible Institute and my family , I have been able to go to Ghana for my classes and back home three different time and by God's grace, I have completed six ( 6) of the twelve (12 ) to be awarded a Masters Degree by Bear Valley. Many thanks to brother Steven and my wife for their encouragements.

APPRECIATION

Many thanks and appreciation to you for all your sacrifices that are making it possible for the Lord's work in this part of the world to go on. May God richly bless you. Please continue to pray for us our country is going through a very serious economy situation right now.

In Him,

Robert P. Dahn, Jr.

Director- BVBI-Liberia

Future preachers camp in Guatemala

To see the latest news from Guatemala, click this LINK.

Student practicals in Zimbabwe

JUNE 2019 REPORT

INTRODUCTION

BVBIZ  make a positive impact in the world by preaching and teaching the unadulterated Word of God both to the lost and the saved. This is achieved at various stages of training. In June, BVBIZ went to another level in the advancement of the Gospel and training of workers for the Lord. A glimpse of this and more are highlighted below.

1.0 BACK TO ANOTHER SESSION

Students had a break from classes on the 26th of May to the 18th of June. Because of this there was no much activity on campus. Two students, Grey Ndoro and Batsirai Tengulachepa who opted to go and work with the congregation at Julena were very fruitful on developing the congregation. Two souls were baptized eventually. For other students also opted to do their part in developing the school’s site by preparing holes for planting fruit trees and planting over 60 of these. All students came back on the 18th to prepare for their field program. The following picture shows one baptism that took place at Julena.

2.0 KEITH KASARJIAN’S VISIT

Keith Kasarjian, Bear Valley Bible Institute International schools Director,  visited BVBIZ on the 18th and left on 20th of June. Keith had time to interact with both students and staff. He visited the school’s permanent site and had an appreciatiation of the developments so far and where BVBIZ wants to go. He also joined the school in her ongoing planting of fruit trees.

3.0 PLANTING OF TREES

In the month of June, about 60 fruit trees were planted at our permanent site. This is an orchard in the making. More are yet to be planted. Our appreciation goes to students who decided to forego their break and dig holes and then plant the trees. Trees planted so far include mangoes, avocadoes, paw paws and oranges. Besides providing food to students, some of these may provide some income for the school later in the future. In the picture below, students do the planting.

CONCLUSION

Finally we would like to thank you all for your moral, spiritual and financial support. Our request this month is that you keep remembering the students who are in the field. This is a new experience for them. Our desire is that the world be won for Christ. To God be the glory!

Local initiatives in Arusha

Grace and Peace to you friends.

We hope that you had a wonderful holiday weekend! The intensity of campaign season is winding down, and some of the team will get a well deserved chance to catch their breath a little. To read a good review of some of the campaign efforts, make sure to check out the Duncan family's recent blogpost: https://havegodwillgo.com/2019/06/30/summer-campaigns-in-the-winter/ Also, be sure to pray for them as they go on furlough.

In addition to the campaigns, I'm very proud of the effort and initiative that the local churches in the Ushirombo area gave to conducting their own area-wide seminar. Yusuph, the local evangelist, described it this way:

"In these seminar four souls has been added into the Church at Ushirombo. The number of attendees was 166 christians. Many thanks to the women who cooked the food for five days. Also there was huge group of children the number was 58 and they had their studies. Some congregations contributed food rice and beans.”

Let's continue to pray for these brethren and their efforts.

Till all have heard,

Daniel Gaines
Director
Tanzania Missions

A great start for the new school in Lesotho

MAY-JUNE REPORT

Church of Christ in Lesotho has made great strides in partnership with Bear Valley Bible Institute. Two courses have so far been taught; students are excelling in their class work. One soul put on Christ through personal evangelism by our students.

The church of Christ in Lesotho with the help of Bear Valley Bible Institute has established a Bible school which commenced on the 4th of May 2019. The school started with 17 students in the first course, How We Got The Bible and 20 students in Old Testament 1. Tawanda Mwadiya taught the first course, and the second one was instructed by Vincent Shata.

The school is only two months old but the impact that it has shown seems like it has been existing for more than a year. The students have started to put what they are learning into practice, the school has encouraged every student to find at least a person to study the Bible with, therefore, our students are involved in personal work. There are more than 45 prospects who are having Bible studies with Bear Valley Bible Institute Lesotho students.

The congregations around Maseru have started appreciating the great impact our students are bearing in their communities. Moshe Tsoene and Likhama Leuta are having Bible studies with 14 men and women who belongs a certain denomination called Sekamaneng Apostolic church in Zion. Their topic is ‘The true church found in the Bible’, Moshe Tsoene has been given chances to teach them during their Sunday worship. There is a great potential that souls are going to be won from this denomination.

Motlatsi Ramphielo, Tankiso Rahlao and Moliko Moliko have managed to get a slot on the radio every Sunday at 2100-2200 hours, their topic is ‘Why we are the church of Christ’. This radio programme has a lot of listeners and is engaging many people hence, 5 people have requested for Bible study.

Senate Mosisili and Sibongile Nyamatana have been instrumental in organizing Bible studies. The group that they have managed to organize for Bible studies has now more than 10 young men and young ladies attending. As result of this initiative, a soul has been saved.

Finally, BVBIL would like to thank God and everyone who is behind the establishment of the school. God is at work in Lesotho and we are just participating in what He is already doing. Our students have started to be evangelistic and they are also deeply involved in different ministries in their respective congregations.

In His arms,

Tawanda Mwadiya

An incredibly productive "break" in Kenya

This is to let brethren know what the Bible students at the Kenya school of preaching had done during the three weeks June holiday and what takes place now at the institution. The number of students is 20 (twenty) and during the holiday, they served twenty eight (28) local congregations. They as well made forty seven (47) evangelistic trips and attended five (5) gospel meetings. They conducted eighty seven (87) Bible studies and preached forty sermons (40). All these they did within a period of three weeks and as a result, twenty one baptisms have been conducted, eighteen individuals (18) restored back to local church services and three (3) local congregations restored back to sound doctrine.

The classes began officially on 1st of July 2019 and these are the teachers and courses they teach;

Regular classes; Charles Ogutu teaches 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles. He also teaches the Gospel of Luke. Ochola Joseph teaches the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. Timothy Winks teaches 1 Peter & 2 Peter and Jude. Elias Omollo teaches Personal Evangelism II (church planting).

Short course teachers are Peter Ray Cole and Mike Reese. Peter Ray teaches Marriage and family life while Mike Reese teaches the Gospel of John.

Other good things that take place at the preaching school include;

Local congregations still taking Mission Printing materials (tracts and booklets) for their evangelism and edification. Preachers' boxes are now over. Nixon Ochieng also enrolls students in World Bible School Correspondence courses.

Thanks for those who have been supporting the school in one way or another. May the Lord bless you abundantly and may He remember your efforts toward his name. Thanks again for your continued prayers for the work here. We also pray for you. Be blessed.

In His service,

Elias

Summer camp in Ukraine

Dear brothers and sisters,

Last month and in the beginning of this month we had a lot of important events. Some of them are especially priceless for me and my family. So, I'll start with the most important ones. In the beginning of July we attended a wonderful summer camp "Americraine" not far from the city of Dnipro. It's an annual event, and many Christians in Ukraine are looking forward to it every summer. It's hosted by our American brethren. The team engages quite a few Ukrainians as well (most of them are Bear Valley graduates) and some local congregations. This year attendance was 350 representatives from different parts of Ukraine. 8 people were baptized during the camp activities. And the most special ones were the baptism of my mother Valentina as well as my wife's sister Natasha. During the last 18 years I have been planting the Seed in my family circle. We talked a lot about the salvation of souls. A few attempts were made to set up a date for baptism but at the very last moments something would go wrong. But the Christian camp atmosphere as well as the wonderful lessons and God's presence made it all work out for the best. Praise the Lord for His church and the diligence of our American brethren in hosting the camp! And special thanks to Jeff Abrams and his team who comes and encourages Ukrainian Christians every year.

During the month of June, we kept looking for potential students. And currently we found 5 who want to join the program. Most of the interested people are young ones. There is also a married couple. It's a huge blessing for us to have an opportunity to influence young people willing to serve in the Lord's church.

In the middle of the last month we had a team of Christians from Southeast Church of Christ, Aurora, CO. They are my old friends and for many years support my ministry in Ukraine. We are very grateful for their children ministry. They stayed in our city only for a few days. They taught the children's class, evening class in the church and visited the orphanage for the children whose parents had been deprived their parental rights. Please accept our gratitude for the service, encouragement and support of our family and the church.

The other important news that rejoiced me tremendously is that our graduate Oleg Fofanov finalized all formalities to become a full-time preacher in Konstantinivka. Before that two preachers from the city of Kramatorsk Vladimir Paziy and Vitaly Rodichev would go and preach there by turns. It was not a very good arrangement because they had to occasionally miss the services in their own congregation. Now this will change. Oleg will take over completely. We request your prayers for Oleg and his ministry in Konstantinivka.

In summer time our students are back to their home congregations with the practical assignments. They all sent me the reports for the previous month. Thus, Eljune Aliev is with the church in Kamenskoe and simultaneously helps the church in the village of Plaveschano. They are getting ready for the VBS. Also he was an active participant in the youth camp in the city of Zapporizhe where 10 people were baptized. Masha, Rosa and Lena work with children in their local congregations. Rosa worked with the children in Slovyansk last month, but she didn't leave her regular children's ministry in Skvira. It's a 14 hours trip from Slovyansk to Skvira by train or by bus. Vitaly works with the congregation in Dnipro. He taught some lessons, paid a visit to some disabled Christians. Ruslan is very active in the congregation of Bela Tserkva. He taught a few lessons and part in the street evangelism efforts. These are some news about our students' summer activities. And in my next report I'll write some more about their work.

Thank you all who continue supporting our Institute and the work of the congregations in Ukraine. We appreciate your involvement a lot.

Your brother and co-worker in the Lord's Vineyard,

Dennis Sopelnik

8 baptized in Nepal

Nepal Center for Biblical Study

April – June,  2019

Respected brothers in Christ,

Greetings to you all in the precious name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. May grace of God, love and peace always be with you.

Vacation camp

We are doing well in the kingdom of God at Kathmandu. We had finished our three weeks of holiday on the month of April. We had time to encourage our graduated students with their home congregations. Total eight new souls were added in the Church. Most of our graduated students are doing their hard work in the vine yard of the Lord. Possibly we will get some new students from their areas for the next class. We did had ladies classes in three different congregations. Rejina, and our current lady students had opportunity to teach other ladies in our vacation camp.

Regular classes

We are doing well in our regular classes at school. We are repeating our Old Testament and New Testament books. Brother Jerry is taking classes in different topics from the Bible.

Graduation

If things are going smoothly, we will do our lectureship and graduation for this group of students in the last week of September month.

Voice of Truth International

We have finished our translation and proof reading of VOTI. We will print out in this month. Another volume will be print on the month of October.

Thank you all of your prayer, support, love and guidance.

Brother in Christ,

Gajendra Deshar

Special guest teacher in Malawi

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE – EKWENDENI, MALAWI

JUNE REPORT - 2019

Introduction

What a great start of the second semester full of good news from student’s home congregations! We are glad to be back at school for our second semester. We were also blessed to have Brother Richard and Carol his wife. Richard taught our students in the course of “Church history”. Brother Richard and his wife stays in Chimala – Tanzania for the Lord’s sake. As they were in Malawi during this time, not only our students have benefited from them, but also some of Mzuzu congregations did.

Sister Carol had been teaching sisters at Matindibizi in Mpherembe area, Ekwendeni, Katoto and also in Chivunguru Rumphi. On 15th June, there was a seminar at Katoto in Mzuzu and Richard was asked to teach on “reading the word of God” and “The importance of studying God’s words” Nehemiah 8:8. Richard and Carol were also asked to attend worship at Kaviwale church of Christ which he helped establish in 12 years ago. So, on 16th which was Sunday we went to kaviwale where Ephron taught bible class on “How to be a Faithful servant” Ezra 7:10 and Brother Richard preached on “Staying focused life” Hebrews 12:1-3. In all these places the request has been appealing to Richard and Carol to come again!

Good news from the students

We have been waiting for the students to come from their one month holiday, and they reported at school on 2nd June with their faces bright! This was about the good news they brought from their different home congregations. They have been attending seminars, teaching classes, and much more preaching door to door which fulfil the command of great commission by our Lord Jesus Christ – Matthews 28:19-20. From the 14 congregations these student are coming from, many souls have been encouraged by their preaching, teaching and many other duties they helped in while they were on the holiday. The out-come of their holiday has been that 7 souls had been added to the Lord’s church and more than 7 restored.

Short-course teacher

We received Brother Richard on 8th June who started teaching on the 10th of June to the 14th of June. We are always thankful for the visiting teachers. It’s not easy to leave your home on your own expenses to come and help us teach. Therefore, extend our gratitude to Brother Richard for his coming to teach at our school. It was a good class on “church history” as many students confessed that this was their first time to learn how the “Departure from faith started” they admitted to have learnt a lot. After he finished the class on Friday the 14th of June, Bear Valley Bible Institute – Ekwendeni was happy to take Brother Richard and Carol for a meal in Mzuzu where we joined them celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary! It was great joy as we even were accompanied by Brother Moster the evangelist at Katoto Church of Christ, and his wife, along with 3 other families of preachers who works with Moster. It was such a blessing for them to come to Malawi.

Campaigns

We have been invited again to help in establishing two congregations in the area of western Mpherembe. But still our challenge is transport to take our students there. Many people have seen how our school does the door to door work and are calling us to help. We still don’t lose hope, because God wants all people to be saved and will help us with transport. We are ready to share our faith always whether we go near or far!

Graduation

We are also happy to let you know that in September this year, we will have Donnie come and teach the last short-course and have graduation ceremony at the end. This will be our second graduation ceremony in Malawi since the school was established in 2015.

2020/2021 intake

We are planning to have our next interviews in October this year. We have already received 24 application forms from all the regions of Malawi. We are hoping to have more application forms coming. The more applicants, the better the choice! We are looking to have 20 students this time. As we have the opportunity, we need to train many preachers as we can. Opportunity + Ability =Responsibility.

Words of thanks

We are very thankful to Bear Valley International for the support fro this work. The school cannot run without your support. Keep up supporting us in many ways you can as this school still need your involvement. Thanks for your kindness and many prayers! We are also thankful for Brother Richard and Sister Carol for helping Matindibizi congregation where Carol taught the ladies, by giving them a sawing machine and also helping them have an opportunity to buy subsidised Bibles that are found with Ephron. The Bibles are in our local language of Tumbuka. So you have the Bible under two conditions; you either memorize the books of the bible or you buy it at Mk5, 000 to get one, instead of Mk7, 100 at the Malawi Bible Society. Let me also thank Brother Dale my fellow worker in the Lord for helping funding for this subsidised Bible project twice since last year. This is really helping many Christians in rural congregations have a Bible. Eternity Is Forever, Think Souls!

Ephron and Clergynton

Gratitude for BV in New Zealand

We currently have three full-time students, and they are all doing very well. Monique, our youngest student, and her mother came up to me the other day saying, “We are so glad you brought Bear Valley to New Zealand.” Of course, I had to inform them it wasn’t me, and I am also thankful to be a part of the Bear Valley family.

The specific reason on their minds was because some Jehovah’s Witnesses knocked on their door the other day. Typically, they would have said, “No thanks.” This time, however, Monique had just come home from class and had the Scriptures on her mind. She was able to engage in very thoughtful conversation with the nice lady at her door. They spent some time reading the Scriptures Monique brought up, and God was glorified. We are all thankful for what God is doing through BVBINZ. And we’re thankful for those who sacrifice for it to be reality.

Lance Mosher, Director

36 souls won in Guinea!

Gueckedou Bear Valley Bible Institute Activity Operations Report for May 2019

We have come to the close of activities for the month of May at the Gueckedou, Guinea Bear Valley Bible Institute. Although several things occurred during the period, this report will be a summary of the major events and of those which attracted our attention and therefore our time. On the overall, we have graded the indoor activities as “good” and the outdoor activities especially because of the comparably high number of conversions as “excellent”. For this reason, it is for me more of a pleasure than a duty to submit this report which is outlined under the below subheadings.

Classroom: The month of May falls in the second quarter of our course study for the second year which requires a lot of credit hours. Compared to that of the “Major prophets” 3 shorter courses including Homiletics 2 and Romans were completed just before the close of May so that we could start “Old Testament 4”, the Major Prophets scheduled for 12 days of 7 hours each day. This is our second to the last course for this quarter. It is therefore likely that to complete the last course for the quarter (Biblical Interpretation 2) there will be an extension of 2 or 3 days in our gospel campaign week scheduled to begin on the 17th of June.

Evaluations for such voluminous courses have included home assignments compelling the students to do much reading and research. So far, the results are good and all 17 students are still on roll.

Evangelism: As highlighted in our April report, the month of May has been one of great success in terms of evangelism. As it was the role of John the Baptist before the coming of the Lord, the men in the new congregation at Foidou had advanced our preaching in many of the villages around them in April while we were on break. In deed the challenge was ours to get ready for an outdoor preaching in the village call Damas (which is the English Damascus of Acts chapter 9) on the evening of Saturday May the 4th.Seven men and women confessed the Lord as a result of the word, but because it was late to get to the river side we agreed to return the next day for the baptism. By His grace it was another opportunity of Bible discussion during the study class of the worship and it resulted to a total of 11 conversions!

Before returning to that village (Damas) for another Saturday preaching which also resulted to 5 conversions among those who attended the following Sunday of May 12th worship from the 2 villages (Damas and Foidou), 1 lady was baptized in Gueckedou on Friday, the 10th of May. Interestingly, another 5 men and women were baptized on the same Sunday in the congregation at the school premises. That means by His grace 10 persons were converted on that Sunday, the 12th of May.

The weekend of 18th to 19th May was another of pressing need for us to reach another village. Now the men of Foidou assisted by some from Damas extended the message to Milliandou, another village where we were encouraged to go and preach that Saturday evening. Again, 7 men and women accepted the gospel call and were baptized the following day, Sunday the 19th of May along with 4 other women from the village of Damas. That is true, Sunday, the 19th of May another 11 conversions took place as were on the 5thof May. Let me mention in passing that at each area of our public preaching we would close up with the exercise of tract distribution!

Furthermore, there were 3 additional convertions on 20th and 26th of the month – 2 in Gueckedou and 1 in the village of Milliandou.

In all we have converted 36 souls to Christ during the month of May.

Worship Services of the Brethren in the 3 New Villages of Foidou, Damas and Milliandou:

 It should be of concern how and where the Sunday worship services of the brethren of these new villages are being held when at the same time conversions were taking place in either 2 or all 3 of them. Indeed on every Sunday of May – the 5th, the 12th, the 19thand the 26th Gueckedou Bear Valley was converting people in at least 2 of the 3 new villages. Here is how it was done. Worship was held in just 2 of the 3 villages for all 4 Sundays of the Month. Encouraged by their friends who first announced the message before our Saturday preaching, the prospects would walk to come to worship and to be baptized the following Sunday at the host village/congregation.  That was really impressing!

At the moment the desire and agreement is for all of them to remain as one congregation worshiping in one village this Sunday and in another the other Sunday. This might change in the future as the converts in each village increase with other necessities such as for children, the old age and the disable. The average attendance so far is 50 including the 2 workers from the institute.  

Material Need for Evangelism and Gospel Campaigns: During those Saturday public preaching we saw and or felt the need for loud speaker and amplifier materials. In all previous campaigns we had only done house to house and door to door evangelism. We did reap some fruit, but have lately experienced that the general public proclamation of the word will result to more fruits. Hence, we are here appealing to any well-wishers to support us with amplifiers and other public preaching materials. This is especially needed for the city (Gueckedou town) preaching. Support the volume of our voices please!

Conclusion: Gueckedou Bear Valley had had much to do in the classroom during the month under review. We were challenged by courses which required more than 35 or 48 credit hours, but we did go through successfully. More than that, we were somehow pressed, but glad to go out on every Saturday to preach in one village while at the same time making efforts to build the town congregation. Constrained by limited transportation means and repairs of the old vehicle on hand we struggled, but the efforts were blessed and therefore the month of May has carried the highest score of conversions (36 souls) than any other since we established in March 2018!

Tract distribution has been and is still an active role in all our personal and public preaching. We are grateful to the “French World Outreach”/ bro Barry Baggott for responding to our call.

Thanks and appreciations to you all who support this honorable work.

May the Lord be praised because “we are unprofitable servants: We have done that which was our duty to do”- Luke 17:10.

Francis

Three "extended" schools in metro Accra

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE

EXTENDED SCHOOLS REPORT

Koforidua, Kasoa, Nsawam

We are most grateful to the Lord for His hands on the schools, blessing the schools with regular admission and the love of the brethren, who always desire to support us for the truth. Bear Valley, Extended schools mentioned above started in January, 2019.

Koforidua is a Regional (State) Capital and the school is meeting in the meeting place of Ada Road Church, one of the six congregations in the city. Currently, the school has 13 students and is growing. Gyan Mante, one of the instructors of the school in Accra is the director.

The school in Kasoa, a District capital, meets in a congregation called Papaase No. 2. The school has 12 students. Kojo Acquah Beenyi is the director.

Nsawam is also a district capital. This is the first among the three and has 20 students. It meets in the meeting place of Adoagyiri Church of Christ.

These congregations have also given out all their facilities to the support and progress of the school. Their light bill as well. Basically, the instructors for the Accra school are the instructors and they teach base on courses assigned.

The school runs on weekends – Fridays, 4 – 8pm and Saturdays, 8am – 4pm. As part of the academic program, all students partake in the campaign programs, lectureship and other activities.

The fascinating character of the schools is that the truth is maintained and has yielded a positive influence all over the churches in Ghana, in which most of the churches are sending their men to study the Bible for the sustainability of the truth. With the help of the instructors, our students keep improving in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and the scriptures.

Our students have appreciated the consistent support of the brethren, especially our brethren at Riverside Church of Christ. Currently, with your help in finance, we’ve been able to afford 50 new folding study-chairs which is improving the comfort in the studies.

Evangelism in Accra

Introduction

This month has been fruitful to us and a cool season, being the raining season in Ghana to the glory of God. We appreciate the wonderful works of God throughout the period; our classes, administrative task, teaching and non-teaching staff in Ghana. And the marvelous contribution of our dear brethren, we never cease praying with you in our various congregations.

CLASS & EXTERNAL ACTIVITIES

Classes are on-going, and students participating in their lessons effectively. In few months, the third batch (full time students) will be completing their program for the two years and some of the weekend students in like manner be completing their course at the his year 2019. Due to their number, students yet to be completed, has been separated to enable them quickest completion for the rest of their courses.

As part of the program for the full time, thus church visitation exercise, the students are participating effective and doing well in the churches assigned to. The aim for this visit is to let our student improve in the homiletic presentation and practice.

We are also grateful to the Lord for bringing Kojo safely to Ghana and also thankful that he is doing well, very energetic and looking handsome. Immediately he arrived, that week, he started teaching for Kasoa Extended School. Also, he has made trip to Tamale to check on how the school and the church are doing over there, as well teaching in the school.

We cherish your remembrance of us in your prayer.

Keep praying with us. God bless you all. Amen.

David Ballard visits Cameroon

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings and love from our beautiful Cameroon. We are happy to share news with you on what the Lord is doing here in Wotutu through His children. We are on and God is watching over us in the midst of the crisis in Cameroon. Keep praying for us for we can see the effectiveness of your prayers as the ongoing crisis will soon take shape for peace to return as the world keeps praying over Cameroon, once peaceful nation.

Last week in Wotutu was great but very busy as many things were going on. Our Bible students were in class studying THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH as a short course. Brightland Christian schools were on a break as the third edition of VBS was on the secondary campus. The nurses’ room in the Bible building was used for the free medical consultation. The community came to benefit. Since the crisis has affected many who depend on farming such that they cannot freely farm now, they came and were helped by the free medical consultation and dispersion of medications.

Our coordinator came with a team of 8 this summer with different activities to be perform. You can see him in class teaching on the New Testament Church. It is very important for people to know about the new testament church. The students will gather the rich information from the subject matter and will take it to the corners of our country.

He brought ties to all the students and some staff who were present. The students were able to take two ties each. This will help them look neat as they preach the gospel. Thank you very much brother Steve Marx. Even though you have sickness, you were thinking about these students. You are in our prayers and we know that God will bless you.

In the Bear Valley Bible building nurses’ station, the free medical consultation was there. Many people came to see sister Vicki who was heading the medical department. She saw a total of 317 patients within 5 days. We send some serious cases to the hospital in Limbe to see the doctor, like a child with Hep B and SS, and woman with liver infection, and many others. This woman with liver infection escaped the war area in Kwa Kwa and has been staying in the bushes for long as the crisis is on. She developed this liver infection in the forest. She is now presently in my house to follow up with the doctor in Limbe. She cannot go back into the forest. She is a widow and her house was burned down in the crisis. Please pray for the situation we find ourselves in. It is hard here on both sides.

PLANS

When the students return, we shall continue with the weekly evangelism in the west coast of Cameroon.

APPRECIATIONS

Thank you very much for all your help. My God continue to bless you as this work is in progress. Do your best to share these reports with others.

 God bless you.

 Elangwe and family

By the grace of God director BVBIC-Wotutu

Mission Printing materials reaching souls in Kenya

This is to share with you what has taken place at the Kenya School of Preaching, a branch of the Bear Valley Bible Institute. This is about what the students had done while at the school during the 3rd quarter/semester. The current students are twenty (20) in number. Full time African teachers are two (2) Charles and Elias. American Instructor has been one (1)-Dr. Mike Rowand.

This quarter the students had managed to visit and serve ten (10) local congregations around Kisumu. These are the nearby churches that they visit on weekends, sometimes at the request of local preachers in those congregations or home local congregations. During their visit and evangelizing the are around the school, the students had managed to make 28 evangelistic trips, attended 4 gospel meetings, conducted 44 Bible studies (classes) with prospects and preached 55 sermons. As a result of all these efforts, two (2) individuals had been restored back to fellowship with the Lord and with believers in one congregation. They had as well conducted 27 baptisms and restored one local church back to the right doctrine.

The school had closed on 7th of June, 2019 and they will be away till they report back beginning on 28th of June, 2029 for 4th quarter.

As per the Mission Printing Literature at the school, Local church preachers still come to pick the tracts for evangelism and edification. This they do with the help of vehicles, motorcycles and small trucks called "Tuktuk" which are meant for carrying luggage.

We also have WBS- World Bible School materials which local preachers take with them as they come for the tracts. These they use to provoke prospects to study the Bible with them and be converted at the end. The one man who has committed himself to working with these is called Nixon Ochieng, a preacher at Migosi local congregation.

Towards the end of the quarter, one of our current students (David Mwai) had lost his beloved father and preacher- Lucas Mwai. The father had been a preacher at Sota Lord's congregation for many years.We went with some students to be with the bereaved family and helped with the burial. It is our request that you still remember the family in your prayers.

Thanks to God the Almighty for the the much good he has accomplished with the Bible students at the KSOP. Thanks to all of you who have been supporting the preaching school in one way or another, either with prayers, money or service. May the Almighty continue to use you for the continuance of the training program and the much good that is done to the lost and the saved. Be all blessed,

In His service,

Elias