Adapting in Wotutu

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from this part of the globe, where it has been rainy since morning. Many of our Christians came to worship wet because they have never had an umbrella nor a rain coat . Hundreds of them still came anyway. I am happy to write what has made news here in Wotutu where we are laboring day and night to grow the church and to keep the Christians under our care focused on Jesus in times like this where many are losing faith and turning against God.

Last week went on well here except that Brother Prisco, our student, is still very sick. We keep going back to see the doctor and to help him in his health. The swelling in his legs is going down a little bit but he is still on his medications. Students are still busy with their studies as they dig deep into the Bible to gain knowledge and to be grounded with the truth. They will be preaching the truth in their respective places as it is less than 5 months until their graduation. Keep them in your prayers because at times like this, they are always facing strong temptation as the devil is not happy that soldiers are about to go out to fight and to depopulated his kingdom.

Keep us in your prayers here. We are faced with lots of challenges with health and daily necessities but we trust God that the tough times will not last for too long because our God is tougher than all of our tough times.

Even though we are praying and teaching, we also make sure our Christians are observing the measures put in place by WHO to help prevent the spread of the pandemic. We have hundreds of masks, hand sanitizer, and hand washing stations to keep us and others safe while we are worshiping. No one enters the hall without doing those things at the door.

I was there to make sure the measures are observed. I was also there to help children know how to wear their masks properly. It is very important for all to obey the rules. Quality face masks were distributed to students as well to keep the fight against COVID-19 alive in school while the students who are preparing for their examinations. Keep these efforts in your thoughts and prayers.

It is compulsory for Bible students to wear their masks before they leave campus for mission work and they are also advised to always put on their mask as they share the gospel on house to house during weekend evangelism.

PLANS

The second Sunday in August we have mass evangelism in Idenau, which is one of the congregations on the west coast of Cameroon. We want to help nurture the church there.

We shall go to the Supe congregation by the end of August to help the church. The Supe congregation is a struggling congregation. They have part of their roof iron purchased and installed but the other part is expose to the rain. They are crying for help to finish it. We shall be there by the end of the month. Any help toward this project will be very much appreciated.

APPRECIATIONS

We can only thank you for all you are doing for the work here. We know God is watching and He will reward you and your family for the extra sacrifices you are making to see that things are happening here for the glory to be giving to God. Please share our report with others.

God bless you and keep you safe. You are in our prayers. Please pray for us as well.

Elangwe and family

By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu

Students sent forth in Ibadan, Nigeria

Beloved in Christ Jesus.
Greetings from BVBIN & SWSE located in Butubutu village,Ibadan,Oyo State. The send forth programme for the 2019/2020 students held on 23/07/2020 @ Doug Wheeler's events center yesterday night and early this morning ended in good mood.
The programme of yesternight started at exactly 8:00pm Nigeria time with I (Bro.Makinde Ebens) as the moderator and songs leader and Bro. Kayode Eniafe delivered a fifteen minutes sermon on the topic   Be of Good Report and TEXT Philip.4:8 after some minutes of praises and opening prayer said by Bro. Andrew Adeolu.
The second prayer was said by Bro. Dele Shotola after the sermon. This was followed by songs of praises to God. Another prayer was offered by Bro. Silas Wayne on behalf of the students as they were about moving to the field.
After the prayer, announcement was made for the students on how they will run their practicum effectively and necessary materials(Tracts in Yoruba language,tracts from Mission Printing,WBS introduction lessons ,500 of VOTI vol.104 &105) distributed to the students and half of the transportation fare to their station.
After this, the closing hymn was rendered, GOD BE WITH YOU TILL WE MEET AGAIN and the closing prayer was said by Bro. Isaac Olaniyan. The programme ended exactly 9:10pm followed by refreshments provided by the school.
We deeply appreciates all our American brethren for their great partnership and supports toward the building of the building of the Lord's kingdom.
The students are expected back in the school on August 24/25,2020 in preparation for our 18th Annual Bible Lectureship / graduation of August 26-28. The new students will commence classes on August 17 Lord's willing.
Thanks once more for your great contribution.May the Lord keep us fit in His loving way till death is our fervent prayers.
I remain yours in His Grace as a servant......Makinde Ebens

Using time wisely in Malawi

Bear Valley Bible Institute - Ekwendeni

Malawi  - July Report

Introduction

Since the the government suspended the schools due to Covid 19 pandemic, we are just being assured of reopening soon but we don't know how soon! Although schools are suspended, but we are making sure we do something that encourages our students and churches of Christ around our country. We are still visiting our students where they worship to make sure they remain active spiritually. We have been conducting lectureships and one to one preaching. We are also grateful to God that the forms for the school land lease are all signed ready to go! We now have the land as a property for the school.

Lectureship

 This month of July, we managed to visit two congregations where our two student comes from respectively and we have been always accompanied by our former graduate Wongani Gondwe. Wongani Gondwe graduated in 2017, he has married a daughter to Clergynton one of the staff for our school here and he is very energetic and zealous for the work of the Lord.

In both congregations, the brethren showed their excitement for our visit. They appreciated the work the school is doing for training men to be faithful and sound teachers and preachers of the Gospel - 2 Timothy 2:2. They told us that the students have helped the congregations to be faithful and remain in the true "Doctrine" which the Bible teaches.

Brother Clergynton also visited Kamanda Church of Christ where one of our current students is coming from. He said was very encouraged to hear from the church leaders that the student ID doing very well and that he teaches the sound Doctrine which has transformed their worship to as what the Bible directs - Worship in spirit and in Truth. From this same congregation, some men have already signed the application forms for the 2022/2023 intake. Brother Clergynton and our student, had an opportunity to visit some Christians who stopped worshiping and managed to restore one soul to Christ. 

Evangelism

Again, one of our students brother Jimmy Banda who comes from Chisangano church of Christ, together with Kennedy Chiwone the preacher went to restore Kamlezi congregation which is about 5/7 km away. Christians at Kamlezi stopped worshiping for some months and some members asked our student to help them as they wanted to start worshiping. The result after doing a visiting trip for a day, 9 souls were restored. Praise God!

Brother Saliwa Nkosi our former graduate has also reported that one prominent Presbyterian elder believed last Sunday. We are encouraged that the students are doing a great job which has "great reward hereafter".

School Development

Finally we can now report that all forms about the school land lease have been submitted to all in authority and we are waiting for the leased to to given after the Minister of lands to the government signs in the office of president and cabinet (OPC). Next week, the beacons will be put down in all boundaries where the school will be situated.

We are always thankful to Bear Valley Bible Institute - International for the great help you give us for this work. Without your help, the work of winning souls to Christ and training preachers, would have been difficult. May God bless your families and protect us all from the Covid 19 - Pandemic.

Your fellow Ambassadors for Christ,

Ephron and Clergynton

Back to business in Arusha

Grace and Peace to you friends. 

I'd like to share with you some words from Charles Mwanga at the Andrew Connally School of Preaching:

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God..” (Rom. 8:28). Though this has been a hard and trying year, but still God is in control and blesses His people.  I would like to take this opportunity first to that the Almighty God for His love and care, and secondly to thank you brethren for your prayers, love and support. Thank you so much.
 
"We (the Churches in Arusha area), would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your love and care. We received funds for COVID relief and those have been able to minister more than 600 souls with food. We thank you so much, life is still hard since the financial situation is getting worse everyday but through your love, many have been blessed. May the Lord bless you all beyond measure.
 
We (ACSOP) have been blessed so much, to the point of returning back to our regular annual schedule. COVID 19 has changed plans for many this year, but we thank God that we were able to resume our classes and stay on the schedule so far. Our students are back, (except one from Uganda, their borders are still closed) and classes are going on well. We have 17 students in the first  year class and six in the second year class. Lord willing we will have our regular schedule and our graduation will be on the same dates as planned from the beginning of the year. We thank you so much.
 
"Leadership school:  The construction is going on well, we were able to put the roof on, put metal bars in the windows, and now are working on plastering the whole building. We would like to thank all the donors and supporters who are helping the work here to be present even after we have all long gone (If Christ is not back yet). These types of investments will help the school to be able to serve the Church in East Africa in a better way. We will be able to host many seminars and campaigns in these facilities. Thank you so much for all that you do to us, and the Lord’s church in general. May the Lord continue to bless you and yours daily.

"Please let us keep praying for one another during these trying times."
 
As you can see, there are a lot of exciting things going on in the Tanzania work!  As congregations begin in-person services again, I am looking to refill my calendar with presentations to churches about this great work.  If your congregation (or another one that you are familiar with) would like a visit, then I would love to make it happen.  Let me know, and I'll get you on my schedule!

Till all have heard,

Daniel Gaines
Director
Tanzania Missions

Going well in Tamale

TAMALE, GHANA

JUNE REPORT 2020

We are very excited at this point in time to give glory to God for the care He endows us with during this pandemic, it’s beyond our imagination as we continue to rely on His safety scheme. We also recall all your kindness and consistent support you executed to effect the dreams of the college and Churches in Tamale and its environs. May He replenish us all for the sacrifice we confer to enable the gospel reach its peak.

STUDENTS BACK TO SCHOOL

Glory is to God for granting our students, safe journey to the school to continue with the remaining courses that would identify them in the preaching field. Thirteen students have happily reported and the temperature of each student was tested and all proved normal. We continue to monitor their temperatures in every three days interval. Each student is given a nose mask to wear during classes and when leaving school premises or when necessary whilst hand sanitizer is kept on the pulpit to neutralize whoever is called to lead; be it class hours or Sunday worship. The buckets are positioned; one at classroom entrance and another one at the kitchen entrance to enable students and anyone coming in to the school to observe safety protocol. We hope that the contingency that is put in place by the school will combat the virus in the school even if there is any outbreak in Tamale Township.

CLASSES

The Pastoral epistle is taught by Brother James Legend, and Marriage & Home is in progress with Brother Daniel Adjei Mensah. The remaining four courses for the term: Preacher & his work, Old Testament 5 {Minor Prophets}, Book of James & 1Peter, 2Peter & Jude} would be handled by the respective lectures. All the lectures for this term; Brother Roger Akumse, Kojo Acquah, Thomas Donzie and Albert Malir are duly communicated. It’s our desire and prayer that this term too comes to an end successfully.

FARMING ACTIVITIES

This year’s rain looks very promising. The school garden looks very beautiful and admirable. As reported before, the groundnut we sowed is ready for harvesting. The yam farm looks promising. Where we did not sow groundnut is already occupied with maize. And with the way the rain is coming, if it continues this way, by the grace of God, we are sure of a good harvest. We are going to prepare the land we sowed the groundnut on and sow maize after harvesting the groundnut.  We thank God for His providential blessings for us.

The good Lord bless us all,

Albert and James

Big challenges in India

Dear brethren in Christ,

Greetings to you in the precious name of Lord Jesus Christ our saviour. Hope this message finds you all good.  We appreciate your prayers which is keeping us safe and sound.

As the number of Corona cases are raising like anything in our country, especially in the state of Andhra Pradesh,  we request your fervent prayers on behalf of us. So many thousands are being infected, death rate is comparatively little but some young people are dying too. We right now under the fear of Corona.

Faculty Meeting:

Our Team work has made the Preaching school to run successfully and been able to complete a decade of training Men to be effective evangelists of the Gospel of Christ. With the same enthusiasm during this Corona situation we met at the Visakha Valley College Campus to discuss the future of the School. Except Bro. Vamsee everyone else attended the meeting. Since lack of public transportation Bro. Vamase was unable to attend the meeting.  Our primary agenda was to see the possibility of restarting the school. As we begun the meeting with a prayer, several things were came into discussion. We rejoiced as we learned that all our graduates are being kept safe from Corona.

During our meeting we discussed about the present situation in India.

How badly this Corona affected us:

• The preachers cannot visit the members of the Church for any reason, even if they are in a difficult situation.

• Fellowship is missing so badly, totally have to stay away from all church activities, like Bible Class, Gospel meetings, Youth Class, Sunday school for children etc., were concerned about the future.

• Income of the congregation, which is affecting the preachers survival and also those that are dependent on the local congregation.

• Its become habit for some one to skip worshiping At the same time 90% of the church is anxiously waiting for the day to assemble like they used to Godliness has increased, church grew up in faith.

• Proclamation of the Gospel has been totally down under restrictions (Physical Distance).  No out reach programs except some visit the local families

Well, In addition to corona we are having continues rains from last two weeks. This is going to cause several to suffer from variety of Fevers, like Typhoid, Malayria, ChickenGunya, Viral fever etc.,

So, after the serious discussion about restarting of the classes, we have decided to begun teaching the students. The students who are available and willing to attend were present in the first day of the Class.

Here we have come up with a problem of brother Vamsee’s classes, since public transportation (Railway) is totally suspended Vamsee cannot attend the classes. During the meeting he was present across video calling. We have discussed about teaching classes through online media, Vamsee agreed to do that. So, we will be buying a laptop, mini speakers, Mic piece and WebCam to establish online video classes for the students. This indeed helps the students to communicate like they are in the regular class. We have made a trial run last week, it went well. In the future we would be able to use the available projector for the same purpose as well. We believe it is a very good option available for time being to keep up with the students, also to attract some new students as well. It might offer a great opportunity for some who would love to do online classes because of their situation.  At the end of the meeting we had a prayer, pleading our loving God to have mercy on us.

Gratitude: Once again, we praise God for blessing us with wonderful congregations which are helping us to run this preaching school. While we are running the preaching school, we are also helping our graduates to establish congregations by conducting Gospel Campaigns, gospel meetings and Preachers Fellowship meetings. Also, during the times of natural disasters we have been able to help them in several ways, this time during Corona Pandemic we were able to help about 100 preachers families in this area of AP by providing Rice & essential goods for their survival. We are grateful to God for His mercy and also for blessing you all with kind hearts to do all this good works. We thank the brethren at Strickland and Lake Houston, also Jerry and Paula for their contribution as well. Attached are some pictures showing the preachers in hill area receiving the Corona Relief.

Local Congregation: Bro. Kavitha who is one of our faculty is preaching at the local congregation that meets at our visakha Valley Bible college facility. All of our students attend worship service here. Time to time bro. Samuel Raju, director of the college preachers here too. The local congregation has come forward to help some of the poor families in the church, where we were privileged to present those items to the brethren who are poor also some who are not members of the Church. Local congregation is growing spiritually and in number due to their remarkable fellowship.

Please convey our heartfelt greetings to the brethren you worship with, our best wishes to your family members as well. Kindly continue your prayers as we do for you daily, God bless you.

In Christ,

John Dean M

An update from Cambodia

Greetings from the International Bible School in Siem Reap Cambodia.
Our hope is in the Lord for all things, including our struggles with the Coronavirus.
We pray for you and your dealings with this disease as well.

Here are some of the exciting things happening at our school and related to our school:

We begin with the most exciting news,WE HAVE 4 NEW STUDENTS!  Our current student body has welcomed them in with love.
We will have joint classes, but also split classes for the freshmen and the upper class students.
Here is a little about each of the new students - please pray for them as they learn about Jesus, God and their purpose on this earth.

Heus
Heus comes from Siem Reap Province nearby the town of Leang Dai (where the preacher and one of our alumni Sokchea Lork is).
Heus learned about our Bible school from Sokchea and would like to learn more about the Bible and English language.
Heus is to be commended for his desire to do something more with his life, because he says this “There is nothing to do at home and people are dropping out of school.  I want to study the Bible and make new friends”.

Saneth
Saneth also comes from the Siem Reap Province near Leang Dai.
He also heard about the Bible school from Sokchea and wants to learn about the Bible and pick up some computer skills.
“I think this is a good school that can teach about being a good person, practical in knowing right from wrong” - Saneth.

Bopta
Bopta comes from the city of Battamban, which is about 3 hours drive from Siem Reap.
He heard about our bible school through our Facebook Page!
“This seems like a good school to learn how to be saved from sin, to be a better person, and improve my Bible knowledge”.

Sreymom
Sreymom comes to us from the Siem Reap city area.
She also found us through our Facebook page and became curious to meet us and see what we were teaching.
She desires to learn about God and make friends who are good people.
“I have a chance now to make friends at a good school, I want to learn more about God, English and computer skills”.

Please keep these and our current student body and staff in your prayers as we work hard at teaching new souls about Jesus and His saving blood for mans sins.

______________________________

We continue to teach through the Bible and take evangelistic and “family” trips together for bonding.
We have just finished Galatians, 1, 2 Thessalonians and Jude.
Currently we are studying the Wisdom Literature books, and the Minor Prophets.

______________________________

Brother Wes Autrey has been teaching us in Zoom Chapels on Friday mornings.
We also join him and the Battambang bible school for a chapel together on Wednesday mornings.

Our staff consisting of Brother Wes, Darat, Piseth, Vannak, Pros join and Phanat from Battambang and Chann from Siem Reap - study each Friday night on a personal Bible study.
Each week we assign a topic and study it during the week and then discuss it together on zoom for some engaging discussions.

Also each morning we have each one of us posts a devotional on our private facebook page so we can begin our day with some spiritual thoughts and grow together each day.
This has been very good for all of us to study some, but also learn to write things down and share our personal growth with.

______________________________

Below are photos of our 4 new students.
Thank you for your kind prayers and love for our teachers, our families and our students!

The Staff at IBISR.

Adjusting in Wotutu

Greetings to you from this part of the globe in Africa. Cameroon is a little better from the so many things that are disturbing. We are still tackling the crisis that has been ravaging our peace for the past four years and now we are also faced with COVID 19 in Cameroon that has kept everything in a stand-still. Untold suffering has come to many families as many cannot even have basics necessities.

But, it is always a thing of joy as the church stands out in this crisis situation to bring relief to families in the church and some families out of the church. It would be great if you could see a video of all of the families receiving rice and other food items and at times are receiving money to buy medications. Oh, how they are jubilating and praising God! We hope you are all doing good over there. Please pray for us as we are continually praying for you also.

The students of BVBIC-Wotutu could not go for their usually end of quarter evangelism because of   COVID-19. Also, we wanted our students to stay under our eyes during this crisis situation. We were moving from one place of security to another to evangelize. We all started classes except for two students who have dropped out because of one or two things concerning their health and family challenges. This quarter we have a great line up of studies. We have PERSONAL EVANGELISM 3, THE BOOK OF HEBREWS, DENOMINATIONAL DOCTRINES, AND BIBLE GEOGRAPHY. WE SHALL HAVE PASTORAL LETTERS AND MARRIAGE AND FAMILY AS SHORT COURSES.

PLANS

Our weekend evangelism is still on but we are careful as we go about it. Keep us in your prayers.

APPRECIATIONS

Our hearts are full of joy for all the wonderful things that the Lord is doing for us here in Cameroon Africa through you. Keep it up!  God is watching! He will repay you in due season. Please share our reports with others.

Elangwe and family

By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu

Evangelism in Cameroon

We bring our warm greetings and salutation from Mbanga Balong were the church of Christ and the students of the bible institute are working hand in hand for the glory of God. We are doing our best in the midst of Covid-19 as we do our very best to keep and respect all the measures put in place by the state and the WHO.

God is richly blessing us with the breath of life and His spiritual food even though sickness has been a great challenge to our community and to our students. By the grace of God, we are gradually overcoming this stage.

We begin with the work of our students and instructors of BVBIC-Mbanga. We are happy to let you know that the students are growing and are now becoming good pulpit men and are also hard working in the field. Their presentation on the pulpit and the level of handling church activities is showing some level of maturity. We are getting good reports and feedback from their weekend evangelism and other mission work. Keep on praying for this 3rd batch of students who are now in quarter 2 year 2 of their studies.

We are still very concerned with health safety during weekend evangelism as we move to neighboring assemblies and to some distant assemblies. As we do make way for evangelism, God is adding to the church of our Lord, such as it should be saved.

Evangelism is a great vocation and God is faithful, giving a way for faithful ones to carry it out as He is prepared to give the increase. Still in our studies, we are also progressing in vocational training as we train them in animal farming and gardening. Paul was a tent maker and we are also training our students to become “tent makers” in the field of tomorrow as one can decide to either enter into animal farming, gardening, or both to help support themselves as they preach for the Lord. God bless Bear Valley for this endeavor.

We also accomplished a mission to Mombo in a mass evangelism program with brother Alfred and brother Giresse. It was a very good mission of sharing tracks and doing door to door. These two souls were also added in the church in another mission to Tombel. Bibles were handed over to the new converts. We are praying for these new converts and for them to use their weapon of warfare to God’s glory. 

Still in our campaigns we handed bibles to the young assembly in Loum. The leader is a new convert named brother Maturin who is facing many challenges after been displaced from the southwest region. As he traveled to Mbanga to collect these Bibles, one of the major challenges he told me about was about a child in the congregation who was suffering from hernia. God used our beloved brother David and the support team to intervene and the surgery was successful.

God added 5 souls during our mission work as we concentrated mostly around Mbanga and some closely neighboring communities. 2 were baptized in Mbanga and 3 others in nearby communities.

  We are now back in class. We started last week on Thursday and we now in our 2 quarter in the 2nd year of studies.  We harvested some maize (corn) from our garden and some melon (like pumpkin) or what is commonly called egusi here.  Thanks so much my fellow workers in the vine yard. God bless you 

 From table of the willing slave in Mbanga,

 Ititi Benedict Nimending

Director BVBIC-Mbanga 

Temporarily on hold in Trinidad

TRINIDAD SCHOOL OF PREACHING. JUNE 2020

Grace and Peace to all ! School is now officially closed for the 2019-2020 period and will reopen as scheduled in September along with all schools.  Our students have all done quite well given the covid19 situation and we anticipate graduation in December hoping all goes well.  Our doors are opened for the new intake and we are looking forward to a great set of fresh men to continue the legacy.

In terms of involvement, both Trovel  Immanuel and I were asked by the church in San Fernando to assist in getting men ready for Eldership. This was completed and with God’s help, San Fernando should appoint elders soon. We are all excited that we could have been involved this way. Let us be praying for this congregation that has housed the TSOP from inception.

We continue to pray for returning students as borders are still closed. However, in the event that they remain closed, classes will continue online, even with the new intake. Also, in terms of mission trips, we await guidelines from all authorities so keep praying for us. Even our Masters students are impacted so much so that Bear Valley has suspended classes until October. Pray for this please.

Allow me to say a hearty thank you to all those who help make TSOP what she is today. Thanks for your prayers, support, encouragement, funds and general well wishes. We remain humbled by your kindness to us. We also extend an open invitation to prospective students for our next class in September. We will not hesitate to say as well that classes may be fully available online by September so you may still join the class and come to school when all of this is done!! Stay tuned for further details . May God bless you richly!!

Classes have resumed in Togo

Report of June 2020

I give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ for His infinite grace. The teachers, as well as the students of BVBI and CBS are doing well. June 8, 2020 was the date on which classes were opened with all the features of the COVID-19 pandemic preventive measures. Classes are continuing, teachers who are far away are now arriving to teach the classes. Everything is normal. The evangelization and distribution of Bible treatises in the markets and other activities planned by the school is respected.

Classes:

Twelve students are present and continue their courses from Monday to Friday, from 7:30 to 8:00, morning devotion. Classes begin at 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with a 30 minute break.

Evangelization:

Today, motorcycles are used to go to the villages and door-to-door evangelism and the distribution of Bible treatises. Last two Fridays, three students went to AMOUIZOUKOPE accompanied by an evangelist ASSOGBAVI GABRIEL as part of establishing a new assembly. It is a place that we have in program for evangelism this year 2020.

Agriculture Project :

When the students are now permanently at the center, we have taken over all the work. For some time they are not available because of the pandemic.

CBS:

Forty students to enter the Bear Valley Institute next fall continue to run every Saturday from 8:00 to 2:00 with a 30-minute break.

May the peace and grace of our Jesus Christ fill all his blessings for the support you bring to the Institute.

Thanks

Your brother

NYEMANTA Essotena

A new congregation in Zimbabwe

JUNE 2020 NARRATIVE REPORT

Introduction

Zimbabwe  has remained under lockdown with a few service providers having been allowed to operate. Schools remain closed, with only examination classes allowed to write their examinations. This means that BVBIZ is also affected. Travelling remains difficult and this means most of the schools programs remain on hold. However, God has his ways of doing things in that we were enabled to make a few strides. We can report the following;

Lessons Start

With the prevailing lockdown induced by the COVID19 virus having prevented students from coming on ground for now, lessons had to start in a way. The new class was due to start classes on the 13th of May. Having been placed in “a new normal,” an attempt to start online classes was made in June and it proved to be a success. Three subjects were put on trial. These are; How We Got The Bible, Life of Christ and Public Speaking. Lessons were done on Whatsapp and Zoom. Assignments that were due in June were turned in whilst others are on-going. We continue waiting for an opportunity to resume classes normally. This resumption will also allow our second intake which is due to graduate in October, to undertake its last practicum.

Gardening

Currently, a small garden is being prepared. Planting of vegetables has already begun. The aim is consumption and minimise costs once the new class is on campus. However, the lack of water in the area, brings an opportunity for us to produce more and sell. The garden needs to be expanded and put under drip irrigation if resources allow.

Impacting the Community

The area surrounding the school’s new site has a huge challenge of water. With the country facing challenges of drought, for two consecutive years, several cattle had died due to water shortage.. The nearest source is 8 kilometres away. The community came together and bought a 300m  poly pipe which draws water from our borehole to a drinking trough outside the school premises. People come every morning from 6-8am to fetch water for consumption whist their cattle drink there from 12noon-1pm. Almost 400 cattle are benefitting from this arrangement.

New Congregation Starts at Site

When schools closed in March due to the lockdown, two students, Batsirai Tengulachepa and Grey Ndoro,  remained on campus and have been with us since then. When the school relocated its property to the new site, they also went there. They have started evangelism in the area, most of which is done when people come to fetch water in the morning (6-8am) and at noon (12-1pm) when cattle are brought. The average attendance is 20. Unfortunately no baptism has taken place yet due to the absence of a baptistery or pool of water. We hope to construct a baptistery soon. Great appreciation to Nashville church of Christ for providing part of the food needs for these students.

Conclusion

The words of Paul in 2Co 4:8-12  can summarise our situation well. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. Indeed, we owe everything to God who enables us to take the extra step despite various challenges confronting us including the COVID19 virus. Great appreciation to Woodland Oaks and all of you for partnering with us one way or another in the expansion of God’s Kingdom. May God keep all of you safe. To God be the Glory!

Back to full swing in Zambia

JUNE, 2020 - REPORT

Warm greetings to you all brothers and sisters! We give honor and glory to God our heavenly Father who through His grace and the love fully expressed in Christ has granted us the opportunity to work in His Vineyard. This report has been written in an effort to provide some insight into the accomplishments that BVBI-Zambia has continued to experience. 

We have continued to receive good report from our former students, the month of June we have been visited by Clive Kabika from Kabwe central province where he is currently preaching, he has visited and preached to our three congregations in luanshya and has restored three Souls.

The classes are back in full swing after eight weeks of break due to restrictions of COVID-19. All students are back and just concluded the backload of third quarter’s work with a short course in homiletics with Kennedy Mukuka. We are thankful to brother Mukuka who besides the risk of contracting corona virus in Lusaka past through to come and prepare these men for the noble task of preaching. We have also been granted permission by the ministry of healthy to be meeting on Sunday for worship at the Institute, we are currently using a car park as a meeting place. This has given our current student body a good platform for preaching and meeting the community already some members of the community are meeting with us during the worship assembly.

For the past eight weeks that the classes were suspended, these men worked tirelessly with their respective congregations. Joseph Ilunga As he graduates before the end of this year he promises to go back and work among his people in the neighboring country of Congo DR. Joseph has also been preaching in two districts since his return at the Institute.

Nelson Sikazindu is also eager to go back and continue helping the congregation at Miyengelwa in Mpongwe District. The church that he is working with is quite small but given time and constant reaching out in the community, this congregation could be one of the vibrate congregations in Mpongwe area. He restored two souls during his preaching. He is also graduating before the end of this year. And he says he cannot wait to go back and continue helping Miyengelwa church of Christ.

Vincent Simwanza and Stembiso Magawa have been sharing the gospel in Luanshya and Mufurila, Vinicent has converted one soul to Christ, they have enjoyed the evangelism program and we believe the results will continue to be marvelous. We have also noticed a great fellowship with our former and current students whenever we come together.

Simon Khazi was marooned in Lusaka during the time of COVID-19 restriction period. Lusaka Province became the epicenter of the pandemic here in Zambia. Hence, all forms of church gatherings were banned by the government. But Simon and some brethren in Lusaka found a way of reaching out and preaching to people. He mentions that they used to move from house to house of members in an effort to encourage them. He plans to go back to Chitungulu village in Eastern Province of Zambia which is His home village once he graduates from BVBI-Zambia. He plans to go and work with the church in that part of the country.  

We continue to be grateful to God for the privilege of helping these men prepare for the wonderful work of preaching. We are also thankful to Woodland Oaks church of Christ for the partnership in this work. Your financial help that you send to the school each month will undoubtedly yield great dividends in God’s Kingdom. 

God bless you all!  

Brotherly,

Cephas and Fred 

Using time wisely in Liberia

GREETINGS

We bring you greetings from the Bear Valley Bible Institute-LIBERIA , hoping all is well you all by the special grace of God our loving and faithful Father in heaven.

COMPULSORY CLOSURE

The month of May begun with us very challenging because of the Covid 19 Pandemic in Liberia and from around the world. Our government was force to passed out mandate as a state of emergency for the immediate closure of all schools and businesses to help keep its citizens safe. This forced us to followed the Government orders by suspending classes on May 6, and most of the students went home. This we have to do to avoid getting in trouble with the authorities. This has brought everything out here to a stand still. We have six of our students staying on campus because of the distances to their home towns. We all thought this would have finish sooner, but it has surprised everyone as it stands now. Meanwhile, the few students staying on campus continued to share tracks and do little Bible studies. Three baptisms have been done by them.

There is a state of emergency in Liberia with a 3:00 pm Curfew for everyone for the next 21 days in the country. Please keep us in your prayers because the numbers of Corona virus patients are rising.

ABOUT A STUDENT:

JULIUS D. NOWON - is one of the young student in the Bear Valley Bible Institute here in Liberia. He hailed from Lillepo Kanweaken, Chedepo District, River Gee County. He is single and a high school graduate. He became member of the Lord's church two years ago in Fish Town Church of Christ River Gee County. He is very zealous and high working.

When I ask him of his aim, this is what he said, “ I want to study the Bible and work for God. I don't see anything precious in this life then working for God.

APPRECIATION AND CONCLUSION

We want to thank all of you so much for supporting the work in Liberia. Without you, this effort would not be possible. May God richly bless you.

In Him,

Robert Dahn

More good news from Malawi

Bear Valley Bible Institute

Ekwendeni  Malawi

June, 2020 Report

Introduction 

It is two and half months now since the schools were suspended in Malawi and some other parts of the world. We have been encouraging our students to keep preaching than just staying at home waiting for the classes to resume. We are praying daily that the Covid-19 should end. Even though the cases are increasing daily, but it has started to stabilise giving us hope to resume our classes soon. The government of Malawi says by the mid July the schools will reopen (13th July). But we (BV  Malawi) will possibly resume our classes the first week of August, to give our students 2 weeks to prepare coming.

The future of every school is when it has its own structures (Buildings); we have been praying that one day the school in Malawi have its own school site where the building work can start. We reported earlier in the year that we have been given land, but now we are confirming that the land is finally paid for,  allowing us to start our building projects after meeting the lands people to map the school site next week. God is good! The good news is that souls are being saved even in midst of the pandemic. Some students have reported about 5 baptisms this month and also I and the teachers have been travelling every Sunday worshiping with these students in there meeting places. We have also been visiting the former students and they are doing good job as the leaders of the congregations are commending them for their zeal for the Lords work as they keep on preaching and teaching.

Preaching and Teaching

We the Bear Valley Bible Institute  Ekwendeni (Malawi), staff have been conducting some lectureships and preaching of one to one in order to follow the Covid 19 precautions of social distance. The lectureship system is also working well as far as social distance is concern as we wait for conducting gospel campaigns which attracts more people. Through this effort of lectureships in village congregations, some many souls are able to get proper Bible education from us. We have helped more than 4 congregations in the Northern part of Malawi who were not following the Bible pattern of worship. Now they are able to understand as the Bible directs. The other thing we have been teaching is the Autonomy of the church. We are glad that many are coming in the line. One student (last year graduate), also reported that the education they got from the school is a great weapon that is helping them change the understanding of some congregations in the southern region of Malawi. We thank God that many preachers are benefiting from the school here.

We would like to keep on thanking Bear Valley Bible Institute  International for the huge support both physically and spiritually. Without your stretched hand on us, we could not have reached this far. We commend you to God in prayers as we still need your help. God bless your families as you THINK SOULS!

Your fellow servants,

Ephron and Clergynton

ReplyReply allForward

A BV preachers seminar in India

Preachers’ Seminar:  We were pleased with the visit of our Brother Keith Kasarjian, Director of Bear Valley International school. He made it possible to visit besides several difficulties in here and internationally. We certainly appreciate his courage and  leadership in directing the Bear Valley International Schools across the world. Our students, graduates and preachers gathered have been encouraged by his teaching on that Day. It was a great time of fellowship and learning. God has been blessing this part of India through the efforts of Visakha valley Bible College, in Visakhapatnam. Our graduates or doing amazing job of saving souls and establishing local congregations and edifying them. “We are one, we are strongest working together in unity” 1cor. 12:14

 Visakha Valley Bible College: Our Faith is being proclaimed; during the visit of Bro. Keith, we were invited by one of our graduates to speak at a public gospel meeting. He is recently starting up a new congregation in this area with the help the Bible College faculty.  Several have gathered under a tent for the meeting.  We have arrived late  they have been waiting for us; so without waste of time Keith begun to preach, after few minutes cloudy sky begun showering, increased so much where crowed scattered, but half of them remained in the tent and started singing, by the time song is over the rain was gone, we were uplifted by God’s grace, it stopped raining and the preaching was begun which touched several hearts, lead to Truth. This congregation continues to grow by bringing several to Christ. The word of faith being proclaimed.

John Dean Mapuddi

Classes have resumed in Lagos Island

REPORT OF THE BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE – LAGOS ISLAND CENTER,  May 2020 - June 2020.

INTRODUCTION: Challenging time is really an opportunity to show the true strength of a Christian. The COVID 19 pandemic is no longer a news to all but the effect of it to the church, the school and the society will last long. The lockdown affected our classes for two months but we were able to resume class last month being May when Lagos State government gave permission for movement within the state.

The number of people we are reading or hearing having Corona Virus in our Country may not be the true picture, for some government leaders have seen this as an opportunity to make money from International body. Such attitude made them to continue to inflict the number. We pray that God will continue to protect his own children always.

ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES: Our classes resumed after the lockdown. Bro Oluwafemi Adewuyi taught the Book of James and Bro Emmanuel Odoh just concluded Godhead. Bro Etim Nfon who is the Coordinator of Ikorodu Center will be teaching the 3 Epistles of John from next Saturday. We have 17 students in our center presently however, 10 are regular in class while some have not resumed due to fear of the present situation.

WBS ONLINE STUDY HELPER: It is my pleasure to be found useful even during these challenging times. The Online World Bible School Project is a great one and is even becoming more effective this time that many are working from home. It is challenging that they choose to upgrade their site when needed most. The process has affected our online studies with our students.  I have been able to grow my WBS Online Students from 1,716 in beginning of May to 1,863 as at the 30th of June 2020. 2 students completed their courses during this period.

I want to thank God for using me in that capacity. 5 souls were added to the body of Christ during this period. “Kerry Lombard wrote Hi there. I just wanted to thank you for arranging my baptism. I was baptized on Monday and have been invited to a church. Feeling very blessed indeed. Regards Kerry. That was Kerry comment from South Africa. Join me to thank God and pray for her to be stable in the kingdom. The last was a family that Bro Titus Blair introduced to me. We will do more as God give us the privilege to serve Him.

CHALLENGES: We thank God for the authority of Bear Valley for the sacrifice in helping us study the word of God in this part of the world. The pandemic may continue to be a serious challenging factor to our work. We pray that it go down worldwide this period.

CONCLUSION: We are all pencils in the hand of God. More work will be done as we learn more to work and serve humanity.

Thanks and God bless you.

TIM IWE

Lagos Island Center Director

Moving forward in Ibadan, Nigeria

Dear fellow ministers of God.
Greetings from Nigeria in Jesus Christ name. I trust all is well with you all during this global pandemic.
Below is the summary of this month activities from all of us in BVBIN & SWSE ,IBADAN.

OVERVIEW
1. WEEKEND EVANGELISM / GOSPEL  CAMPAIGNS
2. FOURTH  SEMESTER  CLASSES BEGINS AS SCHEDULED ON JUNE 1,2020
3. VOICE OF THE TRUTH VOLUME 104 & 105
4. BVBID DEGREE  PROGRAM
5. WBSFUW  VISITATION TO REMOTE TOWNS.

WEEKEND EVANGELISM /GOSPEL CAMPAIGNS : The students and staffs of the BVBIN & SWSE, Ibadan were busy in all the weekends of the month of June 2020 in the evangelization of towns and villages of Oyo and Osun States. We divided ourselves into five groups in the evangelization of Butubutu and environment, Jago and environmental, Ajia and environmental, Egbeda and environment and Asejire -Ibadan and Osun State. Even though, their is no conversion recorded but thanks be unto the Lord that the group that evangelized Butubutu and environmental were able to restored the Lord's Church in Kuede village after five or six years of their apostasy.

FOURTH SEMESTER CLASSES :Our last semester for this session, 2019/2020 begins on June 1 and will be ending Lord's willing on July 24,2020.
Bro. Kayode Eniafe is handling 1st Corinthians and Christian Ethics, Bro. Andrew Adeolu is handling 1 & 2 Timothy  & Titus and Revelation, Bro. Isaac Olaniyan is handling Life of Christ -4(The Book of John) and Leadership, Bro. Guda Silas is handling  Elementary  Greek and Church History, Bro. Abiola Olusoji is handling Church Growth and NT & mission and I (Bro. Makinde Ebens) is handling Homiletics -2(Practical),Fundamentals of the Faith, Advanced Homiletics and Islamic Religion

VOTI VOLUME 104 & 105:Report reaching our office from some of the recipients of the VOTI volume 104 shows that the materials aided in the conversions of seven souls in Uyo by Bro. M. B. Archibong and restoration of over 50 erring brethren in the Northern and Western States of Nigeria. Also, we have start the distribution of VOTI volume 105 since last and over 100 packages will be posted in two weeks time to churches in Eastern and Northern part of our country, Nigeria Lord's willing .

BVBID DEGREE PROGRAM :The degree program commenced on June 15 through 26,2020 at Butubutu village. I (Bro. Makinde Ebens) taught on The Fundamentals of the Faith -2 from June 15 -19 while Bro. Isaac Olaniyan taught on Research and writting -2 from June 22-26. Classes commenced by 8:30am and ends by 5:30pm with two hours break between 12:30-2:30pm and 7:30pm to 9:00pm. Ten students were in attendance.

WBSFUW VISITATION TO REMOTE TOWNS :Our  World Bible School Follow Up Team in spite of the tension in the country ,Nigeria visited some remote towns in Kwara and Ogun States and over 150 Introduction Lessons shared and about 100 collected back from those willing to know more about God, Christ and His Church during this global insecurity.
Lessons collected will be posted to WBSTC @ Bro. Joel Coppinger immediately the Nigerian Government lift band on International flight.

ABOUT A STUDENT :Bro. Olabode Ayomide Samuel is one of our year- 2 students. Born in Omu-Aran, Kwara state on July 2001. He is one of the children of Bro. Dare Olabode one of the leading members of the Lord ''s Church in Kwara State. He is presently assistant students welfare officier. His mission is to be one of the competent gospel ministers in Igbona land after his tertiary education.

UPCOMING EVENT:Lord's willing, our students will embark on a month Teaching Practice on July 25th through August 30th, 2020 to the six geographical location of Nigeria. As usual the school will be in need of about N150,000($428.57) for transportation fare to their stations and re-printing of our local tracts for this one month's outreach. In spite of the global pandemic, some congregations have start showing their interest in joining us in these training program.

CONCLUSION :We appreciate you all for your great commitment to World Evangelism. May the Lord continue to bless our work together in Jesus Christ name, amen.
I remain your fellow Soldier of Christ,
Makinde Ebens Olufemi
(The Chief Servant of BVBIN &SWSE  Ibadan and WBSFUW)

Being creative in Lima

Greetings brothers,
Hoping in God that all of you are well with his blessing. We know that many of our brothers have been physically affected by Covid-19, but that thank God they are already recovered or in the process, some of our brothers have also gone through this, but they are already better.

As previously mentioned, our activities as an institution have continued, albeit virtually, in the month of May we have taught the course "Planting Churches", we have had five students connected during this course in a virtual way. But everyone continues to be a challenge especially due to the limitations both with the devices and their respective internet or data services, even so, everyone has made and continues to make a great effort to stay active in the classes and also when fulfilling their assignments.

During this month of June the course that is being taught is I, II Pedro and Judas. Responsible for the presentation of the course is our brother Abraham Alata, according to his reports five students are connecting in the course as well.

For now, the only thing we are dedicated to is teaching, most are not carrying out any activity related to the ministry as far as we know, in addition to being participants of their ecclesiastical meetings in their respective congregations, in fact, there are only some churches that They have implemented virtual services, and it is a small percentage of siblings who have access or knowledge of technology, limiting them to having family gatherings at home.

This is the case, for example, of José Medina, one of our students, who is having family reunions during this quarantine period. On the other hand, we have Alejandro Berrio, another one of our students, in the church where Abraham and I preach and we have him active presenting a series of topics in a virtual program that we have prepared for him, in which he operates with great comfort.

All this situation is demanding of us, a lot of creativity to continue trying to reach many with the gospel and stimulate them to their spiritual growth. At the moment the quarantine continues, although gradually some things are beginning to be reactivated, although taking all possible security measures. In the case of churches it is not yet legal to open the doors, on Sundays mass gatherings are generally prohibited, which includes churches or educational centers. We hope to have some favorable reports at the end of the month, however we are all aware that the problem with the virus is still latent in the streets. We trust God that this will happen, and that things will gradually get better!

Doing good in Fiji

The Coronavirus guidelines basically kept the school shut down for about a month. However, during that time, we were not idle. We were busy working on plans for reopening the school and continuing to train our students. After about a month, the government eased some of the restrictions on institutions of higher learning. While they encouraged schools to use online programs as much as possible, we were allowed to resume classes of fewer than twenty people at a time. Since we are a small school, this meant that we were allowed to have in-person classes. However, there were still concerns about finding childcare for some of our students.

In the end, we decided upon a plan to use pre-recorded videos to finish out our classes from the first term. We were able to do this in large part thanks to a private donation from a member of the Killen (AL) church of Christ. This donation had allowed the school to purchase several Samsung tablets. Dad and I were able to record videos and place them on the tablets for the students to watch. We then delivered the tablets along with the assignments to each of our students. At the end of the week, we swapped out the videos and gave them new assignments. This allowed us to ease back into the program.

On May 19, we were finally able to resume in-person classes. We have had to revise our schedule in order to allow our students to still be finished with the school year in time for graduation (October 31). We are now following a schedule with two classes being taught at a time (one morning and one afternoon). Each pair of courses run for two or three weeks. We have unfortunately had to cancel all of our planned evangelistic campaigns (due to both the lost time in the schedule and the continued travel and assembly restrictions). However, we have set time aside during our personal evangelism course for doing evangelistic outreach.

Since resuming classes, we have completed four courses. Rocco Pierce and Emosi Sailo co-taught a class on the book of Acts. Emosi Sailo taught a course on 1-2 Timothy and Titus. I have taught a course on Christian Evidences and a course on Greek Grammar (which has basically been a review of what we had learned before the coronavirus guidelines shut us down). This week, we will be beginning two new courses. Rocco Pierce will be teaching a class on Bible Geography, and I will be continuing teaching Greek Grammar.

At this point, I must take time to compliment our students! When we first decided to resume in-person classes, we were not sure how many of our students would return. However, on the first day of classes, all of our students were present and accounted for! Since resuming, they have all been enthusiastic in their studies. In fact, the general response has been that they missed being in class, and they have a greater appreciation for the program. We continue to see this new group of students grow closer together. We look forward to the opportunity to continue teaching them.

Each year, we make it our goal to bring in six visiting short course teachers. We believe that it is important that our students have the opportunity to learn from a variety of different teachers. The students always love coming for short courses. Unfortunately, the coronavirus has really impacted our short course program this year. As I mentioned in our last letter, we have already had to cancel our April and May short courses. We had hoped to reschedule them for the end of this school year. However, the continued restrictions, mandatory quarantine times for visitors, and the closing of Fiji Airways has made this impossible. We have already had to cancel most of our short courses. We do have one teacher who will be pre-recording his classes and sending them to us. We have another who is still hoping to come, because he had already purchased his airline tickets. While we have not been able to have short course teachers to visit us this year, we remain hopeful that we will be able to schedule teachers for next year. Please pray that the travel restrictions will be lifted so that we can continue bringing in quality teachers to help educate our students in the word and work of God.

NIGHT PROGRAM

There is one other thing that I need to mention. As previously reported, we had started a night program that was a shortened form of our program that was offered one night a week for Christians who work during the day and cannot attend the full-time program. Unfortunately, we have had to suspend this program over the last few months due to the curfew and travel restrictions. As those restrictions ease up, we will be revisiting the program. We hope to be resuming those classes as soon as possible.

Jason Pierce