Wotutu students choose their mate again

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings to you and your family from the families here in Wotutu, Cameroon. Life is on and we are moving on. God is there helping us in any step we take. Life is not the best now coupled to the facts of the prevailing circumstances in the world. We are not relenting our efforts and are praying daily for the problems we find ourselves in.

The last two weeks have been very busy for me and the students of BVBIC-Wotutu as I was teaching the course “MARRIAGE AND FAMILY.” The aim of the course is to help strengthen and make stronger marriages and families. It was amazing as eleven couples, along-side single students, were in class.

As I write this report now, students are done with their quarter and they are in different locations. They will be back in school, only at the end of this month. That will be the time I will resume my reporting. Please pray for us as we pray for you.

After the marriage class, we registered with the government of Cameroon as many of our students were only married traditionally, meaning they had no marriage license with the government. What they did traditionally is not illegal nor is it COHABITATION as the government, the people, and the church all recognize it as a legal and moral union. To have legally shared assets that can go to the surviving spouse in the case of death and for other legal issues, the government demands that after you have finished with your traditional or customary marriage, you need to proceed to the court to legalize it with a marriage certificate. We made it possible for these students. They stood before the Cameroonian people to declare their traditional union. They are signing in for the “ONE MAN ONE WOMAN” form of marriage as Cameroon law also permits the option of signing for polygamy.

We gave each of the couples a marriage certificate from the school. We call it “CHOOSING MY MATE AGAIN MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE.” Many thanks to brother Bill Stewart who wrote the book that we are using to teach with. We were part of his class here in Cameroon when he came to teach the course.

Boxes of mission printing tracts were packed and ready to move to the hinterlands of our country as students go with them to preach and teach and give the tracts to many who will love to take them and read them and call for more studies. These tracts have helped many people come to Christ in this country. We are thanking the people who are all volunteers at the mission printing office and many congregations in the USA who are taking their time to put the materials together and make it possible for them to come over to us to ease our evangelistic efforts. My God bless them all.

PLANS

All students are out in different locations. Some are in new lands. I will be visiting from one congregation to another within this time until the students return by the end of September.

 APPRECIATIONS

Thank you so very much for all you are doing for the work here. Your prayers and your support are all timely to make things happen here. God is watching and will reward you in due season.

Elangwe and family

By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu

A new Director appointed in Tamale

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE, TAMALE

REPORT FOR AUGUST 2020

Thanks to God our fortress of defense and deliverer, we shall forever abide in His word and its testimony. Also, we are very grateful for your kind gesture; for you keep on supporting us to run the school even in this hard time. The comfort of our Lord and Savior rest upon you richly.

 STUDENTS ON VACATION

Students went home for three weeks break on 09/08/2020 to visit their families and the Church; they also use that opportunity to attend to their farm work as that is the only alternative to sustain their families while in the school. They had a three week break successfully and are back to school on 30/08/2020. Thirteen of them have safely reported and had tested for Covid 19, their tests proved negative and they are observing all the protocols put in place in the school.

CLASSES

The Book of 1 & 2 Thessalonians was treated with the school coordinator Kojo Acquah Beenyi to bring the term to an end. With the students back to school, the Book of Romans is in session with Brother Daniel Adjei Mensah. We pray and hope that the rest of the courses would be given a fair treatment to bring the term to a successful end so that there would be left with only one term to finish with this batch.

ADMINISTRATION

As reported last month the school administration is engaged in its activities as we gear toward the end of the year.  Every activity in the school is closely monitored, although, there is still agitation of the Covid 19 pandemic, yet we made good use of opportunities to reach our prospects that picked the admission forms supposedly to have being preparing to come for interview. We pledge to work more effectively now that the school has had a director.

We were enthused to witness the ceremony because that gap has been fixed.

DIRECTOR

Daniel Adjei Mensah has assumed his role as the Director of the School in Tamale. In a brief ceremony to introduced him to the school by the Coordinator, he pledged his support to the betterment of the school and promised to stand by the truth and do all he can to lift the name of the school high to the glory of God.

COVID 19

None of the students is positive. The School is observing all the protocols as we have been graciously been blessed with what we need by the school. It has been the attitudes of all the Instructors to briefly educate the students of the Dos and Don’ts to avoid contract and spreading of this virus. Please continue to pray with us, we know, with God, we shall overcome these hard times.

Back in full swing in Guinea

Gueckedou, Guinea Bear Valley Bible Institute Activity Operations Report for August 2020

Warmest greetings to you all, our supporters and well-wishers of the Gueckedou, Guinea Bear Valley Bible Institute. We are truly grateful for your support accorded to us especially for those of you in areas where the pandemic is still high. This report will be a summary of major events which took place here during the month of August. These include both classroom and outdoor activities all of which on the overall were good.

Classroom: At the beginning of the year we enrolled 20 students, but after the Covid-19 lock down only 16 were able to resume classes for the 3 weeks just before our July report. Later 1 more student returned making a total of 17 who have continued to this date. These have successfully completed Christian Evidence, Personal Evangelism and the Gospel of Christ 1.

Evangelism: We are beginning to get back in full shape for the preaching of the gospel in and around Gueckedou. On 2nd August, 5 souls were baptized in a nearby village of Bandalo plus 1 in Gueckedou town and all of these worship in the congregation that meets in the school premises. On that same Sunday we baptized 3 in another village called Fassaba where there were already 3 baptized since the 26th July. And because the later were baptized when they made a visit at the school premises congregation, August 2 is considered the beginning date for the Fassaba village church of Christ. Then on the 23rd August 4 more souls were added to that number. Meanwhile a few other conversions had taken place in other areas so that the total converted for the month of August in and around Gueckedou is 26. To God be the glory!

Special Visit to the New Graduates: It was in March that we graduated 15 evangelists who had completed Biblical studies at the Gueckedou BVBI. Since then, we had had very limited contact with them especially so regarding their ministry work. This was due to the pandemic and the lockdown it imposed. But now by the good grace of God the GBVBI administration decided to pay these men a visit in order to show them our concern, interest and encouragement for the noble work for which they have been trained. First we held a meeting with those within and close around town. Then we sent a 2-man delegation to the villages where the men are stationed. We had prepared report forms for any of them willing to share their activities with us. The meetings were successful.

Conclusion: The month of August was successful both for the classroom and outdoor activities. By the grace of God the pandemic is gradually dying down and the Government has lifted most of the barns which prevented free movement even though the borders are still closed. Gueckedou Bear Valley has held classes and evangelized those we could reach. In all 26 souls were brought to Christ. Soon we will also be focusing on some Agriculture activities as HHI awaits on border opening. Once again, we are grateful to you all our supporters and well-wishers

Thanks, Francis  

Summer camp in Ukraine

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,  

In my report I'd like to share with you some news from the Bible Institute and some local congregations of the Church of Christ. 

This school year we didn’t recruit students for the first year of studies. There were not enough people. So we made a decision to get ready for the next year and have a good class of students then. Currently we have 4 students in the program and after the New year one more student Tamara will resume her studies to catch up with the academic requirements. Thus, we will have 5 graduates next spring.  

In August we had our VBS which we hosted completely outdoors. Due to the epidemic regulations we couldn't have a large number of children inside. This year so many parents were extremely cautious about letting the kids attend any public gatherings but, nevertheless, we had more than 30 children during the three days of the VBS. For a lot of children, it was the most exciting event of the last half year. 

My family was able to attend the annual Christian family camp "Amerikraine". It's an unforgettable happening for my family as well as for so many other families of Ukrainian Christians.  The founder of the project is an American preacher Jeff Abrams. He has been doing it for a few years now and the ministry is very fruitful.  We had a lot of uplifting lessons, excellent fellowship and 5 baptisms.  

Our students kept evangelizing and helping the local congregations in August. Bogdan Antipenko kept working with the congregation in Bela Tserkva, Iliya Zhuravlev and Nazar Semikoz worked with the Church in Brovary while Mariana taught children's classes in Ternopil.  

We have developed the schedule of the studies for the 2 year students for the first term. We are engaging the Instructors from Ukraine and thankfully we have enough faculty. Currently Ukraine keeps the international borders closed for another month and then they will have to make future decisions based on the pandemic statistics in the different countries.  

May God keep you safe. We are praying for the individuals and churches who keep supporting the ministry of our Bible Institute.

Your brother,

Dennis Sopelnik 

Easing back to normal in India

Reporting letter for the month of August  -2020

Respected International director Mr.Keith Kasarjian , the coordinator Mr.Mark Reynolds ,our supports and prayer partners of Bear Valley Bible Institute-Tirupati-India we extend our warmest greetings to you in the matchless name of our lord and savior Jesus Christ.  We hope that you all are safe, by the grace of God and your prayers we all are doing well. We would like to express our sincere thanks for your generous support for the Bear Valley Bible Institute .

In the Month of August four souls were baptized and added to the body of Christ, please pray for these newly baptized souls so that they may grow in the image of His son Jesus Christ. Every day students receive home work from the teachers during this lock down period, they are busy in writing and sending their answer sheets to concerning teachers, beside that all of them involve in their local church activities to earn the practical experience. They send monthly report to the Bible College. We appreciate the way they witness the baptism services, weekly bible classes, youth classes, children classes, funeral services, wedding events, thanks giving meetings etc..with their local churches.

We are happy to report you that all the students and staff are safe from Covid-19 but only one student Mr. Kranthi was infected by the virus , God is kind enough to heal him , he is restored and become normal now. We share with you that our local church members were able to over come  the virus by the strength given by our good father in heaven, they all are healthy now.

Last one week I witnessed 5 deaths, it is very sad to inform you that one of my co-worker was died, we thank God that from this preacher’s his grandson has joined in our BVBI and studying hard to be a gospel preacher in the local churches which were planted by His grand father Mr.Mark. Two of Our nearest relatives died , we could able to attend for the funeral. One of the guest teacher was with us in the month of March last week, he died last week. It is sad to miss him. We enclosed his picture , he is sitting in the middle with wearing white shirt. Please pray for his family members.

The Corona virus is rapidly spreading in our country, but unlock has been declared, according to yesterday’s “news” permission has been granted to open the educational institutions from September-21 onwards. We want to reopen the BVBI –Tirupati on September 21. We humbly seeking your permission to be granted to run the classes without giving them break in between the  semesters.  We would like to cover up the syllabus which we missed during the lock down period.

Regarding the benevolence we could able to raise some funds and helped 10 blind families and local church members and other local preachers during this time of pandemic situation.

The Kitchen Garden is healthy and greenish ,it has started yielding the best vegetables we are thankful to Healing Hands International for assisting us to establish this vegetable garden .

Thanking you.

Yours brother in Christ.

B.Vijaya Kumar behalf of Bear valley Bible Institute-Tirupat-India.

Classes continue in Abuja

REPORT OF BVBI CLASSES FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY/MARCH AND JUNE/JULY.

INTRODUCTION

The Bear Valley Bible Institute Abuja started its 2nd year of studies and ministerial training with an anniversary lecture delivered by Osita Onuora, Evangelist serving with Church of Christ, Okoh street, Warri, Delta State Nigeria on 8th February 2020 from 2Timothy 2:2. In attendance were the students, faculty members, elders, deacons and members of the church. Other activities included:

1.    Award of Recognition and Appreciation to Bear Valley Bible Institute, Denver, USA, Church of Christ, Kado and Church of Christ, Nyanya, Abuja.

2.    Admission of new students (a total of six students were admitted).

REPORT

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020

Immediately after the Anniversary Lecture, instructional studies started at the two centers as follows:

Kado Center                      The Old Testament (2) - 26 students (Instructor - David Akpata)

Nyanya Center                   Life of Christ (2). - 16 students (Instructor - Moses Obakemi)

APRIL/MAY

As a result of the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, and the subsequent lockdown of churches, schools, etc., in the month of April and May, classes were suspended in compliance with government directives. With the ease of lockdown on church activities on June 1st 2020, classes resumed under the government directives for church related activities as follows:

JUNE/JULY

Nyanya Center                             Friday 12th June 2020

Kado Center                                 Saturday 20th June 2020

Please note that for the month of June, classes were held on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (and part of July) in order to meet up with class attendance requirement of the course study.

The course studies were as follows:

Kado Center                      The Study of Islam - 22 students (Instructor - Rupert Kukwa)

Nyanya                             The Christian Evidences 2 - 16 students. (Instructor - Dominic Dakup)

EVANGELISM

As a result of COVID-19 restrictions, the school has rescheduled its evangelism activities to Open-Air preaching and acceptable One-on-One and home studies where possible with strict compliance with safety regulations. The Institution is working out the modalities and planning towards effecting this before the end of the year.

CONCLUSION

We are thankful to the school authority and our Elders for their understanding and support during the close and resumption of school activities occasioned by the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic. We hope to cover lost grounds during the period and meet the set objectives for the school and the church by the strength that God supplies (Php 4:13).

Thanks and God bless you.

Alabi Samson

Director, BVBI-A

Being creative in Lesotho

JUNE-AUGUST 2020 REPORT

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We wish to express great gratitude for the assistance BVBI International has granted to us for establishing the Bible School here, which continued in financial assistance, helping us to run the school smoothly. We are also thankful for your help to connect us with Heart to Heart, House to House, as well as World Bible School, even though we haven’t yet received any material from them.

In spite of the global pandemic, the congregations in Lesotho are grateful for the impact the school has since it was established in May 2019. BVBIL students were instrumental in organizing house churches, circulating sermons and Bible studies on our social media platforms during the first and second lockdowns which happened in March-early May and three weeks of end of July to early August. We are grateful to report that despite the fact that we are encountering series of lockdowns and social restrictions, the school has a great determination to produce competent and doctrinally sound preachers.

Three courses were taught from June-August, with an average of 13 students and 3 observers. Elder Vincent Shata taught the book of Galatians in June, Robert Likhang taught Leadership in July. The course was completed via WhatsApp audios and videos after the churches were prohibited to gather together. There is always a solution in every problem, hence, BVBIL students during the second lockdown resolved to gather in the small groups of twos in their houses, listening, watching lectures and studying together. This arrangement came as a result of: some students are less privileged materially, they do not have smart phones therefore, the haves had to share with the have nots. Similarly, Tawanda Mwadiya used the same media platform the first two weeks of August when he was teaching Pastoral Counselling.

During the period of June to August, 5 baptisms were recorded, one restoration and 500 Heart to Heart copies were distributed. In the same period BVBIL students engaged 65 people and 102 lessons were taught on air, in groups and one on one.

The school is thankful for your support both financially and spiritually. We are hoping that World Bible School will soon send us materials so that we can enhance our evangelism. Keep praying Lesotho and the school.

Recruiting in Zambia

August 2020

Report

Warm greetings to you all brothers and sisters!! We give honor and glory to God who has given us this rare occasion to work in His Kingdom. In spite of the rapid spreading of covid 19, courageous Christians are not slowed down by the pandemic. Students at BVBI-Zambia have just completed their training during the month of August, 2020.

During their training the students showed their commitment and finally completed their studies toward the fulfillment in the requirements to allow them to graduate. Preparation are underway and once all is done will wait to hear when our international coordinator (Donnie)  will come for us to set the date for graduation, this is due to covid 19 outbreak. Beside all this, we have continued to support our former students and in luapula province we just had a two day meetings with 12 congregations out of the 35 which were called through their leaders we had 7 baptisms and 5 restoration and in Ndola North mead Church of Christ we had 12 baptisms and 23 restorations we also had 1 baptism in luanshya and 3 restorations. We just had 20 baptisms and 26 restorations in the month of August and we thank God for the work done through BVBI-Z. We have also continued to have quarterly leadership meetings at BVBI-ZAMBIA to strengthen working relationship within church in Zambia

The Ministry of Health in Zambia has continued to register shocking rising cases of Covid- 19 for the last three weeks. The Zambian authorities have put in place some health guidelines that every citizen should follow in order to lessen the spread of this deadly disease. Even if these are being followed by most of the people, it seems as if the spread of this pandemic here in Zambia is not at all abating. And a lot of people are now living in terrible fear. Even some of members of the Church have even stopped coming for church services. But we at bear Valley Bible Institute Zambia have not stopped to do what we have always done as far as spreading the word of God is concerned. We are very happy to report that we are on track in fulfilling the mission of our Jesus Christ even in the midst of this plague. This does not mean that we are ignoring health guidelines that have been given. We are complying in every way possible.

Recruitments of new students have intensified.  Brother Kennedy Mukuka, our Director of recruitment, has been quite busy in making sure that we have the best intake so far. According to the record that we have, over 40 men have expressed interest in coming to be trained at Bear Valley Bible Institute Zambia. And most these men have already been interviewed and vetted.  We are looking forward to a very exciting new intake which will probably start by the end of October, 2020. This of course will depend on how the Covid-19 disease evolves here in Zambia. We are hopeful that the cases of this plague will certainly go down by this time. 

We are eternally grateful for the partnership that we have with you in the Lord and the financial support that we have continued to receive from Woodland Oaks Church of Christ.

May God continue blessing you in all your endeavors!

In His Service,

Cephas and Fred

More progress in Zimbabwe

AUGUST 2020 NARRATIVE REPORT

The month of August saw the development of BVBIZ in several fronts. There is progress on the school’s curriculum in terms of lessons and practical. There is also progress in terms of infrastructure even as the school continues to look forward to be an institution with necessary structures that will enable operations to be carried out smoothly. We can report on the following;

1.0 LESSONS UPDATE

Online lessons for the third intake continued in the month of August. Online classes have been necessitated by the prevailing lockdown induced by COVID19. It is not yet possible for students to physically come to campus.  Lessons that have so far been done online include;

·         Personal work (theory). Part of the practical will be done when students come to campus

·         How We God the Bible

·         Christian Evidences

·         New Testament Church

·         Life of Christ

·         Public Speaking (some of the practicals to be done when students come to campus

2.0 UPDATE ON THE SECOND INTAKE

2.1 GRADUATION POSTPONEMENT

Our graduation which was supposed to take place on the 3rd of October has been postponed due to the prevailing lockdown which is beyond our control. The governemnt, since March, had put all school activities that require contact on hold. The new date will be communicated once things ease a bit. However, the graduates to be will, from October this year, be given some rights that are normally accorded to graduates. We apologise to all our students and to our partners, both local and international, for the inconvinience caused.

2.2 WHERE ARE THEY

BVBIZ’s second intake which was supposed to graduate this coming October has remained effective in the field. Some are already engaged as preachers in some congregations. Others are yet to get congregations to work with. Besides the following, there are two others, not listed, who are yet to complete their coursework;

Isaac Mupanduki- Isaac is working with his home preacher, bro. Thomas Mupanduki at Musorowenzou and Mutehwe congregations in Nembudziya, Gokwe. Isaac is available for fulltime engagement. 

Virimai Gandiwa-Currently at Manyame, his home congregation under the tutorship of his preacher, Godwin Marandure. He is yet to be engaged.

Takudzwa Chikuni-Currently serving as an associate minister at the Maware congregation in Chikomba District, Mashonaland East.

Khulekhani and Thandikile Dube-Currently working with Sipaba congregation in Esigodhini, Matebelaland South. The couple has already been engaged by the congregation.

Batsirai Tengurachepa- He is now the preacher at Redcliff church of Christ, a new congregation that began last year during the school’s field program.

Blessing Tiyani- Blessing is currently at his home congregation at Sharara in Manicaland. He is working under the mentorship of his preacher, Damson Siwedi.

Matthew Adrian Phiri- Matthew is at Alaska currently working with his home preacher, brother Donivert Khata. Bro. Khata works with several congregations which includes Mhangura and Piringani.

Gray Ndoro-Gray is currently working with the Plasworth congregation. This is the congregation that was recently started at the school’s permanent site. Gray is available for full time engagement anywhere.

Charles Muzambi-Charles is currently stationed at Mazowe where he is working with Lovemore Manyanhaire, the resident preacher there. Charles is still available for full time engagement anywhere.

2.3 EVANGELISM

As we continue to report, preaching should be done in season and out of season. Since students were to undergo their last attachment, among many, before their graduation and as per their training, they had to find ways of preaching and teaching during difficult times. Areas covered ar Kadoma, Manyame, Maware (Chivhu), Plassworth (Gweru), Redcliff, Mhangura/Piringani, Sharara and Sipaba (Esigodhini). 34 souls were baptized and 5 were restored. Various activities were done in the month in an effort to advance the kingdom. Over 15 are still to be baptized at Plassworth (the school’s site). A baptistery is yet to be constructed.  

3.0 SITE DEVELOPMENT

3.1 DEVELOPMENTS IN AUGUST

Development continued in the month of August. After the constructions so far done, the following materials remained; 5kg impermo, 7 rolls brick force, 21 bags cement, 7000 bricks, about 5 cubic river sand, some plumbing material, about 3 cubic concrete stones, 20 (mixed sizes) deformed bars and some timber. Since builders were still on site completing their work on the septic tank, the construction committee made of both management and some members of the Board thought it necessary to proceed with some small structures which were on the development agenda. These include

·         A small kitchen since firewood shall be in use for cooking

·         A fowl run to start a small broiler project. This was completed and the first batch of 50 broilers is expected in September.

·         Two store rooms. Space is needed to store building material, poultry feed, tools or to house a married student.

·         Outside laundry sink and baptistery.

3.2 NEXT IMMEDIATE PROJECT

For the school to function smoothly, there is a need for a teacher’s house. The reason being that students should not be alone that far without a teacher or someone in authority close by. In case of emergencies, a teacher in charge of students should be close by. Secondly, there shall be a very high fuel bill due to daily movements to and fro. There is a distance of 15km from the city centre to the site. Of this 15km road, there is a 6km stretch which is rocky and bumpy and therefore, not all that good.

Furthermore, since BVBIZ has an array of teachers who come as visiting teachers, the house will also have a guest section. It shall be very expensive also to move them daily from the city to the site to handle their lessons. A campaign for donations will commence in September and by December we should be able to see the amount of materials donated and then set a date for construction. However, if all things are equal, between January and February construction should start. If not, a review will always be made. The proposed figure needed is around +/-$13500. An updated bill of quantity with current prices is being worked on and will be available in the next few days. 20000 bricks are already being moulded and will be ready by mid-September 2020.

CONCLUSION

We praise God for what we were able to do in the month of August. BVBIZ could not have reached this far without the unwavering support we have been receiving from many angles even under very difficult circumstances. Great appreciation to the Board and management for pushing the development agenda. To Woodland Oaks, BVBII and our various other partners, thank for your moral, spiritual, financial and material support. We remain grateful. Please keep us in your prayers. To God be the glory!

Almost back to normal in Accra

PROLOGUE

Truly, the Lord has made it once again. We are so grateful to Him; He has protected us throughout the month and usher us into the new month. May His name be praised and adored.

We shall also not forget our cheerful givers who in diverse means keep supporting in cash, kind and in prayer. Our appreciation to the Mountain Home Church, Jefferson City and our Ghanaian brethren, Doryumu Church, and other brethren whose donations have reached the school for her progress. The director, teaching and non-teaching staff and the students say God keeps blessing all and restores in abundance the collections sent to the school.

CLASS ACTIVITIES

Classes are in progress. As I reported in my previous reports, as a result of shutdown, we missed one full term which was spent in the house, classes have been restructured and more days have been added to enable us complete the undone courses. In this quarter, four different courses are currently under study instead of our normal two. After these courses, the school will vacate on 28 of August.

This month, three (3) short courses were done by the instructors Kojo Acquah who taught New Testament Church 1; Gyan Mante, Personal Evangelism 1; and E.O. Larbi, the Godhead.

INTERNAL ACTIVITIES

As part of the school’s activities, we organized evening evangelism (open air) where students had the opportunity to exhibit their homiletic ability in preaching according to topics scheduled for them at the school’s environs: Plan of Salvation, Baptism and the Church of the Bible.

Furthermore, they handled most of the activities at the church in the school. They participated in the songs leading, exhortation, officiating the Lord’s supper and handling the children class. With this improvement, we have confidence that our students will deliver to their best as they practice.

EXTERNAL ACTIVITIES

Evangelism

We also embarked on house-to-house evangelism at a nearby village called Djankama where we had the chance to meet more prospects in the study of the Bible.

Also, we were grateful to hear from our student, Samuel Joas Arhin, who is yet to graduate, working effectively in his area. Two (2) baptisms were obtained at Akenyaa in the Central Region.

In addition, we had two (2) baptism at Nsawam, where Sammy fellowships to the glory of God. We are much impressed as the Lord keeps adding believers to the church through our students in the season of COVID-19. It is our prayer that none is affect with this virus.

Congregational Visit

The school’s director, brother E. O. Larbi visited the Asuaba church which is handled by one of the past students, brother Affum Kwame Botwey. In his visit, he exhorted the church and her leadership to steadfast in the true doctrine of Christ for their salvation. Having exhorted them, they were very happy to have the director’s visit, to check on the progress of the church as his student preaches for. The church requested that he visits them again.

Visit to the School Land

We are all happy that school, in future, will have her own infrastructure. This is our daily prayer. The last time, as the staff and students arranged to spray weedicide and to check on the security of the land, we rearranged again to check on the weeds and respraying before vacation.

CONCLUSION

We thank the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for His providential care in all the above activities till vacation. We still pray that the Lord will guide us safely as students and staff go back to their homes and to return unaffected on 13th September, 2020 and to give us more strength to do more activities and win more souls to the church.

Our plea to you is that you keep praying with us. God bless you all.

Graduation in Nigeria

Dear fellow soldiers of Christ Jesus.
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you all from God our Father and from Jesus Christ  our Redeemer. Below is the report of some of our activities for the month of August 2020.

OVERVIEW
1. Students one month teaching practice
2. 18th Annual Bible Lectureship and graduation
3. BVBID Degree program
4. FIRST Semester classes begins

STUDENTS' ONE MONTH TEACHING PRACTICE:
The one month students teaching practice of July 24 through August 23,2020 resulted into 66 conversion and 63 restorations. Bro.Olorunda Augustine that served in Ido -Ekiti and Ijebu-Jesa respectively recorded 20 conversions and 5 restoration, Bro. Odulaja Gospel that served in AUCHI,Edo state recorded 8 conversion , Bro.Silas Wayne that served in Aba ,Abia state reported 6 conversion and 15 restoration while Bro.Okpulor Baruch recorded highest restoration of 18 erring brethren during the one month teaching practice. To God be the glory!
The one month teaching practice started and end well, with our students putting to good use the leadership and ministerial skills acquired at the school in the various congregation they were sent to. There were also several reports of prospects !

18TH ANNUAL BIBLE SEMINARS & GRADUATION
This year annual Bible lectureship held in BVBIN & SWSE, Ibadan located at Butubutu village via Badeku/Jago, Ibadan was graced with about 250 brethren from 115 congregations from Oyo, Osun,Ondo,Ogun,Kwara,Kogi,Edo,Delta,Enugu, Cross River,Rivers and Lagos State plus Abuja in spite of the global pandemic - covid - 19.
Brethren started trooping into our school compound from the evening of Monday, August 24 in preparation for the 3 days lectureship and graduation ceremony of 47 Bible student (3 for certificate of attendance, 32 diploma and 12 Advance diploma in Bible studies). This year Bible lectureship centered on " The prayer of the righteous people " (James 5 : 13- 18)
The much awaited graduation ceremony came up in the noon of August 28, 2020 .Bro Timothy Iwe served as our guest speaker. Seventeen special awards/ gifts were giving out to seventeen best students in Evangelism, academic,  humility,  God's fearing, wise woman and leadership. Work tools and boxes of books from Mission Printing International were freely distributed to the 47 graduating students while packages of VOTI vol. 105  and 106 and BVBIN & SWSE 2021 calendar were freely distributed to all the participants from  14 states of the republic of Nigeria.

BVBID DEGREE PROGRAM:
Second to the last session of our BVBID Degree program came up from August 17 through 27, 2020 at Butubutu village. Bro. Isaac Olaniyan concluded his teaching on Advanced Hermeneutics while I, Bro Makinde also brought my teaching on Advanced Homiletics to an end. Classes were taught from 8.00 am to 6.00 pm and 8.00 pm to 9.30 pm daily with three hours break between 12.00 noon to 3.00 pm. Ten students were in attendance.

FIRST SEMESTER CLASSES BEINGS
This session 2020 / 2021 first semester classes began on August 17 , 2020 and will come to an end Lord's willing on Oct. 17 2020. Ten students presently for year - 1 program and thirteen  for year 2 program.
The instructors for the first semester classes are : Bro. Isaac Olaniyan, Bro Emmanuel Godwin, Bro Guda Mazi, Bro kayode S. Eniafe, Bro. Andrew Adeolu, Bro Abiola  J.Olusoji ( if he is physically fit) and myself (Bro.Makinde Ebens).

ABOUT A STUDENT.
Bro Wayne Chisom Silas is one of our present year 2 students. He was born on March 14 ,1988 in Okpuala Umuoguru community in Abia state. A graduate of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture and finished with a BSC in Microbiology. He was converted to the Lord's church at the age of 15. His mission is to become a preacher after the two years training and if he become equipped financially through self establishment to become a missionary.  He also wish to further his education in BVBIN to obtained Master of Biblical Studies in the nearest future.

SPECIAL ACCOMPLISHMENT
With the help of the Almighty God coupled with the help of the Brethren within and outside the Republic of Nigeria , we were able to pay the sum of #450,000 = out of our #1,315,000 being money loaned on September 2019 for the upgrading of the school building plan.

CONCLUSION
We deeply appreciate you all for your moral and financial supports. May the Lord of blessing keep on blessing our work together in Christ Jesus name  (amen )
I remain yours in this grace as a servant. .... Makinde  E.Olufemi (The chief servant of BVBIN & SWSE, Ibadan and a WBSFUW)

Online classes continue in Lima, Peru

It is a pleasure for us to greet you dear brothers,

Things continue to get more difficult in our country in relation to the pandemic, while in other countries things are somehow being brought under control, in our country things are getting worse, the latest international report has put our country in the first place in the world with the highest mortality rate with 28,124 victims, while another 10,000 are being investigated.

The scenario we are in is unfortunate, however, we remain confident in the Lord and in the power of his strength and that everything will improve. Almost a month ago one of our students suffered the death of his mother due to COVID, I mean Moisés Guevara, it was a hard time for him, for the family and for the church, God have her in his glory.

Since our last report we have continued with our study program, although due to circumstances we continue to do so virtually. Our last two courses have been Leadership and Job (the latter is still being taught). Leadership was presented by me (Juan Abanto), the course on the Book of Job (A.T. IIIA) is being taught by brother Andrés Núñez. It is still a great challenge for us to present these courses in the midst of all these difficulties and limitations that we have, but both teachers and students are always trying to do our best to continue our program.

On the other hand, we started a virtual program focused on youth, in this program we are involving different young ministers to expose the word of God. In recent months, both I and Abraham Alata have been involved in many opportunities to share the word of God, it is not a program exclusively sponsored by the Institute, but thank God we had the vision to implement it with the help of many other ministers and it is working be a great help to the youth of the church of Christ in the country. One of the objectives is to take advantage of the program to awaken interest among the young people in the institute and in the training program that we offer, we hope in God many awaken their interest in the institute through this.

Thank you for always being aware of the extension here in our country and for the support that is constantly provided to continue with the program. Please keep us in your prayers!

Evangelism in Malawi

Bear Valley Bible Institute – Ekwendeni

Malawi – August Report 2020.

There is God in heaven and still is on His throne! Even in the midst of the pandemic those who obey the gospel are being saved. It doesn’t matter how bad the situation is, God is in control and will always save the obedient heart. If someone can ask you a question; “what have you done during this time when people are living in fear of the pandemic? Have you been praying and reading your Bible daily?”- What would be your response to the questions? We need to put our faith and trust in God.

Preaching and Teaching

Bear Valley Bible Institute – Ekwendeni Malawi have been busy teaching and preaching. Our students are also preaching in their home village congregations waiting for the proposed dates by the government to reopen the schools. Despite the seriousness of the pandemic, we have been thinking about Souls! From March to August, about 23 souls have been saved. Six Lectureships conducted along with one preaching campaign resulting into establishment of the new congregation in 7 months period.

Editing and Translation of articles

We are also blessed with the work of translating and editing some articles from our brothers and sisters in America. The articles are all in English, but we put them in our local language of Chichewa and Tumbuka. We are thankful to Brother Dale and his wife Leann for coming up with the idea and involved us in the translation and editing (Chichewa version) work of the articles. Brother Dale and Sister Leann send out at least one article every Sunday to the contacts on the mailing list. We were happy to help translate one article written by our President Denny Petrillo – the article is titled “God Provided Peace “Yes! Even in the times of this pandemic, God is still saying – “Peace be still”!

School land

We have been involving the government officials from the lands department on the school site; now I am confirming that the school land lease is in process. We are told to be patient as it takes time for the lease and the deed to be issued after the minister signs it. However, we have been given permission to start developing the place. Renting is expensive, now the plans to build will save us rental costs in the near future. We hope that God will open doors of opportunities to find funds to help us start the construction work before this year ends. The land is big, even enough for having some vocational skills especially Farming (vegetable gardens), poultry, pig farming and beekeeping.

Bear Valley Bible institute – Ekwendeni Malawi, continues thanking Bear Valley Bible Institute International for supporting us every month. We always continue to pray for your families as this work still needs your involvement. We see you preaching and teaching with us through your support. Eternity Is Forever, Think Souls!

Your fellow workmen in the Lord’s Vineyard,

Ephron and Clergynton

Continual growth in Mbanga

Greetings again from this part of the world.

We extend our hand of fellowship to our lovely ones as you read this report from the extension school of preaching from Mbanga Cameroon. May the power of God accompany you all in your hard work and grant you success in this life. I hope we all met again in good health and strong hope of our glory.

It is raining in Cameroon and the climate is really too hard for us to be on mission but God is still helping us to continue on. The congregation in Banjock sends special words of appreciation for the numerous help that all of us have been offering to them. Their distance is really too far but our students are still trying to make it there each weekend which is a great sacrifice.

This assembly also needs our prayers. It is made up of some IDP's from the Anglophone regions who are planning to get back to their regions of origins. It is time for us to think about how the church can be stable and can carry out serious evangelism so as to establish a.permanent assembly over there and not just have displaced persons as members who may return home one day. The congregation needs to have some permanent Christians in it also. 

After our powerful exhortation yesterday, God added one soul into his kingdom. We preached on the topic " Hear Him," and after worship, she decided to obey the gospel and listen to the call of God. She had been following our preaching on air and at times she would come to worship with us. God has finally added her to the church. We praise the Lord almighty.

We are also praying for our graduates as they are putting forth their all in the field. We are praying for brother Sylvanus and brother Benjamin who graduated with the first batch and are doing great work in the field in Chad republic. Brother Desire and brother Nicanor are from the second batch. They are moving from home congregations to established new congregations in neighboring villages. At times they have to walk long distances so as to meet up with this big task. The scenario here in this picture shows brother Desire who has managed to get a bicycle to ride on to visit the new congregation that he has established. Brethren, the Bible says, “The soul is willing but the body is weak.” In this case, I see that the mind is willing and zealous but the means is not there. I think if it was a motorcycle, it could have helped a lot to manage this kind of situation. We pray God should provide to his servants, these various needs and necessities for the work.

People of God, we keep on praying for your good heart and for your concern for the work in French Cameroon and in Mbanga in particular.

Remain blessed! From your humble slave. 

Ititi Benedict and wife

Let's think about 2 Timothy 2:2.

Agriculture progress in Wotutu

Dearest in Christ,

Calvary greetings from this end. We do hope you are all doing okay over there in your home and congregation. On our side, we are doing better and we praise the name of God for our condition. Many others are sick, many are in need of basics, and many struggling to see how they can cultivate their farms. It is farming season now, and anyone who does not till the ground now, will continue to suffer and be without during time of harvest. Keep us in your prayers as we are also praying for you as well.

Last week, we continued studies and revision in the school as our students in the BVBIC-Wotutu will start exams this week. Please pray for them not only to perform well but also to keep what they have studied in their hearts so as to teach others as they develop their ministries. Their ministries will begin very soon as their graduation is on the 10th of December 2020.

Torrential downpours of rain never stop our staff from leaving their homes to come to Wotutu to teach and to prepare these men for full time ministry. It is exciting to see great faith and sacrifice from the brothers here.

Crisis or no crisis, pandemic or not, the gospel is the greatest weapon and needs to be in the hands of God’s children all the time. As early as 5 AM Cameroon time, we are on our PA system speaking the word in love to the entire community. We can sing words of praises, we can greet people by name, and we can preach the word loud and sound and many souls. They can hear us, search for us, and ask questions about the preaching they have heard. It is awesome that the church of Christ is gaining popularity among visitors who are coming to Wotutu. They can listen to us and many will find the teaching new as the truth has been hidden from many in the denominational world.

We are doing all that is in our power to help our students to be able to become self-sustaining as they preach the gospel full time. It is not easy to preach full time in small congregations and other poor congregations here in Cameroon. That is why we are trying to help by teaching them some practicals in gardening, farming, and animal husbandry. Please, our dream is to make sure that these men have food on their own table and enough to share with those around them who don’t have it. It is tomato season so we are bent to grow our own farm as well. AGRICULTURE IS THE BEDROCK OF THE CAMEROONIAN ECONOMY, SO TO SURVIVE, WE MUST TILL THE SOIL IF WE ARE TO MOVE AHEAD. PLEASE PRAY FOR US.

PLANS

Top on our plans is evangelism, which is our mission and our mission is evangelism. We are entering places but we are minding the measures we must keep to stop the spread of COVID-19 in our country. Even though we have not had a case in Wotutu, we are being careful to keep safe.

APPRECIATIONS

Thank you for your prayers. Thank you very much for all your thoughts and financial help that help to keep this work going. God is watching and will reward you in due season. Keep up the good work. Do your best to share with others our report.

God bless you and keep you.

Elangwe and family

By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu

Souls saved in Liberia

Greetings from your fellow laborer in the vineyard of God. We thank you so much for making it possible through your sacrifices for the sake of the Lord's kingdom here to continue even in this difficult Time (Coronavirus).

JUNE & JULY

These two months were very challenging because of the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic and Government mandate to have all schools closed, we designed another way to keep us teaching and have our students come on campus in four smaller different groups to pick up some lessons, assignments and research work to be done at their homes and brought back for another lesson. Within a week, we (Teachers) set aside two some times three days to meet with those that are able to come on campus with questions from the take home lessons, assignments and research papers. Students who were unable to come because of their far distances, we took their lessons to them and spend some times with them going through what they needed to do. We were able to covered some of our lessons during this period especially courses that was almost finishing before the virus came. Though this method was very challenging, it was also very rewarding.

EVANGELISM

Our students were actively involved into evangelism during this virus period and the result is just so beautiful. At their various congregations out side the bigger towns, they continued to meet together for worship and many people continued to show up for worship because of the uncertainty of their lives. Lots of people show up for worship because they wanted to get closer to God during this period fearing the virus and hoping that if anything happen to them, then they can be save. It was also easy to talk to many people during these times and present the gospel of our Lord to them. The students took serious advantage of the time and got involved actively in evangelism and visitation. Their efforts in totality resulted in the beginning of one congregation and 36 baptisms. When I learned about this, I was moved to tears and great joy. Lots of good news from their congregations continued to reached us. They were also involved in recruiting many new students for the next batch. I am so proud of my students.

SAD NEWS FOR PRAYERS

Student Gonkewon Yeaney lost his three years old daughter during this period and also felt very sick. He is recovering and needs your prayers for strength. Student Julous Nowon also had a motorbike accident on his way to the school to pick us his lesson. This resulted in a very deep cut on his leg. Please pray for him. I am also asking for your prayers. My children are all down with malaria.

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.

In Him,

Robert P. Dahn, Jr.

Director- BVBI-L

West Africa Happenings

We pray that all of you are doing well as we maneuver through the many restrictions implemented due to the pandemic.  COVID has limited our ability to hold public gatherings for graduations, seminars, evangelistic campaigns, and even worship in many areas.  However, we thank God that all of our schools in West Africa are now once again in full operation.  We are blessed with the modern technology of video conferencing and email, which allows us to stay in continual contact with our staff and students.  As a result, we are training preachers during this difficult time.  We are also able to preach on the radio, do personal evangelism, and continue the Lord's work in many other areas where social distancing is possible.  We are bringing many souls to Christ, and the Lord's kingdom is growing!

Thankfully, it appears that the borders and airports in West Africa are beginning to open after being closed for months.  Unless things change once again, I will be able to return sometime very soon.  We are already rescheduling times for me to teach classes in both the certificate and degree programs at various schools.  It is our prayer that we can also resume many of our planned graduations, seminars, campaigns, and workshops by early next year.  

Karen has been busy writing, printing, and laminating Bible study materials for her Sunday school workshops.  She is ready to continue training women to teach their children to love the Lord and His word.

With Christian Love,

Steven and Karen Ashcraft

Benefiting from technology in India

Dear Brethren in Christ,

Salutations from the students and faculty of the Visakha Valley Bible College, Visakhapatnam. By the grace of God we are all doing good, except little sickness of some of our present students every on else is doing good. Lord Blessed us by protecting us under His loving and merciful arms. We request you to kindly pray for the corona victims.

Online Classes: Finally we were able to begin a new chapter in our Visakha Valley Bible College. It is not just a chapter but a new development to have the classes running even in the physical absence of the instructor in the class. Due to corona travel has become a difficult thing. Rail road or road travel has become a cause for rapid spread of the Virus. Couple of our instructors are far away from the Visakhapatnam, they have to travel some hours to get here, in this conditions its not advisable to travel on public transport, at the same time our faculty cannot drive or ride that far.  So, after thorough discussion we have decided to establish a setup to execute our plan of setting up online classes. Brother Vamsee and Malleswar Rao and John Dean had a discussion on installing Zoom App in one of our Desktop computer. However it needs upgrade, so after the needful upgrade and installation of new OS, we have successfully installed Zoom app and made a trial run. We bought a router, switch, loud speakers, mouth piece and other required items for this setup. We were very happy to see everything came to a successful ending.

After everything set up, our director Bro. Samuel Raju offered a prayer of thanksgiving and introduced the online class room to the students. Bro Vamsee has taught the first class and spoke for an hour. Before that he actually explained the process of how the online class will be done/operated, how to interact with the instructor, how to raise questions etc., well, after couple of days buying things and techies working everything fall in place and students overwhelmingly joined in the class room enjoyed in this new establishment.

Heavy Rains & Corona Crisis: cases raising like anything: on a average everyday in our state 6000 is the number patients being diagnosed with Corona positive. Hospitals are being packed up with such increasing number of patients, doctors are almost giving up on their non stop services, looks like the future is going to terrible, health wise, economically and in the field of education as well.  We have been hearing from the preachers how difficult it is to survive during this time. The situation in rural India is threatening to common man’s life. Monsoon season has brought additional to those who survive on house farming. Some of our preachers, especially those in the hill areas live on house farming. Due to heavy rains from last two weeks, their chance of getting produce from the farm is quite difficult, hope by the grace of God things would turn in a positive side and bless them with good out come of their farming.

Evangelism: Our Graduates have been effectively trained for two years, also time to time they used attend the Lectureship/seminars conducted to learn more and increase more in their teaching & skills. As the materialism and love for technology is increasing in our country gospel is needed to taught more intensely. The establishment of the preaching school has been very helpful in producing some effective communicators of the gospel. In this time of corona pandemic we still hear from our graduates that people hearing gospel and being baptized into Christ for the remission of sins. It is nothing but our preachers constant working besides all circumstances. We are so glad to hear that people who are getting to be materialistic are realizing that this world is not permanent. Impressive thing is that they are wanting to be with God in heaven permanently. We are able to provide Bibles to our graduates for free distribution to those who are studying the Bible.

Dear brethren, we always praise God for keeping us safe and sound, especially during this time of Corona Pandemic, we sure need your prayers , our country, preachers need your prayers of encouragement.  We are able to help some families who are suffering lack of food due to no work, since the industry they are working has shut down during this lock down time. We appreciate your encouragement so far, we would love to see that we would do more as we see the need. We pray that Lord provides.

Thanks so much for your prayers and encouragement, we look forward to keep you posted more in my next email. Please give our greetings to your family and also to the Church family you worship with.

In Christ,

John Dean M

Visakha Valley Bible College

Harvesting in Tamale

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE, TAMALE

TAMALE, GHANA

JULY REPORT 2020

The everlasting graceful grace of our Lord continues to be the source of our livelihood in all things. We appreciate Him for all He has done, and continues to do for all the saints in His kingdom. His faithfulness remains certain to us all. We bless Him for all He is doing through you.

SCHOOL GARDEN / FARM

First batch of harvest for the school garden have been done with. Groundnut has been successfully harvested. Maize is doing well. The rain continues to be promising, and we are sure if it continues this way, we could have a good harvest. We have sowed some maize on the land where the groundnut has been harvested. They are also doing well.

STUDENTS IN SCHOOL

AS reported in June, thirteen students have reported and the classes are in progress. The following courses had been treated respectively: Kojo Acquah Beenyi, Preacher and his work; Roger Akumse Ayillah Minor prophets; Albert Malir Tamanja 1,2 peter & Jude and James Legend Bisoing the Book of James. Students were tested and they performed much better than ever. They are left with one course, 1 & 2 Thessalonians to finish and go on break for three weeks.

ADMINISTRATION

The school activities are on course as a result of the collaborative effort of the administration team. Although the Corona virus has impeded the calendar for the year, it is our pledge and hope that with your prayers and support we shall run the school to catch up all the losses within the year. From our point of observation, it was assumed when coordinator Kojo Beenyi met with us to deliberate on how to diligently deal with the curriculum with the students' consent. The prudent decision taken with students’ compliance will help us achieve our goals this year. We pray the borders opened soonest to enable our beloved Brother Steven Ashcraft come to teach the course Bible geography.

STOOL LAND

The stool Land office called on us to pay for rent dues for school and Church premises. An amount of three hundred Ghana cedis {GH¢300.00} was paid for 2019 – 2020 rent.

May God’s name be praised for His continues mercy.

God bless us all,

Albert and James

Continued progress in Nigeria

Beloved in Christ Jesus.

Greetings from Nigeria. Report reaching me today from BVBIN Agege shows that 24 students attended this Saturday class and 23 in Ikorodu while 14 students were in Lagos Island.

As for those of us in the full time program, we concluded our three days Open Air Bible Lectureship yesterday evening at Egbeda town. Bro.Andrew Adeolu and Bro. Kayode Eniafe served as the speakers of yesterday lectureship in Fasade/Egbeda saw mill market while I moderated the program and Bro .Dele Shotola as the song leader.

Today, I went out with the students serving in Egbeda to visit our prospects, Bro.Kayode Eniafe also travelled to work with the students serving in Ekiti and Ondo State immediately we finished yesterday outreach and Bro. Andrew Adeolu and Bro.Dele Shotola worked with the students serving in Ajia town and Butubutu respectively.

Beloved, our degree students will continue their classes on coming Monday August 17 through 27,2020 Lord's willing. We deeply are appreciative of your support,love and encouragement.
I will be speaking on "Using Every Available Opportunity To Win Souls For Christ " in Egbeda congregation Lord's willing on Sunday morning Bible Class.

I remain yours in His Grace as a servant.....Makinde