A challenging but productive year in Fiji

Reflection on 2020 challenges for BIR
This has been an interesting year. We had big plans. We had scheduled 8 guest speakers to come teach in our program this year. Tony Duncan and his wife Kathy arrived in time to help us kick off the school year. He co-taught our class on the Writings of John with Emosi. Beginning on February 18 he taught for two weeks on the Gospel of John, and was followed by Emosi who finished the course teaching on John’s three epistles. Tony did an excellent job and Cathy also worked with the ladies in the program on how to do a ladies’ devotional.

Shortly after their departure we were shut down by the government on March 24 and had to finish the first term via videos. We were able to distribute these videos to the students due to a generous donation from David and Connie from Alabama. We were still hopeful that some of our teachers would be able to make it later in the year, but that turned out not to be.

We had to totally revamp our schedule to get the required courses in and eventually had to tell the short course teachers one by one that they would not be able to get into the country due to the travel restrictions imposed by the Fiji Government.

Two of our short course teachers volunteered to teach their courses via audio recordings. Terry Pafford wrote a textbook, recorded 17 short lessons on Psalms and 14 lessons on Job, wrote the exams, and graded the exams and homework assignments from his home in Midland, Texas. He did an excellent job with the class.

Dr. Tim Ashley also recorded his class. We were really excited about the course he was scheduled to teach on Maintaining the Preacher’s Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Health. As a primary care family physician who has lived in the Pacific and an elder in the church, he was uniquely qualified to teach on this important subject. He wrote a textbook, recorded 15 lessons, and administered and graded exams and class assignments. In conjunction with this class, students were required to keep a health diary, set health goals, and write a plan for their village. We also had a health screening clinic in conjunction with the class where the student’s weight, blood pressure, and blood sugar was tested and recorded. His class was well received.

By a tight schedule, and reassigning short courses to our local staff we were able to get the required classes and hours in necessary for our 2nd year students to graduate on time. As was mentioned in our last report, we had six students to graduate on October 31, 2020. Again, due to the travel restrictions, we were not able to have any guest speakers from the U.S. But Terry Pafford, Keith Kasarjian, and Denny Petrillo sent videos, and Lesio spoke locally on behalf of the students.

We thought the challenges were behind us for 2020, but one more surprise was in store. Cyclone Yasa struck Fiji on the 18 of December. We thought Suva, where the school is located, was in line for a direct hit. Cyclone Yasa didn’t turn as far to the south as was initially predicted, but it stayed to the north of us. However, the northern island of Vanua Levu was hammered. The churches of Christ in the villages of Nabouwalu, Labasa, Buca, and Vatudamu were hit hard. There was significant damage to many of their homes. But the most serious problem was the destruction of their crops. Especially with the downturn of the economy due to the covid19 travel restrictions they are particularly dependent on their gardens for their daily sustenance. Please keep them in your prayers!

While 2020 did not go as we had originally planned, nonetheless, we were able to accomplish our primary goals. Also, we are continuing to have success with our Monday night program for part time students. We were also able to start a Saturday program in the West and have 11 committed men to that program. It is taught every other Saturday in Lautoka and Nadi.

We continue to thank you for your kind words of encouragement, your prayers, and your generosity. God continues to bless the work here in spite of the challenges. We give Him the glory and the praise!

Rocco Pierce

Director of the Bible Institute at Raiwaqa

A tribute to Vannak Yeng

My Friend Vannak - The Best Lesson I Never Heard

I always new where my friend Vannak was - all I had to do was listen for a spiritual conversation and look for a big smile. How do I encapsulate my brother and pay tribute to him in a short note? I have many great memories, but none more poignant than The The Best Lesson I Never Heard.

One Sunday afternoon Vannak, myself and a few other brothers in Christ headed out to conduct worship service for a man and his wife and their two very small children who lived on a boat on Tonle Sap Lake about an hours drive from Siem Reap. This young couple had been members of the church for about 6 months and had very little in the way of possessions. We went with intentions of giving them some much needed relief money. The hour long ride gave me time to ask Vannak what his lesson would be about. His reply, “Giving”… I thought to myself “Giving?! Seriously?! These people live in extreme poverty and you're going to preach to them about giving?”

As we arrived at the lake we walked about 300 yards passing by a few boats along the shoreline. Passing by I glanced into the shadows of one and could see some little eyes looking out at me. A few yards further down we entered on to the couples boat and Vannak presented his sermon on giving. I never heard the lesson because it was in their native Khmer language. After the lesson, we all put a little money into the contribution with the intent that the young couple received most of it.

A discussion followed between Vannak and the young man. After some smiles, some hugs and a prayer they took up the collection and walked towards the boat where I had seen the little eyes peering out. Apparently Vannak’s lesson had inspired the young man and his young wife to give all that was on the table to the family in the nearby boat, who were in desperate need of comfort and hope.

In the photos attached you will see Vannak walking with the young brother down to the neighbors boat to give all they had in Christ like service.

I’ll never forget this lesson or the man who delivered it.

Vannak was ready to become one of the first ever elders in Siem Reap but he suddenly passed away last week, leaving behind his wife Puen and three teenage children, Benjamin, David and Sokning. Vannak taught at the International Bible Institute of Siem Reap, Cambodia. He will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him. However we live in the faith that we will be reunited soon and for all eternity.

Wes Autrey

A big loss in Visakhapatanam

***Less than a day after receiving this report, our beloved Samuel Raju passed from this life and into eternity. He was a kind and gentle man, whose company I always enjoyed. I have many fond (and sometimes funny) memories of my friend and brother. He made the most of his 72 years on this earth and Heaven will be fuller for it. He will be missed greatly by all who knew him, especially by his Bear Valley family. Please remember his family in your prayers. [KK}

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Dear Brethren in Christ,

Greetings in Christ name. By the grace of God we are doing good. We thank you so much for your prayers and emails all this year which made us all be protected and able to continue the mission of Christ in India. This year has been a challenging personally and spiritually too. We praise God for all those who lifted up prayers on our behalf during the corona pandemic, except the loss of few preachers and members of the Church, every one else is safe. Death rate has come done, however the government is kept warning the public about the chance of second wave of Covid-19. If it actually happens not doubt that our government will call for a lock down, we pray things would stay normal. Everything is possible with God.

School Update:

School work is going on good, we are in the last week of this quarter. We shall be breaking for Christmas from this Saturday. Classes will be resumed from 4th of Jan 2021. Attached are the pictures showing the work in Visakhapatnam and this part of Andhra Pradesh, also a picture showing my father. We heard about several baptisms, and witnessed too. Recently visited a group of Graduates who are working together and  we distributed Bibles and Literature to them also financial help provided to those graduates. Tailoring classes also going on to our students, which we show to the government that we are providing trade education or vocational education. People are being added to the Church daily, even though corona situation is still active, churches are still able to meet every Sunday. Of course we were not able to hold lot of gospel meetings and preacher meetings this time, however gospel is being spread every where despite the difficulties, people are embracing Christ every where as a result of our graduates working in several parts of Andhra Pradesh and Orrissa.

Gratitude:

We thank the brethren at Lake Houston Church of Christ and Strickland Church of Christ for their charity in helping the Bear Valley school in Visakhapatnam. We are indeed blessed to have a wonderful relationship of working together for over 10 years, we pray that your leadership would continue to help the preaching school for producing effective ministers of the gospel. We really pray that some day you would visit us to see the Preaching school and also visit the graduates working in this part of Andhra Pradesh. We must thank Jerry & Paula Bates for their portion of encouragement in running the preaching school, we really miss working with them, it is a big loss, hope some of the brethren from the supporting church visit us to teach short courses. We look forward for the mercy of our Lord to continue working together for the years to come.

In Christ,

John Dean M

Doing well in Takoradi

OPERATIONAL REPORT FOR NOVEMBER, 2020

1.      CLASSROOM WORK

Both the regular and part-time classes went on smoothly. All the instructors attended and taught their respective classes.

2.      BEGINNING OF NEXT ACADEMIC YEAR

God willing, the new students for the next academic year will report on January 11, 2021. About twelve (12) men are expected to enroll as the regular students, while seven (7) have expressed interest in the weekend classes. Meanwhile, not everyone in the current part-time class will be completing their course this December. There are five who joined the program later, and so they too will be joined by the new seven (7) who are coming in January 2021. Which means, if God permits, we are going to have twenty-four (24) students for the next academic year. That is, twelve in the regular and twelve in the part-time.

3.      EVANGELISM AND BAPTISM

In the month of November too, there were house to house evangelism activities that went on by some of the past students in their various congregations, which also yielded good fruits through baptism. About ten (10) souls were baptized.

Also, in almost all the sixteen regions of Ghana, we have west Coast past students preaching on radio every week. In Takoradi for instance, we have about ten (10) of our past students preaching on radio stations.

Yours for the Master’s service.

Joshua Aidoo

The Togo school is doing great!

October 2020 Report

We are delighted with everything the eternal has done in the month. It has preserved us from any harm and especially from the pandemic (COVID 19). Twice a month, our school is visited by health workers in order to check if we have hand washing facilities, if the students put on the masks, if 1m distance is respected in order to avoid the spread of the pandemic. At the very beginning of the disease, we were afraid, but now we have courage because no patient with COVID 19 is found in Kpalime.

 On the whole all the activities of the school (BVBI) and Saturday's classes went well.  The activities of the agricultural project continue with the school.

 Evangelization:

The end of the training is approaching and our future evangelists must do a lot of house-to-house experiences with the study and distribution of Bible treatises.

Courses:

Currently here are the courses that students are studying.

1. Number & Deuteronomy (continued): Rodrigue

2. Esdras to Esther (continued): AKLI

3. The Evangelist's Manual: Cephas

4. Psalms (2 part): Cephas

5. Ezekiel (continued): ATTAH

6. Revision on Church Development: AKOVI

7. Geography and Biblical History (continued): AKALO

Computer course:

In the past it was difficult for evangelists to use the computer. With this introductory computer program, our students are able to search the internet and enter their sermons and also make reports. Computer classes are 2 hours every Thursday evening.  First, they are introduced to work and become familiar with: Word (office), excel, internet. They started at the beginning with the PCTAP program, i.e. put their finger on the alphabets on the keyboard. Currently they are learning how to open their email account, and how to search on the net. With the help of the computer, they prepare their sermons and Bible studies and make copies for themselves, in exchange for the simple papers they used to write by hand. They keep the sermons and lectures in the computer. If possible, they want to have a computer after school for use in ministry. This will be a way to prepare and store sermons and studies, as well as use it for correspondence courses.

 Visit to the churches:

The means of transportation during this period COVID 19, motorcycles have been very helpful for students to visit places of worship to teach and encourage members who are afraid to hear the name of COVID 19. Students APEWOKE Koku a brave gatherer of souls, he often and always invited people to church that is every Sunday a couple or 2, 3 visitors cite his name as the one who invited them after a study or a treaty he gave them. He is engaged without children, he wished to make the wedding after the graduation. When an assembly how by decreasing in number he is solicited to help the growth. If there is a prize given for the one who gathers more souls it is him. He was a deacon of the denominational church called "AGAKPE".

Baptisms:

Always the lord adds a soul to his church every month, but this October, there are 3 baptized. The 3 are baptized by AKATA students who go out to study with those they make appointments with on weekends. DEDIXA Koffi, ETSE Koudzou and KPELEVI, organized an evangelization with the church sisters in the village all Saturday from 1 to 4:30 pm. The village has more than 11 denominations. Often a question always comes up when we evangelize: which church is not "the church of Christ? Since for most people there is confusion about the church of Christ.

Special Needs and Challenges:

Our school is growing; the number of graduates is increasing every two years. We need to start thinking differently about the future of our school. I would like the school to have its own land i.e. a land purchased in the name of BVBI, or in the name of GABRIEL CHURCH OF CHRIST and that all the papers be signed by the elders of GABRIEL CHURCH OF CHRIST. This will reduce the rental costs and build the school's classrooms, housing for foreigners (GABRIEL CHURCH OF CHRIST elders, BVBI managers) and other people.  In case of infidelity on the part of the local (Togolese) officials towards the non-respect of the doctrine, GABRIEL CHURCH OF CHRIST has the authorization to confiscate everything, to do what it wants, because it is property. The school must have a bus for multiple services. Note: For this promotion and in the future, I would like to wish that the wives of the students before graduation come to receive instruction on the work of their husbands and the work of a preacher's wife. It is very important because the wife of a preacher must contribute a lot in the development of the church.

 Saturday classes:

Saturday class students are like a nursery that a gardener sets up to help him in the garden. These classes are very beneficial to the Bear Valley Institute. Of course not everyone will be able to reach the BVBI School; this studies help in the conversion of denominations and prepare them for mature Christians. Older men through classes are prepared to serve leaders, teachers and future elders in the churches of Christ in Togo.

Continued progress in northern Ghana

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE, TAMALE

TAMALE, GHANA.

REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 2020

We thank God for taking us through the month of November successfully. We shall forever pay our allegiance to Him and Him alone. We also express our heartfelt gratitude for your prayer and support which has enabled us to work in the Lord’s vineyard with you.

 STUDENTS BACK TO SCHOOL

The students have come back from break to complete the remaining courses that will let them finish the two year program after which they can graduate. Thirteen students have successfully completed and are waiting to be graduated next year God’s willing.

CLASSES

The remaining courses were given fair treatment by teachers assigned with students, class works and exams were also conducted. The book of revelation was taught by brother James Legend Bisong; Christian Ethics by Brother Daniel Adjei Mensah, Inter-Testamental period by Brother Kojo Acquah Beenyi and Counseling by Daniel Adjei Mensah. All the students score sheets and transcripts have been worked on and would be sent to Bear Valley for them to use to prepare certificates for those who qualify for diploma.

ADMINISTRATION

The staff has done its best to administratively run the activities of the school smoothly. As we gear towards the end of the year our main concern is how to get new students. We have already started campaigning for them. Wednesday, 16th of December 2020 is the date we have fixed to interview those we have been able to reach on phone. Those we have not been able to reach on phone we shall find another means to get them so that we can interview them at a later date. We have also talked with the various leaders at Sabunjinda and some nearby communities where we will be going for evangelism in January 2021. We think from Sabunjinda down to Bimbilla will be a fertile ground for evangelism. We can plant new churches and also revive and strengthen old churches in the area.

RENOVATION: Since the construction of the school building for several years now, there has not been any major renovation work on it. The doors and windows nets have all been destroyed. Parts of the ceilings also have been worn out. All the paint has faded. The fence wall needs plastering. As a result, major renovation work has begun.  The nets and ceilings have been fixed and plastering of the fence wall has started. We are yet to begin with the painting of the building. We pray that the Lord will help us to complete all the work.

KPALSI CHURCH: We have started working on the church land to put up a small building for the local congregation in Kpalsi to start worshipping in their own building. Blocks have been made and foundation work has started. In addition, one soul have been baptized in the month of November and added to the church.

DOCUMENTS ON SCHOOL LAND AND SITE FOR WORSHIP:  Coordinator Kojo was here in October to teach, and we made move to the Lands Commission to make a follow up on our documents. Further follow ups have been done and an individual have been assigned by the authorities to work on our documents and get them completed for us. We are optimistic of getting them as soon as possible.

FUNERALS: The former Director (Joseph Okyere Kwame Baah) of the school passed on on the 21st of September this year and a delegation was sent to represent the school and the local church during his funeral on the 7th of November 2020. Brother Adjei Mensah, current director, Brother Thomas Donzie, secretary to the Governing Board, and Brother James Legend, Instructor and staff of the school made up the delegation. Brothers Albert Malir and George Asante also made it to the late preacher Lot Kwame’s final funeral rite. He was one of the second batch past students. They used the opportunity to campaign for students and also inform the participants about the EXPASION OF BOARD MEMBERS AND INCLUSION of all catchment areas in the three regions and the idea was admitted as good news.

Thank you.

From:  Daniel Adjei Mensah (Director)

More baptisms in Guinea!

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

The Director, Staff, Student body and all of us who make up the Gueckedou, Guinea Bear Valley Bible Institute are pleased to submit and share this “Activity Report” for the month of November to you all, our supporters and friends. There were a hand full of activities which occurred during the month under review and for the most part the results were successful. Here are the summaries of those events outlined below under subheadings.

Classroom:  There were 3 majour courses covered during the month of November. These were: Old Testament 2; Life of Christ 2 and Old Testament 3a (Job). Due to the act of unfaithfulness on the part of one students’ wife – a matter still on course, 16 of the 17 students returned from their second quarter – October end break. These are the ones who took the aforementioned courses and the results were very good.

Evangelism: As we went out into various villages strengthening the new congregations, our students especially with the help of Niouma 2 Kamano, a staff member were able to convert a total of 6 persons - 3 of which were baptized in Gueckedou.

In addition, we had gone out into new villages not only to evangelize, but to pre-announce a special gospel campaign surrounding the village of Bandalo-leh where the Niceville church had put up a worship hall - scheduled for inauguration on Saturday, the 21st November. The outcome of those special combined events are detailed in our next subheading namely-

Campaign/Worship Hall Inauguration: Preceded by a 2 days preaching in and around the village of Bandalo-leh where the church was planted since May 2018, the Bear Valley team along with the church members succeeded in assembling an audience of some 250 invitees for a public preaching and the inauguration of the worship hall in that village. There were 3 speakers for the following topics: (1) Why Should One Be a Member of the Church of Christ? (2) How can one be Saved According to the New Testament? And (3) How Should We Acceptably Worship God Today? Each of the preaching was followed by a question-answer period. Finally, we concluded by a brief act of inauguration. The program was successful and 6 of those who worshiped with us the next day, Sunday, the 22nd of November 2020 were baptized!

Agriculture Update: Even though all the preliminaries had been put in place there were still some obstacles hindering the progress of the agriculture work. Healing Hands had introduce us to Ebenezer, the brother in charge of the training and we have been in contact to settle nearly all that is required before the training. But until now the border closure due to the Covid - 19 pandemic followed by the high tensions of presidential elections in our country in September and especially October were the main obstacles.

However, the well itself which had been drilled since last May is being used to serve the nearby community. One Madam Youmbouno and her family who live some 200 kilometers are the main beneficiaries who fetch the water. Also we have just received the Agric-kit from the trainer who has planned to later visit Gueckedou after a virtual workshop this December.

Dining Hall Repair: Our dining hall is a temporal – wooden shelter built on wooden poles which are often eaten by termites thus demanding changes. This time around it has become a necessity and we were obliged to replace the sticks with at least 2 iron ones.

Vehicle Repair: During November we had a lot of movement also with the vehicle especially during the campaign – the pre-inauguration week. And with the bad roads, vehicle repairs were necessary and successfully done.

Conclusion: The month of November had some obstacles hindering some of our activities, but because of your prayers and material support all of it came up successful. Our special thanks and appreciations to the Niceville, Florida CoC through the benevolent hand of Brother Ken Stanley for the worship hall constructed at Bandalo-leh where a graduate of our first batch is serving. Let the Niceville church be sure that Brother Michel and his congregation at Bandalo-leh are most grateful! That inauguration exercise together with our evangelism efforts resulted to a total of 12 conversions in November.

May the Lord heal, protect and bless us all.

Francis

2 camps upcoming in Tanzania

The ACSOP Weekly Report,

December 12, 2020

Dear Co-Laborer,

"Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. “Greetings in Tanzania are very important. Many local people spend several minutes greetings one another. My observation is that Americans are more task-oriented and Tanzanians more focused on following protocol and are friendlier to others for the most part. 

 "Let no man despise your youth..." Next Monday will bring to an open the 15th Annual Future Preachers Training Camp, whereby we are expecting a number of 70 or above young men (ages 12-25) will attend and will be taught how to compose and deliver a sermon, lead prayers, and lead singing. This camp, begun by Roger Shepherd of Montgomery, AL, is now being conducted by the Tanzanian Christians. This type of growth is very encouraging.           

Tanzania Christian Camp. After the FPTC we will conduct TCC at the Andrew Connally School of Preaching. This camp is going to have a combination of females and males youth. We are expecting to have a number of more than 150 youth attending. 

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you..."You, our supporters, are the "life-blood" of this work of God. “You "are at every program we contact here in ACSOP. "You" are at the new churches being planted and "You" go with every student from ACSOP as he graduates to spread the Gospel in new areas. Thank you for your confidence and support.

With Love From East Africa,

Losotwa Michael,

ACSOP, dean of academics

Online in Ukraine

Greetings, dear brothers and sisters in Christ,  

Thank God nobody in the church was seriously hurt by the pandemic and the brethren who were infected are all better now. 

In November all classes in our Bible Institute were online. The numbers of sick people were climbing up every day and we decided not to put anybody at risk, neither students nor Instructors. The Government announced closed doors policy for all educational institutions and noncompliance was punishable by fines. In the beginning of December, the situation slightly improved and some restrictions were lifted. So we are cautiously making plans to return to the classrooms during the last weeks of December. 

Online studies had some advantages as well. We were still connected in spite of the ban for gatherings and other people from different regions of Ukraine could join our studies. These guests were very encouraging to our students.  

Thus, last month our second year students had the Book of Acts (Instructor Vladimir Paziy, the preacher from Kramatorsk) and 1 and 2 Thessalonians (Dennis Sopelnik). 

We are working on the next school year recruitment. We have found a few people who would like to join the program next year. However, they are not fully committed because of the fear of the virus. It's a challenge for us but we are not giving up and continuing the Lord's work. 

Last weekend my family went to Lviv. The local congregation celebrated its first 5 years. Moreover, the congregation was established by three families who had been our graduates. I was very proud to see the Lord's work in the city. It's the largest city in the Western Ukraine but there was no congregation of the Church of Christ there before 2015. And now they have 20 members congregation. One of the ministers there is our Instructor as well. God keeps working through our faithful brethren.   

We are thankful to all of you who support our ministry. We appreciate your prayers and financial help.  

May God guard and keep you safe.  

Your brother, Dennis Sopelnik 

Evangelism opportunities in Cameroon

Calvary greetings from this part of the universe. We are in Mbanga Balong, in Cameroon, and in central Africa. We are glad to be alive this day, strong and healthy for some are incapable.

We praise Jehovah God for taking us this far. The end of year is quite near and lots of things are ongoing. We want to beg for your prayers as our students and staff will going for field work and we will be campaigning for the next batch of students as we go as well. We bring our report to you this day. It will be the last for this year as we proceed to 2021 by his grace. All roads are leading to Wotutu for the end of coursework graduation ceremony as we also prepare for our own in Manga next march. But, so far, we are doing fairly well, even thou with some ups and downs.

The students and staff just finished this 7th quarter with no major difficulties. We also took the short course on the book of Hebrews. We ended with a short course taught by Ename Paul, minister with the Bertoua town assembly. It was pleasant to study the book of Hebrews. In his nature, as it is, He took 6 days to exegete the book with a written part on Saturday in the evening. All of the students were able to make it with green (flying) colors. 

The students had a course on “African Traditional Religion.” This is a course we brought in as we use this to study some traditions and culture of the people in order for us to know how to penetrate these areas of work. The case study was that of West Africa.

We took some time off to go into the field and visited some of these fons (chiefs) and their royalty in order for them to tell us what their tradition is all about. It was a great trip, as we are planning to move this course from being just an elective course to becoming a part of the curriculum in the nearby future. 

To make marks, it was exactly one year ago that we organized the annual conference in Mbanga. We still want to say thank you to all who supported the hosting of the annual last year. We successfully traveled safely to Bangante this year for the annual lectureship with both the students and members of the congregation.

The church in Mbanga and the students also welcomed a new born baby in church. The student from Chad whose name is Josuè presented his newborn baby with his wife Leah. The two of them came but today they are 3. More blessings should accompany this family.

We offer a special end of year greeting from the church in Mbanga to the sister assemblies all over the globe. We love you all. May God bless you this end of 2020.

From your servants in Mbanga,

ITITI BENEDICT AND MARY.

Happy New Year in advance. Thanks

Graduation upcoming in Wotutu

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from this part of the globe. We are alive. Some are strong and some are not, but in any situation, we give glory to God. We are thanking God for all He has been able to do for us and keeping us through the year 2020. We are very grateful for all your prayers and support that help to keep the work going.

Last week in Bear Valley Wotutu, Cameroon, things went on well. We are done with short courses and are now we are moving towards graduation. That is why this report is dedicated for graduation information. All 17 students who will be graduating are prepared except for brother Atem Prisco who is having severe problems with his kidney. He is on dialysis now. That is why all this while he has been in the hospital in Buea. Please keep him in your prayers.

Graduation comes up this Thursday. Valedictory night is on Wednesday. We will inform you as to what happened on graduation day as we report next Sunday. Keep us in your prayers and keep praying for these men and their families as they go into the wilderness.

 APPRECIATIONS

Our hearts are filled with happiness for all that you are doing for us and the work. We have successfully trained 97 graduates as of now. We shall give details of our work. After 10 years of training men and their families to preach the saving message, we are very grateful and we pray God bless you and open doors for you as we start with the Zeta batch come January 2021.Thanks for all. We were blessed in every step we made while walking with Christ and walking with you. All the glory goes to Him.

Elangwe and family

By His grace Director of BVBIC-Wotutu.

Pressing on in India

Reporting letter for the month of November-2020

We convey our warmest greetings to you in the matchless name of our lord and savior Jesus Christ. We are ever grateful to you for your continual  prayers  and encouragement. We pray that this reporting letter finds you well spiritually as well as physically.

We are grateful to our international director for devotion which was conducted yesterday, it was rally a thrilling experience for me to see all my brothers who ever involved in this great task of training faith people in all over the world. In fact it was my ambition to have such a meet with all the directors of the BVBI. We  praising God for such a great privilege that we had yesterday. The lesson which was delivered by Mr. Denny Petrillo has given us a great encouragement to fight against Satan and win souls for Christ and train up faith men and women for the  spiritual bottle against the Satan.

Dear brothers , There is cyclone storm effect in India , there is heavy rain continually falling down  for few days but by the grace of God well are safe.

 We have began our classes in the month of September after covid-19 , we try to follow all the necessary covid-19’s  guidelines as per the Indian governmental instructions . By the grace of God we have completed the fifth semester and six semester has been going on  now , in order to cover up and complete the syllabus  we have cancelled the break up period . We appreciate the students and staff for their well cooperation. In the month of November we have completed the gospel according to John and  first John, second John and Third John and Book of Acts and book of  Romans .

Regarding the kitchen garden which was established by the cooperation of Healing Hands International:  The second crop was completed,  again students and staff have involved in doing hard work in order to cultivate and sowing the seeds for the third time crop. We have planted Bitter gourd, Brinjal, Okra ,Onion, Ginger, Bottle gourd, Pumpkin and other Leafy greens. We are grateful to Mr.Carl Burkybile , the director of agriculture  –HHI,  for his great encouragement and guidance for the establishment and  maintenance of the healthy  and organic vegetable garden in India. We grow all the planted in the raised beds , we have 12 beds in our garden. We are happy to share with you that each bed has been taking care of by two students voluntarily, now the garden is clean and healthy.  We not only care for the plants but also the soil given by God.

We once again thankful for all your efforts which you invest for the smooth function of BVBI-project in India, we are need of your continual prayers and encouragement.

Prayer request: Dear brothers , lord willing in the month of January- 15 and 16 -2021 we would like to organize the Bible Seminar , there will be 12 lessons from the book of Proverbs. We humbly request your prayers for the success of the seminar.

Thanking you.

Yours brother in Christ.

Vijay  behalf of BVBI-Tirupati-India.

Making great strides in Zimbabwe

NOVEMBER 2020 NARRATIVE REPORT

INTRODUCTION

2020 is coming to an end. It has been a year with a difference due to the COVID pandemic. However, the hand of God has been visible throughout. November was not an exception. God’s guidance continued. We can report on the following;

1.0 SECOND INTAKE

1.1 Graduation

As highlighted in the last report, graduation for our second intake shall take place on the 13th of February 2021. Preparations are in progress.

1.2 EVANGELISM

The graduating class continued with its evangelism efforts in various areas. Seven of the students already have congregations which they are serving as ministers. Three are still to be engaged but are heavily active in their respective congregations. They are available for engagement. The efforts of these graduates-to-be saw 6 souls being added to the church.

2.0 RESUMPTION OF THIRD INTAKE

The third intake which has been doing online classes will be coming for face to face instruction on the 6th of December and break on the 20th of December. Classes will resume on the 6th of January 2021. This will be the first class to undertake their studies at the new site.

3.0 PROJECTS

Two major projects took center stage in the month, that is, poultry and maize project. In December, we are hoping to introduce free range (road runners) and rabbits. The idea is for projects to contribute, in a small way, to the school’s budget, provide food for students, provide life survival skills for students and slowly provide more capital for other projects. This month we report on poultry and the maize project.

3.1 Maize

In the previous reports we highlighted the school’s desire to plant maize and beans on the +/-10 hectares availed to the school. A hectare of maize was planted on the 18th of November. The lack of resources has hampered the planting of more hectares. $4770 was needed to fully utilize the land.

3.2 Poultry

The school’s poultry project continued in the month of November. The batch of 200 birds which we started on the 16th of October began to be sold around the 23rd of November. Due to the scarcity of chicks, we got a batch of 25 and another of 50 on the 27th. The former will be ready around the 25th of December while the latter, around the 8th of January.

4.0 CONSTRUCTION OF TEACHER’S HOUSE

The construction of the much anticipated teacher’s house commenced on the 6th of November. The following stages were successfully done and inspected; setting out, trenching, footing and the box. The two next stages will be to put the slab and then the construction of the superstructure.

Great appreciation to Woodland Oaks for the provision towards this effort and the local brethren for doing the same. Besides the list of families who made contributions as presented in the last report, the following families provided the following amounts;

Chirenda $200

Mukondwa  $10

Maseko $10

Suwari  $80

Muchingami   $100

Toperesu $50

Chimedza $40

Mazambani  $20

CONCLUSION

As reported above, progress continues to be registered on several fronts. The words of Paul in Philippians 4:8 can sum up, for us, the month of November for us:Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.To God be the glory

Successful campaign in Liberia

Bear Valley Bible Institute- Ganta, Liberia Operations Reports- OCTOBER 2020

PROLOGUE

We bring you greetings from the students and staffs in Liberia- Bear Valley Bible Institute, hoping all is well with you and your families in the Lord's name during this very difficult time in your country . We want you know that we continued to remember you in our prayers.

CAMPAIGNS:

I am always happy to announce the wonderful work that is being done by the students and staffs when it comes to Campaigns evangelism. Their zeal for gospel campaigns continued to sent out the good news and make the Lord's church known in the community and beyond. In the month of October, the middle of the rainy season where our roads in Liberia are very terrible and movements becomes difficulty, we still carried out two very successful campaigns supported by brother Steven Ashcraft in the Garrbosin areas were we had the total of twenty four (24) person accepting the gospel of Christ through water baptism.

This campaign also resulted in the restoring of a falling congregation, brought back backsliding members and planted the gospel seed in the hearts of many people who never knew the truth. We are sincerely thankful to Brother Steven and to everyone who continue to supports our campaigns efforts with every dollar you continued to sacrifice. May our God bless you with refund.

WEEKEND EVANGELISM

We are never giving up on our weekend campaigns in Ganta where we have the school located. Our students continued to engaged the communities in Ganta during every weekends in house to house evangelism and distributions of tracks. The administration has made this a requirement from the school to enable our students practice personal evangelism for their future as trained gospel preachers. Their weekend work includes visit to the market places, hospitals and prison. Presentations and reports are made every Monday morning to evaluate their weekend field work. Meanwhile, this effort is not only making the church known or have great impart on prospects they come across, but helping the individual students with great experiences on field work and what to expect in the future of their own ministry.

PASSED STUDENTS VISITED AND THEIR PROGRESS:

In keeping with our goals to train men who will be able to train others also, we have designed a program to keep up with our passed students. This program that is aim at reaching out to our passed students in getting to know what and how they are doing with the work at their locations is being sponsored by a local church brother and his wife, Sister and Brother Nornie. We explained to the Ganta church the need to keep up with the passed students of Bear Valley and they volunteer to provide the transportation needed to check on these preacher and encourage them.

With their help, we were able in October to checked on two of the passed students at where they are preaching. Prince Vonleh and Jefferson Dologbay are both working together in Gbapa town and are doing very well in this villages. Though there are some personal challenges they explained, but they are applying all that they learned from the school. They were all very happy to see us from the school they graduated from visiting them and appreciating them for the work they are doing. One common recommendation they all came up with is the need for the school to go in and evangelize their towns. They both came back with us in Ganta for some gospel tracks. Please keep these young preachers in your prayers.

CONCLUSION:

We are truly grateful to everyone who supports the work of the Bible school here in Liberia. We are sincerely thankful for every dollar you continued to sacrifice for the sake of Christ in Ganta Liberia. Thank you very much. 

Your brother and co-worker in the Lord

Robert P. Dahn, Jr.

Director- BVBI-Liberia

Success and sadness in Kenya

This is KSOP students report for the month of November and early December. This marks the third quarter of the second year of KSOP fourth intake students. We have closed the school on 4th of December, 2020 for the months' holiday.

We had began with 19 students at first, but towards the end of October, one student by the name Kefah Guto had left the school without giving any information as to where he was going. So we have to guess that may be the class has turned to be tough for him or has gone for some work/ business best known to him.

On 30th of Nov.2020, another student by the name Jonathan Asembu died at his home after ailing for some two weeks. He had been the student's' leader for almost two years now. The body will be buried on Tuesday 8th December 2020. His death has surprised us and we ask for prayers. We now have 17 current students.

Before we closed, the students had evangelized the school area and served other local congregations. They had served 14 congregations at the request of local preachers. They made 20 evangelistic trips and as a result had restored 22 individuals back to fellowship with the Lord. They had restored one local church and baptized 21 persons into Christ.

We are looking forward to graduating the 17 students in case they finish up the remaining courses that they will do next year. The graduation day will be March 13th 2021.

We ask for your prayers as we near the end with these students. We also ask for the brethren's prayers for Corona Virus to go down. Thanks to all who have participated in one way or another in supporting KSOP. May the Lord bless you all.

In His service, Elias Omollo

Souls being saved in Zambia

November, 2020

Report

We send 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.

Everything is going on well here at Bear Valley Bible Institute – Zambia. All the students have adapted to their first quarter school work. The school could have normally closed by now but we will be closing on the 11th December, 2020. And we will reopen on 8th January, 2021 for the second quarter.

The rainy season is here and very strong. In fact, every day or night it rains for many hours. We could not have allowed our students to go back for the preparation of cultivating their fields. This was due to some adjustments made because of Covid-19. Zambia is still recording few cases of Covid- 19 And Church meeting have already started and members are slowly coming in numbers to attending church worship services. And almost everything has gone back to normal with just few restrictions here and there.

November is the month that is considered as the planting season here in Zambia. This is the time when farmers especially those living in the rural Zambia are engaged in farming activities. It seems as if everyone goes to their field nearly every day. And it is the busiest time of the year, It takes about three to four months from planting and harvesting.

On the other development, we have baptised seven souls (7) and we had thirteen (13) souls who have been restored back to the sheepfold. Working with our Christian brothers in Ndola we had the household of Zachariah Magawa put on Christ on the 14th November, that is husband, wife and a twenty two (22) years old daughter. We have noticed a great development in our new intake with their involvement in preaching and teaching of the message of the cross and our evangelism in Luanshya, Kitwe and Ndola districts has been profitable. We have had three baptisms in Luanshya and One baptism in Kitwe, For the time the students have been here, they have since started exhibiting vital signs of growing into vibrant preachers.

Before the students go for December break, they will be privileged to study The Scheme of Redemption with Brother Kennedy Mukuka. They have so far studied the following courses since they reported for their first quarter: Old Testament 1, English (writing skills), and Cost of Discipleship, How we got the Bible, and Christian Evidences.

The graduation ceremony for our 2020 grandaunts is planned for February, 2021. We wish you a great festival season as we slowly count down to a New Year.

Our hearts are always thankful to Woodland Oaks Church of Christ for financial support and all the encouragement in this noble mission. We pray that God will bless the work that you all are involved in as well. Please stay safe and well!

Brotherly,

Cephas and Fred

Another GREAT year in Malawi!

Bear Valley Bible Institute – Ekwendeni

Malawi – November 2020 Report

Introduction

Bear Valley Bible Institute – Ekwendeni in Malawi is always up to thinking about souls. We do teach preachers to be teachers as well as winning as many souls to Christ as we can – 2 Timothy 2:2. It is now 6 years since the school was established and many great things have been achieved in this year of 2020 despite facing the big challenge of the pandemic. God has been so faithful to us in all situations. We have closed for the rainy season until the third week of February, 2021 when the classes shall resume.

Preaching and Teaching

The teaching work has been successful despite the challenge of the pandemic. We have at least done 15 courses this year and we are closing for the rainy season holiday, happy people. Only from the 7th of September to November we have finished 6 courses. We are thankful as well for the zeal the students have shown in preaching work. They have been preaching door to door and lead many souls to Christ.

2020 achievements

Our God has always been faithful to us. We have at least achieved the things we didn’t expect this year to happen as the pandemic was blocking a lot of things. This year we have managed to finalize the buying of the school land, and also apply for the land lease. All the beacons are put in. We were supposed to start putting in the foundation for the class rooms and the hostels, but we are challenged financially because we have paid for the rentals to the campus we are now renting.

2022/2023 Application forms distributed in all Regions of Malawi

We have started sending out applications to all the regions of Malawi that when the time comes we should just conduct interviews. Many people are asking for the application forms which shows the school reputation is beyond recognition all over Malawi. We are proud of our students that most of the graduates since the school started, are helping congregations in the work of preaching and teaching. Same of the students are hired as preachers in local congregations of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Lectureship at Rula-Rumphi (Northern Malawi); 17th to 21st of November

We travelled to Rula—Rumphi on the 17th of November, 2020 where we were invited to teach about “Christian Leadership and Church Autonomy including the work of the church to support their preachers”. The average attendance was 106 people. They liked the lessons and admitted that there’s a great need for the qualified men to serve as elders. The problem of not having elders, has led to continual problems in rural congregations that the church is not growing to its spiritual maturity, hence they have their own leadership which is not recognized in the Bible. The lectureship ended with a preaching door to door which led a soul to Christ. God is good!

As we always say; on our own we could not reach where we are without the support the Bear Valley Bible Institute International is giving us. We thank God for you! As the door is widely open for the gospel to be preached and train as many people as we can to be faithful gospel preachers, your involvement is still needed. We are really grateful. Eternity Is Forever, Think Souls!

Your fellow soldiers of Christ,

Ephron & Clergynton

Mourning in Nigeria

NOVEMBER 2020 FIELD REPORT

Dear fellow soldiers of Christ Jesus.

Greetings in the wonderful name of our Lord and Redeemer ,Jesus Christ, the Author and finisher of our faith. Here is the summary of our November 2020 activities.

OVERVIEW

i- Students one month vocational training/ teaching practice report.

ii- Second Semester Classes begins.

iii- Voice of Truth International.

STUDENTS ONE MONTH VOCATIONAL TRAINING / TEACHING PRACTICE:

The one month vocational training by our year-1 students and Teaching practice by year-2 students from October 17 through November 15 resulted into the conversion of thirty-one and restoration of fifty erring brethren. Bro. Ifeanyi Iyesele, Bro.Akinrinde Sunday, Bro.Daniel Azubuikwe and Bro. Harry Chukwu recorded the highest numbers of five converts each while Bro. Silas Wayne and Bro. Armstrong Pat-Okunbor recorded the highest numbers of restoration.

The year-1 students who were on Vocational Training join hands together with the nearby congregation to their training venue in every weekend evangelism and visitation to the erring brethren which finally resulted into the conversion of souls and restoration of the erring brethren.

SECOND SEMESTER CLASSES BEGINS FOR THE 2020/21 SET:

The second -Semester classes began on November 16,2020 and will come to an end(Lord's willing)on January 22 ,2021 with a week break on December 24 ,2020 through January 3,2021.

16 Year-1 students and 11 Year-2 students returned for the continuation of their training.

VOICE OF TRUTH INTERNATIONAL VOLUME 107:

We commenced the free distribution of VOTI volume 107 on November 18,2020. And at the time of this writing, we have shared 5,000 copies of this powerful gospel books to churches of Christ in Nigeria and those in our mailing list including friends of the Lord's Church.

We appreciate the great commitment of Bro.Jerry Bates  and the World Evangelism crew for making funds available for the printing. May the Lord keep on blessing their endeavor is our fervent prayers. Amen.

Also, the report reaching us from over 60% of the recipients of Volume 105 and 106 shows the conversion of 55 souls and restoration of 38 erring brethren across the country of Nigeria between the month of September and November 2020 during the Bible Seminars/lectureships conducted by the Churches of Christ (Using the VOTI 105&106 and WBS & Mission Printing International materials ).Among those restored is Bro.Etim Okon Ukpa of Okurikang town in Akwa-Ibom State by Bro. M.B.Archibong after 37 years of disfellowship.

ABOUT A STUDENT:

Bro. Armstrong Ehiedu Par-Okunbor ,a native of Sapele in Delta State. Born on April 1976 and became a member of the Lord's church in 1990. An holder of Bsc from University of Nigeria, Nsukka in year 2001, MBA from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife in 2014 and Msc from University of Port-Harcourt  River State in 2018. His mission is to become a bonafide minister of God after his graduation in any part of the countr-Nigeria

SPECIAL CHALLENGES:

Due to the economic instability and the rising cost of living in our country-Nigeria. It's now mandatory for the school to balance up the remaining sum of N865,000($2,246)been loaned on September 2019 for the upgrading of the school buildings plan before this year runs out.

We therefore ,humbly appeal to you all to come to our rescue! No amount will be too small or big to help us out! Kindly send your contribution to us through Bro. Steven Ashcraft(Director- BVBID, West Africa Region) or Bro.Chad Wagner (Patron-SWSE,Ibadan,Nigeria & Coordinator of BVBIN)

MISCELLANEOUS :

My aged father (Mr.Makinde Olapade Julius) departed this sinful world for the great beyong on the 6th of November. Similarly, my mother-in-law(Sister Comfort Olowe)also departed this sinful world three months to her 70years birthday in the night of November 9,2020 after a brief illness.

My father will be buried on the 29th of January 2021 in our village Onikokoro-Ibadan while my mother-in-law was committed to mother earth on November 28th 2020 in OSU,Osun State. To God be the glory.

CONCLUSION: We appreciate you all for all your great contributions toward the growth of the Lord's Church in Africa, Nigeria in particular.

May the Lord continue to bless our endeavors in Christ Jesus, amen.

Sincerely His & yours......Makinde Ebenezer Olufemi (The chief servant of BVBIN & SWSE,Ibadan )

Pray for Haiti

International School of Theology – Haiti

The work in Haiti continues, even in a year like 2020. The great thing about Christ's message is that even a pandemic cannot stop it from moving forward. Souls continue to be being saved, and in Haiti, the gospel is still being preached.  

Please pray for Haiti. 

COVID-19 has had an impact in Haiti with 9,214 reported cases and 232 deaths. We are thankful that not one of our students or teachers had the virus. While the virus seems to be under control, there have been widespread demonstrations, shootings, and kidnappings. I would say that more than 99% of the people in Haiti are good, hardworking, honest, and kind people. Yet, the 1% make it extremely hard on everyone else.  

During the pandemic, the International School of Theology (IST) has continued to function. The students are meeting, and we are looking to extend the program. We are making plans to start a Saturday school, which will allow preachers and others who cannot attend weekdays to attend on the weekend. At this time, we have twenty-eight students. We have both men and women attending who are eager to grow, learn, and teach others.    

Pray for our efforts, pray for the school, pray for the people of Haiti, and pray the church will continue to grow. We know that God has a plan for the future. We may not see His hand working, but He is. God knows our needs, and He knows how to help us meet those needs. As the Christians say in Haiti, "Bondye Bon," God is good.

Larry Waymire

A new school in Uganda!

It's always my joy to make known to you all the joy and what God has done in our lives since the school began on 2nd November 2020. The school started with the number of 18 students from the expected number of 20 students we had . This is a good start and we thank God for that.

It has been long since the plan of opening the school here in Uganda was set, all things available, but until the right time, it has come to its Genesis. The school is steadily progressing with this good number. We are seeking for your prayers day and night. However in the first week, we did experience some challenges of students getting sick five in number. we thank God they have greatly improved though some are still weak but attending classes and are on medication.

We are having a challenge of books since in each and every course, students need to hand in a term paper which is supposed to be well researched from vivid sources. On the day of the opening I was able to call all teachers who will be teaching different courses to come and see where the school is and let all the students know them at orientation day. men of God came and it was a fantastic day of opening.

The first course unit is already done which was taught by MUHYANA RAIMOND. He has been so good and students have appreciated him for the period of two weeks they have been together in class. he has retired home and brother Christopher has come to take them through HOW WE GOT THE BIBLE.

Students have started on very well and with zeal . Thanks goes to you brother Keith for all the struggle. may God bless you.

Be blessed

Until all have heard

Raymond

Director BVBI UGANDA