Visitor from Sierra Leone

The quarantine on Sierra Leone from the Ebola virus was finally lifted and a good friend, pastor/teacher Michael Turay was able to visit the United States. Michael was invited to teach at a town that is only 100 miles away from our home. It was so good to see him, and hand him six full size sets of construction drawings for a new training center and church that we worked on over the past year. Construction is slated to begin in November or December. Looks like, Lord willing, I will be heading to Sierra Leone in December. Following are some photos from our recent visit, and Michael's newsletter which is very worth reading if you have the time.

Greetings to you our wonderful partner!

We continue to pray that our Good Lord will continue to bless and keep you. If you have been wandering about what has been going on with us out here in Sierra Leone, well here are some highlights:

THE EBOLA CRISIS

The Ebola crisis, which started in March 2014, has shaped our nation in various ways. Economically, we have to start rebuilding it again, as we have lost a lot of investors, who fled because of fear of being infected with the virus. This led to many loss of jobs, which in turn spiraled down to the basic functions of our basic facilities like hospital etc., which in turn has affected a lot of people and families, with household cost rising up sharply, and trade became difficult. The major income generating arms of our nation, which is the mining sector has been badly hit, and the ripple effect is trickling down to the least person in our society. Our educational system has gone backwards at least a year, and the students and teachers has a lot of catching up to do, which is telling badly on the quality of tutoring the students are getting, adding to the already existing chaos within the educational system. With more than 13,000 people infected and almost 4,000 people dead as a result of the outbreak, the good news is that we have come to the end of the state of emergency, which was enacted by our government because of the Ebola outbreak. This means that life is beginning to come back to normal for us, with the exception of Sundays, when no one is allowed to sell in the market place, but we are still allowed to go to church.

GRACE CENTER BIBLE CHURCH

Church continues to grow numerically. We saw a lot of people come to our church at the height of the Ebola crisis. A good number of them continue to attend, and we are grateful that even in the midst of the crisis so many people came to believe in Christ as their Savior. We continue to have our Wednesday services as well, and a lot more people have seen the need to come and study God’s word on that day as well.

Our dream to build our church complex has never left our hearts, as we continue to see the need to own our church building, not only because it will help us accomplish our goals in evangelism and maturation in our Spiritual life, but the dynamics in the village leadership and authority has changed drastically with the death of the village head. He showed us great favor, as to how he gave us the highest priority in using the community center for our church services, and not everyone was happy for that, especially some of those who want to take his place as village head. We have been working hard and have now finished leveling half of the church property/land, as we get it ready to start the first phase of the building project. Once we finish the first phase it will be able to seat about 250 people. With this in place we will be able to increase our time for bible study and do so much more, even with the DM2 training of our pastors. With the pastors residing where we train them, that has proved effective in their training process/ program. We want to start the construction this coming November 2015, and we need about $100,000 to make that happen. Please be in prayer that our great God will provide this need for us.

OUTREACH TO THE LOST

During the Ebola crisis we saw the need to reach out to the sick at the hospitals and people that uses public buses for transportation every week. The result has been encouraging, propelling us to do it again and again. Within a couple of months we have reached about 6,250 people with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and over 80% of these made the decision to believe in Christ as their Savior. Some of them continue to call us and ask for more teaching from God’s word. God is good indeed!

As it is now with our responsibility to train the chaplaincy of our armed forces in our nation, the authorities and I have agreed to conduct a twice-yearly training program for them. It will now be taking place in the months of March and October. All the chaplains from all over the country will come for this training. What a platform to make the truth known to our peoples. We would need about $2,500 for each training session, as that would cover cost of training materials such as outlines, feeding and transportation etc. Please be in prayer for this need as well. This coming October I will teach them on the basics of Christianity, covering Salvation, God and the spiritual life. It may amaze you to know that we continue to have a lot of theological problems in our churches in Sierra Leone because majority of these people do not understand these basic bible doctrines. So that’s what we will take them through. We have seen the need to make the truth known to more people, and we are therefore embarking on getting a better video camera, MP3 and DVD recorder and burner, a very good printer and photo copier for our media outreach, especially for the production of our own gospel tracts for evangelism. Please pray for us that God will provide the $4,550 needed funds for this.

praying for those with Ebola

sharing gospel on bus

The Turay family

FAMILY

My family continues to keep well. Nathan, now 6 years old is the best student in his class in school. Donald, now 15 years old, is now thinking of becoming an economist. Simone now 18 years old continues to wait in faith, as she trusts God for financial provision for her to go to college. Georgiana my dearest wife continues to be of great support to all I do, and I thank God for her life. I continue to enjoy studying and teaching God’s word, with more need for study to teach in church, the pastors and chaplains as well. We continue to trust our God for another vehicle, as the one we have continues to become a challenge for us. But in the midst of this all we give God thanks for His unending faithfulness toward us. He continues to keep us safe and give us the opportunity to serve among His people. We are ever grateful to Him for this graceful privilege. 

Thank you so much for never giving up on us, even in the midst of these challenging times. Thank you so much for working with us among our peoples through your helping hand to the ministry and for your continued prayers to our God on our behalf. May our God continue to lavish His grace on you now and always!

In Him and For His Glory,

Michael Turay

The Joy in Simple Gifts

A week prior to our trip to Tanzania, my daughter, Elizabeth, who traveled with me, suggested that we bring some sort of gifts for the children at LEA, evangelist Musa Njagamba's daughters, and the children of Buhangija (ministered to by Claire Grubbs and The Village of Living Hope).

Martin Tango, of LEA, suggested that their kids would love soccer balls. Sara Tamburello, an awesome lady we know from church, gave us 10 uninflated soccer balls along with pumps and an old, disposable suitcase to carry these with.  The children are frequently seen playing soccer with homemade soccer balls as shown below.  The children at LEA were so thrilled to have new, "real" soccer balls to play with.

typical homemade soccer ball in Tanzania

inflating the new soccer balls

the LEA soccer team; so thrilled to have "real" soccer balls

Claire Grubbs suggested that the children she taught at Buhangija preschool and primary school should have easily cleaned toys that could be shared while class was in session. Elizabeth thought of, and purchased a large set of Legos. We didn't get photos of the children from Buhangija with the Legos, but did have a few photos of these kids with Elizabeth, The children at Buhangija are not cared for well; they flock to Claire, and her missionary team of Deborah, Sarah, and Mike because they love on them, and help them unlike most in the government run facility.  Unlike the children at LEA, at Buhangija they are starving for attention and care. Praise God for Claire and her team and the love they show these abandoned albino children. More on Claire and The Village of Living Hope in a future post.

We were able to spend a few days with Merina and Amen Njagamba, as well as their mom, Adelina, and neice, Joyce who all reside at the Njagamba residence. We love this family; they hold a special place in our hearts.  We were also able to spend time with the extended Njagamba family of Musa's dad, Samson, in the village of Mesembo. Musa's 91 year old father and his step mother (much younger) have five children together.  Musa's father had nine chldren from his first wife, Merina, who passed away while Musa was very young.  I think one of the biggest surprises when we visted Samson was meeting four of his five younger children, including a 3 month old!

LEA - Orphanage Well Project Update

The week before three of the Lea Well team plus my daughter Elizabeth (Mark Croskrey, David Slatter, and me) were due to arrive at Dongobesh to help LEA orphanage/school complete the installation of their solar power well project; we received word from LEA staff member, Peter Lulu, that the well drilling company, Majitech, had drilled down to 80 meters without having reached water yet.  Peter posted the following photo on Facebook, with a call for prayer.

The morning after this was posted, during my morning Bible reading, I "happened" to be reading Numbers 20; and the passage concerning God bringing water from the rock popped off the page. I sent a message to the well team, and two adult Sunday school classes at our church to pray that the Lord would bring water, like He did for the children of Jacob while in the desert, on their journey from Egypt to Israel. 

By the time we reached LEA, water had been reached at about 91 meters down. The quantity and flow rate weren't sufficient enough to install the solar powered pump with 10,000 liter tank like we had hoped; but it was enough to provide clean, fresh, safe water to this orphanage, and town that desperately needed it.

LEA and town are thrilled to have the $18K manual pump version which will have a plaque with John 4:13 next to the well. $21K was raised, enough for the well, and $3K will go for funding the new dormitory which we designed last year.  Please keep LEA in your prayers, that the Lord would supply enough funds for the new dormitory/kitchen facility. At the end of our visit to Tanzania, we received a call from Martin Tango, the head of LEA, that they were given the land next to the school that we had prayed about the week before for their new dormitory to be built. 

Majitech rep, Mark, Martin, David, Elizabeth praying for clean water

Martin is flying to the Czech Republic soon to speak with The Church there about what the Lord is doing at LEA; believers in this country have been the primary supporters and sponsors for LEA orphanage to this point in time.  Please pray that the Lord give Martin the words to say, and that He raises the funds necessary for the new dorms.  Their living conditions are not good (about 270 children sleeping four per bunk bed in rented buildings far from the school). 

staff and students at evening worship

The two BIG praises we were able to participate with regarding LEA was successfully reaching water and installation of a well; and being able to obtain the land adjacent to the school for the new dorm (the owner had repeatedly denied this land to the school in the past).

Evangelist and very dear friend Musa Njagamba with the children of LEA; they love Musa

LEA-Orphanage Well Project

In past posts I have shared about LEA Orphanage/Primary School.  A group of local businessmen have included me in their team and are seeking to raise funds to install a well that can be used by the school and community.  Please read more below:

Dongobesh, Tanzania

Partner with us on our mission to provide reliable, clean drinking water, and improve living conditions for the Dongobesh community. The cost for a well, solar powered pump, and storage tank is $35,000. Please prayerfully consider supporting your brothers and sisters in Tanzania. With your help we will complete this project and open the door to start sharing Jesus’s love by the end of 2015. We are partnering with HELPS Ministries (an ECFA accredited organization) to manage the donations.

The Team

Mark Croskrey

David Slater

Michael Croskrey

Ed Luebben

Questions

croskrey@excelsior-design.com

(509) 531-3016

Donate

www.helpsmission.org/campaigns/lea-well-project

Grace Point Bible Church/Aletheia Ministry Update

After many months, and with much help from structural engineer Joshua Yunker and Helps Ministries associate, Dale Slusser; the drawings for the new Grace Point Bible Church/Aletheia Ministry Center are done.  Following is a nice note, and Aletheia ministry update that you might appreciate.

Dear Ed,

Words cannot express our gratitude to you all for your tireless sacrifice to serve our God through our ministry. We are ever grateful. It was with joy that our congregation received the news of the completion of the drawings. God will surely bless you. We will keep you posted, as we have been working on cutting off some of the dirt for the ground floor. I will try and send photos of that as soon as I can. We will continue to pray for you as well. thanks once again. We look forward to seeing you at the site when we get the work started. Please find bellow our ministry update to keep you abreast of what God is doing in our midst.

In Him Alone,

MINISTRY UPDATE FOR MARCH 2015

Our dear ministry partner,

Greetings to you from us, from the Land that we love, Sierra Leone. We hope that you are well and that the grace of God continues to multiply in your life.

Here are some updates on how things are in our nation right now and about what God is doing in our midst through the work He graciously committed to our trust.

HOSPITAL OUTREACH

Usually after having our devotion at the hospitals where we teach God’s word weekly, we then have a one on one talk with patients for the purpose of sharing the gospel with them individually. During this time some weeks back we shared the gospel with a twelve-year-old boy named Sinneh Kamara, and his aunt was sitting beside him. Sinneh was very sick and was a Muslim by then, but he heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and He believed and accepted Him as his saviour. Surprisingly for us, the next day the news we had was that he had passed on to be with the Lord. Before he died his aunt told us that his testimony was that he was only going to sleep if death comes his way, as we taught him. She said that it was Sinneh who was consoling her, telling her to not cry if he dies. After a moment he told his aunt that he wants to sleep and she prepared his bed and laid him down and within five minutes he died. At the funeral of the young boy Sinneh the family was encouraged from the word of God and the gospel was also preached to them. We facilitated the burial process and called for the Ebola burial team to do their job, as they are the ONLY authorized team to do burial during this Ebola outbreak.

In three of the government hospitals where we do evangelism outreach we were able to reach in the month of February only about 800 people with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and about 90% of them accepted Christ as saviour. The trend of our experience since we started reaching out to the sick people at the government hospitals is that 80% of those who were admitted at the AIDS and CANCER WARDS had died. The good news is that all of them we reached who had died believed in Christ as their Saviour. This is the Lord’s doing, and we continue to marvel at His unfailing compassion, new mercies and awesome grace.

OUTREACH IN OUR PUBLIC TRANSPORT

In February during our outreach in some of our public transport buses we reached about 1,716 people with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and about 1,574 accepted Christ as Saviour. These are people from all works of life, from different parts of the city, commuting every day around and about. Imagine for a moment what would happen if some of these guys does the same with preaching the gospel to their families, work makes, neighbours, schoolmates etc. Many more people will hear the gospel and be saved. That’s our dream as we continue to do this. A lot of these new believers have asked for our numbers, as they want to learn more from God’s word. We are so convinced that God has a plan for these new arms of ministry, and we continue to count it a privilege that God Almighty is allowing us this opportunity to not only preach the gospel, but to tell of His goodness to our generation.

EBOLA CRISIS

Of late, I have not been communicating with you about the Ebola crisis because there was no good news to report on. But I can now tell you that we are doing well with handling the virus. We have been having between zero to six cases for a while now. In fact things are gradually getting better that schools will reopen on April 14^th.  What you also really need to pray for us about is our political crisis. It has been getting worse with partisan politics. It is breaking our nation down, and things are falling apart, with a lot of dissatisfaction among our peoples. The system is now more terribly corrupt to our disappointment. We seriously need help.

CHURCH

Church continues to grow numerically. We continue to study the Revelation of Jesus Christ on Sundays, and the journey in the word since January 2015 has taken us to chapter 1 verse 7 so far. On Wednesdays we continue to study the book of Galatians. We are now studying chapter 5, on the fruit of the Spirit. The increase in attendance on Sundays and Wednesdays services and with so many of the members in church calling me and asking good biblical questions continues to give us the impression that people are hungry for the truth of God’s word and that they are growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you have wondered about what is going on with our building project I will give you some information in our next update. But please continue to pray for us, as we need it.

FAMILY

Family has been challenging for me. Not being able to get my daughter Simone to College made me feel like a failure, and its really hurting me. She has been home for two years now, only that I asked her to help me with office work to keep her busy. But she wants to further her education. Nathan and Donald are going to school now, and it’s time to pay their school fees. Georgiana is doing well with her support for me in everything I do. We are all healthy by the grace of God. My vehicle has reached its life span, with the so many bad roads that we have. We have to do a lot of repairs consistently on it and it has become a serious distraction, which is not helping me at all. We are thinking of getting rid of it. So we need God’s divine provision for a better vehicle, which we desperately need. So please be praying for us on this as well.

We continue to pray and give thanks to God for you, for your prayers and continued support to us. You have been the backbone to what we do. God has undoubtedly been using you tremendously to sustain our lives and ministry. We will ever live to be grateful to God for you. From the bottom of our hearts we say many thanks and may God continue to shower His blessing on your life.

I will write again soon.

Bye for now and In Him Alone,

Michael Turay.

Church Mexico Update

A couple years ago we completed drawings for a new community center for a very impoverished part of San Luis, Mexico.  The center will, when completed, provide restrooms and showers, a meeting room for community events, medical and dental clinics, as well as for the Church at San Luis to meet on a regular basis, and a building to house for classrooms, and visiting teachers and mission teams.  Construction pictures of the restroom facility were shared on a post last January.  Following is a note and some photos from pastor, and ministry leader David Power on the latest progress:

The guys from Church & neighbors worked sun-up to sun down and moved about 20 cubic meters of sand by shovel for almost 3 days, while the ladies brought breakfast, lunch, then dinner throughout After the sand was leveled and the forms set, today re-bar was tied together into the footings with the men & women tying it side-by-side as you see in the pictures. Tomorrow, cement trucks will arrive at 6am and we will pour the first half of the foundation for the very first Church building for the New Testament Church Planting Initiative "Church Mexico" (we'll pour the other half on Monday, but looks like we'll mix & lay that with shovels unless some other funds come in to be able to pay for the truck). This building will also be used for the Community Center during the week. This is all a big deal in itself, but it's a bigger deal to us as we've been holding services outside for over 4 years... I want to Thank Everyone of You who have helped us over the years - without you, we wouldn't have gotten this far! God Bless You!

Highlights from Brazil

My wife and I were recently able to visit our middle son who is teaching English in Divinopolis, Brazil.  In addition to spending time in Divinopolis, we spent a few days in Sao Paulo, a day Sao Joao Del Rei, Tiradentze, and a beautiful lake that I cannot remember the name of. We  had an amazing week seeing our son again after many months, and meeting the people in his life during this adventure.  Following are some photos of the trip.