Youth from Mazatlan - by Lidia Lumppio

The youth from Mazatlan came to this area to do some outreach in the camps. They put together a pretty nice program and showed a movie called “Mi Esperanza” (my hope) and testimonies from Mexican and Latinamerican celebrities, created by the Billy Graham Association. They had music, dramas and an altar call. There were several who came forward. We are waiting on Ismael to give us the information to go visit them and see the possibilities of discipleship.

On Sunday, the youth shared part of their program in the church in La Cruz. Tom and I were called to share our testimony of our call to missions. Some of the worship leaders were interested in coming again and meeting with Santos to encourage him and guide him as he is interested and preparing himself to lead worship at our church in Ceuta. Pray for the right timing for that meeting to happen.

I couldn’t assist the program in camp Ceuta because of lack of strength. I was still recovering from the bronquitis. But God allowed me to serve by opening my home and allowing them to come and eat and share a time of singing and debriefing of their experience.

We also experienced God’s intervention during the morning before their presentation. Tom was in charge of bringing the sound system (given to us by Minnesota Valley Church). The truck would not start. We called around for other possibilities and knew something would work out. But we asked for back up prayer and Tom went to look for a mechanic. The mechanic was able to come, figure out what was wrong with the truck and fix it by 2:00 p.m. Just in time for Tom to grab a bite to eat, take a break and get ready to go. God is good!

The girl in the black shirt is Pastor Lupe’s daughter, Anahansi. She feels a strong call into missions and is currently looking into the Mexican YWAM (JUCUM). She would like to reach to other youth. Pray for her, would you?


Tom and Lidia Lumppio are AFLC members serving in Mexico with World Mission Prayer League.

Brazil Youth Camp Held At The ARCA

Much planning went into getting ready for the ARCA Youth Camp during Carnaval. Our 120-person facility was transformed into a place for 180! Paul and the boys made extra tables, extra dorm rooms were improvised, we borrowed mattresses and chairs and rented a big tent to hold the whole group for the praise and teaching times. Between downpours of rain we had a great camp with the theme TRANSFORMATION based on Rom. 12:2. Our Free Lutheran youth joined with Joanna and Silvio’s Presbyterian church for this big 5-day event.

Andrew and Matthew dedicated many long hours to preparing a special video presentation for the opening of camp. They also were busy during camp (Matthew with the activities committee and Andrew with the multimedia group). It was fun to have Joanna as the praise leader and her husband Silvio as camp dean. Christina and Daniel were a part of the camp, too, each with special ministries. What a thrill it is for us to work with our kids in exalting Jesus and leading others into a personal relationship with Him!

AFLC Member from Cokato Ministering in Sudan

Pastor Lyndon Korhonen had a chance to meet with Jenny Ahlbrecht while she was home from Sudan over Christmas. Here are some of her thoughts about serving Christ and living in a totally different culture.

• What do yon do for exercise in Sudan? Since there is no weight problem in Sudan, people think it is very strange to see you running. She would run in an area where there were not many people, otherwise she would have all kinds of children following her.

• What about snacks in Sudan? Plan a week ahead since there is no refrigeration in Sudan.

• Have you seen any snakes? One green snake and a small cobra, along with some other little ones. None have ever been a threat.

• Any interesting animal sightings in Sudan? A monitor lizard about three feet long.

• Name a challenge for you living in Sudan. So much need, children's health and lack of progress and the "where do you begin trying to help?" feeling.

• The most amazing thing you have witnessed? To know Christ and to see what the Lord can do.

• What are some specific answers to prayer that you have seen? Everything we have asked people to pray for occurs. Such as she and Liz learning the language without any formalized training. Safety when there was some fighting in the area. No animal bites, and resolution to misunderstandings with local police issues.

• How has your health been? Not much of an issue for Jenny. She and Liz have never been sick at the same time, so one has been able to continue teaching. The only time Jenny was really sick was when her mom was there to care for her.

• How have you and Liz been able to work together? Jenny is more outgoing and Liz is very willing to follow. When Liz wanted to do something on her own, however, she was not afraid to do it. Liz is bolder to get things if she really feels they need it. Jenny saw herself as needing to talk more and Liz is not as high strung as Jenny. Liz would not get upset over petty things. It seems that God must really have put this team together and to think that it happened in a coffee shop. What an amazing God!

• What are some humorous moments from Sudan? Having a bat in their hut, termites eating through books, her lack of rhythm, and a chicken in church.

Jenny returned to Sudan on January 17^th. Please pray for God's continued protection over her and His direction for the future of teachers for the school.

Brazil Bible Camp Reaches Many

Our Brazil AFLC Bible Camp (Feb. 16-21) was a great blessing – we had over 120 people show up, most staying over as campers (the camp is in Campo Mourao).

Pastor Iran Goes was the main speaker and preached very good messages on, “A Person that God Can Use.” Missionary Jonathan Abel was in charge and worked like crazy, but it was worth it as God answered prayers and touched many lives.

Bible Camp is usually focused on youth, but we had several families participate and that was very beneficial for all! It rained every day, but again, the fellowship was good! The camp included people come from Foz, Londrina, Campo Grande, Curitiba, Joinville (almost 2 hrs south of Curitiba), Campo Mourao, and Maringá.

Keinanen's Mission Trip to Uganda

Today is Saturday, March 17th. It is day 8 on our mission trip. After tonight, we will be half way through. There is a lot to report on, however, I will report more in detail once we are home.

I do want to tell you that the people here are amazing. We have had many encounters with people here. People that we have gotten to know, as well as meeting people on the street. They are used to seeing 'white' people all the time. They are not used of hearing a mzungu (white person who is rich) speak their native tongue. When I greet them in their language, a HUGE smile comes across their face, and they are quite delighted. To know that the mzungu took time to learn their language is considered a big treat and an honorable thing. After I greet them, we talk english. I can understand them for the most part, but there are moments where that is difficult.

Every Saturday, Nate has a meeting with the other 7 Lutheran pastors here. We will meet this morning. They do a Bible study together, fellowship, and have lunch. I have met 3 of the pastors, and they are very kind. One of them, named Martin is especially a man after God's heart. His heart is to 'make disciples' and see the Kingdom of God grow that way. Kelly and I will be traveling back with him to his village of Kiboyo. We will stay there tonight. He is very excited to have us come and meet his people. He wants to take us from house to house, or hut to hut to greet the people. Having a mzungu come and visit is a big deal. Pray for us as we travel to the village this afternoon. By the time you may be reading this email. we will probably already be there, or have been there already.

Again, there is so much to say already in the short time we have been here. The people of Uganda have made this trip what it is. Interacting with them is such a joy! I have found the only difference between us and them is culture. They have the same issues we do. They deal with the same spiritual battles we do. Their heart for ministry is the same as ours. God's work is the same here. It has been a joy to see that and be a part of that.

Spending time with the Jores has also been a REAL joy. We have discipled them into the "Settlers of Catan" family. they are hooked! The weather has been great, about 80-90 during the day, and as low as 65-72 in the night time, almost perfect conditions.

I will be honest, I do not miss home. however, I do not want to move here. When the time comes to go home, we will be ready. I really love it here, and could see how I could get used to this part of the world.

Thanks for your prayers. We appreciate them much!

In Jinja, Uganda - Africa,

Daniel & Kelly

Note: Dan is the Youth Pastor at Christ is Lord Free Lutheran Church in La Crosse, WI.

Update on Pastor Prabhudas

Note: If you haven't read, "National Pastor in India having Heart Surgery" you may want to, it will give you the background for this story.

He and his party have returned,…… no surgery having been performed.

The hospital (private) is located in the city of Tirupatti and it has received grants from a group by the same name. “Tirupatti” (TTD) is a core Hindu association which has provided funding for heart surgery for the poor.

Upon his arrival at the hospital Pastor Prabhudas was informed that they are not doing heart surgery because of the dangers involved and that there have been those who have died as a result. He was told that he should check back in a month as things might change by then.

In pursuing what happened, and what brought about the change, the “Tirupatti” connection came to light. Tirupatti has provided funds to the hospital for free heart surgery to Hindus.

Further inquiry about the issue brought out the fact that recent visitors (2) from New Zealand stopped at the hospital and inquired about the cost of Pastor Prabhudas’ surgery.

Two weeks ago Dr. Anand (our AFLC-India doctor) came here with the two (2) visitors from New Zealand. One had been here last year to visit Dr. Kumars ministry and to learn more about his foundation. They wished to learn how they could support his work and possibly arrange to send medical supplies from New Zealand. Their total time in India was about 10 days as visitors of Dr. Anand Kumars medical ministry. After being in this area for a couple of days and travelling with Dr. Kumar, including a trip to the fishing village where they learned of the pending surgery of Pastor Prabhudas. They then travelled with Anand to his work in East Central India. It was while there that they visited the hospital in Tirupatti and inquired of the cost for Pastor Prabhudas’ surgery.

Officials at the hospital told Pastor Prabhudas that he had no need as there were foreigners who where providing him funds.

Needless to say Pastor Prabhudas was very disappointed. Their current plans are now to pursue the needed surgery at the government hospital in Hydrabad. This was were some of the preliminary examinations and test were done.

Pray for clear leading for this brother and that the doors for the needed surgery will be opened in Hydrabad .

God’s Blessing on you all,

Gene Enderlein
Could we ask our friends all over the world to pray for Pastor Prabhudas?

Two Men from the AFLC Church in Pipestone, MN Minister in Ethiopia

Pat Haag and Lyle Dubbledee, from Christ The King Church in Pipestone, left Saturday, March 10th for Ethiopia,Africa. Lyle is on the left and Pat on the right with some of the kids seeing them off.

Our story starts, perhaps last year, when Pat and I adopted two baby boys through a Christian Adoption and Relief organization called All God's Children, International. We flew to Guatemala on March 15th to meet these two precious little boys who had just been born. Our hearts were forever changed at that meeting! We waited through the summer for paperwork to be completed, and in September we flew back to Guatemala City to bring them home. We named them Christopher Luis and Cameron Jonathan Haag. Even before this adoption was completed, the Lord was working on Pat's heart. He felt such a burden for the people of Africa and that we would maybe adopt from that country some day. We started praying for Africa and the orphans who are living there, forgotten by the world. Shortly after, we received a newsletter from All God's Children (AGCI) stating that they were answering God's Call to open a Children's home, Hannah's Hope, in Ethiopia. We were very excited to hear this! We found out about this trip to Ethiopia last fall. It was with another Christian organization called the Global Orphan Project. They take people to various places in the world in connection with AGCI. Pat really wanted to go on this trip but we missed the deadline to sign up last fall. All winter he regretted that he didn't go on that trip. Well, we received an email the end of February saying that they needed people to go to Ethiopia to help set up the new Hannah's Hope and also to visit orphanages in the area to bring relief items and establish relationships with them, and would Pat be willing to go? It didn't take much convincing and he said YES! He then started to pray for God to send someone else to go along and immediately we both thought of Lyle, and when we asked him he said "Yep!" So, after a bunch of shots, 200 lbs. of donations from friends and a 20 hr flight, they are now in Ethiopia and will return Saturday March 17th.

The AIDS epidemic has wiped out almost a whole generation of people in Ethiopia and other African countries, leaving behind millions of orphaned children. We feel that God's Heart is breaking for these children and that even though they have been forgotten by the world, God has not forgotten them. He knows them by name. He is calling people to come and help and give them hope.

Thou art the helper of the orphan. Psalm 10:14b

Blessings,

Jodi Haag

News from Darwin Jackson

"You can do more than pray after you've prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed."

John Bunyan

Slowly but surely we're getting ready to leave Mazatlan the first of April. We feared having to sell of everything (furniture, appliances etc.), but it went fast. Now we're living out of boxes, praise the Lord!

Edgar, the young man Genaro and I won to the Lord a couple of weeks ago came to our "prayer week for the nations" last week. He has come to one of the youth events as well. Thanks for your prayers. We spent several hours on Friday with an ex-politician, he came up with a lot of questions to keep us from pinning him down to his own need of the Savior. But he couldn't get away. Pray for Jose Luis.

The men in church met Sunday after service to talk about how to take steps toward starting a nursing home here in Mazatlan. Do pray as our brethren are moving toward making this happen.

We have a workers meeting at 5:00 pm on Saturday. Pray for the encouragement and equipping of the saints in their ministries. This congregation is on fire, we kind of hate to leave now. But God's got it under control, we cannot do anymore now than to pray. Your fellow workers,

P.S. The photo is of one of our evenings of prayer.

Darwin, Mary Ann and Gracie Jackson

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

Visit us:

• Our web site: www.geocities.com/darwinwj

• Our Calender: http://calendar.yahoo.com/darwinwj

• Our Skype Name: darwinmaryannjackson

Gene Enderlein Reports From India

Many of you are aware that for the past four years in the fall of the year I have spent 7-10 days at Gettysburg Seminary in Pennsylvania. Gettysburg is the first Lutheran Seminary in the USA. I have gained permission to use materials in their Historical Archives about the beginnings of Lutheran Missions. One missionary of great interest to me has been John Frederick Heyer also referred to by many as Christian Frederick Heyer. Heyer was the first foreign Missionary, of any denomination to go to a foreign field from the United States. He came to this part of India when in his 50’s and he retired in his early 80’s. So much of the protestant work in this area of India is a result of his prayers, devotion, and ministry. He is still referred to reverently by many here in India as ”FATHER HEYER”. (He is what I would call a decent German – Pastor Robert Lee at AFLC will explain) It has been my joy to sit in the Gettysburg Library and read Father Heyers letters and reports back from the field.

Pastor Luther Sastry, the director of the work of the AFLC-India has established a friendship with the pastor of the large Lutheran Church here in Chirala. Last week he, Pastor Stalin came to visit us and we had a good time of fellowship. He extend to me the offer to come and preach in his church, St Marks Lutheran Church, Chirala, also know as Heyers Church. Father Heyer began the Christian out reach in this area and was responsible for the beginnings of the congregation known as St. Marks.

The service was a spiritual high for me as I made the connection with the historic church in that place. The first service began at 7:15 am. and was followed by a communion service. The church was filled with some 700 worshipers. As the first service concluded and people left, others were coming in for the start of the second service which was worship followed by communion. The second service had about 400 worshipers. When the second service ended it was 1:10 pm. I must admit I was a little tired. For both services I preached on their Gospel text from the day in John 8:21 -30. I focused on the 24th verse where Jesus says: “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”. It was a tremendous privilege for me to share Gods Word in that place and setting. Please pray with me that God will bless the sharing of HIS Word, to HIS Honor and HIS Glory.

Thank you for all who have prayed with me and for me.

GOD BLESS YOU,

Gene Enderlein

Blessings in Tanzania

I hope I am not the only one getting blessed these days! Clearly, life is not without its challenges but God’s faithfulness and continual blessings always seem to out-shine any frustrations.

First, I want to thank each of you for your thoughts and prayers as I went to Dubai. The trip was not only a success but an enjoyable experience as well. I ended up needing to extend my stay by one day simply due to the amount of work that needed to be done but God worked out all the details of my return flight to Nairobi, return ground transportation from Nairobi to Tanzania, and even the class schedule at Waama (which also needed to be delayed one day).

We are again in awe at how fast the time goes. Following this week, we will only have two more before the end of this second term. Actually, the students who are taking the “Christian Education” track are leaving tomorrow morning to spend these final weeks of the term doing the ‘hands-on’ portion of their course at various elementary and high schools throughout the region. As a result, Ben and I had a party for these students on Saturday night. We will have another one toward the end of the month for all the rest.

This weekend also included a visit to the village of Tsaayo on Sunday to preach and show the Jesus film. It was another memorable experience. We left home shortly after 7:30am assuming it would give us plenty of time to make the 10:00am service. Well, after digging the car out about six times, we arrived at our destination around 12:30pm. The whole congregation was still there, though, so Ben was able to preach his sermon and then we showed the Jesus Film as planned. The way home was much less eventful and only took 1 ½ as the roads had dried out significantly. Despite the difficulties, these trips continue to be some of our favorite times. Showing the Jesus film is a wonderful way of presenting the Gospel and we have also (as we are able) begun taking Bibles and tracts as well. We have been very surprised to find that many people in the villages do not have Bibles, despite availability, simply because of price. Pray for us as we consider invitations, plan these trips, and interact with the people in various places. We see plenty of needs and need wisdom in where we should put our priority as even the simple expense of a trip and the cost of Bibles can be a significant expenditure. We are now trying, whenever possible, to schedule more than one place per weekend simply to try to be as efficient as possible with our time and money.

As for the near future, each of the weekends leading up to Easter are booked. We will go home with one of the students on the 30th to participate at his church and then have been asked to participate in a large youth convention during the following week (the first week of our 2-week Easter break). So far, we have managed to keep the following week free, however, so that we will have a little time to recharge before diving into the third and final term for the year.

Thank you again for your thoughts, prayers, and support for the work here. We continue to learn lots and enjoy the privilege of being with these people. Please continue to pray for our vehicle needs, the planning of our June/July Jesus film showing campaign in Uganda, and our day-to-day and week-to-week work here in the Mbulu region. I would also like to ask your prayers for my sister Anna and her fiancé who was severely injured this past week while serving with the Army in Afghanistan. His condition has improved slightly from critical and he is now at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC. The last I heard, he was finally able to move both feet but feeling had not completely returned. Please pray for his complete recovery and wisdom and comfort for all involved.

Thank you so much. May God richly bless each one of you and – in case our schedule prevents another update before Easter – have a blessed Easter!! ☺

In His service,

Jesse Long

National Pastor in India Having Heart Surgery

Please be in prayer for one of our national pastors in India who will be having open heart surgery on March 16th. Pastor Prabhudas pastors the island church in the fisherman's village of Elachetladibba.

The village was involved in the Tsunami. A new church was built on high ground with a flat roof for people to find refuge in times of flooding. This church was dedicated in January when the Pastoral Teaching Team visited India.

Pray not only for a successful surgery, but also that he will have the funds to pay for the surgery and for his congregation during this time.

Pray for Evangelistic Meetings in Brazil

Saturday night we will start a series of evangelistic meetings in the tent for 9 days, sponsored by Paul’s dad, John Abel.

We had some difficulties in securing a place for the tent, but the Lord answered our prayers and now all systems are “GO.” The first place we cleared and prepared for setting up the tent caused a stir in the very traditionally Catholic neighborhood. We were asked, under no uncertain terms, to get off the land.

The whole stir caused people to talk quite a bit, so we believe the whole area is well-informed about the week of meetings. Of course, we will send groups out door-to-door to make personal contacts and invite each family to the nightly event in the tent. Please pray for God’s mercy and love to be poured out upon the lives of the people in this area. Several families from this neighborhood already participate in our church in Campo Largo. We stop and pick them up in the ARCA bus to go to church. Now it is time for these faithful ones to reach out to their neighbors. I’ll send a picture of the tent and update sometime next week, Lord willing.

You might also remember me as I leave with a group of 25 ladies tomorrow night for a quick trip to Campo Mourão to participate in a Women’s Conference hosted by the Lar Paraná church. We will travel for 8 hours on a mini-bus, get there in time for the day-long conference, sleep overnight at the Bible Camp there, and then return on Sunday in time for the evening church services. We hope it will be a great time of fellowship!

The weather here is gorgeous! Hope our northern friends are enjoying the snow!

Thanks for your prayers,
Becky and Paul

We are in Europe!

Greetings from Europe to all of you.

THANK YOU SO MUCH to you who emailed us, encouraged us and prayed for us during these last couple of days! We definitely felt God’s presence and help during our last days and hours in Minneapolis. It was not easy to go through our house one last time, to hug our closest friends not knowing when the next hug will be, to leave and know that for the next couple of months we will be “homeless” (before we find our own apartment in L’viv)… But at the same time we were and are really eager for what is next in our lives. Right now we are in Prague, Czech Republic (with Miriam’s sister) but tomorrow we will already be in Odessa, Ukraine. We should be in Prague again on the 18th. We will get to see our parents then!

We got a Czech cell phone. Our number is +420-774-239-667. It is a little more expensive to call European cell phones, compared to European landlines. But you can send us short emails (up to 140 characters) to this address chmiel@vodafonemail.cz and we will get them as text messages on our phone. And that is free for both you and us! We will be able to read your messages even when we are in Ukraine. If we are not online we will not be able to respond right away but it would still be great to hear from you this way!

Keep in touch, Tomasz and Miriam

Gene Enderlein Ministers in India

Thank you to all who have been praying for me. There is a real sense of Gods power and peace upon me and I praise God for that.

This week has been a rich week of sharing the Good News of Jesus with many people. I am again thankful for the opportunity of being here and being able to share Jesus. During the years that I served as AFLC World Missions director, I developed a love for these people. Especially have I been blessed by the Christians and the genuine faith in Christ.

This past week there has been a preaching service most nights. On Tuesday evening we had an Evangelistic Service in a poorer village called “Gandhinagar”. This was held in the open with the people seated on mats on the ground and the porch of a small civic building used as a platform. There were between 300 and 400 people in attendance.

Afterwards there were many people who came forward, many asking for various things. Many young people asking for prayers as they sit this week and next for their government exams. Their future opportunities are dependent upon how they do in these exams.

The following night, Wednesday we were in the village of “Paathur” which is near to the city of “Magalagiri” (They are all pronounced like they are written, pronounce every letter). There were some 600 people there under three pavilions (open sided tents)end to end. For a time I preached to the many who were outside the tents and outside the lights, standing in the shadows. Pray for the many who do come to these meetings who do not have faith but they still come to listen. It is such a challenge to see God at work in the hearts and lives of these people. Again many people came for prayer at the end of the service. I remember a young girl who had as her request that God would give her the ability to memorize all of His Scripture…..Awesome!…..Amen.

Thank you for all who have prayed with me and for me. GOD BLESS YOU.

You can use this email address while I am in India if you would send me a note. I would greatly appreciate it. indiawithlove@comcast.net

Sincerely in Christ’s Service

GENE Enderlein

“Let us finish our course with joy, and complete the ministry the Lord Jesus has given us, ‘to testify the Gospel of the Grace of God.’” Acts 20:24

New Work in Brazil

Saturday, March 3 a new Free Lutheran work was dedicated for God’s glory! The rented quarters are located in Borda do Campo, a suburb of Curitiba.

The Free Lutheran church in Vila Camargo is heading up the new work. For several months a group from the Vila Camargo church, established in 1991, has faithfully been teaching the Word of God on Sunday mornings.

Dona Gessy, now 75 years old, who was very instrumental in the establishment of the Vila Camargo church, is now actively involved in this new church plant. Starting in March the new church will have regular Sunday morning and Sunday evening services.

Please pray for this new ministry and for the growth of the kingdom of God through the efforts of the Free Lutheran church.

Horeb Children’s Home – India

After traveling for three days to our mission field in India this past January we were warmly welcomed by many of our Indian pastor’s, their families and the children from the Hoben Children’s Home. They presented us with flower lei’s and showered us with flower petals. The children were brightly dressed in their Sunday clothes and it was a delight to see them after traveling so far to be there.

I would like to tell you about one of the children living at the Hoben Children’s Home.

Sudhakar, one of the boys at the Horeb home has lost his father to the deadly disease of AIDS. He has one brother Sreekanth who also lives at the home with him. Their mother is still living and helps take care of the children in the orphanage. Both Sudhakar’s mother and brother have the AIDS disease.

The children in the orphanage attend the St. Paul’s Lutheran School located right there on the AFLC India compound grounds. They are able to get a good education and are involved with the local church.

Sudhakar loves to sing songs both in his native Telugu language and English songs that they have learned in school and church. He loves Jesus and wants to serve Him. His favorite subject in school is learning English. He likes to play an Indian game called Kabadi.

There are 10 children currently in the Horeb Children’s Home. There are still many like Sudhakar who need someone to sponsor them on a monthly basis. The cost to support a child is $20.00. If you are interested in supporting a child please call the World Missions Department.

Karen Palmer

Chmiel's Leaving for Ukraine

Dear friends,

YES! We are leaving for Ukraine in just three days. We spent the last three weeks packing and getting ready to leave and finally our departure day is almost here. If you would like to see some of our “preparation” pictures, click HERE. Of course we are leaving with mixed feelings of both sadness and joy but we trust God to guide us in this new step in our lives.

Please pray for safety for all our travels (see our calendar HERE) and for wisdom and strength for our first days in Ukraine. Pray for our meetings with the leadership of the German Lutheran Church in Ukraine and for our getting to know Pastor Bendus in L’viv.

And also… please keep in touch!!! We treasure your friendships and it means a lot to us to be able to communicate with all of you.

Tomasz and Miriam

Website: http://www.chmiels.com Pictures: http://www.chmiels.com/gallery
Skype: mrtom15 (Tomasz), miriam.chmiel (Miriam)
_________________________________________


Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you,
surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

News from Nate and Rhoda

Many of you have asked about the lady that helps to clean our home, since we had asked you to pray for her salvation a few months ago. We have wonderful news! She accepted the Lord as her Savior about a month ago. Thank you for your prayers! Please pray that she will grow strong in her faith and that she will grow in her love for the Lord. Her family does not yet know that she is saved because they are Muslims and she knows they will turn their back on her if they find out. Please pray for wisdom for Rhoda as she interacts with Sarah daily and answers her many questions.

Thanks again for your prayers for our family and for the work here. Please remember our friends Daniel and Kelly Keinanen as they will be traveling to visit us from March 12-23.

We are also beginning to plan for a Jesus Film campaign that will take place late June to July, Lord willing.

We thank the Lord for good health in the midst of much malaria around us.

May the Lord bless you and keep you,

Nate, Rhoda, Elijah, and Judah

God is Working at the ARCA

Wow! Another month has flown by! Yara and Carlos, the ARCA camp managers, took a much-deserved vacation during this month and we took over their responsibilities as they had done for us during our furlough time. We hosted a couple of camps and spent much time preparing for the Youth Camp over Carnaval (Feb. 16-21).

The camp was a blessed experience! We had about 160 youth, half under 18 years of age and the other half over the age of 18. The teaching times were divided to better meet the needs of each group. The evening services were held together under the big tent we had rented for the week. Our regular chapel was transformed into a dining hall to enlarge our cafeteria space. The speakers did a great job and we rejoice in these special spiritual impact weeks to help equip our youth to live out their daily lives according to God’s guidelines empowered by His Spirit. This year the camp was a joint venture with our churches and Joanna and Silvio’s church. We enjoyed working together. It was fun to have Joanna and Silvio and baby Deborah with us in our home for the five days along with another speaker’s family.

This Saturday a new preaching point will be dedicated on the other side of Curitiba. This new work is an outreach project of the Vila Camargo church. We are donating some basic materials for them to get started and plan to encourage them with our presence and prayers as we are able. The other churches seem to be going well. Paul met with the pastors this past week to encourage them and spend some time in fellowship. Each week we are involved in three to four Bible Studies, two church services, Sunday School, personal visits in homes and the hospital, and all the extra interruptions that come our way. Life is full of opportunities and we ask that the Lord will renew our strength and give us wisdom for each situation.

Our love and thanks to you, dear friends!

Paul and Becky

Shakopee Youth Raise Funds for Missions

Shakopee Faith Lutheran Youth had a special overnight Feb. 23-24 to experience hunger, do service projects, raise awareness of mission opportunities and money for the hungry in various parts of the world.




The youth built cardboard box homes to sleep in; Pastor Del Palmer shared a message on making yourself available; "Come The Morning" movie drove home the point that at any one can become homeless.


The students served 30 homeless people pancake breakfast outside at Loring Park; played a Ugandan Tribe game that created awareness of the plight of the children in Uganda; packaged
2,808 meals at Feed My Starving Children; $315 was raised for AFLC World Mission help to the hungry and $130 was given to World Vision work in Uganda. A great weekend.

Forgiveness - In the Words of a Brother from Uganda

I greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

My name is KAGGWA JONES FRENCHMAN. I am a true follower of Jesus Christ and a Ugandan by nationality. I’ve something which I hope would be of great importance to share with you. Ever since I was born, the word ‘FORGIVENESS’ has never changed either in spelling or in its appearance. When seen from a closer view, it looks to be short and very easy to write, however, so hard to put into practice. ‘FORGIVENESS’ is very long as far as its meaning is concerned. Have you ever forgiven any one in your life? The actual answer differs from one person to another regardless of age and gender.

I believe that at least everybody has ever done a wrong. Not once, not twice, but God knows better. Close your inner eyes and try to retrieve from your past experiences and see whether you have ever sought forgiveness from anybody. You can imagine the situation. Who forgives who anyway? Remember that we Christians are emulators of Jesus Christ. I know it is painful to bear, but here is my testimony:

Once upon a time, I had two eyes and my sight was okay. My life was going well and I always hoped for a bright future. I had dreams of becoming a great man of God and a prosperous person in my family. Unfortunately, out of the blue, someone dismantled my life almost to nothing. He beat me until I passed out and I came to in the hospital. I was admitted in the hospital for four months and when I was discharged I was told that I had lost sight in my right eye. To this day I have only one eye. I will never forget such an experience in my life, though ten years have passed. This has devastated my life both physically and mentally.

Ever since I got this injury on my body, my life has changed greatly. I started feeling inferior to my friends at school and in the neighborhood. Loneliness replaced my happiness in my heart. I lost interest and hope in God, though I remained a devoted Christian. Due to much discrimination from the public and friends in general who nicknames me all sorts of painful and dirty names, I decided to HATE Paulo for what he had done to my life. Little did I know that holding a grudge against a fellow man is like soaking one’s faith in Satan’s open teeth. The more I hated Paulo, the looser I became in Christ. Instead of emulating Jesus Christ in my life I decided to engage in unconstructive nonsense as far as holiness is concerned. Hatred contaminated all my ways of sober thinking and for sure it affected my relationship with God. Remember, your heart is the engine to your whole body and a damage to your heart is also felt by your soul. Accept the reality and lessen the burden on your heart, for I gained nothing in hating Paulo.

One day I attended a morning Sunday service and surprisingly the preacher for that day preached about forgiveness. He preached from Matthew 18:21-35 and at the end of it all I felt a debt in my life. He insisted on forgiving our fellow man. I shed tears in my heart because I remembered how I had suffered in my life because of my fellow man. Now the preacher was insisting that I had to forgive such a “useless” creature in my heart. I had been considering revenge and not forgiveness. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth…” “What’s wrong with this preacher?!” I thought in my mind.

After the service I told the preacher, brother Nathan, all that was eating me up. I thought he would encourage me to hate Paulo the more since I had tangible reasons for my hatred. But I felt like jumping out of my skin when he told me to forgive Paulo. He even insisted that I should go and seek forgiveness from him for my grudge against him. Just imagine the situation, I shrank back with anger and felt like dying. It was an unbearable situation. Nathan insisted, “You are fostering a grudge against God, but not Paulo, and so it is a sin.” We read so many Scriptures from the Bible and he advised me to repent of my sins before it was too late. This was a schism in Christianity because Paulo is also a follower of Christ the Savior.

After two hours of intensive counseling in God’s ways, I saw the need to stop boasting around with a grudge. I had poisoned my life for so long and now it was time to let Jesus flourish in my life. Jesus died for man to have peace, but I had no peace in my mind. Hatred is like cancer in our hearts which need to be removed before it attacks the blood vessel. We ought to garment our lives with the love of Jesus Christ, but not with crimes. Holding a grudge is compared to harassing one’s life. Sin halts your heart and saps your life.

At last I chose to forgive Paulo and forget whatsoever he did to me. I am now living a free Christian life. My soul is no longer troubled. And this goes to all Christians around the world. Please don’t be easily overcome by Satan. It’s precisely inept to hate your neighbor. We should be experts in knowing the truth and it shall set us free, but sin separates us from God’s love.

I went to Paulo’s home to ask him to forgive me for hating him intensely for the past ten years. When I apologized, Paulo could hardly believe his ears, knowing the great pain he had caused me. “No, I’m the one who should apologize to you,” he said. We talked for the next two hours and at last we parted as friends in Christ.

I hope that my story will help you to find forgiveness in your relationships with others. “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13). God bless you.

The Work of Making Disciples in Uganda

At this point I have not begun formally discipling anyone in a one-to-one context. In a sense, I am mentoring the pastors as a group as we have begun meeting every Saturday. I would also hasten to say that I am being mentored by them at the same time. I have also begun establishing a base of relationship with a couple of the young men here in Jinja. I have been fishing with some of the young men on two occasions and hope to continue fostering those relationships.

The setup in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Uganda very strongly supports mentoring. In each of the congregations there are young men (late teens to mid-twenties) who are called assistants. They are men who have demonstrated their commitment to Christ and to the ministry of the congregation and who have a heart to minister to others. The pastors have been serving as mentors for these young men and in many cases rely on them heavily in the parish ministry. When the pastor is visiting another church, the assistants will be in charge of the service. I have encouraged the pastors to invest heavily in these young men and to train them through discipleship.

The result of the discipleship effort in the ELCU is young leaders who are not book-learned, but who have learned through experience alongside the pastor. They have watched the pastors in different ministry situations and learned by observing. They have learned to conduct the service and some have learned to preach. Pastor Sospeter in particular has sought to train the young leaders. He has planted several churches around his home area and in each of the churches he has trained assistants to carry on the work.

Since our coming, the pastors have had opportunity to gather together more frequently and become more united in spirit and purpose. As the pastors are encouraged and challenged, the congregations will also receive the blessing through their pastors. The work of the pastors to make disciples has created a love for the church among the youth as they are seen as a valuable part of the ministry. They are invested in as the church of tomorrow.

The purpose of our first year in Uganda is to be students of the language and culture of the people we have come to serve. We will also be focusing on building relationships with the people and investing in those with whom we will be working in the future. Beyond the first year, we hope to begin a program for training church leaders so that the churches will be firmly grounded on the Word of God. In five years, our goal is to have free and living congregations that are active in prayer and evangelism and that are reproducing and multiplying. We hope to have national church leaders that are actively training others to carry on the work of the ministry.

Nate Jore

Hundreds See Jesus Film in Tanzania

Life has been going very well for us here in Tanzania. I hope it has been going well for you as well. We continue to be very busy here. The second term is in full swing here at Waama. Jesse and I enjoy teaching more and more each day as we become more fluent in Swahili. It is exciting for us to get to know some of the students better and hear their life stories. There are so many amazing people here.

Our ministry here in Tanzania has two parts: first, to encourage the Church by supporting Waama Bible College through teaching and equipping; second, to encourage the Church by making weekend trips to local congregations to teach and preach and also to show the Jesus Film. Many of our weekends have already been filled with traveling to students' home congregations, visiting their homes (very important in this culture), preaching on Sunday morning, and showing the Jesus Film in the local dialect. This has brought us and many local churches much joy as we can facilitate the sharing of the Gospel in their own language. Take this past weekend, for instance...

We went to a small church about a three hours drive from the Bible School. We arrived there on Friday evening and immediately set up for an outdoor Jesus Film showing. We have found this to be a good means for evangelism as non-believers can slip in and slip out without being noticed because of the darkness. We were very encouraged to have 200 people show up who heard and saw the Gospel in their own mother tongue. This was one of the larger crowds we had ever had. The next day (Saturday), Jesse and I took part in a Youth Conference that was going on at the church. In the evening we again set up for another Film showing. Showing in the same place two nights in a row made us skeptical about what sort of turn-out we'd get. We started the Film and then left to get some supper. When we came back, we found about 600 people spell-bound by the message of the Gospel. It was absolutely amazing! After the Film ended, the pastor got up, spoke, and prayed with the crowd. It was an invigorating time. The next day, we went to the Sunday morning service and then returned home that afternoon.

The picture of the Jesus Film showing that brought 600 people this past weekend. There were probably 30-40 more rows of people standing behind the people you can see. Pictures can't do something like this justice, but its worth a small idea anyway... (In the bottom right is our projector and VCR.)

Many of our weekends are spent doing Jesus Film showing trips like this last one. Though usually not this many people come, it is a great blessing for us to be able to share the Gospel in this way. Many of the students have requested that we come to their village to show the Film. In fact, we are booked through the end of April including five weeks in a row, starting the first weekend of March. Would you pray for us and these showings? These showings have tremendous potential for encouraging the church as well as doing evangelism. Thanks.

Ben

Gene Enderlein Travels to India

Gene Enderlein, former AFLC World Missions Director is traveling to India February 14th. Pastor Enderlein will be teaching, preaching and renewing old friendships. He will return on April 11th.

Please pray for him as he travels and for his family while he is away.

Pastor's Conference held in Uganda

Dear friends,

I want to thank you for your prayers for the Pastor's Bookset Conference last week. We had a very blessed time together and the teaching was excellent. We stayed in a small guest house for the three nights and walked to the conference site through bussling Kampala each morning. There were over 400 pastors and church leaders in attendance from every region of Uganda as well as Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, DR Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. We heard very practical teaching on leadership, preaching, studying, ministering to Muslims, ministering to those suffering with AIDS, as well as a study in the Gospel of John. One of the biggest blessings for me was to spend extended time with the pastors. Each evening we spent time together at the guest house discussing what we had learned during the day and how it applied our ministry. We also spent one evening shooting pool which was a first for most of them. There was a lot of laughter and the 25 cents per game went a long ways. A large part of our ministry here is building relationships with the people. Shared experiences is the best way to grow depth to a relationship. The final event of the conference was the distribution of the booksets. They were heavy and the road was muddy from the rain, but there was great joy as those books made their way to every corner of Uganda. The books (52 total) included: NIV Study Bible, concordance, Bible dictionary, English dictionary, atlas, Africa Bible Commentary, books on leadership, discipleship, ministry to Muslims, spiritual warfare, and many others. They will be a blessing for many generations to come and a wonderful tool that we can use in the ELCU to train other leaders. Thank you for praying for us this past week.

Let me share quickly about my experience yesterday. Hudson (pastoral assistant in Jinja congregation) and I travelled to Pastor's Sospeter's village to attend a meeting where Sospeter has been training the pastoral assistants in his area. Many of these young men (seven of them, 18-28 years old) are functioning as pastors because there are more churches than ordained pastors in the ELCU. Sospeter has been mentoring them and training them for pastoral ministry. The meeting was very encouraging as these young men are desire to serve as pastors. Here were some of the highlights: a 70-minute ride on the back of a bicycle, 31 people in a 14 passenger van, good fellowship with Hudson, and a great meeting with the assistants and leaders from the local community. Your prayers are much appreciated! May God bless each of you as you fulfill the Great Commission in your villages!

Nate

God's At Work- Even when your stuck in the mud!

Dear friends,

Is time going fast everywhere or just here in Africa? I can’t believe we are already well into February! Thank you so much for your prayers as Ben and I have begun teaching again here at Wa/ama Bible College. Things are progressing well. It is a busy term for us but the challenge of additional classes is good. We continue enjoy getting to know the students better. They were so happy when we came back with our residency permits and were sure to tell us that they had been praying.

Some of the best opportunities we have to get to know the students are on the weekends when we are able to go with them to their villages and participate in the Sunday service and show the ‘Jesus’ film. This past weekend we had an invitation to go to the village of Guse along with several of the students who were from that area. In all, about 12 people ended up going. It was a lot of fun. For the first time in a Sunday morning service, I preached in Swahili!! Afterwards, we were able to show the ‘Jesus’ film in the local dialect for the first time.

The plan was for it to be a relatively short trip – leaving at 6:45am and being back by 8:00pm the same day. As it ended up, around 7:30pm on the way home we got stuck in a very bad mud bog. We had experienced some problems in this same place on the way to the village but on the return it was much worse. In fact, we all got out of the car and some started trying to dig, push, etc. This went on for a couple hours at which point one of the students found a guy with a truck nearby and asked if we could hire him to pull us out. He came with his Land Rover and some of his friends and they proceeded to try to dig, jack, push, and pull the truck for the next several hours. Due to the fact that all of us were planning on a short, day-trip, nobody had extra food, water, or warm clothes. Many of us simply wrapped up in whatever we had and tried to find a dry spot on the road where we could get some sleep….until it started raining around 2am. Around 4am everyone decided to get some rest and continue the effort after sunrise. It made for a crowded car. The efforts resumed around 7am and sweet success finally came at 10:30am – 15 hours after we got stuck. I will include one picture with this email others can be seen on our blog at www.benandjesse.blogspot.com. Praise God for His protection!

Weekend ministry opportunities continue to abound. We could be gone every weekend if we wanted. Many of the students are excited to have us see their place of ministry and meet their family and friends. Pray for wisdom in all that, too.

This is a special weekend at Wa/ama and we ask for your prayers. Beginning tomorrow, we will be having several days of ‘spiritual meetings.’ Pray that this would be a time of encouragement and re-focusing for everyone.

It is hard to know all of what the year ahead might hold. My original return ticket is currently scheduled for early April but it is looking like I will at least extend it and maybe just throw it away. I can push it back only as far as July before it expires. The main reason for a return home at this point would be to have a much overdue check-up with my diabetes doctor at the University of Washington and get my prescriptions renewed as the insulin I take is not available here. I am feeling more and more certain that I will be over here for at least another year or year and a half. If that is going to happen, I would need to come home at some point this year as I currently only have enough insulin to last me through October. We will see.

Thank you so much for all your love, prayers, concern, and support. Ben and I continue to feel so blessed by the way God guides and provides each step of the way.

I pray the same for each of you.

In Him,

Jesse

Chmiel's leaving soon for the Ukraine

Dear friends,

Here we are again with our update! This one is really exciting because this might be the last update sent from the US! Next time when you hear from us, it might already be from Europe!!

Yes, we might be leaving for Europe in exactly a month (March 6^th). Our mission director, Bill Moberly, will be going to Ukraine next month and he wants us to go with him. We just learned about this last week so now we are trying to figure out how we can get everything ready in just a month. Right now we are in New Mexico (our mission director’s home) but when we come back home to Minneapolis at the end of this week we will start a very busy three weeks. PLEASE PRAY FOR US!!! Besides trying to pack our whole home, we also have very many last minute details to take care of. So we would definitely appreciate your prayers.

As most of you probably know, we finished our five-week mission training on Friday. The last three weeks of our training were about the different make-or-break issues of missionary lives. We talked about how to stay spiritually healthy on the field, how to deal with conflict, stress, grief and loss… how to keep morally pure… We discussed what to expect from the cross-cultural transition (the normal stages of “honeymoon experience” and “culture shock” before feeling settled). We also learned how to say “healthy good-byes” in order to be able to say “healthy hellos.” We were very thankful that we were able to be at this training. If you would like to read more about what we learned or see some pictures, click here: http://www.chmiels.com/gallery/mti/ (if you have seen some of the first pictures, just go to page two and start there).

You can also see some more videos from our training at http://www.chmiels.com/videos.htm Last time we sent you a link to a video but the problem was that we never knew what else would open on that website. So this time we put the videos on our own website so we do not need to worry about inappropriate advertisements or anything like that. So enjoy the videos!!

Someone just recently asked us, “How do you feel as you prepare to go to Ukraine soon?” It is hard to answer this question. In one of our sessions during our mission training the teacher said that when his family was about to move, his son said, “Daddy, I think God wants us to be both sad and excited about moving.” And that is how we feel, too. It is sad to leave our friends, our home, sell some of our wedding gifts, leave places that are very special to us… but at the same time we are very excited for what God has in store for us in Ukraine.

We very much appreciate your prayers! Keep in touch,

Tomasz and Miriam

Interesting Links

Are you looking for some interesting links for AFLC World Missions reading? Follow these links and you'll find it. Copy them to your bookmarks so you can view them regularly.

AFLC World Missions Website

AFLBS - MTI Program

AFLC of India

Paul Abel's Website

Tomasz Chmiel's Website (Missionary on Loan)

Dan Giles and Todd Schierkolk (Spanish)

Tim Hindrichs' Website (Missionary on Loan)

Darwin Jackson's Website (Missionary on Loan)

Ben Jore and Jesse Long (Short Term Assistants)

Nate Jore's Website

Article from Every Nation Newsletter, by Dan Giles

I went to the water company one day to pay our water bill, and ran into Memo, a member of our church, who is the chief engineer for the water company. He introduced me to another employee of the company named Amilcar. Amilcar had recently moved to Jerez from Aguascalientes, as had we, so we got to talking. In a few minutes’ conversation it came out that Amilcar and his wife Claudia we were both Black Belts and ran a karate school together in Jerez. We found out that we knew many of the same people back in Aguascalientes. In fact, it turned out that I one of my black belts is in the very style of martial arts that Amilcar and Claudia teach!

I was looking for a place where I could work out, so I started training at his school. I ended up steering a few students his way as well. Once in a while he would ask me to teach a special class in self defense or some other related topic of martial arts. As we got to know each other, Amilcar and Claudia opened their hearts. They were very unhappy and felt like their marriage wasn’t working. In fact, they were close to throwing in the towel and giving up – and they had two precious little girls. They had no idea how to improve things, and no idea of how God intended marriage to work.

Within a few months they both asked the Lord Jesus to come into their hearts and take control of their life. They started praying together and studying the Bible, especially looking for God’s plan for their marriage and family life. Their wounded hearts were healed by God’s loving touch. They seem to have fallen in love with each other all over again!

All of that was six years ago. Today Amilcar and Claudia are a leading family in our little congregation. Their two daughters have two little brothers now, and they have just started building a house for their family. God’s loving plan for their life is unfolding beautifully and their children are growing up with something they had both missed growing up – they wonderful experience of knowing Jesus!

Linda Haabak - AFLC Member With Wycliffe Reqests Prayer

"Give me understanding and I will obey Your instructions; I will put them into practice with all my heart" (Psalm 119:34, NLT).

Wycliffe is partnering with Pine Summit Camp in Big Bear, California, to hold five weekend youth camps for middle school and high school students. These camps, which are entirely focused on missions, are opportunities to positively impact the lives of 1,500 to 2,000 young people and cast vision. Campers engage in fun team-building activities and cultural simulations where both campers and staff are assigned to a "tribe." These tribes represent real people groups, helping campers learn about the culture and language of each tribe in an active and meaningful way. Would you pray for these camps as the Lord leads over the next several weeks? (January 26-28; February 2-4; February 9-11; February 23-25; March 2-4)

• Ask God to prepare the hearts of the campers and their counselors, so they may fully understand what is on His heart concerning the lost and His call to action for His people.
• Pray that the staff would remain abiding in Christ and be able to share their hearts in a God glorifying way.
• Pray for more students to register in these final days.
• Pray for both physical and spiritual protection for campers and staff.
• Students will consider life-changing decisions for their lives. Pray that their response to direction they receive from God would be obedience.
• Pray that the outcome would be a new generation committed to God's purposes in reaching the unreached.
  

Please pray for us as we present a mission program at these winter camps. I will probably be there for all five weekends.

Thanks!

Linda

Have You Seen My Water Buffalo?

The team that is now in India to teach pastors and Bible women have been having a little fun in their spare time. Linda Fugleberg was letting everyone know that she could milk and wanted to milk a water buffalo. The ladies took her and Karen Palmer to a place where she could milk. The Indian ladies had more fun, everyone laughed and it was a great time of fellowship.



The classes have been going well. In addition to the ladies teaching Jim Fugleberg, Jerry Peterson and Dave Johnson have been teaching the pastors. Del Palmer has been preaching in the evenings.

Please continue to remember the team in prayer.