February 2008

Ethiopia - Carl and Vera Hansen continue their work with the Meserete Kristos College in Debra Zeit. Vera works every day in the college library, sorting out hundreds of boxes of donated books, entering into the computer those that are to go to the library, and putting the rest into the textbook store room. Carl works with college Advancement activities and teaches a senior course on Peace and Justice Issues. Carl says of the new college:

"Bit by bit, we are getting this bare field to look more like a college campus. Within the past year we have built a kitchen, dining hall/chapel, a latrine/wash house, a transformer/generator house, a workshop, a carport, a gate and guard house, and also a water system for irrigating – all small but necessary additions to the development of a viable campus."

"In December we started excavating for a faculty guest house and a men’s dormitory. If funds come in, we hope to also begin construction on a women’s dorm. By September we hope to have dorm space for 300 students."

"The new campus borders a shallow lake, and as the lake recedes during the dry season, the birds community increases. As other sources of water and food dry up, this lake continues to provide nutrients and shelter, a welcome oasis, a living sanctuary for hungry and thirsty feathered friends."

"May our College become the same for those who hunger and thirst for knowledge, encouragement, and spiritual fortification and direction in righteousness!"

"We had a graduation of 61 students here at the college on January 5. Also, last year the Meserete Kristos Church reported another 20,000 new believers in Christ. This brings the total number of members to 156,000. The number of congregations grew from 398 to 444 this year. Church planting centers now number 751. This continued growth inspires us to push ahead with the huge challenge of training leaders to shepherd these people."


November 2007

THE GAMBIA - The three member YES team in the Gambia shares a recent experience. Team leader Jacki Brenneman writes,

“As night fell, we headed home from Serrekunda after a time of farewell for two of the long-term EMM workers – our van filled with groceries for the next two weeks.

“About four kilometers from Pirang, the village we live in, we came across a bad accident that had just happened. A tractor was pulling a load of logs and people, but didn’t have good tail lights. A gilly-gilly (large transport van) rear-ended the tractor.

“Some of us ran to help the injured people, and the rest of us found water and extra clothing to use for bandages.

“Then our van became an ambulance. Jordan drove the makeshift ambulance with five of the injured people. One of them was in pretty critical condition and the other four weren't that much better. They all survived the ride to the nearest health clinic. Our team helped at the clinic for a while. Jordan went back to the accident scene and helped the police transport all of the personal belongings from the scene to the police check-point.

“Thursday, Kent and I spent the morning cleaning the van. Not only were there bodily fluids splattered everywhere, but our flat of eggs was mashed into the carpet. Yesterday Jordan saw the police officers from that night. They thanked him, and told him that there were no casualties from the accident and that the people were doing better.

“I've also been encouraged by the growth I've been able to see in the church here. On Friday, all of the Mennonite church leaders in The Gambia came to MEHDA to pick a name for their group of churches and decide on a leadership structure for themselves.

“And today, there was a baptism at the Pirang Mennonite Church. One woman and seven of the youth girls were baptized. Most of the girls were my good friends from the last time I was here, so I was extremely happy to be able to celebrate with them. The church service started around 10 this morning, and finished around 2. There was a time of fellowship, and then a little after 4, a scrumptious lunch of barracuda over rice, with all sorts of deep-fried veggies. I left this evening feeling very full, in stomach and spirit.”

Another day Jacki decided to help two of her women friends prepare the ground of their rice fields by digging up the dry ground by hand. She says, “It was hard work but I had a good time as they chatted in Jola, explained the rice growing process to me, and sang songs to the rhythm of our tools pounding into the ground.

“As we walked back I was struck again by how green and alive every thing looks since rainy season has started. I found myself thinking and praying about the spiritual terrain in Pirang. Right now, every thing looks completely dead and it's hard to have any hope. But, I have to keep on in the hope that the Holy Spirit will flow over my friends and neighbors and make them grow like the rain that floods our streets and turns everything green.”


September 2007

Guinea-Bissau - Before completing service in July, the YES team in Guinea-Bissau got to experience cashew season. Team member Joella Garber writes,

“Money doesn't grow on trees'...or does it? Cashews are Guinea-Bissau's cash crop. During this season, cashews are the currency. Two cups of cashew nuts can buy a fish. A bottle of cold juice costs four cups. One evening we saw a boy eating a loaf of expensive bread. When we asked  about it he simply responded, ‘It's cashew season.’ So it's true, this money grows on trees.

“When little kids see the peddler coming, they'll start running around, picking up cashew nuts, and filling their shirts so that they can trade nuts for a slushy.

“When you ask people, ‘What did you today?’ They answer, ‘I went and kuji cashews.’ (kuji means to collect, gather, or pick up.) Or the response might be ‘I cokati cashews,’ meaning to twist the cashew fruit off the nut.

“I went with a friend, Dominga, to kuji cashews with her. After a scurry of activity we loaded everything up on our heads in basins and started walking out to the cashew grove. In the shade of the grove they set up camp with stools, three stones to hold a cooking pot over a fire, troughs to collect the cashew juice, and a huge pile of rotting cashew fruit.

“Half of us continued further into the cashew grove and began filling our buckets with cashews. The cashews cover the ground, just waiting to be picked up. Around noon we carried all the cashews back to the camp and spent the rest of the afternoon twisting off the fruit. We carried basins full of cashew nuts back home.

“Along with a plate of fresh roasted cashews, and a bucket of nuts they insisted I take, I also left with a sore back, smelly hands, and a greater appreciation and understanding of my friends' work. My friend Domiga will do this almost every day for several months.”


July 2007

THE GAMBIA - Jacki Brenneman writes for The Gambia YES team.

"This week marked the end of the boys’ bush school, or manhood training. Between the ages of 5-10, they are snatched from their homes by the konkoran in the middle of the night, blindfolded, taken to the bush, and circumcised. From then on, the women are not allowed to see them. During the day it's alright if the women and children see a konkoran, but are supposed to go into a housing compound out of respect for him. But, during the night, women and children aren't supposed to see him, and so they huddle and hide inside their compound/houses. At anytime during the day, the konkoran can take his machetes and beat people, if he so desires. Yesterday, thankfully, was the end of bush school, so the konkorans are no longer roaming the streets, screaming and clanging their machetes and chasing people.

"One day a week, we each usually go to the nursery school and help the teachers in their classes. Typically the teachers carry sticks in their hands and hit the children when they are misbehaving (which happens a lot!), and depending on the teacher, when they get an answer wrong or are working too slowly. This week, at the school children were beaten because they didn't get the letters of the alphabet in the right order – and I got into a discussion with Nyamo, Joseph, and Cecilia about the way that discipline happens here. I told them that I thought that it was one thing to discipline a child if he or she was misbehaving, but a completely different thing if they are being hit because they get an answer wrong. They told me it's their culture. I said that I don't want to beat children because I want to follow Jesus' example and love the children. They told me it's their culture, and it was worse for their parents.

"There are glimpses of Jesus in this culture – in the sense of community, in the hospitality, etc, and just as my home culture needs to be transformed and refined by Jesus, so does this culture!"


June 2007

GUINEA-BISSAU – Joella Garber writes for the four-member YES team:

“While we’ve been involved in agricultural development here it’s been easy to draw parallels between the garden in our backyard and God's plot of land named Catel that we're working in right now. It's like we see little sprouts of growth in people here. For example, the women who come to my Creole literacy class are learning to put letters together. They are far from reading yet, but have come a long way from not recognizing the letter 'A' from a meaningless squiggle. Will I get to see them read? Or another wonderful example. There are people called marabues here. These are traditional medicine men who sell charms, have ceremonies, and sometimes cross-dress. However, two of the local marabue's sons have started coming to Bible study. The marabue told Pastor Julio that he is 'too lost,’ but wants his sons to be Christians and not marabues! Julio told him that no one is ever too lost from Jesus. What a privilege it is to work for God. And what a blessing it is to witness him growing the seedlings here.”


May 2007

GUINEA-BISSAU – As Joella Garber, a member of the Guinea-Bissau YES team, teaches literacy, she heard a new twist to “the dog ate my homework” excuse.

Joella says, “I'm in charge of teaching Creole literacy. Languages here are interesting. People's first language is their tribal language; Balanta or Manjako, the list goes on and on. Creole is the language spoken between tribes, and children learn that as they listen to their parents interact outside the family. Now that the Bible is written in Creole, those who can read Portuguese can pick up reading Creole, which is more familiar to them. Women, however, have very little schooling, and therefore cannot read the Bible. That’s 50 percent of the population and my target group.

“Marta came to my class one day, and I was so happy she was there. She is in that target group – women who come to church, but can't read. Showing up half an hour late with her baby tied on her back, she got down to learning the letters of the alphabet and struggling to write with her pencil. Soon the baby began to cry, and after watching her try to jiggle her baby and write at the same time, I took the baby from her. At the end of the lesson Marta had copied several A's, B's, and C's, but was still struggling to remember their names. I encouraged her in Creole, ‘You can take this paper back with you and practice every day, and then bring it to the next class.’

“‘Oh no, I can't,’ she responded matter-of-factly, ‘A rat will eat the paper.’ Honoring that as a valid excuse, I visited her the next day to help her practice her letters.”


March 2007

KENYA – On one final family vacation before they leave Kenya this summer, Kevin and Sharon Yoder and their three daughters climbed Mount Kenya together. Ana describes the experience, “Our family spent five days walking more than 40 miles to Point Lenana, the highest peak reachable without technical equipment. We survived the long walks, the cold, the mud, the snowstorm, and the wind. At the peak, the temperature with wind-chill was probably 20 below zero. To reach the summit early Friday morning, we woke at 2:15, bundled up, and started the climb. We had spent most of the previous day huddled inside the camp building, watching the alternating rain, sleet, and snow, so we were thankful for a clear sky filled with stars, and a moon so bright that we didn't need flashlights. It was awe-inspiring to climb through the snowdrifts in the moonlight. Although it seemed like forever, one step in front of another kept bringing us closer to the peak at 16,000 ft. It was definitely a worthwhile experience, and a lesson in perseverance – one we are keeping in our minds as we finish our time here in Kenya.”


THE GAMBIA – Angela Gehman reports a conversation she had with a neighbor woman. “She is often at the tap when I go to draw water. We greet each other, wait in line to fill our buckets, and go our separate ways. Last week she was on her way to the garden when I was walking to the clinic. Then after exchanging the usual greetings, she began asking me detailed questions about why I am not Muslim, why I don’t pray five times a day, why I don’t fast during Ramadan, why I don’t wear a veil.

We stood there in the path as I responded, telling her that I do pray many times each day, in many different places. Even as I wish you a good day, God is listening – that is my prayer for you. I also listen: is God saying anything to me today?

She expressed her disbelief. God talks? To people? How?

My mind scrambled frantically. How do I give her a picture of our Father who truly cares for us? And then I remembered an afternoon several years ago when God gave me a name and asked me to pray for a girl that I had never heard of or met. I prayed, and then, as the days went by, forgot about it, until one day I met the girl I’d been directed to pray for. As we learned to know each other she shared her struggles. I listened with awe as she told of the day she finally decided to kill herself. That day was the same one on which God had asked me to pray for her – an unknown girl. He protected her when she had given up and began to work a miracle of hope and healing in her heart.

This window of God’s grace that happened years ago on another continent now held the attention of this young Muslim woman. I saw the question in her eyes – do I dare to believe that this is true? Our Father’s spoken word changed the life of that girl years ago, changed my life, and, I believe in faith, is leading my young Muslim friend forward on her journey toward himself.”

GUINEA-BISSAU – Nick Ferguson writes for a six-member YES team, “One of the challenges that we face when we minister here is to establish things in a way that the people here can continue the work when we leave. Beryl Forester, the long-term EMM worker here, and his assistant Julio from The Gambia have been going to the local villages where people are requesting that they come and share the gospel. They lead songs, have a message, a time for questions, prayer, and interaction. The last few weeks we have been bringing some members of the local church into this role. One man in particular, Mario, has caught the vision. Beryl drew up an outline and we helped translate it into Creole. Soon we were listening to Mario explain why the story of Zacchaeus is relevant to life in the village. Things went very well and he is eager to continue in this role. Mario is working on another message and will be leading the church service on Sunday. It is so exciting to see things being handed off like this.”


January 2007

GUINEA-BISSAU - YES team member Joella Garber recently had a frightening experience. She writes, “I was suffering from a sore throat and it was becoming irritating. As I tried unsuccessfully to sleep away the sore throat one hot afternoon, a friend came urgently asking for Julio or Beryl, the team leaders. Her little brother had been bitten by a poisonous snake. There's no way to keep anti-venom serum at the small clinic at the church because we don’t have refrigeration. So someone tied his leg and washed the bite, and all we could do was keep him quiet and pray for him. He came around again today, and seems like he's fine. I learned it's not uncommon for people to survive snake bites, but we still thank Jesus for this boy's health. And it put my sore throat in perspective.”


December 2006

GUINEA-BISSAU – As a six-member YES team settles into their eight months of service in West Africa, Nick Ferguson writes, “As I was dropped off to watch the luggage, several curious locals brought the first of many meals we were to share – fish and rice. I started eating out of our bowl with my hand. They would take the rare pieces of meat off the fish and flick them to my spot in the bowl, and they soon handed me a spoon, sensing my awkwardness.

The people here are nothing short of amazing. I can't remember a time when I wasn't offered the best that they had or taken care of first. They have been eager to help us learn their language and are patient as we try to roll our Rs and try other strange Creole sounds. The community is overjoyed that we are here, and their faces light up as we have been rapidly learning and communicating words and phrases. Our failed attempts bring much laughter on both sides. I have become friends with a man named Mario, who has been instrumental in welcoming me into a culture drastically different from my own. He is one of the members of the growing church here led by EMM missionary Beryl Forrester and his assistant and translator Julio.” 


November 2006

ETHIOPIA – In a historic vote at the general assembly last month, the Meserete Kristos Church of Ethiopia set new policy on two boundary issues -- the baptism of polygamous converts and women in leadership. The assembly approved a recommendation in favor of baptizing polygamous converts, but restricting them from leadership positions. Polygamy (the practice of marrying more than one wife) is common throughout Africa.

Monogamous marriage continues to be the teaching position of the church, and the new policy states clearly that MKC members who take more than one wife will face church discipline. Delegates were influenced by the testimony by church leaders from areas where polygamy is common. Leaders said that the church’s witness there would be handicapped by denying baptism to polygamous converts. The task force had spent a year in preparation, including Bible study and consultation with other Ethiopian evangelical churches.

In a separate vote, delegates approved a recommendation in favor of women holding congregational office on the basis of gifts and election. This includes salaried offices such as evangelist, teacher, and pastor, as well as unsalaried offices such as deacon and elder. Discussion of the issue included recognition that women played important roles as leaders of the underground church during the 1980s, when the Communist government shut down the church and seized its properties. Previous to this vote, there was no official policy, but tradition and custom discouraged the election of women to recognized roles in congregational leadership.
Delegates approved the new constitution with these changes by more than the required three-fourths vote.

The MKC has 1434,000 baptized members in 398 congregations and 785 church planting centers. Their districts also reported 20,692 conversions and 13,968 baptisms in the past year.


October 2006

SHIRATI, TANZANIA – Missionaries Keith and Ellen Hummel are supporting the work of the hospital and Mennonite churches in the area. As Keith coaches the hospital administrator, Ellen has been home schooling their three children, ages 6, 11, and 13. Ellen has also begun a project that has her and the local kids very excited: she is lending out Swahili books. Each child can take out one book at a time and must return it before they can take out another book. She has built up a library of over 90 books. Keith says, “Every afternoon we get a large crowd of children coming to the house starting at 4 p.m. Ellen has hopes of renovating an old school building to use as a library. This project has the potential to change the lives of children long-term as it will help them learn to read and improve their ability to access education in the future.”


July 2006

GUINEA-BISSAU, WEST AFRICA – Beryl Forrester writes, “The reception of the gospel here is every missionary’s dream. People are eager to be taught the Bible. They are searching for truth and open to the change the gospel brings. But Guinea-Bissau is also one of Africa’s poorest, and most backward countries. How do we present a holistic gospel in the face of such dire physical needs? Every village I visit is in need of food, medicine, education, income generation, and church. Starting a new mission endeavor in a new country is a wonderful, creative opportunity. It’s like starting over on a clean sheet of paper. It’s also an awesome responsibility because directions that are set have ramifications for years to come. Our goal is to eventually see a healthy, fully-autonomous African church.”


June 2006

KENYA – As Jeremy and Jennifer Janzen prepared to leave their work among the Maasai in Kenya earlier this year, they wrote, “Six years ago when our plane landed, it literally dropped to the runway together with the first rain that ended a devastating drought.” The Maasai therefore gave Jen the name “Nolari” – bringer of rain – and Jeremy the name “Lemayian” – the blessing.

Ironically, six months before they left, a second killer drought began to ravage Kenya. They feared that their time in Maasailand would end in tragedy. But then the rains started and their time ended poignantly, the way it began, with abundant rainfall.
As Jen and Jer compared the two droughts, they saw something significant. The Maasai agree that both droughts were equally devastating, through the multitudes of livestock they destroyed and the resulting hunger. But although Olepolos was in the same environment, the end result was very different this time.

In the drought of 2000, Olepolos was forced to rely on food aid to survive, just as many other communities had to this year. But this year Olepolos didn’t receive any outside aid. Rather, the Olepolos Church and community members donated maize from their stores to outside communities that were starving. Six years ago they didn’t even have store houses, let alone maize. Six years ago they didn’t have the vision to see other communities as more needy than they are. Six years ago Olepolos received. This year, they gave.

Jer says, “Our work in Olepolos hasn’t brought this success. Neither has the Olepolos people’s work. Nor any mission group. Neither has God – all by himself. It is the partnership between God and humanity that has brought this success. Those people include Olepolos people, missionaries, mission agencies, and supporters.

“The Olepolos vision statement is ‘Every life transformed by Christ in Olepolos and beyond.’ Our time here is over. Olepolos is sending us as their missionaries to Canada, and our vision now is to take their vision to our home country and beyond.”

The Janzens shared this poetic summary of their six years in Kenya: