Missionary Newsletters - North America July 2006 EASTERN UNITED STATES – After six years as EMM representative to the U.S. and Canada, Lawrence Chiles recently stepped into a new role as bishop of the Koinonia Fellowship of Churches. In his new role Lawrence will be overseeing the work of 11 multi-ethnic congregations in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, as well as six in the Dominican Republic. Bishop Eugene Graves, who pastors a Koinonia Fellowship Church, preached the commissioning service from Acts 13. He noted that the church in Antioch included people from many different races and classes. It was a mixed church. He asked, “Is that why God called the first missionaries from Antioch? The Jerusalem church had problems with racism, so God moved to Antioch!” The Koinonia Fellowship of Churches, an EMM partner, grew out of the Delaware Valley and New Jersey Districts of Lancaster Mennonite Conference to become its own autonomous fellowship of churches. February 2005 SALUNGA, Pa – On December 2, Vietnamese Mennonite house church leader Truong Tri Hien visited EMM’s bimonthly board meeting in Salunga, Pa. to thank the mission for sending workers to his homeland in the 1960s, and for their sponsorship of his immigration to the U.S. In translated remarks, Hien said, “Some plant, some water, but God gives the increase.” Hien served as the assistant general secretary of the Vietnam Mennonite Church and right-hand man to Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, general secretary of the church. He fled from Vietnam after Pastor Quang was arrested in June 2004, certain that he would also be detained. During his year-long hideout in Cambodia, Hien continued to provide coordination and counsel to the beleaguered Mennonite church in Vietnam via e-mail and cell phone contact, while also requesting and receiving refugee status. Hien arrived in the U.S. as a refugee on September 27, 2005. His legal background and work in documenting and publicizing government harassment of house churches throughout Vietnam made repatriation unadvisable. As he learns English and adjusts to life in the U.S., Hien is relating to the Vietnamese Gospel Mennonite Church in Allentown, Pa. January 2005 LANDISVILLE, Pa. – Lamar and Pat Myers are “empty nesters.” They’re grandparents. But they’re also pioneers. Two years ago, Lamar and Pat met Hari and Penka Atanasov, Bulgarian artists, during their two-week visit to the United States. Hari and Penka lodged with the Myers family in Landisville, and they held an exhibition of their artwork. Along with his work in art, Hari also pastors a small evangelical church in Kurdajli, in southern Bulgaria, 25 miles from the border with Greece. Hari and Penka had learned to know EMM associated missionary Tim Bentch, based in Budapest, Hungary, through artists’ gatherings sponsored by A Song for the Nations, the organization Bentch founded to network artists throughout Eastern and Western Europe. During their U.S. visit, which was sponsored by A Song for the Nations, the Atanasovs and Myers found God knitting their hearts together in a surprising way. They began to pray and dream about creative new outreaches to the Bulgarian Muslim villagers in southern Bulgaria – through art and music. For the past ten years, Lamar has worked as director of administrative services at EMM's headquarters, and Pat has directed choirs for children and adults and served as a worship director in various congregational settings. Eighteen years ago, the Myers returned from a 17-year stint in Haiti. But now they were feeling it was time to get back overseas – and God seemed to be leading them toward work with Hari and Penka in Bulgaria. We are excited about this door of opportunity, which is in line with the desires that God has put in our hearts,” Lamar told the EMM Board in their December 2 meeting. Pat said, Worshipping God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is a passion I’ve had most of my life. Although the goals of many churches are important and biblical – things like creating communities of love and well-being, evangelism, or reaching out to those in need – seldom do I see the first goal to be developing communities of worshippers, helping people turn from worshipping themselves and what they want, to worshipping God." As Eastern Mennonite Missions seeks to create transforming communities of worship among all peoples,” EMM staff are excited about what God will do through the Myers’ passion. The EMM Board appointed Lamar and Pat Myers for a two-year term of exploratory service in Bulgaria, a new country of ministry for EMM. October 2005 LANCASTER, Pa. – A unique summer reunion on August 13 brought together seven of the eight first Youth Evangelism Service (YES) participants for a 25-year reunion. Chris Kennel and Rose Brubaker co-led the team, which trained at a Youth With A Mission (YWAM) base in Scotland in 1980, then served with EMM missionaries Linford and Janet Stutzman in Munich, Germany. Chris and Rose later married, and they hosted this reunion, welcoming the team and their families into their home. Leon Miller, one of that team's members and now EMM’s resourcing coordinator, commented that 25 years ago, the YES program – with three months of discipleship and missions training, followed by a four- to eight-month cross-cultural outreach – was unique among Anabaptists. Since then, YES, which got its start from a YWAM template, has gone on to inspire numerous other “clones,” such as the RAD program of Mennonite Mission Network and the REACH program of Rosedale Mennonite Missions. Still going strong after 25 years, the YES program’s winter training begins January 22, 2006. Apply by November 21. Winter YES teams are planned for Bolivia, India, and the Himalayas. In the past 25 years, more than 1,500 young people have served in the YES program. MICHIGAN - This past summer, as Tina Yoder concluded her term of service early because of health reasons, she said, “It breaks my heart to have to leave my friends, my hopes and my vision for this place, but the Lord is more precious to me then this assignment. Nothing can separate me from His love. I praise God for the wonderful time I had here in spite of three robberies, and various health problems.” Then Tina shared the following story as an example of the many encounters she was able to have. “I have a Muslim friend, who owns a clothing store. One day I was sitting in a chair in her store. She had sold nothing that day, and in my heart I was crying out to God, ‘Lord, let her sell something.’ Just then a lady walked in and bought a blouse. She was all flustered and said, ‘I don't know why I am buying this. I was going out to buy some food, and it was as if a force pulled me in here to buy this blouse.’ The lady left, and Kiki asked me, ‘Tina were you praying?’ I nodded, yes. She was excited and told her brother all about it when he came in. But my heart’s cry is for her salvation. She knows I pray but shows no interest in the Gospel for herself. She is a Muslim and as far as she is concerned, that is impossible to change. Please pray for her and her countrymen in the Balkans.” Tina continues to water these “seeds” with her prayers from her home in Michigan. August 2005 HARRISONBURG, VA.- Becky Gant, who served on a Youth Evangelism Service team to Central Asia earlier this year, shares this testimony: “Five years ago I started getting into parties – drugs and alcohol – pretty seriously. I came to college to try to straighten up, but things got worse. I believed in God, but didn’t have a relationship with him. I was worried and scared. I knew I was making bad choices, but felt like I was in a deep dark hole. "I decided to apply for YES even though I didn’t know much about it. After my first week at the Harrisburg Discipleship Center I called home and told my dad, “I don’t fit in here. I’m not spiritual enough.” But at our next meeting I decided to open up and share my feelings with the group. They wrapped their arms around me and showed me the grace of God. "At first I thought I’d hate how life at HDC was so structured – the quiet times, the meals, the teachings, the outreaches. But it was exactly what I needed. I thrived in that environment. I was able to surrender my life to God, and to forgive myself and other people. My whole life, outlook, attitudes changed. I’ve given my life back to God and he says, ‘Okay, Becky. I’ll take what you’ve done and use it for my glory.’”