June-July 2019
What Adventure Awaits You?
|
|
Popie's Adventures
Missionary to Trinidad
Mike and Pam, his wife, are the directors of the School of Global Leadership.
|
|
My friend Popie comes from a family who was Hindu. Although Popie is one of our drivers who transports our short-term ministry teams around Trinidad, his primary ministry is to drive his van around and pick people up for church. He will offer a ride to church to anyone, but he loves to bring children to church. You see Popie sees children that no one else sees, in places most people ignore.
On many occasions Popie has said to me, “Pastor Mike, I found a new neighborhood where no church has ever taken the Gospel and there are plenty of children,” or “This neighborhood is 100 percent Hindu.” Sometimes he drives me through the neighborhoods and declares that the people are ready for the Gospel. Popie looks for the “man of peace” in these neighborhoods. Once he finds the “man of peace” he develops a relationship with him. This allows him to reach out to other people in the neighborhood. When Popie finds an area like this, he will walk up to a home with children and develop a relationship with the parents. He then asks if he can pick their children up and take them to Sunday school. Being a former Hindu he knows many of the people in these neighborhoods. He also knows their objections to Christianity, bypasses those topics, and focuses on common ground.
|
In one Hindu neighborhood, the parents of a ten-year-old boy named Videsh agreed to let him go to church with Popie. Popie faithfully picked Videsh up for church and Sunday school. The boy quickly grew to love Jesus and then gave his life completely to following Jesus. With the heart of an evangelist, Videsh began inviting other children from his neighborhood to go to Sunday school with him.
When the time came for Videsh to be baptized his father reminded him that his family was still Hindu, but if he was going to convert, he had to follow Jesus all the way. The one stipulation he put on the boy for being baptized was that the family had to be allowed to be present for the baptism. In July of 2018, Videsh was baptized in the ocean – with his family at the water’s edge cheering him on.
|
The family then began a journey of discovery to answer the question: “Who is this Jesus that our son is following?” Rather than attend church, they wanted the church to come to them. They asked for services to be held outside their house with worship, testimonies, preaching, and prayer. I have preached at most of the services. Personal invitations were sent out from Videsh’s family and approximately 25-30 people attended each of the open air services. These services were sponsored by the Barrackpore Open Bible Church, Popie’s church. Slowly Videsh’s family began to understand not only who Jesus is but also what it means to follow Him. The father was no longer content with an occasional service by his home. He wanted three days of services.
|
In May of 2019, three days of open air services were held outside Videsh’s home, attended by at least 100 relatives and neighbors. These services were held in the same neighborhood where one boy became a Christian just one year ago. Today eight members of his family are following Jesus including Videsh’s father, mother, and grandfather. In addition, at least 20 members of the community have publicly declared that they are followers of Jesus Christ. You may wonder if their decisions to follow Jesus are sincere. In a church of 60-70 people there are currently 13 people in a New Believers class and Videsh’s father and mother have both committed to be baptized in July of 2019.
Is this the end of the story? Not a chance. Popie has already found the next neighborhood where the Gospel has never been shared. In that community he has found another family who is ready to host an open air service outside of their home.
Popie’s adventure continues!
|
Missionaries Mike and Pam Lumbard minister as directors of the School of Global Leadership - Trinidad, a missions training school that provides a cross-cultural, hands-on, learning and living environment that helps propel students into leadership roles around the world. Trinidad is a great missions training environment, with great diversity among the religious, economic, and ethnic facets of life. This makes it a solid stepping stone for those interested in taking Jesus to the world!
For more information about the Lumbards' ministry in Trinidad
or to become a one-time or monthly donor,
click here
.
|
|
|
|
|
MISSION HAITI
Haiti has suffered chronic instability due to dictatorships and natural disasters in recent decades leaving it as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
An earthquake in 2010 killed more than 200,000 people and caused extensive damage to the infrastructure and economy. This country continues to face multiple ongoing crises, such as food insecurity and malnutrition.
With an estimated 982,000 people facing severe food insecurity and more than 640,000 people in need of access to health care, Global Missions wants to build a new orphanage, an elementary school, and medical clinic in Williamson, Haiti.
Haiti is Global Missions newest Open Bible work and we want to impact Haiti for Christ by using funds raised through Mission Haiti to build a new orphanage for 50 children; an elementary school for 300 children in first through seventh grades; and a medical clinic that will serve hundreds of children and youth who have no way to receive any type of medical care or treatment for common illnesses and injuries requiring medication.
Join the Mission Haiti team by donating to impact the lives of hundreds of children from malnutrition, lack of health care, and poverty. The children's families and the community will also be impacted as the Gospel is spread through teaching and shown in tangible ways.
|
|
|
By Missionary Heather Hunsaker
Missionary to Tijuana, Mexico
Heather and Travis, her husband, are the directors of Puente de Amistad.
|
|
Puente de Amistad has been blessed with the delivery of two semi-truck trailers full of food from First Church of the Open Bible, pastored by my father-in-law, Will Hunsaker, in Clear Lake, Iowa.
|
For many years Will has enjoyed going to Amish “bent-and-dent” stores where name brand items of food, toys, furniture, etc. are for sale in a variety of conditions from slightly damaged to severely damaged. Over the years Will has developed relationships with different shop owners. In 2018 one of the owners gave Will the name of one of the most popular “bent-and-dent” food suppliers from New Jersey. This gentleman takes grocery store rejects (dented cans, a box missing an item, etc.) and re-sells them based on weight by the truckload. Will called the owner to see how much it would cost to purchase a truckload for missions. After some thought, the owner offered to give Will the truckload if he would arrange transportation of the load from New Jersey to California, which he did. The truck made a stop in Iowa at First Church in Clear Lake so the goods could be sorted and checked to ensure there was no expired food. Then the load continued on to San Diego, California, for Puente de Amistad to transport across the U.S. Mexico border.
|
The first shipment we undertook was in 2018. We had never done anything like this before and there were a lot of details to figure out, like deciding who gets to receive the food, how to get the food across the border, and where to store all the food until it is delivered. Thankfully, we were able to bring all the food across even though it took eight trips across the border with a U-Haul. My prayer for this load of food was that the Lord would work out all the details.
|
The food truck allowed us, relatively new missionaries on the field in 2018, to reach out to pastors and ministries we barely knew with a love offering of food. Food is an essential building block of life. What better way to reach people you barely know? The food provided a reprieve for budgets of orphanages and hospices we are involved with. Because of this food churches were able to have juice and applesauce as part of the summer Vacation Bible School programs. Several also chose to distribute the food among their neediest parishioners.
|
This year, 2019, our importer of housing materials, Hector Salzaar, offered to bring all the food across the border (for half the price we paid in 2018). This was a huge blessing – and not just financially. It relieved a lot of stress as well since Hector is familiar with international customs.
|
All in all, it took 11 people three days to unload the semi on the U.S. side of the border and to sort and deliver it on the Mexico side. We were able to bless 18 ministries and churches each with an entire pickup bed full of food and provisions. As we neared the end of this endeavor, all of the ministries that were on our list had received a truck full of food and we still had food left to distribute. Two of our staff members mentioned that we could deliver a truck to a nursing home that was not too far from Puente de Amistad.
|
We had never taken groups to this nursing home before, nor did we know the director. Nevertheless three of our staff took off in a truck loaded with food. When they arrived, the director of the nursing home told them that she had seen a post on Facebook the morning before about the deliveries and had been praying that the Lord would not forget His servant. She prayed all day and all night that the Lord would bring the nursing home to the minds of those involved. God, in all of His faithfulness, answered her prayer! The director takes care of 50 men that reside at the nursing home who have been abandoned by their families. She receives very little help from the government, which is often the case here in Mexico. She cried out, and the Lord answered her prayer by sending them some of the food.
|
Besides building houses, the food truck is one of my favorite things we have done at Puente de Amistad these past two years. Sorting, stacking, and sending the food to various ministries takes an incredible amount of work. I am thankful that First Church was able to sort out any expired goods and handle all the boxes before the semi-truck came our way. The food truck is one of our greatest opportunities to reach out as Puente de Amistad and minister to those we are connected with in Tijuana. This year our prayer for this load of food was that those who needed a blessing the most would receive the food.
|
Missionaries Travis and Heather Hunsaker minister as directors of Puente de Amistad (Bridge of Friendship) in Tijuana, Mexico. Puente is a Christ-centered base where visiting groups and individuals stay during their time of ministry in orphanages, in neighborhood Vacation Bible Schools, in men's drug and alcohol rehabs, or while feeding the homeless in downtown Tijuana. The Hunsakers assist incoming missions teams as they willingly step outside their comfort zones to minister in another culture.
For more information about the Hunsakers' ministry in Tijuana
or to become a one-time or monthly donor,
click here
.
|
Click here
for the April - May Global Link edition:
Miracles Still Happen
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
