Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Final Uganda Team Update

These are the final two updates from the Uganda Team. They were lost in cyberspace so Ron resent them to us today.

The team awakened to a beautiful hazy sky over Jinja. The air was full of humidity and the promise of rain. We enjoyed a fine breakfast with theother American team visiting Hesed, and prayed with them as they departed this morning.

One of our morning sessions at the children’s ministry conference dealt with guidance on preparing for a children’s ministry as if you were starting from scratch and could build the ideal children’s ministry program. The attendees were asked to write a purpose statement for their
children’s ministry that aligned with the purpose of their whole church. This was part of a session designed to help them envision what their ideal children’s ministry might look like. With the target in mind, we walked through a series of items to keep in mind for building their ministry toward that future.

In the afternoon we shared many of the games used in Children’s Ministry at NCBC. They also shared some of their games with us.

God Bless and thanks all for the prayer support!



Ron Rohrssen

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Yesterday the Children’s Ministry conference came to an end.

We have made some new friends here in Uganda. We have been blessed all week by our Ugandan brothers and sisters in Christ. Their desire to reach children for Christ is obvious.

We have seen how God used the conference as a tool for sharing information on children’s ministry. But, it wasn’t sharing just from the Americans to the Ugandan’s. There were 10 churches represented at the conference; 12 if you include the American churches represented. Everyone gained new ideas and encouragement.

The Ugandan’s honored us with a closing ceremony that included a visit by the local vicar and the headmaster of the school and one of his top teachers. The attendees also performed a skit for us on children’s ministry.

They acted out an unruly Sunday school setting where the teacher had lost control and was not able to teach the children. In the skit the teacher learned of the main points taught at the conference and applied them immediately. In the following week the teacher treated the students with love and was able to begin building a relationship with them. In return the students respected the teacher and were willing to listen to her message.

The closing ceremony allowed the vicar, the headmaster, the head teacher, members of Hesed, and a spokesperson from the attendees to honor everyone’s efforts for the week and to give thanks to God and everyone who helped make the conference possible.

Hesed was honored by the attendees for the quality of the conference including the information gained, the food provided, and the materials they were given. One of the attendees gave thanks for the quality of the food provided. It helped them have a better diet that included meat! It was a sincere thankfulness all around.

We will have a brief meeting with Hesed before we leave. We will share with them what we have learned and observed during the week.



Ron Rohrssen

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Uganda Team - Day 5

Tuesday was the second day of the children’s conference here in Uganda.

There are 10 churches represented at the conference. After having some experience with the conference attendees yesterday the team had a better understanding of the level of children’s ministry being done in their churches. We also had some insight into other children’s topics that would be helpful. So, we added a couple of topics to the morning agenda.

We added a session on preparing volunteers and another session on classroom management. Today’s sessions were well received; in particular the session on “Classroom Management”. We found that the Ugandan’s are dealing with many of the same issues that arise in our classrooms. We shared good information and tips with the students. But, they also shared many tips amongst themselves.

At the end of the day, Miriam stood and asked for a show of hands for those who had learned something new, and those that had received encouragement in their ministry. There was a strong show of hands for learning something new and a unanimous show of hands for those that had been encouraged.

God Bless and thanks all for the prayer support!

Ron Rohrssen

Monday, January 10, 2011

Uganda Team - Day 4

We had the pleasure of enjoying breakfast with Florence and Michael Kyomya. It was a brief breakfast because of other commitments for them in Kampala. During our brief breakfast Mick and Ron reconnected with the Kyomya’s and shared stories of our Sunday service in Bufulubi.

Today was the first day of the children’s conference. The facility for the conference was at a nearby boarding school called Mwiri. An overhead view of the facility is shown below. The flag is the building that we are using for the conference and the red dot is an improvised soccer field. We watched some kids playing soccer over lunch and interacted with several of them.



The first day of the children’s conference
was very good. Hesed picked a very good group of Christians to attend this conference. We were impressed with the English language skills. We did not need to use an interpreter and this reduced the amount of time needed to convey the main points of each of our sessions.

One of the most beneficial and important parts of the conference will be the peer to peer sharing. There were already numerous examples of this in the classroom. These leaders are willing to share new songs and tips about what has worked for them.


The Mwiri Head Master (Alex) did an excellent job of introducing the conference and the American team. He spoke of the importance of leaders, the importance of children's ministry and being leaders of leaders. We couldn't have asked for a better introduction and heartfelt welcome. His opening comments really helped set the tone for the conference.


The afternoon sessions on early childhood ministry and elementary school ministry were especially engaging for the attendees. They had the opportunity to see Craig and Abby giving a demonstration of an elementary school session with the use of puppets and small group time.


We spent part of the evening in Fellowship with another church group that is sharing the Hesed Guest House with us.


It’s time to prepare for tomorrow’s session. God Bless and thank you to everyone for your prayers.

Ron Rohrssen

Sunday, January 09, 2011

Uganda Team - Day 3

Sunday – A day of service!

This morning
the team participated in a church service in one of the local Anglican churches called, Bufulubi. The church is a short drive from Jinja. Here’s an overhead of the tin roof church (near the flag). The boarding school is just up the road, in the lower left corner of the photo.


During the service at this church they took the children to a separate children’s service in one of the buildings at the boarding school. Craig and Abby helped with Children’s service and did a little puppetry. It was a huge hit with the children. Some of them literally thought the
[monkey] puppet was alive.

I [Ron] shared my testimony and Mick led a message on the importance of teaching children about Christ and the truths in the Bible.


After Mick’s message a local politician was invited to speak from the pulpit on why he should receive the peoples vote.

After the politician was done speaking about his political race, he had the honor of auctioning the eggs from the offering basket in exchange for cash. The first 2 people didn’t have cash on hand to pay for the eggs. Finally a third woman won the bid and paid 300 shillings for the 6 eggs. (500 shillings is about a quarter)
She offered the eggs to the politician to honor him. He accepted and gave her praise then later gave the eggs back to the village to eat.

There were maybe around 150 kids and 35 adults in all.

Ron Rohrssen

Saturday, January 08, 2011

Uganda Team - Day 2

We reconnected with Florence Kyomya in Entebbe as she blessed us with her presence to bring us back to Jinja. It was a wonderful day full of travel and fellowship with Florence, Dan (driver), and Sarah from Hesed. When we arrived later at the Hesed guest house in Jinja we reconnected with Timothy Kyomya and enjoyed a wonderful dinner together.

Everyone is preparing for Sunday service at a nearby Anglican church. Mick will give the message, Ron will share his testimony, and Craig and Abby will lead a Children’s Service.

Ron

Friday, January 07, 2011

Uganda Children's Ministry Team Has Safely Arrived

Our team to Uganda safely arrived in Entebbe. Ron sent this message:

Hello from Entebbe!

It was a little over 24 hours of travel time, but the team has arrived safely, on time, and all luggage arrived successfully. Praise the Lord!

Everyone is a bit tired from travel and jet lag, but nothing that a good night’s sleep won’t help tremendously. Thanks for the continued prayers and thoughts.

Here is short explanation of what they will be doing:

Traditionally children in Uganda have been entertained during church services while the adults attend the worship service. Our team will be helping the Busoga people establish and strengthen a children’s ministry program. This is a key step in growing mature Christians in the next generation.

Led by Timothy Kyomya, son of Michael and Florence who founded Hesed International, they have identified a group of Christian leaders with a gifting for children’s ministry. This initial ministry trip will lay the groundwork for long-term children’s ministry. This initial group will become the trainers that in turn train others in their local area for children’s ministry. We will continue to support Hesed International in this effort and in other ministry areas in the future.

Pastor Mick, Ron Rohrssen, and Craig and Abby Schultz will be training Ugandan church leaders over the next week.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Agriculture, Africa Style




Gary and Barb Bennett, serve with WorldVenture in Rwanda:

We are already into the swing of things here in Rwanda. Gary finished planting the agricultural gardens and has started on a Tilapia fish pond project. Barb teaches music at the girls’ school. The girls are making all kinds of new friends at their school.

Every day funny things happen to remind us we aren’t in the States anymore. You know you’re in Africa when you try to download something from the Internet and you read the message, “2,773 hours remaining!”

We are currently working on precision agriculture, Africa-style. We try to maximize every seed’s potential to produce as much food as possible from a given area. The specifics of this method, Farming God’s Way, were developed in southern Africa. Significant increases in crop yields have been reported. We are hoping it will make a difference for food producers here in Rwanda.

Monday, August 09, 2010

Zimbabwe Team in Chicago - Aug 9

Just received word that the Zimbabwe Team has made it to Chicago. Their United flight to Cedar Rapids is listed as arriving at 6:15 PM in Cedar Rapids. Will update this post if anything changes.

Sunday, August 08, 2010

Zimbabwe Team Headed Home - Aug 8

Good news! I have received word that the Zimbabwe team made the first leg of the trip to Kenya successfull, and are now headed to Europe. They will be coming through Chicago and are scheduled to arrive on a United flight at 6:15 PM Cedar rapids Time on Monday, August 9. Will post any other updates I receive between now and then.

Saturday, August 07, 2010

Zimbabwe Team Ministry Week Update - Aug 7

We are still on the road to Harare. Thought I would take a moment to provide some updates for the week.

On Tuesday, we participated in a community boys soccer and girls netball (cross between ultimate Frisbee and basketball) tourney for the 18 schools in the area. This is sponsored by the MCDT (think FCA-like activity). A the end of the final soccer game that ended in a penalty shootout, we presented the donated AYSO jerseys and balls as prizes. Afterwards, Lance and the local ministry team shared the gospel with the approximately 800 kids and adults.

Don for the Zim Team


P.S. Pray for the revival service tonight.

You can go to this post for their schedule.

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

New Kingdom Partner: Robin's Song


Robin’s Song is a new Kingdom Partner of New Covenant. The purpose of this ministry is to equip and train local people to provide safe, clean drinking water for their communities in the name of Christ. Brian Perry wrote this in a recent update:

I am planning to depart August 11 for Africa. I will spend the first week in Blantyre, Malawi where we will make plans for building another group to drill more wells. Remember that every well we put in provides clean drinking water to a thousand people. We are dedicated to helping people support themselves with an income from drilling the deep wells. We want to show God’s love to the people we serve so that they may know Him as their Savior. I’m excited to have my youngest son, Blake, join me in Mozambique September 4-10.

In October, I will be traveling with my older son, Christopher. He belongs to the Christian Medical and Dental Association, who has been leading teams of doctors and surgery nurses into Mexico. Please pray for financial support for start up costs of working in new areas of Africa, as well as travel safety.

Go to www.robins-song.org to learn more.

Monday, August 02, 2010

Bennett's Headed back to Africa

Our Kingdom Partners, Gary & Barb Bennett, leave soon for Rwanda.

Dear Friends,

Thanks to God’s faithfulness we are all set to leave for Rwanda on Wednesday morning, August 4th. We still need a little more support, but through your generosity, God has provided what we need to be able to return to the field. We are so thankful for all your gifts and help. We leave from Minneapolis, stop in New York and then fly to Brussels Belgium. After a short layover in Brussels we fly directly to Kigali Rwanda where we arrive Thursday evening.

This morning we experienced a wonderful worship service at our home church, First Baptist, Windom. At the close of the service people gathered around and had a prayer time for us, which was very moving. Fortunately someone found us a box of Kleenex. We explained to the girls afterwards, if we didn’t love people so much and if they didn’t love us so much, saying good bye wouldn’t nearly as hard.


We would appreciate your prayers for us as we say more goodbyes, especially to family members. It is so hard to say good bye to those we love so much and have had so many wonderful times with during this year here. Pray also that all of our luggage will make it with us to Rwanda. The girls start their new school year on Aug 17th, so pray for a quick adjustment and a special time of reuniting with friends back on the field. Finally pray that God would show us where He would have us put our main focus as we get back into ministry in Rwanda. There are so many things we could be involved in, so pray we would put our efforts into what will be most helpful to the Rwandan church.


As always thanks so much for all your prayers, love and support,


Gary, Barb, Melissa and Megan Bennett

Zimbabwe Team Sat & Sun Update - Aug 2

Sat 31 July

After a long ride from the Harare to the Mushayamunda Village we had a short night's rest before the widows conference. We shared the blessing from New Covenant the name of Jesus Christ in the form of testimonies, teachings, prayer and gifts of clothing. There were approximately 250 widows some of who had walked 20 miles. We can't wait to share the pictures and video of the widows displaying the true joy of the Lord in the midst of their suffering. Saturday night we had a mini revival at the homestead. Brother Dave Estrem shared as well as Patti Ashbacher with a testimony. Thank you for sending us.

Don for the Zim team


Sunday 1 Aug

Sunday morning we enjoyed fellowship, singing, dancing, prayer and time in God's word together. Your bothers and sisters in Christ in Zimbabwe send you greetings at New Covenant. Don shared the message with testimony from sister Dixie. We also provided fluoride treatment and basic medical care for the widows on Saturday and continued into Sunday. Heavy program to start Monday...

Don for the Zim team

Friday, July 30, 2010

Zimbabwe Team Luggage Made It!

Received this additional update from Dennis. He is from Zimbabwe and is the reason we are doing this trip. Here is his update:

I spoke to team this morning. They safely arrived in Zimbabwe. They were in Harare at my sister's house refreshing and repacking and getting ready for the 7 hour trip to the village. The bus needed some repairs so they were expecting it in about 2 hours. Everybody is in good spirits and excited about what lies ahead. WE GOT ALL THE BAGS THROUGH WITH NO LOSSES. This is the first team that went through without loss of bags en route, Praise God!

Dennis

Zimbabwe Team is in Zimbabwe - Jul 29

Here are some text messages sent by a team member at 11 PM (Iowa time) Thursday night:

Safely in Nairobi, Kenya, waiting for the last flight let to Harare. Still lacking sleep but the full day walking around London during our layover has helped flip our "body clocks."

Our team is working very well together, and ready to be used by the Lord as He so chooses.

Thanks for praying for us!

Don for the Team Zim

And then this text came in this morning:

Just landed safely in Harare, Zimbabwe.

The team will only have limited internet access in Zimbabwe, so it may be a while until we hear from them again.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Zimbabwe Team -- in London! Jul 29



Here is an update from the team. They have an 8 hour layover in London so are doing a little sight seeing while they wait.

Sleepy, but doing great.
Working on storing our carry-on bags and then spend a few hours in the city before our flight to Nairobi, Kenya.

Don for team Zim



Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Zimbabwe Update from Chicago - Jul 28


Praise God! All of the bags made it on the first leg to Chicago. For those who are in the aviation industry imagine an EMB-145 on a summer day with our literal ton of bags, heavy carry-ons, and a full flight. I (Don) would have never imagined it, but apparently they all made it. We were asked to bring more bags on the plane since the cargo hold was full. As we understand it only one bag was left behind (not ours). Pray that gentleman gets his bag very soon.

We are headed to the next gate for our London departure.
Blessings,

Don for team Zim



Zimbabwe Team Departure

Here are a few pictures from the Zimbabwe team's departure today.




Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Zimbabwe Team Schedule - Jul 28 to Aug 9

Here is a summary of what the Zimbabwe Team will be doing:

Wed - Jul 28 - Meet at Cedar Rapids Airport to depart for Zimbabwe (prayer with team just before Noon)

Fri - Jul 30 - Arrive in Zimbabwe around Noon local time

Sat - Jul 31 - Widows Conference

Sun - Aug 1 - Church - Widows Conference

Mon - Aug 2 - VBS - Revival

Tue - Aug 3 - VBS - Well Dedication - Revival

Wed - Aug 4 - VBS - Leadership Seminar - Revival

Thu - Aug 5 - VBS - Revival

Fri - Aug 6 - VBS - Revival

Sat - Aug 7 - Travel to Harrare - Evening Revival - Debrief

Sun - Aug 8 - Begin flights back to States at 1:15 PM local time

Mon - Aug 9 - Arrive back in Cedar Rapids - scheduled arrival 6:15 PM

They will also be painting blackboards, looking at power and water issues and possibly helping with gardening; and all 7 days have some sort of clinic available with limited hours.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Zimbabwe Ministry Team Update - July 26

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Well this afternoon we had our team packing session. We packed 32 suitcases which will go in checked luggage during this session. The other 8 are already packed and had just a little room left in them. All in all we have 40 suitcases (approximately 50 lbs each) of soccer balls and uniforms, pens and pencils, medicine, food and clothing or 1 literal ton of stuff we are taking to Zimbabwe. It was amazing seeing all this stuff, which was donated in one form or another, fitting into the suitcases we have. My wife Amy said, it was sort of like the feeding of the 5000 in reverse. I have included some pictures of packing.
I was thinking about all that stuff as I went for a bike ride this evening and I happened to be riding by the new facility. I got a tour earlier this week. It’s a big place - over 100,000 sq. ft. I think I often limit God by how big my perception of Him is. Until I get something measurable I usually don’t even recognize how big it is and God is immeasurable - in others words - big.

The final song at church this morning was “We are the Body of Christ” which was a really cool send off for the team as our theme for the trip is, One Body, One Spirit and One God Eph. 4:4-6. Thanks for you prayers and support.


Doug Forret - Team Leader