by SAMS-USA | Apr 12, 2017 | Africa
The Diocese of Victoria Nyanza is located in Mwanza, Tanzania. Villages in the region are without a church and the opportunity to hear the Gospel. There is a need for congregational development in this diocese where Islam is spreading.
Bishop Boniface Kwangu is praying for missionaries to come to Tanzania to serve through the diocese. Missionaries are also needed for theological training and to teach at the international school. Are you being called to share the Gospel in this area? Contact
info@sams-usa.org oto learn more about these opportunities in Tanzania.
by Chuck and Bonnie Milliken | Apr 11, 2017 | SAMS Missionaries, South East Asia, Thailand
Our last sight-seeing venture was to the ancient capital of, then, Siam. This involved getting up very early and catching the 6:28 train near us to the main station in downtown Bangkok, then catching the train to Ayutthaya, a trip of about two and a half hours altogether. There we hired a tuktuk to drive us about to the various ruins of interest. It was quite an interesting place. We visited seven temples, each somewhat the same but a little different. Enjoy the photos!
by Chuck and Bonnie Milliken | Apr 10, 2017 | SAMS Missionaries, South East Asia, Thailand
We are now home and working on overcoming our considerable jet lag. Because our last few days in Thailand were very busy, I didn’t complete all that I wanted to share so will post a couple more times.
While in Thailand, we attended the Lat Krabang Anglican Church pictured below. The church had been meeting in a building across the street until the new building was begun a few months ago. You may think it doesn’t look much like a church. That is because this building is the first in what will be a group of buildings including a bigger church building and a school. This building will be the welcome center with a coffee shop and fellowship area. But for now, it will serve as the church.
How the church looked when we first arrived
The workers lived in these little makeshift “houses” behind while the church was being constructed. There were women as well as men and one woman had a little boy who followed her about as she worked. You can see the size of the compound which will eventually hold the additional buildings.
No shovels were in evidence. This hand-held scoop was used instead.
Fr. Lee preaches in English with translator for Thais
Lunch and fellowship after church
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FINISHED!
The big dedication celebration was April 1 and we were happy, after watching all the construction taking place–even during our Sunday services–to have been here when the church was dedicated. It was a big event with several bishops and other clergy attending from the Diocese of Singapore.
Bonnie helped as a hostess
Chuck was an usher
The Bishop knocks at the door
The choir sings
Communion
Fr. Andrew Yap in front is the rector of the church
Fr. Lee Mullins (our boss)
And food for everyone of course
Fr. Lee, his wife, Pom, and baby Bella
Our good friend and helper, Serene Hsu, missionary from Singapore
We will always keep this church and all the people we met there in our prayers.
Sa Wat Dee Ka!
by Cathy Donahoe | Apr 10, 2017 | Dominican Republic
Thanks to folks who responded with support for this new housing project, we have begun helping families. Mae is a widower with serious health issues that prevents her from being able to work. While she has a daughter, who is a professional, that daughter has a family with 3 children to care for as well. Her daughter helps as much as possible with medicines, it never seems to be enough and the condition of Mae’s house has been out of reach for needed repairs. As you see in the picture, the wood supporting her roof was rotten in many places. Working together with a local man skilled in construction, she sought others to help with the labor and our housing committee purchased the new wood and other supplies needed to repair her roof. It is still possible to join in this project as there are many families with needs. If you feel called to donate to this specific project, please send a check made out to SAMS, with “Donahoe project” in the memo line. 100% of your donation will go to materials and labor to improve people’s living conditions which will positively impact their health as well. Please pray for this ministry to make wise decisions and right actions to best benefit our neighbors in need.
The PT clinic continues to be of service to the community. The months of December and January are typically slow months due to various holidays, but even so the PT area stayed steady. February has seen increasing numbers of treatments given per week with high levels of patient satisfaction. There is still much to be done as we try to negotiate with insurances to be providers which will help ensure the sustainability of the clinic and as we further promote the service now offered. Please pray that the clinic continues to serve with integrity and thus become self-sustaining.
May you always sense God’s loving guidance and comfort in your life!
In Christ,
Cathy
by Johann and Louise Vanderbijl | Apr 6, 2017 | Health, South Africa
Has the whole world gone mad? Political turmoil seems to be a common denominator across the globe.
As we prepare to leave the US for our new assignment in southern Africa, we are receiving disturbing reports of riots, marches, destructive behaviour or protestors, and call for the removal of the President. Add to that the concern about the lack of water in the western Cape…dam levels are at their lowest in living memory. (See links below.)
Surely this is a call to prayer if ever there was one.
I am reminded of a prayer practiced by Mark Batterson. He calls it the 7:14 prayer as it is based on 2 Chronicles 7:14. At 7:14 AM every morning, he and his parishioners hit their knees and pray for the healing of their land. May I ask you all to join Louise and me in this type of prayer for southern Africa?
God willing, we will leave for Cape Town on April 10 via Addis Ababa. As we only have one and a half hours lay-over in Addis, we are praying that either the flight from Washington DC is early and that a favourable wind blows us over the Atlantic so that we arrive a lot earlier than expected or that the flight from Addis to Cape Town is delayed…we would prefer to arrive in Cape Town with our luggage rather than without!
Louise’s family will meet us at the airport and take us to Villiersdorp where we have to do so many things before moving into our new wee flat in Wynberg on Friday! We have to collect our new South African IDs as we are considered residents now. We also have to open a South African bank account and get South African driver’s license. YIKES! All in a few days…pray that this will be possible. We would rather get our licenses in a small town than in the city!
Growing the Church has let us know that we will be going to Mozambique to train a team of disciplers there beginning April 25. Please pray for our acquisition of visas at the border…this has become possible again since the cease-fire agreement, but it can be a sticky process for US passport holders.
All in all, our visit to the US has been wonderful. We have some great memories of times with our children and grandchildren to take with us, we have managed to catch with many dear friends, and have made many new friends as well. God has spoiled us thoroughly and we are thankful.
SAMS has let us know that we are closer to our support goal, but that we still need about $700 per month extra. We know that quite a few folk promised to become part of our support team, but they may not have given yet. Pray that we will be fully funded by the time we leave.
We are grateful to all or our wonderful team members. Thank you for your faithfulness to the spread of the Gospel.
We will send you our snail mail address as soon as we know what it is. For those who have sent care-packages before, this will be so much more secure than before!
With much love and blessings.
Johann and Louise van der Bijl
