Rishel Family- Burkina Faso
Dear faithful ministry partner, When I was planning out our furlough, I wanted to take at least two trips back to Burkina, so I could continue to help and guide the churches and pastors there. The first trip would be a planned and announced one, when we could plan special activities together and really fire up the churches for the work of the Gospel. That trip will be in November. But for the other trip, I wanted it to be a surprise. I wanted to see how they performed the ministry when I wasn’t there. I didn’t know when I would take this second trip, but trusted that God would lead me back to Burkina when I was needed and the time was right. About a month ago, God put it on my heart that I needed to make that trip back soon and then he opened several doors that made it clear that it was His will. So at the beginning of September, I went back to Burkina for a short visit. Absolutely no one there in Burkina knew I was coming, so you can imagine the shock on their faces when they showed up for church Sunday and I was sitting there! But I’m happy and thankful to report that everything is advancing well with the ministry and churches there. I was encouraged to see several new faces in the churches and to see the unity among the pastors. Please continue to pray for the work in Burkina and everything that God is doing there!
In March of this year, we started recording evangelistic sermons and paying to put them on one of the main radio stations in Bobo. Because of this ministry, over 50 people have contacted us asking to learn more about Christ and the Bible! One of the people that contacted us was a man named Konaté. He was already a believer, but he didn’t have a church in his part of the city that preached the Word of God. He asked if we could send a preacher to come to his house and preach to him and a group of his friends and neighbors. Augustin (one of the men training in the Bible Institute to be a pastor) started going out to his house every Wednesday and has reported that there have been over a dozen people each time that have a great hunger to learn more about God. We don’t know what God is going to do through this Bible study, but it might one day become a church! Please pray that God continues to work through Augustin and this Bible study.
The pastors and workers in Burkina worked hard during the month of August to organize our yearly youth camp and God greatly used the camp in the heart of the youth and the churches! We had youth come from all four churches, as well as several visitors. There were even some youth that came because of the radio broadcast. Many decision were made for Christ during the week and the youth were stirred to get more involved in the work of the Lord. Please continue to pray for these youth, especially as their school year starts.
God has been blessings our travels these past few months and has given us a wonderful time with so many great churches! My home church hosted a donation dinner and auction for the new Christian school in Bobo and God gave us a blessed time. With the dinner and other activities and donations, we have been able to raise over $9,000 already for the school! We have inclosed a sheet that shares some details about the needs for the school and the progress so far. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support for God’s work here in Burkina Faso! We greatly appreciate your faithfulness and are praying for you all. God bless!
Garcias – Church Planting in Honduras
We hope that God blessed your September as He did ours. We haven’t been as busy with paperwork as we were last month. We are waiting on the next step to obtain residency here and will have to keep extending our visa every couple of months until we finish the process. We did apply for Rosie’s USA passport, so we hope to get that soon.
Amber’s lessons continue to go well, and we are able to have many opportunities to put what we learn into practice. This month, two ladies from church spent an afternoon teaching Amber to make Honduran enchiladas, which we all enjoyed. We also enjoyed going out to see the festivities for Honduras’ Independence day the next week. Once a week, I take Sofia with me to run errands, we call them “adventures.” Last week she found a new favorite food, chicken nuggets. She is a great joy to bring along and is learning to be friendlier with people we meet, though she is often a girl of extremes. She’ll either shyly whisper, “Hola,” or shout it at the top of her lungs. She got to experience her first “Kids Day” (a major holiday here) this month, which was a huge hit.
In the second week of October, I will have the opportunity to help out a neighboring missionary for a few days. Brother Rolston is having a medical team come to help those in need. We are hoping to reach many medical needs, but also to share the gospel with many. Pray that God would bless this time. Please also pray for one of the men in the church here, Daniel. He was recently ordained and is preparing to start a church plant in another area of our city. We currently live in the fifth largest city in Honduras and the need for true churches here is great, so we are excited to see this happening.
We have also heard from many of you about outreaches you are doing in your areas. We are blessed to see your hearts for the gospel both locally and internationally. We pray that God gives you much fruit for your labor. Thank you for your prayers for us too!
Serving Christ,
Andrew and Amber
Seremak Family- Papua New Guinea
We hope and pray this finds you all faithful in the service of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The last few months have been a blur of excitement as we strive to keep up with all that God has given us to do here in this wonderful country.
We are halfway through our second semester of Highlands Baptist Bible Institute, and we are so happy to see the men and women continue to make the necessary sacrifices to come and study the Scriptures. It is an incredible blessing to see these folks growing both in knowledge and in the practical elements of the work of God.
I have been blessed to see men who have never preached before, begin to stand up and take part in our weekly outreach on Tuesday mornings. After our weekly chapel service, we split up into groups and go out to various locations in our town to sing evangelistic songs, preach the gospel and pass out gospel tracts. Some of the young men who were nervous and scared to preach are now boldly preaching as we go to the main market in town as well as the local jail. Some of the guys have gotten so stirred up, that they are even going throughout the week to pass out tracts and preach the gospel on their own. Please continue to pray that God would work in these men’s lives to raise up more labourers in this place.
We were also very blessed to have our pastor and his wife, (Manny and Maria Rodriguez) visit us here for the last 2 ½ weeks of September. It was encouraging to take them around and show them the various ministries we are doing and to also have the opportunity to fellowship and catch up. During there last week here, we were blessed to attend the National Pastors Conference. Over 600 people attended this meeting, most of them pastors and preachers from all over the country. Pastor Manny preached each evening and it was clear that the Lord was moving in the hearts of the many people there.
Also, please be praying for another potential open door regarding our Bible School ministry. For some time, I have been praying for God to open doors for us to be a help to some of the pastors/preacher who are serving in the more remote areas of our country. Many of our brethren are serving in places that are only accessible by bush plane, and they, for obvious reasons, cannot leave to come to town for a 3-year Bible School. I have been praying for God to allow me to somehow connect with some of these brethren to begin conversations regarding how to best go about bringing Bible and ministry training to them. I have not expressed this desire to anyone but the Lord, but this last month I was contacted by men from three different remote areas asking me to come and help them with this specific need. I am currently making plans to take trips next year to each of these places for about 7 to 10 days where I plan to provide Bible and ministry training for 8 to 10 hours a day for these dear brethren. I have no idea what God intends to do with this open door, but I am excited that He has seen fit to allow us to have a part in training workers and strengthening churches throughout this wonderful country of PNG.
Lastly, please pray as we are now going through the process of getting our work permit and visa renewed in order to be able to continue here in Papua New Guinea for another 3 years. It is always nerve wrecking when dealing with third world government offices, but we believe that God is able. To God Be the Glory, Kenneth Seremak and Family