Blessings for the New Year

   

  As the New Year is now here, we want to wish each of you four specific blessings for 2015 and beyond.

1.      Grace- We live in a culture here in the US that is very much performance driven. From school, work, and sporting events we seem to be focused on outcomes, results and winning. The Lord does not live in the world of performance but the world of grace.  May you be blessed with living in his abundant grace.

2.      Enlarge your territory- For years, we have been inspired and encouraged by the prayer of Jabez. The central point of the prayer is that God would expand your ministry and work for the glory of his kingdom. Remember this is a blessing you need to ask for-- and then be ready for the increase.

3.      Glory to God- We pray a blessing that everything you do this year would be done to the Glory of God.  We were made to glorify the King.

4.      Forgive those as we have been forgiven- We all love to be forgiven by others and, in fact, expect others to forgive us. So how are we doing with forgiving others? Christ does not give us an option when it comes to forgiveness. Because he has forgiven us, we are commanded to do this for others. Will we heed this command or simply turn the other way? 

     

      We pray over each of you that you will practice the blessing of forgiveness.

May the blessings of 2015 extend past this year and may you experience the all that God has promised you. Praise be to our Lord and Savior. 

From the Ashes

Map of Rwanda

     As I (Craig) stood outside the Kigali National Genocide museum in Rwanda in early September, I was reflecting on the tragedy that happened there just a little over 20 years ago (from April to July of 1994).  That was a terrible three months where nearly one million Tutsi and moderate Hutu were slaughtered at the direction and planning of their own government. Near me were the remains of 250,000 people killed during that horrible time-- buried in a mass grave at the museum.  However, juxtaposed with this horror of years ago is the radical transformation of a country that is spiritually and economically growing into a successful country in Africa.

National Genocide Museum

     I traveled to Rwanda for meetings with potential partners, including the Rwanda Bible Society and other national church denominations, to discuss issues of literacy and scripture use. We were very encouraged by what God is doing in that country. One of the most interesting meetings we had in Kigali, Rwanda  was with the Pentecostal Church of Rwanda. There are 2 million Pentecostals in Rwanda alone and the national church has been recognized twice in last two years with the UNESCO literacy award for excellence.

     Kigali is one of the cleanest cities I have ever visited in Africa. It has also dramatically reduced corruption and has created a culture of accountability from the top down. Each year Rwanda has National Accountability Day.  The leaders go before the people to report on how they have down on their accountability agreements with the people. This has live twitter and Facebook feeds where citizens can ask tough questions regarding the leaders' accountability. Also, the Church is continuing to grow and Rwanda has become a leading country in Africa for foreign investment.

View of Kigali, Rwanda

     One of my real enjoyments of the trip was visiting with one of the young faith leaders in Rwanda. Daniel was a fellow student and graduated with his Masters in International Development from Eastern. Daniel just recently accepted a new position at Opportunity International where he will be helping them to measure the spiritual transformation from micro finance projects that are faith based in Africa.

   

Craig and Daniel

Please be in prayer for possible partnerships in Rwanda and for the country’s continuing transformation from the ashes of tragedy. 

Burundi

   

                            It is often natural for people to focus on the needs of a country and its people rather than the assets God has given them. Burundi is no exceptions to this. As a country of nearly 12 million people, Burundi is ranked in the human development scale as one of the most impoverished countries in the world. Its illiteracy rates are the highest in the world. Therefore it would be natural for those from the outside, including the church, to figure out how we can address all the deficits of this country.  However, when we focus on addressing the deficits first, we marginalize further a already marginalized a group of people who have suffered from genocide as well as 7 years of civil war.   

                          My purpose of coming to Burundi was, thankfully,  not to figure out how to fix all the problems of the country, but to celebrate the assets God has given these people,!  These include a vibrant church and key visionaries who long to use the God given assets to assist all people in Burundi to flourish as beings created in the image of God. 

                          I was surprised how much Burundi had accomplished on its own without very much foreign aid or outside investment. One of the most powerful institutions in the country is the Pentacostal Church, with nearly 1 million members. The church is engaged in holistic ministry which includes education, health care and literacy. This church, with virtually no outside assistance, is funding over 1,200 literacy centers that are helping people to learn to read and write in Kirundi. 

A large church in a rural area of Southern Burundi that has planted nearly one hundred other churches. 

                    
             I was most impressed with a small group of Christian leaders that had the vision to be a bridge for all the denominations, which over the years have become fragmented and fractured from each other. Partners Trust International is helping to equip and empower people- through leadership training change agents who go back to their respected denominations- to urge the denominations to unite on issues that impact governance and poverty alleviation issues in Burundi. 

                Even in some of the most improvised communities I visited in Burundi, hope is coming through dynamic partnerships. We learned that SIL has the potential for several exciting partnerships in the area of literacy and scripture use and we look forward to further meetings with potential partners. 

       I was also honored to be part of a team with Nurses International and the start of a new BA in Nursing that Partners Trust International will begin to run in the next year. God is moving in Burundi and I praise God for getting a glimpse of his vision  for Burundi. 

Lake Tanganyika is the second largest fresh water lake in the world. 

September Celebrations

September always brings about multiple birthday celebrations for our family!  We are so blessed by our wonderful family!


Carolyn's Dad turned 90 this year!

The girls had a great time with their friends.

And Craig's mom had her birthday!    

                                                                                

Ambiguity, Complexity and Urgency

    

     As many of you know, I just finished my three week residency as part of my Masters in International Development. I now have five classes to complete in order to earn my degree in May 2015. Perhaps one of the most sobering and humbling experiences I have encountered so far was a simulation of an international humanitarian disaster in my International Disasters and Humanitarian Crisis class. This class is taught be one of the leading Christian Disaster Relief practitioners and it was an honor to learn from him.

    This simulation involved a complex humanitarian disaster in a fictitious country and our team of three people had a day and a half to plan our fictitious organization's response. In our case, a neighboring country had financed three rebels groups to fight a proxy war in our country. As a result of the fighting and unrest in the north, the amount of internally displaced persons swelled dramatically. In a short period of time, our team needed to deal with the ambiguity, complexity and urgency of the situation or thousands of people would die. We needed to come up with a planning matrix that included a detailed budget, HR plan, advocacy and communication plan and safety plan. More importantly we needed our Lord in a time like this.

     We decided that based on our resources and program size, to work in a IDP camp of over 200,000 men, women and children and handle the food portion of the response in the camp. During the simulation we learned that four areas need to be covered at the basic level: food, shelter, health and water, hygiene and sanitation. Just our response for a three month period on the food portion of the camp was budgeted at nearly 8 million dollars to feed the 200,000 people!

     We learned several things in this simulation. First, cross-cultural humanitarian disasters are ambiguous and do not provide a great deal of clarity and information. Nothing can be more frustrating than not having adequate information to make a decision that will impact millions of lives. Second, these disasters are very complex, and people and organizations need to have advanced skills and giftings when people’s lives hang in the balance. I am personally grateful for how God has used Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision and other Christian organizations to respond, in the name of Jesus, to these horrific situations. Third, the urgency of the situation is overwhelming and we need the Lord to be our guide as we reach out to bring relief to those who are impacted by disaster.

      I learned that we can be God’s answer to disaster, but we must come equipped and spiritually mature to handle the ambiguity, complexity and urgency these tragedies bring.

     So what do natural disasters and humanitarian crisis have to do with Wycliffe and reaching people with God's word? A lot. Most of these communities are vulnerable and a disaster may bring many of them to the brink of destruction. It is important as we bring God's word, that communities learn elements of resiliency that will allow them to survive a crisis and understand they have the human assets and a big God that will allow them to continue on even after disaster strikes!

Joy in the Word

  Even though many of the participants were tired, to our surprise we saw participants smiling, raising their heads, looking up at the reader. Occasionally you could see some of them nodding and laughing. We saw that reading the text in the Nyiha language changed the mood of the people completely. After closing the session, I approached our host pastor and asked him about his feelings. He said, "I cannot tell you what kind of joy I have after hearing the word of God read in my own language. I'm so happy!" Then he continued laughing.  by Joey M.

 

 

It is a great joy to able to share with you one of the more recent stories of  how God is working in the heart language of the people and the impact that brings to people in East Africa and around the world.  We also want to update you on a few things that have been going on with our family recently.

 

It is with great excitement that we can tell you that Craig is finishing up his first year school for a Masters in International Development from Eastern University. He will start his second year in June 2014, and with the Lord’s will, he will be in residency   there (in St. Davids, PA)  for most of July. God has been so gracious to allow Craig to work on a full time Masters program and continue to serve the Director of Africa area.

 

 

Also, there is a possible opportunity to travel to Rwanda in the fall to discuss literacy and scripture use with church and government officials. Please join us in prayer for this possible trip and all the logistics that need to fall into place to make that happen, and for the doors to be open and for Craig and his director to be used mightily.    

 

 

On the home front, we are also wrapping up another (home)school year.  Carolyn feels so blessed to be able to serve our family this way.  We also continue to have our foster child as part of our family.  It’s such a joy to see her grow and change…its seems almost daily!  The girls are preparing for their first performances with a local Christian theatre group, and we can’t wait to see them in the Wizard of Oz-more on that to come! 




 

                                                             

 

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