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Issue 11 Let’s Fish. Bible Fellowship Churches sharing resources to evangelize the world. A place for the exchange of ideas on short term missions projects and local outreach. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." All responses can be sent to office@bfcbom.org Current and past issues can be found on the web at: www.bfcbom.org look in “Mission Events” then Let’s Fish
Greetings from Allentown! 261 days till URBANA!!! Plan, save, but most of all register!
3. New Opportunities for “longer” short term 5. Trips in the works (updated weekly)
A man was walking with a cart of potatoes. The lesser god bartered with the man. “I can help you transport your produce 30 times faster. I will give you the ability to go places faster then you ever dreamed.”
“Oh” the man said to the lesser god, “that would be so very valuable to me.”
“Very well” said the lesser god, “but you will have to sacrifice 134 people to me every hour of every day”.
“I am not foolish” said the man, “I will continue to push my cart. The cost is too great”.
Now most of us would agree that the man made a wise decision. What fool would sacrifice 134 human lives simply to go faster?
But that is exactly what we do! Vehicular accidents kill one million, one hundred and seventy thousand, six hundred and ninety four people each year (1,170,694)! Forty-two thousand are killed in the USA. Nearly thirty-nine million injuries are afflicted each year world-wide due to the automobile!
No this is not a moral plea to get rid of the car, but it is a plea to BE CAREFUL on your next missions trip. We plan safety into every aspect of our trip sticking our team members full of all sorts of shots, warning them about the water and foods, and even canceling trips at the slightest possibility of political unrest, BUT we become sloppy in our planning for transportation once we are on site.
We think nothing of cramming 16 people into a van made for 12 and rolling down the highway on four bald tires. We religiously make sure every passenger is securely buckled up when we travel in the States but for some reason throw all caution to the wind when we are overseas. I once transported my entire team on the back of a truck whose steering was held together by rope!
The fact of the matter is your most vulnerable portion of your trip as far as safety is concerned is your ground transportation. When at all possible spend the extra money to hire proper drivers with good equipment! Your team’s safety depends on it!
Dear Pastor Weller,
I was reading your list of ten things not to do on missions trips, and it struck me that you could sum it up in the one word "humility." We aren't over here or over there to prove ourselves to be better than anybody else, or on our own strength, or to control everything, or to get glory for ourselves. What is offered us is the privileged position of being His vessels, and if only we could remember to see it the way it is, we'd find the position of giving Him all the glory is the most glorious position of all.
Elizabeth Studenroth
Rev. Dana E. Weller, Director
Keep those letters rolling in!!!
3. New Opportunities for “longer” short term
NEW Greetings from Usandawe!
Just was wondering if you could help me with the need a short term team for some MK children's ministry. Each year the AIM missionaries of Tanzania have a week long conference in November. I'm in charge of the children's program this year - what had been done in the past is for a group of people from someone's supporting church to come - it has been a real blessing to the missionaries and kids as well as to the team that serves. Usually the team that comes just does the VBS program from their church - the MK's really look forward to this - it is like their camp and VBS. Here is a quick outline of the purpose of the team:
1. Encourage the MK's of AIM Tanzania.
2. Fellowship with AIM missionaries in Tanzania - learning about different ministries within Tanzania.
3. You will also be working with national Bible college students who help with the children's work - it is a great opportunity for them to learn about children's ministries. ( Don't worry they know somw English and like the opportunity to practice it as well) This outreach can be as short as about 10 days or if they want to visit Usandawe it can be extended to include that.
Kim Stengele
Reprint worth a second look
One year mission opportunity available in Caracas, Venezuela! There is a need for houseparents to work with the children of TEAM (The Evangelical Alliance Mission) missionaries in Caracas for the 2003-2004 school year. The five or six students are the children of missionaries who live and work outside Caracas—some three hours, others 8 or 10 hours away)—but all attend the Academia Cristiana Internacional de Caracas (International Christian Academy of Caracas). They need a place to live and a couple to take care of them while they attend school. The mission already has a furnished house near the school. The mission has a van that is available to transport the students and houseparents. The mission has kids who need to be cared for. The only thing missing is loving, dedicated houseparents.
The school and the residence are located in a residential neighborhood on a hillside overlooking Caracas, a beautiful, cosmopolitan city of about 3 million people. If you would like more information about this opportunity, please call Dave Schlonecker at 610-965-2682 during working hours or 484-232-6593 in the evening.
Reprint worth a second look
From the Wimbles in Thailand,
Urgent, please pray with us for God to send us a woman who is a trained teacher and wants to come and live here with us at the vacation home and homeschool our boys for one year. We need someone who is looking for a great opportunity to experience the mission field for a short one-year term. We need them to be mature and able to cope with cross-cultural living, teaching, and be willing to fit in where ever needed. They would have to raise their own support, airfare, etc... Due to the visa situation they would have to travel by train to Malaysia for two days, every three months to renew their visa. This is common practice and not too stressful. Living here at the vacation home would give this person the opportunity to interact, on a daily basis, with missionaries from over 23 different countries who are working in over 17 different countries in South East Asia. It would give them a first hand look at what the mission field is all about. Please let us know if you know of anyone who would be appropriate for this ministry. We need the person to come this June/July 03 and to stay with us till we go on Home Assignment next June 2004. We have 5 sons and homeschool all year round. Our oldest two sons are almost completely independent learners. Caleb is 13 yrs. old and between 8th and 9th grade. Joshua is 12 yrs. old and in 7th. Daniel is 9 yrs. and in 3rd grade. Stephen is 7 yrs. and in 2nd grade. Jonathan is 4 yrs. and in 4 yr. kindergarten. Thanks for your prayers and help in finding just the right person. Please write us at <WimbleMark@omf.net> if you, or someone you know, are interested.
Greetings All!
If anyone knows of families in their congregation looking to adopt, here is a great program to check out this summer. The contact person is Elaine Conner (610-825-2622, econner@comcast.net), or feel free to give me a call.
Thanks,
Jim Harris Elder, Grace BFC Quakertown 215-529-0411
WELCOME HOME PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
What is Welcome Home?
Since 1990 International Christian Adoptions (ICA) has been a licensed non-profit adoption/foster care agency in California. ICA is also a registered adoption agency in Russia. ICA is one of few adoption agency's that has a team of paid staff in Russia that assists with locating adoptable children, delivering Humanitarian Aid to the orphanages, as well as assists our adoptive families in completing their Russian adoptions. Since 1999, ICA has been running the Welcome Home Program, where perspective adoptive/host families host Russian children in their homes for 3-4 weeks. The ultimate goal of the Welcome Home Program is to find suitable adoptive Christian homes for these orphaned children.
Location:
ICA has been working cooperatively with several orphanages in Russia. These orphanages are located in different regions throughout Russia and our Russian staff spends time in each of these orphanages working with the orphanage staff to determine the children that are suitable for adoption. At this time, ICA has run the Welcome Home Program in California, Washington, Texas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.
Children:
Every year ICA, along with each Orphanage Director, Russian Physician and Department of Education Officials, selects the children that are eligible to participate in the Welcome Home Program. These children are, in most cases, between the ages of 7 and 12. After meeting the U.S. Embassy's approval, the children arrive in the United States on a Visiting Visa for 3-4 weeks. These children, typically, do not understand or speak any English, however, they do learn to speak and understand the English language quickly. While the children are with their host family, ICA is working diligently to find adoptive Christian homes for them. ICA elicits the help from the host family and their friends, as well as from any local churches in the area. While the children are in the U.S., they will have their teeth cleaned by a dentist and they will receive a basic physical from a doctor. The adoptive/host family is encouraged to take the child to church and to provide a loving home environment for the child.
Host Family:
Each host family is required to meet certain criteria in order to participate in the Welcome Home Program. Such criteria includes, but is not exclusive to, being married for at least 3 years, providing a letter of reference from their pastor, criminal record check and child abuse clearances, providing information on their specific family of origin and a picture of their family. ICA staff then contacts each family and orients them individually to the program and its expectations of the families. ICA staff sends the host family a list of expectations to follow while the children are in their home. In addition, the host family is required to participate in an orientation given by ICA staff before the children arrive. The host family is not expected to financially contribute to their arrival, only to provide a loving, nurturing home with a warm bed, food and maybe some additional clothing.
If you have any further questions or you want to participate in the program, please do not hesitate to contact us at:
International Christian Adoptions 41745 Rider Way, Ste. #2 Temecula, CA 92590 (909) 695-3336
Local Contact: Elaine Conner 610-825-2622 econner@comcast.net Dates of the Program: June 14 to July 12
5. Trips in the works (updated weekly) The Board of Missions is keeping statistics of all short term missionary trips (both by teams and individuals). Please let us know all the important information about your trip. WHO, WHAT, CHURCH, MISSIONARY, COUNTRY, and DATE. Contact: office@bfcbom.org To Date the following ministries being done by BFC’ers have been registered with Let’s Fish. Feb. 4-12 - Coopersburg and Blandon doing renovation work in Guadalupe. (See item 1 above) Feb.19-22 - Frances Sears to stay with the Lawrence children. Feb. 21-March 2 - Coopersburg Kenya Trip. March 14-24 LBC trip to Morocco including team members from BFC churches in Lebanon, Newark, York and Emmaus. (See item 7) March (Date not established) Cedar Crest work team to Newark N.J. with missionaries Toto Felecia Baran. April 11-26 Serbia Trip Reading (spaces available) May 6-13 Sinking Spring team of 9 church planting in Mexico City. May 14 - Aug. 6 Rachel Moyer (Coopersburg) with Kim Stengele, Tanzania May 10 One day ministry blitz through out the tri-state area as part of Emmaus Mission Conference. May 14-28 Cedar Crest & Quakertown Tanzania Trip Building Dispensary. Skilled builders may still be needed! May 23 June 6 Emmaus to The Fold (Hash) room available June 7-13 Paris Prayer Conference 2003 www.david.riddell@wanadoo.fr June 11 Rebecca Zubrick Costa Rica with Lillian Solt June 12-15 . Mt. Pocono trip to Blueberry Mountain (Slomas) June 21-28 Coopersburg trip to work with Bob & Donna Sloma at Blueberry Mountain Bible Camp along with Chris & Becki Merrick. June 26-28 Paradise at Lighthouse for VBS June 26-July 3 Emmaus to The Fold (Hash) room available July 4-18 Serbia Trip Reading (spaces available) July 5-12, Paradise team to Thompson, CT, to assist with VBS both at the church and at a nearby park. July 26- August 3 Q’town, Lehighton, Blandon missions trip to Asheville, North Carolina. July date to be determined Cedar Crest to Morocco Work team and ministry. August 2-18 - Emmaus Ukraine Trip doing puppet shows, drama, music and coffee house ministry as well as a morning camp program with Push-the-Rock each morning. August 10-24 Cedar Crest trip to Pollocks Team of 25 for work and ministry Aug. 15-30 Serbia Trip Reading (spaces available) August 16-23 - Emmaus going to Wissinoming BFC for VBS and evangelistic puppet shows. August 22-24 - Walnutport BFC Weekend Block Party. Emmaus will be doing puppet shows and a Saturday block party. Sep. 26-Oct. 11 Serbia Trip Reading (spaces available) October date to be determined Cedar Crest to Kosovo Work and ministry. Nov. 7-22 Serbia Trip Reading (spaces available)
I am a representative of AFS (American Field Services) Lehigh Valley Chapter. AFS may be the best organized group committed to quality international student exchange. Lanette and I participated this year by hosting an international student from Thailand. We have found AFS impeccable in their care for the student and their resources available to our family. IT has been an awesome experience!
IT is now crunch time to recruit families for September’s influx of new students. The world is literally showing up at our doorstep! There are untold opportunities for qualified families in your congregation to have a lasting impact in the life of one of 10,000 students and teachers that will be placed this year.
I would be honored to speak to any family in your congregation who may demonstrate an interest in this program. I am available to speak to any group in your church to tell of Lanette’s and my experience with internationals. Not only will a host family from your church find rich rewards from this experience, but your church will also benefit and be stretched. More importantly the family and the church will have a lasting impact in the life of a young man or woman from a diverse language and culture.
Host families need to be recruited ASAP so please keep this e-mail on the “front burner”!
In exchange for being willing to open our home for a year to host a student, we have gained a daughter! It doesn’t get any better than that!
Dana Weller
Information at 610 398-8776
Reprint of oppurtunities
Teens from Lehighton, Quakertown, and Blandon are planning to go to North Carolina to work with ReCreation Experiences, a ministry that repairs homes for disabled, elderly, and poverty stricken people. The dates are July 26-Aug 2 and the total cost is $400. A deposit of $75 is due April 11. We may be able to add team members after April 11 so drop us a line.
David Peters Grace Bible Fellowship Church Quakertown, PA
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Trips to the Fold (Tim and Barb Hash) May 23-June 6 AND June 26-July 3 need cooks, carpenters, painters, sewers, auto mechanic handymen & women. This is a major renovation project. You are needed! Contact Ed Wigfield at wigserve@fast.net.
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See Serbia trips listed in item #5
Monday evening I went sledding with Fon my international daughter from Thailand. It wasn’t the best snow for sledding, and the night was miserable. It was a damp cold and it was raining. WE were soaking wet, but we had a blast. We not only went down the hill at the parkway a dozen or so times, but we threw snow balls at a huge albino trout in the stream, at two unsuspecting geese and at each other. WE were soaking wet but happy.
Why you wonder am I telling you this story? This will probably be the last snow Fon will ever see in her life. It was her last chance to “play” in the snow. Not her last chance this year, but her last chance EVER! I certainly would not under any other circumstance gone sledding on such a cold rainy night, but last chances causes us to make different choices.
A popular saying states:
Live life as if it were the first day of the rest of your life.
Perhaps a better saying would be:
Live life as if it were the last day of your life.
Last chances causes us to make different choices.
Most of all, Keep Fishing! Or as Pastor Dave Gundrum reminded me:
Let's not only fish but pray as we cast the line.
Dana
A cooperative effort of the churches of the BFC to win the world for Christ Your response is always welcome at: office@bfcbom.org 610 398-8776
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