Presbyterian Church in Ireland - Mission Overseas - PL2010-27, 07-Jul-10

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PL2010-27, 07-Jul-10

The 'Day' and 'Country' designations below refer to the respective right-hand page(s) in the 2010 edition of the Points for Prayer Handbook, which contains useful background information to these prayer requests.

Click on these links for further information on Countries, Partners and People.

Days 13 to 15 – KENYA

Stephen Cowan sends the following prayer points from Tuum:

• Pray for the wedding blessings due to take place in Tuum this Saturday (10th), which will be attended by the PCEA’s Moderator and other PCEA officials from Head Office and the Presbytery. Pray for safety in travel and that one of the ladies still awaiting an ID card will get it in time.  Pray too that the whole event will bring glory to the Lord Jesus, and be a living example to a young generation growing up in a situation where there is a clash of cultures. 
  
  
• Pray for preparations for the August youth camps which a team from Waringstown Presbyterian Church will help to lead. 
  
  
• Pray for local Christian leaders that they will stand up for and show Jesus’ values of selfless service of others, over against the self-interest exhibited by some of those involved in local development projects.
  
  
• Continue to pray for the confusion over the water project in Tuum, that justice would be done and that the water is properly conserved for future generations.  Remember the illiterate and the poor, who are most often overlooked.

The group from Royal & Prior Comprehensive School in Raphoe in Co. Donegal, that visited Galana recently, had a good visit, safe travel and enjoyed their two weeks in Kenya. Rev Stanley Stewart, who led the group, was able to spend a few days with the Roulston's and saw the seed potato project, and met with the local Chief, community members and Rev Henry Ndugragua, the local PCEA minister (who has 14 congregations in his charge!). The group also visited PCEA Timau Primary School, where up to 90 children occupy each classroom. Time was spent with local farmers, showing soil preparation methods and advising on crop production.

WHEAT’s new office in Timau is almost ready to open and Alice, who worked for WHEAT in Malindi, has agreed to relocate to Timau to run the office there. In Malindi, the outreach team is busy preparing for the mission in Galana which will take place from 20th to 25th July.

The Roulston family is looking forward to all being together over the next couple of months.

Prayer Points:

• Give thanks that the visit by the Royal & Prior Comprehensive School from Raphoe went so well and pray that the links between the school and Galana will continue to grow.
  
  
• Pray for Alice as she settles into Timau and that she and her family will soon find somewhere suitable to live.
  
  
• Pray for the preparations for the Galana outreach planned for later this month.
  
  
• Pray that the Roulston family will have good quality time together over the summer.

Days 16 to 19 – MALAWI

Volker and JinHyeog Glissmann and family hope to leave for Zomba in southern Malawi, on Tuesday 13th July. Volker has been invited to take up the role of Executive Director of Theological Education by Extension in Malawi (TEEM). He is excited about reaching out to villages with lay-leadership training in Theology, while in time JinHyeog hopes to develop a music ministry in rural church settings. Whilst they are hoping to leave on Tuesday (13th), they are still waiting for JinHyeog’s visa, and if it doesn’t come in time, their departure will have to be postponed and their flights rescheduled.

Prayer Points:

• That JinHyeog’s visa will arrive in time; and for safe, trouble-free travel all the way to Zomba.
  
  
• For a smooth transition for each of them, and as a family; as they say farewell to family and friends; settle into their new surroundings; establish a new home; and adjust to a new culture. Remember the children especially; pray that they may quickly settle and make new friends in Malawi.
  
  
• That their accommodation in Zomba will be ready by the time they arrive. 

Day 24 – NEPAL

The Prime Minister of Nepal resigned last week to make way for a government of national unity. It is very likely that this will take several weeks, so the present administration is staying in place in a caretaker capacity.

According to recent research, only 10% of churches in Nepal have sent out a missionary or evangelist. The churches are generally very poor and struggle to offer support to pastors, never mind other full-time Christian workers. The concept of a bi-vocational model of ministry has not yet developed in Nepal, mainly because there are so few jobs in the country.

UMN’s work is being reviewed by the Government’s Social Welfare Council as the current strategic plan ends later this month, and before the new plan with agreement for visas for mission personnel is agreed.

Joe and Janet Campbell will complete their four-year assignment with UMN later this month and are due to return to Ireland in August.

Prayer Points:

• For political leaders in Nepal, that they will soon form a government of nation unity and that those urgent matters of development and care for the people will not be further delayed.
  
  
• That God would envision national church leaders with a strategy for reaching all of Nepal with the Gospel and that Nepalese churches would be able to send out more church planters and evangelists to unreached parts of Nepal.
  
  
• That the Social Welfare Council’s review of UMN will be satisfactory and completed in a timely way and that the new strategic plan will be agreed and necessary visas issued.
  
  
• That these final weeks for Joe and Janet will be used by God and that there will be good closure with the range of Nepalese people whom they have been involved with.

OVERSEAS TEAMS

A number of teams are overseas over the next week and we encourage you to pray for them:

BOLIVIA – A team of 12 adults and one infant from High Street, Holywood Presbyterian Church, departs for Cochabamba, in Bolivia on Monday (12th). High Street congregation supports Marcos and Gwen Quinteros (and their family), whom the congregation first got to know and supported when they studied at Belfast Bible College, (2001-03). God has given the Quinteros family a vision to work in Cochabamba, where they have established a community centre through which they are seeking to meet the social and spiritual needs of the barrio of Sumumpaya. Earlier this year, they celebrated the first anniversary of the formation of La Corona (The Crown) Church Fellowship. The team is going to work alongside members of La Corona church, giving them help and support in any way they can, and are due to return home again on 28th July. 

INDIA – Three teams, from Fisherwick Presbyterian Church, arrived in India last weekend! One team of three people (Rev Derek McKelvey, his wife, Helen, and Ronnie Wilson) are in the Vellore Diocese of the Church of South India for the fourth time, and are working with pastors and leaders. The second team, made up of 13 young people, is building a primary school for a rural Dalit village called Melveilamur in memory of Miss Mary Leigh, former headmistress of Dungannon Girls’ High School. The third team, consisting of 14 adults, is renovating a nursing school at Vandavasi for training Dalit girls in nursing. These three teams are due to arrived back home on 18th July. 

MALAWI – A team of ten people from Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church is in Malawi, where they are working alongside Maurice and Helen Kennedy on the Madziabango Project and are engaged in both refurbishment and community development work. The team is due to return home this Saturday, (10th).

A team of 10 people from Howth and Malahide Presbyterian Church are also working on the Madziabango Project, doing painting and decorating work and helping to run a holiday Bible club. This team is due home on 18th July. 

The Board of Mission Overseas ‘Go See' Malawi Team, under the leadership of Rev Dr Jim Campbell, arrived safely in Malawi last Friday (2nd). The team consists of 10 people, from various congregations. They are travelling to a number of places in the Blantyre Synod area of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP), to see and learn about its work and witness in southern Malawi. They are due home again on 17th July.

A team of 15 members from Ballycarry Presbyterian Church is in northern Malawi, where they are running an After-School Bible Club (along with Malawian Sunday School teachers), for children aged 6-11 and working in the village of Kachere, making equipment for pre-school children and working alongside local carpenters. During their time in Malawi, they will also to visit an orphanage near Lake Malawi, and the ladies who knit a number of items that are sold in N Ireland. A number of the team will also spend time with some Malawian ladies and cook for each other. The team is due home on 16th July.

POLAND – A team of 36 people from New Row Coleraine Presbyterian Church is in Warsaw, where they are involved in three projects; helping to run a children’s camp; helping with food distribution to needy people, and helping in the repairing of a playground. The team is due home on Sunday (11th). 

ROMANIA – A team of six young people, organised by PCI’s Board of Youth and Children’s Ministry (YAC), is in Romania, where they are helping PCI missionaries, Csaba and Ilona Veres, lead an English Language Camp for 10-16 year olds from all over Transylvania.  The team is due home on 15th July. 

A team of six people, from Glengormley Presbyterian Church[see blog], is in Cluj in northwest Romania, where they are working at the Csemete Christian Nursery School doing practical work and working with the children. Rev Prof Lehel Lészai, who studied at Union Theological College in Belfast (2007-08) is involved in the nursery school and his wife also works there. Unfortunately in the week prior to departure there had to be a change in leadership, due to ill health. The team is due home next Tuesday (13th).

SLOVENIA – A team of five, from Glengormley Presbyterian Church[see blog], leaves this Friday (9th) for Slovenia, where they will be working with Gloria and Sebastian Forjan in the Lake Bled area, doing English language training at a church camp. This team is due home on 18th July. 

UGANDA – A team of 19 people from Kilkeel Presbyterian Church is in Uganda, where they are doing refurbishing and building work, as well as pastoral work with children and staff. The team is due home on 15th July. 

A team of 15 people from Bannside Presbyterian Church is in Uganda working with Abaana, helping to build a school and working with street children. The team is due home on 23rd July.

A team of 21 people, drawn from Joymount and Cairncastle Presbyterian churches, leaves tomorrow (8th) for Uganda. The churches have provided the money to have a kitchen built to Caring Heart Primary School and to have two wells sunk in needy areas. The team will teach in the Primary school and in Grace High School and will do music, sports and Holiday Bible Clubs. They will work with the women in the villages doing sewing and crafts and general maintenance work. The team is due home on 21st July.

Prayer Points for these teams –

• Good health, safety, strength and energy for all the team members and those they are working with.
  
  
• The work that each of the teams will be involved in.
  
  
• For the Word of God to be explained clearly and for spiritual fruit in the lives of those the teams are going to help or work alongside.

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