Around the world: Julias go from orphans to sisters in Ukraine
November 1, 2005
CAMBODIA
PHNOM PENH
Thirtyministers attended the fourth Village Church Leaders Seminar Oct. 10,missionary Bill McDonough said. Bob Buchanan and Ken Wilkey, missionaries inthe Philippines,taught the classes, which lasted eight hours per day for a week.
Theseminars are “a very valuable tool in helping equip new converts to leadvillage churches,” said McDonough, who directs Partners in Progress.
TheWindSong church, North Little Rock, Ark., supports the work.
CHINA
LOUYANG
RonBrown recently returned from his 23rd trip to China. He led a team of 62 medicalprofessionals to Louyang, Henan province. The team performed 110cleft-palate surgeries in two weeks, he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.A smaller team treated orphans and the rural poor in the southern Chinese cityof Guilin.
“It’sthe very poor, the farming people, who need us,” Dr. James Humphreys of Jackson, Tenn.,told the newspaper. It was Humphreys’ fourth trip with the medical mission.Brown, an Atlantachurch member, directs the nonprofit Chinese Agape Foundation with his wife,Pat.
GREECE
ATHENS
Asmall ad in a tourist map has increased international traffic at the Omonia Squarechurch, said minister Dino Roussos.
Thechurch placed the ad in the map, distributed at the airport, hotels andinformation booths. The church already has members from at least 15 countries,but the advertisement drew visitors from Canada,Australia, the United Kingdom and South Africa.
“Wehope that these people will … take back to their countries the message ofhope and salvation that we teach every Sunday,” Roussos said.
INDIA
SURYARAOPALEM
Heavyrainfall flooded the village of Suryaraopalemrecently, forcing the local congregation’s 20 families to seek shelter in thechurch’s facility, said Medapaty Devanand, a minister in nearby Allampuram. Theflooding collapsed most of the villagers’ homes and cut them off from rescueworkers for about six days.
TheIndian government is providing aid, Devanand said. The Saturn Road church, Garland, Texas,supports the work.
ITALY
PRATO
MissionaryMichael Mahan and two members of the Pratochurch traveled to Orvieto to meet members from Romeand Anzio for agospel campaign. About 50 church members sang in the town square, readScripture and distributed flyers during the event, organized by Rome minister PaoloMirabelli. The ministers are following up with contacts.
PHILIPPINES
TUAO
Ateam of 68 volunteers treated more than 2,100 patients in two days during anOctober campaign to Tuao, in the northern province of Cagayan, said coordinator Gigie Carranza.
Itwas the fourth trip to the province by MARCH for Christ, a medical missionbased in the Philippines,since May.
Teammembers conducted Bible studies and worked with the Tuao congregation. Theyalso assisted a new church in the village of Taribubu, where 40people worship, Carranza said. Jun Ma and Darwin King, both members of theMetro Manila church, are assisting the young church.
ThePasir Panjang church, Singapore,helped launch the work in Taribubu.
SRI LANKA
NEGOMBO
Churchesin Sri Lankahave launched a vocational-training program for women and children in coastalfishing communities devastated by the Dec. 26 tsunami, which claimed the livesof many husbands and fathers. Churches opened a Training and Sales Centerin Negombo to help families become financially self-suffient, said ministerD.R. Gnanasundaram. Government officials and the police chief of Negombopraised the work.
Churchmember Paul Fernando oversees the work, and the Church of Christin Sri Lanka Trust provides funds.
THAILAND
CHIANGMAI
YukiObata, minister in Mito, Japan, visited the Cheung Doichurch recently to see its church-planting efforts. He also visited the Payap Christian Zone church, a campusministry. Since 1997 the ministry has trained more than 30 apprentices and 80mission interns, said Chiang Mai missionary David Allen.
Thailand missionaries had contacted Obata about sending interns tohelp churches in Japan.Since Obata’s visit, the churches are working to establish “a pipeline between Japan and Thailand that goes both ways —where we receive Japanese members to train and work with us (and we send) Thaimembers to work over there,” Allen said. The Preston Road church, Dallas, supports Allen and his wife,Michelle.
UNITED KINGDOM
NEWCASTLE
TheNewcastle church has moved from Heaton to acommunity center in Kingston Park, northwest of Newcastle, said missionary David Coggin. Thearea is the site of many new homes, Coggin said. Church members set up twoBible studies and enrolled two people in correspondence courses during thechurch’s first three weeks at the new location. The North Boulevard church, Murfreesboro, Tenn.,supports the work.
ZAMBIA
SOLWEZI
Amission team in northwestern Zambiaplans to plant churches and launch a vocational training program among thepeople of the Kaonde tribe. The missionaries also plan to work in the UnitedNations Maheba refugee camp and neighboring countries.
Brianand Sondra Davis, overseen by the Hillcrest church, Abilene, Texas,are working with Leonard Mujala and his family to prepare a facility for theteam. Namwianga Mission in southern Zambia sponsors Mujala.
Donand Rita Boyd, overseen by the Cedar Hill, Texas, church, plan to join theteam, as do other American and African evangelists, said Cleddy Varner, amember of Hillcrest’s missions committee.
