Contents of Newsletter
International Conference on Missions Booth
A small house under a big tree
International Conference on Missions (ICOM)
Last week was a first-time event for us. We had a booth at the International Conference on Missions (ICOM), which this year was held in Columbus, Ohio - the very city where we live! What a "God-incidence"!
We wanted to expose churches, missions agencies and prospective missionaries to Didasko. We also wanted to use this event as an experiment, to see if it would be worthwhile to exhibit at missions conferences in the future.
Many of the other exhibitors with huge exhibitions had companies who arranged everything and set up their booths for them. We didn't need that - we had good friends who helped set up and take down the booth. Thanks Craig, Scott and Beth.
We had many good conversations - students interested in missions, pastors wanting to further their church's missions efforts through training, missions mobilizers who wanted to see how we could assist them in their task, smaller missions agencies who were interested to better train their new missionaries, and finally, some larger organizations who were interested in how we structure our training courses to make them practical. A few of them wanted copies of Hendrik's PhD dissertation which details the why, what and how of Didasko's courses. In fact, Hendrik talked so much that by Saturday his voice started to croak.
We found it a bit amusing to see the shock on people's faces when they realize that all our courses are really free of charge - there aren't even any ads! Some of them were speechless. They couldn't figure out how we can do it. We explained that everything was funded through faithful donors such as yourselves. One husband and wife were so touched that they even prayed for us right there on the booth.
The results of the conference? In the short-term, we've already had some people enrol in courses, and our web site visits from the USA shot up. But only time will tell what the long-term fruit will be. We feel that it helped to start put Didasko on the missions map in the USA.
We are super grateful to God through whom all things happen! And for your partnership with us in the gospel. You are all partners in grace with us (Philippians 1:6, 7)
Exciting news from Mwani-land
Those of you who've known us for a long time will remember when we first settled with the Mwani people in the year 2000. When we first arrived, we could find only two men in the entire people group who were believers. They were keeping a low profile at the time, and were helping the Wycliffe Bible translators translate the Bible in Kimwani.
By the grace of God, the situation changed. Over the years, He used a number of missionaries - the two of us included - to raise up more and more followers of Jesus among the Mwani people. It was slow and hard work under trying circumstances.
A few years ago, ISIS had started a violent insurgency in the area. News sources reported many murders, beheadings, and entire villages razed to the ground. Then, colleagues working among another people group about 300 km south of where we were, told us that Mwani refugees had started arriving there. Then one day, out of the blue, my (Hendrik's) phone rang and it was a colleague of ours who told me he had a Mwani believer with him. To my surprise, I was able to have a conversation with the man in Kimwani - after so many years! He told me how his wife had been beheaded and their son abducted by the insurgents, and he had been able to flee. Terrible. But along the way he became a believer. He was hungry for Bible teachings and Kimwani, so Bets and I were able to send him all the Bible lessons we had recorded in Kimwani way back when.
Recently one of the Bible translators wrote this exciting news in their newsletter: "While in Pemba, Sebastian visited the former translation team members, Shikito and Saweje. It was encouraging to hear their testimonies of how the Kimwani church is slowly growing in number and maturity, and that the translated Scriptures made available to them in 2013 are being used extensively. There are three Kimwani-speaking churches serving the refugee communities that have flocked to the provincial capital because of religious insurgency. On the one hand we pray for peace and deliverance from violent atrocities. On the other hand, we see how God is using this trauma to make people hungry for truth."
The Lord is good, and He makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).
Family matters
We love being near our daughter and family. It is such a blessing from the Lord! Our grandkids are super smart, super funny and super everything! We can say that, because as grandparents we are totally objective ... Here they have overcome the wild, built a shelter and made a fire ... all in their own back yard!
A little house under a big tree
We have been here in the USA for almost 8 months. Our paper work has been done, praise the Lord! We are staying with good friends, about 10 minutes drive from our daughter Esté. Please pray that the Lord will make a way for us to buy our own house, where we will have ample space for an office and a video studio to make more training videos. Please make sure you ask for a small house under a big tree, not IN a tree.
With much affection,
Hendrik and Betsy