Pioneer's Bible Update: Married to My Bible

July 2008
Dear friends and family,

David, a young Aruamu man from Niapak village showed me his New Testament, which was marked up and smudged, and said, "It's like I'm married to my Bible; I read it all the time. I am HUNGRY for God."

It was such a blessing to be out in the Aruamu area. Nathan and I, together with Sue Ellen and Bobby Wrenn (sent by Cornerstone Christian Church in Dallas, TX) had a very full time in the village. We have deeply appreciated your prayers and encouragement.

This was the first time I was able to see many of my Aruamu friends since the New Testament dedication, so many happy reunions and visits were had. It was wonderful to be able to introduce Nathan to the Aruamus -- his 10,000 new in-laws!

It was also wonderful to me to see Aruamus USING the Word, and being faithful in their walk with the Lord.

Our main focus of our time here has been Scripture-in-Use. The Aruamus held Evening Crusade Meetings and they asked me to speak for those. They were attended by around 400 people. Bobby Joe held Leadership Training classes for church leaders, with a focus on how to study the Bible. Sue Ellen held a Women's Workshop, which focused on Chronological Bible Storying, using Bible Story Scarves which had pictures of many Bible Stories. Each woman went home with her own scarf, so she can continue telling stories in her own circle of influence. Nathan led two guitar classes, both beginning and intermediate. I led two Literacy Classes.

I was able to meet together with the entire Aruamu Literacy Committee and Translation Team for a day, to plan and strategize. The men divided up into teams and went, with Bobby Joe driving the 4 wheel drive truck, to each of the 39 Aruamu churches to drop of a case of New Testaments, which they are responsible to sell. Also they arranged for teams of Aruamu Literacy Committee teachers to lead 3 different Scripture-in-Use workshops in August. The Aruamu translators are continuing to work on the Old Testament.

Nathan was able to spend daily time on going around the village to learning more Melanesian Pidgin. Before we left, the Aruamus had a feast to say good-bye and we'll see you next year, when we hold the 2009 Scripture-In-Use Meetings.

Blessings,
Marsha (Relyea) Miles(for Nathan and our whole clan)

Cornerstone Mission's Conference: September 6-10

Seeing Missions Through our Father's Eyes
September 6 - 10 2008

Here is a schedule for our conference:

Saturday, September 6

Seeing the World through our Father's Eyes with Gianni Bruno. Following the service in the fellowship hall: Refreshments & Gianni Bruno speaking on Italy for Christ

Sunday, September 7

In both services: Seeing the World through our Father's Eyes - Gianni Bruno.

Following each service, you can browse our Mission Fair outside to learn about the other missions we support.

Monday, September 8

From 6:00 - 6:45 pm: Join us in the fellowship hall for a box dinner while listening to Phil Smith speaking on South Africa Prison Ministry. Then stay to hear Phil speak on Seeing America through our Father's Eyes. Nursery will be provided.

Tuesday, September 9

Sponsored by YOUTH! At 6:00 pm in the Fellowship Hall join us for dinner, while Roger Neidrich speaks on Battleline Ministries. At 7:00 pm, Roger will share about Seeing Deltona through our Father's Eyes. Again nursery will be provided.

Wednesday, September 10

6:00 pm Fellowship Hall - Box dinner will be provided while Harvey Bacus speaks on the Jordon Library

7:00 pm: Seeing Ourselves through our Father's Eyes - Harvey Bacus. In His Kids, Roger Neidrich will be sharing with the Elementary age children.

Come and learn to see missions through our Father's eyes!

Prison Ministry in Africa

For years, Cornerstone has supported Phil Smith in South Africa. Now that Phil and his family have returned to the United States, he continues to help with a prison ministry back in South Africa. Here is his latest update:

Dear Prayer Partners, Family, Friends, and Supporters,

All reports from Richard Gallant, the Director of the Eastern Cape prison ministry, have been very positive. The prison ministry continues to flourish and is moving ahead strong in South Africa. . . .

It is with mixed emotions that I report to you that our long time friend, co-worker, and mentor in the faith and prison ministry, Dr. Ron Butler, passed away in Capetown on May 14 to be with our Lord after a long struggle with cancer. A funeral was held in Capetown and a memorial was held in Lincoln, Illinois.

Ron had a passionate heart for the prison ministry in South Africa. From his years of experience in former Zaire and with TEE, he guided us to establish the Christian Faith and Life Skills program with Hope Prison Ministry in the Western and Eastern Cape regions of South Africa.

Not only did he teach and train others by his example, but he also led in writing the materials, overseeing the translation work, and setting up the print shop at Pollsmoor prison. He had a vision to see all correctional services using the Life Skills program in South Africa! He will truly be missed by all! What a faithful servant and friend of God that remained diligent in Christ's service till the very end of his life on earth.

I also received sad news this week that Brother Sakiwo Sixaba was killed in a car accident this past week in the Eastern Cape. Sakiwo had served alongside me in the prison ministry at Middeldrift for several years while he was working on his Masters in prison ministry. He had recently moved back to the Eastern Cape to work as the Chaplain in Correctional Services in the King William's Town region and was promoting the Life Skills program in the Department. He was also the minister at Dimbaza church in that area. He leaves behind a young wife. Please keep her in your prayers.

I want to thank you for your continual support of our family and the ministry over the past 16 years in South Africa. You have been so faithful and generous throughout the years! Thank you for helping us for an additional 6 months this year as we transitioned back into the States and into a new role as missions pastor at Countryside Christian Church in Wichita, Kansas. God had been faithful to provide such loving, caring and supportive friends of the ministry for so many years!

THANK YOU FOR ALSO CONTINUING TO SUPPORT THE PRISON MINISTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA UNTIL THE END OF 2011! We continue to need $400 each month to fulfill our commitment in the Eastern Cape until 2011. Each month, your support that is sent to Countryside is wired to Hope Prison Ministry in Capetown and then distributed to the Eastern Cape branch of the prison ministry.

I plan to travel to South Africa in December 2009 to participate in the last year of the CIY partnership in developing a national youth conference; I will also spend some additional days before that trip surveying the prison ministry work that is under the direction of Hope Prison Ministry. Richard Gallant is directing the Eastern Cape, and Jonathan Clayton is directing the Western Cape region of the Life Skills program. Thank you for helping to sustain the prison ministry in South Africa as it grows to become an indigenous program!!

Phil and his family will be at Cornerstone on September 6-10. Come to learn more about this amazing ministry.

From Winston Scott in Jamaica

Hi

Yesterday the Braeton Church had a Service of Appreciation for me. It mark 25 years of association with that Congregation and 10 Years as the Minister. It was really a blessing and to hear the words of appreciation. They also showered me with several gifts and tokens. The community came out as well as political representatives, so it was well worth it. It has been a trying and at times tough Ministry; but, thank God, I have stayed the course. I continue to seek your prayers; and let me say thanks to all of you who have contributed, visited and share with this congregation. My greatest joy is to see others serving and knowing that when my time comes to an end, I would do all that I could have done to improve and see this congregation go forward.

Winston

Update from Mid-India

For those of you who have been praying for the Mid-India missions, the latest update is below. The Lall's appreciate your prayers and ask for continued prayers as this is a very critical time.

Mid-India Christian Mission
Damoh, India
July 6, 2008

You might have received some e-mails about what is taking place here in Damoh. We are again going through a difficult phase where the government is trying to take over the Christian Outreach Center building. This is a different issue than that of our church premises. Construction of the church building is on hold and the government is not allowing us to build the building. On the other hand, here at Christian Outreach Center, which we call "Prayer Hall," we have been using this for Wednesday night prayer gatherings as well as to conduct marriages and other programs of the community. The land where the building exists has been in the possession of the Christian mission for about 100 years. There have been some complications when the government without informing us converted a part of the land to their name. Now they want to claim this building. On Friday June 27, we received an order saying that the government would take over the building on Monday, June 30 at 11:00 AM. On the weekend we could not go to any court for relief. Court and offices here in India open at 11:00 AM. We had to run to all the politicians we know and request them to help us. One politician decided to help us and we got a seven day relief to go to the court. This order was passed on June 28 which was Saturday. Monday we tried to get the copy of this order; nobody from the office showed up and the office remained closed all day. The next day we tried again to get the copy but the office was still closed for the second day in a row. There are more than five people working in that department but none were there.

This story can become very long. On Tuesday the government officials came with police force to seize the building in spite of the seven day extension that we had received. There were several policemen armed with guns. I told them that they wouldn't need all those guns. We are not terrorists. I had applied for the stay from the Hon'ble High Court where they decided to give it to us immediately. While the police were there in Damoh and I was negotiating with them, our lawyer from Jabalpur, where the High Court is, called us and informed us about the stay. I told him that the police were already here to seize the building. When I informed the police about the stay we had gotten, they still carried on saying that they had not seen the copy. They knew that the copy couldn't come out until late that evening but they still wanted to seize the building. I called my lawyer again and informed him about this. He re-entered the court of the Chief Justice of the Hon'ble High Court, interrupted a proceeding that was going on, and requested the copy. The Chief Justice asked that the copy be released immediately. The lawyer faxed us the copy and we were able to present it to the police and other officials who had come to seize the building. Now they could not deny the court's order and had to leave. Every minute at this time was crucial. There is no other explanation - God was working.

This was the longest one hour of my life. While I was dealing with the police, I received a call from Mr. Jay Hodges, chairman of our board from Georgia. This must have been early morning in Georgia!

I am thankful to all of you who have prayed diligently for this matter. Please continue to pray as we go ahead with the plea for our case in the court. God is above all and listens and answers prayers.

Vivert and Neelam Lall

Spur Ministries

One of the missions that we support is Spur Ministries: Spur Ministries is a non-profit Christian organization that is dedicated to introducing Native Americans to Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, and then to train them up to reach their generation.

Spur Ministries is run by Steve Thompson.

If you ever wonder what happens with the money we give to our missions, just read a recent newsletter from Steve about a family needing a home:

John and Roberta, along with their three boys are a Navajo family that lives in a small shack near Indian Wells, Arizona. Their shack is built out of scrap pieces, 2 x 4’s and scrap roofing. Tarps wrap around the house so the wind doesn’t blow in the cracks. The floor is dirt, no running water and no electricity. The wood stove heats in the winter when there is wood and doubles as a cook stove. They have no transportation so they have to rely on others to haul water to them in three 55-gallon drums (two weeks worth).

Sheep and chickens are in the yard, raised for their grocery money. To make matters more challenging, a relative with six kids 1-9 years old, moved in with them due to domestic violence. When I visited again a week ago, they were out of water, had no propane to cook and 2 cups of flour with minimal other food. So we hauled the drums and filled them with water, filled a little propane and brought in a food box and diapers.
Why don’t they get a job? The Navajo Reservation has 50% unemployment rate, and the median income is less than half the American average. A recent NY Times article demonstrated the disparity, “Apache county, Arizona which contains Navajo and Apache Indian Reservations, was the second highest in income equality and the income of the bottom fifth of households was $2,835/year.” I spend $300/week to get up to these families and do water and propane runs. It is no wonder that they are having trouble buying food.

I asked John and Roberta if they had asked the tribe for a house. They had, but the waiting list is hundreds long and there was no hope. The local chapter house has given them some of the scrap that they used for their current “house” to make it livable. I met this couple through a Navajo minister Marty Etsitty. He knew I had some resources and the couple has been going to different church events when they could. Roberta became a believer in 1998 at a tent revival. When I was getting water with John one day, he asked me a few questions about baptism. He had been reading a Bible in Navajo and English. What a great discussion we had. The next Sunday I took the horse trough up and he was baptized at the White Cone Baptist Church.

Spur Ministries is collaborating with some other ministry teams and local individuals to build a hogan, (house) for this family. It will be 322 square feet with a concrete floor, metal roof (to collect water) and a new wood stove. Our best bid for material is $7,500. If you are interested in helping with this or future projects like this one you can donate to Spur Ministries and write in the memo line “Native American Housing Fund”. If you have skills to help or want to put together a group to come out and put one up in one weeks time, it takes me about 3-6 months to make sure all the details are in order such a making sure the family has a home site lease registered with the tribe. It is remote, so campers or tenting is one way to do a project in one week. Also, it is about 3-4 hours drive to the Grand Canyon.

Please consider giving to missions so we can continue to support people like Steve.