Summer, Already?

PDF Version: AWA_Update_180428

As you receive this, we will be on a flight to Nashville. Four basic reasons take us to the USA this summer, along with many fringe benefits. 1) Our youngest son, Corbin, graduates from college in May! Many years ago our family decided that graduations were to be family events. 2) Debbie will have a right knee replacement while in the States, a surgery she has needed for several years. Our insurer will cover it without a problem in 2018, but it is likely our policy will change next year, so she chooses to take care of it now. 3) Our return to the USA for a month every year to validate Tennessee residence allows us to keep our health insurance premiums low, saving our mission account over $10,000 a year in premiums. 4) In a recent policy made during a Board meeting, our mission, Christian Health Service Corps, highly suggests all missionaries spend one month a year away from ministry location for physical and mental well-being and contact with supporters. They require a return to the States at least once every 2 or 3 years.

While Verlin spends next week in Phoenix at the International Wholistic Missions Conference, Debbie will have a CT scan in Nashville so that the surgery implant will be customized to her knee (ConforMIS technology). Six weeks later she can have the surgery, and then of course, there will be the weeks of physical therapy afterwards. At her firm insistence, Verlin will return to Cote d’Ivoire on May 28 to continue ministry. He will work through the summer, especially helping the Ivorian brothers prepare for a large conference that the Ivorian CHE network will host in November. He probably will return for a short period later in the summer to check on Debbie and attend the FWB National Association. Debbie hopes to return to Cote d’Ivoire in early September before the CHE university training.

Thursday through Saturday we stayed extremely busy in Abidjan, making contacts about the Million Village Challenge conference in November and working with the CHE university planning team. We also caught up with a missionary friend, Laurel, who labors with SIL in Bible translation. She lived upstairs from us in Brussels, Belgium when Verlin studied tropical medicine in French. The picture shows Ivorian languages, including those targeted or in process of translation by SIL.

Prayer & Praise:
  • Pray for safe travels, an effective conference in
    Arizona, and a blessed time honoring a great servant of the Lord, Stan Rowland. His teaching and mentoring have influenced our entire ministry.
  • Ask for wisdom in all aspects of planning Debbie’s knee replacement surgery.
  • Pray for SIL’s important Bible translation work around the world.
Your partners in the Gospel,
Verlin and Debbie

Christian Health Service Corps (CHSC) is a mission of dedicated medical professionals who participate in the CHE Global Network. Together, in a loose affiliation of individuals, churches, denominational and nondenominational agencies, we share God's Light and Truth through Community Health Evangelism (CHE). Verlin and Debbie accept donor partners to contribute as led to maintain support as we resume residential ministry to expand CHE ministries in Cote d'Ivoire under the auspices of CHSC & Ivorian partners. Tax deductible contributions by check are to be made payable to the CHSC with Andersons #0118 written on the memo line. Mail to CHSC - PO Box 132 - Fruitvale, TX 75127. Give online via the CHSC @ www.che4a.org (3% fee) or TDF (0% fee).

Prior: Wrapping Up 180421.PDF
Last Video: Backwards Bicycle Link(s)
                         - Backwards Bike PDF
2017 Q4 Report: All "Fixed" up
          -  Anderson Report 180127 PDF

2018 Budget Info:
CHSC-0118_ANDERSON-2018-Budget.pdf

GIVE ONLINE to support these ministries: www.che4a.org

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Wrapping Up

PDF Version: AWA_Update_180421

This week wrapped up well for us. The CHE (Community Health Evangelism) training of trainers (TOT1) in Bouna finished on Friday night, as expected. The pastors-in-training appreciated what they learned from four trainers. In addition, during three nights, they participated in or practiced leading Discovery Bible Studies (DBS). One man reported in his first daily course evaluation that he was astonished to see a woman, Debbie, teaching lessons as well. This gave a great opportunity to mention that, around the world, women are often chosen in the community to make the weekly household CHE visits.

Debbie left the CHE training early on Wednesday to return to Bondoukou by bus. [Aside: public transport has greatly improved here. She was on a Greyhound-size bus with working air-conditioning and TV. Only the sizes of the seats were much smaller than in America, and bathroom breaks still consisted of bushes on the side of the road.] We needed a team to return to the second church that began Disciple Making Movement (DMM) training two weeks ago. So Thursday night, she and two Ivorian brothers divided the almost 30 gathered people into three groups and demonstrated how to lead the Discovery Studies. On Sunday morning, we will meet with this congregation again for the last day of joint training. Next, they will begin incorporating Discovery Studies into their 5 cell groups that meet around the city as others we have trained mentor and encourage them over the coming six weeks until Verlin can follow-up personally again.

Corbin is wrapping up his senior year at Union University. We are thrilled to see our youngest child accomplish this milestone in life! When we attend his graduation in May, we also will handle a host of other activities around the same time. More on that later. For this week, we have a long list to wrap up before we take a flight out on Saturday, April 28.

Prayer & Praise:
  • Pray for Corbin to finish well in his studies and for a job soon after graduation.
  • Ask the Lord to inspire and guide the pastors-in-training as they prepare for a life of service to Him. Pray also for those learning to lead Discovery Bible Studies.
  • Thank you for your prayers and offerings that allowed at least 37 people this week to be encouraged in the faith and practically equipped to serve the Lord better! They, and we, are extremely grateful for your faithful partnership to multiply believers professing Christ here.
Your partners in the Gospel,
Verlin and Debbie

Christian Health Service Corps (CHSC) is a mission of dedicated medical professionals who participate in the CHE Global Network. Together, in a loose affiliation of individuals, churches, denominational and nondenominational agencies, we share God's Light and Truth through Community Health Evangelism (CHE). Verlin and Debbie accept donor partners to contribute as led to maintain support as we resume residential ministry to expand CHE ministries in Cote d'Ivoire under the auspices of CHSC & Ivorian partners. Tax deductible contributions by check are to be made payable to the CHSC with Andersons #0118 written on the memo line. Mail to CHSC - PO Box 132 - Fruitvale, TX 75127. Give online via the CHSC @ www.che4a.org (3% fee) or TDF (0% fee).

Prior: Messy Lives 180414.PDF
Last Video: Backwards Bicycle Link(s)
                         - Backwards Bike PDF
2017 Q4 Report: All "Fixed" up
          -  Anderson Report 180127 PDF

2018 Budget Info:
CHSC-0118_ANDERSON-2018-Budget.pdf

GIVE ONLINE to support these ministries: www.che4a.org

No comments:

Messy Lives

PDF Version: AWA_Update_180414

How well do you know your neighbors and their messy lives? Discovery Bible Studies at home provide a natural way for participants to share their burdens. Because of these home-led studies and other neighborly interaction, we can walk within 30 seconds of our home to people facing the following heartaches (pic of neighbors' house to the west). One is a single lady who is HIV positive and lives in a courtyard of unbelievers. A second is a woman with a preschool child and a husband who is a mean drunk and in law enforcement. A third person is a pregnant, unwed young adult learning to be a seamstress. People had to intervene to get the father of the child to pay her medical expenses. Another neighbor has ruined his reputation by serious drinking and belligerent behavior. His Christian neighbor and co-worker took his gun away so that no harm would befall people around him. And so it goes.

The Ivorian brother who teaches children under a tree on Saturday afternoons also has many opportunities to minister to neighboring families. The children in class run to him when things are not going well at home. Recently this church layman became a counselor for a couple about to separate. The Christian wife and Muslim husband have allowed him to be a peacemaker, since he kindly teaches their children at no cost. Many people in Cote d'Ivoire are like those in the States: few will come to church when you invite them. However, if the church goes to them in their need and messy lives, they will listen. Through Discovery Studies and in personal witness, they can hear of the One who took a naked, raving, demon-possessed maniac living in a cemetery and transformed him into a man clothed, seated, and in his right mind. Truly, there is no impossible case in His hands!

All next week our Community Health Evangelism (CHE) team will be north teaching in a Bible Institute for pastors. We expect participants from a nearby village, as well. The students will spend 36 hours learning the foundations of CHE, as well as participating in DMM Discovery Studies as mentioned above. We trust that they will learn to practice these simple but powerful skills permitting them to bring shalom into hundreds of messy lives.

Prayer & Praise:
  • Pray for a Spirit-filled week of CHE training that will help equip leaders for fruitful service.
  • Ask that the reconciliation recently forged between the neighborhood husband and wife will last. Also pray for the husband's salvation.
  • Pray for the second Bondoukou church in training to lead DMM Discovery Bible Studies.
Your partners in the Gospel,
Verlin and Debbie

Christian Health Service Corps (CHSC) is a mission of dedicated medical professionals who participate in the CHE Global Network. Together, in a loose affiliation of individuals, churches, denominational and nondenominational agencies, we share God's Light and Truth through Community Health Evangelism (CHE). Verlin and Debbie accept donor partners to contribute as led to maintain support as we resume residential ministry to expand CHE ministries in Cote d'Ivoire under the auspices of CHSC & Ivorian partners. Tax deductible contributions by check are to be made payable to the CHSC with Andersons #0118 written on the memo line. Mail to CHSC - PO Box 132 - Fruitvale, TX 75127. Give online via the CHSC @ www.che4a.org (3% fee) or TDF (0% fee).

Prior: Muddling Onward 180407.PDF
Last Video: Backwards Bicycle Link(s)
                         - Backwards Bike PDF
2017 Q4 Report: All "Fixed" up
          -  Anderson Report 180127 PDF

2018 Budget Info:
CHSC-0118_ANDERSON-2018-Budget.pdf

GIVE ONLINE to support these ministries: www.che4a.org

No comments:

Muddling Onward

PDF Version: AWA_Update_180407

Some weeks are such a muddle of activities that it is hard to center on one or two thoughts. So this time, we simply ‘bullet point’ a few events.
  • What we thought would be a week-long Community Health Evangelism (CHE) training in Abidjan morphed into a one-day session that focused on Discovery Bible Group training. The death of a faithful church member and Easter travels led us as a group to decide to seek a later date when all who wanted to participate could attend.

  • The change of schedule allowed us to invest time in the CHE university ministry. This proved helpful on several fronts. We rejoiced to see Deborah Kouadio’s growing bio-agricultural project. In just over three years, while adding to her prior knowledge, she has developed a garden, a fish pond, and profitably raises chickens, ducks, turkeys, and guinea fowl to demonstrate CHE techniques. Her energy described in Proverbs 31 is boundless as she supervises 5 workers there.

  • We arrived to our home-office late Wednesday, after three weeks away, to see the sad reality that our Rottweiler/Boerboel puppy had died. Believing himself helpful, a local “vet” gave her twice the dosages needed of several medications that her body could not handle.

  • Friday night was the first of what we and others here plan to be many joint gatherings of local evangelical churches to pray that Bondoukou be saved. (See Verlin’s FB for more).

  • Dr. Terry Dwelle sent us documents to begin integrating Community Health Engagement into the university curriculum via a remote training system. We are so grateful for this man’s many hours of work, expertise, and willingness to develop material for this endeavor and its use in the U.S. and elsewhere. We anticipate through prayer that the university will become a model approach so that other West African national training institutions can copy it in coming years.
Prayer & Praise:
  • Pray for the family of local pastor Daniel Manzan. His mother died on Wednesday.
  • The yearly FWB pastors’ retreat will take place next week. Ask for a time of learning and refreshment for the approximately 40 pastors enrolled.
  • Pray for an upcoming CHE TOT1 training further north April 15-20. Verlin will spend much of next week confirming and completing the organizing of it.
  • We will begin training a second local church in leading Discovery Bible Studies this Sunday. Ask for insight in how to set up the sessions for this particular group.
Your partners in the Gospel,
Verlin and Debbie

Christian Health Service Corps (CHSC) is a mission of dedicated medical professionals who participate in the CHE Global Network. Together, in a loose affiliation of individuals, churches, denominational and nondenominational agencies, we share God's Light and Truth through Community Health Evangelism (CHE). Verlin and Debbie accept donor partners to contribute as led to maintain support as we resume residential ministry to expand CHE ministries in Cote d'Ivoire under the auspices of CHSC & Ivorian partners. Tax deductible contributions by check are to be made payable to the CHSC with Andersons #0118 written on the memo line. Mail to CHSC - PO Box 132 - Fruitvale, TX 75127. Give online via the CHSC @ www.che4a.org (3% fee) or TDF (0% fee).

Prior: The Unseen Guest 180331.PDF
Last Video: Backwards Bicycle Link(s)
                         - Backwards Bike PDF
2017 Q4 Report: All "Fixed" up
          -  Anderson Report 180127 PDF

2018 Budget Info:
CHSC-0118_ANDERSON-2018-Budget.pdf

GIVE ONLINE to support these ministries: www.che4a.org

No comments:
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