Go, Stay, Give

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Anderson Report 230513

Go, Stay, Give

So, you GO where you're sent,
And you STAY where you're put,
And you GIVE what you've got
— Until you're done.

— Jill Briscoe (our word emphases)

It is easy to make the Christian life seem complicated, especially to unbelievers, when we use jargon that people do not understand. For that reason, we want to use simple language to describe an obedient life in Christ, as Jill Briscoe used in the quote above. She and her husband, Pastor Stuart Briscoe, globe-trotted the world for decades, preaching and teaching even into their 80s while pastoring the Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin. He died last year, but their legacy of faithful teaching continues through the ministry of Telling the Truth (see https://www.tellingthetruth.org). The site reflects their writing of numerous books filled with good humor and keen Biblical insight.

We can distract ourselves and others when we do not stick to such basics while pursuing lives obedient to God: "Go where we're sent; stay where we're put; give what we've got—until we're done." We found the phrase so helpful as a reminder that we used it to outline this report which chronicles ministry and personal events from January into April. Thank you for your praying and partnering with us through it all!

GO with GUIDED GRACE
    (see Goodbye Grief and She Could)

Our last report shared that Debbie traveled to the United States to get her new CPAP machine while Verlin nursed an injured knee and ankle in Cote d'Ivoire. Since then, we have experienced quite a ride with our Lord who pilots us!

While developing activity patterns to overcome the last few years of physical weakness, Verlin assisted a pastor whose wife abandoned him. He traveled with the brother to begin a discourse with the wife's parents, a manner Ivorians use to save marriages. After that, he hosted visitors over a weekend to facilitate their contributions during a seminar to encourage aviculture (chicken farming) and develop ties for guineafowl production or distribution in the greater Abidjan area. On a personal note, sadly, after the New Year, all seven of our puppies died from parvovirus. Despite Verlin's 24/7 efforts during that week with IVs and oral treatments, his time, help, and solutions available during the holidays fell short of saving their lives while juggling other responsibilities.

Verlin's most extended ministry opportunity during our time apart was the month he spent in Ghana. There he assisted Dayo Obaweya at the yearly Community Health Evangelism (CHE) Internship and renewed connections in the neighboring nation.

Three Francophones who traveled w/
Verlin; two of four Ivorian trainers
attending the 2023 Ghana Internship.

Verlin carried two longtime friends among the four Ivorian trainees as he went. One of the pastors who rode with him continues recovering from cardiovascular complications likely due to a COVID infection in early 2021. In addition to interacting individually with most of the 20+ Internship trainers and trainees for hours, he helped a 5th Ivorian to travel and develop connections to improve mushroom production around Bondoukou. He also assisted some Americans who invested for their future in West Africa. Verlin facilitated more than thirteen training sessions, not including those in which he helped an Ivorian CHE training champion share. Ivorian team trainers' extra time to speak of experience was granted because of what the Lord develops through CHE in Cote d'Ivoire. We were also accorded more than the "two trainees per nation" allowance to come for the same reason. The growth indicates a need to integrate the African Internship Center (AIC) into more Ivorian efforts. (Francophone participants equaled or surpassed Anglophone participants for the first time since the AIC began the regional internship training in 2013.)

After the Internship, Verlin traveled to rural northern Ghana to visit other Christian Health Service Corps (CHSC) missionaries who have served in Africa even longer than we have. In addition, he called on an Ivorian pastoring in Ghana and renewed other contacts for anticipated CHE partnerships.

Intro to CHE at the CHSC HQ

In a 100-day American context, Debbie stayed very busy, too! After recovering from a second bout with COVID, she traveled to Texas and Michigan and visited numerous ministry partners in Tennessee. She joyfully helped to introduce some new Christian Health Service Corps' (CHSC) missionaries to CHE during their orientation, babysat a precious missionary kid, served in logistical ways, and interacted with co-workers who have embarked on new adventures with the Lord. They had many questions for her, as someone who grew up a Third Culture Kid (TCK) and raised three TCKs while gaining life experience married to a U.S. culture kid for the past 36 years.

Her Michigan visits included lovely times with Verlin's family, meals with ministry partners, sharing in ladies' groups, and participating in services with partnering churches. Some sweet days were spent alongside her parents in Franklin, Tennessee, interspersed with more meetings. She helped them and her sister by handling errands, getting them to appointments, researching, and fielding tech questions. But, she mostly enjoyed the precious hours of sharing that continue to enrich and bless our time in Africa.

STAY with SOBER STEADINESS
    (see Wheel Watcher)

Some of the most challenging times to obey the Lord arise when He asks us to "stay," that is, to still ourselves from our preferred ministry activities and persevere quietly to overcome a difficulty. Thank you for praying with us through Verlin's weeks with a seriously infected knee that inhibited travel. He was delighted to achieve healing without any oral antibiotics. Likewise, your prayers helped Debbie overcome when she was delayed a week from returning to Cote d'Ivoire because an airline did not accept her residence papers.

One precious example of tenacity through trials is our Ivorian pastor's wife in Bondoukou. Many of you have prayed for her to heal from severe ulcers that did not respond to antibiotic treatments for two years. Several times it seemed she might die. However, she has seen remarkable progress over the past few months by continuing treatment with olive oil and other nutritional supports we recommended early on. In recent weeks, she's begun taking long walks and attending church, giving glory to God for His healing! Pray that she continues the dietary and hygiene changes needed to prevent ulcers in the future, adding to her knowledge in order to assist others.

The better house we hoped might become available to rent and use for training in Bondoukou seems a closed door now. The family patriarch does not want to rent the ancestral home. However, the children hate to see it deteriorate from disuse. So, we "stay" and wait for the Lord to clarify what we are to do about our housing needs in the future.

GIVE with GENEROUS GIFTING
    (see In & Out and Under the Wire)

At times, people consider giving only in the monetary sense. Although that aspect is important, the Lord often wants us to give using other gifts that He provides daily: time, knowledge, skills, belongings, and encouragement. As mentioned above, while in Ghana, Verlin encouraged an Ivorian brother who labors to establish an NGO producing mushrooms by making time for him. More than 200 persons are involved. M. greatly profited from connecting with producers who also master the art of growing mushrooms, including exposure to producing mycelium. At other times during the CHE Internship, our Toyota blessed participants during trips to the airport and Cape Coast when needed.

Sometimes an overheard lesson or word gives encourage-ment that changes the trajectory of a ministry. William, a brother in Ghana whose primary calling is to educate disadvantaged children and orphans, provided such testimony at the AIC. In 2019, he overheard Verlin illustrate how the kingdom(s) of our world and the Kingdom of Heaven differ. That explanation reinvigorated his CHE efforts and added more than a dozen CHE ministries functioning under Dayo's mentorship with others in Ghana.

Another example of words stimulating God's gifts to good use was from a women's group using CHE. Their village lacked a good road from the civic center to the new dispensary, school, and church sites. So, using their African hoes (called a dabba) and hundreds of hours of elbow grease, they widened a frequently flooded path about 200 meters long into a road! Each week they check it, making repairs. Because it is maintained, the road is now a thoroughfare for other locals needing to board ferries. Hoes and hard work can be incredible witnesses and gifts to a community! They did it because their pastor heard the story of a market road repair at Bebou from Verlin, confirmed by others who participated.

REPORT with REGULAR RIGOR

The CHSC received an unusually high volume of donations on our behalf in the 1Q of 2023! Often that period and the coming summer months are the most difficult for us to maintain sufficient income. Despite hard times economically and other uncertainties, we thank you for an amazingly faithful partnership! Please find our first quarter giving listed at the end of this report, as we remain committed to transparent financial disclosure.

PRAYER AND PRAISE

• 🙏 Praise the Lord for watching over our comings and goings on two continents! Thank Him for healing Verlin's knee and our recent bouts with malaria

• 🙏 Rejoice with us that the AIC CHE Internship ended well. Pray the participants find fruitful means to apply what they learned, and our lives continue to encourage others.

• 🙏 Our Ivorian pastor's wife, who had ulcers, is experiencing better health now than she has in the past two years! She can take long walks and attend church, where she gives testimonies of praise. Thank you for battling in prayer on her behalf for such a long time. Pray that she maintains a diet that keeps the ulcers away

• 🙏 Thank the Lord for giving our son, Corbin, an engineering job within an hour's drive of his brother and sister! However, he still needs housing closer to work. Please ask our Father to provide that.

• 🙏 Pray for a long-delayed CHE editing project that needs to be completed before July. Several times we thought an Ivorian CHE trainer would come to assist with the effort, but work or communication errors delayed him.

 

Your Partners in the Gospel,

Verlin and Debbie

Check out the 1Q 2023 JPG or the 1Q 2023 PDF of the Anderson Report 230513 if you wish to review contributions and the ministry's expense summary.

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 provide support as we maintain 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 - specifying Verlin and Debbie Anderson in the optional Memo.

 

Prior Weekly: Dynamic Duo - 230506 PDF
Prior Videos: Rejoice and Reflect
        - The Great Story

 

2022 Q3&4 Report: Reckon
  -  2022 3&4Q Anderson Report 230121 PDF

2022 Budget Info:
CHSC-0118_ANDERSON-2022-Budget.pdf

Something to ask? Write updates@verlindeb.org

AWA represents
Andersons Witness in Africa.
It is also a brand of bottled water in Cote d'Ivoire where we serve.

GIVEONLINE to support these ministries
                                   www.che4a.org

 

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Family pics taken since choosing to serve as missionaries.