We also wish to thank YOU, our many generous donors, who support the work of the Kuwaa Mission through your monthly pledges, Noisy Offerings, special events and promotions, and your prayers.  Your gifts in 2015 made it possible for us to provide training and materials for Children’s Bible school for over 240 children, to train 21 people from 5 different villages in how to maintain and service well pumps, provide a sanitation training in Belle Baloma, to install two new wells in Belle Baloma and Teiglei,  purchase medicines for the Kuwaa medical clinics and, with the help of Samaritan’s Purse, the Lutheran Church in Liberia, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Liberia, provide relief to families suffering from Ebola during the recent crisis.

We still have much to do.  In 2016 our focus will be on building bridges to make it possible for villagers to receive medical attention, supplies and food year-round.  This is a big undertaking and we are asking for your continued financial and prayer support.

We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.   Colossians 1:3

May God bless each of you and your families this Thanksgiving and all year through.

Rev. Carol George, Chair

Kuwaa Mission Board of Directors

Liberia, and particularly the Kuwaa chiefdom, is in a tropical rainforest – emphasis on RAIN!!  Liberia receives between 80 and 200 inches of rain a year (Monrovia is the wettest capital city in the world).  How does that affect the work of the Kuwaa Mission?  American volunteers come to Liberia only during the dry season (mid-November through March) because the roads are impassable at other times of the year.  When we arrive, the roads and bridges have been washed out or damaged due to the heavy rainfall during rainy season.  This makes for delays and difficulties in bringing important supplies to the villages.

                  Right now, Liberian colleagues are busy working on bridges and roads.  We have sent funds for the needed supplies and labor to clear roads and repair bridges so that they are ready when Cindy Bye comes in January to provide children’s Bible school, hygiene and sanitation training, and medical supplies and support.  If we receive enough donations, we can also renew work on wells.  Without good roads, the trucks laden with bags of cement and other supplies cannot reach the villages.  Other modes of transportation must be found which are much more expensive.  These roads are not just for Cindy’s comfort (although they will be appreciated!), they are necessary for the economic and physical well-being of the Kuwaa people.  Without clear and passable roads year round, the Kuwaa people have difficulty accessing the medical clinic.  With good roads and bridges, the villagers can engage more easily in commerce which supports the local economy.

                  Will you partner with us to provide the funds for this important work?  Your donations go far in providing life-enhancing and even life-saving clean water, public hygiene, and medical support.  Even more important, the Kuwaa Mission loves to tell the story of the Son of God who provides living water.  Please pray for the Kuwaa people that they may know Jesus as their Savior.

                  Among the Kuwaa people, it is customary to say “Na Mama O-Oh” (thank you) when you see someone working.  We wish to say “Na Mama O-Oh” to you for the work you do for the Kuwaa Mission and for God’s Kingdom.  Thank you.

                  Sincerely,

                  Jenny Cosgrove

As summer begins to ebb away, ebbing quickly here in Alaska!, we are busy preparing for another season of activity for and with the Kuwaa People.  Liberia has essentially recovered from the Ebola crisis so we are looking forward to another dry season of productive programs.

The clinic that we finished almost two years ago now is being staffed by the Ministry of Health.  In addition to birthing the mid-wives have a basic understanding of the health care needs of the people and how to see that they get the medical help that is available.  Dr. Harris, the shorter man in the white tee shirt, is the son of a former bishop of the Lutheran Church in Liberia.  He recently travelled to Liberia and made available to the Kuwaa Mission a pickup load of medical supplies for the clinic.  Due to the condition of the roads at this time of year we were not able to transport them directly to the clinic.  We put a notice on the radio and many people came on a two day 2 day walk from their villages to get the medicines and walked two days back to the clinic.  We praise God for making this possible and the people for their dedication.

As Ed Stelling mentioned last month, we are undertaking a new program this year:  building bridges.  The feeder road from the clinic to the main road has many bridges that are only passable by motorbike.  Two of the bridges have fallen down completely and any traffic is rerouted down into the creek bed.  We have a signed contract with a man who will rebuild the main bridges as well as install small log crossings over the smaller creeks.  All constructed in order that a pickup truck can safely pass.  Our clinic contractor will oversee this work.  Upon completion the Ministry of Health will be able to access the clinic easily and the people will have a means to get their produce to market much more efficiently.  Health care and economic development all in one program!!

As our new board takes over the reins of the program we thank all of you for your prayers and financial support.  We ask your continued prayers for the Mission and that we will raise the funds to complete the planned work projects this years.  We are so so close and need your continued support.

Thank you and God bless.

Stan Olsen

CEO

Last month I had the privilege and opportunity to represent the Kuwaa Mission at the biennial International Lutheran(LCMS) Women’s Missionary League convention held in Des Moines, IA. Two years ago, board member Lolitha Shepherd and I attended the convention in Pittsburgh, PA.  I met many of the same women and shared the good news of what the mission has accomplished in the past two years: completion of the medical clinic in Kondesu; completion of wells in 14 of the 16 villages; and the VBS conducted  in our former village of Belle Baloma several months ago with over 120 children attending. Together we praised the Lord for what has been accomplished.

Since the early 1970’s the Kuwaa have had portions of God’s Word and in 1988 the complete Kuwaa New Testament in their own heart language was printed and distributed. The Word of God has been sown, nourished and we have seen the bountiful harvest of souls brought to Christ. Since 2009, the Kuwaa Mission has been involved with the Kuwaa people in helping them to rebuild their lives and villages after the 14 year destructive Liberian civil war. We will, with God’s provision and with the prayers and financial support from our faithful partners carry out this mission and ministry for the Kuwaa. Please consider a donation at this time for the bridge-building projects which begin this November.

We don’t always end up in life where we thought we were going.  We sometimes head in one direction and get diverted by an obstacle.  Sometimes we use our intuition and the path appears before us.  It’s not usually a straight path.  It has lots of bends, hills, and valleys.  But if we listen
to our intuition, it will get us where we are intended to go.   
I think about this as my term on the Board of the Kuwaa Mission comes to a close.  I initially signed up for a trip to Africa to help people get clean water.  I’m an environmental engineer, and I wanted to use my God-given talents to serve others.  I heard Rev. Dick Thompson speak about the Kuwaa Mission at my church in Anchorage, and I knew I had to go.  I didn’t know that it would lead to spending about 9 months in remote villages over 6 years, and getting to known and to love the Kuwaa People.  I was fortunate to see several wells dug, see a clinic built, and
do some sanitation training.  The highlight was doing Children’s Bible School with 106 kids.  It was wonderful to go back year after year and see the improvements in my Kuwaa friends’ lives.

Three Kuwaa Mission Board members will complete their terms at the end of June: me, Ed Stelling, and Ron Morgan.  I hope that their journey with the Kuwaa People was as satisfying as mine.  I thank them for their service on the Board.  We will continue to volunteer for the Mission, but we are turning over the Board positions to 4 new members.

Welcome to Karen Kuhnert of North Pole, AK, Carol Norquist of Anchorage, AK, Diane Stelling of Lake Forest, CA, and Karen Voris of Eagle River, AK.  

The Board usually meets by teleconference call, but every 2 years, we meet face to face.  We recently met in Red Lodge, MT.  These meetings are necessary to share our enthusiasm for the Mission, make long term plans, and take care of business issues as a non-profit corporation.  
We enjoy fellowship together and pray for guidance in steering the Kuwaa Mission towards God’s end goal.  It is not a straight path, and there are lots of hills and rivers to cross, but we know that with God all things are possible.

           Heavenly Father, we thank you for the work you have done through us to help the Kuwaa People.  We ask that you will continue to guide us.  Be with our new Board of Directors, all of our volunteers, and our contractors to improve the lives of the Kuwaa People.  Be with the Kuwaa People and keep them out of harm’s way.  We hear your call, oh Lord.  Make straight our pathway.  In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.  Amen.