Jan-Feb 2016 Prayer Letter

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Happy New Year 2016

Happy New Year, on behalf of the Kuwaa people of Liberia, West Africa.  As we look forward to 2016 we ask for your continued prayers and financial support as our work continues in Liberia.  

Romans 12:4-5
“For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.”  

At the end of January, Cindy Ellis Bye once again traveled to Liberia.  During her time there they hope to accomplish many things.  Repairs will be made to old wells in Kondesu, Goleta, Kalata and Kpaulazu, and a new well will be completed in Goleta.  We  ask for your continued prayers for her while she is there and for the people of Liberia, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ among the Kuwaa.

The Kuwaa Mission is a 501c3 charity, your donations are fully tax deductible and don’t forget  to ask your employer about matching donations.  Our Tax ID number is 27-5458111

Ways to become involved as individuals or with your congregation:

Mission Possible Club – Congregations or groups pledge to pray regularly for the Mission and financially support it.
 
Kids4Kuwaa – Children get involved in prayer and financial support for the Mission and the Kuwaa people.  They support  the Mission by school and Sunday School offerings and fund raisers.

$12 Klub 4 Kuwaa – A program to get 1,000 people to give at least $1 a month.

Coffee Clatch 4 Kuwaa – An opportunity for women and women’s groups to get involved.

 Your contributions to The Kuwaa Mission are tax-deductible.  We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.

Donations can be given in two ways:

1.   Make out check to: The Kuwaa Mission  (send to Bethany Lutheran Church (see below))

2.   Go to the Kuwaa Mission Website at www.kuwaamission.org:  use PayPal to make a one time or automatic monthly donation

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The Kuwaa Mission:  c/o Bethany Lutheran Church,  1340 8th Street,  Slidell, LA 70458

www.bethanyslidell.org
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Merry Christmas 2015

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Christmas 2015

On behalf of the Kuwaa people of Liberia, West Africa, we wish you all a most Blessed Merry Christmas  2015  and  Happy New Year 2016.

The Kuwaa Christians celebrate Christmas much as we do. They observe Advent in their churches and many of their houses will have simple Christmas decorations. The women will dress up in their finest lappa garments. The children learn Christmas carols in school along with the Christmas story. There will be  church services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Often they will have a community feast on Christmas Day, sharing the food as we do with our church pot lucks.

Thank you so much  for your continued prayers and financial support of the Kuwaa Mission as we share the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, with our Kuwaa brothers and sisters in Christ. In 2016 we will be doing the following: digging a new well, conducting VBS classes, offering sanitation training, assisting local evangelists, supplying medications for the recently completed medical clinic in Kondesu, and building a number of bridges sorely needed for the access to the clinic and access between the villages. Please keep our busy 2016 work program in your thoughts and prayers throughout the year. We will be providing you with frequent up-dates as the work progresses.

Yours in Christ for the Kuwaa,

Ed and Diane Stelling, former missionaries to the Kuwaa with Lutheran Bible Translators, 1973-1979.

 Your contributions to The Kuwaa Mission are tax-deductible.  We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.

Donations can be given in two ways:

1.   Make out check to: The Kuwaa Mission  (send to Bethany Lutheran Church (see below))

2.   Go to the Kuwaa Mission Website at www.kuwaamission.org:  use PayPal to make a one time or automatic monthly donation

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The Kuwaa Mission:  c/o Bethany Lutheran Church,  1340 8th Street,  Slidell, LA 70458 www.bethanyslidell.org
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Thanksgiving 2015

 

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November 2015

‘Tis the season to be thankful…

Dear friends of the Kuwaa Mission,

Always be joyful.  Never stop praying.  Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.                      

1 Thessalonians 5:16

At Thanksgiving this year it is time once again to pause and give thanks for the many blessings we’ve been given.  Even as we are aware of war, violence, injustice and suffering in many places around the world, we are also aware of the many ways we see God’ hand of healing at work.  In the midst of crises, God’s people reach out with hope, offering tangible acts of service and gifts of grace.

One of the places this is surely evident is in the work of the Kuwaa Mission.   From the dedication of our volunteers to the faithfulness of our donors and partners we have seen God’s hands at work to bring hope, healing and Good News to the people of the Kuwaa villages during 2015.

We wish to offer a particular word of thanks to the staff and volunteers of Samaritan’s Purse who have been willing and available to deliver equipment, provide much needed transportation services for our Mission volunteers, and distribute aid during the Ebola crisis.  We deeply appreciate their partnership with us and all that they do in our and surrounding regions of Liberia and around the globe.  May God grant you continued success in your ministry!

Thank you, too, to our volunteer missionaries, CEO Stan Olsen and former Board Chair Cindy Ellis Bye, who leave the comforts of home to travel to our partner villages delivering hope and encouragement along with their love of Jesus and the Kuwaa people, and their expertise in construction and engineering, furthering the work of the mission in so many ways.

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

 Your contributions to The Kuwaa Mission are tax-deductible.  We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.

Donations can be given in two ways:

1.   Make out check to: The Kuwaa Mission  (send to Bethany Lutheran Church (see below))

2.   Go to the Kuwaa Mission Website at www.kuwaamission.org:  use PayPal to make a one time or automatic monthly donation

PDF and MS Word versions

Unsubscribe – Edit your subscription

The Kuwaa Mission:  c/o Bethany Lutheran Church,  1340 8th Street,  Slidell, LA 70458 www.bethanyslidell.org
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October-November 2015 Newsletter

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October-November 2015

ROADS AND BRIDGES!!

Matt. 25:34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

                  We are so excited and grateful that Cindy Bye can return to Liberia in January, 2016.  Due to the Ebola crisis, we were unable to return to Liberia in 2015.  By God’s grace, the Ebola crisis is over and the Kuwaa chiefdom was relatively untouched!!  Thank you so much for your prayers for Liberia and the Kuwaa people during that difficult time.

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

 Your contributions to The Kuwaa Mission are tax-deductible.  We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.

Donations can be given in two ways:

1.   Make out check to: The Kuwaa Mission  (send to Bethany Lutheran Church (see below))

2.   Go to the Kuwaa Mission Website at www.kuwaamission.org:  use PayPal to make a one time or automatic monthly donation

PDF Version and MS Word version

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The Kuwaa Mission:  c/o Bethany Lutheran Church,  1340 8th Street,  Slidell, LA 70458 www.bethanyslidell.org
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Sept 2015 Prayer Letter

Kuwaa Mission-Sept 2015 Prayer Letter

 

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Sept 2015
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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.

Our well contractor is now conducting an assessment of three villages to see exactly what the well needs are.  After this season we will have installed either new wells or refurbished wells in all of the 16 villages.  Some have more than one well but all have working wells delivering potable water for the first time since the very early 1990’s and some for the first time ever!!

We again will be conducting a sanitation workshop with the women from one of the villages.  This has been very successful in teaching them to understand the basic principles of sanitation and why the feces around the village needs to cleaned up and latrines built.  They willingly undertake this responsibility.

Children’s Bible School is a program that has grown beyond our wildest expectations from around 100 the first year to well over 200 last year.  200 is stretching it to be a manageable number but the program will continue for however many children show up.

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

 Donations can be given in two ways:

1.   Make out check to: The Kuwaa Mission  (send to Bethany Lutheran Church (see below))

2.   Go to the Kuwaa Mission Website at www.kuwaamission.org:  use PayPal to make a one time or automatic monthly donation

MS Word Version

PDF Version

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The Kuwaa Mission:  c/o Bethany Lutheran Church,  1340 8th Street,  Slidell, LA 70458 www.bethanyslidell.org
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