An answer to prayer!
Prayers to find missionaries to reach out to the Nanerige people group of Burkina Faso have been answered. Appointed as MB Mission and Service International workers to Burkina Faso are Blaine and Michelle Warner of Parliament Community Church, Regina.
Fire and winds in Brazil
A poor favela (ghetto) about two blocks away from a church in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where Ray and Judy Harms-Wiebe minister, burned to the ground early this fall. Some 200 shacks of the neighbourhood known as “Hot Hole,” notorious for its crime and drug trade, disappeared in minutes. The church immediately responded with practical help, but is also trying to influence power structures within the favela. Drug traffickers responded with death threats against a mission team member. The situation is complex, involving “many different winds”: ghetto dwellers, politicians, drug traffickers and policemen. But “winds of the Spirit” are also blowing, the Harms-Wiebes write.
Reaching out to immigrants in Portugal
As the MBMSI ministry team in Portugal witnessed the huge movement of immigrants from the former Soviet Union enter Portugal, they were moved to reach out to address social and spiritual needs. They were able to secure the help of Walter and Nadya Klause, missionaries from Logos International. Otto and Marjorie Ekk, who lead an emerging church in the outskirts of Lisbon, report that this unique initiative to Russian-speaking immigrants has resulted in the local social services department coming to them for meetings about the needs of this community. Eastern Europeans initially flooded into Portugal to assist with construction projects for Expo but with that past, unemployment is growing. Alcoholism is increasing.
Youth teams head for assignments
Sixteen young people left for mission service in DR Congo, Thailand and Montreal Nov. 1. As part of Youth Mission International’s TREK program, they serve about 10 months in training and in a cross-cultural context with missionaries and local pastors. Six will work in DR Congo with Murray and Faith Nickel, six in Thailand with Team 2000, and four in Montreal with pastor David Manafo.
—MBMSI “Global Bridge” newsletter
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