Southeast Gospel Tract Meeting held in Faunsdale AL

      Had the privilege to attend the Southeast tract meeting. I am personally not a official "tract worker", but take active interest in the tract "work". The tracts are given out in personal handouts or set up in tract racks in businesses, stores and laundromats. The tracts are free for anyone to distribute.
      For those not acquainted with Gospel tract work let me clue you in. For one, we are the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite, to other Mennonite groups they know us as Holdemans after reformer John Holdemon. Mennonites are Christians named after reformer Menno Simons. Our main concern is to follow Christ and the Bible with special emphasis that it is possible to live the Sermon on the Mount.
We have a branch of the Church that is the  Gospel Tract and Bible Society. They print plain, no-frills tracts. The main concern is to spread the simple gospel in a fourth grade comprehension. The goal is to point people to Christ and Repentance and New Birth. When you really know Christ as your Savior---your life and its fruits and your personal outlook change. These tracts are there to point people to those Bible passages that can lead them to that end. The tracts are also there to warn the World at large about the coming judgement of God to a world that chooses to rebel against His will.
      There are also tracts explaining Church doctrine and ones that promote Gospel morality (condemning drugs, pleasure seeking and immorality, etc.)
The meeting last Saturday included talks by one of the proofreaders. He stressed the fact that there is a demand for these tracts around the world in many languages. An interesting fact is that a police force in one country is presently passing out millions to it's citizens on the streets. Many private individuals and groups use them to distribute even though they are not affiliated with our church. The proof readers go over our tracts to make sure they are sound, easy to understand and able to mass produce to a world that is hungry for Truth. 
       I feel guilty that I could do more to help out by passing out this good literature, praying that some soul can find fulfillment and redemption in Christ. It is so worth it. So many Christians talk the talk, but do not really carry the cross of Christ as he instructs. We need to point men to that cross. Even if you can't speak to everyone personally ----tracts----the power of the written words----can reach out to millions that you will never see, if you are only willing to make the first step and pass out a tract.

Check it out for your self
Read a few tracts at:
http://churchofgodinchristmennonite.net/gospel_literature


To Contact Gospel Tract:
http://churchofgodinchristmennonite.net/node/4

Wiebe's Corner Quotes: Obedience is Paramount

It is better to read one verse in the Bible and obey it, than to read a whole chapter and ignore it.

 

Deacon Pedro

Dominican Republic

The Christian Mission Voice

August 2011

Cholera Spreads to Oriani Haiti

A week ago the dreaded Mr Cholera came into our town. We have 60 plus people in this Oriani area who are seriously sick with cholera now (and a lot more are mildly sick). About 10 percent of the seriously sick are dead or dying. At our clinic, we have been working with regular patients normally, but all suspected cholera victims are helped at the back gate. We have too many people coming here for other problems that we just cannot risk contaminating the clinic with cholera. We have been counselling cholera victims and families, giving lessons on ORS (Oral Rehydration Solution), giving Doxycyclin, etc. When it looks like the case is serious, we urge them to find a way down the mountain to a Cholera Treatment Center (closest isover an hour drive away). Some can go, some can’t, some we help with money to go, and some we take down. We have friends who have almost died, and one of the families who come to church had a child die.

I have 2 wonderful things to report on though. :-)

      1. We have 5 Haitian congregations, Fond Michelle, Cazeau, Banchard, Gantier, and Fond Parisian who heard of the plight of the people in Oriani and decided to come to our rescue. They bought a truck load of treated drinking water in bags, went to the DR and bought a lot of Clorox, and called us and said they were on the way up here with it! WOW. Perfect timing! It is such a fast, and sympathetic response to our needs here! They truly do care for one another. Our congregation here is now distributing it to needy families. Families who do not have water filter systems, families who have sick people and need to disinfect things etc. I love to see a working church like this.
      2. We have been frustrated that no local mayors etc have been around to bring assistance here. BUT....Last night the politicians came up from Port (body guards and all) and surveyed the town and promised us a CTC. They even came to our house, to personally tell me that it would happen. They said it wouldn’t be fast though, because they personally are officials who do not do things "illegally". He patted his big chest and told us all that he was a "legal" man and would get all the necessary permits etc, would do it properly, and build a big Cholera Treatment Center, and it would be not just a tarp tent, but a BIIIIG place with a tin roof. (that would be a long process)
      I was sceptical and told them, "I love your ideas but...there is NO time for too much politics and permissions from different departments and other bureaucrats. Cholera doesn’t care about doing things the legal and illegal way. Cholera kills fast... and so we need to find a solution fast."
      I thought I made him mad, but I tried to smooth it over by thanking them profusely for ALL their help for this area. (basically nothing till now)
      Just then, a lady carrying a sick baby came to our house. They suddenly saw a Cholera victim! It was amazing!!! They started arguing, gesturing, and talking in very typical excited Haitian fashion. They suddenly ran back to the house and asked me for a hammer. They charged off down the hill to the new, yet unused, community building, and didn’t even wait for the local mayors to come or bring a key. They just smashed the lock off with my hammer, and announced that "THIS is the new CTC!!!"  They ran around to people's houses and brought cots and called to another town an hour away and "ordered" them to send two nurses up asap. This is already 6 pm, and getting dark, but in an hour the nurses were there, and were working on a couple patients. The politicians stood around drinking rum, and feeling good. I even felt good for them! I give them alot of credit, they actually stayed till 10 pm ordering people to get this, get that etc. We offered them some lights and they got a little generator around, and soon there was lights going. All very amazing. They say now that they are sending money and supplies up on Monday to help advance it.
      I think God sent that sick child to us/them at just the right time to break them out of their bureaucratic modes.
      This morn we have 11 new cholera patients that are getting IV fluids in the CTC.  It has been a stressful week to get to this point. Dallas, with his pickup, has been helping too by taking sick people down several times, but today we and the community are relaxing a little, even smiling.  
      The local casket maker is excited about new business, and he is working long days and into the evening building beautiful hand crafted coffins. They are smoothed and polished off with fibreglass, airbrushed, and have brass handles etc. just like Canada. These poor people here beg and borrow a year’s wages!! to buy a coffin like that to prove that they really do love and honor their deceased. I told my family yesterday, that if I die here, I want a simple pine board box, and to be buried in our back yard here.
      Thanks to God, Candace's infection is fading away, and we are all in good health. The clinic is still going strong, and we thank you all for your support.

Love and prayers, Keith

Book----Through The Eye of A Needle: The Doctrine of Nonaccumulation

I had some company this weekend and this book came up in the conversation. It has been making its rounds in congregations around the conference. It is to challenge us in these times. This is a Anabaptist scriptual Bible study and not some new fangled ideas. It is a challenge to seriously look into the Words of Christ on these matters and return to the faith of our Church Fathers. (Those generations that carried the Gospel message through the ages to our day). A very good counterbalance to our modern material oriented lifestyle and culture. Just be sure to read the whole book through to give it fair trial. Peter Waldo and the Waldensians would find adjustment to our literature just as challenging. I think the printed book has more word illustrations then the online version. 
It explores those Bible verses and questions on the material world that we like to avoid. Enjoy.


Read or Review the book online
http://www.elcristianismoprimitivo.com/througheyeofneedle.pdf


Buy the Book ---$5.95
http://www.scrollpublishing.com/store/more-Eye-of-Needle.html



Beware of covetousness, for a man’s life consisteth not in the
abundance of things which he possesseth.  (Lk. 12:15)


They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare . . . but thou,
O man of God, flee these things.  (1 Tim. 6:9, 11)

Provoking Thoughts......

Christians of today are replacing feasting for fasting, playing for praying, and compatibility for confronting.


If this is true what are the consequences? How much will God tolerate before he prunes the tree?

Medical Issues and Cholera Hit Home in Oriani Haiti

Sept.23

On Candace’s infection.... It is on her side, half way between her armpit and her waist. It was very swollen and tight. The red area was about 6 inches across and now is about 10-12 inches, and spread around her back. Wed we went to Bernard Mevs hospital. That is the Lebanese twins hospital behind HayTrac. They had some Canadian drs there. They cut and cleaned it out. They don’t culture it because they say it is next to impossible to determine why these infections come, but they are generally Staph infection, sometimes MRSA that somehow enters the area. It could start with a spider bite or even just a prick or wound. We personally think they all started a certain way because of the unique pain of the small pimple that it always starts with. I still worry that she could get septic and then she would need IV antibiotics. She felt sick all day today. It is HUGE, about twice as big as the two infections I had, and the hole is about an inch deep and quite rotten. But she is on 2 antibiotics now that just kick into effect tonight. So we pray.

Last night on the way home (Candace and I spend night in Port), we waited for Dallas and Se Jeremy to arrive at the Fond Parisian hospital. There we fought for se Jeremys life in the hospitals (both FP hospitals). She had no detectable pulse, and no blood pressure. She had IVs put in both arms, and then the American DRs used a drill to get IVs straight into the marrow of each leg. They pressurized all these IV bags to be able to get the liquid in faster. Today they say she had cholera, and now they think she may live. When I helped carry her into the hospital she was running diarrhoea that left a trail all the way in and was on our clothes, shoes and hands. Everyone ended up contaminated and had to use lots of Javex etc.  We left FP last night at 9pm. Dallas had several brethren with him in the Isuzu pickup, (the Toyota had the rear end  totally seize up and skidded him to a halt a few days ago),  and Candace and I were in our truck. It took us 4 hours (till 1am) to get home. The whole Fond Verrrete valley was in flash flood mode. We waited till it went down and then started into the riverbed. We had no road left and spend alot of time stopping and wadeing thru the knee deep water searching for a route that didn’t have large rocks or washouts. Dallas got stuck once. We made it home last night, but have 3 holes in our tires today.  Had a 4 hr nap this afternoon while it poured rain. The lightning was smashing all around us, making it hard to sleep.

Last week Dallas’s house got hit by lightning and they saw the blue arcs in the house. The Orange signal booster is fried. This week a Oriani man got struck by lightning. It ripped his hat off, burned holes in his shirt and slammed him to the ground. His heart was acting funny for the rest of the day he said. Said it didn’t beat right. Haven’t seen him since so we assume he’s ok.

Our next door neighbour, Mirani, is pregnant, 3 children, husband left for DR, and she has no garden or money. Very sad, but we cant let her starve.

So thats the last couple days news,Love to you all, and keep praying

Sept.24

For Candace... Kim rebandaged it today and she thinks its going to be ok. The area on her lower back is no worse today and Candace feels better. SO maybe the antibiotics are starting to work properly now. This is the 4^th day on them.  We are still worried, but going to a hospital is no easy thing either, so we feel the best now is to just watch it closely.

Sister Jeremy is not doing well and they feel she will die soon. The brethren here are in abig stew and are all giving ideas on how to go down and help Jeremy. They have 6 children. We still don’t have conclusive answers on what her problem is, or even what they are trying to do for her. Haitian hospitals are all so crazy. Even the so called “white” hospitals are basically run by Haitians, the Haitian way. Double Harvest hospital is one of the better ones and they too often just give us a run around when we take people there. Sometimes people get help, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes a week later they come back up the mountain and their eating money is gone and nothing was done.

Sept.26

Today the Cholera epidemic is hitting Oraini area. We have had several deaths now over the weekend, and we have several church members and converts families who have it now. Sister Jeremy is still alive, and still in the Hospital in Port. We are in high alert at the clinic and are stopping all diarrhoea and vomiting people at the gate. We cannot risk contaminating the whole clinic. All cholera victims HAVE to be treated at a separate site!  We are treating them outside, but they cannot come into the clinic.

We are talking to World Vision today to see if they can come set up a CTC, (Cholera Treatment Center). We are hunting for a place to put up a tent and trying to put a plan in place.

More on that all later….

Candace’s MRSA is getting better thanks to Gods help. We were pretty worried a couple days ago, but the infection has shrunk, and even though it could rebound…. We have faith that God is healing now.

Life is serious here. Prayer is something that is real and a source of confidence in these times. Troubles like these kinda take away the petty things away that we sometimes tend to fret and concern ourselves with.

The Game of Life

Friedrich Moritz August Retzsch (1779-1857) Die Schachspieler "The Chess Players"


We were at work today and one of my fellow workers mentioned this work of art and how the longer you would look at this picture the more it makes you think about it's subject. 
For one the player on the left is the devil and on the right is the Christian. They are playing on a crypt signifying the finality of the stakes of the game. The chess pieces are too small here but represent various themes. The guardian angel in the background can do nothing for the Christian as he has to make his own choices in this game of life. The longer you look to the left the more sinister you realize he is. What moves are you playing in your life today? Are they Christ directed? Am I prayerful enough to realize the stakes are too high to just throw away the game?

Wiebe's Corner Quotes: God's Call to Revival

People are inherently religious.  They are going to worship, but seeking religion in a creed, a confession of faith, or an emotional experience while destitute of power to overcome the urges of the flesh constitutes a contradiction.  It will not satisfy.  Seeking satisfaction from any spirit of self or this world leaves the hungry soul without nourishment.  Filling one's spiritual capacity with selfish interests is like eating food with no nutrition.  When man realizes something is missing and the deeper longings of his soul are not satisfied, it is God's call to revival.

 

Robert A. Koehn

Religious Form Without Power

MOT  Vol. 109 . No. 17

August Progress: Oriani Haiti

Sept 8 2011

Rain Rain Go Away,

Come again another... another... in another location far far from HERE!!!

We have downpours almost every day. The road to our house is a mucky slick redmud mess. But, the nice thing is that we have about 6 hours of sunshine everyday as well. Every morning looks like an awesome day, and then at noon its grumbling and rumbling, and the dark clouds are billowing around. When there is loud thunder that booms around in these mountains the Haitians say that God is rolling rocks around in Heaven. (they don’t actually believe that).  Too much rain has ruined a lot of the farmers potatoes. The only thing that does well in rain is cabbage, but... the cabbage price is so low, and the trucking to the big markets so high, that some people never bothered harvesting their cabbage. I wrote last time about our neighbours Jude and Miranie, and now Jude has left the family, and slipped across the border into DR to try to find abit of work and money. But he left Miranie with nothing to feed the 3 children and her pregnant self. They have no family alive that can help. They live in the shadows of our house basically, so what do we do? We cannot walk by and continually say ``have a good day!``.  We cannot sit and close our ears to hungry children cries. What would Jesus do? Life is hard here, and I think it makes them long for Heaven more.

We as a family went home to Ontario for a little visit. We had some things to tie up and arrange there so that we could return and stay here in Haiti longer.  We enjoyed the visit, but it felt good to come back home to Haiti.  When someone else is running the farm, someone else is renting our house, and we stay in other peoples places for night.... it felt like Haiti was really where we for now can call “home”. Things back in Canada are so different than what we have been immersed in, that it about wobbles our equilibrium!

The clinic functioned very smoothly while we were away, thanks be to God, and thanks also to the great team we have. The numbers of people needing help has doubled at the clinic since we opened in January. EVERY month the numbers climb. Sometimes it about breaks our heart to see the needs and the sad situations. We desperately pray for guidance and wisdom every day. Without His help and guidance in this effort, we wouldn’t have made it half this far. So we thank you all for praying too. We are inspired by your emails and words of encouragement and the many many of you who tell us that we are in your prayers almost every day. It really is special to us!

We have been wanting to get into vaccinating, but so far with Mr Time squeezing us by the neck, it hasn’t been possible. It is next on the list of things to pursue. The Department of Health says we need to have a refrigerator in place before they can sign us onto the program. A propane fridge and tanks etc probably cost $1500 US Dollars.  We have been submitting our own version of a report to the government each month, and the Department of Health has been sitting up and taking note of what’s happening here. Even though we are still officially under the annex of one of the CSI clinics, the Dep of Health is now offering us our own licence. This has all worked very nicely. It’s better that they offer us our own licence because of their confidence in us, rather than us chasing them to convince them that we kinda know what we are doing.  I think this is very cool. But not as cool as a fridge ;-)  (a pun).

I mentioned needing a vehicle that we could use for hauling patients down to Port -au-Prince when necessary, and the response was amazing. We don’t have it all solid yet, but we are working on it and have potential for one.  Very cool indeed.

Our prayers for a replacement have been answered. When Nurse Kim leaves in Oct, we have Ashley Dirks from KS coming back for a few months. She spent the summer months here with us and has a working knowledge of the language. We are still looking for a suitable RN for starting Jan 1.  Please add that to your thoughts and prayers. The need is great and the work is rewarding.  The people and country are beautiful and safe.

The boys hadn’t ridden our horses for awhile and they (the horses) have been getting fat on the good grass. Fat and feisty. The other day Cam and his new friend Travis went to catch them and after 2 hours they came back filthy muddy, and worn out, ... sans horses. The horses were so aggressive that they never could control them, and in the melee one Haitian boy even got kicked in the neck. Luckily it was just a glancing blow, and he is fine.

Our oldest son Trev (18) is leaving us for 6 months while he volunteers at Christian Public Service (CPS) close to Port. He and 4 other young men will be building earthquake victim housing, and doing other such projects. Waylon Litwillers (from Deridder, Louisiana) are the house parents. www.cpshaiti.com 

We are sad to see our local missionaries, deacon Clinton and Ruth Holdeman, go home to Lime Springs Iowa this next week. They will be sorely missed. Clinton was like a good papa to us here with all his wisdom and long term Haiti experience to draw on. Minister Dallas and Linda Koehn from Cimarron Kansas is the new missionary family that replaces Clintons. It will be exciting to get to know them. They have a 12 yr old boy and a 18 yr old girl. They also have spend 5 yrs or so here in Haiti earlier (but in a different area of Haiti).  The local congregation at Oriani is by`n large doing well and is looking forward to 20 or so baptisms soon. There is another bunch of people who have been born-again and who are asking to start Bible/doctrine classes. I suspect Dallas will probably realise what the term “full time” missionary means. J  Pray for us all here that the Lords work can continue strong, that suffering can be relieved, and the Gospel can continue to reach and save souls.  Because THATS what it’s all about.

In Him,

Keith and Candace 

Oriani, Haiti

History of the Mission in Paraguay

Greetings from South America
I have wanted to write this letter ever since we came here! Maybe this will answer some of your questions about this country and how the mission got started here.
At the end of 1800s Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay united against Paraguay. Those countries were fighting to make one big country and Paraguay didn’t accept. The war lasted 5 years. At that time 500,000 people were living in Paraguay. At the end of the war 200,000 were left. Basically all of the male population was gone including a lot of young boys. Since their population was reduced to a third the government invited foreigners to come and colonize.
Therefore Paraguay is a mixture of all kinds of people. Brazilians, Argentineans, and a lot of Germans, Canadians, and Americans live here. There was a lot of land and at a cheap price. Some people own thousands of acres. Lots of them farm and raise cattle. Then most of the products would be exported.
The Paraguayans themselves have been left to struggle on their own. It’s very easy to see that foreigners run the economy. The Paraguayans themselves would tend to be poorer.
Mennonites of all kinds live in Paraguay. There are the old Mennonites that moved in from Mexico, who still drive horse and buggy to those who are now wearing jeans and have taken on most everything. Then there’s everything in between. They all live on their own colony. It is obvious that they came for the rich farm land. They have HUGE farms, lots of cattle and also dairy cows. They have set up grain bins, processing plants, and banks. All in all it looks like there plan succeeded. Some of the groups allow the Paraguayans to join their church and make their lives easier. Others will have nothing to do with them except to hire them for cheap labor. They want to keep their race pure! The sad thing is there is much discontent on these colonies. The bishop is the head and you must obey. Some of the bishops even have access to the peoples’ bank accounts. If they think you aren’t tithing properly they will just take it out. Out of all these churches it is very interesting to note that some fellowship together even greeting with the holy kiss even if all their beliefs wouldn’t match. Then others are too worldly for them.
These churches have lots of splits and a smaller group forms. One of theses splits is the reason our missionaries are here in Paraguay. Right close to us maybe half mile is an American colony. They are a split from the Amish. They still wear bonnets, suspenders are a MUST, but they have electricity and drive vehicles. A group of people became upset at all the rules of the church and felt that was not the Bible way. They split and a minister went with them starting a new little church just down the road. It wasn’t long and the people of this new group found out that their minister had some serious moral problems. They confronted him and he in a rage walked out and headed back to the US leaving them with no leader. One of the men in this church had a son living in North Carolina. He told his son that they needed a pastor for their church. This son knew a Paraguayan who was in our church living in Alabama. He called him and in turn Guido called the mission board. They came down to look over the situation and soon Guido and his wife were heading to Paraguay to be the first missionaries here. That was about 4 years ago. The going hasn’t been easy. Of that group we now have 3 members. Some of the others returned to the old church and some have no church.
We still have a nice attendance on Sundays and hope that more will join. At times it’s hard for these people to see much of a difference because really what’s one more church?
There are 3 missionary couples here at the time. One of them work is among the Mennonites, the other here in this little congregation, and the other couple is at a new post in Barrio San Pedro. In total there are 6 members in Paraguay. Three are courageous. The others are a husband, wife, and child. Antonio was very offended and bitter for awhile and wouldn’t let his family attend. Just the last few Sundays though he has been coming and bring them again. We are praying for a change.
There have also been 3 couples from the other Mennonite groups that have joined, but they have all moved back to Canada. That is hard on our Paraguayan members because we need a church in Paraguay too. They struggle to understand why they leave.
We are very much enjoying our time getting acquainted with the Paraguayans and there culture. You’re more than welcome to come visit and see for yourselves what it is like! 
Written by a couple in Paraguay teaching school

Sugar Hill Mission NYC Meditations

Some Wonderers and Wonderings  . . .

Jason comes to the steps of the mission apartment and sits.   As he sits he wonders if God is calling him.  He sits and wonders why he returns to these steps again and again.

Fred walks by on his way home.  He stops and asks, “Is this a church?”   He wonders because he says he always feels a calmness in his heart as he passes by.

The phone rings and John asks,  “I am wondering about the Christian religion.  Can you help me?  Voodoo is not making sense to me any longer.  I wonder if there isn’t something else I need?”

Sandra wonders what the difference is between our faith and other plain groups.  She attends both our services and theirs.  She wonders what she cannot explain.

Abigail wonders at the feeling of ‘home’ she received the first time she walked into the mission church.  She wonders how she found us while on a walk to the grocery store.

Dan wonders why others can’t relate to his born again experience.  He wonders why they don’t understand what he is speaking about and why we do.

Eduardo calls and wonders when we are coming to visit.  He wonders how to help his wife to become a true Christian.

Janesha wonders why the light burns all night in the windows of the mission.  Will that light stay burning in this city of millions?

Do we wonder if the Lord is calling?  Do we wonder where the workers are?  Do we wonder who will answer these wonderers?  Do we wonder, “Is it I?”

From Sugar Hill Mennonite Mission, NYC