Different Ways to Support Me

In this economy it can be hard to commit to financially support a missionary. The last thing you want to do is to commit and then need to back out. The reality is, there are many ways you can support a missionary. Yes, financial support is of a big concern as we all need to reach our budgets so that we can continue living on the mission field. Another way is by giving needed gifts. These items could be anything from new tennis shoes (because shoes wear out quickly in places like Africa) to vitamins to keep the bugs off (nobody wants malaria) and to electronics that will make life easier (such as external hard drives to prevent from loosing everything because of a power surge).

As I get ready to leave for Africa, there are many things that I will be purchasing to accommodate living in a third world country. I have created a list through Amazon.com to help my supporters know the items I am looking for. If you would like to donate items on the list, it is an equal blessing to me as financial support. You can find my list at:

http://amzn.com/w/1SW795Y7HEBAM

or by searching Amazon Wishlist's my name - it is labeled Sending Nicole to Africa.

I appreciate everyone's supports: whether it is financial, gift, prayer, encouragement....please know that you are equipping me and giving me the courage to go!

Church Leaders Conference

Church Leaders Conference:

The Church as a Force for Positive Change
(written by the Ship Writers)

Sierra Leone is a poverty-stricken country hosting an array of diverse religions.  This is a potentially combustive environment, yet its people live peacefully side by side.  Intertwined with these religions is a strong underlying Animist belief system – a belief that souls or spirits exist not only in humans, but also in animals, plants, rocks, geographic features, or natural phenomena (e.g., thunder).  Syncretism – the merging of contrary beliefs – results in a religion that practices Christianity solely for protection from evil (demonic) spirits.

Mercy Ships has observed this fusion of Animism and Christianity in Sierra Leone.  Mercy Ships is a global, faith-based organization that deploys the world’s largest, non-governmental hospital ship to serve the desperate needs of the forgotten poor in Western Africa.  In addition to the medical services offered onboard the hospital ship, Mercy Ships also offers a variety of off-ship services, including dental and eye care.

One of the prime objectives of Mercy Ships is to improve health care delivery systems in the host country in order to increase services, lessen dependence upon surrogate providers, and improve quality of care in a sustainable environment.  In recent years they have included a whole-person ministry that recognizes the physical, spiritual, and emotional aspects of the individual and community.

Mercy Ships has approached this whole-person ministry by offering training opportunities for the church network.  In other words, the catalyst for transformational development has been identified as church leaders. 

The strategy is simple, yet highly challenging, in the religious culture of West Africa.  It is to live in the image of Christ among the local community – ultimately demonstrating unconditional love to the whole community.

Church leaders can leverage change through their congregations by actively serving their communities, thus breaking the cycle of inactivity and promoting development.  The Mercy Ships strategy for church leaders proposes “a change of worldview and recognition of the tools already at their disposal . . . to become a force for positive change.”[[1]|http://navigator.mercyships.org/#_ftn1]

In the 2011 Field Service to Sierra Leone, church leaders’ conferences, called “Partnership in Whole-Person Ministry,” were held in Freetown, Bo, and Makeni.  In Freetown, the three-day conference agenda featured guest speaker, Chris Ampadu, the West Africa Coordinator of Samaritan Strategy Africa – an organization that encourages, prepares, and equips local churches to carry out wholistic ministry in their communities.  He defined biblically supported worldview concepts that form the basis of specific goals which can be accomplished through projects delivered by local churches.

Fundamentally, the key to change starts by understanding current belief systems.  Chris emphasizes, “If you understand the African worldview, then you understand the way they see the world.  We have been born with glasses… the lens of the glass is formed by culture and tradition ... you think your way is dark until you examine the glass.  Oh, the world is not dark! This is the glass that I wear.”

The belief systems are compared to biblical truths.  Core realignments include Kingdom mathematics, whereby generosity reaps multiple rewards; equality in men and women, as both were made in the image of Christ; and a positive attitude to work and time because successes are born from hard work and effective time-management.

The groups of pastors were arranged according to their African tribal roots to compare belief systems to the Bible.  In the following workshop, they applied the biblical truths to their own belief systems.  It was a journey of self-revelation.

Finally, the conference taught participants how to change their communities. Previously, the church was considered as only spiritual. However, the next step is to grow in Christ in four areas – mental (wisdom), physical, social, and spiritual.  This is the turning point in order for the church to lead transformation.  In workshop sessions, Chris taught the pastors that, “All of us have something in our hands that can bring about God’s transformation.  We are all part of the formula.  Give to the community, even in the smallest way, and then greater provision will occur.”

Overall, the strategy changed mind-sets from theoretical ritual to practical demonstration. The workshops were designed as brainstorming sessions for church-driven community projects.  Chris was delighted with the pastors’ responses to the conference.  He said, “_Their mind-set has been opened to a godly mind-set.  We can now do something for ourselves.  I’m so touched by their deep love of the message.  I praise God for Mercy Ships to make this happen.”  _The final day of the conference was led by Community Health Evangelism (CHE). They provided the structure and process to create, design, and implement small “seed” projects.

The conference in Freetown was attended by 160 pastors from seven denominations, in addition to some Muslim representatives.  It provided a unique networking forum to unite churches.  Sharing knowledge on a regional basis will support optimal investment and increase success of the community projects.

A more long-term benefit is that educating communities to improve welfare through church-led projects will impact society at the “grass-roots” level.  This creates a foundation for development for generations to come.

The potential transformation was realized by many of the attending pastors, as evidenced by their comments:

“An eye opener!  So many churches have very little transformation because of the mind-set that Africa is poor.  We should start with
us
to change things around us.”

“I thank God for this conference.  It will help a lot. Look at the people as yourself.  Love church and non-church people.  Community is a more important focus now.”

“It’s opened my eyes to see that Africa . . . here we are blessed with natural and human resources, yet we are living in mass poverty.  We need to change and take up the biblical glasses.”

“The first day teaching revealed all the potential that Africa has and all that we are capable of as a continent.  And also the potential to unite and make disciples of all nations.”

“I am a Muslim.  But having learned something from this conference about Christ, I now decide to be a Christian. . .”

“For me, it is the transformation.  It is what the pastors can do in the country when Mercy Ships leaves . . . passing on tools to local people . . . embracing vision and strategy to initiate national transformation.”

“What I like most about this conference is it is eye-opening to new ways of overcoming the issue that we face here in Africa, such as blaming demons for our backwardness and not using our God-given talents and gifts to bring ourselves out of the darkness.  This has shown me new ways of doing things for community and individual development.” 

An Incredible Week

How can I find the words to tell you how incredible last week was? The training, the new friends, the “aha” moments, my new department welcoming me with open arms (and cobbler)…I guess the best place to start with whatever comes to mind first. 

The People:

Mercy Ships is an international organization. This week I caught a glimpse of what ship life will be like. There were people from seven different countries participating in training. Margot and Toni, who are two amazing Aussies, greeted me but before I knew it, people from Switzerland, Canada, Germany, Korea, and South Africa were becoming my friends. We were a mish-mash of cultural differences brought together by one common desire: to help the world’s forgotten poor. With this mutual goal in common, the cultural barriers were nearly invisible as we joined as a team. Within a few days, I felt friendships forming with that one common goal binding us together. It was difficult for me, knowing that I would be leaving in only a few days, while my new friends would be heading off to the Africa Mercy. I realized this is a struggle I will know intimately in Africa: the ever-rotating staff and finding peace in the weekly goodbyes. I will need to make a constant effort to not close myself off from the short-term crew. They can take it personally, when the reality is I fear the pain of saying goodbye. Africa will change me, but so will the crew of Mercy Ships. 

The Training: 

Training was overwhelming, enlightening, and encouraging. We walked through subjects such as Mercy Ships History, vision, mission, Shipboard living, programs, transitions, living in a community, and a fundraising seminar. They did their best to prepare us for what we will face in Africa and living on the ship. Daily, we had to share an “aha” moment; something said that stuck with us. For example, one day my aha moment was about the energy needed to do ministry in Africa. If you live on land in Africa while conducting ministry, 80% of your energy is spent in merely surviving and only 20% of your energy can be given to your ministry. With Mercy Ships, because the ship is a reprieve from the third World society I will only need about 20% of my energy for surviving and 80% can go into my ministry. I was extremely impressed with the transparency of the organization, telling us the difficulties of living on the Africa Mercy…no sugar coating…no begging to join them…telling us they completely understand if we decide not to go. In the end, I found myself yearning to go even sooner. Waiting to begin the next stage of my life is a hard concept for me. When I hear God’s voice calling me, I jump headfirst. I am grateful, though, for the three months I have left to finish preparing. 

The Marketing Department

As many of you know, I am a writer with the organization. My position is in the Marketing/PR department. The department at the IOC overwhelmingly welcomed me. It seemed like every day someone was seeking me out to meet me, to encourage me, to tell me how excited they are that I am a part of their team. On Friday, they all gathered to meet me while eating some wonderful cobbler. I was even given a handmade/designed notebook as a welcoming gift. In the back, they all wrote a paragraph of encouragement, welcoming me aboard, and telling me that they have my back. It was so foreign to me. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so welcomed, loved, accepted, and wanted. Here I am a person they are just meeting and they are rallying around me in support. I smile thinking about it, knowing that this is how we are meant to treat each other. 

Needless to say – I am extremely excited to be going back in September. I am also excited to share with you some of my “aha” moments over the next few weeks. After July 4^th, my schedule is slowing down a great deal. I would love to spend time with everyone before the end of August!

Bambay - Agriculture Student

Bambay Sawaneh
                   
Bambay is an extraordinary individual, whose life’s goal is “not to be a beggar.” This reflects the reality of life in Sierra Leone after their brutally violent ten-year civil war. The conflict devastated the people and left the country in shambles and poverty.  
During the war, Bambay, his mother, and two younger siblings fled from their village and hid in the bush for a month. When they ran out of food, Bambay went back to his village to find something – anything – they could eat. He planned to return to his family that day, but it was late. So, he accepted an invitation to stay until the next morning. It was a disastrous decision.
During the night, the village was attacked by rebel soldiers. “You voted for this president!” they shouted. Bambay tried to explain that he was only 15 and couldn’t vote for anyone. But they wouldn’t listen. They chopped off both his hands and left him for dead . . . along with the other villagers who had been mutilated.
Later that day, he was found by a roving seller of goods and taken to a nun at a nearby church. She took him to a hospital and then nursed him back to health. While Bambay was in her care, she asked him what he’d do if he ever found the man who cut off his hands. “I would kill him!” said Bambay.

The nun began to plant the seeds of forgiveness into Bambay’s thinking. She told him how important it was for his future to relinquish the hate and anger that fueled his unforgiveness.
The nun also did what she could to prepare the young man for life on his own. She arranged a surgery that would split the hacked ends of both hands, allowing him to grasp things.

One day Bambay was out with his friends when he saw “Sewer Poison,” the nickname given to the man who had cut off his hands. He went after him and caught him, but couldn’t bring himself to kill the man. The seeds of forgiveness had been well-planted. His friends offered to kill the man for him, but Bambay wouldn’t allow it. The man pleaded for his life, and Bambay forgave him.
That forgiveness enabled Bambay to move on with his own life. He eventually met and married Mary, and today they have a seven-month-old baby daughter, Ann.

Today, Bambay is a trainee in the Food for Life Program that was started in Benin by Mercy Ships and Bethesda, another non-governmental organization. The goal of the program is to train people in organic farming methods and in leadership principles. These trainees will, in turn, teach others in their communities. In this way, the program is duplicating easily in Sierra Leone. It has the potential of transforming food-growing in the country, as it improves the financial status of those involved.
The Food for Life program is also partnering with City of Rest Rehabilitation Center’s Agriculture Therapy and Skills Training program. Bambay wants to be involved in using the program’s biblical concepts to help rehabilitate the mentally ill, as well as drug and alcohol addicts
Bambay is, indeed, a remarkable man who is achieving much, much more than his goal to “not to be a beggar.”
Story by Elaine B. Winn
Edited by Nancy Predaina
Photos by Tom Bradley and Ken Winebark