Ministry During a Pandemic

While the pandemic delayed many booklet shipments, many shipments have now been delivered or are en route. Helen Williams of World Missionary Press says shipping restrictions remain an important point of prayer for the ministry.

“Our primary prayer is for the ports to open and for the cities to open so that our coordinators can get to the port, get to their agents, get the paperwork done, [and] be ready to receive [the shipments],” she says.

Photo courtesy of Bill Wegener via Unsplash

Shipments are ready for several countries, including Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica, and Haiti. Williams says the distribution network in Honduras is particularly strong. World Missionary Press partner Jim T. says that the impact of the booklets in Honduras has been especially powerful during the pandemic.

“World Missionary Press literature has played a bigger role in our ministry this year—2020—than ever before. People are looking for answers. No matter if we are out beating the streets giving out food through our feeding programs or counseling prisoners, the Bible literature is invaluable.”

Hope for Haiti

The shipments also bring hope to those struggling in Haiti. The nation has experienced many hardships, and recent years have added only more tragedy to Haiti’s history. In 2019, political and economic crises threatened the country. The beginning of 2020 brought more violence. Further natural disasters and turmoil meant the pandemic worsened conditions in a country unprepared to combat COVID-19.

It’s in these desperate conditions that World Missionary Press seeks to equip partners with the material needed to bring Haiti hope.

“The first shipment just got through. Our coordinator said it was just amazing that the container left the port and arrived through gunfire and burning cars and rioting. She said it was though God’s Word went through unharmed, just on God’s wings, if you will. They were so excited,” Williams says.

World Missionary Press plans to send another shipment to the country soon.

“[Our partners] are so excited about the [shipment] coming because there’s a desperate need for the Word.”

Meeting Needs

World Missionary Press partners care deeply about the spiritual needs of their neighbors. However, they recognize that in order to be the hands and feet of Jesus and effectively share His hope, they need to care for physical needs as well.

(Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press via Facebook)

“In many of these areas, the ministries have combined [evangelism] with humanitarian aid, schooling, or feeding programs. God’s people have gone where He has led,” Williams says. “Some of it is digital, through technology, but a lot of it is meeting the humanitarian needs and showing the love of Christ.”

By meeting needs in these ways, partners are able to share World Missionary Press booklets and the Gospel with many.

“Our booklets are all Scripture, and they are laid out to describe God’s love, His plan of salvation, His desire to have fellowship, and the hope that He offers,” Williams says.

How You Can Help

In addition to praying for the World Missionary Press partners and shipments, you can support this ministry by donating here.

“Our material is given free around the world. The cost to print and ship [Scripture booklets] is about $25. You can reach 500 people for $25. We know from testimonies that each booklet often will reach a family or more than one person, so God multiplies it around the world,” Williams says. “When you send us $1 we can reach 25 people with a clear presentation of the Gospel in their own language, which they may never have seen or heard before.”

“It’s just the greatest bargain in the world.”

Header image courtesy of Zach Vessels via Unsplash

Deaf Bible Society works alongside sign language Bible translators to close the Scripture gap. As the Americas Field Coordinator for DBS, Azael BuPerry– a Deaf man – ensures everyone is on the same page.

“Wycliffe, I believe all of them can hear,” BuPerry says through a female interpreter.

“It’s hard (for them) to have direct communications with the Deaf community and especially with the translation team.”

Language barriers between Deaf and hearing people prove a constant challenge, as discussed previously here. BuPerry serves as a liaison between Deaf translators in the Americas and the non-Deaf support team connected to each project.

Click here to support sign language Bible translations in the Americas.

Why is sign language Scripture important?

(Graphic courtesy of Deaf Bible Society)

Deaf Bible Society currently works alongside Wycliffe USA and The Seed Company to translate God’s Word into the sign languages of Colombia, Honduras, El Salvador, and Brazil. Next year, they hope to expand and start new translation work in Ecuador, Guatemala, the Dominion Republic, and Costa Rica.

Multiple Spanish and English versions of the Bible are available for free on platforms like BibleGateway.com. However, written text doesn’t quite meet the spiritual needs of Deaf communities.

See how sign language Scripture transforms Deaf people like Maria.

Sign language Scripture is so critical because it unlocks understanding for the Deaf, BuPerry explains.

“I can read and write in English, and I can understand it. But, when I actually watch the Scriptures in my heart language, (American Sign Language) I can clearly understand what the Scriptures are saying.”

He compares the language difference to eating soup with a fork.

“If we’re trying to eat a bowl of soup with a fork, you can taste it but you don’t actually get to have all of it. So, it’s better to eat a bowl of soup with a spoon because then you get all of the food,” BuPerry says.

“It’s just like reading the Scriptures. If you’re able to see in your heart language, then you get all of the Word.”

How can I help?

(Graphic courtesy of Deaf Bible Society)

Ongoing prayer and financial support are critical to “closing the Scripture gap” in the Americas. Click here to get started.

“It’s going to be a long time before we finish [all the translation work],” BuPerry says.

“Pray that we are able to at least start these projects for all of the Americas.”

Header image courtesy of aitoff via Pixabay.

(Photo courtesy Beautiful Feet International)

Costa Rica (MNN) — Three years ago, the Health Ministry of Costa Rica and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) launched a campaign to curb teen pregnancy.

At the time, the Costa Rican Health Ministry and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) were alarmed that teenage mothers represented 15%-20% of all childbirths in the country, with some 500 babies born to mothers under age 15. The issue, says Melissa Heiland with Beautiful Feet International, “They’ve been so sexualized from a very young age that they don’t know that God has a plan for sex within marriage and that it is His design to be a beautiful thing and not what it so often is.”

Believing that she could be part of the solution, Heiland explains that what “we really try to do is educate the girls, women, and boys, too, to some extent, in terms of abstinence and purity as it relates to their well-being–physically, spiritually, and emotionally.”

Heiland developed a comprehensive educational curriculum for pregnancy centers. Growing Together (comprised of 95 individual lessons) is designed to be used by volunteer counselors as they help clients throughout their pregnancies and beyond.

After extensive training and preparation, the doors of Centro Prenatal Tarcoles opened in 2013. Soon after, they opened another center in Jaco, a popular tourist destination. Then came the third pregnancy center in the capital city of San Jose, Costa Rica. More centers would soon come to Mexico and West Africa.

(Photo courtesy Beautiful Feet International)

Women and girls who find themselves in unplanned pregnancies are often afraid and confused. They come to pregnancy centers seeking answers. “What we’re going to deal with is that immediate issue that [the woman] has: the pregnancy, and talking to her, helping her through that pregnancy and part of that is always evangelism and then discipleship,” says Heiland. “When she has that child and her life can be changed, her patterns of behavior and how she raises her child will be different.” Once she starts the process, it’s a nearly 2-year journey BFI walks with her, week by week.

As a result, “Most of our clients do trust Christ as Savior. We do some discipleship with them, but we always encourage them to then get involved with a local church,” Heiland confirms, stressing that none of the pregnancy centers is meant to replace the Church. In fact, Beautiful Feet is more like a gateway. “There are many girls and women that will come to a pregnancy center that wouldn’t come to a church.”

(Photo courtesy Beautiful Feet International)

More help is needed. While progress is being made, there are many other life facets that a Beautiful Feet Pregnancy Center addresses through the local church in a community. It’s everything from eye glass clinics to Vacation Bible School. “Pray for God to call people to go and to work. We need more full-time missionaries on the field. We need more part-time missionaries to go, so also pray for that.”

There are two more trips coming up this year to Costa Rica, one in May and the other in late July. Click here for more details on trips for 2016.

(Image courtesy Wikipedia/Centers For Disease Control)

Some countries affected by the outbreak have warned women not have children for the next two years.

Brazil has been one of the hardest hit countries. Melissa Heiland, president of Beautiful Feet International explains, “Abortion is illegal in Brazil, as it is in most Latin American countries. It’s illegal, except in the case of the mother’s life or anencephaly (which is nearly always fatal) [baby is developing without a brain].” For example, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua don’t allow abortion under any circumstances. Brazil, Venezuela, and Guatemala are highly restrictive, meaning they only allow it if the mother’s life is in grave danger. Many of these areas are also predominantly Roman Catholic, and there are strict sanctity of life expectations.

Up to 650,000 Zika infections are expected in the coming months. The virus is suspected of causing babies to be born with a condition called microcephaly, which results in unusually small heads and brains. While most do not develop significant symptoms, some of the children who do develop microcephaly could grow up with minimal delays and intellectual impairment, while others could be in a vegetative state.

Epidemiologists have raised the possibility that there could be an explosion of microcephaly cases in the next few months.

Scientists say it’s not always possible to tell how severe the impact of the deformity will be early on. Yet, even though scientists have not yet found a definitive link between Zika and the deformities, doctors are making the connection circumstantially. Heiland adds, “There are some abortion activists that are calling for the laws to be changed in Brazil so that women that contract the Zika virus are allowed to abort their babies.” The panic among pregnant mothers is touching off a heated abortion debate. Poor women are by far the most affected. No one doubts that the situation is frightening, she says. “If you are a pregnant woman in Brazil, certainly you are going to have some level of anxiety, it will reveal that peace only comes through Jesus Christ.”

The good news: National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) believes they could have a Zika vaccine ready by the end of this year. A DNA-based vaccine and a live vaccine option have already been tested and are showing promising results.

(Photo courtesy Beautiful Feet International)

In the meantime, Heiland says they’re taking as much preventative action as they can. First, she explains, “We have not seen this in any of our centers. Our centers are in West Africa, and then Costa Rica and Mexico.” She notes, “They’ve just had their first recorded case of the Zika virus last week in Costa Rica. We have not seen it in any of our clients.”

Their volunteers are taking preventative measures as much as possible. ”They are trying to combat that with a message to our girls about being careful, about staying covered up, about mosquito repellent.” A doctor who works with Beautiful Feet is working on an information piece that explains more in detail. The main issue that’s being overlooked is the sanctity of human life. Despite the threat of a birth defect, Heiland says the value of a life is not connected to what you can or can’t do. “Every person, every life, no matter how short or how long, has value and purpose without exception.” Abortion, by nature, is an end to something living. It has impact. “When they make that choice, it’s going to hurt not only the child, but also the mom, as well.”

(Photo courtesy Beautiful Feet International)

Pregnancy center ministry allows Beautiful Feet volunteers to meet the deepest spiritual needs of the women who come to them, as well as their earthly needs. Given the pressures surrounding the Zika virus outbreak, Heiland asks you to ”pray for protection for these women in Brazil and Latin America and Central America and throughout the world–protection for the women and for their babies–and that they would come to Christ for an answer.”

Would you pray that as these women go to the pregnancy centers, they would say, “I’m afraid. What can I do?” In a time of fear, pray that the Beautiful Feet volunteer response will be the grace to do. “We want to teach them about Jesus so that they can know and raise their children to love the Lord.”

(Image courtesy AMG International)

Costa Rica (AMG/MNN) — Clara Ruiz, a former AMG home office employee, now serves as a missionary in her native Costa Rica.

She and her husband Francisco minister to their community through various educational and discipleship outreaches and in partnership with a local church. Recently, five homes in the neighborhood of the students they serve were destroyed by a fire.

Clara, Francisco, and their church have been particularly instrumental in the effort to meet the families’ immediate needs for food, clothing and temporary shelter, and they are actively working to achieve long-term housing solutions. $1,000 is needed to invest in housing materials.

AMG’s Child Sponsorship program works to show the love of Christ while providing the tools for each child they serve to develop physically, intellectually, socially and spiritually. By the grace of God, the result is Christ-centered transformation.

AMG International’s disaster relief ministry stands ready to provide desperately needed assistance when the need arises. AMG International has a long history of disaster relief. In fact, AMG was born in the 1940’s to help provide for the needs, both physical and spiritual, of war-torn Greece during and following World War II.

Clara ministers to women through Bible studies, and both Clara and Francisco are involved with reaching out to young people through Bible classes and agricultural training to give them spiritual and practical hope for the future.

Please pray for this community, that they would see the love of Jesus as demonstrated by the local body of Christ. Want to help? Click here.

She and her husband Francisco minister to their community through various educational and discipleship outreaches in partnership with a local church. Recently, five homes in the neighborhood of the students they serve were destroyed by a fire.

Clara, Francisco, and their church have been particularly instrumental in the effort to meet the families' immediate needs for food, clothing, and temporary shelter, and they are actively working to achieve long-term housing solutions. $1,000 is needed to invest in housing materials.

AMG's Child Sponsorship program works to show the love of Christ while providing the tools for each child they serve to develop physically, intellectually, socially, and spiritually. By the grace of God, the result is Christ-centered transformation.

AMG International's disaster relief ministry stands ready to provide desperately-needed assistance when the need arises. AMG International has a long history of disaster relief. In fact, AMG was born in the 1940's to help provide for the needs, both physical and spiritual, of war-torn Greece during and following World War II.

Clara ministers to women through Bible studies, and both Clara and Francisco are involved with reaching out to young people through Bible classes and agricultural training to give them spiritual and practical hope for the future.

Please pray for this community, that they would see the love of Jesus as demonstrated by the local body of Christ. Want to help? Click here.

The personal transformation of hurt and oppressed women is an equally time-consuming process requiring a great deal of patience.

But Operation Mobilization is committed to this very process in Costa Rica. Through a ministry appropriately dubbed Pearl Process, OM's Costa Rica team is bringing the love of Jesus to women who've been trafficked and abused.

Pearl Process was recently re-launched in a more neutral, central area of San Jose. The area in which they previously were working in is known as the "Red Zone:" an area designated for drug trafficking and prostitution. Many of the people selling themselves in the so-called Red Zone are between the ages of 10 and 14 years old.

"Child sex tourism is a serious problem, particularly in the provinces of Guanacaste, Limon, Puntarenas, and San Jose," stated a 2011 Costa Rica Trafficking In Persons (TIP) report. "Child sex tourists arrive mostly from the United States, Germany, Sweden, and Italy."

Just as the pearl culturing process requires certain elements to create a pearl, OM's ministry combines the study of Scripture, professional input, legal aid, and child care to produce a beautifully redeemed and restored daughter of God.

"Because these women came from abusive homes and had all kinds of needs, we wanted to be more holistic in our ministry, so we brought in practical speakers like psychologists and child-rearing counselors," says Julie Paniagua. Her husband, Alex, is the field leader for OM Costa Rica.

"We also wanted to teach them a business so they could have some kind of self-sustaining income."

A key goal of the Pearl Process ministry is to train and equip women with sewing skills so they can earn a sustainable income. Women who want to go a step further can apply for acceptance into the Pearl Process Mosaics business. Here they can make items from stained glass that are marketed on a broader basis.

"When I asked the women what they'd like to do, half said sewing, and the other half wanted to do some kind of craft. I told them they'd have to pray because I couldn't do either one!" exclaimed Julie.

"Later on at a Christmas fair, I saw a woman selling beautiful stained glass items. I decided to take lessons from her and afterwards teach each lesson to the ladies."

In September 2012, Julie had an opportunity to sell the ladies' workmanship at the OM Freedom Climb conference in the United States. Each of the women worked earnestly to produce items for the conference, and every single item sold. Julie even took back-orders for more items!

"Back in Costa Rica, we paid the women for their products, and they were overwhelmed," recalls Julie. "It was three times more than they expected–such a moment of affirmation and accomplishment for them!

"One lady named Lucy said, 'I thought these hands of mine could only clean toilets. I can't believe they made something so beautiful!'"

You can support their efforts by clicking here. Pray that the Pearl Process ministry would continue to transform lives.
Pray that many women would place their faith in Christ as their Savior and Lord.

Costa Rica is a country calling Bryan and Beth Tatum and their family, missionaries with The Mission Society. Bryan says when they arrived in the country, "We really wanted to see where God was moving and try and come alongside that movement, learn from that, and try to be a part of that."

That's how they got connected with an indigenous organization called Conexion. Bryan says Conexion is "sharing the Gospel by extreme acts of service. So we kind of do things to develop and build up a community, and then in the process of that, develop relationships. From within those relationships, we share the Gospel."

This isn't a situation where American missionaries come in and take over a ministry. It's just the opposite. Americans are being told where they can be used most effectively. "It's really encouraging to see other Latinos helping other Latinos, and having just the help of North Americans with that process."

One example of Conexion's ministry is: going into communities to provide medical clinics for those who can't travel 20-30 miles for the care they need. "We have a team of doctors and dentists and pharmacists that work with us who are all Costa Ricans or Latinos, and they give up their time to go work, serve and help other Costa Ricans and give us an opportunity to get into that community and share the Gospel."

Conexion is also using the extreme acts of service to get involved in the public schools "by flying under the radar and coming in and doing play days for the schools, or paint classrooms, or repair desks. It's given us opportunity to get into the schools and develop relationships." The relationships built are not just with the students, but with the teachers and the parents. It's within those relationships that they're also able to share the Gospel.

Beth says Conexion also helps encourage kids to stay in school past the 6th grade. "A lot of kids have basically completed their core courses, and a lot drop out at that stage. So we're able to do seminars to encourage children [and teach them] the importance of staying in school."

If you'd like to pray for the Tatums and Conexion, or support their efforts financially, go to http://www.MissionCostaRica.com.

Today, a Great Commission vision seems to be catching on.
Sam Vinton, Executive Director of Grace
Ministries International, says he was just in Costa Rica for a missions
conference. The question the team is
asking today is not: "How will we support this institute," but rather, "How do we, as a church,
begin thinking of praying and starting a faith promise program and then finding
someone from the church who has the desire and willingness to serve?"

Looking outward makes a big difference in growth. A Costa Rican team began going into Nicaragua
to study the feasibility of expanding the ministry into that country. Then, two things happened. First, "One
of the Bible institute graduates presented himself as desiring to serve the
Lord in that type of work."

Second, they began considering a
timeline. "This year, they're accelerating the program. They're going
every six weeks; they have a trip for four or five days. They're trying to keep the move going a lot
faster, making more contacts, starting a Bible studies. They even have Bible
studies on the internet with some of the leaders that they've contacted." The seven subsequent trips planned throughout
2012 will help them work toward the goal of establishing a grace ministry in
that country.

As they lay that groundwork, they're hoping that by 2013 or 2014 they'll be ready to
have a team  in Nicaragua working as
missionaries from Costa Rica. 

Then, something happened to test that timeline. They discovered the Bribri people in Talamanca, a
village located on the southeast border with Panama. The initial foray allowed them to see the
needs. Another trip is planned for this
coming fall. Says Vinton, "That's
another outreach now, trying to get our churches to get involved. There's a
group of 26 going and getting to see
what the possibilities are within their own country, but with an indigenous
tribe that still exists down in the southeast corner." Pray that this project will result in the
Bribri people coming to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Back in Costa Rica, the new church plant in Alajuela just celebrated its first year anniversary. Chuck Befus writes: "We are
really too large a group for our present church rental with at least an average
of 110 each Sunday and growing. We have seen God change the lives of many
people, and there is excitement waiting to see what God will do next. Please
pray with us."

It's hard not to get excited when growth comes easily and
quickly. However, GMI is also carefully
building the foundation for the future. Obstacles are presenting themselves, too. Not everyone has caught on. Vinton says, "My prayer is that the Lord
will use people from Latin America to catch a vision in missions. We are having this thrust of young people
excited, and now we have to get the
churches exited so that they can support these new missionary candidates."

In just five year, since the Grace Bible Institute of Costa
Rica was launched, a Great Commission vision seems to be catching on. Sam Vinton with Grace
Ministries International says the school started with just 13
students but now enrolls over 40 each trimester.

The goal is to train the next generation of pastors, lay
leaders, and missionaries. In the next couple of years under the leadership of
Bible institute students, GMI hopes to plant churches. Their team has been praying that the nationals
 catch a vision of doing missionary work.
God is answering beyond their hopes and imaginations. Vinton says, "I believe
this is one of the big things that we're seeing happen in all of Latin America."

A new church was recently planted in Alajuela and just
celebrated its first-year anniversary. GMI's Chuck Befus writes: "We are really
too large a group for our present church rental with at least an average of 110
each Sunday and growing. We have seen God change the lives of many people and
there is excitement waiting to see what God will do next. Please pray with
us."

As a church and a field, the ministry also has a cross-cultural dream. "The churches in the San Jose area have had a real vision for
the last couple of years of taking a team every summer into Nicaragua, which is
the country north of Costa Rica."

By what they saw in Nicaragua, planting a church in
Nicaragua could be a reality soon. "The responses have been good, and so
starting this next month, instead of once a year, we're planning on going
probably six times during this coming year."

With each trip, the team further cultivates the soil. There's no church yet, but there are study
groups forming. Since the Nicaraguan
women tend to be more spiritually inquisitive and sensitive to the things of
God, the women members of the team prepared special Bible studies which proved
very valuable as they conducted over 20 Bible studies.  

Vinton explains from there, "We're hoping that in
another year or two, we'll have an actual Costa Rican family go as missionaries and possibly have an
international team of different groups in South America, as well as an
American missionary couple."

Already, Vinton says, "We have friends, we have contacts–people who used to be members of our church in Costa Rica who have moved back
home to Nicaragua, who are foundational to this ministry."

It's an exciting time for Grace Ministries."Pray that
the nationals will catch a vision of doing missionary work. I believe this is one
of the big things that we're seeing happen in all of Latin America."