Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Come shop with us...

at the Four Corners Ministries Thrift Store in Roanoke! It will be opening mid-July with a great selection of clothes, shoes, and home items. The thrift store will also be accepting your gently used items as tax-deductible donations. And by shopping at the FCM Thrift Store, you'll be helping improve the lives of those in Uganda and Sudan. We hope to see you on your next shopping trip!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Sudan Unrest

As you probably already know, Southern Sudan voted for their independence this year and will be celebrating their independence July 9th when they are recognized world-wide as a new nation. Glory to God! For decades, they have endured persecution and suffering and now have the hope of freedom. However, Northern Sudan may not let them go peacefully. It is in the news today that there is much unrest at the North/South border in the Kordofan area of central Sudan. Please be praying for the Sudanese as they are once again enduring hardship. Pray for world leaders to take a stand against this persecution. Pray that God would be glorified through it all and that our Christian brothers and sisters would be strengthened in their bodies and in their faith in Christ. Pray that we, as the body of Christ, would help carry the burden of suffering.
You can read more about the unrest in Sudan here.
"Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere." Ephesians 6:18

Friday, June 3, 2011

June News

Please take a few minutes to view the June e-newsletter here. If you are not on the mailing list to receive these monthly updates and would like to be, email Joy at joy@4cornersministries.org to get signed up.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

From Sudan to St. Kitts

Members of the FCM veterinary team that recently returned from Southern Sudan share their mission experience at Christian Veterinary Mission Real Life/Real Impact weekend. About 60 veterinary students attended the conference held on the island of St. Kitts. Veterinarians, both with private practice and international mission experience, also shared during the weekend.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

You Can Go!

We've recently posted powerful testimonies about some great trips to Uganda and Sudan. God is definitely at work there, and you can be a part of what He's doing! FCM has 2 trips planned for this fall, one to Uganda and one to Sudan. We'd love for you to prayerfully consider joining one of these teams. Please contact us at jeannene@4cornersministries.org for more information on serving as the hands and feet of Jesus.
"Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Matthew 9:35-38

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Underneath the Mango Trees

Wednesday, May 4th
This morning we flew out of S. Sudan with joy to come home and sadness because we are leaving a place dear to us now. We prayed under the mango tree and got ready to leave. We arrived in Kampala at the MAF Guesthouse this afternoon around 1:30pm Uganda time. We are catching some much needed R&R after such an amazing week!

With that being said, let's play catch up on the last three days! (Whew, here we go!)

Sunday, May 1st
Sunday was awesome! Jason Johnson, Larry Arnold and Kevin Neely each preached at a different church in the Mundri area and the rest of the team split up to visit all three churches. We were blessed with a traditional African service with music, dancing, preaching and prayers. IT WAS AWESOME!! Each church prepared a lunch for us. Some even had antelope for lunch! How cool is that!

We went back to the compound and we finished up with some R&R while playing with the kids. We also started the first set of Disciple Training classes. The classes went about 1 1/2 - 2 hours and were full of discussion and enlightenment. It went great! There were 7 attendees in all. All of this of course is done under a mango tree. Every discussion is most often done under a mango tree. We have been having devotionals every night pertaining to what we did, what we saw and what God laid on our heart that day. There was also a more focused devotional/bible study for evening discussion that was designed for this trip. It has encouraged us, challenged us and blessed us too!

Monday, May 2rd
We headed out early Monday morning with breakfast and bug spray. We cruised in our Land Rover down the red cracked road. It felt like we were attached to one of those belly-shaking exercise machines from the sixties! Anyway, we got to our first stop and waited for the cattle to show up and for the other truck to come.

We were waiting with Rev. Paul Mbari and he told a few of us an amazing story of the History of the Great Mundri and its tribes. These people have known incredibly hard times and persecution for so long. To know some of the tribal history of the Moru people was truly heart wrenching and encouraging as well. To see a living testament to faith under fire was inspiring and a witness to remember when we read scripture's call to stand fast in the Lord and that we can do all things through Him who strengthens us. When they are asked for a word to answer a questions, they say they will pray about it. Every answer to a question was often answered with some reference to scripture and filled with laughs and jokes. God is here and His people need us!

After the history the second truck finally showed up and we went the 1st tribe. We had to drive down a footpath to get to them! We were deep in there. We got out and the villagers came out to greet us with handshakes, hugs and smiles. Never a raised voice unless it was laughter. We all came to the corral. It was put together with branches and sticks. I don't know how the cows stayed in it They could have easily ran through it! We went to several villages and met the herdsmen for the cattle and got started.

Woo-hoo! It was like watching rodeo and Nascar all in one! The locals would rope the cow, grab the back legs and drop it to the ground; sometimes needed 5 of them. Then Jason or Paul would go over and check the cow out and then send out the call for the team. Several of the vet students, increased with confidence from the previous days, would run in on the cows giving dewormer, multi-vitamins and injections! They were like a Nascar pit crew called out on command! They were really good too! As soon as they were done, in comes one of the students with the tick spray and they hose the cow down. Then the cow was released and they moved on to the next one.

After we finished with this corral, we went to the next one and started all over again! Afterwards we share something to drink with these guys whom have worked so hard. We took a few minutes to discuss how to take care of the cows when we leave. We left them with some tick spray and how to administer it. Then Larry preached a word for the men to hear about Jesus. He spoke that it was because of the love of Christ that we came here to be with them and help them take care of their cows. He reflected Jesus as the Good Shepherd and we as the sheep. This direction made the gospel very understandable and relational to the herdsmen.
All of this was done under a mango tree.

We headed back and told stories and started discipleship training while everyone else washed clothes and cleaned up for the evening.

Tuesday, May 3rd
We got up early and we split up from Kevin as he stayed behind to document and photograph 11 orphans that Four Corners will be offering opportunities to sponsor very soon.

We visited two farms not far from the compound. Some cattle had a history of coughing. These were Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP) suspects. Others had tearing from the eyes and enlarged lymph nodes. These were East Coast Fever (ECF) suspects. The treatment for both illnesses is oxytetracycline LA. We also gave dewormer and sprayed the cattle for ticks, as many diseases are spread by the ticks. Those cattle in poor condition were also given a vitamin injection. We found some calves that had pinkeye (infectious conjunctivitis). We treated them with an ophthalmic antibiotic ointment. We treated over 100 cattle today.

After treatment, we met with the farmers and educated them about the diseases we treated. We also left follow-up eye treatments and tick spray. They graciously gave us mangoes and fresh honey. The honey was so fresh that it still contained the comb and the bees! Pastor Larry closed with a short sermon and prayer.

When we came back to the compound, we played with the children, began inventory, and organized materials. Kevin finished up his disciple training. It seemed to go well as they wanted him to come back real soon and teach disciple makers in Lui for the duration of his next trip. The teaching was concluded, underneath the Mango trees.

At night, we had a special devotion with all of the Sudanese men at the compound. We lifted each other up and the team leaders, students, and evangelists received rounds of applause. We thanked Christ for the work He is doing in Sudan and prayed that the Sudanese continue to be blessed by God because of their love for Him and we all continued to pray for support and help of other missionary teams. That is a prayer and challenge for anyone of you reading this. If we can go serve our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ, I know that some people reading this will feel God's call too. Is he calling you?

Saturday, April 30, 2011

First and Second day in Sudan

Hi everyone, We made it to Sudan two day ago and hit the ground running! Our first we went to a village called Lakamadi. It was at lest 30kilometer away. This village was a herding village with many cows, goats and chickens. We got to the village and spent the day there ministering God's love in many ways. We started off by deworming the cows along with ticks sprays and anitbiotic injections to regain the health of the cattle. So many of these animals have deseases that are easily treatable in the states. Here they cannot treat them and so the animals gets sick and sometimes sickness is transferred from the animals to the people. We take so much for granted back home. We saw 30 cows total! We taught cattle education and training to teach about the diseases and how to prevent them. They were taught symptoms and care. We spent a lot of time getting to know these people and we were so loved for coming to their village. We shared Christ with them and about 15 or more people gave their hearts to Christ! Even though we came to bless them, they in turn, have blessed us. They are so wonderfully kind and loving.

On the way there and back, we saw the rocks along the side of the road that were painted red and white. When we asked the driver about the rocks, he explained that they were to notify people walking in the bussh that there were landmines by the rocks.

The people here have been through so much and their live after the war is still suffering. While we were healing the cattle, we investigated a big gathering further down. It was a building that held several UN humanitarian relief bags. When we spoke to the chief officer there, they told us that this was not food, but only seeds. These people are starving and have no food! The only thing they have was hope. Hope in Christ and hope that the rain will come soon. See, the seeds will produce food, but with no rain there is no food. If that wasn't heartbreaking enough, they only had enough seeds for 400 people and there were thousands there that needed the hope of food as well. A sacrifice of a cup of coffee could mean food, health and life for a family in Southern Sudan. Could not a meal be sacrificed for our brothers and sisters in Southern Sudan? How far could that go, very far.

Day 2
We got up early and went to the village of Lozoh. We saw at least 35 cows at this first stop. We could have done more, but we didn't have enough people to help at this stop. Because there were not enough people to help, Paul had to step in as our full time cowboy. He wrestled cows all day so we could administer the medicines so desperately needed. From this point, we left the comfort of the really bumpy road to a really, really, bumpy road that was not even a road. It was a footpath! We were driving on that footpath for at least an hour! So we packed up and went to Boma, a local cattle camp, and we worked on 20 cows. The camps was surrounded by a corral made of branches and stuff which didn't help when the cows got tired of us. They would either go through the branch-pile fence or the smaller cows would go under the more open sided fence!

Then when we were done we went to another village in the Lozah area where we did education on cattle care. We used illustrations and explainations to education the people on better care of their cattle as well as the diseases that can come from things like ticks. Doris, a veterinary officer and the administrater of Lozoh were on hand during the training. Afterwards Larry spoke to the people about why were were here, to share the love of Jesus. It was a great day in the Lord!

Keep praying for us, lives are changing, cattle are being healed, lives are being given to Christ and we are only in day 2!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Important News!

It is an exciting time at FCM! A mission team just returned from a life-changing trip in Uganda. If you haven't read their blog entries yet, you've missed out! They ministered to so many- meeting medical needs, showing love to children who were desperate for it, and teaching classes on how to purify water. Most importantly, the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ was shared! "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the Good News!"

Another mission team leaves for Sudan tomorrow. You can read more about their trip here in the Opelika-Auburn News. This is primarily a team of vets going to vaccinate, de-worm, and treat sick cattle, sheep and goats. They'll be ministering out of the local churches in Mundri and Lui, Sudan. Please keep them in your prayers as they fly out tomorrow and return May 4.

FCM is hosting a jewelry party in Auburn tomorrow night at 7. The jewelry was made by Uganda women who are trying to develop skills that will help them provide for their families. It's beautiful and would make a great Mother's Day gift! If you're interested in attending tomorrow night's party or hosting your own jewelry party, contact Joy at joy@4cornersministries.org for more information.

Stay tuned for blog entries from the Sudan team, and please remember to keep them in your prayers!

Monday, April 18, 2011

This Day in Katusa

The drive to Katusa is 25 miles outside of the city of Kampala. However, today, 25 miles was one hour long! We greeted the day with very much traffic, their rush hour, so to speak. One cannot get used to riding on the "wrong side of the road". You are continuously thinking that you are about to wreck, but no wrecks for us! Everywhere there are motorcycle taxis, called "border-border"s. We have seen them carry three passengers plus the driver. We have seen them carry 8-10 mattresses. Once we saw one carrying a 300 pound hog tied onto it! It is amazing what they can get on a motorcycle here!
The church at Katusa was planted by Nelson Kysooka, who founded Grace Fellowship Ministries. We work with them here in Kampala. We were the first mission team to come to Katusa. Katusa was very green with lush vegetation. They have the avocado tree, the mango tree, the papaya tree, the jack-fruit tree, the banana tree, the coffee bean bush. There are little mounds of potatoes growing everywhere. But, there is not much clean water, and many children were very sick because of this. They are not educated about the importance of clean water or eating nutritious diets. Our team gave them demonstrations on how to purify water using the sun's rays. Many came for this technology. This should improve the quality of life for these precious people.
The doctors and our pharmacist saw over 160 patients today. They saw malaria, ulcers,worms. One man came with a very bad looking wound on his leg. It was the size of a baseball. He said that he had been bitten by a dog...2 YEARS AGO! The doctor said the only hope for this man is if he follows doctor's orders about the care of the wound and also takes his medicine. We pray for this man. He is probably at least 65 years old.
We played with the children, and there were many! We played soccer, baseball, blew bubbles, hit the beachball around, painted faces, and gave hugs. We looked into the eyes of these children and saw pain, suffering, and thankfulness. But they gave us many smiles!
When we left, the children lined the road as we boarded the bus. We gave them our few left-over peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches. They were wrapped in aluminum foil, so they had no idea what they were getting, but they wanted them! We waved and waved and took many pictures. I hope to come back here again. They need us, but they have blessed me.

Sherry Sprayberry
Team member

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Day One in Kampala

Well we got started this morning and drove down to the Slum area of Kampala. It was very eye opening to us to see all those people living in what look like sheds. You can not imagine the conditions they live in. Pictures don't do it justice, you need to smell it for yourself! We then Got to Pastor Nelsons church and he shared his testimony with us and how God gave him a vision for this area. The Children were just wanting someone to love on them. Every time we turned around there were Kids hanging on our legs and wanting us to pick them up. Mary Paige and Abbey had the kids really attaching to them and wanting them to hold them and hold their hands. Jeff and I needed some old tires, cans, and some empty plastic bottles for our Urban gardens and Water purification classes. The kids were our biggest help! They ran off and came back with everything we needed. We had some large crowds for both the Urban Garden and Water Purification Class. They had many questions and seemed to really like it. We then went up to the Medical clinic where Josh, Eric, and Amy had people lined up to get medicine. We left there and went to the Boys Home and I shared with them about the power bracelets and what each of the beads meant. We gave them all a bracelet if they could tell us what the beads meant and they all could! We also had a coloring station, making puppets station, and face painting station. Abbey and Mary Paige did a great job painting faces. The boys really enjoyed coloring and were very good at it. As we left to come back to the hotel, the boys lined the fence and waved good-bye. It was such a blessing for me to watch my children love on these little kids no matter what they looked like, what they were wearing, or how they smelled. I am so thankful that God allowed us to come have this experience as a family. Matt Armbruster

Friday, April 15, 2011

We Made It!!!

After 18 hours of flight time, multiple lines consisting of people from all over the world, and a few McDonald's Double Cheeseburger's we have made it to Kampala, Uganda. For many members of this team, it is our first trip to Africa and for that matter our first trip to the third world. As we drove in the dark for 45 minutes from the Entebbe Airport to our hotel in Uganda it was glaringly evident that this county is in need of some of the basics we as Americans take for granted each day. Please be in prayer for our team as we begin our different areas of ministry to a people that more than anything need the hope that comes from our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Africa Bound!

There are many exciting things going on at FCM these days. One of which is a mission trip to Uganda. Tripp leaves today and the team will be headed out on Thursday. This team will be doing some medical work and some life-skills training. Please be praying that all travels go well, that everyone arrives safely and stays healthy, and that ultimately, God would receive glory from all that is done. Jesus calls us to preach the gospel to the nations, but He also calls us to minister to their physical needs as well. Jesus demonstrated His love for us, and He calls us to do the same. Our prayer is that through the work that is done in Uganda this week, many will come to know the simple truth of the gospel- Christ died for us to save us from our sins.

Here are the team members' names. Be praying for them!
Jeff and Amy Jacobs
Josh Meigs
Eric Blackman
Josh Jacobs
Matt and Tara Armbruster and their 2 girls
Jimmy and Sherry Sprayberry
Tripp Skipper

Be on the lookout for updates from Tripp and the team!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

From the Plains to the Wiregrass and to the ends of the Earth

FCM had a fun weekend sharing about what's going on with the ministry. Tripp visited Farmville Baptist Church in Auburn on Sunday morning. Ashraf Jjuko, a Ugandan street boy, is now being sponsored by a member of Farmville Baptist Church. His sponsorship provides him with clean water, food, and an education. And most importantly, Ashraf will hear the truth of God's great love for him!

Sunday night was a special night for me. Yancy and I, along with Tommy and Rebecca Cummings, were able to share about our Sudan mission trip at my home church (First Free Will Baptist) in Dothan. It was a privilege to share our hearts and passion about Sudan and FCM with this extended family of ours. They were so supportive and interested in knowing more about FCM. The jewelry made by the Ugandan street boys was a big hit... we should have taken more!

Thanks to all who came out in Auburn and Dothan to hear more about FCM! We appreciate your support!
For His glory,
Joy

Monday, January 17, 2011

New Ministry Opportunity in Uganda

There are more than 3 million orphans in Uganda alone! I really can't wrap my mind around just how many children that is. But our God, who is a VERY BIG God, knows each and every one of them, and He loves them so much. God desires to use His people to be His hands and feet to show His great love for these children. That's why it's such a blessing to be a part of a ministry that is living out the Lord's command to "care for the widows and orphans". (James 1:27) At the end of last year, Four Corners launched a new ministry to meet the needs of street boys in the city of Kampala, Uganda. Many of these boys have been abused, abandoned and forgotten. Some have no parents. Some have parents who abused them. These boys have begun to live on the city streets, savaging for food and water. They have experienced things in their life that we literally cannot imagine. It has been very hard lives for the boys, but FCM with their partner ministry in Kampala has began to share the love of Christ with them by providing for the daily needs... food, water, and shelter. What's even more exciting is that these boys who have endured so much are hearing about God's great love for them and experiencing it in very real ways. Each week, they meet with Abby, a former street boy, who shares Christ with them and challenges them to know and walk with the Lord. Abby and others are also teaching these boys to work hard. They are teaching them wood carving, bead and jewelry making, and other trades to help provide for them. God is at work all around the world and He longs for us to join him in His work. I can think of no better way than to meet the needs of these who have so little, and help shape the next generation for Christ. Want you consider sponsoring one of these boys today? Your $30 a month contribution will continue to provide the great needs of these boys and make an eternal difference in their lives. Visit http://www.4cornersministires.org/ and click on sponsor a child to find out more. You can also email me at joy@4cornersministries.org with any questions. I'll be happy to help any way that I can.

For His glory,
Joy