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!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
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?
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!
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)