Every year we send shoebags filled with toys and other useful items for the children in our churches in Sierra Leone at Christmas. This year the instructions are:
Maximum to be spent per bag: £5
Each bag to have age and sex of the child it is for, ‘safety pinned’ to the outside.
It’s not quite ‘GO!’ yet, but we received the following news from Reuben Dove recently which suggests we’re almost ready to finally start building the church at Bureh Town:
Just last week end the Pastor at Bureh Town brought to me the letter of Indemnity. I have also forwarded same to the Ministry of Lands to enable them to sign the Survey Plan. When that is done we can move from that point. I shall inform you immediately
Every year the SLM holds a Day of Prayer for Sierra Leone on the 2nd Sunday in May. This year it is on the 9th May, and the prayer requests we have circulated to our supporters in the UK are below.
The Connexion in Sierra Leone has undergone a change in leadership. Sallu Koroma is now General Superintendent and Theophilus Nicol is his Assistant GS. Pray for the relationship building that will be needed through this changeover.
Sylvanus Nicol our head agent, that he makes a good recovery from his double hernia operation.
Daniel Koroma in Mongegba, one of our ministers, who is trying to improve the lives of local children, who after school go to work in the local quarry until 7pm, breaking up stones to be sold.
Our ministers who are seeking to actively share God’s good news with their communities.
A number of churches have requested help with wells and the church at Mabang is considering a new agricultural project. Village churches can be two miles away from the nearest source of free water. The ‘credit crunch’ has affected the cost of food, so people are hoping to grow their own and also to sell the surplus to provide an income.
Rev Jacob Dove whose wife has died in childbirth, losing the baby as well, and leaving Jacob with three young children.
Ministers wives are running sewing groups as a means of outreach and support. They need more sewing machines and wisdom to build this ministry.
James from Fogbo, a young man who wanted a Bible to help him witness. Pray that his new Bible will be a spur and a blessing.
We received the tragic news on the 1st April that Jacob Dove’s wife died in childbirth along with her baby, leaving Jacob on his own with their three other children.
Reuben recently wrote to us:
The funeral service for the late sister took place last sunday 11th April at the St John’s Church Goderich, at 2:30p.m. It was a well attended service with combined choir from the three mainline churches in the Goderich community. They sang two Anthems plus the dead March in saul. We thank God for the life of the sister. She was really a servant of God. At the 36 she played her part in supporting Jacob in the ministry. Thank you all for your prayers. I believe your prayers have helped us in the proper planning of the funeral. May God grant her eternal rest.
We recently received the following sad news from Augustine Willaims:
I regret to report the sudden death of Rev Idrissa Murana the acting principal of the Huntingdon Junior Secondary School Allen Town. He passed away during the early hours of Wednesday morning after a brief illness. The burial will take place in his home town at a date to be announced later.
Meanwhile, I have declared a two day period of mourning on Thursday 4th to Friday 5th March. May his soul rest in perfect peace.
The first week of our visit will be mainly taken up with their denomination Conference at which I am giving a talk on Tuesday. I’ve just received the programme from Reuben, click on the pictures to see what’s going on:
Every year we send shoebags filled with gifts to be distributed around the children in our churches in Sierra Leone. The contents include toys, underwear, toiletries, stationary etc. and are keenly anticipated! We have just received the following photos of them being distributed at Jerusalem Avenue, Ebenezer Manalo and St. John’s Goderich.
In an earlier post (Sierra Leone Travel Guide) I mentioned the Bradt travel guide to Sierra Leone. They have very generously allowed us to reproduce some information from the guide in our Voice magazine and have offered all readers of Voice to receive 25% off this guide and others that they make. The site can be found here: www.bradtguides.com and the code to enter to receive the discount is ‘Voice’. A big thank you to them for this!
Much to my surprise I had some emails this week warning me that I was about to exceed the sites maximum bandwidth. In order to prevent being cut off I decided to change which service this site uses. We’re now on unlimited bandwidth, but only one database allowed – hence having to re build the site so it all runs on WordPress rather than just the blog. Pleased with the results though – hope you like it.
