Dear Wellman Circuit Sponsors,
Happy New Year! We look forward to yet another year in partnership together to proclaim the Gospel.
It is now rainy season on the Circuits so we appreciate your prayers for safety as the Riders travel the muddy and at times dangerous roads. We trust you will enjoy this month’s update. Thank you for your continued support!
WELLMAN SS OF GOD’S CHILDREN/BOB & BERNIE BLAND PAVILION
This Sunday School started with a small number of children after some weeks I have seen the number of kids attending growing and growing. We normally receive new members each and every week. In phonics class some kids have improved their knowledge. They are pronouncing well the alphabet and we are now emphasizing the whisper sounds. They also enjoy the songs which help them remember the sounds of the letters. One day during the Sunday School lesson we had 39 new converts who made decisions to accept Christ as their Saviour. The lessons are really changing the lives of many children. Before the Sunday School came kids were really far from what the Word of God teaches. They liked fighting, stealing, lying to friends, speaking bad language and some youth were involved in fornication and witchcraft. The Bible stories and lessons have positively impacted these youth because many of them stopped doing evil things. Games are the most important tool in evangelism to children. When we finish the crafts they start reminding me of the game we played last time and requesting that I not forget to have game time. Having games at the end also helps so that kids finish the whole Sunday School schedule because they know if they run away in the middle they will miss the games. We are very happy to see the children growing spiritually. One example is Angela, she received Christ through the ministry and then she became one of the children interested in Sunday School and she never misses a week. The chief told me that he saw changes in the village and each time I go to teach Sunday School he comes with a word of encouragement to me. The children have a positive mind about learning the verse of the day. I believe if we can continue for four to five years, this can become a community with lots of Christians.
WELLMAN SS OF HOPE & FAITH/WORDS OF LIFE PAVILION
This is a pure Muslim area where 99% are Muslims. It’s an area where they don’t accept Christ to be mentioned. Fights are not strange in this place, but all this just shows us that Chentika is a place for ministry. The Lord has opened the door for Christianity to enter. It was hard to penetrate into this area with the Word of God because all the elders made up their mind to hold on to Muhammad as their religious leader. But Sunday School has made it possible that Christ must be taught in this community. They like the verses but especially the pictures of Jesus when He is performing miracles. They struggled at first to sing because they didn’t know Christian songs but now they like “The more we are together” and “I will make you fishers of men.” They also like Chichewa choruses like “Zonse Anamaliza”. It’s good to minister to Muslims. I have seen that they are thirsty for the Word of God. Its great to see Muslim children learning to love Jesus and accepting Him as their Saviour. In October we had 13 children accept Christ as their Saviour, they are still praising God for saving them. We normally have 70 up to 95 children each Sunday School. Phonics is a bit of a struggle to them and they are behind compared to some other places because to Muslims here school is not important. Parents don’t care that Sunday School helps kids to love school because they don’t value school. We are trying to teach the adults of village and we do sometimes but they often miss classes. There is one family that never misses a class. The children loved the stories of Esau and Jacob, the patience of Isaac and others. The only reason the Muslim leaders are now accepting Sunday School is because the children are no longer fighting because of what they learnt at Sunday School.
WELLMAN SS OF ALL GOD’S CHILDREN/RISEN SON PAVILION
This ministry is growing well, new kids are joining us all the time but most of them are from 2 to 10 years old, we don’t get too many teenagers. I like this Sunday School because the kids don’t fight or give problems but listen very carefully. In phonics the kids now know from A – X in the alphabet list. This program of Sunday School also helps children to love school. Some young boys like Ausiboni, Evasi and Gift would just play in class if you don’t involve them. These three like to hold me, climb on me, hug me and dance in front of me when I am teaching. I think they are hands on learners and need to be involved in order to learn. The kids like the phonics songs like “I love you Jesus.” The children love to hear the Bible lessons which help to shape them spiritually. Mariam is a one of the kids who attends and although she is lame and partially mentally disabled she faithfully attends Sunday School and participates in each part, she accepted Christ and is loving God. Takondwa is 2 years old, and she never misses Sunday School. She likes crafts and doesn’t want anyone to help her with them, even if she makes mistakes she wants to do it all by herself. It’s good to teach the kids while they are young because this is the lakeshore area and many young people are involved in fornication and spiritism. I see the Lord separating these children from that. They are learning the real life from the Bible and rooting themselves in the Word of God. It is important to have a Sunday School here because it is a bad community. Most of the parents are smokers and drunkards and many died of Aids because of adultery. These children could follow their example but thank God because at Sunday School some of the kids have been rescued from satan’s schemes. Please help us in prayers so that the elders should also understand the truth of God since most of them are not showing interest.
MELISA FOSTER MEMORIAL RESCUE UNIT SS Mikuju village
We have been so happy to see new faces coming to Sunday School. Most of the kids who come don’t have Sunday School at their churches so it is a privilege for them to be taught here. Kids are enjoying phonics and learning a lot. One example is Sillen Phiri who can now say the alphabet. They are very attentive to the lessons and after teaching they can repeat what you have taught. They are also working hard to learn the verses so that they can be allowed to have a craft paper. Many children have come to Christ after the lessons. One week we had 20 children receive Jesus as their Saviour. Teachers training is going better, before we had only one but now there are a total of six teachers in training. This really showed us the love of God. Over Christmas we had a lot of kids attending Sunday School, reaching over a 140. We taught them about the birth of Jesus and His purpose. We even had 17 people come for teachers training at Christmas time, we just hope that they will continue coming and that this wasn’t a one time thing.
WELLMAN FAMILY RESCUE UNIT SUNDAY SCHOOL Benga II village
We thank the Lord that we could extend our ministry at Wellman Family O.R.U. This ministry has started very well and the kids who are coming are motivated. At first the orphans thought we had started something very strange and that all the activities we had been doing previously would stop. We spent time to explain to them very well what Sunday School means and that it doesn’t cancel other things. Now they like the ministry. At first we struggled to choose which day would be the best day to have this ministry. In the end we agreed on Saturday. The first day we held Sunday School we only had a few kids but now we praise God that those few who came went and told their friends how good it was. We also went out for recruitment but more kids came because of the recruitment of their friends. One boy who comes now is Andrew Mussa. He is fourteen years old and is one of the best boys in participation. He is a role model to the other boys. Since he started coming to Sunday School he realized that it’s important for him to also go to church. We have a group of kids who are under seven years old and all of them love to colour the crafts and the games. It’s good to see when it’s time to colour everybody is minding his own business instead of bothering each other, then they go and show the picture to other kids who missed the lesson and start teaching them what they learnt. We have a prayer request that adults should start coming to teachers training. One of the stories kids loved was Jacob and Esau. They listened very well, and now we heard that this story is famous in some churches because our kids went and told the church! We thank God that at Christmas we had a very great number of kids who came to learn about the birth of Jesus Christ. The classes of Sunday School are very effective and we hope it will help many people into the kingdom of God in heaven.
Bless you, we appreciate your faithfulness!
Mrs. Linda Maher
Motorcycle Sunday School Missions
