July 28, 2009
Miss Ann Droppa of Dunnellon, Florida, went to be with the Lord on July 25, 2009, at the age of 92. She was a retired missionary who served faithfully with The Alliance in India for 37 years, from August 1945 until her retirement in May 1982. She is survived by her brothers, Rev. Charles (Dot) Droppa of Whitinsville, Massachusetts, and Donald (Leona) Droppa of Ocala, Florida; her sister-in-law, Vera Droppa, of Skaneateles; and several nieces and nephews.
Services will be held at 1 p.m. on Thursday, July 30, at Plis Funeral Home, Inc., 33 North Street, Marcellus, New York. The burial will be in Lakeview Cemetery, Skaneateles, New York. Friends may call on the family from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, prior to the service, at the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to: Rose Hill Baptist Church, 2609 Rose Hill Road., Marietta, New York 13110 (phone: 315-673-1092); or Auburn Alliance Church, 630 North Seward Avenue, Auburn, New York 13021 (phone: 315-253-2650).
Condolences may be sent to Rev. Charles and Dot Droppa: 2 Chestnut Street, apartment #103, Whitinsville, Massachusetts 01588.
Prayers for the family during this time of bereavement are very much appreciated.
At the request of the Department of Education, members of Team Joshua, an Alliance youth outreach in Indonesia, are presenting AIDS awareness programs during all high school and junior high orientations in Abepura, a town of Papua. “More than 25 Team Joshua youth were trained [in AIDS awareness education], and they are presenting the material to over 1,000 students,” says Barry Jordan, an Alliance worker who ministers through Team Joshua. “Praise the Lord for this opportunity.”
“Pray for Ida, the head of our Abe AIDS outreach, as she coordinates this ministry,” adds Jordan. “The team hopes to have continued opportunity throughout the school year.”
Team Joshua’s strategy includes AIDS awareness seminars, rallies, and concerts; a brochure with a hotline number that is distributed at popular youth gathering places; and training in AIDS counseling for volunteers.
Learn More
Check out our Alliance work in Indonesia.
What You Can Do
Pray that the AIDS awareness programs will make an eternal difference in the lives of the youth. Pray for Ida and her fellow team members as they conduct this outreach.
Donate now to Alliance Great Commission Ministries to support God’s work around the world.
July 23, 2009
At least 24 people died and hundreds were left homeless after the worst floods to hit Mongolia in 43 years devastated the landlocked nation. The floods struck last week as a result of severe rain storms in Ulaanbaatar, the capital.
Although the government issued televised warnings prior to the rainstorms, many children and elderly people could not be evacuated in time, CNN reports.
“There were three districts of the city that were primarily affected,” says Alliance worker Bernie Anderson. “Most of these were low-lying ‘ger communities’ with poor drainage and unsanitary living conditions. One family was particularly devastated in that they lost not only their home but three of their children in the floodwaters.”
Concerns voiced by the local media include the potential spread of disease, compounded by the possibility of snow in a mere eight weeks or less. “The onslaught of a notorious Mongolian winter could be a very bad situation for the families without adequate housing,” Anderson says.
“We are inquiring from all three districts to see if there is anything that we can do to help with relief efforts. The local government is working to provide gers for the families [that have been displaced]. We’ve had continued rain this week, and some of the same areas were hit with repeat flash flooding,” Anderson adds. As a result, several families lost their new homes to the flood waters again this week. “The Mongolian government is working now to move these families to another location.”
Compassion and Mercy Associates (CAMA), the Alliance relief arm, is ready to come alongside government efforts as needed to address the flooding.
Learn More
Check out our Alliance work in Mongolia.
Learn more about CAMA.
What You Can Do
Pray for all those who have been impacted by this disaster: that God will meet their needs and that He will use this tragedy to draw many people to Himself. Also, pray for Alliance workers and national believers as they minister to those in need.
Donate now to Alliance Great Commission Ministries to support God’s work around the world.
July 22, 2009
By JJ Spurling
Editor’s Note: The following is an adaptation of a recent prayer letter by JJ Spurling, who serves with The Alliance in Paraguay.
A friend and I were talking, and he told me he was struggling again with “holy jealousy” (envidia santa). When you hear something new in a new language, it takes some time to process what has been said. While he continued to explain his struggle, I was thinking: “‘Envidia’ means jealousy, and ’santa’ means holy. I must not have heard him correctly because these two things do not go together.”
“Excuse me,” I said, “but did you say ‘envidia santa’?”
“Yes,” he replied.
“You will have to explain this one to me because this is the first time I’m hearing of it.”
My friend told me that holy jealousy is a term that he believes to be popular throughout Latin America and is not unlike a white lie. “Many people believe that white lies are acceptable, even though you and I know that they are not,” he explained. And apparently, “holy jealousy” is viewed similarly. He continued by relating an example:
“Let’s say that someone has a spiritual gifting that I desire, such as the ability to lead worship. When I question the Lord as to why I don’t have that gift and even resent my sister because she has it and I don’t, this is holy jealousy.”
The struggle my friend is having reminded me of a conversation that I had in our youth group one evening when discussing Romans 12. In verse 15, Paul writes the following: “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” The group told me that it is easy to mourn with those who mourn, but it is difficult to rejoice with those who are rejoicing. Because this perspective is the opposite of my experience, I asked them to explain.
One of the young people shared an example of a friend receiving a new bicycle. Although the friend is rejoicing because of his great fortune, it would be difficult for the young person to rejoice because he does not have a bicycle.
This discussion has provoked a lot of thought over the past several months. Why can I rejoice so easily over the good fortune of others? And why is it not as natural for me to mourn with others?
I believe that I rejoice over the successes and blessings of others because my cultural context has programmed me to believe that I, too, can be successful and blessed if I work hard for it. For example, my boss here in Paraguay is receiving a new Mac laptop today, and I am genuinely excited for him. I want one too, but I’m not jealous. To be completely honest, in the back of my mind I’m thinking, “I’m going to get me one of those when I get back to the States.”
The Paraguayan does not have the same opportunity. I have learned that the blessings we have in the States are not the reality everywhere. There is not always a reward for hard work. At the end of a hard day’s work, it is possible (I almost want to say probable for those of a lower economic station) that you will not receive the reward that is due and oftentimes promised. Would I struggle with jealousy if I grew up in a culture like that?
The Paraguayan has been formed in a culture of hard knocks. Most have experienced great disappointments. And I believe that because of this, they are a compassionate and empathetic culture. They don’t find it hard to mourn with others. I will mourn with others, but it is definitely more uncomfortable than rejoicing.
Which culture is better?
It’s not a question of either/or-it’s both/and. What can I take away from my Paraguayan experience? What can I learn, and how can I grow? I hope that part of it is a greater compassion and sensitivity for those around me. Hopefully, one thing I will have instilled in the Paraguayans is a joy for the successes of their brothers and sisters in Christ, because God is the giver of all that is good.
The Holy Spirit is using my cross-cultural experience to further form me. My prayer is that I will rejoice because God is the source of all that is good in my life and I will mourn because He has given me His perfect love. My contentment or sorrow is not dependent upon how hard I can work or how much I’ve been disappointed in the past. I am now programmed by a new culture: Kingdom culture.
I prayed with my friend about his struggle and explained the interdependent plan that God has for the church-how the gifting of every believer will help us accomplish the good works that the Lord has given us as a unified whole.
Learn More
Check out our Alliance work in Paraguay.
What You Can Do
Join JJ Spurling in praising God as the source of all goodness. Pray that Alliance missionaries in Paraguay and around the world will convey Christ’s love and compassion for those who mourn.
Donate now to Alliance Great Commission Ministries to support God’s work around the world.
July 21, 2009
Mrs. Ruby Marie Walker, former missionary to Guinea, passed into the presence of the Lord on June 26, 2009. She was 87 years old.
Ruby Marie Brown was born on September 30, 1921, in Clymer, New York. She graduated from Clymer Central High School and attended Jamestown Business College for two years. Ruby accepted Jesus into her heart as a teenager. Sensing God’s call on her life, she attended the Missionary Training Institute (now Nyack College) in Nyack, New York, following the end of World War II.
Ruby completed her home service at the Blundon Orphanage in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and departed for Paris, France, in 1952 to study French. Six months later, she arrived in Guinea where she served faithfully from 1952 to1966 to advance God’s Kingdom among the people of Guinea. Robert (Bob) Walker came to Guinea on a short-term missions trip to help the field with electrical repairs and construction work. It was love at first sight, and Miss Walker returned to the United States to marry Bob.
Funeral services were held on Tuesday, June 30. Ruby was predeceased by her husband, Robert. She is survived by two sisters: Fern Jennings of Springfield, Virginia, and Florence Walker of Sebring, Florida.
July 15, 2009
More than 5,000 people gathered July 8-9 at the Pacifico Convention Center in Yokohama, Japan’s second-largest city, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the beginning of Protestant missionary work in the country. Yokohama is also the site where the first Protestant missionaries landed.
Among those who participated in the special assembly was Rev. Young Jo Ha, senior pastor of the 40,000+ member Onnuri Community Church in Seoul, Korea, who spoke on the need for revival. The U.S. C&MA partners with Onnuri in training Korean missionaries.
One of the most memorable moments of the celebration included a challenge issued by a 101-year-old pastor. “He remembered days when there was revival in Japan-more than 500 people being baptized on an island,” says Alliance missionary Hazel Schaeffer. “I came away with a feeling that God is doing something special in Japan. And our Japanese brothers and sisters share that same desire for revival.”
“In a time of financial turmoil, we are thankful for all of you who are investing in eternity,” the Schaeffers wrote in one of their prayer letters. “Thank you for giving and praying and for being a part of the work here in Japan”
Learn More
Check out our Alliance work in Japan.
What You Can Do
Pray for revival throughout Japan, which remains one of the least-reached nations in the world despite 150 years of foreign missions.
Donate now to Alliance Great Commission Ministries to support God’s work around the world.
An estimated 75 leaders from 16 African nations will gather for the College of Prayer (COP) Summit in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, July 21-25, 2009.
“We are calling College of Prayer leaders from all across Africa for our first African Summit,” says Pastor Fred Hartley, who started the college. A movement for spiritual transformation, the COP focuses on building leaders who will disciple their nations.
“It will be an historic time,” adds Hartley, who is lead pastor at Lilburn Alliance Church in Tucker, Georgia. He is returning to Abidjan to host the summit training sessions for leaders of the various Colleges of Prayer across Africa. Africa’s first COP was begun in Cote d’Ivoire eight years ago.
Summit Goal: A Strategy for Revival
“The purpose of the July summit,” Hartley continues, “is to receive God’s strategy for revival in Africa and His plan to take the College of Prayer to every people group in Africa by 2015.” He and his associates have conducted COP training sessions in a number of countries worldwide.
The upcoming summit will be held on the campus of West Africa Alliance Seminary (in French, la Faculté de Théologie Evangélique de l’Alliance Chrétienne, or FATEAC) in Abidjan. FATEAC is an Alliance seminary that emphasizes spiritual formation.
What You Can Do
Pray for a mighty outpouring of God’s Spirit upon this historic summit.
Learn More
Read about the Alliance in Cote d’Ivoire, including the ministry at FATEAC.
July 10, 2009
By an Alliance worker
The following is an adaptation of an Alliance worker’s recent article, illustrating how the Great Physician is drawing Kosovars to Himself.
God’s at work here. I want to share about His healing power in the life of Fasul.*
Last year Fasul broke his leg while in the mountains cutting timber. Because it was a compound fracture, with spurting arterial bleeding, he almost bled to death riding on horseback down the mountain and then taking a taxi to the hospital.
Fasul’s story is long. He nearly died from an infection in the hospital and then crossed the mountains on crutches into Macedonia to seek additional medical care. We first met him last fall when he came to our community center in southeastern Kosovo seeking help.
Needed: $10,000
His leg was sheathed in an external cage; his shin was pinned together. Fasul’s dressings were changed at the hospital weekly; the doctors were working to disinfect the protruding, jagged ends of his shin bones. He told us he needed about $10,000 to return to Macedonia and have the surgery completed.
We didn’t have $10,000. But we prayed and also took Fasul to a private hospital for treatment and a second opinion in Prishtina, Kosovo’s capital city. The doctor said he would probably lose the leg. His open wound was not, surprisingly, infected. But the chances of a bone graft taking to the dead bone tissue were almost zero.
God had the last word, however.
Over the past nine months since meeting Fasul, our church has prayed and ministered to him and his family-relentlessly. He and his sister in-law, he claims, are now believers.
“God at Work”
Much to our amazement, about a month ago the doctor said that the bones in Fasul’s leg were beginning to show signs of life. Last week, the doctor removed the pins from his leg and put him in a walking cast-he was careful to say that this was not his doing, not the result of his treatment, but that God was at work.
Sunday night Fasul testified to God’s healing power. He stood before the church and then set aside his crutches to show that, with the cast, his broken leg could take the weight of his body.
Fasul still has a long way to go in the healing process, but he now has so much hope, not just for a healed leg, but in the power of God. This miracle couldn’t have been purchased with $10,000 from the “wealthy” missionaries, but it was given by God’s sovereign hand.
There are so many other things to tell you, ways in which God is moving among His people in Kosovo, but there isn’t time or space. They’ll have to wait for future updates.
*Name changed
What You Can Do
In your prayers, praise God for the miracle of Fasul’s continued healing. Continue to pray that he will grow in his faith, and that others in his circle of family and friends will come to personally know Jesus, the Great Physician.
Donate now to support the work of Alliance churches and staff around the world, including dedicated workers in Kosovo.
July 8, 2009
By Tim and Penny Iverson, serving in Taiwan
In the region of Taiwan where we minister, Christians make up 0.1 percent of the population. YuanChang consists of several small villages with a total population of 32,000, yet it has only one small Christian congregation. This is one of the least-reached areas of Taiwan; and working-class people, like the majority of those living in our township, have been the hardest to reach with the gospel. It is a spiritually dark place.
We are seeking to show God’s love in this community through teaching English in the public schools and through The Lighthouse, a coffeehouse ministry. Through our work here, we became friends with Ming-Ming, an elementary school nurse.
Last week, Tim brought our field forum speaker, Rev. Rob Douglas, to visit the school and meet some of our friends there. Ming-Ming shared with them a dream she recently had. She told them that in the dream, she was singing a song in English. When she awoke, she was crying. She hummed a bit of the tune and asked them if they knew the song. It was “Amazing Grace.”
God used a dream to open the door to share with Ming-Ming the words and significance of that famous hymn we all know so well. Several others were there who also heard the message. Other than being a friend, Ming-Ming hadn’t even been on our “radar” yet, but God pointed out clearly that day where He is at work.
Recently, Ming-Ming shared that she has an important test related to her nursing license on August 1. She asked us to pray for her and said that if she passes the test, she will begin going to church.
Please join us in praying for Ming-Ming. Pray that God, in His power and mercy, will demonstrate His love to her by helping her to pass her test. Praythat Ming-Ming will soon receive Christ’s amazing grace.
Also, pray for a powerful breakthrough in our ministry in YuanChang. Pray especially for men to give their hearts and lives to Christ. Pray for entire families to turn to Him. We recognize that there is nothing we can do without the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us and at work in the people around us. Please ask God to pour out His Spirit.
Learn More
Check out our Alliance work in Taiwan.
What You Can Do
Praise God for His amazing work in drawing Ming-Ming to Himself. Pray that she will recognize Christ’s power to save and that she will respond to His grace.
Donate now to Alliance Great Commission Ministries to support God’s work around the world.
An estimated 350,000 enslaved prostitutes live in Spain, said Betsy Blanchard in her July 4 ministry update from the southern European nation. “These women are forced to ‘work,’ sometimes 14-hour days, regularly shifted between more than 2,000 legal brothels and other venues. The stories are shocking!”
To assist these women in crisis, God has laid a vision on the heart of this veteran Alliance worker to establish a residential center-”Cinderella’s House.” In a May 2009 article she explained that the home will be “a center for restoration where a hopeless and broken ‘princess’ (a daughter of the King of Kings!) can meet the Prince of Peace and be transformed.”
Alliance Women Ministries has designated the new center as its official project for 2009/2010.
“Almost No Way Out”
Young women trafficked into Spain for prostitution purposes range in age from 16 to 25, Blanchard said; most are immigrants from Latin America, Eastern Europe, and parts of Africa. “Enticed to Spain by what seem to be legitimate jobs, they find themselves enslaved . . . with almost no way out.”
Blanchard returned to Granada, Spain, June 27th from a year-long furlough in the United States that included visiting two residential women’s programs in Nashville, Tennessee. Both centers provided insights that will help to inform the new ministry’s administration.
“I hope to visit an organization in Madrid next week,” she concluded in her recent update. “[It] is trying to raise awareness of the problem and bring together various groups who are working to address the issues.”
How You Can Help
“Please pray for God’s guidance, His favor, and His provision” Blanchard requested, “to get Cinderella’s House off the drawing board and into reality, so that broken Cinderellas can meet the Prince of Peace and learn that they are deeply loved!”
Donate online to the Cinderella’s House Project-help make this vital ministry a reality!
Learn More
Read about our work in Spain.
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