| Honduras: Over 100,000 Hear The Gospel |
Missions News: Outreaches
__ (San Pedro Sula, Honduras) A six-day evangelistic campaign in Honduras came to a joyous end as as more than 110,000 people heard the gospel. The two-day attendance for the festival was reportedly more than 160,000. The festival was organized by Mike Silva International, a group founded by evangelist Mike Silva. _ Mike Silva International reports that more than 150 volunteers from the United States traveled to Honduras to serve during the festival. Their week started with visits to schools, barrios, churches, and orphanages where they distributed food, toys, and Gospel coloring books and beaded bracelets. At these locations, they shared their faith through clowning, preaching, stories, and singing. _
A medical team from the United States also traveled with the Silva Team and partnered with teams from Cuba and Honduras. They took part in more than 1,000 exams and procedures ranging from dentistry, gynecology, and general medicine. _ Volunteer Sara Fisher, a nurse from Silverton, Oregon, said, "The medical needs of the people of San Pedro Sula are beyond what we could provide. However, the Lord brought together many care professionals from all over the world to serve the people here. This was an excellent experience for the health care professionals involved, and we heard many great stories of people who were touched by the care they received."
_ During the week Mike Silva, Max Lucado, and Dr. Jim Williams spoke to pastors encouraging them to work in unity and to continue to proclaim the Gospel in their community. Silva also spoke with the San Pedro Sula police and at a dinner for the city's top business leaders. _ The outreach culminated in a two-day evangelistic festival on Friday and Saturday night on the grounds next to the Esadio Olipico. Artists at the festival included Rescate, Raza for Christ, Jaci Velasquez, Vico – C, Vertical, Jez, Manny Montes, Pilo Tejeda, and Jailene Cintron. The crowds came out in force on both nights to experience the free event. Every age and socioeconomic level was represented in this poverty stricken area. _  The Gospel message was presented multiple times from the stage over two days by Silva, Lucado and others. Silva made the call to commitment on both nights. He challenged the crowd by saying, "This gift is free. Salvation from your sins comes through Jesus Christ. It is a free gift. You can't earn it – no matter how hard you try. All you have to do is accept it and follow Jesus Christ." _ Thousands reportedly raised their hands when the call to follow Christ was given. Those who raised their hands were met by a "Friend of the Festival" who confirmed their commitment and answered questions. _
_ Read More: Links: Mike Silva International San Pedro Sula Blog ______________________________________________________________________________ The International Faith Telegraph
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| Given Up At Birth, A Missionary Returns To Minister To Her People |
Missions News: Outreaches 
Suzy Krumroy, who works with her husband in Panama, is a missionary with a difference: She was born in the Darien jungles of Panama, adopted by a Christian family in the United States, and has now returned to minister to the very people that gave her up over thirty years ago. "When I was born," she explains, "my mother realized that she could not keep me. My father was not her husband and babies born to this sort of relationship were usually not claimed by their fathers. And this was the case with me. At that time, any babies that were not claimed by their fathers were often taken to the river and drowned." However, this was not to be her fate. "Missionaries who had recently passed through the village volunteered to care for any babies who were not wanted, and my mom remembered this. At about two months of age, my mom gave me to these missionaries." The missionaries then arranged for her to be adopted by a family in the United States looking for a litle girl to adopt. She grew up in a Christian family, and her family let her know very early on where she had come from and her family's name in Panama. "Deep inside," she recalls, "I always knew I was supposed to go back to where I had come from as a missionary," and when she was nineteen years old she saw a commerical by "Teen Mania" ministries recruiting missionaries for short term trips all over the world. One country in particular caught her attention: Panama! On her first trip back to the Darien Jungles of Panama, Suzy became acquainted with the land of her birth. "It was quite beautiful and I felt at home there," she recalls. It was not long before Suzy would return for a second trip, and it was during this trip that something truly miraculous took place. "I was in a village somewhere in the Darien talking with the chiefs when, with the help of a translator, I was asked why I spoke English so well yet could not speak Spanish or Kuna." It was clear that Suzy looked just like them, but it was also clear that she had been raised elsewhere. Suzy told the villagers her story, and when she gave them her family name, they told her that they knew her family and that her family was located by a bridge that she had crossed a number of times with her missions team. As her team left the jungle, they made one more stop at this bridge, and moments later Suzy stood in front of her cousin and uncle. There was a tearful reunion, and a fantastic surprise: Suzy's uncle informed her that her mother lived in a village about an hour up the river! Just one week later, Suzy was reunited with her mother. "There really are no words to describe meeting my birth mom and my sisters at the village. I just remember how beautiful she was and how she grabbed me in an enormous hug and we both cried until we had no strength left. " Through a translator, Suzy spoke with her mother about her life in the United States and whether she was happy there. "It was a defining moment in my life," Suzy recalls. "Suddenly I became consumed with the fire and passion to reach the Kuna with the Gospel" -- a passion that continues to this day. Before leaving the village, Suzy and the missions team presented the gospel, and when Suzy gave the altar call, her mother and sisters came forward to accept Christ! Suzy experienced the unspeakable joy of leading her own mother and sisters in a prayer to receive Christ. On a trip the following year, Suzy had the opportunity to meet her father. "During this trip, I was much more nervous because I did not know how my father would receive me," she recalls. "Would he accept me as his daughter after all these years?" The nervousness disappeared when Suzy and her father met for the first time. "Not only did he accept me as his own, he informed me that he had given his life to Christ and deemed it a miracle from God that I was standing before him!" And when it came time to leave, Suzy's father did not want to say goodbye. Suzy has since made many return trips to the Darien jungle, and on each trip, she has been able to visit with her birth parents and spend time with them. "During each encounter I am reminded of the sacrifice my mother made and how God turned it around for His glory," she says. "There is no limit to the love that God has for his people, and He will literally go to the end of the Earth so that no one should perish." Read More: Links
Jack & Suzy Krumroy: Missionaries To Panama ______________________________________________________________________________ The International Faith Telegraph
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| | Missions Without Money, Food Or Shelter |
Missions News: Outreaches  It was 5:30 in the morning when missionary Colin Gruetzmacher received a text message: "Hey, it's Faith Week. You have half an hour to pack. It may be cold where you are going." Within a few hours, he and fellow missionary Hayley Bullen (above) were on a plane from the United Kingdom to Romania, and soon found themselves on the streets of Bucharest, Romania completely alone – with no accommodations, no agenda, and little more than an emergency contact in hand. Welcome to "Faith Week." What is Faith Week? Colin explains: "It is a concept that originated when Jesus sent out the seventy-two in pairs, telling them not to carry anything with them, but to just go and proclaim the Kingdom wherever they went." During Faith Week, Youth With A Mission ("YWAM") missionaries are sent alone or with another misssionary to a surprise location with nothing prearranged, with the goal of hearing God's voice and doing what He asks them to do.  Fath Week for Colin and Hayley took place in Bucharest, Romania. They arrived without any accomodations or plans at the Piata Romana, the busiest traffic interesection in central Bucharest (left).
"It was a very intimidating place to be dropped off," Colin recalls. "And neither of us had any idea where we would sleep." The first night they managed to find accomodations at a hostel, and by the second night they had made contact with a Calvary Chapel church that provided them with beds and showers for the remainder of their stay. After securing a place to sleep, they focused on just trying “to do things for God," but this did not work out very well: "We started to hand out pizza," Colin recalls. "But I guess people in Bucharest are not very keen to take free food on the streets." Colin and Hayley realized that they just needed to slow things down, and "wait" on God for direction. "Sometimes it is more important to just listen and do what God says," explains Colin, "rather than to try to fit an outreach to meet your own expectations of what it will be." This led Colin and Hayley in a number of unexpected directions over the next few days – from meeting the head of a Christian denomination to playing music for kids in a local hospital. Colin and Hayley helped local missionaries walk gypsy kids to school, and walked the streets of Bucharest themselves, praying for Romania and looking for opportunities to share the gospel. On several occasions they were chased away by authorities for “loitering.” "We learned that you can't sit anywhere in Romania that there is not an actual seat," Colin explains.  One day they found themselves in a park, where Colin (left) attracted a crowd with his ukulele: "If you ever want a good evangelism tool, or a conversation starter, get yourself a ukulele," Colin reports. "It is pure happiness and joy," and easily "the best evangelism tool ever."
Later in the week, they were led to visit a street address someone had given them. As they walked to the address, they became concerned because they were walking through an increasingly dangerous “slum” area of town. However, when they arrived, they realized that they were at the Assemblies of God Bible College in Romania, and they ended up meeting with the head of the College and denomination. “When he agreed to meet us, I think he thought we would be like 50,” recalls Colin with laughter. It must have been a curious encounter indeed between these two young missionaries with little more than the clothes on their back and the man who was the head of the Assemblies of God in Romania. "It was like the donkey speaking to the prophet," Colin recalls. "Speak for yourself," quips Hayley. Despite the differences in their ages, backgrounds, and organizations, the three servants of Christ were still able to make a connection. “He explained the vision of the Bible College to train young leaders,” says Colin. “And we expressed our hope that he would send young Romanians to the U.K. for an upcoming Olympic outreach we were planning.” After the meeting, Colin and Hayley walked through the Bible College praying for safety, since the campus does not have enough money to pay the local “mafia” for protection. Sadly, just a few days after their adventure had begun, Colin and Hayley were back at the Piata Romana, climbing into a taxi cab and headed back to the airport. “Faith Week” was over, but the memories and the lessons would remain: "It was terrifying, exciting, and freeing,” Colin summarizes. “It always astonishes me how easy it is to hear God's voice when you really have to." Read More: Links YWAM England ______________________________________________________________________________ The International Faith Telegraph
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The latest and most unique Christian news stories from around the world. Bizarre, groundbreaking, worldchanging. Exclusive stories from a wide variety of sources. Missions news directly from missionaries and numerous denominations and organizations. |
| 1,100 Missionary Teens In Fresno, California |
MIssions News: Outreaches (Fresno, CA) The largest inland city in California, Fresno, is now home to 1,100 teens camped in a make-shift tent city on the lawn of People's Church in Fresno. The teens had planned to visit Mexico for missionary work, but a recent crime wave along the Mexican border with the United States forced them to rethink their plans. Rather than cancel their trip, they decided to spend their spring break performing missionary work in California's Central Valley, a large flat valley that dominates the central portion of California. They will be performing community service projects, ministering to children, cleaning and repairing homes in poor neighborhoods, painting over graffiti and more. One of the adult volunteers found a silver lining in the change of plans: There is not enough press coverage of kids doing good things, he observed. The media focuses too much on kids on drugs and acts of violence. The missionary teens have been featured in local media, with one local television station performing live interviews and providing daily updates on their outreach. One teen volunteer said that she couldn't think of a better way to spend her spring break. "It's really fun; you have all these people here for one purpose and it's amazing. I couldn't think of another place I'd rather be than here." Read More: Links: 1,100 Missionary Teens In Fresno Breakaway Outreach ______________________________________________________________________________ The International Faith Telegraph
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The latest and most unique Christian news stories from around the world. Bizarre, groundbreaking, worldchanging. Exclusive stories from a wide variety of sources. Missions news directly from missionaries and numerous denominations and organizations. |
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