2010
The Kuwaa Mission celebrates its second Christmas this December! I wonder what this Mission would be doing this Christmas if it was a human child growing up in the West. I imagine it would be a time of great anticipation for this child as she would have heard the commercials, the special songs, stories about the North Pole, questions about what she wants for Christmas and maybe she would have heard the story of what God did for humankind. Maybe the story would go something like this, “God loved us so much that He gave us a gift. That gift is Jesus born in a stable in Bethlehem.”
Christmas is about God giving humankind a gift. That gift would give them so much joy that they would become joyful gift-givers themselves!
As the Kuwaa Mission celebrates its second Christmas, we have seen firsthand what God can do through people who accept God’s gift of Jesus Christ. To them, we want to say thank you! You have demonstrated the reality of God to us and to the Kuwaa people! Here are the names of some of those for whom we are grateful this Christmas:
1. Wheat Ridge Ministries which had faith in our dream, gave the seed money for this mission and continues to urge us on;
2. Bethany Lutheran Church in Slidell, LA for being our sponsoring church;
3. The Lutheran Church in Liberia, for their partnership;
4. All our partner and supporting churches who work diligently for the mission. Among those churches are Abiding Savior, Lake Forest, CA; Amazing Grace Lutheran – Anchorage, AK; Beautiful Savior Lutheran – Anchorage, AK; Central Lutheran – Anchorage, AK; Christ Lutheran, Costa Mesa, CA; Christ Lutheran – Fairbanks, AK; Fairbanks Lutheran – Fairbanks AK; First Lutheran – Aitkin, MN; Holy Cross Lutheran – Eureka, MT; Lord of Life Lutheran – North Pole, AK; Mount Zion Lutheran – New Orleans, LA; River of Life – Peters Creek, AK; Trinity Lutheran – Palmer, AK; Trinity Lutheran, Park Forest, IL;
5. The organizations and individuals that partner with us so far: Alaska WELCA, LWML – Christ and Christ Care – Coasta Mesa, CA; Anamayii, the Catholic Fathers in Liberia and Samaritan’s Purse, Hope Lutheran School– West Seattle, WA; and
6. The government of Liberia for the warm reception they have given us especially Vice President Joseph Boakai, Senator T. Momo, Representative D. Yarsiah, and Minister of Health W. Gwenegale.
To you all, we say:
Thank You and Merry Christmas
From: The Board of Directors of the Kuwaa Mission
www.kuwaamission.org or email Djensen@kuwaamission.org
November Prayer Letter
God has blessed the Kuwaa people this year and our mission to help them. From all of us at the Kuwaa mission Thank You and may God continue to bless the Kuwaa people through you.
Below is the link to the November Prayer Letter!
October 2010 Prayer Letter
October Kuwaa Prayer Letter
“AND A CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM,” prophesied Isaiah. (Is. 11:6) These words slammed into my consciousness yesterday after I spoke about the Kuwaa Mission at River of Life Lutheran Church. I could not but praise God for what I experienced. The congregational president interrupted the service when I was finished. He came forward and reminded the group that last January they changed their constitution to include a special mission project that they would be involved in. He emphatically stated that the Kuwaa Mission should be it and that they would become a part of the Mission’s sending group. I said to myself, “Thank you, God. All I can do is praise you!” Little did I know that the best was yet to come.
AND A CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM!
Little Brooke, a 10 year old girl, came up to me. Being very bashful, her mom accompanied her to speak with me. Little Brooke’s mother told me that Brooke wanted to give her $15 allowance to the Kuwaa Mission. She continued that her daughter was very touched by the message. After handing me the $15, Brooke became comfortable enough to begin talking to me. She and her mom asked what Brooke could do to help the Kuwaa Mission even more. Brooke wanted to set a goal for herself to work toward to help the mission. I gave her the list of things for which people can dedicate funds, like pencils for school children, tool to work with, etc. While people filled their plates and began eating a Liberian meal, a man asked me how much it would cost to go over to Liberia as a volunteer. As I talked to him about it, I noticed Brooke standing there with him. He is her grandpa. She asked her gramps to take her to Liberia as a volunteer in 2011. I gave them an approximate price, adding that congregations are encouraged to help pay for the trip. I said to myself, “Thank you, God. All I can do is praise you!”
AND A CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM!
While eating the meal, a wonderful question and answer session about the Mission and the Kuwaa people pursued. As people began to leave, Brooke and her mother came back to me saying that Brooke decided on a project. She wanted to save and raise money for one potable water system. Her mom shared that Brooke was very taken to help the children because she heard that 50% were still dying before 10 years of age, mostly because of bad drinking water. I said, “Thank you,” and something like, “WOW!” Her mother explained that Brooke wanted to raise the money for a medical clinic but that she was dissuaded from taking on that one due to the cost of the project. But little 10 year old Brooke was determined if not a medical clinic then she would save and raise the amount to provide one potable water system. Again I said, “Thank you,” and “WOW!” while I encouraged her in her big thinking. I told her about noisy offerings and suggested that she could get a couple of one gallon metal buckets so that the congregation could help her raise the money by throwing their coins into the bucket each Sunday. I told her she could put a scale in the entrance way for everyone to see each week on how the project is doing. I shared with her about Lord of Life Lutheran Church in North Pole Alaska. They already raised money to pay for one potable water system with the noisy offering. At that moment Brooke could have climbed Mt Denali all by herself in one day.
“AND A CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM!
Let us pray for all children. Let us pray that each Kuwaa town can have potable water systems so that 50% of their children won’t die by the age of 10. Let us pray for children who shall lead us! And let us praise God for them.
“AND A CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM!
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE KUWAA MISSION, HOW YOU CAN HELP, AND HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED, SEE www.kuwaamission.org.
Your partner in Mission,
Dick Thompson, Kuwaa Mission CEO
June Prayer Letter
JUNE 2010 KUWAA MISSION PRAYER LETTER
I worshipped at Trinity Lutheran Church in Park Forest, IL on June 6, 2010. It happened to have been the same day that the congregation launched its $12.00 Club. The volunteer couple that heads the Kuwaa Mission Project at this church walked up with the only child at church that Sunday. They placed the replica of a well on the baptismal font for all to see. Then they asked the child and the congregation to name things for which we are thankful. We named several things but not once did it occur to any of us to name portable water.
It got me thinking about the times I lived in and visited villages in Kuwaa land. I remember there were times when the source of water dried up the villagers performed rituals for the rains to come. The entire village waited in great anticipation for the heavens to open and pour down rain. I remember times when such rains came and we were provided immediate relief, but then the creeks were so polluted from human and animal waste that over half of the village would get sick from drinking the water – this would delay the farming process. I remember having to walk at least half a mile one way to bring home a pail of water. I remember watching my mother and sisters, after an entire day of back-breaking work on the farm, come home and spend their evenings putting tin buckets on their heads and walking that half mile to and fro in order to supply the home with drinking, cooking, and bath water. I remember how mothers unintentionally increased their children’s sicknesses by providing those children the same water that made them sick in the first place. I remember the shrill cry of mothers in the middle of the night because they lost their children to the high concentration of waterborne diseases in those little bodies.
So I wonder how many in those villages would take portable water for granted. I am aware that people in those villages would be no different from us after they have had access to portable water for some time. What a day it will be when that day comes! We are hopeful that that day will come.
That is why we, members of the Kuwaa Mission, celebrate the digging of the two new wells and the remodeling of the four old ones among the Kuwaa people since January this year. We celebrate the generosity of our partners around the US who have made this possible. We are still a long way off. But we believe we can do all things through Christ – even this.
Please continue to pray for:
- The Kuwaa people
- The Roads to open
- Yamaha AG100 Trail bikes for our two field leaders
- Transportation for carrying supplies up country
- More funds for wells, schools, & churches
- The speedy recovery of our CEO
Make checks out to: Bethany Lutheran
Address:
Bethany Lutheran Church 1340 8th Street Slidell, La 70458Earmark: Kuwaa Mission & other projects Volunteers
Your Brother in Christ
Rev. Dr. D. Jensen Seyenkulo – Board of Directors Chairman
Website: www.kuwaamission.org
For information contact: Jensen Seyenkulo (jensen.seyenkulo@elca.org)
Richard Thompson (revdrthompson@gmail.com)
Volunteer Information: Diane Stelling (kuwaa5diane@sbcglobal.net)
Work Program Manager: Stan Olsen (stan1olsen@yahoo.com)
July Prayer Letter
THE JULY 2010 PRAYER LETTER
THE KUWAA MISSION/KIDS4KUWAAKLUB
Projects for Lutheran Churches, Schools, Sunday Schools, and VBSes
The Kuwaa children in Liberia, West Africa need our help. We are trying to help them and their older relatives. So we established a “Kids4Kuwaa club which allows our children to become personally involved in helping them by praying and raising or collecting funds to help them. The club was established to provide our kids the opportunity to reach across the ocean and help their Kuwaa brothers and sisters in Christ in Liberia. The Kuwaa children need our help.
The Kids4KuwaaKlub enlists children and youth to get involved by praying for the mission and the Kuwaa people. We are in the process of raising funds to purchase school supplies (pencils, crayons, rulers, pencil sharpeners, erasers, scissors, notebook paper, chalk, and chalkboards) so that the Kuwaa children might have the opportunity for an education. Funds are also being raised for clean drinking water for the people because 50% of the children die before the age of 10, most of them because of dirty drinking water. We also are trying to help them rebuild their schools, medical clinics, and churches as most of them were destroyed of left in an unsuitable condition.
Lutheran Sunday Schools and VBS programs have already adopted KIDS4KUWAA as their mission project along with a children’s “noisy offering” collection during the church services. They have caught the vision of sharing the Gospel with the Kuwaa children in Liberia, West Africa.
For further information and promotional materials for your Church, Parochial School/Preschool, Sunday School, Bible Class, VBS or adult/youth church organizations please contact:
Ed Stelling
kuwaa5@aol.com
Thank you, on behalf of the Kuwaa children, for considering this project.
www.kuwaamission.org
Donations for the mission and Kids4Kuwaa may be sent to:
Bethany Lutheran Church, 1340 8th Street, Slidell, LA 70458
Designate: Kuwaa Mission/Kids4Kuwaa