Thanksgiving Prayer Letter

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ A blessed Thanksgiving to you all! This has been a rough year for all of us. It has also been a rough year on foreign missions.Missionaries could not be sent overseas because of the Coronavirus. However, this year has been a blessing to the church and its organizations also. Out of necessity the church had to develop new strategies to carry on its ministry and mission. The same is true of the Kuwaa Mission. The Mission had to develop new strategies to keep the Mission going forward. The Mission was blessed because the goal, as reported by Stan Olsen, of at least one well in each town was completed. Thanks be to God for the dedication of Stan. While the wells and hospital were being built, a few Kuwaa men were trained. Two months ago, at a Board of Directors meeting, it was discovered that the work to help the Kuwaa people rebuild their infrastructures could still go forward. Bishop Jensen, Pastor Paye, and Mr. Sami Zinna joined the Zoom Board meeting. The Board learned that there were other projects that could be done under the supervision of one of their own people. The first thing they requested was that the Mission provide the funds to finish putting up an internet tower. That was easily accomplished. Now Pastor Paye can keep in contact with the Evangelists in each town. The next thing that they requested was a Solar Energy System so that they could conduct adult education classes. Funds are available to accomplish this project. Again we thank God for providing the funds. The third project they suggested was the remodeling and rebuilding of the churches and schools destroyed by the Civil War. The Board said that they could do this project also if the funds come in to buy the materials needed to rebuild the buildings. The Board is confident that the funds will become available. The beauty of this project is that we don’t need to send someone over to supervise the work program. They can do that themselves. All they need is the building materials. We rejoice and thank God because we know that God’s people will provide. This program is an answer to prayer because we don’t have to send anyone to Liberia with the Coronavirus raging. This is another reason to thank the Lord. Another reason the Kuwaa Mission asks you to celebrate Thanksgiving is for all the brothers and sisters who have helped and/or supported the Mission’s work, and for those who are or will be helping and/or supporting the work program. You have and/ or will make it possible to help the Kuwaa people to have better physical and spiritual lives.

         From this war tattered building to this newly constructed block building 

From Idol Worship To Baptism

A blessed Thanksgiving to each and every one of you! And a very big thank you for your help and support of the Kuwaa Mission. Your brother in Christ, Dick Thompson, Co–founder of the Kuwaa Mission

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Your contributions to the Kuwaa Mission are tax-deductible.  We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.  Our tax ID number is 27-5458111 Donations can be given in two ways:  A Check to the mission address or PayPal on our Website: 

Donate

Kuwaa Mission, PO Box 90513, Anchorage, AK 99509

www.kuwaamission.org                          Facebook: Kuwaa-Mission

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Dear Kuwaa Mission Supporters: It is with great sadness that I share the news that our KM Representative at Christ Lutheran Church in Costa Mesa, California, passed away this month. Bonnie Herring was a good friend and longtime supporter of our work with the Kuwaa people. We will miss her greatly, but we know that she is with Jesus. The roll of a representative in a congregation is a great asset to the mission. If you are so inclined to be a rep in your church, please let me know. We would love to have you help us. We need volunteers in all areas of our mission. Since the COVID19 has most of us in limbo these days, I wanted to reassure you that the Kuwaa Mission Board is continuing work both here and in Liberia. We have had several requests made for us, as a mission, to assist with the repair of several village schools and churches. Dry time is soon upon them and it is the perfect time to do this work. I am listing below some of the items that are necessary to do this work. Each is listed with cost for one building repair.…How much in total we will need is not known until the work has begun.                 We pray that you, our supporters, both individually and as congregations will see fit to finance some of these supplies. If you do, please note on your donation which materials you are adopting. Our former village of Belle Baloma has a night school that has lighting supplied by a generator that is old and not working well. A $2200 solar powered system would light up 3 classrooms. Many villagers cannot attend during the day because they have farm work to do. No work= No eat! We are looking for some individual, congregation or group to adopt this needed solar system project.            

ROOFING MATERIALS PROJECT:

• 1 BUNDLE OF 28 GAUGE ZINC;                 $135 USD
• 1 CARTON OF ROOFING NAILS;.                $55 USD
• 1 CARTON OF ASSORTED WIRE NAILS;     $32 USD
• MISC. ROOFING MATERIALS;                      $22 USD
• 1 SACK OF CEMENT;                                     $45 USD
• 1 TIN OF WOOD CARBOLINE;                     $45 USD

Any items you can adopt would be most appreciated.  Again, this is the Cost of 1 item.  We will need many items adopted to repair schools and churches.  Many are still in disrepair since the recent 14 year civil war.  Please remember to mark you donation with the items you are adopting.  

Thank you for your continuing prayers and financial support of the Kuwaa People of Liberia West Africa. May God richly bless you during this Covid crisis and bring us all through it safely in 2021.   Diane Stelling, Member of the Kuwaa Mission Board

(Kuwaa5Diane@sbcglobal.net)

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Your contributions to the Kuwaa Mission are tax-deductible.  We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.  Our tax ID number is 27-5458111 Donations can be given in two ways:  A Check to the mission address or PayPal on our Website: 

Donate

Kuwaa Mission, PO Box 90513, Anchorage, AK 99509

www.kuwaamission.org                          Facebook: Kuwaa-Mission

Please subscribe to our mailing list if you want to receive our monthly update letter.  

Shop like you normally do on Amazon but make a small contribution to the Kuwaa Mission with every purchase.  Please consider adding the Kuwaa Mission.   

While we isolate, quarantine and/or shut ourselves out of contact with those we most dearly wish we could personally talk to, hug or just socialize with in whatever manner we prefer we need to remember that we here in the United States are not alone and the Kuwaa people need our support, our prayers and our positive outlook.

I recently received several photos from our well contractor showing the work he was able to accomplish this year.  While I left Liberia this year before any physical work had started due to the mud on the roads that made it impossible to get the supplies to the villages, we were still able to have a very successful dry season.  We again have Samaritans Purse to thank for the donated use of their helicopter.

In addition to our wells we conducted another Children’s Bible School, this year in Kondesu, with the local Muslim people with stories common to the Old Testament and the Koran.  It was very well attended with over 120 children and many young adults and elders closely paying attention.

Picture 1-Well

The first village we visited when the Kuwaa Mission started was Belle Yelleh.  Belle Yelleh was the home of a very notorious prison early in Liberia’s history and right up to the start of the civil war.  It does have two decent, by Liberian standards, roads so it is a rapidly growing village.  However that doesn’t mean that they have the support of the government or other NGO’s.  This year we installed the above new well and repaired two other wells.

The village of Lowoma has a very nice school building and new Lutheran Church but their main well was under performing as it was located in a very rocky area and thus not deep enough for adequate water flow during the dry season.  The people had to ration water between two wells by half the people getting water one day and the other half the next day.  Even then it was not the amount of water they felt they needed.  We installed a new well closer to the creek and they now have adequate water although a second well is desired.

Picture 2-New well in Lowoma

During the Civil War and for 10 years after Lutheran World Service / Lutheran World Federation was very active in Liberia with infrastructure, health, sanitation and reconciliation projects.  In Fassama, the only town in the Belle District with a road and made up predominately of the Kuwaa People, LWS had installed one well.  At the time that was sufficient but the town is now several thousand people so we repaired two wells in Fassama this year. 

Picture 3 – This LWS well had been out of use for several years so we cleaned the dirt, rock and debris out of the well, sealed the culverts to prevent soil from washing into the well and installed a new apron and pump.

Picture 4 -The repaired Fassama well!!

Picture 5 – Gatema also needed repair work to their well

Picture 6 – So we repaired their well as well.

If it seems like we repaired a lot of wells this year instead of installing new ones you are correct.  While our well contractor does very good work with the materials he has available, the sand and gravel for the concrete work are dug from the river, actually more of a creek, that flows near each village.  Despite screening the sand to try and remove soil and clay quite a bit remains.  As such the quality of the concrete is well below American standards.  However our wells hold up better than the wells installed by other NGO’s in Liberia.  The people keep the area around the pumps “brushed” to keep away rodents and other creatures from the forest but this also means the heavy rain tends to wash away the soil near the pump and thereby undermining the apron and spillway.  They also install a fence around the wells to keep larger animals away and children from playing near the well.

Liberia, as you may expect, is also facing the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Adding that to their historic high unemployment, extremely inadequate health care in the best of time, poor sanitation amid a plethora of other problems the people are experiencing times as they say are “not easy”.

The Kuwaa Mission continues to do the work we have been called to do for the people we have been called to serve.  We thank each and every one of you for your prayers and financial support.  Without you the Kuwaa People would be facing even more challenges.

 

Thank you,

Stan Olsen

 

Your contributions to the Kuwaa Mission are tax-deductible.  We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.  Our tax ID number is 27-5458111

Donations can be given in two ways:  A Check to the mission address or PayPal on our Website: 

Kuwaa Mission, PO Box 90513, Anchorage, AK 99509

www.kuwaamission.org                          Facebook: Kuwaa-Mission

Shop like you normally do on Amazon but make a small contribution to the Kuwaa Mission with every purchase.  Please consider adding the Kuwaa Mission. 

The 21^st century has come to remote villages in Liberia!

While Stan and I were busy visiting the Kuwaa people early in 2019, we met a man in Lowoma named Sam Zinnah.  Sam was very busy upcountry with projects to help the people such as building a medical clinic and noting the need for water pumps and wells.  It was great to meet someone who also was involved in improving the situation of the people who live in such remote areas. Fast-forward a year and some months later, and I am texting with Sam via the WhatsApp phone application while he is in BELLE BALOMA!! A year ago, I could only laboriously type out a brief message via Stan Olson’s satellite phone to let my husband know I was ok.  Now I was texting back and forth with Sam while the whole village was celebrating the cell tower he had installed with the help of many local men, who carried in the materials from the closest road.  Women were dancing and singing, and everyone was so happy that they now could use cell phones to communicate with friends and family. There are plans to put more cell phone towers in other villages (two so far, in Fassama and Baloma) during dry season when it is easier to transport materials.  These are 3G networks for now, smaller towers made especially for these remote rural areas.   However, there is also great interest in establishing a radio station in the area.    These new technologies provide many opportunities for the Kuwaa Mission.  One immediate benefit will be greater communication between our evangelists with each other, and our Liberian liaison Rev. Paye – they will be able to call and text each other.  Like people in other parts of the world, many Liberians get information from YouTube videos.  While the 3G network is not that strong yet, the Kuwaa Mission could start working on evangelism and language training videos for a YouTube channel.  We could include language lessons on how to read the Kuwaa language and include Kuwaa language Bible verses and Bible stories.  Evangelists could create sermons, Bible studies, and children’s Bible stories for viewing.  Health and sanitation information could be posted in addition to the video we currently have on how to construct a well.  We are very excited about these new opportunities to share God’s love and His Word with the Kuwaa people.  We are just starting to think of possibilities and technology needs.  We know right now that evangelists will need cell phones and solar chargers for these phones (still no electricity upcountry!).  If you have information and expertise to share regarding internet and radio ministry – please contact us!     As always, we thank you for your prayers and financial support.  Please pray for the health of Liberians as all countries are dealing with the coronavirus.  In particular, please pray for the medical personnel at work in Liberia, especially the staff of the upcountry clinics such as the ones in Fassama and Kondesu and the hospitals in Monrovia such as ELWA Hospital.  Thank you and God bless and keep you, Jenny Cosgrove Board Secretary Kuwaa Mission

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Your contributions to the Kuwaa Mission are tax-deductible.  We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.  Our tax ID number is 27-5458111 Donations can be given in two ways:  A Check to the mission address or PayPal on our Website: 

Kuwaa Mission, PO Box 90513, Anchorage, AK 99509

www.kuwaamission.org                          Facebook: Kuwaa-Mission

Please subscribe to our mailing list if you want to receive our monthly update letter.  

Shop like you normally do on Amazon but make a small contribution to the Kuwaa Mission with every purchase.  Please consider adding the Kuwaa Mission.   

               

A Blessed Birthday Celebration to Remember

How many of you have had a special birthday remembrance? Was it a special place, event or gift that made it so memorable? Was it a special date or holiday that it fell on? Was it a coincidence that it occurred on the same day as a family member or friend?  Was it on a Sunday and you celebrated it while attending church? Let me share with you my 40th birthday celebration which occurred 45 years ago on May 11, 1975. Our family, consisting of my wife Diane and our three children (Jennifer, Scott and Heather) had arrived in Liberia, West Africa, 17 months earlier on December 7, 1973. After going through 2 weeks of cultural orientation and then assisting in teaching literacy classes for 6 weeks at the University of Liberia, I then travelled up country to build our house in Belle Baloma, a village in the remote (no roads) rain forest of the Kuwaa Chiefdom. (That’s another story for another time.) For the next 14 months I worked along with Rev. Richard Thompson and our Kuwaa Bible Translation and Literacy team which included 5 Kuwaa/Liberian nationals: Forkpa, Francis, David, Chris and Rev. John Manawu of the Lutheran Church of Liberia (LCL). We worked together  on the Kuwaa New Testament translation and producing primers and readers in the newly created and written form of the Kuwaa language. A large portion of the time was spent in sharing the Gospel with the Kuwaa people in the two villages of Belle Baloma and Konjade (where. the Thompson family lived several miles from ours). Pastor Manawu would conduct Sunday church services in both towns. This brings me to May 11, 1975. After preaching and instruction in the Christian Faith for many months, many of  the Kuwaa  people were ready to turn their lives over to Christ, leave their old ways of idol worship/sacrifices  and be baptized into membership of the LCL.. Our two families (Thompson and Stelling) were present as was Bishop Roland Payne of the LCL who flew up from  Monrovia for the occasion. Both Bishop Payne and Pastor Manawu performed the baptismal ceremony using a large wash tub with water from the nearby creek. Slightly over 100 men, women and children were baptized on my birthday, one week before Pentecost Sunday, becoming my brothers and sisters in Christ. Truly, a birthday celebration to remember all these 45 years, especially knowing that we, the Kuwaa Mission,  have  provided the Kuwaa with fresh clean water wells in all the 16 villages, have built and/or supplied 2 medical clinics, trained evangelists/teachers   and have provided many self-help programs through the Kuwaa Mission supported by your prayers and financial gifts.

For this we are most thankful on behalf of the Kuwaa people. Na Mama O! –

Thank you. To God be the Glory,

Ed Stelling, Advisory Board Member

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Your contributions to the Kuwaa Mission are tax-deductible.  We are a 501c3 non-profit organization.  Our tax ID number is 27-5458111 Donations can be given in two ways:  A Check to the mission address or PayPal on our Website: 

Kuwaa Mission, PO Box 90513, Anchorage, AK 99509

www.kuwaamission.org                          Facebook: Kuwaa-Mission

Please subscribe to our mailing list if you want to receive our monthly update letter.  

Shop like you normally do on Amazon but make a small contribution to the Kuwaa Mission with every purchase.  Please consider adding the Kuwaa Mission.