Woodmont Hills Family of God Mission News

Begin praying now for God’s provision for MISSION SUNDAY

Until the team I’m joining went into Moldova last year [see Justice & Mercy International], no group had ever gone to serve the women of the Grace House. The Beginning of Life is a Christian organization in Chisinau, Moldova. Beginning of Life raises awareness and conducts prevention programs within the public school system. It also has a rehabilitation program for victims of human trafficking.

This coming May, I will be joining a team of 11 women to serve in Moldova. The trip will be May 9 – May 24. This year, like last year, our mission is to serve women who have never been served by creating relationships with them, showing them the love of Christ and having a chance to grow as sisters in Christ together. This year we will also be working intensively with Beginning of Life. We will teach the women in the rehabilitation program a specific craft, as well as assisting with the prevention programs in the schools. (To find out more about what our team did last year and the progress our 2012 team is making visit our blog: lumoldovamission.blogspot.com.)

Due to the extensive travel and length of the trip, this experience unfortunately comes at a high expense. I am writing to you because you have been a source of encouragement, support, inspiration and a role model in my life. I believe that this trip is the work of God himself. I believe that we are being called back to Moldova. This trip is inspiring Christian sisterhood and a faith community for our women. I ask that you believe and pray for the mission of this trip alongside me.

The cost of the trip is $2,100. I am also asking for financial assistance. Whether you are only able to donate $1 or if you’re able to give more, your support would greatly be appreciated. Thank you for all of the times that you have supported me and shown me the love of Christ. I can honestly say that without your fingerprint in my life, I would not be leading a trip to Moldova.

Donations can be sent to Lipscomb University: LU 552 One University Park Drive, Nashville, Tenn. 37204. Donations can also be made online at http://missions.lipscomb.edu. Checks can be made payable to Lipscomb University, please note, “Alex Shumate- Moldova Mission Trip” on the memo line.

Thank you for all of your prayer and support.

In God’s Love,

Alex Shumate

Though we believe Comfort  Osei has gone to be with the God of comfort, we are still faced with absence of Comfort in our lives. We ask for your continued prayers for Kennedy and their daughters. Requests for information about any memorial gifts can be directed to the chair of the Mission Committee, Howard Newsom, at woodmonthillsmissions@gmail.com

Comfort was a teacher of women and children. Kennedy’s main work in Ghana is the establishment and management of Kumasi Care Center, a Christian counseling ministry. The center, begun in 1998 by Kennedy, provides a variety of counseling services to people of the region: personal, vocational, child, marriage and family. In addition, Kennedy and Comfort have served many of the churches in the Kumasi area, as well as teaching in a leadership program. Much of Africa has been without Christian counseling. See the Hillsboro Church of Christ link. Some Ghana pictures from 2009.

Dear Mission Committee brethren,

Greetings in Jesus name.

I thank God for answering the prayers of the Woodmont Hills believers and His faithful workers. God showered His grace miraculously helped me to recover soon from major surgery. I am also thankful to all who sent me Get well soon wishes and prayed regularly for my recovery. Now I am feeling much better and able to move around because God has given me strength and courage to be able to serve Him again. I have started preaching in the services again and held some Bible classes. Now we will be back to our planned program of starting leadership training and Theological seminary courses on 15th of March 2012.

We again visited the new place in Lahore where we need to arrange for the roof of small chapel. We will soon start going to rural areas where more people are illiterate and need to preach them the Gospel through adult education programs and with some Christian movies in local languages.

We will be having some new contacts soon whom we will be inviting for the services and have Bible classes with them. All the members of the churches at Shanti Nagar, Chak 33, Faisalabad, Cot Dunichand, Mandianwala and Manawan send their best regards and wishes to all the Mission Committee brethren, Elders, workers and members at Woodmont Hills.

Please keep us in your prayers as we move on to extend the borders of the Church in most parts of Pakistan during the different kinds of problems and abstractions.

I am sending hospital bills, of surgery while I was in the hospital. …

Hope to hear from you soon.

In Christ,
Eric Masih

The Mission Committee will be happy to facilitate personal gifts from Woodmont Hills congregation members to defray Eric’s medical expenses. Notify Howard Newsom via woodmonthillsmissions@gmail.com

The Tamar Ministry was birthed in Mumbai, India by members of Woodmont Hills in 2007.  The main purposes of the ministry are twofold: to lead women out of the demeaning and destruction profession of prostitution, and to rescue girls who have been trafficked into sex slavery.  To date, 52 women have chosen Jesus over prostitution and 29 girls have been rescued.  In addition, the ladies of the ministry have 93 children.  The Tamar Ministry provides medical care, initial basic needs, and training for new job opportunities that are empowering, as well as spiritual mentoring and a safe house for the rescued girls.  This Jesus-modeled ministry is associated with other outreach to the poor, lepers, eunuchs, and street children of Mumbai. - Roger W. Wiemers

Nine ladies and girls were baptized

Mobile Medical Disaster Relief is a local non-profit that many of our EarlyBirds work with on a weekly basis putting together medicine and hygiene packs for medical mission trips. MMDR, under the direction of Dr. David Vanderpool, makes many trips to Haiti each year to provide medical care and medicine to the needy there.

They have an urgent and overwhelming need for more nurses to go with them to Haiti each month. Upcoming trips are December 17-23, February 4-10, and March 10-16.

Nurses can sign up to go or find more information at www.MMDR.org or contact MMDR at (615) 833-3002.

Please pass the word if you know of anyone who might be interested in helping.

As believers, we are called to share the Gospel to the world. Through Woodmont Hills generosity, we are doing just that …sharing the Gospel with all the world.

On November 6, we will once again be devoting the entire worship service to our global mission efforts. Hear the stories of what God is doing around the world. See the faces of those who are doing God’s work and the faces of those transformed by His grace. We want to use this day to help encourage our missionaries, praise God for the work they do, and focus on how we as a Church can serve the world.

Our Mission Partners:

Boanerges Flores – El Salvador

Valentin Flores – Nicaragua

Efrain Gutierrez – El Salvador

Steven Jyothi – India

Eric Masih – Pakistan

Kennedy Osei – Ghana

Dr. Walter Sierra – Guatemala

Tamar Ministry – India

We also have an education fund which helps students discover the world of missions. We try to support the efforts of Woodmont Hills members who engage in missions trips. Many ministries will provide information displays in the Woodmont Hills Lobby Mission Sunday.

There will be a special collection taken up to fund the majority of the 2012 mission budget.

Mission Sunday Financial Need:

Total Contribution needed:    $187,500

Weekly Church budget:           -42,500

Remainder for Missions:       $145,000

Please meditate upon the entire range of resources which God has given you: relationships, money, social media networks, talents, time, treasure, businesses, groups of which you are member, the global web of church efforts of which you are a part. True, Mission Sunday puts a laser point on the financial resources required to fund our missionaries and outreaches, but the Woodmont Hills Family “great global grid” of influence permeates much more widely than we sometimes think. Ask God to guide your imagination in seeing new ways and connections to support our efforts to carry the Good News to the world in broken vessels.

If you are interested in being involved with the Mission Committee in 2012 just contact us at the email address listed on this site or speak to a Committee member. If we can provide other information please let us know of your need.

Each year Woodmont Hills receives hundreds of requests from college students who need financial assistance in order to make short-term mission trips. These students are a great help to small congregations at mission points around the globe. They help with VBS or youth activities, support orphans, feed and build shelter for the poor in the name of the Lord, and are a great encouragement to Christians in distant lands. But more than that, they return changed people, having learned about other parts of the world, different cultures and the need for Christ in these areas. Moreover, they remain mission-minded and support mission efforts for life. Woodmont Hills helps mold the lives of these young people through this mission education. — Pat Dwyer

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The following are some of the many “thank yous” which Pat has received over the past few years. Any typing errors or name misspellings are mine (Ed Dodds). Please send me any corrections.

Dear Woodmont Hill family,
Thank you so much for the contribution to my mission trip to the Netherlands Antilles. It was such a wonderful experience to be in a new culture and make positive influences on the kids we worked with. Thank you again.
Carolyn Latham

Dear Woodmont Hills C of C Church family,
Thank you so much for your contribution to my Cozumel mission trip w/LU this Spring Break (2007). I really appreciated it, and I ask that you continue to pray for my team as we prepare to head down there and also while we are there. I am so excited to return to Cozumel to see all the beautiful children. Thanks again for helping me raise enough to return to Cozumel. I’m so excited!
God Bless!
Tiffany Uram

Thank you so much for your generosity in contributing to my mission trip to the City of Children in Ensenada, Mexico! It was a wonderful experience and I greatly appreciated your help!
Thanks again,
Ashley Davis

2/1/08
Thank you so much for your donation for my upcoming mission trip to Jamaica and Northern Ireland. I know that your money will be put toward great use to spread the Word of God there. Please pray for my team and myself as we prepare for our missions. Thanks once again!
By the Cross,
Millie Norwood

Dear Brothers and Sisters at Woodmont Hills,
Thank you very much for the money that you sent for my trip to Honduras. I am so thankful to have brothers and sisters in Christ that are mission-minded. Please continue to pray for this trip, our team, and the people in Tegucigalpa that they may receive the message of Christ through our work there. Que Dios les bendiga!
Ryan Hudson

Dear Woodmont Family,
Thank you so much for supporting me on my trip. With your help, I was able to spend two weeks straight with the most beautiful children in the world. Here’s a photo of me in Santa Ana, Honduras.
Thank You All!
Nathan Akey

Family at Woodmont Hills,
I just wanted to write you this overdue note to say thank you for helping me with my trip to Honduras in May. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget. We did a lot of work and made great relationships with everyone down there. Thanks again for making this trip possible.
Your sister,
Leslie Romei

Dear Woodmont Hills,
Thank you so much for your generous support on my recent mission trip to Guatemala! We see many Guatemalan patients in the clinics and bonded with our brothers and sisters in Latin America. I feel very blessed that I got to go, thank you so much for your help!
In Christ,
Christine Perry

Dear Woodmont Hills,
Thank you for the money you so enerously gave me in my efforts to raise money for the upcoming Spring Break mission trip to Honduras. We are very much looking forward to this opportunity to hopefully help meet some of the spiritual and physical needs of the Hondurans. Thank you for helping to make this trip a possibility!
Thank you,
Rebekah Dodd

I want to thank you so much for your contribution to my trip to the Village of Hope in Ghana, Africa. It was one of the most amazing experiences that I’ve ever had and I am thankful for it. For two weeks we lived at the orphanage and worked with the kids. We visited near-by villages and shared the love of Christ with people who may not have known it before! Again, Thank you so much, I am truly blessed!
In Christ,
Ashley Kiysu

Thank you so much for all yor support and prayers!
Unsigned

Dear elders at Woodmont Hills Church of Christ,
Thank you so much for the donation you made to help me get to Peru this May! I am so excited to be able to go on this trip! Your concern for others is deeply appreciated by all of us on the mission team. Please keep us in your prayers!
Sincerely,
Katie Pearsall

Dear Brothers and Sisters:
Thank you so much for your support to the Honduras Medical Mission Trip. Our team treated 4,031 Honduran patients, while delivering food and benevolence packages to many homes. Thank you again for helping make our mission a success.
In Him,
Jade Bushang

Hello,
I want to take this time to thank you for your prayers and contribution to my mission trip to Scotland. The trip made a huge impact on my life and we were able to reach several children in the youth group as well as the public school system. I thank you for helping me raise the money to be part of the group, and giving me this wonderful, lasting memory.
May God bless your church.
Sincerely,
Candias Sadler

Floods were experienced in Pakistan at the end of August and are on-going in El Salvador

EL SALVADOR

We want to share with you this information to give you an idea about the difficulties in our country because of the floods. Although this information is in Spanish the pictures talk by themselves. Some churches including Santiago de Maria are collecting food in order to help to brothers and sisters who may be in shelters because the situations in those places are not the best ones, for example one or two bathrooms for 60 people.

Today is Monday and rain has not stop as we wished and the situations get worse because there are people of some areas that [refused] to be evacuated on time because they were afraid to [loose] their stuffs or animals and now is late because levels of waters have increase suddenly and the damaged roads do not permit the authorities, help associations like red cross or some churches to get there because of the floods.

We pray for God may take them in his control, amen.

Say hello to all the family of God there.

We love you.

Mayra Flores

http://www.elsalvador.com/especiales/2011/lluvias/mapa.html

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PAKISTAN

We are having another natural disaster due to the heavy MONSOON rains in this area. Rivers and canal are over flowing. India discharged so much extra water to Pakistan which brought another flood in Punjab and Sindh Provinces. Many villages, thousands of acres crops and cattle are wiped off. We checked at certain places to reach needy persons and hope to help many by setting medical camps whatsoever is possible within our budget. We have started going door to door for help for flood victims.
All the members of the Churches at different locations are sending their best regards to all of you.

Thanks for support spiritually and financially.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Your brother in Christ,

Eric Masih