New country for Dennis Hilman

Dennis Hilman is currently in Burma for the first time. Here is what he posted on Facebook when he arrived on May 22:

MYANMAR (BURMA) HAS JUST WELCOMED ME FOR THE FIRST TIME!! Always exciting to enter a new country - especially when you make it around the somewhat dreaded visa on entry procedures and see a familiar sign and welcoming faces in the greeting crowd. Pastor Van Cung Tum and his wife were there to meet me as well as his lead evangelist (haven't gotten around his name yet) along with a kindly driver so I did feel very much welcomed (but with very little English all round!). They took me to a comfortable, simple hotel room near their place which has both AC and WIFI, so what more could we ask for?!! Here in the capital, Yangon, there is lots of traffic and bustle - and RAIN - since it is the rainy season. Have already enjoyed a nice Chinese dinner with my hosts. Tomorrow the opportunity to serve begins. Stay close in prayer!!

These pictures are from a previous trip, just to give you a flavour of where Dennis is serving. However, we know Dennis will have more of his own pictures up as soon as he can!

Just as this blog was going to be posted, Dennis updated his Facebook with the following message:

THE JOY OF THE LORD IN MYANMAR! "Back in the saddle again!" Yesterday I was asked to begin a one week seminar series of doctrinal Bible lessons for pastors and other faithful church members here at the small Evangelical Christian Bible College in Yangon (formerly Rangoon). These are the Hakha Chin people who number about ½ million of Myanmar's total 60 million population. In fact it is this ethnic group who account for about 6% who are at least nominally Christians of this overwhelmingly Buddhist nation. It feels great to be here and encourage them.

Dean of college Dr. Van Cung Tum middle front with head turned. Note very common wrap-around skirt worn by very many of the men and boys. Also observe the avid young student "Joshua" front left in blue who always has his Bible and notepad ready for active use! 

Please keep Dennis in prayer as he continues to serve in Burma.
 

Jesus Loves the Little Children!

The trip to the Philippines this year included four different Vacation Bible Schools which were taught by Leona M and Tamasen T! It was great to spend time so much time with the kids. The first VBS in Igpit was the longest: four days. The next two were two days and the last one, due to time constraints, was just one day. 

Here are some pictures from the four different VBS' that were held. Most of the pictures are from Igpit because we were too busy at the next ones to take pictures!

VBS teachers, leaders, and translators in Igpit standing in front of artwork created by the children in response to the lessons on being salt of the earth and light of the world.

Thinking about what Jesus meant when he talked about building a house on the sand.

Exploring what yeast does in order to understand the parable of the leaven. (Put yeast, sugar, and water in a bottle with a balloon over the top and the reaction will blow up the balloon.)

Singing This Little Light of Mine with the children. In the picture we are singing "Hide it under a bushel? No! I'm going to let it shine!" It was their favourite verse!

 

Many of the 50-60 kids that attended the first VBS in Igpit posed in front of their artwork.

 Pastor Bert translating a lesson at the second VBS near Kitcharao.

Game time at the third VBS at Pastor Mosquito's church near Kitcharao.

The focus of the last VBS in Bliss, Kitcharao was that Jesus loves all the children of the world.

 The "graduates" of the last VBS holding up their certificates.

A response written to Tamasen and I from one of the VBS students.

We pray that God will continue to be with each child we taught and will help the word that was planted grow in their lives!

Welcome to the City of Golden Friendship!

Last Saturday our team arrived in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines and the airport sign said, "Welcome to the City of Golden Friendship" and that seems to perfectly describe our time here.

It's been a busy couple of days so far. Here are some pictures of what we've been up to:

 On Sunday morning we went to the small seaside village of Igpit for services. In the afternoon, there was a general feeding for the children in the community. These are the kids that Bernie and Daisy Senonis work with.

 Here are some of the Igpit kids!

 On Monday and Tuesday we held seminars for pastors and church members. Since it is summer holidays now, a lot of the kids attended too.

 Brian Niemitalo opened the seminars by speaking about confession and forgiveness.

There was lots of time to fellowship with one another or sing together!

We are now in the van on the way to Kitcharao where we will visit various churches as well as hold a convention with churches from five different towns! Please continue to pray for the missionaries as well as the people that we will meet here in the Philippines.

Blessed time in Guatemala

The time that God allowed me to be in Guatemala this year was absolutely invaluable and extremely blessed.

First of all I was able to follow up in very many ways the work He called me to do there a year ago. Especially the seminar teachings that had been given and the revival among the young people at that time had led to many repentances and a complete rejuvenation of the spiritual life for instance in the youth group. Also Pastor Giovanni and I were then involved in many home visits for prayer and counseling which bore much fruit. In one case a man, Julio, with a background in alcoholism, came to the throne of grace and then to church on several occasions then. Another case was of a young child, Jonathan, born almost totally blind who we found in a very hopeless state. After telling hid story on the net we found support for him from a couple in our congregation in Canada. In the year since then Pastor Giovanni has been able to take him and his mother to Guatemala City on several occasions for diagnosis, treatment and therapy. His mother now is in church with him regularly and the hope for a meaningful life for him is improving greatly.

This year a special focus of my visit was to follow up on the seminar that was held in Zacapa in February of this year by Scott Niemitalo, Bruce Estola and Colin Kinnunen on pivotal doctrinal issues. This proved to be blessed beyond belief. Issues of baptism and Holy Communion had been dealt with during that seminar in depth. As a result of this Pastor Giovanni, Ryan Ruotsala and I decided to culminate my stay there with a very special combined service celebration to make the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion available for all three congregations, Zacapa, Juan Ponce and Piedras Azules. For baptism we were especially thinking of the children, so many of whom were not yet baptized.

When we brought this idea out to the congregations there was a great and wonderful response. EIGHTEEN parents brought their children to be baptized last Sunday, April 7, at the special combined service celebration in Zacapa and ELEVEN adults also requested the holy sacrament - in all TWENTY NINE persons!! Little Jonathan was baptized and Julio, who has been sober for months now, even brought his son to be baptized! Later members of all three congregations participated in Holy Communion. For many it was their first opportunity. It had already been practiced in Zacapa but it was announced that it will now be served regularly in Juan Ponce, too. I anticipate that Piedras Azules will not be far behind!

In addition to this great response to the February and earlier seminars there was also a touching response among the youth to my stay. Besides the many personal contacts and "mentoring" times that we had together I was active in the Sunday evening youth group each week and then in a totally unforgettable "camping trip" with them to a mountain near Jalapa. Among many other memorable experiences, the night around the campfire was most precious when almost all of them opened up in a beautiful and moving way.

In all areas I had the incredible support, assistance and guidance of that most seasoned missionary and servant of the living God, Ryan Ruotsala. Furthermore Pastor Giovanni and I reached a whole new level of understanding and cooperation, which we share truly as brothers in Christ Jesus. 

Besides the celebration service last Sunday, April 7, during the last week I held seminars in both Juan Ponce and Zacapa on the theme of "Forgiveness". The attendance was great in both places. Each seminar was culminated with the "Lasting Change" session which includes the instruction and practice of confession and absolution in the name and blood of Jesus.

"Oh what fellowship, oh what joy divine!!"

Most sincerely in God's Peace,

Dennis Hilman

Report from South Africa

Every month, we ask the foreign pastors we work with share what they have been doing in their congregations. Here is the March 2013 report from South Africa:

Sunday School
Sunday school teacher training has been done, where a teacher from each congregation attended, the aim being to equip the teacher better in teaching the children and to use the Bible material provided for them by the foreign mission. The teachers also had a chance to discuss different problems they encounter in the congregations. Teachers suggested that this workshop should be held once everything three month.

Preaching the Word of God

We manage to organize and preach the living Word of God in places which we have never visited through contact of one women called Alinah we preached to the people in Kagiso where several people attended and some asked to be baptized. We also shared the Word of God with people at Kokcsoord and we were also request to make visit to them.

Youth Bible Studies
With the assistance of the youth committee, we conducted Bible studies for the young people I several places and conducted lectures on HIV/Aids at two high Schools. In these schools we met several young people who are involve with Satanist worship and practices. The principal asked us to conduct Morning Prayer once a week at this school.

Easter Service
All our congregations and Pastors met together on Easter Sunday to celebrate the Risen Lord with Songs and the Word of God in the remotearea of Ikageng, under a big tent.

Future Plans
On the 27th April – 29th April, Pastors and other leaders of the congregation will meet in Mohlakeng for a three-day retreat, sharing the Word of God and Prayers.

Problems we need to work on
The church need more trained pastors in other places, in other places their are women leaders as there are no cable men. Secondly even if most of our people are very poor, as stewardship teaching is needed for the people to know that even the little they give the Lord will bless it. We suggest that in future our visitors from the foreign mission should also assist us these two matters.

 Bishop Louis Mphaplele

Love and forgiveness!

Missionary Dennis Hilman just finished an extended trip to Guatemala to visit the congregations there. Here are some pictures from the trip there taken from Dennis's and full-time missionary Ryan Ruotsala's Facebook pages.

Ryan: Today's lesson: The true meaning of Jesus washing His followers feet, and what He meant when He told us to do the same.
Dennis: An attentive youth group in Zacapa tonight.

Dennis: "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them!" And what better way of DOING than to follow Jesus example and proclaim personal forgiveness in His name and blood?!
Ryan: A visible example of what Christ teaches us to do, humble ourselves and forgive as He forgives! 

 Ryan: A wonderful closure to Dennis' teaching on forgiveness! What a blessed time!

 

Ryan: Dennis sharing about how Jesus loves all the children around the ball.... I mean world! :)
Dennis: Probably the closest I will get to a basketball court. :-)

 Dennis: THE HEART OF A MAN! Ryan Ruotsala at his best at an orphanage near Jalapa, Guatemala.

Dennis in now in Florida getting ready to travel to the Philippines. Ryan is, of course, still in Guatemala. Please pray for both their ministries!

   

The corridors of history

Bob Maki and Dennis Hilman concluded their West African mission trip in the country of Liberia. During their time there they walked in the footsteps of missionaries from 40 years ago. Here's an update from Facebook:

Feb 28: Today we walked where the great pioneer of our church's foreign mission Pastor Andrew Mickelson walked over forty years ago when he visited Liberia for the first time with brother Gust Kandoll. He officiated at the ground-breaking ceremony of this church which was completed in 1973 and destroyed in the disastrous civil war about 20 years later.

Here in the former sanctuary some of the leaders and members of the present ALC of Liberia are gathered with Pastor Bob and Matthew. It is undoubtedly on this spot that the ground breaking ceremony conducted by Pastor Mickelson and Gust Kandoll took place.

More from West Africa will be in the next issue of Where He Leads. If you don't currently receive this quarterly magazine and wish to do so, contact the Foreign Mission Administrator at foreignmission@comcast.net.

Unity in the Word!

On Wednesday, February 13th, Sharon and I flew from Minneapolis, MN to Guatemala for a seven day trip. This was our first trip for the Foreign Mission and the first time for us out of North America! The purpose of the trip was to visit the churches and have a teaching conference with the leaders from those same churches to clarify doctrinal questions....

[After arriving we spent several days visiting the Little Lambs orphanage site in Jalapa and the churches in Zacapa with Scott and Karen Neimitalo and Colin and Carolyn Kinnunen.]

On Friday we traveled with three vehicles to Rio Dulce for the conferences. The six of us with Ryan [Ruotsala] and also eleven of the church leaders attended. The subjects covered on Friday through Sunday morning were: The power of the Word, Confession and Absolution, The Sacrament of the Altar, Baptism, Principles of the Doctrine, and The Millennium. God prepared our hearts and opened His Word so that many questions were answered and unity was found in the Holy Scripture. Those who had not been going to Communion because they did not feel worthy, now looked forward to going for the strengthening of their faith. Parents who had not baptized their children, now wanted them baptized as they understood the covenant that God makes with children. After our last session on Sunday morning we participated in the baptism of the children. We were truly thankful that God blessed our time there! Getting to know people through our fellowship was truly a blessing to us....

God again proved His Faithfulness to us in giving us a good trip with many memories and new friendships.... Mat God continue to bless the foreign mission so that the work can continue to spread the gospel to all who need to hear.

God's Peace,

Bruce Estola

Good times in Togo

Dennis Hilman and Bob Maki continued their West African trip by traveling from Ghana to Togo in mid-February. Here is an update from Dennis Hilman:

A FIRE BURNS!! For the closing session of our seminars in Notse, Togo today I led the participants and all of us leaders in an exercise in the practical aspects of forgiveness which I call "Lasting Change". Many of us were raised very close to these practices in our spiritual lives but for many people we meet in the mission field they are not very familiar. So with John 5 as a point of departure - Jesus at the Bethesda Pool - I brought very close to home how Jesus specifically asked the man if he wanted to be healed, whereby the man opened up and confessed with his own mouth what the problem was. It was then that Jesus took his hand, lifted him up and healed him.

In many other places Scripture we find out how "with the mouth confession is made". This is even a well known principle in psychology but human reasoning stops short before the REAL nature of healing and lasting change can take place when forgiveness and assurance are declared and heard in the name of Jesus and the power of His blood.  

 

All of the participants, including us leaders, were asked to take a clean sheet of paper and respond to Jesus encouragement to "cast all your cares on me, for I care for you!" and write them all down on this paper - problems, doubts, guilt, worries, fears and sins. Current ones, ones that trouble from the past and ones that shadow the horizon in the future. Much time was given for this along with the assurance that no other human being would ever see this paper.

Then we all divided into groups of six and we all went around and confessed one thing of our choice that was on this list, upon which the other members of the group put their hands upon us, assured us of forgiveness in Jesus name and the power of His blood and prayed for us with many encouraging words. What a blessed sound there was in that church today as the blood of Jesus was speaking and He lifted and healed so many there! 

 

The next step was for everyone to raise the "problem papers" above their heads in acknowledgement that although we can never fully confess our sins and problems Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us ALL of our sins....turning everything over to Him.

Upon which we crumpled these papers up and threw them all into a burning basin, went outside and watched them disappear in the fire as we sang beautiful hymns. Not a ritual but symbolic of the fire of God's Spirit, His love and forgiveness which washes all of our sins into the sea of grace where He never remembers them again (even if we sometimes do!).

And so it was back to the everyday lives of homes, communities and congregations as we re-entered the church singing a wonderful rhythmic African song of praise.....equipped to implement what we practiced today - there on our "home altars" as Pastor Bob put it in closing. 

 

Gone, gone, gone, gone, yes my sins are gone!

Buried in the deepest sea, yes that's good enough for me!

 Singing a hymn of praise and thanksgiving. Old things are passed away. Old church in background. New one under construction to the left.

 

SEMINAR IN TOGO COMPLETED! Many of the participants proudly show their certificates. The theme on this certificate is "The Principles of Forgiveness" (focus text John 20:21-23). Oh what an active group of pastors and church workers we had! Some of them even brought their children. The teaching was deep and practical with examples from the lives of many well-known Bible characters. How precious it is for all of us to learn more in practice about forgiveness - a major building block of everyday life and living faith!!

Dennis and Bob in Ghana

Dennis Hilman and Bob Maki have been in West Africa for almost a month. They started their trip in Ghana, then went to Togo, and are currently in Liberia. Here is an overview of their time in Ghana taken from Dennis Hilman's Facebook posts!

A CITY SET ON A HILL..... Pastor Bob with some of the young people at the service tonight at the Gbawe Church - high on a hill above Accra, Ghana. No windows and virtually no upper walls...just columns to support the roof. Wide open - for the Word as well.

IT'S WORKING - BY GOD'S GRACE!! The central board of the Apostolic Lutheran Church of Ghana. We have visited Ghana many times but when Pastor Bob and I came two years ago our mission was to facilitate unity and reconciliation in a disparity of churches. Since then this board has functioned effectively, leading the way in uniting the churches and working toward common goals. Our seminars this week focused on the central goal of salvation, with the overriding theme of "Forgiveness". The response was wonderful!

Y O U T H - BE AN EXAMPLE OF THE BELIEVERS IN WORD, IN CONVERSATION, IN LOVE, IN SPIRIT, IN FAITH, IN PURITY!! 1 Tim.4:12. Today we spent a wonderful day with these youth and children at the Gbawe (no real walls) church here in Accra, Ghana. Very involved kids. Serious about their faith!! Wish you could have been here!

WOW!! THIS IS HISTORICAL!! ALC Ghana past president Rev. Frank Famiyeh (r.) hands over all the official documents for the church van and deed for the church property to current president Rev. Emanuel Basie after years of contention. After very open discussions earlier Pastor Frank asked forgiveness of the board members present whereupon they blessed him in the wonderful name of Jesus and the cleansing power of His blood by laying their hands on him. They then asked forgiveness of him and he did the same for them personally. Plunging the past into the sea of grace!! What better way for a church to move ahead?!

The man in the bright shirt in the middle is Mr. Ben Eghan, cabinet secretary to the president of Ghana, who is also an adviser to the church board. This special board meeting was held at his home today. Some other board members are wearing more traditional Ghanaian dress. 

More updates to follow on Dennis and Bob's time in Togo and Liberia! 

2012 year in review

During 2012, there were trips taken to Russia (3x), South Africa, Guatemala (2x), Kenya, India (2x), Pakistan, Burma (Myanmar), Sri Lanka, Ghana, Togo, Liberia, the Philippines, and Vietnam! 

 

January

During January, there was a mission trip to India with a team of six as well as a trip to Guatemala!

February

During February, a trip with a team of four went to Pakistan for the first time in ten years and then continued on to Myanmar (Burma). There was also a trip with a team of three to Russia.

March

The team which went to Pakistan and Burma last month continued on to Sri Lanka for several weeks before going home.

April

A team of two went to Ghana, Togo, and Liberia. A short trip was made to Guatemala in April as well.

May

A team of nine went to the Philippines. Five of them continued to Vietnam while the other four stayed in the Philippines. There was also a month-long trip to Russia!

June/July/August

The trip to Russia finished up in June. Foreign Mission missionaries attended the convention and spoke at various other youth camps and churches throughout the summer.

September

A trip was made to India.

October

A team of two went to South Africa for three weeks. A team of two went to Russia with an additional stop in the Ukraine.

November/December

A team of five went to Kenya for three weeks.

One or both of our traveling full-time missionaries, Dennis Hilman and Leona Matson, were on most of the trips mentioned above as well as at least one of the board members or our administrator, John Ruotsala. Our full-time missionary in Guatemala, Ryan Ruotsala, was also working tirelessly in Zacapa. In addition to the trips and the full-time work in Guatemala, there was also ongoing work such as skype sermons, monthly pastor support, weekly Spiritual articles sent by email, and much more! 

Priorities in the field

Last year, this year, and as long as the Lord allows our priority is to follow the command of Jesus and preach His Gospel to all people wherever we go!

With His guiding, we teach and hold seminars so that local pastors can continue to preach the Gospel of salvation once we leave. Due to lack of time, finances, language skills, and cultural understanding, we know that local pastors are often the best evangelists in their own countries. We trust that God is with them just as He was with the Ethiopian eunuch after Philip was taken away.

We share God’s love wherever and however we can! This is God’s work! All glory and praise to Him! Please also remember that this is Your Foreign Mission. It isn’t the work of just a small number of people, but the work of everyone who supports the work through prayer, encouragement, finances, volunteering time, or joining us on a mission trip. Thank you so much for this essential support! We pray that you would continue to help Your Foreign Mission throughout 2013.