OUR MINISTRIES
LCM Sponsored Missionaries
Frank and Marianne Topar are going on a mission trip to Costa Rica July, 2008. You can fin details of this mission on this website - http://costarica2008team.com
  • Brian & Debbie Aho, Developing and Shepherding International
  • Neil & Sue Grindheim, Navigators
  • Don & Margret Messerer, Philippines
  • Roger & Melanie Peterson, STEM Ministries
  • Tim, Lisa, Ian & Emma Ruohoniemi, Nepal
News from Nepal

Dear praying friends,

Greetings from a green and soggy Tansen. The monsoon has officially begun, and we changed from a dusty 28% humidity to a drippy 85% in about a week. Fortunately we got all our winter things packed away just before the rains hit. We have settled into a routine again after returning from our trip to Australia in mid-May. That was an absolutely wonderful time, just the break away that Lisa needed. All your prayers were answered. It all came together so well.

We returned to a Nepal however, still unsettled by strikes and political unrest. The elections scheduled for June have been delayed until December at least. The election is for a "constituent assembly" to rewrite the constitution. Please pray for a lasting peace and true justice for the oppressed.

This is also the season for snake bites and gastrointestinal complaints. Lisa is stretched by looking after some really sick kids. She has also been working on improvements to emergency protocols. Please pray for wisdom and a good response to changes that should be made. We are pleased to see steady progress on the new building for the emergency department. Funds have been coming in slowly. We are about half way to what is needed.

Home schooling has been going well. It has been such a joy to see all that Emma and Ian have learned over the last year.

I would also appreciate your prayers for Ganesh. He is our Nepali assistant in the ASO job I have and does so much so well. He is a fairly new believer, and it is exciting to be able to explain some things to him (e.g. grace!) in ways he hasn't heard before. However, he is discouraged right now over a number of family issues, and needs a touch from the Holy Spirit.

A praise item to report is the number of doctors that have applied to come to work at the hospital. Also, last but not least, I went to a Danish physio in Kathmandu while we were there. She gave me some exercises to do and my shoulder has become completely pain free.

Thank you again for all your prayers and support in various ways. We pray for you too, and trust that your walk is steadfast and fruitful.

Blessings in Christ,
Tim and Lisa, Emma and Ian
The Harvest Field: Nepal Prayer Requests

Here are some more things that you can pray about:
1) This is a busy time of year for the hospital. Hot weather seems to bring alive a wide variety of "bugs", especially in places where clean water becomes scare. It also marks the start of snakebite season. Lisa was taking care of some very sick kids before we left, including one 4-month-old with tetanus and meningitis at the same time. Pray for the staff who will be carrying the load in our absence.

2) The hospital continues to need expatriate doctors, of all types, long and short-term. Several surgeons have come out on "working vacations" recently, anything from two weeks to six months, and have been a tremendous help. Tansen Hospital does a lot of training of Nepali doctors, so there are many teaching opportunities. Pray for the right people to respond to God's call.

3) The agreement with the government that will allow a Nepali Christian NGO to run the mission hospitals was on the verge of being signed a few weeks ago, then there was a yet another change in the cabinet (including Maoists for the first time) so that process appears to have stalled out yet again. Pray that this can finally be taken care of so that the long-term Christian witness of the hospitals will be secured.

4) There continues to be political unrest in various places throughout the country as different groups vie for influence. There is meant to be an election in June that will work toward rewriting the constitution, but that date is looking increasingly doubtful. Pray for God's people here to be a force for true peace and justice.

5) We mentioned the problem with Tim's shoulder in our last message. The pain was getting progressively worse, extending down his arm, so he consulted a surgeon in Tansen. There appears to be a nerve in his neck being compressed. Here in Kathmandu he has been to see another orthopedist as well as a highly-regarded Danish physiotherapist. Anti-inflammatory drugs and neck manipulation have provided a measure or relief, but it is still quite a debilitating condition for Tim. Pray for healing and for wisdom to know what more to do.

Thanks for your partnership with us here in Nepal.
Blessings in Christ,
Tim and Lisa, Emma and Ian
Letter from Jonathan Swedberg, son of Pastor Paul and Carrol Swedberg

The dreams of my heart are coming true – a lovely wife with a heart for the Lord and for the Philippines, a beautiful baby daughter to raise for Jesus, and the privilege to help with the harvest fields. What joy!’’

In the Philippines we will be involved in mission work. We will work with the Bethel churches in the valley of La Trinidad. I have contacted Pastor Baguitay and he is very happy to hear of my interest in helping him. I am eager to reach out to hospitals and jails in a relational way to reach out to hurting people with the love of Jesus. I have also been teaching at the Love Faith Hope school started by Don and Margret Messerer (we pray that Don’s complete healing will come soon). Also, we have a wonderful group of young adults in Baggio learning and they will go to the mission fields in Asia. I love teaching and preaching here in the Philippines! “The fields are white unto harvest. Pray for workers to go forth in Jesus’ name.” Matthew 9:37.

Please pray for me and Abegail and our little daughter, Cherish. Thank you so much for your prayers!

Our stateside mailing address is:
Jonathan M. Swedberg
100 Water Oak Way
Oldsmar, FL 34677

The Harvest Field
Praise our Lord for these messages from the Philippines (sent to Don Margret Messerer):

Abel (second year student who is mature and responsible to oversee the men's living quarters) reports concerning the new church that Don along with the students renovated last May and June. It was an old warehouse and now it will be used as a training ground for the students from the Training Center. Abel writes, "As your son I am standing in as Youth Pastor." He has a team of four students assisting him. Abel is also an interpreter on Sunday afternoons for services of another American missionary. He shares, "Love Faith Hope Training Center is doing just fine. We are always praying for you & The first-year students are a breed of 'intercessors'. They pray with passion; they know how to cry out before the Lord. We do miss you, Sir and Mom. We continue looking forward & We are still dreaming."

Rachel, who is a graduate of our two-year program and now on our staff while she studies for her teaching degree at the nearby university, writes, "With mission funds, God had made it possible to help with studies." In a recent correspondence from Rachel she shared, "I have a good news, last Tuesday I joined a storytelling competition representing our college and I won second place. I believe that it all happened because of God's grace and the prayers of students for me. The piece they gave me a week before, but I didn't have time to memorize it. So at first I thought I'll just give way for my other classmates. But two days before the competition my teacher asked me to memorize the story. So, I tried and then, praise God, I did it. I memorized the three pages in two days. Hallelujah! & I really hope that you'll come back very soon. I miss you so much. Right now I'm trying to finish my projects. I became very busy these past weeks, but thank God because He's always keeping me away from sickness. I want to be honest because right now I feel so very dry in my spirit. I really need to be refreshed with the fresh anointing of the Lord. Sometimes I don't have enough time to pray or read the Bible. I just thank the Lord because we have our devotions every 4:30 AM on the rooftop. Sometimes I think to stop in my studies next school year because my ministry and service to the Lord is being affected. Although, I could still reach my classmates, because the Lord gives me a divine appointment with them. I'm confused right now. I need your prayers. I love you both. I pray that you'll come home soon. But still I pray for the Lord's will to be done. I believe that God planned this for a purpose. All of us have learned how to walk by faith, even in the small things. We know that if we will not do our part, nothing will happen."

Rachel added, "About the fishpond, they are harvesting it already. The first time they harvested, they gather 154 fish. The next time, almost 100. The last time was 30 because when they went to harvest, a typhoon was coming to Manila."

A total of 500+ Tilapia were harvested but now the fishpond has dried up. We are trusting God for enough funds to drill a deep well so the pond will provide fish for the Training Center year round.

We are most happy to have Jonathan Swedberg teaching! He just completed the Book of Galatians and next session will teach "Signs and Wonders in the Ministry Today." He shares, "I just want to see great things happen here in the Philippines. I only desire to pour my life out as an offering to the Lord and to others. It is fulfilling to drink of the Word and really dig deeply and present it to others."

Please lift up Jonathan and Abigail in prayer as they anticipate the arrival of their baby this month.

We cannot express enough words of gratitude for all LCM does in praying, helping and supporting missions.

Don and Margret Messerer
The Harvest Field
News from Nepal - October 2006

Dear Family and Friends,
It has been a couple of weeks since I have written about my adventures at work.  I am happy to say that there have been a couple of days recently where I actually felt like I knew what I was doing - most of the time anyway.  That was because I was assigned to work in the pediatrics ward and clinic.  But all of the days on peds have not been so easy.  About a week ago I was assigned to do the pediatrics rounds all by myself.  It was during the big Hindu holiday Dashain so almost all of the interns and residents had gone to their homes to celebrate with their families.  There were somewhere between 40-50 patients to see.  The first baby was a very sick 3-week-old baby boy.  I had seen the baby about 4-5 days earlier right after admission.  At that point I thought he would not make it through the night - his lungs were packed with infection and he seemed to have no energy left to breathe.  We have no ventilators here; otherwise he probably would have been on one.  By God's grace he received his antibiotics probably just in time but was still very sick.  I spent quite a bit of time with the family that morning as they were very anxious - partly because he was their only son and boys are still highly favored over girls here and partly, perhaps, because the father (who is some type of medical assistant) chose to treat his sick son at home with oral amoxicillin for a couple of days before seeking medical care.  

I had previously heard a bit about the next patient, an 11-year-old boy who they thought had meningitis or possibly tetanus.  He lay unconscious on his bed.  I turned his head towards me and saw his pupils fixed and dilated (that kind of roughly translates into being brain dead) and realized that basically he had no spontaneous respirations.  His heart was still beating strong so I got the nurses busy giving him breaths with a bag and mask.  His heart remained strong but still no spontaneous breaths.  The father was standing close by.  I realized that if I had arrived at his bed two minutes later he would have been dead but arriving at the instant when I did I realized that there was no way I could keep him alive.  Again we are limited with what we can do and I knew his illness had already progressed quite far when he arrived.  With my eyes misty I told the nurses to stop and in my very broken Nepali I told the father there was nothing more we could do.  The father stood away and I sat with the boy as his heart gradually slowed and then stopped.  The first patient I pronounced dead at Tansen.  The father's response was to shrug his shoulders and say "What to do?  How am I going to get his body home?"  It is always a bit difficult to transport a dead body but almost impossible on holidays.  A couple of days later Tim and the kids saw two of the hospital guards carrying a small body wrapped in white up the hill behind our home to the hospital's burial ground for unclaimed bodies.  I am sure it was this boy.   Well, about two patients and 45 minutes into my hospital rounds I was called to an emergency C-section to assist with the baby.  I quickly signed the death certificate I was filling out and rushed to the OR.  Labor was not progressing well. 

After making the appropriate incisions, the surgeon was having difficulty getting the baby out so he asked me to push the baby up.  I gulped and took one or two seconds to realize that he wanted me to go under the sterile wrap and push the baby up after inserting my hand in the birth canal.  After some struggle a limp, blue non-breathing baby came out.  She was whisked over to our resuscitation table and thankfully did well with just a bit of help from the nurse and I.  As I was leaving the OR to head back to my rounds I was told that a baby with severe hydrocephalus was going to be delivered by C-section next.  They said they would call me when they needed me again.  

I finally made it back to the peds ward.  It was probably close to two hours into the morning and I had seen only two patients!  I saw another five or six and then was called to see the child with hydrocephalus.   The child had already been delivered and the surgeon was closing the mother's abdomen when I walked in.  One of the first things he said to me was "In Nepal it is best for these children to not survive."  As I approached the infant I understood why he said that.  The head was huge - indeed the surgeon said he had to make quite a large incision on the mother's abdomen in order to deliver the child.  The rest of the body was also badly deformed with almost a third of the spinal cord poorly formed and sticking out of the back.  It had weak breathing and a faint heart beat.  For the second time that morning, I made the decision to allow someone to die.  As is often the case here, the mother declined seeing her child.  A nurse wrapped the little one up and took her to the maternity ward where she quietly passed away soon after.

I felt a bit exhausted and weak in the knees when I once again returned to the pediatrics ward.  There I was so thankful to see one of my Nepali colleagues, who had finished rounding on the medical ward, helping out with the pediatric rounds.   I shared with him a bit about all that had already happened that morning.  He smiled and nodded but did not seem too surprised.  I am sure he has experienced much more.  Later that day on the maternity ward, an anenceaphalic (which roughly translates as no brain) baby was born - everyone had been expecting a normal delivery.  

It was so nice to come home to my welcoming, healthy family at the end of the day.  Thankfully not all days have been that packed with drama.  I would value your prayers as I strive to give not just good care but compassionate care.  The motto on the hospital gate says "We Serve, Jesus Heals".  It is such a simple statement but I am often struck by the immensity of it.  I am here to be a servant - yes, serving the poor but, more importantly, serving Jesus.  Mother Teresa had written about seeing Jesus in the eyes of the poor she served.  What a motivation!  And the second half of the motto helps me breathe a sigh of relief.  We are called to do our best but ultimately healing comes from Him.   Thanks to all of you for your loving support and remember, our Himalayan home is always open to guests!

Love,
Lisa
Tim & Lisa Ruohoneimi and their children, Ian & Emily, are LCM supported missionaries in Nepal. Please lift all our missionaries up in prayer!
From Neil Grindhem of The Navigators

Dear Friends,
Where in the world is Ouagadougou?! It is, as you know, the capital of Burkina Faso in the Sahel.

Some of our friends think of Susan and me as perpetual tourists. The fact is we do get to exotic (albeit, not always nice) places as we help to advance the Gospel of Jesus and His kingdom into the nations. We generally enjoy traveling, but it is demanding. I have been in 18 countries this year and have spent upwards of 300 hours just getting there and back.

Why all the time and travel? Susan and I serve in two areas with The Navigators: The International Executive Team oversees and connects our ministries across the globe. My most important contribution on this team is keeping our international leaders focused on appropriately taking the Gospel to the unreached peoples of the world. In addition, I lead the International Working Group, a team that serves and resources our ministries to Muslim in 40+ locations. What a challenge!

Let us give you a sampling of these past 12 months:
  • Sudan - Worked with a team from Egypt who are pioneering our ministry to Sudanese Muslims, instilling vision and communicating the Scripture our best practices in reaching out to Muslims. Big challenge: Poverty and persecution from fanatical Muslims.
  • Russia - Met with Russian leaders and staff. Big challenge: Seeing Christ-like character developed in the lives of Russian men. Surprising highlight: Sharing the Gospel with Muslims from two other countries (both were among the most open I have ever met.)
  • Indonesia - Helped with the transition to new national leaders. High-light: Meeting with our team reaching out to Muslims in West Java. Two are children of our first generation of Muslims to come to Christ.
  • Burkina Faso and Mali - Helped missionaries understand how to bring the Gospel to Muslims. Big challenge: How to develop ministries to both Christians and Muslims in the same country.
  • Jordan - Facilitated the interaction of our leaders of Central Asia, the Middle East and Russia. This is a new configuration of our international ministries. Highlight: Interacting with a ministry that uses a manufacturing company to develop Kingdom culture among under-privileged Muslims. Some have come to faith.
We are humbled and enriched to be a part of this awesome Kingdom team. God bless you for your partnership with us in His work.

Neil and Susan Grindhem