GOD BLESSES AFRICAN TRIP:

What a mighty God we serve! Our mission (Rev. Dr. Moses Nueman, Rev. Joe Werner, and I) trip to Liberia, Ghana and South Africa was a great blessing. Dr. Moses has been ministering in Africa for about fourteen years and is familiar with the culture and customs.  God truly sent him as a gift to Joe and me since it was our first trip.

In spite of a rocky beginning, God proved himself early on. Many of you have continued to pray for me for weeks as I struggled with severe back pain. When we landed in Ghana after twenty-four hours in route, my back was killing me. I had to rest against the wall frequently as we went through customs. The pain was so bad that I could not help with the luggage in baggage claim. Moses and Joe got the luggage as I sat nursing my hurting back.

Moses retrieved my suitcase first and placed it on the floor while he went for his luggage. When he returned, my luggage was gone. At first we thought the steward had taken it, but that was not the case and we had to file a missing luggage claim and go to the hotel without my suitcase.

The next morning we left early for the airport and Moses checked to see if my suitcase had been found. It had not. Further, my suitcase was checked in Moses' name so he had to fill out new claim forms.

When he was leaving, Moses heard a commotion in the custom area. A man was trying to enter the customs area from the outside. The guard was instructing him to go around and enter the right way. The man said that he was trying to return a suitcase that did not belong to him. Moses immediately recognized my suitcase. Praise God.!! The evening before, Joe and Moses had prayed for the suitcase to be found. Further, Joe prayed that the person who took it would not be able to sleep and would be unsettled until he returned it. The man's testimony to Moses was that he could not sleep and just had to return the suitcase so that he would have some peace. How's that for a God incident! From there, the trip got better and better, my back got better and better, and God was glorified.  I was able to stop taking pain pills and no longer needed the back brace.

When we arrived in Liberia, we were greeted by Rev. Philip and Gloria Boimah and their church. What a blessing!! They had their children's choir greet us in song. The children's choir was anointed and blessed us throughout our visit in Liberia. We went to the church that afternoon and had a short greeting ceremony and from there to the Missionary Compound. God provided a lodging place across from a lovely beach and ocean with the ocean breeze to cool us at night.
For twelve years, Liberia has been in civil war, which ended four years ago. The country has little infrastructure and is struggling economically. The Boimahs help their people help themselves through an agriculture program. In the morning of the first day we went to one of their churches and saw the sweet potato field. Also at the church, we were greeted by the children who attend school there in the church.  The school is a vital ministry for the churches as there were no schools during the civil war.  After a greeting ceremony at the church we went to the sweet potato field, which was being harvested.

Next, we went to Pastor Francis Daudo's church and school where we were again greeted at a formal ceremony. They served a special African meal in honor of Joe Werner's first visit to Africa. We went to the meal with fear and trembling but found the food delicious: fish over rice, Carvassa greens (like collard greens), soup, sweet potatoes, and Carvassa root (like our potatoes).


After dinner we ordained Pastor Edwin Sumo into TMCI.  It was truly a blessed first day.
The next two days we conducted a leadership seminar at Pastor Boimah's church. About one hundred people attended, many of them pastors from the area.  We were blessed to speak into their ministry and lives. At the end of the seminar on Saturday, the church gave us traditional Liberia outfits.

Pastor Daudo & wife	Pastor Edwin Sumo

On Sunday, Joe preached at Francis Daudo's church and I preached at Pastor Boimah's church with Moses' help. After the church service, we attended a baptism service for twenty-one Christians. Moses helped baptize them and Joe and I prayed for them as they came out of the water. What a blessing!

I soon discovered that you need at least two handkerchiefs a day to wipe off the sweat. We drank a minimum of two liters of water at every meeting and at least another liter at night. On Saturday evening after the meeting, Joe got the brilliant idea of buying two fans for Boimah’s church. We thanked him for dry handkerchiefs Sunday afternoon when we met for the baptism.

Monday (our last day in Liberia) we visited new land Pastor Boimah wants to purchase for the agriculture project and missionary house. Pastor Boimah and his helpers recently planted their fourth church in this area. In order to get to the property they told me that we would have to cross a very long bridge.

I said let do it!
However, when I got to the bridge - well, you can see the picture! It was not what I had in mind. It is a log bridge that crosses the river and swamp. I suggested that Pastor Boimah send us a picture of the property and we returned to the car.

From there we went to see their Carvassa Field, which looks like a jungle and seems to go on forever. The church people will start harvesting that field this week. Pastor Boimah leads by example so he and Gloria will be working in the fields with their people.

I believe that God can use TMCI to make a great difference for the Kingdom in Liberia.

Paynesville, where the Boimahs, Pastor Daudo and Sumo live has no fresh water. We are in the process of raising the $3,000 needed to dig the well, which is scheduled in March of 2008.   The well will be located on the Boimahs’ church property and will be open to the whole village. What a great evangelistic tool!  If you would like to help with this project, send your donation to the TMCI office and mark it “water well”.

From Liberia we went back to Ghana where we met with Pastor Daniel Patrick, his wife Favour, and his leaders.  Pastor Daniel, who is the process of joining TMCI. pastors a house Church and is conference speaker.

While we were in Ghana, Pastor Daniel Mawuenyega Ephraim, a friend of Moses Nueman, helped us greatly.  Pastor Ephraim is also in the process of joining TMCI.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we did a Leadership seminar for Rev. James Godly, a pastor friend of Robert and Happy Crentsil who live in Johnson City, New York. The Crentsils had to flee for their lives during the civil war in Ghana. They are now in the process of reestablishing relationship there. Several pastors attended the seminar. That night at ll:00 pm, we left for Capetown South Africa.

In Capetown, we met with Bishop Justin Nwokeji who affiliated with TMCI in 2006. Bishop Justin and his wife Tumi rent the second floor of an industrial building where he pastors a vibrant church of about five hundred people. Bishop Nwokeji has recently purchased land in Capetown and is building a church that will seat about two thousand five hundred people. Because of our rescheduling, we could not minister in his church since he had scheduled a series of meetings with a minister from Ghana. Those meetings ended on Sunday with the church people making commitments for the new church building. Monday (the day before we left) we were privileged to walk the new property with Bishop Justin and pray over the land. This land is between a large Government housing project and private homes - a great fishing pond for the church!

While in Capetown, we met Bishop Dennis and Rev, Gertie Abrahams whom Moses Nueman contacted on the Internet before we left the US. The Abrahams pastor a lovely church:  Shiloh Community Church where we held a leadership seminar. We spoke into several pastors who attended and were especially helpful to the Abrahams. We got to know them well since we were at their house everyday. Gertie loves to cook and we love to eat. The night we arrived was their thanksgiving, so we were invited to a barbecue and met the whole family. On Sunday evening we were invited to a special surprise birthday party for Bishop Dennis.

On Sunday we met Eleanor Ment, who is in the process of joining TMCI, at Shiloh Church. Eleanor is finishing work on her master degree in missions and will be moving to England soon.

It is exciting to see how God continues to expand our international missions.  I firmly believe that this trip was just the beginning of our work in Africa.

One of the big blessings of the trip is that Moses Nueman has agreed to be the TMCI Senior Presbyter for Africa.  Moses will be a great help as God opens more doors for TMCI. Let us pray to that end.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Bishop Bob Coulter