Category: Missions
The Lenz’ View – July 2020
Oh Rats…
About a month ago while we started the process of sorting and packing for our return to Papua New Guinea, our co-workers discovered and notified us that our house in the village had been overtaken by rats in our absence. At the last count, I believe they have killed over 30 rats in our house (and that number was slowly rising). We are very grateful for their efforts to eradicate the rat population. We’ve been told that the trespassers have done substantial damage, but the full amount of damage is still to be determined. From photos, it almost looked as if an earthquake had shaken items off the shelves, but nope, that was the rats knocking things over and of course chewing on all of it in the process. Our co-workers have organized a team from our support base to come in to the village next week in order to do a thorough cleaning and also put metal siding on our house to replace the woven pitpit siding. We hope this step will keep them from invading like this again in the future. We hope to have a better assessment of what all was damaged after this next week.
News from the Village…
In early June another 13 Wahgi believers were baptized. What is more exciting is that these people were led to the Lord and baptized by other members of the Wahgi church. This was done while our co-workers were out of the village. We are thankful for Stephen and Wirol who have kept Bible studies and Sunday Bible teaching going. Now that our co-workers have returned to the village, they will be working to further train and encourage these men to continue Bible teaching rather than taking that role again themselves. We have been longing for the day when the church would stand strong on their own feet and the Word of God. It looks as if God is using COVID to help bring that about. Please be praying with us for continued unity in the church and more faithful men and women of God take on responsibilities in the church.
Four young Wahgi believers (Dipa, Kayeye, James, & Lus)
Now What…
We just had a great time visiting my (Levi) family in Missouri. Now that we’re back in Michigan, we will resume packing things to send over to PNG. We still do not have our kids’ passports back. The passport processing centers are still slowly reopening. We were recently advised that once we receive our the new passports, we need to send them off to the PNG Embassy in Washington, DC to have the entry permits transferred over to the new passports. In the past we’ve been able to travel with both old/new passports in hand, but we’re being encouraged not to do that this time around. Please be praying with us for patience as we wait on God’s timing and travel documents.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support,
Levi & Robyn Lenz
Serving the North Wahgi people
of Papua New Guinea
Ethnos360.org/levi-robyn-lenz
Facebook: Lenz’s View
Grace Covenant Ministries – June 2020
Grace Covenant Ministries/Annville Institute
PO Box 340
Annville, KY 40402
Phone 606-364-5151
June 12, 2020
Dear Prayer Warrior,
“Be strong and courageous, for I am with you always.” The words that God spoke to Joshua and
Israel as they were preparing to enter a new land are resonating with me as we seek to enter a
new normal. The political and social turmoil surrounding us sometimes seems like we are
journeying into a new territory. We hear a lot of stories of hopelessness and we have our
moments of frustrations. But we also know there is hope because our Savior is accompanying
us through this journey. It is this Good News that we want to share within our community and
beyond.
Our plans for this summer are constantly being revised. We were planning to offer a virtual VBS
Camp in July complete with crafts. With the new guidelines just released there is a possibility
of having an on-campus VBS. (The terrain of our journey is changing all the time.) The
Veterans Outreach Committee is still planning for their health fair in September.
Last week our Trade Stores were able to reopen with some new restrictions. Also, a small work
group from Zeeland, Michigan is here this week helping to complete the community fitness
center and repair the campus tractor. We are thankful that the nursing home in Annville (that
endured the deaths of 13 residents due to the virus) has now been declared Covid-19 free.
Donations are lower this year which makes us very thankful for each gift as it arrives. It was
very heartwarming to receive a gift from a high school group. They were raising funds for their
trip to Annville this summer. With all the uncertainty and changing guidelines their trip was
canceled. When they were offered refunds for their trip deposit, each student responded to
have their deposit sent to us as a donation. The generous spirit of these students does offer
me hope for our future leadership.
We are available for virtual meetings with you to share our story. Thank you for your prayer
support and partnering with us as we journey together into the new normal. You are helping us
to make a difference in our community. Be strong and courageous for our Lord is with us!!
Your partner in missions,
Jake Moss, Director of Development
Annville Institute/Grace Covenant Ministries
News from the Fields – May 2020
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Thank you for praying for Reece during his 2 years here at Bible School! We couldn’t be more proud of him! His plan is to live at home and work for this next year as he waits for the Lord to show him what HIS next plan is .
Thank you for your love and prayers!!
Dave, Kim, Reece & Clark
Grace Covenant Minisitries – May 2020
Grace Covenant Ministries/Annville Institute
PO Box 340
Annville, KY 40402
May 14, 2020
Dear Prayer Warrior,
“Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 124:8) is reassuring to us as we navigate through these uncertain times. The news this past month about Covid – 19 has been discouraging. For a short time, Jackson County was considered the hot spot for the virus in the state. The nursing home in Annville had 52 cases of the virus confirmed among staff and residents and 12 of the residents have died from the virus. According to the Lexington Herald Leader, the unemployment percentage in Kentucky is the highest in the nation. As the rate of confirmed cases are now starting to drop, we are trying to prepare for the “new normal”.
Our plans for this summer are under revision. Following state guidelines, we will not be offering our normal camp programs and the swimming pool will remain closed. We are trying to work out details on how to offer a virtual VBS camp in July. It does appear that we will be able to reopen our trade stores in June. We are also looking for other opportunities to be of service as we enter the new normal. We do have a couple of opportunities for small volunteer groups (6 – 8 members) to help with some on campus improvement projects. With these projects we will strive to abide by health guidelines and limit the interaction outside of your group. If you are interested in more information about these projects, please contact Tommy at the office number listed above.
We are also grateful for the financial gifts and the donations of used clothing and household items that are coming in during these uncertain times. It is our desire to bring back our furloughed staff as soon as possible. We thank you for your prayer support and partnering with us. You are helping us to make a difference in our community.
Your partner in missions,
Jake Moss
Director of Development
Annville Institute/Grace Covenant Ministries
Reece Field Graduates – May 2020
Can you believe it?
Three more days until Reece graduates!
We hope you can join us on-line watching Reece and his classmates graduate!
There is a team who has been working hard to make this service special for the graduates. Dave will be giving the sermon as well!
Please join us in celebrating this awesome class! 11:00 am (Central time) this Saturday.!!
https://www.youtube.com/ethnos360bibleinstitute
Thank you for supporting Reece these past 2 years with your love and prayers!
Dave & Kim Field
The Lenz’ View – May 2020
Psalm 130:5
I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope.
You’re Grounded…
Many people are asking us how the current state of affairs (aka COVID19) are effecting us and our return to Papua New Guinea this summer. We are thankful for your questions and prayers on our behalf.
First, we are homeschooling our kids now and their school is doing a great job of sending assignments weekly and checking in with them throughout the week. They’ve only got two weeks of school left.
As it relates to our return to Papua New Guinea, we’re taking things one day at a time. As of April 22, 2020, PNG has had 8 confirmed COVID-19 cases in country. Some of these cases are in provinces where NTM has personnel. Centers in these locations are now at an elevated security level. Field & area leadership have put measures in place in these locations to ensure the safety & security of our members. To our knowledge, there have not been any more confirmed cases of COVID in PNG. It is an answer to prayer that the virus has not stricken PNG very hard. Please continue to pray for PNG and other developing countries with very limited medical resources.
Our flights have been canceled; we’ve been grounded. We are thankful that the airline has refunded our non-refundable tickets. Praise God for his provision in this way! We are currently in communication with our field leadership and are waiting for them to give us the go-ahead to return. Please pray for us to get our passports back. We sent the kids’ passports in for renewal before everything turned upside down and we are still waiting for them to come back. We don’t know if they’re currently processing passports at the moment or not.
Pray for closure for our kids. When stay-at-home orders started rolling out, our kids were taken away from their friends without the possibility of closure. We understand that this has happened to all the school kids across the nation; however, most of them will see each other once school starts again. It has been difficult for our children to think of not seeing their friends again at all. With our flights being canceled, we are hopeful that we can have time to orchestrate some kind of gathering for the kids to get together and have closure before we do leave for PNG.
From the Wahgi Church…
We’ve received some great, encouraging news from our co-workers who are currently in PNG. Though they’re not able to be in the village at this time, they are staying in contact with the church on a regular basis. There are two men who have been staying faithful in teaching the church and two ladies who are continuing to work with the youth. If I recall correctly, there are about 8 new believers who are currently going through the discipleship class.
As spring here emerges from the winter here in the US we start hearing talk about “hardening” your garden plants by gradually giving them exposure to the outdoors. This current time in the life of the Wahgi church is a bit of a hardening time where the church is exposed to life without the missionaries and must be reliant on the Lord and each other in order to stand strong. Please be praying for unity in the church and that they would stand strong against the schemes of the devil.
Thank you for your continued prayers for us and for the Wahgi church.
Levi, Robyn, Michael, Daniel, Matthew, and Krystiana Lenz
The Bible League – May 2020
Literacy teachers in Indonesia are seeing the benefits of Bible-based Literacy materials. Grace is a Bible-based Literacy teacher who manages a team of literacy teachers at her large church. For years, she struggled to find a suitable curriculum that was easy for teachers to follow and would keep students engaged.
“Not all of us on the team are teachers by profession. Everyone is just a volunteer,” she says. “To regularly provide materials for eight different classes is a big challenge that we faced until we learned about Bible-based Literacy training [from Bible League International].”
Now, her programs are running much more smoothly for both teachers and students. For some of the teachers, leading the class is helping them master the English language right alongside their students. Grace has already witnessed progress.
“I saw how the students gave up on studying English before,” she says. “But now, their interest and excitement to learn is back. Everyone is so enthusiastic about participating during the class. We started this semester with the Bible-based Literacy program, but we have already seen many improvements from the students.”
Beyond the language skills, students and teachers are actively engaging in the Word of God.
“I read the Bible because I want to know more about Jesus. But in our area, that is not always the case,” Grace says. “Even here in a Christian community, people sometimes take reading for granted. Most of the Christians are content attending the church and listening to the sermon. But I explain to my students that they can’t replace reading the Bible with attending the church every Sunday. I make sure that they read their Bibles every day.”
Latest News
| https://www.bibleleague.org/bible-based-literacy-is-making-a-difference-in-china/ |
https://www.bibleleague.org/life-changed-in-haiti/
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Tom and Leslie Johnson – Global Scholars – April/May 2020
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Praises:
Join us in thanking the Lord for:
- Overall, continued good health for both of us.
- Leslie’s opportunity to speak to students in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
- Safe return from Europe back in March, as well as no contact with the COVID-19 virus in our travels.
- Tom’s opportunity to write a report on Jakarta.
Prayers:
Please join us in praying for:
- Our work from home to be encouraging and helpful from afar.
- Leslie to make time to read the books which are important for her work.
- For her work to develop the lesson plans for cultural intelligence that would be helpful examples for teachers.
- The Lord to bless the ACSI Europe project Leslie is helping with.
- Continued wisdom for Tom as he (on behalf of the WEA) engages the world’s largest Muslim group about religious freedom. What are the next steps? He is reading constantly about these questions.
- Wise next steps for WEA-Vatican relations.
- The project Komensky 2020, celebrating the Christian life and teaching of Jan Amos Komensky (Comenius), has launched in public schools, libraries, and churches across the Czech Republic. This has been challenging to keep going with the closing of schools in the Czech Republic. Pray for wisdom and opportunity for teachers to access and use this project in their classrooms.
- Creative ideas to help persecuted Christians around the world.
Global Scholars:
PO Box 12147
Overland Park KS 66282-2147
Dave and Kim Field – April 2020
Dave, Kim, Reece & Clark Field
We are SO thankful to each of you and your faithfulness to God and this ministry.
This time is so uncertain and we sincerely thank you for continuing to support our family in this time.
We know for many of you it may not be easy and we truly thank you for relying on Christ in this time.
Wisconsin stay-at-home order was extended to May 26. But with it pouring rain every day, it is easy to stay inside. Plus our grass is emerald green! However, it hasnt stopped raining in 3 days straight and our old stone-walled basement has water leaking in from the walls and floors since we are at the bottom of the hill. We have a squeegee and 2 de-humidifiers running non-stop.
GRADUATION
In just a few days, May 16, is graduation for our senior class of EBI. Leadership has decided to have the graduation ceremony via on-line since it would be too difficult to gather everyone back from around the country/world at a later date for a graduation.
We have been here for 15 graduations, and we never dreamed our son’s graduation would be at home. There have been quite a few disappointments like this, but one by one we take the Lord’s strength and peace for each of them.
The good news is that Dave was voted by the class to be the grad speaker! That is such an honor! Please pray for him as he depends on the Lord and prepares his message, that it would be exactly what the students need to hear during this difficult time for them.
Please also pray for the team who is working on preparing the graduation ceremony right now. They are putting together a thousand little pieces to make the ceremony honoring to the class. I’m not sure how they manage to piece together the worship team, class speakers, awards, message, etc. but there are a bunch of smart people working hard on it right now and we are thankful.
Thank you for partnering with us here at Ethnos Bible School.
Dave, Kim, Reece & Clark Field
I don’t know why I only thought of this now, but I’d like to introduce you to the Senior class project! Every Senior class raises funds for a missionary family and the dollar amount raised is announced at graduation.
Here is the missionary family Reece’s class chose!
Jordan and Jessica Martin
This family recently graduated from here and is now raising support to work among Inuit people groups of Northern Canada!
Reeces’ class was able to do a few fundraisers before they all had to go home, so were able to raise $900. If anyone is interested in donating a gift to this family, just let us know and we will give you the online donating directions.