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Branch Ministry Reports ![]() NOTE: To
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These summaries
from the leaders of ARM's foreign branch ministries are intended to
encourage the reader and stimulate prayer. Note the "Quick Link" menu to
the left; it will aid in navigating DIRECTLY to the article you choose.
Feel free to be a selective reader; should you have interest in only one
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reply and tell us! Also, you can find archives of ARM's worldwide branch
ministries at
IMPORTANT NOTE: With the
wonderful growth of the work at Rapha, we will once again be
including updates in this foreign report! However, be advised that
due to the sensitive nature of our work, there will be no photos of the
girls or details that could compromise security. Thanks for
understanding.
The Real
Heroes
Kerry Decker, Dir.
of the Rapha House Freedom Foundation
When it comes to combating human trafficking, who are the real heroes in this fight? I’ve given a lot of thought to this. So far, I’ve come up with three. To answer the hero question, you must first ask another question: What’s the real goal here? Is it simply to bring justice to victims? I’m all for justice. But that’s not the real goal in this fight. To make this fight only about or even chiefly about justice misses an important point. Justice does a lot for victims, but it doesn’t teach them how to live free. Justice may help victims realize that they’re worth fighting for, but it does not sufficiently heal their deepest psychological wounds. So who are the real heroes in this fight? Again, we have to ask: What is the real goal in this battle? Justice for victims and lasting freedom for survivors is the only real goal worth seeking. Does this mean, then, that the caregivers who provide shelter or the counselors who promote healing or the vocational trainers who inspire hope are the real heroes? Yes, as much as law enforcement, prosecutors, the courts, and jailers. But, as I’ve said, there are only three real heroes in this fight.…Well, actually four. People who pray for this cause are heroes. People who serve this cause are heroes. And people who give to this cause are heroes. Those are the only three heroes that I’ve come up with. And yes, every survivor is a hero but particularly those who tell their stories in order to shine more light on this ugly darkness. Act heroically. Do good.
--------------------- We also encourage all of you to write to Stephanie Freed (sfreed@arm.org) -- USA Director of Rapha House, or Kerry Decker (raphahouse@pacbell.net) Dir. of the Rapha House Freedom Foundation, and request their email and/or postal updates. You may also go to www.freedomforgirls.org Gifts for Rapha may be sent
to:
ARM-Rapha, 3127 Hwy K Back to top Over the years, ARM has donated
hundreds of baptistries to mission fields around the world. Just in
the last few issues of this report, you've seen such units used in Mexico,
Cuba, the Philippines, and Cambodia.
Just this year ARM has sent
eleven baptistries to mission fields in Haiti, India, Cuba, Myanamar,
Australia, and the Philippines -- just to name a few.
At the current time, we need
sponsors for these baptistries. At $795 per unit, we have
invested more than $8,745 into this program this year so that those
coming to Christ overseas can be immersed in obedience to the
Gospel.
If you, your Sunday School
class, or your church could sponsor even one of these, that would be
terrific. If you can only make a gift toward this baptistry fund,
that would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks for your prayers
and support.
From ARM's Alfredo Jose
Aparicio
Please help us pray for our Youth
Conference that we will have November 13 to 16 in Amajac, State of
Hidalgo. We are fasting and praying for 40 days, that God works in our
youth. Mexican youth needs a lot of God's Word.
The Lord, Who commanded us to preach His
Gospel, be with you, blessing your lives abundantly, and giving you a
great health. I am happy to let you know that
September is the month in which most Latin American countries celebrate
their Independence. What a great Joy and Independence to hear that during
this month 68 of our Bible Correspondence Students turned their lives to
Jesus Christ.
Besides, I rejoice to hear that 114 of our
Bible Courses students graduated from our courses. We have taught them the
most basic and fundamental things concerning God and the Bible. But also,
we have trained them to be Church leaders. They went through the
Bible three times, and have learned how to live the Christian life and
know all related to the Gospel. Let me share with you a letter from
one of those students.
“Dear Director of the Bible Correspondence
School, I am writing to let you know that the courses you sent me for
three years have changed my life. Your Christian Literature has worked
many good things in my life. My family and neighbors are changed people
thanks to your lessons too. There is a saying that goes like this, “we do
not know what we have until it is gone.” This is a reality here where I
live. We are suffering a lot because of the Socialist and Communist
government ruling my country. We were free, but now we have lost freedom.
We have to work long hours, have a very low salary, and are controlled by
the government. What keeps me going and encourages me are the teachings
you have shared with me, my family and friends. We have great
expectations, no matter what happens. Every time I get an envelope from
you, I open it with great joy. I share its content with my family
and friends. At times 90 of us gather to go through your Christian
literature received. We spend hours studying your materials. Your four
Stewardship lessons impacted us so much that we are now contributing to
the work of our Lord. Also, we are using our time wisely, to help
others learn about God. We pray for you and your ministry and ask of your
prayers on our behalf. Please pray for our difficult situation since
we have a bad government, which is oppressing us. Many times our
mail gets to us already opened. There is a lot I want to say, but it is
not convenient! Please pray a lot for us!” Antonio Nieto (Torrealba,
Barinas, Venezuela ).
I have many prayer requests, but the most
urgent are the following:
Crime has increased in Cuernavaca. You are
robbed on the bus, on the street, in your car, and so on. Most groceries
stores sell drugs. Bad people fire their weapons at any time and
with no reason. Teaching the Bible, recently, we were able to rescue from
drugs and crime three adolescents, 13, 14 and 16 years old. The Police do
not care about protecting or helping people any longer. At the Church
facilities in Cuernavaca, we had our water meter stolen. Also, one
of our neighbors had it stolen. But, the local authorities do not do
anything, as robbers are have more power that our
authorities.
Your servant and co-worker in
Christ,
Alfredo José Aparicio Report From Dr. Nicholas E. Alyoshin Glory to Christ, my beloved brother! IMMERSIONS. Four young men, brought to Christ by our daughter Nike youth ministry, were immersed in October into the Name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. PRISONS. The DOM ARM ministers had 21 visits to the prisons, police detention cells, prison psychiatric hospitals, deportation camps and to the families of the prisoners. Inspired by the Holy Ghost we managed to receive the decision of the Krasnodar Territory court to liberate from the prison camp bro M. Puzikov, who had been put there without any valid court ruling – only by the order of the police general Kucheruk. MOSLEMS. I managed to organize the straight communication between two big groups to be in the Spiritual contact with me: sheikh Hassan-haji Gurji-ogly of the Kurmanches tribe (from village Kabardinskaya of the Apsheronsk district of the Krasnodar Territory) sent a special appeal to the Qirimtatar leader Mustafa-aga Jemilev to receive for his Religious and ethnic communities the status of the reviewer at the Qirimtatar Mejlis International Department; in the reply letter the chief of that Department – Ali-bey Hamzin – informed Hassan about the Mejlis agreement to give such the status. MISSION TRIPS. On 24 – 25.10.2009 I visited Sochi (the biggest Russian Black Sea coast resort; the place of the 2014 Winter Olympics), where I led the special prayer meetings in the Sochi center (24.10.2009) and in Loo village (25.10.2009) on the places of the terroristic bombs explosions in 2008, where many people had been murdered and wounded. DIVINE ACTION. The relics of the so called “saint Matrona of Moscow” were brought to Krasnodar “to defend the Territory and to help to the people”. The Moscow Patriarchate spreads the following fable: this blind woman – Matrona – was the adviser to Stalin in October 1941, when Moscow was under the siege of the German troops. Matrona, they say, recommended to Stalin to fly around Moscow with the “miracle doing icon”. Stalin, as if, organized such a flight and Moscow was not captured by Hitler. Such obscure fables are now the Russian official ideology. Thousands of the gentiles came to Krasnodar to worship dead Matrona. This is the pure necromancy cult. And the Lord Almighty says: “There shall not be found among you … a necromancer” (Deut., 18:10 – 11). Therefore, a huge port crane fell in the Krasnodar Territory on the day of Matrona bones coming; that crane crushed the second one, killed 3 workers and heavily wounded 5 else; in two days a huge construction crane fell straightly in Krasnodar … Necromancy cannot bring any help. This is the clear Divine reply to the heathen. YOUTH MINISTRY. On 13.10.2009 I had a special meeting with a young American missionary to work with the students in Krasnodar – Tolu Ladeinde. We discussed the possibility for Tolu to find in the USA (during her visit home for Christmas) the groups to cooperate with us in the sphere of introducing of the Bible rhetorics into the public life of the Russian society. We pray for the success of Tolu‘s efforts. PUBLIC RELATIONS. On 04.10.2009 we took part in the picket in the Krasnodar center with the demand to liberate the prisoners of hope in Russia. On 13.10.2009 I took part in the film watching and the meeting with the USA film directors and producers (it was in the frame of the “Amfest” – the US movie festival, organized by the American Embassy). I informed them about the ARM and its’ activity. I spoke in October at 4 big public conferences about DOM ARM. On 26.10.2009 I had a meeting with S. Markov – the deputy of the Russia State Duma (Parliament lower chamber) and the close consultant of Putin and Medvedev. On 30.10.2009 I was invited to make a special report at the big conference to commemorate Jelaladdin Rumi, which was organized by the Tajik community of Krasnodar. Since this year the days of Rumi have become the official state holidays in Tajikistan and Turkey (such a special treaty between these two states had been signed by their Presidents Guhl and Rakhmon). I spoke about Christ in Rumi and read publicly his famous poem “Moses and a shepherd”. There were about 300 participants in the hall. REPRESSIONS. The so called “Organization of the Unrecognized Peoples” had its’ Presidium session in October in Simferopol (Crimea, Ukraine). I could not visit it because of the problems with my personal security. SUPPORT. We received the September ARM support through Max Goins “We – Go” system OK. We received a small, but kind donation from our Georgian brethren. We also received the letters, e-mails, phone calls of support from Rod Farthing, N. G. Plutenko, Max Goins, Rick Deighton (USA); A. Novosyolov (Switzerland); E. Novozhilov (Poland); A. Hamzin, S. Golovin, E. Filipyeva (Crimea, Ukraine): S. Perukhin (Kherson, Ukraine). We received a very big and warm letter with the photos from professor Dr. Ute Schwab (Italy). This hearty letter was a subject for some special praying meetings of our Brotherhood. Two brethren from the Krasnodar served the Savior with moving me with their private cars to Sochi (about 300 km to S – SE from Krasnodar) and backwards; and one brother there gave me a shelter for a night. God bless all the supporters and donators! In Jesus our hope! Dr. Nicholas E. Alyoshin David O'Grady is now
representing ARM in the great Northwest! Churches and individuals in
that area of the USA may contact David through the ARM office in Joplin --
1-800- CALL ARM.
Sang Ho
Kim Loving greetings to you in
Jesus precious name. I pray God for you get still amazing grace on 2009.
I deeply appreciate your pray and support
this year. I could perform ministries for prisons, reformatories, the
released and family of prisoners owing to you. These days, Korea comes to
a crisis for some reasons. There is on the increase to ask our help and
support on account of adversity in Korea. This ministry doesn't interest
by anyone. But Our Lord has helped us to do missionary works for prisoners
in spite of decrease in mission money.
As you know, we usually visit 9
prisons and 2 reformatories 15 times a month. We preach to them, support
the bibles and books about the religion, counsel and help training
discipleship.
Christmas Gift for Prisoners
2009
The Center of Sharing Gifts of Love is sending Christmas presents to the prisoners and their families of 7 prisons and Juvenile prisons. The gifts consist of the underwear, gloves, socks, groceries and cash, especially they are sending to the senior, sick, handicapped and long-term prisoners. They are reaching out to almost 2,000 people. I am so exhausted because of the endless work, but I strive even more to continue our mission. Our ministry has gotten enlarged over the last 15 years. However, volunteers and contributions are not sufficient. Your prayers and support are necessary to save this dying spirit. Society does not pay much attention to this kind of mission because of the bad economic situation of our times. I could not have accomplished all of this without your help until now and I will continue to do my best for God's Mission with your continued support. May the good Lord help you and guide you always as you continue serving Him! Sincerely,
Sang Ho Kim Stump Brothers Mission 1) Counseling Work : Daejeon
Prison(20 prisoners), Kongo Prison(20 prisoners), Chung Prison(12
prisoners), Chung Female Prison(10 prisoners), Daejeon Juvenile Prison
.
2) Writing Mission : 500 letters were exchanged from 64 prisons and Juvenile prisons 3) Worship Meeting : Daejeon
Prison(5 times), Kongjoo Prison(1 time), Chungj! oo Prison(2 times),
Chungjoo Female Priso (2 times), Daejeon Juvenile Prison and Hongsung
Prison(1 time), Baptism Worship of Daejeon Prison(2 times : 56 prisoners).
All together 5,000 prisoners received couseling services.
4) Help of Foreign Prisoners :
20 foreign prisoners of Daejeon Prison (Preach! the Gospel &
Counseling); Financial support for a Chinese prisoner's hospital bill;
Help for the families of the Philippine prisoners and Presents of Love
(600 foreign people).
5) Support for the poor people
: Feast for the poor senior citizens. Weekly support for the snack of the
Daejeon Oriental Hospital (150 patients) and Presents of Love (200
patients).
EDUCATIONAL WORK
1) Help for the Families of the
prisoners : Financial Support for the families of the Death penalty &
life sentenced prisoners (55 families), Counseling and Visiting homes (25
times).
2) Dream-Tree Camp : This camp
was for the children of all prisoners in the country (80
children)
3) Concert: Advertising
and Fundraising through the Concert.
4) Financial Support : 800
prisoners ($100 each; Total: $96,000 in Daejeon Prison, Kongjoo Prison,
Chungjoo Prison and Chungjoo Female Prison)
GENERAL SUPPORT
WORK
1) Prison Support : Athletic
Festival, Holi! day Visiting, Birthday Parties, Education for the Baptism
and Baptism Parties (Daejeon Prison, Kongjoo Prison, Chungjoo Prison,
Chungjoo Female Prison and Daejeon Juvenile Prison)
2) Library Mission : Supply
Bibles and Religious Books to each prisoner.(350 Vol.)
3) Scholarship : Financial Aid
for the Children of the Prisoners.
4) Supply Daily Needs for
the Prisoners : 32 Churches without Building inside Daejeon and
Kongjoo Prisons.
5) Family Support : Financial
Support of Daily Needs and Hospital Bills, Love Presents and Computer
Donation for the families of the prisoners.
6) Help for the prisoners
who finished their terms : Job opportunities: Introducing shelters
and Financial supports for daily needs and
hospital bills.
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