I’m pictured with the medical team that arrived in April.  This picture was taken of the team at Mbaiki, two hour drive from Bangui, where we went to do medical checkups on our Bible school professors and students.   Dr. Dibona and his wife Denise also joined us that day and we used their home during the week to run a medical clinic in the afternoon.  The other picture is of me registering patients along with Rachel Workmen, RN.  Rachel did their vital signs and I wrote out their information and medical complaints before they would see the doctor.  I spent two days helping to translate for the ultrasound tech and then registering patients at the Dibona’s house in the afternoon.  We had our one day trip to Mbaiki and then I spent two days being chauffeur and translator for Dr. Rick, the dentist, and his wife out at the Sakpa GBC.  Overall the team did 415 Medical consults, 12 Major surgeries, 130 Ultrasounds and 133 Dental consults and pulled 166 teeth!  This is a total of 690 people who were helped in one week!

Pray for more medical personal to join our team in Bangui.  The medical needs are huge in this country and there are so many more people who could be helped.

The construction team from Columbus all returned to the States safely.  Mark Sims and Eddie and Linda Mensinger have also arrived and they are all busy teaching out at the seminary.  On May 2^nd we will say good bye to Berno, German builder, who will be heading back to Germany to spend some time with his family and do his medical check-ups.  May 9^th we will welcome Barb Wooler and Miriam Pacheco and then on May 16^th Ginger Hock and the Flaningan family will arrive.  We are so excited to welcome the Flaningans as part of our team here in Bangui. On May 30^th Mark Sims will return to his home in France.

Pray for Mensingers, Mark, Janet and me as we finish up teaching this month at the seminary and for Graduation that will be on May 26^th.  Pray for those coming out this month and especially for the Flaningans to have a good flight with a three year old and one year old.

I continue to tutor Kevin, Hassan, Auday and Nathalie along with teaching English to the second year seminary students.  I only have three more weeks left to teach out at the seminary and plan to continue on this summer with my private tutoring students.  I’m also hoping to return to the Bangui Airport and do another English class for the police officials this summer.

Pray that Dr. Hibaile is able to get this worked out with the police commissioner.

Easter Sunday was foggy but we still enjoyed the sunrise service down at the river and Easter lunch when eight of us enjoyed a carry-in together.

Huge praise!  After several weeks of only having 10-15 hours of city power each day we have been enjoying 24 hours of power for the past three weeks.  Janet and Jensen’s apartments haven’t had city power for the last week so we are running extension cords to keep their refrigerators going.  UPDATE:  As of yesterday, April 30 they now have power back!

It’s a privilege to serve the Lord here in Bangui. Thanks for standing behind me.

Heidi

The construction team from Columbus Ohio arrived on March 21^st.  All their luggage arrived with them and we are thanking the Lord that the wood planer that weighted 85 lbs. arrived with no extra cost in shipping or customs!!  The team has been very busy working at the James Gribble Center helping with the construction of the seminary classrooms.  On April 5^th the team will be returning to the States.

Pray for the construction team to finish well and for their safe return home.

April 11^th we have a medical team of seven arriving for one week and I will get to put my medical training to use and work with the team for the week they are here.  I will mostly be helping with translating but it helps to have a background in medical.  April 13^th we will welcome Mark Sims, missionary in France, who is coming out to teach a block course at the seminary, serve on the jury for the students who will defend their Master’s thesis and continue working on his dissertation.  Then on April 16^th Eddie and Linda Mensinger will be arriving from Cameroon to also teach classes and Eddie will be on the jury for those students defending their Master thesis, too.

Pray for all the coming and goings this month.

I received a call asking if I can tutor another little boy in English.  I will be going to their home on Monday to meet with them and set things up.  I continue to tutor Kevin and Hassan which is going well.  The Seminary is on break for the next two weeks so I will return on April 19^th to continue teaching the second year students English.

I would appreciate prayer as I prepare lessons to teach English, that the students will continue to learn but also have fun.

Enjoy celebrating Easter on April 8^th.  I’ll be attending a sunrise service with the missionary community that will be held down at the Obangui River and then afterwards we will have a carry in breakfast.  Then it’s off to celebrate Easter at the Kasaii GBC which is the African church that I attend on Sundays.

Pray with us that the church will celebrate Easter with as much zeal as they celebrate Christmas. Oftentimes here in Africa Easter isn’t even recognized in the church service.

I just learned from the mission that we can now shorten our email address to “encompassworld” – leaving out “partners”- if you want to.  You can continue to use hsisson@encompassworldpartners.org or you can shorten it to hsisson@encompassworld.org.  Both email addresses will work.

Happy Easter everyone!

Heidi

This month I wanted to introduce you all to Pastor Simon Pierre Nadjilao who was recently chosen as the new leader of Grace Brethren Churches in the Central African Republic, replacing Mboi Andre who carried the responsibility for six years. Nadjilao served as Mboi’s secretary, so he has been well groomed for the job. He is a respected pastor of a growing church in Bangui and is also one of my English students.

Pray for Nadjilao as he assumes new responsibilities and that he will continue to have a servant heart.

We welcomed Mike Taylor, Dave Lewis and Dr. Sean Cannone on February 22^nd and they will be here until March 1^st.  On the 23^rd we had a going away party for Wilfried Dengler with over twenty missionaries from the Bangui community coming to say good-bye and wish him well.  Wilfried has returned to Germany after a three year term and he already had a job interview scheduled.

Pray for Wilfried to find work, an apartment and vehicle as he settles back into life in Germany.

The beginning of this month when we didn’t have any guests the ladies were able to give the guest house a good cleaning and we had boards cut to fit each bed which gives the foam mattresses more support.  I’ve heard this has made the beds more comfortable.

Pray for Rosalie, Anne and Irma as they faithfully serve in the Guest House.

The month of March we have Pastor Steve Taylor and one other arriving from the Aiken GBC. They will be staying in our guest house on and off during their time here.  They will be working with Pastor Mboi Andre.  Then on the 21^st we have a construction team of four coming from the Grace Polaris Church in Columbus.

Pray for the donated equipment to arrive with the team and for no hassles getting it through the airport and customs.

Last Monday I came down with malaria but I caught it fast enough and started taking a treatment that same night so I’m feeling much better now.

I appreciate your prayers for my health and I was able to get over malaria so quickly.

It’s a joy to serve Him in this ministry with you.

Heidi

I am now a very happy owner of a Kindle Touch!  A big thank you to my mom who surprised me by sending it out with Ginger Hock as a Christmas gift!  I had been comparing Kindles on line and had it on my list of things to buy someday so I was very excited to receive it as a Christmas gift.  I’ve been downloading free books faster than I can read them.  This is a great gift for a missionary because instead of filing up your luggage with books you can download them onto the Kindle and use the luggage weight for other goodies.

I’m thankful for a good internet system that allows me to download books without any problems.

Frank Puhl and Ginger Hock arrived with all their luggage; three days after they arrived they went to Carnot to attend General Conference with Doug and Jacquie Jensen.  While they were gone I welcomed Berno and Janet back.  Berno is hard at work overseeing the building of the Learning Center at the James Gribble Leadership and Training Center and Janet is back doing the bookkeeping which has significantly decreased my work load and stress level.

Please continue to pray for Berno to pace himself well as he works and for Janet as she does the bookkeeping and returns to teaching women.

During National Conference Pastor Nadjilao was voted in to replace Pastor Mboi Andre as the leader of the Grace Brethren Churches here in the Central Africa Republic.  We will miss having Pastor Mboi Andre in that position but after six years Pastor Mboi is ready to hand over the responsibility to Pastor Nadjilao and focus his time on his ministry out East.

Pray for Pastor Mboi as he continues to work out in the East and for Pastor Nadjilao to have wisdom as he takes over this new position.

Barb Wooler and Miriam Pacheco ended up changing their plans so they did not arrive in January but are making plans to come later on in the year.  For now the guest house is empty, which doesn’t happen very often, so the ladies are busy doing some extra cleaning which is hard to do when we have guests.  We have Mike Taylor, Dave Lewis and Sean Cannone arriving on February 22^nd for one week and then on February 25^th we will be saying good-bye to our colleague Wilfried Dengler as he returns to Germany for home ministry.

I’m thankful for a lighter month of visitors as it gives me extra time to work on other things.

Have a great month!

Heidi

One of the highlights of December is hosting our workers’ Christmas Party.  Above are some pictures that I thought you would enjoy seeing.  Everyone went home with a full stomach, a bag of Christmas cookies, gifts to enjoy with their family and an envelope of cash to help make their Christmas special.

Pray for our faithful workers who serve and minister alongside us each day.

I had a great Christmas here in Bangui!  Supper at the Chinese Restaurant on Christmas Eve was very good and then Doug, Jacquie and I enjoyed ringing in Christmas with the Kasai GBC until after two am.  Sleeping in on Christmas Day was a treat and then I enjoyed Brunch with missionary friends.  Opening up Christmas gifts that my mom had sent out in October was fun and the missionary community got together on Christmas afternoon for a carry-in meal, gift exchange and Christmas games.  I ended the day by Skyping with my family to wish them a Merry Christmas

This was my family’s first Christmas without my dad and I’m thankful for the way the Lord cared for each one of us.

January will be a busy month as Frank Puhl, Africa Regional Director, and Ginger Hock, C.A.R Field Director, arrive on the 4^th to be here to attend the General Conference of the Grace Brethren Churches in Carnot.   Thanks to many of you who prayed for Berno when he had a massive heart attack; he returns on the 8^th!  It is incredible to see how God has restored Berno’s health so that he is able to return and help oversee the building of the Seminary here in Bangui.  Janet Varner received a clean bill of health and she returns on the 11^th which means I will be giving the bookkeeping back to her.  Barb Wooler and Miriam Pacheco will arrive at the end of the month too, so lots of coming and goings around here.

During the General Conference of churches a new leader of the Grace Brethren Churches in the CAR will be voted on; Pastor Mboi Andre has held the job these last six years.  Pray the vote will go well and for the new person who will be taking on this huge responsibility.

May this new year be a good one for all of you!