Newsletter Spring '07

Newell News

We are headed home!
Although it may seem a bit premature to some, it is necessary to announce at this time that we will be home in the USA for furlough throughout 2008. The early announcement is to assist us and the churches with scheduling for services as many churches schedule guest speakers one and two years in advance.
By God’s grace many exciting things have happened over the past five years through the Book of Hope ministry.
We are very much looking forward to seeing our families, friends, and partners in the harvest.
For those wishing to have us for a service, we will be available beginning January 2008. Please contact us as soon as you know you are interested as our calendar has already begun to fill up.
As for friends and family, let us know where and when and we’ll be there!

Nomad base mobilizes, reaches a generation

From South Africa to Angola, Mozambique, Swaziland, Namibia & Botswana Book of Hope Nomad students have been making a lasting impact upon the next generation of Southern Africa.
In 2006 we were excited to see the vision that God placed upon our hearts come to be in the form of an internship for young adults called Nomad. Through the end of June 2007, Nomad students and their leaders will have partnered with dozens of churches in eight different Southern African nations, reaching more than 100,000 children and youth with the gospel and mobilizing thousands of loval church volunteers through numerous trainings. It is our hope and desire that these Nomads, and many like them, will develop a passion for reaching the lost through their experience. Nomads routinely go where there is no church.




The end of January 2007 we received our second batch of students for the January-June semester.Ten Nomad students and their four team leaders departed from the “farm” on February 15th after intensive training to begin ministering to the children of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Swaziland. The students were trained in various aspects of missions, cross cultural communications, and the Book of Hope ministry. We were thrilled to see the teams come together in unity and purpose. Over the course of the semester the Nomads are ministering with local churches in many rural areas to reach the children with the gospel through the Book of Hope and the Godman film. Their focus is to train & encourage local church volunteers to reach their communities, and to spread the gospel where there is no church. These teams are an extension of the BOH internship that began in 1998. Since then 300-400 young people have passed through the program.

Highlights from across the region: 2007 promises to be a fruitful year

2007 is shaping up to be the most fruitful year of the ministry in Southern Africa. Here’s a breakdown of what’s happening.

South Africa/ Coordinator: Jacques Van Bommel Currently teachers in four provinces are being trained to teach life skills using the Book of Hope as part of an education department-endorsed program targeting 4.5 million students.
2007 Faith Goal: 2.7 million
Swaziland/Coordinator: Magugu Mncina. A combination of Book of Hope, Godman, and the new ministry of Imatter are tackling the world’s worst HIV/Aids epidemic. Imatter is the latest BOH partnership designed to arrest the HIV pandemic through behavorial change directed by the application of God’s word. It is a 10-week course addressing our inherent value in Christ. 2007 Faith Goal: 100,000
Botswana: It is our joy to partner with the Assemblies of God of Botswana in their initiative to reach out to the country through evangelism in 2007 and beyond. Trainings were held in Gaberone and Francistown during February for 120 pastors and leaders attending as the first ever distributions of the Book of Hope happen in this country with the assistance of the Nomads. In addition, approximately 70 local church volunteers were trained and 10,000 children reached in their first week of ministry!
Mozambqiue/Coordinator: Fernando Chauque: Due to muslim opposition we have retooled our approach in Mozambique. Using the Godman film and
Accompanying Storying Edition (SE) to reach the rural, and largely illiterate areas while we continue to pursue endorsements from the provincial education departments.
2007 Faith Goal: 300,000.



Namibia: We are close to having reached all of the major cities, and are continuing to reach the villages with previously trained teams and partners such as Every Home For Christ ministries. A Nomad team will assist the effort in June.

Josiah is growing up fast!

‘Siah will celebrate his fourth birthday this November. He is growing fast and very adventurous/curious about everything. He loves quad bikes and life on the farm during trainings.
Josiah enjoys spending time with his best friend Jacques when they see each other every few months. They are like twins that get into everything. They hug and love each other, then fight and hug and hug. Even though they do not see one another very often they make up for it when they are together. I have never seen two boys love one another so much, especially when they only see one another every few months. There is just a special bond between the two boys. Siah is getting very tall and loves to Yes, Jacquito (left) and Siah play very hard together. explain rules. He’s still very strong-willed; but with two large dimples and big blue eyes he is hard to resist. When he realized the other day that his mother was a little slow in getting in the car to go to the store he walked into the kitchen with his hands on his hips and said, “Momma. Walk your foot!” Enough said.
Please keep Josiah in your prayers as transitions back to the USA (our furlough begins at the end of this year) can be challenging for MK’s. South Africa is the only home he has known so far, and he will be leaving behind his best friends.

Carol and Lerina continue BOH in multiple countries

Many of you know that we have had the privilege of working with two super young ladies over the last two years—Carol Jacobs (South Africa) and Lerina Bamm(Namibia).
Carol is currently working with the Book of Hope South Africa office heading up a research project in cooperation with several provincial education
departments, while Lerina is coordinating BOH in Namibia and finishing her theology diploma. Carol and Lerina have assisted BOH programs in South Africa, Swaziland, Namibia and Malawi, Mozambique and Angola. Both hope to continue work with BOH.

Communication%$#@&****** problems? Hallelujah anyway!

It has been some time since our last e-letter up-date. We have had quite the year (2006) to say the least. It has been one of the most difficult times in our lives. Looking back, it all started more or less last January 2006when all 700+ email addresses in our Yahoo account disappeared. The addresses were not backed up, and we have had problems with Yahoo ever since.
The last several months we have tried to rebuild our e-mail address book. Months later we also found out that certain, very important, e-mails that we were sending were not being received. All the while our email account appeared to be sending and receiving normally. From there our internet began to crash for days on end. Lightning finished the job by electrocuting our internet router.
Communication being essential to all we do, these things proved to be a slight hindrance. These things have continued even till now. So we apoligize for the lack in communication this last year. We are working on a ministry blog that we up date regularly more info .

PRAISE REPORT:

In February of last year Mishael became sick and remained so every day for five months. Enduring intense, daily nausea, she had many tests done, resulting in nothing definitive. She was prayed for many times without seeing a change in her condition. Then one Sunday she was prayed for by a friend and healed completely! The past two years we have been attacked in our physical bodies, minds, emotions and spirits. In every way we have been attacked; but we know who is our rock. God has been our strength. We thank God for all of our friends, especially our praying friends. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for us!

Many people have asked us how they can participate financially
It is remarkably simple to participate financially in reaching the children of Southern Africa. Whether you are from the Assemblies of God, or not, you can sow into God's kingdom by providing God's eternal word to the children and youth of the region.

If you would like to sow your seed by check, then the check can be made out to AGWM and our account number (292733-3) placed in the memo line. Checks can be mailed to 1445 Boonville Avenue, Springfield, MO65802. If you wish to give by credit card, you can go-online to AG.org and download or print the necessary forms. This is especially handy for those of you who receive air-miles or other benefits for using your credit card.

Thank you from the children of Southern Africa!

Thank you so much for your friendship, prayers and support! We could not do what we do with out YOU! We would love to hear from you!

If you would like to read some of Joe's writings, he has his own blog that you can just clink the link below

http://jbnewell.blogspot.com/

Blessings,

Joe, Mishael and Josiah