January 10, 2022
Dear TRC Ministries Friend,
My name is Dionne Hoffman. I am the administrative assistant for TRC Ministries. This past year has been a reminder of God’s faithfulness and I am excited to share some examples of this from our various branches of ministry.
Our partners in Ghana, Christian Outreach Fellowship, continue to bring the hope of the Gospel to the villages in Africa. We are encouraged by the many stories they share about the work God is doing through the “Timothies” (those in charge of the Audio Bible distribution and follow up) as they share the message of the Gospel with the help of the audio Bibles. The following are some of the accounts they have shared:
“Reports and testimonies reaching us have been that the Audio Bibles are good evangelical tools for people with little or no formal education. Thus, the Audio Bible has become an effective tool in helping God’s people to learn God’s word faster as well as memorize the scriptures in their mother tongue. Due to low or lack of formal education, most individuals in these areas are unable to read properly hence the Audio Bibles have been the best way for them to study the word of God. People always wish they could have the Audio Bibles to play and listen to the word of God on a daily basis or even own one that could be used by their families. Others mostly record their favorite verses with their mobile phones to replay and listen to them later.”
“The Bole Church at the Sawla Centre had their monthly watch night service at Daboyiri, a small village on the outskirts of Bole. The turnout for the service was great and the sermon as well as the ministry was powerful and soul uplifting. When news circulated across the village that leaders and members of the Bole Church will be holding their monthly watch night service at Daboyiri, the leaders and members of the Church began to experience attacks and massive opposition from one popular sorcerer located in Daboyiri. Due to his popularity the sorcerer receives guests from within and from outside the village who come to patronize his services. Apparently, this self-proclaimed powerful sorcerer with solutions to many life issues had not been able to heal his own daughter, Teni who has been suffering from stroke (CVA, cerebrovascular accident) for very long.
Someone who attended the watch night service organized by the leaders and members of the Bole Church visited her friend, Teni, and told her how the power of God moved and people were healed of all their infirmities. She also narrated her own experience to her and advised Teni to contact Pastor Joe and Obed for prayers and trust God for her healing miracle.
As the daughter of a sorcerer, it was very difficult to convince Teni initially but her friend eventually did and Teni agreed to go to the church in Bole. Teni spent about two weeks at the church in Bole and to the glory of God she has been healed completely of the stroke (CVA, cerebrovascular accident). Even though her father, the sorcerer, was initially not comfortable and not in favor of her going to Church, he is now calm due to the healing miracle his daughter encountered at the church. Teni now goes to Bole all the way from Daboyiri to worship with the Bole Church every Sunday.
Before God’s intervention, Teni used to visit the hospital for treatment and cure to her ailment but she was told that her situation was untreatable. Some of the medical doctors and nurses from the hospital where Teni was pronounced untreatable visited Obed and his team when they heard that Teni had been healed. They wanted to know how Teni was healed and how she was faring so far. Upon seeing Teni and hearing the whole story about how God intervened in her situation, they apologized sympathetically on behalf of the nurse who told Teni to go home since she was untreatable. They then asked for collaboration between the hospital, Obed, his team and the entire Bole Church to help with intercessions regarding cases like Teni’s, so that they will always bring such cases beyond them for Obed and his team to pray for God’s intervention. They also offered to help treat members and patients from the Bole Church suffering from minor clinical cases like malaria, diarrhea, epilepsy, among others so as to help the community.”
We want you to know that money donated to the Bible Fund goes not only to provide Audio Bibles, but to provide the financial support for the “Timothies” to distribute Bibles in remote villages, provide follow up, and help with discipleship in those communities. The Timothies then send us requests for new Bibles as they are needed. They have requested prayers for the following: pray for endurance for all the missionaries and the Audio Bible group leaders as they continue to reach out to the unreached people of God; pray also that God will soften all hardened hearts of his people to enable them to receive and accept the word of God; finally pray for all those who persecute the missionaries. Pray that they find and taste the joy of being in Christ and the need to preach the word of God.
The church in Sri Lanka has been closed for much of the past two years due to government restrictions imposed because of Covid concerns. They have been providing online services for the community. There are 120 Sunday school children at their church and there are around 300 outreach Sunday school children. They have Sunday school in 3 languages, Sinhala, Tamil and English.
In June of 2021 we sent 50 audio Bibles to Sri Lanka for them to use in reaching out to the gypsies in the surrounding areas. The country of Sri Lanka is less than 10% Christian and the gypsies are a largely unreached nomadic group who often make their living by fortune telling and snake charming and using performing monkeys and dogs. Please be praying for Pastor Sathees and the believers there as they strive to faithfully serve God and share the gospel with their community.
Opportunity Enterprises (OE), has continued in its work and Dave Schonberg, the OE manager, shared this update:
“Greetings from Opportunity Enterprises. Winter is upon us. That means opening the big doors to receive shipments and make deliveries is letting in a lot of cold air. Thankfully it is opening and closing a lot which means we are busy. Ten men currently work at OE, not counting Matt, our wonderful shop foreman; Dionne, our wonderful bookkeeper; and myself. For some of our men, OE is not just their job, it’s their family. The lunchroom is their place to come early and play cribbage or chess. Please pray that the love of God will be a tangible reality in our shop. The transition from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son is beautiful to see, but it does not happen without some bumps and not everyone is totally ready to renounce the darkness.”
Community Kids continues to meet at the Sixth Avenue Community Center in Alexandria. The following is from Rita Lotti:
“This year we provided stability to our Kids and their families during these trying times in our culture. There the volunteers seek to give the kids a safe place, develop long term relationships, and point them towards God. Our same core group of students remained at both age groups. Eight Elementary Kids and six Teens attended regularly and developed friendships. We added new volunteers that came routinely which helped provide consistency with our Kids. The Kids enjoyed creative, peaceful fun as well as encouraging, positive relationships with each other and staff. We have been pleased to offer this anchor and support to our Community Kids and their families as they have traveled through the ever-changing world of 2021!
The Friday night friendship dinner is a bright spot in the week for approximately 25-30 people and Dave Schonberg shared this regarding the past year:
“People come early, stay late and make a lot of noise which is a good sign. Jean retired from planning, shopping and cooking. She still does some meal prepping and cleanup but since the Covid lockdown was lifted we have simplified to paper plates and a four meal menu: fried chicken from Walmart or Cub Foods, Pizza from Pizza ranch, brats and kraut from Aldis and chilli. Fruit, cookies, chips and bottled water fill out each meal. Dave does the shopping. We bought a widescreen TV and each Friday night we watch a “One For Israel” testimony on Youtube. They usually run for 5-10 minutes. Check it out. The testimonies are very encouraging. Currently our discussion Bible study is from Paul’s letter to the Romans. We are in chapter 11 which ends with these awesome words (my paraphrase) “Everything begins with God, is sustained by God and flows to Him in the end. May God be praised forever. Amen!””
We continue to see God work in our jail ministry and throughout the community. Ardyce Harris shared the following update of the activities of 2021:
“A small army of “angels” from 6-80+ joined forces to share the love of Jesus this Christmas season through 216 hand-tied fleece Blankets of Love. Inmates at Douglas County Jail were blessed to make 41 blankets for their loved ones that were embroidered with “You are never alone, Psalm 23”, wrapped, and shipped, or hand delivered by volunteers. A dozen blankets were given to Law Enforcement for officers to distribute as needs arise during this frigid season, and other blankets will be offered to a fund-raising event for a mom with cancer. Students at the new Kalon Prep Academy in Alexandria selected a blanket for themselves or a loved one, and were told “We hope to blanket you with hope when you feel down or discouraged, warmth when you are cold, and love if and when you ever feel unloved.” Each blanket included a patch that read “You are loved”, and fuzzy socks, hats, and Thrivent shirts were also offered to the teens. Several other blankets went to miscellaneous individuals needing to know they are loved and never alone as well. Please pray that the prayers prayed over these blankets will warm the bodies and hearts of each recipient, and produce a harvest of life and hope!”
This is the fourth year of our partnership with La Cosecha. We were able to send them 20 audio Bibles in September of this year. La Cosecha is a residential recovery program in Mexico. The Bibles we sent will be used by the staff there to reach out to people in the nearby areas. They also distribute printed Bibles and 600 have been placed or will be placed in prisons throughout the surrounding regions by the end of this year. They are currently awaiting permission to distribute Bibles and hold Bible studies in the local prisons. They recently shared this report:
“Young men from different parts of Mexico have been arriving: Baja California, Hidalgo, Guerrero and Puebla. We thank God that they can come to know His Word and find their Savior Jesus Christ. This is the case with a young man named Mario. He is 38 years old and originally from a town in Oaxaca named Ocotlan. As a child Mario was abandoned by his parents and lived in the streets, begging in order to eat. He grew up knowing hunger, cold, abuse and all that living in the streets implies. Mario was brought to La Cosecha by one of his cousins who found him and brought him here with the hope that he would be able to get off his drugs and have a new life. But after he was already in La Cosecha we realized that Mario has a mental illness as a result of so many years of taking drugs. We contacted his parents to let them know that Mario was with us, and even though they had never given him a thought God did something in their hearts and they came to visit him. This has made Mario more content and peaceful. Mario has now been in La Cosecha for three months and thanks to God he has been healing physically. He listens to the Word of God and little by little he has been getting better in coordination of his ideas. He is obedient and has been helping willingly with the chores at the residence. We believe that God can do a miracle in Mario and restore his mind so that he thinks in a normal manner and can live the rest of his life in the abundance of the Lord Jesus Christ, doing His will. We ask your prayers for the healing of Mario.”
Place of Hope in South Africa continues to provide a loving home for abused, abandoned, and neglected children, from infants to 5 years of age, and has been operating for 9 years. They currently have 2 children living with them and a baby who stays with them during the days. They are currently restructuring after covid and hope to have more children staying with them soon as there are many young children and babies in need in the community near them. They request prayers as they are attempting to gain permanent residency and in the meantime are trying to get their visas renewed.
Our ministry partner REACH has now transitioned out of the Alexandria high school and into Kalon Prep Academy. Chris Kragenbring shared this report:
“What an incredible year! An idea became a reality. Kalon Prep Academy opened its doors this fall with 105 students in grades 9-12. There are 6 full time teachers, 4 part-time teachers, 4 paraprofessionals, an administrative assistant, a custodian and a school director. Our mission is to help students become the best they can possibly be. We strive daily to accomplish this by focusing on their strengths, loving them unconditionally, holding them accountable and having fun together. The community and the Lord made this school happen. We are incredibly grateful! An open house will occur sometime this Spring. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram or check out our website, kalonprep.org. We will begin accepting applications for the 2022-23 school year on January 1st. Merry Christmas and Happy 2022 everyone!”
We appreciate all your prayer and financial support that helped to make all this possible in 2021 and we look forward to seeing what God will do this next year through you and others.
If you would like to join us in person with any of our ministries, both local and foreign, let us know.
In Christ,
Dionne Hoffman
Administrative Assistant, TRC Ministries