Prayer & Praise

Praise God for the miracles he performs daily
Pray for new sources of support ans for us to use it very wisely
Give thanks for the many outreaches that DMI still is able to do
Pray for the safe arrival of the TechServe container
Give thank for the protection over the folk in the Myanmar church group
Pray for the workers that they will recieve the encouragement to press on during these hard times

Dear Friends and Supporters,

The doom and gloom of world economics has definitely hit DMI and Deaf Action. This has resulted because of a decline in giving to DMI compounded by a decline in the value of the Australian dollar. A further decline in giving could be due to some of our income being diverted to Bush Fire relief. Our whole work is suffering at the moment. Last month only 65% could be sent to our fields and the month before, only 50%. This means that deaf evangelists, schools, and projects are not receiving enough to operate on. Our staff are not being paid fully on both the home front and on our fields and if you think it is bad here, it is compounded abroad by increases in the price of food and other basics. If we did not believe that this is God’s work we would faint under the strain. Please pray that new sources of support can be found and that we will have the wisdom to know how to cut back or who to cut out. We don’t want to cut out anyone or any ministry so we need a few miracles. Pray with us.

Myanmar

Another cause for concern is the increasing persecution of Christians in Myanmar. Pressure to close down churches in Yangon is on the increase. Landlords are being told not to rent to Christian groups; through active and subtle pressures, the church in Myanmar is again in the firing line. So far we have not had any problems as we have a good relationship with the block captain and hopefully the fact that everyone is deaf is a contributing factor in them leaving us alone.

Kenya

Bug-free mattresses.

The school in Ringa, Kenya is increasing in numbers constantly. We have been able to rent a block of land next door which has a building suitable to be a dormitory for boys. We do need more beds however.

Three-to-a-bed is not the best way to go but, it’s a reality at the moment. 80,000 Kenyan shillings (AU$1,500) is needed.

Moving the container.

Uganda

It is not all misery however, and God is still working in wonderful ways. You might remember from past letters that Tech Serve USA were preparing a prefabricated church building and Bible School building for Kampala, Uganda.

The folk at TechServe affixed this note to the container.

Well it is on the way. As I write, the container is on the high seas headed towards Uganda. It was sent from Arkansas to Charleston, South Carolina, put on a boat for Europe where it is to be transferred to another boat.

The route then goes through the Suez Canal and around the horn of Somalia, through pirate-infested waters to Mombasa. From there - by train to Nairobi and then by truck to Kampala. Please pray for a safe arrival without problems at customs or from pirates. A few teams from the US are preparing to travel to Uganda to assemble it all. We are so grateful to Tech Serve and all who have given, to make this first stage of the development there possible.

DEAF MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL (BURUNDI)

B.P 7027 Bujumbura, BURUNDI- Email: dmiburundi@yahoo.com / budfafrica@yahoo.com Mobile: (+257) 79978130 SMS

                                                                                 Bujumbura, 23 February 2009

Dear Neville,

Hope you and yours are getting on well. We are thriving quite fine and the work is doing well. However, since the past years, the Deaf women sewing workshop had only 14 machines and there are several Deaf women than the machines they had. They worked by substituting when other need to work on the machine. The Deaf sewing workshop has more applicants who need to be training in dressmaking education, but still machines were not enough. In fact, the principle of this update information is to let you know that DMI Burundi with its projects to a local NGO based in Burundi has received supports to meet the need of Deaf sewing workshop so that they can continue with the training and work to afford daily life and help their family in different way they can. Now the workshop is completely filled with 22 machines and all applicants are getting the training. This group of Deaf women sewing has various responsibilities in National economic growth especially in training other Deaf in that professional in order to alleviate the poverty and the prostitution that could be affected by the abject poverty which force many Deaf women in sexual exploitation. DMI Burundi extends it’s thank to the organization who support its projects to increase other machines so that the workshop of Deaf could bring high incomes in national economic.

Burundi deaf carpentry workshop

The support of materials was made of: - 6 sewing pedal machines;

2 Zigzag electricity machines;
2 electricity irons;
2 coal irons;
Other materials (scissors, meter ribbon, etc.)

The project of the Deaf carpentry is still working on well. This project will also be reinforced very soon when our projects be financed. We still have a talk with USAID in Burundi to see if they can hand helps in this project.

God bless you,

Fabien Hamissi Director

Colombia

In furthering our empowering of deaf people to reach deaf people, on February 22nd last, William Mora of Bogota Colombia was ordained into the ministry. As far as we know he is the first deaf man in Colombia to be ordained in this way and has been a tremendous encouragement to the deaf in Bogota. In a culture where deaf people are considered to be incapable of any form of leadership or ministry, this has been a real boost to the morale of the deaf there. William is continuing University work as he ministers to the new congregation of deaf people in Bogota. Others have also been challenged to take up studies to provide a group of trained leaders who will reach out to other areas of Colombia. It is just the beginning. We are also hoping to commence a school in a town some 3 or 4 hours from Bogota as the Lord supplies funds. Hundreds of deaf kids in the area are without education, so a real need there too.

William Mora of Bogota Colombia was ordained into the ministry.

Lill and I head off to Japan and Korea on March 26th for another lot of meetings and fundraising efforts. We hope to visit David, Ruthie and kids in Nagano, Japan - an added bonus to the trip. Lill will then travel on to Norway to spend some time with her 93 year old mother .

Thank you for your prayerful and practical support.

God Bless, Neville and Lill