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W oodland has received $29,509 to date —well on its way to the goal of $40,000. Thanks to

everyone who has contributed. Consider helping fund the last part so that Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) work and missionaries, such as our own Ben and Leonora Newell will have support.

C BF recently announced that it is “doubling down” on its commitment to the long-term presence of

field personal in a comprehensive restructuring plan. Their new global missions financing will create a sustainable funding model that consolidates all CBF field personnel under a single category with equitable funding. Sign up for the e-newsletter or Fellowship magazine at http://www.cbf.net/ or blog at this web site: http://cbfblog.com/.

Global Missions Offering Update

We can share hope everyday, wherever we are. Here are some specific ways you can be hope in action.

ESL -- We need teachers and conversation partners. See Diana Bridges (esl@woodlandbc.org); ESL Report on p. 4. Web site: woodlandbc.org/esl

KidsHope -- See Marty Goppert (martygop70@gmail.com) to volunteer to be a mentor at Larkspur Elementary.

San Antonio Rescue Mission -- Woodland cooks and serves a meal every 3rd Friday. See Darren & Vaughan Ballinger (vballinger@att.net)

to help or for more information. Student Spring Break Trip: Bounce! -- We

need students and adults to help in disaster recovery in Wimberley. See Lance for details (lance@woodlandbc.org).

Web site: woodlandbc.org/springbreak

January-February 2016 Issue 3

Hope in Action

Missions/Ministries Committee, Woodland Baptist Church

Harvest Tree — WBC Missions Newsletter

Christmas in the Barrio—2015

by Mylène Elliot

I have long since given up on having a perfect, picturesque, Norman Rockwell Christmas. It’s not going to happen. But, Advent and Christmas are still a

time of year I greatly treasure. I love the music of the season and the eventual fading of summer’s heat, and the time when things slow down a bit and families

get together. I have also been blessed in some years by having what I call “moments of Christmas wonder.” I had been praying that this year, I would again experience some Christmas wonder, and I did. I went to see the precious people from Iglesia Bautista Emanuel in Laredo for Christmas in the Barrio. It’s held on a vacant lot next to the home of one of their members. As the sun goes down, the lights powered by generators come on, and the celebration continues.

O ur group from Woodland had arrived, helped some with the setup, and had eaten some food…some of it the pizza from the famed

pizza oven there. We had hung up the costumes we brought along the rails of the EZ-up, and had groups of children coming over to choose their costumes to participate in the many renditions of a nativity play. We had also done some setting up to hand out the scarves and gloves to

the people in attendance. Continued on page 3

Know of a mission opportunity that needs to be included in the Hope in Action section or in the Harvest Tree? Do you have a story of being on mission that we can share with Woodland? If so, contact Cyndi

Levesque (calevesque@sbcglobal.net) or Lance Mayes (lance@woodlandbc.org).

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Excerpt from Jan 2016 newsletter: Right now Noy and I are putting together an itinerary for the Southeastern Medical International team that’s preparing to come out here later this month to put their faith to some practical use helping Cambodian pastors enhance their ministries through the practice of medicine. They come here every year. They go other places too, but it’s here that we came to know them. Noy and I got together with Pastor Thoeur to hammer out the details. Thoeur has his own touring van now, a 15 seater, so we don’t have to hire a van and driver...Even

better than that is the fact that Thoeur is one of the team, not just the driver. He can translate for the team and share the Gospel with his people. ….The driving force behind this whole operation is to help people in remote places to see that there really is a God who cares about them. We do that in the hope they’ll want to know him for themselves a God who’s alive and not made of stone. We’ll take the team to lots of places making house calls in villages throughout Siem Reap Province including one of the floating villages on the Tonle Sap….Whether anybody realizes it or not, the missionary’s job is every Christian’s line of work and that covers a vast range of occupations, even something as menial as cleaning a toilet. But it all points to the same thing – proclaiming the kingdom of God.

That’s what Jesus did and he verified what he proclaimed by the greatest deeds of all time culminating in the cross and the resurrection….Read more of Peeler’s newsletter—request at: <bill.noy.peeler@worldpersonnel.org>

Missionary Spotlight

Below are updates on three missionary couples WBC supports—Peelers in Cambodia, Hansens in Kenya and Lees in Macedonia. This year we are supporting a fourth missionary family, Kenny and Karen Sherin in South Dakota, See article on p. 3.

Bill and Noy Peeler—Location: Cambodia

The Hansens provide this update: 1. Training program: Erik is currently training fellows from Rwanda and Cam-eroon and in February will be interviewing candidates for a 3rd fellow. Please pray for wisdom and guidance as they

select the new trainee. 2.BethanyKids Children’s Centre: The new pediatric wing of the hospital just opened on Jan.

23rd. It is a beautiful, bright building and we are so thankful for some of the ladies of Woodland who made lovely quilts for the patients’ beds. 3.Hospital: Please pray for the leadership of the hospital as it continues to grow. 4.Home assignment: We will be back in the U.S. from late March to late August for our home assignment. We look forward to spending time with family and friends as we share about the work God is doing here in Kijabe. Please pray for this time of transition that can be particularly hard for the chil-dren. Also we are so grateful that we are able to be a part of the work that the Pan-African Academy of Christian Sur-geons does in Africa. We thought you might appreciate a video and you might even recognize someone you know! The video explains the ministry of PAACS. Go to Hansens’ blog to see PAACS video —sign up to receive updates at http://uncommonroad.blogspot.com/ or connect via Facebook.

The Lees provide this update: As we continue to live and work in Macedonia we see every day the grace that God has given us to continue to serve those around us. We have expanded our work to include the refugee ministry as well as continued our work and partners that we have cultivated over the last 3.5 years. The work at Porka, the group home for adults, has become very beneficial and meaningful for us. Jeff has also continued his work with local farmers to help them increase their production. It is true that a lot of our work now is with refugees. Not just working serving them on the camps, but also coordinating the effort from others to help when and where they can.

Jeff also spends a lot of time dealing with government officials to understand the plans for the future…The work is extremely rewarding but sometimes the bureaucracy gets in the way of serving those in need. We meet the needy and vulnerable as they come and “knock” on our door…They come to us desperate for help. ..I hope that we are bringing them peace for their journey...I remember a young mother who came with her 3 sons. She was trying to get to Germany to start a better life. She told us that her husband drowned 2 days before in Turkey, but she had to keep going. She had to be strong for her children. Or how about the 3 friends that were traveling together. One of them could

not walk so the other 2 took turns carrying him. There are countless others. We see thousands a day here in Macedonia. We need your prayers. We were informed this week that the government might be restricting foreign volunteers from entering the camp to help. That would prevent us from working along with about 90% of our volunteers. For now we continue to do our work as best we can. Connect with the Lees via Facebook or read their blog at http://www.thelittleleefamily.blogspot.com/.

The Lee Family: Location: Macedonia

The Hansen Family—Location: Kenya

Dr. Ralph with Southeastern Medical International visiting Bill and Noy

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Kenny and Karen Sherin—CBF Missionaries

Christmas in the Barrio (continued)

Trying to keep the costumes from becoming a tangled mess on the ground under the EZ-up, I started hanging them up between the groups that came to take them away again. I was in the midst of doing this for the 2nd or 3rd time when I nearly tripped over a young girl who was in my path. I’m guessing that she was probably 4, but she could have been anywhere between 3 and 5. Not spotting an adult who was keeping track of her, which was understandable in the friendly chaos that was around us, I did what came naturally to me: I picked her up. It was then that I noticed that she was probably a Down Syndrome child. A beautiful, trusting, and unafraid child. She reached out to touch the costumes that I had been

hanging up. I talked softly with her, and let her feel all the various textures of the different materials and I

talked about the various colors, and the role that could have possibly been played by whoever had worn the costume. For me, time came to a standstill as we inspected the costumes. I couldn’t tell you if we did that for 5 minutes or 25 minutes. But, I can tell you that for whatever duration it was, that she and I connected and were having a wonderful time. After a while, I noticed a woman

watching us from the edge of the EZ-up who was joined before too long by a man. I guessed that they were her parents. I first asked my new, young friend in

T he Sherin’s are self-funded, tent-maker missionar-ies with CBF, commissioned in 2008. Both are or-

dained ministers who have a love and call-ing for rural areas. For seven years, they have served as advis-ers with Together for Hope, CBF’s rural poverty initiative, involved in seeking best practices of com-munity and economic

development and sharing with others. Karen relates, “Because we have other jobs in addition to our missions work, our focus has been on developing partnerships for Together We Hope and CBF Global Missions.”

I n June 2012, Kenny and Karen, and their two boys, Matthew and Caleb, moved to the Mitchell area in

South Dakota to work in rural community development. Kenny currently works as a Community Development Field Specialist with South Dakota State University Ex-tension. He travels to many rural communities in south-ern and eastern South Dakota as a Community and Eco-nomic Development Coach which allows him to work

with rural communities throughout South Dakota. Kenny relates, “Throughout our lives, we have witnessed the transformation within rural communities and the uncer-tainty that comes with change. We look for ways to teach folks how to help them-selves.” Karen says the move to South Dakota caused them to further deep-en their understanding of the term “rural.” “As we have traveled around, we found that many conveniences are not as accessible here. For instance, driving several hours without passing a fast food chain is nearly impossible in some states. But not South Dakota...Let’s just say, we fill up the gas tank and pack peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before travelling.”

O ne project involving other partners was “Harvest Ini-tiative” on the Crow Creek Sioux Indian Reserva-

tion. The goal was to create a commercially viable, self-sustaining economic environment and included establish-ing a sustainable garden to provide fresh food for the community. Read more of Sherins’ Visions and Goals here: http://woodlandbc.org/field-personnel/ and e-mail the Sherins at <ksherin2@gmail.com>.

Continued on page 4

appreciation to the church in these words: “For us the difference you have made is nothing short of a miracle. Your love and support will always be remembered.” Da-vid M. Kasali, University President. For more information, see this web site: http://www.congoinitiative.org/

Funds donated for Congo Bus

W oodland provided a small portion of the funds to pur-

chase a used bus to transport stu-dents from Beni town to the Chris-tian Bilingual University of Congo, which is the only Christian universi-ty in the Congo. They express their

Kenny, Karen, Matthew and Caleb

Sherins are located in South Dakota

Mylene Elliot and her new friends

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CBF Kids

N ora O. Lozano, LLI Executive Director, re-ports: The Latina Leadership Institute offered

two trainings during the month of January. The first one was the Texas training at Camp Buckner (January 7-11). Thirty-five students, including our own Leonora Newell, benefited from the learning and networking opportunities offered. During the

event, the LLI launched with gratitude the celebrations of the LLI 10th Anniversary. The oth-er training was offered in Mon-terrey, Mexico. Twenty stu-dents from three different Mex-ican states participated in this weekend training. The LLI is very thankful for Woodland's faithful prayers and support for

this ministry. Together we are changing women's lives in the name of Christ, so that they can trans-form their families, churches, and communities.

Latina Leadership Institute

C heryl Sharp, CBF Kids’ Director reports the following: During the month of February, we

will study people who serve as chaplains. Each of the individuals we will study strive to help people relate to God and to one another in times of crisis and uncertainty. Our scripture focus is Psalm 126 that talks about God who restores—a God who can make rivers flow in a desert… In the deserts of our lives, chaplains can come along side and lead us graciously to the water. During the month of March, we will learn how Duane Binkley is helping refu-gees in the United States resettle and connect with local churches. As we focus on the Karen people and Thailand, we will be guided to think about wel-coming new people that we encounter at church,

school, or other places.

Christmas in the Barrio (cont.)

ESL at Woodland

D iana Bridges reports: ESL at Woodland is celebrating its second-year anniversary this

month. Enrollment is between 90 and 100. We currently have six levels in our morning program

W oodland Youth went caroling at Arden Courts as part of their Christmas Party in De-

cember. One of the youth suggested the idea. Eastin Kandt reflects, "Although separately none of use are

great singers, at Arden Courts when we sang to-gether for some-one else's benefit, the songs seemed to come together in a beautiful way that I haven't ex-perienced before. And it really

pleased those we performed for."

Woodland Youth

English, but then figured she would have a better chance of understanding whatever Spanish I could manage, so I asked her “¿Dónde está tu mamá?” Without hesitation, she pointed to the woman who had been watching us. “¿Y tu papá?” Yup, it was the man. Even now, with her parents in sight, this girl was in no hurry to leave my arms, but by now the goods brought from Woodland had been distributed, and others had noticed the special time the girl and I had together. I know that a couple of people took pictures of me holding this precious child along with her parents. I don’t think I exchanged any words with her parents, but I saw the smile on her mother’s face. As for me, those were special moments, my “moments of Christmas wonder.” The Christmas seasons when I get those moments are always wonderful and special and show me a glimpse of heaven on earth. It all passed so fast, but I wish I could thank that entire family for that very special gift that shows me that God is here, He loves us, and we will be okay because of Him. For info on Laredo, see: woodlandbc.org/laredo-partnership.

LLI Training at Camp Buckner

Eastin Kendt and Ben Newell enjoy caroling

and, for the first time, four in the evening. We’ve also added an advanced writing class on Thursday evenings, which is very popular. I’m thankful for the new teachers who’ve helped make this possible. This semester we’re planning a tour of the rodeo fairgrounds. In addition, we have a fundraiser, in collaboration with 10,000 Villages, scheduled for February 26th, and are preparing to join the Wednesday-night cooking rotation in March. Our community continues to be culturally and economically diverse. This session we are welcoming new students from Iran and Eritrea, among other countries.

Continued —>