Global Missions
Advocates International - www.advocatesinternational.org Advocates International is an organization of lawyers linking over 120 countries together, to help believers transition from closed atheistic societies, to open, democratic societies where freedom of worship, respect for human rights and the rule of law are a reality. Advocate’s strategy is to encourage Christian lawyers, judges and national leaders to meet locally, nationally, regionally and globally in order to advance justice, religious freedom, biblical family values, conflict resolution and the integration of faith and profession. Advocates has achieved remarkable success, at all levels of legal practice, especially in developing countries and former communist nations. Their efforts have been as varied as helping street sellers obtain justice from predatory local officials, to helping to write law for a new national judiciary in a developing country.
Fraser & Liz Bennett - Wycliffe Bible Translators, SIL www.sil.org - Serving worldwide from Dallas, Texas. Fraser and Liz have served with Wycliffe since 1988 and 1994. Before their marriage, Liz served in China, and Fraser in Thailand. Liz is the daughter of Dave Henry of our congregation. Translating the Bible for 200 million of the world's most marginalized people is a demanding task that requires extensive training. Fraser's job, as International Language Program Training Coordinator, is to make sure that training is available worldwide. He supports program coordination in Asia, Europe, and the Americas; training center development in Papua New Guinea; and translation curriculum development in Africa.
Kim & Steve Blewett – Wycliffe Bible Translators USA - www.wycliffe.org – Kim and Steve Blewett are linguists, developing a written language with the Rapoisi people of Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea, and working to translate the Bible into their language. They lived and worked among the Rapoisi people from 1987 to 2002 and returned in 2010 for another three years. They have helped to develop both children and adult reading skills programs. It is hoped that every Rapoisi speaker will be able to read the Rapoisi Bible fluently when it is finished. They are proud of the creation of a low powered computer, solar panel and SD card with a suite of programs designed for translators, literacy workers and others. This looks to be a development that will be very useful for advancing Bible translation around the world.
Howard & Jo-Ann Brant – SIM USA – www.simusa.org – SIM (Serving in Mission) is a missional community of God's people who delight to worship God and are passionate about the Gospel, seeking to fulfill the mission of Jesus Christ in the world. Howie and Jo-Ann have served with SIM since 1971 in Ethiopia, Ghana, USA, and most recently in Kenya, East Africa. Neelsville has been on their support team since 1985. They have three children, two of which are missionaries in Germany and Jordan respectively. Jo-Ann has recently passed on her role as the SIM Director for Sudan but keeps involved in matters related to Sudan. Howie’s passion has been to enable missionaries from all parts of the world become involved in world missions. Recently, Howard has been as the International Champion for Emerging Mission or better said, Majority World missions. He worked with parts of the world that are generating their own missionaries and helped them figure out how to become involved in Global Missions. This is important work because SIM statistics show that while they are declining in career missionaries from the West, the numbers are growing from Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2011 Howard and Jo-Ann are making a big change and moving back to Ethiopia to help the Gurage people to whom they took the Gospel 40 years ago. The Brants plan to visit Neelsville on May 1, 2011.
Shirley Killosky - Kids Alive International - www.kidsalive.org – Shirley’s mission field is in Hauna Village, Papua New Guinea where she has been since 1979. An educator by training, Shirley founded and directs the Hauna Schools which ministers to children and adults from preschool through high school. There are currently 600 students receiving an education at 1 of 6 elementary schools and a high school. She spends much of her time teaching, writing teaching materials, developing primers, directing the children’s choir, training and supervising preschool teachers, and supervising and teaching Sunday School and Bible study. In addition to learning Sepik Iwam, their own language, the people are learning English, which is the official language of the country. Hauna has a church, school, and medical center. These people are reaching out to other villages in the upper Sepik River area. There are continuous needs to extend the schools in to the jungles surrounding Hauna. Shirley’s goal for 2011 is to extend more schools in to the surrounding jungle. In 2010 Shirley started a women's ministry to reach those who are still following the way of the ancestors - the worship of spirits.
Medical Benevolence Foundation www.mbfoundation.org –
PCUSA’s Medical Mission. For over 40 years, the Medical Benevolence Foundation (MBF) has worked to provide hope and healing to those most in need. Working with our partners, MBF supports healing ministries in more than 100 hospitals and clinics throughout the world. The work includes funding medical mission workers and building, maintaining, and operating hospitals in some of the world's most impoverished nations and communities. MBF works with its partners to fill cargo containers with surplus donations of medical supplies and equipment, which are then sent to a wide variety of desperate facilities around the world. Through an international short-term mission program and other partner programs, MBF is able to recruit healthcare professionals and other volunteers to save lives in developing nations. MBF supports community health programs, helping to train indigenous healthcare workers and personnel, education programs on disease prevention and nutrition, and more. In 2010-11 Neelsville designated funds to support a nursing student in Haiti. Despite the devastation of the earthquake, there was only minor damage to some associated structures of the school, but nothing to impede normal operations of either the hospital or school. The student sponsored by Neelsville is among the top in her class, attaining the only perfect score in the entrance exam. She also has a great attitude and will probably play a significant leadership role in moving the hospital to a totally self-sufficient mode in the future.
Gary & Pat Sheppard - SIM www.simusa.org. Check out their video at http://vimeo.com/19980687 - Gary and Pat relocated in 2001 to Charlotte, NC to begin working at SIM USA headquarters. Gary is currently involved in the Services Department and is the Volunteer Coordinator. Pat works in the Candidate Department. She also coaches new appointee couples in the process of developing their support teams. The Sheppards represent SIM to the Finishers Project. The Finishers Project provides Christian adults with information, challenge and pathways for discovering and processing opportunities in missions — short-term or as a next career. In addition, Gary’s ministry in the Services Dept. of SIM helps to keep the USA headquarters plant and facilities running smoothly so that missionaries can work well in a conducive work environment. They both teach and coach new missionary candidates and encourage new missionary appointees in their journey from acceptance by SIM in the USA until they reach their place of service overseas. Prior to their return stateside, Gary and Pat had spent fifteen years in Niger and Nigeria, West Africa, where Gary was a pilot responsible for transporting missionaries. His training as an aircraft mechanic gave him the skills to repair the planes as well. Pat practiced nursing in a local hospital.
Sons of Thunder www.sons-of-thunder.org - This mission originated in Damascus, MD, and started as a 10,000 acre farm in Zambia, Africa. The mission project was birthed by the Damascus Wesleyan Church, and many from our area have been on working/mission trips to "the Farm". Beginning with a ministry to teach Africans to farm, it has grown to include a medical center, orphanage, grade school, and church providing continuing outreach and evangelism to the people of Africa. They have many successes to thank God for: the farm houses and trains 58 families; over 400 students attend the grade school in 1st to 7th grades; and the children in the orphanage are thriving. Neelsville sent a mission team to the SoT mission in August of 2008 and worked closely with missionaries Sal and Renee Marini. 
Keep up with Sal and Renee at their blog site: www.xanga.com/srm6476Sal and Renee Marini, just a couple of grandparents from Damascus, Maryland, answered the call of God to “start a clinic” on the Sons of Thunder farm in Zambia Africa. Already an established mission site since 1996 including a farm, orphanage, church and school, Sal and Renee went in 2005 to add the final component …a medical clinic. Sal, a paramedic and Renee, an RN are now both licensed in Zambia as a Clinical Officer and an RN respectively overseeing a staff of 20. The medical clinic has grown from one room in 2005 to a full-sized building with a capacity for nine inpatients. The clinic has become a referral center in the area, seeing over 1100 outpatients a month and averaging 5-9 inpatients at any given time. Neelsville continues to support the mission though the collection of supplies to give to new mothers who deliver their babies at the SoT clinic.