FIGHT HIV/AIDS TO SAVE LIVES IN AFRICA

                              Francine Masuka distributing clothes to orphans 

AIDS is a leading cause of death, nationwide, in African communities. The number one reason we are dying is that our people choose to be and remain ignorant about this disease. By adapting a "This can’t happen to me" attitude, we are dying of ignorance.

                                       

The African community has a long way to go in the areas of HIV/AIDS education and the support of HIV/AIDS patients. It is up to us as a church of Christ to teach, support and reach out to our loved ones, our friends and extended family members and offer non-judgmental support and comfort. If we don’t, who will?

For this reason, my couple decided on this anniversary to support orphans and women who are facing the challenges of HIV/AIDS. We distributed clothes and counseling. HIV/AIDS continued to wreak havoc on Africans. How can we rest when young mothers whose hope of remaining healthy to bring up their children is eroded by a virus that we can control?

The World AIDS day whose theme was “getting to zero” must be empowered and safe havens created in institutions of learning to free them from the burden of HIV/AIDS. Children are our future; their mothers are its custodians. I wish you will join us towards a shared vision where no mother or child shall die from preventable causes and a future with zero new HIV infections, zero AIDS related deaths and zero AIDS related stigma. I call you my friend in God’s mission to fight strongly the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS. By doing so, we will help curb the spread of the pandemic that threatens to tear us apart and undermine the fundamental values that families are built on.

Our support provides:

• Food and clean water
• Prevention education
• Educational opportunities
• Important life-skills training
• Most important of all, your sponsored child will hear about Jesus Christ and be encouraged to develop a lifelong relationship with God.

When you sponsor a child, you'll receive your child's photo, personal story and a child. When children find out they've been sponsored, the joy they feel is indescribable. Just knowing that someone across the globe cares means more than you can imagine. Sponsoring a child will profoundly change the future for your child, and will change your own life as well.

Remember to support us anytime at this advance number # 3021390 at www.umcmission.org .  This program will be based now in Cote D’Ivoire, where the church is assisting people to fight HIV/AIDS.

My divine appointment to Côte d'Ivoire

My beloved brothers and sisters, I am taking this opportunity to inform to you that I have finished my work in the East Africa Annual Conference, and the Lord has sent me to Côte d'Ivoire Annual Conference where I will continue serving as Missionary. It was a blessing to my family to serve in Kenya for two years and half. Thank you for all your prayers and supports. I am looking forward to continue partnering with you individually, and your church to make Disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.  Continue praying for many new churches planted in Kenya and for all local pastors who are committed to the growth of the Church. 

I will update you soon on my work while in Côte D'Ivoire. Together as equal partners, we can mobilize God’s people and engage the unreached to experience the God News of Jesus Christ. God has given each of us one specific skill sets and roles to play in global missions. The church and the missionary not only need each other but we are better when we are together.  Missionary work is the lifeblood of the Church and the lifesaving blessing to all who accept its message.

We always pray before we take a trip. We ask God to protect us in our journey and to bless our time away from home. It is also a good thing to pray for others as they leave for a mission trip, whether it is short-term or a longer commitment.

Pray for us to have good health,

Pray for us for our physical needs,

Pray for us to meet our financial needs for mission,

Pray for clarity and boldness of speech while sharing the gospel to people.

Pray that loneliness is kept at bay.

Pray that we are protected from the wiles of the Devil,

Pray that God will use us to change lives.

I invite you to take the BURDEN of the people where I will serve upon your shoulders while you are praying to God. My prayer is to witness the Good News of Jesus Christ to impact people and change lives. Remember to support my mission work. My special advance is #3021390 at www.umcmission.org

 

“You can partner with Missionaries”

Dear friends and partners in the harvest of the living God, I want to invite you to reflect on issues related to partnership as we continue to work together. Remember the bible says just before He went away Jesus told His followers to “Go into the whole world and preach the Good News to all creation”. Some might ask, “What does that have to do with me?

There are several reasons why His command should have everything to do with you. First, it was Jesus who said it!  Second, these were among His last words and last words are usually very important. Third, it was not a request, but a command!  Jesus knew that we couldn’t get the job done by ourselves so He introduced the idea of partnership.

First and foremost, it would be necessary to depend on  the Holy Spirit as our senior partner because Jesus said in Acts 1:8,”But you will  receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (NLT)

The power for witnessing would come through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said. He underscored the fact that we wouldn’t be properly equipped to fulfill His command until we have been filled with the Holy Spirit.  Jesus added another dimension to partnership when He said, “Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward.” Matt 10:41 (NIV)

There is no injustice done to the scripture when we replace the word prophet with the word missionary. Jesus was saying that there would be a partnership formed between those who go and those who send. If the senders are as committed in sending as the missionaries are in going, the senders will receive the same reward as the missionaries. What a privilege! 

Jesus commanded every believer to go into the world and preach the gospel. This seems impractical, if not impossible, for most of the people in our churches. When the missionaries visit the local church, they share opportunities for reaching the lost in distant lands. As we respond to his or her vision, the missionary affords us the opportunity for partnership. We are enabled to fulfill the Great Commission. We become partners in soul winning around the world without ever leaving home. The better we know our United Methodist Missionaries personally, the more effective is that partnership. I love you friends; continue praying for more partners to join us as we are preaching the Good News.  I invite you to partner with me in this journey of faith.   

I will finish this reflection by calling you to pray for our health and well being. Pray for our protection from danger and difficulties. Pray for our children’s well-being, both physical and emotional. Pray for our financial needs to be met.  Pray that many will accept Christ and be discipled into a committed life- style and pray that more workers will be sent into the harvest-field. Thank you so much for taking time to read this.

Your partner in the harvest

Jean Claude Masuka Maleka

“Not, how much of my money will I give to God, but, how much of God’s money will I keep for myself?”John Wesley