Below is the latest update from Ashley Baer, a young lady from CCC who is serving at an orphanage in Peru for one year.

What time is it? ¿Que hora es? An easy question, right? Just look at your watch and tell me. But it’s not that easy for the kids that live at Hogar de Esperanza. Most of the kids that come to live at Hogar have never been to school so reading a clock face is not an easy task for them. In my tutoring time with Consuelo, Paúl, and Alejandra, we are learning to tell time. We meet Monday through Friday – they learn and I learn. They learn about math, and reading, and time, and I learn about kindness, patience, empathy, and how to be gentle to those who know so little of kindness in their lives.

In this photo some of the kids are showing off their new books. Hogar de Esperanza does not let people donate money for the support of their volunteers which meant I was unable to use the money that I had raised for support. After praying and consulting with Pastor Craig at Christ Community Church, we decided it would be a good use of the money to allow the children’s home to use it for their school books which they had previously been unable to afford. What a blessing!

For my birthday I was able to travel with a friend to a town 8 hours away. We took the overnight bus and woke up in Huaraz, Peru. On the second day we went trekking in the Cordillera Blanca. We were at 4,900 meters above sea level and trekked 16k. In the last quarter of the trek people started dropping off – not wanting to go on. It reminded me of how sometimes the things that are the hardest to accomplish are the most worthwhile.

I saw that lesson visually in the mountain and when I came home I saw that in a child. The day I came home from the mountains I had an 8-hour house covering. These can be challenging with ten girls under twelve to watch. Alejandra (whom I’ve gotten pretty close to) had been having a rough day with one of the other girls and finally she started crying – but her crying wouldn’t stop. At first she refused my comfort and I gave her some space. But then I thought better of it. I went back to her room, dragged her into my arms and held her like a mother holds a baby. I sang to her all the songs I remembered from Sunday school. She didn’t stop crying but I persisted. About 20 minutes in she started to sniffle and I knew the worst was behind us. Finally, she looked up at me with her big brown eyes for a moment of time, and then she rose, took my hand and said we could go watch TV with the other girls. We sat side by side.

I wanted to give you an update on the training program that took place in China during the week of April 4^th with our Global Partners in Hope (GPiH) and Crown College partnership.

The first class went well with 50 students attending and it was taught by Crown College President Rick Mann (pictured teaching below). The students were mostly young professionals (20-30 year olds) with a mix of “seminary type” and “business type”, which is a good combination for China, since some who attend lead urban professional faith communities but are also bi-vocational. As you can see in the photo below, there was a good mixture of men and women attending. The class seem to gain “energy” near the end of the week with a full day on Saturday. The students enjoyed the class so much they have decided to continue meeting outside of class in order to dig into the material. GPiH staff members will facilitate these monthly discussions.

The report from GPiH is that they will need to make some adjustments, but overall it was a good start. Dr. Mann did a great job and they felt the delivery of the material was right on target with the first class. The students are now excited about the second class, which will be taught in June.

Pastor Tim Perry from CCC will be part of the teaching team that will lead the classes in June. They will offer both this first class but also add a new class on a different topic so they hope to have over 100 leaders between those two classes.

If you read my blog you know that a huge sea container sent from CCC full of medical equipment, medical supplies, and other stuff arrived at the hospital in Mali a couple weeks ago.

Today I just received this encouraging email from the hospital’s Medical Director and primary physician, Dr. Dan Nesselroade.

I just had one of those surreal, God loves Africa moments today. Having just realized that we were flat out of fetal monitor paper in labor and delivery, Ed calls me and asks if I can come over and look at a box of stuff that came on the CCC container. Inside was about a year’s worth of fetal monitoring paper that corresponds to the machines we are using (which in itself is no small miracle). God is a genius. Thanks for all you are doing to push us forward. Please carry my thankful heart to anyone who will listen.

We just do what we can, but God does the real work!

Back in the summer of 2010, the Nebraska Methodist Hospital System donated a bunch of amazing medical equipment for us to send to the Women & Children’s Hospital in Mali. This includes things like 4 labor and delivery beds, 4 infant warmers, fetal heart monitors, medical furniture, and a bunch of medical supplies.

Along with that we put the word out that a ministry in Mali called the Lydia Center was in need of a tractor, and someone at CCC donated a full-sized farm tractor.

So back in January, after months of planning, we loaded up the sea container and sent it on its way to Mali. We just received news in the middle of March that the container arrived!

Here is the exact email quote I received from the Medical Director at the hospital, Dr. Dan Nesselroade:

“The container arrived and there is some amazing, beautiful stuff in it. Thank you so much to you and all that were involved in getting it over here. I’m blown away by the quality, not your typical donations! Such a blessing. Thanks! Dan”

Below are several pictures showing the Malians unloading the container. (click on any photo to see it in full size)

The letter below is from Carey Schlieker about her future.

Hello Friends –

I have some exciting news to share! God has opened the door for me to return to Mali, West Africa. This time I will return as a career international worker with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. I’m honored to be joining the great team in Mali again! My first term will be four years. I will be leaving this August, 2011. The first year will consist of French language study in Albertville, France. Of course, I will be happy to speak Bambara again as well when I get to Mali the summer of 2012!

Although my new role in Mali is largely uncertain at this point, I will be on a brand new team working in Segou, Mali. The town of Segou is the 2^nd largest city in Mali with an approximate population of 160,000 people. Many young people come to the city for education or jobs. Segou is located on the Niger River and is a major hub for trade and transportation. It is largely unreached with the Gospel, with over 90% of the population following Islam. I am trusting God that he will know exactly how I can combine my nursing skills with my seminary training to show and tell the people of Segou about Christ’s love for them.

Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth: shall you not know it? Isaiah 43:18-19

Over the next few months my schedule will include the following:

March – Pre-Field Orientation in Colorado Springs with the other new international workers going out this summer with the CMA

April – Training workshop on Community Health Evangelism in Ashville, North Carolina. I’ll also be visiting friends in Columbia, SC before the workshop

May – Commissioning service at the CMA General Council on May 29^th in Kansas City, MO and finish my employment at Methodist Hospital

July – Three-week online language acquisition class

August – Leave for Albertville France to start French language study

Whew! The time will fly by and I would love to see as many of you as possible before leaving. I am available to share with your small group or church about the ministry in Mali and Segou. Please email or call me if you are interested.

Please pray for me as I prepare to go. In some ways I feel that I am returning to a familiar land; however, I am preparing for the NEW and DIFFERENT! I am confident that God will strengthen me for the task ahead.

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Many of you have supported my ministry through the years through prayer and financial gifts. Thank you! As I return overseas, my monthly expenses will be covered through the Great Commission Fund. This fund supports over 700 international workers in over 60 countries. Contributions can be made three ways: through your local Alliance church, on line at http://www.cmalliance.org/give/ or by sending a check to the C&MA, PO Box 35000, Colorado Springs, CO 80935-3500.

You are all so special to me and I thank God for the gift of good friends!

Love in Christ,

Carey

We kicked off our Global Summit week yesterday by having about 100 of our senior adults go through Project Experience in the gym. In talking with a number of these folks when they were done, I saw a number of tears and heard quite a few really good comments. One gentelmen said to me, “All of our young people need to go through this.”

Yesterday was actually my first time going through this as well, and well – it was a powerful experience!

I really appreciate how the last few rooms end with everyone having a chance to stop and pray and to take action now. The last room is called the Follow-Up Room and there are a bunch of things you can do to take action if God is moving in your heart. I recommend everyone take about 5 to 10 minutes to look around this room as there is something there for everyone.

If you’re not signed up yet for Project Experience – there is still time! Go to www.cccomaha.org and click on “C&MA Project Experience”.

Back in August of 2010 we had a team of people, led by Veterinarian Dr. Jerry Busselman, go to Mali and inoculate thousands of cattle, goats, and sheep. The real purpose was to bring credibility and interest to the gospel message being shared by a Malian Pastor whom they partnered with.

Anyway, A-Life magazine, a great missions magazine produced by the Christian & Missionary Alliance, recently published an article about this team. Below is a link to the article on their website.

http://www.alliancelife.org/article.php?id=587

The pictures were actually taken by Jordan Green, a volunteer at CCC who raised his money to go on the team just to take pictures. You can see more of Jordan’s work at www.jordangreen.com.

Last Sunday we introduced the CCC family to Project Experience – an interactive museum setup in the gym that will let you touch and see the many kinds of physical and spiritual poverty that are so prevelant in our world today.

Issues like clean water, hunger, human trafficking, and more are real issues effecting billions and billions of people each day – and as followers of Jesus we simply cannot ignore them.

I’m really excited that Project Experience will be at CCC during our Global Summit from March 15 – 20. I wanted to give you a taste of what this experience will be like, so here is a video that is actually a part of Project Experience.

Project Experience: the Cycle of Poverty

The Project Experience tour takes about 30 minutes to walk through, and you will be led by a tour guide in groups of up to 10 people at a time. For this reason, I need you to sign-up and reserve the time slot for you and your family – as spacing is limited. You can do that right now by simply clicking on this link:

http://www.cccomaha.org/project-experience.php

I’ve heard a number of common questions about Project Experience this last week, so I’ve tried to answer some of those for you below.

Can small children go through PE? There is only one room that deals with human trafficking that has posters which you may not want your children under 8 years of age to read. If so, you can easily bypass this room.

How many people can go through PE at once? Groups of up to 10 people will be led by tour guides through PE, and new groups will be entering PE every 5 to 6 minutes?

Will it only take me 30-minutes from start to finish to go through PE? No, you should figure on at least one hour. For example, if your start time is at 6:00 PM, you may not get in the first tour group so perhaps you don’t start until 6:20 PM. Then it will take 30 minutes to complete the tour. Finally, there is a room at the end called the Follow-Up room that is not required, but you may want to browse opportunities in this room for 10 minutes.

Will PE be too scary for anyone to go through? Generally no, but if you are a person who has experienced severe abuse in your life, there are parts of PE may have a strong emotional effect on you.

Our team of 5 medical people in Mali have had amazing experiences this last week that I will no doubt be reporting on in the near future. They have been out in the bush providing medical care to very poor Malians who have little or no access to medical treatment.

With their limited Internet access the team has done a good job of posting some of their experiences on their blog as well as a bunch of great pictures.

Go to this link and catch up on how this team has been doing. They actually arrive back in Omaha on Tuesday, March 1st. Pray today for travel safety.

http://malimedicalmission.blogspot.com/