For more information, contact the office of

Mission Support

West Virginia Baptist Convention

PO Box 1019

Parkersburg, West Virginia 26102

Phone: 304-422-6449

John E. Simmons, Associate Executive Minister

jsimmons@wvbc.org

Lisa Simmons, Associate of Mission Support

Lsimmons@wvbc.org 304-273-9693

Joan Hall, Administrative Assistant

hall@wvbc.org

This mailing is made possible by your gifts to MSMO and United Mission.

Contact Joan at hall@wvbc.org if you do not want to receive this mailing.

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. 36

Mission Matters December 2017

CHRISTMAS 2017

This issue

Christmas Greeting

WMC 2018 Deadline

Debbie Mulneix

Juan & Denise Aragon

Keith & Debbie Myers

J.D. & Rhonda Reed

Rick & Anita Gutierrez

Fund for Puerto Rico

MSMO

Find it on the Web @

www.wvbc.org

www.abc-usa.org

www.abcusamissions.org

www.onegreathourofsharing.org

www.internationalministries.org

www.abhms.org

www.judsonpress.com

www.stewardshipresources.org

Mission Matters is a

periodic update from

the offices of

Mission Support

of the WVBC.

Our mission is to empower local churches to be Christ honoring communities of faith, and to help them fulfill their mission by enabling them to do together what they cannot do alone.

CHRISTMAS WITHOUT GIFTS

Lisa and I were privileged to work as missionaries in Thailand with the Thailand Lahu Baptist Convention. The Lahu people are “hill tribe” people who live in the mountains of Southwest China, Burma and Northern Thailand. They have maintained their culture, language and village lifestyles that have been passed down for generations.

Through the work of missionaries, many of the Lahu people have be-come Christians, The Christian Lahu take evangelism seriously and use Christ-mas as an opportunity to share Jesus with villages that are not Christian.

For the Lahu, Christmas is not a time for giving gifts – it is a time for sharing Jesus!

Each December the evangelism department plans a week-long event in a remote village that does not have a church. The students from the Bible school work with their teachers and leaders to plan and prepare the event. Advance work is done so that the village is ready to receive guests and participate in the activities. There is lots of “sport” – games with prizes of soap and blankets. There is a medical clinic with free screenings and medi-cines. Special food is prepared each day and the village and guests eat together and get to know one another. There are programs for the children, youth and adults with the climax being an outdoor worship service that introduces the people, with no knowledge of Jesus, to Him as they hear the message of Christmas for the first time.

The Lahu do not exchange gifts at Christmas. Their church and family celebrations focus on the story and the gift God gave to them through Christ.

****************** In this issue of “Mission Matters,” you will read Christmas greetings from our missionary partners. We have asked each missionary to share some-thing unique about the way the people where they serve celebrate Christmas. I hope you will enjoy learning about the different Christmas traditions from around the world. As you celebrate God’s gift this Christmas remember – it should not be

about the traditions, the bargains, the gifts, the food, or even the Christmas

productions at church – let it all be about sharing Jesus!

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

Luke 2:10

Dear Friends,

“We greet you in the precious name of Jesus.” This greeting is the traditional greeting amongst our

local Baptist churches anytime a person speaks to a group. Every speaker will say this as they go before the

gathering. South Africa has many Christmas traditions brought over by the English Colonists who came to

settle amongst the Zulus in KwaZulu-Natal. The one that seems to have crossed over most strongly to the Zulu

people is the tradition of door-to-door caroling. The way it works is very similar to how it probably worked in

the Christmas traditions which Charles Dickens wrote about in his beloved story “A Christmas Carol.”

Groups of about 5-10, usually young men and

sometimes a few women will travel around to working

class areas to sing traditional carols in English or Zulu.

They sing very loud and well. No matter what you are

doing you will hear them. They come in the evening or

on weekends when people are more likely to be at

home and able to appreciate the carols. You come out-

side as soon as you are able and join in with the singing

of one or two carols. They might ask if you have a special request. There is sometimes an accompanying

horn player if the talent pool is deep enough. Your neighbors will also join you in the best spirit and circum-

stances. After you have been listening and singing together for about 5 to 10 minutes, you will offer cold

drinks as it is HOT at Christmas, in Durban. You will also give about 50 cents to each of the carolers. So will

each of your neighbors who joined in. Thus if ten people came you would give about five dollars. In a typical

evening the week before Christmas, anywhere from one to three groups of carolers might arrive.

Who are these carolers besides talented and cheerful young singers? They have come by taxi bus from

the township areas where people are very poor. They paid about $1.50 to make the round trip. The money

they are given for caroling will help them with real needs at Christmas. This tradition is one of many in which

working people will provide a small tip of appreciation for those who are poorer. There are also traditions of

a month’s extra pay at Christmas for workers, and food hampers for the family of domestic workers who are

on holiday at Christmas. This is the time of year that people will return to rural areas. The caroling tradition

brings the precious reminder that Jesus Christ came and died for all of us and we can join our voices with

those who are not blessed with work or comfortable housing. The power of singing together lifts all our spir-

its as we proclaim Jesus Christ the Lord is born!

Come let us adore Him!

Rick, Anita, Marc, Paul Gutierrez

Rick & Anita Gutierrez Family South Africa

Name_________________________________________________________ (M ___ F ___ )

Address ___________________________________________________________________

Email__________________________________________ Phone____________________

Cell Phone____________________________ Roommate preference____________

Church_____________________________________ Assoc. ______Deposit _________

Mail registration form and check to: West Virginia Baptist Convention WMC - 2018, PO Box 1019, Parkersburg, WV 26102

Call Joan at 1.304.422.6449 or email hall@wvbc.org.

$800 includes:

Double occupancy at Green Lake Conference meals Hotels in route

Additional costs: IM Conference fee Meals in route Personal spending

Mail your registration & deposit today

Registration deadline

Fast approaching

Deposit of $200 due by

January 15, 2018 Payments of $150 due

February, March, April, May July 3 - 9, 2018

Maligayang Pasko (Joyful or Happy Christmas)

Christmas season in the Philippines runs from September through December.

Yes, I, said September!! I must admit that the first year I was there, I was shocked when I

was shopping on August 28 and the store had a full Christmas tree, lights, bulbs and all

the trimmings. And Christmas music playing continually! I was more surprised, though,

when I started to appreciate the early celebrations. It seems that our Christmas season

is so rushed here in the US. All our celebrations and preparations are done in just a few

weeks. Starting earlier gives you the luxury of slowly preparing. I love to hear the songs

and carols in the mall, and I heard some older ones in Manila that I had not heard for years. I realized that

this time is well spent, preparing for the coming of Christ.

One tradition of the Philippines, the Parol (pronounced pah-roll), derives

its name from the Spanish word for lantern, farol. It was used in the Catholic

Christmas traditions. The first parols were crafted with bamboo strips covered

with papél de japón (Japanese paper) and illuminated by a candle. Over the

years, parols have evolved from the five-pointed star to more elaborate illuminat-

ed capiz shell lanterns you commonly see today. Sometimes displayed singly and

sometimes with scores of others hanging from trees, it has become an iconic

symbol of the Philippine Christmas and is as important to them as the Christmas

tree is to Western cultures. Its annual debut on houses and streets signals the

coming of the Christmas season, and they are traditionally removed only after

Epiphany.

As we enter these last few days of preparation, of finding “perfect” gifts, and delicious new recipes for

brussel sprouts (?), may we always remember that our true purpose is to tend, care for and share our person-

al Light from Christ.

“….Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life….

Philippians 2:15-16a

We are the care-takers of the Light of Christ.

Are we busy preparing ourselves for the coming of Christ or for Christmas?

Thank you all for your continued partnership of prayer and gifts with me and the people of Asia.

I am truly blessed. May your Christmas season bring you and others closer to the Light of Christ.

Love to you all,

Debbie Mulneix

Debbie Mulneix Regional Missionary to Asia and SE Asia

Christmas greetings to you all! Christmas is one of our family’s

favorite times of the year. As we try to do every year, we wanted to

take a minute and bring you a Christmas greeting and share how we will

be celebrating this year, but first…

…we want to make sure to take this opportunity and say thank you to all

the churches and individuals that support our family so that we can follow God’s call on the mission field.

We also want to bring a Christmas greeting from Carmen, Richard and the girls at the House of Hope in Co-

chabamba. They send their love and hope that you all will come down and visit someday soon. Many of you

have sent Christmas gifts or helped us get gifts for the children that we minister to. We want to say a special

thank you for helping us share some Christmas joy to them as well.

Christmas can be quite an amazing time here in Bolivia. Usually Christmas Eve is when families

focus more of their attention to celebration. Oftentimes the family will attend an evening Christmas Eve ser-

vice (sometimes late-night, called a “Misa de Gallo” or The Rooster’s Mass),

but the real celebrations come later. The best part of Christmas eve is at mid-

night, when for around 45 minutes people all over the city set off fireworks to

celebrate the coming of Christ, and they are serious about their fireworks.

These are the fireworks that you need a license to use in the US. They set

them off in parks, at churches, on the streets, everywhere! Then they head

back in the house and have a huge dinner and open their presents. Often around 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. they will

go to bed happy and full.

For our family, we do something similar. We go to Christmas Eve service at the international

church where we do a traditional “Lessons and Carols” type service filled with music and the story of Christ’s

birth. Then we invite our friends and fellow missionaries back to our house to dine on Chinese food (giving

homage to the movie, “A Christmas Story”) and then we all go outside and watch the fireworks at midnight

before everyone heads home. We also usually light the Christ candle in our family nativity at that time. Ad-

vent Season and the lighting of the candles isn’t a common thing here, but we still do it as a family. Christ-

mas day is filled with leftovers, rest and thankfulness.

No matter how you celebrate this year,

may you have a blessed

Advent and Christmas season.

J.D., Rhonda, Grace, Abie and Nathan.

J.D. & Rhonda Reed Family Bolivia

“Where are you?” This has been a question we have asked ourselves a lot in

the past six months of our first U.S/Puerto Rico assignment. As well, this was the first

question asked in Genesis when God came to the garden after Adam and Eve had taken

of the forbidden fruit. It was a profound theological question of love that God was ask-

ing. The question resonates personally with our journey because it demands a con-

sistent examination of both our physical location and our spiritual relationship with

God, self, others and the rest of creation. Physically we have reconnected with dear

friends, family and churches that have been a deep-rooted foundation in our lives. We

are grateful for the faithful prayers and financial support that have been given for the ministry in Mexico by our churches

in West Virginia.

During our travels the last few months, Deb and I have had time to reflect on the past four years of ministry in

Mexico. We faced various challenges with being immersed in seven different cultures/languages (Mazahua, Mixteca,

Totonaca, Náhuatl, Popoloca, Tseltal and Tsotsil), learning how to navigate the roads and terrain of southern central Mex-

ico, and building relationships have been the main focus of ministry. We have learned first-hand the relationship is the

cornerstone of our ministry. It is the trump card to going forward and con-

tinuing with demonstrating the commission of Jesus. This idea became evi-

dent early. Our first visit to one of our churches in CICEM we met with the

Pastor (Jose) and the elder board. We asked them what they wanted from

us and how we could be of the greatest help. Thinking the answer was go-

ing to be elaborate, I had my pen and paper ready; however, Pastor Jose

simply said, “Show up.” I thought, “That’s it?” In essence, what the Pastor

was saying was to “show up” and show us the value you place on us. “Show

up” and show us your motives. The indigenous community of Mexico has

been taken advantage of in many ways over their history. Pastor Jose gave us the road map to the call in our Christian

lives. To show up in people’s lives without a motive; only with the intention of hearing their story and investing in them as

a person. As we were preparing to leave Mexico for our home assignment, we paid a final visit to Pastor Jose. During this

visit, he gave us our next assignment when we return in June of 2018. This is when I needed my notebook to take notes.

We have gained the trust of his church and now entrusted to develop a youth leader program for their leaders.

Family update:

This past August, Deb and I entered a new phase in life as “empty nesters”. Boyden is in his second year of col-

lege at BIOLA (Bible Institute of LA) studying Micro-biology. He is working part time as teacher assistant in Chemistry, is

part of the GSP (Global Student Program) and plays on the intermural Rugby team. Baillie is in her first year of college at

BIOLA as well. She is studying nursing, is part of the GSP and sings in a glee group. Both are doing well with adjusting

back to life in the US; both academically and socially. Each of them played an integral role in our ministry in Mexico. Deb

and I are excited that Boyden and Baillie will be able to join us for this Christmas season.

We are excited to welcome Juan and Dense Aragon as part of the ministry team to our CICEM churches. They

arrived this past September. CICEM is made up of 37 different churches across four states (Mexico, Puebla, Oaxaca and

Chiapas) in southern central Mexico. We will be working together to empower the leaders of the indigenous church of

Mexico.

Interestingly enough, the first question in the New Testament is, “Where is He?” in reference to the Christ

child. This Christmas season hopefully we are challenged by both of these question in our lives. On behalf of our family

and the churches of CICEM, we want to say thank you and wish each of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Dear friends,

Christmas greetings from Chiapas! During December, temperatures in

San Cristobal range anywhere from the mid 30’s to low 50s – we really miss

our central heating system! It’s hard to believe three months have passed

since our arrival to Mexico.

As you may imagine, these first three months our family has been do

ing a lot of adjustments: unlearning what we knew as normal, learning to live

in and finding ways to integrate into our host culture. When we arrived in

Mexico, our Area Director, Adalia Gutierrez Lee, emphasized how crucial it is for our family to set a firm foundation to

have a healthy ministry, and that’s what we’ve been working on these first few months.

Juancito and Ziba are about to finish their first quarter in school. Juancito had a rocky start as he got sick, struggled

with language and missed his friends and school in Ravenswood. But we have seen the Lord answering our prayers as he’s

slowly going back to being himself: extrovert, talkative and curious. He’s made new friends in school, is already reading in

Spanish and quickly learning to use Mexican slang!

We’ve nicknamed Ziba “the 4x4” – she’s an all-terrain little girl. She enjoys school, singing and loves trying new

foods and being helpful. She has fun pretending she’s a street seller knocking on our door to sell us water, fruits and vege-

tables. She’s made significant improvements in her language skills, prays in Spanish and

from time to time surprises us with new Spanish phrases.

With her charm and smile, Denise has been a trailblazer connecting our family with

people in our neighborhood, school, sport events and church. We’ve connected with mis-

sionary families who are either serving in Mexico or learning Spanish in preparation for ser-

vice in South America.

The weekend from December 8-10, our family along with Noé Trujillo and Lazaro Gonzalez from CICEM traveled to

the highlands to meet the churches we will serve. On Friday night and Saturday morning, the Tsotsil churches welcomed

us in the community of Carmen Grande, over 200 people celebrated the beginning of our ministry with music, singing and

food. On Sunday morning, the Tseltal churches assembled in the town of Yajalón to continue the celebration. We felt

God´s presence and love through their words of blessings, hospitality and warmth. We’re excited to see how the Spirit will

lead us to impact these communities with the gospel.

For over 400 years, Mexican people have celebrated the Christmas tradition of “Las Posadas,” Spanish for lodging,

which refers to the inn in the story of the nativity of Jesus. In this tradition established by Catholic friars, two people dress

up as Mary and Joseph. Some houses are selected as an "inn" (thus the name "Posada"). The head of the procession will

have a candle inside a paper lampshade. At each “inn,” the resident responds by singing a song and Mary and Joseph are

finally recognized and allowed to enter. Once the "innkeepers" let them in, the group of guests come into the home and

kneel around the Nativity scene to pray.

As we celebrate the Gift of God this Christmas, we thank the American Baptist Women’s Ministries of West Virgin-

ia for providing the generous gift to purchase the 4x4 pickup truck that will take us across the highlands to equip God´s

people to make disciples. Also, our profound gratitude for the faithful prayers and financial support from every church in

our WVBC family. Your prayers and gifts enable us to respond to God´s call..

Juan, Denise, Juancito and Zeba Aragon

Keith & Debbie Myers Family Mexico Juan & Denise Aragon Family

Mexico

Tri-annual CICEM National Assembly in San Juan Atzingo, Puebla, Mexico.