Update from Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone Scenarios Part 15

Story written by Paul and Sharon Martin

Sierra Leone Scenarios July 2010 – Part 15

We have a place of our own!

The Sierra Leone District was finally able to find a property to purchase about a year ago, and now it also boasts of a compound security wall and a cottage! The cottage will

provide housing for missionary/teacher use during our one-week intensive Theological

Education classes, as well as for Work & Witness teams. For now, one room

of the cottage will serve as a classroom for theological education, as well as for other events of training our pastors and emerging leaders – that is, until a Training Center can be built.

Actually, we have already outgrown this room in the cottage for classes,

even before we begin to use it when classes begin again in September! So

we are looking forward to the construction of the next phase – a Training Center, which will house two nice sized classrooms/dormitory

rooms, an office, kitchen, library, and restroom facilities. What a

blessing this Training Center will be for the ongoing development of more

and more pastors and emerging leaders!

Construction in Progress!

Grateful for the ARK! We set up the ARK for the first time on

our very own property in January as we prepared for the first theological

education class of 2010. Rev. Phil Carr, missionary from Ghana, came to teach

Church History I for the second time in Sierra Leone. 21 students sat in plastic

chairs and worked with their Student Handbooks and exercise books in their

laps. One of the new students, a man from another world religion, was ready

to give his life to Christ and prayed the sinner’s prayer during that class, and

has attended most of the classes since. The ARK (portable tent-like building)

that a team from JESUS Film Harvest Partners brought to Sierra Leone,

served well as our classroom for six months of this year.

What a special blessing it was to enable us to carry on TE classes, and other training events, as well as a prayer and fast day, on our new District Center site, while a road

was being forged up the mountainside, and while construction on the site was

in progress! Rainy season began early this year, and so several class sessions

carried on while the rains beat a din outside. We have been especially

grateful for the ARK this year!

Welcome Work & Witness Teams!

Sierra Leone extends open arms of welcome to a Work and Witness Team

from your church or district! Come enjoy the fresh mountain air

overlooking the beautiful Bay and the growing city of Waterloo while you

erect a Training Center for developing pastors and emerging leaders. Sierra

Leone also provides fun places to explore while in the country, like: the

chimpanzee sanctuary, some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and a

boat trip to Banana Island where Isaac Watts is said to have been a slave trader,

which influenced his writing of Amazing Grace. Discover tropical Sierra Leone

while building up the Kingdom!

Teachers in Training

Outreach into the Segbwema area upcountry is producing more emerging leaders. Pastors Vidal Cole and Joseph Jalloh have made several missionary

trips across Sierra Leone over terrible roads to Segbwema to train leaders and

teach TE classes of up to 35 students. And now they are sending two emerging

leaders to Freetown/Waterloo for the TE classes as teachers in training. Our

most recent class here in the city was an historic event with these young men

present, taking the class at Diploma Level so that they can be trained to teach in their own home area at Certificate Level. This is multiplication for the future!

Pastors Vidal Cole and Joseph Jalloh have discovered the challenge and inspiration

of furthering their education with a bachelor degree program. Nazarene Theological College in Muldersdorf, South Africa now provides distance education for pastors who serve out there on the front lines. This BTh program was made available for

these two emerging Sierra Leonean leaders by a gracious donor, who opened

a special fund for this very purpose. Others have also begun giving to this special fund to help provide for their continuing theological education in this way. Another donor provided computers for their study and leadership development!

We are deeply grateful for these donors with special vision for the future of the

Church of the Nazarene in Sierra Leone!

Deputation Scheduling

We are currently scheduling services for our upcoming one year home assignment from

mid-2011 to mid-2012.

Joyfully on the Journey

PAUL & SHARON MARTIN

P. O. Box 784

Freetown

Sierra Leone

West Africa

PHONE: +232-76-739-641