RMM News Bulletin

(From July 2006 Mosaic) The annual conference of Conservative Mennonite Conference, which will be held July 27-30 in Plain City, Ohio, will include several RMM-planned events.
Taste of Missions (Thursday, July 27, 7:00 p.m.) This program is a great chance to hear testimonies of God’s work around the world as RMM missionaries share stories from their ministries. The tentative schedule includes an introduction of new RMM workers, a testimony from a Costa Rican man who found Jesus through the ministry of RMM workers, and an update on an exciting partnership between RMM and the Latin American conferences to send workers to Thailand.
Missions Day (Sunday, July 30, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.) This Sunday-morning service will focus on our involvement in bringing glory to God through the spread of the gospel. It will include worship, a two-part missions sermon from Henry Mulandi (Director of African Christian Missions International in Thika, Kenya), the 2006 Missions Day Offering, and a commissioning service for new and reappointed workers.

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(From the July 2006 Mosaic) An RMM missionary family and a single missionary intern have been forced to leave Uzbekistan as part of that country’s increased crackdown on religious activity and western non-governmental organizations. The workers were employees of a community-development organization. The family had lived in the country since 2000 and the intern had joined them in September 2005. In early June the legality of the organization was challenged in court by the Uzbek government. The family made plans to leave the country by the end of the month and will return to North America to evaluate their options for continued ministry with RMM.

In May of this year the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom once again included Uzbekistan in its list of countries that “have engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom” in the past year. In the commission’s annual report, which is sent to the U.S. Secretary of State, they noted an Uzbek law that “severely limits the ability of religious communities to function.”

The RMM workers leave behind a small group of believers who have been meeting regularly for Bible study and worship.

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(From the July 2006 Mosaic) May and June were months of transition for RMM as a number of workers completed their assignments and new staff were hired:

• The North Africa and Gambia REACH teams returned from their outreach locations.
• Rufus and Jeanette Miller and their four daughters completed seven years of service in Manta, Ecuador, working with the Shekinah Foundation.
• Sheila Nolt returned from a missionary intern assignment in Ecuador.
• Adam Maust returned from a missionary intern assignment in East Asia.
• Anthony Fisher returned from a missionary intern assignment in Central Asia.
• Elmer Lehman retired from his part-time position in RMM’s Human Resources department. He had served a total of 45 years with RMM beginning as a church-planter in Costa Rica and then in various administrative positions.
• Ben Ryan began a one-year missionary intern assignment in Thailand.
• Chris Skinner (from Springfield, Ohio) was hired as Creative Director for the Communications Department and administrative assistant to the president.

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RMM’s Chief Financial Officer, Keith Scheffel, recently issued a sobering report on the agency’s current financial situation. At the end of May, the operating fund had a $317,000 deficit. While RMM relies on year-end gifts and typically operates in the red throughout much of the year, the deficit is now $94,000 greater than it was at this point last year and has eclipsed the previous record set in 2003.

One positive note from the report is that income has increased in the last month, but it is still only at last year’s level. Scheffel noted that “While I’m glad that we’re at least back up to last year’s level, we need to be 15% above last year to sustain the expansion we’re undertaking.”

RMM is currently praying about, and working to raise funds for, the 2006 Missions Day Offering which will be received at CMC’s annual conference (July 27-30 in Plain City, Ohio). The goal for the offering is $240,000. RMM is working to raise half of that amount from “Touchstone Donors” – individuals and corporations who give at least $2000, and the remainder will come from contributions to the offering.

More information about the Missions Day Offering can be found on the RMM website. If you would like to contribute to the offering you can do so at the annual conference or by mailing a contribution (earmarked “2006 Missions Day Offering”) to RMM, 9920 Rosedale Milford Center Rd, Irwin, OH 43029-9537).

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Rufus and Jeanette Miller and their four daughters (Kelsey, Karmen, Katelyn, and Kristi) returned from Ecuador last week, ending their seven years of service as RMM missionaries in that country.

Dressed in matching yellow shirts in honor of Ecuador’s participation in the current World Cup, the Millers reflected during an RMM chapel today on the combination of positive developments and difficult circumstances that marked the past seven years. They left in January 1999 to assist with the ministry of the Shekinah Foundation’s refuge for street children in the city of Manta. While many of their initial expectations for ministry were not realized, Rufus and Jeanette commented that they came to see the importance of building relationships and modeling a Christian family lifestyle and felt that this was probably their most valuable contribution to the Ecuadorian church’s outreach.

Their daughters, two of whom had participated on a dance team at the La Paz church in Manta, performed a choreography set to a Spanish worship song.

At the close of the chapel service, Paul Kurtz, RMM’s director of global missions, presented the Miller family with a sculpture of Jesus washing Peter’s feet, thanking them for their ministry of compassion and empathy.

The Shekinah Foundation continues under the leadership of the Ecuadorian Mennonite Conference (IEME) and currently houses approximately 25 children.

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Dan Byler, RMM’s regional director for Asia, recently visited Bangladesh. In that country RMM is providing financial support and leadership training for the church that is emerging among the Harijan, a low-caste, predominantly Hindu people group. Upon returning, Dan reflected that “stories are one way of measuring the ‘success’ of our work of outreach – not quantitative, but celebrative.” Here is one of those celebrative stories – the account of how one young man encountered Jesus while living at a Christian hostel that RMM supports.

Samir* is a Harijan student from Chandpur and he lives and studies at the Immanuel Hostel. Before coming to Mymensingh, his rather traditional Hindu grandmother warned him to study, but not become a Christian. After living at the hostel for more than a year, he came to believe, but kept it a secret. One morning he asked Sunil (one of the Christian leaders) this question, “Have you ever seen Jesus?” Sunil shared about his experiences with Jesus, but was wondering what Samir was getting at. Samir then shared how he had seen Jesus the night before in a dream. Jesus asked him, “You believe in me, but why haven’t you taken me into your heart?” He understood that Jesus was asking him to make a commitment, that is to be baptized. So he told Sunil to arrange for his baptism without delay because he wanted to be faithful to the vision. When Sunil saw his sincerity, he arranged for his baptism.

Samir told Sunil not to tell anyone what he had said, but Samir then found out he couldn’t keep it in, and began to share the news with his friends and brothers in Jesus. The joy within him was too great to keep a secret.

When I talked with the hostel students, he came up at the end and asked me if I knew what had happened to him? His radiant face and his words showed his joy and faith. Since his baptism, he has taken the initiative of visiting children in the Harijan community of Mymensingh. This month he is at home in Chandpur for “summer vacation” and will undoubtedly share his joy with friends there.

*Names have been changed.

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