ICH Review and New January 2013
Please join us in praising God for His continued blessing
and purpose in serving others around the world through International Christian
Hospice. In 2012 many lives have been
touched and changed, the ministry is growing and we anticipate new
opportunities ahead in 2013.
Overview of 2012
International Ministry in
Honduras and Guatemala
(Ron and Susan were assisted this year
by 2 teams totaling 11 people)
People who attended ICH seminars 335
Churches represented at ICH training 37
Medical Personnel received ICH training 24
Extra Ministry projects
·
ICH training for staff in Homes for the Aging
(Dulce Refugio) 80 staff
300 residents
·
Screening for reading glasses 6 clinics
(over 250 served)
·
Fitting and casting for prosthesis in Honduras
for triple amputee Dennis
·
Vine International Medical equipment wheelchair
assembly
·
Guatemala City Dump Ministry, Potter’s House,
staff support
·
Calvary Chapel Orphanage in Guatemala (Mike and Karen Rhea)
God granted safe road travel
of over 3,000 miles in Central America.
We thank Him for our tough, little Ford Escape and for Ron’s stamina!
We thank God also for the
ongoing work of ICH in Honduras by our Central American Director, Pastor
Francisco Ilias. In 2012 Pastor
Francisco and Dr. Aguilar offered 6 seminars with approximately 200 people
attending. Pastor Francisco, his wife
Blanca and their congregation continue active hospice visitation ministry to
the sick, dying and grieving in Honduras.
ICH
Ministry of Rich and Barbara Banis
Many thanks to Rich and
Barbara for their work and support as they minister sometimes behind the scenes
of ICH. Rich continues to do a fantastic
job as ICH accountant by managing the funds and record keeping. He and Barbara
have assisted us much with wise ministry decision making and
encouragement. They also traveled with
us for ministry to Guatemala in August helping us with some new areas of work
(see blog entry for August 2012). We
have come to rely on and value their 40+ years of missions experience and thank
God for bringing them to serve along side of us.
ICH
Ministry in South Africa with LaVerne Busbee
2012 has been a year blessed
by God for ICH lead by LaVerne Busbee in Huntington, South Africa. Below is a partial list of the ministry
opportunities she has been involved with.
La Verne is one busy lady!
·
Hospice training and home visits
·
Children’s Bible classes in public schools and
community centers, crafts and activities
·
Women’s Bible classes, crafts and
microenterprises
·
Bible Study group and prayer group at local
Police Station
·
Home Cell groups Bible study and prayer
·
Youth Conference speaker and Bible teacher
·
Bible Distribution
·
Fund raising projects
·
Jesus Film showings and follow up
·
Networking to promote mission teams
·
Set up and logistics for church groups and
visitors
·
Feeding program and food distribution
·
Administrative work
·
Setting up and running a Second Hand store
·
Sharing Christ locally in stores, car wash,
mechanic shop, neighborhood events
Thank you LaVerne! Please pray for LaVerne’s spiritual and
physical protection, her endurance and good health. Pray for God to send others to join in the
harvest in South Africa as workers and financial supporters. We are
anticipating in 2013 a year of new blessings on LaVerne as she continues to
follow and serve her Lord!
Introducing
Mike and Maria Saeli, ICH missionaries
to Nicaragua
We are very happy to welcome
Mike and Maria into the ICH family! They
are joining us beginning in January 2013 as they return for full-time ministry
to Nicaragua. Here is a bio from each of
them so you can get to know them and learn about their heart for sharing God’s
love through hospice as well as other avenues.
BIOGRAPHY OF (JOSEPH)
MICHAEL SAELI
After 2 years of Peace Corps service in Ulithi, Micronesia
as a newly wed, I returned to the family farm with my wife, Maria, where we
raised 3 children over the next 25 years. I became a devoted follower of Christ
in 1977, and served as Sunday school teacher, deacon, and elder over the next
20 years in a dynamic, non-denominational charismatic church. That rural church grew from 45 members to a
membership of over 300 over the next 25 years.
During that time I transitioned the farm to organic, as I increasingly
understood God’s mandate that my faith needed to be expressed in stewardship of
what He had entrusted to my care in ALL realms of life.
Maria and I were profoundly influenced by the “life in the
Spirit” that our home church increasingly embraced. In 1996 a senior prophet came to that church
and confirmed what we had sensed for a time-that we were called to the foreign mission
field. Over the next 5 years we served
on or led mission teams to other nations. In 2001 we trained as missionaries
with Mercy Ships, and joined their team in Leon, Nicaragua in 2002. When they decided to close their base in Nicaragua
in 2005, we trained this time with FH and joined Food For the Hungry in June
2006. Since joining FH, I have served as
member care coordinator for ex-pat staff on the FH Nicaragua team, and
agricultural program facilitator in the Chinandega region of Nicaragua. We are also involved in a dynamic church in
Leon, serving and teaching in the area of inner healing and deliverance.
Maria Saeli Bio
I was born in 1948 and was raised a pastor’s daughter in
Tennessee where I accepted Jesus as my Savior at age 11. From
an early age I wanted to be a nurse, and later graduated with a B.A. in English
from Wm Smith College and a B.S.N. from Case Western Reserve Univ. In 1972 I became an RN and (better yet!) Mrs.
Michael Saeli. After a year of hospital nursing, I served
with Mike 2 years in the Peace Corps, working as a school nurse in Yap
District, Micronesia.
We raised our 3 children on Mike’s family farm in NYS,
milking cows, raising crops gradually transitioning to organic. I kept my hand
in nursing doing private duty, substitute school nursing, and (when the children
were older) working as a Public Health nurse, then starting in 2000 as a
hospice nurse with a Christian hospice
providing home care. I served in our
home church as a deaconess for 10 years, involved also serving in the areas of
Missions, Nursery, and Intercessory Prayer.
. In the back of our
minds was the thought that someday we might return to a developing nation to
offer not only practical help but to share God’s love. That opportunity came in 2002 when we joined
Mercy Ships in Leon, Nicaragua. Mercy
Ships closed their Nica base two years later which led to our joining Food for
the Hungry Nicaragua. For over 7 years I
have worked promoting health, nutrition, good marriages in small-urban
communities near Leon and Chinandega.
One of my passions is nutrition including the promotion of the moringa
plant.
Looking
forward into 2013
The growth of ICH influence has been phenomenal for which we
give God all the glory! We look forward to ministry trips to Honduras,
Guatemala and possibly other Central American countries. Please pray with us about:
·
New area of work opening in Mexico, trip January
30 to Feb. 8
·
Teams and mission trips throughout the year
·
ICH exploring opportunities in Central Asia
·
Raising up the nationals to do Hospice care in
their own communities
·
Financial Support needs to continue ministry
·
LaVerne Busbee ICH missionary to South Africa
·
Mike and Maria Saeil ICH missionaries to
Nicaragua
·
Rich and Barabara Banis ICH missionaries
Thank you to everyone who continue to support ICH in prayers
and giving. We, Ron and Susan, also
covet your prayers as we serve those who need comfort and hope in Christ as
they are facing death and grief.
In His love,
Ron and Susan Naish
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