Just in 11 months, by His grace, you have put smiles on many faces.
Shalom to you my dear brother and sister in Yeshua. Your prayers, encouragement, and financial support to sustain the mission of ONMI is incredibly bearing fruits. Here in ONMI, we are like dreamers walking by faith. Every month God’s gives us a mission budget and every time without fail, with your support we are able to raise at least 90 % of the budget. The mission budget is done on month-to-month bases. Projects are executed and procured based on pay as you go. This is rewarding because we can see God’s hand and His promises fulfilled in real time.
Currently we are combining three major projects together in Fiscal year 2021-2022. These project initiatives include: ONMI regular ministry activities, Bethlehem Primary school construction initiative and Nehemiah Polytechnic Institute construction initiatives. Pictorially I will be fielding you in this mission report from all different successful mission initiatives that ONMI has put together since the beginning of this year after our staff and their family and the community returned from the Ugandan exile. Their presence in their own land made all the difference. The speed and precision at which they went about getting things done is amazingly impressive. The country Director, Pastor Timothy Levi and all the staff working under him have been good steward of the resources entrusted to them by God. Thank to your generosity. It wouldn’t have happened without you.
Building Relationship with the brethren in the USA.
ON November 11-13, I went to Louisville, KY to attend Global Missions Health Conference 2021. This was my first time coming to such gathering of mission minded medical doctors, nurses, medical students & universities, and manufacturers of medical equipment who have dedicated their lives and medical know how for advancing the Great Commission. I don’t have medical credentials, but in ONMI, we run a medical clinic in South Sudan and train clinical officers to administer medicine to patients. Healthcare is one of ONMI’s major Departmental initiatives and it is very sensitive domain because it deals with human lives as we know it. We have a plan to build a complete teaching hospital to train Clinical officers & Nurses and medical surgeon in South Sudan.
GMHC conducts the largest annual medical conference in the USA. They are sending out medical workers all around the world. Leaving the conference, I was challenged and refreshed by the messages brought forth by refined and tested individuals who have served as missionary doctors and nurses in clinics and hospitals in different countries around the world. The last speaker left us to pounder about three things:
1- What motive someone to go on mission? Is it about ourselves or about Yeshua’s command to fulfill the Great Commission? As we are guided by scripture“ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature[a] God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature[b] of a servant ,being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” Philippians 2: 5-8.
2- Meeting them where they are at: Be Truthful when presenting the Gospel to the people God calls you to serve and bring the good news and meet them where they are at. Yeshua is our example. He went to Samaria. He met the Samaritan woman at the well and told her the truth that he was the Messiah, she believed him and so was her people. They invited him and stayed with them for couple of days. Many of them got saved. We must arm ourselves with the same attitudes. John 4: 4-30.
3- Abide in Yeshua for without Him, we can do nothing. John 15. People God called on mission to spread the Great Commission go through diverse trials and temptations at personal level, family, health, finances, wars, doubts for not seeing fruit of one’s labor and as well as cross-cultural problem including language barrier. Therefore, encouragement for those who want to go on missions or they are already doing missions ,: men and women, husbands & wives, parents & children, singles, widows and widowers must attend to the root of their own Spiritual discipline and stay like a tree planted by the river side whose leaves won’t wither in and out of season: This mean they can’t get too busy and strayed off like Martha from the word of God, no prayer times and no time for restive moment. Even Jesus took time for prayers alone. Matthew 14:23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone.”
The dynamic of what we are witnessing is nothing short of Spiritual warfare. We, the faithful must abide in Yeshua and pray without ceasing. Ephesians 6: 10 -18.
The activities of ONMI in South Sudan, is very impressive. Your participation in this great work of rebuilding the lives of South Sudan believers in Yeshua is bearing fruits. Based on what Iam seeing here, the examples that we are setting through Operation Nehemiah Missions is a microcosm of the activities that must reverberate throughout South Sudan spiritually and physically. In 2023 South Sudan is poised to conduct her first democratically elected government since becoming an independent country. It will take everyone to contribute their effort to make that happen.
Administration and the Great Commissions: Obedience is better than sacrifice. They obeyed and came back from exile to rebuild. Since January 2021, ONMI’s field staff has tripled. Manpower is essential and putting people to work so that they can support their families and local churches is very critical. There are at least 45 full- time staff working in various departments of Operation Nehemiah Missions. People are working with their own hands and supporting their families and contributing to society. They are not in the camps. We have seven fulltime pastors and their families shepherding their flock. Bethlehem Elementary school has 350 students in boarding school living in the mission center. This year alone we have baptized 130 new believers. The Gospel is going forward, and people’s lives are transformed for Eternity.
Food security: ONMI’s country director Pastor Timothy Levi stated unequivocally that, less than a year, ONMI’s agricultural sector has reduced importation of food commodity from Uganda by 75 %. This is a very important milestone. With your help, the food security has been a blessing in many ways. Just think about the challenges of feeding over 500 people currently residing in ONMI’s three mission compounds with imported food. In the past what we were missing was the simultaneously ways of growing varieties of crops specially vegetables and carbohydrate related crops. It would have been utter impossibility to sustain their livelihood if food was constantly brought from Uganda to take care of everybody including 350 students.
Several factors have contributed to this success. 1- faithful leadership structure vested in the national pastors is in place to guide the people. 2- ONMI’s constant presence on the ground since 2004 set the stage for the success of this blessings. 3- Mission staff bringing their families back home reinforces the need to conserve resources and maximize food security for their own families and community who are no longer scattered in the camps. 4- people with thorough knowledge of farming brought their experiences into the ministry and 5- Growing varieties of crops and crop rotation has made all the difference. 6- Weather. There has been a lot of rain this year. 7 – There is no security threats.
Construction progress
Bethlehem Primary schools’ construction initiative has made tremendous progress since breaking ground for foundation in August. The speed at which the engineer and his team are working is impressive thanks to your prayer and financial support. The construction has reached its 3rd Phase now. We are putting the second floor this week. This is ONMI’s first time to build 2 story building with option to put a third. The construction department of ONMI will occupy our times for the next 5 years. After completing Bethlehem school and church project, we will take on Nehemiah Polytechnic Institute construction project. This facility will also a complete teaching hospital to train Clinical officers & Nurses and medical surgeon in South Sudan.
ONMI Medical department - The healthcare need of the community is essential part of ONMI’s outreach initiative. Clinical officer, James Uzzi is doing wonderful work in administering medical services to the students and community all around. Air and water borne diseases such as malaria and typhoid continue to menace the live of health of the people. But thank to you for your generosity in lifting our hands. Medical supplies keep on coming thanks be to God. So, these are some of the medical activities at Nehemiah Field clinic. Please could you pray for our vision to build Nehemiah teaching hospital as part of Nehemiah polytechnic institute. We are planning to build a hospital with operating rooms, inpatient admission ward, outpatient wards, delivery rooms, reception, and pharmacy. The medical facility will need a separate well to be drilled separate from the education department.
Nehemiah Gospel radio NTC 97.3 FM. This station is located at Yerushalayim Summit on Mt Gordon. You really do not get to heat a lot about this Gospel radio broadcasting station, but the Gospel message is going out every day from 10 AM to 10 AM. The ministry has built state of the art broadcasting studio in 2019. We are covering the airway on South Sudan and northern Uganda, reaching out at least 1 million people a day with the Gospel. The most current challenges we have been facing with the station is the lack of power to run the station. Out of the 8 batteries we obtained back in 2019, six are under performing. We need to replace all six of the batteries pack which will cost ONMI $1,800.00. We need to replace 4 of the solar panels. The Staff of the station needs a functioning vehicle for transportation. Engineer David Firth is currently on the ground from the US for three months with our ground staff. He is there to evaluate the functionality of all the radio equipment. Energy Source is also very important. If we can have something like 20-25 KW of solar power, it can power the whole Facility.
