I have heard people talk about how stories build bridges instead of barriers between people and the Gospel. I got the opportunity to experience this firsthand on a flight from Atlanta to New York. During the flight I sat next to a talkative passenger named Rani. He is a semi-religious Jew and currently lives in Israel. As I asked him about Israel and his culture, he began to ask me questions about my life as well. He was very interested when I told him that I was going to Brazil to record Bible stories into indigenous languages. This opened the door for me to share the Panoramic Bible story with him so that he could get a big picture of what I teach the students.

Rani nodded in agreement as I told him about creation, Abraham, and Isaiah, but his nods changed to confusion when I reached the part about Jesus. He asked, “Why are people divided over Jesus?” I explained that the story was about to answer this, and went on to tell him that some people believed that Jesus was their promised Savior while others did not. “Ah, that explains it,” he said, “Go on.” After I finished the story, Rani told me that he had never heard the second half of the story, the part with Jesus, in that much detail before.

As we continued talking, he shared with me how it disturbs him how people claim to be religious and yet live terrible lives. I told him it reminded me of something that happened in the Bible and began to share with him the story of John the Baptist. I told him that many people came to John the Baptist and asked him what they must do to have a right relationship with God. John did not condone religiosity, but told them to prove that they had a right relationship with God by the way they lived – share with those in need and be honest in your work. He agreed and I could tell the truth of the story resonated inside of him.

As our conversation progressed, I was able to share with him how Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Laws and through him we can have grace to have a right relationship with God. Only at the end of our conversation, after a bridge and relationship was built, was he willing to listen to me share that Jesus is the only way to the Father. Our flight did not end with a spectacular conversion experience, but now this Jewish man knows the rest of the story – Rani now knows about Jesus – through the simple method of telling true stories from God’s Word.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We wanted to share with you the reports from the individual students at CETRAM, the MESEF Training Center in Boa Vista, Brazil. The Training Center opened in February of 2011 and completed the 1^st semester in July. Those of you who have been able to visit CETRAM are well aware of the simple and somewhat rationed nature of the meals of the students. While this would be difficult by our standards, the CETRAM students were more than thankful for these provisions and the privilege to be able to study the Word of God. Their hunger was greater for the Word than for natural food.

At the conclusion of their first semester, the students traveled home for a short break and returned with testimonies of how God had helped them and how they were able to share Jesus. We have seen a tremendous work of God in their lives and they are experiencing the joy as well as the persecution for their faith. We have already seen the beginning of the spiritual impact of their courage as they “go and tell” about the love of God. We are watching a whole new generation and several tribes being touched by the Lord. On behalf of the partnership of Frontline and MESEF, we would like to express our gratefulness for your financial part in supporting CETRAM. Please continue to pray for CETRAM as well as MESEF in Brazil.

We are excited about what God is doing!

Alan & Heidi
and the Frontline Missions Team

Please find the exciting reports from the CETRAM students in the attached pdf document.

• They went to La Ceibita – the Flower Mountain area – and hiked to 3 separate Tolupan villages and carried Corn and Rice to them.
• We also distributed “The Messenger” MP3 players that are solar powered. The units were provided by In Touch ministries – 1^st Baptist of ATL.
• They had the New Testament in Spanish as well as messages about Christian Living….really cool!
• We spent the night and worked with the Tolupan at the 3^rd Village. (Monteray)Hauled fire wood and water, helped dig a building site for a house.
• The first village(Higerito) we help clear a field and then played soccer with them!

Check out the video; you will be blessed.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Reports are in from the New River community Church of Douglasville, GA trip to Honduras!

Pastor Fred Gilkeson shares that their team was able to return to Higuerito, the same village that Landmark had visited during their trip in April. After Landmark left rumors spread about Frontline that, “They will not come back. They really do not care.” Since the death of the head chief Julio in February, the new interim chief is mistrustful of Frontline’s intentions with his people. A woman named Santos proved to be the bridge for the New River team and the people of Higuerito. As she led the team into the village she encouraged them by saying, “You all are messengers from the Lord!” Not realizing that they were confirming the love of the Lord by their mere presence in the village, the team offered to serve the Tolupan in whatever way they needed. The Tolupan had just cut the entire soccer field with machetes and only wanted them to clean the grass for a game of soccer. Not surprisingly, the Tolupan beat the Americans 11 to 8. Who would know that a simple game of soccer would demonstrate the love of the Lord?

During the Landmark trip in April, Frontline was informed of one of the poorest and needier of all of the Tolupan villages, Montenegro. It is very difficult to reach and so no outsiders have ever visited, not even their own government officials. As New River’s team arrived at Montenegro after their four hour hike, a villager asked them with great surprise, “Who sent you?!” The team explained that Pastor Luis of Sulaco had sent them and they were one of the Frontline Missions’ teams, ready to serve the people of Montenegro. At first, the women and children were afraid of these outsiders and hid behind trees and inside homes. The chief, however, was very welcoming of the team and interested in the solar mp3 players, which had the New Testament and also messages of Charles Stanley in Spanish, which have been generously donated by First Baptist Church of Atlanta to Frontline. The chief could not believe that the team would travel so far to his village and give them the mp3 players and the much needed corn and rice. In this village the soil was so poor that absolutely nothing would grow and so the people were starving. In the past Frontline has sent formula to this village to specifically save infants’ lives because their mama’s diet was so deficient that even on their breast milk, the infants were starving to death. After personally experiencing how bare and desolate Montenegro truly was, Pastor Fred remarked how good it felt to give when the need was so great.

On the same day, the team, although already tired from their previous hike, decided to hike straight on to Monterrey. Despite their burned and blistered feet, they made the four-hour trek. Once they arrived in the village, they were greeted with stories of a team four years ago, in particular one determined woman whose love had compelled her to persevere through extreme difficulties in hiking. This woman’s deep desire to help them still resonated so much in them that they could not stop telling her story – even four years later. Little did they know that this woman was once again standing in front of them and they had not recognized her. What a blessed reunion! As the team began handing out mp3 players, they gave one to Loris, a teacher visiting from Sulaco. She was elated to receive it because it has always been a desire of her heart to take the Word of God to the Tolupan and now she could use the mp3 player to do so. It is remarkable how God orchestrates people’s paths to cross.

At this very moment, Frontline Missions has Dennis Drinkwater, our current intern, separating audio recordings of Spanish and Tolupan stories to be put on mp3 players and distributed to the Tolupan people in the near future. These stories will include 24 Bible stories from Creation to the Return of Christ. Alan and the Beulah Baptist Church team that leaves tomorrow hope to carry these recordings to the Tolupan to be verified through Cristy Garrido (translator extraordinaire) and Israel (a Tolupan translator). If the Bible stories open the hearts of the Tolupan people like they have with the Brazilian Indians at CETRAM, God’s name will be glorified and His message will be spread amazingly. We covet your prayers.

Elated to Evangelize,
Alan & Heidi

The following is a letter from Awan Chatarpal reporting from the field in Boa Vista, Brazil regarding the terrible affairs in the state of Roraima, which are directly affecting the students at CETRAM (the training center). Above all our brothers and sisters in Christ are in desperate need of your prayers.

Hello Alan,
We are still under deep waters – the Rio Bronco river has risen over 30 feet above the normal level creating havoc, confusion, and extensive flooding. It is invading large areas of the city and is causing a mass exodus of more than 500 families. More than 600 square miles of agricultural crops have been destroyed, all our main highways are underwater, and many bridges are washed away. The city is without fuel, propane cooking gas, and there is a shortage of food and medication which is causing prices to skyrocket. All of our churches are affected, both in the city and in the native Indian areas. Many of our students may not be able to go home if the present condition continues. Presently at the school we are short on basic food supplies, but we are very content to live off of rice and beans. If the students will not be able to return to their villages on their July break, we will be needing extra funds to purchase food supplies during this time. If the Lord would lay it on your heart to help us with this, it would be much appreciated.

Thank you for your prayers,
Awan Chatarpal
MESEF – CETRAM
Boa Vista, Roraima, Brazil

Check out the video from the mission trip to Honduras!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Don’t forget the photos! Browse through the images in our gallery to see just how truly beautiful it was.

[Show as Slideshow]

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Boa Vista Training Center

191 Photos

CETRAM Student Training 2011

30 Photos

Summary of 2011 February & March trip

Santa Elaina Venezuela:
Pastor Vincent Guilarte was accompanied by forty-two leaders from San Felix for three days of training in Storying by Dr. Steve Crowther of Grace College of Divinity, Pastor Jimmy Currence of Columbia, S.C., and Alan Winter of Frontline Missions.

We primarily taught them three oral stories: the demoniac story, the creation story and the disobedience story. The response was excellent as the leaders saw the potential of using the stories to plant new works, especially in the delta region amongst the Warao Indians and the Pamon Indians of the Grand Savannah in Southeastern Venezuela. The pastor at the church where we met told the demoniac story to five people the first night after the training. She returned the next morning exuberant from the responses of the people she told. She is anxious to learn more and to incorporate Storying into her church.

I am eager to return to Puerto Ordaz for two weeks of training October 2011; please pray for all the details to be arranged.

I just received a phone call informing that the Missionary from Chile, that was at the training that works with the Pamon Indians. Was killed in a car accident. The Pamon Indians are now looking directly to Vincent and subsequently to Dr. Crowther and Frontline to increase our involvement.

Please be in prayer for his family and the Pamon Indians for this great loss.

Boa Vista, Brazil at CETRAM:

On the 28th we had the ceremonial dedication and opening of the school. We were honored to have Miss Shury, Parliamentarian Secretary of Guyana; Senor Rio Branco do Brazil, former Secretary of State for the State of Roraima; Senor Batista, a local business leader; Senor Ranoldo, another businessman; Pastor Douglas, from the Boa Vista Baptist Church and President of Elim Foundation; and six people from Frontline Missions.

We were all excited about this monumental event that will affect the history of Roraima, Amazonas and Western Guyana. The school opened with twenty-six Indian students from the Macushi, Ingarico, Wapashana, and Wai Wai tribes. (and thirty-four students from the city that are both Brazilian and of Indian descent.) For most of the Indian students from the villages, this is the first time they have been alone away from their villages. All of us had a very big job to help them learn to become a family to each other. Since I was going to be their instructor for the first two weeks I had to give this a lot of prayer for the Lord’s guidance as I taught and loved on each one of them. Their ages ranged from fifteen to twenty-eight, there were seven girls and nineteen guys. Two spoke Ingarico as their primary language, two spoke Wai Wai, eight spoke English and fourteen spoke Portuguese. The students represented four cultural backgrounds and were taught by me, an American, and Natasha, a Venezuelan Guyanese – from vastly different cultures. We knew that if the Lord didn’t show up we would all be in trouble!

On the first day of classes we taught the story of the demoniac. Only two of the students had accepted the Lord before coming to the school. Our goal wasn’t to hurry up and get them to accept Christ but to teach in such a way that they would see their separation from God and see that Jesus paid the price to restore that relationship. The insights the students had far surpassed my expectations. They soon asked:

1. How did this man become possessed?
2. Can demons possess me?
3. How can I keep that from happening?
4. If Jesus had that authority, does He still have it today?
5. Where did Jesus get that authority?
6. How could the demons know who Jesus was?

I told the students that we would discover the answers in other stories so they quickly asked to learn those other stories.

We soon decided to draw a story line on the white board, which turned out to be a huge success. I found we had some very gifted artists and other students that could simplify the stories so that they were able to tell the artists what to draw. Since this appeared to be a great tool for them to remember the stories, I purchased drawing books for each of the students.

On the second day, as we learned how man was created in God’s image, the students realized that if man was created in His image, then we were all created in His image, even the demoniac from the previous day. They saw that one culture is not better than another – all are equal! When this revelation came out there was a great hush and the presence of the Lord filled the room. Almost every eye in the room filled with tears, including my own. If one has never been around oppressed, degraded, and abused people, then he cannot fully comprehend the magnitude of this revelation. I knew at that point that we were all on the way of becoming family and that the Lord was more than answering all of our prayers.

On the following day, we learned about creation and the fall of spirit beings, angels, and demons. We had to explore this story before Adam and Eve’s disobedience in order to answer questions of Satan’s origin and whether deception, which first appeared after creation, could also be good, as God described all He had created. Some of the questions from the demoniac story were answered and the rest of the answers would come on the next day.

On the fourth day, we discussed the story of Adam and Eve’s disobedience and separation from God. The students said they did not want to be separated from God and did not want to go to that place prepared for those who are separated from Him that they learned about on the first day. When I asked what they thought about the serpent biting the heel of the seed of the woman and what him crushing the serpent’s head represented, they wondered if that was speaking of Jesus. I asked what they thought. The answer after another hush came forth as a question, “Yes?” They felt it was so but wanted me to confirm that they were correct. I had told them many times that I was not their teacher but that the Holy Spirit was their teacher; it was confirmed on that day as the Holy Spirit revealed this truth to the students. At that moment the students wanted to know how they could be restored to a right relationship with God and no longer be separated, so we spent the rest of the morning putting our trust in the one that would crush Satan’s head—in Jesus, Son of the Most High from the demoniac story. What a wonderful time as I watched the transformation of the countenance of the students that were separated from God. These Christ followers were brought into a right relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Following the conclusion of that class several of the students joyously shared with Jemima, CETRAM’s director, and with other faculty members of the commitment they made on that fabulous day, March 4, 2011.

On Saturday five of the Indian students conducted the vast majority of the day’s training of twenty-five students from the city. What a tremendous impact this had on the Indian students as their confidence in sharing the Stories grew. In four days they had gone from being a student to becoming the teacher.

During the next day’s Sunday school lesson for children, an additional four of the Indian students taught the story of Creation. William, a ten year old who was the only child to arrive on time, learned the story after hearing it once and retold it to the other children when they arrived forty-five minutes late. We were all quite impressed by his ability to learn the story and by the ability of the other children to quickly master it. It was very encouraging to discuss what they learned from the story. But the most exciting thing for me was to watch how the Holy Spirit works through everyone, even children, to reveal Himself to anyone who is willing to learn.

The following week we returned to seven hours of classes daily. We turned our attention next to the stories of Abraham, Isaiah, and David; we studied David as King, David and Bathsheba, and David’s encounter with Nathan, the prophet. On Wednesday we divided into three groups: the Portuguese-speaking girls learned King David, the English students mastered David and Bathsheba, and the Portuguese guys studied Nathan, the prophet. The next week each group was going to teach the other two the story they learned.

On Thursday morning instead of learning additional stories, we worshiped in each of the six languages represented—all led by the Indian students. Most of the group participated in the Ingarico dance, which was quite a highlight for everyone. What a joy as some students sang in their native tongue and then in English or Portuguese. As I looked out over this gathering worshiping in multiple languages simultaneously and celebrating how the diversity of each other’s culture deepened and enriched our worship, it was hard to recall that we had been strangers a mere two weeks earlier. What a taste of heaven and what a joyous honor to share in the reconciliation of men with God.

In the afternoon we held a mini storying festival, where eight students each told one story one right after another. One student opened up the session with a welcome and prayer and another closed by leading a discussion of the stories.

Our formal time together ended with the students presenting me with a cake and sharing how much I meant to them. The icing on the cake was when a few of them sang songs, one of them composed on the spot, about how I had touched their lives. I was in tears! How could I leave them? I am so eager to see what additional truths their true teacher, the Holy Spirit, will show them and to celebrate the continued incorporation of these truths in their lives. I will return in May but that seems so very far away.

We are not rich, but through the generosity of many of you our resources appeared like we were, as I was able to call daily and also return seven times over the year to care, encourage and nurture Meshell throughout her bout with cancer. The Lord truly must have heard Meshell’s cries for help all the way in Heaven and faithfully answered her call to send help…help all the way from two continents away to hold her through her dying moments. How could we have known it was her time? How could we have scheduled that visit? Only Jesus could have done it. Only He could have arranged for me to care for Meshell the last four days of her life, ushering her into the arms of Jesus, and presiding over the entire dying process with the family and loved ones. How gracious and kind the Lord was to Meshell….and to me.

After the surprise of Meshell’s death, then a cultural and religious shock hit me quite hard: to watch people who don’t have hope after death. The wailing and the crying, the revolting and the travailing…these are the responses to an uncertain finale. Thankfully Meshell had peace in Jesus Christ and, thank God, He allowed me, as one of His representatives, to gently and tenderly hand her over to Him. It was a peaceful passing, as much as possible in the midst of the Hindu culture with some of their high emotions. We all loved Meshell and will terribly miss her; this is true. Keeping our love for Meshell in our hearts, we know we are still called to Mahaica to further explain and to expound on the hope and assurance that we can have in Jesus.

The follow-up is critical. The funeral had 800-1000 witnessing this Muslim/Hindu woman who had turned to Christ her last year of life. Following the funeral, as Meshell had desired, they had a “soul” processional that included a truck blasting Christian music leading the crowd for the 2 ½ miles to the burial site. There were over 200 people that walked the entire way. Tinnie, Meshell’s husband was up at the front with the Christians singing and rejoicing, while her family gave me the honor of walking directly behind her casket.

How blessed are we who have hope in the Lord…and how we pray that all those who mourn her death can share that same peace that Meshell now knows fully.

Mourning Her Absence,
Alan & Heidi