April Newsletter

April Personal Update

March Personal Update

March Newsletter

Brandon's Last Day

Yesterday Brandon, one of our interns, completed his 9 month internship and returned home to Oklahoma. He plans to return in a year or so, but we are still sad to see him go. We ate at the Vernon Diner on the way to the airport and decided to commemorate the event with a few photos. I love how they turned out. What do you think?

February Update

Feb Newsletter

Current Projects

Internship Program

I've recently started focusing on recruiting high school and college grads for our internship program. I just finished updating our brochure. Feel free to let anyone between 18 and 30 who may be interested know about it. God Bless.

December Newsletter

Pray for those in China!

We dropped off Kris, Jon, Brandon, and Jessica at the JFK airport last Friday for their flight to Beijing. They'll be in China for two weeks and get back Dec 15. I've posted the poster I made for our church missions board so that you can have some information on what they'll be doing there. They have already arrived safely and look forward to some new adventures with a remote people group that has had very limited access to the gospel. Please keep them in your prayers during this time.

November Newsletter

Our China Trip

International Day of Prayer

November 11, 2007 is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Here's a poster I just finished working on. (for some reason the whole title didn't show up)

October Newsletter

Teachers needed in Mexico

My biggest project continues to be recruiting teachers for our new School of Missions Mobilization in Matachi, Chihuahua. And I would like to extend my invitation to any readers who have decided to follow my adventures at this site and would like to join me.
Our school offers an extensive curriculum in a two-year program for each student. It is designed to equip Latin American Christians for missions work in currently unreached areas, where there are people have never been given the opportunity to hear of the love and power of Jesus. Classes have less than ten students and courses vary from basic Auto Mechanics and First Aid to Apologetics and Hermeneutics. Translators are available for those who don't speak Spanish. We are flexible with your schedules as much as possible so that you may donate as little as a week to this project and room and board is provided for the duration of your stay. This is an amazing opportunity that may not be equaled in your lifetime, simply because this is the first missions school opened in the province of Chihuahua, and one of very few in Mexico. I strongly encourage you to pray about your place in this discipleship program. For more details on the school, you can check it out at www.matachi.org
Thanks so much.

Kids' Korner

One weekend a month, Jessica, Brandon, and I lead the children's program, Kids' Korner, during our church's worship services for Missions Week. Our outline tends to include a story about a specific people group or country, snacks that those people would eat, a Bible lesson, and a few games. We try to center the entire time around a missions-related theme. For example, September's theme was "Love your neighbor as yourself". We asked for volunteers to act out The Good Samaritan, which went over really well. We also talked about the San people in the Kalahari desert, mostly in Botswana. The San are known for their diligence in caring for strangers who find themselves stranded in the desert with little knowledge of survival. One of the San's artistic outlets has been found in rocks that they have painted, so we let the kids get creative with their own rocks and acrylic paint. They had a lot of fun with it.



This month we're highlighting Psalm 23 and the farming people of Kyrgyzstan (Central Asia) to illustrate Jesus as the Good Shepherd. One of their simpler dishes that we plan on sharing is Chak-Chak. It's essentially fried dough with honey.
Our lessons in Kids' Korner have been great opportunities for us to learn more about different people groups. I think we as missions interns and leaders have received as much blessing and learning from it as the kids.

Myanmar

A recent project has been to inform our church about the ongoing suffering and persecution of the minorities in Myanmar (Burma) and to encourage prayer for this nation. Here is a copy of the poster Susie and I created for this purpose.

Newswire from Washington

This newswire was sent from Washington. I posted it because it is a direct answer to our prayers.

Prayer Positively Impacts and Helps Reduce the Death Toll and Violence in the Iraqi War

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 /Christian Newswire/ -- Recent numbers shows US casualties at their lowest level in over a year and civilian deaths drop nearly 50% after Christian leaders held prayer vigils in Baghdad this summer.

In July of 2007, the Christian Defense Coalition led a historic prayer delegation to Baghdad to meet with Prime Minister al-Maliki and pray for the war in Iraq. (See enclosed photos.)

This marked the first time an Islamic nation invited a Christian prayer delegation to come and openly pray for their country.

The delegation told Prime Minister al-Maliki and Cabinet members that they believed prayer could reduce violence and help bring peace and stability to Iraq.

The Christian Defense Coalition is encouraging Christians across the nation to continue to pray for Iraq and is asking President Bush and Congress to call A National Day of Prayer for the war. ( See proposed proclamation.)

Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, comments, "These dramatic new numbers, showing the reduction of violence in Iraq, clearly demonstrate that prayer can impact events on the world stage. Our delegation made it clear when we met Prime Minister al-Maliki that we believed God could intervene and help bring peace, stability and security to Iraq. We are starting to see an answer to that prayer.

"Our hope is that Christians all across America would continue to fervently pray for the situation in Iraq and that President Bush and Congress would call for a National Day of Prayer concerning the war."

For more information or interviews call:
Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney at 202.547.1735 Cell: 540.538.4741

Christian Newswire


To: National Desk

Contact: Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Christian Defense Coalition, 202-547-1735, 540-538-4741 cell

September Newsletter

September 20, 2007
Dear Friends and Family
With cooler winds blowing through our windows, it’s hard to believe that summer is already giving way to autumn here in Bristol, Connecticut. My first month with Hillside Missions has been very eventful with the arrival of two new interns, Jessica and Jon, and the departure of a previous intern, Brittney, to China for her three-month externship. It has been so encouraging to be around and feed off of others who have the same passion for missions. Already I have witnessed a change within me in response to this opportunity to work in such a loving and dedicated community. God is so good!
Classroom work this month has largely been centered on understanding Muslim culture and current events in Iraq. Our focal point has remained that we are commanded in the scriptures to love our neighbor, which includes the people in Iraq. Our team supported Director of the Christian Defense Coalition Patrick Mahoney in Washington DC about a week ago. We stood with him in praying for and supporting our brothers and sisters in Iraq who are currently undergoing much persecution, but to that point had very little voice in the United States. As a direct answer to prayer, the newspapers this week have been filled with articles quoting different government officials concerning the topic of religious minorities in Iraq. It has been very rewarding to see this important element of the war brought to press and given proper consideration.
In the way of prayer requests, I am currently looking for part-time work in order to cover living expenses. I am also beginning to raise $2000 for a short-term trip to China, which has been scheduled for the first two weeks of December. And finally, one of my main projects is to continue recruiting teachers and interpreters for our missions school in Matachi, Chihuahua, Mexico. Please pray that we might be connected with willing teachers and interpreters for our students. Thank you so much for your prayer and support for me.

Love and Blessings,

Kati Willems
Hillside Missions Staff Member