Located in Makeni, Sierra Leone, (known formerly as Harbaugh Memorial United Methodist Church) Maboleh UMC has partnered with our congregation as a part of the Sierra Leone Initiative between the Central Pennsylvania Conference and the Sierra Leone Annual Conference. Served by Rev. Williams, Meboleh UMC is in the process of recovering from a long Civil War that saw all of their property and materials except for the church building destroyed.
CrossPoint is currently working to send a mission team in 2011 to help continue building relations with the congregation. Providing both financial and material aid, and working in concert with our Conference and Arms Around Africa, we see our partnership continuing to develop with the construction of new parsonage for the late Rev. Serry’s family (the previous pastor) and we’re in the planning phase of a new church building.
Hear from Pastor Dave on Sierra Leonehttp://www.vimeo.com/12956756.
So how can you help? We need prayer, we need volunteers, and we need leaders. The task before us is BIG, but God is BIGGER! If you would like to get in on the ground floor to help, contact Tom Wanich at cpl6pa@verizon.net.
Update…
From: Abu Conteh
Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2010 12:38 PM
To: Dave Biser
Subject: Letter and Pictures!!
Hello Dave,
Greetings and I hope this letter and pictures meet you safe. Here are men working on the building as you can see,they are now on the roofing stage. The CROP children are doing fine too. Bye for now and stay blessed in the Lord.
Abu
In the beginning…A five member team returned to Sierra Leone on January 13, 2008. The team was comprised of three members of the Sierra Leone Initiative Committee from Central Pennsylvania Conference: Rev. Jeff Fisher, Steve Herman, and Ken Mengel. The team also included Kimberly Davis (Zion UMC, York) and Dan Snyder (Bethany, Red Lion), who documented the trip on film.
The trip was a success in terms of video interviews of the pastors of churches in Sierra Leone getting support and their personal words telling how this initiative is providing for a better life. We all felt the distribution of this video at the Central Pennsylvania Annual Conference would encourage more churches to join in the initiative.
The churches we were able to visit included Brown Memorial, Wellington, Locotown, Bishop Bachman Memorial, Jawlee Lewis Memorial, Price Memorial Mabolah, Rogers Memorial, Leader Memorial, Trinity, and Fitzjohn Memorial.
The team also spent time at Kissy Clinic, visiting the eye clinic and maternity clinic. There were many women present. There was also a medical team from the Indiana Annual Conference which included doctors, nurses, and technicians.
Albert Academy, founded by Rev. Albert from Grantville, Pa, was also visited on January 15. The classrooms were filled with students. The fewest number of students we saw in one room was thirty, and one of the classrooms had at least one hundred students. The teachers and headmasters carried switches, which definitely kept discipline in order.
Conditions in Sierra Leone are improving. Some of the major streets in Freetown were cleaner and debris was being removed. It was encouraging to see street lights working through the night. Electricity was available every other night.
We visited several Arms Around Africa sites that attested to the reality of success when finances and proper coordination and supervision are employed.
