Monday, January 21, 2013


                                     

                            
                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

 I was born in December 1949 and was raised on my family’s 3rd generation farm in central New York.
 I attended Hobart College where I graduated with a BA degree in mathematics in 1971. Maria and I married in 1972 and lived in Cleveland, Ohio for two years, where I worked for the County Welfare Department as a financial case worker and social worker.

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. 

 To quote Mike, “God is so good to give us the desires of our hearts.  Being able to do hospice care in Nicaragua has been a desire for Maria for a long time.  Now He is opening the door for us to do that.”  We welcome Mike and Maria and ask that you pray as they bring hope and comfort to the dying grieving in Nicaragua. 

 
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