Thank you from Mulungwishi

Dear Friends,

We express our thanks to you for your faithfulness. Thank you for the continued support for the Seminary and Women’s School at Mulungwishi and for supporting our return tips to Africa. How many times, through the years, we have said how thankful and blessed we are to have had you with us in this partnership with Congo and the Seminary! The Lord is so faithful and we have been blessed together!

Medical delay in return to Mulungwishi

We had been planning to already be in Mulungwishi in April. However, we have been through some medical problems and are still on the U.S. side of the ocean waiting for medical clearance to return.

Your giving changes lives

Always your gifts translate into lives of pastors and their ministries. We would like to share about Pastor Makobo Young and his wife Beatrice.

They graduated a number of years ago. On their first assignment, they arrived with their 5 children in a large village. To their surprise, their church was a parcel of land and they were to build a church and parsonage! As people gathered to see who they were and greet them, a Catholic business man offered a place to live rent free. A real gift of love. There had been a small church group meeting in the open air. The couple began visiting through the village, connecting with the parish and ministering to people’s needs.

Together, the small congregation made plans and started to make bricks and save for cement and roofing. It made quite an impression on the people as Beatrice helped with carrying mud and bricks. She also started teaching the women. After 5 years, because of their courage and effort, there was a church building and parsonage and a growing church of over 200.

The Bishop then made Makobo a District Superintendent. Again, he was influential in growing the churches in his district. In 2014, Makobo and Beatrice were sent back to Mulungwishi for the Masters studies. He was the top student in the class and graduated in 2016.

His new designation is to help in administration and teach at the Methodist Seminary at Kabongo in the North Katanga Episcopal Area. They have been a blessing within our Seminary community and go out again faithful to their calling.

Grads are a blessing even in U.S.

It has also been a blessing to see what our graduates do when they come to the USA. Nelson Kalombo, one of our graduates is now pastoring and working on his PhD on Long Island. In Congo, Methodist Churches hold revivals over the Christmas and Easter seasons. It has been an effective tool for bringing people to Christ and church growth.

Over Christmas, Nelson phoned us to say that he decided to have an Advent Revival for evangelizing, the way he had learned at Mulungwishi. The result was 60 new people joined his church this Christmas. Praise the Lord, He is faithful!

Dr. Kasap elected Bishop

This past March, our University President, Dr. Kasap Owan Tshibang, was elected Bishop for the South Congo and Zambia Episcopal Area. He is replacing retiring Bishop Katembo Kainda, who served faithfully for 36 years. Both Bishops are Mulungwishi graduates. Join us in praying for continued blessing on Bishop Katembo and Mama Kashala as they transition into retirement and pray for strength, patience and wisdom for Bishop Kasap as he begins his new ministry. 

We encourage Women’s School support

We encourage your continued support of the Seminary and Women’s School through the Advance Special (Mulungwishi Theological Seminary #05773A & Mulungwishi Women’s School #08112A). These advance Specials continue the programs under the Congolese leadership. Your gifts and prayers not only count for the present education for these pastors but continues on with their ministries. 

Friends of KMU group

At the same time, we would like to introduce a group of friends from Atlanta called “Friends of KMU” (Katanga Methodist University at Mulungwishi). They are joining us to help to continue raising funds for the Seminary and Women’s School as well as the University. We appreciate them so much for coming along side, now that we are retired. We want you to be aware that they will be contacting you.

We are thankful

It is a privilege to share with you what our Lord Jesus Christ is doing in the life of our partnership at Mulungwishi. We are thankful for how the graduates of Mulungwishi have remained faithful to their calling and how the Lord is using them wherever they are!

We appreciate your donations – they help with flight tickets, visas, and extra medical insurance for our UMVIM trip. You can donate online by using an American Express, MasterCard, VISA, or Discover credit card or you can mail a check.

IMPORTANT: If you donate online using the above link, make sure to choose "Persons, David and Lorene" from the drop-down pick list. That web page also lets you associated a church or conference with your donation.

Please make sure to make out checks to “Advance GCFA” and include “Advance #982465 for David & Lori Persons” in the check memo area. Mail checks to:

Advance GCFA
P. O. Box 9068
New York, NY 10087-9068.

In His love, David & Lorene (Lori) Persons