House Of Friends Newsletter 03.09

Volume 9 Issue 3

101 N. Zeysing · P O Box 228 · Alma, MO 64001 · 660.674.2222 · www.houseoffriends.org

God's heart for Ethiopia and its impact on us as a house of friends took John Gross, Gizaw Derseh, and Kenton Higgins to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to meet with members of the Cedar Rapids House Church Network. Long in the making, this trip was designed to build vision for House of Friends’ initial outreach to Ethiopia this summer. Several Members of the house church in Cedar Rapids will be joining John Gross and Gizaw Derseh to explore a partnership to build orphanages in Ethiopia. This short trip focused our hearts on the mission ahead of us. The whole house church gathered Saturday, February 28th to hear from Gizaw Derseh, an Ethiopian pastor who has moved to America. Gizaw serves as the Executive Director of Ethiopian Evangelical Christian Association, a network of Ethiopian churches from across the United States. Travis had asked Gizaw to speak on what the church in America could learn from the church in Ethiopia. Gizaw shared about the revival that had broken out in Ethiopia during (continued page 2)

Native American Outreach directors, Dale and Jeanie Ritter, are gearing up for a mission trip to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to take furniture, appliances, household goods, and spring clothing for the Lakota Sioux. Donations will be received for this trip up to April 15. The trip will be made sometime after the 15th.

Alma Jones, House of Friends missionary, sitting on Abba House porch with the children during one of her weekly visits.

Alma Jones, missionary, has been a great blessing to Abba House. She has been taking the children to doctor appointments and checking on their needs, making sure they are well cared for. She reports they are doing well and that the home has need of the following items: Blankets Sheets

Mattress pads for bed wetters School uniforms

Travis Kolder, House of Friends board member, grew up in a small town in North Eastern Iowa. He was saved at the age of 15 from a life of New Age involvement and witchcraft when his mother was dramatically healed from a form of life threatening cancer. Since that time he has given his life to sharing the Gospel, planting house churches, and advancing the Kingdom through strategic prayer and intercession. Travis' first trip to Africa was with House of Friends founder and board chairman, John Gross, in 2007. That trip and subsequent experiences opened his eyes to both the needs of the nations and the great opportunity to learn from the believers there. “The church in the West has a tremendous opportunity to not only serve the church all over the world, but we have a chance to see what God is doing in these lands that He is not doing in America. I love to serve, but I go frequently to have my own Western ideas stretched and changed,” said Travis. Travis and his wife Christy live in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where they serve as church planters with the Cedar Rapids House Church Network. Their vision is to raise up Christ-centered spiritual families that prepare the Earth for the end of the age. They meet with other young families throughout the week for encouragement, prayer, and mission-focused planning for the city of Cedar Rapids. Travis is a Consumer Loan Officer at Collins Community Credit Union in Cedar Rapids. He has worked there for almost 5 years. He and his wife Christy have two children, Ariel and Joel.

P O Box 228 · Alma, MO 64001

ETHIOPIA (continued) Communist occupation of that country. He said during that time there were no longer Lutherans or Baptists, but that all the denominations faded and that prayer and fasting became the norm for the believers of Ethiopia. Gizaw was careful to state that persecution is not necessary for revival to come, but that believers need to make hard choices when they have freedoms such as we do because the freedoms can distract us from being disciples of the Lord. Gizaw spoke at length about the need to give ourselves to prayer and gather together as believers frequently to pray and fast. According to Gizaw, this was a powerful component of the revival in Ethiopia. It became clear from Gizaw's testimony that we have a lot of room to grow in becoming disciples of Christ. John Gross shared with those going on the summer trip to Ethiopia—Sean, Kevin, and Travis of the house church—that the focus of the trip is a chance to build serious relationships with the people of Ethiopia in order to help bring the gifts of Ethiopia back to Jerusalem (Isaiah 18:7). Gizaw shared first hand information about the region. Time was then spent in team building and vision casting for the trip occurring this summer. The team from Kansas City left the house church stirred and encouraged both to be a part of what God is doing around the world and to fulfill their calling where they are planted.

Stacie Shaw (left) and her friend, AmyRose (middle), at a young age, have been called to Uganda to bring hope to the orphans. They say, “We enjoy getting ourselves dirty by playing with orphans and teaching them about the hope of Christ.” Their trip to Uganda is to begin working with the Uganda government to establish an orphanage with the long-term goal to start adoptions into the U.S. They are “friends” of House of Friends and are spending time with Abba House children and helping out. Our partnership with them will expand as they take on handling adoptions from Uganda. Stacie and AmyRose took on a two -day project that turned into two weeks. The project was painting of the inside of Abba House. It took sanding walls by hand, putting on undercoat and then the color. With kids in and out and newspaper to protect the floor being moved around, it became necessary to also paint the floor. Through their labor of love, once drab limestone became a joyful atmosphere that brought on the smiles. These young women also helped measure everyone’s feet for new school shoes which are being purchased with donations from Kansas City Christian Fellowship and sponsors.