COVID-19 Intervention

Oct 25, 2020

(l to r) Rev. Stanish Stanley & Chantal

Oct 25, 2020

Editor’s Note: Previous issues of E-News have featured accounts of New American families who have been the beneficiaries of assistance provided by those who support the ministries of CFNA. Here is another.

Fifty-year-old Chantal arrived in St. Louis on March 4, 2020, having lived for 22 years in refugee camps in Rwanda, East Africa. She was accompanied by her husband and four children ages 6 to 17. Her emotions, still tough to manage, vary between, “anxieties from managing disruption” to “gratefully accepting tangible expressions of support in the midst of many challenges.”

Born and raised in the Congo (DRC), Chantal fled the country with her family when war broke out. They made it to a refugee camp where there was safety but still, there were many difficulties. “Life was hard, and I don’t even want to think about it. We lived on the financial stipend given by the Government there, which was seldom enough. We mostly ate one meal a day and sometimes we slept on empty stomachs.”

Compared to what Chantal remembers of her life in Africa, America is radically different. “Here it is so different. The International Institute brought us to St. Louis and now we have an apartment, my children can study on a computer, and my husband has found work.” Importantly, the big difference for Chantal is the people whom she meets. “There are so many nice people here. They help me when I am in need including many people at the Institute, as well as many American church people. I met CFNA people when they brought us meals for our children four days a week from April through July. They became friends with my children and their help was such a big encouragement to us during that virus time when we did not know what to do and could not go anywhere.”

Chantal, who takes medication for a bone disorder, was recently the beneficiary of financial assistance from CFNA. “Your help means a lot to me. Only my husband is working, and we have to take care of our four children. In addition to my medical condition, there are always bills for rent, utilities, and more. By helping my family with these, we are better able to purchase the food, clothing, and other essentials we need”, she confides.

Chantal is grateful for the financial support, as well as for the After School Tutoring assistance her children receive at the Peace Center. She is even more grateful for the encouragement the family has received through their relationship with CFNA. All this has been made possible because of your commitment to serve those who need His love and support in trying times. CFNA remains grateful to each and every one of you.

By Dr. Stanish Stanley with Charles Nshimiyimana

An Urban Congregation in Transition – Part 2

Oct 25, 2020

Fellowship Time

Editor’s Note: An article in August focused on how St. Johns Lutheran Church, a 155-year-old inner-city congregation that once worshiped over 500 people each Sunday, made the transition from all-Anglo to a half Anglo, half New American (primarily Nepali) congregation. Attendance now averages 60 people per Sunday and the decline of membership seems to have stopped. Here, Rev. Michael Tanney highlights some of the Lessons Learned from this transition.  

One, the process is slow and cannot be hurried. Some of our Anglo members are from families who have been members for generations. For those who trace their membership in St. Johns almost to the very beginning, a change of this magnitude feels like a takeover. For some, resistance or departure may seem like the best option. To replace misgivings like these with trust takes time, prayer, incremental interaction, and a lot of patience.   

Two, this kind of change cannot be accomplished alone! Organizations such as Christian Friends of New Americans, Concordia Seminary, Open Sky Charter School, the Lutheran Foundation, and more have all helped make this work. We have partnered with all of them and have been blessed by these partnerships.

Three, the Lord has had His hand in this in ways that we didn’t always see or understand. For example, the conversion of St. Johns Lutheran School to an Open Sky Charter School seemed like a reasonable next step in keeping these classrooms filled with students. Little did we suspect it would serve as a means whereby 30 Nepali people would eventually become members of this congregation.

While the continuing COVID epidemic has imposed limitations on ministry with its social distancing guidelines, it has also presented new ministry opportunities. Many New American families were adversely affected by the virus as work hours were reduced or members were laid off. With the assistance of CFNA, St. Johns was able to provide financial assistance to more than 20 of these families, some of them have had no previous connection with this congregation.

Home Bible Study

For all of us, this has been a discovery process with a steep learning curve. Slowly, we have come to accept change as a reality, along with a determination to show love and respect for those He brings to our doors. To be sure, we request your prayers as we continue this journey.

By Rev. Michael Tanney
St. Johns Lutheran Church

God’s Timing

Mukindi Family

Sep 27, 2020

Baptism of Family Member

Sunday, August 30 at 9:30 am was God’s perfect timing for the Mukindi family to be baptized. This family’s journey has been from the Democratic Republic of Congo, to refugee camps, and now finally to St. Louis. Through it all, the Lord has blessed them with resilience, a longing to know Him, and finally a desire to be baptized.

The Mukindis—Eric and Flora with their children Enock, Esther, and Elyse—became connected to Christian Friends of New Americans (CFNA) a few years ago. Through their involvement at CFNA they met a number of members from Ascension Lutheran Church who volunteer at the Peace Center. These church members extended an invitation to the Mukindis to worship. The family accepted, and worshiped at Ascension for only a few months.

After over a year-long absence from worship at Ascension, the Lord drew the Mukindis back to the congregation. Soon, they were worshiping every week and receiving catechism instructions on Sunday mornings. It wasn’t long before their children (in grades 4, 6, and 8) began attending Word of Life Lutheran School. Through the study of God’s Word, strengthened relationships, and the work of the Holy Spirit, the Mukindis asked to be baptized. The time was right!

While Eric was already baptized, the other four members of the Mukindi family were baptized by immersion on Ascension’s church lawn. We give thanks to God for fulfilling the Great Commission—all in His perfect timing!

By Pastor Matt Clark
Ascension Lutheran Church

Supporting Students With Supplies

Sep 27, 2020

School Supplies

School is back in session! What better way to prepare than some back-to-school shopping? On Saturday, August 29, CFNA hosted a school supply giveaway for the New Americans in our community who are headed back to school. From crayons and colored pencils to notebooks and binders, CFNA’s Peace Center was stocked with enough supplies for fifty students, ranging from kindergarteners to high schoolers.

Among the many children who were blessed with school supplies were Shresti and Sanjaya, two siblings from Nepal. Shresti, who will be in third grade this year, was quite excited for the giveaway.

Sanjaya & Shresti

“I now have books, pencils, colors, and all I need for my studies,” said Shresti upon receiving her supplies.

Like many kids, they will be attending school virtually this fall. With adapting to a completely different learning environment, having access to basic school supplies is perhaps more important than ever. For students such as Shresti and Sanjaya, this giveaway was especially impactful.

After the initial, two-hour-long giveaway, Nabin Samal, Nepali Evangelist at St. John’s Lutheran Church, stopped by to pick up supplies for twenty-seven additional students.

“Thank you, CFNA, for supporting our Nepali children with your school supplies blessing. We thank God for St. Johns and CFNA,” said Evangelist Samal as he loaded up stacks of supplies.

Here at CFNA, we thank God for the people who support our ministry, enabling us to host events such as these. Children are indeed the future, and supporting and walking alongside them in their studies as fellow children of God is one thing that we hope to continue.

By Stephanie Kohm
Abiding Savior Lutheran Church

Change and Continuity

Daniel and Yusseff

The CFNA Scholarship Program 

The 2020–21 school year is off to a different start for the 21 New American students attending Lutheran schools with help from CFNA scholarships. Fortunately, their schools are open, providing appropriate physical distancing, and offering virtual learning to those concerned about spreading COVID-19 to family members. We feel blessed, after the disruptions last spring, that this program can continue to serve New American students for the fourteenth year with the support of the Lutheran Foundation, schools, congregations, and generous individual donors.

The Executive Board made some changes to the scholarship program this year, which should strengthen the program for the future. The program was expanded to serve preschool and kindergarten children, since reaching children early with academic and social skills, plus the love of Jesus, is particularly critical when the language spoken at home is not English. In addition, the students supported by scholarships must now have the endorsement of a Lutheran pastor, who will help build the “bridge” between New Americans and Lutheran congregations, which is the goal of all CFNA programs. Finally, to increase the involvement of scholarship students and their families with CFNA programming, all scholarship students must now have an endorsement from Stanish Stanley, Executive Director.

Thelma

Because of the high number of graduations last year (3 elementary and 4 high school grads), we were able to add a number of new students to the program, including two Nepalese preschool students at Word of Life, a first-grader at Salem, Black Jack, and a seventh-grader at CCLS. Two New American graduates from the EAGLE College Prep charter school and Compass Christian after-school program at St. John’s Morgan Ford are now enrolled at Lutheran South.

As in the past, all of the schools where these students are enrolled are also providing substantial financial aid to make attendance possible. In addition, a number of faithful supporters of the scholarship program have already made contributions toward matching the goal of $27,500 to obtain the Lutheran Foundation matching grant for 2020–2021. In addition, Concordia Kirkwood continues to provide generous support, not only for students attending CCLS but also for other students needing support. Please consider supporting a scholarship for one of these students by making a contribution to CFNA; every dollar helps us meet our goal.

By Judith Meyer
Facilitator, Scholarship Assistance Ministry

Re-Opening

Editor’s Note: In addition to cleaning, efforts are also underway to re-establish pre-COVID classes at the Peace Center. A few Driver’s Ed classes have been made available and ESL classes are now offered on Tuesday evenings. Here Carol Buckman tells us about re-starting the popular sewing class as well.

Missouri continues to take steps forward in the opening-up process as is CFNA. These pictures are from our June 6, Sewing Class. Summer Intern, Mariah Spaid, Dr. Nhung Tran, and I assisted Evangelist Nabin Samal at St. Johns Morganford with his class of 3 students. The fourth student, a gentleman was not able to attend. This was an intentionally small class as we wanted to exercise every caution possible.

We started in the chapel with prayer and a brief devotion in Nepali, registration including temperature taking, pattern explanation, and the cutting of the fabric. In order to keep everyone’s supplies separate, we carefully numbered the items (clipboards, paperwork, pens, sanitizers, and sewing kits) and everyone brought their own mask. Rev. Bill Matzat of Concordia Lutheran Church, Kirkwood built 3-sided plexiglass partitions for the sewing machine areas. You may have seen some of the magnificent stained glass and/or wood artwork that he has done for the seminary, countless churches, and many other sites.

We made aprons on June 6 and blouses on June 20. Hot pads and jackets are scheduled for July 18 and July 25. Tell me if you would like to help in any way. Child care, general cleaning/organizing, searching for easy patterns, adding info to our database, calling sewing companies to gather information about jobs, teaching classes in person or via Zoom, assisting the teacher, finding a buyer for home-made masks (Nabin's Dad and uncle sew masks and are looking for buyers). Nabin’s and his wife, Rodha’s dream is to start a sewing business in St. Louis in order to build a medical clinic and a church in Nepal.

Carol Buckman (314) 517-8513 

Freedom

Charles (r) & Friend at CFNA 2019 5K Freedom Run

Charles Nshimiyimana came to America via a Uganda refugee camp in 2015. As a New American he has seen his share of struggles.

“When in the refugee camp I saw so much fighting. Other nationalities kept fighting with one another every day. I wanted to learn, to get an education, but it was so hard.”

Charles, the 2019 Scholar-Athlete-of-the-Year at Roosevelt High School, enrolled at St. Louis Community College to study Information Technology and play soccer. “I wanted to go to a four-year school but even with the scholarships they were offering, it still wasn’t enough.”

For most of the past year, Charles has been serving with CFNA as a Ministry Intern. As such, he assisted with the monitoring of classes in the computer room, the distribution of food to families affected by COVID-19, with servant events, and more. All of this, however, came to an abrupt halt when he himself came down with coronavirus.

Both Charles and his mother became victims and his mother’s hospital stay was lengthy. After observing quarantine restrictions, Charles “suspended” his study program to work longer hours and help provide for his family. He also sends some of his money every month to the Uganda refugee camp to help children with their education. “Knowing Jesus helps me to want to help others.”

Preparing Meals for Delivery

His outlook on life has not changed, “The freedom I have in America to go anywhere I want and to do anything I want is new to me. And my faith in Jesus gives me freedom to help others”.

As a member of Timothy Lutheran Church, Charles hopes to resume his studies in the fall. “CFNA has helped me so much. They helped me learn the true meaning of freedom and they helped me learn the culture of America. They always share Jesus.”

You can help us to help Charles and so many like him. Please send a gift today. Just click the DONATE NOW button. I thank you and so does Charles.

Rev. Stanish Stanley CFNA Executive Director

Preparations for Re-Opening

Organizing the Pantry

Sanitizing Furnishings

Getting Started

The first week of June nine volunteers, mostly members of the Lutheran Church of Webster Gardens, gathered a few times to help Pastor Stanish Stanley clean the Peace Center. He was prepared with masks, gloves, cleaning supplies, and projects that kept everyone distanced while they worked. The volunteers cleaned the kitchen, mopped floors, wiped down surfaces, and organized storage areas. As Dan Walther, who worked next to his wife Kathy, said, “it’s our way of helping them get back to operations like tutoring and sewing classes.”

Pastor Stanley and Kelly Teuscher confirmed that CFNA hopes to resume evening English as a Second Language classes by early July or perhaps sooner. All the rooms and supplies have been sanitized and procedures are in place to ensure proper personal spacing when groups gather.

The Lutheran Church of Webster Gardens has long been a partner with Christian Friends of New Americans providing prayer and financial support as well as a variety of volunteers. The Webster Gardens Missions Leadership Team supports CFNA because they do a great job reaching many international refugees and immigrants right here in St. Louis. They meet specific needs as well as share the Gospel message. Additionally, CFNA adapts to those they serve, accepting all, with a unique and practical love.

We wish them and the New Americans they serve our Lord’s richest blessings!

By Kathy Odegard Webster Gardens Lutheran Church

We Gave It All Away (Almost)!

Elsie Vamboi

The first appeal was launched on Wednesday, March 25. Since then 120 donors provided all that was needed to provide gifts of between $200 and $500 to 140 of the neediest of New American families. All of them had members who had been laid off or had their work hours reduced. Six had members who had been infected with the coronavirus. One family had three members under quarantine!

A small amount, less than 10 percent, remains in the fund and has yet to be donated. No doubt more requests will be received. None of the donations have been used to cover administrative costs, nor have any been set aside for this purpose. In other words, with the exception of the small remaining balance, we gave it all away!

Ascension, Messiah, Trinity, and St. Johns Lutheran Churches played a key role in this distribution. CFNA sent the money to them, and they gave it to the New American families deemed to be most in need. Several of the recipient families are members of these congregations, but many are not. Either way, this translates into approximately 700 New Americans linked in some way to these four congregations.

Many expressions of gratitude have been received from the beneficiaries. Mahawa Jewel Fofana, a refugee from Sierra Leone, West Africa said, “I want to send my profound appreciation to Timothy Lutheran Church and CFNA for remembering me in both my spiritual needs (for all your prayers) and my financial/basic needs (I received $200 from Mr. Brewah on your behalf) during these trying times. My heart is full of gratitude. May God continue to bless us all and replenish the givers in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks so much. Jewel.”

Elsie Vamboi, also from West Africa sent this message. “I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who gave their resources to help immigrants like us. The support came just at a time I needed it most to take care of myself, my daughter, and grandkids. Indeed, people like you make God become real in our world. I truly appreciate you all. On behalf of my family I wish to say thanks to you all who gave and are praying for us and our world. May God continue to bless and prosper you.”

Families under quarantine still need our help and no doubt additional cases will be brought to our attention. If you want to help you may make a donation via the “donate button” below or make a check payable to CFNA. Write COVID-19 on the memo line and mail it to CFNA, 4019 South Grand Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63118.

By Rev. Al BuckmanBoard Chair, CFNA

Help and Hope Update

Boris Dukovs

It began seven weeks ago when Rev. Stanish Stanley, together with a small group of volunteers, handed out 57 meals to the children of New American families who had been laid off or had their work hours reduced. This number rapidly expanded to 175 meals delivered to 40 families three, and later, four days a week.

The recipients are from nine birth nations, but whatever our national or ethnic origins one thing has become clear; all of us have the same desire and need for a relational closeness. To be sure, current COVID-19 restrictions have turned this into a genuine challenge. Nevertheless, CFNA remains committed to keeping relationships in place, and generating new ones whenever possible. Presently, this is being accomplished by making available financial assistance, COVID-19 related “care packages” and meals for children of affected families.

The food required for the more than 5,000 meals delivered to date has been provided by UMETULISHA (You Have Fed Us), a CFNA partner agency. What began with just a couple of people grew to a group of more than 15 volunteers from four congregations and a mission society, in addition to students from Lutheran High School South. Moreover, a community service group from Webster Gardens Lutheran Church provided five $100 gift certificates which were given to families with special needs.

Boris Dukovs, a Croatian refugee from Bosnia, arrived in St Louis some time ago. He was doing well until the coronavirus started. Shortly thereafter he lost his job and has been looking for work ever since. In an expression of gratitude he stated, “Thank you for the food and for the money.  And thank you for talking to me every day. I used your money to charge my phone so that I could try to find work. Even during this difficult time, we did not go hungry because of you. May God bless you and your work here.”

Boris and many other New Americans join us at CFNA in thanking each of you for having made these gifts possible.

If you would like to donate, click the Donate button or send a check to CFNA at 4019 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63118.  Thank you.

By Rev. S. Stanley with Rev. A. Buckman

Scholarship Assistance

Edwin

Joseph

Wayea

Grace

COVID-19 has been the great disrupter, forcing changes everywhere and the CFNA Scholarship Assistance Ministry has been no exception. Nonetheless, encouragement may be taken from the fact that all 23 (12 elementary, 11 high school) students completed their on-line classes. None dropped out!

Other highlights include:

-All four high school graduates plan to go to college or join the military. Grace (Vietnam) has been accepted at Harvard. (She was also accepted at M.I.T. and several other universities). Joseph (Sierra Leone) will be going to Millikin University. Wayea (Liberia) is considering three universities, including Valpo. Edwin (Liberia) is joining the Army.

-Lutheran teachers and administrative staff kept a close watch and followed up diligently with the students. As Grace said, “Lutheran High School South teachers stretched me academically and encouraged me to think outside the box.”

-CFNA met its fundraising goal of $32,000 required for the scholarships. Those dollars were matched by a generous Lutheran Foundation grant, thereby enabling this ministry to finish yet another academic year in the black.

-Our numerous individual donors, to whom we remain grateful. Additionally, the LCMS Domestic Grant program as well as numerous congregations including especially Concordia, Kirkwood, contributed significantly to this ministry.

-The six Lutheran schools including Christ Community, Grace Chapel, Immanuel Olivette, Word of Life and Lutheran High Schools North and South these students attended.

-The nine birth nations of these students including Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Vietnam) speak to the continuing diversity of this program and indeed, all of CFNA.

In a recent meeting the CFNA, Board of Directors determined to expand the program to include scholarship support for Kindergarten and PreK students. It is anticipated this will assure continued opportunities for scholarship assistance and corresponding diversity in the years to come.

Should you wish to support this vibrant, Christ-centered ministry you may make a donation via the “Donate Online” below or make a check payable to CFNA, write “Scholarship Assistance” in the memo line and mail it to CFNA, 4019 South Brand Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63118.

By Judith Meyer, Director, Scholarship Assistance Ministry & Rev. Allan Buckman, CFNA Board Chair.

Week of Giving

l to r: Hawa Bass & Gerald Brewah

“I didn’t know what might happen next!”

Hawa Bass arrived in St. Louis as a refugee from Sierra Leone, West Africa. She managed to find work as a housekeeper shortly after her arrival, and though the budget was always tight, she managed to support herself and three children without undue anxiety, primarily by sticking to basics. That was until three weeks ago when she was laid off from a job she had held for nine years.

This came as a shock and with all of the uncertainties surrounding the spread of the coronavirus, the future suddenly became very uncertain. In Hawa’s words, “I didn’t know what might happen next.”

What happened next was totally unexpected. Hawa became the recipient of a gift from her congregation, Timothy Lutheran Church, that had been made possible by contributions to CFNA’s COVID-19 Assistance Fund. It provided both Help and Hope!

Hawa put it this way, “This was my first time of being out of work since coming to America. I knew CFNA helped refugees and immigrants in many ways, but what I never expected was to be receiving money from them. That meant a lot to me because I didn’t know where the money would come from, so I could pay for rent and utilities. But now I know God will continue to touch the hearts and minds of someone out there to help save His servants.”

The CFNA network has raised $5,700 from generous donors as a challenge match. Would you give to be part of helping people like Hawa who really need us now?

Today is Giving Tuesday and May 7 is GiveStLDay. We invite you to participate in this WEEK OF GIVING by donating through CFNA’s GiveStLDay page at https://www.givestlday.org/cfna.

Help and Hope

Assembling meal packs

More than meals

Rhoda picking up meals

Even though we have recently received news regarding the lessening of the COVID-19 virus, the needs of the most vulnerable are far from over.

Rhoda’s family came to St. Louis in 2015-16 via Georgia as refugees from the Congo (DRC). Presently, both parents work at SLU hospital in entry-level jobs to support their eight kids. As changes were put in place to respond to the virus crisis, they were thankful they still had jobs. Recently, however, they were informed their work hours had been cut in half. What had once been a barely manageable challenge regarding family groceries had suddenly become a near impossibility.

To date, your gifts have provided help and hope for over 70 New American families with members who have been laid off from work or have had work hours reduced. Apart from setting up a COVID-19 Assistance Fund to support hurting families, CFNA is partnering with UMTULISHA Food Ministry (Restore St. Louis) to provide meals to refugee families with children 18 years of age and under. The first delivery was made on Tuesday, March 24 when 57 meals were given to 12 families. This effort has since expanded to 150 meals delivered three days a week to 30 families.

“You're all are very nice… even when people are afraid, you do a lot to help us,” observed Rhoda as she received eight meals for her family on that first Tuesday. “This is what Jesus did for us, “(Mark 10:45 ff.)…” and who knows, maybe one day you will serve us when we have a need,” was my reply as Rhoda nodded in approval.

As we seek our Lord’s intervention in this crisis and seek His Kingdom (Mt. 6:33), our sincere thanks goes to each of you for blessing refugee families and their children with these meals.

If you would like to donate, click the button below or send a check to CFNA at 4019 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63118 with “Help and Hope” on the memo line. Thank you.

By Rev. Stanish Stanley Executive Director, CFNA, St. Louis

COVID-19 Assistance Fund

CFNA Executive Director, Rev. Stanish Stanley, describes the needs New Americans are facing in this crisis.

A little over two years ago Lewi Jermiya, together with his wife and daughter, arrived in St. Louis from the Shimelba Refugee Camp in Ethiopia. He had lived in that camp for over 15 years.

Shortly after coming to St. Louis, Lewi was hired as a maintenance worker by of the St. Louis casinos. It wasn’t the greatest job but it was a place to start. More importantly, it enabled him to provide for his family.

Today we are surrounded by the uncertainty of coronavirus.

Shortly after the social distancing restrictions were put in place, Lewi was laid off. He wasn’t the only one. A quick survey of the approximately 350 New American families within the CFNA network revealed that more than 50 were dealing with layoffs, reduced work hours or were desperately searching for grocery money to feed children who had been receiving their breakfasts and lunches at school. To be sure, there are many more.

Of all those afflicted by the uncertainties of the coronavirus, New Americans are likely among the most vulnerable.

Through the generosity of three donors, a COVID-19 Assistance Matching Fund of $10,000 has been established. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar, and here is how you can get involved. Make a donation via the “donate button” below or write a check in any amount payable to CFNA with “COVID Fund” in the memo line, and mail it to CFNA, 4019 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63118. Please note: All new donors are matched two for one; i.e., your one dollar becomes three! Through Lutheran congregations in south St. Louis city, CFNA has begun making grants of $200 to $400 available to afflicted families. Please join us in this much-needed effort.

Thrivent Members! Did you know you have FREE money to help even more?!? Directing your Choice Dollars to CFNA can do this. Click HERE to select CFNA on Thrivent's Website or call Thrivent at 1-800-847-4836. March 31 is the last day to designate 2020 Thrivent choice dollars.

Rev. Allan Buckman Board Chair, CFNA

Jermiya Family

Lewi Jermiya

Muslim Background Believers Accept Christ

Kadija Kargbo

Khadija Kargbo and Baindu Brown Mansaray, originally from Sierra Leone, recently turned their lives over to Jesus Christ through baptism and are now part of the growing African immigrant population at Timothy Lutheran Church in St. Louis Missouri. The number of African immigrants (mainly from Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia, Ethiopia, Eritrea etc.) at Timothy has been growing steadily during the past decade. This was made possible due mainly to the strong and effective partnership between Christian Friends of New Americans (CFNA) and Timothy Lutheran Church.

CFNA continues to draw and bridge immigrants and refugees by providing incentives such as Scholarship Programs for immigrant and refugee children to study in Lutheran elementary and high schools, monthly Health Screening, an After-School Tutoring Program for immigrant and refugee children and teaching refugees English as a second language, to name a few. Timothy Lutheran Church, on the other hand, continues to attract immigrants and refugees due mainly to their embracement of diversity, and their tolerance for immigrant cultures and their way of life.

It was not therefore surprising to see Khadija Kargbo become a Christian through baptism on Sunday, January 5, 2020. Khadija grew up in a Christian and Muslim home in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Her mother was a devout Catholic and father a devout Muslim. In their household, they equally celebrated Christmas and Ramadan. In reality, she was neither a Christian nor a Muslim at the time. Khadija came to St. Louis as a refugee on July 30, 2002. Previously, she had lived in a refugee camp in the West African country of Mali from 1992 to 2002. She is currently enrolled in a new membership class at Timothy Lutheran Church.

Baindu Brown Mansaray, on the other hand, had been a practicing Muslim in her hometown, Kenema, Sierra Leone before coming to the US. Upon arrival, she moved in with her daughter, Mahawa Jewel Brown-Vamboi, and son-in-law, Prince Vamboi, and always enjoyed babysitting one-and-half-year-old Xander Vamboi. Prince and Mahawa are members of Timothy Lutheran Church so after Baindu arrived she joined the family in worship services there.

Baindu Brown Mansaray

When Khadija received baptism at Timothy, the question Baindu asked her daughter was, “Can adults be baptized?” The answer, of course, was yes. Baindu, being a Muslim, had seen many babies and young children baptized at Timothy so she was not sure whether she would be given the chance. She then told her daughter that she also wanted to be baptized so on Sunday, January 26, 2020, she accepted Jesus through Baptism. Baindu still has six of her children back home in Sierra Leone. All of them need your prayers.

Personally, it brought tremendous joy to our hearts when my wife Yewah and I were asked to serve as the baptismal sponsors for Kadija and Baindu.

By Gerald Brewah Timothy Lutheran Church Photos by Gerald Brewah

Emerging Church Leaders

Martin (front center) and the CFNA Tutors

A year ago, four LCMS pastors committed to participate in a CFNA sponsored Leadership Training Program designed to equip emerging New American church leaders for enrollment in Concordia Seminary’s EIIT (Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology) program. In addition to Revs. Matt Clark (Ascension LC), Mike Tanney (St. Johns LC), Stanish Stanley (CFNA) and Al Buckman (CFNA), Mike Okine (Messiah LC) also joined the group.

The program attracted eight Nepali and Eritrean candidates, all of them serving recently established Bible Fellowships attached to the above-referenced congregations. Recently, Martin Basnet, John Gurung, Ratna Mangar and Nabin Samal, all of them from Nepal, submitted applications for admission into the EIIT program. Subsequent issues of CFNA E-News will provide brief profiles of each of them. In this issue, we are pleased to introduce Martin Basnet.

Born in Bhutan and raised first as a Buddhist and later as a Hindu, Martin, together with his father (his mother had passed away) and six siblings, were driven out of Bhutan to Nepal. There, together with thousands of other displaced Nepali people, they lived as refugees. Martin was six years old at the time.

Martin’s father, who had been a farmer in Bhutan, now had no farm or employment of any kind, and the family was forced to live on whatever the various relief agencies such as Catholic Charities and Lutheran World Relief, were able to provide. In 2008, after living for 19 years as refugees in Nepal, the Basnet family was selected for resettlement and was subsequently flown from Nepal to St. Louis.

Martin Basnet

While in Nepal, Martin was somehow attracted to the words of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit and though he began attending worship services, he was never baptized or confirmed. After arriving in St. Louis, he together with his wife Meena began attending various churches, but never felt entirely satisfied. Finally, after a pastor from Messiah Lutheran Church paid them a series of visits, they began to experience a feeling of peace. On August 2, 2011, Martin and Meena were baptized and confirmed. Their infant son Joel was also baptized.

Martin, who presently serves as an Elder at Messiah, also works full time as a translator at BIAS (Bilingual International Assistance Services). As a volunteer, Martin provides the same services for Nepali people seeking assistance through programs offered at Messiah or more frequently, at the CFNA Peace Center. In other words, Martin is already reaching out to other Nepali people to tell them about Jesus. As a high caste Hindu who became a Christian (a rarity), he finds that other Nepali people are often willing to listen.

Please join CFNA and members at Messiah in praying for Martin’s success as an EIIT student, and for the strength and courage, he and Meena require as they continue their witness to other Nepali people.

By Rev. Al Buckman, CFNA Board Chair