Focus

Somwang struggled for years with mental illness. She fluctuated between periods of silence to fits of violent anger. Her husband, her sons, and her neighbors all learned to ignore her and had given up caring.

Tim told himself to relax, as he was sitting in the driver’s seat of his van with a rowdy crowd of youth inside and another rowdy crowd surrounding the van on the outside. Then it happened. Unexpectedly, the peal of shattered glass brought the noise to its sudden ruckus crescendo.

EMM worker Melanie Nofziger often meets with house cleaners to help them find work. One day, she had hopes to start a Bible study with these women, but felt a call to only begin with two women in particular: Juanita and Mariela.

Kandace Glenn has served on two assignments as an EMM mission intern in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, over the last two and a half years. She never would have guessed that God would have kept her in Cambodia for as long as He has. And now, she is preparing to go back to Cambodia as a long-term missionary with EMM.

Leon and Naomi Zimmerman, who are non-resident EMM workers, were teaching about marriage and parenting. However, they left Vietnam feeling a great sense of admiration for the way the Vietnamese culture is so family-oriented.

There is an African proverb that says “It takes a village to raise a child.” It may not take a village to prepare and send EMM’s mission interns and workers, but it does take a committed and experienced team who seek God’s voice and the best for all involved.

One EMM mission intern in Wales keeps busy by not only serving the community through children’s programs and meals for the elderly but also through intentional living communities. And it’s changed the way she views the world!

For many young people, summer is a time to sit back and relax. However, youth and young adults will have the unique opportunity to work on coffee farms high in the mountains of the Intibuca region of Honduras or minister in the urban setting of Chamalecon on the outskirts of San Pedro Sula.

Joanne and Werner De Jong may not fit the typical profile of an EMM mission intern. They are the parents of three young adults and have established careers. Werner has served as a pastor in Alberta, Canada, for over 12 years and Joanne served as an associate pastor for 7 years.

In the fall of 2016, Becca Lapp Wierwille traveled to Cusco, Peru, to be a mission intern with EMM teaching English at PROMESA, a school connected with the Peruvian Mennonite Church. Becca was looking for adventure, for a chance to serve others, and to grow closer to God’s heart. She was able to use the internship for credit to complete her college degree. Becca’s semester in Peru did meet all of...

Leaders of the Meserete Kristos Church in Ethiopia were eager to launch the new Amharic translation of “A Muslim and a Christian in Dialogue.” However, publishing was put on hold so the church could secure the participation of the leadership of the Amharic-speaking Muslim community.

When Julie and Tim Groff arrived in Dangriga they were aware of the fact that their local church had shuttered its doors and was no longer functioning. Local leaders had burned out for various reasons, and new life was needed.

Twelve people were gathered closely in a circle as Yvonne Garber uttered a simple Swahili phrase: “Mungu Anajua.” Yvonne then shared the translation of this short expression — “God knows” — as she and her husband, Joe, elaborated about how they first discerned a calling to serve Kanisa la Mennonite Tanzania.

Gathered in a simple one-story building, surrounded by a grassy courtyard, and shaded by an enormous fig tree, pastors and leaders of the Shirati Diocese of the Tanzania Mennonite Church explored Anabaptist essentials.

Pastor. Board member. Executive director. Missionary. Head of school. Theology teacher. Executive vice president and chief operating officer. Gerry Keener has been all these things ... and all while serving with EMM. It is exactly this wealth of 40 years of experience that makes him so uniquely qualified to serve as the eighth president of Eastern Mennonite Missions.

Justice. Did you know it was voted the 2018 word of the year? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, justice was looked up online 74% more often than it was in 2017. Like the year before, 2018 certainly had its time of hardships and sorrows. Justice seemed elusive. Wars and rumors of wars. Floods, earthquakes, famines. Political, racial, and economic divides.

A coffee house outreach is providing English-language practice for youth and young adults, with opportunities for leadership training, and of course, free coffee. EMM workers Jayden and Anika*, serving in Central Asia, hope that this outreach will provide opportunities to share God’s word with nonbelievers, and as a way to disciple those who already are believers.

Living overseas during Christmas can be a challenging time. But this past Christmas, EMM workers serving in Sierra Leone, Jon and Heleen Yoder, decided to embrace Christmas in a different place.

Short-term EMM workers serving in Nairobi, Kenya, learn that their valuable experience of once owning a hardware store has impacted their ministry in a very unique way.

Have you ever thought about how overwhelming moving to a new place can be? Perhaps, you’ve experienced it a few times in your life. Experience the first couple of days of a mission intern serving in Wales, U.K. Victoria Derosier.

During the last week of December, more than 200 joyous attendees filled the Catel Mennonite Church in Guinea-Bissau. The meetinghouse resonated with jubilant singing, inspiring messages, and a special celebration. What was this special celebration? Mennonite Church West Africa, or MCWA, credentialed its first pastors and was gathering for an annual conference.

On November 30, 2018, Tyndale Theological Seminary in Badhoevedorp, Netherlands hosted the event: “A dialogue comparing the divine and the human in Islam and Christianity.” Exploring a unique aspect of Christian theology, EMM worker Jonathan Bornman highlighted the concept of “Imago Dei” — the belief that humanity is created in the image of God.

Learning a new language is never easy. Especially when it’s Garifuna, a dying language derived from five other languages! But somehow, learning to sing a praise song is the first step in EMM worker Tim Groff’s journey toward fluency!

Music can evoke emotions of joy, sadness, and reverence. It is also an effective way to share the gospel and get Scripture into the hearts and minds of people in any culture around the world. EMM worker Glenna Sollenberger is passionate about helping every culture understand the Scriptures in ways that are meaningful to them.

In 2008, John and Debbie Coats started a pilot program for children which focused on character training in a rural village in southeastern Cambodia. The program included music which helped the children realize that not only can worship be very beautiful, but that they can be a part of those beautiful sounds.