September/October Conferences, and Volcano Relief Reports

Equip Disciples Staff members in DR Congo distribute flour, rice, beans, and oil to Bible Study leaders after the volcanic eruption in Goma.

We want to thank all of our supporters who have been praying and giving to help our Bible Study leaders who were without food, and many without shelter after the volcano eruption in May. We were able to buy flour, oil, rice, and beans for all of our leaders in the Goma area, and provide some special funding to those who completely lost their homes in the lava flow. During that time, many people were displaced from their homes, as the threat of a second eruption, and earthquakes kept people in safe zones designated by the government. If you can imagine, many many families just living on the streets, with no clean water, bathroom, or food. It was a very tough situation.

Pictured on the left: Our DR Congo President of Equip Disciples, Mandela, Esperance his wife, and his children.

Pictured on the right: Our chief adviser and Vice President of Equip Disciples, Bertin, his wife Jeannine, and his children.

Volcano relief funds you all gave helped them to have food, restore their electricity to their homes, and provide funds to help them recover some of the things lost or stolen from their homes during this crisis. They offer their heart felt thanks to Equip Disciples board and also all of the supporters that helped them during this crisis.

As many of you know, following the volcanic eruption in May, our Equip Disciples office was looted. We lost all of our equipment, and our door was broken. Thanks to God for providing funds through some of our donors to repair our office, and purchase new equipment. With our virtual conferences coming soon, we needed a printer, TV for virtual abilities, and we needed ways to secure our office in case of these types of emergencies in the future. We had stronger locks and lock guards welded on our door and we bought curtains for the windows and door so that no one could see inside when no one was there.

For our coming conference needs, we were also able to purchase two new computers. To this point in our ministry, our office has not even had one computer. Our staff had been using small tablets for communication. The computers really helped with their ability to translate our teaching materials and booklets, and will greatly help us during the virtual portion of our conferences. Having the printer, allows us to make our own copies of our booklets which greatly saves printing costs.

Another needed item for our virtual conferences was an internet connection. We were able to purchase the needed equipment, and now we pay for whatever time we need. Internet is a bit expensive ($250 a month!). But, we only have to pay for the months we are heavily using it- during our conference seasons.

The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are fooolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things.
1 Cor. 2:14-15

Upcoming Discipleship Conferences!

Rwanda Bible Study Leader Conference- September 23-24, 2021
Rwanda Deaf Discipleship Conference- September 25, 2021
DR Congo Bible Study Leader Conference- September 30-Oct. 2, 2021

On a personal note, We are greatly looking forward to our discipleship conferences! You may know, our conferences were set for July, then Congo had the volcanic eruption- and we had to get our office, internet connection, and equipment replace and repaired so we could hold our conferences and secure new equipment. So we moved the conferences to the end of August. Days before the conference in August, both Tammie and Joe came down with Covid. They were symptomatic, and basically had congestion, cough, and tiredness that knocked them out for a couple of weeks. Thankfully, they did not have severe symptoms. So, the conferences were moved again to the end of September and first part of October. Lord willing, we will now be able to carry out the conferences! Please note the dates above, and be praying for us. Teachers and topics are listed below.

Topic: Growing in Discernment and Reaching the Lost

Charles Spurgeon once said, "Discernment is not merely the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. It is the ability to distinguish between right and almost right." The biblical words used to describe discernment involve all of the senses and the ability to separate out one thing from another, see things in light of God's Word, His Wisdom, weigh the future outcomes, and try to see things from God's perspective. In challenging times, many people are desperate to know God's wisdom, and to discern the times. So we pray this is a timely study that will enrich and strengthen God's people for the building up of God's Kingdom with the purity of God's message and teachings.

We have a team of 6 people leading our virtual conference this year, and 8 indigenous leaders. Most of our teaching will be live over the internet. We have internet connections at Rugerero Village Baptist Church in Rwanda where our Rwandan conferences will be held, and at our office in DR Congo where our Congo conference will take place. All of the participants will come to the venues for the conferences, but our portion will be on TV screens with additional visual aide using PowerPoint Presentations that follow the teachings. One of our team members, seen in the video here, pre-recorded her testimony to be used in our conference. Mimi Cheung, long time friend and supporter of our ministry, shares how she came to know Jesus after growing up a Buddhist. She encourages the participants to always be reaching out to others who are being deceived in false religions in order to bring them to the Truth of the Gospel. You can watch the video by clicking on the picture above.

Team members to pray for:
Tammie Friberg-Leading sessions on the book of Jude, characteristics of false teachers using the imagery in the book of Jude and other Biblical passages, how to grow in discernment, and Biblical word studies on discernment, Bible stories showing how even believers can be deceived to show the need for staying connected to God and His Word.
Joe Friberg-Leading sessions on need for discernment concerning the coming Antichrist, the false prophet, and the beasts in the books of Revelation and 1 John.
Jessica Friberg- Bible study sessions and group discussion for the deaf.
Jeff Caffey- Bible Study sessions and group discussion for the Congolese.
Amy Dean- Bible study sessions and group discussion for the deaf.
Mimi Cheung-Testimony impact, helping them see the impact of personal evangelism on those following false religions.

Pray:
*For good health and spiritual protection for all of our staff and participants.
*For good internet connections as the weather there sometimes affects our connections.
*For good communication through the various teachers, media, PowerPoint presentations, testimonies, Bible study break out sessions, and written materials.
*Extra strength for our translators who work very long and hard hours and for the Americans who will be on Africa time but teaching from the States. It is about a 7 hour difference. Teachings sessions begin at 1:00am for us, and end at about 9am our time.
*For all of the teachers to be well prepared and equipped for their sessions.

Bible study groups have continued to meet here and there as the governments of DR Congo and Rwanda have allowed. During some periods of time, group meetings were forbidden and people had to study within their own families, or very small groups of one or two people. Churches were closed for long periods of time. But would periodically open as the Covid situation fluctuated. Pictured above is one of the deaf Bible Study groups in Rwanda meeting for Bible study outside and social distancing.

*($4 per book) Additional Printing Costs- allows us to print more copies for our Bible study groups to be used through the rest of the year following our conferences. Due to the high cost of printing booklets and the number of people we have in our study groups, there is no way to provide copies for each person. We do our best to supply leaders with a teacher's book, and a few extra copies for their groups. Remote leaders receive booklets through the mail or people who travel to those locations to deliver the books. Mailing the books in Congo is very expensive, but the books do serve a great purpose for isolated areas that have no resources for Bible Study. Many do not have Bibles.

*$10 per Bible. We try to provide a few Bibles through the year to various groups, and new groups that are starting. Your gifts, help us give some Bibles out through the year. At our conferences, we purchase at least one Bible (depending on our income budget) for our leaders to be able to share with members of their groups.

*$800 Motorcycle Maintainence and annual registration fees. The motocycle helps our Congo staff make visits out to remote Bible study groups, traveling from village to village, and provides transport to and from our office- which is a good distance from their homes.

*$3,000 Office rental in DR Congo for the whole year.

*You can give online, or send a check to the address at the bottom of this email.

Thank You for support, God Bless You!

God's discernment: "Can the one who shaped the ear not hear, the One who formed the eye not see? Psa. 94:9