It came in a small brown package but carried along a big gift.

The package was filled with letters, pictures, notes, and prayers, all meant to encourage MVI missionaries Tim and Julia Dang.

Tim and Julia have an incredible story of fleeing Vietnam as children, then meeting and marrying in U.S. before sensing God call them back to Vietnam as missionaries. A homeschool co-op in Virginia recently found their story on our website and shared it with the children as they studied Vietnam in their world geography section. The children were inspired by their story and wanted to encourage Tim and Julia as they served God. The children (and some of the parents) wrote letters to Tim and Julia for us to share with them.

“I am a homeschool mom of three wonderful, curious girls between the ages of 1-9, and I feel so honored to write to you today. I co-teach world geography with an emphasis on missions and in our class we included ways for the kids to better understand the cultural and spiritual climate of a specific country. We thoroughly enjoyed learning about Vietnam this month, and I shared your biography with the kids which is posted through MVI. We are so encouraged by your story and had no idea how difficult it is to share the gospel there. Keep fighting the good fight and stay strong in the Lord. And wherever you may be in the world, always know that a group of kids (and parents!) are actively keeping your family in our prayers! You are very loved.”

“I learned about you in geography class. I was very impressed by the work you have been doing. Remember that in hard times, your father loves you and is very kind to you. I loved learning about Vietnam and I really want to visit to share the Gospel, and to see the beautiful lagoons, grottos, and deltas!”

“My family has a prayer board where we put things we are praying for. We are going to put your family on it.”

“Your story is amazing and inspiring. My teacher told us your story while we were in class. We learned about Vietnam and how not many people know Jesus. It is so important and life changing how you are teaching people to become leaders. Your journey has been hard, but God has led you to this place. Thank you for teaching so many people in Vietnam about Jesus.”

When Juan Pablo Noreiga was just a young boy growing up in Guatemala, he already had big dreams. “I want to be a doctor,” he told a team of visiting missionary doctors. And it wasn’t just a pipe dream. Juan Pablo was very bright and had been able to read since the age of 3. His parents, Gilberto and Ruth Noreiga, were very committed to education and had helped Missionary Ventures equip many Christian schools across Guatemala.

One of the doctors on the mission trip encouraged Juan Pablo in his studies and eventually helped him go to medical school, where he graduated at the age of 21.

Then Juan Pablo had a decision to make – should he pursue a medical career in the United States, where he had plenty of opportunities, or in Guatemala? He felt God calling him to the greatest area of need – the mountainous rural area of Nebaj. Missionary Ventures had been assisting a children’s renutrition center in Nebaj caring for malnourished children after the Guatemalan civil war and Juan Pablo was invited to take over leadership of the small “hospitalito.” He his wife, Carolina, have now been serving there for more than 15 years.

There is a great need for a quality hospital in Nebaj. “There are infectious diseases, gastrointestinal issues, and a lack of sanitation,” says Juan Pablo. “People have COPD because they burn fires in the household on dirt floors. They have pneumonia, bronchitis, diabetes, high blood pressure, some have obesity—they are poor, but when they have some money, they buy coke and chips.” For some families, the kids might eat just tortilla and salt and they are malnourished. “They might look ok, but their growth is stunted,” Juan Pablo explained.

The government hospital has 22 doctors and yet sees only 100 patients a day, but Juan Pablo and just one other doctor at the hospitalito are able to see 45 each day.

They have trained every worker to pray as they go. If they see someone looking sad, they ask “what’s wrong?” Maybe the patient would say, “I’m worried waiting for my test results,” and the hosptialito worker would offer to pray with them.

There is also a challenge of caring for the local Ixil people simply because of their language. Juan Pablo knows some of the language, but also needs a translator sometimes. But even with translation, it can be a challenge because there are no Ixil words for some of the pain they might be experiencing. “In Ixil, there is no word for lungs,” Juan Pablo explained, “so pain in heart could actually mean stomach pain.” There are generalizations for many words – for example, a car is simply called “metal.”

“Bad air could be anything,” Juan Pablo shared. “But if you ask about additional symptoms, they will often just respond with ‘yes,’ and they always want all the tests. I’m not sure why.” But Juan Pablo has great patience with everyone who comes to see him and has an excellent reputation. The line is always long to see Juan Pablo.

The hospitalito is also connected to a nursing school Juan Pablo and Carolina began in Nebaj. 

Through the years, the small hospitalito has continued to grow and adapt, and now the Noreiga’s plans are bigger than ever, with a vision (and plan already underway) to develop the hospitalito into a full three-story hospital with a surgical room and ambulance bay.

MVI missionary Ed Lockett began his ministry with regular trips to Haiti in 1986. He partnered with many local pastors, visiting schools to hand out school supplies and share about Jesus. He would take pictures of the kids and have them printed, passing them out to giddy children on his return. For many, it was their only photo. In 2004, Ed visited some friends in Honduras and began the same kind of ministry visiting schools. “The Lord is blessing the work in Honduras and things continue growing and expanding rapidly,” he shares. Haiti has become more unstable with gang activity and kidnappings, but the ministry there continues. “We have an infrastructure of Haitians that keep things going as long as I get the funds to them, which I do every month,” he says. “I was able to get into Haiti last year for a few weeks, and hopefully will be able to return next year.” Whether he is in Haiti or Honduras, his heart is always torn that he can’t visit more schools more often. “It hurts me to say goodbye so much to so many and so often. Even if it’s just see you later, still, I wish I could be in more than one place at the same time.”

The program didn’t start with much of a vision. It was just a desire to bless a young high school student named Catarina Chel de Pozo, called Zoila, who wanted to become a nurse.

MVI missionary Dr. Juan Pablo Noreiga had moved to Zoila’s hometown of Nebaj, Guatemala, to help the community by providing quality, affordable health care and sharing his deep faith in Jesus. Missionary Ventures had already been helping in Nebaj for several years through a small clinic, and Juan Pablo dreamed of turning it into a hospital. As he first began seeing patients, Zoila would assist him with translation from the local Ixil language and would help clean the clinic.

“She was willing to do all that without charging anything,” says Juan Pablo. “As soon as I could, I started paying her a little.” But he also wanted to do more to bless her and help her on her path to becoming a nurse. He hoped to be able to send her to nursing school, but all the programs were very expensive and far away.

“Why can’t you train her?” asked Juan Pablo’s fiancé, now wife, Carolina. He researched the requirements and began with a request to the Department of Health. Their first response was no, but Juan Pablo and Carolina continued to pray and petition them. They eventually granted approval, not just for Juan Pablo to train Zoila, but for an entire auxiliary nursing school.

At first, I was thinking I would just do the school for one year to train Zoila, and then close it,” says Juan Pablo. But God had other plans. There were others interested in becoming auxiliary nurses. Many others!

“I didn’t see all that God was intending to do,” says Juan Pablo. “The Lord wanted to bless this community with health providers who understand the culture and language and who are willing to go to the most rural places. So, without us even planning, we were able to provide health care workers who were unavailable at that time. It has also provided a good income because it’s a decent salary that can support a small family.”

Zoila graduated as an auxiliary nurse and then became a registered nurse. She is now one of the chief nurses at the national hospital in Nebaj. She is married with two daughters and her husband is a staff doctor at Juan Pablo’s hospital. Her dream came true and God did exceedingly abundantly more.

The meeting with the doctor did not go as expected – he did not want to remove the growth on Elvis’ neck. 

The tumor had been growing on Elvis’ neck for years, limiting his life. It was difficult to make friends, some of the kids at school made fun of him, and he couldn’t participate in any sports. He believed God could heal him, but doubts sometimes crept in.

Many others advocated on his behalf. Both his principal, Mr Siankuku, and Pastor Bernard, a long-time friend of Missionary Ventures, connected with MVI missionaries Hugo and Salomie du Toit. Funding was tight with so many requests in this part of the world, but Hugo and Salomie passed the request along to the MVI home office. A record amount of Core Mission funds for the year had already been sent out, yet MVI’s Director of Advancement Brad Staton was moved by Elvis’ story and wanted to help. He asked his men’s Bible study if they could raise the funds to cover the surgery. Soon everything was in place.

But then the doctor wanted to wait.

“This information was different to what Pastor Bernard understood when he himself spoke to the doctor,” shared Hugo. The doctor wanted to try some medication to see if the growth would soften and decrease in size. It took more time for the doctor to finally agree surgery was the best option. The surgery would happen in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, a 4-6 hour drive for Elvis and his mother.

They were already on their way when they were contacted to say there had been an emergency and they would have to reschedule. “Very frustrating and costly,” said Hugo, “but not unexpected as this is a government hospital in Africa; which is always a challenge.”

Finally, finally, Elvis’ surgery date was rescheduled and took place without further issues. He felt immediate relief.

“Elvis always believed God could heal him,” says Hugo, “but his faith has grown during the whole process. He now believes that nothing is impossible with God and that He can make a way when it seems there is no way. This whole process has also brought about a spiritual change in his parents lives, too. Previously both his parents did not believe in Jesus. They now also believe God can heal and bring about change.”

Despite all the suffering Elvis had to endure, he has learned first-hand what Paul writes about in Romans 5:3-4: “… we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame…”

The girls took two very different paths.

Years ago, during a visit to a rural village in Belize, MVI missionary Elizabeth Ayala noticed two 15-year-old girls, Carmen and María, (not their real names), sitting under a tree. She approached them to chat and learn more about them, intrigued that they were not in school. They told her their families couldn’t afford to pay for the school fees, uniforms, books and all related expenses. In Belize, primary school is free and mandatory, but high school is not. As they continued to talk, Carmen expressed her interest in continuing school if there could be a way for her go.

By the grace of God, the following year, with the support of a generous sponsor, Carmen finished her freshman year. Maria, on the other hand, like most girls her age in their community, was pregnant.

Carmen was the oldest in her class, but thanks to the continuous support and prodding from friends, teachers and the school principal, she became the first person in her family to graduate from high school, and the first girl in her community. To reach school on time every morning, Carmen had to be ready for the 6 a.m. bus that took her into town and brought her back at 6 p.m. It was a completely new social and educational environment for her, with new relationships and different systems than what she had been used to, but she learned to navigate the urban context and completed her secondary education. It was not an easy journey for Carmen, but certainly not as challenging as for Maria.

By the time Carmen graduated, Maria was a single teenage mother of a three-year-old daughter with a second baby on the way, not unusual in many rural areas.

A few years later, at 24, Carmen married a young leader from her church. They are now both leading and teaching in their church and their community, working on their home and planning their family. Today, she is an assistant manager in a prestigious company where she continues to learn and to acquire new abilities, skills, experience and knowledge for a promising future.

“Around the world,” says Elizabeth, “it is a well-documented fact that an educated woman is an empowered person who will make a significant difference in her personal life, in the well-being of her family and the life of her community and country. Making education a priority results in multiple benefits in the short- and long-term for herself, for a healthier and stronger family, for society at large and for the improvement of the quality of life of her surroundings.”

In the last 10 years, the local scholarship committee has helped over 125 students, mostly girls, graduate from high school. The Ayalas have also helped support the high school education of several pastors’ children and others in need.

When Victor Neagu was around 7 years old growing up in the eastern European country of Moldova, he was gifted a Bible, a special full-color children’s Bible that he cherished. “I loved that Bible, and I read the same stories all the time,” he remembers.

Victor’s faith remained strong as he married and had two children, one with Downs Syndrome. The need for medical care took him to the United Kingdom, but it was also there that God multiplied his ministry in Moldova. He traveled with Missionary Ventures on teams back to Moldova and visited schools. They passed out clothing and other supplies where it was most needed, and God especially stirred Victor’s heart for the children. He began to pray for them regularly, and he remembered how much he loved his special Bible. “I felt like God was asking me, ‘would you do the same thing for other children?'” says Victor.

From there, Love4Moldova was born, as Victor was empowered through Missionary Ventures to return regularly and visit schools, handing out full-color Bibles to children ages 7-11. This year’s team will visit 27 schools. “It changed my life,” says Victor, “this simple children’s Bible, and if it changed my life, it could change many, many other children’s lives.”

The church has mud walls and a grass roof, but it is a place of worship for more than 20 people who have gathered to sing praise to Jesus and listen to Pastor Pablo Mutica share the Word of God. Pablo is also the pastor of three other churches in northern Mozambique, but having multiple churches is typical for many pastors in the region. They visit, preach, and a church grows. This new church has only been gathering for four months, because Pastor Pablo had never been able to visit before, but now he can, due to a transportation provided by MVI and our partnership with Christian Motorcyclists Association. In his previous eight years as a pastor and farmer, he had to travel by foot to reach new villages. Now he can travel faster and farther.

Craig Wheeland helped coordinate with MVI/CMA and The Wesleyan Church of Mozambique to help gift Pastor Pablo and five other itinerant pastors with transportation to multiply their ministry. “My heart definitely wants to GO to the frontier,” says Craig. “I want, like Paul, to see foundations laid where there are no foundations. My problem is I’m too old to learn the culture and the language so my goal is to find men who are like-minded and already know the culture and language, put them on a motorcycle, and pray God sends them to the next village that doesn’t yet have a witness of His love, mercy, and grace.”

As this new church worships Jesus with Pastor Pablo, many people around the world are cheering them on.

Even in wanting to bless others, we are often blessed. 

In San Cristobal, Guatemala, MVI missionary Teresa Harwood has reached out to the local community in a variety of ways. One unique opportunity has come lately in working with her local church’s worship band. She proposed the idea to have the band write a new song for the church and community. She had hoped they would create a song in the Poqomchi’ language, where there is a lack of Christian songs. They loved the idea and began using John 21:15-17, where Jesus restores Peter, as their inspiration. “We hope it will be used as a reminder of the grace of God to the congregation and to the surrounding community as sadly there is a huge emphasis on works-based salvation in the Guatemalan evangelical church,” explains Teresa. “The band and I have spent lots of time in prayer, praying for the Lord to speak to our hearts, and praying that the Lord will use this song in the growth and edification of his church.”

They wrote the song in Spanish first and plan to translate it into Poqomchi’ soon.

“Even before sharing the song with the rest of the church, the Lord has been at work,” says Teresa. “At a recent meeting, the band leader said that through this time working with me, he has learned the importance of prayer.”

Listen to the Spanish song (with lyrics in Spanish and English).