July Update

Friends and Family,

Time is short!  God continues to open doors for our move to Liberia.  There are still a few hurdles that need to be crossed but we believe we will cross them soon and we will be on our way.  We are asked often about our moving date to Liberia.  We have not been able to set a moving date because our house still needs to sell.  However, we are living our lives as if we are going to be in Liberia in 6-8 weeks.  The timing of our move is completely in God’s hands.  Here is a verse that has ministered to my heart last month:

Phil 3:7-14 NASV

“Whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in him not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.  Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.  Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

I praise God for calling our family to give up everything and follow Him.  There is great freedom in owning nothing except our Lord.  There a freedom in simplicity.  Our hearts desire is that we would know God intimately, that we would experience the power of His resurrection, and that we would know what it means to share in His sufferings.  I believe my purpose in life is that I would know God intimately, effectively pastor my family so they will know God intimately, and then allow my family to become a lighthouse to Liberia so that the Liberian people may know God intimately.  Like Paul said, I have not obtained this but I press on to take hold of this.

Our mission in Liberia is that there would be a healthy church in every town and in every village within our lifetime.  We believe this vision is worth sacrificing for. We understand the many risks with such a mission but believe that God will protect our family.  Please pray with us for Liberia. 

By God’s grace, here is what took place in Liberia last month:  Our ministry teams went on 90 mission/ministry trips, visited 71 villages, and started a work in 3 new locations!  Praise God for what He is doing.  We printed and distributed 5,900 pages of teaching material and distributed hundreds of Bibles.  5 people were baptized and 35 completed our extensive Bible program.  Our team dealt with much sickness last month.  Christine Medan had cancer surgery and is now back in Liberia.  Praise God for her successful surgery and continual recovery.  We praise God that she is back to the field and serving with our teams.  Kim Smith has a swollen and damaged spleen due to many back to back cases of malaria.  He is still being treated and is healing and recovering.  (Of course this has not stopped him from being on missions trips.)  Please pray for the team’s health.  Last month, the team received a shipment from the States which took 4 months to arrive.  This shipment contained training manuals, school books, motorbike parts, medical supplies, 2 generators, children's clothing, and more.  Thank you for sending these needed supplies. 

Last month in the States:

Completing our ministry at the Gathering Place:

Last month, I completed my ministry at the Gathering Place.  The Gathering Place is the church that God called our family to help start in Piqua, OH.  Last month, I focused time and energy on passing this ministry on to future leaders.  My part in this ministry is officially finished and I am free to pursue Liberia with my whole heart.

Speaking opportunities:

Last month, I continued to share the wonderful story of what God is doing in Liberia to churches, individuals and businesses.  This month, I am scheduled to speak 3 times.  Please pray that more doors will be opened for me to share Liberia’s story. 

Family Vacation:

Soon we will be leaving the States for 2 years.  One of our greatest priorities is spending time with our extended families.  Last month, Melanie’s side of our family rented a house boat on Dale Hollow Lake.  Words cannot express how grateful we were to have this time with our family.  We made many memories and truly enjoyed time with family.  We spent most our awake hours in the water, skiing, boating, and chatting.  Thank you, family, for this wonderful time together! It was awesome!!!

House for sale:

Our home is still for sale.  There is a person who is interested in buying our house.  We believe there will be an offer soon.  Please pray that our house will sell.  This is the last large hurdle we have to cross before leaving for Liberia.

3 Focuses for this month. 

1.  Praying that the Lord would provide enough money to fully fund two-three new hubs: 

Have you ever been so passionate about something that when you speak about it, you feel it in your stomach?  That is how I feel when I speak of new church planting hubs that need to be started.  In Liberia, I have heard people literally begging our teams to come to their towns and villages and start churches.   The harvest is extremely plentiful.  Workers have been trained and we are prepared to start new hubs in new counties.  I am praying that God would provide the funds for these hubs to be opened.  It cost between $1,000 and $1,500 a month to fund a church planting hub.  Our goal is that all of Liberia’s 15 counties will have a church planting hub in them.  From these hubs churches will be started in every town and village of an entire county.  $1,000 - $1,500 a  month is all that it takes to start a church in every town and village of an entire county in Liberia.  Please pray with me that God would provide the funds for these new hubs to be opened. 

2. Complete raising support for our family.

Over the past few months, I have been speaking in various churches and sharing the story of what God is doing in Liberia.  When churches have offered to support the ministry, I have encouraged them to give 100% of their money toward starting churches in unreached areas of Liberia rather than to give money to support our family as a missionary.  I have done this for two reasons. First, I believe that encouraging churches to adopt a specific region of Liberia will not only help move the gospel forward in Liberia, but it will also help mobilize churches in the United States in the area of missions.  Second, I desire and feel called for our support to come from our family.  Melanie and I have been very blessed to have been raised in Christian families.  We don’t desire our personal support to come from churches.  We are praying that we could be completely funded and sent to Liberia by our families.  We want our families to be a vital part of our ministry in Liberia.  Last month, we sent a support letter to our families.  Currently, we are still in need of raising around $8,000 a year ($670 a month) in support.  I am praying and believing that by the end of this month, all those funds will be raised.  Please pray with us.

3. Completing a CD project.
Over the past few years, God has enabled me to compose several songs.  I believe the message of these songs has come from the Lord and will minister to those who listen.  By God’s grace, these songs have been recorded at a professional quality and are in the process of being mixed.  By the end of this month, this project should be completed.  I am planning on giving these CD’s away free of charge to anyone who is interested.  If you are interested in receiving a CD, please send me an e-mail and I will make sure you get one. 

The Riley Family African wish List:

We have added a wish list link to our webpage.  This is a list of all that we need before we move to Liberia.   You can see our wish list at liberiacalls.blogspot.com

Update from Christian:
Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you for supporting the ministry for Liberia.  We got back from Granny’s camp.  We were there for a week.  We had a lot of fun.  We played flashlight tag.  We played gold rush.  We did a relay.  We camped and stayed up very late each night.  We had tons of fun.  At times it didn’t go as planned.  And that is pretty much what is going on in my life.  I am praying that our house will sell.  We had a showing with 3 people.  We are praying that we can go to Africa soon.

Love, Christian

Update from Grace:
Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you for supporting us.  Now I think I should give back to you.  We just came back from Granny’s camp.  We played flashlight tag.  To play it, it needs to be dark.  There are 2 teams.  One team goes into the house while the other team hides.  When time is up, one team looks for the other team with flashlights.  At Granny’s camp we also played gold rush.  That was a fun game.  We have been praying that our house will sell and that we can go to Africa.  We are doing stuff like Africa people so we can prepare for Africa.  We have been sleeping on the floor and living like people in Africa.  I have gotten rid of most of my toys.  I have a few dolls, a blanket, and legos.  I wish I could keep my other toys but I just couldn’t.  I picked my favorite toys and the rest went to the garage sale.  It is worth it because we are going to Africa.  Thank you for supporting us. 

Love,

Grace
See you later!

Update from Donny (Prabhat):

I am going to Africa.  I want to tell people about Jesus.  Our whole family will live in Africa.  To get to our house we will have to go on a very long dirt road.  The road is bad, bad, bad.  In Africa we will see kids who do not have a family.  This makes me sad.  We will help them.  I want to be a servant.  Kim, Mom, and Dad will help start churches.  We will hunt alligators, monkeys, snakes and other animals to eat.  I want to tell people about Jesus. 

Update from Tommy:

Hi, I’m a missionary to Africa.  The roads are rough, rough, rough.  It is very hard to live but we are going to help many of the people.  Last month we went on a boat trip.  There was a ski tube that was hard to stand on.  My favorite part of the trip was going on a ski tube.  I love you and bye, bye.

Update from Mel:

Dear Family and Friends,
We are so thankful for all of your prayers and support.  Thank you so much!!  God is so wonderful and holy!! I am thankful that God is perfect, because I am definitely not; I am nothing.  The Lord has been reminding me of this. My heart’s desire is to simply follow Him in everything.  When God says, “Walk,” I want to walk.  When God says, “Wait,” I want to stop and wait.  When God says, “No,” I want to obey with no questions asked.  This is my heart’s desire.  I want to obey in the simple things clear through the big things.  So, as we continue to wait for our house to sell, please be praying that I will be able to do that in everything!  Also, please be praying that I will be conscience of my family needs, to be there for my husband and to take every opportunity to train the kids in the Lord.  We have a family saying, it is not about the destination but rather about the journey.  So, please be praying that we complete our journey in a way that is pleasing to our Lord. 

Thank you! Love in Christ, Mel

Story from Liberia:

Fighting the Enemy

“From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing and forceful men lay hold of it.”  Mat 11:12

We have animistic religion throughout Liberia.  Truly a Satanic church full of demons, witchcraft, witch doctors, sacrifices, rituals, power and spells.  Here they call it UBF, Secret Societies, The Tradition, and Zoe Bush.  It is organized and powerful.

This month an indigenous missionary team went on an evangelistic crusade.  The region they went to was a stronghold of Satan.  God worked powerfully at their meetings.  The meetings were attended by many from all over the region; the Holy convicting power of God was evident.  Many confessed their sins, repented, gave up the ways of Zoe Bush and accepted Christ.  The Gates of Hell rattled, Satan’s stronghold was attacked and he was angry!

On the return trip the team was in a taxi.  The car broke down.  The driver abandoned the car.  The team was alone in the bush in the car. Local villagers came to see about them.  They spoke their dialect but they didn’t know one of the team knew it.  They said that they were going to meet at 2:30 AM and kill those of the team.

Of course, they prayed.  All remained in the car, scared.  The team leader reminded them of the success of the past days and that God was surely with them.  Fortunately, they had phone network and were able to make phone calls.  They called a relative and told them the problem.  The relative was far away from them, scared and reluctant to help but finally agreed to find some other men to come along with him.

At 2:00 AM a gang, with machetes, started to gather around the car preparing to attack.  Moments later a car sped into view, bright lights on, horn blaring, people yelling.  The gang scattered. The team was saved.

Satan is alive and well, but the war is ours.  There will be causalities, but we shall prevail! Amen!

Thanks for your support in the war!

Villages, towns and cities we have been working in:

Sino County: Bardoua, Beatuoken, Bilibokee, Charlic, Cass Town, Chebioh, Cheboken, Dagbe, Deedo, Dejila, Deyankpo, Fanfin, Funnioh, Gbliyee, Gardoway, Greeneville, Geelor, Greft, Jalay, Jaytoken, Joazon, Jokoken, Judu, Karquekpo, Kilo, Korjayee, Kuwait Gold mining camp, Nyennwlejen, Pellkon, Pokpaken, Putu Jadweodee, Peace Camp (a gold mining camp), Pratt, Pynes Town, Qutatozon, Saygbeken, Seetor, Saybaken, Saydee, Senquene, Sennajalh, Titus, Voobadee, Wiah.  Grand Gheda County: Badou, Bah, Bargblor, Barte-jam, Bawaydee, Beezon, Beh, Bently Mining Camp, Best, Biah Tarway, Billibo, Boe,  Boley,  Border, Boundary, Chayee, Chebeh, Compound, CVI gold mining camp, Dian, Dolozon, Dougee Refugee Camp, Duo Town, Dweh,  48 mile, Franzaz, Garbo, Garley, Gbarbo, Gbeyoubo, Gbloue, Gboe,  Gboe Geewon, Gboleken, Gambo, Geeha, Geeyah, Gleplay, Gorbowrogba, Graddeh, Grady, Gwenebo,  Jaibo, James’s Sayon’s, Jargbeh, Jarwleh, Jarzon, Jayteken 1, Jayteken 2, Jellu,  Johban, John David, Jonesgbaye, Julutuzon, Karlowleh, Kohn, Kojayee, Konobo, Ziah, Kpae, Kyne, Kwebo, New York gold mining camp, Nico, Old Pohan, Panwolor, Pellelzon, Penokon, Peter Saydee, Pineapple village, Ploe Bodee, Polar Town, Polar Village, PTP refugee camp, Savah, Saylee, Sayubo, Sentrodu, Sewion 1, Sewion 2, Sinkon, Sloman (a gold mining camp), Solo Inside, Solo Outside, Solo Refugee Camp, Sowaken, Steven, Suahken, Taye’s Village, Tiama, Toes Refugee Camp, Toes Town, Toffoi, Togbayee, Tojillah, Toueah, Tuglor, Varglor, Vleyee, Whybo, Willie Jellu, Woloken, Wulu, Zarzar, Zaiyee, Zeon, Ziulay, Zwedru, the county prison, 4 road check stations, and the county hospital.  Montserrado County:  Monrovia.  River Gee County:  Cheboken, Dweaken, Fish Town, Fish Town Prison, Geeken, Jarkaken, Jaytoken 1, Jaytoken 2, Kanweaken, Klaboken, Podroken, Putuken, Sargba, Tartiken.  Bomi County:  Beh, Jaway, Joes Town, Tubmansburg.  Maryland County: Cain, Cavalla, Gbolobo, Dakay, Dannis, Dibleken, Factory, Fish, Gboloken, 6 locations in Harper, Holegrn, Judy’s, Kablaken, Lexicon, Little Weleppo Refugee camp, Middle town, Nekpachelu, Nemelken, New Half and Whole Graway Towns, Old Lady, Olegravic, Pedebo, 4 locations in Pleebo, Philadelphia, Poceken, Pulla, Refugee Village, Rock, Rubber Bag Camp, Saydeken, Sawlowken, Saywonken, Siliken, Warteken, Weah’s Town, Wechoken, Wuluplukredi, the county prison and check stations.  Nimba County: Beatwo, Camp 1, Dialah, Fienney, Freeman, Glalay, Gonkopa, Graie, Guotoin, Kpaytuo, Miller, Noway, Sarlay, Tappita, Towah, Unification, Venn, Wontoe, Yiteepea, Your Peg, Zarwulugbo, Zautuo.  River Cess: Darhga, Gbee.