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