Today I handed over 5 Kindles for delivery to Monterrey, Mexico. These are the first Kindles to go to Mexico. It is blessing to have partners who see a need and request Kindles for men they know in Mexico. This ministry is not possible without men on the ground in other countries who take responsibility for  the delivery of Kindles to the leaders who can most use them.

We as a team spent a week in Haiti from July 14 to 21. The main goal of our mission trip was to train Haitian pastors. Many of these pastors have limited theological training and fewer are trained in practical reformed theology.

Last year we started teaching them materials from 9Marks. Last year we taught them the first 6 of the 9Marks. This year we finished the last 3 of the 9Marks, church membership, church discipline and church office.

On the final Sunday I had the privilege of preaching and handing out Kindle HDs to the church leaders. These Kindles contain the videos of the training sessions we did during the week. This is one of StudyToBeApproved goals to train the trainers. They can use these videos and train others. Below a picture of me and the leaders who received Kindles.

It was an absolute privilege to be able to come over to Haiti to train these pastors in specific areas that could help to make a positive difference to their church experience. Before coming over, we already knew that they lacked in resources that we take for granted, so we thought that it would be hard for us to achieve the goals that we aimed for. But we were wrong. Their willingness to learn and improve their churches made it a pleasure to teach them.

For us, we had to raise some vital funds to allow us to make the trip over to Haiti in the first place. So, we decided to host a lot of fundraising events, like the ones you can find at places similar to GoFundMe, to see if people would help to contribute to the change that we can make to countries like this. And low and behold, it worked. Without those vital and generous donations, this trip wouldn’t have been possible. I just hope that we have the opportunity to come again, so we can see how these pastors have adapted to what we’ve taught them.

It never ceases to amaze me how well received the Kindles have been in Uganda. We take so many things for granted here in the US but a gift of a Kindle with 150 books is considered an overwhelming gift.

Jacob recently gave a key Christian leader (who has held political offices and who recently retired here to Moyo and is doing some ministry here) a Kindle. The man just spontaneously started hugging Jacob over and over stating that the Kindle is THE BEST GIFT he has ever received in his whole life! Jacob kept saying,”I’m just the messenger!” So…consider yourself hugged by a giant Ugandan!

We will be leaving on Monday for Haiti. During this time we will be teaching Haitian Pastors. Please be in prayer for our ministry.

We will also be handing out Kindle HD to the key pastors. We are attempting something new. We are going to video all of our sessions and leave each of the key pastors with a Kindle with the recorded sessions.

We will keep you updated after we come back from Haiti.

This is from a Christian worker in Uganda.

I have for some time now wanted to own a Kindle or an iPad. I was delighted and grateful to God, when I received a kindle from Pastor Conrad Mbewe, who was simply a channel of blessing. The kindle was a generous gift from a brother in the USA, who donated 10 kindles to be given to Pastors in Zambia, and I was one of those beneficiaries.
One of my favourite activities in the world is to linger in a bookstore, picking up new good Christians books and old titles and reading a few pages here, a few pages there. One thing that I realized shortly after getting to know about Kindles was that this thing is a bookstore — one I can step into at any time of the day or night.

Now that I have a kindle, I absolutely adore sitting down to read, and checking out a new book I heard about — without paying a cent and without even using two hands!
May God continue to bless you, and your family?

Yours In His Service
Chipita Sibale

2013 was the year of beginning this ministry. What started as fulfilling a dream of a ministry in South Africa to provide Kindles to Christian leaders has spread to 5 countries and 5 different ministries.

Here is a summary of the Kindles that are being distributed:

• South Africa – 12 Kindles
• Zambia – 10 Kindles
• Kenya – 5 Kindles
• Northern Uganda – 68 Kindles
• Cuba – 10 Kindles
• Southern Uganda – 10 Kindles

We distributed 115 Kindles this year. These were sent through ministries that a resident in the countries. They distribute the Kindles to other Christian workers in the country.

We also increase the number of books on the Kindles from 30 to 160. The international distribution of the eBooks worked great. We are able to update the Kindles as long as they have access to a wireless hot spot.

We thank the Lord for all he has done for us this year.

The following comment came from a pastor in Uganda:

We are very excited about what the Lord is doing in Northwestern Uganda. I will never forget what one Yumbe pastor said and wrote to me, “We had thought God had forgotten about us and we know now He has not”. Your Kindle ministry is part of God’s plan in spreading His fame in a much neglected area.

Of course, we are lucky that we have the opportunity to visit a church when we want to because there are so many worldwide to choose from. Some people even venture out far and wide to attend a church service because this has been made possible. The online donations that people can make to their religious establishments are remarkable, especially when you look for methods via somewhere like Tithe.ly to provide people with another means to donate. This money can go towards the services of the pastor, as well as making sure that the building remains in a stable condition for services. Unfortunately, there are other countries that don’t have this luxury.

We take for granted having the resources to buy books anytime we want them. The average pastor has hundreds of books. In Uganda there are pastors who have their Bibles and a couple of books. Their most important capability is to be able to read and study in English. All of Southeastern Africa needs to be flooded with Kindles. These men should not lack having good study materials.

What we take for granted they strongly desire. Let us not forget them.

With the help of sites such as monergism.com, Desiring God, generous donations from 9Marks and other sources we can now offer 148 books on the Kindles for African pastors.  Many of these books are miulti-volune sets so the number of actual books may be near 200.

How many books is this. Picture your typical standalone book cabinet that is 6 feet tall, 3 feet wide and 6 shelves full of books. This is how many books we are sending to the pastors. I cannot imagine shipping this many books and having the pastors maintain auxh a physical library. Thank the Lord for digital books. These men now have a full library to assist them in their study and own spiritual growth.

Here is the list of books we are supplying:

If you know of a source of good digital (Kindle format) books that we can obtain for free please email [email protected] with the information.

The following is an excerpt from Jacob and Carol Lee’s newsletter:

Godfrey, who has been undergoing a mentoring process here at RAU and an intense time of study, is nearly ready to make his move to Obongi.  He is truly excited, not only about the Word of God, but also about being able to be a part of the milestone outreach to this unreached area.  Jacob has so enjoyed helping to equip Godfrey in different ways and has had great conversations with him. Last night, after having had some time to read in his new Kindle, loaded with over 100 Christian books, Godfrey came inside from the veranda, nearly giddy, and stated, “You know, God gave Adam this beautiful garden with all kinds of fruits for him to enjoy.  What God gave Adam in the garden, you have given me in this Kindle!”  Awesome!  Thank you, Delmar Hager, for your vision and provision of this most excellent tool for pastors!  The fruit that the Kindles, as well all the Christ centered books given out, will bear in eternity cannot even be contemplated now!  Thank you to all who have been a part of providing Bibles and books to enrich pastors. We look forward to seeing the harvest of wisdom in Godfrey through the resources he has been given and planted within him. Pray for him as he leads a new church in the center of Muslim dominated Obongi. Pray for us as we seek to encourage him and assist this church plant which has only new converts.

This is ground zero for the ministry. Pastors who are given resources to study and serve the Lord. I thank the Lord for Jacob and Carol Lee who are on the ground in Uganda. They are the conduit that make this ministry so effective.

We have fulfilled a request to send Kindles to Zambia, Africa. 10 Kindles were sent to this country with the prospects of sending many more in the future.

This group of Kindles included the 65 new books we are now distributing. The Monergism.com site gave a list of good books that are free for the Kindles. I was able to download 65 additional books. The books are no longer copyrighted and are available in the public domain. If you were to print these books it would cost over $1500. What a blessing to include these books on the Kindle for these pastors.