In July, T2S along with the partnership of local churches and Equipping the Saints ministry began gathering new and used Bibles in order to ship them to Sierra Leone. The Bibles are then collected at the port in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, and distributed where most needed. Our national partners are also transporting a portion of the Bibles into Liberia where the need is also great. The picture above is of newly baptized believers in Sierra Leone holding English Bibles that had just arrived from the U.S.

In the last six months alone, there have been over 4,000 new believers, 900 baptisms, 2,100 new disciples in training, and 63 new churches planted in Sierra Leone and Liberia through Tree of Life training. With this kind of growth, there arises an immense need for Bibles. There is little access to God's Word in these two countries, especially in the more remote areas. Many master trainers and pastors do not have a full copy of Scripture with both the Old and New Testaments. Many are falling apart with whole passages and books missing. The recent shipments of Bibles collected from local churches has been a wonderful blessing for the Church of these two countries. 

Our current goal is to ship a pallet a month for the next year. A pallet contains about 800-1,100 Bibles. We hope in the next year we can gather and send 12,000 Bibles into Sierra Leone for distribution. If your local church would like to be a part of this effort, please contact us at joe.training2send@gmail.com.  

Since 2020, two master trainers have been working in Kenema, Sierra Leone and have seen substantial growth of believers. As a result, there has been growing tension between the Muslim community and the Church as many have left Islam to follow Christ. 

On July 27th, the church in Kenema had a gathering to celebrate an elementary school graduation which was open to the village. During the celebration someone poisoned the food, resulting in the death of two believers and over seventy hospitalizations. While this happened, the doctors were on strike, severely complicating an already tragic situation.

The medical system in Kenema requires the patient to pay before treatment; therefore, there was a serious need for funds to help with medication as well as food for the believers who were still seriously ill. The financial need given us by our national partners was quickly met, as our partners in the U.S. answered the call and responded. Due to the help from our local churches, we were able to meet all the needs of the church in Kenema. We are very thankful for those who gave, and we will continue to meet whatever needs may arise. As we see the growth and multiplication of the Church, persecution will surely follow.  

Above is a picture of the staff of Equipping the Saints www.etsusa.org, a local ministry that has been such a blessing to T2S, the work in West Africa, and across the world. Our last newsletter shared the need of 4,000 training manuals for Sierra Leone and Liberia. The national trainers had been printing their own manuals; however, as more disciples began taking the training, our national partners could no longer meet the demand. Equipping the Saints stepped in and covered all expenses. The manuals have now been printed and will be shipped to Sierra Leone within the next few weeks. Equipping the Saints has supplied tens of thousands of Bibles around the world. Their partnership has been and will continue to be essential for the furtherance of the Gospel in West Africa. 

We would also like to give a special thank you to Shenandoah Heights Baptist Church in Waynesboro, VA. SHBC has been partnering in the Gospel work in West Africa before the formation of T2S, and has funded training in three different West African countries just in the past two years. They have never turned down the opportunity to fund national trainers/missionaries to train disciples across West Africa.

We want to thank all those, both individuals and churches, who have given for the advancement of the Gospel in West Africa. We have been humbled by the outpouring of support and partnership alongside T2S and our brothers and sisters in the Great Commission. These verses encapsulate T2S's calling and your obedience to send these workers. 

"Dear friend, you are being faithful to God when you care for the traveling teachers who pass through, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church here of your loving friendship. Please continue providing for such teachers in a manner that pleases God. For they are traveling for the Lord, and they accept nothing from people who are not believers. So we ourselves should support them so that we can be their partners as they teach the truth" (3 John 1:5-8 New Living Translation).