Frank Dimmock - August 2018
Dear friends,
Greetings in the name of our wonderful savior, Jesus Christ!
In June I was back in Gambella, western Ethiopia, helping to facilitate two trainings in trauma healing with South Sudanese refugees. One of the pleasures of my work is being able to return to places I have been, to renew friendships and to encourage and share life with those living in the camps. I enjoy being in Gambella, seeing changes there and meeting many inspiring people. In the first training we used the newly developed audio trauma healing lessons that had been recorded in the Nuer language by a Sudanese American congregation in Tennessee. Over 80% of the more than 400,000 refugees are women and children. And many of them are unable to read the printed trauma healing material. Now they can listen to the lessons, share their own stories, and discuss with the trained facilitators in small groups. I worked with a trainer from the American Bible Society to train listening group leaders from each of the six camps in the use of the audio tool. It was such a blessing to see how all the pieces of this work, from translation to recording, to editing, to training came together through partnership facilitated by The Outreach Foundation to help people heal. ONLY GOD could have pulled this off!
The second training was in adult trauma healing. Together with those trained last November in children’s trauma healing, there are now training committees in each camp working with small healing and listening groups in many of the 32 parishes. I hope to return this November to complete the audio trainings and evaluate progress of the training committees in the camps.
During the November ’17 and June ‘18 visits I was given permission to visit several of the 16 preschools in the camps that have been initiated by the Presbyterian Churches and their education coordinator, John Jock Gatwech. More than 100 volunteer, undertrained teachers are providing early learning opportunities to thousands of children between 3 and 6 years old. Amazing! It is so important to the children’s development to provide safe learning spaces for play and social interaction. The Outreach Foundation is giving financial support for education materials and a small stipend to some of the teachers and helpers.
In July I represented Outreach at the New Wilmington Missions Conference in Pennsylvania. This is an annual event attended by many young people, mission workers and mission advocates. This was a wonderful opportunity to network and share stories of what God is doing in the world. It is inspiring to be with others passionate about mission and to realize that The Outreach Foundation is part of a dynamic mission movement.
Our Dimmock family continues to grow. Son Nathan and his wife had a new daughter in May. Son Moses is getting married in October. And daughter Jesse will deliver our sixth grandchild in a few months. By Thanksgiving we’ll be 19 in total! Jesse and her husband, Saul were commissioned with World Outreach (EPC) in June as missionaries. And daughter Katie’s lymphoma is in remission, for which we are deeply grateful. The four younger ones are continuing to grow up.
We encourage you to pray for sustainable peace in South Sudan. We share their cautious optimism for the peace accord that was signed on August 5th. Please consider giving generously to help bring healing and reconciliation to all the people of that region. One way to do that is to join our team of individuals and churches that pray regularly and financially support this ministry. The annual goal for our sending and support is $120,000. I would love to share this opportunity in person. Contact The Outreach Foundation to see how we can engage. We want you to pray and give and go with us! Let’s be in mission together.
May God bless you,
Frank Dimmock
Africa Mission Specialist
How to give:
1) Mail your gift designated “Dimmock support” to the Outreach office at the address below.
2) Give by credit card by calling the office at (615) 778-8881 or online HERE.
3) Click HERE to set up automatic recurring deductions from your checking/savings account through a process called Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT).
Read more about Frank Dimmock's ministry HERE.