For more news from us please visit our site, http://shermanandkay.wordpress.com/,  to see what is happening in our lives now.

Thank you!

Sherman Critser

The funeral began at 10:00 a.m. at the church. Bishop
Nkansah’s wife Edith, dressed in white and raised up on the casket, was in the
center of the church and the congregation would pass around the casket and some
place reefs. Rev. Chin from Chicago and Rev Summers from Bloomington, Ill. were
there and officiated the service. It was very dignified and spoke of the great
hope we had in Christ and that death was not the end. Letters and emails of
condolences were read. It seems that in Ghana the family of the deceased
chooses a style of cloth to be worn in the traditional Ghanaian fashion. Everyone
wears the same cloth.

From the church we went to a grave site in Accra and the funeral took place there. I have been to many funerals in several countries and have seen many strange and bizarre activities at the occasions. However, this
was conducted very well and people did not lose control of themselves. The reefs were put into the grave and buried along with the casket.

As we were leaving another funeral was taking place and they were in the process of breaking up the casket! When we asked why they were doing this. They said it was to discourage grave robbers who try to get the
valuables! Most people seal the grave site with a cement cover to show honor and protect the casket. This group was obviously going to just cover it with dirt.

Sunday’s memorial was a ceremony of victory and rejoicing in the life of Edith Nkansah and the reward she was enjoying in her new home with the Lord. Brother Nkansah handled all this remarkably well. So did his family. Our sympathies remain with the family but we also rejoice that there is no longer anymore suffering. Brother Nkansah thanks you all for your support and encouragement through this time.

My return home was a bit more eventful and complicated. Abidjan is continuing to deteriorate. Here’s what I wrote the evening of my arrival in Abidjan.

“As I sit here in the place I am spending the night in Abidjan I hear, in the evening light, birds chirping away without a care, people are going about their business seemingly without a worry, vehicles continue to move here and there with the accompanying blasts of car horns but in the distance towards two of the sub-divisions of Abidjan there is the sound of war. Heavy weapons and small arms fire and the occasional explosion of
shells and grenades can be heard. This raged on for about 2 to 3 hours. Later in the night another half hour of this exploded into the night air. It seemed strange that life could go on as if nothing is happening and yet full scale fighting was happening within listening range.

I had planned on just heading on home after doing my shopping. It meant I would have arrived after dark. Because of the situation Kay and I decided it would be wise to take the risk. So I stayed. I just prayed that the situation would not get so bad that I would not be able to leave Abidjan for a few days. I received a phone call from one of our pastors encouraging me not to travel out the way that I had to go to get home. He had heard from a friend in Youpougon, a sub-division on the edge of town and through which the main high way passes, had said the road was closed due to fighting.

The following morning it was calm and I decided to finish my devotions and eat quickly and go ahead and try to make it through to the highway outside of town and continue on. Since I heard no shooting I thought it
would be alright. We had thought of alternative ways of getting to Yamoussoukro but none looked good. Just as I was finishing up packing things into the vehicle I heard shooting starting again. I just decided to go ahead anyway. The Lord blessed and I was able to get on out of town and home without incident.
Thank the Lord!

Last week youths, some of the “Young Patriots,” stopped vehicles and robbed the passangers of their belongings. They robbed a missionary friend of ours. All under the pretext of searching for arms. Yesterday solders opened fire on a group of women in a suburb of Abidjan killing 6, some say 8, and wounding over a 100. Talking about war crimes! President Gbagbos troops need to be held as accountable as Ghadafi’s.

We continue to do what we can here in Yamoussoukro. We had one night of fighting in a district of Yamoussoukro last week but it has been calm since. We struggle with maintaining a positive point of view. One of hope and trust in the Lord. Our knowledge of Christ’s Sovereignty and our emotions battle each other. This is a common experience in difficult situations, whether it is war, natural disaster or personal lose.

Continue to pray that the political impasse will come to an end and things will return to some semblance of rational behavior. Pray for the Northern part of the Ivory Coast as they have had their electericity cut off by the government of the south. They need the electricity to pump water. Pray that we will remain faithful and a source of encouragment to the church here.

Sherman

Our travel to the US

     We left the Ivory Coast just before Christmas for several reasons. Global Missions wanted Kay here for the Regional Coordinator meetings that took place last month in Oklahoma City at Mid-America Christian University. We would have waited until the first week in January but due to the situation in the Ivory Coast we left early for fear of not being able to get out when we needed and loosing the tickets. God blessed and enabled us to get to the airport in-spite of the political upheaval that was going on in the Ivory Coast. We do plan to return on the 8^th of February even though the situation there is no better.

 The Ivory Coast

     The Ivory Coast is in a state of political deadlock which is affecting every aspect of life in the Ivory Coast. With confusion over the election results in November we now have 2 presidents and neither one is willing to accept the results the other declares. The UN and many nations are backing the opponent president but the current president has all the power. So we are at an impasse. With this there is the possibility for civil war. Please be in prayer with us over this situation.

Our terminating our RC position

     One of the reasons that GM wanted Kay here was to say good-by to us as Regional Coordinators. We wished to return to our normal work as Missionaries full time in the Ivory Coast from the end of April 2011.  The RCs and GM Staff said farewell to us and reminded us of some of the memories they had of us the past six years, which in turn generated many good memories for us. One of the thoughtful gifts they gave us was this beautiful set of book ends. Please be in prayer for our return to our normal missionary activities

Thank you for your great support and prayers! May the Lord bless each of you this year in all that you do for Him!

In Him,

Sherman & Kay Critser

            Kenya’s Kima International School of Theology is another absolutely necessary tool in our arsenal towards this end.  It is currently going through a financial crisis and the needs are many. So far just enough funds have been found to keep the school afloat on a monthly basis with no cushion. Several steps are underway to correct past mistakes and to regain donor’s confidence.

            Last month I traveled to Kima to attend the graduation. There is a revived faith and hope blowing through the school. We are very optimistic about the school’s future. Even though the Board of Governors and the Board of Directors meetings along with the auditor’s report were grim there were many factors that generated a sense that things can be turned around. Policy changes are being put into place to insure this happens. Along with the new staff that has now come on Board we are very hopeful.

Dr. Ron Alta Ruthe  Jack working as interim Principal has done an admirable job in this difficult period. Jeff and Lisa Baltes organizational skills and David Baylors understanding of the financial matters (in addition to what he was really sent there for) are great blessings. We look for the arrivals of Rod and Jan Dormer and Ernie and Lori Nicholas later this year.

We would like to urge all past and present donors to KIST to renew their relationship with KIST and put their faith in this new direction. I am truly thankful for all they have done and are doing for KIST. Let us work toward giving it a new impetus towards supplying the leaders the church in Africa needs.  Thank you!

This fine institution is in need of help from all it’s supporters and anyone else who  believes in the need to train church leaders. As Regional Coordinator of the Church of God for Africa I would like to request your generosity towards this school that is in great demand from our churches and is a primary tool for enabling our churches to grow.

In “Make Today Count”, by John C. Maxwell, Maxwell says, “When it comes right down to it, the recipients of your generosity are never causes, institutions, or organizations. Ultimately, the recipients are individual people.” (p. 108)  As 2 Corinthians 9:12-13 says, “This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men [and women] will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Cherist and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.”

I have first had experience of this, first as a recipient of these generous gifts and secondly as one who has seen so many others touched by your generosity. Please help us keep Kima International School of Theology open!

If you would like to contribute to this need contact Don Smith at Global Missions of the Church of God, 1-765-648-2142, Dsmith@cichog.org and may the Lord bless you richly.