This year we look forward to maintaining our covenental relationship with David and Lorene Persons and Susan Henry. We have pledged to support the Persons and Susan Henry with our prayers, mail,
and $ 2,500 each.
You can help by sending a note letting our Missionaries know that they are in your thoughts and prayers! Their addresses are:
David and Lorene PersonsP.O. Box 22037
Kitwe, Zambia, Africa
e-mail: persons_mulungwishi@hotmail.com
Read the latest news from our missionaries - updated with a letter from Susie Henry.
Missionary News
Read more about the general background and information about Mulungwishi
Dr. David Persons is a United Methodist missionary of the General Board of Global Ministries serving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as dean and professor of Biblical studies and missions at the Faculte Methodiste de Theologie in Mulungwishi, Katanga. He is involved with training Congolese pastors for two annual conferences. He also the district missionary for Kambove District of the Southern Congo Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Dr. Persons is the district missionary for Kambove District of the Southern Congo Conference of the United Methodist Church. His responsibilities are working with Congolese district superintendents in evangelism, church planting, pastoral supervision and development projects. He has served as a missionary at Mulungwishi since 1979.
Dr. Persons is married to Lorene Bartlett Persons, who is also a United Methodist missionary at Mulungwishi. They have three children: Michelle, Andrew and Amber Joy.
Lorene Persons is a United Methodist missionary of the General Board of Global Ministries serving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She is serving as director of the Women's School of the Faculte Methodiste Theologie in Mulungwishi, Katanga.
Mrs. Persons also teaches courses in English, nutrition and sewing and works with the wives of the student pastors. Along with her husband, she is a district missionary for the church.
Patty and Charles Maddox are missionaries of the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church assigned as UMVIM coordinators in Haiti. Working with the Methodist Church of Haiti and the Caribbean Conference of Churches (CCC), they coordinate the work and financial resources for the Guest House and the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission program.
Patty previously served in West Africa with the Methodist Church of Ghana where she was a family and community worker in Suyani, working primarily with women. Of her assignment to Haiti, Patty says: "I believe God's mission is carried out by each f us being in the right place at the right time. Many times I have found myself not wanting to be in that place, at that time, but afterwards praising and thanking God that He gave me that opportunity."
During her tenure in Ghana, Patty reflects on a time soon after the death of her mother when she experienced God's spirit in a powerful way. "The Emmaus Community in Ghana decided I would be the Lay Director of the Women's Walk to Emmaus...I was totally unprepared and unwilling. I wanted to cry, to grieve, to feel sorry for myself. I did not want to be a persevering Christian," she says. But, "after I finished speaking, the secretary of the Conference put his arms around me and with tears in his eyes said I had spoken what every Ghanian pastor needed to hear. I do not have a clue as to what he was referring to. It is only important for me to remember his tears," she concludes.
A native of Island, KY, Patty holds membership in the Louisville Annual Conference and was involved with the ministries of Island United Methodist Church from 1982 to 1991. She served as church secretary, lay delegate to conference and a certified lay speaker. From 1992-93, she served as the Lay Speaker and Associate Pastor of Kirk Memorial United Methodist Church. She has also volunteered in local public schools as a 'teacher's helper' in an office that provided abused children with food and clothing, served as an aide to children with cerebral palsy and in many community soup kitchens.
Charles previously served as a teacher and vocational trainer in Ghana, West Africa. In partnership with the church and local people in Ghana, he taught hands-on building skills. He also had leadership in opening a new trade school in Sunyani.
Charles says, "I believe that if I can make the work of the) Volunteers in Mission in Haiti move smoothly, then they can have a good experience and God's mission will be known."
A certified lay speaker and lay pastor from the Louisville Annual Conference, Charles is a former "Volunteer in Mission" team leader and member from Kentucky. He has served as the International and National Coordinator of Volunteers in Mission for the Louisville Conference.
Charles reflects: "On a VIM trip to Haiti, I discovered something about myself. When I first arrived I was moved with a feeling of pity for the people, but soon realized that it was not pity, but compassion. The difference being that with compassion I wanted to be with the people in their suffering, when you have pity you are content to stay on the outside of that suffering."
A native of Kentucky, Charles attended the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and has studied at the University of Kentucky in a non-degree program. He has served on numerous committees and positions in his local church and at the district and conference level.
Charles and Patty have three adult children, Robbie, Michele, Michael and two grandchildren, Jacob and Tyler.
