Month of May, 2013: I was in Shreveport- Bossier Area, my hometown, for renewing my Ethiopian Visa, visiting supporting churches and individuals and also family and friends. Meanwhile, back home in Mekele, Ethiopia, Mesi held down the fort, assisted by a Nigerian couple, Abba & Lydia, who serves and worships with us faithfully. While in the USA for almost one month, I experienced a great outpouring of church care in regard to our ministry in Ethiopia.

Especially since Mesi is pregnant and very near to giving birth (due in August), the blessings we received from the f o u r c h u r c h e s represented on this page were timely and very much apprec iated . Receiving instructive books on childbirth, c h i ld - r e a r i n g a n d parenting, as well as tangible gifts in cash, c lo th i ng , p re na ta l vitamins, and more, we feel confident to see the birth of our child right here on the field where we live. Mesi and I just want to say THANK

YOU!!! to the churches for the loving care flourished toward us! At this time, Mesi is happy, healthy, and in her ninth month of pregnancy. For your comfort of mind, I also want to rejoice that God has providentially provided us with fellowship with a handful of health professionals here in Mekele who worship with us each Lord’s Day. We are getting great advice and loving care from all sides! DM

JOY… IN CHURCH CARE

Last Call Ministries July 2013

Issue XI

Church Care Cover

KBLG 2

The Real Deal 2

Married. . . 3

Unexpected Corners 3

Contact Info 4

Tech-savvy 4

Inside this issue:

Special points of interest: How do I approach

people to witness to them? Tech-savvy, Pg. 4

Establishing a listening group...a heart language ministry, Pg. 2

Update on our TBS Ministry to the Orphanage: the Director is married!! Pg. 3

Quarterly:Doug & Mesi Central Baptist, Bossier City

REDEEMER COMMUNITY

… your care of me has flourished again… ~Philippians 4:10

South Koreans! They are a joy to know, and especially those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Far from their churches and familiar surroundings, Korean Christians working and volunteering in Mekele, Ethiopia have become good friends and ministry partners for me and Mesi. Meanwhile, English as a working language for them is still not their heart language. Mesi & I have encouraged the Korean

Christians who worship w/ us on the Lord’s Day to begin a weekly Korean audio Bible Listening Group. This was met with a hearty response, and while it is now only a few who meet to sing, pray and listen to God’s Word in the Korean language, we are expecting a larger group of Koreans to come to our city We are praying that God may use this act of Christian obedience to draw those Korean volunteers who

don’t know God’s message, to hear of and believe in Jesus Christ our Savior. With two of our Korean friends, who are also the other two constituents of this effort, leaving Ethiopia soon, the sole hostess of this venue, Eun-ji (Sally), needs your prayers for much grace as she opens her home to be a haven for the gospel of Christ! May the Lord be pleased to use us for His glory as we minister to Koreans in Ethiopia. DM

country, because ex-pats are dif fe rent , and altogether because of sin in the human heart. Ex-pats like the Koreans are often targets of pick-pockets, con-artists & thieves. Many of the Koreans have had their cell phones lifted, and one Korean compound was robbed twice this year.

Another reason I want you to pray for Sally & other Koreans who volunteer in Ethiopia has to do with the stark reality of the world. Ex-pat volunteers & workers are often unappreciated, m i s t r e a t e d , a n d disrespected constantly due to a lack of ethical understanding in this

This happens to other ex-pats, also, but as Sally opens her home for the gospel & comfort, I want you to know how to pray for her & the other internationals to whom we minister! Your prayers are essential to our success in reaching many who are repressed all around us! DM

Small Beginning: Great Expectations

The Real Deal “Eun-ji (Sally) needs your prayers for much grace as she opens her home to be a haven for the gospel of

Christ!”

Page 2 Quarterly: Doug & Mesi Issue XI

L to Rt: Eun-ji (Sally), Mesi, Doug, Jeong-min (Alem)

“Married with (Lots of) Children”

God’s Way: Unexpected Corners...

Fikre Assefa is the Director of HAB, the Organization that is the basis for the Orphanage at which we conduct our weekly TBS (Truth Bible Study) programs. For some time now, we have prayed that God might lead him to a good Christian woman to whom he might be m a r r i e d . W e ’ v e encouraged the children to pray for him also. Sunday, July 14th, Fikre

was married! Our TBS Group was invited to attend as special guests of the wedding reception. The wedding was excellent for many reasons. Fikre was my best man when I married Mesi. Also Mesi was secretary of his orphanage when we met 8 years ago! This is also a superb event in Fikre’s life that supplements well what we teach the children. Marriage is a creation

ordinance, established by God. This will edify well teachings about true love, Christ and His Church, faithfulness, and what it means to mature in their community with a Christian worldview. Therefore, we celebrated very heartily with Fikre, his new wife and his many children from the orphanage, all full of happiness & excitement at this blessed and encouraging event. DM

times, our dependence upon the Lord was felt more closely. In answers to prayers, God through His way would supply our needs from unexpected corners. Such was the love offering to our ministry of a woman from Congo from whom we have recently received help. Many thanks to Doudou Mondaoko, sister of our friend in C h r i s t , B i j o u Mondaoko. Bijou was instrumental in 2012 in helping us obtain this laptop on which I am working right now! We are so thankful for the

Ministering to, not only Ethiopians, but also ex-pats, we have often been blessed by those who would commit to giving a tithe or offering to us during their stay in Mekele, to help us with the many needs of ministry. This has helped us to expand and reach more of the poor & needy with God’s blessings. Upon the departure of these ex-pats, however, we accept that what was previously being given goes with the cheerful giver to another place of ministry. At those

provisions God has provided in His way of supplying all our need: Unexpected corners—evidence of God’s riches in glory by Christ Jesus. We used this offering in two ways: (1) to purchase flour for distribution to the poor, and (2) to purchase 24 SD Memory Cards on which we are able to copy the audio file of the New Testament in Tigrinya & other languages for distributing to those with smart phones. Glory to God for this enlarged capacity of reaching the world with the name of Jesus Christ! Thanks be to God for this gift! DM

“….a superb event in Fikre’s life that supplements well what we teach the children.”

Page 3 Quarterly: Doug & Mesi Issue XI

About LCM: Last Call Ministries is a 501c3 Organization which

began in 1997. Its inception rose out of a growing fellowship of

believers interested in gospel evangelism primarily within the inner

city of Shreveport, Louisiana. Currently LCM partners with several

gospel mission works around the world, including Brazil,

Kazakhstan, Moldova, Mexico, & Bayou Du Large (S. Louisiana).

LCM is currently sponsoring Doug & Mesi, who are commissioned

by their home church: Heritage Baptist Church in Shreveport,

Louisiana. All monies received are currently in the support of the

budgeted work underway in Mekele, Ethiopia.

To Support: PO Box 4203, Shreveport, LA 71134 USA

To Contact: Phone: 318-458-9602; Email: joespell@keptprivate.com

To Correspond w/ Doug & Mesi: PO Box 1944, Mekele, Tigray, Ethiopia; Email: dglsmerrick@yahoo.com

Everyone, even urbanites in the third world, are sporting smart phones. The open window is this: the Holy Scriptures, text or audio, can be uploaded to a tiny memory card that fits inside the smart phones. Most people, if you notice, are handling their smart phones incessantly. Handing someone a book is a great thing to do, no doubt. But in our age, most people are warmer toward tech-friendly materials. A great gift to give here is an SD memory card loaded with God’s Word in audio. With audio files in Amharic, Tigrinya, Chinese, Sudanese Arabic, Tagalog, Korean, and more, Mesi & I are tech-savvy with the Divine

Upon my trip to the US, LCM Director Joe Spell suggested we visit a ministry in New Mexico called Faith Comes By Hearing. One of our close partners in ministry, JR Bucklew and his wife Feven are there overseeing FCBH’s deaf arm of ministry, in which they promote the Bible in visual, digital format for smart phone apps and other devices to missions ministries across the globe. We were blessed to see our friends again! One of the greatest benefits of this trip was learning about sharing the Scriptures to a tech-armed 21st Century .

Word of God, and putting those Scriptures within arm’s length. Please pray as locals and ex-pats begin to listen to the word of God in their own tongues all around us. DM

Tech-savvy with the Divine Word

Last Call Ministries

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