wfn.org | Worker shows character of mission

[BethAH@mbm.org]

March 28, 2001
Beth Hawn
Mennonite Board of Missions
(219) 294-7523
<NEWS@MBM.org>

March 28, 2001

Worker from Brazil shows international character of mission

ELKHART, Ind. (MBM) – Norma Teles stood in front of the world map
during a Mennonite Board of Missions luncheon in her honor,
bringing three continents together.  As a South American mission
worker in partnership with a North American agency that works in
Europe, Teles illustrates the new wave of mission activity that
flows in many directions around the world.

Teles brings together more than continents.  She first discovered
Albania in 1994 when she participated in a Youth With a Mission
ministry there.  She is now sponsored by the International
Mennonite Mission Board (JMMI), which has seconded her to
Virginia Mennonite Board of Missions.  JMMI is the mission agency
of the Evangelical Mennonite churches in Brazil.

All Christian ministries in Albania work under an umbrella
organization called the Albanian Encouragement Project.  “I have
a lot of bosses,” laughed Teles.

Her history is also a rich collage of denominational
affiliations.  Soon after Teles was born, her parents, who had
been nominal Catholics, became serious about their faith.  Her
father later became an Assemblies of God church planter.

In 1990, while she was training to become a nurses’ aide at a
technical school in Recife, Brazil, Teles began attending a
Mennonite church because “it was close to where I lived” and
because the church accepted “my children.”  Teles’s children were
11 street kids whom she welcomed into her home as part of YWAM’s
ministry in Brazil.

Abe and Chris Buhler, former mission workers who were jointly
appointed by the Commission on Overseas Mission (General
Conference Mennonite Church) and MBM, helped to plant the Lagoa
Encantada congregation where Teles is a member.  They were
impressed by Teles’s energy and Christian commitment.

YWAM was forced out of Albania due to political tensions in
1997.  Teles returned to Brazil and took up her previous ministry
to street children under YWAM.  She shared her stories of mission
in various congregations at a time when the Brazil Mennonite
Church was also feeling God’s call to go beyond its national
borders.

Albania continued to tug at Teles’s heart.  After two years, she
told the pastor of Lagoa Encantada about her desire to return to
Albania.  He encouraged Teles to make Mennonite connections and
to go back to Albania as a mission worker sent by the Brazilian
Mennonites.

Teles knew that there were Mennonites in Albania.  She wrote to
VMBM.  Willard Eberly, Mediterranean regional director, responded
to Teles’s letter by asking if the Brazil Mennonite Church had a
mission board that could sponsor her.

“God’s timing is truly amazing,” said Teles.  “In April, when I
wrote the letter, the Brazil Mennonite Church didn’t have a
mission board.  But by the time I wrote back to Eberly in July,
there was!”

The Lagoa Encantada congregation has about 70 regular attenders.
Most of them live in low-income housing projects.

According to Abe Buhler, the English translation of “lagoa
encantada” is “enchanted lake.”  “The congregation was named for
a little puddle that has since become one of the main canals of
the Recife sewer system.  It is a pretty smelly location,” he
said, “but the name symbolizes the transformational power of
seeing the potential of all things.”

Though poor in material possessions, Lagoa Encantada contributes
significantly toward Teles’s support.  There is a strong prayer
network and many people give sacrificially of their meager
incomes.  After work, they also sell fruit on the beaches to
raise extra money, which is channeled through JMMI.

There are 31 Mennonite churches throughout Brazil that make up
JMMI’s constituency.  In addition to Teles, the Brazilian mission
agency has supported Joăo, Rosa and Keren de Brito in Mozambique
since 1999.

In Albania, Teles works with children and youth in the Lezhë
Mennonite church, a congregation of 25-30 people.  She helps to
organize vacation Bible schools, summer camps and after-school
clubs, as well as English and computer classes.

“At first, many parents, even the Muslims who represent 70
percent of the country’s population, encouraged their children to
attend church activities because there weren’t other fun
possibilities,” said Teles.  “However, when the kids decided they
wanted to follow Jesus, their parents would pull them away from
the church.”

Mennonites first entered Albania with food and clothing relief in
1993, two years after the demise of the Communist regime.  A
nucleus of a church was formed in 1994 but didn’t grow due to the
flood of emigration.

“Albanians say that the only way to survive within the country is
to have a family member on the outside sending money back to
them,” Teles reported.

In order to provide an income-generating alternative to
emigration, the Mennonite Church began to promote the
construction of greenhouses in Lushnja where tomatoes, lettuce,
cauliflower and carrots can be grown.  Lushnja is a smaller town
about three hours from Lehzë where the second of two Albanian
Mennonite churches is located.

“Albanian men don’t like to come to church, but since they have
begun working with the greenhouses, the church is full of men,”
said Teles.  “It is wonderful!

“Everything about the Christian message is new in Albania,” she
continued.  “Peace, grace and forgiveness are all difficult
concepts.  The Communist slogan was ‘Live, die and kill for your
country.’  This reinforced the centuries-old Albanian concept of
blood revenge between families.  Every church is a peace church
whether it be Baptist, Assemblies of God, Pentecostal or
Presbyterian.  The gospel of peace is good news in Albania.”

This is Teles’s first visit to North America.  “I’m happy to be
able to visit my coworkers’ families and see so much space for
each family,” she said.  “In Lezhë, like in Brazil, people live
on top of each other.  I needed this experience to help me
understand [the American desire for privacy].”

Following her North American visit, Teles will spend three months
in Brazil before returning to Albania for another year.  Beyond
that, the future is uncertain.  What is certain, though, is that
Teles will continue to be part of God’s transforming work,
envisioning enchanted lakes where only smelly puddles meet the
eye.

* * *

Lynda Hollinger-Janzen      PHOTO AVAILABLE