Mission Co-Worker Update FPCA-sponsored missionaries do God’s work around the world


Rev. Shelvis Smith-Mather visited FPCA and other Lehigh Valley venues from August 10 to 13 and preached from our pulpits on Sunday, August 11. He and his wife, Nancy, are among several FPCA- sponsored mission co-workers doing remarkable and important work around the globe. Here is an update on our church’s sponsored mission activities—including personal greetings from missionaries in Honduras and Greece with their responses to questions from Tidings exchanged through Sheila Clever, one of our church’s International Mission leaders.


30-plus years of war, and he learns from his students, who have been sent by their communities. People who come to RECONCILE are trying to work through major issues, so he listens and occasionally asks a helpful question.


Te goal is to see a peaceful South Sudan that can feed its people, develop its many resources, and have its people live healthy, long lives. Back in 2005, PC(USA) and its partners determined that literacy is a key factor. Nancy works with South Sudan Education and Peacebuilding Project to build literacy and also counsel children who need to heal.


Recently, partner organizations have worked to let Shelvis go to Oxford, England, to develop curriculum for a new university. RECONCILE will be one of the institutions at the university, as will Yei Teacher Training College, which was founded in 2001; there are five institutions in all. Becoming a university allows the learning institutions to pool resources and be a local (and cheaper) resource for education.


SHELVIS SMITH-MATHER: WORKING FOR PEACE IN SOUTH SUDAN


Shelvis Smith-Mather grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. Shelvis and Nancy went to the same high school, the same college, and also went to seminary together. After being ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), Shelvis served as a counselor in a youth detention center. Nancy went to Central America after her ordination.


Eventually, Shelvis convinced Nancy to return to the U.S. so they could get married. (Tey now have three children: Jordan, 6, Adalyn, 5, and Nicole, 3.) Soon afterward, though, Nancy learned about the PC(USA) Young Adult Volunteer Program and she convinced


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Shelvis to serve with her in Kenya. Tey stayed there two years. In 2011, the position for principal of the RECONCILE Peace Institute opened up in Yei, South Sudan. Shelvis found this to be a good fit for his passions and gifts, so Nancy and Shelvis moved to Yei.


South Sudan became a new country in 2011, splitting from Sudan, which had been a British colony until 1956. As the youngest country in the world, South Sudan had fewer paved roads than any country in the world. It has one of the lowest literacy rates and is the world’s worst place for a woman to have a baby. Yet many African countries are pulling for South Sudan to be a success because, the thinking


goes, “If they can make it, we can, too.”


RECONCILE was started by the New Sudan Council of Churches in 2003. Mission co-workers come to RECONCILE by invitation, and Shelvis is humbled by the caliber of people he gets to work with.


RECONCILE exists to bring former enemies together—which is what Shelvis does by organizing the 90-day training at the Peace Institute. Two tracks are available to students attending the Peace Institute: conflict studies and trauma healing. Using English, the official language of South Sudan, Juba Arabic, and sometimes yet another language, Shelvis helps build trust. He learns from his co-workers practical solutions for restoring a country after


When asked about how FPCA fits into his work, Shelvis mentioned how much it meant that we pray for them. Mission co-workers sometimes feel they are alone in doing their work, so it’s energizing to know that they are not. He also mentioned Skyping with youth who might want to know what is going on in South Sudan. As always, there is an invitation to visit, with accommodations at numerous hostels in the area.


One of the sayings in South Sudan is, “I was born in war, I grew up in war, I hope I don’t die in war.” Trauma from ceaseless violence has had a toll on the lives of everyone in South Sudan. Te country is a stew of many displaced people from many areas, who live near people they formerly called enemies — people who did terrible things. Te nation strives to learn how to live in peace. —Sheila Clever


NADIA AYOUB: SERVING REFUGEES IN GREECE


Tell us about yourself and the work that you do


I send hearty greetings in the name of our God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and give thanks to God, for he is love and promises to love us and be with us all the days.


I was born in Egypt to an Egyptian Christian family and came to be aware of my belief in Christ as my Savior at 10 years old. As a child, I loved the Protestant Evangelical church in Cairo and, by God’s grace, the Lord has kept me close and helped me to share my faith in many ways.


I finished my formal education with a BS in agriculture engineering, went to the Evangelical Teological Seminary in Cairo for a BS in theology, and worked in the Ministry of Agriculture in Giza. In my heart, I felt I would like to use God’s talent to serve the Lord, but it was not permitted to ordain women in Egypt. A short time after my graduation from seminary, the Lord opened the door to come to the USA, where I was introduced to the Presbyterian Church (USA) missionary service. I started serving in Kazakstan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and now Greece. In 2010, I was ordained with the PC(USA) in Elizabeth Presbytery, in New Jersey.


I came to Katerini, Greece, at the request of the Evangelical Church of Greece in Katerini. Te ministry of our Greek partner is faithful to the biblical call to welcome the stranger and works with refugees in Katerini through an organization called Perichoresis, which provides housing and support for 550 refugees. Te Evangelical Church of Greece is large in terms of commitment but its membership is small and its resources are limited. Its leaders requested that Presbyterian World Mission send a mission co- worker to help in this vital ministry. Because of my fluency in Arabic, I provide interpretation services and other types of assistance when refugees visit the doctor and go to other important appointments.


How do you carry out your work? What is a typical day like for you?


My days’ schedules vary, but in general I spend two hours or more as time permits studying languages through Bible reading in different languages — Arabic, English, Russian, Hungarian, Greek. Tis prepares me for what is coming in the day and equips me with answers for many questions I usually receive while waiting with refugees for our various appointments, and it strengthens my ability for translation.


Te rest of the day, I attend Greek lessons because the teacher needs some translation — and I learn, too. I answer the phone for any request for translating, such as [meeting] a repairman who visits housing, going with a refugee to hospitals in Katerini or Tessaloniki for serious illness or to a private doctor, or accompanying parents to a school to meet teachers. I also translate for different meetings like interpretation for immigration laws, fire drills, and introduction to the Christian faith. And sometimes I visit families who are having a crisis.


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