On July 14, Sb Ngaih Cin was installed as pastor of the Grand Rapids Myanmar Company of the Michigan Conference.
Cin will oversee the Grand Rapids congregation of 75 members and also a Group of 50–55 people that meets every Sabbath at the Battle Creek Tabernacle.
On July 28, Royce Snyman, Ministerial director of the Michigan Conference, officially introduced Cin at Battle Creek, along with his wife, Ma Aye, and their three children, Cady, Khai Khai and Sangpih; 12 new members also were baptized.
The group is originally from the Cin State in Burma (or Myanmar). Their ethnicity is Zomi and their language is Tedim, a language differing from their official Burmese because it’s written in the Roman alphabet. Recently, the group hosted an event in Battle Creek with more than 500 Zomis from different parts of the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, India and Burma. (See story on previous page.)
On Saturday, July 21, Bernard Mugarukira Karemera was officially appointed as pastor of the Elwell Church. This also is a rapidly growing congregation in the Grand Rapids area with a majority of the group refugees from Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi. This congregation speaks Kinyarwanda/Kirundi, along with Swahili, and close to fifty percent is fluent in French. They recently moved into a new facility at 33 Elwell Street, Grand Rapids, and every single Sabbath they meet to read their Bibliya Year (Holy Bible). They are extremely friendly and profoundly happy with Michigan Conference for the opportunity to have someone ministering to them in their native language.
As this is written, we are in touch with Pacific Press to explore the possibility of servicing their quickly growing need for literature. Thankfully, both congregations already have Sabbath School quarterlies in their languages.
At the Ministerial Department and the Multi-ethnic office, we are extremely happy to see the swift growth of these ethnical groups and congregations.
Daniel Scarone, associate Ministerial director, Multiethnic Ministries, Michigan Conference.
