Please pray that our missionaries will love and study God’s Word, have a strong prayer life, be filled with the Holy Spirit, be maturing spiritually and make progress over personal sin. Pray for good health for missionaries around the world as well as safety, stamina and a sense of priority.

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.James 5:16b (NLT)

Pray for missionaries children, their salvation and spiritual growth, their health and education. You can also pray that the missionaries family life will prove to be an excellent model for local Christians and the unsaved. And pray against the temptations that destroy families. Pray that our missionaries will have the stamina and understanding to demonstrate Christ cross-culturally. And finally, pray for the missionaries work and that their co-workers and directors appreciate and sharpen one another in good and healthy ways.

JIM & BARB LONGWORTH

Barb and Jim Longworth spent their first year of married life (1976) at Bembereke Hospital in Benin, Africa, where Jim was the Administrator. After which time that both took courses in linguists and literacy. When they went back to the field they returned to the Monkole work where they taught the people how to read and write their own language. Eventually churches grew out of the relationships they established with the people there. They continued in church planting, and in due time, daughter churches were born. Jim did administrative work, serving as a deputy to the Benin Director. In 1984 they moved to Niger, where Jim became Director of the area, overseeing approx. 300 missionaries and working with the National Churches and Leaders in Niger, Benin and Burkina Faso. Barb was active in the MK School during this time, both on school boards and teaching. In 1994, they returned to Canada to be the Atlantic Representatives for SIM. They continued to be involved with the fields where they had served on special assignments, and have taken teams to evangelize and do various projects. Their current interest as SIM Atlantic Directors is to promote and educate God`s people about missions. This ministry involves them with churches, Bible Schools and a growing number of prospective candidates. As the Lord opens opportunities, they plan to take short term ministry teams from this region, for service in variouss parts of the world.

Both of their children are walking with the Lord. Carol Jean is a teacher at Devon Park Christian School, and Don, and his wife Erin, and their little girl Haylie are also missionaries with SIM. Don and Erin have been working with the Monkole people in Benin. Barb and Jim are also very active in their local church, where they head up the “Celebrate Recovery” Ministry, and Jim serves as an Elder.

DON & ERIN LONGWORTH

Don was born in Benin and returned as a full time missionary to Benin in 2004.

Erin is a native New Brunswicker, who grew up here in Fredericton, She is a Registered Nurse a great mom and loving wife.

Don and Erin have 3 happy and lively girls who keep them on their toes: Mahayla, Mercy and Katelyn. The girls love fishing with Dad and cooking with Mom. Pray for them that they would grow to be passionate followers of Jesus.

Current circumstances have placed us in Canada for at least 2 years.

During this time we will continue with SIM in CCX(Cultural Connections) ministries. This new thrust in SIM is to reach marginalized and culturally diverse people groups that are becoming and increasing part of our urban society. Our goal is to partner with local churches to reach their communities and equip young disciples for outreach and ministry in their churches. We have a passion for the revival of the Church in the Fredericton area.

Don will continue with short term trips to Benin, to encourage and disciple young people and to lead short term teams as we wait on the Lord for his long term plans for us in Benin, West Africa.

MARCIO & DAMARIS GARCIA

Marcio Garcia was born in the tropical city of Santos, on the coast of Brazil. Marcio came to Christ at the age of 17 while attending a Word of Life Bible Camp.

During the second year of Mechanical Engineering studies, he committed himself to the Lord in a deeper way, establishing a preaching point in the place where he was living. He was encouraged by the fact that almost 30 people came to Christ during the next couple of months, most of them students from the universities around.

While teaching and preaching on a short term evangelistic program, Marcio made the decision to enroll in Bible college to improve his Bible knowledge. He had one goal in mind – to reach the ones who had never had a chance to hear the Gospel. He also met Damaris during that short term program.

In the first year of Bible College (1981), God gave Marcio a vision to reach the 2,000 remote coastal fishing villages of Brazil. In December 1981 he put a team from his Bible College together and helped them to go to a fishing area, to spread the Gospel for four weeks. Damaris, his girlfriend at that point, was part of the team and she got the vision for fishermen during that trip.

From that time on Marcio and Damaris worked part-time, helping to plant churches in several fishing villages for the next two and a half years. After they were married in January 1984 they began to serve full time. They ministered to fishermen who lived in Pedrinhas, a tiny fishing village with no electricity.

During the next few months they traveled 400 kilometres by boat along the region’s sea channels in and found 62 unreached fishing communities. This strengthened the burden in their hearts. At that time, only two couples worked in the ministry – Marcio & Damaris Garcia and James & Carmen Orr. Marcio began to dream and plan for a missionary agency with the specific goal of reaching remote fishing villages.

In 1985 Marcio started meeting with several strong believers, sharing his vision and plans for the future. In 1986 that group founded EMAF – Evangelical Mission for Assistance to Fishermen.

Since then, the work has been growing and developing in several different projects: church planting, children’s centers, social work, literacy centers, medical and dental care, a school, a rehabilitation center for the people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol, giving parcel foods and clothes, providing better houses for those under poverty, digging wells and many other projects. The ministry has also been a place for “catching the vision of missions” for people who worked in one or more of the short term programs held by EMAF. Some of those people are today missionaries in several parts or the world. About 1,000 believers have taken part in a short term team every year.

Marcio and Damaris live in Brazil and they have three daughters – Caroline, Juliana and Angélica.

LUIS & LILIANA CORTS