On 3 September 2023, the Moravian Church congregation in Neugnadenfeld celebrated its mission festival. Many members of the congregation helped with the planning and practical preparations for the big day. This year the focus was on life in Palestine and the work on Star Mountain, the support centre of the worldwide Moravian Church. Niels Gärtner, who is also responsible for Star Mountain and knows the region and people, gave a presentation about life in Palestine in the face of military violence and political hopelessness and also preached the sermon. While the adults feasted on donated salads and sausages, the children could try out a variety of activities, including a mobile climbing wall. There was a lot of fun in the air on this sunny day. HMH would like to express its sincere thanks for the generous donations that were collected on this day: 4500 Euros. Thank you very much, Neugnadenfeld!

Traditionally, the annual "Berta Tag" is celebrated in Bad Boll on 03 October. On this day, the businesses of Bad Boll have the opportunity to present their diverse goods and offers. In addition to numerous culinary highlights, the street music festival also took place for the 2nd time this year. For many years, "Moravian Merchandise", the fair trade of Herrnhuter Missionshilfe, has also been represented on the Berta Tag. In addition to the products from the HMH project countries, the original "Herrnhuter Sterne" were again offered for sale. The event was very well attended in late summer temperatures. Fortunately, the forecasted storm did not hit Bad Boll until an hour after the stalls had been dismantled. Overall, the Moravian Merchandise team was pleased with a successful appearance at Berta Tag 2023.

In a recent appeal for donations by Arngeir Langås, Brødremenighedens Danske Mission, the sister organisation of Herrnhuter Missionshilfe in Denmark, shows the young Albanian pastor Dena Fortuzi at her first baptisms. Only a few weeks ago, Dena Fortuzi had been ordained and inducted as the Moravian Church's first indigenous pastor. She was assisted in the baptisms by Jørgen Bøytler (DK), the Unity Board Administrator. Baptised was church member Tereza with her two children. "I wanted my children to be baptised together with me so that we can follow Jesus Christ together," explained the mother of the children. The Moravian Church in Albania celebrated its 30th anniversary in the summer of 2023. More than 80 percent of its members are women, children and young people. From the beginning, it has been accompanied by the Moravian Church in Denmark in particular. However, Herrnhuter Missionshilfe also financed many projects and maintained contacts.

On 28 October 2023, the pastor and former employee of Herrnhuter Missionshilfe, the widowed Brother Hartmut Beck, will celebrate his 100th birthday in Königsfeld in the Black Forest. The jubilarian was active in south-western Tanzania for a total of 13 years and experienced the end of British colonial rule and the independence of the local churches there. From 1960 to 1965 he was the penultimate European President of the Moravian Church in Tanzania (initially "African Moravian Church"; from 1964 "Moravian Church in Southern Tanganyika"). The last European praeses in south-western Tanzania was Helge Heisler (1926-2017) from 1965 to 1968. Hartmut Beck became known to a wider circle of people through his still authoritative standard work on the Moravian Church mission, published in 1981 by the Erlangen Verlag für Mission und Ökumene: "Brüder in vielen Völkern - 250 Jahre Mission der Moravian Church" (583 pages).

On Thursday 21 September 2023, the 4th Brass Band Meeting of the worldwide Moravian Church began in Mentorskraal, Jeffrey's Bay, near Gqeberha (until 2021: Port Elizabeth). "People from three continents are still together until 24 September 2023 to produce the harmonious sound of beautiful brass music," reads the Facebook pages of the Moravian Brass Band Union of South Africa. "Approximately 300 men and women will perform for the grand concert on Sunday 24 September 2023 at 2.30pm." Already two days before the start of the brass meeting, the musical programme of the brass day was presented in the white hall of the Salem Moravian Church in Gqeberha by about 100 male and female brass players - locals and some guests. See here. Under whose prominent and international leadership the music for the big final concert and also for the church services will be rehearsed in the next few days is shown in this PDF file (with name, photo, short biography).

In another "Ahuas Spotlight" (Autumn 2023), the supporters of this small Moravian Church hospital on the structurally weak Honduran Mosquitia report on several long-term projects and also on more recent developments. See here. The latter includes the cooperation with the organisation "Habitat for Humanity". It says: "Six families in Mosquitia received new houses this year through Habitat for Humanity ... To optimise the use of funds, the new houses are built right next to the shelters of the partner families so that both families can use the same kitchen in a covered shelter." There is also cooperation with the mini airline "Alas de Socorro (Wings of Help) flight ministry". For 90,000 US dollars, an old "Cessna 206" belonging to the company is now to be brought to the USA and repaired there so that people and aid supplies can continue to be flown safely to remote areas.

The Board of World Mission of the Moravian Church in North America had asked the congregations in the USA and Canada to make 17 September 2023 another Moravian Day of Service. Not only, but also activities for the benefit of the worldwide mission work were thought of. Several congregations were involved in the Blessings Flow project, a clean water project that involved the assembly and packaging of simple water filters that will soon be used at Mosqitia in Honduras. In other congregations, the Moravian Day of Service was about packing food parcels for the needy in the neighbourhood and distributing parcels of protective items against the cold to the homeless. Letters of encouragement were also written to afflicted people, cake bazaars were held and community rooms were renovated. Pictures here.

The Synod of the Southern Province of the Moravian Church in North America recently passed a groundbreaking resolution: "In Moravian Churches and in fraternal organisations and ministries, youth ministry shall always be a priority so that youth and young adults can have their own weighty faith experiences and thereby be nurtured and strengthened - experiences both within and outside traditional fraternal church life." Now the Moravian Commission on Congregational Development and the provincial Youth Ministry Team are beginning to implement this resolution. Congregational leaders, elders' council members and youth leaders are invited to a four-part series of events on 1, 11, 16 and 26 October 2023. See here. This is about evaluating past experiences, but also about shaping the future, as one poster reveals: "Learning from Our Past to Shape Our Future".

The Moravian Church Mission Museum in Genadendal, South Africa, hosted the opening of a new special exhibition, From Rock Art to Fine Art, on 25 September 2023 - Heritage Day - from 9am to 2pm. See here. In the announcement of this event, the museum wrote: "Let us surprise you! Soon our museum doors will open to the world of art and culture. We can't wait to show you our treasures in this regard! There was live music, food stalls and also stalls selling various arts and crafts". The very old rock paintings preserved in South Africa are among the oldest such paintings in the world. See here. Some of these world-famous rock paintings - believed to be 8,000 to 9,000 years old - are located near the Moravian Church Wupperthal in the Cederberg Mountains. See here. Many scientists consider South Africa to be the "cradle of humanity".

The Moravian Church congregation Rhein-Main, with meeting places in Frankfurt a. M. and on the Herrnhaag near Büdingen, is making an online offer to all mission friends for Thursday, 26 October 2023, starting at 7 p.m.: At that time, an invitation will be extended to a "journey into the simplicity and warmth of our brothers and sisters in Ibungu, Tanzania". Fresh impressions and pictures from a recent partnership trip of the Moravian Church congregation Rhein-Main to the southwest of Tanzania will be announced by Pastor Katharina Rühe. To participate, please click on this link: https://app.bbbserver.de/de/join/1844509f-7b82-428b-84aa-44b235d8a4d4 or dial 1. telephone number: 02195 / 9449 964 and 2.) enter this PIN on request: 768 787 021. For more than 30 years the Moravian Church congregation Rhein-Main and Ibungu have been in partnership for mutual benefit.

The mission magazine of the Moravian Church in Denmark "BDM Nyt" (issue 3-2023) reports on page 12 about Nivard Gaudence Kasokota, a man with many talents in the mission station Kipili at Lake Tanganyika (Rukwa Province). He works as a secretary, driver, logistician and house craftsman, among other things, and says of himself: "My vocation is to fulfil the most diverse wishes. Problems are there to be solved. The most important thing is an open dialogue. I pay attention to every detail and with every problem solution I develop myself further." To solve problems, he has built up a network over time, which is an advantage for him. He grew up with his mother along with five younger siblings. After primary school, he trained as a carpenter and then worked as a teacher at the Moravian Church vocational training center in Kipili. He constantly continued his education. With his contacts to the church and its projects as well as to the local economy and politics, he has received a lot of recognition.

Brenna Jarrar, Director of Housing for the Autonomous Inuit Region of Nunatsiavut, Canada, had toured the former Herrnhut Mission stations of Nain, Hopedale and Happy Valley/Goose Bay in October 2022 with Marie-Josée Houle, Housing Minister of Canada. The report she prepared for the government said the housing conditions in the area were "abhorrent" and constituted a "human rights violation" and that she still had "nightmares". She says it was important for her to get a first-hand view of housing conditions in Labrador. Many houses are "an open wound that reminds us of the ugly side of Canada, of the colonial era". The Canadian federal budget promises Inuit additional funding of 11 billion Canadian dollars (EUR 7.62 billion) over six years; this includes 4 billion Canadian dollars (EUR 2.77 billion) for housing. More here.

There is an Inuit grave in the Moravian Church churchyard in London-Chelsea which until recently had a small stone on it with the inscription: "En Eskimo Child, departed 1900". It was later discovered that this was the grave of Sara Ubraha Uvloriak, who had arrived in London shortly before her death as one of more than 30 Inuit who had been "exhibited" in Paris on the occasion of the "Games of the Second Olympiad 1900". Although the Moravian Church had not initiated this exhibition, many of the Inuit "on display" belonged to the Moravian Church or were connected to the Moravian Church mission. Therefore, the Inuit child who apparently died on the "return transport" was buried in the churchyard of the "Fatter Lane Moravian Congregation" in London-Chelsea. On Friday 29 September 2023, members of the Moravian Church in London gathered to lay a new gravestone on the old grave, on which the name and exact dates of the life of the child who had gone home are engraved. More here.

The new training year has just begun at Bethlehem Moravian College in Malvern/St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. At this time, an annual college-internal Club Fair is held to showcase the clubs (i.e. work groups) that exist at the vocational training center and to advertise for participation in these clubs. In the past, these clubs have proven to be an excellent instrument a) to complement or also intensify the training offer across subjects, b) to bring older and younger trainees into contact, c) to remedy individual weaknesses in individual subjects and d) to generate top performances of the college in national competitions. A Facebook post on 21 September 2023 said: "We had a great turnout at our club fair this year. Many new apprentices joined a club or clubs. We also gave away nice giveaways. Yes, we had a memorable day." Some pictures here.

On 25 September 2023, the Moravian Church School Foundation in Suriname ("Stichting Onderwijs der EBGS") posted two job ads on its Facebook pages. See here and here. For the school year 2023/24, the Foundation is looking for directors for some of the 64 primary schools (grades 3 to 8 after two years of kindergarten). A new headmaster or headmistress for a secondary school is also being sought. The job advertisements say: "We are a fast-growing, ambitious, dynamic organisation that claims to be among the top in Suriname with its educational offerings." The schools for a total of about 13,000 students are located in all districts of Suriname. Most of the time, the foundation can also provide the teachers with a serviced flat - especially in the vast tropical interior.

On Sunday 24 September 2023, the Rev Angelica Regalado-Cieza, Director of Practical Mission Work on the Board of World Mission of the Moravian Church in North America, was blessed as a presbyter by Bishop Samuel Gray at Friedland Moravian Church. The service was consistently bilingual (English-Spanish) as the ordinand has a Latin American background. She lives in Winston-Salem/NC with her husband Ruben and their two daughters. Many participants in the service had a connection to the immigrant relief service Estamos Unidos, which Angelica Regalado-Cieza has been leading in Winston Salem/NC for several years. A greeting from the Board of World Mission in Bethlehem/PA was brought by Sylvie Hauser, Director of Communication and Organisational Development.

The theologian and historian Dr Gundars Ceipe, Riga, leader of the Moravian Church in Latvia, has just published a book about his grandfather Kārlis Ceipe (1910-1993), based on his own notes, with the support of the Latvian "Vēstures izpētes un popularizēšanas biedrība" (Society for the Study and Promotion of History). The book is entitled "Čekas šofera atmiņas - Kārļa Ceipes dzīvesstāsts" (Memoirs of a Cheka Chauffeur - The Life Story of Kārlis Ceipe). Kārlis Ceipe was a member of the Komsomol (communist youth organisation), a chauffeur for the Cheka (oldest communist secret service) and a soldier in the Soviet army; then chief censor and at the end of his life still a supporter of the revival movement in Latvia. The book offers the rare opportunity to look at drastic and also tragic events of the 20th century from a very special perspective.

On 14 October 2023, the Unity Women's Desk invites you to a very special event in Winston-Salem/NC at the "Old Salem Visitor Centre", namely a "Moravian Stars Celebration Dinner". Hundreds of original "Herrnhuter Sterne" in the colours green and purple were imported in advance of this event and assembled by volunteers. See here and here. These paper stars, made in Herrnhut, symbolise the human "stars": the many thousands of great women who give the Moravian Church its character all over the world and who will be honoured at the festive dinner. Three sisters from the worldwide Moravian Church will also be present in person at the dinner: Dorcas Wood from Honduras (here), Jheanelle Harvey from Jamaika (here) und Safie Braïma from Sierra Leone (here).

How rich are the rich? How poor are the poor? The Allianz Global Wealth Report (26 Sept. 2023) provides answers. It takes a close look at the wealth and debt situation of households in almost 60 countries around the world. The analysts assume that global financial assets - after the major crisis year of 2022 as a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine - will grow slightly again in 2023, by around six percent if everything works out. What has remained the same in all the years since the study began - and what is unlikely to change: Wealth worldwide remains very unfairly distributed. The richest ten percent worldwide have 85 percent of global wealth. The highest per capita wealth is found - as in previous years - in the USA, followed by Switzerland and Denmark. Germany has dropped to 19th place among the 20 wealthiest countries in 2023.