THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 9, 1995 TAG: 9502080218
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TRUDY CUTHRELL, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
FOR SOME PEOPLE, reaching the grandparenting stage of life means well-earned rest and recreation. Not Libby Von Fange.
This mother of six and grandmother of 15 is busier than ever in her senior years - investing time, talents and energy in mission work around the globe.
Von Fange, widowed nearly 10 years ago, said it remained a ``desire of my heart to continue to be used of God.''
She has traveled to Jamaica as a Mercy Ship staffer; to Taiwan with Youth With A Mission; to Africa with Compassion International; and to Moscow for two John McDowell CareLift projects.
In October, Von Fange took a two-week journey to the Commonwealth of Independent States with Every Home for Christ, a worldwide ministry based in Colorado. Its goal is to take a gospel tract for a child and adult into every home on Earth.
``This is one of the most exciting ministries I've ever taken part in,'' she said.
The October trip, involving a nine-member team, spearheaded a Christian leadership conference that included stops in Moscow and Ohmsk, Russia, and Almaty, Kazakhstan. Its major thrust was training about 160 pastors and church leaders.
Von Fange led a children's ministry workshop, in which she talked about ``gospel bracelets.'' The wrist bands, made with seven color-coded beads on leather string, tell the story of the Christian faith.
They are ``a wonderful tool for sharing a clear explanation of the gospel,'' she said. She and her teammates took 50,000 gospel bracelets, from six American states, on the trip.
Children and adults from Grace Fellowship, Von Fange's home church in north Suffolk, put together 3,500 of the bands, and more than 1,000 bracelets were made by elementary students at StoneBridge School in Chesapeake.
Most of the bracelets were divided among pastors and leaders at the conference to distribute throughout their home regions. Others went to children in orphanages visited by the American team.
At the close of the event, Every Home for Christ gave each conference student a $100 Bible course book in their language, a gift from Christians in America.
In Kazakhstan, Von Fange met Victor Kondratev, a young man wanting to minister to Kazak youths. ``They must come to know the Lord if our country is to survive,'' Kondratev told Von Fange.
Last summer, in an effort to reach some of the 1.5 million people in Almaty, Kondratev opened a camp program for children. With one soccer ball and 27 helpers, Kondratev entertained and ministered to more than 540 children at a primitive, lakeside site. The army provided tents and sleeping bags.
This year, Kondratev hopes to buy more sports equipment and expand the camp. Von Fange left materials for next summer's campers to make 2,000 gospel bracelets.
``When you meet a brother in Christ who has the same vision you have, there is an instant kindred spirit, and you know God put you together,'' Von Fange said.
Now back at her home in Chesapeake, Von Fange is recruiting help for the Almaty summer camp. Kondratev estimates that it will cost $7,000 to expand the program and make it accessible to Kazak children. Supply needs include sports equipment, activity books, training materials and Christian videos. Volunteer work teams from the U.S. would be welcome.
Reflecting on her latest mission, Von Fange said, ``I think it's important to go and meet these people who, for 70 years, have been deprived of openly professing their Christian faith.''
She said, ``Wherever we went (with tracts) people would come up to us with outstretched hands. They were so eager to hear what we had to say and read what we had to give them.''
Von Fange plans now to resume her responsibilities at Grace Fellowship Church, 5433 Shoulders Hill Road, Suffolk, and to catch up on one of her favorite pastimes - visiting the grandkids. ILLUSTRATION: Libby Von Fange explains a gospel bracelet to children in an
orphanage in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
KEYWORDS: MISSIONARIES by CNB