Kenya — Returning to Kenya in November 2024, Tim Kroll was able to minister again with Pastor Kennedy Salano. Pastor Kennedy is the Project Coordinator for a Team working on translating and recording the Helios Projects into Swahili.

We had recently sent 640 Solar and 350 USB Helios units to Kenya and this trip was to help take part in some of the distribution of those units among untrained pastors and Christian workers, mainly in northwest Kenya.

Our first meeting, on Tuesday November 5, was at Pastor Kennedy’s church in the Kariobangi neighborhood of Nairobi. Tim was blessed to share 2 Helios sessions with the over 150 pastors and leaders who had come and then distributed Helios units to them.

Wednesday, November 6, we took a 6-7 hour drive through the Rift Valley to come to Eldoret. Eldoret is the fifth most populated area in Kenya with almost a half million people. After training another 150-200 pastors and leaders on Thursday, we were able to distribute Helios units to them.

Thursday afternoon, we drove 2-3 hours to Kakamega. On Friday morning, we trained the 100-150 pastors and leaders gathered for about 2 hours, and then distributed Helios units to them. That afternoon we made a tourist visit to Lake Victoria (the world’s second-largest freshwater lake by area) and a family visit to Kennedy’s father before making it to Kapsabet.

In Kapsabet, we were able to train another 150-200 pastors and leaders on Saturday and to bless them with Helios units before making the 3-4 hour drive to Nakuru. On Sunday, in Nakuru, we attended a local church where Kennedy had come to faith, and then Tim preached in a church across town. That afternoon, we made the 3-hour drive back to Nairobi in time for Tim to catch his flight home.

The trip was a blessing as Tim was able to share 10 times in 6 days, and allowed us to be a blessing to 500-700 pastors and leaders through Helios units. Thank you for being a part of these blessings!

Kenya – In October 2022, Tim and Lisa Kroll, representing Woodrow Kroll Ministries, traveled to Kenya carrying 480 HELIOS English Solar units and 600 HELIOS English USB units for untrained pastors in East Africa.

They were hosted by Pastor Kennedy Salano and his wife Emily. Pastor Kennedy was introduced to the Helios Projects in Bangkok Thailand in 2016.

He arranged for them to travel to two different towns about 3 hours northwest of Nairobi. In each town, Tim shared a couple of Helios sessions as sermons to train the pastors gathered. At the end of each session, Tim and Kennedy distributed Helios units to the pastors and Christian workers in attendance – over 160 at each of the meetings.

They were also able to meet with a pastor Joseph who has extensive experience translating and recording Christian radio broadcasts from English. He is very interested in helping translate and record the Helios CT Project into Swahili.

After preaching in Marigat on Sunday, the group returned to Nairobi where Tim and Kennedy were able to look at several audio studios and Christian translation ministries. Kennedy feels sure that any of them would be a great help in getting the Helios GS Project translated and recorded into Swahili.

It was a great trip with over 1,000 Helios units delivered, over 300 of those Helios units distributed, and good, positive steps made to see the Helios CT and GS Projects translated and recorded into Swahili. After a couple of short 8 and 10-hour plane rides, with visions of African animals dancing in their heads, and the Krolls had returned safely to the US being greatly encouraged by God’s good blessings to them, to His shepherds, and to His work in East Africa.

Brazil – In August 2022, Woodrow Kroll Ministries President, Tim Kroll, returned to Brazil to see the progress being made and to determine the next steps to take to train untrained Brazilian pastors and Christian workers. In Mogi das Cruzes, a half-million people suburb of Sao Paulo, he met up with Leandro Tarrataca, our Portuguese team leader.

Just before arriving, Leandro had given Tim the good news that the translation of the HELIOS GS Project into Portuguese was complete and all of the audio sessions had been recorded. Once the post-recording work is done, the Project will be ready for production and distribution.

Leandro, and his ministry ABECAR, agreed to be a regional distribution center for HELIOS. This will allow us to keep some inventory in Brazil, and deliver units to those in the region who request them. Pray as we work with him through the many legal, financial, governmental, and importing issues that come with establishing this center.

During our time with Leandro, we were able to visit with 2 local pastors – Ivan and Mario. Ivan started a Brazilian seminary over 20 years ago and every year they have dozens of graduates. But he knows they will never be able to train all of the pastors who need training, and they are not equipped to train illiterate, uneducated pastors or those unable to attend classes in person. Mario is seminary trained but he knows that most of the pastors in his and similar denominations are not only not trained but they have been encouraged in the past not to get any training. Both Ivan and Mario have HELIOS USB units and have been blessed by studying the CT Project. Both believe the HELIOS Projects will help bring training to many Brazilian pastors who need it.

We were able to visit with José Miraides, an accountant who is chairman of the council of evangelical pastors in Mogi. He has been studying the HELIOS Projects and can’t say enough about how good they are and how good they are for Brazilian pastors.

In their fellowship alone, they had at least 50 pastors die from Covid and they are working to replace them – many of those replacement pastors will be men without training. José asked if we could get them at least 100 more HELIOS USB units for the pastors of Mogi.

After spending time in southern Brazil, in urban areas, we headed to the North with a visit to rural areas where HELIOS units and training have been given out in partnership with the Brazilian ministry MEAP (Evangelical Mission for Assistance to Fishermen). Their ministry focuses on reaching the fishing villages along the Atlantic coast of Brazil and the banks of the Amazon River and its main tributaries, like the Purus River. Their ministry includes over 30 Brazilian couples and individuals, living on fishing boats or in fishing villages, doing the pioneering work of sharing the Gospel, bringing new believers together to form churches, and discipling some believers to be leaders and pastors in the Church. In 2021, we shipped MEAP over 1,100 HELIOS units to use in their ministry.

While many have been given to their national missionaries and to untrained rural pastors, being a pioneer work, they have found another exciting and effective way to use the units. Their missionaries take three or four units. One they give to a national believer they are discipling to be a leader in the Christian community. The other two to three units that believer gives to new believers or those close to faith in Jesus. Those people listen to the HELIOS Projects to better understand what the Christian worker is sharing and what the truth of the Gospel is. We met Paul – an unbelieving fisherman who is close to faith. He listens to his HELIOS Solar unit for hours each day; often listening to the same lesson multiple times so he is sure he understands it. He even created a waterproof armband to attach to his upper arm so he can listen while he fishes. He showed us how he was listening to the lesson on Jesus being like the Passover lamb. He says he now believes in Jesus but wants to be sure he can live to a commitment to follow Jesus before accepting Him as Savior.

There are so many other stories of how God is using the HELIOS units to train untrained pastors and Christian workers as well as being used in evangelism to those close to faith in Jesus. There is much work remaining in Brazil. With such dedicated national partners, the teachings of the HELIOS Projects, and your prayers and support, we will see the lost saved, the church grow, and the Lord glorified. Thank you for being a part of His work with us in Brazil!

Chennai, India, Winter2021 – At the beginning of November, our ministry partner – The Hindustan Bible Institute & College (HBI) – experienced a once-in-a-lifetime flood in their city of Chennai. The flooding damaged many parts of their campus and buildings including some of the classrooms, their early Child Care center, and their audio studio.

The audio studio is where they have been working on the Bengali and Hindi translation and recording of the HELIOS CT and GS Projects. While we could have just waited for them to repair and rebuild the studio to resume work on the HELIOS Projects, we wanted to help them because we are partners together and the sooner the studio is restored, the sooner the work on the HELIOS Projects can resume.

We made the rebuilding of HBI’s audio studio part of our end of 2021 appeal and asked our ministry family and friends to donate to address the $30,000 cost of the restoration. Well, God blessed us and HBI through the faithful and generous giving of those family and friends. Our ministry family at Cornerstone Baptist Church (Cumberland, MD) gave $35,000 for the restoration and other ministry family members gave about $8,000 more – totaling almost $43,000!

Praise the Lord and “Thank You” to those who gave and who prayed for the project!

And the work on the audio studio has already begun in Chennai. HBI has relocated the studio to the 2nd floor (to avoid flooding problems in the future) and will be able to use it to continue their work in audio, video and online learning to Christians all over India and the world.

With the additional funds, we have been able to partner with HBI to setup an audio studio in Nepal AND begin the work of translating the HELIOS CT and GS Projects into Nepali! That will be our 12th language (with work being done for languages 13 and 14 to be added soon – Arabic and French)!

As Dr. Bobby Gupta, the President of HBI, shared – God is doing a new thing in 2022! And that new thing will accomplish the same old thing – the lost hearing the Gospel, the repentant receiving salvation, the faithful being edified in their faith, and the Church of Jesus Christ proceeding into the darkness to share His glorious light!

Quito, Ecuador, January 2020 – Pablo Logacho, our Spanish translator and the leader of La Biblia Dice, lead a team back to the December 25 village that our ministry visited in November 2019. When we were there in November, they were just building the church building but they still had to carry water from the river.

Since our visit in November, Pablo and other visited for a baptism; one of our donors gave for a water pump, water filtration system and water cistern could be installed for the church; and brothers and sisters in Christ in Quito gave food, clothing and toys for the children of the village.

Enjoy the pictures taken by Pablo sharing the blessings of God happening in the December 25 village (yes, that is really the name of the village). Continue to pray for the pastor, Tomas, and his family and ministry partners as they share the gospel of Jesus Christ in this area.

Quito, Ecuador, November 11, 2019 – I (Timothy Kroll) just finished a one-week trip to Ecuador to visit with Pablo Logacho and the ministry partners serving with La Biblia Dice. Pablo and his team, including Nelson Cabrera and David Vega, were responsible for the translation and recording of the Spanish HELIOS CT and GS Projects.

La Biblia Dice has multiple radio and Internet programs sharing the Gospel and teaching the Word of God. They also help coordinate various teaching and training events in Ecuador and other countries of South America.

I went to talk with them about distribution in Ecuador and the rest of South America. Pray as we continue to look at setting up a network of contacts and a system for getting the word out about the HELIOS Projects.

However, the greater part of the trip was traveling outside Quito to share God’s Word and the HELIOS Projects with groups of pastors and Christian leaders in more rural areas. On our way to Puyo, we passed through the small village of Shell – the mission station of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming and Roger Youderian.

Check out the video and pictures to see some of the beauty of Ecuador, the testimony of Tomas (a rural, jungle pastor), and the presentation of HELIOS units to pastors and Christian leaders in the areas in and around the towns of Puyo and Riobamba.

Perhaps one of the greatest blessings of the trip was having a local Christian leader tell us that the two-day gathering in Puyo included all five Baptist churches in the area – the first time they all had done anything together for years. It was the HELIOS Projects that brought them together. I pray that it will be used of God to continue to bring them together as they accomplish their mission – “Each one win one and each church plant one!”

Nairobi, Kenya, May 13, 2019 – “Tunahitaji hili haraka!” (Swahili for “We need this urgently!”) “Tunaweza kupata nini?” (Swahili for “When can we get it?”) These are just some of the excited responses heard at the dedication of the HELIOS CT Swahili project.

Bramuel Musya, the head of our Swahili translation team and the president of SPEAR Africa, invited dozens of pastors and Christian leaders from the towns and villages that he regularly ministers in, to come to a special dedication celebration for our HELIOS CT Swahili project.

Over 50 servants of the Lord came – some traveling hours to get to the celebration. The event started with morning tea time (remember it was a British colony), then a time of worship, a sharing of the ministry of SPEAR Africa, a time in God’s Word (with Bramuel’s pastor, Julius), a sharing of the HELIOS Projects, a dedication of the newly completed HELIOS CT Swahili project, and finally lunch together.

Somewhere between 50 and 100 million people speak Swahili and it is the official language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as being a recognized language in Burundi, Rwanda, and Mozambique. Over 85% of the national pastors and Christian leaders serving in these countries have NO Bible or Theology training.

Your giving to the HELIOS Projects made the celebration possible – the cost of translating and recording the HELIOS CT Project in Swahili; the tea-time and lunch for all the pastors and leaders; and the copy of a small book written by Dr. Kroll for each pastor or leader.

Enjoy the video or look through the pictures to “join” us for the celebration. To all our ministry donors, thank you for making this all possible. Praise the Lord.

At the end of April 2019, the Woodrow Kroll Ministries and North Syracuse Baptist Church sent a team of five to eastern Cuba to serve with a team of three from Havana and the Cuban Council of Churches.

On Monday (April 29), the U.S. team landed in Holguin and met up with the Cuban team who had traveled since the morning before and from Havana. The first distribution was that afternoon at a Friends (Quaker) church in Holguin.

On Tuesday (April 30), we stayed in the Holguin area. Our first distribution of the day was at a Nazarene church, the second was at a newer Baptist Church on the outskirts of Holguin. Between the two distributions, our group was able to join a few Holguin pastors on a mountain overlooking the city and to pray for Holguin (third largest city in Cuba).

On Wednesday (May 1), we drove from Holguin to Santiago (second largest city in Cuba) and then to Guantanamo for the afternoon. While we were not able to distribute any HELIOS units on this day, we were able to meet with three Guantanamo leaders and give them hundreds of units to distribute to the pastors and Christian leaders in the area.

On Thursday (May 2), we visited three churches (Pentecostal, Lutheran, Salvation Army) in Santiago for distribution. The second church was so packed that they had people sitting in every chair and every space of the floor (including the only aisle) from the platform through the foyer.

On Friday (May 3), the U.S. members of our team headed back to the United States and the Cuban members of our team headed back for Havana. In four short days, we distributed, or left to be distributed, 5,000 HELIOS units (Solar and USB) to our Cuban brothers and sisters in Christ called to be His servants in that country.

We praise the Lord for His goodness and we thank all the HELIOS champions who made this trip and distribution of 5,000 HELIOS units possible.

The first week of February a team of five intrepid Americans was in CUBA to distribute 4,000 HELIOS CT “Talking Thru the Christian Faith” Spanish devices.  God’s blessing was evident every minute of every day.

We have been preparing for this week for more than 2 years.  I made 2 exploratory trips to CUBA in 2014 to assess both the need of untrained pastors and the feasibility of distributing HELIOS CT throughout the island.  Dr. George Miller III, Senior Pastor of the North Syracuse Baptist Church and the vice-chairman of the Woodrow Kroll Ministries board of directors, opened the doors for us with the Cuban government.  He and his church have been ministering in CUBA for several years and he is well respected by the Cuban Director of Religious Affairs.

I wanted to share some of the photos that demonstrate both the critical need in CUBA among pastors and church leaders who are completely untrained in the Bible and Christian faith and the brilliant way in which The HELIOS Projects are meeting that need.

Of course, 4,000 HELIOS CT Spanish devices was only enough for the pastors in 4 of the 14 Cuban provinces.  That means we must return in the fall with an additional 5,000 units.

Since the units are $120 each for an entire course of 199 sessions of teaching (each session being 20-22 minutes), we must find partners who have a heart for training untrained pastors in economically-challenged countries.   Your partnership would be appreciated.

Woodrow Kroll
The HELIOS Projects