Names: Don & Cheryl Schroeder

Current location: Faridpur, Bangladesh

Current contact information: 

Don’s e-mail – Donald.Schroeder@sim.org

Cheryl’s e-mail – Cheryl.Schroeder@sim.org 

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Current ministry focus: In Bangladesh we serve as part of an inter-denominational, multiethnic, team-based ministry known as SIM Bangladesh.  Our overall team ministry focus in Bangladesh is to the 90% Muslim Bengali people.  With the 2019 population of the country at 163 million, our overall target group is 147 million people.  These people all speak the same Bengali language and live in a total land area that is 1/3 of the size of the state of California.  Our individual team is known as the South West Bangladesh Team or the Faridpur Team.

Our personal ministry focus on the Faridpur Team is to partner with Muslim background Bengali believers and their families who are reaching out to the Muslim population in south west Bangladesh.  This partnership project is known as the Indigenous Outreach Workers (IOW) project.  We are currently partnering with 4 IOW Bengali’s and their families who are reaching out in areas with a target Muslim population of approximately 6 million people.  We provide mentoring, training, encouragement, accountability and personal support to these 4 IOW workers and their families.  Cheryl is currently the official visa holder through her Spoken English teacher work in Faridpur.

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Fun and interesting facts about yourself: Cheryl was born and raised in New Orleans and Don was born and raised in New York City before moving to Baltimore in junior high. They met in April of 1975 while students at Vanderbilt University and both graduated in May 1975. Cheryl’s college degree was in Nursing and she maintains her RN license. Don’s degree was in Environmental Engineering and he maintains his PE engineering license. The two have been married for 42 years. For most of Don’s adult working career, he was an environmental engineer focusing on industrial waste management and design. They are the proud and thankful parents of 3 wonderful married daughters, grandparents of 4 granddaughters, and two grandsons. The Schroeders love to watch old seasons of West Wing, take boat trips on the rivers of Bangladesh, and swim in freshwater every chance they get. 

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Ongoing prayer request: Please pray that people who live in darkness in this land would respond to the truth of the Gospel.  Please pray that the IOW families will not suffer persecution needlessly, but only according to God’s perfect will for His work.  Pray that the spiritual blindness caused by the god of this world would be lifted for the Bengali Muslim people so that many would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, that Christ in them is the only hope of glory.     

 

Short description of your ministry: Cheryl has a visa from the Bangladesh government to teach Spoken English in our area.  She works for an NGO (non-governmental organization) called Transformation Center, which is a project of SIM Bangladesh. Rather than having one central classroom, she goes to where the students live or work to hold classes.  Teaching Spoken English gives us a legitimate reason to live and work here. It also is a means to build relationships with those in our community. There are opportunities to insert truth from Scripture into the lessons. The hope is that these will spark interest in God and His Word. Don has a visa as Cheryl’s “accompanying spouse”. He oversees a Gospel outreach program called IOW, which stands for Indigenous Outreach Workers. This is also a project of SIM, but not part of our NGO work. Currently, there are 4 IOW couples, working in 4 different areas in the southwest of the country. Each couple is reaching out to their fellow Bengalis in their respective areas. Don disciples the husbands and arranges seminars/conferences for their ongoing spiritual growth. Cheryl is also involved with discipling the IOW wives and children.