CELEBRATION!

All of us love to celebrate, right! We will always choose happy over sad, and life’s celebrations are wonderful.

Recently, our partners Joanne and Alex had a great wonderful celebration to share with us. Their daughter married in SE Asia! Now that’s something to celebrate. Enjoy a quick glimpse of their beautiful celebration.

♥Please pray for this young couple as they begin life together.

♥Pray for God to direct their steps and guide their thoughts.

♥Pray for God to give them wisdom as they seek HIM first in all things.

In another family in Taiwan, a young couple are also planning to marry; however, the groom does not know Christ. This is a real challenge in Taiwan. Most people are not believers, and Christians often face such family challenges.

♥Pray for wisdom for the pastor who is counseling this couple.

♥Pray for the fiance to come to know Christ.

Currently there are a number of young couples in Southern Taiwan who are dating and plan to marry. Pray for these Christian young adults as they move forward to consider this big step of matrimony. Pray for the parents and family members surrounding them to provide encouragement and support for these young families.

Thanks so much for your prayers.

GREAT NEWS!

We are so excited to share GOOD NEWS for our friends as well. David and Ruth are missionaries with OMF and have served in Taiwan for many years. Working in Taiwan and sharing Christ can be very challenging. However, we also have seen great things that are happening among our people. David and Ruth just shared this story through their newsletter. Join us in praying for them and these Taiwanese Hokkien people.

Dear Friends,

The god shelf in Mrs. Lin’s father’s
livingroom

Mr. and Mrs. Lin had lived in Qiaotou, (Taiwan) for about 30 years before we were introduced to them by a mutual friend. They sold fruit in the market for many years before opening a small restaurant. As we got to know them they were very open

After a few months they believed in Jesus, started attending a church near their house, and were baptized. At some point we were also introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Lin’s son and daughter-in-law. He was searching spiritually and had been to a church downtown a few times.

Son-in-law and grandson clearing out the idols

They started coming to our church and loved the small group discussion time on Sunday where they could ask their questions.

A few months later they left Taiwan to spend a year living and working in Australia. They attended a church in Australia and saw God answer prayer. When they came back to Taiwan they were hungry to study the Bible, which they did with a short termer from a Chinese church in New Zealand!. OMF Taiwan Vision: Through God’s grace we long to see reproducing communities of disciples among the working class peoples of Taiwan.

God’s word in place of the idols.
The large characters at the top
say, “Love One Another”

Before returning to NZ, this brother had the privilege of baptizing Mr. Lin’s son. One of our colleagues then continued to meet with him and his parents for Bible study. 5 months later Mr. and Mrs. Lin were also baptized and, soon after returning from home assignment.  in Canada, we had the joy of baptizing their daughter-in-law. But that is not the end of the story. This Christmas Mrs. Lim’s mother believed and was baptized. Then her 80 year old father, a former spirit medium, said that he also no longer wants to worship idols and wants to follow Jesus. So on Jan. 2 a “house cleansing” service was held at Mrs. Lim’s parent’s house to clear out their idols and other idol worshiping stuff.

Pray for the local church near where they live to continue to visit and encourage them in their new faith.

Pray too that he will be baptized soon. Thank you for your love and prayers for us and the people of Taiwan. 

May God bless you with his joy and peace.

With love in Christ,

David and Ruth

DO YOU KNOW?

We want to share with you just in case you missed our GOOD NEWS. We have served among Hokkien/Taiwanese people for many years. In the past we often heard that on average Christian workers ministered to some people for as many as ten years before they came to Christ. In today’s world, that statistic maybe be different. However, the bottom line is that each new believer is PRECIOUS in God’s sight. So we are so thrilled to have GOOD NEWS!

So when Pastor J in SE Asia reports that 17 people accepted Christ during several Christmas evangelism events . . . BELIEVE ME . . . we ARE excited. Also to see Pastor A on Cijin Island out from Kaohsiung, Taiwan continue to baptize people . . . WOW . . . what great victories in such a challenging ministry place.

So to begin this new year with reports like this . . . WHAT A WAY TO BEGIN THE NEW YEAR! We know there are more stories to share, but just wanted to let you know about these great happenings. Join us in prayer for these workers and others involved in Hokkien ministry. Stay tuned for more!