CELEBRATING!

Mother’s Day again this year was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the mothers in our community. Click HERE to join in the party. Our partners certainly do a wonderful job loving on these precious women. In addition, this team is involved in multiple island ministries which means teams have to travel each week to carry on the ministry in different locations. So we are talking about using cars, buses, boats and bicycles to make it happen. This ministry also provides special opportunities for local persons in two languages:  Hokkien and Teochew.  We salute our partners for their faithfulness, grace and love for the people in this area. Click HERE for another view of this Hokkien Teochew celebration.

We have witnessed the ways that God works in these areas. The relationships built with families, local business, schools and public officials continue to open doors. Pray for open hearts that will bring people to Jesus.

Now we have to admit what would any celebration be without food.  Click HERE for a brief view of the feast provided for these local mothers.

Thank you so much for your prayers. We have sent local business people, parents and children all make commitments to Christ. Please continue to pray for this ministry. Pray for the gospel seeds that have been planted to take root and bring entire families to Christ. It is happening!

How Beautiful!

In our Asia travels, we were introduced to a young woman who was attending seminary. We had a nice discussion and I asked her how she came to know Jesus. She told us that a believer had come to their village and told them about Jesus. I thought that was a wonderful story. Then I asked her how many of the people in her village believed in Jesus. She looked a little surprised and then told me that ALL of them had decided to follow Jesus. That was the reason she was in seminary because she wanted to tell people in other villages about this wonderful discovery.

Later, we had the privilege of meeting a family in the US who also shared a transformation story with us. The husband is from another country and many years ago his people were headhunters and greatly feared by others. Christ also revealed himself to these people as well, and today we see many people on mission who are from this people group journeying to all parts of our world.

Today, I also discovered the wonderful story of an older woman whose life has also been transformed. She looked for peace and healing for many years. Her search that took her to many different gods and idols is compelling. However, through other people she came to know about this all powerful Jesus, and is excited to share that story. For those of you who speak Hokkien, just click HERE to hear her share this wonderful story.

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

ADVOCATES NEEDED

As Christians who are we? Well, we could use a lot of different words to express our answers. Life is full of celebrations but also sprinkled with challenges that we face along the journey. Life is a journey and an adventure; however, we do hope that life for each of us is an adventure, but as Christians we also hope that we always stop to help people along the way. What does that mean? It can mean many things. It just depends on where our journey takes us. However, we definitely look for opportunities to be a VOICE for those who don’t have a voice. STRENGTH for those who are weak, and HELP for those who are desperate.

Thank you so much for your prayers for R and his mother these past few weeks. If you recall, R’s aunt, who is a Buddhist nun in the US, was seeking to force R to leave his country and move to the US to join his aunt and serve in the temple in the US. There was so much dissension and struggle there. AND for a while the aunt refused to take no for an answer seeking to find ways to get R involved in a local temple and later have him transferred to the US. BUT we PRAYED, and local ministry partners reached out to these two new believers to support them and be a VOICE of hope and encouragement. R is only 15, but God gave him strength to contact the police and have a restraining order placed against his aunt. She eventually returned to the US.

So is that the end of the story? NO. In the church we are family, and currently these friends are seeking to find ways for R to enroll in a local trade school for him to receive training in a skill. Pray for wisdom for him and his mother and local partners as they seek to love and assist this family.

Now that’s the adventure that they are currently on a journey with in SE Asia. What about you?

May God bless each of us to bless others.

DESPERATE

We walked into a temple in Taiwan for some of our family to better understand the culture in this country. We had been inside many temples during our 33 years in Asia; however, we had never seen what happened that day.

The temple was crowded with people in long lines. Taoist priests and temple staff were assisting these people with the use of incense and religious ceremonies to answer requests they were bringing to them. We had never seen a temple quite like this. Maybe special religious leaders were in town who were said to have special powers. We didn’t know, but the people obviously were trying to take advantage of a unique opportunity.

Many other people were bringing requests to the idols that lined the temple.  Click HERE to observe these religious people maintain their traditions and seek answers to life’s problems.

On the day we observed, there were so many people. What kind of requests would be brought to the temple? Anything that you and I would also bring before God would also be taken to the temple. Circumstances like marriage problems, desire to find a mate or give birth to a child, problems between parents and children, family issues, hope for children to test well and have the opportunity to go to good schools, health, wealth, mental issues, good luck wishes and exorcism to cast out demons . . . you name it. People want blessing, success and peace in their lives. One temple in the central part of Taiwan often has more than 200,000 people at one time during the birthday of the goddess there. Much like Paul in the New Testament, we too realize that many people across Asia are religious people. They are trying to keep all the rules and follow in their local religions. Pray that God will open their eyes to see the Truth and desire to know HIM, our Lord and Savior.

More than 200,000 attend birthday celebrations for this goddess each year.

For me, I can bring any of my desires or needs before God and it is free. Jesus paid for me to have the opportunity to have this kind of relationship with him through his death on the cross. God also knows me and all about me. He even utters prayers for me when I can’t even get the words verbalized. However, coming before these idols, each time you must tell the idols your name, your address, etc. In other words, they don’t know you so you must identify yourself. Our creator God knows all about us and is eager for us to communicate with him. God is LOVE.

People everywhere are desperate . . . just look around us. Pray for Hokkien workers in Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and throughout all of East and SE Asia. Ask the Father to bring revival among the Christians throughout these areas that will spill beyond the church to their families, community and nation.  The musician, Chris Tomlin, reminds us that God is God of the city —- pray that cities, towns and villages all across Asia will know the love of GOD.