SSE Asia Update 17th February 2012

Dear friends, supporters and prayer partners,

Greetings to you and thank you for your continued support and prayers for our brothers and sisters in South East Asia who serve the Lord under the Advent Christian banner. Thank you also for your prayers for me as I had surgery on 7 February for a total knee joint replacement in my right leg. The surgery was successful and after four days in hospital I am presently staying with my daughter and her family until I am sufficiently mobile to go back to my own home. The LORD has answered your prayers as pain is well controlled and my exercises are enabling me to make steady progress towards being able to walk normally once again – it seems a long time since that was the case! I am very aware of and grateful for the prayers and encouragement of so many – thank you very much.

MYANMAR

ACGC World Outreach arranged for the four leaders of the Advent Christian Conference of Myanmar (ACCM) to attend a Leadership Development Seminar in Yangon, Myanmar, presented by an organisation called Face 2 Faith Ministry, from February 6 to February10.

Part way through the first day’s proceedings, Pastor Timothy, the President of the ACCM received word that a fire had raced through the township in which he ministers, and that many houses and personal belongings had been destroyed.

He reported as follows on 7 February….
“Greetings to you in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from Myanmar.
Unfortunately in yesterday 11:45 am when I was Face to Faith conference, my township far from my house 1/2 km was burned by fire. 339 houses were gone and many people were homeless, without food, without cloths and other things.
We (H,K,J and my Church leaders) discussed about this situation so I will stop Face to Faith conference and today I and Church leader will visit there and will learn about suffering people.
Yesterday all of my Church members provided some foods (dinner) through local community leaders. I strongly believe I am not only a pastor
but also a community worker and a relief worker.
This is a right time for us to spread the gospel.
Please remember these suffering people.
God bless you richly.
Pastor Tim
Two days later he again reported as follows and sent pictures some of which are to the right…
“I visited suffering people by fire at my area today. They are staying in 4 places. I visited only two places. 95% were very poor families (hands to mouth people). I am sending you {pictures of} their temporary homes, temporary toilet and suffering people.wo days later he again reported as follows and sent pictures some of which are to the right…
Please pray for them and their needs.
God bless you richly
Tim”
Information received from the leader of the seminar indicated that Pastor Timothy’s church had been destroyed  but that there had been no loss of life – mainly because the fire occurred in the daytime when most of the people were away from their homes working. We have subsequently learned that Timothy’s church services are in fact held in his home and it was not affected by the fire – for that we praise the LORD.

Timothy reported again yesterday as follows…
“Thank you so much for love and care to us and suffering people. Children cooked food when their parents were outside and when the fire start children did not know how to kill and control the fire, the fire men and car also very delay. Only a family Church member house was effected by fire. My Church leader and me visited there and discussed about relief work with local authorities today. They told us suffering people have enough cloths, enough blankets, materials and receiving food every day. They need medicines, new wells, new houses and money for daily use. So we made some agreements with them.

1. Some funds will go to suffering people through authorities and we will provide suffering people with them but they will give us certificate of honour to the Church.
2. We will build Church member house
3. We will dig two wells.

If we have extra funds we will have another good plan later.

Thanks.
Tim”
Please pray for those who are now homeless and destitute in this village in Yangon and pray for wisdom, patience and compassion and physical strength for Pastor Timothy and his church leaders and members as they take the opportunity to show Christian love and care for these unfortunate folk – I am blessed and encouraged and humbled by Timothy’s words…  “I strongly believe I am not only a pastor but also a community worker and a relief worker. This is a right time for us to spread the gospel”

ACMissioNZ has already sent NZ$2,000 to assist with relief efforts and ACGC have sent US$3,000. If you feel able to assist practically by sending funds for further relief assistance, please do so to our ACMissioNZ Treasurer at P.O. Box  202162 Southgate Post Centre, Manukau, Auckland 2246. We will remit your gifts to Myanmar as soon as possible. For those not in New Zealand ACGC’s office in Charlotte would be pleased to receive gifts also.

As you pray for this situation, please also continue to pray for the political situation in Myanmar. Media reports continue to indicate a significant ”softening” of the hard, harsh rule which has been in place for many years. More political prisoners have been released and there are other signs of moves towards democracy. Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi ‘s nomination for an electorate in forthcoming bye-elections on 1 April has been accepted after she has been under virtual house arrest for nearly twenty years. We have been praying for several years, since our connection with our brothers and sisters in Myanmar began in 2004 that true democracy would return to Myanmar. We need to thank God for progress being made and continue praying for that country and especially for those who are now in leadership, remembering that a return to true democracy would bring freedom of religion and would enhance the ability of our Advent Christian Conference leaders and their churches and indeed of all Christians in the country  to openly and freely share the Gospel with their fellow Burmese people.

THAILAND

Thank you for your prayers for the GEN.12:1 WORK/ENGLISH TEACHING TEAM to Thailand, which visited John and Maeo Middlewood at the Christian Mission Naratchakwai, near Nakhon Phanom from 29 December 2011 to 16 January. God answered your prayers in many wonderful ways – the Team (pictured below) was one of the best ever in virtually every way. The fun and fellowship within the Team’s twelve members was wonderful, as was our fellowship with John and Maeo Middlewood and the seven girls who they have staying at the compound. We had the privilege on two separate occasions of fellowshipping with large numbers of members – adults, young people and children – from several churches in the area which Christian Mission Naratchakwai works with in many areas of ministry. It was a blessing to see John’s church auditorium literally filled with joyous, happy Thai Christians and to join with them in worshipping the LORD together.

The Team as a whole visited several High Schools and were very warmly welcomed and entertained – sometimes with classical Thai music and dancing – and between us all we had an opportunity to speak for a few minutes with virtually all of the students – to encourage their use of English. Several members of the Team spent two weeks virtually full-time teaching English at one particular High School, and several of the Team spent a week at a Pre-school/ Nursery School doing the same. Their efforts were greatly appreciated by the staff at the schools. As well as the formal teaching of English there were on-going opportunities to encourage the seven girls who are studying in the English medium and who assist John in teaching English at elementary schools at weekend English Camps. These seven girls, plus two more who live off campus, joined us in many of our activities including most of our meals and friendships were formed which continue using the internet.

Please pray for these seven girls, (pictured right with Maeo at far left and John behind; Nun at far right and Bee to her left) that the Holy Spirit will touch their hearts and bring them all to salvation. Two of them – Bee and Nun – have already accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and have been baptised and the pressures of the Buddhist faith, from their families and their peers are very great – they need special, on-going prayer for strength of faith to withstand these pressures and to grow in grace and the knowledge of their Lord.

We were able to achieve much of a practical nature around the Mission compound – a great deal more than we had anticipated being able to do. We remembered the old Navy adage – “If it moves salute it and if it doesn’t move, paint it.” and we went through many, many litres of fresh white paint and smaller quantities of other colours, cleaning and preparing surfaces well and painting virtually everything except the interior of the cooking area in the kitchen. Nothing was spared! The church auditorium (pictured right) looked sparkling with its new coats of paint as did the Western and front walls which the 2006 Work Team helped to build and the tiles on all the floors throughout the complex were sparkling clean when we left. We also cleaned and repainted the toilet/bathroom areas, a classroom, an entrance area, the dining area and the some of the exterior walls of the girls’ dormitory building. Two of our number with relevant technical knowledge examined the sound system in the church and ultimately we purchased and installed a much improved and much simpler to operate sound system for the church. Tarnya also did a bit of “cleaning up” of the computer system which is used extensively by the girls for their studies.

We were also privileged to do some sight-seeing in Nakhon Phanom and surrounding areas, and saw many places of interest including Buddhist temples, the home of the Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Min when he was exiled from Vietnam and surrounding villages. One of the highlights was an evening dinner cruise on the Mekong River (pictured right) which forms the boundary between Thailand and Laos at that part of the country. We also did the “tourist thing” of course and bought souvenirs and other items to take home as mementos of our time in Thailand.

John was very pleased with the assistance that members of our Team were able to give to schools, the nursery school and in particular to the girls who are learning English at school and are assisting him with English Camps which are helping literally hundreds of elementary school children. Only one of our Team members was a trained teacher, and literally anyone who uses English as their mother tongue can do a good job of teaching the very basic English which ultimately will be so very helpful to the Thai children and young people. John would be very happy to have assistance at any time of the year that the schools are in session, for short periods or for longer terms. There are opportunities available for longer term, paid English teaching positions for those with teaching qualifications. If this interests you as a way of assisting John’s English teaching ministry, and of course being involved with John in his spiritual ministry at the same time, or if you know of friends or family who may be interested in this kind of Christian ministry, please let me have their details and/or ask them to contact me for further details.

MALAYSIA

Sister Ruth Devairakkam recently sent the following encouraging report from Kluang…

“We are able to reach out to non-believers in Kluang and the outskirts of Kluang. Many people from various backgrounds, non-Christians and Christians come to our group to seek help for healing and restoration in their lives. Marriages have been restored among our friends. Children of non-Christian friends have obtained good marks in their examinations as they come to us for guidance and prayer. Non-Christian friends have been able to make the correct decisions after we shared Jesus with them and also shared our testimonies. Some of our friends have found healing through forgiveness of the past. Even in our own lives we are experiencing the joy of forgiveness.
Something new is happening this year. Some aged people, non-Christians and Christians, are coming to our AC group to ease their thoughts of loneliness. We give all praise and glory to the name of Jesus. You are part of the blessings we are experiencing in Malaysia. Do continue to pray for us.”

Please continue to pray for Brother and Sister Wilfred and Ruth and their ministries. Their group is still small at this time but they are faithfully sharing the blessings of our faith with others – others from many nations and other faiths. Thank the LORD for some growth in numbers and for spiritual growth and for the encouragement that this brings.

INDIA

When the rest of the Kiwis in the Gen.12:1 Team left Bangkok to return to Auckland, I travelled west to Chennai and spent a few days with Mission Manager Immanuel and the Mission staff, and meeting with the leaders of the Advent Christian Conference of India and pastors of the Fellowship of Blessed Hope Churches (pictured below). As I met with these brothers we concentrated mainly on the positive aspects of their ministries rather than the “problems” which often seem to take precedence in our discussions. It was encouraging to hear of significant growth in many churches; of regular baptisms and of new and different types of ministries which are helping them reach increasing numbers of Indian folk. I have asked them to send me brief reports and pictures which I will publish in future Updates.

Please pray for these brothers and sister – they are serving the LORD in the midst of significant difficulties, problems and pressures, both material and spiritual. India is a terribly, spiritually “dark” country with idols and idol worship abounding. Corruption is rife at all levels of society and it and poverty are tremendous pressures on most of the people who our Conferences are working with.

BIHAR Brother Denny Moses who is handling communication matters for Paul Sundar Raj’s Team recently wrote…        “Please pray earnestly for our mission school – St Xavier’s – which supports the ministry. The land owner of the school has strictly ordered us to vacate the campus compulsorily without fail in the month of March 2012. Our Almighty Lord should open a way to purchase a needed land of 35000Sq, and to build a school in it. Please pray for this in your daily prayer.”

This seems an impossible situation for Rev Paul Sundar Raj and his team and will affect both the 700 children who presently attend the school as well as the Team’s ministry which relies heavily on the goodwill generated by their service to the community in the provision of the school. Our God is the God of miracles – please pray earnestly! God bless you as you serve Him with us.