ACMissioNZ SSE Asia Update – February 2013

Dear friends, supporters and prayer partners,

Greetings to you and once again my thanks for your support and encouragement in so many ways, but especially for your prayer support for the workers in Advent Christian ministries in India, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand. How time flies – already more than one twelfth of 2013 has gone by! We know from 1 Peter chapter 3 that the part of the year that has already gone is like forty six thousand years to the Lord (!!) but we can be encouraged as the verses go on to say “The Lord is not slow to keep His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” As reports have come in over recent weeks it has been again encouraging to see evidence of your prayers being answered as Advent Christian workers in Asia continue to serve with great commitment and diligence, and many have come to repentance

India

As I gathered statistics requested by ACGC headquarters in Charlotte, for a report to be presented to the Executive Council earlier this month, I was greatly encouraged to be able to advise that for the year ended 31 December 2012 there were 818 baptisms in the 84 churches (including Bihar and Andhra Pradesh) of the Advent Christian Conference of India; 145 baptisms in the 12 loyal  Fellowship of Blessed Hope Churches in India; and 223 baptisms in the 46 churches of the Advent Christian Conference of Myanmar. Although there have not been baptisms to this point, Brother John Middlewood at the Christian Mission Naratchakwai in Thailand has had the joy of seeing seven of the young ladies who take considerable responsibility  in his English teaching programme publicly confess their acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Please remember to thank the Lord for these very positive indications of the work of the Holy Spirit in the ministries of our workers in Asia.

In India, Mission Manager Immanuel has already attended two baptismal services in this new year – 2013. He and Rev Paul Aruldoss from the Advent Christian Conference of India recently travelled to Adda Road in Andhra Pradesh State to attend and participate in a baptismal service for 5 new believers – the second of two held in consecutive weeks. A total of nine believers were baptised at the two services and all were offered the right hand of fellowship as they became members of the church at the service held on 13 January.

150 believers attended the service on 13 January, many having to sit outside the very small church building, with many travelling very long distances to attend the service. Immanuel preached the message at the service, with Pastor Gandham translating – see picture. Lunch was provided and arranged for the whole congregation by one family!

Immanuel also attended a baptismal service at the Teynampet FBHC Church in Chennai in late January. Teynampet is a slum suburb of Chennai city and the FBHC church is located within the slum boundaries and the majority of the members live close by. Some members travel from distant areas each Sunday. Rev Regi Christopher has been pastor at Teynampet for fourteen years and during his tenure they have substantially upgraded their building and the membership has increased dramatically.

Because the building cannot accommodate all the members at one time, they have two services every Sunday morning and the congregation continues to grow. On the morning of the Baptismal service, the first service was attended by about 100 believers, and the second service, which Immanuel attended, began at 9.30am with an attendance of about 130 members. Twelve members were baptised and as is our custom, on behalf of the Mission Immanuel presented each of the candidates with a Bible.

 Please pray for those baptised at these services – a public commitment to Jesus Christ is not always an easy thing to do in India

 Myanmar

God continues to bless the ministries of the Advent Christian Conference of Myanmar. Pastor K was elected to the position of President of the Conference late in December and he will hold this post until the end of 2013. Please pray for Pastor K as he accepts the responsibilities of leadership for the year ahead and for all four leaders of the Conference as they lead their growing ministries. Two of the leaders – Pastor T and Pastor J – have this month taken teams from their churches to minister in other States in areas that are largely un-reached with the Gospel. They will also re-visit areas they have visited previously and will be seeking to encourage and build the faith of those who made decisions for Christ during earlier trips and will be seeking to bring new converts to the Lord. Travel in these mountainous areas is arduous – Pastor J recently wrote as follows to me… “I need one word from you – ‘we will pray for you!’  Because I am going to (name deleted for security) state for the gospel I need your prayer, because there is long journey alone, long walking by foot, to sleep in valley and hill, cross river, enemy is waiting for me, demon is ready to hinder me, danger [for] our fellow hard working workers…” Please pray for these brothers and their teams as they ”go into all their world and preach the good news….”

You will recall that in my December update I indicated that Pastor T had decided to raise chickens instead of pigs to generate funds for their ministries and to support the orphan children they care for. He made this decision because his pigs had several times been struck and killed by epidemics of various pig diseases, and he was in the process of building a large chicken house to house 500 chickens. The chicken house was completed and at least partially filled with chickens – about 210 – which would provide eggs for food for his large family – his own children and many orphans – and some would be sold to provide funds to sustain his ministry – see picture.

Just last week he wrote…” More than two weeks ago earth quaked in Yangon area and 70 chickens were death in my chicken farm. But now chicken dying is no more (stopped two days ago).”  The evil one seems to find many ways of trying to turn these wonderfully committed brothers and sisters aside from their ministries. Please pray that Pastor T and his colleagues will continue to be surrounded and upheld by God’s keeping and blessing power in a country where so much seems to make their lives and ministries difficult.

The Teaching Team which visited Myanmar in October was able to leave some money for Pastor T and his wife to buy a sewing machine. He recently reported…

“My wife is very busy for children and Church. She is working for all family members clothes. We have two sewing machines and one is using when the electricity come, another one is not need electric power.”

This is a wonderful way of helping our brothers and sister help themselves and others – by giving them the tools to allow them to do this. There are many other ladies who would use a sewing machine to provide clothes for their families and fellow believers – the cost in Myanmar is about NZ$130.

In December I also told you about a need in a distant village where one of Pastor T’s pastors ministers, where about eighty percent of the people in his village suffer from malaria! In answer to our questioning he told us that the best way to tackle this problem would be the use of mosquito nets by his people. He told us that nets are available from a nearby city and that a two person net costs about NZ$6.25 and four person nets cost about NZ$12.50. Thank you to some who have given – the funds have been sent to Pastor T and he has taken the money as he has gone on the ministry trip mentioned above. He responded

“Thanks for gift 64000 kyats …. We will try to send you picture when [Pastor] P provide mosquito-nets to his villagers. I will advice him to provide poorest families first this time.”

Please pray that this need may be met in total. If the Lord would have you assist with meeting this need – for all the members of the village, not just the Christians – our treasurer would be pleased to send your gift to Myanmar.

Malaysia

The Advent Christian group in Kluang, Malaysia, led by Ruth and Wilfred, continues to meet for fellowship and reaches out to share the blessings of their faith with friends, neighbours and those they meet. Ruth recently provided the following brief outline of their ministries to ACGC for inclusion in a publication.

“Our Advent Christian group in Kluang, Malaysia ministers in the following areas:
House Fellowship
We have house fellowship twice a month in the homes of our Church members. We also
invite our non-Christian friends for this fellowship. A time of praise and worship is followed by the sharing of God’s Word.  Testimonies are shared, and this is a source of encouragement to everyone present. The families which invite us for House fellowship prepare dinner for us. After the dinner, we have a time of friendly conversation.
Services on Sunday
Our Sunday morning services go on as usual in my house. There will be Holy Communion after the sharing of God’s Word. Testimonies are shared too. We provide lunch after the service. Usually some of those who attend the service will stay on for a time of fellowship.
Community Service.
Some of the people in our neighborhood and further away, come to us when they need to write official letters in the Malay Language and English Language, for example letters to the Education Department, Welfare Department or for business matters. We make friends in this way, and even invite them for house fellowship.
Praying for Christians and non-Christians
My late father’s (Rev. T. Devairakkam) friends, their children and grandchildren from out-station and overseas come to visit us, and also tell us to pray for their needs. Some come with joy for answered prayer, and to share their testimonies of God’s blessings in their lives. My own friends and my husband, Wilfred’s friends visit us for prayer. Some of them are Chinese.
One-to-One Evangelism
We concentrate more on one-to-one evangelism in our neighborhood and out-station areas. We invite them to our home to tell them more about Jesus. We find that it is easier to tell them about our Lord once we have established friendship with them. They usually ask us to pray for them. Almost every week we have people coming over to my house for prayer”

Please continue to pray for the members of this small group in Malaysia whose contacts are numerous and very diverse.

Thailand

In Thailand, Christian Mission Naratchakwai continues to see the Lord’s hand of blessing on their ministries to children and young people. Please continue to pray for John Middlewood and Maeo who have both had fairly serious health setbacks over recent months. Thank the Lord that both have made good progress in recent weeks and after a check-up earlier this week John reported…

“All medical checks at Khon Kaen were great and {we} got there and back without incident; thank God. Next one will be to Sakon Nakhon on March 19 for prescription refills. So far blood pressure is doing great and I am pretty much holding to the diet and exercise.”

On the instructions of his doctor John has had to reduce his working hours dramatically – “from 14-16 hours a day to about 6-7 hours a day, with 4-5 hours of “rest” time every day.”  he says and that makes the need for a Thai pastor even more pressing, to ensure that all the important ministry activities get done. John recently had had a preliminary discussion with a highly recommended Thai pastor (Surachai) and his wife, both of whom are Bible College trained, who are presently prayerfully considering whether the Lord would have them join the CMN team. Please pray that this couple may be the Lord’s choice to fill the position and that they will clearly understand the Lord’s leading for them. Asia Pacific Area Director Jeff Vann and I will be visiting Nakhon Phanom from 2 March to 6 March and hope to be able to have a meeting with Surachai and his wife .Please pray that this may be a helpful meeting for all concerned.

Thank you for your prayers for Baby Bleum, the infant son of Pastor Nhum and his wife Jutjang. John recently reported

“For those of you who have been praying for Pastor Nhum’s son, here is a picture from Saturday, Jan 19. Shortly before the picture was taken, I had an opportunity to hold this little guy and didn’t even recognize him. Here is another one of our miracles that God has performed and is performing on a daily basis. Makes all the work for Him more than worthwhile. Those of you who have been praying for this little guy, here is your reward. Thank you and God Bless. The thing that makes me a bit sad is that you are not here to see the results of your prayers – it is truly amazing and sometimes hard for me to believe when I see it happening; and that sometimes I don’t do a very good job of getting this kind of information back out to you so you can see the results of your hard work too.  God Bless, John”

Many thanks once again for your prayers and your partnership with us in Advent Christian ministries in south-east Asia.  God bless you as you serve Him in this way.