ACMissioNZ SSE Asia Update – July 2013

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. There is much happening for which we can thank the Lord, and there is much that we need to continue to pray about.

In this update I especially want to make you aware of several recent situations in which God has graciously answered prayer – prayer for funds to provide what is needed to continue and expand our ministries in Asia. He has done this mainly through His people in New Zealand and the United States who have felt Him leading them to give generously to help meet various needs that our Advent Christian workers in other countries have made known and asked us to pray about.  God’s people give generously regularly of course, but in the last few weeks some significant gifts have been given and we – Advent Christian Missions New Zealand and ACGC’s World Outreach Department – are truly grateful for the generosity and the compassion, care and concern for the lost that every gift given to help in our ministries in Asia exemplifies. God is good, and so are His people. Thank you very much.

In MYANMAR Pastor Kenneth is rejoicing and thanking the Lord for answered prayer. Please rejoice and thank the Lord with him!

In early April he sought prayer for funds to enable his organisation to buy some paddy field land. He explained that his organisation – Gospel for Myanmar – which has been ministering to Buddhist people since 1998 has a major difficulty in that it has no permanent home (base) and no regular income. He saw the possibility of purchasing this paddy field of 10 acres which is located in a very suitable position, as a way of enabling them to grow rice both for their own families and to sell to provide income to ensure that their ministries continue.

Thanks to a generous gift from an Advent Christian church in the United States, and another generous gift from an Advent Christian person in the United States he has already been able to buy 8 of the 10 acres that were available at a very good price, and will be purchasing the final 2 acres as soon as the second lot of funds reaches Myanmar.

The picture shows his organisation’s new land with Pastor Hla Thaung looking at it. Pastor Hla graduated from Pastor Kenneth’s Bible school in 2005, and now ministers for the Lord, through Gospel for Myanmar, in a village about 25 kilometres from Yangon, where the paddy field is located. Pastor Hla will take care of the land and supervise its use.

They will be planting paddy on the land in the coming season and seek our prayers for a good crop, which would supply their staple food for their workers and their families and rice to sell to provide funds for their ministries.

Earlier this year Pastor J reported on a ministry/outreach trip to the north west of Yangon where he made contact with two groups of tribal people – the Dain Tu and the Chin Pum. He has visited the Chin Pum people several times before and in fact his organisation has a church planter working in one of their villages – a young Chin Pum lady (Sister Thurzar) who graduated from his organisation’s Bible College several years ago and has been working with her people since early 2011. She has established a church which now has 65 members and is caring for 13 orphans – she is supported by regular, monthly gifts from a generous supporter in New Zealand. Since beginning her ministry she has also completed basic nursing training so that she is able to assist with the health needs of the people she ministers among. Pastor J indicated in his report that the congregation has nowhere to meet and asked us to pray for funds to erect a church building in the village – the building will also be used as a school and for other gatherings within the village.

An Advent Christian donor in the United States has recently indicated that he is willing to donate the funds to allow this church building to be constructed, and the funds will soon be on the way to Myanmar. God has again provided – praise Him with us please!

Because of gifts from New Zealand and the United States we have been able to send funds to one of Pastor Timothy’s outreach workers – Pastor Paul – to enable him to purchase mosquito nets for many of the people in his remote village. We learned from Pastor Paul that about 80% of the people in his village suffer from Malaria and he felt that part of his ministry to all the villagers – Christians and non-Christians alike – should be to both supply them with mosquito nets and to educate them, especially the children, as to how they could reduce the risk of contracting this terrible disease. So far we have been able to send funds for 160 nets but there are about 100 houses and 500 people in the village and we would like to help Pastor Paul to ensure that everyone is protected. Two person nets cost about NZ$6.25 and four person nets cost about NZ$12.50 – if your family or group would like to help our treasurer would be pleased to send your gifts to Pastor Paul.

In INDIA there are about 100 disadvantaged children who live at the Grace Helen Schache Memorial Silver Fern Hostel at Guindy who will very shortly be getting a pleasant surprise.

During the summer school vacation for the month of May, the children are encouraged to return to their home villages/areas to spend time with parents, other family members or friends. This of course ensures the maintenance of family ties during the time they live and learn at the hostel at Guindy.

Thanks to a generous gift from an Advent Christian church in the United States, the 100 children at the Guindy Hostel (which is next door to the AAM/YJM property) will each receive a gift to encourage them as they return to the hostel to start the new academic year at the Advent Christian Conference of India’s elementary school at Guindy.

With the donated funds YJM staff (pictured) purchased mirrors for the bathrooms; bulk supplies of talcum powder, body oil and shampoo with dispensers for these items, and supplies of other toiletries sufficient to give a personal gift to each of the children. As well as the toiletries a stainless steel plate which will be marked with the child’s name will be given to each child. The gift pack for the girls includes something extra – some nail polish.

These simple gifts will mean a great deal to the children, who rarely receive a gift of any kind, even for birthdays, Christmas etc. YJM buys a set of new clothes for each child as a gift at Christmas time and these latest gifts will continue to show the children that there are those who love them and care for and about them. Our grateful thanks to the church which made the latest gifts possible.

Please pray especially for the Hostel Warden Nelson and his wife Stella (pictured with their children) who do a tremendous job of caring for and encouraging the children and teaching them spiritually, at significant personal cost and sacrifice.

Pastor Kirubakaran – the Baby Saver – is also praising the Lord for answered prayer – please join him in praise!

Early this year Pastor Kirubakaran, who ministers in the Kolli Hills area of Tamil Nadu made us aware of difficulties he was having with government officials in respect to the hostel for orphans and underprivileged children that he and his wife have in Namakkal, at the foot of the Kolli Hills. The authorities were demanding that he meet their requirements for registration of his hostel and pay relevant fees for a number of certifications. The ability of his hostel to continue was threatened.

Because of a gift from New Zealand, which bought him the needed 40,000 rupees, he has been able to satisfy some of the requirements of government departments as far as registering his ministry is concerned. The English translation of his letter of appreciation, which was written in Tamil of course, is as below.

 “Thanksgiving letter from the children of New Life Home and Pastor Kirubakaran and family.

We, the children of New Life Home and Pastor Kirubakaran’s family are fine and we praise God that our Missionary Ayya is also fine.

As I requested you through the {Mission} Manager I thank you so much for helping us with the New Life Children’s Home government settlement money Rs 40,000/-. Ayya, thank you so much for your kind help and I thank God.
This money helped me to apply for getting the following Government related certificates:

1. Social Protection Department
2. Social Health Department
3. Social Kidnapping Protection Department
4. Stability Certificate
5. Fire Department recommendation letter
6. Sanitary Certificate

Some details related to the New Life Children’s Home:

1. So far 40 children and 60 grown up children have studied and left the home.
2. From these children some 6 girls Abisha, Mary, Karunya, Mercy, Grace, Shanthi are staying in Chennai and studying in Matriculation School.
3. Some 30 children (from 1^st standard to 12^th standard) are staying here and studying.
4. So far we rescued 189 children [babies] whose lives were in danger and had made them study.
5. 3 men and 3 women are staying and working here in the New Life Home.
6. Monthly expenses for the Home exceeds Rs40,000/-

I kindly request you to pray and help for this ministry and for its growth continually.

Thanking you,

Yours in Christ.

Pastor K Kirubakaran”

Please continue to pray for Pastor Kirubakaran and his wife and family and helpers as they indeed give “new life” to the 30 children in the hostel at the moment. They of course teach them about the “New Life” in Jesus Christ as well as caring for them and ensuring that they get a good education.

In THAILAND, John Middlewood and his team are also thanking the Lord that some of the Lord’s people have assisted with gifts to enable them to close in the worship area of the Christian Mission Naratchakwai’s facilities before the rainy season started. He recently reported…

“We are getting more and more like ducks as the rain continues to come down. We are about half way through a 3-4 day monsoon storm, but thank God the land all around us continues to be lower than we are, so we get a little mushy, but when it stops, we are dry very quickly. So far for this rainy season my fish pond water level has risen almost 2 meters, and there is still a bit over a meter to go before it reaches the overflow level. However, this is only the first month of the rainy season – we still have July, August and part of September.”

and

“The rainy season has set in with a vengeance. My guess is 40-40 inches so far, but the rain isn’t the problem. We have had at least 4-5 people die from lightning strikes, and damage from winds is growing. We continue praising God that we got the mission enclosed before the rainy season really got here. One more part and we will be finished for this year. There still is some minor stuff that needs to be done, but it can wait.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and those of you providing financial assistance, thank you and may God Bless.”

Financial assistance has also been received by ACGC from an international Advent Christian Conference towards the salary assistance that was committed by them for Pastors Surachai and Pon who joined the team at CMN on 1^st April. Thank the Lord for this assistance and please pray for John and Maeo and Surachai and Pon as they work together to extend the CMN’s ministry especially in the village of Naratchakwai where the mission compound is located. They are still in the process of allocating duties and responsibilities and they need our prayers for patience and flexibility and especially for wisdom as they do this. Praise the Lord that numbers are starting to increase slightly with more children and young people – some new faces and some who have attended in earlier times and are returning – and even one or two extra adults attending services and activities.

The Lord is also providing much needed assistance at CMN in the form of more well qualified helpers for the English Camps which are a major part of the mission’s outreach and contact with the communities around Naratchakwai.

John recently reported…

“We thank God for our Saturday English Camp Program. We have three camps a month scheduled for the next three months. You saw some pictures of Dr. Jay in the last camp. He and a team of students from his school will be joining us in August so it will help to give our kids a bit of a break because we will be using fewer of them, but it doesn’t reduce my load. Also, keep Joe and Sandy Boys in your prayers. They worked with us for 6-8 months last year. They are working on a plan where they will be here six months (October-March) and back in the states six months (April-September) on a rotating basis. That will be a tremendous help for me.”

The person John refers to as Dr Jay (pictured teaching teachers at a recent English Camp) was a chiropractor in the United States years ago and came with the first World Teach volunteer group of teachers that John organised 3-4 years ago, He liked working with the kids so much that he just stayed on.. After 4-5 years, he has decided to return to the US to see his family during school break in 2014. Please pray that he returns to Thailand after that. Students from his school are an additional blessing to the Camp program. He and three students from his high school will be joining John’s team whenever they can. He has developed an English game to help teach the verbs “to be”, “to have”, and “to do” which the students and teachers really like..

Please also pray for the four senior girls from CMN – Bee, Lita, Pan and Beem2 as they play a vital part in leading the teams that teach at English Camps.

John’s recent newsletter contained the following prayer and praise points…

•  “Health, strength and wisdom for Maeo and me.
• Surachai and Pon and their visitation program.
• Bee, Lita, Pan and Beem 2 as they continue to be the main youth leaders here at the mission. Strength and wisdom for these kids as they witness in a very unfriendly world.
• Elementary Bible study classes Saturday and Sunday.
• Youth and teen Bible Classes on Saturday and Sunday.
• Preparation for Mothers’ Day on August 12 – the Queen’s birthday.
• Combined youth program on August 6 – we host.
• The teens that have departed and are now wandering around in darkness.
• Thank and praise God again and again that the worship center was enclosed before all of this rain got started”

INDIA

Again in INDIA, please continue to pray for the sale of the jointly owned (with the Advent Christian Conference of India) land at Guindy in Chennai. The activities of the rebel group of FBHC pastors and several groups of folk within the leadership of the ACCI continue to put stumbling blocks in the way of concluding a sale.

The Mission’s appeal in the Chennai Civil Court against the judgement against Immanuel and Rev Regi Christopher of the FBHC and Prabu Manuel (who is now a member of the rebel group) was recently dismissed – probably for the same reason that the original judgement was given against them. This week our Advocate (lawyer) Ravi Paul has lodged a further appeal in the High Court against the original judgement which he hopes and expects will be heard in an unbiased manner, unaffected by corruption, and which if successful will release our people from the injunctions which they presently have against them and will remove the major stumbling block to the sale of the property.          Please pray that the appeal will be heard quickly and that the judgement will be in our favour.

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.