Dear friends, supporters and prayer partners,
In my last update I advised that Pastor Roy Rocha’s church in Manila, Philippines had been spared from flooding when Typhoon Glenda hit their city in mid-July, although they lost a big mango tree at the rear of the building and three of his members’ homes lost their roofs. Sadly, another storm, centred in the far north of the country caused severe flooding in Manila on Friday19 September. Because there had been no storm warning given for Manila no preparations had been made and at 2.30 am when they were all asleep, Roy’s home and the church were again flooded – to waist height – throughout his and his neighbours’ homes and the church. Their home’s ground floor was covered with mud; their refrigerator was nearly swept away but after a day of cleaning up on Saturday things were back to normal. Pastor Roy commented in an email
“…we are safe but sad because my little store stuff {he has a neighbourhood “sari-sari” store attached to his home} got damaged. I lost my investment.”
He advised that another tree in their church property had been uprooted by the winds and water, and the rain continued during the weekend.
Please pray for Pastor Roy and his family and the church members who also suffered loss or damage from this latest storm.
Thank you very much to those who prayed and those who sent gifts to provide “TREASURES” for Pastor Paul Sunder Raj’s ministry in Bihar, India. Because of gifts from the Lord’s people in New Zealand and the United States, 15 “TREASURES” in the Hindi language will very shortly be on the way to Chennai and then to Bihar, and 10, in two different languages, will be on the way to Myanmar.
In a recent report, Pastor Denny Moses in Bihar reported that the TREASURES already received are being well used to present the Gospel and Bible stories to the uneducated folk in and around Khagaria. He sent the two pictures below as examples of this.
John Middlewood at Christian Mission Naratchakwai, in Thailand, has also indicated that the TREASURES he has received are being well used to share the Word of God and has indicated that he could find good use for more –
up to 10 in the Thai language and 6 in Lao for his contacts across the Mekong River from Nakhon Phanom in Laos.
The cost of a TREASURE is US$50 (NZ$63 at present) If anyone or any church or group would like to assist with the provision of these useful gadgets, please contact our ACMissioNZ treasurer at glenise@slingshot.co.nz or me at ernie.schache@acmissionz.org.nz.
INDIA
There continues to be division and considerable selfishness and dishonesty from some in the leadership of both the Advent Christian Conference of India and the Fellowship of Blessed Hope Churches. Please pray also for ACCI President Rev A. Francis Thangadurai and FBHC President Rev T. Regi Christopher whose efforts to progress the ministries of their organisations are often thwarted by the activities of those who seek power and/or wealth for themselves and in doing so bring disrepute to the Name of their Lord and Saviour. Please pray also for these Brothers, asking the Lord to bring them back to walking and working in His ways and precepts.
Please pray regularly for Mission Manager Immanuel and the Mission’s Advocate (lawyer) Ravi Paul as they seek to encourage the leaders and would-be leaders and troubvle makers to act in accordance with the Lord’s ways and precepts as set out in His Word and the law of the land. Both of these Brothers spend much time and energy in dealing with problems rather than being able to spend time involved in more positve activities.
In spite of the difficulties mentioned above, the majority of the pastors and Bible Women in the two organisations are dedicated and committed to the task they believe the Lord has called them to, and are seeking to serve Him at the grass roots level in their respective churches. God is blessing their faithfulness and their efforts and in the power of the Holy Spirit, men, women and young people are commmitting their lives to Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. In recent weeks, Immanuel has been invited to two baptismal services to participate in the services and to present each of those baptised with a new Bible.
On 7 September he attended the morning service at the FBHC church at Chrompet where two young ladies (pictured below right with Immanuel) were baptised by the pastor Rev Stanley Foljar. Chrompet Church has a membership of about 60 from 25 families.
On 14 September he attended the morning service at the ACCI church at Sithalapakkam, where Rev S.A Andrews leads the congregation of approximately 70 families (more than 250 total membership). This church was opened in 1928 and was originally planted under the ministry of Miss Christina Long, who served as an Advent Christian missionary in what was then Madras from 1922 to 1928. The original church has been replaced during the last 15 months with an as-yet unfinished new building. At the service 5 persons (pictured below right with Immanuel) were baptised by the Area Pastor Rev M. G. Baktha Singh.
Please pray for these newly baptised Brothers and Sisters in the Lord and for those who have the responsibility of nurturing them in their faith.
THAILAND
Since my last update John Middlewood has been advised that he probably has cancer in one of his lungs. On 26 August, during a regular, routine visit to the hospital at Sakon Nakhon, he advised the doctor of recurring pain in his right shoulder which had been diagnosed by the local doctor at Nakhon Phanom as muscle spasm. The Sakon Nakhon doctor arranged for an x-ray to be taken which revealed a non-traumatic fracture of his right clavicle and a mass in the upper lobe of his right lung. The doctor referred him to larger hospital in another town – Khon Kaen – which is about four hours drive from Nakhon Phanom, where there are specialist doctors available. On 2 September the lady oncologist at Khon Kaen arranged for a biopsy to be taken but indicated that she felt fairly sure that the mass in the lung was malignant cancer.
On the morning of 11 September, as John was getting dressed there was a loud crack and he felt terrible pain in his left shoulder. He went to the hospital at Nakhon Phanom where an orthopaedic surgeon arranged an x-ray of the shoulder and subsequently told him that what he and others had been calling muscle inflammation was in fact bone cancer in both left and right clavicles! He was told that it was stage four cancer and that nothing could be done and that without treatment he may have about a year to live! He was given morphine to take for the pain.
After a subsequent visit to Khon Kaen John travelled there once again on Tuesday, September 16, planning to start radiation on the 17th, with radiation treatments set to continue for 5 days a week for six weeks, with a bone scan set down for the afternoon. On Wednesday morning (Sept. 17) John was on the table, marked up to have radiation when the doctor came in and stopped the procedure. The biopsy had come back negative – an answer to prayer at first – but then the physician discovered that the surgeon who had done the biopsy on 2 September had taken the sample from the wrong place (shoulder muscle tissue instead of the lung). John received no radiation treatment that day and is now waiting for a new biopsy to be done on 1 October. If all is well with the fractures in his shoulders, he will return to Christian Mission in Nakhon Phanom on October 2 and will wait the result of the biopsy.
That same afternoon (Sept. 17) John went in for the bone scan on his shoulders. He had been praying that a total body scan would be carried out, and there was an answer to his prayer – a total scan was indeed performed!
John saw the physicians on the morning of the 18th for the results of the bone scan. The bone scan results were negative – no signs of cancer anywhere in any of his bones. It did show that John has bone fractures in both clavicles. The right one is healing nicely by itself, and John and Maeo go back to Khon Kaen on September 26 to have the orthopaedic doctor check the left clavicle as to how it is healing. The oncologist in Khon Kaen is guessing that the orthopaedic surgeon in Nakhon Phanom saw the fracture shadows in the clavicles and instead of doing further checking he diagnosed it as stage four cancer!
As I am sure you can imagine, this set of circumstances and the diagnosis of lung cancer and the constant travelling to hospitals has and is putting a significant strain on John and Maeo.
Please remember them both regularly in your prayers. Please pray that it might be the Lord’s will that the treatment will be successful.
Before any of the above had occurred, I had planned to visit John and Maeo and the team at Christian Mission Naratchakwai from 1 October to 4 October and with John’s agreement that visit will go ahead as planned. I will then travel to Myanmar with Rev Jeff Walsh and Rev Penny Vann for discussions with the leaders of the Advent Christian Conference of Myanmar. I would greatly appreciate your prayers for me, as I travel and visit please.
Please thank the Lord that the young ladies of the leadership team at CMN – Bee, Ploy, Parn and Lita – (pictured below left) have voluntarily stepped up to relieve John of all responsibilities for the children and young people’s ministries and the organisation of the Sunday morning services until he is back to full health and strength. Bee, who has been living in town in Nakhon Phanom because of her job as a teacher, has also volunteered to move back to Naratchakwai and live at the Mission compound so that the two younger girls who live there can continue to live there whilst John and Maeo are away from Mondays to Fridays when John’s raditation treatment begins. Pastor Boonta, the pastor of a small church in the Christ for All people Churches Association (pictured below right) , who has been assisting John by giving the sermon at one Sunday service per month, has offered to preach at all the services, assisted by Bee one Sunday each month, until John is well enough to take back some or all of that responsibility. John is tremendously grateful to the Lord and to these folk for their assistance. Please praise the Lord for these folk and for their willingness to assist in these circumstances and pray for strength and wisdom for them all. The four girls will be carrying out these duties in addition to their studies and examinations at university or high schools.
MALAYSIA
Please continue to pray for the small group of faithful Advent Christian believers who gather weekly for worship in the home of Sister Ruth Devairakkam and Brother Wilfred in Kluang and who gather in members’ homes for Bible study and communion during the week. Thank the Lord for their one-on-one ministry of assistance in many practical ways and for their spiritual ministry to their neighbours, friends and other contacts. Thank the Lord for the answers to our prayers in the lives of those to whom they minister.
MYANMAR
Please continue to pray for the leaders and members of the Advent Christian Conference of Myanmar. Remember especially their ministry of caring for so many orphans and disadvantaged children – 238 at last count! Some of them are pictured at right
Please pray for the meetings and discussions to be held with the leaders of the four organisations which make up the conference and Revs Jeff Walsh and Penny Vann and I from October 5 to October 8. Whilst in Myanmar we will be presenting a seminar to the four leaders and a small number of key leaders from their organisations – leaders who have been chosen according to the instruction in 2 Timothy 2:2, “…faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Penny Vann will be leading the seminar on the topic “How to teach AC distinctive theology in your ministries.”
Once again, my sincere thanks for your prayers and support for our brothers and sisters in South East Asia who serve the Lord under the Advent Christian banner and for your partnership with us as we seek to assist them in whatever ways we can.
God bless you as you serve Him in this way.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.