ACMissioNZ Prayer Supporters’ Update 23 June 2017

Greetings to our friends, supporters and prayer partners, and once again my sincere appreciation for your support and encouragement in so many ways, especially for your prayers.

INDIA

Metro Chennai is experiencing a very hot summer this year. Since April, it’s more than 9 million population has experienced temperatures as high as 40/41 degrees Celsius (104/106 degrees F), and because the south of the country missed getting any rain during one of last year’s monsoon seasons, the city is very short of water. The well and the deep bore on the Guindy property, which have supplied sufficient water for many, many years are currently not supplying enough water for the five families who live on the compound. A new tank has been installed to allow water to be brought in and stored, but the city-wide situation is such that Immanuel is having great difficulty finding water to fill it. Please pray that our families, and indeed all the residents of this huge city, will somehow have sufficient water as their summer continues.

Thank you for faithfully praying for the sale of the Guindy land – it seems that the “Lord’s buyer”, who we have been praying for for many years, may now be on hand. Immanuel and our lawyer Ravi Paul, are presently negotiating with very large, joint venture of a large Indian company with a large, very well-known British company who appear to be very keen to purchase the property at our asking price. The interested party has completed extensive legal checks concerning the land and has satisfied themselves, and are presently discussing documentation for the purchase of our land, and for privately-owned land along the road frontage which was sold to independent Christians many years ago. There is a way to go yet – perhaps two or three months – and there are still potential “fish-hooks” to be dealt with, but this is by far the most promising enquiry we have had in the many years the property has been for sale.

The sale would bring the possibility of much needed financial stability for the Advent Christian Conference of India and its ministries and would allow YJM/AAM to greatly extend our ministries.

Please continue to pray that this enquirer may finally be the Lord’s chosen one and that the sale will be completed as soon as possible.

YJM ministry partner Pastor Ahaj Kumar Pani in Odisha, is a very good communicator and he and his team continue to be very busy in their ministry. He is working in one of the states of India which is known to have Hindus who are lawless and ruthlessly antagonistic towards Christians, with a police force that stands back and gives no help to Christians as they are abused and assaulted, sometimes even killed. He has again sent reports of his ministries, together with pictures, as below.

“We have newly opened an orphan children’s ministry in a tribal village at Brajarajanagar mission field.
Children are learning Bible stories and spiritual songs from us. These children are very poor and needy. Please pray for this orphan children’s ministry.”

“These women are newly converted to Christianity from Hinduism. They come from the mission field in Brajarajanagar village. They have accepted the Lord as their personal Savior.
We are regularly doing prayer services in this village.
Please pray for this village ministry and for the newly converted believers.”

“We did an Outreach ministry today. {17 June} We distributed New Testaments and Gospel tracts to the village people.
Please pray for these village people who heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time from us.”

 

Earlier this year we were able to send some funds to India to assist YJM ministry partner Emmanuel’s School and Children’s Home which is located in Chandel, in the north-eastern State of Manipur.

This ministry partner has been in operation since 1990 and has approximately 450 students, in classes ranging from Lower Kindergarten to Standard 10, taught by 18 teachers. About half of the students’ homes are 60 to 80 kms from the school and they live in a hostel at the school, whilst the others travel daily to school.

The children have devotions in the chapel every day (from 5am to 5.15 am!!) and every Sunday they attend a local church for their worship service. Sometimes they go to surrounding churches and present songs and testimonies. Every first Sunday of the month they have fasting prayer, especially for the school, hostel and supporters.

We received the following note of appreciation from them…

“A NOTE OF APPRECIATION    20th April 2017

Your support to this Institution, Emmanuel’s School & Children Home Inst., Chandel, India, through Br. Immanuel, Chennai, India, is highly appreciated by the Managing Committee of this school. Your timely support is giving more strength & encouragement to this institution.

It is fortunate for this institution to have such generous friends from New Zealand.

May our Almighty God bless every one of you richly & guide you for His glory.

With regards & lots of love,

Emmanuel’s School & C/H. Inst.

Chandel, Manipur, India.”

 Will you please uphold in prayer on a regular basis, Thirumathi {Mrs.} Roselle Monsang, the owner and Principal of the school (pictured at above on the right), and her team, and the children, who they teach and train and seek to point to the Lord Jesus Christ?

THAILAND

It is summer school and university holidays in Thailand at present. As is happening in India, they are experiencing an unusually hot summer too, so when it is “sprinkling rain” the weather is very good!!

Sunday 18/06/2017
“There are 36 people in the church today, 22 children and 14 adults. It’s just sprinkling rain so the weather is very good today. We had to cancel the English class in the afternoon because Parn and Ploy had to go to college in the afternoon.But thank you God for every blessing you give to all of us.”

 

Please thank and praise the Lord for the blessings He is bringing to the group at Christian Mission by the power of the Holy Spirit. Their reports over the last few weeks have regularly reported newcomers to their Sunday morning worship and fellowship services…
On 14 May their report said…

“We appreciated that 2 students came back to our church. Thank you God for sending them back. Thank you for this good day. Thank you for everything.”

On 21 May they reported…

“Today, we have a new visitor. She’s in grade 4. Welcome to Christian Mission.”

On 28 May their report said…

“We have a new visitor again, she is in grade 2. Her mother came over us and told us that she is really interested in studying Bible and English. Thank you God. We will do our best to take care of them and share God’s love to all of them.”

On 4 June the report said…

“We have 3 new members today and one of them is a new believer. She is 53 years old from Laobada village. Thank you, God. Please pray for her plan to take baptism. There are more than 20 children and almost 15 adults. Thank you God for blessing us.”

On 11 June their report said…

“There are 38 people today; 16 adults and 22 children. We prayed for the new believer and enjoyed the lunch. Thank you, God for today.”

Saturday 20 May was Soup of Love day for the month.

“We gave Soup of Love to the villagers. We’re in the new van and the villagers were wondering when we parked at their house. Thank you God for today. Good weather, good people and good day.”

Please join with the CMN team in thanking the Lord that He has made it possible for them to trade in their old van which was 16 years old and feeling its age and was bringing growing repair bills (they were not confident enough to use it for longer trips in recent times) for a new (to them) 10 seat 2009 model HiAce van (Pictured above left on Soup of Love duty). This gives them much more confidence, but of course comes at a cost and they will be paying for it over several years. Please pray that the Lord will provide for this need.

MALAYSIA

 Kluang Advent Christian Group’s ministry

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. Christian ministry is not easy in Malaysia, but Ruth and Wilfred faithfully continue their one-on-one ministries of friendship, practical assistance and counsel to friends, neighbours and other contacts.

MYANMAR

Pastor Timothy, leader of the Advent Christian Church of Myanmar, has for several years, been running the “Doors of Hope” teaching classes to give some education to a few children whose families cannot afford to send their children to state schools. He has been doing this in the neighbourhood around his house and children’s orphanage, but has recently moved the undertaking and increased the number of children he is able to assist with their basic education. He convinces teachers from the state schools to give their time after school hours at no cost to help these children. He recently wrote…

“This year I extended Doors of Hope teaching class at our farm. We built a new house, made new writing tables, chairs, black boards… till today we have 60 students and 4 teachers.
We teach them only 3 hrs per day after school (Mon to Fri) and every Saturday is for English speaking class. 45 students are from the community area and they are Buddhists. The teaching class is one of our mission works. Please pray for it.”

ACGC’s World Outreach office has an ongoing mission project list with needs from our outreach ministries. These special needs are items that will assist the outreach ministries, but are items that cannot be included in our mission budget due to budget constraints. Many AC churches, WH&FMS groups and individuals will take on a mission project from the list in addition to their annual Penny Crusade giving.

A need for water purifiying systems for each of the four leaders in Myanmar was placed on the mission project list in 2016 and several churches responded to the need. Funds were given to provide two of the four needed purifiers and were sent to the Myanmar Conference in early April. With each leader needing a purifier, the Conference’s four leaders met and decided that Pastors Joseph and Kenneth would receive the two purifiers.

Please give thanks to the Lord for the gifts from the churches, which will enable those who live and minister on Pastor Joseph’s compound, including the 79 orphans and underprivileged children they care for, to have safe, clean water.

Pastor Joseph sent his thanks to the churches that have provided for his ministry – THE WORD MINISTRY – as follows…

“Donation of Dollars for Water Purifier.

We wish to acknowledge with thanks the thoughtful donation of US$1360 for a water purifier from you. Words cannot express our thanks and appreciation for the help extended to us for which we have nothing to give you in return, but to pray that the Almighty God will bless you all abundantly.

We are counting on God to work through you so we together can answer the call to the Myanmar church.  May the Lord bless each of you for every prayer you pray and every seed you sow in us.

Joseph”

We were recently able to send some funds to assist the Pastors and their families who care for orphans (300 in total) in Yangon and other parts of the country. June is the beginning of their school year and there are many costs involved with getting the children back to school – books, pens, uniforms, bags, umbrellas, admission fees.

Pastor Kenneth, (pictured at right) who is President of the Advent Christian Conference of Myanmar for 2017, wrote as follows…

“We do really praise God for His goodness and kindness to us through you and the Advent Christian Mission New Zealand. It is God’s blessing beyond our imagination. I do really appreciate your love and care for us. Words cannot express my gratitude. May the Lord continue to bless you abundantly in your ministries.

For this year our Bible School {Vernacular Bible School} has been re-opened and we have 10 Students.  The classes also already started from yesterday. All our children who are with us also in a good health, their school also re-opened and is having their class since the first week of June.

Again, I would like to say “thank You” for your love and concern for the Mission work here in Myanmar and our family. Even my heart cannot express my thankfulness to you, but I would like to say “thank you. “”

PHILIPPINES

Jeff and Penny Vann spent the month of May in the Philippines teaching at Oro Bible College in Cagayan de Oro, on the island of Mindanao, before briefly returning to New Zealand in early June and then returning permanently to the United States. While they were at OBC a Muslim terrorist group took over part of a nearby city – Marawi.

Penny wrote the following article for this week’s ACGC E-News.

“Wars and Rumors of Wars
On May 23, a Muslim terrorist group connected to ISIS took over part of Marawi City, Philippines. The group burned part of a Christian school, the jail, a church and other places. They took people captive as they closed off the city. The Philippine military has been battling them ever since then, and have taken back a large part of the city. Marawi is located 90 minutes from Cagayan de Oro where Jeff and I were staying. Cagayan de Oro is also the home of Oro Bible College (OBC) and other churches. The churches in Illigan are closer, being only about 30 minutes from there. On May 24, the president of the Philippines declared Martial Law for the whole island of Mindanao. Check points are scattered on all major roads making a 45 minute trip become two hours. In Illigan and other cities curfews are in place. All the while refugees from the conflict area stream into Illigan, Cagayan de Oro and other close cities.

The fighting meant for us the reworking of scheduled travel. We had to move a night class we were teaching in the city to within the OBC campus. Mall visits and other shopping had to be taken with care as malls and markets were prime targets for the group. This is all a small price to pay as we were leaving in 10 days.

These happenings, however, have affected the Advent Christian churches in the area. Curfews mean that evening Bible studies have to canceled or rescheduled so that people can get home before 9 p.m. Outreach to Muslim families had to be halted on the families requests due to their housing of relatives from Marawi. In some places, churches have been advised to take down their signs to lessen their being a target of terrorists.

Even though these things have happened, OBC is still open and accepting students for class, which began last week. The churches are still open. The word of God is going forward. Pray that these events will cause more people to seek life only in Christ.”

Please pray regularly for this situation, and especially for safety for the folk in Advent Christian churches in the area and at Oro Bible College.

May God bless you richly as you serve Him in Missions by your prayers and support.