Greetings to our friends, supporters and prayer partners, and welcome to this third update for 2019. 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. Once again, the past six weeks since my last update have brought many matters for which we can thank the Lord, and there is much that we need to continue to pray about.
INDIA | Yesuway Jeevan Mission
In my last update I mentioned that this month, May, was the month in which most of the churches of the Advent Christian Conference of India (71 churches in and around Chennai) and the Fellowship of Blessed Hope Churches (15 churches in Chennai and further south in Tamil Nadu State) would be holding their summer Vacation Bible Schools. Some of YJM’s ministry partners have also held VBS in their areas of Bihar, Telengana and Andhra Pradesh. There are still some to be held later in the month.
Rev A. Jerald, Pastor of the FBHC church at Senthil Nagar, Chennai and President of the FBHC, wrote as follows as he sent details to Immanuel.
“Praise the Lord,
We are happy to announce that by the Grace of Almighty Father, we have successfully conducted our V.B.S from 15th of April to 17th of April 2019 at FBH church, Senthil Nagar. All these three days it was a great opening for us in sharing the Gospel with kids, over a hundred kids attended the program and many non-Christian children gave their life to Jesus and experienced the true peace and happiness of Christ in them. By his grace, the kingdom of heaven is built in the hearts of the young ones and God fulfilled his word as in Matthew 19: 13 -14. And the Holy Spirit guided us in all our ways and it was really a blessing to all of us.
I also extend my gratitude to the six teachers, and six volunteers who volunteered themselves in this ministry and with a joyful spirit they worked in teaching the kids and also many programs and other activities were conducted to engage the children in easily understanding the Word of God. Also special mention to our church believers who supported this children’s ministry through prayers and financial needs. I thank the Lord for all of them and am praying that the sown seeds of salvation will grow and be reaped soon by Christ.”
Pastor T. Daniel Manasseh’s FBHC church at Periyakulam in south-western Tamil Nadu also had a very successful VBS from 6th to 11th May, with 72 children attending.
They also have branch church – Bethel Prayer House – in a nearby village called Semmanguzhi where 61 children attended their VBS which ran from 7th to 11th May.
Periyakulam church had also enjoyed a joyful occasion on 21st April, when three new believers were baptised. Pastor T. Daniel advises that there are a further six believers waiting to be baptised. Please join with our brother and his congregation in thanking the Lord for these new members of the Christian family, and praying that they will grow in grace and the knowledge of their Saviour.
Please thank and praise the Lord for so many young lives which have been touched by the Gospel when attending VBSs during May, and pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in many lives in the days and weeks to come.
YJM has recently received further funds from ACGC’s Bread of Life program, which raises funds to feed the hungry and homeless in many parts of the world, and was recently able to distribute them to some of our ministry partners. Pastor Pani in Odisha and Pastor Balu Nayak
In Mahabubabad in Telengana State sent the following pictures and reports.
Pastor Pani wrote…
“Feeding the homeless – North Odisha Mission.
Khaliyakani mission field.
It is a hot summer season in India, people are so thirsty and hungry. There is no-one to give them food and water expect American Advent Mission North Odisha.
We are currently helping several orphan children and homeless by providing them with comfortable accommodation as well as food, clothing and education. House parents who love and take care of these children live with these kids and provide them with the love and security that they need to live and grow up and have a dignified life. It is our vision to start many more these orphanages so that we could extend our helping hand to bless the countless children who are orphans and have no one to take care of them.
Please pray for the homeless children who are not able to get food and clothes. Their lives are so difficult and painful, and they are dying every day by starvation. They need our prayer support.”
Pastor Balu Nayak, who usually feeds the poor and homeless who congregate at the local railway station, wrote to Mission Manager Immanuel…
“Ayya thank you very much for your ACGC kind & valuable financial support for our Feed the Poor activity we are regularly doing in our area. I am sending few of our activity pictures.
Thank you for your A.C.G.C. support for our regular Feed the Poor program here at Mahabubabad in our Telangana State South India.
All glory to God.”
By the time you read this, the general elections in India will probably be over. There were 900 million electors eligible to vote! Voting was carried out in seven phases over five weeks, with the last voted to be cast on 19th May. All votes will be counted on 23rd May and a declaration of the result made the same day.
Please pray that whichever government is elected will not be anti-Christian but will be fair to Christianity and all other faiths and obedient to the Constitution of the country which guarantees freedom of religion to all.
Please continue to pray for Immanuel and Rani and their family. Rani’s health (dementia) and in particular her ability to walk are concerning. It has become necessary for Immanuel to hire a full-time, live-in, trained helper to assist with Rani’s care, and a doctor, nurse and physiotherapist are visiting regularly. Rani’s health situation is very stressful for all her family at present – please pray that they will all experience the peace and power of the Lord’s presence and that the medical people involved will have great wisdom and compassion as they assist.”
Thank the Lord though that a difficult lesion she has, has begun to heal – an answer to prayer!
I have been asking you to pray for the sale of the Guindy land for many months, even years – thank you for continuing to pray. Please continue to pray regularly as we slowly – very slowly at times – take one step at a time towards the completion of the sale. There is still a court case – brought by a senior member of the Advent Christian Conference of India – that is holding up what will be a very major and critical step in concluding the sale, and the wheels of the justice system in India most often turn very slowly. Sadly we have recently heard that yet another ACCI member has taken a case to the court!! Perhaps a step backward! Once these cases are determined or withdrawn we will publicly call for bids for the property, and we presently have parties who are very keen to buy the property immediately the court gives its decisions.
The proceeds of the sale will bring the possibility of future, financial stability of the Advent Christian Conference of India, and the significant extension of the ministries of Yesuway Jeevan Mission and its ministry partners throughout India.
THAILAND |Christian Mission Naratchakwai
With the northern hemisphere summer firmly in place and Nakhon Phanom only about 18 degrees above the equator, Ploy and Parn tell us they are feeling the heat and that the temperature has reached 40 degrees Centigrade on a number of occasions. The ministries of Christian Mission continue as the team seeks to represent Jesus Christ to those who attend and in their community and neighbouring villages.
On 24th April they took the SOUP OF LOVE to a village where they had never been before. Ploy wrote on Facebook…
“Soup of Love in April at Ban Pai Lom. Some people were afraid to get the soup, but some people got it with their smile and happy.
Like in Revelation 3:20 New Living Translation (NLT)
“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.”Thanks God. 😊”
There was a good number at the service on 5th May. Ploy wrote…
“Today we had a prayer group meeting at 9 a.m.
Thank God for the weather today that it’s not very hot. Today we had Chicken Green Curry and rice noodles for lunch – Yum!”
…and the children had their regular Sunday School lesson and their English lesson in the afternoon
At the morning service on 12th May they all wore the King’s colour, and celebrated the coronation, on 4th May, of Thailand’s new King Maha Vajiralongkorn, also known as King Rama the Tenth and prayed for him and their country.
On Monday 6th May the leaders of the six churches of the Christ For All People Church Association met for their monthly prayer and strategy meeting at the Na Lao church in Sakhon Nakhon Province and similarly honoured and prayed for their new king and distributed the CMN’s monthly food parcels to two residents of that village.
Please continue to pray for Maeo and Brother Boontaa and for the seven girls/young ladies who make up the Leadership Team and for Ploy who leads the team. Thank the Lord for the time and effort they put into planning and supervising every aspect of the ministry.
All the girls are currently involved in exams at the end of their high school or university years and are no doubt looking forward to their annual summer vacation.
MALAYSIA | Kluang Advent Christian Group
Please continue to pray for Sister Ruth, Brother Wilfred and their small group of faithful, Advent Christian believers who gather weekly on Sundays for worship in Ruth and Wilfred’s home in Kluang and in members’ homes for Bible study and communion during the week. Christian ministry is not easy or without danger 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 | Advent Christian Conference of Myanmar
Please continue to pray for the leaders of the Advent Christian Conference of Myanmar, and for the ministries of their organisations.
We have not had much communication from Myanmar recently but we did hear of a very sad situation – Pastor David advised us on 14th May, and asked us to pray for them as they dealt with a motorcycle accident in which one of their 98 orphan/underprivileged children – a 17 year old youth – died and a 17 year old young lady was admitted to hospital with serious injuries. The motorcycle, which is the organisations only means of transport, was totally destroyed.
Please pray for all concerned as they deal with this tragic situation. We are concerned that it may bring unwanted attention from the authorities and subsequent difficulties for the organisation as a whole (Fellowship Bible Church of Myanmar), particularly in regard to the 98 orphan or underprivileged children that David and his organisation care for in several locations around Yangon. Please pray especially for this aspect of the situation.
PHILIPPINES
Bishop Efren Miranda of the Philippines Advent Christian Conference recently reported as follows…
“The church pastors, including the Macajalar Bay district, met recently for a Pastoral Discipleship Forum. As the Philippine Conference nears the dawning of the year 2020 with its vision for 2020 disciples by 2020, there is a higher determination to develop more church leaders for a greater harvest of souls. Director of Discipleship Brother Rucky Pallo is looking into ways to intensify the effort on disciple-making in the pastoral level.”
Please pray that this effort of ministry for discipleship will meet its goal – 2020 disciples by 2020.
Oro Bible College (OBC) has also reported that some of their interns who were serving in AC churches as part of their courses have recently had the joy of being able to participate in baptismal services.
Thank the Lord for these new members of God’s great, worldwide family and for the experience that OBC’s Interns had being part of these baptismal services.
Sister Ma’am Nely Gamayon, Director of Oro Bible College has forwarded a copy of the College’s very full and interesting Annual Report for the school year 2018 to 2019. The report is too long to show in full here, but a copy can be seen on our website: Oro Bible College Report 2018-2019, but with thanksgiving to God we can report that a further eleven well-trained students graduated at the end of the year with AB Theology degrees and are ready to serve the Lord as He leads.
Once again, my sincere thanks for your partnership in the Lord’s ministries in South East Asia. Thank you for your prayers for and encouragement to and financial support for our brothers and sisters in the LORD in South East Asia who are so committed to sharing the message of LIFE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST with their people. Your support means a great deal to them.
Please pray that they will all know the leading, guiding and blessing of the Holy Spirit on all their ministries and that they will have great joy in their service for the LORD as they see fruit for their labour.
