Greetings to our friends, supporters and prayer partners, and welcome to this seventh update for 2019. Once again, my thanks for your support and encouragement in so many ways. Thank you especially for praying – God continues to answer your prayers in wonderful ways, and we see the Advent Christian ministries in Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, India and the Philippines continuing to touch lives for the Lord Jesus Christ.
INDIA | Yesuway Jeevan Mission
Thank you for praying for the water situation in Chennai and in particular for there to be sufficient for the YJM staff who live on the compound at Guindy. Over the past couple of weeks, several low-pressure troughs formed over the Bay of Bengal and brought light to medium rainfall for short periods on quite a number of occasions – nothing like monsoon rains but sufficient to raise the water-table level a little under most of the city. The well on the compound, which had been dry this year for one of the very few times in the last 70 or more years, on Wednesday of this week had about 3 metres of water in it, as there had been steady rain for about 5 hours
in the early morning, and the deep bore-well was again able to pump continuously. Please praise and thank the Lord for His answers to your prayers!
The steady rain on Wednesday morning could mean that the monsoon rains have arrived – please pray that that will be the case and that Chennai’s 11 million residents will soon be able to just turn on a tap to get water.
The water train brought its last load of water into the city from elsewhere in the State on 8 October, having made a total of 159 trips bringing a total of 420 million litres of water to the city. The cost of the rail transport alone was the rupee equivalent of 3.04 million NZ dollars, with the cost of the water and pumping and labour etc. involved over and above that amount.
The government of Andhra Pradesh State (which is adjacent to Tamil Nadu to the north) has sent a large volume of water to Chennai through an open canal system and this has arrived at one of the city’s reservoirs. The Tamil Nadu State’s Chief Minister has announced that the government will lay a pipeline from AP to Chennai to supply the city in future years and will thus avoid the considerable wastage that occurs with open channels.
In mid-September Mission Manager Immanuel asked long-serving employees M. Devarajan (Deveraj) and E. Raja to visit the Advent Christian Conference of India’s outreach ministry at Khagaria in Bihar State, which YJM supports financially and practically. This involved a 36-hour train journey each way – read more www.acmissionz.org.nz/2019/10/bihar-outreach. In the approximately 48 hours they were in Khagaria, they attended the assembly at St Xavier’s English Medium High School which the ACCI owns and visited some classes; attended two prayer cell meetings; attended two children’s ministry meetings each of which had about 100 attendees and shared in the Sunday morning service at the main church. Deveraj preached the sermon at the service and Raja sang a song of testimony. They needed translators for all their activities as Hindi is the common language spoken in Bihar.
St Xavier’s High School
The present St Xavier’s High School property is rented from the original owner of the school and is far too small and very dilapidated to properly house the more than 1,200 students who now attend. The school has drawn up plans for a new school, which have been approved by the government education authorities – they have approval in principle but a condition was added that the new buildings have to be completed in the next 12 months if the school is to continue. The new school is to be built on new land purchased for the complex at Matharpur, which is quite close to where the existing school is situated. They need 17 new classrooms each costing 250,000 rupees. This amount is about NZ$5,500, (about US$3,500) and they will start building them one by one as soon as they have funds available to build a single room.
ACMissioNZ was able to send them funds for the first room, and this amount will be used to lay down the foundations for all 17 classrooms, which will be built in a U shape around a central courtyard.
Other gifts have been received from individuals and an ACCI church in Chennai, which means that they have sufficient funds for 4 classrooms. Please pray that the Lord will provide for this new school complex. The school is the team’s main “bridge” into the local community and is greatly appreciated by the children who attend and their families – the students do very well in the Indian government’s external exams, and they have prayers and Christian instruction every school day. Please pray that the Bihar team will be able to meet the completion in twelve months condition laid down by the education authorities.
As is essential for security in India, a sturdy compound wall and gates are already in place around the property.
Please pray for the missionaries and the 15 pastors who work in 14 churches in Bihar, asking that the Lord will give them wisdom and strength to extend His Kingdom for His glory. Pray especially for Pastor Paul Sundar Raj, who leads the Bihar ministry, his wife Sudar Mathi who is struggling with serious arthritis, and their two children William Carey and Joanna (pictured). Pray too for Pastor Denny Moses and his family – he has responsibility for communications. Pray also for the teachers at the school – many of them are Christians from Tamil Nadu who see their work as missionary service for the Lord, and many of them have had to learn the Hindi language so that they can communicate with the local students, although they teach in English.
Please continue to pray for the sale of the Guindy land. Mission Manager Immanuel and our Advocate (lawyer) Brother Ravi Paul and senior leaders of the Advent Christian Conference of India (ACCI) are presently having discussions and negotiations with a party which seems to be a very keen, potential buyer, and we may be getting close to finalising a sale – again!
Please pray that the Lord will continue to clear the pathway and that the sale will be completed as soon as possible. Pray that God will change the hearts and minds and attitudes of those in the ACCI who are opposing the sale process and will convince them that there are very significant, long-term benefits for their organisation if the sale proceeds, or that He will remove them from positions of power and influence. Pray too please that the three “old” court cases, which were brought against the ACCI and were unsuccessful but need to be formally withdrawn from the court records and two newer, unheard ones, will be withdrawn by those who initiated them – the ACCI is currently negotiating for this to happen, but in true Indian fashion, the stakes are high!!
THAILAND |Christian Mission Naratchakwai
On Saturday 28 September the Christian Mission Team (pictured) took their Soup of Love to the nearby village of Namon to show their Christian love and compassion, and once again shared the soup with the aged and those who needed some encouragement in their lives. As they always do, they took the opportunity to hand a Christian tract to all with whom they shared their soup.
They wrote… “Today we send His love to the people at Namon Village.”
The leadership team members have been encouraged over recent weeks, as they have seen new children coming to the Sunday morning services. On 29 September they wrote “We thank God for sending the new 4 kids today!” and on 6 October they wrote “Thank you God, more children every week. ❤️ We are glad to share the story of God with them.” Please pray that these new, young lives may be touched by the Lord and that they will take the message of His love back to their homes and families.
The young ladies of the leadership team spent a great deal of time planning and preparing material for a Bible and English Camp which was held on Saturday 26 October and Sunday 27 October. They had enrolments of 40 children and 20 adults for the camp.
They wrote as follows on their Facebook page…
“Camp of Love” Bible & English Camp Day 1 (26/10/2019)
Thank you God for sending children and some adults here today. Thank you for all the activities that God planned for this camp. Everybody was having fun and happy.”
“Camp of Love” Bible & English Camp Day 2 (27/10/2019) Happy Sunday
Many of those who came on Day 2 stayed for the Sunday morning service and lunch after the service – then activities along the Bible and English theme continued.
Special competition for those who have been members of the three Work & Ministry Teams which we have sent to Christian Mission since 2006/07 and who have eaten many delicious meals in the very nice but very hot (big clue!) dining room area. 😊 What’s different in this picture???
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, including the English lessons.
Ask the Lord to help the girls balance their service for Him with their studies at High School and University.
Thank the Lord especially for the extra time and effort that the girls/ladies put into the planning, preparation and running of the Bible & English Camp and pray that the Lord will touch the hearts of some of the children and adults who attended, that seeds sown may grow into fruit.
Pray too that the Lord will lead a person or a couple to hear His call to serve Him as missionaries at Christian Mission.
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.
Ruth wrote recently…
“Praises unto Jesus. Glory be to his name. Thank you so much for all your supportive prayer that is holding us together in his service for his glory. Praise the Lord, we have one who answers our prayers.
Recently, one of our friends was in a very helpless situation. She was overwhelmed with some personal problems that caused her to contemplate suicide. Her own family ignored her and her closest friends were not of any help. She was unable to endure the turmoil within her, and she came running to us [Ruth and her husband Wilfred] for help. When she poured out her grievances, we took everything to the Lord. We counseled her.
That night, the Lord began to deal with her. The following day, she was at our place. There was a total change in her. She was calm. We took this opportunity to encourage her with the Word of God. The name of the Lord is indeed a strong tower to run into. When we talked to her, she was willing to listen. She drew closer to us. We told her that we will be with her and for her.
We are amazed to see tremendous changes in her. She is now more confident and able to pull herself through. She has made a decision not to commit suicide as she realizes her life belongs to God.”
Please pray with Sister Ruth and Brother Wilfred, that the Lord may continue to work in this lady’s heart and life to bring her to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Prayer requests from Ruth:
- Pray for Christian parents to build a wall of prayer for their adult children, as some are entangled with wrong unbeliever soulmates. The children need breakthrough and deliverance from this type of attachment. Pray for godly wisdom upon the parents to stand in the gap for their children.
- Pray for these adult children who need to have an activation and stirring in their inner man for the holy conviction of God, and an awakening of their spiritual understanding, senses and reasoning to lead them to the saving knowledge of Christ.
MYANMAR | Advent Christian Conference of Myanmar
Pastor Kenneth, the leader of the Gospel for Myanmar organisation asked us a few weeks ago to pray for a group of 8 students and 3 lecturers from their Salem Theological School who would be travelling, a night’s journey from Yangon, to Sin Phyu Chun in the Magwe Division (State), to carry out evangelical outreach from 22nd to 30th October as a practical part of their learning to serve the Lord. There is a graduate from their school at Sin Phyu Chun who has been church planting there since he graduated in 2009, and they were going to work with him in his area.
Pastor Kenneth advised, “For this trip all the students also collected an offering amongst themselves at each of their devotion times together and they had been able to save a total of 103,500 mmk (Myanmar Kyats – about 985 to NZ$1), but the need was 535,000 mmk.” ACMissioNZ was able to assist this group with the balance of their travel and general expenses.
Pastor Kenneth advised that they would be going out for outreach every day, giving tracts and sharing the Good News house to house and to those they met in the streets and the markets, and they would have a worship service every evening. He sent pictures from time to time – this one is of the team as they left Yangon.
As you can see from the pictures below, they were involved in truly pioneering evangelism – to the grassroots of the community, taking the Gospel to unreached people.
Please pray that the students will be blessed by the fellowship and practical experience they have had together, and that the Holy Spirit will touch the hearts of many with whom they shared the Gospel, to bring them to faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord
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 interest and support really mean 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.
