God Bless,
John and Maeo
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Ministry Sustainability
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Re-published by ACMissioNZ from John’s October 2008 Newsletter
Greetings from Northeast Thailand.
I though I would send this summary of where we stand out to all of you for your prayers. We appreciate those of you who have supported us both through funding and through prayers and want to thank you for that, but I must admit that I am a bit of an ambitious person to glorify God also.
As you know we are a faith mission and our operation is based on what God provides for us by faith. When we put our 2008 plan together last year, we prayed for God to guide us and submitted the plan. As an operation of faith, there are a couple of things that must happen.
First, in faith we set up a plan believing that God will provide for our needs and go from there. That is what we did. However, our donations have fallen off by over 30 %
…so far this year – so there is a message in there for us. I believe the message is one of two things:
- That God is telling us to pull back from what we are doing and reduce things across the board. ??
- The possibility that the people God is asking to support us are not listening to what God is telling them. ??
Since we operate on faith, I am not asking specifically for you to send us a donation, but what I am asking for is concentrated prayer that the people God calls to help us will hear the call and help.
Here are the programs we are being challenged to either find funding or drop by the end of this year:
The Soup of Love Program:
- This program feeds from 150-200 senior citizens and children each month. It also shows that someone cares for them to stop by and visit and gives them a glimpse of God’s love. It also is a time to distribute tracts and announcements concerning our mission.
- The Cost is about NZ$50/US$30 per month.
- {Praise God! – this program has since received sponsorship for 2009!}
Senior Citizen Food Packages:
- This program provides hot meals for two senior citizens per month. It brings two people to church each month that otherwise might not hear the world of God at all. The program has been going for over 2 years and has made contact with about 60 people in the local village that might not otherwise know God’s love.
- Cost of this program is about NZ$50/US$30.00 per month.
Scholarships:
- The Christian mission is currently providing scholarships for 6 of our students in high school.
- The cost is about NZ$350/US$200 per month and looks like it will continue with one donor; however we have another 4 or 5 students that could use assistance. The students receiving assistance are spending at least 10-15 hours per month volunteering to teach English to elementary school children one Saturday a month and to assist in teaching our elementary students here at the mission on Saturdays, in addition they attend 4 hours a week themselves, learning English and teaching methods to use teaching their younger students.
Children’s Programs:
- We have a full program on Saturday for elementary and high school students. Presently the children of Smithfield Advent Christian Church in Smithfield, North Carolina help us both financially and with prayers, but more help could be used.
- This program is the key to getting us into the homes of the parents and other relatives of the children that come to the mission for our Saturday program and English programs. It is also one of the keys that get people to come to the village video program. As of this Saturday, we had about 25 children and teens in this program.
- Fuel is a major expense in the transportation of our children from home to the mission and on trips to other churches and travel to visit their homes and families. Current fuel costs are about NZ$120-$175/US$70-$100 per month.
- We currently have one village video showing per month.
- As in the United States, the Thais travel on their stomach also and since most of our attendees at these videos are working people, we provide a meal for them and then watch a video related to the Bible. We average about 40-45 people attending these functions each month. Cost for the meal for these functions is about NZ$50/US$30 per month.
Radio Show:
- The Christian Mission in cooperation of Voice of Peace produces one hour radio presentations aired from 12:00 noon – 1:00PM every Saturday and Sunday.
- Funding for this program will run out the end of November. Cost currently is NZ$85/US$50 per month.
Please pray:
Please pray for me
- …that God will give me the wisdom, patience, love, strength to do what God has for me to do here and that I will remain in him and raise him up and glorify him in all that is done here. We continue to praise him for all that he has done up to this time and praise him for all that he will do in the future.
Pray also for the English Program
- …for our teens, both for their benefit and the help they are providing elementary students with the English Camps. Church Bible Camp was last week for three days and the teens did a fantastic job.
Praise God:
-
Our current, baptized membership is 17 people.
- Of those, three are in Bangkok and contribute nothing to the mission; one is in Chiangmai and contributes nothing; three are high school students; two more are in community college programs and one stays home to take care of her baby while her husband works; another member works part time as a house maid. Of our seven members here, only one is employed outside the church. So…
…we really are a faith operation here and depend on your prayers.
Again, this newsletter is not to ask for money, but to ask for prayers that those God calls to help will hear; or that God will give us a clear message that we are to pull back and reduce our efforts on this end.
Thank you for your prayers, as we also pray here for God’s guidance in all we do.
God Bless,
John and Maeo and the Team.
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