Happy New Year!
To begin the New
Year and to have a spiritual preparation for 2013, we would like to invite
every one to participate in prayer for our mission work. We are encouraging every individual Christian
to take an opportunity to join in united prayer for the evangelistic work
throughout Thailand , Burma , and China .
Vision of 2013-2018
In addition to our
regular routine—evangelizing, preaching, and teaching seminars and conferences
throughout Thailand , Burma , and China ,
we are setting our (new) goal to bring the gospel of Jesus’ redemption to many
un-reached people who live in various restricted areas at the center of Burma . To my knowledge, no one of Yin tribe or Paung
tribe has ever accepted Jesus Christ, nor is the Bible in their languages. We also have a vision to carry out the Great
Commission to various ethnic groups of people starting from the border of
Thailand-Burma to the border of Burma-India.
If it is God’s will, we would like to sweep every village with the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. Since no one has
ever done this before, we don’t know how far or how long it will be until we
are able to reach them for Christ, hopefully within 5 years we will reach the
border of India . We are scheduling to start this evangelistic
trip this March, 2013. We very much
appreciate you lifting up this evangelistic trip before the living God and Lord,
whether in your daily, weekly, or monthly prayers.
Christmas of
2012
Christmas among
Lisu Christians is very different from the States. As we mentioned other places, that Christmas
among the Lisu people is a church-oriented event, indeed, a para-church event. Lisu people from different villages and
different areas will gather together at various places which are set throughout
the month of December. In short, there
are several Christmas’ in several places.
One of the tricky ways is that the speaker at the convention would not be
announced until the hour before the service.
Therefore, we as preachers have to prepare several sermons when
attending these conventions so our sermons would not be the same as others called
to preach at any service. The service
lasts three days with three services each day.
Stephen received the honor to speak at one of these conventions which was
held at Hui Ko, where there were about 2,000 attendants.
However, our best
Christmas was at our site when we hosted 32 neighborhood kids who are Shan, a displaced
people group from Burma . Mary bought each of them new clothes and make
up and pedicures for all little girls.
Thomas and John led games, Stephen told them about the true meaning of
Christmas, and our little Christmas ended with feeding fried-rice covered an
egg, according to their orders. Some of
them had five plates in a row! We all did
have a very great evening. Through our
deeds and words to these little dislocated children who have very, very limited
resources, we are hoping one day God will open the eyes of their hearts and
they will know and accept Jesus as their own Savior and Lord.
Family
We as a family had
a great time during this past month. Children
had two weeks off from school. John
studied Lisu language for a few days, which made his Christmas at village very
different. Isaac, in particular, was so
excited to camp out so Stephen took him out at New Year’s Eve. They had a great time! Isaac also had a great time with Becky since
Becky is a good story-teller. Every
night Isaac left everything for Becky’s story.
Praise the Lord, for this past Christmas; it did make our families life
different!
Again, thanks for
all your partnership with our ministry throughout the year of 2012. We are looking forward to further partnering
in advancing His Kingdom to lost souls in Southeast Asia and China in the
coming years until the Lord’s return.
