Family picture
Our
family has been greatly blessed; it has been a great month as parents get to spend
time with children, particularly, taking Isaac to school, picking him up, helping
him with his homework, and praying with him at night. Isaac is a real
“laughter” for our family. He has a very
dynamic life, this month. One day he came to his dad’s office asking to be
baptized. We all then questioned him:
Why does he want to be baptized? And
what is the meaning of baptism. We were
amazed with his answers. He answered
that he wanted to be God’s child and to be born again, living a life following
the Lord. However, we decided that we
should give him some time to see if he really meant it. A week later, he went to his mom and asked
what prevented him from being baptized. After
recovering for the past few two days he kept asking to be baptized. Praise the Lord! He was baptized! We deeply appreciate lifting Isaac up, both
his physical and spiritual health, in your prayers.
Isaac's recovery at the hospital
Isaac's baptism
It
has been a real blessing, in fact priceless, to see our children grow up
spiritually. We are now taking Nick and
John to visit churches during the weekends in order to equip them for the works
of God’s Kingdom and to train them in preaching God’s Word, in particular. Nick really needs to relearn the Asian
culture because he lived most of his life in the USA. Since he is struggling in his financial
support, he is now teaching English where he can earn some money so that he is
able to continue his ministry. If God is
permitting, Nick is planning to go for a mission trip to Laos with Stephen this
upcoming November and help teach at the Christian leader conference (youth section)
in Myitkyina in December. He will also conduct a youth camp in Myanmar on
March-April, 2015 and his three youth minister friends from the USA may
possibly join to help him since there will be over 400 junior and senior high
schools and university students attending the camp.
John
has been blessed in various ways since he grew up in both cultures: Asian and
Western. He has been educated well, both
academically and spiritually. His
school, Grace International School (a Christian school for MK—missionary kids)
has trained him well. His biblical
knowledge is on the fine line. Often, he
does a great job in preaching God’s Word both at home and in congregational
settings. He is now a junior in high
school. Your prayers for John and his
school, GIS, are much appreciated. You
can visit GIS at http://gisthailand.org/
John at his school, GIS
Becky
is still helping our mission by taking charge with a full schedule of teaching
English to our neighboring displaced kids.
Her university has asked her to write a curriculum on how to teach
English for non-English background children so that they will be able to use it
as their text book. She is now not only
busy in teaching, but also writing the curriculum for her university.
I
(Stephen) have spent most of my time in studying 2 Corinthians in depth (then
to the Gospel of John before the next group of student’s arrival). I have studied these two books for many
years, but I have never had a chance to teach these books, so it will be a
nerve-breaking new experience classes. However,
I believe that only the true Word of God will transform God’s people. I myself can testify to this experience. As a former Buddhist monk and an evil spirit
worshipper, I would live and conduct no differently than any other pagan if I didn’t
know the Word of God. My transforming
life began when I studied God’s Word and knowing how to apply it to my daily
life. It was almost 15 years after my
conversion before I had my first Bible to read (at the early stages of my
conversion, there wasn’t any church available for us to attend). Unlike Christians in the West, a common
Christian, particularly the first generation Christians (those who have
converted from other belief) among the minority people, have absolutely no knowledge
of the Bible. They believe in God because they have experienced God’s
power. They have seen God’s supreme
power over the evil spirits and even experienced casting out demon possessions. But because of their lack of biblical
knowledge, they are still living exactly like pagans even after their
conversions.
Stephen in the office
Last
weekend, Nick and I made our visit to one of the Lahu church in Chiang Dao. I remember my very early stages of ministry. I
helped at this church whose members fled from China due to the Chinese Cultural
Revolution. They migrated to Burma and
finally to Thailand. There were about 25
households among them. Though they have
believed in God for two or three generations; many of them practiced magic, voodoo,
calling their spirits for various reasons, and above all the church divided
into 4-5 different groups among themselves, in fact each group had their own
house church. After facing such problems
for many years, many missionaries gave up on this church; two of their young
leaders came and asked me to help build them to become a healthy church. Because we believe that without God’s Word,
there is no true church growth; we started to offer this church a week long bible
study, two or three times a year. After
several years, many of them threw out their voodoo. Church began to unite and now they have over
20 people who are enrolling in His Kingdom’s works. They have even sent out many native
evangelists, to other villages in Thailand, Burma and to China. This church has become a living testimony, to
many other churches in the area, that the authentic church growth must be based
solely on God’s Word.
Stephen is preaching at a Lahu church
Many
churches in the villages of Thailand have no minister. Many Christians are struggling with worldly
problems, for instance, drugs, alcoholism, and prostitution. Some churches face theological problems,
promoting new doctrine, for instance, the doctrine of perfectionist—Christians
are sinless. Many Christian leaders have
come to us, asking our mission to offer them a week or two week long bible
study. Much mission works are needed to
be done.
We
always thank God for your partnership for the mission works for equipping ,
empowering God’s people and carrying out the Great Commission to the lost
people in Southeast Asia and China.
In
Christ’s Love,
Stephen
and Mary
.......................................................................................
Prayer
needs:
1.
The
coming AIS’ students on October, 2014.
2.
Our
new evangelistic works in Laos and the upcoming mission trip to Laos in
November, 2014.
3.
The
leadership conference at Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, at the
Northern part of Myanmar on this upcoming December, 2014.
4.
The
evangelistic trip at the border between Myanmar and China on March 2015 and
Youth Bible study camp at Myitkyina on April 2015.
5.
Our
evangelistic works in China and leadership conferences in China. At this moment, one of our teammate is in
China teaching at one of the leadership conferences in Gengma, Linchan, Yunan
province.
6.
Our
families’ health and our children’s education.
