This month
we would like to give you a recap of what our ministry was most blessed with in
2016 and what we look forward to in 2017 in the Lord is willing.
In the
year of 2016, thank God and thanks to you for your partnership in prayers and
giving and encouragements, our team was able to accomplish many great things.
We Thank God so much for blessing our ministry with great partners and great
ministries. We thank God for opening doors to places, like China, where many
cannot go and speak about Jesus. We look back at 2016 and are surprised at
where God has taken us and what He has done through us so far. We would like to
summarize and focus on 5 great things God is doing in Southeast Asia and China.
First, we
finished the Lisu commentary on the book of Revelation. As you know, Stephen
gathered his notes and papers from what he studied and from other scholarly
notes and with the help of the team, he was able to translate the text into a
Revelation commentary in the Lisu language. This additional ministry is a great
way to help the Lisu leaders study the Bible using tools that they will be able
to read and understand. This was a great accomplishment because many Lisu
expressed that they are encouraged and have a fire to study the word even more
because of this. We have also had Revelation classes for several groups of
leaders from Myanmar after they had finished reading the commentary alongside
with the book of Revelation. The classes helped the leaders understand and even
clarified some of the questions they had on the book of Revelation. The need
and desire to study the Word is great among the Lisu but many of them do not
have the means and funds to go study in Bible colleges, so we believe that this
commentary ministry is very important because it gives the Lisu people a chance
to learn God’s Word. If God is willing, many more commentaries will be printed
out in the year of 2017.
Second is
the Bible conferences in church contexts especially in Myanmar. This goes along
with number one but we have classes through Bible conferences in Myanmar in
order to bring the people back to God’s Word. As a matter of fact, one of our
cores is to bring the people back to God’s Word. We feel extremely encouraged
that every time we go and teach at the Bible conferences, hundreds of Lisu will
come and study the Word and this gives us more energy to teach all day and
even, sometimes, through the night.
Third, in
2016, we were able to use the Lisu Cultural Conference in order to build
relationships and evangelize to the non-Christian Lisu in China. We hosted a
little conference in Thailand, where we were able to invite Chinese Lisu to
attend. This conference was beneficial to both the Christian and non-Christian
Lisu from Myanmar, China, and Thailand. During this Lisu Cultural Conference,
the Lisu were educated to distinguish what Lisu events and behaviors were
culture and what was spiritual (religion). For instance, the climbing of the
sword ladder – this is a spiritual animistic worship because the climbers had
to be possessed by an evil spirit in order to climb the sharp ladder made of
swords; many Lisu Christians thought this was merely a cultural thing so they
attended these without knowing that they were taking part in an animistic
worship. On the other hand, non-Christian Lisu were educated that Christianity
does not destroy the Lisu Culture. Stephen was able to explain that
Christianity and Lisu go together more than most people thought, because
Christians believe in a creator God… and so do the Lisu. After this conference,
Stephen and his team was able to attend a Lisu Cultural Conference in China.
Stephen spoke on stage about how Christianity doesn’t destroy the Lisu Culture
but actually helps it; many of the Chinese Lisu (even the ones working in the
Chinese government) were really interested in this topic and even printed out
Stephen’s speech on a Chinese official document/journal approved by the Chinese
government! In fact, Stephen’s articles
on Christianity and Lisu culture have been published every year approved by the
Chinese government since 2010 and his book on Lisu poems was just printed out
in China a few months ago. Being that Stephen has been attending this
particular conference in China for many years in a row, the year of 2016 was
incredible because God is moving among the non-Christian Lisu in China. The
team was able to see great changes in the Chinese Lisu behavior and actions.
This past year, they no longer served alcohol or even smoked. Many of the
alcoholics gave up alcohol because they observed how respectable we Christians
are as we attended these conferences. Several documentary movies about Lisu
Christian families and their daily lives including a family singing Christian
songs and family prayers, and devotions showed at the conference and televised
on the Chinese national channel. This is a very big step because we can see God
working on the Chinese Lisu as they change and as they even asked us to pray
for them. Praise God!
Fourth,
the Biblical training of the 3rd group of leaders from Myanmar was
finally completed in 2016. After several years of training, the 3rd
group of leaders from Myanmar are now back in their ministry teaching and using
what we at Asia International Seminary taught to them. Special thanks go to
Derek Voorheez (a current professor of Boise Bible College), Dean Hammond (a
former professor of Cincinnati Bible Seminary), and Joe Snyder (a former
computer expert of Bible translation) for helping equipping these students from
Myanmar.
Fifth,
with the help from IDES, we were able to save hundreds of lives that were
affected by Tuberculosis and Malaria in Myanmar. Our mission focuses on a
“wholistic” ministry, where we try to meet the people’s spiritual, physical and
mental needs. As you may know, TB and
Malaria is a rampant disease that affects Southeast Asia. In Myanmar, the
average person cannot afford treatments because they live in extreme poverty.
So, with IDES and other partners, we were able to save hundreds of people
affected with these two deadly diseases. God is good!
January
2017
This past
month, Stephen taught the group of Lisu leaders from different parts of
Northern Myanmar. These leaders are evangelists, preachers, elders and leaders
of different denominations. At first, some of these leaders were very defensive
when the Revelation Class began. You see, many of these leaders have never
really studied the book of Revelation because they’ve been taught by
traditional way that didn’t really pay attention to study the in depth of the
bible. As a matter of fact, many Lisu have never even read the book of
Revelation because they fear Revelation 22: 18 – 19, “I warn everyone who
hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to
them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if
anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from
that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described
in this scroll.” They fear to even study the book because they fear if they
read it wrong, they will be condemned. So most of these Myanmar leaders were
very reluctant at first. They frequently said that missionary said this, and
the other said we have been taught that, but never scrutinized the Scripture and
searched what the Bible says or what the Bible doesn’t say. But as the week
went by, they all were shocked and in awe that the Bible didn’t support what
they had been taught or understood. Then they all started to grasp Revelation
through understanding the historical and literary context of the book. They
read it in the perspective of the first readers in the first century and are
able to understand the Revelation even more.
After the
group of leaders left, we got messages from them that they were very thankful
to have learned Revelation with Stephen. The leaders said that they were very
blessed to learn with Stephen because in the past they were taught Revelation
by traditions and not by actually studying from the Bible. They were able to
understand Revelation and most of these leaders are now teaching what they have
learned in Myanmar and some have even entered into China to teach there. Praise
the Lord! God is moving in Southeast Asia and China.
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| Studying Revelation in a house church setting in China |
During the
time these leaders were here, we took them to teach what they learned at a Lisu
church in Chiang Dao. Furthermore, before the group of leaders left, we were
asked to go pray for a Christian couple, one of our relatives, to pray for
peace and pray to cast the evil that had been oppressing the couple. We went
with the Myanmar leaders and had a worship service and prayed for the couple.
We then had pizza at that house, which was a first time experience for all of
the leaders from Myanmar
The Killing
Field in Myanmar
Currently,
the Lisu in Northern Myanmar are very affected by the fighting between Myanmar
soldiers and the rebels which has escalated in the past 6 months. Almost 6,000
Lisu people in several villages in Danai, west of Myitkyina, are running out of
food. These Lisu living in Danai have the traditional jobs of mining for Amber,
but now they are kicked out by the rebels and so they are not able to work or
gain any income. Many of these Lisu also tried to plant crops for food because they
have no income, but the fields are riddled with landmines. Several people have
lost their limbs and even their lives going out to the fields. So many of the
Lisu living in Danai are running out of food and they have no way of gaining
income or growing food.
Another
area that’s affected even more is Sitong, east of Myitkyina. Sitong is a
mountainous area where many of the non-Christians Lisu grow opium. Since the
battle, many of these villages turned into a battleground for the Myanmar
soldiers and the rebels. So these Lisu have to run to the safety of Myitkyina
and Wain Maw (area near Myitkyina) because these areas are relatively safe. Over
400 households, each household has an average of 8 members, are currently in
Myitkyina with no home. The number is steadily rising. These Lisu ran and lived
in the forest and caves for several weeks before finally reaching the safe
areas of Myitkyina. Last we heard, the rebels have now tried to barricade the
Lisu that ran from their villages from entering the safety of Myitkyina, where
Myanmar soldiers protect. The actual fighting is not the only thing affecting
the Lisu villages in Sitong and any village close to the forest; the rebels
live in the forest and would go into Lisu villages in order to take food and
money and even people including kids by force. Many of the people kidnapped are
used as human shields or forced to join the rebel army.
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| Temporary Shelters for the displaced Lisu |
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| The recent group of displace Lisu |
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| First real meal for the displaced Lisu after weeks in the forest |
As of right now, many of the churches in Wain Maw and Myitkyina, many of the Myanmar leaders that we work with and teach are from these locations, are actually trying their best to build temporary homes for these displaced people. They are providing food and water for these people in the best way they could. With numbers of the displaced people increasing each day into the almost 4000 from the battle areas, the churches in these areas has asked us to find aid or raise money in order to take care and show the love of Christ to these displaced people. Many of the Wain Maw and Myitkyina churches explained that they don’t know how long they could continue to take care of these people. The actual land that the churches own is very small, and all of these churches have requested for help with purchasing some land that will cost 30,000 US dollars that will be enough to house all of the displaced Lisu people and have land for them to grow food.
We have
talked to several nonprofit organizations who expressed interest in helping the
people but don’t know when they can start helping. We are also asking if you
could first of all, pray for the people, and please spread this situation with
others in hopes that there will be generous donors. Many have dedicated to give
and explained it was a small amount but we told them and will tell anyone that
even a small amount goes a long way. We pray that God will open doors and open
the hearts of people that they may bless people in Myanmar and so that Jesus’
love can shine in this dark situation. Please pray!
Family
The family
is doing well. Isaac just finished soccer competitions at school. He is now in a
Chinese language club and really enjoys his new school, Sarasas. Becky is busy
helping Stephen type documents from written text to computer documents. Mary is
doing much better now, she, with help from some of her friends, is getting the
field ready for planting rice. Stephen is preparing to go to Myanmar in order
to visit the displaced people and to encourage them. Nick is currently working
to contact different organization and to raise awareness of the situation in
Northern Myanmar.
