We apologize for the late update because Stephen has been
in Myanmar and China for a little over a month. While he was there, some of the
time, he wasn’t even able to communicate with his family. After coming home,
Stephen had to go to the hospital because he picked up a type of flu from
Myanmar; he was in the hospital for almost a week, but praise the Lord he is
now home and recovering. Nonetheless, he said that this trip was extremely fruitful!
In early October, Stephen packed up his bag to go and
teach the book of Daniel, Revelation, and also eschatology because the
Christians in Southwestern China and Northern Myanmar had been requesting for
Stephen to teach them for several months. On top of this, Stephen was also
planning to visit and encourage the displaced Lisu people in Northern Myanmar.
We want to share a little bit about how great God is and how His timing is
perfect. Just a day before Stephen was to board a plane to Myanmar, AFC
received a generous amount of money to help the displaced in Myanmar. Stephen
was able to take that money up to Myanmar to help the people. God is moving
through teachings and also through physical help for the Lisu. On this trip,
God used Stephen to feed the people both physically and spiritually. Praise our
Living God!
China
Stephen’s first half of the trip was spent in Ying Chang,
Mungshi, Teng Chong, South-west of China. He traveled and taught in the cities
and remote villages in these regions. At first, he was very nervous because
this was the first time that he taught Bible in a “classroom” setting. This
time was different because in the past when he was in China, he would either
preach at a churches or would attend conferences about culture where he briefly
incorporated the Bible, but this time, it was specifically to teach Daniel,
Revelation, and eschatology. He taught in the city and after several days would
move to another city or to a remote village and continued. God was definitely
working because most people accepted his teaching. Throughout his time in China
almost every day and night, he taught the Lisu to study from the Bible, not
from teachings based on human reasoning which mostly contradict the Bible.
Many of the Lisu that came and studied accepted his the
teachings. Some just couldn’t accept the teaching even though they saw what the
Scripture said. There is a big need for the Lisu Christian in China to study
the Scripture. For example, some of the churches there believed that the wooden
cross in front of their church has powers, and if someone were to get sick,
they believed that they had to dip the wooden cross into a bowl of water and
drink it for healing powers; they were taught this for very long and so, for
some of them, it was hard for them to change. God is definitely at work because
many of them, after studying with Stephen, are having “AHA” moments, as they
start to understand the Bible.
On a different note, Stephen’s ministry through the Lisu
Cultural Conferences in China is growing. After teaching the Bible for a couple
of weeks, Stephen met with some of the Chinese Lisu government leaders and they
would really like Stephen to open a Lisu Cultural Center in Ying Chang. This is
a great step because we are getting closer to our target of actually teaching
the Bible to non-Christian Lisu in China. The Lisu Cultural Center would be a
place to teach the Lisu language which all the Chinese Lisu would like to learn
because many Chinese Lisu cannot read or write Lisu and there’s a new law that
came out that if one were to claim to be Lisu in China, that person has to be
literate in Lisu. As you may know, the only way to learn the Lisu language is
through the Bible because the person who created the Lisu written language was
an English Missionary a hundred years ago. Praise God! On top of this, Stephen was actually
on Chinese National News and was introduced as a Lisu from Thailand and an
expert in the Lisu language. How awesome is our Living God!
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| Stephen is teaching the Bible |
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| Stephen teaching the Bible at the house setting |
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| Stephen is traveling to the remote village |
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| Stephen at the very remote village |
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| A group of Christian who studied with Stephen |
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| Kitchen in the remote village |
Myanmar
After a couple weeks in China, Stephen crossed the border
into Norther Myanmar where he also taught Daniel, Revelation, and eschatology.
It was a similar situation here. Many people accepted the teaching and
understood that they need to study from the Word of God and not through old
teachings that may not even be consistent with what the Bible teaches. One of the
Lisu, who studied Bible in India, believed that he knew all there is to know
about the Bible until he came to Stephen’s class; after the class, he told
everyone that he was humbled and at the same time happy to learn more. On the
other hand, there was another older man that came to learn but could not accept
Stephen’s teaching because it didn’t go along with the teachings that he grew
up with; Stephen showed him what the Bible said, and the man saw the texts and
knew it was in the Bible but he just couldn’t accept it because he couldn’t
imagine disagreeing with what his past teachers taught him as he grew up.
Stephen taught the people to that they must study the Word of God, the
Scripture, not just trusting in anyone that teaches (he even told them that if
what he teaches doesn’t line up with the Bible, they should follow what the
Bible teaches). Many people were encouraged and wanted Stephen to make more
commentaries so that it would be a study tool for deeper understanding the
Bible.
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| Stephen is teaching at one of the Bible colleges in Myitkyina |
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| Stephen is teaching at church in Myanmar |
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| A group of Christian who studying with Stephen in Myanmar |
Feed the Hungers
As Matthew 25:34-37 saying “Then the king will say to
those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and
you gave food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a
stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick
and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’…” (NRSV). While
Stephen was in Myanmar, he also had the opportunity to visit and use the
donations that came in to help encourage the displaced Lisu people. Many people
ask us why we only help the Lisu people when it comes to the displaced people,
and we would like everyone to know that other people groups (even the ones
involved in the war) have help from outside non-profit organizations and funds
from other countries, even from the UN. The Lisu as a whole, undoubtedly the
group that’s not involved in the fighting, fell through the cracks of any
outside support. We want to spread awareness in a way that is not biased
because we only want to help the people in need, without being involved in the
politics; because of this, our Missions is one of the very few groups that can
go in and actually move and help people freely. With the God given donation he
received the day before his trip to Myanmar, Stephen was able to buy rice and
necessities for many Lisu (especially the ones that are struggling the most)
living in Northern Myanmar. A lot of Lisu children became orphans as a direct
result of this ongoing fight. We are praying that God will provide funding and
also the right people to help plan an orphanage in Northern Myanmar. One of the
last days of the trip, Stephen and his team fed these displaced children. As
the children came and ate meat and a healthy portion of veggies and rice, many displaced
adults also stood around watching hungrily. So, Stephen and the team felt moved
to a deep sadness and compassion, they all pitched in to get more food for the
adults as well.
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| Stephen and his team giving rice to the displace people |
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| This lady is carrying 45 kilograms of rice |
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| Feed the displace children |
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| The displace children! |
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| In His image! |
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| This little one is trying to get some food |
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| Very cute one! |
Family
During the trip, Stephen taught every day from morning to
late night and so he was extremely exhausted. It has been indeed a tiring but
blessed month for our ministry! On the way back, he caught the flu from Myanmar
and when he got home, he had to go straight to the hospital for almost a week.
Praise God! Stephen is now home, but at the moment currently resting and
recovering from the sickness. Besides this, the family is doing well. Mary is
getting ready to harvest the rice field. Isaac is doing great at his school. He’s
top of his class in Chinese and English. His Japanese and Thai are coming
along. He is now able to read the Lisu Bible. Becky is making an English
curriculum so that she can better teach English. Nick is currently teaching
English part-time and learning more about the refugee situations in Myanmar, preparing
to offer an orphanage for those displaced children who lost their loving
fathers and mothers due to the ongoing wars and finding connections to help
develop the Lisu in Myanmar.
