Happy New Year to all of our Asians for Christ
friends and family! It has been another great year of doing ministry and life
with you all. We would love to give you a recap of all the wonderful things
that God has worked through us this past year for His own Kingdom’s sake.
At the start of 2017, a group of Myanmar leaders
from many different churches and denominations came to our establishment in order
to study the Bible exegetically with Stephen. Through this, these leaders went
back to Myanmar and parts of southern China and taught what they had learned to
the people who hunger for the Word. Now there has been a revival in these areas
and people are really on fire to learn more about the Bible.
This past year, John was also able to come to
Thailand during his summer break. It was a blessing to the family because we
were able to spend time with him and also see him grow. We are so proud to see
him preach and decide to pursue ministry.
2017 was also full of ministry in the physical
sense. Through the help of many churches locally and internationally, we were
able to provide some temporary relief for the displaced people in Northern
Myanmar. This is a very important ministry because we feel that we can show
them the love of God even during this tragedy. We helped purchase food and tarp
as a roof for the temporary shelters just in time for the rain. Praise God!
Please continue to pray for this ministry because there are many more
opportunities that we show people Christ.
Stephen also finished several commentaries and was
able to take several trips to Myanmar and China to teach the Word. Many people
are still requesting for Stephen to go back and teach them more. God is moving
in this ministry of AFC as well. Praise Him!
December 2016
The last month of 2017 was also a busy one. Along with
leaders, both Lisu and Thai officials, Stephen and Mary went to China in order that
Stephen giving a speech at the Lisu Literature Forum around the time of
Christmas. Through such a trip, many Chinese Lisu are now setting up to make a
Lisu center where Lisu biblical language has become a common language for the
Lisu people in China. This is the vision that AFC has had for many years and
now it’s coming together. On this trip, the Thai elites that joined Stephen on
the trip were able to see what it means to be a Christian and they respected
that a lot.
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| Stephen and his group with the Chinese governor, local authorities, scholars at the Lisu Literature Forum |
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| Our group from Thailand attending the forum in China |
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| Lisu Chinese New Year celebration in Wei Xei, China |
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| Thailand and Myanmar group in their Lisu outfits |
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| Another picture of the group from Thailand and Myanmar |
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| Stephen representing all of the Christian Lisu in Southeast Asia and China, speaking about Lisu literature |
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The highlight of this trip was the group of 12
Christian leaders from Thailand and Myanmar together singing Christian hymn
entitled “Praise the Worthy Name of Jesus” in front of the governor, the local
authorities and the crowd. While we were singing some Christians in the midst
of the crowd started to sing along with us. It was at that moment that we all
felt God moving in the crowd. It was beyond expressions how God is working in
this spiritually dark area. For many people, this was an unprecedented event of
Christianity in those restricted areas. Praise the Lord! May His will be done!
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| Singing Hymns in public, China |
Nick, Becky and Isaac were at home during Christmas and
decided to have a Christmas party for the Shan kids in our neighborhood. Many
were able to come and have a great time and be able to celebrate and learn
about Christ.
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| Games during the Christmas Party |
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| Our neighborhood having a great time |
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| The kids are trying to pop each other's balloons; a game of elimination |
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| The Shan kids in our neighborhood with their presents |
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| Becky leading a game |
Family
In December, Isaac had a Christmas play at his school. The school is technically a Christian school so they had performances about the Jesus. Isaac did an awesome job! At this moment, just short of New Year’s Day, Stephen, Mary, Isaac, Mary’s mom and Mary’s nephew living with us all became sick with some type of flu. Please pray for the family as we have been bombarded with sicknesses these past couple of months. Besides this sickness, the family can’t complain because it has been a great year in the Lord and we hope 2018 will be an even more fruitful year.
Stephen, Mary and Isaac are also planning to visit churches
in the States during March-May. They have been away from America for nearly 8
years. Please pray that everything goes smoothly with the visa and the
acquiring of the tickets. They plan on visiting John at Boise Bible College as
well. With excitement mixed with a little bit of fear of the long flight, they
would love to meet up with AFC friends and family in the States. If you would
like them to visit you, please send them a message or email so that they will
be able to schedule a visit.
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| Isaac's school play; Can you find where he is? (Hint: he's wearing green) |
Goals of 2018
We have many goals for 2018 and are very excited to
get started! One of our main goals is to set up an orphanage in Northern
Myanmar. As you know, many people were affected by the war in Northern Myanmar.
Lisu in particular, over 200 children lost their parents and became orphans
during the past year. We are very moved beyond sadness for these kids and are
praying that God gives us a means to start this ministry. Many outside
organizations like Compassion are not able to go into such area, and so we
cannot wait any longer for outside organizations to help the needy children. We
will team up with local churches to do the best we can to show the Love of God
to these Children.
As 2018 starts, we hope to raise extra money in
order to set up a building where we can start and take in 10 children that need
extreme care (such as kids under 10 years of age). We immediately need $5,000
to start a shelter for 10 orphans. We
cannot imagine how much these kids had to go through because they not only lost
their homes but also their parents. Who will love them? Who will they be with
during Christmas or Thanksgiving? Please pray for us as we are spearheading
this ministry.
AFC is also in the process of making a website
thanks to Nick’s former OCC classmate, Austin Coon who has been helping with
designing a website for us so that we can better show you all how our God is
working in Southeast Asia and China. Please check out our website at
www.asiansforchrist.com
We thank you so much for you partnership in prayers
and financial support. Together, we have had a great year in the Lord. We pray
that 2018 will be full of Kingdom works that will change this world for the
better! We love and miss you all! Happy New Year!
