Ripe for Harvest!

As we come to the end of the year, we are preparing for many events in December. The month of November seemed like a time to prepare for the last and often one of the busiest month of the year. The reason December is full of ministry opportunities is because it’s the month when harvesting crops has come to an end and many people have a few weeks of break before the New Year. During December, Christmas festivals (often referred to as winter festivals for non-Christians) pop up left and right, in almost every village. This is a time of great jubilation and also a great harvest of souls for His Kingdom.

Since 2014, Thailand unfortunately has been Southeast Asia’s top drug hub. Even to this day, drug abuse has risen, especially among teens. With meth pills as low as .30 USD (cents), drug abuse among teenage boys is a huge issue, even in our neighborhood. For many year Asians For Christ has been investing in the lives of our neighboring children, not only to be a light to the community we live in, but also to transform the community through the Love and Grace from Jesus Christ that continues to work in us. We thank God who always provides short-term missionary to reach out to these neighboring children with God’s Love. At the moment, Kaylee Voorhees, daughter of Derek and Nell, our dear family friends, has decided to come and stay with us for about a month to see what ministry in Southeast Asia is like; she, assisted by Becky, has been teaching a couple days a week at the neighboring Thai government school for refugees from Myanmar. The kids are loving the learning experience as they do various fun activities. Moreover, Nick is doing sports ministry with the boys from the school. In the evening, several days a week, they have been coming to soccer practice which Nick coaches. The number has gone from 12 to about 20 kids every practice in 3 months. The small size field is getting too small for the kids, but it’s an awesome time to invest into their lives and to share the Good News with them. The kids at the school here holds dear to our hearts; we have formed relationships with them and their families for many years now and we have seen several of them believe in Christ. Now, they are asking and requesting that we have a small Christmas party for them again this year, which we are planning for at the moment.

The Thai government school; all the kids (mostly refugees) are required to stand in front of the Buddha image before and after school

Nick and Isaac spending time with the kids from the school

Becky and Kaylee playing games with the kids in class

Kaylee teaches English as Becky helps when the kids really don't understand

Furthermore, we are also preparing for Lisu Christmas festivals. The Lisu people are a people group who love poems and music, and in order to reach their hearts, music is a really great tool for that. In the past several months, Asians for Christ has recruited four new vocalists to sing gospel songs which will be available for the Lisu audience in the near future. This has been a challenge. One of the task at hand is to bring these young Lisu singers from Myanmar to Thailand in order to sing Gospel music at a couple of the Christmas festivals in Thailand. We are figuring out the requirements for them to get Thai visas. Prayers would be appreciated for this to go as smoothly as possible.

November contained fewer events than previous months, but the highlights were still impactful. First of all, Stephen started up a class on First Corinthians for the elderly people. Among them are Stephen’s relatives who are seeking the Word of God. They regretted not having a chance to study God’s Word when they were younger, but it’s never too late to study and renew your relationship with Jesus. Stephen has completed his final proof-reading on his recent exegetical commentary book. He is now working with a publishing company in a restricted country; if God is willing, his work will be legalized in restricted areas and people will have a tool for deeper studies of the Bible.

Stephen giving a sermon at the chapel as a visiting professor at one of the Bible seminaries in Chiang Mai

Stephen teaching 1st Corinthians

 

Also, Stephen has been asked to preach at the first Christmas event in Laos in front of several government and local leaders, both believers and non-believers. This event is not only for the celebration of the birth of Christ, but also to evangelize to non-believers. Please pray for his safety and health as his health is not fully recovered for the last trip. It will be a quick trip--flying to Luang Prabang on December 5, being the main speaker for the Christmas event and two services and then preach at a Sunday worship service before heading back to Thailand on December 9. We are praying that this event will result in a great harvest for the Lord, that many hearts would be opened after hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are praying that our Living God will be glorified. The evangelistic door in Laos is being opened wider and wider. Praise the Lord! The local Christian leaders in Laos has also requested Biblical training for them, which is wonderful! We are very excited that we are expanding to reach the Lost in a high risk for Christian country for the Lord. Please continue praying for our ministry in Laos.

In ministry, it’s a team effort. The soldiers in the front line couldn’t penetrate new areas unless they are being reinforced daily from our Living God and Lord and from the support from fellow warriors. Our mission field is very far from the churches and Christian families who are constantly praying for and supporting our ministry. We are very blessed to have awesome Christian brothers and sisters in Christ partnering with us. If you would like to partner with us in expanding his Kingdom in Southeast Asia and China, there are 3 things you can do right now. One, pray for us --- pray for the mission field, pray that we can conquer and be strong as we constantly face spiritual warfare, and pray for more workers to help us. Second, consider supporting us financially. As we expand to new areas with new ministries that God has opened doors to, our ministry expenses naturally increases. In order for our ministries – orphanage in Myanmar, training of leaders and evangelism in Southeast Asia and China, higher Biblical training for Christian leaders through classes and seminars, Bible commentaries and Christian media for the Lisu, expansion into Laos, Youth Ministry, and many more – to operate optimally, financial support from our partners is very important! You can give financially at www.asiansforchrist.com (through tithe.ly, which is sent to our U.S. tax deductible account in Idaho). Third, if you would like to come and be a part of our ministry on the front lines, let us know. We are needing more Kingdom Workers with expertise in teaching English, teaching the Bible, relationship building, agriculture, coffee, and much more. If God is challenging you to be a part of our missions in any way, please open your hearts because you can be a part of his Kingdom expansion in Southeast Asia and China. In Christ, we are all soldiers going to war against the kingdom of darkness in order to break chains and free people through the Gospel. Each one of us can be a great impact for His Kingdom. With everyone doing their part on a team, the team will accomplish great things!

 

Stephen praying over patients before they had acupuncture treatment by a doctor from Korea

As temperature changes, most of the Wongs are struggling with allergy and sickness. While gaining age, Stephen is continuing to fight for his health. He is in Laos at this moment. He needs much of your prayers for him. Mary is physically weak with all of the things she has to take care of at our home base. Please pray for her as her health becomes frail. Nick asks for prayers for spiritual growth in wisdom and love as he helps wherever and whenever he can on the mission field. Becky is has really enjoyed hanging out and helping Kaylee teach at the local school. Please also pray for our kingdom workers and partners spreading His Gospel in Myanmar, China, Thailand, and Laos. As always, we thank you for being a part of our ministry and our family.

Taking up the Cross!

Stephen with a native evangelist

How far are you willing to follow Christ? How much persecution or hurt are you willing to endure for His Name? How many comforts are you willing to give up in order to expand His Kingdom? Anyone in ministry has had to face these questions. Maybe some of you are asking yourselves this right now. Anyways, here is a little story about a great missionary and indeed he is one of our dear friends. This missionary isn’t famous, you wouldn’t see him on any media or in a popular article. In fact, Pedro is his name and he lives in China. He’s originally from the Yunnan province, China and one day he felt a calling to go to Shangri-La (a former Tibetan area and now a self-governing city in China) in order to preach the Gospel to the lost. This was in the early 2010s. Before he left, his entire church and family including his wife and children had a funeral service for him. It’s a bit absurd to attend your own funeral service especially being alive. He and his family understood that this was a suicide mission because at the time, Christians were persecuted heavily in Tibet. So, he attended his own funeral and then leaves for Tibet. While in Tibet, he hid in the attic during the day and at night, he would come down and preach to the people in the small house. Slowly, day by day, he did this for over 2 years. The church in Tibet grew and God kept him save. After about 2 years of this, he traveled back home. Most of his church members and his family were extremely shocked to see him alive. During the time that he was in Tibet, he had no way of contacting his family and so it was normal for the family to think he was dead. This is what he gave up in order to expand the Kingdom.

In another country, there is another kingdom worker that is doing a phenomenal work with the locals. This native evangelist resides in the communist country to the east of Thailand. He’s being used by God to do great things in a country where Christians are persecuted. He has been planting many churches and telling people about Jesus. We are extremely blessed to be able to partner with him in order to further God’s Kingdom in Southeast Asia. For many Christians in the communist country, everyday could be your last day on earth. In the midst of literal and physical persecution, more and more souls are being converted.

Not long ago in this country, there was a local man from a reputable family that really hated this evangelist. The local man believed that this evangelists was destroying the culture of the native people and everything they have held dearly on to for generations, so he vowed to kill the evangelist. Every day, the man sat waiting on the side of the road in hopes to ambush and assassinate the evangelist on his way home. Miraculously, the evangelist would unknowingly take different paths home every day, so the man was never able to murder the evangelist. One day, this local man was oppressed by the evil spirit and lost his sanity; his family took him everywhere but he couldn’t be healed. Finally, the family decided to bring him to the church where the evangelist went. The evangelist and several Christians gathered and prayed for the man and he was healed by God! This local man accepted Christ and became a firm believer of Jesus! Now, he is an elder of the church with about 700 members. Praise God! The man, at some point, confessed to the evangelist about how he plotted to murder him and asked him for forgiveness. This is an awesome and powerful testimony where God works in people’s lives and even restores relationships! This month, Stephen went to that country and was able to meet the local man; in fact, this man was the one who let Stephen and the evangelist use his car to travel around in order to help people and to spread the Gospel! He asked for prayers for his family because many of his siblings are still non-believers and have, in a sense, shunned him for following Jesus.

Such a powerful and living testimony recalls Stephen to his early conversion since his family was one of the first group of Lisu in Thailand to accept Jesus Christ. Over 45 years ago, Stephen’s family, new believers, went through several types of persecutions from family shunning, to house stoning (people threw rocks at their house), house burning (people attempted to set the house on fire) and eventually many villagers paid a hit man to massacre the family. Perhaps this is the reason that God sent our mission to those persecuted countries because we would be able to relate well with both the persecutors and the persecuted.

Indeed, Stephen recently made a trip into Laos in order to build relationships with the local people because God has opened this door very wide. Nick took him to the border of Thailand and Laos, where Stephen took a hundred mosquito nets with him into Laos in order to help the local people afflicted with mosquito borne diseases. The trip was a great success. At first, Stephen was a bit timid and afraid when he was asked to preach to a large crowd. With many stories of foreigners disappearing or being killed or being locked up indefinitely, fear creeps in. Nonetheless, God is able and He was there with the native evangelist and Stephen. Throughout the trip, without breaking national laws, Stephen was able to build great friendships with leaders both nonbelievers and believers. In many occasions those leaders asked him to pray for them. Praise God for this!

Hot, Hot, Hot

Traveling through the jungle to reach
the remote villages

A typical cooking at the remote village 

Early morning at the remote village

Harvesting at the rice field!

Meal fellowship 

With new unbeliever friends!

One of the local churches

Stephen is preaching in Thai with the interpreter 

During the month of October, the whole family faced various sicknesses. Stephen, Mary and Isaac all had the flu and after that… a cold, back to back. Becky also had a cold as well. Stephen had the flu but still went to Laos because the schedule to meet the locals and the leaders had already been set; Mary was in the hospital for several days. Towards the end of the month, Isaac ended up getting food poisoning which also led to hospitalization for a few days. Nick has a knee injury as he played soccer with the refugee kids whom he coaches. With all of these problems, we still praise God for giving us another day to serve Him. We are weak but He is strong, we fail but He is able! Our God is awesome and is worthy of all praise, and that is why we choose to give up certain comforts, endure persecutions and trials, and humbly look to and follow Jesus!

We appreciate your constant prayers for our family and ministry as we tell people about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in Southeast Asia and China.

Why Me?

Have you ever questioned God? More specifically, have you ever questioned God, “Why Me?” This month, this question was what Stephen asked God. In Eastern parts of China, Typhoon Lekima ravaged and destroyed many buildings, causing a landslide to block the passage of a river which rose up to over 3 stories high therefore triggering major flood in the area. At least 40 people at one of the small towns were buried alive. Out of 40, 8 of them came from a Christian family. Now, only one from this Christian family survived this tragedy. The flood wiped away many buildings and homes; the damage cost was estimated at over 9 billion dollars.

When IDES approached Stephen, he asked God the question, “Why me?” Stephen’s usual mission field is in Southwestern part of China. Eastern China is a lot farther than his regular field and as a matter of fact he had never set foot there before. Above all, as you may have known, that’s the place where severe Christian persecution is going on. Many church buildings have been torn down. Something most people don’t know is that Stephen doesn’t like flying in airplanes that much, therefore the long ride to a place where he wasn’t accustomed to puts a lot more pressure on him. Another reason was that he was still busying to complete the final proofreading of his commentaries. “Why me?” was constantly ringing in his head.

While vacillating his decision, amazingly Stephen got a call from the Literature Department of Sangria-La inviting him and Mary to visit Beijing. As you may have heard, Stephen wrote the proposal for encoding one of the ancient scripts which had been accepted by the World Linguistic Association. So, they would like to pay their gratitude by sponsoring the trip to Beijing (IDES sponsored the trip for the relief team surrounding the trip to the disaster zone). At that moment, Stephen knew that it was God’s will for him to go and help those in need. He even knew that his trip would be protected under the umbrella of this invitation. If this wasn’t a blatant answer from God to go we don’t know what is. Needless to say, Stephen boarded the plane with Mary. Praise God for that!

The question “Why me?” is still going on even after Stephen and Mary met a survivor of the typhoon. This man woke up at 3AM and realized that he was floating with just a small space between him and the ceiling. He had to struggle to breathe the air at the ceiling which was getting smaller and smaller. This next part that he said was most shocking… He was on the 2nd floor of the building! This man was extremely grateful that someone came from another country to help him and his family. Moreover, he was shocked to hear that Christians from another country would care that much about him.

The question is “Why don’t the church in that area help?” The churches in the area belong in the affluent society. They are indeed very wealthy. Churches have a lot of money, for example, one of the church buildings that was torn down recently was worth over 10 million US dollars. The relief team found out that churches kept all the money to show off their status. Churches would compete to see who has more money and would boast their stockpile of the money. They hardly use the money to help the poor, the sick or the needy. They didn’t even pay their preachers, pastors, missionaries or any of Kingdom servants because they believe that the Kingdom workers are forbidden to use the church money.

Why me? Now, the relief team realized that God sent them to set an example to those churches. Even though the money going there didn’t compare to how much the Chinese churches have, it definitely stirred the hearts of churches there to rethink about their Christian faith. It was simple. God wanted us to show His love to people, to his most beloved creation. HE wanted us to demonstrate how churches should be. HE wanted us to be a light to the lost. HE wanted us there, at the right time; all we have to do is trust in Him and go.

Debris from Typhoon Lekima

32 people were tragically buried alive here

Back in Thailand, Nick took care of the family and made sure everything was running smoothly at our center. He drove Isaac to and from school and also did ministry with people in Thailand. One of Nick’s students, who was working as a mercenary for a rather dark business, has been studying the Bible with Nick before English class. He has been asking many questions. One of the questions was, “Will God forgive me for what I’ve done?” Nick told him that we will constantly need God, because being a Christian doesn’t mean that you will never sin again, but you have an amazing God who will help you grow and learn and strive closer to Him. Everyone has their seasons of doing wonderful, and then there are also times of failure. This is when you need God more than ever. Another question he asked was, “Why does God love me so much?” (Why me?). Nick answered him that he is very special and made in God’s image. After a couple weeks of studying, the student has declared that he believes in Jesus and has decided to get baptized! Praise God!

Bible class before English class

The family is doing well. During the month of September, often we made hospital visits and prayed for the sick. Stephen is busy preparing himself for another trip to Laos on the first week of this upcoming October. Mary manages all the housework so that Stephen can focus on missions. Mary is definitely a blessing! On the weekdays, as routine, he works on his commentary; during weekends, he preaches at various churches in Thailand. Isaac won at his school debate for the second time in a row so the school put him on their speech team during his school break which excited him very much. Actually, now he is on his first semester break. Becky has done a great job tutoring his brother Isaac and helping mom with her one hand as much as possible. John is starting a part time job as he prepares to take care of some of his bills and also getting ready to get married next year. Besides teaching English part time and also doing ministry in Thailand, Nick has been coaching soccer to the Shan refugee kids in the neighborhood. Today, drug dealing and drug addiction has been running rampant. Nick believes that he can impact the community through coaching the kids in soccer and slowly incorporating Jesus into their lives. Many of these kids can't even afford shoes, so they play soccer barefoot. Please pray for them. On top of this, he has also been preparing some coffee to roast in order to sell some coffee for the Lisu farmers who live in South East Asia.

Visiting the sick

Stephen meeting with the Lisu at Lin Luang, Thailand

Stephen preaching at the biggest Lisu church in Thailand

Isaac during his debate competition

Nick had noodles with the kids after soccer practice

The soccer kids at Hua Fai, the majority are Shan
refugees from Myanmar

The number of people coming to soccer practice
has doubled in a month. Sadly most lack proper equipment,
even shoes.

So, when you are facing the question “Why Me?” There is a reason why God chose you. He chose you even if you are terrified in order to stretch you. He chose you even when you don’t see the outcome to show His splendor to others. He chose you even when you have failures and disasters in your life so that you could be redeemed and be closer to Him. Praise God for always pushing us to grow! Next time you are in this “Why Me?” situations, if you let God use you, know that God has something wonderful in store for you!

Always appreciate your encouragements and your prayers! God bless,

GOD IS WORKING!

God is working in Southeast Asia! Particularly the country to the east of Thailand, the Gospel is spreading like wildfire and people are coming to Christ on a daily basis. Due to the security issue, we would like to not disclose sensitive details in the blog. Though we would like you to know that many people are coming to Christ and we want to thank God for the great harvest! Glory be to God alone!  Please pray for our missions and our partners in high risks areas on their ministry and their family needs.

After a wonderful month with the mission’s team from Boise Bible College, we thank God for sending even more help our way! In July, right after the BBC team returned to the US, a newly married couple arrived on the mission field only several days after their wedding! Ben and Cristina Meyer study at Biola University and decided that they wanted to start their lives together by serving and experiencing the mission field. We thank God because of missions-minded folks and this kind of dedication to serve is often rare. This is just one of the many reasons that we thank God. And we thank everyone who has been praying for kingdom workers to come and serve with us!

Early in July, with our new help, we went up to a Lahu village called Nong Kio, just north of Chiang Dao (the Lahu are an ethnic group of people similar to the Lisu). This church is full of people whose faith is on fire. Because of the persecution during the Cultural Revolution in China, the church founders fled to Thailand through the jungle roads of Burma.  Even so, because they did not know the Bible well, some of the people practiced their former traditional ways of life using black magic which resulted in the community splitting into five different churches. After Asians For Christ spent many years teaching this group of people the Bible, this church has finally transformed! And since then, this church has become one of the most missions-minded churches in Thailand. They have sent out over 30 native evangelists to various areas in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and even China. This is the living testimony to show that the Word of God, the Bible, transforms people. Praise the Lord! In this village, Ben was able to give a sermon for the morning service and John preached during the afternoon service.

Left to right: Nick, Yasa, Vivian (our relative from France),
Stephen, John, Ben and Cristiana at Nong Kio

Team discussion about the different ethnic culture and history

Stephen giving a communion message

Double translation (English to Lisu to Lahu) for John's message

When we got back to Chiang Mai, we continued to teach English to local Hua Fai government school.  For Thailand’s National Teacher’s Day, we put together funds and bought some pork for a special meal for the students at the school. Generally, the children here are provided a lunch which includes only plain rice or noodles and a side of soup. But for this special meal, they each had several slices of pork! For some of the students, school lunch may be the only meal they get for the day and these kids are definitely in our hearts. After school, Nick would coach the kids in soccer, which is always a great way to spend time with these kids outside of school in an activity that they enjoy!

Local students lining up for lunch

The kids are happy to have some slices of pork

John and Becky are teaching English to 3rd grade class

The following weekend, we went up to Sam Muen Mountain to visit one of the the Lisu villages where Christianity among the Lisu began in Thailand. Stephen’s side of the family used to live at this village and they happened to be one the earliest group of Lisu people who accepted Jesus Christ. From this very remote village, God has been moving among the Lisu people in Thailand because nowadays 1/3 of the Lisu population in Thailand are Christians! Praise Him! The drive up to this remote village took roughly five hours; on top of that, the roads leading up the mountain is among the most treacherous roads in Thailand. Driving up this mountain was a challenge, because the road, barely wider than the average car, is mostly dirt and is filled with large pot holes. The road from Sam Muen Village is unsuitable when it rains, and unfortunately, we had just entered the rainy season. And so, as we drove up the road we prayed that God would allow us to visit the Lisu up there because it had been such a long time since our last visit. We made it there safely and it was an amazing couple of days to visit the people and to encourage the Lisu Church in the area about how God blessed that village many decades ago and how He continues to bless them even until today. It was a blessed and beautiful trip; it did not even rain while we were there, so we had a safe trip down the mountain as well.

Our July evangelistic team

Fellowship with senior citizens at Sam Muen Village

Fellowship in a traditional kitchen

Fellowship over a  meal

Our friend has started his evangelistic works among native Burma people (not ethnic minority). Many Burmese have turned to Christ from their Buddhist faith and now these new believers are seeking to learn more about the Word of God. At the moment, they are in need of Bibles in Mandalay, Myanmar. We recently received a request to send 1000 Bibles into the area. Praise the Lord! At the moment, only 500 Bibles in the Burmese language are available, so in the past week, we sent them all to Myawaddy, the border between Thailand and Myanmar. If God is moving your heart to be a part of this great opportunity to give Bibles to the Buddhist Burma who are seeking His Word, you are welcome to be on board with us. The actual costs of each Bible is $10, but some of the mission organizations like the Bible League of Thailand asks for 3.50$ per book (transportation fee not included).

Bibles for Burmese people

The Bibles are transferred from the office onto a pickup truck
to be sent to the border of Thailand of Myanmar

All set for delivery! 6 hour drive to the border!

Our family is doing well, God is very good to us. The rain has become more consistent which brings down the temperature, but it also brings out blood thirsty mosquitoes! At the beginning of August, John went back to Boise Bible College in order to prepare for another year of school. This month, Nick preached at a local church about faithfulness and it went very well. He is also teaching to university students and investing a lot of time with the local kids. Mary is doing better but her back is still a bit sore. Becky helped John teach a couple times at the government school and she did a wonderful job. Stephen and Mary together have also been occasionally visiting and praying for elderly people in the mountains. Also, Stephen has also been communicating with a group from neighboring countries, as they want to learn the Bible here at our center. He is also continuing to teach the Bible via electronic devices. Pray for Stephen for his commentary works to be done for many people are persistently asking him about his upcoming books. Please also pray for our missions as God works through us in Southeast Asia and China.

BEAUTIFUL FEET!

“But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:14-15: NRSV)

We are extremely blessed to have many missions minded kingdom workers coming to experience the mission field with us this year. In June, John and his friends (Micah, Ryan, Anna, and Kristin) from Boise Bible College came to help our ministry. Anna expressed her first mission trip as this: When I was invited to join on this adventure to Thailand, I had no idea what to expect. I have always heard crazy stories about mission trips, about the obstacles, weird foods and extreme weather and the cultural differences, so I have to admit that I was just as nervous as I was excited for it. And this trip, like any other mission trips, was definitely challenging. But it was an amazing and beautiful opportunity that I will never forget and pray that I will get to be part of again soon! I know that I will never forget the experience, the people, or the culture!

With the team from Boise Bible College

Everyone enjoying
Thai food for lunch

It was a blessing to have the BBC students’ great help in the many areas of AFC ministries. For the month of June, our weekends belonged to serving in the villages in the mountains of Northern Thailand, while weekdays the BBC students focused on the local kids in the surrounding areas of our center. After a week of adjusting to the climate, time, and food, the group began to teach English to a public school filled with a Buddhist context where most students are Tai Yai (Shan) refugees from Myanmar. The school is considered to be one of the poorest schools in the suburban area of Chiang Mai. Many of these kids receive only one meal a day, at the school. For many years, we have set these kids from this school as our evangelistic target. The school itself has roughly 120 students. After they had finished teaching English at the school, the student-led BBC team would play soccer with the kids. Many of the kids wait patiently for us, hoping that we can bring a good soccer ball to the school and play with them. Within a couple of days of teaching and playing soccer, the team built a strong and close bond with the local kids. Micah, a BBC student, talks about his ministry experience as such: I helped teach English at a local school which was new to me, but this opened a door to a deeper relationship with the students. There is nothing more beautiful than watching children become so focused on learning more. And not just about English, but to see a student wanting to focus more on a sermon about Jesus than his friends around him. I was so blessed to be a part of this team, acting as the hands and feet of the Church and planting seeds that God can grow into beautiful relationships with Him.

The government school with refugee students from Myanmar

BBC team teaching 1st grade

6th grade

3rd grade

4th grade

During the first weekend, the group went and gave testimonies at a Lisu church called Kong Nguen. This church, in the past, was located near the red light districts of Chiang Mai and did a lot of ministries with the lost in that area. The church has since moved to a new area because they now have a permanent building where they can meet and worship. Many of the members sell clothes and trinkets at the night market and some work in construction and manual labor. AFC has been a part of and occasionally go and preach and teach at this church. Kong Nguen Church members were very encouraged by the BBC students’ testimonies. On the second weekend, we went up to a village called Huey Sai to spend time with the Lisu kids at the youth hostel there. The Lisu kids were introduced to the BBC students and were a bit reserved at first. The team however managed to open up ways to interact with the kids by teaching English, singing songs, dancing and playing the Lisu kids’ favorite types of games. By the end of the weekend, another strong bond was made between the Lisu kids and the BBC student-led team. Ryan, a part of the BBC team stated: Through these experiences God has pushed us out of our comfort zones and made us try new things in different cultures. Through this ministry I was able to see God working throughout Thailand and hear about all the opportunities he is opening up to this great family in Burma, Laos, and China. There is so much work that can be done through this ministry, and they are in need of Kingdom Workers to come alongside their ministry and serve.

The Lisu hostel in Thailand where many children
migrated from Myanmar to live

Singing hymns

Teaching the children at the hostel

Singing worship songs

The following weekend, we went up to Chiang Dao to visit two Lisu churches at Huey Ko and Mea Ka where the group got to share their testimonies and had the opportunity to preach and teach and spend time with the villagers and their children. The group had the opportunity to be taught many of the games that the Lisu children played there, also. They played for a couple hours throwing balls made out of paper, rocks, and rubber bands. For the little ones who could not play catch, the group also played on a swing set and chased after the children around all evening. Missions can sometimes be uncomfortable and the BBC team got to experience this when they had to sleep on the floor behind the church filled with mosquito nets to keep the mosquitos and critters out; still, lots of mosquitoes were buzzing around us, waiting to attack at any chance they can get. And even when there were no showers available in the morning, the team didn’t complain. What a wonderful team!

Praying over a man who recently quit using drugs
 at Huey Ko church. He currently needs prayers
 for strength.

The group at Mae Ka church

Praying for the sick in the villages

Praying for the sick at Mae Ka

A meal after church at Mae Ka

Another important highlight of the month was that we had our yearly family prayer-worship gathering at our house. Many ethnic people groups attended including Lisu, Lahu, Tai Yai, Thai, US and Burmese. Some of the kids from the local Thai school that got to spend time with the BBC team came by as well. As Kristin, a recent BBC graduate on the team, states:  It was a great reminder that worshipping God can be done in all languages and all cultures! We are ONE church who worship and love the SAME God. It was so incredible to worship alongside different cultures and languages! I really think that’s the coolest thing ever. My team and I were able to share our testimonies and sing songs in front of the church.  It was a huge blessing to be able to worship with so many people, to have a delicious meal provided, and to have people come over us and pray for our mission, the family, and God’s Kingdom to continually expand. It’s not always easy, we face many trials and we know that we need God first and foremost and so we thank you, our brothers and sisters in Christ, who continually pray and encourage us.

Stephen giving a speech at the house gathering event

BBC team singing worship songs

Mary and her friends singing a special song

The kids from the government school
came to hangout and enjoy a meal with us

After this productive month, besides Stephen and Isaac (who took care of the house and got ready for schooling), the rest of the group went down to the beach near Bangkok. It was a great break for them when they got to explore the royal temple and learn more about the history of Thailand. The night they had reached the beach, John had the opportunity to surprise his girlfriend and propose to her. Everyone was excited to hear her say “Yes!” and so, congratulations to John and Anna on their engagement! We love you and we are very proud of you.

John and Anna's Engagement Photo

Our family has had a wonderful time together. Now that John is back, we feel like a full and joyous family once again. Stephen has continually been working on his commentaries and finding opportunities to teach the BBC students about the culture of Asia and valuable insight about missions and Bible. Without him, the BBC students would not have been able to travel to so many different villages and schools in order to advance God’s Kingdom. Mary has continued to play a major role this month. She cooks nonstop and prepares many events at the house including the recent prayer-gathering event, even with reoccurring back pains. Prayers for her as she is currently going through a lot of pain in her back. Nick has been preparing a sermon to preach at a Thai church in the city, where he has been more involved while in Thailand. Please also pray for Nick’s knee as he was injured while playing soccer with the kids from the local school. Isaac has done a wonderful job at his school this year, earning himself the top academic student of his grade and also winning the debate competition at the school. John has spent the entire month showing his friends the beauty of Thailand and the mission’s trip. After the team left, he is now starting to continue in teaching English, going to villages and preaching, and learning the culture and language of the Lisu people. Thank you all for your work and encouragement in and through us. We cannot thank you enough for what each and every one of you do for this missions. Thank you supporters, and most importantly, all honor goes to God because His Kingdom continues to expand to this day.