Our God Has No Limits!

As we live our life in such a limited capacity. Everything is always subjected to change but at the same time we often love our limited comforts and often value everyday routines. Sometimes, we are forced to be limited because of politics, circumstances, and even a pandemic. Thankfully, our God has no limits and we’d like to share of the wonderful things He continues to do.

Once in the mission field, Stephen met a pastor who was very dedicated to his calling. He served at a little bamboo-built church in a small remote village where no one would want to go and serve. Serving God in this very remote village, he had only one pair of pants and a couple shirts. Even though he did repair them on several occasion, after about three years, those pants simply wore out. There was a tear in the rear! Understandably, that whole week, he hid in his hut because he was so embarrassed, but he kept praying fervently to God for His provision for he knew that he would not be able to preach that Sunday with those “hole-y” pant.

For a lot of people in remote underdeveloped locations, this situation is very common. For many, the fear of not having anything to wear because of the lack of clothes is a far off concept; often, people don’t know what to wear because they simply have too many choices. For this servant of God who lacked decent clothes to preach on Sunday, God answered his prayers. On that Saturday, a merchant made his way up to the village to sell clothes, which was extremely rare for anyone let alone a merchant to be gallivanting in those remote areas. The merchant made his way from house to house selling his clothes and on his way out of town, he stopped by the pastor’s hut. Needless to say, the merchant left him a brand new pair of pants in front of his hut as a gift. With a new pair of pants, he was able to preach on that very Sunday. Oh how great and faithful is our caring Father!

As you may know, Asians for Christ is a wholistic ministry. We want to invest in people’s spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional growth because we know it’s crucial in this broken world. Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 “whatever you did (feed the hungry and thirsty, clothe the naked, cared for the sick, visited the captives) to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did to me.” Thanks to many who partnered with us, we are extremely grateful in these two years of covid to be able to provide hundreds of care packages (food, clothes, medicine) to the needy in Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar. This past month, Mary’s clothing ministry has been a blessing to many. We were able to send clothes to several locations, even to the very north of Myanmar, Putao. In one case, we sent monetary funds to purchase coats and clothes for an orphanage in a hard to reach town called Mogok, Myanmar. In Laos and Thailand, we sent packages of barely used clothes to the really needy. The wonderful thing is that God even provided clothing donated by non-Christian clothing store owners. Some of these store owners have seen our posts and decided to also donate because they see that we actually get the items into these impoverished areas. We are in the process of sending out more clothes this month. Praise God! We hope through this ministry, we are able to answer prayers of people like the pastor with the torn pants.

Mary selects the best ones before delivering them

Nick's friend Laith, owner of an airsoft sports field,
 donated 50 packs of water bottles

The orphans in Mogok received new coats for the winter!

Kids at a different location received new mattress
so they can sleep more comfortably

Originally, they slept on thin mats!

Now they have thick mattresses!

Online Teaching Ministry

Besides the random power shortages and internet connection issues, our online classes are going really well. It has been almost a year since we began teaching. Stephen teaches Bible 3 times a week to Christian leaders living in China, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong via programs such as Zoom and Wechat. He has over 90 Christian leaders not only from different countries, but also different denominations to study the Bible with him. He is very happy to share God’s Word to those leaders so that they will be equipped as they teach others. We have a special prayer request for Stephen’s teaching team. Due to health problems and other circumstances, most of his team of local teachers can no longer teach alongside him. He truly needs to build a new team of Bible teachers. Once the borders of Southeast Asian countries open up, we are expected to have students enrolling in our seminary level Bible program not only from our usual countries of Myanmar, China, Thailand but also from our new mission fields of Laos and Cambodia.

Stephen's Thursday evening Bible class

Nick teaches a Bible Study English class (with the help from David and Becky in Hawaii) to Myanmar students and an English class to Laotian students, and Becky teaches a Beginners Grammar English class to several students in Myanmar. Many of the students have been joining the class since the beginning and several aren’t able to join at the moment due to political issues in their country. We have really enjoyed getting to know all of our students. (We want to start highlighting some of the students each blog post so that you can get to know them a bit) For this blog post, we’d like to highlight a couple of our students.

Novice Thongphein is a 20 year old Novice Monk in Laos. In total, his family numbers 5 and he is the eldest with 2 younger siblings. Interestingly, both of his parents are Christians. When he was young, he loved studying and as he finished elementary school, his family couldn’t afford to pay for his high school classes, so he decided to be a Buddhist monk in order to continue his education. He really enjoys studying English with us because he wants to be either an English teacher or an English tour guide in the future; he wants to “thank you for opening such a class for people to have the opportunity to study for free.”

Dee is a 17 year old Lisu Christian young man living in Myanmar with his family; he lives with his parents and his 5 siblings. He loves playing games and wants to pursue a degree in Pharmacy. He says it wasn’t easy passing high school but God helped him through it, and now the English classes will hopefully give him an advantage in Pharmacy school. One thing that he really liked about studying English with us is the fact that he “can improve his English to be able to read the Bible in English.”

It has been such a great opportunity to build friendships, evangelize, and invest in the students. Every one of our students comes from different backgrounds and it has been such a joy to see their faces every week. Some have stated that our classes are what they look forward to all week and it has gotten some of them through political issues and even depression. Special thanks to David and Becky in Hawaii and the church there for their partnership in starting the English classes through Zoom with us. We are planning to expand and offer more classes but we need more English speakers to just hang out, talk, and invest in these student’s lives. You don’t need a teaching degree. All you need is to be able to speak English, have a desire to impact the lives of students like these, and a dedication of 2 hours a week (and a computer or phone with the Zoom program installed). Thank God for being limitless and giving us the opportunity to do ministry online during this pandemic.

Nick's Laos English class

Becky's Myanmar Grammar/Beginners English class 

Laos

Again we are very thankful for our ministry in Laos. God is really opening doors and moving in the country but there have been some setbacks due to the pandemic. As you may remember, earlier this year, non-Christians in Laos complained that the Christians at a certain town were meeting at homes and that goes against the regulations of the country; so the governing authorities compromised with the Christians and said if they have their own specific building (a church) then they can continue to meet or else they would have to be disbanded. We have raised the majority of the money needed to build the church and have passed those funds to our team in Laos. Unfortunately, due to the recent lockdown, the church building has been paused because building supplies can’t be purchased at this time. On top of this, the Christian Leadership/Evangelist Certification Course also has to be put on hold. The lockdown has been so strict that even the farmers aren’t allowed to go to their fields to harvest their crops!

As for the evangelism in Laos, many are still coming to Christ and being baptized. The gospel is being preached even during the lockdown! In one particular village, the new converts requested to be baptized. In Laos, the law states that only those who are authorized and registered by the government may do baptisms. Because of the lockdown, no one is allowed to travel so this became an obstacle. After praying and asking God for wisdom, we finally advised a local Christian in the village to baptize those new converts while the authorized evangelist connects to them via video call and pray for them. Several people were baptized that day! Praise our God who is a radical God! The methods and ways of evangelism continue to change but the core message is the same!

The Situation in Thailand

Can’t believe it’s been almost two years and Thailand is still in a state of confusion. Recently, Thailand has opened the country.  However, foreigners can come to Thailand but they will have to pay a very expensive insurance premium. Moreover, only those who have been vaccinated may come; upon arrival, passengers are tested for covid followed up by one day quarantine at the hotel. After this, they may travel to only 3 or 4 designated small towns. As bad as it sounds for tourists, Thais, themselves, are not allowed to travel in their own country unless they have been vaccinated.

For us we are hoping to be vaccinated because of all the trending mandates of traveling. Stephen and Nick will definitely have to be fully vaccinated in order to enter Laos, Myanmar, and China. We are open to receiving the vaccines but it has been a huge challenge. Many of the “good” vaccines slowly trickle into Thailand due to politics and regulations. Private companies have ordered Moderna but it has been several months and the shots are delayed because public sectors take the majority of the lot entering into Thailand. Nick is the only one who is fully vaccinated by the Chinese made vaccines; there are no other options because he was invited to be a groomsmen in his church friend’s wedding. Isaac has now received a shot of Pfizer because he has an American passport. We are waiting for the Moderna shots. Please be praying for it to arrive soon.

Family

We got to watch John's sermon!

John and Anna live in the states and are doing well. Anna works with at-risk girls and John was promoted at his car wash job. Occasionally, John would preach at a church and the family in Thailand would watch the recorded sermon the following day. We are proud of John and Anna as they serve in their community in Idaho.  Isaac continues to do online school; the school may switch up to having regular classes once everyone has had full doses of the covid vaccines. Mary continues to work in her garden. She has planted various vegetables and fruits and we have enjoyed the harvest weekly. Most of the time, we don’t even need to buy any vegetables! Becky really loves teaching online, and she has helped many of the students improve in their English. Nick has also enjoyed teaching both the Myanmar and the Laos classes. Lately, he has built great friendships with several of the members of the local Thai church. Their group meets up to study the Word and pray together every week; recently, Nick was asked to be one of the groomsmen at his friends’ wedding. Now, just as a precaution, he has self-quarantined himself from the family because they have not had their vaccinations. As for this year’s Thanksgiving and Christmas event for the neighborhood youth, sadly, they may have to be cancelled because of covid regulations.

Nick was a groomsmen at his friend Ee's wedding

Stephen and Mary prepared and handed over food packages
to the district chief so that they could deliver them
 to covid-infected refugee families in the area

Whatever joy or obstacles come our way, we praise God for all that He does and continues to do. Even though we have limits, HE does not! We have comfort in knowing we serve such an awesome unlimited God!

Storm Clouds, Be Gone!

As the monsoon season is at its peak in Thailand, once in a while, lightning and thunder will also accompany the rain. It’s so common to be woken up in the middle of the night to flashes and ground shaking thunder. This natural phenomenon reminds us how Jesus’ disciples would have felt out at sea on a small boat when they faced the storm and Jesus was fast asleep. Normally, we tend to read it and brush off the fact that storms are simply terrifying…. Seems the storms, literal and metaphorical, are brewing up all over the world. Many of us might even wonder if Jesus is “asleep” as we face civil war, famine, political unrest, and this pandemic. Is Jesus with us during this Covid pandemic? Is Jesus with us during the civil fighting in Myanmar? Is Jesus with us during the lockdown which has caused many people to lose their jobs and go without food? Ultimately, we have faith that Jesus can and will calm of these storms. Yes, indeed, in the eye of the storms, God has demonstrated His saving power. In Laos, many more souls are coming to Christ! We are super excited every time we get the news that many are choosing to follow Jesus and are being baptized weekly. God is working wonders in many ways. Praise the Lord!

New Believers in Laos!

 Ministry

With the cloth ministry, Mary put together a cloth drive; she would go and buy some clothes and on top of that others would donate some barely worn or even new clothes. Then, Mary would go through the clothes to see which ones are useable, appropriate, and nice. After this is done, we usually ship them out to the needy in Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos. For many of us, we don’t think much about clothes because we have more than enough. For some, clothes are hard to come by and so they wear the same shirt or pants for many years (the same shirt or pants that have holes and patches). Realize that Thailand has been under 3 lockdowns already, and most people are without a job. Many are struggling to even put food on the table let alone clothes on their backs.

Mary organizing the clothes

One instance really brought tears to Mary’s eyes. At usual, in the past month, Stephen and Mary went to Chiang Dao to hand out some clothes, and other goods, for the needy. During this clothing ministry, one particular man named Asa came to choose a shirt. This young Christian man was diagnosed with terminal cancer last year. So, Asa and his friend come and there weren’t a lot of choices left because many had come before him, but there was one particular striped buttoned shirt that he really liked and as he tried it on, you could see joy in his face. He was all smiles that day.

Asa really likes striped shirts

About two weeks later, we found out that he had gone to be with the Lord. In this village, there have been several deaths already this year. All the villagers have been going through one grief after another. During the funeral, there weren’t many people because of this lockdown. Many were saddened by this loss but felt a little joy because he was no longer in pain. What was very surprising to us was that in his casket, as he was laid there, he was wearing the striped shirt that he chose! Praise God for giving us the opportunity to give a little dignity and joy to others.

Our teaching via Zoom and Wechat has become a very successful ministry. Stephen is teaching on the First Corinthians and the Hebrews Epistle for three days a week for three different groups of Christian ministers, pastors and leaders from Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and even from main land China. His classes are overloaded with almost 90 Christian leaders from different countries, backgrounds, and denominations. On top of this, many more requests to study are still coming in from Cambodia and Laos; we have to really review new students before accepting them because some might have ill intent so please pray for that as well. Overall, it’s a huge blessing to have people from different countries and denominations come together and focus on the Word of God. Even though some have had to wrestle with what they were taught growing up versus what the Bible says. It has been a huge blessing because many are now coming to learn and actually focus on studying the Word. As a matter of fact, Stephen is searching for teachers who could teach along with him whether via electronic devices (can start ASAP) or in person (in the future when the Covid situation gets better). If you want to join this blessing and feel God’s calling, you are welcome to contact us directly.

Stephen's Zoom class

Becky and Nick have been teaching online every week as an outreach ministry. The number of students has increased in the past month. In an online class offered to Laos, one Buddhist monk has now joined the class with Nick. This has been quite the surprise because Nick’s English class often implements the passages or teachings from the Bible. Furthermore, Nick has also had the opportunity to preach from 2nd Timothy at a small Thai church where he volunteers as the Youth Pastor. It has been tough for him to find extra work teaching English because of the lockdown.

Nick's English Class for students in Laos

English Bible Study class for students in Myanmar

Nick preaching at a small Thai Church
(and also online)

In Myanmar, political unrest still dominates our news feed. Due to this hectic situation, many people are going to the streets to protest, some peaceful and some not. On top of this, Covid cases are on the rise. Several church members have died in the past couple of weeks, including one of our friends, a pastor of a church in Northern Myanmar and his father passed away two weeks later. In two particular areas, Myitkyina and Mogok, many people are getting sick while rooms in the hospitals are full, and emergency services are working beyond their limitations. The pastors and evangelists in the areas have become the key people who take care and pray for the sick in these towns; on top of that, these Kingdom workers are also the ones to bury the dead during this time because everyone is too afraid to do it. Therefore, Asians for Christ decided it would be best to provide medicine for over 745 patients, 600 sets of protective outer layer for Kingdom workers in these two areas including 10000 protective masks, 3000 gloves and 20 gallons of disinfectant alcohol. The protective equipment has been used even for reaching out to the sick among the nonbelievers. We truly praise the Lord for your support in this cause and thank to you all for being a part of this ministry. With your extra monetary gifts, we are able to support many Kingdom workers in their ministries and to share God’s blessing to countless during these dire times.

Stephen going through the protective gear
before shipping

One part of the shipment journey was done on
a scooter pulling a wagon

The Kingdom workers in Mogok have received
their protective gear

The Kingdom workers in Myitkyina have
also received their protective gear

They started going around helping the sick

Carrying the caskets to the burial site

Praying and providing food for the needy

A small Christian school has also received masks and alcohol

 Family

Isaac continues to study online. Most of the time, he has been prepping for an entrance exam to high school. We are currently trying to find a high school that would fit him and that he could enter but most schools are either very expensive or not up to educational standards so that is one of our challenges at the moment. Please pray as he is preparing for exams and for God to provide the right high school for him to attend.

Isaac studying online

Sunday Church with some relatives

Becky's Birthday!

Nick receiving first dose of
Sinopharm

Mary has been working on the garden every day, and the garden is producing lots of vegetables that we have been enjoying. Because of the constant lockdowns, in order to stay healthy we often play some basketball (when it isn’t raining) and also help Mary’s gardening.

As stated in our last update, the tropical storm came early this year and caused some concerns at our house. The water rose and flooded our fields behind our house. Moreover, the water almost reached the office which would have caused water damage to many of Stephen’s books and computer. Praise God that the rain stopped for a week so that the water could dry up before flooding our house!

Every day, we hear of many storms brewing around the world. From political unrest to this pandemic, sometimes we fear the storm because we feel we have no control. Indeed, we don’t have control on many things in our lives… but God does. We have seen many of these storms disappear and know that God is in control. We have faith that one day Jesus will say, “peace, be still!” and all these storms will be silenced. May His will be done!

 

 

Until He Returns

As we face hardship in our everyday lives, we have more and more anticipation for Jesus’ coming. Everywhere we turn, it seems like calamity trumps calm. We see lots of political unrest in many countries including our own. Diseases seem to loom around waiting to pounce and cause another streak of fear. On top of this, natural disasters could not come at a more unfortunate time. Oh how we look forward to the day when we finally have peace.

As we wait for that day, we are called to be a light in this world. Recently, even with all the chaos, we have been encouraged by the comments of many people. Some have given remarks such as “life is hard right now… this (online) class is the only thing I look forward to all week”, “the good thing about COVID is that we have time to study Bible (online) with you”, “you help me grow closer to God.” Oh how we thank God that we can give people peace and hope even when the whole world seems to be falling apart.

Laos

One of the countries we are really focused on is Laos. Even though the borders are closed, we are coordinating with our teammates on the ground and oh do we have good news! In Laos, several government officials have accepted Jesus Christ! Many believe and are baptized! As we follow many of these stories from our friend on the ground, we are overjoyed by what God is doing in the country. Many of these government officials including a village leader, a police captain, a district deputy, a provincial vice-governor and even a member of the house of representative have accepted Jesus Christ as their own Lord and Savior. Some of them even have expressed that they are willing to give up their position and income to follow the Lord. They are willing to sacrifice their governmental office position if their government chooses to go after them for their newfound faith. Aren’t these new believers’ faith encouraging for us to hear? We think so. If you are also encouraged by this, please pray for these new believers.

Several families in a village hearing the message
from the evangelist.

Remember, several weeks ago we asked you and many of our prayer warriors to pray for a police officer in Laos because of his sickness. Through prayers, God has answered. This man was healed! Now, he has asked our friend to go to his home in order to tear down his spirit shelter because he has decided to follow Jesus Christ! Praise God! The problem is that our friend cannot cross the provincial border due to the COVID lockdown.

There is one more thing we ask for your prayer for in Laos. In an entirely different area, the new Christians in a certain village in Laos is facing threats from the locals. The locals threatened the new Christians by reporting to the government that the Christians have been worshipping in unauthorized locations, house churches. The authorities agreed that they must have a church building in order to gather; church buildings can be monitored, so the government is not too fond of house churches. The authorities have made a deal that the 294 new Christians in this town should build their own church or seize to meet. They have approximately 6 months to build a new building. Please continue to keep this in your prayers as they lack building materials!

More and more believe and are baptized

There are many great projects in Lao in the works. One of the projects is to teach Bible to the local evangelists (and those who are interested). This is a really important task because most Christians in Laos do not have any Biblical background. Some of them are even illiterate, making this task a bit harder. It is extremely dire for them to learn the Bible so that they would have a sound doctrine. Some of Stephen’s students have been teaching what they learned to the locals, and many are asking for more classes. We are very thankful for many of you who are a part of the many great works in Laos, and we are seeing great outcome! More are being baptized weekly… yes even during COVID lockdowns!

A bible class in Laos

Myanmar and China

The situation in Myanmar with their government continues to persist and not much news is coming out of that country. Our students and friends in the country continue to live in fear. Not only do they have to live with the fear of COVID, but also with abrupt battles starting. The university students are taking their time to study English with Becky and Nick (and our wonderful friends in Hawaii). All of the students are really enjoying the classes and are excited every week. Furthermore, Stephen continues to expand his online classes. He has roughly 60 (and counting) Christian ministers and church leaders from China and Myanmar studying with him on Wechat, and about 6 in Zoom from China, Myanmar and Thailand. These people are very glad to be learning Bible with Stephen. They love being able to get deeper through this exegetical based lessons.

Stephen teaching Christian leaders from
 Myanmar, China, and Thailand

Thailand

As for Thailand, it is more evident that we will be locked down for longer than anticipated. The spike of cases in this 3^rd wave with the delta variant has approached our doorsteps. The district we live in has a cluster of covid infections that are being watched at the moment but more are popping up. To add insult to injuries, our country does not have any effective covid vaccines. People are not happy that in order to get quality vaccines, one must pay over 100$ US to reserve Moderna, which still isn’t guaranteed to arrive. We are unvaccinated (sounds strange to say) and are hoping for better vaccines. Please pray for this situation.

A couple months ago, before the initial onset of this 3^rd wave, Stephen and Nick went up to Mae Tae village about 5 hours North of where we live. Stephen’s nephew, Abe, invited them to come and join in a house worship service. Stephen gave a sermon on how important it is to have God at the center of a family. Moreover, Stephen and Mary headed to several villages when they had the chance. One of the places they constantly go to is Mary’s village called Huay Ko. During the two weeks that this village was locked down, Stephen and Mary delivered food so that they would be able to get through it. This village houses the first Christian evangelist from China back in the 70s. This year, a couple members of this group of evangelists went to be with the Lord. Stephen and Mary are sad to watch their mentors pass away one by one but have joy and comfort that they are going to be with the Lord.

Stephen praying for Abe's family as they move
into their new home

Stephen spending time with his great nephew

Lunch with villagers on the field
where Nick will grow coffee

Mary (and Stephen) delivering food
to a locked down village

Home

This year, Stephen was supposed to go to America to teach at a missions camp in Oregon but unfortunately he wont be able to make it because, like most people in Thailand, he has not had the covid vaccinations. This is the second year that he will not be able to attend this camp. If Lord willing, we are hoping to get vaccinated by the end of the year. Mary and Nick started planting papaya trees in the backyard. Early mornings and late evenings are the best times to work because of the midday heat. During the past week, rain season began and we had torrential downpour for almost a week straight. The water in the field rose and almost flooded our home but thank God the rain stopped for a moment, as we pumped the water out of the house. We are praying that as we approach the peak of this rain season, that there wouldn’t be a flood. In any case, we believe God is in control.

The water rose, and almost entered the office area.

A couple weeks ago, Nick had a youth event in the city. He coordinated with his friend, who owns an airsoft field; they had an event where the youth invited their friends over to play airsoft together. About 20 youth came together for an afternoon of competitive fun. Isaac also got to join this event and he had the most points! This past week, Nick took a trip to Sam Muen Village, to finally grow some coffee. It has not been easy because he had to ride the scooter up the slick dirt roads to the farm… He took several tumbles. In several days, Nick and few villagers planted about 350 coffee plants this first year. Please pray for him as he meets new challenges along the way as the “new coffee guy” in the village.

Youth airsoft event in Chiang Mai

Isaac with his cousin Jay planning how to win!

Teaching the soccer kids
how to play basketball

Nick and his helper Pateep digging holes
and planting the small coffee plants

2-3 more years before these coffee plants
 will begin to fruit

We thank God for giving us peace and comfort in knowing that He is almighty and in control. So even with all the negativity in the world, we will continue to be a light. Continue to pray for us as we give some hope to the hopeless, some peace to the chaos, some confidence to the fearful. Until He returns, we will continue to expand His Kingdom on earth! 

Third Wave, but High Spirits

Covid Alert! Covid Alert! We are now facing the 3rd wave of Covid 19. Every province is under lockdown. Restaurants are only allowed to serve take-away orders, no more gatherings (including church), and masks are now mandated with violators facing up to 700$ fines. We rely on and know that God will help us through yet another period of lockdown. Praise God that we still have a garden where we can get our vegetables and a chicken coop where we can get our eggs and meat. Even though we are facing another challenge, we have joy in Christ. We do ask for prayers for others in the area that are facing depression and hunger during this time. Before this 3rd wave, we had many productive months! So, let’s talk about that!

Thailand

Since Thailand has been on and off with lockdowns due to Covid-19, Stephen’s ministry has shifted accordingly. Whenever the lockdown was lifted, he would visit different villages and preach at different churches on the weekends. Whenever there was a lockdown in effect, he would spend his time in his office and study God’s Word; this is the reason which he considers as the positive of a lockdown. No matter what type of conditions we may face, he continues to teach God’s Word online to a group of 30 evangelists and preachers who live in Thailand and Myanmar. He then sends the recorded audio lessons to the Christian leaders in China. Among these preachers, Wan Bosi is a preacher-pastor at the biggest church among the Lisu church in Thailand. Wan Bosi has never had a chance to study in any Bible colleges, but because he wants to preach God’s Word faithfully he enrolled in Stephen's international Bible class for ministers. Lamephu is another leader whose ministry focuses on drug addicts. He is working with over 300 drug addicts throughout Myanmar. He believes that God is able to heal these dark forces so his ministry emphasizes on teaching God’s Word and prayers for these drug addicts to be healed. Many of his students were once addicts and now serve the Living God and Lord in several areas in Northern Myanmar. Another leader, Ahli serves at one of the county churches of the three self-movement in China. Stephen sees his potential to be one of the next generation leaders in the Yunan province so he has been training with Stephen for many years. While studying God’s Word via online with Stephen, Ahli has been invited to study at Yunan Ethnic University. As he continues in his further studies, he needs some financial help for his family needs. Isn’t it worthwhile to invest in these leaders and their needs for the sake of God’s Kingdom? Please lift up these leaders, particularly Ahli and Lamephu, and their ministries in your prayers. Overall, Praise God for allowing us to teach and invest in His Kingdom’s workers even when we are locked down in our homes!

Team photo after a victory!

Nick has been working with the youth at a local church in Chiang Mai and also the nonbelievers of Shan youth in our county. Since, the lockdown, he has not been able to physically meet up with the youth, but has been encouraging and spending time with them online. Nick’s sport ministry, soccer in particular has reached another phase. Now, the program has roughly 20 regular players. As we progress, there will be a need for more equipment and connections to teams that will be willing to compete against an "unofficial" club. Nevertheless, every practice begins and ends with prayers and discussions about soccer and life. After 3 years of practice, the boys had official matches in March (before the 3rd wave of Covid). They hold a record of 3 wins and 0 losses so far! They have all grown up to be great players on and off the field. Nick is really encouraged by the fact that they actually come to Nick when they have problems and sometimes even ask for prayers. These boys are very dear to us, and we are very proud of them! The sport ministry has not only transformed the life of the children, but also the society particularly in our neighborhood area. The neighborhood has seen the impact in the kids’ life. Our neighborhood has become safer than ever before. Most of all, God’s Name has been lifted up among the lost people in our areas.

After the match, photo with the college age team. Our
boys did great!

The team helping with our garden

Together as a team, we prepped for
a new row of green beans!

Since 2020, Nick and Becky has been teaching online to students in Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos. Becky primarily focuses on teaching grammar, and has had great feedback from the students each week. Becky continues to teach online and really enjoys it. She is doing a very good job. Nick has been teaching conversational English, using the Bible as the main text, to students in Myanmar and Laos. With the help of David, Becky, and Lisa at a church in Hawaii, the class for the Myanmar class has been a big hit. Special thanks to Kiamuki Christian Church’s Board of Missions and those involved for their great support in this ministry. This has been a real big encouragement for the Christians in Myanmar as they are facing political unrest within their country. In Laos, the majority of Nick’s university-level students are not Christians, but they have really enjoyed reading the Bible and learning who our God is.

Becky's grammar class for the students in Myanmar!

Myanmar

In March, Stephen went to the border of Thailand and Myanmar, where there is an ongoing intense fighting between Burmese soldiers and Karen, to meet with the displaced people. These people have to leave their love ones, their homes, their villages, their farms because of the bombs from planes. They are all scattered in the forest around the border without basic life necessities.

In this area, the western border of Thailand, ethnic Karen refugees have made camps right on the riverside that divides the country of Myanmar and Thailand. Conflicts have escalated in Myanmar due to internal politics. The Burmese military and ethnic Karen military (among others) began fighting since early March. This resulted in a great migration of civilians coming to the edge of the river because technically they cannot cross into Thai borders. After meeting with some of those displaced people, we decided to send help in the form of food packages. Prayers for the political unrest in Myanmar would be appreciated because it is escalating at alarming rates.

Stephen helping load a truck to send mosquito nets
and necessities for the displaced at the border

Our packages reached the displaced at the Myanmar border

Laos

In Laos, we are so excited to announce that many more people have accepted Christ and were baptized in the past couple of months. Many are tearing down and burning their physical idols from their houses because of their new found faith. God is moving in Laos even during this lockdown and we would like to acknowledge our partners on the ground for their wonderful work.

Laos has many different ethnic groups and many of them are considered to be unreached groups: no converts, no bible and etc. In one particular county, there are 27 different ethnic groups living there. In the previous newsletter we asked you to pray for these unreached ethnic people. Praise the Lord! He has answered the prayers. Not long after, the first family (9 of them altogether) from the Seeda tribe walked into the house of the on-the-field evangelist (who took the New Testament course with Stephen) and asked to follow Jesus Christ. As Jesus said in Luke 15:10 “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (NASB), we are so happy to be a part of a history-in-the-making moment. This is extremely encouraging especially in the field of missions. We hope to see these new converts trained up to become Kingdom workers who will carry out the Great Commission to their own people, one day. Isn’t this exciting? Would you like to see more unreached people groups come to Christ? If you would, please join with us in prayer for these new converts and our mission field.

More baptisms in Laos!

More believers in Laos. Praise God!

Family

In early April, our family headed up to a family reunion and memorial of Stephen’s late father. Every year our family and relatives would go up to the burial grounds of Lawu (Stephen’s father) and have a worship service. Over 100 Lisu people, both Christians and non-Christians, will come to join and pay respect for Lawu. This was a great day for Stephen not only to meet up with his brothers and sisters who live in various parts of Thailand, but also to evangelize to them. It seems there is no better place to deliver Jesus’ resurrection and the hope of Christians’ resurrection than at this memorial gathering. In fact, it was the similar context of 1 Corinthians 15 when Paul delivered his gospel of Jesus’ resurrection to the Corinthian church. This event was a couple days filled with family and friends enjoying meals together, playing soccer together, and also worshiping God together.

The men of the family talking about life

Stephen giving a quick message of encouragement to pursue
the Heavenly Kingdom

This year, as a family clan, we gave out a few scholarships
to students pursing different levels of education

Stephen and Mary in front of Lawu's grave

A family lunch followed after the worship service!

At the home front, Mary’s pumpkin hasn’t been easy to take care of especially with the random storms that come in because pumpkins love rain for only a limited amount of days. If there is too much water, then the pumpkins go bad. We are praying for a good harvest so that we can either help provide jobs for local Shan people in our neighborhood or give them as food to people who need it. Isaac is on his summer break. During his free time, besides playing games with his friends, Isaac has been learning piano and chess on his own. During this third lockdown, Stephen has revisited his doctoral notes and has spent much of his office time on researching the Gospel of Luke. He is considering to convert those research notes into the form of commentaries in the near future.

Stephen's old friend visited us. He and his wife are political
leaders in Eastern Thailand.

 

We sent some clothes to a village in Thailand.
 The kids love their new clothes!

Many were able to come and get new clothes.

As always, thank you for your faithful partnership with us. May the Lord bless you all abundantly!