According to the Lisu traditional culture, once a year, non-believers
would set a special day for the past love ones, even worship and pray to their
ancestors. This is one of the most important days or events for the Lisu
people. This event has caused division among the Lisu Christians across the
board… from China to Myanmar to Thailand. There is no decisive solution on this
issue: for some, they believe this event should be considered as an
evil-worshipping day, others view it as a memorial day. Non-believers have
labeled Christians as being no-gratitude-having descendants; for Christians, it
is about worshiping God alone. What should we believers do for this day? Since
the Wong’s family was one of the first Thai Lisu families to become Christians,
many people have always been watching them closely. The Wong family has
contextualized this event into a memorial service, not only to remember the
dead one, but to Jesus Christ, who died and rose from the dead; not only
looking back to the past, but putting hope to the future, that one day every
dead will rise and be transformed into the heavenly body. So each year, the
Wong’s hold a church service at the tomb. This year, Stephen preached on 1
Thessalonians 4:13-18 at his father’s tomb. In the midst of Covid crisis, it
turned out to not only being a fellowship time but also an evangelistic event.
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| Stephen giving a sermon at his dad's memorial event |
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| About 80 people attended the event |
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Following government regulations, Nick
was in charge of testing for covid |
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| Lisu tradition of blessing the elders at the event |
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| The Wongs (Fish clan) |
During Easter, Stephen was invited to preach at several
churches. However, he and Mary decided to go to Bangkok, the capital of
Thailand, to preach at a church which is located in the middle of an impoverish
neighborhood. The members of this church are primarily migrant workers from
other countries. These people fled their homes because of war and lack of work
in their countries. Many of them live in fear because they don’t have the same
rights as Thais. They are facing many challenging issues in a foreign land and
country. With this context, Stephen encouraged them to live a resurrected life
with Jesus Christ in this chaotic world, being different and living different
from the rest of world because of our faith in the Resurrected Messiah. Stephen
and Mary had a great time with these Christian friends. However, after two and
a half years of lockdown and strict regulations, they were a bit nervous when
they saw large crowds. Nonetheless, it turned out to be a fruitful and blessing-filled
trip for them.
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| Stephen and Mary's first flight together since covid |
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The church in Bangkok is a rented room
in a building |
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| Stephen's sermon on Easter |
Asians For Christ has worked with several mission
organizations; God has blessed us to go to places other could not go, to
accomplish tasks and projects other could not do. There was a Korean missionary
who focuses on building church in small villages as their ministry. This Korean
missionary helped the village in Mae Taeng build a new church building by teaming
up with Asians For Christ in this specific task. After several months, at this
point, the church building is about 80% completed. Recently, their missionary
team invited our family to have lunch with them to discuss about this ministry;
we all rejoice at the success of this specific project at Mae Taeng. If you
read a previous post, you would see how God works in wonderful ways, especially
with this project. When Stephen and Nick made a visit to the sick in Mae Taeng,
the people asked if Asians For Christ could help them build a church because at
the time they were meeting at a grain storage building, which after harvest
season, had no room. Stephen and Nick prayed for them and went home. As we
pulled up to our house, the Korean missionary called us out of the blue and
said their team wanted to help build a church and if we had any recommendations.
We were surprise at how quickly God answered our prayers. God is good indeed!
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| The church building is 80% complete! |
Other ministries
After hearing our evangelist team’s report, Mary packed up
some clothes and shipped her recent lot to help the people in Shan state,
Myanmar. The clothing ministry continues to grow as the needs grow on the
mission field. We can see God providing in this ministry because some clothing
stores have given more from their excess clothes on top of what we buy,
logistic employees have given some discounts, and people have stepped up to
help distribute the clothes. The most important thing is that the clothes made
it to the people who really need it and they are able to see Jesus’ Love
through this.
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| Mary and Becky packing clothes |
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Our friends delivering the clothes
to several villages |
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They received the clothes and started
wearing them on that day! |
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| This boy really likes this shirt! |
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| Here is another village that received clothes |
Stephen, Nick, and Becky continue to teach online through
zoom. The Christian leaders studying with Stephen from Myanmar, Thailand, China and
even Malaysia have all expressed wanting to learn in an intensive setting; so, Stephen
plans to have an actual in-person course in the near future. At the moment, we
are figuring out the location and the time to have this weeklong class.
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We are going through the book of Matthew
with the students in Myanmar |
Since countries have been opening up more and more, we are now getting ready to
go into other countries. After so long, some of our passports have almost
expired. Nonetheless, it’s refreshing to see that tourism in Thailand is
increasing and that more planes are beginning to open routes to Laos, Myanmar,
and even Vietnam. Recently, thanks to IDES we have the funds to help the people
struggling in our target countries and now we are planning our trips to these
areas. Prayers for the tasks to be accomplished successfully would be greatly
appreciated.
Family
The family has had a great time finally being able to spend
time with relatives and friends. We are slowly building courage to go out into
the world again. When we do go outside, we feel out of place because it’s been
awhile since we actually ate at a restaurant or traveled to a gathering. Ultimately,
we are super happy to finally get to spend time with people in person.
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Nick having dinner with some of the members
from his soccer team |
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| A small church service at our home |
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| Lunch with our Korean friends |
A great news is that Nick is engaged to his fiancé named
“Khao” (nickname – meaning rice). They plan to get married in January or
February of 2023.
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| Nick with Khao |
As we wait for Jesus to return, we encourage other
Christians to remain strong in Christ and we share the Gospel to the non-Christians. We thank you for being a part of our missions in Southeast Asia and China!
