As Thanksgiving season arrives, it is a time to praise God
and give thanks to Him for the many blessings. Many villagers have harvested
their crops for the year and it is time for honoring God. Thanksgiving is a large
community event in Asia, for example a whole village would come together and
worship God. The exact date may be different throughout the world, one aspect
of Thanksgiving that is common is the food. No matter what area of the world,
Thanksgiving is associated with a sharing of meal with others. It’s times like
this when everyone comes together and cooks, share unique recipes, and talk
about life. There’s something about people and food, eating together enhances a
sense of connectedness… not to mention the delicious food itself.
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| Thanksgiving party at our home |
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| Many people came to worship God together |
Every year, we have a Thanksgiving party at our house and we
invite several villages to join us in giving thanks to God. The event usually
starts in the morning, beginning with a short sermon and then different
churches will come up and praise God through a song or a dance. Afterwards, we
would have a time of prayer and then everyone would gather around and enjoy
lunch together. We really appreciated the people helping us in the background.
A few ladies from a few hours north, came the night before to help prepare food
for 200 hundred people. Several men also came to set up tents to prepare for
the event. With much help, this event went well and all of us had many things
to be thankful. Praise God!
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| The men came to help set up and tear down tents |
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| Some of the women preparing lunch |
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| Mary helping pass out oranges |
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| Plenty of food to enjoy together |
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The neighborhood women's committee came
and performed a Thai traditional dance |
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| The Lisu sang an acapella worship song |
After this event, the recent church plant in Huay Lai also had a Thanksgiving event. Stephen was asked to give the main message at this Harvest worship. Many people from the surrounding villages came to worship God by singing songs and dancing. If you can see the pattern, Lisu people love music! Anyhow, this was a great time of thanksgiving for our God who provides everything, including all of our food.
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| Another Thanksgiving event at a new church plant, Tap Due |
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The villagers brought their first produce as an offering to share
with those who need food |
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| Stephen gave a message |
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| More great singing from the Lisu people |
Another new church plant, Nong Kio, Vieng Haeng has seen a lot of growth. This house church was established by Stephen and the group of leaders he's been teaching. God has done great things through this group since they've planted several churches already in a year; and these churches are growing in number and also spiritual growth because the members seek to study the Word more! Every week, a few of Stephen's students would go up and help at the church by training leaders and sharing the message with them. At this moment, they have been taught that God is the ultimate provider; He gives us much blessing and we too should give in order to support the needs of the church and help others. This was well received because many of the members have slowly becoming people who give. They will have their first Thanksgiving worship service in the next couple of weeks. If the number continue to grow as it has been, we are discussing about possibly building a church in this village. Please continue to pray for the church plants we mentioned.
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Stephen visiting the house church
at Nong Kio |
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| The numbers continue to grow, praise God! |
Recently, Stephen and Mary also went to visit a children’s
home in Myanmar in order to provide some clothes, new cooking tools, and cook a
few meals for the kids. Before going there, they were a bit nervous because the
situation in Myanmar has been really bad. People are being kidnapped for ransom
and many have been threatened and harmed. Nevertheless, the guardians at the
children’s home asked us to visit them for many months now, so they prayed and
headed over to Myanmar. When Stephen and Mary arrived, they were greeted by
smiles from about 40 kids, orphans and destitute children, all living in very
small spaces. One of Stephen’s first thoughts were the living conditions was
not the best… it was very crowded and there were a lot of dust in the small
building. Mary saw the kitchen area and said she felt very sad for them; they
were using a broken rusted over spatula. The spatula was very short, so when
they tried to stir fry the food, they came very close to the fire. Mary and
some of the kids were very sweaty because of the heat and some of their arm
hair were singed as well. During the few days, Stephen and Mary both saw how
the kids worshipped with their hearts. They were both encouraged and blessed to
spend time with these children.
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| More teaching |
FamilyStephen and Becky celebrated their birthdays in August. We
cherish every year we have with the family, because as you already know with Becky’s
health history, we constantly praise God for giving us time to spend together.
After the celebrations, Stephen and Mary were both had to go to the hospital
because they had the flu and felt very weak. Praise God for their recovery.
Nick finished his first semester and had a few weeks of break before starting
another semester. He is currently planning on doing his thesis study on how
Christianity impacts mental health; this will be the first study of its kind in
Southeast Asia. Several professors at the university are interested in this
topic as well. Isaac recently received a science award for Thailand. We are
really proud of him for his many achievements at school. Please continue to
pray for us and our team (and their families) serving in Southeast Asia and
China.
