Happy New
Years! Like every year before, we’d like to highlight what God did through us
in the previous year and provide our goals for the next year. First, it has
been a great year especially with John and Anna moving to Thailand. The whole
family has had the blessing of being able to meet whenever we could. The end of
2024 was hectic as Thanksgiving rolled into Christmas and then New Years. As
you may remember, much of the Lisu people have a little break towards the end
of the year after their agricultural harvest. So, the two months at the end of
the year is a time to wind down and party!
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| Stephen giving a sermon at Huay Lai Church |
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| Stephen encouraging a longtime believer |
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| Thanksgiving at Huay Ko Village |
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| Christmas for the kids at a local government school |
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| Nick and John leading games for the kids |
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| Mary and the neighbors handing out ice cream |
This year,
we completed our campus ministry project in the capital of Laos. The center we built
is a space where we can connect with college students. This ministry has been
very successful, with many students coming to Christ. Our evangelist in Laos
has done an excellent job building relationships with the students and creating
a Christian community near the colleges. Unfortunately, we have not been able
to fund this ministry consistently, which is a common challenge when operating
in restricted countries.
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| Nick visiting with evangelist Sithat in Laos |
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| The center in Laos is structurally finished |
In
Biblical teaching, we celebrated the graduation of our latest group of
Christian leaders from the Asia International Seminary (AIS). These graduates
are now serving in various roles throughout Thailand, and we are grateful that
our Bible program is advancing God’s Kingdom. This year, we also welcomed a new
group of students who have already begun classes with Stephen. Currently, he is
teaching four groups of students from Thailand, Myanmar, and China, totaling
154 students. These students are preachers, Bible teachers, and evangelists
working in different churches and different countries.
There is
still a high demand for more leaders in this region. For example, some of our
former students have planted four new churches in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
However, there is only one preacher serving all these churches. To support
them, John and Stephen travel almost every weekend to help preach at one of the
churches. Please continue to join in prayer for more workers to meet the
growing needs of His Kingdom in this part of the world.
Another aspect
of AFC is to empower the people in our mission field as we focus on the people
as a whole – spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical. We worked with IDES
this past year in helping displaced people groups and the people who suffered
from the recent floods in Southeast Asia and China. Thanks to our wonderful
partner IDES, we were able to provide for physical needs and feed thousands of
people. We know that catastrophes are inevitable, and it is such a blessing to
be able to help those who are hungry. Through these projects many open the door
to hearing about Christ and many have even accepted Him as their Lord and
Savior. Praise Him!
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| Mary and Stephen distributed food packages in Thailand |
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| Helping the flood victims in Laos |
Furthermore,
the churches we helped plant in Thailand have been growing both in numbers and
their spiritual faith. This has been a blessing to work with our alumni to help
raise the next generation of leaders in these areas. It has had some challenges
occasionally but that is normal. We know that where the Kingdom of God thrives,
there the other side likes to destroy. Please continue to pray for these
churches and our mission field.
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| After service meals! |
Family Update
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| Family Christmas white elephant gift exchange |
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Family and friends on a hike; met with Nick's student
who is a monk at Suthep mountain temple |
Isaac is in his final semester in high school and that is exciting! He's currently in contact with a few colleges and making decisions on where he would like to study. It really helps that his portfolio has many projects and awards to show. Becky has continued to help out in anywhere that's needed, from helping Mary around the house to setting up zoom meetings for our English Bible classes. On top of this, she takes consistent trips monthly to the village in Chiang Dao where she spends time teaching to the children there. Nick continues to assist with some teaching and planning for AFC while he's focused on his Masters. His Master's thesis is on the topic of Attachment Theory (psychology) and mental health among Christians in Thailand. This study has a focus on how a Christians relationship with God and their Christian walk (prayer, devotion, forgiveness, being like Christ, etc.) influences their mental health. Excitedly, this will be one of the first large scale studies on Christians in academic psychology in Asia. Please pray for him as he is reaching out and collecting data from 465 Thai Christians, which is a difficult but needed task.
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| Becky teaching the kids at Huay Ko village |
Mary has been doing wonderful in running everything in the house while Stephen focuses on ministry; she has been evangelizing to the neighbors in our area to the point where they are starting to honor our practices. For example, the neighbors gather and help us set up for our thanksgiving worship service or they would join us in our work with the local government schools. This has been another wonderful blessing. Stephen continues to teach to the leaders throughout Southeast Asia, online and onsite. He is currently also guiding a few new churches on our mission field as they face challenges and grow spiritually. Please pray for his health as he continues to make major impacts through equipping Christian leaders, evangelizing to the lost, and empowering people on the field.
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Stephen visiting a long time believer
in Chiang Dao |
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| Stephen and John giving a message |
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Mary's clothing ministry
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John and Anna are getting acclimated with Thailand and its culture. They have been living in the city and connecting with new friends. John has been teaching English while going up to villages with Stephen to give sermons and encouragement to the new church plants. Here is a little feedback from John's experience being back in Thailand:
"Thailand
has been beautiful as well as sad to experience. Beautiful in the fact that the
atmosphere and environment is amazing, the culture is vibrant and rich, the
people are genuine and caring like none other. Sad in the fact that these
people experience things worse than us; worst in financial situations and worst
in social situations. It is eye-opening to come back to Chiang Mai and see the
evident beauty and sadness. Having now lived in Thailand for several months and
working as a “tent-maker”, working a 9-5 and also spending extra time in
helping the ministry, it has opened my eyes to the fact that the people that we
are focusing on have life so much worse. The saying, "someone always has
it harder" is seen with the people that we work alongside. The Lisu people
are mainly farmers. Their annual salary comes from borrowing money from either
the bank or loan sharks, hiring some people to help them plant the seeds that
they buy with the borrowed money and then they work day and night in the farm.
After harvest, they sell their crops and pay off their loan and live off a
meager amount of profit. Many farmers will make only $880 for the entire year.
To put into perspective, the average Thai person who works will roughly make
$4,200 a year! My heart aches for these people as they have less than a quarter
of the average salary and still, they are more kind, more caring, more serving,
and more thankful than I am. They are more thankful and devoted to their God
than we, Americans, are. Friends and family, remember to thank God for the
blessings that you have. And, also be intentional with finding ways to help the
poor and needy. Above all, remember that someone out there is having it harder
than you."
We continually thank God for your partnership in our ministry in Southeast Asia and China. We believe this year will be another great year for His Kingdom as we have made plans for teaching and expanding our mission field. Several of our partners and team are planning to come join us and experience what we do. If you are interested in partnering or visiting us, reach out to us. Please continue to pray for us and the ministry God has allowed us to take part in!
