MERRY CHRSTMAS

Blessings,
Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok and Sis Jenny Ruth Kok

THE MISSION CHURCH OUTLOOK AND THE CHURCH FINANCIAL REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 2012

Shalom All,

Greetings in the Name of Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth!

As I reflect over the many responses I have received since my last posting, I am truly overwhelmed by GOD'S amazing grace and presence in preparing, guiding and planning for the planting of a new Church in Bangkok, to meet the needs of His people in this corner of the world, where many here are yet to know the Lord and receive His salvation.

Let me recall and narrate here the recent events.

Right after I have posted the email on starting a new church here in Bangkok, I have thought to myself (with misgivings and guilt I must say now) that I might not get enough funds just to rent the house to start a church, as I received a minimum fund of THB 18,000 (RM 1,920/USD 605) per month, resources which I didn't have then. Just renting the house alone will take away THB 10,000 (RM 1,065/USD 336) per month. However, about half an hour later into this reflection, I received an email from a US Senior Pastor saying he wants to contribute one month rental in advance, as he has had a vision about God's need in Thailand in his dream. Praise the Lord for this pastor's vision in his dream. Surely our God will continue to provide, to make this vision possible!

Then I have also asked God to send volunteers for short-term mission work. About 6 hours later, a US Christian contacted me saying she desires to serve a short term in Bangkok, to help our Church to reach out to the local community. Then also came  calls from Christians from the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore saying they plan to come and serve the Lord for short term work. Praise the Lord again.

One late evening, the Lord led me to read the story of King Hezekiah in Book of Isaiah. From this, I sensed that God wants me to call His new Church " The Spring Valley Community Church". And  that I need to include in his Church a special prayer room for His presence.

Here is a short slideshow presentation about the up-coming new Church:

We plan to start our first church service in Thai-English on the 2nd Sunday of January 2013, as well as to start an exploratory testing of the waters in assessing the need and the level of teaching English to children.

This will gauge the group's level of understanding in spoken English, to enable us to plan for subsequent levels of teaching English for a class or future classes.

We hope to have more activities to reach out to the urgent spiritual and other needs of the local community as we move forward step by step.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us go forth in prayer and faith that our God is always there ahead of us, beckoning us, leading us and urging us to move on to serve Him through the giving of our time. talent, strength and resources.

I strongly believe the Lord will bless us in our walk with Him each step of the way.

Truly our God works in mysterious ways.

As he touches His people.

And they readily respond to His call.

This is the verse we must carry with us each step of our way.

"I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength" – Philippians 4 verse 13.

Yes, first there must be our individual will to want to serve the Master.

Yes, alone, you or I can do little or nothing.

But together with God, we can do much, indeed much, for His Kingdom and His glory.

Below is the Financial Report for November 2012 and a projected financial need for the Church.

May God bless each one of you in your journey with Him!

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

Email : faithwithyou@gmail.com

Spring Valley Community Church

95/654 Moo. 3

Mu Ban U-Thong Place 2

Ku Khot

Lam Luk Ka

12130 Pathum Thani

Kingdom of Thailand

MISSION TO START A COMMUNITY CHURCH IN THAILAND

Shalom All,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth!

1 Peter 4 verse 11 - “Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen”.

Our thoughts were drawn deep into the above verses for the past few months?

What is the call of the Lord for us?

Should we plan to start a church to serve the community around us?

Obstacles, yes, lots of it ahead for us even to think about it!

It is never easy to start a church, surely?

But when we begin to pray and say, "Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth  ..." surely, Jesus will take over from there? ...

Say “Amen” to that?

We will continue to pray on and for this vision, daily, and we certainly need your prayer support for this vision, too.

Last Sunday and yesterday, in our home sharing, it came as a great surprise to know that another family also has similar to set up a church to serve the local community around us. Therefore, we now have two families in agreement instead of one!

So we started looking for a suitable place to start a community church. We found a big house at Lum Luk Ka District, Pathum Thani Province (near Don Mueang Airport).

The owner presently rents it out for about THB 10,000 (RM 1,000/USD 334) per month. There are 3 bedrooms, a big living hall/room and a garden.

It appears to us to be a suitable place for us to start a church, for worship and to also use it for community service, prayer and mission outreach ministry workplace.

Also a locale for transit missionary workers stopping over in Bangkok for take-off to other mission fields close-by ... Malaysia, Burma, Cambodia, Laos ,Vietnam and China, etc.

A welcome place for workers of the Kingdom, for the spread of the Gospel and  for greater harvests for the Lord, as He commanded.

Now is time for us to pray for this vision to come true.

A House for the Lord or just a house as it is now.

See photos below.

All Praise to the Lord, as we seek His will ... Do uphold us in prayers.

Thank you and God bless!

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

SERVE WITH ALL YOUR HEART

Shalom All,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Time comes and goes ever so quickly and without our ever realizing it, we are one week older than the last ... with, in my case, a patch of beard on my chin. And then also one year older with some noticeable wrinkles beneath the eyes when none was there a year ago!

And as time goes by, nearer to God we must be, heeding His call, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in.

We should continue to share the love of God with every nation and tribe we find ourselves in. Whether the person we meet is poor or rich is besides the point for everyone needs God and His Love.

And we share this joy of the Lord with every one irrespective of rank or status, sincerely, compassionately and dutifully.

Let the true Love of God flow from Him to us and onwards to many, many others His Love touches and will touch.

In this regard, we need not be constrained by time in the spread of this Love for who can count time and number that only the Timeless God can fathom? We just have to do our little part and let God take care of the rest!

God has a great and beautiful plan for each one of us, our life. His timing, not ours, is always perfect.

We just need to seek Him for all the answers through His Word.

Will stop here for the time being.

Next sharing coming soon.

Till then, God Bless!

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

HAPPY EASTER DAY

ENCOUNTER THE PROBLEM DURING THE TRAVEL JOURNEY

Shalom All,

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth!

1 Corinthians 16 verse 13 says : “Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong”.

Most recently.

e arrived at Diyarbakir (Southeastern Turkey, near to the border Iraq) yesterday and we took a walk near the old city along the Tigris River. Here, a most unfortunate thing happened to me. I lost my tablet PC! The only tablet PC I have brought along with me for this travel, which stores and keeps for me the Bible, travel, emails and related documents for my personal reading, was suddenly and forcibly snatched and taken away from me by thieves near the old town. Realizing this, I immediately gave chase, shouting very loudly … “Thief! Thief” ... with some local people trying to help by showing the direction the thieves were heading.

But I soon realized this chase would be pointless and so I decided to stop chasing, thinking of Jenny whom I have left behind, afraid that she would be lost in this unfamiliar surroundings. However, she soon caught up from behind and came to where I was standing. Some helpful men then brought us to a school building nearby to wait for the arrival of the local police. A few minutes later, the policemen came and took us to the police station. Three police cars escorted us along the way as if we were some kind of VIP!. At the police station, I made a report. The local police were very friendly and helpful. Of course, I felt very sad losing the only tablet PC I have with me, but thankful Jenny and I were unharmed and safe. Praise the Lord for His deliverance!

And now for the other reports;

Taking up this intended missionary journey to Iraq via Turkey had not been easy at all. There were many obstacles we had to overcome. Faith is the keyword in our life ... yes, we trust and love God, will obey and follow Him and keep praising Him whatever the circumstances.

On January 29^th, 2012, we left Bangkok in transit to Kiev (Ukraine), before arriving at Istanbul (Turkey). The flight took 14 hours. At Istanbul, we waited for our luggage (containing clothes, toilette, electrical items, food and beverage) and waited there for almost an to two hours, but the luggage never came. Next, we went to the Lost and Found Department. The officer told us that our luggage was still in Kiev and asked us to get it the next day, (noon - 18 hours later). Had I taken travel insurance, I could claim for luggage delay, but I didn't buy it because we have no budget for it.

So reluctantly, we left the airport and headed towards the city. It snowed heavily as we reached the city. We felt so cold without much warm clothing. Then we tried to locate the Austrian who had agreed to sub-let a room to us for EURO 150 (RM 600/THB 6,000) for two weeks. We waited for him for almost an hour and he still had not shown up. This made us worry, as the time was getting closer to 5.30pm and the weather getting colder and colder, and freezing too. Our Thai mobile was almost out of credit. Then we decided to walk to a Chinese Restaurant to seek help to call our Austrian contact, so we would not end up sleeping in the street. Our Chinese friend tried many times to reach him ... at last, he was able to reach him! The LORD is my shepherd, I have all that I need - Psalm 23 verse 1.

The following day, we went to the airport to collect our luggage. Then another unfortunate accident happened. On the second day of our arrival, Jenny slipped and fell down on a slippery snow floor, injuring her tail bone (known as coccyx). For many day, she was and is still nursing this pain and has yet to fully recover from the pain from this fall.

During the past two weeks, we have met and talked to a number of local folks and have tried to befriend them. One day, I tried to shop around a CD Cleaner to help my Austrian friend to repair his notebook. While we were searching for this, trying to get the lowest price if we could, we found there was only one shop selling it. So without a choice, I decided to go back to this only shop to buy it, bargaining from TL 10 (RM 20/ THB 200) to TL 5 (RM 10/THB 100). Then the shopkeeper asked me where I came from. I replied “Malaysia”. He faced changed immediately and with a cheerful heart, he said “Free for you” ... Malaysian is a brother to Turkey. Thank God for this good man ... we never know when God will choose to bless us!. Praise the Lord!

Everything in Istanbul is so costly ... even the foods, transportation and accommodation. For example, a guest house costs EURO 30 (RM 120/THB 1,200) per night, cheap food like Kebab Chicken costs TL 3 (RM 6/THB 60), fried fish costs TL 9 (RM 18/THB 180) and public transportation costs TL 2 (RM 4/THB 40). During my birthday, February 4^th, we decided to have Chinese noodle, just vegetables without meat ... that costs TL 10 (RM 20/THB 200) per bowl!

Twice a week, we had fellowship with the Armenian brother who serves in the Bible Society of Turkey.

On February 3^rd and 5^th, 2012, we spent time in a the local Turkish church known as Istanbul Pentecostal Church. The elder of this church introduced us to his Church Pastor, who has served in this church for the last 15 years. He is from Spain. This church is the last Church approved by the Turkish Government, with its own church building design.

In the next report, I will talk about our mission in Antalya.

Due to Jenny’s injury (tail bone and panic attack) and also the visa issue we have decided to return to Bangkok as soon as we can get the air-ticket and our budget is very tight.

About Iraq Kurdistan Region.

There is not information I could get in the internet about this region, even after one month's search and contacted Iraq embassies.

To get into Iraqi Kurdistan, all travelers (except nationals of US, EU, Britain, Canada and NZ and recently Iran) are not allowed in. People wishing to enter here are required to get an invitation letter from a local resident or company. There are some other procedures that must be observed by the local resident or company ... such as, they must refer to the Ministry of Interior of Iraqi Kurdistan Government Region. It is not easy at all to get the necessary approval and there is always a long delay.

When entering Iraqi Kurdistan Region by land or air, one must show this letter of approval (most importantly, the letter must be stamped and signed by the Ministry of Interior of Iraqi Kurdistan Government) ... seeking/visiting an Iraqi Embassy or Kurdistan representative is no use.... they will never be able to help on the application.

To enter Iraq, only nationals from two countries are allowed in ... one is the American army with the valid military ID and another is Malaysian! But for Malaysians, you still need to get the aforementioned invitation letter from a resident or company from Iraq, then you can proceed to the border or airport, to get in on a 14 days free visa.

Next plan.

Maybe later this year, I will make a personal trip to Mosul, Iraq as I sense that the Lord is calling me to be there since 5 years ago ... for a reason, as the small community is waiting for me there, even though I don’t know them.

May the Lord guide and lead me ... in His time ... when and where He chooses ... for me just to follow Him and His Will.

All Praise to His Glorious Name!

Thank you and God bless!

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

SITUATION IN MIDDLE EAST IS SENSITIVE

Shalom All,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Hebrews 11 verse 8 says, “It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going”.

In less than 10 hours, Jenny and I will fly from Bangkok to transit in Kiev (Ukraine) and then head towards Istanbul (Turkey). In total, it will take about 14 hours of flight time from Bangkok to Istanbul.

It is by no means easy to find accommodation in Istanbul, especially for a foreigner and one not already there. It has taken me almost a month to find a reasonable short term accommodation. Since the past 4 days, I have been able with considerable difficulty to find the lowest accommodation that costs USD 200 for two weeks and that also after much bargaining.

The weather in Istanbul is getting colder and some part of the day will be snowing.

After Istanbul, we will be heading towards Ankara (capital of Turkey) staying for a short period there to arrange for an Iraqi visa for Jenny ... no need for a visa for me as Malaysia has good relations with Iraq.

We will not give you the usual report while we are in the Middle East. Any reporting on our mission work would have to await our departure from the Middle East. We need to be cautious and wise.

We can’t say now how long we will be there ... it all depends on how long God wants us there. I also don’t know exactly why God has asked us to go there, just like His sending Jonah the Prophet. Only when Jonah reaches Nineveh, God tell Jonah to call on the local people to repent of their sins.

Trust and have faith is all that I can say. Will just have to wait and see what God wants me to do there. God knows and will always have a good reason for me to be there.

May God continue to bless and lead you.

Do pray for us as the tasks ahead will not be easy for us to carry through, without much prayer support. Thank you.

The Lord be with you and for you.

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok & Sis. Jenny Ruth P. Kok

For mission contribution : http://faithwithyou.blogspot.com/2009/02/mission-contribution.html