BUSY WEEKS DURING CHRISTMAS

Shalom All,

Reflecting on this Christmas season, aren't we all glad that the Lord Jesus Christ came to Earth just over 2000 years ago to save us from all kinds of sins? Christ is the only hope for sinful man. He plucks us from the claws of eternal death, as well as provides us with the only Eternal Light that shines for the lost and the unsaved. By His blood are all men saved. Hallelujah! Praise His Name! ...we can and do rejoice because our God gives each one of us another chance to receive the eternal life. All Glory to His Name!

When doing a research about Buddha’s teaching, I discovered that one of his priests, Brahman has asked Buddha what the characteristics of the Holy One will be like. The Buddha answered, "The Holy One who will keep the world in the future will be like this; in the palm of his hands and in the flat of his feet will be the design of a disk, in his sides will be a stab wound and his forehead will have many marks like scars.

About 500 years after Buddha left this world, these prophesy was fulfilled! When Jesus Christ died on the cross to take away human sin, each hand and foot was pierced with a large nail leaving a disk shape (John 20 v 20), His side was pierced with a spear (John 19 v 34) and His forehead had many marks on it from the crown of thorns the Romans put on Him (John 19 v 2).

What an amazing confirmation of the Truth! Our Lord Jesus Christ is truly the savior of the world! Hallelujah!

Now for a brief update of our report.

On December 14th, 2009, Jenny and I took a flight from Shenzhen back to Bangkok. It was a long journey just before this as we took a train from Kunming to Guangzhou that took us 25 hours on a third class seating to reduce expenses. We stayed one night in Guangzhou. The next day, we took a hi-speed train to Shenzhen, staying one night there before our return to Bangkok. (We have bought a return flight ticket back to Guangzhou from Bangkok on January 7th, 2010. We should be back in Kunming on January 10th or 11th latest).

During our first week in Bangkok, we went about buying some basic Thai foods, noodles and medicines in preparation for our upcoming trip to China again....I will explain our situation in Kunming more fully in my next email as we do need your support.

On December 19^th, 2009, the Lumpini Evangelism Group invited us to join the Morning Christmas Celebration at Lumpini Park. There were about 140 - 150 people attending the celebration. Seven churches (3 from Bangkok and 4 from other provinces) shared the joy of celebration together with the people. The elders of the group presented me with a gift-a wooden picture frame showing Jesus in a manger - as a token of appreciation for sharing with them the joy of Christmas. I was touched and humbled. All Glory to the Lord!

On December 20^th, 2009, Jaisamarn Full Gospel church invited me to join their Evening Christmas Celebration at Bang-Pa In, Aytthuya. We were warmly received upon arrival and were quickly filled with overflowing love and bonding with these wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ. As we shared the love of the Lord with one another, with the pastors, the elders and church members, celebrating the joy of Christmas, there was such great joy in our fellowshipping with one another, singing praise songs and dancing with joy. There was also an invitation by their elders for us to join their Christmas Carol at Nakhon Luang, but unfortunately we couldn’t accept this invitation as we had another engagement in Pattaya during that time. Since I have brought back with me the first fruits olive oil from Kunming, I used the oils to bless each member of the church, as a reminder for them that our Lord, Emmanuel, is with us in this celebration of joy!

Our journey there started one early morning December 21^st, 2009. A group of 8 members from Jaisamarn, together with Jenny and me, traveled towards the Province of Pretchabun. The distance from Bangkok to our destination is about 380 km. Our objectives are to distribute winter clothing, books and toys to the Hmong Hill Tribal people. When we reached Khao Kao, we worked together with the local pastor there. This place was rather wet and cold. After distributing our gifts, we also took the opportunity to share the Gospel with the people gathered there. In the early part of the evening, we joined the local people celebrating their Hmong New Year and later we gathered them together to attend a church service. Once again, I took the opportunity to anoint them with olive oils to bless them.

The following day, we went to a church in Khek Noi. The church was built by a Korean missionary and one of the students in the Bible College. When we arrived, the children had already started their Tuesday service for some time, and we later joined them with some Bible quizzes and games to brighten their school lessons. With the lessons over, we then distributed the winter clothes, toys and books.

Next, we rushed to Ban Nam Khao for evening church service. There was no pastor in this church and it was run by one elder. This settlement is under military control. Here, we also gathered the people together for church service and anointed and blessed them with oil, before distributing them with the gifts we have brought.

On the third and final day, we joined the Hmongs to celebrate their New Year and played games with them, and then returned to Aytthuya.

Jenny and I got back to Bangkok around 1am. At 8am, we left for Pattaya to join the Christmas Carolers under the wings of 20 churches, singing Carols in the red light area and commercial area of Pattaya.

We stayed overnight in Pattaya and left the next morning for Bangkok to attend a Christmas Celebration Dinner at the invitation of Jaisamarn Full Gospel Vibhavadi Church.

Here is the evidence of the Good News hitting the streets of Bangkok. Today, any one walking the main road between Central World and Pratunam can hear local evangelists speaking through loudhailers proclaiming the message “Repent from your sins, receive eternal life, enter the Kingdom of Heaven, End Time is near!” Printed leaflets proclaiming the Good News is freely distributed to people in the street that I help distribute the leaflets for short while.

Our work for the Lord keeps us constantly on the move, and this can be quite exhausting even for people of our age. But in doing the work we do for our Lord, as we are called to do, we feel within us great joy and peace and are invigorated with the fullness of the spirit of the Lord to move on and on for Him… truly, God gives us strength everyday to do His work, for which we are so thankful. We serve an amazing God, who loves us, keeps us, protects us and sustains us.

Dear all, may you, too, be richly blessed by the same loving God, Jesus our Lord. Hallelujah!

God Bless!

Blessing,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok and Sister Jenny P Kok