Shalom All,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Paul wanted his readers to be generous on every occasion. We are reminded that God is the source of everything. In the Book of 2 Corinthians 9 verse 13 says “As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ”. All believers are called to be generous because of the example of the Lord of Life. Generosity proves that a person’s heart has been cleansed of self - interest and filled with the servant spirit of Jesus himself. That is why acts of generosity result in God being praised.
Since last Sunday, I have mild flu and sore throat due to abrupt changes in weather and the workload. Do pray for us, since all servants of the Lord will always be under attack from the Evil One.
From October 1st - 8th, 2010, I will travel to China, first to Guangzhou, and then to Wuhan, Hubei, for a short mission trip. My wife, Jenny, will remain in Bangkok. I will be preaching in various home churches and teaching Bible Study group on equipping the Christians.
The following month, November 2010, I will help set up a Hymn team to share testimonies and sing Hymns at two churches, a hospital, a primary school and in a park. With this event, we hope to reach out to many people around Bangkok. I sense that Thailand will experience a revival and the people will respond positively to a cleansing change. Let us all pray for Thailand to move away from idolatry worship and turn to seek God's true love - and turn to Jesus the SAVIOR who has died for our sins.
Presently, Jenny and I have decided to remain in Bangkok for a year to help out some ministries before planning to go to Mosul, Iraq and finally to Israel. We need to do lots of mission planning before going to Iraq, also to consider our long term visa status as well the security outlook of the country. Moreover, I am thinking of linking up with other missionaries with similar interests and directions.
After the US-Iraq war, there appears to be no permanent missionary teams in Iraq due to various problems. I believe God wants to change the people in the Middle-east countries, the so-called 10/40 window.
About future plans in starting a foundation in Thailand, we didn’t get much feedback from readers and supporters and so we have decided to shelve the idea for the time being. But we have been offered other openings. Two local Thai churches have offered to take me in as their pastor. I am still considering the option. Another has offered a piece of land to build a church. I have passed on this proposal to my home church which is actively considering the matter.
If the home church decides to help start the church in Bangkok, most probably Jenny and I will remain in Bangkok to assist in the work in this church for a year, such as equipping disciples, church planting and recruiting team leaders. Our plan to provide handicraft training for the poor can also continue as part of the ministry.
Let me now introduce our apartment.
We live a very simple life here, with no refrigerator but recently we bought a small TV. We put a blanket on the floor to make a bed to sleep on and also our room is very small. We thank God for this room because this room belongs to Jenny’s uncle who rents to us around USD 48 per month but when we were away, he never asked us to pay the monthly rent. Moreover, the electricity bill is currently free because our tariff usage is always below the average.
From July 8th - 13th, 2010, we were in Hatyai (Southwestern Thailand) and Pattani (Southeastern Thailand) together with Jenny’s father. We spent time with her family and they have not met for years. It was a good family reunion. We have the opportunity to share with Jenny’s cousin sisters about the Good News and they were very keen to find out more. So we propose them to visit the nearby church. We also visited the local AG Thai church and had a fellowship with the pastor and his church members.
Every Saturday morning, we join the Lumpini Fellowship Group where we share the Word of God with the poor and also fellowship with the people around. Since coming back from Kunming, we noticed that there were more people coming to this fellowship. The elders told us that when the red shirt protesters occupied the park from April to May 2010, they continued to hold the fellowship meet and the protesters started joining the fellowship. Amazingly, some were touched by the truth in the Word of God and some repented of their sins. Praise the Lord!
Every Wednesday evening, I made it a point to preach the Word of God in the church at Wireless Road, Bangkok and Jenny was my translator. There normally are three pastors (including me) taking turn to share the message.
On July 24th, 2010, we attended the Thai businessmen fellowship together with Dr. Kamjorn Chaowrat, a former senator. It is interesting to observe how the more affluent Christians share their faith with the less fortunate among them. Praise the Lord for this ministry. One of the brothers shared how he almost became a bankrupt and lost everything but the Lord brought him back. He said the US Coca Cola was trying to penetrate their market into China but the Chinese Government rejected this inroad many times. When this brother was appointed advisor to the Coca Cola of Thailand, he made good relationship with the Chinese Government, then brought the Coca Cola company into the China market. He urges that we need to always seek God’s wisdom rather than our own wisdom, then blessing will pour down from Heaven. God is always amazing!
From July 25th - 28th, 2010, Jaisamarn Full Gospel has invited us to attend the “Encounter through Inner Healing” conference in Pattaya and the guest speaker is from Prachuabkhirikhan (South Thailand). The senior pastor called on each leader of branch churches to attend this conference. Jesus has commanded us to extend his mission on earth. We are to go to all corners of the world serving God, serving each other and serving all people to whom we are called.
Matthew 16 verse 18 says: “Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it”. This is the land I mentioned above where the land owner has decided to give it to build a church. My home church is evaluating the possibility. Praise the Lord for this donor, Hallelujah!
We thought that we could not go for Don Moen’s worship concert as we have limited mission fund. Therefore I said to God, if it is your will, I shall obey and I will not think about the concert again. A week before the concert, I received some funds from an unknown person and so I was able to buy two seats for the concert. Praise the Lord ... our God always works in mysterious ways! When we were at the concert, I could sense that God wanted me to “rest” and have a break for awhile before taking another step of mission work. Jenny also felt peace in her heart. Thank you God for your provision and guidance. Hallelujah!
We need your support in prayer as we hope to get a more convenient means of vehicular transport to enable us to move around in Bangkok more easily.
God Bless!
