Shalom All,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth!
We truly appreciate encouragement received from readers who emailed us as we prepare to leave for Turkey and Iraq for mission work.
"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless...." (Philippians 1 verses 9 - 10).
This prayer of Paul is so wonderful and relevant, to this day and time even for today's believers. It is a good prayer for us to pray also.
Paul surely has the mind of Christ when he writes to other believers, "I pray for you with joy. I'm confident God will complete the work He is doing in your life. I have you in my heart and I long for you. I pray that your love would abound more and more, that you may be pure and filled with the fruits of righteousness."
As I have shared elsewhere, that was also how I felt as I prayed ahead of my departure to my new venture to the Middle East.
As I turned my thoughts towards God, He seems to assure me, "I have you in my heart and I pray for you with joy."
We know Jesus prays for us and the Holy Spirit prays for us. How do you think they are praying? Maybe much like today's prayer in Philippians and so much more ... what kind of persons will we be if God's prayers for us are answered?
On January 29th, 2012, we will depart from Bangkok, at 6.00am and arrive in Istanbul, Turkey at 2.55pm the same day by Aerosvit Airlines (one of the Ukrainian flag carriers). I have spent a few weeks searching for the cheapest guest house but still have to get one, because every guest house charges between USD 15- 20 per night/person and renting an apartment will cost around USD 240 - 300 per month. This is too expensive for us and so there is a possibility that on the first night, we will sleep in the airport to save one night cost.
I have tried to make contact with the local Turkish churches but failed to get any response from them after almost a month. Today is miracle day, two local Turkish churches from Istanbul and Ankara replied and will welcome us to their country and assist us with accommodation and fellowship arrangements. Praise the Lord for prayers answered.
We may encounter difficulties ahead of us in our missionary journey, such as shortage of funds, culture shock and belief resistance but we will move forward to fulfill the calling from God, sustained by our faith in our God, the provider and the protector.
There is so much for us to write or report on a our mission activities from April - December 2011, the past year, but I regret that due to constraints of time, I am unable to write a long detailed account in this email.
Kindly read from the captions of the photo stories attached below, or through the mission blog : http://faithwithyou.blogspot.com.
Please continue to uphold us in your prayers. God be with you, too, as always!
Blessings,
Launching New Revised Thai Bible (Thailand Bible Society) on April 2nd, 2011
Installed LPG (4 Valves Pump) on April 4th, 2011
