Many times, we have asked ourselves the same question as Peter did: “Behold, we have left everything and followed You: what then will there be for us?” Jesus’ answer has always moved, encouraged, and motivated us forward to giving up everything for His Kingdom’s sake. And Jesus said to them, “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, shall receive many times as much, and shall inherit eternal life…” (Matthew 19:27-29: NASB).
As you know, we have ministered to the places that many missionaries could not go and many evangelists would not want to go. We believe this is our calling. Even though we are a small mission but we are blessed by God to have such an honor in serving so many different groups of people, denominations, and countries. Our mission field covers Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and China. If God is willing, we are planning to reach the Nagaland in India by the end of 2018. Also, we are now beginning to work with the orphans in war-torn areas, next to the borders between Northern Myanmar and India.
In the past weeks, we got a call from China asking us to offer a special course at our center, Asia International Seminary. They want to learn the Bible, English, and biblical languages (Greek and Hebrew) in order to prepare them for their higher education at a Bible school in the capital, Peking, China. We believe this group of Bible graduates, currently serving in churches in the Yunnan province of China, will become key leaders in the coming generation. This is one way to equip Christian leaders in the restricted countries. At this moment, they are waiting for approval from the Chinese government to come to Thailand. Please lift up this issue in your prayers.
On a different note, the special course offered to the first group of Christians among the Thailand-Lisu had just completed the Torah (Pentateuch). It’s amazing to see their faces light up when they finally understand a certain biblical story! On top of teaching, Stephen has just completed his exegetical commentaries on 2nd Corinthians and the Gospel of John. They are now on his desk waiting for the right moment for the publishing process. While waiting, he is going back to his exegetical works on Matthew and Luke (His MA thesis was on Matthew and his doctoral paper was on Luke). He took a class on Matthew in 1997 and Luke in 2002. Since then he has continued to work on these two Gospels. He even taught and preached these two Gospels on several occasions and contexts. Hopefully, he will complete them soon if he can access his research tools. By the way, he had access to research on EBSCOhost from Thailand, but now his access has been terminated; finding more research tools is a necessity, at this moment.
Furthermore, this coming weekend, Stephen will be heading to Myanmar. Stephen will go to teach the Bible at the Bible school where Moses, our former AIS student, is currently a teacher. On this trip, Stephen will finish up IDES project purchasing food for the dislocated people affected by the war and will also be visiting the orphans so that all their needs will be met. On top of this, if the fighting and political tension are calm, on this trip, Stephen will travel into Nagaland, India to evangelize and teach the word of God there. Stephen has already met some of the Christians from Nagaland but this would be the first time, if the Lord is willing, for our missions to set foot in India. During this trip, Stephen may head to China. As you may have heard already, recently there has been wide spread news about church buildings being demolished and ministers being imprisoned in China. Please pray for this trip!
in down town Chiang Mai
to a village church on the mountains
Family
Mary is doing well. She is in good health now. Praise the Lord! Becky is also doing well. She has been preparing to go teach English in Myanmar; we are waiting for the teaching center in Northern Myanmar to be completed. Isaac is preparing for his school systems’ standardized tests. If he does well on these tests, he can get into very good secondary schools. Nick and his team are preparing to go to Myanmar for teaching God’s Word and spend time with the youth who are affected by the ongoing war. He also plans to go and teach other things such as hygiene and health. John is continuing his junior year at Boise Bible College with 21 credits and has recently joined the student leadership team. His role as a leader is to help support other leaders through prayers. Continue to pray for him as he is taking up a lot of new responsibilities.
Our warm welcome is extended to Amanda Emslie, who is a former student at Ozark Bible College. She will be staying with us for some time as she experiences Thailand and its cultures.
Thank you for your faithfulness in prayerful and financial support throughout the years.
