Looking Back & Soaring Ahead

We had an emotional and heart-felt last prayer meeting of the year, and are excited at all that 2012 promises to bring. :) For those of you who missed it, here are some recaps on our last Taste Missions event. May the new year bring Christ's love, joy and peace to you and your families!

Feature story on 4/14 in The Philippines

The crowd descends! Everyone wants a taste of missions! ;)

Tasty yak meat from Yunnan, China

Getting to know more about the work in Lijiang, China.

Explaining the whats and wheres and whys.

Could it be? Someone from the Yi minority tribe from the mountains of rural China?

Alas, no. We were fooled by the costume!

Our Thailand booth with their very creative pop-ups!

Chefs at work!

The Thai salad was a hit!

Captivated by the myriad of Cambodian street food.

Cambodian street game for the young and old alike!

Cambodia church planting and iAim programs.

Cambodia children homes support.

Mala hotpot from our China City Church team!

"Only one each please!" ;)

Something for everyone!

Last but not least, our feature missions location - The Philippines.

Tasting Filipino delicacies! ;)

Arise To Missions!

That's all from us for 2011! Please keep your contributions and feedback coming, and write to us if you are interested in knowing more about our mission fields or going on a mission trip. Drop us a comment or e-mail us at missions [dot] editorial [at] gmail [dot] com! :) See you in 2012.

For those of you who missed the newsletter back in October, you can read them here:

More Stories from Cambodia: What Great Love (Part II)

In Cambodia, the custom is that if we want to help the family, one has to stay with them throughout the wake until the cremation, which includes the night watch.

We have such an amazing team that helped out in the wake day and night. Although these boys and girls are young, they did whatever they could as if they were relatives. The family also trusted our boys and girls in the area of finance, even more than the priest (the religious leader in that area).

The girls were in charge of collecting the money and gifts in kind and serving the guests, whilst the boys arranged all the necessary logistics and negotiations. Bro Bunthorn rose up to the occasion as the main co-coordinator, and the family really appreciated him for his love.

As we only had a budget of US$400, he and Udom had to negotiate with the caterer for a long time as it was a holiday and all prices had been doubled. They really tried to save every cent. Thank God for creativity, as we did some things in an unconventional yet acceptable manner, one of which was that we had packet food and only some food from the caterer as it was really expensive.

The priest even announced to the whole community that the Christians were helping this poor family and urged the community to help out too. Thereafter, many people came; some gave money, rice, candles and even joss-sticks! By the grace of God, through the collection and after paying for everything, the shortfall was only US$150,. Considering it was the first time our team did a wake, especially during festive season, some said it was amazing that we only spent that amount.

Bro Da Sothea spent most of the night encouraging the family members and some of the girls even tried to share the good news to people who came to the wake. The pastor, who was not only willing to help to conduct the service, but also brought his church members the next day, even called many other pastors to come. In total we had about 10 pastors from various churches who came to the wake and who all knew nothing about the deceased family.

On 26 Sept 2011 about 100 people turned up to send our Bro Pharom for cremation. A message was preached not only for the people who came for the wake, but also to the whole community who heard it amplified via a loudspeaker. This is a Cambodian custom — be it a wedding or funeral, they will have a loudspeaker blasting music or chanting. In our case, it was the Word of God!

Right now we have 4 cell groups in this area. God is opening doors for us that nobody can shut. Even the priest was so happy with what we had done — l believe the next time we go to his house, he will be ready for the gospel. We are all ready to harvest the field; please pray that we will be there to reap the harvest with the anointing and love of God!

Through this event, God has given me more compassion for this group of poor people. They need more than what money can give them; they need to experience God personally, by looking at our lives. Although some of our team members had to cancel trips and planned activities for the festive holiday, and even with the sleepless nights and exhaustion, we all can only said one thing — Praise God for the grace to finish a JOB AND FINISH IT WELL.

Despite having no experience and being young, God is able to use us as a channel of blessing to the family. The only thing we can offer to God is our willing hearts to serve HIM with all our might, soul and spirit!

On hindsight, God has been pursuing this family especially this brother, Pharom, who was “disappointed with the church and God”. They thought that because they had left the church, God had punished them but instead HE had pursued them through us. We had chanced upon them by divine timely guidance!

The last words of Pharom to his wife were not to worry about his funeral, that God would provide. He breathed his last by asking God to help him. This experience really opened our inner eyes to understand how fortunate we are. There are enormous needs out there and they make our own needs seem like nothing in comparison.

So what’s next? We will continue to visit the family, starting a cell group in their house and teaching them the word of God because only God can set them free from this vicious poverty circle and also only He can break all the curses that have been passed down from their ancestors.

Please pray for our team that we do not just only provide them with fish, but achieve our main purpose of teaching them how to fish. Thank God our team is growing in numbers and spiritually. He has a task for us; we have to accomplish it by His grace and all your prayer support.

ALL GLORY AND HONOUR BELONG TO HIM. AMEN

More Stories from Cambodia: What Great Love (Part 1)

On 25 Sept 2011, l received a call that a friend of ours named Pharom had passed away. We were first acquainted with Pharom in August when conducting the iAim program outreach in the slum area. There were eight people in his family: four young children, two men who were sick and thus unable to work, and two women who collected garbage to support the family.

When we met Pharom and his family, they claimed to be Christians. However, they had not been attending church for a long time. We found out no one in their church had visited them after the two men fell ill and as a result the family felt the church had abandoned them.

We then sent Pharom to the hospital but no doctor would treat him as his disease had advanced to a very critical stage so nothing could be done for his damaged lungs and kidneys plus a host of other diseases. The only thing our team could do was visit the family regularly to encourage and pray for them. We also brought along other short-term teams, including Ps Ong (COSBT), who had a burden for them.

Pharom died in his own house around 12 noon. Our team received the call about 1pm and immediately headed for his house to see how we could help. My team and I did not know what to do as this was the first Cambodian funeral we encountered, so we called Ps Vanna & Bro Lim from FWLC.

Praise God for friends who were willing to help even though it was a public holiday. What was more, the family did not belong to their church. On top of it, they (Ps Vanna and Lim) were leaving for Korea the very next day.

As both of them also do not have any experience in conducting a Cambodian funeral, they invited two other pastors to help. They came and gave some advice, but my two main concerns were where to get the money for the wake and whether there was a Cambodian who could co-ordinate all that was needed.

All GLORY TO GOD, HE provided through a member of COSBT, NHO children and the boys of Daniel’s center, who helped out in the whole event. In Cambodia, the custom is that if we want to help the family, one has to stay with them throughout the wake until the cremation, which includes the night watch...

Bro Chin Leong

(To be continued)

Updates from our Sen Sok church in Cambodia

He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done. Proverbs 19:17

Good Works for the Needy

Did you know God can use anyone to be His instrument of blessing, even those who are in the field for short mission trips? Recently the Lord touched the hearts of two such sisters-in-Christ, who willingly gave to the slum ministry. We were entrusted to purchase and deliver 5kg of rice, a bottle of cooking oil, 1kg of sugar and salt to the families in our cell groups. 

Currently we have 5 cell groups in the Boeung Trabek slums where many families live in very poor conditions while waiting for the allocation of land. For some, the wait has been a few months, while others have been waiting for years and even a decade! This year we made use of the King’s birthday, which is a public holiday to give out the provisions. Our main aim was to visit each member’s home to pray for their well being and salvation of their family members. We want to claim that where we tread upon, that family belongs to the Lord!

Each Thursday and Friday we have a time of worship, testimony and bible study in different houses. One thing l had learnt to overcome is the noise surrounding us because the cell group is held with doors wide open. There will be children playing, running or popping in, sellers peddling their wares, people gambling nearby and even monks who come in the middle of our meetings.

Praise God for all these because not only do the cell group members get to hear the Word of God, the people around us are listening too and all these seeds are sown into their lives awaiting for the right time to harvest! Please pray for us because only God can bring conviction into all these precious lives as they see and hear what we are doing.

At the same time we are modeling for our youths what the “hand and mouth of the gospel” look like. By giving or lending a helping hand to the needy, we are showing the love of God. More so we need the fruit of the Spirit who enables us to love, show kindness, goodness etc (Gal 5:22-23)

The sage adage is true: the world doesn’t care what we know until they see how much we care for them.

Prayer items:
1) Pray for God's given creativity in outreach
2) Pray for more patience and love for our disciples and people whom we minister
3) Pray for humility and sensitivity towards the needs of the people

Spot Yourself in the Poster

We Are Back!

We've been busy behind the scenes, but this coming missions weekend is proving to be our biggest yet. Come join us for some fun and food, and get to know more about your missionaries and mission fields! :)

Vincent and Judy's New Bundle of Joy!

Congratulations to our missionaries, Vincent and Judy, on the birth of their daughter, little baby Marielle!

This precious little one is indeed God's gift to them, and her parents both believe that she will bring God's favour and blessings to the nations.

All of us are looking forward to that. God's favour and blessings be on you, baby Marielle.

Check out pictures of lovely Marielle and her proud parents on Vincent's blog.

Missionary Update from Cambodia

It is always heart-warming and encouraging to hear from our missionaries about the work that God is doing through them.

Chin Leong, Alice, even with our youngest Missionary of 5 years – Matthias, have been such an inspiration in their service. We pray that God will prosper their work and bless their plans as the team and the church come to God for wisdom, grace and strength.

Freedom of Sen Sok Church where Chin Leong, Alice, and young Matthias are currently serving in

Beginning this year, Chin Leong and Alice came together with the leadership of Freedom of Sen Sok Church to plan for the year’s programme. The goals were set for the church to increase in numbers and spiritual growth, with the guiding theme set as “Experiencing God”. The programme lineup included monthly leadership trainings; a systematic study guide for cell groups; fine-tuning of the children ministry; a new initiative in the form of a youth ministry; and as well as new a bible class for adults.

It has been four months since, and although Chin Leong and Alice could sense weariness setting in among the leaders of the church as teachings, expectations and workload grew, the spirit was still well in good cheer. Praise God for the joy of the Lord is their strength!

The church has had 3 regional Leadership trainings for pastors and leaders from 5 different churches in Sen Sok region since, and Pastors Ong of COSBT joined these trainings in his capacity to serve and train. Chin Leong’s and Alice’s paryers are that the churches in Sen Sok will be encouraged and will grow in unity for the Kingdom of God. Last month, these leaders actually took the initiative to call all the churches in Sen Sok to have a meeting to do discuss about how to serve and encourage their local community. Praise the LORD!

Pastor Sopheap of Freedom of Sen Sok Church: "Dear brothers and sisters-in-Christ, thank you so much for supporting the ministry in Sen Sok church. In the month of May, we added a bible class before our afternoon Sunday service to train up more leaders. We are thankful for our leaders who lovingly serve the congregation of about 30 families. Visitation days are on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; these are times where we go around Sen Sok to encourage, pray for the sick and those oppressed by the evil spirits. Cell groups are held on Fridays in the afternoon. It is our desire to reach out to villagers around the Sen Sok region. May the Lord send workers into the harvest field by increasing more leaders especially young people."

Pastor Sopheap and his wife

Youth Leader, Brother Makara: It is my desire to serve the youth, and to point them towards, to see their hearts set aflame with love for Him alone. On Sundays, I serve as MC and worship leader for the church service, for which I am honoured to have a part in the Kingdom of God. Every Friday and Saturday, together with leaders, I help out in the cell groups and visitations. Wednesday evenings, around 17 youths will meet for a time of praise and worship, bible study and end off with praying for one another. The Lord has given me a burden for the young people in Sen Sok region, and week after week I do my best to help them understand more about God and His kingdom.

Youth Leader, Brother Makara

Chin Leong: "Serving in Freedom of Sen Sok church had been a challenging yet rewarding experience to our family because this is the only ministry that our whole family gets involved together. Matthias, my 5 years old son, helps his mother, Alice, in teaching the children action songs and acts in skits. As the children church is held concurrently with the adult service, Alic and I teach on the word of God. This church is very family oriented - most of the members are related to one or another; reminding me of COSBT. Due to the nature and background of the congregation, I find the need to slow down and condense much of the teachings in order to be digestible. God is good, He uses situations to train and mould me especially in the area of patience. I want to give thanks to God for Pasor Ong who assigned us to serve in this church and also for CLCN’s financial and prayer support for the work here."

Alice: "I am encouraged by the progress of the work in Sen Sok, especially with the Freedom of Sen Sok Church. In March, Brother Makara stated an English outreach class, in the hope of drawing in more youths.

I can also see that trust is being developed among the leaders and that they are now more open to us. A “blueprint” for the church was put together and now the church is into the implementation stage. I know that with focus on Jesus, our ears turned towards Him, and with the right attitude in place, the church will be reaping godly fruits. The churches in Sen Sok region are beginning to see the need to network and even trying to do so at their own initiative which brings much encouragement to our hearts. Another Amen to progress in the region of Sen Sok towards the Kingdom of God!

It is also my personal conviction to cultivate the importance of memory verses in the hearts and minds of the children in Freedom of Sen Sok Church. It is this discipline that had kept me from going astray especially during my teens in my walk with the Lord. We are having a 3 months memory verse marathon competition, and it amazes me to see children memorising the word of God with so much gusto. Hey, that’s progress in the lives of these children!"

Please pray:

• For growth (both in quantity and quality) in Freedom of Sen Sok Church
• For the congregation to rise up and serve in the church
• For us that we serve with wisdom & sensitivity

Chin Leong, Alice, and Matthias

Surviving the Mission Field

Most days, the editorial team runs around chasing people for write-ups of their trips; we do this not because we have to populate the blog, but because we know first-hand how quickly and easily we forget even the most profound experiences, and strongly believe in the value of journaling, both for ourselves and to spur others on. :) As we quoted way back in our first post, we would not have had the epistles otherwise. ;)

Today's post is a special one (because we did not have to smoke it out, for one) from Judy, one-half of our missionary couple in Thailand. Judy talks very candidly about her struggles in her first years in Thailand, the experiences both bad and good. We hope that it will encourage and inspire you as it did us! :)

In February 2009, I entered the mission field with my husband Vincent. Unlike Vincent who had spent some years in Thailand before and was fluent in the language, I was a complete newbie. Back then I was a newlywed with illusions of marital bliss.

Since I was 19, I knew God had called me to missions. I also knew that I would never be fulfilled living a life apart from His calling. The Lord graciously opened doors for me through the years to gain experience in a mission agency as well as on different short-term mission assignments.

When I joined COSBT, again the Lord provided me with a position with the mission department and then sent me out to Khon Kaen, Thailand. At first I assumed that my adjustment to Thailand would take only a short time. I had gone on a few short-term trips to Thailand and had spent a semester in university studying the language. Little did I know what I was headed for!

I still remembered our arrival in Khon Kaen. We were warmly received by the local AG church pastor and his wife who were kind enough to put us up in the church. We ended up lodging in a spare room for two weeks. That first night, the pastor threw a welcome BBQ party for us -- we had grilled pork neck and fresh leaves for dinner. This was the beginning of my cultural adjustment to Thailand.

In my first weeks in Khon Kaen it was like living in another universe; time flowed differently from Singapore. Nothing I ever studied for or went through prepared me for THIS! I felt like I was surrounded by unintelligible words and undecipherable behavior. No one spoke English and I could not communicate with anyone. Two days after our arrival, I could take it no longer and I went to cry it out in “our” room.

I struggled with the “backwardness” of the city and its dismal lack of amenities. When we first arrived in Khon Kaen there were only two small shopping malls. The fact that Khon Kaen was the commercial hub of the Northeastern region (known as Issan) held little charm for me. The city was mostly dusty and grey; it had the air of an industrial town and was surrounded by nondescript double-storey buildings.

I was plunged into a time of culture shock, which turned into depression. I mourned the loss of my identity as I knew it. I struggled with the loss of my independence, my social circle, and even the ability to communicate and to string together simple sentences. I became frustrated at my lack of language skills and I blamed my leaders, including my spouse for failing to prepare me beforehand. I clammed up completely before the locals and imagined everyone to be mocking at my inability to speak Thai.

The fact that Vincent and I were newlyweds did not make things easier. We had a lot of miscommunication, which thankfully never escalated into major eruptions. I constantly struggled with his ministry as it sometimes took him away from me or demanded sacrifices from us.

However God was faithful to preserve me while I was going through all the cultural adjustment. Even when I felt I was the last person to be of any use, He used me to start up a women’s cell group in the church, teach English at the university and shepherd a Youth English cell group.

Two years on, I can now look back and say that my first years in the field were a painful but necessary time. When I was going through it, none of it made any sense to me. God used that time to break me down -- I learnt to die to self and to see things from another perspective. It was only then did I start to enjoy living in Khon Kaen.

In retrospect I learnt some lessons from those first years in Thailand. They are:

• Protect your devotion time with God: As simple as this may sound, our time with God is a basic discipline we cannot do without. Yet it is always the first thing to come under attack when we meet with spiritual opposition. I spent a few months without praying when I was under a lot of stress in Khon Kaen. Similarly I have heard of ministers who go for long months without prayer when they are depressed or down. We need to recognize this and be vigilant always in guarding our time with the Lord.

• Find some local friends: This can be anyone from a church member, a neighbour or even your local food stall seller. These new friends will help you get through your days and speed up your cultural adjustment. Most importantly these are the friendships that will sustain you when friends at home stop keeping up with your life on the field.

• Keep going: Do whatever it takes to keep moving forward, even if it seems like you are inching slowly or just maintaining your momentum. Take up a new hobby. Establish a routine. Find a quiet spot or a favorite café you can unwind to. Or even set up a new support group on the internet.

• Talk to experienced missionaries: Spend time to learn from them because these are the people who’ve survived, who know what it’s like to be marooned in a foreign culture and prevailed against it. I met an Australian missionary who advised me to “either get on or get out. After all if you can’t survive, you can’t minister!”

• Find your satisfaction/fulfillment: Some people find their satisfaction earlier than others. My satisfaction only clicked into place last November when I met our Chinese friends in our new Chinese cell ministry. They were the ones for whom I counted it worthwhile leaving Singapore and staying in Thailand for!

Thank you for sharing your journey with us, Judy! God bless you and Vincent and little Marielle! :)

Stories From The Field

It's that time of the year again! For those of you who missed it, here is the bi-annual missions newsletter that we released over the past two Sundays. :) We hope you will be blessed and inspired by the stories. This time around we introduced to you the 4-14 Window, in the coming months we hope to bring you more info here.

If you would like to get involved in any of the mission fields, or contribute to the editorial work, or just have any questions, please feel free to write to us at missions [dot] editorial [at] gmail [dot] com, or leave a comment on this post. :) Don't worry, we promise not to bite!

What did you like in this issue? What would you like to see in the next issue?