Chinese New Year! :)

Blessed Chinese New Year to all who are checking in! :) We hope you are all having a wonderful time of reunion and fellowship with loved ones. Since we are in the throes of the Chinese New Year, we thought we'd bring you a testimony from a recent China mission trip.

2010 was quite a year for Sis Aiye who recently received Christ. She was baptised in April, went for for her first church camp in June, and ended the year with her first mission trip in December to Kunming, China. We hope that her testimony will encourage you to step out in faith in 2011! :)

Initially, I was hesitant to go for this mission trip. For someone who has recently received Jesus, I wasn't confident of sharing the gospel with others, and was also warming up to my cell group, thinking that I could be out of place.

My cell group, however, assured me that I will be greatly blessed during the trip. I never understood it until I was there to experience the amazing work of God unfold before my eyes. There were several experiences that our group encountered and we could all feel that God’s presence was very real. God is a loving God and He protects and provides for His children in all circumstances.

On one particular occasion, we really felt the Lord’s protection during a perilous ride down the mountain. More than 20 of us were squeezed together at the back of the lorry, standing up and clinging on to one another for our dear lives, as there was not enough space for everyone to sit. While fear was on our minds, we did not succumb but instead sang songs of worship. I could feel the peace as I looked up into the sky and really resonated with something that my cell group leader said: “God was smiling at us from up above when we sang songs of worship to Him.”

During this trip, I realised that I am very fortunate to have access to Bibles and study aids in Singapore. This isn't so in China, particularly for the rural minority tribes. Though resources are scarce for them, their desire to know and to read the Word is more enthusiastic.

I was moved knowing that many of them travelled long distances to fellowship and to seek the Word of God. Witnessing this desire within them made me recognise that I could do much more.

I received abundantly during this mission trip and learned about complete faith in the Lord in all things. Only by faith will we accomplish great works in the Lord!

Missionary Updates from Thailand

It's been a busy few months for us -- mission trips, Christmas celebrations, catching up with old friends and making new ones. :) Our schedule looks to have finally settled down, and we hope to bring you more regular updates here. For a start, we have now included an email subscription feature (scroll down to the bottom of the right panel)! Yes, now you can sign up to receive an email whenever a new entry goes up on the blog. Yikes, has it been a whole month since the last post? :S

Today we thought we'd catch up with our friends Vincent and Judy in Thailand. This is a rather belated update, but here goes anyway... Let's check out what they've been up to in the later part of 2010! :)

Every Friday afternoon, the church runs a class for training and equipping cell group leaders and potential leaders. As Vincent is part of the team that runs the training, it has been gratifying to see the leaders gain more confidence in leading their groups. At the same time, God has also blessed the cell groups with new members.

Leaders' training

Since August Vincent has been reaching out to a group of boys living in the Don Pathana slums, which is one of the poorest slums in Khon Kaen. As Vincent is already acquainted with these boys aged 10-15 from previous ministry work, he is now working on strengthening his relationship with them.

Most of these boys are school drop-outs and live in a very harsh environment. Many of them come from broken families, while some have alcoholic parents who are addicted to gambling. With no one to care for or teach them, their literacy level is very low. Their priority in life is solely to have fun, which can sometimes lead them to danger. Presently Vincent hopes to share God’s love with these boys and impact them someway somehow. Your prayers are much coveted in this work!

Outreach to slum boys

The English youth cell that Vincent and Judy oversee have seen many changes over the past few months. They have found ourselves competing for the time of the youths alongside with their many extracurricular activities. Like the typical Thai youngster hailing from a well-to-do background, these youths have many commitments such as extra music classes, tuition, cheerleading, etc. Often cell attendance has been reduced to but two or three persons.

Also the cell now consists exclusively of girls as the boys have either moved away or dropped out. This means that the cell is now mostly under the charge of Judy, who unfortunately struggles with meeting even the basic communication needs of the members. Please continue to keep this cell group in your prayers.

English youth cell

Please continue to keep Vincent and Judy in your prayers, for them, for their ministry, and for their family back home. And just to add an exciting piece of news... God has also blessed them with a precious baby girl, the proud father-to-be has uploaded her ultrasound pictures on his blog! ;)

Finally, here's leaving you with a clip of the women's ministry work that went on in the past month. Tammy and Ps Yvonne were there, and looking at the photos, I wish I had gone too! :P

You can read more about Vincent and Judy's work from a previous update here, or on their blogs found in the sidebar. :)

Cambodia Camp Slideshow

Highlights from Cambodia Children's Camp earlier in September:

If you'd like to know more, feel free to leave a comment or drop us an email at missions [DOT] editorial [AT] gmail [DOT] com or check out the COSBT Cambodia Orphans Sponsorship Programme. :)

Christmas is coming! Jesus is the reason for the season... Have you shared Jesus with anyone recently? :)

The Difficult Questions

One brainstorming afternoon, five interview sessions, three full days of video edits, across six different congregations, in various languages and dialects, and countless emails later, this video finally went live during our church's missions weekend last month.

Our first video was a series of interviews with our missionaries, this time we wanted to hear from YOU. We think that our church is a missions-minded church, but how much do we really know? Do we even know what missions means?

We have received very kind words (and much laughter) on the video, and many requests for the actual answers to the "Do You Know" questions. So for everyone's info, our church's missionaries are Chin Leong & Alice, Doris & Alvin, Vincent & Judy, and Siew Ling. Our missions coordinator is Adrian (he cried a little when he realised how few people knew him), and our missions budget for 2010 is $530,000.

The interview sessions proved to be a humbling and refreshing (and sometimes baffling) experience for us on the missions editorial team; some answers we expected, many we did not, but all of which gave us a greater insight into the church as a body of Christ. A huge shoutout to all the interviewees (even those whom we did not choose to feature due to lack of time and variety)... THANK YOU for taking time out of your busy schedules to do this. We know it was harrowing for some of you, but you have all been a STAR in your own way, and God bless you for your courage and honesty. :)

At the end of the day, we were never really looking for the right answers, only that the video would help us to ask ourselves: What is our role in The Great Commission? What have we done today with the opportunities and resources that God has given us?

We hope this video challenges you as much as it did us. :)

Big Welcome! :)

While it seems that this blog has been around for some time, we've kept pretty quiet about it so that we could slowly work on its contents and design, leading up to the missions weekend in church. Since its official launch over the past weekend, we have seen our page views spike drastically, so WELCOME! ;)

We have received some really nice comments since then about the new newsletter and the video that was shown during the main services. Thank you all for your kind words. Keep them coming, and let us know what we are doing right, and what we can do better. What was your response to the message? What would you like to see in the blog/newsletter? What do you think our next video should explore? We won't be able to please everyone, but we will value every single input for future efforts!

At the same time, keep your contributions coming in, either through the missions committee, or you can send it to us at missions [DOT] editorial [AT] gmail [DOT] com! Space in the newsletter is limited, but the blog is not. ;) If you would like to contribute your skills and be part of our team, we'll be glad to get in touch with you as well! We had a lot of help along the way, so a big thank you to all those who helped us with the newsletter and the video, sometimes on very tight deadlines, you know who you are! ;) We need all the creative energy we can get, and are particularly looking out for Chinese editors/translators and print layout artists.

Lastly, for those of you who missed it, here is the newsletter (English and Chinese versions) for your reading pleasure. We already have requests pouring in for us to upload the video, which we will do in our next post, together with the correct answers to satiate you curious cats, so keep checking back for updates! :P

Cambodia Children's Camp 2010

During the September school holidays, a team of about 60 people (including three of us from the editorial team!) headed up to Sihanoukville in Cambodia for only the second combined children's camp. About 300 children from NHO's nine orphanages gathered for a time of worship, bible study, fun, games, fellowship, culminating in an emotional baptism at the beach.

Singapore team at the airport eagerly awaiting departure to Cambodia

Sis Juliana shared this testimony after returning home from the camp:

I have been involved in the work in Cambodia since going for the first children's camp back in 2006. It proved to be an unforgettable experience, and I was filled with so much joy serving the children. My life was changed from that trip onwards, and I have never looked back since.

In my interactions with the orphans, I realise that they are all seeking love and direction in life. Most of them have experienced much rejection and have gone through a lot of hardship, even at this tender age. Apart from material provision, their hearts are crying out for a caring touch, a loving hug, a human face. God calls pure religion as reaching out to widows and orphans, and I believe this is where we can be obedient.

A friendly smile and loving hug, and a shirt full of yummies! ;)

Hudson Taylor once said: “God's work, done in God's ways, never lack God's provision.” From the start of this trip, I began to see the wisdom behind these words. Even before we set off, my part-time helper passed me a love offering from a friend of hers, because she was touched to hear what we were planning to do on this trip. I was so pleasantly surprised by this: truly God can touch anyone to give, even when we least expect it! In the months leading up to the trip, sponsorship also poured in for coloured pencils, towels, toothbrush, rulers, water bottles, cash, chocolates, candies, etc.

Distribution of kits to the kids

Upon hearing that we were organising the camp for orphans, the owner of the resort (also an orphan himself) was also extremely touched by what we were doing. He gave us a special discount for our stay there, and provided us sumptuous meals and tea breaks with extra treats for the children.

Treats for everyone!

We split the children into different age groups for the teaching sessions, and I was involved in the MasterLife training for the caregivers and the older children. I was humbled to see how hungry they were for God's word. The sessions were filled with excitement and enthusiasm, with heartfelt, honest emotional sharing from the children and adults alike.

MasterLife session with the older children and caretakers

The massive logistics and budgeting tasks aside, I was just so happy to see how the children have grown from the last time I saw them. In the children and the caretakers, I saw so much joy and the amazing transformation work that God has done in their lives. I was incredibly blessed to spend time with my sponsored son, and to witness other sponsor parents meet their sponsored children, some for the first time. To see the smiles and excitement in their faces is something extremely overwhelming and heartwarming all at once.

Group shot with the kids! :)

You can check out more on the work in Cambodia via their new website here!

Missionary Updates from Thailand

Vincent & Judy are our missionary couple who are serving in Thailand. Vincent has been there since April 2004, and Judy joined him in February 2009, shortly after they were married in Singapore. Regular updates can be found on both their blogs.

About four weeks ago, the cell group in Gu Thong village received a visitation of the Holy Spirit. Four ladies who attended cell that day received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and broke out in tongues. Among them were new believers and long-time Christians alike.

Cell group in Gu Thong village

For three months, they have been searching for a suitable language teacher for Judy. After praying, the Lord graciously led us to meet up with Ajarn Angul, whom she has started lessons with. She will also be receiving instruction in Christian Communication with a fellow Christian to learn the necessary language for communicating spiritual topics. It is Judy’s hope that as she embarks on this season of intense language studies, she will be able to apply and retain the vocabulary and language components in every aspect of daily Thai living.

Even though Vincent has never been trained in children’s ministry,God has been faithfully blessing this work and causing it to grow. Already we are starting to see a regular stream of children ranging from the age of four to eleven. Each Tuesday the children are given craftwork to do, taught to sing Christian songs, and then told a Bible story. It is Vincent’s hope that this ministry will plant seeds in the lives of the children to know God personally.

Children's ministry in Nong Weng village

You can help to pray for:

1. Vincent and Judy’s health and physical well-being to keep up with the demands of their ministry
2. Clarity and guidance from the Lord in reaching out to the youths and building up relationships with them
3. Continual protection over the work in Gu Thong Village, that cell members consistently pray in tongues and to grow up in the knowledge of the Lord
4. Children in Nong Weng Village to receive revelation of the Lord, that they may know Him more
5. Judy to persevere in learning and applying Thai, that she will be single-minded in pursuing excellence in the Thai language