Grace to you and peace in the name of our Father.
Praise the L0rd for His goodness to us over the past few months. At the beginning of the year we moved into a new house. It was a lot of work, but we are in a better location now than what we were previously. It is a better home for our family and m*nistry. We have a lot more space. The extra room helps us because we use our home a lot for m*nistry. We are also closer to the people we work with on a daily basis. Because we are closer, we are better able to connect and build relationships with those around us. The L0rd has allowed us to build strong relationships and partnerships with those in our local area. Overall, the Father has been giving us greater insight into connecting with people and building a community friends. Building a community can be quite challenging in our city due to the hesitation some have of making new friends. We have been using this cultural reality to our advantage lately. In the face of such cultural boundaries, we chose to be counter cultural. As I walk around my neighborhood, I make a point to greet as many as I can with a smile. Some people smile back and say hello, while others refuse to acknowledge me. Regardless of their reaction, I continue to greet them as often as I see them. This works to our advantage because those we reach out to see that we are friendly. Our friendliness make us less intimidating. It also communicates to them that we are open to a relationship. This may not seem like anything special to some, but it is when you are m*nistering in a neighborhood where people isolate themselves. How would you feel if you moved to a neighborhood in which no one would even make eye contact with you? They never say hello to you because you are different and are a follower of another religi0n. It would be difficult. The temptation would be to harden yourself against such treatment. It would be easy to reciprocate their hatefulness back towards them. But our Father calls us to be better than that. We are called to love those who hate us. Because of our calling, we are persistent. We seek to connect with and love those who would probably prefer we were not there in the first place. As we love them, there are those who begin to warm up to us. It begins with saying hello. Then we find ourselves having conversations with them outside their house. Next, we are being invited to their relative’s wedding. During this process we are looking for opportunities to share the g0spel with them. We invite them to activities at the Asian Friendship Center. We invite them to go on outings with us. We invite them into our home. And we invite them to our house fellowship. Eventually, some of those we reach out to find themselves within our circle of friends. We are looking to plug them into our community of bel*evers. They see the love we have for one another. They see the love we have for them. They get plugged in. They feel like they belong. They feel like they are apart of us. When this happens all kinds of incredible opportunities open up. When we boldly share the gospel with them they do not run away. They do not always agree with us, but at least they are willing to listen. And after listening they are willing to come back and be with us again. We are able to have an ongoing conversation with them.
We also had the opportunity to go to Southeast Asia at the beginning of the year for a meeting among our colleagues. We got to meet with our leadership and with others who are working among our people. We all stayed in a resort on the beach. It was a wonderfully refreshing time. After the meeting was over, we extended our stay for one additional week of vacation time. Upon returning to our city, Lena found out that her father was on his deathbed. Lena’s dad has been battling cancer for the past five years. The news of his condition came as a shock to us because we were told that his last report from his doctor was incredibly positive. The L0rd opened up the door for Lena to get some quick tickets from some close friends of ours to return to the United States to be with her father before he passed away. Lena arrived just in time to say one final goodbye to her dad. Lena was there to help take care of her Father during his last days on earth.
We have been enjoying some warmer days recently. The summer brings with it many activities and tasks. We are going to make the most of the weather by being out and about with people. The E@ster holiday allowed us to throw a celebration party. We had over sixty people attend from our community party. They came and got to hear about the resurrecti0n of our L0rd. There are also going to be some teams coming from the States to help us do some outreach. Our home fellowship is going to be coming to help us with our yearly Holiday Club. The Holiday Club gives us the opportunity to share the good news with numerous children and adults. We are excited to see what doors the Father will open up and what He will accomplish for His glory in the days ahead.
Pr@yer Requests:
That we would meet people who are open to a relationship with us.
That we would have a greater number of people attend our house fellowship.
That our fellow bel*evers would take more responsibility for the growth of our fellowship.
That we would see people come to know the Father.
That the Father would use the volunteer teams that come to our city this summer in a powerful way.
Praise the L0rd for His goodness to us over the past few months. At the beginning of the year we moved into a new house. It was a lot of work, but we are in a better location now than what we were previously. It is a better home for our family and m*nistry. We have a lot more space. The extra room helps us because we use our home a lot for m*nistry. We are also closer to the people we work with on a daily basis. Because we are closer, we are better able to connect and build relationships with those around us. The L0rd has allowed us to build strong relationships and partnerships with those in our local area. Overall, the Father has been giving us greater insight into connecting with people and building a community friends. Building a community can be quite challenging in our city due to the hesitation some have of making new friends. We have been using this cultural reality to our advantage lately. In the face of such cultural boundaries, we chose to be counter cultural. As I walk around my neighborhood, I make a point to greet as many as I can with a smile. Some people smile back and say hello, while others refuse to acknowledge me. Regardless of their reaction, I continue to greet them as often as I see them. This works to our advantage because those we reach out to see that we are friendly. Our friendliness make us less intimidating. It also communicates to them that we are open to a relationship. This may not seem like anything special to some, but it is when you are m*nistering in a neighborhood where people isolate themselves. How would you feel if you moved to a neighborhood in which no one would even make eye contact with you? They never say hello to you because you are different and are a follower of another religi0n. It would be difficult. The temptation would be to harden yourself against such treatment. It would be easy to reciprocate their hatefulness back towards them. But our Father calls us to be better than that. We are called to love those who hate us. Because of our calling, we are persistent. We seek to connect with and love those who would probably prefer we were not there in the first place. As we love them, there are those who begin to warm up to us. It begins with saying hello. Then we find ourselves having conversations with them outside their house. Next, we are being invited to their relative’s wedding. During this process we are looking for opportunities to share the g0spel with them. We invite them to activities at the Asian Friendship Center. We invite them to go on outings with us. We invite them into our home. And we invite them to our house fellowship. Eventually, some of those we reach out to find themselves within our circle of friends. We are looking to plug them into our community of bel*evers. They see the love we have for one another. They see the love we have for them. They get plugged in. They feel like they belong. They feel like they are apart of us. When this happens all kinds of incredible opportunities open up. When we boldly share the gospel with them they do not run away. They do not always agree with us, but at least they are willing to listen. And after listening they are willing to come back and be with us again. We are able to have an ongoing conversation with them.
We also had the opportunity to go to Southeast Asia at the beginning of the year for a meeting among our colleagues. We got to meet with our leadership and with others who are working among our people. We all stayed in a resort on the beach. It was a wonderfully refreshing time. After the meeting was over, we extended our stay for one additional week of vacation time. Upon returning to our city, Lena found out that her father was on his deathbed. Lena’s dad has been battling cancer for the past five years. The news of his condition came as a shock to us because we were told that his last report from his doctor was incredibly positive. The L0rd opened up the door for Lena to get some quick tickets from some close friends of ours to return to the United States to be with her father before he passed away. Lena arrived just in time to say one final goodbye to her dad. Lena was there to help take care of her Father during his last days on earth.
We have been enjoying some warmer days recently. The summer brings with it many activities and tasks. We are going to make the most of the weather by being out and about with people. The E@ster holiday allowed us to throw a celebration party. We had over sixty people attend from our community party. They came and got to hear about the resurrecti0n of our L0rd. There are also going to be some teams coming from the States to help us do some outreach. Our home fellowship is going to be coming to help us with our yearly Holiday Club. The Holiday Club gives us the opportunity to share the good news with numerous children and adults. We are excited to see what doors the Father will open up and what He will accomplish for His glory in the days ahead.
Pr@yer Requests:
That we would meet people who are open to a relationship with us.
That we would have a greater number of people attend our house fellowship.
That our fellow bel*evers would take more responsibility for the growth of our fellowship.
That we would see people come to know the Father.
That the Father would use the volunteer teams that come to our city this summer in a powerful way.
