Missions

Story of the Week

April 2010

Partners International - Lebanon

Pray for the Najems as they work in Lebanon with FEAL. Pray for the Bible Institute that they are running, and the many people with whom they connect. Pray also for the new Christians in Lebanon.

March 2010

Yonge Street Mission

Yonge Street Mission has been operating in Toronto for over 113 years. Please go to www.ysm.ca to read about the programs and areas where they are working in Toronto.

North Africa

Please pray for our missionaries and the local Christian leaders who are emphasizing a life of prayer. Pray for their safety as they move from place to place and connect with many people who are hearing about Christ for the first time. Pray for the upcoming prayer conference in April, that is being planned and led by the missionaries.

Partners International - Peru

Click here to read the January report of how God is working among the people of Peru.

February 2010

SGA Canada, Vitaly and Victoria Sorokin

Click here to read the Sorokins' Christmas letter.

January 2010

CAHAYA SUKU
Cahaya Suku, or "Light to the Peoples" is a team sponsored by Partners International, that recruits, trains, nurtures, and sends out teams of church planters to minister among unreached Muslim people groups in Indonesia and more recently , in Malaysia.
Cahaya Suku church planters work with many different ethnic groups. Teams of workers prepare for months to live and minister in people groups that are often hostile to the Gospel.
Each team consists of four or five families who are trained to communicate the Gospel within the cultural worldview of the specific group to which they are sent.  Today, according to Partners International, Cahaya Suku is one of the largest Indonesian church-planting initiatives reaching unreached Muslims in Indonesia.
This year, Cahaya Suku has established five training centres in various locations, managed by the regional offices. The training centres focus on the skills church planters need for Muslim outreach. The training is held in the region where the church planters will be working in order to gain practical cultural application and contexts. The Samaria training, specifically designed for lay leaders interested in reaching their Muslim neighbours, has seen growth and we are hearing excited responses from the churches holding these trainings. More than 450 lay leaders have been trained through this program!
Pray for protection over the Cahaya Suku church planters as they travel, meet new contacts, and encourage new believers.
Praise God for the powerful work he is doing in Malaysia. May God continue to give wisdom to the leadership as they expand their reach.
 

FROM JOANNA MORRISON...
Hi Everyone, I have to tell you this story.  I had forgotten it was Tuesday because of the holidays.  Sara came to remind me, and we drove down together (for the Ladies Bible Study).  As the ladies gathered, they were complaining about the state of their fields, and how hunger would soon be upon us.  I challenged them to speak rain and health and food over the land, instead of curses.  I told them the story of Elisha and the rain, how his servant didn’t see the clouds and couldn’t believe there would be rain.  As I spoke, clouds began to form around us.  The ladies laughed when I said it would rain today.  I read lots of Scriptures about how God comes to us like spring rain that softens the earth.  We worshipped and prayed together.  When we finished, I told them to hurry home because the rain was coming.  Some were still laughing.  By the time I got to the car, the first drops were falling.  Very soon, it was raining heavily and Sara and I were laughing, releasing faith among the ladies as they sought cover.  God is good, and he heard your prayers and mine.  Love you, Jo

Slavic Gospel Association

Vitaly and Victoria Sorokin serve with SGA in the Taimir Region of Russia. They have sent some prayer requests:
Pray that God would give wisdom in ministry.
Pray that they would be able to distribute New Testaments without any hindrance.
Pray for salvation of Vitaly’s parents, brothers, and other friends and relatives.
Pray that Vitaly’s wife and children will be able to easily cope with the northern climate.
Pray for revival in Taimir.
 

DECEMBER 2009

Daniel and Chantal Gagne, Quebec

Click here to read a Christmas Newsletter from the Gagnes.

GENESIS AOM - WINNING MONGOLIANS FOR CHRIST
Non-formal Education Program
The overall goal of the program is for illiterate children throughout the Bayankhongor and Zavkhan regions, and in Ulaanbaatar to have a better future quality of life through access to education.
STRATEGY FOR 2008:
• In co-operation with World Vision and local government, to establish literacy classes in needy areas.
• To successfully conclude this academic year’s literacy classes; which consists of three classes in UB, six classes in Bayankhongor and three classes in Zavkhan.
• In September 2009, to start 10 classes in Ulaanbaatar, Bayankhongor and Zavkhan.
WORK DONE:
9 non-formal education classes have been run in Bayankhongor and Zavkhan provinces and 3 in Ulaanbaatar.
The total number of students in the classes as of the end of May 2009 was 316 (140 girls and 176 boys). Subjects taught were reading, writing, mathematics, Mongolian history, ethics, morals and life skills. In addition, the students were included in the national school program for art, music, craft and sports. They have also been provided with daily snacks, clothing and stationery. Inspections have been carried out every month by our staff and problems have been addressed as they have arisen.
In addition to the classes, parenting seminars were held for the parents of children in all our classes. In total, 338 people attended the seminars. Most were parents, but World Vision staff, education center directors, school principals and teachers also attended. All involved said they have been very happy with the way the project is going and have asked it to be extended into other regions.
FUTURE PLANS:
It is expected that most NFE classes will be completed in Bayankhongor by the middle of 2010. If funding is available the number of classes will be expanded in Zavkhan and new classes started in Arkhangai province. The ultimate goal is to run classes in every provincial center in Mongolia, and increase the staff of the project. The project will also be involved in training of state-school teachers to provide early intervention to students at risk. 

Click here to read the annual report of Genesis AOM - Winning Mongolians for Christ.
 

NOVEMBER 2009

PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL – GOOD FRIENDS NEPAL (GFN)
Please pray for…
~ God’s wisdom for GFN workers, all the board members and I to work according to His will
~ God’s blessing upon all the GFN workers and their families
~ God’s guidance for the UPG graduates working across Nepal. Also, pray for their health and God’s protection and provision
~ The next batch of UPG training students. Pray that devoted people of God have this privilege to serve Him
~ Good health for the New Vision Orphanage children.
~ Good health for the 65 widows at the New Vision Tabitha Home
~ Additional UPG workers to serve in the unreached parts of Nepal
~ The political situation in Nepal which is still not settled. Kindly pray for the Nepali government’s situation.
~ The children who are orphans or whose parents have abandoned them. They truly are struggling for survival
~ Sponsor-a-Child ministry that helps underprivileged children gain an education
~ My family and me. Pray for our health and spiritual growth and faithfulness

Thank you again for your kind and sincere prayers, letters, sacrificial support and loving concern to us and to the ministry of GFN. May the Lord Almighty continue to bless you and the ministry of ‘Partners International in Canada.’
Yours in Christ, Bhim Lal Tamang, Director of Good Friends Nepal

The GFN ministry specific goals for the next six months are to:
• reach out to 10,000 people through evangelism,
• bring 1,000 people to the Lord,
• baptize 300 people within six months and
• plant at least 20 cells groups with 10 new worship services
• build four more church buildings
 

Paul and Jennifer Sadler, Japan

We have been greatly comforted by God’s grace and the outpouring of encouragement from many of you since our last update. Thank you for caring for us so faithfully! 

Typhoon #20 rolled through on Monday and spoiled some of our plans but that should probably be the last one of the season. But with the end of typhoon season we are now in the midst of flu season and dealing with the fall-out of the H1N1 virus that many of you are experiencing also. None of us has contracted it but yesterday six children in Caleb’s class were absent with flu symptoms and so the class was shut-down for the rest of the week to prevent further spread. Our cell group this morning was cancelled also as parents had to excuse themselves to care for children home with the flu or off school because of class closings.

October and November tend to be quieter months for us ministry-wise but an evangelistic event in our city a couple of weeks ago has created a number of new ministry opportunities that we are following up. Go to http://www.tsukubagrace.org/prayer to read about it in our October prayer update along with pictures of our recent church retreat and our children’s Sports Day, or read below for the text version.

In addition, our prayer blog, Extra Wasabi, continues to be a key way for us to communicate urgent prayer requests in between prayer letters so if you’re not receiving it and you’d like to stay more connected, visit us as http://extrawasabi.blogspot.com/ and enter your e-mail address in the box at the top right. 

A Window Into The Soul 

As we minister in Japan, we’re seldom met with aggressive opposition. People don’t argue, they don’t raise strong objections, and they often give little clue as to what is holding them back from embracing the forgiveness and grace that Jesus freely offers them. But every once in a while, we develop enough trust, and a person works up enough courage to be completely honest in sharing what is in their heart.

One individual recently wrote this:
“To be completely honest, I’m very suspicious of faith and how people are able to believe so whole-heartedly. And perhaps that suspicion creates a wall between the message of the Gospel and my heart and so I tend to resist ‘God’s Word’ and stories of faith. I know that I am a very self-centred, proud person, who refuses to be loved, and yet I won’t change. My family is in a terrible state right now and I know that I am the cause, and yet I make no effort to change. Still I cling to the hope that this stubborn heart will one day be pried loose.”

I’m convinced that this quote could have been written by 3/4 of the people to whom we minister. And if you were to ever meet the polite and gentle person who wrote this you would never guess they were the one. I can move to Japan, I can learn Japanese; I can master chop-sticks; but only God can open a hardened heart, and so I pray.

• Would you pray for this person and the dozens to whom we minister who experience the exact same tension?.

Stronger Together

Because of the challenges Japanese Christians face, gatherings like the overnight Vision Fest we attended earlier this month are critical to keep the Great Commission vision foremost in people’s minds. Interviews, testimonies, videos, skits, quizzes and workshops supplemented the preaching in an effort to effectively communicate to young and old alike the task of sharing the Gospel and planting new churches .

• Pray for the impact of this annual event and a new momentum in the evangelistic passion of these Japanese believers.
• Pray that God would open doors as this movement of churches pursues a goal of seeing a 1000 new cells and congregations started by 2026.

Evangelistic Event

We try to create a lot of opportunities for otherwise irreligious people to hear the Gospel. But every once in a while an opportunity comes along where all the work has been done for us. Last Thursday was one such opportunity. A professional saxophonist named Ron Brown, and Makeda, an R&B/Gospel singer, shared in music and testimony, and then Japanese evangelist Akira Takimoto gave an evangelistic message. 

We got the word out and invited as many as possible and had twenty attend altogether. It was a great night and four whom we had invited indicated salvation decisions -- but as we followed up with them afterwards it was clear that their understanding and intentions were in some cases less than clear. Even still we are grateful for the impact and pray that God would continue to work in their hearts and open up doors for ministry.

• We had already begun Bible studies with two of the people who had indicated decisions and we have asked the others about getting together. Pray that God would bring them to a firm faith in Christ and set them on a healthy path of discipleship.
•  Pray for the others who attended and for those not associated with our ministry. May God bring new life to this region.!

Children’s Ministry

Twice a month we do an after-school children’s cell group made up mostly of non-Christian kids. One of the encouragements we have seen recently is that two of these neighbourhood children have started attending our worship services also.

• Pray that God’s Word would work in their hearts and draw them to faith.
• Pray also that the impact in their lives would spread to their families and our neighbourhood.

 
On-Going Requests　

In addition to these special needs there are a number of on-going prayer requests.

• Pray for a number of people we disciple who have professed faith in Christ but are stalled in their growth. 

• Pray evangelistic fruit from our Gospel choir and Mom & Tot English outreaches.

• Pray for an all-important core of committed believers in our church.

Although there is no news to report God has used a number of people including some of you to encourage us in light of some of the set-backs this summer. God is good! Thank you for walking the road with us so faithfully!!

AGAPE HEALING INTERNATIONAL
It is November again and Martha and I are off to China for our fourth mission trip. This trip will make our 19th overseas trip in total to date. We will be visiting Beijing for one week and then fly to the south to visit Xiamen in Fujian Province. Please pray for good health especially in this day and age of H1N1 flu.
Our web sites are up and active. Testimonies are available at www.youtube.com/lovehealstv As well, all of Agape's materials are now "free" at www.lovehealstv.com In October, our site had 175 visits from 15 different countries, including countries where we have not visited, such as Malaysia and Ghana.
We are in discussions with people in Adelaide, Australia to work with them in the Spring of 2010. If this happens, it will be the last continent for us to visit. Our objective remains to multiply this knowledge of healing and wholeness. The reality of pain free memories is not a dream. It can really happen as over 1,000 of my clients can attest. Thank you for your interest and support. Prayers for travel mercies and health would be most appreciated. We will be home November 30th. Blessings to you, Martha and Alf Davis, Founders of Agape Healing International
 

SEPTEMBER 2009

ASIAN OUTREACH IN MONGOLIA
Our church planter reports:
Currently the church consists of 50 people. Every week we have Sunday service, Children’s service, Worship and prayer meeting. Also we organize outreach service for local people by hairdressing work. At first we did hair cuts for one another (church members) to do practice and now we are doing that for poor people in the province centre for free. Sometimes we do cleaning too. Day by day our people’s skills are improving and we found out that this is one of good ways to reach people and have fellowship.
In May we had mission trip to a nearby town. Six of us went there, met with a sister church’s brothers and sisters, encouraged by the Word, shared our heart and visited families together to share the Good news. Now the sister church consists of 15 people. They are herdsmen and they meet regularly to share and study the Word. One feature of nomadic life style is they always move around to have good pasture for the animals. They don’t have specific services like Sunday school or Bible study meeting, but home groups where they are living. In June several Christian Korean doctors came to serve the people of Khovd and we served together. During this time we were encouraged to see their heart for God and people and how they helped people to share the Good news.
Please pray:
For the Khovd Christians’ spiritual growth and protection
For people who don’t know Christ and they would be softened and saved
For the national pastor, that he would grow more and learn more about the way of the Lord
 

AUGUST 2009

YUNNAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

The Yunnan Theological Seminary, located in Kunming, is one of 13 seminaries of China’s “Three Self Church”. The school was founded in 1989 and has graduated students continually from its inception. As a “state-supported” academic institution, staff salaries and related costs are paid by the Government of China (GOC) and government representatives visit the school regularly to lecture the student body.

Presently, 106 students are enrolled at the school. This is more than can be accommodated comfortably, but with the high level of interest in formal theological education, of 130 applicants in 2008, 42 were accepted. Working through Asian Outreach International, Chartwell supports six students at YTS.

L is the Assistant Pastor of a congregation of approximately 300 persons of the Miao and Han ethnic groups. His interest is in youth training for evangelism and Christian growth. His church offers a 1-year program in which between 20 and 25 youth are accepted annually. The year 2009 is the third year that the program is being offered.

M comes from a village where there is no formal church and believers meet in a home. The congregation numbers about 100 and she is the first one to receive seminary training. Her desire is to return home and pastor her people. Her village is approximately 10 hours by bus from Kunming.

L comes from a provincial border town that is approximately 12 hours (by bus) from Kunming. Her congregation meets in a church building that is about 5 hours (walking) from her home. The congregation numbers about 100 persons of whom 40/50 attend church regularly. However, during harvest times, numbers can fall to as low as 20 persons. Financial support from the church is weak. Her desire is to return to her village where she can both evangelize and help pastor the church. COMMENT: there are “house churches” in L’s village; however, because of obvious challenges, she is not willing to join them for worship or fellowship.

W comes from a village in Yunnan that has had more than 150 years of gospel preaching. The church in his village caters to believers from 9 surrounding villages. These believers meet in two congregations, numbering 500 and 140 persons, respectively. W is only the second person from his church to attend seminary. His desire is to return to his church and work with the youth.

W comes from a church with a congregation of more than 1,000 members and an average weekly attendance of about 800 to 900. She is the youngest person in her church to receive seminary training and hopes to further her theological studies.

C comes from a border town in south-west Yunnan, near the border with Myanmar. His church has a congregation of about 200 members of which about 100 attend services regularly. His church does not have a building at this time. C has established 3 goals for himself: i. To evangelize the Wa and Dai peoples, ii. To conduct training programs in the villages, and iii. Construct a church in his village.

These Chartwell students are sincere in their love for Christ and passionate in their desire to preach Christ in their villages. Facing severe hardships, their perseverance is compelling as they share their life experiences and passion to see their villagers and tribes-people come to know the Savior. Please pray for our students that God’s purpose for them may be achieved.
 

MAY 2009

Sue Silva, Malawi

Hello Everyone,
Do you remember me? ...........It has been on my heart for some time to send out an update and request......I apologize, it has not made it to the computer........

Tomorrow, Tuesday. is our election for a new president. Please pray for clarity, honesty, peace in the land, and the voters to be wise and discerning in their selection. President Bingu has declared tomorrow a national holiday, so everyone can get out to vote. Please cover us over the next few days as well. Thanks,

I might also add that this weekend, Jo is doing another women's conference, in Ngabu. I will be heading out with her, as well as the commissioner wives. It will start Friday night and end after church on Sunday. Pray for her as she prepares and for her Chichewa in delivering the messages. We want to see the women of this nation freed from the oppression they are under. We want them to know they are valued and cherished and loved by their Heavenly daddy. Pray for transformations and a hunger for things of the spirit.

I will continue this tomorrow, but need to sleep now.

Thank you so much for your understanding and prayers!!! You are so valued!!!

Love to all,
Sue

Dear Faithful Friends,
As promised, I am back. We had a proclaimed national holiday today, due to elections. (Thanks for praying for that).

In preschool yesterday, we made the national flag of Malawi and paraded around the grounds. The kids were so proud of their creations. We talked about the black, red and green colours of the flag and the red rising sun on the top black part of the flag. I likened it to what Christ has done for each of us here in Malawi, (and the world), with black representing sin, red - the blood and green - life in Jesus. As the sun rises on the flag, so, we want The Son rising over this land It's a great flag!!

I am still in preschool and loving it! We have our little routines and some push us to the limits........but over all, we have a fun time together. We had sent out a prayer request for a teacher and that has been answered.........potentially. A woman and her husband have come from Blantyre and are now looking for a house down here. She needs to get some paperwork in to Mo, then can start. I am very excited to have her on our team! I think she has what it takes. Pray for ease of transition, finding a home, a teachable spirit and quick adaptation to the Bangula area.

Our village children at the school, are settling into routines. We have been focusing on 1:1's with them, as they need some extra help. I have 4 village children in preschool, as well as 4 of our own. The village children struggle because they know no English and I struggle with my Chichewa. That's why we are trying to get a Malawian in place.

Mercy, Cindy and Leroy, came back to Bangula around the middle of March. Mercy stayed on base for a week, then went back to live with her family in the village. She and her younger brother are part of our school, here. It's been great to keep them learning and to stay in touch with them daily. Neither one has been to formal school before.

I still visit my widows and quite enjoy my time with them. They seem happier now, than they have been for a long time and it brings such joy to my heart. We redid Cigrace's roof before the rainy season and patched it during the season, but Rebecca's toilet wasn't as lucky. We built her one before the rainy season, but it got washed away, after some heavy rains. I'll have to get one done for her soon.

The police visits are also a regular part of my routine. We go every 2-3 weeks, and it is so awesome what God does when we go! We share a word with the suspects and all the guards are there listening as well. It is a very attentive audience. The Holy Spirit is ministering to people's hearts as we speak. You can see it on their faces and sense it. We pray for all of them and some accept the Lord. Then we bring a meal, (nsima, chicken and vegetables and pop), or (Buns, P.B., bananas and pop). It is always appreciated, as they get little or no food at all.

A big part of the last number of months, has been our 'soaking' times. I play worship music on my computer and we lie down on the mats. We invite the Holy Spirit to come and just lie there in God's presence, not praying, but just enjoying His Presence. He has shown up big time and touched the kids that come, bringing healing and restoration. There have been tears, laughter, pictures and words and sometimes just a sense of peace. He touches the teachers, as we soak on Mondays at lunch. The pastors also experience being in His Presence on thursdays and saturday nights. God is just exploding and doing great, great stuff here! He is bringing us to new and deeper levels with Him. It is so awesome and humbling to be partnering with Jesus!!! I have a whole new love relationship with Him!!!

We've been going out into the villages and praying for the sick, or going prayer walking through the village. I'm getting to know some of our neigbours, which is good. This week, we had alot of extra mustard spinach in our garden, so picked 5 bagfulls and blessed 5 families! Isn't God good??!!!!

I am so content and blessed to be here. I know it's because of your prayers. I could not do what I do without YOU! Thank you ........from the bottom of my heart. You are so important to this work.

I read in Micah 4:2....."Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths..." I feel like I am just beginning to 'know' Jesus and learning to walk in His paths. The more time I spend in His presence, the more I want and the more I realize how little I know or have. He has such abundance for us and He's just waiting for us to come with open hands and and hearts and to ask. ..........let's ask....more, Lord................more..........more..........I need more!!!!!

Love you all to bits,
Sue
 

REFLECTIONS FROM MALAWI
Chara Lafleur and Michaela Evans have been in Malawi with Mo and Jo for several weeks. Chara has written about some of her experiences and impressions of life there.  

[Thursday, April 30, 2009 – 10:39am]
“The harmonious voices of the pastors worshipping before their classes wafts through the air towards our room across the Iris property. They are interrupted by the sounds of drilling and shovels scraping concrete on the cement mixing slab outside our house, as workers continue construction on the Visitor’s Centre (Forest View Lodge) we are currently staying at. Across the wall about 20 feet away in the neighbouring village, a baby wails from a mud house thatched roof, most likely from sickness or hunger. The endless chirping of birds joins the chorus alongside the quiet whir of the overhead ceiling fan keeping me cool on this hot Thursday morning.

I just finished teaching Expressive Arts with the Standard 4 (Grade 4) class at the Iris Primary School on the property. With 11 students all in a circle on bamboo mats, we tried some rhythm games, sang “A Ram-Sam-Sam”, and acted out “The Little Red Hen” as a narrative improv game. Although math and literacy are considered very important in school, the arts have sadly been left behind. But the children’s sense of rhythm is impeccable and their ability to belt out a harmony brings chills to your spine – it’s that beautiful. They are natural musicians with more heart and soul than I’ve ever seen.

Yesterday afternoon, we went to a village about 1.5 hours away with Mo, Peter (his Malawian right-hand man), Lamic (a Malawian house father in one of the children’s homes), and Ruth and Davide (two used-to-be orphans who are now Iris children). We had heard of a mother who had died during childbirth, leaving her newborn son and 2-year-old daughter behind with the gogo (widowed grandmother). We went to hear their story, speak with the local commissioner, and possibly bring them home with us to the Iris base once all the paper work was filled out with the Social Services agency. It turned out that the father of the 2-year-old was still alive, thus disqualifying her to be considered a “true orphan”, and the newborn from a different father was currently with an organization called Arms of Love. There is still a possibility that we may bring home the newborn over the next few weeks.

Tuesday afternoon, after teaching music theory and recorder to the Standard 6 class, we ventured to the Bangula market to buy some fresh food for 2 gogo’s that one of the long-term missionaries here at Iris supports and spends time with. With a whole slew of Iris children in tow, we navigated the hot, narrow passageways between thatched vending stands. The smell of hot, rotting fish and sewage overpowered the scent of fresh bananas, avocadoes, tomatoes, lettuce, tangerines, eggplant, red onions, and piles and piles of kidney beans. After gathering our supplies, we met these widows living in small brick or mud huts, both hard-of-hearing and nearly blind. There is nobody to take care of them.