Ageless

November 10, 2008

Serve Asia doesn't only serve the youngsters (but also the young at heart)! This past weekend we had an encouraging time in Kingston to speak with people from all ages. Many came to our booth to chat about searching for God's will in their lives. Among this group, some are actually close to retirement age! Isn't this wonderful to see people from all walks of life would engage in such conversation? Feel free to contact us if you would also like to learn about different opportunities.

Quietness

November 3, 2008

The office is exceptionally quite today, as many travelled out town and some befriended seasonal germs. Sitting in this quietness reminiscences a story I heard at a retreat last year. A team went into a remote village with little foreign influence. As the team crossed path with an old lady, she yelled at them in a tongue that none could realize. The interpreter then translated her words and asked the team to share the gospel with her. Unfortunately where the team was located was not strategic for sharing. They left heavy-hearted and prayed for another chance to meet with this old lady. Amazingly another opportunity arose and the team managed to share with the old lady at a street corner with no passerbys to interrupt. What was even more amazing was that the team later found out that the area where they first encountered with this old lady was under authority survillance. If they had spoken about Jesus at the moment, they could have been arrested. God's timing and protection is alwyas perfect!

In midst of the quietness of a rural village, remains a huge reality of spiritual warfare. Pray to the almighty God who has won vicotry in the past, present and future.

Blunders? Blessings!

October 27, 2008

Good intentions do not always translate to good changes. In an attempt to update the Serve Asia page, with my limited web maintenance knowledge, the process has turned disastrous. Nothing has been added on the page, rather, bits and pieces of information has been unintentionally removed. Does this not resemble our life situation too? We often make decisions based on finite information, and things do not always turn out to be the way we wanted. However, our Lord is the omniscient God whose wisdom and knowledge is complete and above us all. Knowing that everything happens in life do not go un-noticed and He always has the best in mind, what a wonderful comfort and relief. Won't you also want others to share in this peace and joy?

Hope

October 22 2008

Summer has come and gone and now we are gearing up for an exciting fall, full of Heart for Asia Conferences, visiting churches and schools, and connecting with inquirers. We recently had a Heart for Asia Conference in Mississauga where Melissa spoke about the needs in Japan. Many people don't think of Japan when they think of world missions. Rather, we tend to think of countries where they are physically in need. However, with over 127 million people in Japan, 85% claim to be Buddhist, 90% claim to be Shinto, and 80% claim to be "unreligious". Does that make sense? One will discover that many people in Japan either hold to a pluralistic view of religion and have a Shinto birth, a Christian wedding, and a Buddhist funeral. Or, they tend to be non-religious and not give religion the slightest thought. Most young people fall into the latter category. It's no wonder that Japan has the highest suicide rate in the world with roughly one suicide every 15 minutes. Most recently, there's a growing phenomenon of internet "suicide clubs" where lonely Japanese people can gather and commit suicide together.

The Japanese are in desperate need of the Gospel. Pray that those who are contemplating suicide will receive peace from our Lord and be greeted with hope in Him rather than the hopelessness that so many of them feel.

Three young adults approached us after with a burden to pray for the Japanese and to one day go to Japan if it is God's will. If you would like more information on how you can pray for Japan or if you would like us to visit your church or school group, please feel free to drop us a line at serveasia@omf.ca

For His glory,

Zabrina and Melissa

Serve Asia Coordinators

OMF Canada