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April 2010

CHURCH PLANTING

Donggang:

Several of the people Christine Dillon has been storying with are 'counting the cost' and deciding about following Jesus. It is a time when Satan tries to make them fearful of family rejection especially bringing up the issue of ancestor worship. Pray for God's protection and that they will discover that following Jesus is more precious than anything.

Golden Orchid, a retired teacher, has started assisting her. She has plenty of initiative. Christine teaches her one story a week and she immediately goes out and tells it. She asks prayer that she learns to 'linger and chat' to people rather than rushing by. Christine would like to find many others like her.

Mid-April Christine will complete 3x90 min evangelism/story training sessions with Kanding Presbyterian church leaders. Pray for courage and faith as they get out and share stories. Pray that storying becomes a lifestyle.

Taiping (Taichung):

Robb & Holly Branch praise the Lord for the Sunday afternoon park “church". Pray God will lead them to open contacts. Praise the Lord for the open door He has given at the local high school and community college and pray for wisdom to build on this. Pray for unity in relationships and vision with our team members.

David & Lucy Eastwood will host a team from Hamilton Road Presbyterian in Bangor, Northern Ireland on 5th-18th April. This church supports a number of OMF missionaries and the 8 people on the team are a mixture of leaders and younger people with an interest in missions. They will be involved in outreach in a local university and high school as well as in the park and in three different local churches. Pray they would gain a good understanding of the needs and ministry here and would also help to develop new contacts within Taiping.

Hengchun:

The house church members are rejoicing in the recent baptism of a leader's mother. Not only did she decide to trust in Christ, she willingly rid her house of all things connected to idol & ancestor worship. Another member joyfully reported God's help in breaking a smoking habit that bound her for years. Pray for opportunities & boldness to proclaim the Gospel in their families and community.

Wanhua:

Grandmother Way with her son, AA, happily joined Randy & Janet Adams on Sunday mornings to sing songs of God's love and blessing. Her diabetes had left her blind, but she memorized the songs and sang the ones she knew. AA faithfully cared for her physical needs. She passed away this past month. AA is distraught as his whole life revolved around caring for his mom. Please pray for AA that he will begin to seek God at this time of loss, give up drinking and be able to find a suitable job.

Charissa Mak praises God for her Taiwanese teacher Ms Ang. She visited a church near her home and could see that God makes a difference in people’s lives. Janet Adams and Charissa continue to visit friends interested in listening to Bible stories: Mrs Lin, Miao Mama, Xin Mei, and Ellen and son Kuen Fang. Pray God will keep opening their eyes to who He is. Pray also for that those who attended the Easter family night at Fumin on March 27 have open hearts to find out more about Jesus.

Charissa is thankful for the opportunity to visit family and friends in Sydney in April, with fiancé Tim Ho. Pray for mutual encouragement as they share about God’s work in Taiwan with Charissa's church and supporters. Pray for quality time with family and friends, good rest and travel safety. Continue praying for opportunities for Tim & Charissa to sow share Bible stories with the Chen and Tsai families.

Shopworkers Church:

Pray for the two men's dorm. Some men have recently moved out or were asked to leave. Kai, the fulltime coworker is responsible for the one dorm, Sheng Feng for the other. May their vision for a close men’s fellowship be strengthened and the dorms be filled again with men who are seeking the Lord and willing to get involved in the fellowship.

Mei with her daughter and Cinney had been introduced to by social workers and moved in. They both accepted the Lord. Elisabeth Weimann hopes they can be baptized on Easter. The shopworkers small groups all have new seekers. May the leaders be able to lead them to Christ and disciple them.

URBAN MARGINALIZED MINISTRY
Sin-Ee Teo & Ina van der Schyff ask prayer for the future direction of the ministry at Longtan Women's Prison. Thank God for the open door. Pray they will have wisdom to know how to help those who leave prison (e.g. assistance in finding accommodation). Pray that those who struggle with drug addiction will want to lead a new life and avoid bad company.

Moon is a new believer that they got to know at Longtan. Pray that she will have assurance and peace, knowing that God has forgiven her sins. Pray for spiritual protection and growth. May the Holy Spirit continue to teach her how to pray and illuminate her mind when she reads the Bible.

Pearl Family Garden:

Syau-Jen, a new believer, who goes to church with Tera van Twillert every Sunday, has borrowed a large amount of money from a friend to start a beauty parlor. Pray that she may succeed in this new endeavor. She is a young widow with two teenage kids. There are other ladies who try to earn money in different ways, like cleaning jobs, selling handmade chocolates, decorations etc. May the staff know how to support them as well as help others to discover their gifts and try new ways of earning money.

Taoyuan Reformatory:

There is hope that the church service at the Reformatory will start again in April. Pray they get the room and will have enough committed people to lead the services and to preach, especially men!

These few months on Saturdays they will talk about different aspects of ‘success’. Pray that Margret Zingg and the other workers are able to give the boys healthy concepts and show them practical ways to succeed once they are released.

YOUTH & STUDENT MINISTRIES

This month Melanie Bister begins meeting with Kerry, a young Christian from the Taipei Business School Fellowship, to read the Bible together. She prays that through it we will both grow in knowing God through His Word. The students take their mid-term exams this month. Also a few of the core group students will graduate this year and are taking tests for entering graduate school. Pray that the Lord would give special grace to the students at this busy and pressured time. On 28 April Melanie will lead an English Bible study in the fellowship group.

Melanie will attend the Campus Evangelical Fellowship (CEF) staff camp on 9-14 April. Pray for good fellowship together and for God’s guidance for CEF in discussions, planning and decisions.

Birgit Glaw praises God that the Friday youth group in Chiayi is now growing and a regular group of 15-20 are very interested in God’s word. Most of them are in their last year of school and preparing for the university entrance exams in May. Pray that they will have wisdom and energy for their studies. Pray they will really understand God’s love and forgiveness in their lives and make a clear decision to follow him. Some of the youth have started helping in the kids park ministry.

This outreach to younger kids in the park is always complicated. They never know how many kids will come. Pray that the team will have God’s help in telling the Bible stories. May the kids get to know God as their loving father. A lot of them come from broken families. Specially pray for Cheng-Ruei. His parents are divorced and he is now living with his aunt who sells noodles. He is very emotional and hard to control. Pray that he can learn how to express his feelings and that they know how to love him but also how to discipline him.

Angie Piau gives thanks for a smooth move and transition into ministry in Chiayi. She asks prayer for a learner’s attitude as she works together with the Gibsons, Birgit, and others in the youth, park, and adult ministries. Pray she can build new connections with working class people. She gives thanks for a contact with Ms. Cai, who sells slippers. Pray Angie can visit her shop often and share the gospel. Angie travels home to the States in mid-April to spend time with her dad whose health is rather poor. Pray for his health and for a good visit.

In Beate Harr’s Smart Goals social club they will talk about love in the next couple of weeks - a hot topic for teens. The students are always interested in the teaching but pray that they have open hearts to hear what real love is about. They need God's protection in a world with lots of temptations as their hearts long to be loved and accepted. Beate would love to see students come to faith before the semester ends. One student from another school who trusted the Lord at Christmas has experienced God's saving & renewing power. He was heavily addicted to computer games and in very bad company. After being cursed by a fortune-teller, the Holy Spirit has set him free as well from this bondage. Amazing grace indeed! Beate needs wisdom to disciple him and encourage him in his school work as he has hardly studied at all in the past. May many of the students be encouraged by his testimony.

Veronika Rieben praises the Lord for 24 lively kids attending the weekly kids club in Dali Elementary school. God has provided quite a few helpers. Pray as they are build relationships with the kids and, where possible, with their families as well. Pray for Tim Ho's faithful preparation of the lessons and wise handling of challenging student behavior. He is also doing English tutoring at the Fumin community.

The team also appreciates your prayers as they seek God's guidance in how to reach out to the youth, especially the ones that belong to the "Hope Gang" (the name that the team have given them). They usually meet some of them when they are in the park on Saturday afternoons and sometimes also when they are prayer walking on Tuesdays. Please pray that they will understand God's truth and that there will be a breakthrough in their lives.

Tim hopes to deepen relationships with a few of the boys: Michael - a high schooler who participated in Kids Club in the past but now swayed by negative influences; Shen Jie - who left school early to work for his parents, had Christian influence in past; Paul - who asked about Christianity and is interested in English tutoring, busy studying and working.

Linda McFerran asks prayer for the kids who have left the Bethany Children’s Home to be able to find a spiritual home in local churches. Younger children who return home are often very willing to go to church but may not be taken there. Unless someone follows up on these contacts, there is no way they can go themselves. May churches have a burden to reach needy kids in their area.

On Easter Sunday, April 4, Judy Newquist will give the message at the Tonghai University Church sunrise service, accompanied in song by a close friend who is a graduate of the Music Department. May God speak through them as they seek to lead the congregation in experiencing the resurrection for themselves. They plan to use the theme and song from the old Negro spiritual "Were You There When He Rose up from the Grave?"

On Sunday, April 11, Dave Newquist will teach the story of Gideon from Judges 6 at the student fellowship leaders' training class. Pray it will equip these young people to lead their small groups well.

In their last semester before retiring they want so much to be effective in the lives of the students we are mentoring on an individual basis. Pray for insight into the needs of each precious young person. As they walk with them for a short time in their relationship with God, they want to have a part in preparing them to walk with Him in the long term.

CHURCH & LEADERSHIP TRAINING

The pace of life is snowballing for Anne Alexander; studies related to Bible storytelling continue, and October workshop plans beg to be finalized. Pray for increasing energy, wisdom and health as she co-leads adult Bible studies in 2 churches and continues to move StorySeed toward full recognition as a nonprofit organization.

Misty the daughter of Clara Cheng’s house helper, Phoebe, has been hospitalized twice with fever. It seems to affect her thinking and behavior. Doctors cannot diagnose her sickness. Phoebe is exhausted from taking care of her and working at the same time and it affects Clara’s daily life too. Pray for healing for Misty and strength for Phoebe and Clara. Clara will teach a new introduction to cross-cultural missions course. Using Chinese textbooks makes ti more of a challenge. Pray for her preparation and that the students will embrace global missions into their hearts. She is also marking weekly assignments for a class, Missionary Life and Spirituality, that she taught in Hong Kong. Pray for students’ growth as current and prospective missionaries.

Chi Pin Hoon thanks God for a fruitful HA in Singapore from 9 Jan to 9 Mar 2010. She had a good time with family, church and friends and also had some rest. Pray as she starts classes on OT Survey (Historical books) on 21st March and Deuteronomy on 23rd March. The rest of her time will be dedicated to writing her Final Paper for Fuller Seminary. She hopes to finish it by end of June, God willing. Pray for good health.

The mission training program at Banner church will continue during April. Andy Wilson’s course will concentrate on the cross cultural aspects of ministry in the first part of the month and move into creative pioneering during the second part. He will also mentor the students. The Wilsons will be well into preparations for HA beginning in July including handing over or closing responsibilities, packing up their house and saying goodbye to friends.

LANGUAGE STUDY

Pray that Steve Gribble will become more confident in using the Chinese that he's learnt. Thank God for his weekly language exchange partner. Pray for Susana as she gets to know the seniors who come along to weekly activities at the local church. Pray for good use of time and for continued Taiwanese language acquisition. Pray they will be refreshed as they travel around the island during two weeks break at the beginning of April. Pray also for Susana's father who will be undergoing knee operation in mid-April and for her mum as she cares for him.

Allan & Bronwyn Lihou give thanks that Johanna completed her half yearly exams from Australia. Now she needs to begin preparation for final exams. Pray she can be diligent and not overwhelmed and for wisdom for her parents in supporting her. They have been involved in debriefing a SAW team. Pray for the team when they return to Australia to their churches and Bible college, that they will be excited about the ministry needs in Taiwan and eager to encourage others to pray and go. Pray God will use this experience to guide each team member in His will, and to grow each in His image. Give thanks for Allan getting his driver’s license and pray for Bron as she pursues hers. Finally pray that they can continue to build good relationships with the people they see each day, despite limited language ability.

Audrey Lin thanks God that she has been able to continue meeting with her friend, Shiao-Ru, over the last 4 months. Shiao-Ru is the friend that Charissa introduced her to in November. Pray for the conversations to deepen. In addition to being a blessing to their friendship, this would be helpful for Audrey’s main task now in language study, which is to deepen and expand her working vocabulary.

Audrey also thanks God that Field Council has confirmed her placement in Wanhua when she finishes language study in August. She will go on a ministry visit to Wanhua for the week of March 29th. Pray for guidance for the leaders and herself about the specific role she should have when she moves there. Pray also for strong relationships with the local co-workers and other teammates. Pray that she would continue to walk in step with God’s intentions to prepare her for the challenges of the work, and for strength and courage coming from trusting in God’s presence (Joshua 1). She especially asks for deeper growth in prayer.

Pray Thomas & Jennifer McIntyre as their future ministry placement (considering location, the specific type of ministry they feel called to, etc) is discussed. Pray for the health of our first baby, which is due in mid-October. Jennifer has had a lot of physical discomfort in relation to the pregnancy, especially in regard to poor sleep/insomnia. And of course pray that we'll finish our last year of language study strong and well equipped.

OTHER MATTERS

Phil & Irene Nicholson will be speaking at the annual conference of the student fellowship the University of Technology, Sydney over the Easter weekend on the topic of mission. Pray this will open the students' eyes to better understand God's plans for his world and their lives.

April is a time when Irene Nicholson starts working out details out for summer short term teams. Pray for her preparation, particularly as she will go on HA in June and will not be in Taiwan to help lead teams once they arrive.