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January 2010

CHURCH PLANTING

Wanhua

About 40 children and adults joined a “Family Fun” night held in the Fumin neighborhood in December. And it was fun! The Christmas story and gospel message were presented as well. Two ladies who came to the party joined Randy & Janet Adams the next morning under the trees to sing. They are thankful for this opportunity to deepen friendships with people in Fumin and hope to follow up with new contacts they made.

Charissa Mak is thankful for the people whom God has brought her into contact with this past month. Pray for opportunities to meet with families from the Fumin community who attended a family night and heard the Christmas story. Pray also for Miao Mama, a granny who is a young Christian. She listens to the audio Bible each day. Pray that as Miao Mama listens to the Bible, and the Bible stories that Janet Adams and Charissa share with her, she will know God more, deepen in her faith, and share the stories with her family. Charissa also is studying the Bible stories with her Taiwanese teacher, Ms. Ang, who attended Sunday School as a child. Pray that God would work to grow His word planted into each of these hearts, and stir in them a thirst after God.

New intern Tim Ho praises God for provision of housing, his ID card, and supportive co-workers in Wanhua. Please pray for his health, as he’s nursing a second consecutive cold. Already in the first couple of weeks he is involved in several ministries—the kids club, the boys reformatory, and the Spring. Please pray for discernment and opportunities to build relationships with both local Christians and non-Christians. Tim’s relatives in Taiwan are non-Christian. Please pray for opportunities to get to know them and talk about the Lord.

Hengchun House Church

Members of the house church are praying about starting a fellowship in Sha-teng village, where one of the leaders lives. They need God’s guidance. Pray that the Holy Spirit would work in the hearts of friends and family members in Sha-teng and lead them to faith in Christ through this fellowship.

Donggang

One missionary can never hope to tell Bible stories to all the non-Christians in this small town and its surrounding areas (50,000+ people). Methods must be found to multiply the number of storytellers. Christine Dillon is thrilled that opportunities are beginning to open up to teach local Christians to use Bible storying to do evangelism. The Tuesday evening Bible study group at Donggang Presbyterian Church has just learned the first two stories—Genesis 1 and 3. She gave them the assignment to share each story with five people. Nine or ten people shared with at least one, and some of them shared both with seven people. May this small start be multiplied!

Christine and Lucy Eastwood are going to Manila in the third week of January for Project Timothy (OMF leadership training). May it help them to be even more effective in their ministries!

Shopworkers Church

The church’s prayer goal for this year is that each of the ten small groups (for shop workers, single mothers, and youth) can lead two or three new people to Jesus Christ. May the Lord enable the coworkers of each small group to follow up those who came to the Christmas parties for the first time and start one-to-one Bible studies with them!

A single mother with a 4-year-old girl and two sisters (one of whom is very sick with cancer) has moved into one of the dorms. May they adjust to the Christian community and open up their hearts to the Lord! The sick girl has already found the Lord!

Taiping City

Ministering in a local park, Robb and Holly Branch are looking for the people who listen to their Bible stories to have a real desire to know God. They also would like to see the Taiping ministry team to have greater unity in the Spirit.

URBAN MARGINALIZED MINISTRY

The Pearl Family Garden

Having completed full-time language classes, Teo Sin-Ee started working with Tera van Twillert at the Pearl Family Garden. There is so much to observe, understand, and learn about the ladies in Wanhua. Pray that she would be able to relate to their life experience and share God’s love and truth with them. She is also very grateful for how Tera and other co-workers have been very helpful in explaining things to her and helping her find a place to live.


Thank God also for the opportunity Sin-Ee has had to visit the AIDS hospice and women’s prison with Ina van der Schyff. Please pray for open doors and meaningful conversations.

Taoyuan Reformatory

The prayers of OMF supporters are really having an impact in the reformatory! The sessions with the boys have improved greatly in recent days. Margret Zingg can see that they really have been participating, and it seems that some are starting to understand more and more.



Patrick, now 17, was released more than a year ago. While still “in” he made a commitment to Christ. Today he belongs to a gang and lives a very dangerous life. He is not happy about the situation, but thinks there is no other way for him. He should also go before the court, but refuses, as he is afraid to be locked up again. Pray that he would make wise decisions, and that he would meet Jesus again.

YOUTH & STUDENT MINISTRIES

Melanie Bister gives thanks that around 130 students attended the Christmas outreach event at the Taipei Business School, and that several responded with interest to the message. Please pray for the follow up of these students.
 
Students are now busy preparing for their end of term exams. During the winter vacation Campus Evangelical Fellowship will run two weeks of student Bible camps. Melanie will be helping out in the first week (January 17-23) with students who are either seekers or new Christians. Please pray that many students will attend, especially the non-Christians from the Taipei Business School fellowship group. May this be a significant step for them in getting to know God!

David & Judy Newquist report that January is the end of the first semester for their university students. It is also the beginning of a new term for the new leaders of the Christian student fellowship on campus. Pray for the wisdom, grace, and courage they need to begin learning to carry out their new duties so as to honor the Lord.

As soon as finals are over on January 23, Campus Evangelical Fellowship will begin its annual one-week discipleship training camp for students from all over Taiwan. Judy will assist the Dunghai University campus fellowship advisor in teaching a class on Acts. Her part is to lead the students in making personal application. Meanwhile Dave will grade final exams as fast as possible. Pray for health and endurance to finish it all well.

CHURCH & LEADERSHIP TRAINING

Anne Alexander looks forward to a month filled with happy challenges. She will be in Thailand taking classes in her doctoral program. Then just after her return to Taiwan, a Bible storyteller will visit for work and ministry. Pray for good studies, wisdom in time use, health, intimacy with God, as well as the restoration of a troubling relationship. She hopes that the legal registration papers will come through by the end of January for setting up the Story Seed nonprofit, and that they can begin accepting members.

Logos Evangelical Seminary, where Clara Cheng teaches, is moving to a new location in northern Taipei County in mid-January. Although many faculty will move to the new location, Clara will keep her present apartment and make a weekly trip to the new campus. She will stay in the dormitory there about half the week every week. She expects that it could be tiring for her in the beginning. Please pray for her adjustment to this demanding lifestyle. Clara is preparing an intensive course, Missionary Life and Spirituality, which she will teach in Hong Kong in February—Missionary Life and Spirituality. Please pray that she will prepare it well. 


Chi Pin-Hoon will be in Singapore for her home assignment from January 8 to March 9. She asks prayer for preparation for teaching and preaching opportunities that she has scheduled (Bible study leader training, Adult Bible study in her home church, sharing in church fellowship meetings, and preaching in her home church on February 7). She also hopes to spend some time writing her final paper for her Fuller Theological Seminary degree program.

David & Ruth Ullstrom are busy this month visiting new friends who they met at recent church Christmas outreach events. They are holding a college student retreat at the church after student semester exams on January 22 and 23 before they all head home for the Chinese New Year holiday. Pray that many of the 20+ students who have been coming to their weekly English Bible study will come on the retreat.

LANGUAGE STUDY

This language school term Steve Gribble is adjusting to new language teachers; Susana is enjoying learning New Testament Stories in Taiwanese. Please pray for opportunities to practice using the new vocabulary. Thank God for the opportunities with other new workers to tell the story of Christ’s birth this Christmas at a local school and at their language school. May people be moved by these events to know more about Jesus! They also ask for prayer about their ministry designation after completing full-time language learning.

Praise God for the blessing of family and relaxation.
The Lihou family are enjoying some time together as a family and seeing the natural beauty of Taiwan. Give thanks for the provision to do this. The added bonus is that they get to practice their language in new and challenging situations. This is both encouraging and daunting. Pray that they can remember the words and hear and grasp what people are saying to them.

Their son Tim, who has been visiting over the Christmas holidays, returned to Australia on December 30. Having completed secondary school, he will start a new lifestyle as a university student. Pray that the Lihous would know God’s encouragement, as they watch Tim step into a new stage in life. Pray for the Lihous during January as they aim to get their Taiwan driving licenses.

Thomas and Jennifer McIntyre have had a lot of interesting contacts recently, which we pray will bear fruit in the future. Thomas entered a Taiwanese contest where he shared the story of the prodigal son in Taiwanese. The big surprise was that a few news reporters showed up, and Thomas appeared on an FTV newscast!

For Thanksgiving they had about 20 people over for dinner. For many of their Taiwanese friends it was the first time they had celebrated Thanksgiving. They and some of the other new workers with OMF recently shared the Christmas story with about 100 kids at an elementary school near their house.

There have been some recent developments with their good Taiwanese friends, the Phoas, who would make amazing long-term coworkers. (Thomas and Jennifer see that they are already on board with almost every aspect of OMF’s vision, and are great evangelists/relationship builders.) They’ve expressed openness to moving to an unreached area with the McIntyres, but Mr. Phoa is still concerned that he doesn’t feel “adequate enough” for ministry because of his lack of education. (He is working class.)

They also ask for prayer for seekers they have contact with. Their friend Mr. Li is so close to becoming a Christian! Jennifer's language partner, Claudia, is also becoming more open.

OTHER MATTERS

Pray for arrival and adjustment for two short termers who will be in Taiwan for five to six months helping in Chiayi with youth ministries. They will work with OMFer Birgit Glaw.