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May 2009

CHURCH PLANTING

Wanhua

Praise God that Randy Adams has his renewed Taiwanese medical license! All his American medical education credits were accepted and he was able to get the Taiwanese classes needed to fulfill the requirements. His license is good for six years.

Wisdom and sensitivity to God's leading are greatly needed as they begin meeting with three people in a Wanhua neighborhood to share Bible stories, sing and pray. Though open to meet to hear Bible stories, each of these people is still involved in ancestor worship and traditional religions. Each also has major family and personal problems. They need wisdom in ministering to these needy people.

Hengchun Bible Church

House church members are sometimes introduced to un-Biblical teaching through books or TV. Please pray that they will be discerning and careful to check what they hear or read with the Bible'.

All efforts to rid Jr-Ping's brain of a tumor have failed. The doctors say it is too dangerous to operate. Jr-Ping told us that now he knew only God could heal him. Please pray that God will help him face an uncertain future and that the tumor would disappear on it's own.

Vietnamese Brides, Taichung

Robb and Holly Branch ask for continued prayer for the church plant in Taiping.

* that Friday/Saturday night classes for the brides continue to bear fruit.
* that the men will come to the Thursday night men's tea group with hearts open to the things of God.
* that God will lead open families to the Sunday Family Group.
* for the co-workers to have unity in vision and with each other.
* Praise God for the Wednesday groups that have formed with some of the foreign brides.

Chiayi

Wayne & Angela Chen give thanks that Chuan is growing steadily in ladies group. Each week we prepare to tell Chronological Bible Stories to 3 friends. As we were about to share with our friends, Zhen decided to start a business and Chuan began a new job. The group will continue on Tuesdays when they both have a break. Pray that Zhen and Chuan have strength for their work, time for God and willingness the stories with their friends.

Angela has shared two stories with “Mrs. Pineapple” who works in the market. She is interested and asks good questions. Angela shares with her once a week. Pray Mrs. Pineapple has a soft heart to receive the gospel and re-tell what she hears with her husband.

Wayne started visiting Mr. Guo whose sons occasionally come to our park outreach. Pray that each week Wayne can talk with Mr. Guo when he does prayer walking and invite his sons to the park outreach. Pray that God gives Mr. Guo a clear mind to understand and to receive the gospel.

The rain and typhoon season is coming. Usually when it is raining kids will not go to the park. Pray for good weather on Saturday afternoons so we can continue the park outreach.

Donggang

Christine Dillon has been greatly encouraged to visit the three churches in town and start getting a feel for them. All three have good strengths although two are lacking pastors. Christine is meeting for prayer each week with the Presbyterian pastor's wife. She praises God for the friends she is making in small businesses, her building and the market. May they lead to gospel opportunities.

YOUTH & STUDENT MINISTRIES

Beate Harr writes that April has been a time of great rejoicing in the high school ministry in Taichung as they have experienced the power of Jesus’ resurrection in the life of the students. Two students were baptized on Easter and are now involved in a local church. I am grateful that their parents support them in this decision to follow Jesus.

Two boys from another school got in trouble because of bad company and were close to joining a gang. At the last minute Jesus reached out and saved them, not only from bad friends, but also out of the hands of the evil One. They are not allowed to come to church so they started a Bible study after school. There are many more of these young people in their classes who need God’s love and grace. May the Holy Spirit soften and open their hearts.

David & Judy Newquist ask prayer for the children's Bible clubs at the Tunghai University campus elementary school. Judy appreciates the school allowing her and other mothers to teach Bible to the children at noon on Mondays and Tuesdays. But they are concerned about the second graders who have been taken on outings and kept from attending club on several occasions. Sometimes a whole class is not permitted to attend because they have not behaved well in the morning. They have six more weeks of the semester, and would really like to see them able to attend each week. They also need help with handling them, as a few are unwilling to settle down and listen. There are about 120 first and second graders in the class. They long to see every precious child respond to the love of Jesus.

URBAN MARGINALIZED MINISTRY

The Spring

Praise the Lord, Mr. Wang has gone to Operation Dawn, a Christian rehab center and is doing well. Pray for perseverance. The Spring has moved to the new premises and is enjoying the bigger space and better ventilation. Every Wednesday evening De-Li meets with those who have become Christians for a meal and discipleship training. Recently he challenged them to show their love for the Lord through service, willing to help and share the load of the ministry and be an example to the others. This doesn't come naturally to them.

The Pearl Family Garden

Tera van Twillert and her colleagues have decided to continue the English class. The students are motivated to keep going. This English class has been an eye opener. Providing opportunities for learning is meeting a need in these ladies’ lives. They are considering a cooking class and/or a Japanese class. Pray they will find suitable Christian teachers. Autumn (48) who has been in prison for over a year for drug abuse will be released the end of this month. They have been visiting her once a month. She has had few other visits and longs for restored relationships with her family. Tera has offered that she can stay with her for the first months to find her way again. Many who come out of prison fall back into prostitution and drugs abuse.

CHURCH & LEADERSHIP TRAINING

Anne Alexander is rejoicing in God's faithfulness, planning and preparing for the July Bible storytelling workshop, grieving the loss of 2 friends, praying for god-daughter Daphne's Denmark trip, and assisting in developing inductive study questions for working-class Bible studies. Please keep praying for prayer partner Julie's health and her ministry of Bible storytelling, as well as Anne's support needs.

Please pray for Clara Cheng’s neighbors, Mrs. Fong and her son, Mr. Fang. They’re both depressed due to parent-son conflicts. Mr. Fang recently is hospitalized frequently; being in danger of losing his hearing totally. He recently accepted Christ. Mom practices Chinese ancestral worship and folk religion, but with a Catholic background. Clara introduced her to a woman pastor. Mrs. Fang somehow feels that they might be able to help her family. Please pray that the pastor would be able to reach Mrs. Fang for evangelism and Mr. Fang for follow-up. Pray for Clara as she travels to Taichung weekly (about 3 hours one way). It is too tiring for Clara to teach and to counsel the students all day and travel so she stays overnight. This shortens her working days. She needs good stamina to cope with the demands of teaching in Taichung and be able to finish all work each week.

David & Ruth Ullstrom praise God for 5 baptisms on Easter Sunday in the Dashe church. They will have a church retreat May 1-2. May this time away together draw the church closer to God and to each other. On Sundays they will change our service time so that we can have adult Sunday School after the meeting. The children will also have an activity at that time. Pray for wisdom and patience as they make this change to help people get more grounded in the Word of God.

Andy & Mei-ling Wilson write that May will see the launch of Banner Church’s Sunday evening English Celebration. This will be the 5th service of the weekend. Andy will preach about half the time and the rest of the time will be given to younger leaders to help them identify and develop gifts. Fortunately there are several gifted young leaders, both Taiwanese and expats, so Andy will be able to concentrate preaching, overall vision & direction, evangelism and helping/mentoring these emerging leaders. He will continue to lead a cell group and probably also a nurture group for new believers. Mei-ling will assist a discipleship group.

In May and June a number of the missionaries sent out from Banner will return for short home assignments and the Wilsons will spend time debriefing and encouraging them.

LANGUAGE STUDY

Charissa Mak praises God for her refreshing rest from language studies during a family visit in April. They enjoyed a lovely time meeting her friends and church, seeing how God has provided abundantly for her in Taichung. Charissa is also thankful for a new roommate, Sin Ee, a new worker from Singapore. Pray Sin Ee will adjust quickly to life in Taichung.

From 7-12 May, Charissa will visit Tainan and Donggang to observe OMF ministries. Pray that she will gain a deeper understanding of the Taiwanese working class. Pray also for a good visit with Pei-Fang, a friend living in Tainan, who showed interest in the gospel. And pray for local Christians to befriend Pei-Fang.

Charissa will speak on partnering with missionaries, at her church's Mandarin youth service on 17 May. Pray that the young people will better understand the task of being a sender, and be encouraged to take an active role in partnering with missionaries.

Stephen and Susana Gribble praise God for the teachers at their language school and ask prayer for a good witness to their many non-Christian teachers. They also ask pray for language partners, with whom they can converse with in our new languages.

They give thanks that they have found a local church within walking distance from home and pray for wisdom to know how they can be an encouragement to the local Christians they meet.

Praise God for the improvement Susana's mother has had since her fall. Pray for continued healing for Susana's mum's back and also for her dad who has had a recent flare up of a painful back problem.

Thomas and Jennifer McIntyre are so thankful that the Lord has provided them with a suitable church and a close-knit small group that has given them opportunities to develop relationships and practice their language! Language school can be very frustrating at times, though they have begun to feel quite settled in other areas of life. Please pray for Teresa, a non-believer who has been a sort of "second mother" to Jennifer here, and for their relationships with other locals around the area.

OTHER MATTERS

Pray for the 4 Serve Asia teams coming to Taiwan over the summer. They will be getting organised and beginning their preparations now. Pray for enough leaders and housing for them which Irene Nicholson needs to find in the next few weeks.

May 9-10 is the English teaching Partners retreat which is held twice each year. David Ullstrom will lead the retreat and Christine Dillon will be doing 2 seminars on 1-2-1 discipleship - how to meet up with another Christian to encourage them spiritually. Pray that this will lead to more people being discipled as this is such a lack. Pray also that these Partners will continue to grow spiritually themselves and more of them will have a desire to return to Taiwan as long-term missionaries.