ASAP Newsletter, 1st Quarter 2007

First Quarter, 2007

Cover: A young Laotian girl cares for her little brother in a southern Lao village. Photo by Judy Aitken

Adventist Southeast Asia Projects

2007 First Quarter Newsletter Executive Editor/Director Judy Aitken

3 4 Call to Action 6 Vietnam Report 7 Never Giving Up, by Pastor Isah Young 8 ASAP Family Connections, by Frank Spangler 10 Cambodia Report 11 Miracle Lily Pads, by Oung Sophal 12 Thailand Report 13 Raging Waters, Rescuing Hand, by Pastor Pi Saikam 14 Laos Report 15 Honored to Serve, by Pastor Soui King Anong 16 North America Report 17 Soccer and Our Savior, by Terri Saelee 18 Financial Report for 2006, by Karen Wade CPA 20 Each a Blessing to Many!

27 In Loving Memory Director’s Update, by Judy Aitken

ASAP Newsletter’s New Printing Schedule: Check your mail boxes each quarter for your copy of the ASAP newsletter in 2007. In an effort to minimize fundraising costs, this newsletterwill be printed quarterly instead of bi-monthly. We will continue to keep you informed of ASAP’s news and progress.

Editor/Assistant Director Julia O’Carey Copy Editors Linda Bauer Adrienne Redding Design/Layout Margie Mitchell, Son Praises Photography Frank Spangler, WorldViewImages.com Contact Us: ASAP publishes a newsletter quarterly. Please contact the office to receive your complimentary subscription or additional copies.

PO Box 84 Berrien Springs, MI 49103 269-471-3026 1-866-365-3541 269-471-3034 (fax) office@asapministries.org (email) www.ASAPministries.org ASAP Board of Directors Bruce Bauer, Chair Judy Aitken, ASAP Director Mary Ann McNeilus Ralph & Beatrice Neall Byron & Carol Reynolds Robin Riches Trudi Starlin Kenneth Straw Max & Linnea Torkelsen ASI Member ASAP has been a member of ASI (Adventist-laymen’s Services and Industries) since 1996 and is grateful to be an ASI grant recipient.

ASAP is a registered 501(c3), nonprofit organization and is fueled by faith in God and His provision through individuals’ financial support. Please note that 100% of your gifts go directly to the projects specified. All donations are taxdeductible.

“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues.

Speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God,” (Acts 2:4, 11).

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Jesus ascended to heaven, his friends received the amazing gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and began praising the Lord as they spoke “wonderful works of God” in the listeners’ languages. Just so today, ASAP supported national workers, filled with the same mighty power of the Holy Spirit, share God’s great gift of salvation presented in Thai, Khmer, Laotian, Hmong and Vietnamese. The results are astounding!

My heart rejoices over God’s provision as I reflect on the growth ASAP has experienced the last year. ASAP took a big step forward by expanding existing projects and adopting new projects, such as church planting among the Laotians in Cambodia (see the Laos report, page 14). God sent just the right staff to help handle the increased workload.

Additionally, ASAP felt impressed to purchase an office building where we now have adequate space to work efficiently. He never fails to provide what is needed to carry out His tasks.

None of what ASAP accomplished last year would have been possible without your fter

ASAP

spiritual and financial support. It is due to your generosity and God’s blessings that so many thousands have accepted Christ in Southeast Asia. Thank you for impacting the lives of a people who are in great need, not only physically and educationally, but spiritually. You helped give them the greatest gift of all . . . the gift of Jesus!

Right now, during the short time left before He returns, God has opened up a window of opportunity to share His urgent message in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Truly, we believe that we will soon see the “earth illuminated with Christ’s glory,” (Rev. 18:1) as millions accept the last day message of salvation.” This is why ASAP is taking bigger leaps forward in faith, and adopting many new projects for 2007. The information you will find in this newsletter/annual report and in the Priceless Gift Catalog 2007, provides details on these projects. Through the continued outpouring of the Holy Spirit, your partnership, and the efforts of the national pastors and workers, we can be assured that exciting advancements will happen for God’s Kingdom in 2007. ASAP

The Need

People living in war-torn, economically depressed countries like Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam often suffer from poverty, hunger, disease, governmental oppression and lack of education. Most Southeast Asians have never heard the true message about their Savior. God feels the suffering of His children and He desires each of their hearts, so they can live forever in perfect peace and abundance with Him.

Our Mission

Photo by Don Loyd

Adventist Southeast Asia Projects (ASAP) strives to reach out on Christ’s behalf to the persecuted and vulnerable NOW because He is coming as soon as possible! ASAP is committed to training, supportAdventist Southeast Asia Projects

ing and empowering our Cambodian, Laotian, Vietnamese, Thai and Hmong neighbors, enabling them to use Christ’s compassionate method of sharing the gospel not only to meet their neighbors’ urgent physical needs but most importantly to introduce them to Jesus Christ, who will meet their ultimate need of redemption and eternal life.

The Team

A talented team of national workers, volunteers, staff and a growing number of donors make up the ASAP family. The power of the Holy Spirit works through each persons’ gifts and resources, using them to accomplish God’s purpose in Southeast Asia. If you are just discovering ASAP, please join the team!

ASAP

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stounding advancements were made

for God’s Kingdom in Vietnam last year. The Peace and Happiness radio ministry, directed by Pastor Isah Young*, spiritually fed thousands of house-church believers with new sermons and inspirational music each day. The underground network of house-churches grew significantly in 2006.

God led 250 ASAP supported Vietnamese pastors to discover many new groups secretly meeting each Sabbath on their own. These pastors put Bibles, sermons on DVD, SDA tracts, religious books, and Bible lessons in the hands of these eager new Seventh-day Adventists.

Despite arrests, interrogations, fines, and beatings, persecuted ASAP leaders persevere to provide spiritual support to existing districts

of house-churches and courageously plant churches in new unreached territory.

The ASAP family generously responded to the desperate needs of the poor and the persecuted, as well as the victims of typhoon Xangsane last year. Words cannot express the deep gratitude these Vietnamese housechurch members have as they see Christ’s love in action.

On October 10, 2006, the General Conference Peace and Happiness Coordinating Committee met for the sixth time in Washington D.C. The committee coordinates the collaboration of ASAP, Adventist World Radio (AWR) and Southeast Asian Union Mission (SAUM), the three entities who support the SDA Vietnamese house-church movement.

Chaired by Bill Townend, the president of SAUM, the committee prayerfully developed strategies and planned further growth. Pastor Isah Young, leader of the underground house-church movement, stated, “It is such a blessing to have the support of these three Spirit-led organizations who work so closely to advance God’s work in Vietnam.”

Pastor Young estimates that more than 370,000 people are currently Sabbath keepers through listening to the radio program throughout Vietnam. Forty-six thousand seven hundred and thirteen people are on waiting lists to be baptized. These numbers reveal an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Vietnam and continue to motivate ASAP to respond to urgent requests from people seeking to know the Lord. ASAP Adventist Southeast Asia Projects

Opposite page: Vietnamese house-church members conducting a communion service.

Right: An underground house-church Bible study group meets.

Never Giving Up

by Pastor Isah Young*

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Nguyn*, an influential, wealthy lady in Vietnam, started listening to the Peace and Happiness radio broadcasts daily from her home. She was a very active lady in her church who organized successful fundraising events regularly. After listening for some time, she grew very interested in the SDA message and requested more literature from me. I contacted an ASAP supported pastor in her area and he responded to her request immediately. Not long after this, the pastor received this message from her, “I believe in this truth with all my heart! Please send me all the literature you can so I can share them with my friends.”

One morning as she was listening to my sermon about the Sabbath, she heard a knock on the door. It was the head priest. He offered strong words of warning to her, “Stop listening to that heresy on the radio.” “No, I cannot stop,” she responded, “I believe this truth from the Bible.” He stormed out of her house. ien

A few hours later, she received another hard knock on the door. This time several police came briskly in and confiscated everything that meant anything to her: her radio, her Bible and any SDA literature she had in the house. They isolated her by putting her on house arrest and not allowing her to contact anyone. They shut down her successful business. She recently wrote to me and said, “I will not give up. I was deceived all my life and I will never give up my new faith in the Lord.” Her two college-age daughters, who also believe the truth, have been expelled from their university because of their faith.

I am currently working on a plan to relocate her and her daughters to another city where they can attend school and work as literature evangelists. Please keep them and the many other persecuted pastors and underground house-church members in your prayers.

ASAP

About the Author Pastor Isah Young* leads the SDA underground housechurch movement in Vietnam, speaks for the Peace and Happiness radio broadcasts, produces materials and sermons in Vietnamese for evangelism and pastors in southern California. Please keep him and his family in your prayers as they continue to be used by God in His service. *Names changed for the safety of the individuals.

ASAP

Living in a Cloud of Flies

by Frank Spangler

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fter fifteen years of shooting im -

ages of the poor of this world, you would think that a photographer would become hardened and somewhat calloused to the sights and smells of poverty.

But it was hard for me not to weep into the eye pieces of my cameras today as I walked through some of the worst slums in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. Everywhere I stepped, a cloud of flies rose up from the slimy filth that covered the ground and swarmed around the children that followed me as I walked.

Trapped in poverty, the families that dwell here choose to stay because of the close proximity to odd jobs they might find in the streets of the city.

The children help out by spending hours in the hot sun,

combing through the nearby city dump, looking for bits of metal or other things that might be recycled or redeemed for a little rice.

Even if they could make it to the government school a couple of kilometers away, it is doubtful that the parents would be able to afford the necessary uniforms or school supplies. With no running water or sanitation facilities, poor nutrition, and lack of even the most basic health care, the child survival rate is very poor. Sickness and disease are almost as rampant as the layers of grime caked to the bodies of the children. No one should have to live like this! Angels must weep as they see God’s children walking barefoot through the slime.

Adventist Southeast Asia Projects

Adventist Southeast Asia Projects (ASAP) in partnership with the Cambodia Adventist Mission has begun a work in these communities that is starting to make a difference.

Instead of spending all of their time at the dump, the children gather around a teacher for a few hours every day and with eager expressions on their faces, learn the basics of reading, math and the love of Jesus. As part of the program, each day the children receive a nutritious meal.

It is simple programs like these that save lives and break the cycle of poverty. Sometimes we may be tempted to think that the

problems of poverty are too big to solve, that they are too far away, too complex, too overwhelming for us to make any significant impact.

Adventist Southeast Asia Projects has been working in the countries of Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos for over ten years, directly meeting the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of some of the poorest people in the world. If you would like to make a contribution that you could be sure would reach children living in a cloud of flies, please visit the ASAP website today at www.asapministries.org. ASAP

About the Author Photographer Frank Spangler has been capturing the beauty and spirit of ASAP participants and projects for the last 15 years. The above excerpt, written by Spangler, has been taken with his permission from his blog at www.untotheleast.com.

To be visually inspired, view his extensive photo gallery at WorldViewImages.com. Photo by Sarah Spangler ASAP

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magine if, in just two years’ time,

more than 3,000 people joined the Seventh-day Adventist churches in your area. Cambodia has, in fact, experienced this exciting blessing. ASAP, in partnership with the Cambodia Adventist Mission, embraced this growth and focused not only on financially supporting forty-one more church planters than the previous year, but also helped with nurturing and training these new believers in 2006. ASAP sponsored a total of fifty-one national church planters and fifty-five lay Bible workers. Funds were also provided for training sessions that regularly took place on all levels. God has blessed these efforts, establishing many churches that serve as lights both to the city of Phnom Penh as well as throughout Cambodia.

Last year, ASAP reached out to the suffering Cambodian people. ASAP donors made it possible to build wells in twelve villages, to distribute emergency food to flood victims, and to support national workers as they instituted income generating projects in their churches for members with no way to make a living. In 2007, ASAP plans to support hospice and feeding programs connected to two of the larger literacy schools in the slums of Phnom Penh.

ASAP supported literacy schools grew measurably in 2006. For most students, two six-month sessions allow them to grasp reading and writing skills that will radically alter the course of their lives. After witnessing the effectiveness these schools display in educationally and spiritually assisting Cambodia’s women and children, ASAP hopes to double the number of literacy teachers supported by ASAP to 45 in 2007. While continuing to build new schools and provide classroom materials, ASAP plans to help Cambodia Adventist Mission translate and print 5,000 copies of the thirteen-volume set of Health Primary Readers as funds become available.

ASAP’s exciting partnership with Cambodia Adventist Mission will facilitate many important developments, such as providing additional training funds with which to increase the effectiveness of church planters as they reach out to millions of unsaved Cambodians. Please keep this precious nation in your daily prayers and watch and read in future ASAP newsletters all that will happen because of God’s divine leading. ASAP

Church members in Phnom Penh joyfully worshipping God on Sabbath morning.

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Adventist Southeast Asia Projects

The Miracle Lily Pads

By Oung Sophal

Church planter Oung

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Sophal (middle left) intercedes in prayer for one of her church members who is sick with AIDS.

y husband was abusive to

my children and me when we first became Seventh-day Adventists. One Sabbath morning, he had his friends come over to our house and they tried to force me to choose between him and God. My children quietly crept out the back door and clamored over the fence because they did not want to miss Sabbath School. I silently prayed while walking out the front door, making my stand for Christ as I headed for church.

When we came back in the early afternoon, I was met by my furious husband.

He was holding the box of Bibles and Bible lessons I had hidden in the closet. After a tirade of yelling and curses, he stormed out of the house, heading for the river. The first moment I had a chance, I went to the river and scanned the bank, praying, “Lord, if you

want me to keep sharing your Word with people, please show me where those Bibles are.” I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the heavy box resting above water on top of the lily pads. I waded out and rescued the box. As I looked through it, only two Bibles on the bottom of the box were water damaged and the rest were safe. This miraculous incident gave me the faith I needed to know that God was with me.

Two years ago my husband reluctantly agreed to attend our daughter’s Christian wedding. He humbly told me later, “I was so impressed with how kind and loving all the Christian guests were. They treated each other more like a family than I was treating you and our children.” I praise God for answering the prayers of my children and me because today my husband is a transformed man and serves as a church planter along with me. ASAP

About the Author Oung Sophal, with the full support of her husband, has planted two big church groups. Gratefully, she writes, “A sweet lady from the United States sponsors me through ASAP. This support means more to me than she will ever know. It amazes me how God has sent this lady that I have never even met before to care enough about me to make it possible for me to serve God. Our Lord truly binds us together although we are far apart.”

ASAP

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This large group of young believers stands in front of the Gospel Center, a place of worship in Bangkok provided

by ASAP funding.

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ASAP in thanking the Lord for abundantly blessing the work in Thailand last year. ASAP focuses on three main project areas in Thailand: support of lay pastors and their churches in the north and northeast, health evangelism in partnership with Pastor Phamor Poopichitprai, and church planting projects in conjunction with Mission College and the Thailand Adventist Mission.

After years of Adventist work in Thailand, missionaries had witnessed the successful conversion of many tribal people, but relatively few ethnic Thais. In recent years, a breakthrough has taken place and residents of northeast Thailand have begun accepting the Lord. Thanks to God’s blessing and ASAP family support, ten lay pastors continued ministering to their growing church groups, effectively winning people to Christ. Now, three years after the Thailand Adventist Mission requested this support, each passing day brings additional church growth, one precious soul at a time.

Over the last year, Pastor Phamor’s health training program received a tremendous boost from ASAP support. Judy Aitken, ASAP Director, and Dr. Mary Ann McNeilus, ASAP board member, along with other dedicated professionals, presented health and evangelism seminars consisting of two, 12

lease join

week-long workshops in north and northeast Thailand. Thanks to ASAP funds, Pastor Phamor accomplished his goal of helping Thailand Adventist Mission pastors and ASAP lay-workers recognize the benefits of combining medical missionary work with their normal activities. In 2007 ASAP hopes to support training workshops for national workers in Central and Southern Thailand and train at least twenty Lao and Thai youth to become medical missionaries and literature evangelists.

In 2006 Pastor Khamsay Phetchareun and a group of theology students from Mission College “adopted” the Korat church as their evangelistic project. Korat, the second largest city in Thailand, had only one small church that was not growing. ASAP donor support and worker enthusiasm truly blessed the aging Korat members as the students attracted interested young people from the area to join the church. These students received invaluable hands-on experience through the act of ministering that could never have been Adventist Southeast Asia Projects

learned from a textbook alone. In 2007 Pastor Khamsay Phetchareun hopes to oversee two such programs in Korat. He also envisions two church planting projects, one in Muaklek near Mission College, and the other in the Thupkuang Community. Currently, more than fifty youth at Muaklek and thirty at Thupkuang attend recently formed branch Sabbath Schools. Pastor Khamsay Phetchareun and his students hope to reach out to the families of these students and introduce them to Jesus, the giver of eternal life and hope. Because relationship building drives

evangelism in Thailand, tangible results will only appear after time and dedication.

Additionally, ASAP helped get a church planting project in Bangkok started that reaches out to Hmong and Thai youth. In partnership with Pastor Seksak Kiatyanyong and his Ekamai SDA church members, funds from ASAP went towards the Gospel Center at Nong Khaem where over sixty people meet every Sabbath afternoon to worship the Lord.

Please continue to pray for all the ASAP workers and Mission College students who will continue to actively share God’s message of love with the Thai people in 2007. ASAP

Raging Waters, Rescuing Hand

by Pi Saikam

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ne morning , two of my friends knocked on my door and asked, “Pi, would you like to come with us across the river to visit a family that has not been to church lately?” I hesitated because I knew it was the rainy season and the river was high, but then said, “Sure, I’ll go.”

As we headed down the river on my bamboo raft, I called out, “Let’s stay close to the bank as long as we can. The current is strong today.” The river quickly swept us along and as we got to the wider section where we planned to cross, the current picked up.

The nose of our raft suddenly plunged deep into the water. We scrambled to the back of the raft, grabbing onto the sides, desperately

trying to regain control of the raft and keep our heads out of the water.

I remember praying a simple prayer, “LORD, PLEASE HELP!” Immediately, the promise from Philippians 4:13 entered my mind, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” It was like God’s hand reached out to rescue us because right after that prayer, we gained control of the raft with all three of us safely on top of it.

I thank God for this experience, because when things get difficult for me in my ministry I can remember how God rescued me from the raging waters and know that He will rescue me from any trial this world brings.

ASAP

About the Author Pi Saikam is an ASAP supported lay pastor for the Nong Phum SDA Church in the Chiang Rai province of northern Thailand.

He, along with five volunteer lay workers, nurture their eighty members and actively evangelize in their village and the surrounding area. He intentionally wakes up at five a.m. every day to study God’s Word, his favorite book. He requests prayers for the growth of his ministry as well as for the good health of his family of five children.

ASAP

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Pastor Houmpanh Kongsengphengphet baptizes a believer in the Vientiane area.

od’s work in

Laos experienced unprecedented growth in the year 2006, reaching over a thousand members.

Despite ongoing restrictions, persecution, and internal conflicts, SDA Christians in Laos did not lose hope, and continued to share the good news. ASAP supports three major project areas for the Lao people in Southeast Asia.

Heaven rejoiced in 2006 over the newly baptized members and the two new church groups that were planted in the Vientiane area under the leadership of Pastor Houmphanh Kongsengphengphet. In the beginning of the year, some members in the Ban Napheng group struggled to withstand governmental pressure to renounce their faith. However, God’s power strengthened these members, allowing them to endure and triumph over their tribulation. Lay-pastor Souvanee’s powerful prayers resulted in healing miracles that greatly improved relationships with village authorities, lessening persecution and increasing safety to worship.

In Pastor Houmphanh’s hometown, a church group that three years ago consisted only of his family, grew to a company of 30 members, 6 baptismal candidates, and 25 Sabbath school children meeting each week.

Furthermore, 8 of these members graduated this year and returned to their home villages to spread the good news. Because Pastor Houmphanh’s village has three boarding schools, his focus for 2007 involves converting and training more young people to become missionaries in villages throughout Laos.

ASAP supported churches in southern Laos increased from 537 members to 662 14

members, with 9 additional church planting groups started in 2006. Church planters performed miracles of God by displaying His power to overcome strange diseases and cast out evil spirits. ASAP church leaders in the south enjoy local government support allowing members to worship more freely than in other areas.

Along with support from other sources, ASAP donors funded the initial construction phase of a church in Pakse, the regional capital city. Upon divine provision of an additional $5,000, the final 30 percent of the church will be completed. Sarawan province’s 127 members have also outgrown their house churches, with 60 members crowding weekly into each single family home to worship God. These extremely poor members live on less than an income of one dollar per day, and yet they are rich in faith, trusting that God will provide for their needs in 2007.

ASAP started church planting projects for displaced ethnic Lao people in Cambodia in 2006. The village of Wangmuang, having received an ASAP missionary from Laos in November of 2005, now has more than fifty students gathering to study Lao, English, and Bible. Twenty of these students have (Continued on page 27) Adventist Southeast Asia Projects

Pastor Soui King-Anong leads out in a Bible study with a new group of interested villagers.

Honored to Serve

by Pastor Soui King-Anong

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ne morning when I was studying the

Bible for my personal devotions, the Holy Spirit led me to several texts that opened my eyes to the importance of honoring God by keeping holy the seventh day. I prayed about how to approach the members of the Sunday keeping church I was pastor of at the time with this new information. God helped me to know what to say to lead them to this understanding and although we faced a lot of opposition, my family, along with many of our church members began worshipping on the Sabbath.

It was about one year after discovering this truth that I met an Adventist pastor who introduced me to the Lao Adventist Mission.

We were thrilled to find others who believed the same way we do.

Since I have been working as an SDA pastor, God has given me boldness as well as opportunities to introduce Jesus to key

people with political authority. As a result, three village chiefs have accepted Jesus.

While persecution of Christians is common in my country, we praise the Lord that none of the Seventh-day Adventists have been arrested or imprisoned by the authorities in our area. God is leading in these new relationships.

Please pray for the 100 new interests I am working with now. I am still pastor of the church in my home village, where sixty-five people worship the Lord every Sabbath. I love my work of preaching, teaching, visiting homes, praying for the sick and training lay workers. Most of all, I love God and feel honored to be able to serve Him. ASAP

About the Author Pastor Soui King-Anong has been serving Christ as an ASAP supported pastor for the last six years. He walks throughout the mountains and valleys of four provinces in southern Laos, ministering to the people. Through the Lord’s blessings, he has planted nineteen SDA worship groups.

ASAP

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ASAP supported workers plan execute evangelistic endeavors to reach Southeast Asians living in North America, the following quote from Ellen White comes to mind: “It is well that those in responsibility are now planning wisely to proclaim the three angels’ messages to the hundreds of thousands of foreigners in America. God desires His servants to do their full duty toward the unwarned millions in the cities, and especially toward those who have come to these cities in our land from the nations of earth. Many of these foreigners are here in the providence of God, that they may have opportunity to hear the truth for this time” (Evangelism 569.3).

In 2006, ASAP supported church planting and evangelism projects in California, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Florida. According to the 2000 Census, over 1 million, 900 thousand Southeast Asians currently reside in the United States. Through God’s blessing, the projects ASAP supports and the resources we provide are beginning to reach this segment of the population.

For instance, Pastor Ko and Terri Saelee currently minister to the Hmong people in Wisconsin and Minnesota. With God’s leads

and

ing, they have developed a group of over 50 believers in Madison, Wisconsin, and 40 in St. Paul, Minnesota. A series of miracles has resulted in 5 children in church school and 1 in the Adventist Academy. Additional interests are constantly emerging in the cities of Sheboygan, LaCrosse, Appleton, Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Working for God on opposite coasts, Minh Pham in Florida and Pastor Son Nguyen in Washington actively share the gospel with the Vietnamese in their areas.

Pastor Saengthong Saengthip is planting a Lao church in California while simultaneously preparing a series of DVDs in the Lao language that will serve as a powerful tool to reach his people in 2007. Pastor Sophat Sorn continues to minister to the Stockton Cambodian SDA Church in California while producing radio programs aired across Cambodia through Adventist World Radio.

Please pray that these mission efforts here at home continue to grow and that along with newly instituted projects, searching Southeast Asians in the United States will be blessed with a chance to hear the Three Angels’ Messages.

Vietnamese SDA Church members in Seattle, WA.

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Adventist Southeast Asia Projects

Soccer and Our Savior

by Terri Saelee

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hat do soccer and our Savior have in common? On Fourth of July weekend, two exciting events took place in Minnesota for the Hmong people. For the Seventh-day Adventist Hmong, the first Hmong camp meeting ever to be held in the Midwest occurred. More than sixty-five people attended, including newly baptized members from Madison, new interests in Minnesota, and scattered Hmong Adventists from Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia and California. Nine new members from Coon Rapids, Minnesota were baptized during this spiritual retreat and

the meetings and fellowship inspired new interests, some of which are now attending church regularly.

The theme of the camp meeting, Reaching Out—Not I But Christ, was demonstrated dramatically as the campers drove to a stadium in Minneapolis to share their faith with those Hmong from across the country flocking to the Twin Cities for the largest attended Hmong event in the United States—a soccer tournament. Within thirty minutes, they had distributed 450 DVDs on seven key Bible topics. ASAP

About the Author Terri Saelee ministers to the Hmong people in Wisconsin and Minnesota with her husband, Pastor Ko Saelee, one of only two Adventist Hmong pastors in North America.

God has richly blessed not only the Hmong camp meeting they organized, but also their church planting and other evangelism projects aimed at reaching the Hmong people.

Please consider remembering their mighty efforts with your prayerful and financial support.

ASAP

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A Snapshot of ASAP’s Income and Expenses

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by Karen Wade CPA, ASAP’s Treasurer

God has blessed ASAP with over $1.2 million in donations! With this ASAP was able to do even more in Southeast Asia than ever before.

In Cambodia, we have doubled the church planters we support over what we provided the previous year; and we funded church planters’ training. ASAP increased the number of pastors supported in Vietnam. ASAP supported evangelism work in a bigger way in the country of Laos, and in Thailand we supported 10 lay pastors and helped begin

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or the past fiscal year,

three new church planting projects by Pastor Khamsay and Mission College students.

In this new year, ASAP has been asked to quadruple church planters’ training as well as continue supporting the Cambodian church planters. The ASAP board also voted to support new humanitarian outreach projects of literacy schools and literacy/feeding projects along with a Phnom Pehn hospice (Care House) for AIDS patients. In Vietnam we will continue to increase the number of pastors we support, and have been requested to double the amount for evangelism materi-

Adventist Southeast Asia Projects

ASAP is Audited Yearly als and equipment. In Laos and Thailand, the number of lay Bible workers who need support continue to increase, and in Thailand we are asked to continue supporting the church planting projects by Mission College students and start two new ones.

Just as God provided funds to accomplish His work in the past fiscal year, we are assured that as His coming fast approaches, He will supply what is needed to care for the new year’s support of urgent evangelism outreach in Southeast Asia.

ASAP

Adventist Southeast Asia Projects, Inc. is audited annually by Don Lloyd of Foote and Lloyd, an independent CPA firm located in Battle Creek, Michigan. In his audit of the fiscal year ended September 30, 2005, we appreciated his evaluation not only of the validity of the accounting processes, but also of policies and internal control procedures.

Our independent audit of the fiscal year ended September 30, 2006 is now in progress. If you would like a copy of the complete audit report, let us know and we will send it as soon as it is available. ASAP

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ASAP made enormous progress for Christ in Southeast Asia last year. The generosity of the below mentioned donors, as well as those donors wishing to remain anonymous, fueled that progress. We thank them for their unselfish commitment of time, talent and treasure.

They are a truly irreplaceable part of the story.

As you glance over these names, please join us in offering a prayer of thanksgiving for each individual.

They serve as brightly shining lights, giving glory to their Father in heaven, for whom and through whom the work of ASAP exists and those who wish to remain anonymous.

Organizations and Trusts Apopka SDA Church Berryville SDA Church Cedar City SDA Church Chico SDA Church Collegedale SDA Church Columbia SDA Church Crescent City SDA Church DeLand SDA Church Eagle SDA School Fallon SDA Church Florida Outdoor Club Gold Beach SDA Church Holland SDA Church Hood View SDA Church

Hopkinsville SDA Church Landmark Floors Mills River SDA Church Montrose SDA Church Mr. Munchies Nature’s Candy Niles Westside SDA Church Oak Haven Inc Phoenix Central SDA Church PMC Basics SS Class Sunnydale SDA Church Upward SDA Church Vietnamese SDA Church Woodland Christian School

Adventist World Charitable Trust Cambodian Charlotte SDA Church Continental Specialty Company Harvest Health & Hope Shoppe LTD Mariah Meadows Enterprises, LLC Oak Grove Heights SDA Church Santa Monica SDA Primary and Junior SS Seattle Central New Life SDA Church

“Myinchildren, we Newlife should Farm, love people not only with Phamor Phoopichitprai stands with two health assistants front of the a medical missionary training center located near Maetang, Thailand. words and talk, but by our actions and true caring” Photo by Don Loyd

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(1 John 3:18 NCV).

Adventist Southeast Asia Projects

Laos Report

Continued from page 15 requested baptism. Plans are being made to build a more adequate church school as God provides. A new church planting project begins this month in the village of Nimith 4, located on the border, next to the main highway connecting Thailand and Phnom Penh. This presents an ideal location for the Adventist message to take root and grow.

This village will experience great expansion

as the result of government road upgrades sparked by increased trade.

This report covers Lao mission work under the directorship of God, supported by ASAP. We would like to thank Pastor Khamsay Phetchareun for his excellent supervision of ASAP projects for the Lao people. He writes, “I give all the glory and praise to the Lord of the harvest and want to let the ASAP donors know how important their part is in making it possible to reach out to the needy and help save God’s Laotian children.” ASAP

We wish to thank each ASAP family member who gave so generously in remembrance of the people near and dear to their hearts.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,” (Matthew 5:4).

Jettie Smart, given by Harlin and Shirley Carey and their family Merlin Poole, given by Jacqueline Castelbuono Al Siemsen, given by Irmgard Hooper Milton Kesler, given by Yvonne Kesler Mr and Mrs. Arthur Haney, given by Emil and Marguerite Knauft Isaias D. Pallasa, Sr., given by Thelma Pallasa Torio Marvin Wilson, Sally Hess, LaVerne Schlenker, given by Yvonne Palmer Gayle Saxby, given by Doyle Saxby Irene Sheldon, Robert’s dear mother who was 99 ½ years old, given by Robert and Vivian Sheldon David Casthberg, given by Richard and Claudia Sowler ASAP

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P.O. Box 84, Berrien Springs, 49103 www.asapministries.org 1 (866) 365-3541

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

ASAP is in the initial planning stages of the trip. Please contact ASAP’s mission trip coordinator at office@asapministries.org for more information about this great opportunity you do not want to miss!

Summer 2007 Destination Thailand

Make a Difference for Christ!

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID BERRIEN SPRINGS, MI PERMIT NO. 42