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Make the Bible Real and understandable
The Priceless Gift Catalog
Who? You and I unite together as Advocates Spiritually Assisting the Persecuted to do everything we can to support national missionaries and believers who often suffer for their faith. What? The projects in this gift catalog reflect ASAP’s mission of combining gospel ministry with felt needs ministry. We aim to be Jesus’ loving hands and feet to lost and dying people! When in doubt, give to one of our most urgent needs: National Missionaries! When? We hope each project is funded As Soon As Possible, because we see signs all around pointing to Jesus’ soon coming and we want as many as possible to accept Jesus’ Priceless Gift of eternal life. Where? ASAP works in Southeast Asia and closed countries where
persecution exists. We also work in North America where many refugees and immigrants need a Savior. We focus on the 10/40 Window because there are so few missionaries and resources in this highly unreached part of the world.
Why? We Always Say A Prayer because we know that when we pray
God works and does far more than we could ever do!
“Let us thank God for His priceless Gift!” 2 corinthians 9:15 gnt ON THE COVER: Panyia Lo, a Hmong, born and raised in Laos, teaches her American-born daughter, Ellissa, how to read the Bible. (See Gift #509)
ASAP Ministries
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ASAP, PO Box 84, Berrien Springs, MI 49103 • 1-866-365-3541 • office@asapministries.org • www.asapministries.org
Five W’s of ASAP Ministries
ASAP Ministries, Inc. is fueled by mission-minded individuals like you, whom God impresses. Be assured that 100% of your donation goes directly to the project(s) you specify; however, in the blessed event that the project you chose is fully funded, ASAP reserves the right to use your gift for a similar project or where most needed. ASAP is a §501(c)(3) non-profit organization so your donations are tax-deductible. ASI MEMBER ASAP has been a member of ASI (Adventist-layman’s Services and Industries) since 1996 and is grateful to be an ASI grant recipient. *Some names have been changed and photos blurred for the safety of God’s workers.
EXECUTIVE EDITOR/DIRECTOR Judy Aitken EDITOR/Associate DIRECTOR Julia O’Carey COPY EDITORS Wayne Labins and Linda Bauer DESIGN/LAYOUT Sarah Lee | ambientlightstudios.com PHOTOGRAPHY AJ O'Carey, Tim and Jaymie de la Torre, Gem Castor, Sarah Lee (cover) GC2014
MANY MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO GIVE! with ASAP’s Priceless Online Gift Catalog
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www.asapministries.org
This catalog gives you a sampling of ASAP projects. Go online to learn more about the projects above and learn about more exciting projects you and your group can adopt!
Lost Sheep Came Home by Church Planter Va Touch
“And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive� (Matthew 21:22).
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United in Prayer DVD $FREE! These short video stories are great to show between Sabbath School and church or at a vesper service! Be inspired! Be motivated to action! Watch and Pray!
Receive this ASAP episode for free! It shows amazing stories from Southeast Asia that will remind you how very much our Lord delights to answer the united prayers of His people. May they inspire you to pray more and even consider starting a united prayer group.
For instance, we persisted in prayer for Rith Samoeun, a lady heavily burdened with caring for her two sons, three daughters, and five grandchildren. She experienced the love of God when church members reached out to her and supplied rice and helped to raise her family. Two years later she had a misunderstanding and decided not to return to church. After many visits to her home where I showed her God’s love and care, along with much united prayer, Rith and her daughter have now returned and become faithful and active believers!
ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER
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fter I learned about united prayer I tried it with my family. This proved to be a blessing so I tried it with my elders and leaders in the church during prayer meeting. They too were blessed. The next Sabbath, because our guest speaker did not show up, I preached about the power of united prayer and tried it with the whole congregation. The members eagerly participated. Now we conduct united prayer groups every Tuesday and Friday evenings and see God answer many prayers in Cambodia.
Gifts of Prayer Give the most important gifts ever: persistent, faith-filled prayers! Your prayers move God—and God moves this work forward! Please mark the giving envelope indicating which gift of prayer you commit to provide.
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Join the ASAP Online Prayer Group $ Time Commitment
Join the ASAP Prayer Team at www.asapministries/pray and receive an inspiring email once a month with ASAP’s specific prayer needs. Commit to praying daily for those needs.
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Start a Missions Prayer Group $ Time Commitment $ Perseverance
Begin a weekly united prayer group with a few mission-minded friends or family and commit to meeting, rain or shine, to intercede for national missionaries and mission needs of ASAP and around the world.
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Be an ASAP Prayer Ambassador $ Courage to Speak Up
Commit to presenting prayer needs to your church on a regular basis. By mentioning prayer requests during “sharing and caring” time or other appropriate times in the service, hearts can become more compassionate for the lost people of Southeast Asia.
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Partner Up in Prayer with an ASAP National Missionary $ Steadfastness $ Time Commitment
Commit to daily prayer for one of ASAP’s national missionaries. We will send you a prayer card you can put in your Bible or on your refrigerator to remind you to intercede for that person. The Holy Spirit will guide you in what specific prayers to pray.
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Accept Our FREE Gift to You $ Openness & Humility to Ask
Call or email the ASAP prayer team your prayer requests and we will intercede for you. We heed Ellen White’s council that “brethren should stand shoulder to shoulder, uniting their prayers at the throne of grace, that they may move the arm of the Omnipotent” (Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 210).
God’s Powerful, Loving Touch by Medical Missionary Sin Sao
Jesus healed, taught, and loved the people when He walked this dusty earth. ASAP National Missionaries follow in His footsteps. You can come alongside them through your generous gifts!
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Administer Love to “the Least” $45/month per resident $18,365 needed per year
Specific Feedback: Support the Sda Center (Sda means “to restore” in Khmer), a refuge for SDA believers who are HIV positive, and you will be giving to Christ himself. A donor from WA wrote, “As I looked through your gift catalog, #405 really spoke to my heart for I also am an SDA believer with HIV. These past fifteen years God has blessed me with His love and watch care over me. He has not let those HIVites get me down! I just recently turned eighty, am a mother of five, plus two adopted from Guatemala, a grandmother of twelve, a great grandmother of twenty, and a great great grandmother of two.”
ADVENTIST SOUTHEAST ASIA PROJECTS
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od goes with me every time I go out to meet people in the neighborhood surrounding the Sda Center. Every week I go door to door to talk to people about the true God and share the gospel. When the residents are feeling well enough, they come with me. One day I met a nineteen-year-old lady named Chan Thorn. I could tell right away from the look in her eyes that she was in a lot of pain. Sure enough, she suffered from intense pain in her abdomen. Her family had sent her to the hospital where the doctor told her she needed to have surgery, which would cost $500! She felt hopeless for she did not have that kind of money. I told her that God loved her very much and was concerned with the situation she was in. I offered to pray to God for her. She consented to prayer and to natural remedy treatments. In one week she was healed. I also shared the story of salvation in Jesus Christ. She believed and accepted Jesus as her Savior. She later married and moved to Siem Reap where she attended our Adventist Church and was baptized. Please pray that God will give me wisdom and strength to serve Him, my family, the Sda Center residents, and the community.
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Sponsor an At-risk Child $20/month for a Feed & Read Student $10 for one school uniform
Specific Request: Your sponsorship can keep a child off the streets and in a great Christian school! Heng Leu from Cambodia is ten years old and in grade four and needs a sponsor. Is God speaking to your heart to sponsor her or another student?
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Send an ASAP Church Planter $160/month in Cambodia, $120/month in Myanmar, $160/month in Thailand
Specific Request: Spirit-filled Church Planters effectively reach their people through sacrificial labors of love. Would your group like to sponsor Church Planter Chin Saroun from Cambodia? Wasana from Thailand? Or another worker?
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Bring God’s Healing Touch Through a Medical Missionary $120/month in Myanmar, $30/month in Cambodia
Specific Request: Would you like to extend the “right arm” of the gospel to the people of Southeast Asia by sponsoring Medical Missionary Ohr Mar from Myanmar ($1,440/yr)? This faithful worker won 7 people to Christ, trained 30 others to be volunteer medical missionaries, conducted health education expos for 85 and served 113 patients in a nine-month time period!
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Build a Literacy Center/Church $4,500 for one literacy center/church $15,000-$100,000 per permanent structure
Specific Request: ASAP is committed to providing simple yet sturdy structures for study and worship. Would you like to provide a teachers’ residence next to the Takong SDA School? This costs $10,500.
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Provide Clean Water & Toilets $250-550 for a hand-dug well $850-$1,000 for a church toilet
Specific Request: The life and health of a village can be revitalized by one, clean, water well and toilet. Would you like to provide a well and toilet to the believers in Prey Kes village in Cambodia? This project costs $1,305.
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Make the Bible Real and Understandable $1 provides a quarter’s My Bible First lesson booklet to a child $11,200/year printing costs for Cambodia Adventist Mission $15,000/quarter printing costs for Vietnam house-churches
Specific Feedback: My Bible First lessons clearly explain the Bible stories to God’s precious children! Candy and Carl from TN wrote, “Thank you for Project #509. This was very meaningful to the Primary class because they are also studying My Bible First lessons. We had a gift-wrapped donation box in the classroom for three weeks. Our youth pastor and the children counted the money and we were surprised and thrilled to know that 64 children in Southeast Asia will receive these lessons as well.”
Complete Turn-Around by Isaiah Duong
Imagine being the only Christian in your community! Adventist believers receive persecution in many forms from their family members, neighbors, former church members, and government officials. Your gifts and prayers help lift their burdens.
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Feed Those Suffering in a Crisis $40 will feed one family for a month
Specific Request: You can help suffering church members during crises caused by persecution from the government or disasters. Lay Pastor Pham requests $2,000 for food for the ethnic believers in the Central Highlands in Vietnam who the government refuses to help because they are Sabbath-keeping believers. They were forcibly moved by the government to this new remote area and are in serious need of assistance.
“Usually when I go on outreach trips, I not only face the dangerous roads in the forest, but police officers as well. There was one particular officer that really gave me a hard time. He stopped me several times and most of the time made so much trouble by harassing, interrogating, and fining me. But the third time I saw a great change in him. He gave support by letting me go and also introducing me to the people that he knows in the surrounding villages. To me it was amazing. It had to be the work of the Lord. Who could change his heart like that? Now he is not only supporting the work, but he is attending church as a member and is no longer a police officer. This change came about from watching Pr. Isaiah’s sermons on DVD and hearing testimonies from me and the church members when we were being interrogated.� We praise God for His miracles in Vietnam. Please continue to pray for the persecuted believers in our country. We pray that every Vietnamese soul will have the opportunity to accept Jesus and His truth.
Advocates Spiritually Assisting the Persecuted
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rother Cuong*, an ASAP lay pastor, courageously travels over the worst terrain to remote villages of Vietnam to share his faith. He shared the following testimony with me:
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Support a Lay Pastor $100/month in Laos, $95/month in Vietnam
Specific Request: Lay Pastor Souvanhnee in Laos and Lay Pastor Hien Thanh Dung* in Vietnam often suffer persecution from family members, neighbors, and government officials, yet they remain 100% committed to serving God. Would you like to sponsor them so they can forge ahead in caring for house churches and planting new groups?
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Speed Up Progress in the Mission Field $100 for moped repairs or a bicycle $1,000 for a moped
Specific Request: You can help get the gospel to the persecuted by supplying ASAP lay pastors with wheels. Would you be willing to provide Vietnamese Lay Pastor Nguyen* a moped so he can reach remote tribal people in the central Highlands with the gospel?
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Feed the Spiritually Hungry with DVDs $1 for 4 DVDs filled with messages of truth $45/DVD player and sermon set for a house-church in Vietnam
Specific Appeal: Lay Pastor Van Kai* earnestly said, “Distributing DVDs in Vietnam is not legal and leads to interrogation, fines, and difficulties with the police. Despite this fact, the believers plead with our supporters in America for more DVDs to share Jesus and truth with others. The desire of our hearts is to spread the gospel to every person in Vietnam. We need 1,000,000 DVDs this year!�
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Share Jesus Over the Air Waves $10 provides one radio to a village [#214] $20,000 Peace & Happiness Ministry [#501]
Did You Know? Radio is still one of the most effective tools in spreading the gospel in Southeast Asia. Ask God what you can give up in order to keep the gospel on the air.
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Help Seize Life Event Evangelism Opportunities $50 for funeral or wedding costs $150 for complete support of one event
Specific Requests: Help Pastor Vinh* from Vietnam and Pastor Boonprannee from Laos and other workers in closed countries capitalize on legal gatherings such as weddings and funerals. Your support makes it possible for them to travel to the events and share gospel messages in addition to giving support during these important times in their lives. (NOTE: Public evangelism meetings in these countries are illegal but Life Event Evangelism works!)
For every one of these requests there are 50+ more available to be funded. If the specific project written about is fully funded, your gift will go to a similar project with the most urgent need.
Reaching a Family Next Door by Julia O’Carey
Did you know that two new legal immigrants enter the USA every minute? That’s more than one million a year! Will they learn of Jesus? Only if you go tell them!
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“REACH THE WORLD NEXT DOOR” KIT $49 (Suggested Donation) Receive a DVD, Leader's Manual, Study Guide, and Prayer Booklet
You can reach the unreached next door, too. Here is our brand new training kit to prepare you. This program uses video presentations, small group activities, and in-the-field assignments to equip you to reach out to refugees, immigrants, and international students.
A Buddhist Karen family of five arrived to Albany, New York, as refugees from Myanmar (Burma). They happened to move in right next to Pastor Saw Htoo and his family. Pastor Saw Htoo immediately went over to warmly greet them and find out how he could help. His visit began a beautiful friendship that continues to this day. Pastor Saw Htoo, Jolene, and the church members, surrounded this family with love and support, helping in any way they could. When the family’s furnace quit in the middle of winter, members purchased a space heater for them. When they did not know where or how to begin looking for jobs, Pr. Saw Htoo helped the father get hired in a factory. They took the mother to the grocery store because she had no car. Jolene helped register their twins and older son in school. Jolene’s daughter, Josselyn, teaches the twins ice-skating lessons. You name it, they willingly, happily did it with no strings attached. The love shown them opened their hearts to Jesus. Pr. Saw Htoo studied with them and baptized the whole family!
Learn more about this opportunity at:
reachtheworldnextdoor.com
Reach the World Next Door
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eventy percent of the many Buddhists, Hindus, and other Eastern religion believers in North America do not personally know even one Christian. You can change that. Pr. Saw Htoo and Jolene Roosenberg did!
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Reach Struggling Refugees $35 for a 20# bag of rice or a space heater
Specific Request: Pah Nu and family recently moved to Indianapolis from a primitive Thai refugee camp. They are used to eating rice three times a day. Will you help them feel at home and supply them one bag? This will help them know the Bread of Life!
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Teach Refugees in Thailand about Jesus $70/month stipend for one teacher $15,000 needed per year
Did You Know? More than 1,100 refugee students in the Mae Ra Moo Camp in Thailand get a chance to have a quality Christian education in the Karen Adventist K-12 Academy. They could soon be next door to you and now is the time to proactively reach them. This school needs your support!
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Support Refugee Church Planters in America $1,000/month helps support a church planter in the USA
Specific Request: Your gifts for refugees will aid your Southeast Asian brothers and sisters during a challenging time in their lives and lead them to Jesus. Would you sponsor Saw Htoo for $1,000 per month to reach refugees in NY? Saw Htoo is sacrificing much to effectively church plant. Help support him.
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Provide a Van to Transport Refugees to Church $15,000 for a good quality used van
Specific Requests: If your church would step out in faith and provide the refugee group in Omaha, Nebraska with a van, their membership will increase. They have 102 baptized members and need your help. Many refugees have no source of transportation but they are eager to worship in their heart language.
HAS YOUR HEART BEEN MOVED BY THESE PROJECTS? HERE IS HOW YOU CAN GIVE IN GRATITUDE TO JESUS WHO GAVE ALL!
1. MAIL in the remittance envelope with your check, money order, or credit card information to: ASAP, PO Box 84, Berrien Springs, MI 49103
2. CALL and we will be happy to take your donation and pray with you, too. 1-866-365-3541 or (269) 471-3026
3. GIVE MONTHLY through automatic withdrawals from your bank account or credit card. Go to our online giving page or call us to enroll!
4. GO ONLINE (www.asapministries.org). You will find more exciting projects! 5. GIVE IN HONOR, MEMORY, OR THANKFULNESS and ASAP will send a gift card to the individual(s) you are honoring or thanking.
6. INVEST IN A FUTURE GIFT through planned giving, such as designating ASAP as a beneficiary of your will, gift annuity, revocable living trust, IRA, or 401(k).
7. SERVE on ASAP’s annual mission trip, become an ASAP ambassador, or a volunteer in the home office. Visit our website for more information.
8. DONATE good quality items to refugees newly arriving to this country. Send your gifts to ASAP Ministries, 105 S. Cass St., Berrien Springs, MI 49103 along with a donation of $15 to help cover the shipping costs. We will send you an in-kind receipt for your taxes (when applicable).
Gift Ideas for Newly-Arrived Refugees: Asian mats (purchase at an Asian food store), warm blankets and pillows, space heaters, rice cookers, Asian dried noodles and dried mushrooms, clothing (for children and smaller sizes for adults) and winter boots, children’s books, Sabbath School supplies, educational toys, backpacks and school supplies, alarm clocks and wall clocks, diapers (all sizes), toiletries (toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, soap), English Bibles (NIV), tuition assistance to attend Adventist schools.
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
BERRIEN SPRINGS, MI PERMIT NO. 42
PAID
NON PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE
Arm new believers with the Word of God to fight off the devil’s attacks.
$5 Vietnamese, $5.50 Lao, Hmong, $10 Cambodian, Thai, Burmese, $15 Karen
Provide the Best Gift Ever, God’s Word
P.O. Box 84, Berrien Springs, MI 49103
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