Middle East: Thomas meets Jesus en route to the USA
Nigeria: the God of Peace delivers Treasure trove
France: Music video is inspiring Gen Z
Convinced
The pace of change seems to grow ever quicker in SIM so it is very reassuring to know that our unchanging God is always in control.
That was a key takeaway from our Global Assembly meetings earlier this year, and especially from the teaching on Revelation delivered so powerfully by Rene Breuel (inset picture, below right).
He reminded us constantly that there is a throne in heaven – and that the throne is occupied by the risen and ascended Jesus Christ.
That is profoundly reassuring for Christians across the globe and especially for those of us in SIM, as we move swiftly into another season of change. Our current International Director, Joshua Bogunjoko, is now in his last year in the role he has filled with such distinction since taking over in 2013.
The voting process to affirm the proposed new International Director is now underway and we would encourage every eligible participant to record a vote. The voting closes on June 14 and every eligible voter should have received the voting slip. Do let us know if you think you should have received one but have not.
The new International Director will take over on March 1, 2024, giving plenty of time for a detailed and comprehensive handover. We are all praying that will make the process as seamless and smooth as possible.
There are, of course, many other changes already taking place within SIM. They include the major systems changes which are now being rolled out, affecting everything from personnel to finance, from Synergie to Port.
Some of the main themes to come out of Global Assembly showed both the desire for, and necessity of, change.
To take just one example, there is no doubt that SIM has become a much more diverse
that no one should live and die without hearing God's good news, we believe that He has called us to make disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ in communities where He is least known
organisation in recent years but we want to be so much more than that.
We want our teams across the globe to truly benefit from that diversity, by including a broad range of voices and cultures in our decision-making structures.
That is how we will go from being a globally diverse organisation to a mutually inclusive organisation.
The GA seminars also reflected the constant nature of change within our global community.
They covered a wide range of topics, from the theology of rest and recreation to how we might encourage more local leaders in SIM; from the challenges of managing cross-cultural teams to how we can lead and minister in times of chaos; from how we can develop women leaders to how we can collaborate and partner well. There is a recognition
that change will always be intrinsic to the way we operate, while at the same time we must always keep communicating the eternal, unchanging message of the gospel.
All the changes we are going through are designed to do just one thing – make it easier for us to do the very thing God has called us to do: share his gospel with people who have never heard it.
So it is worth remembering that while change is all around us, the one thing which unites all SIM workers has never changed and will never change.
We will continue to cross barriers to ensure more and more people understand the good news - and we can be completely confident of our calling because we know that our Lord Jesus Christ occupies the throne of heaven for ever.
Ryan and Jenny Browne Church: Grace Capital City, Washington DC, USA.
Where are you serving?
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
What are you doing? Missional business (entrepreneurship and consulting) and health/aid work with vulnerable mothers and children.
Pray: Peace for our household in our many transitions. Now six months in, we’re approaching our move from fulltime language to full-time ministry positions and have moved home. Pray that the kids will continue to grow accustomed to the culture and language.
Church: ICF, Nürnberg, Germany.
Where are you serving?
Danja, Niger.
What are you doing? As a midwife, I’ll be supporting the local midwives of the Health Centre in basic health care for mother and child.
Pray: For my remaining time in Germany, that the Lord would bring faithfully praying supporters and that he would teach me all I need to start.
Nathalie Kost
Church: Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, UK. Where are you serving? Mukinge, Zambia. What are you doing? I’ll be working at Mukinge Hospital as part of my university medical studies.
Church: Tunbridge Wells Christian Fellowship, UK. Where are you serving?
Gaborone, Botswana. What are you doing? Peter will be a volunteer lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Botswana and Pam will serve in a pastoral/hospitality role.
Pray: That we follow the Lord’s leading in our preparation; for patience in the long process of Peter’s application to the university; that all will go forward in keeping with God’s will.
Church: Baptisten am Südring, Nürnberg, Germany.
Where are you serving? Sahel Academey, Niamey, Niger. What are you doing? Teaching English, helping teachers and tutoring.
Pray: That I will follow God joyfully and obediently; for great relationships with team members, students, locals, friends, family and with God; for Jesus to touch and bless people through me.
Pray: For safe travel to Mukinge; that God’s love will reflect to all the patients and staff I meet while away; and that this trip will prepare me well for any future mission work, if that is what God has planned for me and my life.
Church: Renovation Church, Atlanta, Georgia. Where are you serving? Japan. Yamagata prefecture, Yonezawa city. What are you doing? I serve with Keisen Christ Church in Yonezawa. I am a supervisor at the church’s school. Pray: That I continue to develop an ear, a tongue and a heart for Japanese language and culture. I’ve formed friendships with some Japanese women - pray God would allow me to be a source of light to women in my city.
Church: Redlands Christian Reformed Church, Queensland, Australia.
Where are you serving? Thailand.
What are you doing? Serving with SIM’s Hope for Life ministry, among those impacted by HIV and AIDS.
Pray: For us to lean into God’s unchanging goodness and grace, and for our faith to be strengthened. Pray for God’s protection over our physical and mental health as we continue to adjust and settle into life in Thailand.
Church: Trinity Church, Liphook, UK. Where are you serving? Mseleni, South Africa. What are you doing? I’ll be caring for children at the SIM children’s home and doing local outreach
Pray: That God would prepare my heart for the ministry/environment I am going to, and that I would be receptive to his training. Also pray that I would manage my time well.
Church: Epping Baptist Church, New South Wales, Australia.
Where are you serving? In France for now, then in Niger. What are you doing? Learning language, then serving in church planting and education.
Praise God for a safe arrival in France. Pray we will settle into school well as we begin 12 months of language-learning.
Mark and Nyomie Meenks, with Esther, Jesse, Ashleigh and Caleb
Church: Evangelical Baptist Church of Saint-Denis, France. Where are you serving? Niamey, Niger.
Benjamin and Antonia Wilkins, with Theodore and Cedric
What will you be doing? Discipleship and literacy with women, disabled children and some student ministry.
Pray: For good connections with global and local workers and opportunities to hear their stories of how God led them into mission; for a smooth settling into Niamey and for God’s guidance in what I’ll be doing.
Tell us a little about your background
I was born and brought up in Costa Rica. When I left high school, I went to college to study advertising. I got involved in student ministry and went on a shortterm mission trip to serve and distribute Christian resources, including the Jesus Film, to Muslim people who were crossing Europe to North Africa for their summer holidays.
That experience had a significant impact on me. When I came back, I changed university, and career path, to do Intercultural Studies at the Evangelical University and work part-time as an ‘offering collector’ for the mission workers in FEDEMEC (a local mission agency). Back then, it was rare for people to give by bank transfer, so I had to go to their homes or offices to get their donations. I can tell you that I walked a lot at that time!
After that, I was the director of the youth missionary mobilisation programmes of the Costa Rican mission agency.
Tell us a little about your family
Sonia and I have been married for 19 years. We got married when we were living in Costa Rica and have two daughters, who still live with us - Abigail, 16, and Camila, 12. They have grown up in Uruguay all their life.
How did God lead you into SIM?
After several years in FEDEMEC, I left to work in the family business and as a youth pastor of a church in San José, the capital of Costa Rica. Gradually, the relationship between SIM and FEDEMEC grew and the opportunity arose to start a ministry to youth leaders in Uruguay, so they contacted me. Then the former director of SIM Uruguay came to Costa Rica, stayed in our home, and encouraged us to explore Uruguay as a country to go to as mission workers.
What are the key things you hope to achieve with SIM?
I would like to see how there can be greater synergy
between the various SIM entities and how those entities can serve more closely with the national church, developing ministries that impact those who live and die without Jesus.
What inspires you when life gets difficult?
I grew up with a significant influence from my mother, so I remember a lot of her words. She left last year to be in her new home with the Lord and I sincerely remember a lot of her advice and philosophy of life and her unwavering love for the Lord and the church.
What do you do when you’re not working?
I love to go for walks with Sonia and find places to have coffee. I am also part of a soccer team, and we play in an amateur league, so I love to train twice a week with the team. It’s great to have a coach and team-mates.
What is your favourite Bible verse and why?
Mark 3: 13-14 - Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.
It reminds me that his choice for me depends on his grace and that there is nothing I can do NOT to be loved and called by him. It draws my attention to the fact that my first calling is to be with him, and then it encourages me to keep sharing the gospel of Christ with others.
What’s your favourite film or TV series and why? Possibly the Life is Beautiful movie because it reminds me that it is worth laughing and dreaming, even in the worst moments.
How can we pray for you and your family?
For my daughters in their adolescence and college, that God will provide us with everything we need to continue investing in their lives so they can flourish.
May God give me grace and wisdom in the new role I have assumed as regional director.
Peace grabbed my hand as the surgeons started the first abdominal incision.
She was reaching out to me for comfort, a new friend from another culture, as the caesarean began.
Peace has sickle cell disease, a common genetic blood disorder in Nigeria, which can make pregnancy risky. Like so many women in Nigeria, Peace’s future looked bleak with a child on the way and a total lack of financial and spousal support.
It was those factors that led her to Pro-Life Evangel, a centre for women and girls who have crisis pregnancies in Jos, Nigeria. It was founded in 2004 as a response to the high rate of abortion and child abandonment in the region.
I first met Peace when she moved into Pro-Life’s hostel, where pregnant women and girls can live if their families are unsupportive or even hostile to their situation. Our
friendship deepened over the five months she was there.
Although her life had been in turmoil, Peace’s future brightened when she moved into the Pro-Life Evangel hostel. She began actively participating in Bible studies on topics such as forgiveness and how to trust God.
Partners and family members are not allowed to accompany expectant mothers in the operating room in Nigeria. However, since I was a medical student, I was welcomed in.
In the operating room, I stood
For Peace to continue her walk with God and bring Treasure up to know and love the Lord
For Hayley as she continues her studies, that she would bring God’s comfort to her patients for years to come
For the Pro-Life Evangel Centre to continue its work among pregnant women who would otherwise be abandoned or marginalised
at the drape partition so I could see Peace’s face and speak with her, while also watching the surgeons work.
I was surprised and filled with joy when Peace grabbed my hand as the surgeons began the first abdominal incision. I held her hand for the entire operation. It was amazing to see how much comfort Peace found through me, someone who had come to know her only during the past few months.
Providentially, the Lord reminded me that ultimately I wasn’t the source of any comfort. Instead, I was a servant that the Prince of Peace and God of all comfort was using to transmit his comfort.
I can help comfort others because I have been radically comforted by God, especially in Nigeria where my desire for comfort is deeper than before. I pray that eventually, through caring for my patients’ health, they would come to know and trust
theGod of all comfort.
The challenge of inspiring the next generation into God’s global mission has been faced head-on by our team at SIM France.
They have collaborated with a young urban music band to produce a song and a series of videos, which are now being promoted widely on social media.
The band, Devotion, were formed by a group of young people who met in the youth group of an evangelical Paris suburb church. All are French, but come from very different, multi-cultural backgrounds.
very authentic, very profound and for the way their lyrics reflect biblical truth very faithfully.
Vincent Wastable, head of communications at SIM France, explains: “I’ve known them for some years because two of their members, Jonathan Vanzo and Naomie Michel, went on short-term trips to Benin with us a few years ago.
I’d been thinking for a long time about how we could connect with younger people, Gen Z especially
They have built a dedicated following among young Christians in France and have more than 30,000 subscribers to their YouTube channel. They are known for being
“I’d been thinking for a long time about how we could connect better with younger people, Gen Z especially. Many build their identity through social media, by watching influencers on the channels. And music is very important to them – wherever you look, young people always have headphones or buds on!”
Vincent approached Devotion in 2020 to see if they would be
interested in collaborating. To his joy, they were! They began thinking about a new song for the project, working closely with Vincent to ensure their intended lyrics reflected the reality of global mission today.
The result is the song Aller, which is French for ‘Go’. The song, which was completed last year, can be heard here: www.YouTube.com/ watch?v=Qa3b9XfvU48.
A key part of the project was an
associated video series, for which the band needed to travel to Africa. That was delayed by a year because of Covid-19, but they eventually went to Niger at the end of 2022.
Vincent said: “A couple of the band are freelance videographers, so they were happy to shoot and edit the footage.
“They spent two weeks in Niger, working with some of our SIM colleagues there, and it really opened their eyes to what mission is about.
“They produced a music video of the song for social media and a series of five videos which go into more detail and include interviews with some of our workers, staff members and the SIM France director Andre Tousch.”
The song was launched in March and the video clip has now been
viewed more than 20,000 times – far more than any other content SIM France has ever produced. As a direct result, Vincent and his team were able to host a webinar for 15 young people who wanted to know more about mission and how they might be involved.
The band has just produced a short video trailer to use at summer events and festivals, encouraging inquirers to scan a QR code and so view the song video in full.
Vincent said:
“It’s exciting that people are engaging with the content. We’ve had great feedback from other mission agencies and we hope it will help others to connect better with the younger generation.
“We’d love to work more with the band, but we will leave that in God’s hands for now.”
For the momentum and excitement created by the launch of the song and the video to carry on and even build as it gets more and more exposure on social media channels
That the project would inspire more young Frenchspeaking people into mission and that Vincent and the SIM France team would see visible fruit from their work among the churches they serve
For the project to have a ripple effect among churches and young people across the French-speaking world, far beyond what Devotion or SIM France could ever have imagined when they first started working on it
When Melanie Fels and Sarah Schulz go to work each day, they are greeted with huge hugs and cheers.
Excited children, dressed in the sometimes threadbare uniforms of Nairobi’s Ark School, are thrilled to see their teachers arrive. They crowd around Mel and Sarah, eager to touch them or stroke their hair.
Sarah, 19, said: “It really makes going to work a joy. They could not be happier to see us – as soon as we get out of our taxi, they all rush up to us cheering and laughing. It’s lovely to see so many happy children at the start of the day.”
Mel, 43, added: “I’ve been here for a couple of months now and I have looked forward to going to work every day.”
It is a very, very different environment from the German schools the women are used to. Back home, schools are wellresourced, the buildings are well fitted out and there is room for children to play and exercise.
That is not the case at the Ark School, which was set up by mission workers nearly 25 years ago to serve a poor, mainly Muslim, community living in what is politely called an ‘informal settlement’ in the Kariobangi area of Nairobi.
The school now has about
PLEASE PRAY
350 pupils, aged from around three to 15. Each year-group is taught in a single class and it is not uncommon to have up to 60 children in a single class.
The facilities are basic – the classrooms have a blackboard but there is not always chalk. Several children may share one desk. Power cuts are not uncommon and the water supply can be cut off without notice.
When Sarah wants to take a PE class, she sometimes has to use the dirt road outside the school, so local people often wander through – and some even ride their motorbikes through!
When Mel takes a music lesson, which the children adore, she has very few instruments for them
For Mel and Sarah to continue enjoying their work and the environment of the Ark School
For them to be good witnesses to their pupils, the parents and others they come into contact with
For God to raise up more short and long-term teachers for the Ark School and other Christian schools
to play, just a few recorders. The school does not yet have either a guitar or a piano.
Language can also pose problems. Mel and Sarah, who live on the SIM compound in central Nairobi, both have excellent English but German is their first language; most of the children can speak English, but some use local Kenyan languages at home and between themselves.
The women are teaching the children German, as well as their specialist subjects, but help out wherever they are needed.
Mel said: “Yes, it can be challenging at times and we both learn something new every day. The key is to be flexible and not to hold plans too tightly. We have the privilege of teaching these children in a Christian environment, even though many of them come from Muslim homes.
“They are being taught about Jesus and learning from the Bible. We cannot know what impact that will have on their lives but we pray for these children and their families. We might only have
very limited resources but the joy of seeing how the children are developing and learning is worth the challenges.”
Mel and Sarah are also free to share their Christian faith, both inside and outside the classroom – something that is not always possible in Germany or other parts of Europe. The Ark makes no secret of its Christian ethos, insisting on regular Bible studies for children and staff alike, despite drawing its pupils from mainly Muslim families.
Sent by SIM Germany through DMG, Mel and Sarah have committed to serve at the Ark for up to a year. Mel, who comes from a town near Stuttgart, is taking an unpaid sabbatical from her teaching job in a children’s home. Sarah, whose family live near Frankfurt, is spending about six months at the Ark as part of
her gap year between school and university. She wants to become a qualified PE and history teacher.
Sarah said: “I was speaking to one of the Kenyan teachers, who said the joy of working at the Ark came because it was not just a job, it was a calling. That is something I
will take home to Germany with me and remember all my life.”
The Ark School is always looking for short-term teaching support or full-time teachers so if you feel God is calling you to this vital ministry please contact kenya.personnel@ sim.org as soon as possible.
Many people in the Middle East are reluctant to give you their real name when they say they want to learn more about Jesus.
That’s why SIM worker Joe* took six months to find out who Thomas* really was.
Joe had first encountered Thomas in an online forum, which helps inquirers from the Middle East learn more about Jesus. Their first face-to-face meeting took place in a local bookstore and café.
Thomas immediately told Joe he’d had doubts about his faith from the age of 10; that he had bought books addressing those issues when he was 13; and that he had rejected his faith aged 16.
When he told his parents of his decision a year later, they rejected him. He was forced to leave his homeland and flee to a nearby country, where he had since lived as a religious refugee.
Now aged 19, he told Joe he detested the faith he had grown up with, but knew he loved Jesus.
Joe said: “He went on to tell me all the things that had attracted him to Christianity and to Jesus in particular.
“He shared a dream he’d had of a man in white coming towards him and, with his finger, making the mark of the cross on Thomas’s
wrist. Then he began to ask me question after question about the practices and beliefs of Christians.
“I did my best to answer his questions while repeatedly coming back to the foundation of knowing Christ - of believing in him,
For Thomas to continue his walk with the Lord Jesus in his new church; for him to settle into life in the US surrounded by disciples who will encourage and support him
For Joe and the other members of his Middle East team to seize every opportunity they find to share the good news of Jesus with those people who do not know him
For SIM’s Middle East team to grow, both in numbers and in effectiveness, as they seek to make disciples in a place which needs the gospel so desperately
trusting in him, loving him, obeying him and worshipping him.”
Over the course of several weeks, Thomas started coming to Joe’s church. The pair also met for coffee every now and then, but as their conversations ebbed and flowed Joe could never quite decide whether Thomas was genuine.
At times, he seemed more an atheist than someone who was examining the claims of Christ.
Then, after months of not seeing each other, Thomas contacted Joe once again.
He told Joe he had just received his papers to emigrate to the US and was leaving in just four days. He wanted to see Joe before he left. When they got together, he told
Joe how his US visa application, which had come through in nearrecord time, had been a massive answer to prayer. He said he had been desperate about his application and, despite having doubts about even the existence of God, had cried out to him for help.
Joe told him he too had been praying - and was blown away when Thomas replied, “So, I was hoping you could help me find a church to attend in the US.”
Joe said: “I felt like a spectator
• Approximately 473 million people live in the region
• Around five per cent (23.6 million) would call themselves Christian
• Less than 1.5 per cent (6.8 million) would call themselves evangelical Christian
• The region contains 168 people groups, 92 per cent in the ‘least-reached’ category
of God’s handiwork, admiring from a distance God’s divine pursuit of this precious image-bearer. Thomas is precious to God and known by name. Thomas told me his true name that evening, almost six months after I’d met him.
“He wanted me to know his name, and after walking with him for six months he trusted me enough to share that part of his identity.”
And, just as God had planned, a new member of Joe’s team had recently arrived from the very city
Source: joshuaproject.net
Thomas was heading to and was able to suggest a church.
Thomas is now settling into the US, secure in his new country and getting to grips with his new faith. Thomas has a lot to contend with right now but he has already seen ample evidence of God’s goodness to him.
Joe is praying Thomas will soon find all the answers he is searching for in the life, person and grace of Jesus Christ.
If you’re interested in serving in any of the countries of the Middle East in which SIM works, email middleeast.personnel@sim.org for more information.
*Name changed for security reasons
He shared a dream he had of a man in white coming to him and, with his finger, making the mark of the cross on Thomas’s wrist.issues Photo by Renate Vanaga on Unsplash Map by FreeVectorMaps.com (http://freevectormaps.com)
A small design team is working on beginning the transtion from Port to SharePoint.
The team is well aware of Port’s limitations and believe SharePoint, which is part of the Microsoft suite of programmes, can solve many of the problems.
All entities are now being encouraged to start looking at the documents and resources they have on Port and ask themselves three
key questions about their content:
1. What do you want to move from Port to SharePoint?
2. What will you archive?
3. What will you throw away? By having clear answers to those questions now, you will find the transition from Port to SharePoint, which we hope will happen later this year, much easier.
We are in urgent need of more translators for French, Spanish and Portuguese.
As we become a more mutually inclusive organisation, there is a growing demand for translation.
Professional translation is expensive and, with only limited resources, we keep our funds for translating core documents.
For more regular translation, including prayer material and the
monthly Table article, we rely on volunteers – and we desperately need more of you to come forward. We usually translate this material from English with an online translation tool before handing it over to be checked, so the workload is not as great as you might expect. The more volunteers we have, the less often each one will be called upon to help.
We also need interpreters who
can help with live translation during online and in-person meetings.
If you’d like to find out more, email our International Communications Administrative Assistant Margaret Sweany (margaret.sweany@sim.org).
But, please, if you are able to speak English and French, Spanish or Portuguese, do get in touch.
We very much need you and your language gifts!
New obituaries for Don Stilwell, Becky Jongeward and Ruth Gibbs have been uploaded to Port. They can be accessed by clicking on the Cloud of Witnesses button on the home page of Port.
If you want to add any obituaries, please contact SIM International’s Internal Communications Editor, Dan Muchai (dan.muchai@sim.org).
Our Czech Republic team is helping many Ukrainian refugees, both inside and outside Ukraine. The team would love to appoint someone to coordinate this ministry, helping collaborate with other organisations and increase our partnerships. If you have a heart for Ukraine and would be interested in learning more, email david.riman@sim.org.
The new director will work with the board to develop and implement SIM Zimbabwe’s vision and strategic direction and focus to the entity team. You will lead the team of mission workers and staff, as well as provide pastoral care and build ministry partnerships. For more details or to express an interest email zimbabwe.directorsearch@sim.org by May 31.
Medics, chaplains and SIM leaders gathered with others in Nairobi recently to discuss the many issues facing medical mission today.
They met for the week at a Catholic retreat centre and their schedule was packed with devotions, seminars and reports from around the globe.
Tea breaks became a welcome time to get some fresh air and collect one’s thoughts. Hot drinks and snacks were served in an open courtyard, in the middle of which was a statue of Jesus’s mother Mary (pictured below).
She carries her child in one arm and extends the other arm to help the world.
But I wonder how different Mary’s life must really have been. I
picture a young woman, thrust into an adult world through pregnancy. Suddenly, she was responsible for a child. And not just any child, but God’s own son.
I see her desperately trying to hold it all together while every eye is watching. Every scrape on the boy’s knee is a mark against her parenting. It’s tough living with that scrutiny.
A medical professional’s work is also scrutinised. Judgments are often made on performance. Did the patient recover? How big is the scar left by the surgeon? How many attempts will it take to get this intravenous drip going? What words will the chaplain use? Health professionals would love to carry infants in one arm and still be able to hold out the other to help
the world. That’s how we want our medical professionals to be.
But they can’t always be like that, as the Nairobi meetings reminded all the attendees.
The challenges of modernday medical mission may seem insurmountable but, hey friend, you’re not here to save the world.
The world wants Mary both to hold the baby and help the world. But I know she must have depended on God’s strength. In reality, she did her best raising that boy with both her arms, while she left the rest to God. She witnessed what God did as her son – and his – grew. Little reminders of Jesus’s divine nature that she kept in her heart like treasures. Little treasures to remind her that she didn’t have to have it all together. God had this!
A man came to the SIM clinic in Doro, South Sudan, with significant back and leg pain. After carrying out an assessment, the physiotherapist thought it might be major compression on the nerve roots coming from his lower back.
Conveying this to the medical staff, she felt there were only basic things that could be done for him. She was also uncertain how effective they would be.
PLEASE PRAY
For SIM’s health ministry team to strengthen our medics
For our medics to accept God’s will for their ministry and treatment of patients
For medics to be able to share the good news of Jesus Christ with all their patients
One of the staff members responded, “Yes, you may not know, but you’re also going to pray like you did with the last patient.”
He came back the following week with significant improvement. God was there.
I know many medics have witnessed similar treasures. Moments where the limits of their skill were met with a miracle. They hide these treasures deep in their hearts - little gifts to remind us he’s in our midst; that they don’t have to have it all together.
It’s OK, God’s got this.
It has been about a year since we moved from Singapore to Thailand. We thank God for putting the burden of mission abroad on our hearts from the time we were in college.
One of our biggest worries when we responded to God’s call was learning language. When we were in college, we came to Thailand for a short-term mission trip. Whenever I heard Thai, I felt it was a difficult language to learn.
The pronunciation of some characters may be similar to Chinese, but Thai is very difficult to read. However, to live and serve in Thailand, we simply have to learn Thai, because most people in this country cannot speak English or Chinese.
Before coming to Thailand, we started learning Thai online. God sent a good Thai Christian teacher to teach us. Before each class, she would pray for us.
I remember praying once and she thanked God
PLEASE PRAY
Praise God for people like Jungyan and Enxin, prepared to learn a hard language and answer God’s call to serve abroad
Give thanks for the Holy Spirit and the way he empowers and encourages the people of God
That their ministry would touch many people in Thailand who have never heard of the Lord Jesus Christ
for allowing us to be willing to come to Thailand to pass on the love of Jesus to Thai people. This is a great encouragement and impetus for us, prompting us to study harder.
We have studied Thai full-time in Thailand for almost nine months and have seen God help us. From worry and fear at the beginning, we then found great joy in learning.
God also made our children, who are aged six and four, interested in the language and now they can communicate with Thai people. We have many challenges in learning Thai. Sometimes we feel tired and don’t want to prepare lessons; sometimes we prepare well but can’t memorise the vocabulary; sometimes we remember the vocabulary but get the sentence structure completely wrong.
But, thank God, we know that we do not rely on our own ability to learn Thai – he is with us. Whenever we feel that we can’t do it, God encourages us through time spent with him or with Christian friends.
When we went to church, we couldn’t understand the sermons and hymns but we knew the Holy Spirit was at work because we were worshipping God with our brothers and sisters from other countries.
As our language improved, to the point where we started to understand the content, we realised again the Holy Spirit was helping every step of the way.
This has been a very special experience for us, of being built by the Holy Spirit in our first year in the mission field.
