We ran into the problem about the children’s education again. Our village leader refused to give the required documents for enrollment. He had given us the documents last year with no problem at all. In fact, last year he seemed to be pleased with himself for doing something good for the children.

However, something had changed. This time, he refused to give us the document. “These children are not from here so I won’t give the documents. So don’t come back here asking for it again.” Actually, the document is not about where the children come from, but just a certificate that they live in his village. They are living in the village with us for two years. By refusing to give us what we need, he exercised his power as a village leader.

One thing I know though, God is not like that. He uses his power to provide for us–to give us what we need.

Ever since we came in the mission field, we had lost count on how many short-term missionaries both individuals and teams we have received and hosted in our house. Short-term missionaries are huge blessing to us in several ways.

First, they have been a source of encouragement to missionaries on the field. Talking with people who speak the same language and from the same culture is indeed a big encouragement.

Second, they have been a source of encouragement to the national church. National churches on the mission fields are usually small and struggling. They feel alone and isolated. Success stories of big churches from all over the world provide inspiration knowing that the belong to the world wide body of Christ.

Third, short-termers have been able to gain greater vision for the missionary enterprise. Being in the field witnessing how career missionaries are working make them envision the kind of ministry they can do on the field.

Fourth, short-term workers have been able to partner with long-term missionaries in many different kinds of ministries. Short-termers have assisted career missionaries in building projects, evangelism, teaching in Bible schools, agricultural projects, etc.

Although short-term missionaries have been a blessing, there are some things they need to remember.

First, they need to realize that their main purpose in going overseas is not to be tourists. They need to think carefully how to maximize their time doing ministry. They should minimize unnecessary travel time and unlike tourists, they should show authentic love for the locals. They should not criticize the local culture–their language, food and the way they do things.

Second, short termers need to realize that missionaries have their own work to do. Missionaries are not meant to be tour guides, or negotiators for bargains in the local shops and marketplaces. They need to talk with the host about their plans ahead of time so they can arrange their schedule.

Third, they need to realize they are not there to question and argue with the career missionary with regards to the way they do their ministry. They should not assume that they know more than the people on the field just because the have more education and training. They need to remember that the missionaries have been on the field longer than them.

Fifth, they need to realize that most career missionaries have limited financial resources. They should not burden their host to spend for their housing and food. They should share with the expenses they accrued during their stay.

Sixth, they should not act as visitors waiting to be served and entertained by their host. They should also do house chores like cook breakfast, lunch and dinner or help in the cleaning of the house and the ground.

Finally, short-term missionaries need to realize that God may be calling them to long-term missionary service. While more and more people are going on short-term missionary trips, fewer and fewer individuals seem to be accepting the call to enter into career missionary work.

I had a meeting with Jethro the other day. Both of us are ministering cross culturally here in Thailand. He is leading an NGO that focus on agriculture and community development. He has an extensive experience training the church and the community about the importance of holistic ministry. He trained church and village leaders how to farm and hence help to support themselves.

My involvement with community development is very little. However, I have enough church leadership and theological education experience. Basically, these are kind of work I have been doing since we came to Thailand five years ago. It is true enough to say that God had used me in starting two Bible training centers. (Continuing to work though is a different story).

Between Jethro and I we have more than 10 years experience in doing training in our respective field in this region. We decided to work together. We will start a training center for church and community leaders. The training will be done within three months with 10-12 people. The projection is that we will have three (3-month) training a year. The venue will be the NGO’s agricultural training site since they have dorms, training hall, kitchen and other facilities.

We formulate our goals, mission and vision. Along side this, we create a curriculum that we best think would meet the need of the people we addressed to train. The annual budget will cost U$6,000 a year. Please help us to pray about this project.

History
Mae Sai Out of School Training (MOST) started from the vision of Christian workers ministering in Northern Thailand and Myanmar. MOSt also stands for Mae Sai Outreach School of Theology. They see the needs of the churches and community in both sides of the border. The School is designed to meet these needs by training people who will become competent leaders in both the church and community. It is a joint program of Asia Rural Life Development Foundation (ARLDF) and Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary Education by Extension (PBTS-SEE).

Goal
To assist and facilitate church planting activities in a community where there is no existing church.

Objectives

• To train 10-12 church leaders from 5 churches and partners entity annually.
• To enable the students to demonstrate and mentor other on what they learn.
• To assist at least 10 churches in ministry development.

Mission
To train and equip God-called people to be Christ-like leaders in their church and community.

Vision
Under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit, we envision seeing Christ-like leaders in the church and community.

Subjects

• Knowing the Bible (Introduction to the Bible)
• How to Understand the Bible (Interpretation)
• Teach the Bible Through Story (Chronological Bible Storying)
• How to Share the Gospel (Evangelism)
• How to Disciple (Follow Jesus Training)
• How the Gospel Spread (Condensed World Mission Course)
• How to pray (Devotion and prayer)
• How to lead like Jesus (Leadership)
• How to share the gospel (Evangelism)
• How to preach (Homiletics)
• How to plant a church (CPM)
• How to be a true worshipper (Leading praise and worship)
• How to do village farming (ARLDF)
• How to do community development (Church and Community Development-CCD)

Any suggestions and help will be highly appreciated

A fellow Filipino missionary in Chiang Mai had been blessed with new pick-up truck and he had no parking space for his almost thirty-year old van. He tried to sell it but nobody wanted to buy it for a decent price. He thought it would be more useful for the ministry. We received the van with open arms and he was proven right, it is indeed useful to us. Not to mention that later, we had started a children’s home and the van was not only useful for the family but it became indispensable in transporting the children to and from School and to the church.

So, we drove the van from Chiang Mai to Mae Sai for five hours and except for its tendency to overheat the van did well. The whole family worked very hard in cleaning it inside and outside. Making it look newer than it really was. However, when my daughter closed the sliding door, it fell off. We could not restore it so we brought it to the mechanic. We pay almost 2,000 baht just to have the door reinstalled. That was the time when we have our second thoughts. Was the van a blessing or another problem that would siphoned down our already depleted ministry funds for its maintenance?

To make the long story short, we have the van for almost four years. It undergone some major repairs that cost us a lot but overall we are quite happy with its performance. We even thought of having body and upholstery works and have the aircon installed.

However, this week the van broke down twice and this reminds us once again that any upgrade is not worth and that we have to pray harder for a new van. Some friends who had seen its condition had contributed seed money in the fund raising for the new van. Jonathan gave U$ 200 and another friend gave 5,000 baht. We thank the Lord for their contributions. We believe that this “little fund” becomes big when we place it in God’s hands for his kingdom work. Please join us in praying for this need.

In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end. (Ps. 102: 25-27)

Although we have been anticipating big changes since last year, we are still blown away that they are finally happening.

Firstly, it is now certain that we are leaving Mae Sai Church. We had been working with Burmese migrant workers for 5 years now and this church had been the avenue through which we minister to these people. No one could have thought that several years ago the church have no sunday school, no migrant primary school,no nursery, no children’s home and no trained staff. There were very few worshippers especially in the morning. We are happy that we had been part of its growth and to know that our presence is no longer needed. At the same time, we are sad that we are leaving and will have to look for another church to work with.

Secondly, when the English worship was cancelled, Jethro and I among other Filipino Christian workers in Mae Sai decided to gather together once a month for worship and fellowship. It is a simple gathering but we are open to the leading of the Holy Spirit if he wills that a new church will come out from this fellowship. We are praying that it will expand to become a church that is open to all nationalities and tribal groups.

Thirdly, it is now definite that we are leaving The Foundation that is providing us visa.  Nonetheless, we praise the Lord for his timely provision. The school Rong Rian Powihan is willing to give Narlin a volunteer visa. In addition to this, Asia Rural Life Development Foundation (ARLDF) is willing to sponsor our visa if the the school arrangement didn’t work out.

Fourthly, our partnership with an agricultural NGO is now official. The NGO will have a regular 3-month (spread through out the year) discipleship and agricultural training. Jethro, the NGO director will teach agriculture and I (Joey) will teach the discipleship part using Seminary Education by Extension curriculum. The training will tentatively start in March.

Finally, we are praying for the probability of working with a charitable Christian organization from Bangkok. People to People Foundation found itself in a very unusual situation. They stumbled upon very cheap properties between Mae Sai and Chiang Saen and they believe that God has planned everything. A team from the USA came, bought the properties and is now financially supporting the construction of the building. They will call it The Indo-China Mission Training Center. The construction will be finished in August. The coordinator of the Foundation is a Filipino who is married to a Thai lady. We came to know him through a local Pastor in Mae Sai. He had a meeting with us and told us that they have the facilities but they are still praying for people who will oversee its daily operation and activities. Since we are already in Mae Sai for five years, he believes that we are God’s answer to their prayers. He had invited us to join their Camp and Conference in Bangkok this coming April in order for us to know the leaderships of the organization.
We are excited with the changes that will happen this year. We are confident in God that we can continue on serving him this year in whatever capacity because you are praying for us.

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” (Eph. 1:3)

Joey & Narlin
Jared, Jillian and Reuven

We had not thought, however, that Narlin would go home earlier than I do. Her father died last August 3. We thought she would not be able to get out of the country to mourn with her family and friends back home because our visa is still being processed at the immigration and will not be finished until August 19. The Foundation advised us that we could not go out of the country until after that date. Narlin was devastated. We strongly felt that she should be home. We called the Foundation and asked what could be done so that she could go home. We found out that she could go provided she will return before the 19th, the day we need to go to the immigration office. She went to the Philippines last Thursday and will be back on the 17th.

Tatay was brought to his final resting place in Dagupan early today (August 7). He will be best remembered for the good things he had done for the Kingdom. He was a Bible teacher, evangelist and preacher. Many people came to believe in Jesus through his ministry. Incidentally, today is also Nanay Linda’s (Narlin’s mother) birthday. Family and friends have a double celebration, as we know by faith that Tatay is probably now enjoying his face to face moments with Jesus.

Once again, we thank everyone who readily helped. Our church (Mae Sai Grace Church) extended their comfort and assistance. We also thank our fellow Filipino missionaries in Mae Sai and Chiang Rai for being there physically praying for us. We want also to thank our friends back home and on the Internet, thank you for words of comfort and encouragement.

When Narlin return in a week we will go to Chiang Mai for our visa to the Consular Service extended to Chiang Mai by the Philippine Embassy in Bangkok. We will be spending a lot of time preparing for my departure. We need to check and pack our children’s PACEs among other things. My ministries will resume when I return from the Philippines but Narlin’s works will continue and it will be doubly difficult for her in my absence. Pray for her.

Please continue to pray for us. We are assured of God’s provisions but He uses people like you to make it happen. And we can testify how God do this all the time. Everything that we have here is an answered to prayers. Every work that we do happens because of prayers. Thank you for being a channel of God’s blessings to us and consequently to the people we are ministering.

Pray for Nanay Linda (Narlin’s mother), Narlin and her siblings that they could feel God’s comfort and presence as they mourn Tatay’s death.

Continue to pray for our visa extension. It is not over until it’s over (on August 19). =) Praise the Lord for those who obey God’s urging to give for this particular need. Without the visa, we can’t even be here.

When we left our home in January 2006, some of our close friends were concerned that we will not last a year in Thailand because they are aware how limited our financial support then. However, as a family we had been living on whatever God had provided.  We can live with very little.

Five years in mission made us realized that missions does not come cheap, it is, in fact very costly in terms of effort, time and money. The mere fact that we are allowed to live here cost us huge amount. The visa expenses alone are equivalent to a whole year pastor’s salary in the Philippines. Of course, house rent is another story.

We are thankful to the Lord for giving us ministries according to our gifting thus we really enjoy doing.  We are ministering to the orphan children, reaching out to the community through teaching English and do volunteer teaching in the municipal elementary school. Our church involvement is still going stronger each year and integrated with this is the ministry of making disciples training church leaders from Myanmar.

Our understanding of God’s promise of provision gets more real, deeper and meaningful for us this year. Financial helps were extended unexpectedly from to us from people who told us that God spoke to them to give us the certain amount of money for our specific needs. This is God’s way of reassuring us that He is the one who sent us here and he is the one who will see us through.

With God’s continuous provision and the Holy Spirit’s empowerment we are expecting to expand the vision that He has given to us in sharing the gospel and ministering in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, our sincere gratitude for your love and prayers.
Attached here is the PDF version of this update in case you want it printed out.

Blessings in Christ,

Joey & Narlin
Jared, Jillian & Reuven

My Father’s House
In a conversation with our friends and fellow missionaries about our plan in the future, they told us that perhaps God’s intention is for us to spend long years here in Mae Sai. When we asked why, they said, “it is because now you have children to take are of and they are like your own.

We really don’t know what the future holds, if God wants us to stay until the children grow up or train somebody (which we are already doing) who will take our place if we leave, in any case, we are happy to follow God’s will.

Working together with Angela, we decided to change the name of Grace Home Kindergarten Center and our ministry into “Baan Pabida” which means “Father’s House.”

In another development, the Network for Children and Women Under the Same Sky Association (NCWUSSA), an organization of Pastors, Christian workers and NGOs has invited us to join them in prevention of child trafficking in the region. They also commend our efforts and called it and “adoptive family” in which they think is the ideal set up in helping orphaned and abandoned children in the region.

We will formally become official member in its next scheduled meeting in August. We see this as an opportunity to join our fellow kingdom workers in sharing the love of Christ for the lost and needy.

Brush with Disaster: A Testimony
July 3 2010, we were traveling to to Chiang Mai for our visa extension. Earlier, God had provided a comfortable and efficient vehicle when Charles, our fellow missionary left his pick-up truck and allowed us to use it while he was gone.

We were driving along the winding and sloping road on the mountains when the rain started falling. The road was extremely slippery so I was driving cautiously slow. We witnessed a very bad accident involving nine vehicles that killed people on the same road last year. So we were very much aware of the risk.

We were going uphill when we felt that the tires were sliding on the wet asphalt road. Then suddenly, we saw a bronze colored pickup truck going downhill from the opposite direction skidded. The driver presumably slammed on the brake and the truck went wild and started spinning toward us in full speed.

As it was coming closer toward us, we were praying loudly asking God to make it stop. It did not but somehow it missed us by few inches when it passed by us in a reverse position and rolled into a halt about ten meters behind us. When it was over, we uttered a pray of thanksgiving to God for protecting us from impending disaster. We also thank you for we know and feel that you are praying for God’s protection for us.

FAITH Gardening
The Nehemiah Team from the US came to work with Asia Rural Life Development Foundation (ARLDF) in their agricultural and construction projects.  Consequently, Jethro (ARLDF director) coordinated for them to come and helped us in the improvement our FAITH (Food Always in the Home) garden. A big blessing indeed, the children love gardening. We will have a regular supply of vegetables.  Thanks to Jethro and the Nehemiah Team for the big help.

A Surprise Writing Grant
After four years of trying to write my dissertation, I was ready to give it all up. I am not capable of doing anything academically while in the mission field. My brain is not just up to it.

Last month, I received a message from my sister Nori saying that she will try to raise fund for my travel expenses so that I can go back to school and finish writing the paper.  It was a good idea but I was not really excited about it. Surprisingly few people responded, she was able to raise the amount and hence I will be going home for three to four months to do the research and the writing at the seminary.

Our prayer is that this study will be very useful in training ministerial and graduate students here in Mae Sai and to the other parts of Thailand and Myanmar in the light of our plans to establish a training center.

Visa Extension
We praise the Lord that our visa had been extended and we are looking forward to another year of fruitful ministry here in Thailand. We will go back to the immigration office in August 19 for our final approval. We all thank you for specifically praying for this need. We believed that God provided for all the expenses. Technically though, we are in debt because part of the money we used was intended for the ministry fund.

Prayer Requests
Once again, we sincerely appreciate your prayers for us. Here iare our prayer concerns:

• We praise and thank the Lord for his miraculous provisions for specific needs for house rent and our adopted children’s education.
• We are praying that our visa support will come regularly from the churches in the Philippines.
• Pray for Narlin’s healing, she is experiencing back pains and moreover, she will need extra energy to take care of the children and the ministry while we (Joey and Jared) are away.
• Pray for us (Joey and Jared) as we travel to the Philippines on September 4. Pray for provision and protection.
• Pray for Jared, Jillian and Reuven’s home schooling.  Pray for provisions, we need to buy PACEs while we are in the Philippines.
• Pray for “My Father’s House Ministry” (nursery and mini-orphanage) as we seek recognition and legal covering from the Thai government.
• Pray for a training center we can rent near the border where we can hold SEE classes.
• Pray for future partnership with Baptist Global Response International (BGRI) and ARLDF.

It had been told that Satan’s most powerful weapon against Christians is “discouragement”.  He can use it to work his way into the hearts which otherwise is not accessible. When a person is discouraged, Satan is open to plant anything there that he desire.

Christian workers are always subject to discouragement. There is no shortage of discouragements to hinder the work of God. The Bible is full of stories of men of God who at times became discouraged. You and I get discouraged from time to time.

Looking at Paul’s life and ministry in the Bible, we can surmise reasons for his discouragement in the ministry.

Firstly,  he had to work very hard.  Corinth is one of the most wicked city in Greece. It was the center of the idol worship of the goddess of love. Those who practice sexual immorality went there. There was a lot of work to be done and the largeness of work is sometimes very discouraging.

Secondly, he had to experience failures. Now we can say that it is required of us to be faithful and the success is up to God and that is true, but we all like to see growth and success in the work of the Lord. Paul had been successful in some places, however, he experienced failures and rejection in other places. That was discouraging.

Then finally, he had to work alone. Although there were times when one or two worked along his side, Paul would be more happy and excited to work with more people. Most of the time when we work for the Lord, we find ourselves working alone.  It is discouraging.

But we should grateful that while our enemy is active in discouraging us. God is equally if not more active to encourage us. While the devil is trying to drag us down, God is working to lift us up. While the devil aims at getting us to quit, God is working to encourage us to keep up the good fight.

And here we are given “Three Encouragements to Keep Going.”

The Partnership Of Friends  (verses 1-5a)

If you want to be encouraged, think of your friends. Friends are one of the greatest God given encouragements. It is always harder if you have to do things alone.  But things are a lot easier if we have friends helping us.

Remember Silas and Timothy are still in Macedonia. So God knew that Paul needed someone to help him shoulder the burdens of the work. So what does God do? God sent Priscilla and Aquila out from Rome. It seems that Aquila and Priscilla had a tent making business that they set up in Corinth. Paul just so happened to be a tentmaker and so he began to work with Aquila and Priscilla in their business. This gave him the funds for his support so that he could go into the synagogue every Sabbath and reason with the Jews and Greeks for Jesus Christ. What a blessing Aquila and Priscilla were to Paul. They became his best and closest friends.

Then God sent Silas and Timothy from Macedonia to Corinth to reunite with Paul. So God has not only blessed Paul with two new friends but brought back to him two familiar friends. And their return must have greatly encouraged Paul for the scriptures say that Paul was pressed in his spirit to testify to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.

I think you ought to stand for what is right even if you have to stand-alone. But I want to add, it is a whole lot easier to stand for what is right against the pressure of opposition if there are those who will support, strengthen and stand with you. Thank God for friends who God puts in your path and in your life who will encourage you in the work of the Lord.

As fellow laborers with Christ, we are friends. We are here to be encouraged.

The Positive Results  (verses 5b-8)

When Silas and TImothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was greatly encouraged. Not only that, he was able to give all his time to preaching and teaching.  He tried his best to persuade the Jews that God had sent Jesus as their Saviour.

However, the Jews rejected Paul and his message. In in effect they actually had rejected Jesus as their messiah. The Message says that “all they did argue contentiously and contradict him in every turn. They insulted him.

Paul totally exasperated finally gave up and shook the dust from his clothes and said, “Your blood is upon your own heads—I am innocent. From now on I will go preach to the other people groups.”

As God’s worker, I believe there is no worst situation to be discouraged. Paul was in that situation but he chose not to dwell on it. Instead he went to the Gentiles and shared the gospel to them.  The result was that many Gentiles in Corinth became believers and were baptized.

Paul had made a choice not to dwell on his failures and he knew that there must be a positive results in every bad situation.

The choice is ours. We can either dwell on the negative and be discouraged or we can encourage ourselves on the positive results. Look and see even though many don’t believe, many don’t grow an inch, some have grown. Many lost people still remain lost, but some trusted in Jesus as their Savior. The church may remain basically the same but then again it may take off like wildfire. Don’t look at what God has not done but dwell on all that God has done.

The Promises Of God (verses 9-11)

While it is true that friends encourage us and positive results encourage us the greatest encouragement of all is the Lord himself.  One night in a dream the Lord Jesus spoke to Paul. Jesus said, “Keep it up, and don’t let anyone intimidate or silence you.  No matter what happens, I’m with you and no one is going to be able to hurt you. You have no idea how many people I have on my side in this city.”

Here God gives us the the promise of His presence. It is all the encouragement that we need, to know that God is on our side.

Another promise is made, “no matter what happens… no one is going to be able to hurt you. It is not encouraging to know that we have God’s protection. Not only will God be present but also he will be there to protect. And they tried. In verses 12-17 they try to come against Paul. But it all came to naught as the matter was dismissed.

There is a third promise here. Not just a promise of presence, and protection, but a promise of power. God says, “for I have much people in this city.” What did that mean? It meant simply that there were those who were lost who under the power of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of Paul would come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. There were those who were to be saved by the power of God.

Friends are great encouragers and results are encouraging but when God comes to you and promises his presence, protection, and power, you have every reason to keep on going forward.

Patrick Johnstone says this about what it means to be a truly biblical church.

Scripture, theology, the Church, and even Christians would not exist without mission. Therefore, a theology without mission is not a biblical theology, a Church without mission is not longer truly the Church and a Christian without mission is no true disciple. For Christians, mission is not an optional extra for the fanatical few or for the specially anointed, it is a fundamental definitive of who we are in Christ and why we are in Christ.

And Johnstone quotes David Bosch in his book Transforming Mission

Mission… is seen as a movement from God to the world; the Church is viewed as an instrument for that mission. There is a church because there is mission, not vice versa.

Johnstone then challenges the Christians for not understanding this concept and not seeing this vision. He says that it is a failure…

… they miss God’s purpose, God’s intimacy and God’s blessing. Living for the fulfillment of this vision of the Father is the most noble, most enriching, most meaningful purpose can have in life.

How can any child of God claim to be following Jesus if they have no concern for the lostness and need of the peoples in this world? HOw can they expect the promise of his abiding presence with them, ‘I will be with you always,’ if they have not been willing to obey the command ‘…go and make disciples of all peoples…’

Then he goes on to say that any church should not claim to be biblical and a Christian cannot be a true Christian if they do not place at the heart of their ministry agenda–God’s heart for a lost world.

The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is defined by mission–for it is composed of those who were won to salvation by mission, and how have the awesome responsibility to win others as their mission. If it is not missionary in its theology, daily life, and commitment, it no longer has the right to claim to be the Church. The viability and health of the the Church and of ourselves, as children of God, cannot be separated from the task of world evangelization.

This is also posted here.