M. and K. L. | Serving in Asia

As we write this update to you, our village and surrounding villages are in a time of “quiet” and observation for their idol. They are not allowed to work the dirt or harvest any crop, make loud noises, or even play music or videos during this one-and-a-half-month-long period. It is a time for their god to go into meditation and then make predictions for the coming year. But for us, we see it for what it truly is—a way for the enemy to hold more people in bondage. During this time women are not allowed to work, and so they should be more energetic and encouraged; instead, year after year we have seen how weary and discouraged many people become during this time. Typically, there is more illness, and frequently deaths occur during this season. And, although we are not bound like our neighbors and we do not live in fear of doing the “wrong” thing, the darkness still affects us. The obvious way we are affected is by the mandate to follow all of the “rules” for this stretch of time. But the less obvious ways, and the much more challenging ways, include feeling the darkness all around us, watching our friends struggle, and having many more spiritual and physical attacks against our family. Despite all of the evil and the attacks, we rejoice because greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. We get the joy of knowing how the story ends. We are on the side of the light and the side of victory. And so, we keep fighting during the times of darkness and we keep shining our light in any way we can to those around us. We do this even when it feels pointless or challenging or just exhausting, so that, they too, may come to live in his light instead of living bound and in fear, they can live in the freedom of Christ.

A large part of shining our light includes opening our home to those around us. We pray that our home would be a place of peace and a place to feel loved for everyone, from the youngest to the oldest. Lately, we’ve shared our home for birthday parties, for local festivals, for game times, and for fun nights of making pizza or homemade chicken tenders for groups of friends. We are continually thankful for the opportunities to strengthen friendships, create new relationships, and share about Christ with those around us. We get to pray with and for friends whose little children are in the hospital and pray with friends who come over to share a meal with us. We try not to take these little moments for granted and trust God to use these sometimes seemingly insignificant interactions to fight the darkness around us and step-by-step, prayer-by-prayer win more ground for the light. We are honored to have you alongside us, encouraging and praying for us and for them, and we are so thankful to be with you as we all seek to further the kingdom and bring more people into his light.

In Christ,

M. and K. L.

Read the Full Prayer Letter Here…

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M. and K. L. | Serving in Asia

This time of year is always so full! For each of us, the fullness looks different, and it looks different from year to year. Regardless of the events, people, or things that fill this season, it is such a wonderful time of the year to truly find joy in what Jesus did for us, is doing for us, and will do for us! For our family, we will be returning to the United States for deputation right after the Worldwide Gathering in Thailand. It’s hard to believe that we have been in Asia long enough for this to be our second deputation. And, while we are looking forward to all the joys of being around family and friends this season, we are also grieving being away from our home in Asia. Despite the chaos of a typical Christmas season in Asia, we love getting to share the true meaning of Christmas with our friends.

Before leaving we had the opportunity to meet with many of our friends either in their houses or ours, and we gave Christmas packages so they would even then have the reminder of Christmas and whom we celebrate. We know that despite us not being there physically, we can rejoice that God has not left our village or valley. He is still working in the hearts of those that we love and those we have yet to meet. God has been faithful to us through our many toils these last (almost) eight years, and he won’t stop working because we aren’t there right now. We need to trust God’s timing for his workings to come. Just like Mary and Joseph had to trust God in every detail of the circumstances leading up to the birth of the Son of God, we must trust God in all the details of our lives, even when things end up looking differently than we expected.

We had to leave Asia early before the Worldwide Gathering because some of our visas expired. So, we have had the opportunity of spending time together as a family in Thailand. And while we would have rather been in Asia, being with friends, and working on establishing our business legally, or in America working on setting up a new home and visiting family, we are trusting God and his details. While in Thailand, M. became quite sick with a bacterial infection called scrub typhus, and we are very thankful that we were able to get answers and medication quickly so that he could have a fast recovery. We have also recently suffered the loss of M.’s grandmother and grieved the loss of her life while being an ocean away. It has reminded us of the importance of a legacy of a life well-lived for Christ. So, in all the fullness of this season, we, too, are striving to faithfully serve and obediently follow Christ in a way that points all those that we encounter to Christ! May your Christmas season be filled with God’s goodness and love during this beautiful season!

Love,
M., K., N., A., H., L., A., and B.

Read the Full Prayer Letter Here…

The post December 2022 Prayer Letter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Thank you so much for praying for our Easter Evangelistic services. I know many of your prayed each day since I sent the prayer request.

Easter was not a holiday here, yet we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord with great joy and enthusiasm. We live today because of Jesus. It is an awesome thought.

Our churches celebrated Easter with evangelism in each of their areas- some showed movies about Jesus, some did public testimonies of baptism, some had rallies, some had great dancing and singing, and all of them had a big feast of rice and lentils.

The Holy Spirt moved in a powerful way in each of our 20 areas. When we gave the invitation in all our areas, 73 Hindus and one Buddhist accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. We could not hold our joy as we knew there was also great rejoicing in Heaven. We thank the Lord for continuing to pour out his Spirit in our areas.

Testimony of Bijay In the middle of the picture with the beard is Bijay. He was a big drunk. He used to get drunk and sleep under the bridge or sleep in the open fields at night. He was also proud that one of the Hindu goddesses lived inside of him. He was also against the Gospel. He had told three of his relatives not to accept Christ who were ready to accept the Lord. When he got drunk, he used to fight with anyone he was angry with and get in trouble. Since he didn’t work, he was getting more and more in debt. One day in the middle of winter he was drunk and was sleeping without his clothes on, naked, and one of our believers saw him, picked him up in his bike, and took him home. When he was sober our believer started sharing the Gospel with Bijay. Holy Spirit started to work in his heart and he started responding to the Gospel. Soon in a few months the goddesses were driven out of Bijay’s life and he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Here is the irony. He had threatened three of his relatives not to accept Christ but he himself came and accepted Christ and he has not told them yet. Looks like soon we are going to have 3 new relatives accepting Christ. I just heard yesterday that Bijay’s wife got a government job. Bijay is rejoicing.

Thank you to all of you who pray for us and support us. We are truly grateful in our hearts for you.

Blessings,
B. and D. A.

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The following story is shared by our Friends in Asia and shows how one relationship was changed from your support.

B* is a preacher. Before she was a preacher, she was married to a Sikh, which is sect of Hinduism. B* and her husband had been separated a while and she was with another man. It was at this time in her life that she heard the gospel and God touched her heart. She accepted Christ and became a Christian. After that, she was convicted and left the other man. She started growing in the Lord rapidly and the Lord called her into ministry.   Other preachers started training her to preach the gospel and evangelize. She started bringing many people to the Lord. During the Maoist rebel attacks, men were not allowed to go to villages to evangelize and hold services. But the Maoists would not stop women. B* used that opportunity in the midst of Maoist battles to go to many villages to encourage the churches and evangelize. The churches continued to grow under her and she discipled many people. She is a fantastic evangelist and disciple-maker. God used her in a mighty way to establish his kingdom in the midst of very difficult time.

If you would like to help make a difference in the lives of people like this young woman, here’s how:

The post A Story of Transformation from Asia first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  How was your Christmas? I pray you had a blessed time.

Thank you for your prayers and your support. We are very grateful in our hearts.

We intensified our preaching and discipling in the villages starting on December 1. We wanted to make sure the people who were going to accept Christ were ready in their hearts. As Christmas approached, our joy intensified. Our pastors and leaders when asked what gift they would like to give Jesus, always say, ‘We want to put new souls at Jesus’s feet.’ Because they know Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.

We had our evangelistic meetings in 22 different areas. Here is a picture of one of our open meetings. In one of our areas the police was informed. But when the police saw the crowd they just told us not to criticize other religions and we were allowed to continue.

When we gave the invitation for people to accept Christ, 70 Hindus, three Buddhists, and two Muslims accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. There was great joy among us. This time we had three separate areas where people accepted Jesus. One was our churches, the second was inside the jail, and the third was in India.

Testimony: Ex Muslim received Jesus and received her sight. 

She received Christ first and then she was prayed over, for her eyes to receive sight because she was blind. As the church service was going on, she got up from her seat on her own and walked to the front of the church and gave testimony that she was blind and now she could see. You should hear the loud cheer that resounded in the church.

Rejoice with us as the Holy Spirit continues to do incredible things.

Blessings,

B. and D. A.

The post An Amazing Christmas first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.