UPDATE ON PHILIP AUNG

January 2008

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year to you all! Thank you very much for your partnership in the ministry to the Burmese people. Praise the Lord for all your love, prayer and supports, through OMF international, which enable me to serve the Burmese people on the Thai - Burma border. The Lord has provided every thing I need for the Burmese ministry through you in 2007.

Though I got motorcycle accident on the 11th January 2007 and it broke my right color bone, the Lord has used me and led me to His glory throughout 2007. My color bone is now got to normal and I am very happy. Praise the Lord for my good health.

Since I came back form Australia, I was very busy preparing for Christmas. Also I attended many Christmas Celebration in Mae Sot and neighbouring area. We attended the Hmong Church Christmas celebration at kilo 44, south of Mae Sot on the 16th December. I was invited to preach at the Christmas Celebration at one of our Burmese Church member's home on the 19th December. They invited their neighbours. One of the sons in law who was Buddhist, received the Lord Jesus on that day.

I also was invited to preach at the Burmese Grace Church on the 23rd December. On the Christmas day we attended Love God Church Church in the morning and Saman Samutkhee Thai Church in the evening. Again on the 27th, I preached at the Jewellery factory Christmas.

On the 30th, Our Burmese Church celebrated Christmas Celebration. On that night, more than 300 Burmese people came. Our Church was full of Burmese people. Pastor Shine Lin preached about SIN. I, missionary, preached about the BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST and Evangelist Shwe Ni preach about SALVATION. 90% of them who came to the Christmas are non Christians. We can witness to many Burmese people about the birth of Christ and His gospel in December during the Christmas Time.

On the 1st January, New year evening we were invited to show Jesus Film at one of the Sewing Machine Factories in Mae Sot. More than 500 Burmese people watched together. Praise the Lord for the projector and the car. We can move around easily and do the ministries. However, Burmese people are always very busy and have to work overtime every day. We have to wait until Chinese New Year. Many factories will be closed at that time and people will be free and we can show Jesus film or other films which are related to our Saviour.

I would like to ask you to pray for the Kilo 44 school. All the Burmese schools in Thailand will start their new year schooling at the beginning of June. Before then, I need to prepare a lot. At the moment, I am waiting for my two facilitators, Neel and Greg, to go together to the Kilo 44 Hmong Church. We will discuss with the elders of the Hmong Church. Then I have to build a building for the classes. I have to look for Christian teachers and so on... Lots of things are to be done... So please pray.

Prayer Points:

· Praise the Lord for all the opportunities that the Lord has given me for the Salvation of the Burmese people during Christmas.

· Praise the Lord for the unity and strength in our Church.

· Praise the Lord for the Grace Church and Love God Churches on Thai side and New Generation Church on Burma side, joined our Church and worked together on the evening of Christmas on the 30th December. Praise the Lord for His love among us.

· Pray that all the Churches working together with us will grow together and the Lord will be glorified through us.

· Pray for those who have heard the gospel during the Christmas will have faith and be saved. May the Holy Spirit continue to draw them to Jesus.

· Pray that Jesus will be lifted up on high in our lives and He will dwell among us.

· Pray that every believer in our Church will know the power of praising God (Acts16:25,26).

· Pray for Pastor Shine Lin's further studies in Australia in 2009. He longs to have Master of Theology in his future.

· Pray for Artee and Parani with two Children, our assistant pastors so that they will have deeper love for God and Burmese people and they will be obedient to Him. They will have enough knowledge of God to share and preach. They will be filled with the Holy Spirit. May the Lord prove them as our Church pastors in 2009. They will take over the pastoring jobs when pastor Shine Lin leaves for his study.

· Pray for the kilo 44 school which will be the light for the Burmese children and a bride to reach to the parents with the gospel. Pray that the Lord will guide and open the school for the poor needy Burmese children. Pray also that the Lord will provide all the needs for the school.

May the Lord bless you and make you a blessing to Burmese people. Please continue to bless the Burmese through your prayer

In His Love,

Philip

UPDATE FROM LYDIA LEE (feb-march)

06-Dec-2007 10:32 Hey… Thanks 4 teaching me at media serve… I have learn a lot…Haha… Nw I won’t sleep during sermon n became very interested abt god’s word…  thanks alot

Dear friends,

I received the sms (above) from a 14-year-old student last year, after our Media Project Serve ended in December. To be honest, when I first met him, my heart sank. He looked like the rebellious student who was apathetic towards anything and everything. I soon discovered that while he was not apathetic towards his interests like computer games and Japanese anime, he was apathetic towards the Word of God. In his own words during our first Quiet Time session, he described his attitude towards God’s word as “bo-chap”. (Translated: Don’t care). There, I challenged him: If you do not care for God’s word, why do you want to believe in Him and follow Jesus? At that moment, I saw him frown- out of a sudden realization that perhaps, this attitude he held was not correct. Nobody, it seems, has ever challenged this attitude of his! Ever since then and after several times when I brought him to see his error from God’s word, I saw him begin to desire to understand God’s word and struggle to live it out. God melted the heart of this outwardly rebellious Ah-beng to receive His word. At the end of 2007 he popped me this sms. You can imagine the joy I felt! God had used this boy’s transformed life to encourage me.

Many of us may look at our youths today and shake our heads or wag our fingers at them. They seem to be more anti-authoritative in schools and at home. Those who call themselves Christians and pride themselves from coming from Christian families behave just like non-Christians. I tend to get impatient at them, wondering how they can be so ignorant of their faith, so hypocritical in their conduct and not even realize it! But it is in times like these that God teaches me to pray- to pray for their hearts. God reminds me that I too, was once like them until He sent an older Christian to come and challenge me, to provoke me to think about worshipping God in the right way. God uses His people to challenge these youths out of their complacency and apathy. They need someone who will encourage them in their Christian walk. And for that, I remember that is why the ministry of SYFC continues.

PROJECT SERVE 2008 We want to Engage, Equip & Encourage our generation of Christian youths to rise up to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus, for the next 10 weeks, the staff team from across the different ministries is devoted to helping 48 Christian youths grow in their faith and to share their faith. There are 16 and 18 year olds, from all sorts of backgrounds and are all at different levels of maturity in their faith. It is a challenge to help them grow but it is a necessary ministry. It is about Christian young people reaching another young person for Jesus Christ. Personally, I will be supervising 2 girls: Linda (16 years old) and Rachel (18 years old). You might find Linda’s name familiar. I write about her often in my previous letters. She was a student I met 2 years ago at our 1st Media Project Serve. Ever since then, I had been meeting her for bible studies and involving her in subsequent holiday programs. God gave me the joy of seeing her grow to become more serious and pro-active in understanding her faith and living it out. It is a great encouragement to see her commit to these 10 weeks. In many aspects, the acts of service in this ministry in these 10 weeks will be out of her comfort zone and will require her to push her limits constantly. One example was:

PROJECT SERVE’S 1ST WEEK: ADVENTURE CAMP On the 1st day, they had to learn how to use the GPS* handset and track all over Lim Chu Kang area. Then there was 16km night cycling out to do a Cemetery Walk. Being a non-sporty person, this was physically very tough for Linda. On Day 1, she had a very bad fall from the bicycle and suffered a deep cut on her knee. We rushed her to the hospital to get the wound disinfected and bandaged. She was in tears and shock but after several hours, she recovered. Despite her bleeding wound, she went for the cemetery walk with us. On the 3rd day, she even participated in the Adventure Race, which consisted of 25km of fast walking! She did not complain or use her injury as an excuse to stay out of the activities. She did her best to keep up with the team in the race so she will not slow them down too much. In our reflection, she shared that the reason she endured was because she wanted to learn the lesson of perseverance- perseverance in the race and also perseverance in the ministry. This Adventure Week helped me learn something new about Linda. It was a joy to see a growth in character in this young lady. Through the different Project Serves and opportunities to get involved in the lives of different youths, the importance and transforming power of God’s word in a person’s life crystallizes. I dare not, for a moment, think that the change in these youths are due to my competence because I remember vividly the nights I cried over them because I was at my wits’ end and desperate moments I prayed to God to help me help them. With that conviction, I will strive to make God’s Word central in my own personal walk with Him as well as in the way I lead any student placed in my care. Please keep us all- the Staff Team, the Project Servants and myself- in prayer. We, like the youths, need God’s grace and your encouragement as we labour together for God’s glory!

Lydia Lee.

INVITATION TO THE 2008 EXPLORE MISSION & MENTORS CONFERENCE – 25 to 27 April 2008

I’d like to invite you to this year’s Explore Missions & Mentors Conference being held from Friday 25 to Sunday 27 April 2008.

This will be a great weekend to meet up with hundreds of people from throughout Melbourne and regional Victoria who are:-

· considering, preparing or currently serving Christ cross-culturally, or

· committed to supporting and mentoring those who are.

Key aspects of the weekend include:-

• Connecting – meet up with others considering or preparing to serve Christ cross-culturally, as well as with many currently serving cross-culturally and with organisations keen to serve you on this journey.
• Encouraging – be encouraged by conversations with like-minded people over the course of the weekend. Be encouraged as God’s Word continues to transform your life & thinking and hear how God is working throughout the world.
• Equipping – grow both in your understanding of God and cross-cultural mission, as well as reflecting on practical steps you can make, both in serving Him now and preparing for the future.

Conference Details (in brief):

	Date:	Fri 25th to Sun 27th April 2008
	Location:	Oasis Conference Centre, Mt Evelyn
	Cost:	FULL WEEKEND $110.00* (includes all meals & accommodation) MENTORS CONFERENCE $45.00* (includes morning tea, lunch & afternoon tea on the Saturday only) *Early bird price for registrations received before 11th April, otherwise $125.00 for the full weekend & $60.00 for the Mentors Conf / Saturday (inc lunch) only.
	Theme:	“Crossing Over” Exploring God’s great crossing over events and how they shape us and our ministry as we prepare for a life of crossing over to serve those yet to hear.
	Presenters:	Key Speaker: Sam Reeve (Vice Principle of BCV) Plus approximately 30+ workshop leaders (most with extensive cross-cultural experience).
	Further Information:	Explore Mission Website www.exploremission.org.au and follow the quick link.

Please note that most information regarding the conference is now available on the website. Conference brochures and registration forms will be available for downloading from the website shortly.

Please also feel free to forward this on to anyone else you know for whom this weekend would be helpful.

We look forward to seeing you on the weekend, and please don’t hesitate in contacting me should you require any further information.

ALSO, INVITATION TO HELP MAKE THE EXPLORE CONFERENCE GREAT

For those of you who’ve come along to Explore events in the past, you will know that these events are only made possible by the large number of people within the network who graciously serve in making these events happen.

If you are intending to come along to the conference and would be interested in helping out I’d love to hear from you.

I’m currently looking for people who would be interested in helping over the course of the conference, in particular:-

1. in taking on a key / team leader role in the running of this valuable weekend, or

2. being a member of one of the various logistics team, or

3. People to assist with the children’s program.

Descriptions of the various roles and teams are listed below.

For the first two options (team leaders & members), the intention would be that these roles would not take you away from participating fully in the conference.

For the third option of assisting with the children’s program, I was wondering if you know of any people in your church, ministry or family (who wouldn’t be normally attending the conference) who would be willing to serve in the children’s program. This is a vital ministry to the many families who otherwise would be unable to attend.

Could you please email me if you are interested in serving during the conference in any of the following ways (please indicate if your offer is as a team leader or team member).

Also please email me details of anyone who would be interested in assisting with the children’s program.

Yours in Christ

Richard More

Explore Mission Network

Email: exploremission [at] tpg.com.au

Website: www.exploremission.org.au

February 2008
March 2008

2007 - China
2006 - Thailand

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