Encouraging reports from East Asia

Testimonies of Faith

You Shall Be My Witnesses
We had taught Nick when he was a freshman but had not been able to keep closely in touch. Several of his classmates had become Christians, but we did not have much contact with Nick. Right before Christmas his senior year, his classmate Paul led him to the Lord. Nick is from a village of our people group near another town. The next weekend, Christmas weekend, very excited, he decided to go there to contact and teach some songs to a few believers there. Last summer he helped in leading his father to believe, and his zeal for the Lord has remained strong. This year Nick is teaching in junior high in another town not too far away and has already led three of his students to the Lord and started a small group with them. He has visited with them in their home villages and witnessed to their families! We are thankful for Nick's life and witness and pray for his continued dedication and also security because he could lose his job and even be jailed for spreading the Gospel!

From College to Village
Li's father, mother and little brother had just accepted the Lord through a team we had connected with them in their hometown. We wanted to follow up on them and went with Li to visit there. After we arrived, Li's grandfather, grandmother, and 14-year-old sister also came to eat lunch. After eating lunch together, M asked them if they also had an interest in Jesus. When M shared the Gospel with them and answered the questions they had, they all believed and accepted Jesus! M asked Li to share in the local language everything he had shared in the local language in order to make sure they really understood and also let her develop her skills in sharing the Gospel in her local dialect. Later the family was baptized and now worships and studies the Bible together as a small church. In addition, the grandparents have been sharing and have starte a new group at their own house!

Living the Book of Acts
Things continue to go well in the places we are working. It is in many ways like living out some of the book of Acts. Our work is a great example of how the Good News spreads among people who have never heard. It is through those natural relationships. The first to hear and believe start taking the message to family members. They then begin to tell friends and that usually includes other villages because their friendships like all people in the world are many and widespread. Recently we went to visit our friends and a coal supplier from another town and good friend of (our friend) Mr. Wang was there to meet us and talk about the Good News. It was clear to us that Wang had already been sharing with this friend of his and after about 30 minutes of going through the story this man, he followed Mr. Wang�s example and asked Him for salvation. While the conversation was going on, another family member was around, occasionally listening while seemingly keeping himself occupied. We ask him if he was also interested and to our delight the one just saved, shared the Good News with this other man and he too accepted. The new brother had already done something that most believers never take time to do; lead another person to the throne of grace.

Looking for a New Friend
As I stood in my garage trying to kick start my dryer last week a petite young woman I'd never met before pulled up on her scooter. Her first words to me were, "I want to study Bible." I shared my testimony, sent her home to invite her friends, and stood there speechless. Not ten minutes before she arrived I'd asked God for a new friend, someone who does not yet know him but is willing to gather friends to hear about Jesus. Last night this young woman and one of her friends lingered as everyone left after our first class. They had heard the first part of God's unfolding love story, testimonies of God's care and power and been given the opportunity to pray and ask God for help in any situation they were facing at the moment. On the verge of tears my new friend spoke, "I try to be strong, but I am not. I need God. I want to tell him, but I don't know how." We stood holding hands in a small circle as these two women sobbed their hearts out to God. Before they left that night, they gave themselves to Him.