EAST ASIA UPDATE

Bibles in China Two American men were traveling in a location so remote that they claimed even the cows stared at them. There they gave a "linguistically challenged presentation" of the Gospel to a Chinese man and left him a Bible. When they returned to visit him two weeks later, he had accepted Christ! Once again God's sword had cut straight to the heart of man. Throughout China there is a great hunger for God's Word. An American summer teacher was amazed when one of her Chinese students asked for permission to just touch the teacher's Bible, not dreaming that she could hold it, read it, and even own it. A house church trainer was moved when he realized that several ladies in his group shared one Bible, not only in class, but in their daily life. Many others have witnessed the inexpressible joy of Chinese friends receiving a Bible for the first time. Tragically, China has long been known as a country where Christians and seekers have limited access to Bibles. It is true that Bibles can be purchased at government-sanctioned registered churches, and it is also true that Amity Printing, the publishing arm of the government churches, has printed 41 million Chinese Bibles in recent years. But the numbers pale as one looks at the needs of as many as 60 million Chinese Christians, and more than one billion lost people. Despite the dearth of adequate Bibles for her own people, China will produce one-quarter of all the world's Bibles by 2009! With Amity relocating to a larger facility, Bibles in 90 languages ranging from Slovakian to Swahili will soon roll off its presses and be exported to countries around the world, including the U.S. and Great Britain. To meet the demand of the world's most populous country, some are taking great risks to make large quantities of Bibles available. A house church leader was arrested last August in northwest China and charged with receiving three tons of Bibles from a source outside of China. In December of last year, the Chinese owner of a Christian bookstore near Beijing's Olympic Village was detained and charged with the illegal printing and distribution of Christian literature. Bibles are purportedly being illegally published, stored, and shipped in locations throughout China. Hundreds of thousands of Bibles are also being distributed popular tourist destinations worldwide to Chinese people with hands outstretched to receive them. Please join us in praying that everyone who longs to read God's Word will have access to a Bible. Go to www.peopleofchina.net for more prayer requests for China. What Volunteers Are Saying Asked about their most meaningful experience while in East Asia, recent volunteers replied: "Everything was meaningful. I loved my time inside China. I loved the people oh so very much. Every contact was amazing." "I was really encouraged by the Chinese believers there. It was amazing to see how much they do with so little, and how excited they are to come in contact with American believers." "Visiting villages of unreached people groups and putting a face on missions by experiencing the needs of the people. Also, I believe we were an encouragement to the team on the field." Are you ready for a meaningful volunteer experience? Go to http://easia.imb.org/jobs.htm to check out exciting opportunities or contact eavolunteer@pobox.com To the Ends of the Earth From Frontline Workers "We asked the Lord where He would have us go to finish the task of reaching unreached peoples. Our people gave us a list of the current needs and this group stood out. So I wrote back and said, 'Who are these people?' And the response I got was, 'They are a sub-group who live far out in the Northwest. They have not been engaged. They've been on our list for 10 years. No one has been interested.' There were no other Christians praying for them, advocating for them, living among them. And there were no known believers. And we know that the task is to bring the Gospel to every language, to every tribe, to every tongue. And to finish that task, we need to engage those people groups that are that isolated and unengaged. And we really felt the Spirit say, 'We want you to go there and help finish the task.' And so that's how we ended up living where we live." University Graduates China had nearly five million university graduates in 2007, but almost one-fifth of them had not yet found jobs in early 2008. Since China reopened its doors three decades ago, 1.8 million postgraduate degrees and 240,000 doctorates have been awarded. Tibetans Severe winter weather left 1.65 million people, most of them Tibetan, snow blind and frostbitten in the Qinghai province. Tourism in Tibet rose 60 percent last year following the 2006 opening of a direct train route into its capital, Lhas