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In this fast-paced world where technology can easily produce results, people want to do things now, and patience is becoming a rare virtue, waiting can be very excruciating.
Waiting patiently. This has been God’s overarching message to us these last few months.
At the Mekong
“We are praying and waiting on the Lord to send more missionaries here,” one of the missionaries we met at the border of Thailand tearfully told us during prayer time. They were our hosts in Thailand during our mission students’ short-term mission exposure trip to the Mekong minorities in East Asia. The lady who said this is a native of one of the minority tribes there. Together with her American husband and one young native girl they have discipled, they are reaching out to their tribe in Thailand and the same people group in a neighboring country. They have a huge facility, but due to illness and other unavoidable circumstances, most of their team have left to go back to their home countries. Now they are left with thriving ministries but are quite short-handed. This couple, who are in their sixties, are waiting and ready to pass on the baton to the next generation, but there was only their disciple Somjai (not her real name), but she cannot do the work alone.
Once again, “the harvest was plentiful, but the workers are (so very) few.” Let us please ask the Lord of the harvest to send more workers into the field. The 3.4 billion unreached people (mostly in Asia) is such a huge unfinished task.
This mission exposure trip in late February was a vision trip where our students (seven ladies) observed God’s work through missionaries on the field to help them determine their role in missions. It was a rare time to encourage and pray for missionaries on the field. It was also a prayer journey in that they walked and prayed for the local people and whatever they saw in their culture to pray about. They saw Buddhist temples at every corner and lost people who have never ever heard of Jesus before and how they suffer from enslaving religion. They also witnessed the many creative ministries that missionaries do on the field. These made such an impact in our students’ lives that one of them started leading a monthly prayer for Buddhists at BCCL as soon as they got back. Some of them are already asking if maybe God would send them back there to serve. This is why it is so important to incorporate such mission exposure trips at the end of their training.
Excited to Teach
Tim couldn’t wait to teach again. He had two classes to teach this year, but he had to give way to new teachers who want to come and teach at BCCL. We have recently had two new teachers come teach new courses lately: Pastor Terry Holley taught Spiritual Warfare in February, and Pastor Vallen Prest taught Theology of Worship in March.
Constantly reading, constantly studying, Tim has a lot to give and to teach our students. But while waiting to teach again, he started a book club with the BCCL staff. He started them out with the autobiography/testimony of a monk who found Jesus while seeking enlightenment in Buddhism. Since the staff are all involved in cross-cultural ministries either with Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists, they are hungry to learn how to share the Gospel to people from other world religions. We would meet every Thursday 1:00–3:00 p.m. at the campus café. Tim would play the audiobook while the staff would follow reading in their copies of the book while listening. Filipinos are highly oral (audible) learners rather than literal (reading), so doing the audio and discussion aspects are especially effective in teaching Filipinos. The staff have been learning a lot from these audiobook/reading times. They look forward to reading more life stories in the future!
Homesick
While waiting for our Indian friends to arrive during our April gathering with them (called Sangati), one of the staff and Claire were doing a welcome artwork at the classroom whiteboard when Kushal, one of the Indian medical students (always the early bird) approached us. “Please pray for me ate (big sister in Filipino), I haven’t received back my passport due to student visa renewal yet. It’s semestral break soon, and I want so badly to go home to India to see my mom.” We prayed for him that very moment.
We’ve been reaching out to Hindu medical students for two years now. As we get to know them, we find that they aren’t just homesick for their families in India; most of all, they are homesick for Christ. We’ve been seeing their lostness as they continue to adhere to their religious outlook. This just breaks our hearts. We have been sharing our testimonies with them, and the mission students have been doing Bible storytelling as well. We continue to build relationships and meet with them and faithfully plant the seed of God’s Word and love in their hearts.
As we wait for God’s miraculous work in their lives (the fruit of which we may not see while they are with us), we have started a monthly prayer for Hindus at BCCL. We put out photos of each of the students (around forty students) and specifically pray for each one. May they experience our One True God in a personal and powerful way. Please pray with us for our dear Indian friends. Thank you!
Weird Missionaries
Missionaries usually wait until their fundraising goal is complete before going into the mission field. But in our case, we were on the field already when the NAB decided to take us on as missionaries. Thus, we are raising funds just now while contending with the demands of the various ministries at BCCL in the Philippines. Since we started serving the Lord cross-culturally as a couple, we have been living off Tim’s retirement pay.
Just recently, we found out that Claire no longer has health insurance coverage since January because they no longer live in California (they moved to the Philippines in March 2023). Consequently, Tim’s coverage will end in September. As NAB missionaries, we would become a part of a group health insurance. But we need to raise funds for this. It’s been difficult for us to talk to prospective supporters due to the 16-hour time difference. We’ve been able to do it through emails so far, but it’s still better to talk to them personally.
We pray God would help us as we raise funds for living expenses as missionaries. We trust God will touch the hearts of those whom He has called to join our financial support team.
For more information about our support status, please contact Caryn Young at the NAB International Missions Office (cyoung@nabconf.org).