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Dear Family and Friends,
New Year Greetings in 2017!
Praise the Lord! More than 100 ch**ch members have applaudingly completed a one-year B*ble reading program on December 31st, 2016. This year we have been motivating the discipline of daily Scriptures reading in the congregation once again, starting on January 1st. At the time of writing, more than 200 brothers and sisters have been marching on the plan day by day. Not only are all participants aiming to finish reading the entire B*ble together within the year of 2017, but we also let them encourage each other through meditating, sharing, and discussing the Scriptures passages each day. May our Father guide and draw congregation close to Himself through His powerful word.
With your fervent prayers, three X’mas celebration events were fruitfully held. We praise the Lord that He brought many non-believers to join events and unified over 200 brothers and sisters to serve as a team for His Kingdom’s sake. Having been planted for only 3 years, the ch**ch is blessed to become a tower of light among the neighborhood and be greatly used by G*d to glorify His name. We especially give thanks to our Father when two policemen (more than twenty policemen were sent by the gov’t to “protect” us at each event) showed their interest to know more about our faith afterwards.
We visited the minority ethnic group again for distributing materials right before Lunar New Year; meanwhile, we try to make a home visitation to every kid whom we sponsor education and living. A girl, Ahga, who is studying at elementary school, is very tiny and quiet. Her father passed away a few years ago. For some reason Ahga’s uncle has become her guardian. We picked up Ahga and her uncle at school and drove uphill. At midway, Ahga got heavy motion sickness and vomited many times. It was her first time to sit in a vehicle as it usually takes several hours for her to walk home. Along the way her uncle told us that Ahga’s mother is mute and accused her of many bad things in front of the little girl.
Upon arrival we finally met Ahga’s mother and younger brother in a very dark house at the top of the hill. Living in an almost-empty hut, they are poor indeed. The younger brother was quite dirty and was playing with tiny wood sticks on the ground. We found that Ahga’s mother is not mute but she is always sick and weak. She could only speak a dialect. It is obvious that she is not able to raise two kids on her own. We gave her some medicine and food. After visitation, we sent Ahga back to school and Iris gave her a goodbye hug. Ahga held a long hug and wept. She did not tell us the reason that she wept, but we believed that the visitation meant something to this special little girl.
We pr*y that the people of this minority ethnic group leave the idol worship and witchcraft superstitions, have opportunities to receive education, refrain from drugs and alcohol abuse, and get away from HIV/AIDS infections. We pr*y that the lives of the minority ethnic group are renewed with hope through receiving Jes*s Chr**t to be their personal Sa*ior.
We sincerely appreciate very much your partnership to extend His Kingdom. May you have a joyful moment with your beloved ones on Valentine’s Day as well as Family Day!
Your m*ss*naries,
Nick and Iris