HELPING THE UK CHURCH REACH THE LOST IN ASIA

2012-02-05T09:23:00.000-08:00

Hi again, and thank you for taking the time to see what the Lord is doing in my life as I serve Him through Gospel for Asia. I couldn't be here without your support and prayers, and I thank the Lord that you are part of my life and calling.

Last year our UK office fully supported 688 National Missionaries and 2,704 Bridge of Hope children for the year. We also got 3,107 Bibles printed, 16,574 New Testaments, over 2 million Gospel tracts, bought 3 film projector kits, 4 church buildings, and helped 1953 Dalit families break the cycle of poverty. That's what your involvement is accomplishing! Thank you.

I hope you had a good Christmas and New Year. I had the privilege of spending them with Angie's family and friends in Washington, and had a fantastic time seeing where she grew up and who she grew up with. They all treated me as a member of the family and I felt extremely welcome. I had a lot of fun with her parents:

...and I had the chance to visit lots of interesting places, such as the Seattle Space Needle:

...the Museum of Flight:

...a Guitar Exhibition:

...and a beautiful town in the mountains:

I was even given the opportunity to serve Angie's parents a traditional Vietnamese lunch!

A highlight was a surprise engagement party organised by Angie's sister and friend:

...which involved myself, Angie, and Angie's parents being dressed up in toilet paper suits:

I had a brilliant time, and I am thankful to the Lord for it, as well as for such an enjoyable group of people whose lives I am connected to through Angie.

Back at the office we have been blessed by an increased regularity in Office Volunteers:

Please pray for us to be able to give the Office Volunteers the right roles that would make the best use of their time and skills, as we want to help them serve God as effectively as they can.

I am also very involved in organising conferences and Conference Volunteers:

Please pray that I would do this well, these conferences result in many Christians hearing about how unreached Asia is, and what the Lord is doing through National Missionaries, and an increase in sponsorships.

Helen White is currently raising her support to be able to serve with us as a GFA staff member:

Please also remember her in your prayers as she relies on the Lord and follows through with making contacts and recruiting pray-ers and supporters.

In case you are wondering, wedding plans are going well!

Angie has lots of great ideas and is very good at getting things sorted out. We have been blessed by quite an easy time in wedding prep, which I think is largely because Angie is so easy going! Please do keep us in your prayers as we seek to honour and glorify God in our marriage.

Thanks again for being a part of my life. Your prayers for me are being heard, and they are very valuable to me. Thank you for your protection.

God bless you all,

JP

2011-12-19T14:54:00.000-08:00

Hello and Happy Christmas to you!

May you have a wonderful few weeks celebrating Jesus' birthday this Christmas! And praise His name that there will be many, many people in Asia who will be celebrating Christmas for the first time this season.

Well, I have had a busy couple of months. I recently had the privilege of meeting a youth group at a church just outside of Norwich who had raised some money for Gospel for Asia.

They did a sponsored walk:

...a sponsored sponge throw (where they let people throw 3 soaked sponges at them for a £1):

...and a cake sale:

These amazing kids raised over £400 to forward the Great Commission in Asia, and I was impressed by their example, and their drive.

Things have been busier at the office lately, and we have been especially grateful for all our office volunteers.

We were particularly blessed when 8 students from Calvary Chapel Bible College turned up to help us out in their free time:

Helen, who has been faithfully volunteering, has sensed the Lord's call to join us as a staff member and is currently in the process of raising support. She would appreciate your prayers!

I have been arranging our presence at The Mission-Net Congress, an annual mission conference held in Germany. Brian will be manning our stall there, along with two volunteers. I will be arranging the shipping of some materials and equipment to Germany:

...so I will almost certainly be calling on Tim's shipping expertise:

We celebrated Thanksgiving as a GFA family:

...and of course we had our Christmas Party at the office:

Peter Hulley recently dropped by for a visit. He was working in York for two days so Angie and I invited him for dinner. Of course we made him play us several numbers on the guitar!

Angie continues to show me great kindness as my fiancee, and we have been spending more time together. She cuts my hair:

...provides a formidable opponent for Chinese Chess:

...reads books to me:

...and made me some very tasty eggnog:

I also found out she is very proficient on the flute:

This Thursday 22nd December we fly off to Washington (state), where we will spend Christmas and the New Year with Angie's friends and family. Needless to say, I am really excited about this trip!

Thank you for reading. Please continue to remember Angie and I in your prayers as we press on in Christ together, and all of us at the GFA office as we serve the Lord to the best of our ability, knowing that it is the Lord who does all these things in us.

Please have a marvellous Christmas! May God continue to bless you, sustain you, strengthen, and guide you.

2011-11-03T12:35:00.001-07:00

SLUMDOG MILLION PRAYER

Please pray with us tomorrow on Friday 4th November!

In India 300,000,000 people fall below their society's caste system, and are treated worse than cats and dogs. On 4th November 2001, 10 years ago on this day, thousands of India’s Dalits gathered in Delhi. Several Christian leaders, including GFA’s founder, K.P. Yohannan, had an opportunity to address the crowd:

Today, 10 years later, very little has changed. They still find themselves oppressed and discriminated against, and the task of reaching them with Jesus' love is largely unfinished. Pray for them with us! Prayer requests are here. Go to our special website and pledge your prayer time, be it 5mins, 30mins or 2 hours. We have already had almost 400 people who have pledged approximately 500,000 seconds of prayer. Also, you can “Like” our Facebook page.

FORUM CONFERENCE

Thank you for your prayers for the Forum conference. It was a great time! I camped:

…met many other ministry reps:

…and we talked to loads of Christian students who were amazed to hear that 97% of the world’s unreached are in the 10/40 window, and about what the Lord is doing through National Missionaries.

207 free copies of “Revolution in World Missions” were taken, and I even got 5 minutes to address one of the seminar groups.

BACK AT THE OFFICE

Catherine has taken to my old role like a fish to water:

…she only occasionally needs help, and the accountant talks almost solely to her when she comes in to reconcile the books:

Angie designed Bridge of Hope writing forms for GFA Finland. This has space for Finnish child sponsors to write to their children in Finnish, have a translation into English, and then have a translation into the appropriate Asian language.

We could always use more help in the office, but have been blessed by several volunteers:

Also, my dad gave me a car! So I am once again mobile and able to give lifts:

…and within a couple of weeks of having it I pranged it against our fence. James built the thing to withstand a tank:

PERSONAL STUFF

In case anyone didn’t know, on Saturday 1st October I asked Angie to marry me, and she said yes!

This is how she got the message:

I went to Filey beach and spent the morning digging in the sand:

…and the Lord even provided helpers for me:

So we are engaged! Please continue to pray that we would honour the Lord with our lives, be filled with the knowledge of His will, and filled with His Spirit to serve Him.

Thanks for reading!

JP

2011-09-03T07:46:00.000-07:00

We are all really tired at the moment! Praise the Lord for strength and travelling mercies to get through our hectic season of conferences. Soon we will be able to put all our exhibition stand equipment away for a season!

New Wine Shepton Mallet 23rd July - 6th August

I went down to Shepton Mallet for my third year at New Wine.

Once again I called upon the generous hospitality of Colin and Jean, and was again blessed beyond abundance. Colin let me to help set up our stand:

...and Jean faithfully made sure I was well fed and watered:

For the first week the stall was manned by Colin, myself, and Lesley-Anne:

...this was our stall in the Exhibition Hall:

...Colin and Lesley-Anne were diligent and faithful to share the cry of the unreached world with every Christian who came across us:

...and we got sponsorships! Praise the Lord! I got pictures of 4 of them (we got 5 in total):

For the second week Jean replaced Lesley-Anne at the stall. She spoke to many people about how the Lord is reaching the lost in Asia through National Missionaries, and gave out many free copies of "Revolution in World Missions":

This is a picture of Jean, Jean, Colin and Colin!

Grapevine 26th - 30th August

Last week I drove to the Lincolnshire Showground for the Grapevine conference:

...I got completely soaked while putting up my tent! Still, the rain has it's benefits:

I set up camp next to Richard and Brenda's campervan:

Richard and Brenda kindly committed to helping to man our stall at Grapevine:

...and tirelessly encouraged people to consider the reality of 80,000 people dying in Asia without Christ every day:

...and one couple sponsored a missionary!

Richard and Brenda also took charge of looking after me while I was at Grapevine, ensuring that I was properly fed and cared for:

...and helped to secure my tent when it seemed entirely possible that it would be carried off by the gales!

Forum 5th September - 9th September

On Monday I am off to Forum, which is a UCCF event, hosted by the Quinta Convention Centre:

Forum's aim is to equip University Christian Union leaders for mission. It is our first time there and we hope to bring the message of reaching the most unreached in Asia to them. I would appreciate your prayers for strength and energy for my time there!

At The Office

Please pray for the completion our new website. The old one has died, and we have been struggling to get the new one completed. Some of us have been working longer hours to try and get it finished, and we would appreciate your prayers!

It should go live on Monday, but the sponsor function does not work. We will be a sponsorship organisation whose website does not allow sponsorship :-(

Thanks for your patience and kindness!

News from Norwich

I have heard that dear friend Libby Dean, wife and mother of 3, went home to be with the Lord after a battle with cancer.

I am planning to be at the funeral in Norwich on Friday 9th, which will be at 11:45am at St. Faith's Crematorium, followed by a thanksgiving service next door. Please remember the Deans in your prayers, for peace and comfort from the Lord.

Thank you for spending this time with me,

JP

2011-07-16T20:32:00.000-07:00

Hello Prayer Team,

Greetings again from semi-sunny York! Thank you for your prayers for the Big Church Day Out conference. It was a really encouraging time, we spoke to many people about the work the Lord is doing through Asian missionaries, gave out over 400 free copies of "Revolution In World Missions", and 3 people sponsored missionaries that very weekend. The journey down was eventless, the two volunteers, Mike and Arul, were a blessing, and all the equipment was present and effective. Thank you for covering me with protection.

I would like to call upon your prayers again! On Saturday I am going to Shepton Mallet for the New Wine conference, just like last year, and would appreciate more prayer cover.

New Wine Shepton Mallet

So this weekend I will be loading up a van with about one and a half thousand copies of “Revolution In World Missions”:

…going on a 5 hour drive:

…and then meeting up with Colin and Jean, with whom I will be staying.

They were kind enough to let me stay with them last year too, which saved me camping all by myself for two weeks! This year I will be taking them up on their hospitality again, and they will also be helping to man the stall, along with another volunteer named Lesley-Anne. Please pray for energy for us for standing at our bookstand each day 10:00am-6:00pm and 8:30pm-10:30pm sharing about what God is doing in Asia. Please also pray that people would understand the Lord’s heart for the unreached world, and that people would sponsor missionaries.

In The Office

I have been training the newest addition to our staff, Catherine, as she will be taking over my role in Partner Relations, so that I can move into a more active role with our volunteers. She has learned quickly so far and I am confident that she will do the job well.

We have been blessed by regular and reliable help from several local volunteers lately:

…Colin and Paul come in every week, and Colin also feels that the Lord is leading him to join us a part-time staff member.

Also, someone called Rowina very recently got to know Gospel for Asia and felt compelled to create a video to help Christians come to grips with how unreached Asia really is. It imagines the world as a village of 100 people, and illustrates the statistics in a very graspable way. She came to visit us and finalise the video last month:

…please pray for the video to be fruitful!

********************************************************************************

Prayer Requests:

Strength for, and fruit from, all of the conferences we are going to:
- New Wine Shepton Mallet 23rd July – 6th August
- The Keswick Convention 23rd July – 5th August
- The New Wine Café in Newark 30th July – 5th August
- CreationFest 6th August – 12th August
- The Aberystwyth 6th August – 13th August

Catherine to become fully proficient in her new Partner Relations role.

Protection for Colin as he takes the first steps of becoming a GFA staff member.

For the Lord to use Rowina’s video to capture people with a vision and passion for the Great Commission.

That the Lord would cause our lives to bear fruit for His kingdom, in souls being won in Asia.

********************************************************************************

Outside The Office

Angie Lucich and I are officially a couple :-). We both feel as though the Lord has presented us to one another while we’ve served here at Gospel for Asia, and opened a door for us to become more than friends. We are pursuing the relationship and I have taken Angie out to do lots of classy things such as eat macaroni cheese in the street:

In all seriousness it’s an extremely exciting time for me! I know that some of you have been praying along these lines for a long time for me, and I am in your debt, and yet I also ask you to continue to remember us in your prayers as we learn to relate to one another in this new way.

Also, last weekend my Dad and three of my siblings came to York to visit. From left to right this is Jonathan, Joanne, Joseph, and Joshua:

They were able to meet Angie, and we took them walking around various sites in the city:

…we played games:

…they got to meet Brian, Mindy and Elijah:

…and they were also able to get to Caroline’s birthday celebration and see the Gospel for Asia office.

It was a great couple of days; I was so happy that they were able to see where I live and serve, meet my dear friends, and get to know the girl who is stealing my heart :-). I was so blessed with being able to share my life here in York with them! The Lord is so good!

Thank you for your prayers, thank you for your time.

Please continue to pray, please continue to believe. Please continue to serve Him who is worthy, to be enraptured by His love, and to be thrilled that God has reserved a place in Heaven for those who trust in Christ alone.

In this together, together in Him,

JP

Request For Prayer

2011-05-26T12:09:00.000-07:00

I am driving down to the "Big Church Day Out" weekend tomorrow, and would appreciate prayer cover! I will be going down to help man a stall where we will be giving away free copies of "Revolution In World Missions", as well as talking about what the Lord is doing through national missionaries, and also encouraging people to sponsor those missionaries. There are supposed to be 10,000 people at this conference.

It will be at the grounds of a place called Wiston House in West Sussex:

...we will be camping outside and I think our stall will be in a marquee.

I will be picking up friend Arul from London:

and meeting another helper called Mike on Saturday morning. My route looks like this:

***Please pray for:

Safe travel
Good sleep!
Many books to be taken and read
Missionaries to get sponsored
People to be stirred up with Jesus' heart for the lost world
More unreached people in Asia to hear the Gospel as a result of this weekend!

Thank you in advance for your prayers!

JP

2011-04-03T09:12:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

Things are going well at the GFA UK office, the Lord continues to keep us, provide for our needs and cause us to bear fruit as we abide in Him.

We had our yearly delivery of copies of “Revolution In World Missions”. We got 20,000 copies this time, in preparation for conference season and to see us through to the end of the year.

We have been blessed with several volunteers who have been giving us some extra help with tasks in the office.

Andy and Brenda were putting books into envelopes:

Jack and Elijah have been filing:

And Sandra has been learning to edit radio broadcasts:

On a personal note, I was very sad to see the white Nissan Almeria finally taken away for scrap couple of weeks ago. It has faithfully served Calvary Chapel Twickenham, Calvary Chapel Norwich, myself, then Helen, and then finally the Thrasher family. It failed its MOT in March and would have cost too much to repair, and thus has been put to rest.

We also just celebrated Brian’s birthday…

…which also means an anniversary for my time here at the York office:

I have now been serving with Gospel for Asia for 2 years, and still feel undeserving of the blessing and privilege of being with such a Jesus-centred ministry. Thank you all for your prayers and support! I am grateful to God for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now, and for being a part of my life. I appreciate you greatly!

I recently went home for my sister’s birthday gathering at my mother’s house.

My mother cooked some nice food:

And there were several hours of board games:

And my brother Jonathan and aunt Kim demonstrated how much they like mango!

Thank you again for keeping in touch with what’s happening in my life. I will write again when I can.

God bless you and keep you and guide you!

JP

3. Hyderabad 9-11 Oct

2010-12-12T05:38:00.000-08:00

Our third stop was Hyderabad, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. We arrived in the evening of Saturday 9th Oct and went straight to our hotel for a good night's sleep, in preparation for a hectic couple of days.

Sunday 10th Oct - Chapel, Campus tour, testimonies, 2 BOHs

We started Sunday off with a church service at the Bible college campus chapel:

Catherine did an acapella song:

...and Matt taught from Nehemiah 8, mentioning our responsibility as Christians to help people understand God's word:

During communion some of the students could be heard weeping as they meditated on what Jesus has done for all of us.

After Chapel service we were given a tour of the Bible college campus grounds. We saw one of the students' classrooms:

...and were able to pretend to be students for a few minutes:

Then we were shown some of the gifts bought through donations from the Gospel for Asia Christmas Catalogue. Here is a working BioSand water filter:

...here are some of the bicycles and sewing machines:

...and here are some pulling carts for street vendors:

We were also shown the radio broadcast studio:

...where they showed us how they record the radio broadcasts:

...by recording me!

After the tour we met two of the Bible college students who bravely gave us their testimonies.

The first was this girl:

...she is from a non-Christian family, with 2 older brothers, 1 older sister and 1 younger brother, and from childhood she did traditional religious rituals to various idols. At 5 years old she developed a serious form of asthma which gave her severe stomach pains and confined her to her bed. Hospitals and medicines were no help, her family spent thousands of rupees but she continued to lose health and weight, and the doctors said it was a sickness from birth which she would never be rid of. By the time she was 18 years old her family had given up all hope for her recovery and left her alone in a room - no-one would be with her, no-one any longer cared for her. She started wishing she was dead and resolved to hang herself, but suddenly remembered that she had once heard about Jesus at a church she once went to with her friends. She cried out to him. Jesus appeared to her in a dream, and said to her "I am the Lord that healeth thee", and then he touched her, all the burden left her body, and she awoke completely healed. That night she confessed her sins and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Saviour. To her dismay her family then treated her worse because she was now a Christian, despite her miraculous healing. They completely rejected her. Some time later she managed to finish a batchelor's degree, but her spiritual life was declining. She settled to finding herself a job but could not. And then remembered that Jesus had told her to be a witness for him, and she decided to obey Him and serve Him with her life, even though her family were not supportive. It is her desire to be a witness to young girls, and she asks for prayer for her family to come to know the love of Christ.

The other testimony we heard came from this young man:

His family worshiped idols, gods and goddesses, but when he was 13 he was invited to go to church and ended up going regularly. His parents told him not to go as this was not their family faith, but he did not stop. He found such peace in the word and worship that he could not stay away. His parents forced the issue, harassed him, and beat him, until he stopped going. He stopped for a while but then secretly re-started. One Sunday the pastor shared about confessing sin. He cried and confessed his sins and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Saviour, and discovered a desire to share God’s word with others. Because of his new faith in Christ his parents told him to leave home. He begged them not to throw him out but they did anyway. The pastor encouraged him and sent him to (this) Bible college to study God’s word. His parents told him not to go, but he answered them that even if they cut him in pieces he would never leave Jesus. Now every time he calls them his parents tell him to stop studying at Bible college and come home, such that he is afraid to go home in case his parents kidnap him. He is 21 years old and in his first year, so all these things happened not long ago. He is praying to be led to the unreached, and asks for prayer for his family.

After the testimonies we were driven to a Bridge of Hope centre, where we were warmly welcomed with flower petals:

…flower garlands:

…and traditional dances:

…and a very funny (but extremely difficult to explain!) sketch:

In return some of our party taught the Bridge of Hope children the action song “The Wise Man Built His House Upon The Rock”:

After all the fun we were introduced to the staff:

And before we left the Bridge of Hope centre there was time to meet the children and take photos:

Our next stop was a church building:

...and another Bridge of Hope centre nearby:

We were again warmly welcomed with traditional dances:

...as well as Bible songs. These children sang us "Jesus Loves Me This I Know" in English:

We taught them our action song:

...which went down well, the Bridge of Hope children seemed to enjoy clapping their hands and shouting out "splat!":

...and before the end there was time for sweets, fun, and photos:

Monday 11th Oct - A church

The next morning we went to visit a village church plant:

You may know that it is possible to buy goats for an Asian family through Gospel for Asia. Some time ago this lady's family were given two goats and by the time we saw them the two goats had become eight goats!

They have a steady supply of milk, which they can also sell, and they can even sell a baby goat and get enough money to send one of their children to school for an entire year. The family are not Christian, but because they have seen the love of Jesus demonstrated so clearly the father has been coming to church and is hearing the Gospel!

This below is the onsite Jesus Well, providing fresh water as well as living water:

...and these are BioSand water filters under construction which will later be distributed:

Inside we met some of the people that attend the church:

...Catherine got to know some of the local Bible women team.

...and then it was time to begin.

We heard testimonies from some other ladies who had been given gifts through Gospel for Asia. The gifts included sewing machines which enable them to stitch clothing to earn some money, as well as payphones which they would place near their homes for other people to use. People pay to use the phone and the money provides income for whoever owns the payphone.

Some of us could not resist the chance to try them out!

Then it was our turn to share and Angus told the people a Bible story:

...and the girls taught them another song:

Afterwards we had the privilege of praying for anyone who wanted to be prayed for... which turned out to be just about everyone!

As usual home-time came around much sooner than we desired, and we were forced to reluctantly say our goodbyes and pull ourselves away.

So that was Hyderabad. Thank you so much for reading, and thank you so much for being a part of my life. I will try to write again as soon as I can. I hope you all have a great Christmas - a great time celebrating Jesus' birthday. God bless you all!

2. Rajasthan 6-9 Oct

2010-10-31T14:40:00.001-07:00

Hi friends,

Here is part two of my India trip recollections:

Thursday 7th October – a Bible college and a village church

We arrived in Rajasthan late Wednesday evening, and the next morning we went to visit a Bible college.

Brian gave greeted the students and thanked them for letting us visit.

Then a couple of students gave testimonies of how God had saved them and called them into His service.

And we were blessed with some time to hang out with the students and staff and take photos.

Afterwards we drove about an hour to a village out in Rajasthan’s arid countryside. The roads out here had different feel to those of the inner city.

The below YouTube video is about the village we visited. The missionary sent here was hunted down to be killed on his wedding day by the village head.

We met the village head, who is now a Christian!

He is now supporting ministry in his village, including a women’s literacy program.

Among the women in this particular tribe there is only a 12% literacy rate. Today these ladies were learning to write their name and the numbers from 1 to 100.

The village head also gave land for the church to be built on.

The missionary wasn’t around this day as he was spending the time in prayer and fasting. I asked where he lived and was told “the other side of that mountain…”

I also got to pump a Jesus Well! These are hand-pumped bore wells funded by donors through Gospel for Asia. They are accompanied by a plaque with the inscription: ‘Jesus Christ says: "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst" (John 4:13-14).’ Unfortunately the inscription plaque here had been knocked over by a water buffalo!

Matt tells you a bit more about the Jesus Well in this video:

Friday 8th October – “Miracle Church” and a Bridge of Hope

To get to the church this day we had to drive about an hour and a half through increasingly narrowing roads which really didn’t seem to have been made with jeeps in mind. We even had to drive through a shallow river to get here!

This church was known as “Miracle Church” because just about everyone there had a testimony of how Jesus has healed them of something and it had made them realise that He is the true God. The worship here was vibrant and heart-felt, with songs being started by various members of the congregation as they felt led by the Lord, and being resonated by the rest in joy and unity.

Whenever there was a “hallelujah!” everyone would raise their hand and echo it!

Whenever someone said “let’s pray” they would bow down and start talking to Jesus!

Matt taught this day with the aid of a translator. He had felt led to change his message just that morning, from the account of the two blind men to the account of the woman healed of an issue of blood. This lady in dark purple had come to Christ because Jesus had healed her of an issue of blood!

Through her testimony 40 other families from her village had come to know Christ as their Lord and Saviour, including this man who was the village witch doctor!

After service they lined up for prayer from us! I was so humbled, I really felt like they should be praying for me (and that maybe they would if they knew what I was really like!), but at the same time I felt so honoured and privileged to be able to pray for these my brothers and sisters in Christ, who I had not met before today but with whom I could sense kinship and fellowship.

We also had the privilege with praying for the pastor of this church.

He had come to Christ during his studies. He had been given a tract while at school and later met some people selling New Testaments. He could not afford to buy one… so he stole one! After being healed of an eye problem he went to enrol in a Bible college, but it was full – so he spent the next 7 days asking to be let in, while fasting and praying. He got in! Eventually he got sent here to this village and on the very first day he knocked on every door and handed out tracts. Then he spent 3 days in fasting and prayer, and sharing the Gospel in people’s houses. Now over 200 people are part of this church! This actually confused our guide who said to the pastor “but when I came last month you said there were only 180 people in the church in total.” The answer he got was “there have been 32 public professions of faith since you last came.” Praise the Lord!

Later that day we went to visit a Bridge of Hope centre where we were once again warmly welcomed.

I was once again taken aback by being in the presence of so many young and individual lives being impacted by the love of Jesus – love expressed through labourers here in India as well as by praying sponsors in the West.

Angus told the children about when Elijah was fed by ravens by the brook.

And we were treated to songs and psalm recitals by various children.

And afterwards there was plenty of time for fun and photos!

Saturday 9th October – sightseeing

Saturday was set aside by our hosts for some tourist activities. Meet Bunci:

Bunci was to be our just-after-breakfast entertainment, though some of us were more keen on him than others.

I think he stood up more quickly than Trudi expected a camel to stand up.

And he was also a bit tricky to get off of.

Matt seemed to get on just fine with Bunci.

In fact as he rode it seemed that his countenance changed.

And of course I also had a chance to ride Bunci.

Next we went to look at a Hindu temple to get a better understanding of the religion of 80% of India.

We saw some people during their worship of their idol. We didn’t take many photos because we were forbidden to do so by one of them. Clearly these people feared and revered the power of the object of their worship.

Every one of these carvings on the temple walls represents a different Hindu god.

This lady is paying respects to this idol in the temple courtyard.

After the temple we went to visit a royal palace.

We saw inside an image of the sun made for the king to worship, amongst other images.

The palace had some nice rooms and nice views.

And I found a nice cooking pot.

After lunch we left for Andhra Pradesh, but that’s a whole different blog post! I will write about our next stop as soon as I am able.

Thank you for your patience and thank you for reading. And thank you again for your love, prayers, support, and being a part of my life. God bless you!

JP

1. Mumbai 4-6 Oct

2010-10-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I have returned safe and sound from an amazing trip to India, thank you all so much for your prayers and support! I was there to see what the Lord is doing in India through Gospel for Asia, and I was overwhelmed. We saw 5 Bible colleges, 5 churches, 7 Bridge of Hope centres, and 5 different states of India. We heard testimonies from students, missionaries, and church members. I really felt like I had stepped into a copy of Gospel for Asia’s “SEND!” magazine. Here is the first part of the trip:

Monday 4th October

We arrived at the hotel about 2pm on Monday, after an extremely scary car ride. Apparently everybody ignores traffic laws, and lane markings are only a suggestion. People drive as if they are pushing through a crowd, and right-of-way seems to belong to whoever arrives first.

Inevitably we had curry for lunch(!), but curry like nothing I had tasted before and it was to be the first of a long train of culinary delights.

After eating we went by car to see our first Bridge of Hope centre, here was the entrance up some steps:

As soon as I walked in I was stunned. Located in the slums of Mumbai, it was surreal to see this ray of light, hope and joy separated only by four walls from the despair and poverty of the surrounding slum area. It was suddenly all so real. I had seen photos and videos and read about Bridge of Hope many times, but the photos and videos never shook my hand or asked me my name.

The children welcomed us with bouquets of flowers, bottles of water, prayers, dances, recitals and songs, and I was humbled by their high regard for us and their happiness to see us.

We had the great experience of teaching them a children’s action song (“Our God Is So Big”) and getting them to do all the actions with us.

We also got to see the church building a few doors down from the Bridge of Hope centre, which is basically the pastor’s home, and barely enough room for the people that cram into it.

The Slums Of Mumbai

“Mumbai is an example of everything that’s
wrong with the world” – Catherine

The slums of Mumbai have to be seen to be believed. I cannot imagine living in such conditions as I saw (largely because I am uncomfortable imagining it), but for about 7 million people here there is no choice. It is hard to believe that such poverty can exist in the financial capital of India.

Just before this photo was taken one of these kids was playing in the open sewer (bottom right):

This is a video that Matt shot as we overlooked the grim view of the slums:

Tuesday 5th October

The next day we visited our second Bridge of Hope centre.

I really was not prepared for how taken aback I would be. Having already seen one Bridge of Hope centre I assumed that I would not be particularly impacted by another. I was once again stunned; a small room in the midst of the Mumbai slums crammed with seventy children in Bridge of Hope uniforms, the same as the last yet completely different, completely unique. I was beginning to process the reality of so many individuals being affected by this ministry.

The children welcomed us with garlands of flowers, drinks, and traditional dances.

We were then treated to several recitals and I was humbled at how much scripture some of the children had committed to memory.

We also heard some remarkable testimonies. This lady had piles for 15 years, leprosy for 3 months, and for 12 years was possessed by a devil that caused her to fall down often. She was prayed for and God healed her, and she became a bold witness for Christ.

Through her testimony her neighbour who had a brain tumour also came for prayer, and was also healed.

I thanked them for their testimony and met their children who currently attend the Bridge of Hope centre.

This girl had malaria and the doctors thought she would die, but the Lord healed her. When we saw her she had been back only one week, after being away for two months. The only thing contagious about her now was her smiley, happy face!

These four children are orphans. The two older ones have an elder brother who is 13, but no other relatives besides him. This 13-year old brother is the breadwinner for the three of them, and they live alone in what was their parents’ house, in the slum. Their parents both died of HIV, the mother after enrolling them in the Bridge of Hope centre. Some other people are trying to take their house from them, but the Bridge of Hope tutors went to the orphans’ house to stick up for them, a beautiful example of true religion, pure and undefiled.

At meal time we were able to interact with the kids a little more and got to know a few of them.

I talked to the orphans and found out that they know very little about the Bible, so it’s all the more exciting and heart-warming that they are here learning about how much Jesus loves them.

Catherine learned a little about their studies:

…and Trudi introduced some of them to the wonders of the iPhone:

Here are the staff that work at the Bridge of Hope centre, including project manager, teachers, house visiters and cook:

...this is a video that Matt shot while at this Bridge of Hope centre, describing its ministry and fruitfulness:

Our next stop this day was the Mumbai Bible college. I had read the Gospel for Asia e-mail about this college in May, which said that a mob had attacked the college, beat up the students, and vandalised the campus. Suddenly that e-mail became alive; I was now in the very place where real attackers had really come to beat up my Christian brothers and sisters… and they had stood firm. I don’t think I will ever look at a Gospel for Asia e-mails in quite the same way again.

The worship service was out of this world. Seventy men singing out to the Lord as if there was no-one else in the room, and yet in wonderful unison. It was a beautiful sound and a joyful noise.

Brian gave a teaching...

...and then we heard testimonies from a couple of the students:

I was struck at how their testimonies reminded me of the missionary testimonies that we print out at the York office. All of the missionary testimonies that I have seen in England suddenly came alive, each one a student like the one I was staring at, studying the Bible to be equipped to share the love of Christ with the lost, needing prayers and financial backing to fulfil God’s call on their lives.

We had the wonderful privilege of praying with the students in groups of eight, focusing on the ministry happening in Mumbai and nearby areas. Afterwards we had some time to chat with the students, take photos, shake hands and give hugs. The students I talked to asked me to remember them in prayer.

It occurred to me that I may read more e-mails about them in the future, as these men whose hands I have shaken follow God’s call on their lives and face opposition and persecution. Matt also shot a video while we were here amongst these students:

Wednesday 6th October

The next morning was spent at our third Bridge of Hope centre. We arrived at this one early so some of us took the opportunity to spend more time interacting with the children. A lot of the children had learned a good amount of English and we told one another our names and ages, and they taught us some words in Hindi.

We were honoured with flowers, psalm recitals, and traditional dances.

We heard testimonies from parents, including one lady who had been healed from TB, and another who had been healed of cancer.

We were introduced to the staff, including the cook who spends much time over the hot stove to cook the children’s meals.

Catherine told the story of the feeding of the five thousand and then we taught them our action song as a group.

And then, after a short time for more photos, we had to go, beckoned by our flight schedule.

This had been our last stop in Mumbai, and although saying goodbye was hard my mind was racing with imagination about what we would see in our next location in Rajasthan. Lord willing I will tell you all about that soon.

Bye for now!

JP

2010-09-10T11:24:00.001-07:00

New Wine 2010

Thank you so much for your prayers! My two weeks at the New Wine conference were more fruitful and blessed than I could have planned for. It was an exhausting, but worthwhile and enjoyable time. Once again I was given the keys to a rented van:

...filled it with exhibition stand equipment and 1456 copies of "Revolution In World Missions"...

...and drove it down to Shepton Mallet.

I was extremely blessed to be able to stay for the two weeks with Colin and Jean, some volunteers who were helping to man our stall. They live only 30mins drive away from the showground and kindly offered to let me stay with them, removing the need for me to camp alone for two weeks. I enjoyed spending time with them, serving with them, praying with them, and, of course, eating with them!

One of the things that can make or break the conference for us is the location we are given for our stand. The Lord blessed us with a place that had a wide open space in front and walkways either side, making us extremely accesible to the traffic of people.

Colin and Jean were very good at talking to the Christians there about the great number of unreached people in Asia, and about how the Lord is raising up national missionaries to the take the Gospel to them. I was blessed by their eagerness to serve... and somewhat surprised by their strength and endurance!

For the second week we were joined at the stand by Suzanne, who had come with her husband and three sons. They have spent time in India themselves and have a heart for reaching the lost in Asia with the Gospel.

Here is a better view of our stall:

We gave away 1334 books. We pray that each one would stir it's reader to realise that there are still over 2 billion people in Asia waiting to hear that Jesus died for them, and that we can play a part in them hearing by being senders of the sent.

The Office

We were recently blessed by a visit from the Moon family and some of their friends. The Moons are involved with the US office and were on a visit to the UK.

We were also blessed with a visit from the Deans from Norwich. I hadn't seen them since the beginning of the year and it was good to catch up and see how much the boys had grown!

Oliver came to stay at my house for a night, and of course I put him to work at the office straight away! We had plenty of name and address information to input into our database and his volunteered services were most welcome.

We have also recently been blessed by volunteer Catherine, who is very adept at name entry, and took to missionary re-assignments like a fish to water. She has recently gotten a new job but we look forward to seeing her whenever she has some free time.

We have been playing catch-up for the last couple of weeks, but with the Lord's strength we are gradually getting back up to pace.

India Trip

The Lord has been gracious to me, and the full amount of support I need for my Vision Tour to India has come in,

...and my visa has also arrived. Thank you for your support and prayers so far, and please continue to pray as I make final preparations for going to India.

Prayer Requests

Thank you for your prayers so far. Here are some other things to pray for:

1. Please pray for fruit from our time at the conferences. Pray that Christians would be praying for revival in Asia and sponsor missionaries.
2. Please pray for us to get caught up with our work at the office, and for volunteers to come and help us out.
3. Please pray for us as we make final preparations for the India trip.
4. Please pray for my family to come to saving faith in our Lord Jesus.
5. I found out today that Barclays thought we wanted to terminate our service contract with them, which means that currently no-one can donate anything on our website. I am trying to get this sorted out, please pray that it gets resolved soon!

Home

I went back to Norwich recently and got to spend some time with my family. My dad made roast duck and pancakes, food fit for a king!

And my mum made... well, I don't even know what it's called in English, but it's really good!

Paul from church came over for lunch, and tried learning to play chinese cards.

These are two of my aunts, Kim and Cette, whom I love very much. Please pray that they would come to know the love and mercy of Jesus!

Thanks go to Cette for sending me soup:

Durian

I was introduced once again to a traditional fruit eaten and relished by my family, whose aroma has caused it to be banned from planes, hospital and various other public areas in Asia. The "durian" is the strangest looking, weirdest tasting, and strongest smelling entity that I have ever encountered... and I thought I would introduce you to it!

This is a durian in it's unopened state:

The shell is hard and difficult to open, and requires extreme measures:

The edible flesh is contained in compartments within the shell:

I tried some again for the first time in a long time! The texture is like a thick, thick custard. I can only describe the flavour by suggesting that you imagine taking some butter, sugar, and raw onion, and blending them all together.

It also has the strangest looking pips, of varying sizes. My grandma and aunt, as you can see, love this smelly fruit!

Well, thank you again for reading. I appreciate your taking the time to be a part of my life... including the stranger parts!

God bless you!
JP

2010-07-21T12:50:00.000-07:00

Please pray for us over the next few weeks. We will be going out to various conferences to spread the message of supporting indigenous Asian missionaries:

24 Jul – 6 Aug : Keswick Convention 2010
24 Jul – 7 Aug : New Wine 2010 Shepton Mallet
31 Jul – 6 Aug : New Wine 2010 Newark (inc Café)

Most of the team will be at New Wine in Newark; this will be a new type of conference for us because a) we will be directly asking people to sponsor missionaries, and b) we are running a Café to help raise awareness of Gospel for Asia's ministry in Asia.

I myself am going to Shepton Mallet, which, according to Google Maps, is around a 5 hour drive from York:

...I'll be camping, and, because the two other volunteers live nearby, I will probably be in a tent by myself:

...and we will be setting up a stall in the exhibition hall:

...where we will be offering free copies of "Revolution In World Missions"; our most effective tool in helping people to understand the concept of supporting indigenous missionaries in Asia:

Please also pray for the office workload during this time as almost all of us will be away for a lot of it.

My own work will build up and there will be a mountain waiting for me when I get back, a mountain which I am counting on the Spirit of God to help me move!

We have recently been blessed with a few volunteers helping out in the office. There has been Jani, helping out with name entry and cleaning:

...Tim's sister Abby has helped out with name entry, filing, and magazine stuffing:

...and Helen's friend Natalie has helped with name entry, filing, labelling, and sending out missionary updates:

Jani also asked me to teach him how to eat using chopsticks, and I was happy to oblige:

Special thanks go to Tim for going to great lengths to run some cables that I needed through the roof for me:

Calvary Chapel York was recently blessed by a visit from Bruce and Teresa, old friends of Pastor Dave, from Siegen, Germany. They are starting a school for worship leaders in Siegen and came over to York for some holiday time. They led worship last Sunday, and Bruce gave us an encouraging message on Psalm 27.

I was also personally blessed by a recent visit from Steve Hammond:

Steve and I met several years ago, at what was then Calvary Chapel Norwich, and he was also Tim's roommate at Bible College. He was in York and I offered to put him up for the night at my house. I put him to work straight away making the fried rice I had planned for dinner:

Luckily for him James has now finished the present bathroom project!

I am also looking forward to going to the Servants Church Family Camp at the end of August this year. It looks like my Summer is going to be full of camping!

Prayer Requests

Thanks again for reading. Please remember to pray for us during this conference season:

Please pray that all the prep work gets done, and nothing important is forgotten, left out, or missing.
Please pray for safe travel for everyone that is going.
Please pray for the right words for us to speak to all the Christians we meet. Pray that they would be the Lord's words. Pray that we would remember that we are to be servants to God's people, and help them reach the lost in Asia with their lives.
Please pray for sufficient sleep and rest for us!
Please pray that this time would ultimately result in missionaries being sponsored, and souls getting saved in Asia.

Thank you again for taking the time, I appreciate it.
JP

2010-06-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

My 'Vision Tour' to India, in October this year

I am scheduled to go to India on 3rd October this year, on a 'Vision Tour'. The trip will allow me to see various aspects of the work first-hand, and will help me to understand what my work at the UK office is accomplishing. It will I have to raise the funds for my portion of the trip, about £1,100 for the time there, and around £450 for the flight. Please pray about donating towards my 'Vision Tour' fund to help 'send me to India'! Donations can be made directly to the UK office, or via my JustGiving page (there's a button to it at the top of the right-hand column of this blog page).

100% will go towards my trip, nothing will be taken out for admin by GFA.

Other things

In other news, I recently came back from “Big Church Day Out”, which took place 29th-31st May. This Christian conference was all the way in West Sussex, which meant a 5 hour drive in a car fully loaded with 700 copies of "Revolution In World Missions", lots of exhibition stand equipment, and enough camping gear for three people.

I ended up taking about 8 hours to get there because I took so many breaks! And I should just say that I am extremely thankful to God for SatNavs :-).

Not long after I arrived at the campsite, Mike and Virge, a couple from a nearby tent, offered to help set up our tents.

The tents ended up being the straightest set up I had ever seen them! They also provided us with drinks and torches (which I had forgotten to bring), and offered anything else we might have needed. They may have been angels, I am really not sure!

Joining me to man the Gospel for Asia stall were two dearly beloved volunteers, Arul:

...and Angela:

Angela is a volunteer who sends out a lot of our free copies of “Revolution In World Missions” for us. At a time when some of other volunteers were having to stop doing our free book send-outs, she approached us and said she felt like she was supposed to help us out with something. What good timing the Lord has! The free book send-out is a big job and can be very difficult for her when her computer acts up. I am sure she would appreciate prayer for when she processes our free book requests. At “Big Church Day Out” she proved extremely good at sharing with other Christians the plight of the unreached in Asia, and the ministry of Gospel for Asia there. She has a heart for the Lord and for reaching the unreached, and has been involved with Gospel for Asia in some way for some time now.

Arul has only recently become acquainted with Gospel for Asia. He also had never been camping before, and arrived at the campsite in smart dress!

However he coped just fine with living in a tent, late nights, very little rest and funny eating times. Arul was an extremely encouraging brother to spend time with. A lover of God and knowledgeable in the Word, he preaches in London at Hyde Park and shares the Good News with may people. He also remembers hearing a very helpful Christian radio broadcast years ago when he was still in India, and only recently found out it was a Gospel for Asia supported radio ministry!

Arul also proved extremely adept at sharing the needs of the unreached world and the ministry of Gospel for Asia with all the he saw Christians at “Big Church Day Out”.

With Arul and Angela on the team I was extremely confident of a fruitful Bank Holiday weekend. We talked to several hundred Christians about the vastness of the untouched mission field in Asia, the window God has opened for indigenous missionaries, and the chance for the UK church to help them. 400 of those Christians signed up for a free copy of "Revolution in World Missions". It is our prayer that, as they read the book, the Lord would fill them with compassion for the lost multitudes who are like sheep without a shepherd, and stir them up to impact those multitudes with their prayers and giving.

Home sweet home

When I arrived home on Tuesday evening, ready for a shower, I discovered to my horror that housemate and landlord James had destroyed the shower!

It is of course a temporary situation and the bathroom will soon be returned to full usage with improved features.

The office

Recently at the office we have also had our share of problems. Our server went down on Monday (very very bad!), so for much of the morning several of us were unable to do a large portion of our tasks.

We also discovered that, although we have four phone lines, our phones seemed to think that we had only two! This proved problematic when we had four people trying to phone in at once! Thankfully this got sorted in the afternoon.

Please pray for the smooth working of the systems at our office, these are the tools that God has given us for our role in the war, and the Enemy loves to attack them, as well as us.

2010-05-22T09:13:00.000-07:00

Shortly after my last blog entry I was invited to celebrate an informal Passover at Tim and Judy’s house. I was in charge of making the unleavened bread and roast potatoes.

Tim made a great roast lamb and read out the Passover account from Exodus.

April marked the start of conference season for us, signifying cars loaded with books and equipment and long drives to exhibition halls.

I was booked to man our stall at the third week of Spring Harvest in Minehead, a five and a half hour drive from York.

Talking to over a hundred Christian strangers about the plight of 80,000 people dying everyday in Asia without Christ and explaining the opportunity we have in the West to impact the Asian mission field was tiring, but well worth it.

Every free book we gave out is a potential missionary sponsorship, and every missionary means an entire village having the chance to hear the Gospel.

Of course I wasn’t there all by myself, I was with two of our volunteers, Andy and Rachel (below). They were missionaries in Peru for 24 years and had some great stories to tell. I had a really good time serving at the conference with them, they are a great example of a couple who love Jesus and have completely dedicated their lives to Him.

At the end of the conference I had to make a detour to Elliot’s house in London to meet Lacey, a guest arriving from America to visit our office.

Because of the recent ash cloud all flights were in disarray, and Heathrow Airport was uncharacteristically empty.

Lacey is a photographer from a church in America that supports Gospel for Asia who wanted to visit the UK office and see the work here. Because of the ash cloud she was carted around 6 European countries in 17 hours and she was extremely tired.

Elliot invited us back to his house for a grand barbecue, taking advantage of the oddly good April weather.

His daughters Charlotte and Sarah were kind enough to perform a puppet show for us before our departure for York.

It was about three and a half hours to York, Lacey slept most of the way, which I take as a great compliment on my driving!

Conference time usually also signifies lots of names and addresses to add to our database.

We have been very fortunate to have Dionne, another one of our conference volunteers, agree to spend a month volunteering in our office, to assist in our name additions, as well as with other jobs.

We also had the pleasure of being visited by Danny Punnose, Brother KP’s son, and Gospel for Asia’s Vice President. It was really encouraging to meet him and hear him teach, and hear his experiences and testimonies of God’s faithfulness through the years.

Elijah has been getting proficient in the ancient art of skateboarding, and occasionally I get to witness his skilful manoeuvres.

I have also had the pleasure of spending time with the McGhies, our close friends and supporters. Here is a shot of Damian and Jessica having a jam for the Lamb:

To further quell any worries that I am not eating well enough, here is a picture of our food stores at home:

James has almost completed the shed:

…and he recently found the beginnings of a wasps nest in the ceiling!

Both I and James commended the remarkable engineering of the structure, however the wasp nest would not have been a welcome addition to James’ project – it had to go.

James has also planted apple trees and some vegetable plants, and I can’t wait until harvest time!

On a rather random tangent, we were discussing Shane’s t-shirt with him. He maintains it is the latest fashion, but James and I would suggest that it was the result of a sewing machine accident. What do you think?

2010-03-21T10:08:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the year my brother Jonathan came up to stay overnight at my house, on his way to a church event not far from York. I was blessed to be able to introduce him to some of the GFA UK team, as well as show him the office and talk more about the work of GFA. Jonathan got saved before I did, and it is a great blessing to have him a brother in Christ as well as a brother in Adam:

Shortly afterwards Ilse from Servants Church in Norwich came up to do some volunteering, transported by the Hammonds in their Hammond-mobile:

She was very hard-working and we greatly appreciated her time:

We went to the Calvary Chapel-run Walmgate Bar where she spent some time describing how much of a blessing Vince Proffit of Calvary Chapel Kings Lynn had been when he came to Servants Church to teach on Jonah. Bizarrely at this moment Vince and Mac Proffit walked in! We had a good time encouraging one another before they had to go:

I recently met the McGhies, a family that have recently moved from New Zealand to York and who have been attending Calvary Chapel York. Kieron and eldest son Damian have been a real blessing in our office, assisting us with re-organising our layout and streamlining the way we do things. Kieron’s field of work involves systems anaylsis and it has proved very helpful to us. They were familiar with GFA in New Zealand and their heart for the ministry is really encouraging to us:

Elliot recently visited us to help us improve the effectiveness of our website, as well as teach Angie some tricks about maintaining the site. Elliot's work has a large and positive impact on the ministry of GFA UK but because he isn't here with us I often take his efforts for granted, so it was really good to see him again and be reminded of yet another reason to be thankful to the Lord for:

Tim was asked by a church in Gateshead to come and tell them about the work of GFA, and so he was sent out with prayers and encouragements:

I decided to go along to offer further encouragement, and although I was initially worried that I would not find the place, the sign was fairly clear:

It will soon be conference season again, and from 13th-18th April I will be at Spring Harvest in Minehead encouraging people to take a copy of Revolution in World Missions to stir them up for world missions and the indigenous missionary movement. I’ll be driving a van so that I can bring back all our equipment to York:

This is the stand which will be behind our little table at the conference:

For anyone who is worried that I am not eating enough I assure you I get plenty to eat! I illustrate this with my horde of noodles:

James my housemate and landlord has recently purchased a new washing machine and managed to salvage various interesting parts from the old one!

We recently celebrated Brian's birthday:

It was a great occasion, but for me it was overshadowed by another occasion which coincides with that date - my one year anniversary at GFA! I have been here a whole year now, and I believe it has been a year well spent in the Lord's service, though only as an unprofitable servant merely doing his duty. May the Lord cause me to be fruitful in this my second year also!

2010-01-03T05:07:00.001-08:00

Hello and Happy New Year to you all! I trust that you have entered 2010 with great expectations of what the Lord will do this year. I also trust that you have had the traditional round of new year's resolutions to keep you busy?

All of us from the GFA office gathered at the Thrasher house to pray-in our new year.

We started off by a having a meal and then watching a film together, before going into a time of worship and seeking the Lord. Brian gave a teaching on love, and a lot of it really hit home with me. I see my tendency to put "love" on a shelf, to anaylse it and work out how it works, but then to fail to put it into action. I also see that I find it much easier for me to pray for the salvation of an entire nation, rather for just one person in that nation. It is so much easier to pray for the generic, faceless "multitudes" rather than the personal and human individual. It's funny how I can I hear a teaching and realise something about myself, and then say "wow... all this time I had been missing something... how did I not see it, it's so clear... how on earth did I get here?" I would have carried on blind had the Lord not revealed it to me, and I pray that he continues to show me such blindspots and that he would give me the courage to overcome them!

As the clock swayed from one year into the next we prayed for the Lord to help us re-surrender ourselves as we commenced the new year.

As I saw things within me which I was uncomfortable letting go of I felt that I was better understanding the meaning of surrender; in that true surrender is inevitably costly, and requires faith.

Finally we spent some time writing on a board the things we wanted to give thanks to the Lord for - we needed a big board! We brought up personal things and things pertaining to the ministry. It really is encouraging to look back at just bask in the sunlight of the Lord's goodness, and it really is fitting to give Him praise and thanks for all that He has done. Some of the funds donated through our office in 2009 helped to provide:-

491 fully supported missionaries
880 places in Bridge of Hope centres
65,000 New Testaments supplied
408 missionaries with a bicycle
20 church buildings in Asia
137 missionaries with winter clothing
637 pairs of chickens
344 pairs of rabbits
20 cows
6 water buffalos
740 blankets
48 sewing machines
27 rickshaws

We pray that the giving of these gifts would enable lost people in Asia to learn about Christ's love for them. We give thanks for how the Lord has allowed to serve Him this past year, and look forward to seeing what He will do this coming year.

2009-12-23T15:03:00.000-08:00

Hi again, and a very Happy Christmas and peace and goodwill to you all!

York has recently been regularly and beautifully covered with fresh snow, and I am hopeful with the prospect of my first white Christmas in a long time. I have decided that York is indeed colder than Norwich, but I have as yet managed to avoid being incapacitated by any climate adjustment disorder!

I was blessed and privileged to be able to spend some time with John McKay and Randall Hardy, dear friends and leaders within the ministry of Creation Research (John is the director and chief speaker and Randall is responsible for the mailings, literature, and speaking engagements in the UK):

Elijah Kirik's birthday entailed the creation of an edible skate park (not life-size) which I believe he was pleased with:

James (my landlord and housemate) and I wanted to investigate the flaming Christmas pudding phenomenon, and decided that it would be a good idea to turn off the lights for full effect. Behold the full effect:

I was really excited to be able to return to Norwich for the Servants Church Christmas play:

During the play I heard a song called "God Is With Us" for the first time and immediately loved it, I pray that it blesses you too:

...I also had the chance to do some street evangelism with the guys from church on the Saturday before, here's a shot of John sharing the Gospel:

...and had a chance to fellowship with brothers and sisters that I haven't seen since the August Family Camp:

...as well as eat a rocking horse that Noelle Brown made me:

At the office we had a delivery of 16,000 new copies of "Revolution In World Missions". This is the space they were destined for before we unloaded them:

...below is a shot of the books sitting outside in the freezing cold. It seemed that the trodden ice was not going to be helpful to us as we carried the book boxes in. In the absence of proper grit we used table salt to try and melt the ice. Unsuccessfully. I am hoping the next deliver will be in the Spring!

...and this is the filled up space after much elbow grease!

We pray that each of these books would represent a sponsored missionary, that everyone that reads one would be stirred up to live their lives to fulfil the Great Commission and be focused on eternity. At the end of the day this isn't about books, or money, or even missionaries, but about souls brought to Christ.

2009-11-14T06:54:00.000-08:00

Hi there! Thank you for sparing time to come here again and peruse my blog.

What I do

I have been serving with Gospel for Asia for almost 8 months now, and I thought I would try and describe what I do here. I am involved in 'partner relations' and I am basically the first point of call for people who contact Gospel for Asia UK. I answer phone calls, e-mails and letters and deal with (or re-direct) people's questions and requests. I receive people's donations via cash, cheque and credit card, and process people's direct debits and standing orders. I download information from the bank and assign people's donations to the appropriate fund allocations. The ultimate point of what I do is to make sure that money from a donor goes to what they wanted it to go to, whether it was for missionaries, bibles, tracts, gospel radio, child sponsorship etc. I feel that my role here is a perfect match for my heart and gifting and everyday I am grateful that the Lord has placed me here to serve Him in this way!

Things at home

Things at the house are good, except that our washing machine now refuses to spin (grrr).

Landlord James was on the case to see if he could fix it, but in the end the solution proved too elusive.

Of course there are other methods to dry your clothes in rainy season.

Tim and Judy recently moved house which meant that I got another chance to drive a van! We all helped out and several people from Calvary Chapel York also came to lend a hand.

Dad's Birthday

I went back to Norwich for one night for my Dad's 60th birthday.

Me and most of my siblings were there and we all went out to a chinese buffet for what turned out to be a great time.

I bought him one of those roll-up working computer keyboards!

We also told the attendants it was Dad's birthday and to his surprise they played 'Happy Birthday' over the speakers and brought him some birthday cake!

Oh, and here my brother Joshua demonstrates that yes, ice cream can be eaten with chopsticks.

The Calvary Road

As part of my discipleship course I have recently read and completed a book report on 'The Calvary Road' by Roy Hession.

I must say that this book has impacted me greatly. I really feel that the Lord has used it to teach me about my 'self '; about how my pride rears it's head in my moment by moment attitudes and in my everyday choices. It's given me a fresh perspective on dying to self and esteeming others as more important than myself. I have been very challenged by this book and wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone.

Friends from Finland

We were extremely blessed by a visit from a couple from Finland who wanted to meet us and learn more about Gospel for Asia.

Magnus and Sinikka had read Revolution In World Missions and were really excited about the concept of reaching the unreached in Asia with the Gospel by supporting indigenous missionaries. Actually they are excited about reaching just about anybody with the Gospel through any means! We had a great time of fellowship and encouragement and were able to share with them how the Lord has led Gospel for Asia and formed it's vision and direction. We also wanted to take them to what is renowned as the best place for fish and chips in York but when we arrived we found it had just suffered fire damage! Talk about rotten luck!

India flooding

One of our recent prayer focuses has been the flooding in the South of India.

The states of Karnataka and Andra Pradesh have suffered from the worst flooding they have had in a long time, leaving many people without homes and basic necessities and at great risk to sickness and disease.

Missionaries there are ministering to flood victims and using the disaster as an opportunity to demonstrate the love and mercy of Christ to people who have lost a great deal, if not everything.

And to think that the other day I was miserable simply because my jeans got soaked in the rain. I am really blessed to continually have my eyes opened and my perspectives re-aligned!

"Judge nothing before the time..." 1 Corinthians 4:5

Pastor Dave recently gave a great exhortation on not judging things before their time. Often we will look at what's going on in the church around us and we are completely confused by what's going on. We think we know what the end result should look like but we don't see ourselves getting there. He showed us this 5 minute video as an illustration. If you watch it please be patient until the end. You will experience confusion as you see what appears to be mess, and eventually you will be shown a picture of what the church is supposed to look like. Don't judge it until the end! God bless you.

2009-08-29T06:15:00.000-07:00

I have had a really full month this August, it has been busy but really good. Here is a rundown:

New Wine 2nd-9th Aug

I drove Tim, Matt (a volunteer), 800 copies of “Revolution in World Missions” and lots of food in a big white van four and a half hours to the Shepton Mallet Showground where we would be camping for 7 nights.

We were praying for rain (so that people would be persuaded to spend time inside the exhibition hall and visit our stall), but as we were approaching over the last few hills we saw big black clouds perched over the showground and realised it was time to STOP praying for rain! It was really REALLY wet and I got the van completely stuck in the muddy parking area (but along came a Landrover and everything was fine) and one of the nights we got a little flooded and lots of my clothes got wet.

We manned our stall from 10:30am to 10:30pm with a break between 6pm and 8:30pm during which we cooked dinner and rested. The rest of the time was spent washing and sleeping! We signed up about 700 people for the book and chatted to a lot of people supporting native missionaries and have already seen some good response. We continue to pray for the books to get read, for people to consider furthering the Great Commission in Asia through native missionaries, and for souls to be saved in Asia.

I thank the Lord for a productive conference, a great time with Tim and Matt and for keeping us safe on the roads.

Family Camp 10th-14th Aug

I had a fantastic time being re-united with folks from Servant’s Church (my sending church, formerly Calvary Chapel Norwich). This year’s camp was back at Whitwell Hall and I had a place in the single men’s room.

I went thinking that because I now served with Gospel for Asia I already knew all about living in the light of eternity and that none of the teachings at camp would touch me. I was wrong! John’s message on not playing church and being missions driven really cut me in pieces. Simon Lawrenson also gave a great teaching Jesus’ three-fold ministry as Prophet, Priest and King, in response to our three-fold problem of being ignorant, guilty and corrupt.

I had a really good time, I was really blessed to sing songs, fellowship, and have some amazing food with familiar faces and unfamiliar faces, and I was able to let everyone know how I was doing and what the Lord has been doing in me. I introduced a song I learned at CC York and it seemed to go down well.

Back home 15th-17th Aug

I went to stay for Saturday at my Dad’s house where I had some Vietnamese noodles (phở)

…played some Chinese chess (Xiàng Qi)

…some football games on the Xbox 360 with my brother Joshua.

It was nice to be back at my Dad’s house and talk to my Dad. Joshua was my driver for any journeys I needed to take and it was nice being chauffeured!

I went to Sunday service at Servant’s Church and Simon Lawrenson taught on the sufficiency and abundance of the Lord.

I went with Dave Jones back to the church house to have a look at how the lads were treating my previous place of residence, then I spent the rest of the day at my mother’s house.

My young cousin was visiting from Cambridge, my brother came up from London and my two sisters came with their boyfriends to visit.

My mother had been up since the early hours of the morning preparing food, we had Vietnamese spring rolls (Chả giò)

…and crispy noodles

In the evening after my sisters left I destroyed my brothers and cousin at Monopoly!

Back to York 18th-21st Aug

Back in York I was met with a mountain of things to catch up on and found out that I was designated as a driver for our coming weekend in Northern Ireland. Sat Nav anybody?

Northern Ireland 22nd-23rd Aug

The Renew Your Passion Conference was Saturday 22nd Aug in Northern Ireland at Carnmoney Presbyterian Church. It was great to meet KP Yohannan for the first time and I found I immediately had a respect for this man who was willing to spend most of his life travelling on planes alone and exhausted to exhort God’s people to remember the lost in Asia. We had a great time at this conference spending time with our supporters in Northern Ireland and we pray that as a result there would be fruit in harvest fields of Asia.

This is Carnmoney Presbyterian Church's building:

...Brian and Mindy Kirik:

...smiley volunteers!

...me talking with Pastor Robin Marshall:

...a shot of the crowd:

...Pastor Loren Coombs from CC Bridlington was helping us too!

...the sanctuary:

...Brother KP in action!

...another shot of the crowd:

...our resources table:

...Northern Irish money!

...Mindy Kirik in action:

...Brian Kirik in action!

...Tim and Rachel at the resources table:

Sunday 23rd KP Yohannan spoke at Holywood Baptist Church and again it was a really good time. I got to spend a bit more time with Andy and Rachel Lovell who are our Northern Ireland representatives before we had to fly back, leaving Brian and KP to go onto the remaining conferences by themselves.

Our resources table again!

...Tim with one of the congregation:

...me, er... pulling a face at someone:

...Brother KP talking after the service:

...Mindy talking to some visitors to the church:

...Judy explaining the Bridge of Hope program to one of the church members:

...Brother KP again:

...the gentleman on the right is Andy Lovell, Andy and Rachel are our Northern Ireland reps:

Well that's all for now, I'll write again as soon as I can. God bless you and keep you!

2009-07-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

The camera on my phone is now more or less kaput so it doesn’t look like I’ll be taking many more pictures with it to put on my blog. That’s what I get for dropping my phone all over the place :-(

The York Pastor’s Conference took place here about three weeks ago and the Browns were up here in York for those few days. It was a blessing to be able to spend time with them again, as well as several other people whom I had not seen in a while, albeit for a brief moment only. Thanks to Savannah Brown for taking these wonderful pictures with my then semi-functioning phone camera:-

Gospel For Asia are going to several conferences this summer. I myself will be at the second week of New Wine in Shepton Mallet near Bath.

Google Maps reliably informs me it’s a 4.5 hour drive from York (I have to drive to transport equipment there and back), please pray for travelling mercies - I am not american and am not used to long journeys!

We go on 2nd August and come back the 8th, so I will be turning 28 whilst there! We pray that we would accurately communicate the work God is doing through Gospel For Asia to the Christians we meet at these conferences, and that this time would result in Christians realising the impact they can have on a lost and dying world, and ultimately in souls in Asia coming to the Lord.

We have just been trying out the tents we will be camping in. It was great fun putting them up in the office. I’ll be with three people and a baby (?) in a Lichfield Arapaho 4-man, which really doesn’t feel as big as the pictures seem to indicate. It shall be fun nonetheless!

After the conference I am looking forward to attending the Family Camp hosted by Servant’s Church, my sending church recently known as Calvary Chapel Norwich. Taking place again at Whitwell Hall, I think it’s going to be a smaller and less public venture this year, and I am looking forward to relaxing and spending time with some familiar and well-missed faces.

2009-06-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

If anyone has not yet seen the film “Slumdog Millionaire” I fully recommend it. It is a good illustration of the living level of Dalit children and their vulnerability to those that would take advantage of them. It is not so much entertaining as it is eye-opening – I am glad I watched it once but I doubt I would watch it again. It has given us a new sense of urgency to get as many children sponsored and into our Bridge of Hope centres as possible.

I have pretty much settled into Gospel For Asia home-office life, complete with it’s own battles. The other day I had a frustrating episode with an online data link with the bank which all of a sudden would not function. There is a helpline number but of course the document with it was nowhere to be found and this particular system is so old that no-one really knows it, let alone understands it. It was only after a desperate prayer that the solution presented itself. I know it’s a small thing but I got really angry with my computer and with myself and well, with pretty much everything! I get frustrated and impatient remarkably easily and little things like this really get me into the flesh – please pray for me!

More positive highlights include Helen Walker’s birthday:

…a delivery of… something or other:

…having more light in the office (we were below legal levels!):

…and having Martha and Daniel in the office some more:

We’ve had a new birth here at Calvary Chapel York:

…well as a beautiful wedding:

…and I met Abigail, about to depart to work in an orphanage in Zambia as a missionary:

James my landlord has been doing much work on the house. Some local youngsters helped us in the garden:

…we have a new back fence:

…and James’ parents also came to be labourers for a week:

He’s thinking of repainting, he does not like the current colour scheme, what do you think?

The cooker is now in, although it won’t be functional until the gasman comes to safely connect it:

I also learned NOT to cook rice in a slow cooker:

On a random tangent, there is a great bakery chain in York called Thomas the Baker:

…they do a “yesterday bake” deal whereby they cheaply sell produce that was baked the day before. You can get a bag of flapjack pieces for 45p and you get loads. I am going to get sooooo fat!

I’ll leave off with a question, does anyone know what this is?

2009-05-30T03:48:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

We have been thanking the Lord for a really good month for answered prayer, including our prayers for the India elections. When the moderate Congress Party won 5 years ago it opened a 5 year window for the Gospel to be preached in India, but it seemed like that window was coming to an end with the closing in of the national elections. However we serve an awesome God, and we know that the powers that be are ordained by God, so we prayed accordingly despite the odds and lo and behold our God, the God of heaven and earth answered. Congress won the election and opened the door for another five years for labourers to be sent into the harvest, so please “pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:38). Here is a link to more info about the election.

We are continuing to pray for Sri Lanka, and our people there who will be ministering to refugees who have lost loved ones, homes and don’t have adequate food or shelter, and who will be asking “what will we do, where will go?”. Read a bit more on Sri Lanka here.

Highlights from my last few weeks in the office included en envelope delivery:-

…having the whole Thrasher family in the office to do name data entry:-

…God answering prayer and bringing a veritable army of volunteers for a day:-

In regards to homelife I have already managed to annoy my neighbours by playing my guitar too loud too late at night, keeping a 9 year old boy from his sleep. I am hoping that a small Lego set will serve as a suitable peace offering. It was fun going to a toy shop again! Though it wasn’t quite the same as when I was younger, all the toys are different and expensive.

I really thought that I was a big eater, but I have really found my match in my housemate and landlord James Belham! Check out his daily breakfast:-

We now have living room windows! Two guys came and fitted them and did a great job:-

We have also been breaking up concrete in our back garden and I had the job of taking it – about 2 tons – to the local tip, much to the dismay of my car’s suspension!

Without a cooker I have been experimenting with the slow-cooker and I have become quite smitten with it! It’s quite handy and versatile, and because you can set it going one night and eat from it the next evening it kind of feels like someone else is cooking for you.

Oh by the way this is Elijah Kirik, Brian and Mindy’s well behaved 10 year old:-

Thanks for reading, please keep praying for us as we serve as unprofitable servants doing our duty, while marvelling that the God of the universe would call us friends.

JP

2009-05-17T09:45:00.000-07:00

I have moved house! My address is now 50 Etty Avenue, Tang Hall, York YO10 3TL. The scaffolding is no longer there, and the tiling has actually been finished, but I haven't yet taken a current photo.

My room is probably the only clean room in the house! James has been working to prepare it for me, and I am very grateful. The house was left full of furniture, a lot of which is still in very good condition, so I have been blessed with wardrobe, desk and drawers...

...and the Kiriks gave me a single bed - which when taken apart fit in the back of the Almera! I was lookin through the kitchen utensils and I was like whoa, how many does THIS huge pot cook for...?

We had a great Sunday service this morning, Dave spoke from 2 Peter, about taking head not to fall away, if the heavenly realm (the angels), the earthly realm (Noah's time), cities (Sodom and Gomorrah) and a prophet who spoke God's words (Balaam) could slip away, how careful should we be? It was also Dave and Nancy Sylvester's 25th Wedding Anniversary so we had a bring and share, and some goodbyes to this semester's bible college students. I heard another new song this morning which really blessed me:-

Oh, I mailed something by mistake last week, if anyone finds it arriving at their door please return it to the Gospel For Asia UK office:-

Thanks for reading!

2009-05-13T14:34:00.000-07:00

Angie has now left and I am flying solo doing her role, still rather uncertain about most of the processes I do. The notes we made are fairly extensive and I am heavily relying on them. I am quite tired and overwhelmed, but working in an office for the Lord all day is just bliss!

My house is ready! It even has hot water now! No cooker yet but that just means I won’t have to spend time cooking. I am just waiting on someone with a big car to be available to take the single bed that the Kiriks are giving me over to the house. James my landlord has been diligently working on it after work.

Brian was on Genesis TV last night talking about the persecution of Christians in India. I watched online and found it stirring and challenging. He is actually at the Christian Resource Exhibition in London all this week, with someone additional to do every day of it. Please pray for his health and energy as he serves the Lord.

We went to the lake district on a retreat a few weeks back, just after the crazy conference season and it was a real blessing. We some time in a house by a lake, had some great fellowship and I got to know the team a little better. We had a local pastor called Russell Freylick come and teach, who had an amazing testimony of how the Lord saved his life. He read Psalm 24 and talked about having clean hands and a pure heart, and then he taught about having peace, finding the old ways as Jeremiah says instead of new ones. We often try to escape to quite places like the lake district (!) to find peace, but then once we leave that place our peace is gone again, peace only truly comes through having peace with God. We often also lose our peace by making God’s work our burden, forgetting that it is HIS work. That was a Saturday night. On the Tuesday Jeff Cuozzo of Calvary Chapel Spring Lakes came with his worship leader, who was also called Jeff. Before singing Jeff read Psalm 24 (!) and then we sang “Give Us Clean Hands” (which I have added to my playlist). Then Jeff Cuozzo shared, and one of his points was that often we make God’s work our burden and we lose our peace (!). I sensed the Lord was speaking to us, which I always find startling, and comforting.

We covet your prayers for our office, we have a lot of work and not enough staff, and it’s not money we’re trying to make it’s souls we’re trying to win. We praise the Lord that we have too much work to do, it’s a huge blessing, I just wish I could multi-task better!

2009-04-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

Hi again,

So here finally are some pictures from the Spring Harvest conference in Skegness. It was my first time there and to me it was a really big affair. Here are some of the stands and people that were there…

Essential Christian with materials for believers…

…Open Doors were there too rallying support for imprisoned Christians…

…this was their “wall”…

…and their map of where they work, which is very similar to ours…

…here also are the gang from Compassion, gaining sponsors for children in poverty. They got 26 in the time that I was there…

…and this was the Tearfund stand, toilet and all. They were raising awareness and gaining support for people who don’t access to toilet facilities and water.

It was a productive time, we spoke to many people about the indigenous missionary movement and signed up about 370 names for the free Revolutions In World Missions books. We are praying that some of the people we spoke to would be led to impact Asia by supporting missionaries there. Hardly anyone we spoke to had heard of Gospel For Asia, and some did not realise there are still people in the world who have never heard about Jesus… and quite a lot of them! We were at the stall Sunday to Wednesday 9:15am-12noon, 1pm-5:30pm, 8:30pm-10:45pm, about nine and a half hours a day, and I was thoroughly exhausted at the end of it, physically and mentally. On Thursday I drove back to York, then drove Judy back to Skegness to rendezvous to husband Tim for the second week, and then drove back to York.

So Friday was a day of much needed rest. We watched Fireproof, a film by the same people who made Facing the Giants and it is great! I can’t recommend it enough, and here’s a site where you can buy it, the copy I got has a globe symbol with a “1” in it which is supposed to mean region 1 (i.e. made for US dvd-players) but no-one seems to have had trouble playing it so far:-

http://www.shopzeto.com/items/dvds/show/5245

In the evening we went to a cedar meal hosted by Calvary Chapel York which was really good. Dave Sylvester explained the elements of this traditional Jewish meal and for some reason the gravy was really really good.

Saturday I went into the office to try and write up some of the notes I took when Angie was training me, some of the procedures really fried my brain and I needed to have it all written up ready for when she came back.

Sunday I went to the Resurrection Day service at Calvary Chapel York and I heard a song called “Give Me Jesus” which I immediately liked, I’ve added it to my playlist for your audio pleasure . Mindy made a great roast lamb dinner too, and I had biscuits and gravy for the first time. These aren’t biscuits we brits know them, they are a cross between scones and dumplings and are really tasty.

Monday I was back trying to type up my notes. Tuesday I spent all day trying to print envelopes with a printer that was convinced I wanted to print every other one as blank.

And today (Wednesday) I also had to contend with a machine which like to rip letters instead of fold them and which didn’t take the size of envelope I had just spent Tuesday printing.

I also got a bit more familiar with the system used to match up donations with where they have been designated by the donor.

Helen is still really ill and really needs prayer. She deals with sorting out sponsorships for missionaries and Bridge of Hope children and I wonder if maybe her work was having the most impact on the field, and this is her payback from the enemy? Please pray for her complete healing and protection so that she may return to work, and continue impacting Asia with the Gospel.

JP

2009-04-09T06:01:00.000-07:00

I have to be quick, just got back from Skegness at 9 this morning and it was an exhausting time, giving out almost 400 GFA books and saying the same spiel to about 200 people! I got back and went the Kirik home and saw Helen, Mindy and Elijah. Apparently it's been a really really hard week for them, Helen was in hospital for 10 hours on Saturday because of a kidney infection, Mindy was out of commission being only able to see out of one eye, Angela was in the office by herself for the week doing 4 people's jobs. Please pray for our office! I am about to go to Skegness again at 3ish to bring Judy and Daniel to meet with Tim there, along with 7 more boxes of books. Bye!

2009-04-02T01:16:00.001-07:00

Hi all, just a quick update to let you know what I’ve been doing, while I still have time!

On Friday I and Mike from the Bible College (see picture) constructed some shelving for book storage.

On Saturday I was the designated driver for the Kiriks’ removal van as they have just moved house. I’ve never driven a van before and it was a little scary at first but now I kind of miss it.

On Sunday I had my first Sunday at Calvary Chapel York which was really nice. Interestingly, while I am in the midst of a bunch of housing issues Pastor Dave Sylvester was finishing off Psalm 91, talking about making the Lord our habitation.

After service I got to go see the house I am wanting to live at. It’s still a mess but James, who has just become the landlord, is getting straight to fixing it up.

What’s great is that as we were fixing up the front fence many of the local kids came to help. There’s a mission field right there, thrust in my face! It is a rough area but I can’t help but feel that this is where the Lord would have me, at least for now.

This Saturday 4th I will be driving down (is it down?) to Skegness with Tim to man the GFA stall at Spring Harvest until Thursday 9th. I hope my SatNav knows where Skegness is. We are praying for many Revolution In World Missions books to be taken and read, for believers to be stirred up to be senders, supportors and even staff members, and for the energy to endure what I’m told is a very tiring time. Then after coming back to the office for a week I will be going to Minehead with Brian from Tuesday 14th until Sunday 19th to man the stall at the Spring Harvest there.

2009-03-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

I have finally arrived in York! Sorry I haven't posted this blog sooner, my first night here (Monday night) I was really ill all night, I don't think I slept at all. I felt sick but unable to be sick, I was aching all over and had occasional chills. I spent the whole next day (Tuesday) at the Kiriks' home on their couch feeling miserable, disappointed with myself for my first day with Gospel For Asia. Today (Wednesday) I felt well enough to go in, though I still felt exhausted and sluggish, and... not at all hungry! I have been put off at even the thought of food, which is probably funny to those of you that know me!

Anyway, my first day at GFA was nice and gentle, I read through some documentation I had to read through and started using a system to input names and addresses into the computer database. I also observed things that the others were doing and felt a little overwhelmed at how much there seems to learn. I also saw the required reading list shelf:-

...which also be funny to those of you who know me and my slow reading skills!

I thank the Lord that I am now here, and I pray that I will be able to serve Him as He desires, and that I would not forget the secret place.

I hope to meet the owner of the house I am thinking of renting from soon, he contacted me on Monday night but I was too ill to meet up.

On Sunday I had a really nice send off from Calvary Chapel Norwich. John called me up and briefed the congregation on how the Lord had directed me in the last year, asked some guys to come pray for me, John prayed for me and another man gave a stern word from the Lord for me, to which I totally bore witness. He said that the Lord wanted me to know that I was being called from one classroom to another, that although I thought I was going to be serving I would actually be learning, that many things would happen, some good and some bad, and that I was to keep humble. I was sure it was from the Lord already, but John announced that he had received a call from Brian Kirik the day before and he had said exactly the same thing. It's funny, I was expecting the Lord to rebuke me in front of everyone for all sorts of things, but I realise that many of my fears are self-imposed and enemy-imposed, and that all I need to worry about is the light burden the Lord has put on me. This rod really was comforting!

On Monday I got to see Dave Jones unsuccessfully flip his spanish omelette:-

...and then went to say goodbye to Sheila who couldn't make it to church on Sunday:-

...then I said goodbye to 90 Friends Road:-

...and went over to my mum's for some steamed buns:-

Monday was also Brian Kirik's birthday and I was blessed to share in the celebration as I arrived in York (before I got ill!):-

...all in all I am excited to be here, and thankful for the opportunity to learn and serve.

Anyway, please keep praying for me, I feel like I am starting to understand spiritual attack a little bit, and I am still not at full support so I think I'll be continuing to raise funds while I am here, though I'm not really worried as I think the Lord will provide what I need, so if I don't have it I didn't need it!

Thanks for reading!

2009-03-22T15:54:00.000-07:00

Had a really nice last dinner with the Browns and Hornagolds on Saturday night. I still wasn't really feeling like I am moving on from this place and onto another, I suspect it will sink in a few days after repeatedly waking up and saying “where am I?”

I was blessed with a really beautiful send off at church too. John recounted how the Lord had led him to lead me, some of the guys prayed over me and someone gave me a word from the Lord which I completely bore witness to, about how the Lord was moving me from one classroom to the next, for my own learning to mature me, how I was to obey and be humble, how good and bad things would happen, but it would all be for God's glory. It was public and when I heard the tone of what the Lord was saying I thought “oh no, the Lord's going to rebuke me in front of the whole congregation for this and this, and this, and this...” but thankfully the Lord chose not to declare my sins and shortfallings before everyone.

My grandma came too and has offered to support me, despite completely disagreeing with Christianity and my explanations of God's justice :-S

Pat Stacey made me an awesome cake. She even made the flowers out of icing sugar! It was really amazing, I felt bad cutting it!

I said many farewells and hugged many people, but ever with the mindset that I was not simply moving onto another job and leaving my church family behind, I am a servant and a soldier being re-posted, leaving behind a battalion of soldiers who also have much work to do and many battles they must fight. A little while longer and those of us who confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus Christ and believe that God raised Him from the dead, will be with Him in glory and we will be fellowshipping for a long time, but right now it's harvest time and there is much work to be done!

And then some of the kids got themselves locked behind some gates and had to wait for the caretaker to free them.

Afterwards I went to my mother's for some food and family time with my brothers and sisters. Spring rolls and crispy noodles mmmmmm. It was Mother's Day, my last Sunday and my sister's Birthday in a few days so it was a combo time. I gave my sister the digital photo frame I had gotten for Christmas from mum! They both know of course, I didn't have time to use it and it served as a good yet cheap present!

The next entry I do should be from York, Lord willing. I drive up tomorrow, Monday 23rd March, as planned, to impose upon Brian and Mindy and eat their food :-) I'll let you know how I get on.

2009-03-18T16:07:00.001-07:00

Friday just gone Lesley-Ann graciously came round again to cook for son Paul, Brianna and I. We have this deal whereby she comes and cooks and we eat. It's always sounded fair to me. That was followed by a nice Bible study at John's house on Judges 17 and 18. I was a little nervous at this point about speaking on the Sunday at Twickenham.

On Saturday I was due to arrive at the Wilsher's for tea at about 5pm. I was about 1:30pm and I had some time to kill. I had a little time to kill so I thought I'd get my tax disc done online... but it wasn't letting me do it. “We can't find your MOT,” the message read, “if you have it please ring this number.” I finally found the certificate after searching high and low and looked at the expiry date: 14th March 2009. “You've got to be joking,” I thought. I quickly rang up Nigel Farrow

who did the MOT last time (which was also in a rush!) and he graciously agreed to do my MOT this day (so much for time to kill). In addition to this my tires were bald, my brake pipes weren't doing to great either and my breather pipe was leaking. He allowed me to sit at his desk to read my bible while he worked and I called ahead to tell Elliot and Jen I was going to be late. At 5:30pm the car was done, I payed Nigel, shared Jesus with him and headed back to the house to pick up the materials and some clothes.

I got back and found the S.L.U.G. Youth Group (Servants Learning Under God) there who recounted the days swimming antics while I packed my things and had the leftover shepherds pie. At 7pm I finally left for London, with a map print-off and my talking Sat Nav.

Managing to escape the M25 with my life intact I arrived at the Wilsher's at about 9:15pm with a warm welcome from Elliot and Jen and stayed up for a while to chat with Elliot about how the Lord has led his life and provided for him so far. I also found out they have the biggest pet rabbit I have ever seen! I crashed on the couch at about 11:45pm, grateful for a place to lay my head and close my eyes!

Sunday morning saw us setting up Whitton High School Hall for church service, which reminded me very much of home!

I met some of the people who attended and found that I had heard some of their names in conversation and was glad to finally get to meet them. I was really blessed by the time of praise, some new songs that I hadn't heard before yet found easy to pick up, and which really rang true to who God is and what He has done. Afterwards Elliot shared some announcements and introduced me, and up I went. I was almost as nervous as I was at Cambridge, and I opted to not use the microphone so that I could stand closer to the congregation. I thought this would connect me more to the people... but it actually meant that a couple of them couldn't hear me very well and the parents in the creche could not hear me at all! I explained Gospel For Asia and illustrated the need as best as I could, as well my purpose in raising support for myself. I think it went pretty well. After my spiel we were blessed to hear Tim McBryan from Calvary Chapel South London share on holiness and the God who makes us holy, and our need to not focus on our lack of holiness. After service I had a nice chat with Marvin and Kara about eternity minded living and the seriousness of the Gospel message.

After Twickenham I went a further round the M25 to Leatherhead to visit Tim and Ann Daniels, a couple who have been of tremendous encouragement to me, and then finished off the M25 to get back the M11 for my ride towards Norwich (and went through the Dartford Tunnel for the first time). Not sure if I could stay awake all the way to Norwich and remembering the Hulleys' most fervent return-invitation I diverted myself toward Bury St Edmunds with no guarantee that they would actually be at home. To my relief they were there to give me an extremely warm welcome, a space on the couch for the night and tell me I and arrived just in time for dinner :-) I could not have planned it better! On Monday Peter kindly showed me around Bury St Edmunds and told me about some of it's history while we kept an eye out for job vacancies. As I promised Gabrielle, we didn't have any ice cream at the Abbey without her.

I left Bury and arrived in Cromer for 6pm for dinner at the Billings household where there lives the biggest dog I have ever seen in my life!After this weekend I was exhausted, but very blessed by everything that happened and everyone I saw. I am now in preparation to head off for York. I have found that unfortunately there is no place to stay at the bible college so I am going to be taking the Kiriks up on their offer to stay at theirs. I know they are happy to have me, I would just rather not get in the way of someone's family life, especially with Brian being so busy! I'll keep you posted on where I end up.

2009-03-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

Dave and I just got back from doing some street witnessing. Can I just say that I really hate street evangelism! It's awkward, uncomfortable, I feel silly and never know how to start... and yet... every time I come away thinking “I should do this everyday”. I can think of fewer things that build up my faith more, that show me where the gaps in my armour are, that show me how well I understand my salvation and my previous condemnation... and that give me a heart for the lost. When I hear what some people believe sometimes it really grieves me. And when I see how much some people listen it just makes me see how much I have been given and how much I should be willing to give away. It was a great time, and we hope to do it again soon.

I have been developing this fear: we have teams of footballers that come to play at the same school where we have church, at the time when we have Sunday service. Some of them have only heard me say “can you NOT park in OUR carpark please?” I have been thinking; if they don't get saved between now and the judgement, when their sentence to spend eternity in torment is given, and if for argument's sake they go past me on that day on their way to everlasting destruction, I imagine them turning to me, with tear filled eyes, saying “why didn't you tell me?” What would I say? “I was too busy”. Too busy setting up an evangelical outreaching church? “I was afraid.” Afraid of what? Didn't I know I had Jesus? Don't get me wrong, I know that it's not my responsibility to save everyone that's lost! But I think the question for me is, am I doing anything about anyone who's lost? I pray for grace and for wisdom, not to do anything out of guilt or frustration. It has to be vertical motivation (from the Lord) not horizontal!

12 days until I move to York! I am still waiting to hear from the bible college about some temporary accommodation, I will be staying with the Kiriks initally when I arrive on the 23rd, and I am looking forward to looking at this house in Tang Hall, the buyer should have completed the purchase shortly after I arrive. I pray that his purchase goes swiftly and smoothly and that it can be made ready soon AND that the Lord would let me know if this is the place for me to be! I am speaking for 10mins at Calvary Chapel Twickenham this Sunday, will be praying for the Lord's word from me to them!

2009-03-03T13:35:00.000-08:00

This Saturday I was blessed to visit the Hulleys,a South African family who I haven't had a chance to see for a long time. Peter is growing a moustache, John and Morris were making shelves, Sarah was grieving over her new braces and Gabrielle was telling me about the cats' sleeping habits. We had a great time of fellowship, friendship... and of course food! (John made a really nice chilli, which poor Sarah had to have liquefied!) It was really nice to catch up, see their new house, listen to music and share about my direction with Gospel For Asia. I arrived at their place in Bury St Edmunds at about 4:30pm and stayed overnight. Sunday morning Lee introduced me to Maltabella, a lovely South African porridge, and then I had to say my goodbyes.

I arrived at Calvary Chapel Cambridge at about 9:45am, now more anxious about speaking in front of a church then I thought I would be! It was great to see the Rozeks again, I hadn't seen them for quite a while either.

I helped with some tables and chairs and talked to some of the people, and reminded myself that the Lord would do whatever He wanted, and that the worst I could do was look silly if I got tongue tied, and in that case only my pride would be harmed. I led the songs and was conscious that it really made a difference not being amplified! I really dislike being so focused on myself! I'm amazed that God uses me. Someone prayed and a psalm was read between songs, and I felt directed to alter the order of the songs. Pastor Joey prompted me when it was to be the last song (I wasn't sure how many we would be doing!). Afterwards he read out some announcements and then introduced me and asked me to come up and share. I neglected to time myself, my left hand was shaking the whole time and I completely forget to mention the free Revolution In World Missions book... but all in all I'd say it went well. This Sunday was also their Bring & Share (yay!) and I had my Gospel For Asia literature and materials set up on a small table in the fellowship hall. I got to see Rob and Michelle again, who I met almost a year ago there. It was great get to know some of the regulars a bit more, as well as the irregulars(!) and I had some amazingly good Mexican Chicken Lasagne (quite a lot of it :-)) and some yummy re-fried beans :-D

Afterwards I went to meet my spanish friend Laura at the International Christian Fellowship in the town centre. I hadn't seen Laura for about 5 years. I got there at half an hour late and couldn't find a place to park. After parking it then took me another half an hour to ask people if they had loose change and be told no, run to ASDA to buy something, run back to the car, and then discover that parking in these zones is free on Sundays. I walked into St Matthew's just in time for the closing prayer and last song. It was a nice little set-up they had. As a visitor I was welcome by those who ran it and I presented them with my business cards. I chatted to Laura for a while and then took her in my car to pick up a bike someone had left behind for her on the other side of Cambridge.

That evening I went to stay over at my great aunt's house in Ely. The last time I had seen her was about 5 years ago when I stayed in her spare room for a month while I was working in Peterborough.

She is a Buddhist and has several Buddha statues around the house and I really didn't see any way of sharing Christ with her, but I thought I should at least see her before I go to York. When I saw her performing one of the ritual ceremonies and I ran upstairs! I felt the need to share the truth with her, but I also felt so helpless before someone so deep in her ways. I felt like a failure and hypocrite too – I am about to go and serve with Gospel For Asia and this kind of situation is probably exactly what their missionaries are regularly faced with. I went upstairs to play a few songs on my guitar and pray that the Lord would do something here today. A few minutes later I was sitting with her in the living room and she was showing me some photos of relatives in Vietnam. She mentioned that it was nice having the 4 dogs she had because sometimes she was lonely... so I told her that Jesus loves her. When she asked how I knew, I explained how we have to be punished for the bad things that we do, how God loves us, and of course I explained the cross. She by no means became a Christian but she seemed to understand what I said and we had some discussion afterwards too. It was a bit shakey, my Vietnamese isn't great and I am not sure how good her English is, but she was definitely listening. In any case I was grateful for the chance to share the love of God with her... and incidentally I'm not actually sure what her name is! What I call her means “7th great aunt”.

I also got to visit another aunt of mine and again I was lifting it up to the Lord and leaving it up to Him. Her and her husband speak better english and their young son is pretty bright. When I said I was going to serve with Gospel For Asia she asked me if I was not Catholic anymore. I told her no... and got to explain why! I got to rant on for a bit about sin, death judgment, salvation, dead works and Jesus. She also by no means became a Christian but she understood that she was a sinner and recognised that she needed what Jesus has done for her – not a bad start. I'll be praying for her and thanking God for these wonderful opportunities, I can't tell you how often I have prayed for these people, and while I haven't reaped an fruit as yet at the very least I am more at peace having had a chance to share the Gospel with them. God is good and I had a truly fantastic weekend!

2009-02-26T16:30:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to Nigel Williams for sharing these on Facebook. It's the Answers In Genesis seminar tonight in Wangford, Suffolk!

Mark 9:24; Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"

2009-02-26T16:12:00.000-08:00

Tiffany Rozek was talking to me the other day about “anchor verses”, verses you return to in times of difficulty, doubt and spiritual warfare (which you often find rolled into one!). I thought about what mine were and I returned to this verse in Mark chapter 9, which has been a comfort to me since I began walking with the Lord.

In this scene Jesus returns down from the mountain after glowing with Moses and Elijah, to find his disciples at odds with the scribes (again) and it turns out they were unable to cast out a mute spirit. The father of the unfortunate boy asks Jesus to help them, and Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." [Mark 9:23]. The challenge is simple; do you believe? I personally am a doubting Thomas, I have very little faith and often question myself, my calling, and even my salvation. I know that all I need is the faith of a mustard seed, but what if I have even messed that up? This cry from the boys father is something that I feel like I need to cry almost every day; "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" Lord I doubt, Lord I am faithless, Lord I can't see past my circumstances.

What was the answer in this case? The father asked Jesus to heal his son, Jesus said “if you can believe”, the father said “well I do and I don't, please help me with this”, what was Jesus' response? He healed his son! He did as the father asked Him to! He met the father where he was in his faith, and hearkened unto his desperate prayer. He did not forsake him for his weak faith. Neither does the Lord forsake us for our weakness, even in this. He understands our humanity, for He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust. [Psalms 103:14].

2009-02-26T15:15:00.000-08:00

I have been contacted by a gentleman in York who in the process of looking for a house and who has heard that I am looking for a place to stay in York. After I sent him my blog to read he realised that he saw me at Calvary Chapel Norwich when he was visiting last August! The house is in Tang Hall, one of the rougher areas of York. The purchase is not yet complete so could still fall through, though there is no reason to think that it would. It is also is currently unliveable, not being connected with any utilities and having all the furniture in the middle of the lounge. It is a repossession and has been idle for a year. Click on the photo or the floorplan to see slightly bigger pictures. I am praying that this gentleman's purchase is successful and soon, and that it gets done up soon too, and about whether or not this might be where the Lord would have me stay for my time in York at the moment, a room has been offered to me at a reasonable price.

I am going to Calvary Chapel Cambridge this Sunday! I am praying that I would hear from the Lord what to say and do there, I want to be open in case the Lord wants me to do something completely different and specific, maybe He wants to use me to minister to some other specific need there or something. I have never really addressed a church in this way before, even for only 10 minutes. I might be leading worship too, and while I would like the Lord to knit the worship and the Word I don't want to manipulate anyone's emotions. I just pray that the Lord will speak His intentions for this day and that I would have the wisdom to understand and submit to His will.

2009-02-18T15:32:00.000-08:00

Hi again!

Just to say, my last Sunday at Calvary Chapel Norwich will officially be Sunday 22nd March, and I will go to York on Monday 23rd. Rob Dingman has offered me some time at Calvary Chapel Twickenham on Sunday 15th March to share what the Lord is beckoning of me, please pray that the Lord gives me something to say! Upon arrival in York I will be a guest at the Kirik home but I am hoping that the Lord puts me somewhere before they get bored of my jokes. The finance isn't quite there but I feel a peace about going with what I have.

Please keep praying for me, I don't like going alone into spiritual battles! It's funny, I had a few e-mails from Suzy Kuj in Tonj, in South Sudan, who encouraged me that she too would be praying for me. I have been reading her prayer requests and updates, telling of the Kuj family's ministry in Tonj and have always been greatly impressed by the great responsibility they carry of running a medical centre and training native pastors there. And yet they have promised to pray for me! I feel that I am beginning to better understand the reality that we are indeed “in this together”, doing the same work, serving the same master, fighting the same battle, for there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one father, and one family. And though "the work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall” (Neh 4:19) whenever one of us blows the trumpet we can all rally together in prayer and “our God will fight for us."

2009-02-14T16:53:00.000-08:00

Hello again!

I have given notice, and my last day at work will be Friday 27th February. I still don't have a date for moving up to York and am still waiting on mammon and accommodation.

It looks like there's no chance of getting a redundancy package :-( it's far too early with the deadline being all the way in 2010... and there not being any money! Oh well, a disappointment, but not a hindrance!

Concerning the York office, Tim and Judy have had their second baby! A boy, Daniel, 7lb 13oz. This means that Judy is out of commission for a while, so there are only five people in the office. And for this next week Tim will be at home too... so there will only be FOUR people in the office! If only they had an extra pair of hands :-s

Joey Rozek has blessed me with ten minutes to speak at Calvary Chapel Cambridge on Sunday 1st March. I have the privilege of presenting Gospel For Asia to this young congregation for the first time, and I pray that the Lord will give me the right words, I have never spoken in front of a church like this before! Please pray for me, and for more opportunities like this!

Last Saturday we went leaflet dropping for the upcoming Answers In Genesis event in Suffolk on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th hosted by some people from our church who live there. We're praying for a good turn-out for the truth to be heard about Creation, in light of Darwin's 200th birthday celebration.

Today we have Brian Anderson from Kanaan Haz (Canaan House) in Hungary speaking about the horrors of human trafficking. I had the pleasure of doing some volunteer work with Brian at Kanaan Haz a few years ago, it'll be strange to see him in Norwich!

JP

The end is nigh!

2009-02-03T13:48:00.000-08:00

Hi all!

Work has asked for an exact date for my departure! I asked my manager for a night to pray before giving this as I still don't have my 60 prayer soldiers, or anywhere near the £1,200 a month I am aiming for, and I am still a bit sketchy about where I'll be staying! The Lord knows :-)

I want to leave plenty of time after I have left work for leaving preparations, hand-overs, and getting rid of unneeded junk. I aim to take the train and be fairly mobile once in York, so I want to travel as light as possible.

All I have on my mind is clothes, toothbrush, bible, laptop. I'll be leaving the car 'cos it costs to run, I doubt I'll need the guitar straight away, the printer is fragile and bulky, I never listen to those CDs anyway, and I haven't touched those books for ages. I'll be praying about what to give to who, and what to throw away! Mum will have the printer and speakers back. What am I going to do with all that stuff in the loft??

Had the second part of the root canal yesterday. There wasn't supposed to be a third but my dentist doesn't want to fill it up yet in case it's still a little infected. The third part will be Mon 23rd Feb so I guess I won't be leaving before then! In this x-ray you can see the thin test strip of filling material, when it was up my tooth and protruding out it felt like I had a paper clip stuck in my tooth!

Just want to share what I saw in my quiet time a few days ago:-

Ezekiel 33:11 "Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"

I read that and thought, who are the wicked?

Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and
come short of the glory of God..."

John 3:18 "...but he that believeth not
is condemned already..."

It's easy for me to meet a really nice person who is really moral, kind to others, works hard and is really humble..., and think, now this person can't possibly deserve to go to hell, can they? Or to imagine those living in the Third World who have led hard lives, living in poverty, in slums, going without food, water, clothing, shelter, education, medicine..., and think, now they can't possibly deserve to go to hell, can they? What could they have done? The Bible says that all have sinned, all have been brought forth in iniquity and conceived in sin, our default position is condemned, we start off as wicked enemies of God. However (such a wonderful word!) God has no pleasure in the death, even of the wicked! He desires that they turn to Him, and this is how He achieves that:-

Ezekiel 33:7-8 "So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand."

A watchman. Someone who knows the about the judgement to come, surrounded by and responsible for people who are not aware of it and who will perish unless the watchman warns them to repent. That's me. If you are born again that's you too. It's also the 16,500 missionaries that Gospel For Asia has sent out into the harvest fields, but time is running short, the labourers are few, much of the harvest is going to waste. Pray the Lord of the harvest that He would send labourers into the harvest, and pray that He would send you too! Pray for the lost, pray for your families, pray for your friends, pray for your enemies, pray for your work mates who you see everyday. And pray like their lives depended on it!

Just one last and rather random thing. I was reading this chapter round about the time I was recording video of myself singing praise songs and uploading them onto YouTube, with the intention of directing Christians to read my blog.

It was taking more time than I had at first thought, yet yielded little result, and I questioned whether I was doing it for God and His purposes or just my own vanity and entertainment. It was then that I got to this verse in my reading:-

Ezekiel 33:32 "And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not."

I was so surprised! It seemed like God had inspired that verse all those millennia ago with me this very day in my bedroom in mind. Which I guess, when I think about it, is exactly the case!

Thanks again for reading!

JP

2009-01-28T04:49:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, just a another quick update to say that I am currently exploring accommodation options in York, one of which is the Calvary Chapel Bible College there. I have asked if they think they might have room for me after they have fit in all the students for this term. It starts soon but they sometimes they get late-comers so they might not be able to tell me until around the end of February. There are some other options I can look at too but nothing suitable has come up yet. I'll probably be crashing with the Kiriks when I first move up but I don't want to plague them with my presence for too long!

I should also say, I was speaking to someone who lives in York who told me that the spiritual attack in York is oddly intense! She had come back to York from being somewhere else and was experiencing attack and wondering what was going on - and then remembered that that was the norm in York. This is why I need my prayer team to protect me!

2009-01-24T14:38:00.000-08:00

Hi again, just to say that with March being almost a mere month away I've had to think about handing my notice in at work. To leave before 1st March I'd have to hand in notice before 1st February, and I can still work past 1st March even if I do this but I'd be free to leave. Hence it made sense to do it asap so that I could be ready to go in case the Lord does something miraculous with the finances and accommodation, yet still being able to work while I wait. The only thing was I have been praying and hoping to receive voluntary redundancy, and I was afraid that handing in notice to officiate my departure from the company would disqualify me from any chance of that. I was praying about what to do, whether I should bite the bullet or if I should wait in faith for the hope of a redundancy pay-out. I concluded that the Lord wanted me to be more concerned about being available to Gospel For Asia as soon as possible, rather than a possible sum of money, so I had decided I was going to go ahead and write my notice letter.

A talk with my manager revealed that doing this does not affect my chances at the redundancy package! It seems I have been blessed with the best of both worlds. I was worrying about a decision and whether or not I was hearing the Lords voice and following His direction... and then He took the decision away, I don't have to make it at all! It may seem a small thing but these small things remind me that I am protected and cared for. I feel comforted and relaxed and can rest assured that I don't need to worry. And yet... I can see that I still worry! I really am a slow learner! Pray that I learn!

I handed in my notice letter on Friday and my team is making preparations for my departure, beginning to delegate tasks and spread the work I am handling.

2009-01-23T06:16:00.001-08:00

Just a quick “me” update, I had the root canal yesterday and it was a textbook procedure. I didn’t take any pictures (!).

It’s funny, my dentist said she was puzzled as to why my tooth would become infected NOW seeing as I broke it five years ago.., why now? So I explained about my impending move to serve the Lord with GFA UK in York, and about spiritual attack from the enemy!

My team-to-be!

2009-01-21T09:35:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone, some of you have never met the Gospel For Asia UK team in York, so here they are in technicolour!
Along the back starting left we have Tim, holding baby Martha, his wife Judy next to him, then... oh, you know what I don't know this lady in the middle (sorry!), I don't think she's there anymore. The guy on the far right is Brian the UK Co-ordinator, with wife Mindy next to him. Then along the front an the left there's Ange who answer most of the phone calls, Elijah in the middle (Brian and Mindy's son) and Helen on the right.

Please also remember these guys in prayer, who are serving the Lord by serving the lost in Asia, by serving our missionaries on the field there, by serving us in the UK here.

Sharing My Secret Place

2009-01-19T03:40:00.000-08:00

I read Ezekiel 24 this morning in my quiet time and this section really struck me, and I want to share it with you guys:-

Ezekiel 24:15-18; Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, “Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down. Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.” So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.

The Lord tells Ezekiel that He is going to take away that which he holds most dear – his wife. He also commands him not to mourn or bear any signs of grief, and Ezekiel does as he is commanded.

I remembered that in “Christ's Call” KP Yohannan mentions a missionary who leaves his job, takes his wife and children and moves into the disease and poverty stricken slums to live and witness there. I remembered thinking that maybe by the grace of God I might be able to bring myself to do that one day, to completely disregard my own life for the sake of the Gospel. Just maybe. One day. But my wife and children?? I seriously doubt it! Yet these verses show a man who accepted even the loss of his most beloved for the fulfilment of God's sovereign purposes, which are greater even than mortal life and death. Nothing was dearer to him than obedience to the Lord.

In this case the purpose is given in verse 24:-

Ezekiel 24:24; “Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.”

...what happened to Ezekiel was to be a sign to the house of Israel, a message, that they would know that it was the Lord God at work. We too are meant to be signs, messengers, and our greatest goal should be that people come to know the Lord God, the Lord Jesus who loved us and gave His life for us... and for them.

I personally believe that Ezekiel's wife would have been an Old Testament believer, and that today they are with the Lord, fellowshipping in His glory! And I believe that Ezekiel knew and trusted that this would be the case. I am sealed with the holy Spirit of promise who is the guarantee of my inheritance and one day I also will be with the Lord in glory. Could there possibly be too great a price for me to take someone there with me?

Luke 18:28-30; Then Peter said, “Lo, we have left all, and followed thee.” And he said unto them, “Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.”

2009-01-17T15:30:00.000-08:00

Hi guys, just a quick update. I have about 35 people on the prayer team, and about £480 a month pledged, I am aiming for 60 pray-ers and £1,200 a month, by March (!) and I'm running out of people I know to contact! I'm starting to get a little anxious and worry, and see my own lack of faith, but I think unless I get to that place of utter helplessness (not quite there yet) I will not fully appreciate that it has to be the Lord that does this. Well, I'm on my way!

Romans 8:6 "...but to be spiritually minded is life and peace"

2009-01-15T15:11:00.000-08:00

Went to the dentist today because my gum has been severely swollen. About five years ago I broke one of my front teeth and although they patched it up they said there was a chance it could get infected. I was hoping that this swelling was unrelated but my dentist looked at it (and poked it too, I was like “hey, that hurts!”) and said I'd probably need a root canal. Now logically you're all thinking I am going to ask for prayer for this, and while I would welcome them I ask that if anything in you moves you to pray for my tooth, please let that be secondary to your prayers for my support to be raised and accommodation found for my move to York in March. Jesus said: Matthew 5:29 “...if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell...” and I may be stretching the context a bit (and to my knowledge my tooth hasn't offended anyone) but I think He's pushing the point that anything that happens to your body here on earth is nothing compared to it being cast into hell, by using some illustrations that we can attempt to empathise with. Likewise anything that happens to MY body on earth is also nothing compared to someone ELSE ending up there. In my case I could say “it's better for me to lose my tooth entirely than for thousands in Asia to be cast into hell...” and while that may seem silly I have to say that my poor little tooth has occupied a large amount of my thoughts and attention, and all for a bone that will only serve me for another seventy years if I am lucky anyway! How spiritual am I, eh? So anyway please pray that the Lord provides the support I need and accommodation for me to be in York in March. I am counting on it!

When thou saidst "Seek ye my face"... Psalms 27:8

2009-01-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

I had been listening to Gospel For Asia's core value teachings and something that KP said really convicted me. He said every member of staff must be consistently in the word, have a systematic method of reading through the Bible, NOT just reading now and then when tempted or sinning, reading lots one day and none the next, no! They must have a STEADY devotional life. I shamefully have to admit that I am falling short in this area, and KP affirms that without this consistency with the Lord no staff member will make it.

I went with Dave Jones to visit a good friend of his called Karl, a wonderful brother in the Lord who is unable to get about much. I had never met the man but we had a great time of fellowship, friendship, and food! I had neglected to bring my Bible :-O so Karl offered me one – a King James wide margin study Bible. It was beautiful – and it was a spare! He offered it to me, on the condition that I would actually use it as it was meant to be used. He didn't want me to take it if I didn't think I would. This was interesting, the Lord and I both know that I hate responsibility and making commitments, I much prefer when someone gives me something regardless of whether or not I will get around to using it, so that there is no pressure. This wasn't like that. I could almost perceive the Lord asking me if I wanted to take this Bible devotion stuff seriously, instead of doing it “when I had time” or “when I felt like it”.

I said yes! So far the Lord has enabled me to beat my body into subjection and get up around 7am (I need a lot of sleep ok?!?) to have some regular quiet time. I am in Ezekiel which is really tripping me out, though I think I found the Lord in chapter 9! Please pray that the Lord has His hand heavy upon me to seek His face early every morning. I cannot build unless the foundation is set. Thanks guys!

...my heart said unto thee "Thy face LORD will I seek" Psalm 27:8

Then said I "Lord how long?" Isaiah 6:11

2009-01-09T17:18:00.000-08:00

It's funny how stuff happens when you pray, and I don't mean that tongue in cheek! I genuinely am surprised at the effect that prayer has. The week before last I had been getting restless about not already being in York, still sitting at my Norwich Union office and not lifting a finger to help while thousands perish during each of my working days, slipping into an eternity without Jesus. I know it has to be when the Lord says go, but I was getting impatient. I asked the Lord when I would be going, and asked Him to make it soon, if not right now. Brian called on Monday and asked me to pray about believing on the Lord to have me arrive in York in March, and act accordingly. I didn't say anything to Brian but it was like music to my ears. I wanted to go home and pray before I said anything but I couldn't help but “feel” that it was right. “Feel” is not the word I want to use but I have no others! I didn't hear a voice either, I just had an understanding that this is what I was supposed to do. There's no earthly reason to think it will happen, but I think that's part of this lesson.

My department is considering voluntary redundancies to reduce staff, giving people the option of volunteering to be made redundant. A person would receive four weeks pay for each year they have worked here, and I have worked here for three years. I have been praying about whether I was supposed to express interest in that or not, and also when. I can cope without it but it would certainly be handy, and a great encouraging confirmation. After praying on Tuesday and asking the Lord to let this work out I finally talked to my manager on the Wednesday, who said he would put my name down, but there were no guarantees. They have until next year to lose fifteen people, so there may not be any going soon. That's fine, I don't mind, and I told him I would be praying about it. On Thursday an announcement happened to come out clarifying the current redundancy packages. Not sure if that means anything. Certainly not a definite sign, but possibly the Lord grabbing our attention. Please pray that I would be offered a redundancy package to take effect in March. It would be very tidy!

Psalms 37:5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

2009-01-06T17:57:00.001-08:00

Hi, welcome to my blog! Those of you on my support team can keep in touch with how I'm doing, what I'm doing, what's going well, what's not, what's happening, and what I need prayer for, while I make preparations for moving to York to serve with Gospel For Asia, and when the Lord has finally brought me there!

It's been an interesting ride so far, the Lord has taught me lessons that I really thought I had already learnt, brought me through all my wrong motives, and showed me that contrary to what I say I actually don't have a lot of trust in Him! Sometimes I wonder if His calling me as a mission was more for my own benefit than the billions in Asia.

I am currently still approaching believers I know, believers I have just met and believers I have not spoken to for years (!) intending to share my heart about the need of mission field in Asia, how the Lord has called me to have a part in it, and how the Lord may be calling them. Please pray for me as a seek wisdom for every step, please pray that I hear His voice, and continue to lift up my voice to Him.

Psalms 5:3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.