By Johnny Walker, missionary to Mongolia
In my seven consecutive visits to Mongolia, from 2012 to 2019, I was able to care for and mentor the orphan children of the Verbist Care Center in Ulaanbaatar. But in 2020 and 2021, because of the worldwide pandemic, it wasn’t possible for me to personally mentor the children, but my heart went out to them in prayer! Then flash! I met a young Mongolian mother in Budapest, Hungary, who was studying and writing her thesis on “Biological Sciences and Agriculture.” She prayed with me to receive Jesus! During the two years of the COVID pandemic I have been particularly burdened to know how I could spiritually feed the potential disciples and close friends I had left in Mongolia. Then flash! The Holy Spirit guided me to follow up and challenge my Mongolian friend to translate a couple of the Mountain Streams and the story of an eagle from the first volume of Streams in the Desert. This friend, whose name is Oyuka, willingly translated the two inspirational talks and the story. I offered to pay her, because I knew she was a poor, hard-working mother and student. Afterwards she was preparing to return with her husband and daughter to their homeland. Then flash! The Holy Spirit nudged me to ask Oyuka if she would record on her phone a musical video clip to share with the orphans in the Verbist Care Center (VCC). I was planning to give the orphans a special card and a box of chocolate bars that are only made in Hungary and which were donated by a sweet sponsor. She happily consented and soon flew back to Mongolia with her little family. Once in Mongolia, she visited the orphanage and gave the director of the orphanage my card and gifts! This resulted in a happy Christmas party for the children. God can still do wonderful things in spite of difficult situations.
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By Sergio, Colombia
Fundación Conect Visión offers children, adolescents, and young people from Puerto Asís and its surroundings opportunities to change their lives through the VITAL program by means of education and sports, which we have proven are effective tools to promote development. The VITAL program helps keep 350 children, adolescents, and young people away from social scourges in Puerto Asís and 18 rural areas of Putumayo, Colombia’s conflict zone. We minister to the following groups on a weekly basis:
Thanks to the grant and the collaborations of companies and friends, we could open new soccer clubs and endow each one with the balls and accessories needed. The staff that tends to these programs is made up of two head coaches and two assistant coaches, two goal keeper trainers, and one assistant teacher to teach reading, writing, mathematics, and English to the children. We have an agreement with a private virtual school in Bogota through which the young people receive an 80% scholarship for quality studies. The children and young people are inspired to be having school. They are making progress! (Even some of the parents sit with their kids and enjoy learning.) We also have an agreement with professional soccer schools to give the kids the opportunity to channel their energy positively through sports and, depending on their particular skills, possibly have a career in professional soccer. This year we were able to send four soccer players to the professional academy in Bogota. And two of our teams won their championships—the under-12-years-old team and the under-17-years-old team. The VITAL program has been in operation for 10 years. It has been in this region for only two years. In the future we hope to implement the program in other places in this conflict zone. Our next objective is to open VITAL in the villages La Hormiga and Puerto Caicedo, at the beginning of 2022.
You have already passed from darkness to light. You have already been transferred from the dominion of darkness to the kingdom of Christ. You are already new creatures in Christ. You are already children of God. What remains is for you to dress like it, to live like it, and to fight like it. The clothes, the fight, do not make you a child of the light. They show that you are a child of the light. This is plain in the flow of the book of Romans. ... First, we get right with God by faith in what Christ has done. Then we dress and live and fight like people of the day. But this is even more clear in two other places where Paul talks about putting on the clothes of a believer. Listen to Colossians 3:12: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” You are already God’s chosen ones, God’s holy ones, God’s loved ones. Now, he says, put on the character that reflects your new identity. And the one other place in all the New Testament where Paul speaks of “putting on Christ” describes it as something already done. Galatians 3:27, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Baptism is an acting out of what happens by faith in conversion. And what happened was: You put on Christ, once and for all. Which means that the command to put on Christ is a call to become what you are—a Christ wearer. So, keep in mind as we move forward now that putting on the armor of light or putting on Christ in verses 12 and 14 [of Romans 13] are not instructions to become a Christian all over again. Paul is calling us to be what we are in Christ. You are children of the light, children of the day. Now dress like it, live like it, fight like it. “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ” means put him on as a badge that admits you to all the resources of heaven that you need to do his will. It means put him on as the best intercom system that ever was so that there can be constant communication with the one whom you love above all others and who is himself everything you need. “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ” means trust him, hope in him, cherish him for all these things. So, the night is far gone, the day is at hand; take off the pajamas of sin and put on the armor of light. The Christian life is not just waking; it is war. The armor of light is faith and hope and love. So put on faith in Jesus and hope in Jesus and love for Jesus. That is what it means to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. — John Piper By Simon and Maria, Philippines
We have been in the Philippines since September 2001. We had been in Thailand for 11 years before that. We both grew up on various mission fields—India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand, etc. We were married in Thailand. When we moved here to the Philippines, we had six children, the youngest being just two months old. Since then, we’ve had three more children; our youngest are twin boys. The first place we lived here was in Baguio. A kind family took our big family in, and while there, we started the Haven for Abused Women. Although we only stayed in Baguio for four months, the family that had welcomed us into their home continued this ministry for years. After moving to Manila, we began working with drug rehab centers, and then promoting children’s education through donating school supplies and curricula to day care centers. We started our own mission center in 2004. By 2010, we were giving school supplies to several thousand children each year and doing disaster relief programs, helping in ministries to the elderly and prisoners. Our work has expanded greatly. Prior to the pandemic we were helping four to six thousand children each year with school supplies. We were also working in a haven for women, and doing two to four dental missions for several hundred children each year. Since the pandemic, things have changed drastically. At first we were completely immobilized, but then we started packing and bringing food to 100 families each week in poor areas. Then we branched out more. This year I started cooking for 150 children each week, and distributing the food to extremely poor areas. Most recently we faced a challenge because of the pandemic and our inability to travel. Our children had reached the limit for visa extensions in the Philippines for the type of visas we have. I requested an extension, but instead received an order to leave and the threat of a large fine and further penalties if we didn’t comply. Just two weeks later, the Bureau of Immigration wrote an exemption for anyone in our situation, and stated that orders to leave were reversed until the pandemic restrictions worldwide were eased. Then, by a miracle, one of our friends helped us to get a much better type of visa so we can remain here for as long as we like. This was done as a donation because of our mission work; it is normally so expensive that there is no way we could have afforded it. We are so thankful that God turned this potential mission-ending circumstance into a miraculous answer to prayer. You can write us at [email protected] or send a FB friend request to jo.bishop.397.
And this idea of clothing ourselves with Christ implies four amazing things:
So, Galatians 3:27 is a daring and comprehensive metaphor for a whole new life. It means to think of Christ constantly, to have His Spirit and His character infuse and permeate everything you think, say, and do. This goes so far beyond the keeping of rules and regulations. This goes even beyond simple obedience. This is to be in love with Him, bathed in Him, awash in Him. A Christian can never need some additional commitment to the law of Moses in order to receive or maintain full acceptance with God. He or she is clothed with Christ. —Timothy Keller Thank you so much for all you have done throughout this past year to contribute to our project. This year, like 2020, was affected by the lockdown due to the COVID pandemic, so the children missed about five months of schooling. They did their best to catch up and take their yearly exams when the school reopened, so they could resume school in October. The economy also suffered greatly because of the pandemic, which makes us even more thankful for the support we have continued to receive from you, our dear friends and Family, in spite of the difficulties you yourselves have faced.
We can proudly say that, thanks to you and to our dedicated Congolese partners, our project has continued to blossom, and we were again able to meet our major goals for sustainable development, matching those of the UN (within the World Family Organization) such as minimizing poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, affordable clean energy, clean water, and sanitation. Zero Hunger and Poverty
Quality Education and Gender Equality
Good Health and Well-Being
Sustainable Development: Clean Water and Sanitation, Affordable and Clean Energy, and Maintenance
Youth and Children Ministry
We are looking forward to another year of working hand in hand to help make this part of the world a better place. We wish you all the best in 2022—good health, protection, and fulfillment in all you do. We are so thankful for you! It was the resurrection that sent the disciples courageously into all the known world of their day, and the resurrection that helped the martyrs fearlessly face death. The resurrection of Jesus is the great motivator!
I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.—John 11:25–26
Happy Easter!
I grew up in a Christian home and have been familiar with the Easter story since childhood, but it wasn’t until last year that I discovered what Easter means for me personally.
Last Easter, my thoughts were not on the glory of Jesus’ resurrection, the triumph of good over evil, or even the bright morning dawning outside my window. Just one week earlier, my best friend had phoned me with the sad news that her father had suddenly passed away during the night. My mind was still reeling with shock and grief. How could a life slip away so abruptly, with no time for last words or goodbyes? I thought about the grandchildren who will grow up never knowing their grandfather, my friend who will no longer have a dad’s support and advice, and the widow who would miss her husband’s loving presence. As I read a Bible study on Easter that detailed Jesus’ last hours, crucifixion, and resurrection, it struck me that the death of the Savior must have seemed to His friends and disciples like the worst thing that could have happened. Yet it was transformed into the most wonderful miracle imaginable: Christ’s triumph over death. If hope emerged from such a terrible event, can that hope still be found today? I thought of my hurting friend. Where was the hope in that tragic and untimely death? My eyes fell on a Bible verse: “God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation.” As I reflected on those words, I realized that the miracle of Easter did not end 2,000 years ago with Jesus’ resurrection. It has continued on, carrying a message of living hope through the ages and into the 21st century. Regardless of how dark things look today, a glorious dawn is approaching. When Jesus prepared to leave His disciples, He left them with the promise that because He lives, they (and we) will live also. Easter is not meant to only be a day of remembrance that comes around once a year, but a living hope in our hearts all year round. As surely as the sun rises every morning, we can leave behind whatever sorrow or pain we are facing and rise again with renewed faith and comfort in the eternal love of God. -- Elena Sichrovsky |
AuthorThe goal of the blog is to provide interesting, motivational, soul feeding material. All to help remind us that God loves us all and wants a personal relationship with each of us and will take care of us in times of trouble. I aspire to be a force for good by providing you with positive input. I encourage you to share the blog with others. Archives
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