“Broken…broken….”

We heard today of a Christian family who have a daughter who is now in her twenties. Outwardly completely normal, she has a mental age far below her physical age, including difficulties with speech. She is very affectionate and loves to welcome people. In fact when the doorbell rings she rushes to the door. But once it is open and she is face to face with the visitor, she doesn’t have the capacity to deal with them especially those who are strangers. But she realises that because she looks normal, many people may not make allowances for her. So she will look at the person and, while pointing to herself, she carefully says, “broken….broken”. We found this very moving. A longing to meet, a desire to relate and yet brokenness getting in the way. But she has a great advantage – she knows she is “broken”, lives within limits and is able to admit to it. She anticipates the day when that brokenness will be gone.

There are many different kinds of brokenness – we are all broken to a greater or lesser extent and in different ways. But what about those that are outwardly normal while inwardly broken and yet don’t know it or refuse to admit it? We often manage personnel situations on behalf of teams where there is brokenness but without self-awareness. Huge disruption, pain and misunderstandings can take place. Please pray for us working to limit damage and bring closure to situations. Humanly speaking, it often seems impossible.

Many of our personnel across the Fellowship are struggling with administrative work-loads as they bring candidates into the Fellowship, or handle OMFers moving from country to country, or care for TCKs. We run an extremely “mean and lean” administration with relatively few folk handling large teams. Due to a lack of understanding among many churches, OMFers involved in this key line of work often struggle with low support levels. It can also feel very demoralizing to not be considered a “real” missionary even though through your work you enable dozens of others to thrive on the field. In addition, we have realized that we don’t have a single “joined up” process for handling people. There is no single version of our data – with dozens of small databases being used in various offices. Important information on people is slow to gather and inaccurate which means that decisions are sometimes made with little information.

So we have stepped out in faith to work on a single Information Technology software program that will act as a tool and a prompt to make life easier for our Personnel people. This is a colossal project which will involve every home and field, affect every member and take two years to complete. Jon Watts, an energetic, visionary IT specialist (who previously built Asia-wide IT systems for a major investment bank) has joined us as Project Manager to build what we are calling “Connecting People” – the International Personnel System. The scope of the project is exciting but daunting. Please pray for people with the right expertise to join the team, for the necessary funds for the project to come in and for the Steering Group set up for the project. This is the 2nd major project Steve is currently overseeing. The Group will have its first teleconference on 8th November – even this is a challenge as we are spread across three continents and 15 time-zones!

We're sorry for the long delay since we last blogged. Life has been far too busy just recently and we realise that we need to be careful to trust in God more and rely on our human strength less.

Joshua has worked hard in prep for his exams, knowing that his results would determine which IGCSE subjects he could take. He also faced the additional challenge of joining the class halfway through the year. He did extra work every morning before school for months to cover the gaps. The results are out and Josh has done well – coming top in geography, qualifying to take triple science next year (one of only four in his class to do so) and flying through maths. His most astounding paper was in Religious Studies where he completed the paper in less than twenty minutes much to the alarm of his parents! His mark was 96.5%! Last night he took the part of Hamlet in a Speech Night presentation of “Doggs Hamlet" which he loved. He woke this morning to the end of the school year, the start of the Christmas holidays, exams all over, subjects chosen for GCSEs and a successful play - life is good for Josh! Thank you for praying for him through this period.

Aimee has been happier at school these last few weeks. She gleefully anticipates her last few weeks of school where there will be a number of fun activities - she and Josh have different school years. We have had to restrain her from getting out the Christmas decorations – like her father, she enjoys the Yule-tide customs! After a hectic and hardworking year we are all looking forward to a week’s holiday in the Cameron Highlands after Christmas. Right now we are in the thick of the November Orientation Course. Aimee and Josh have gone off with some of the young people to explore one of the small islands off the Singaporean coast. This course will take us to over 120 new people that have joined OMF this year. Praise God!

With love
Steve, Anna, Joshua & Aimée

Euphoria!

“I don’t believe in God”, said YY, “that’s how I was taught in China. Science has all the answers. But I’ve begun to think again because of the change in my wife ZY.” ZY, a post-grad research scientist, came to Singapore a year ahead of neurologist husband YY. Through the outreach of a church here ZY came to faith. When asked what difference becoming a Christian had made to his wife, YY said, “She was always an anxious person, negative about the future. But since she became a Christian, she is filled with hope. In fact she’s often….” (scratching his head and reaching for a good word in English) “…euphoric!” Curious to see what changed his wife, YY is now studying the Bible (Genesis, at his request) every week with us and ZY, around a table at the foot of a tower block, in the warm evenings. “What do Christians think about the origins of the universe? How old is it? If creation is good why are there so many natural disasters?” Please pray for him to come to faith.

Steve beat a path to Dr Chan’s door once again for his first major heart review since April 2006. An ECG was done and a detailed scan. Dr Chan eventually said, “Steve, I’m glad to tell you your heart is back to normal.” No more leaky valves. No more poorly moving walls. No more enlarged bits. What an electric shock of delight it was! Another less serious exam result was also forthcoming recently as Steve and Josh’s clarinet grade results arrived. Both the boys passed well (although Dad did a little better than Josh to his secret relief!) We need to take a decision with Josh about what International GCSE subjects he will start in January – where did our little boy go?! Josh wants to take on double maths and triple science but the school have to agree that he is capable of handling it. Please pray that the right subjects are chosen.
Love from us all

Steve Anna Josh and Aimee

Number 917

A busy morning, phones ringing, impromptu meetings, a personnel crisis unfolding – then we were asked somewhat apologetically, if we had time for an elderly couple who had just walked in off the street, asking to “see someone in OMF”. Jim & Kaye had recently discovered that Jim’s great-aunt had served with the CIM. We heaved the old CIM registers out of a drawer, searching until we came to her name, number 917 to be entered. Against her name was the laconic entry, “Died, Sept. 1900”.

Jim told us more of her story. Emma Georgiana was 32 when assassins came looking for foreigners & Christians. She escaped the initial assault together with three colleagues & two children. They were hidden by local Christians in various mountain caves, trying to keep a step ahead of the soldiers. Emma wrote & hid letters in the caves, hoping they would be found & sent back to London (which they were). Her last letter reads in part “ ..we can only say God rules over all & must have some wise purpose in allowing all this to come to pass .…. it would be nicer to be taken & be with so many who have laid down their lives; but for the sake of the dear ones who may read this , & for the sake of the many who are still without Christ, one would like to stay for further service. The Lord is keeping one’s heart in perfect peace during this time of trial. We have heard that the people are coming, so we are going home to our Heavenly home. There I shall see you. Do all repent & meet me there. I have no time for more. The will of the Lord be done. Your loving sister, Georgie.” Emma was found by the armed men, dragged from the cave & killed by the road somewhere near the Ai-k’eo mountain ranges, not far from what was then Peking. A waste of a life? From the lives & witness of such people came the Chinese church. With China today becoming a global superpower, the presence of tens of millions of Christians to be “salt & light” in that society is a stark reminder of the wisdom & timing of God. Reminded of Acts 13:36 “for when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep”, together with Jim & Kaye, we thanked God for Emma’s life, asking to serve God’s purpose in our own generation.

Steve’s Mum recently joined us for a two week visit in Singapore. It was a whirlwind time but she womanfully pressed on through the full days! She enjoyed the IHQ team morning prayers, hearing the testimonies of the new OMFers as well as joining in the mid-year Day of Prayer. She mingled & helped out with the often noisy home visits with OCers in our flat. She went to Sentosa beach, joined the OC barbecue, was taken out for lunch to Little India, enjoyed evening walks with us in the Botanic Gardens & was also treated to a sumptuous Shanghai-ese meal with the Fung family.

We have a lot of speaking engagements coming up in August & need your prayers. Anna will be leading a day retreat for the ladies of Prinsep Street Presbyterian on the 4^th entitled “A Woman after God’s own Heart”. Steve will be speaking at Bethesda Katong on Acts 13/14 (!) on the 12^th & leading a workshop at the combined English Presbyterian Mission Conference on the 18^th, tackling the challenging issue of “Integrated Mission”. Then we’re enlisting Josh & Aimee’s help to lead the family service at our church, Adam Road Presbyterian on the 26^th. Anna will be speaking again on 28^th to the ladies of Bethesda Frankel Estate Church. We will study the Bible with 2 doctors from a large country near us starting on 8^th August. The wife believes but not her husband. Please pray he comes to faith.

Josh is hard at work at the Anglo Chinese School – even starting the day with a ½ hour of extra science to make sure that there are no gaps with the others in his new class. After a month he has settled well – we’ll hear more about it at a meeting with his teachers next week. Meanwhile Aimee enjoys her holiday, helping out at Kidzone at the July OC, looking after younger children. Steve & Josh received their clarinet exam results. They both passed comfortably, although the teacher told us the external examiner marking was tough this year. Phew! Onwards to the next level. With our love & thanks for your prayers,

Steve Anna, Josh and Aimée

The Pines & Ko Jaan

The sun is searingly hot at three in the afternoon. We have left the stifling 36 degree heat in our room – despite two fans, no clothes and lying perfectly still we pour sweat at any point that touches the mattress! We find out way down onto the beach, a good sixty feet away. Looking far out east from a white-sanded beach into the Gulf of Siam, we watch the rain drift down in huge gray-white, shifting curtains from huge cumulo-nimbus clouds onto the turquoise sea. Forked lightning dances within the dark, brooding masses. Minutes later the sound waves racing across the sea make land-fall and we hear the crack and rumble of thunder. Two rocky, jagged islands a few kilometers off the coast are picked out by rays of sun and enclosed in an iridescent arc of rainbow, touching the sea, arching up high over their irregular, saw-bladed ridges to touch down on the sea on the other side.

Unconcerned, a local fisherman and her young son patiently work in the sea, waist deep in the waves and covered from head to foot against the fierce sun. Coke and Pepsi, the “Pines” dogs saunter past us down to the waters edge and casually walk into the surf to cool off. We’re here at Prajuab in southern Thailand for a snatched week of family holiday at the OMF holiday home, “The Pines”. This is the narrowest part of Thailand, only 16 kilometres across from the sea to the Burmese border marked by tall, majestic peaks marching off into the blue horizon. Travelling here involved a 4:00 am start, a ride on the budget airline Tiger Airways, another taxi ride across the murderous, fume-laden, choking, heaving Bangkok traffic to the Southern Bus Station, a five hour bus ride south depositing us unceremoniously on the street in a small, sleepy Thai town. A short search turned up two motorcycle/side cars which chugged noisily along for twenty minutes to the gate of “The Pines”. We drop our cases and rush onto the beach – what relief!

“The Pines” has around 12 simple rooms, right on the beach. It is pretty full right now with a wide range of OMFers from Germany, Switzerland, Texas, Taiwan, Australia working across South East Asia, but presently all on holiday. We try and slow Aimee and Joshua down by offering them 2 baht holiday money for each length of the pool they do. They promptly rattle off 100 lengths each – more than a kilometer and earn themselves 2.50! We gulp, pay up and the next day offer only 1 baht per length. They respond by swimming 200 lengths!

We hire a boat locally and ask to be taken early the next morning to Ko Jaan, an island on the distant horizon. Our friends, Jannie and Marna who hail from Cape Town and have lived in Thailand for many years come along with Nerina and Kobus their children. Ko Jaan is a bird sanctuary – although birds nests are harvested there by small teams of men who live on the island for months at a time. Everything is brought out to them by small boat – even their drinking water. Birds nest is a Chinese delicacy used in making soup with supposed health benefits – certain swifts construct their nests, cementing them with saliva. These shallow cups are found high up on the walls of caves. One kilo of white swifts nest costs USD2, 000.00 and the red swifts nest can go up to USD10, 000.00! A lucrative business indeed. We arrive at the low point of a spring tide and our boatman initially can’t find a way through the ring of coral reef around the island. Cutting the engine and raising the motor, we manoeuver slowly with oars until it is shallow enough for us to leap off the boat and wade ashore, our gear held high. The boatman anchors offshore while we pick our way delicately through the clear water, exclaiming at the glories of exotic fish and corals we can see through the clear water while strenuously avoiding the wickedly spike-laden sea urchins. There is a small, brilliant, white-sanded beach surrounded by black and grey volcanic rock. The huts of the nesters cling precariously to the rock. Two pass us, with a heavy basket of freshly caught fish slung between them on a bamboo pole. Nerina skips over with Aimee to see what they have and chats away in Thai. The fishermen tolerantly laugh and chat back. As they prepare to go on, one generously hands over a gift of two fish half the size of Nerina! As we swim about with masks clamped to our faces, what we see is incredible – angel fish, brain coral, giant clams, clown fish, sea slugs, cowries bigger than my fist – the glory and massive diversity of creation is staggering. God is good!

With our love

Steve, Anna, Josh and Aimee

“Licking the outside of the watermelon”

“Those who are working cross-culturally to share the Gospel make up just 0.02% of the Christian church-goers worldwide. Many more could be serving cross-culturally, especially when we think of the one billion people in East Asia alone that have still not even heard the name of Jesus. There are seven hundred church congregations for every unreached people group in the world! So much of what goes on in our church life is reflected in the Korean proverb which talks about “licking the outside of the watermelon” – much activity but not getting to the sweetness, not getting to the whole point of what it means to belong to God’s people. “It’s not the church of God that has a mission in the world. It is the God of mission that has a church in the world.”

These quotes came from some of the Bible readings at the recent Joint Mobilisers and Candidate Co-ordinators Consultation. We had more than 70 people descend on us for a week of training and discussion. It was hot, noisy, busy, fast-moving and challenging as we continued to work out a part of what God is calling OMF to be doing. People met sometimes for the first time in years of emailing each other! It was a chance for some to seek forgiveness and reconciliation. One evening as we walked back on-site Anna and I looked around and saw little knots of people in prayer together. During the final two days we worked in small groups to discuss the challenges that we are facing and looked at ways to overcome them; this was both exciting and exhausting, with some staying up into the small hours of the morning to pull things together.

The May orientation course started here on Thursday last week. We were delighted to welcome a number of our workers from the Philippines, working cross culturally in their own country. Theresa Alibio has come with her eight year old daughter, Rejoice. Theresa and her husband Reuel had been working in the Southern Philippines. Four years ago, Reuel, known and loved by his adopted community, was riding home on his motorbike when he was stopped by extremist gunmen who shot him dead in broad daylight. They then proceeded to move his body, mockingly, into a crucifix position. They may have meant to mock but Reuel honoured his Lord in death as he had in life. Theresa courageously continues the work. Pray for Theresa, sharing the good news about Jesus in the Southern Philippines, while bringing up her daughter on her own.

Friday evening saw the whole Griffiths family joining in the games of the Orientation Course Fun Night! It was great to see Anna shrieking and leaping about, having a fine old time despite the busy week we had just been through. Her energy levels are so much better these days that we realize how ill she was before. Join with us in praising God for her good recovery. Josh spent a great week on a school trip in northern Thailand – trekking through the mountains and staying a night with one of the hill tribes before rafting back down the Mekong. Our grocery bill dropped by nearly 50% in the week he was away! He is somewhat nervously anticipating a move to the Anglo-Chinese School in a few weeks. Please pray for him in this additional transition.

With our love

Steve, Anna, Joshua and Aimée

This link will take you to a short OMF video clip. You may find some images disturbing.
ServeAsiaStingerMaster500kb.mov

Anna is home!

We collected Anna from the hospital this afternoon, following her MRI and review by the two specialists who have been looking after her today. Compared to the tense atmosphere this morning as they examined Anna, it was good to see them both relax as I handed them the results of the MRI. The MRI showed that Anna did not have either a cavernous sinus thrombosis or a retro-bulbar abscess - the complications which her husband and three other medics had all feared.

She did have a rip-roaring infection in all the sinuses in her head - “They’re all lit up like a Christmas tree” said the ENT surgeon, cheerily as he reviewed the pictures. Neither specialist can explain the swollen eye-lid adequately at the moment so they will follow Anna’s progress closely . Tests showed that Anna has grown a nasty bacteria and a mould in her sinus. She’ll need to be on some fairly heavy-duty treatment for a little while yet. Overall though the news is good. Thank you for your prayers.

With our love

Steve, Anna, Joshua and Aimée

Anna is unwell - again.

Today we had to take Anna down to the hospital. She began to vomit yesterday afternoon and had eye pain on looking to one side but it settled in the evening. On waking up this morning the area around her left eye was swollen. This suggests a potentially serious complication of her sinus surgery some weeks ago. She has just been wheeled in to have an emergency MRI. Please can you pray for strength and comfort for her (and the rest of the family). We will let you know the outcome as soon as we can.

I also had my six-monthly check-up with the cardiologist today so it was quite a stressful day. However, he decided to stop my heart medication and review me in six months. This is a great encouragement so we praise God for that.

All this comes in the middle of last-minute planning and preparation for the Joint Mobilisers and Candidate Co-ordinators conference with more than 70 people descending on us for a week of training and discussion as we continue to work out the implications of the call to prayer for 900 new workers. We feel caught up into a battle. We humbly ask your prayers for that consultation - for a deeper sense of unity and a greater desire to seek God glorified in East Asia through the declaration of what Jesus has achieved on the cross. Pray too that we would be able to play our part in it.

With our love

Steve, Anna, Joshua and Aimée

Klearance, Klebsiella, Klarinet, Ko-ordinators, Kala & Katherine

News from our home church in Zimbabwe has been distressing recently. We were concerned to hear that a funeral for an opposition activist killed recently during the violent disruption of a prayer meeting was to be held at the church with the threat of further violence.

Our pastor there wrote to us about the situation "We had a visit from the Police yesterday and I had given instructions for them to be brought to me. They were upset that we had not informed them of the funeral service. I said we never tell them about funerals and weddings as these are church functions and do not come under legislation – they agreed. They then asked if I knew who the person was to which I replied that that did not matter as ALL people are made equal in the eyes of God and the church exists for times like funerals, weddings and life issues. They asked us to give them a list of all the meetings we have each week and I said okay – I have nothing to hide. When we have meetings not covered by church issues we always ask for police clearance and they know that. When they said they wanted to go I asked them to stay a little longer so I could pray with them. So we had a great time of prayer together (well I did)… They did not know what to do – it was so cool! My staff were stunned to hear me pray with the men. One of the staff said to me “I thought I was mad… but you are madder”.

So we are all well and I feel God has used this incident for His good. I am challenged by the statement that for evil to prevail all that is needed is for good men to do nothing. I don’t intend to be accused of doing nothing." Please do pray with us for a resolution to the terrible leadership crisis gripping Zimbabwe.

We are so grateful for the calls, cards, letters emails and prayers for Anna recently. She has made good progress since her sinus surgery, with just a few hiccups along the way. (For the medics, culture of the organism showed she was harbouring a multi-drug resistant Klebsiella.) Healing of the sinuses has been good & Anna has a lot more energy & zest for life than a few weeks ago. However, she is still experiencing pain around her left eye & associated headaches. She has been seen by both an ophthalmologist & a neurologist & is presently on a course of treatment. If that does not give results she will need further tests. We would appreciate your prayers for this issue and for complete healing.

Joshua has been offered a place at the Anglo-Chinese School. (He must have done a good, quick job on those exam papers!) He starts at his new school in June – after just two weeks summer holiday. He is both excited & apprehensive at the change – please pray for him. Jamil, his close friend at the Canadian School is very disappointed that Josh is moving. Steve & Josh are working hard at their clarinet practice. We will be taking Grade Two exams next month…the strain is worse than final year medical exams!

From April 23rd-27th, we’ll be hosting the largest consultation that OMF has ever had here in Singapore, together with Jon Fuller, the International Director for Mobilisation. A (Biblically significant?) seventy-two people will be descending on IHQ from across the globe. This is the Joint Mobilisers & Candidate Co-ordinators Consultation (JMCC). Anna & I will be leading two full days of training for the candidate co-ordinators, the team that handle enquirers, that process their papers, keep in touch with them, sort out interviews, chase up on referees & help handle all the thousands of little details that need attention for folk heading for cross-cultural work. We’ll also be working with the wider group. Our time has been pressured lately what with Anna’s illness & a very busy Orientation Course that just finished last Friday. So please pray that we will find the time to pour into the preparation of our teaching sessions. We very badly need to get on with this!

Kala (from Sri Lanka/Ireland) & Katherine (from Canada) are two of Aimée’s school-friends whom she has invited to a sleep-over next Easter Saturday night followed by church on Sunday morning to attend an evangelistic Easter Sunday service for children. Katherine came along last year & really enjoyed it. Pray that the two girls will be able to come & enjoy the fun but also that they would be challenged by the Easter message.

John Updike wrote in celebration of the Easter news:

"Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells' dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that--pierced--died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping, transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mâché,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck's quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance."

In Easter hope,

Steve Anna Josh and Aimée

Interceding Otorhinolaryngologist..eh?

Anna’s surgery last night took around three hours. The surgeon reported finding large collections of infected tissue, especially in the left maxillary sinus and ethmoid bone (for you medics out there). On reviewing Anna today, Dr Lim prayed with us and thanked God for helping him during this long surgical procedure in an area of the body where you don’t usually want any surgery! He was pleased with the way things went overall.

Anna had a somewhat stormy post-operative period with repeated vomiting and some bleeding. She also had considerable pain which necessitated calling the surgeon at one point. However some treatment resolved the situation. This made for an uncomfortable night but Anna was still able to come home today. She is now fast asleep having taken her vast collection of medications. She will be seeing the surgeon daily for a while – fortunately we are very close to the hospital. She will need ongoing treatment and weekly review for at least six weeks. Dr Lim told us today that we are 60% of our way through the intervention necessary to resolve Anna’s condition. There is still 40% to go in terms of good post-operative care.

Anna has been given two weeks off work. She is protesting (somewhat feebly) about this but really needs to get some rest as she has been unwell now for more than two months.

Joshua also had his marathon placement test today for the Anglo-Chinese School – two two hour papers with an obligatory break between them. He finished both in around an hour and talked the invigilator into shortening the break so instead of five hours he was home in two and a half! In a few days we will know if he was so quick because he knew it all or because he really didn’t understand the questions!

Thank you for your emails of love and support, assuring us of your prayers. We are so very grateful.

With our love

Steve, Anna, Josh and Aimée

Urgent Prayer Request

Anna going for surgery

Anna is going into the operating theatre today 5th March 2007. She has been seen by a specialist over the last few days who has put her on high doses of drugs in an attempt to control a chronic infection in three sinuses in the bones of her head. This has not worked well and so he has just taken the decision to operate on her this afternoon. The surgery will take around two hours and she will be in hospital overnight.

Potential complications are rare but because of rules regarding informed consent, the surgeon had to outline them to Anna. This has upset and frightened her, even though she is well aware that the chances of these things happening are uncommon.

Please pray for:

• The peace of God that passes all understanding to guard Anna’s heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
• The surgeon, Dr Lim who is an excellent doctor and a Christian brother who has been so generous and kind in helping us at this time.
• The children who will come home from school to find that Mum is in hospital.
• For a good outcome to the surgery and rapid healing for Anna.
• For the March Orientation Course starting this week – for Anna not to feel burdened about this.
• For Joshua writing his five hour school placement test tomorrow.

With our love

Steve, Anna, Joshua & Aimée Griffiths

Reading the Walls!

Robert Thomas was a young Welsh missionary in China who became increasingly interested in the “Hermit Kingdom” nearby, and began to learn the language. In 1866 Thomas secured free passage as an interpreter on the voyage of the General Sherman which would seek to establish trade with the country. In August 1866, as the General Sherman proceeded upriver toward the capital, Thomas tossed gospel tracts to folk along the riverbank. Despite official warnings to immediately depart, the American schooner continued upriver until she stuck fast in the muddy river bottom. The local Governor initiated attacks against the grounded ship. Since no crew member survived, the historical account of the General Sherman's fate is incomplete. What is known is that on September 3, 1866 the local forces sent down against the ship their own fire-ship. The crew, in attempting to escape, jumped into the water and were killed as they struggled ashore. Once ashore, Thomas exclaimed, “Jesus, Jesus!” in the local language and offered his translated Bible to a armed man. The man refused it. When Thomas knelt to pray, the man either stabbed him in the chest or decapitated him. Thomas was 26 years old.

But Thomas’ legacy was not over. The man who killed him became convinced that he had killed a good man. He had taken the Bible home and used the pages of the book to wallpaper his guest house. In 1891, a full quarter century later, an American visited the area and asked the proprietor about the unique wallpaper in the guest house. The owner told of how, over the years, people had come from far and wide to “read the walls.” In the years that followed, the killer’s nephew graduated from the local Union Christian College and served as part of a team that revised the national Bible. A church was built near the site of Thomas’ death. But with the coming of a new regime in 1945, all churches across the area were destroyed. Once again, the “Hermit Kingdom” was sealed in isolation.

Two weeks ago, we were at the New Ventures Field Conference and heard about the new Science and Technology University being built close to the capital by a Christian academic (www.pust.or.kr/eng/) The government gave him some land. As the bulldozers moved in they uncovered the ruins of a church. It was the Thomas Memorial Church - now being rebuilt as part of the campus! Thank you for your prayers for Steve’s Bible readings during the conference. The theme was “Jesus meets us at our point of weakness” - each day another chapter from 2 Corinthians, where Paul talks of his suffering in Asia. It seemed entirely appropriate for a small group of courageous believers facing difficulties, sorrows and suffering with hope and faith. Pray for our colleagues as they work and wait for God to continue to open the door to the “Hermit Kingdom.”

A schooling decision for Josh seems closer – the Anglo-Chinese School ( http://www.acsinternational.com.sg ) is willing to take him and with a small bursary from a former pupil of the school we think we can manage it. As he can do the International Baccalaureate there it will help him keep his university options open. He was asked to write an essay about why he wanted to go to ACSI – his closing sentence was “So because ACSI is better academically, sports wise and because it’s a very God orientated school I wish to attend”. We’ll see what they make of that!

Anna has been struggling with her health for the last two months or so. She somehow keeps up full working days but it has left her both drained of energy and feeling a little low. She’s due to see a specialist in the next few days. Pray for a clear diagnosis and for adequate treatment.

We've enjoyed two days break, celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year - the biggest holiday of the year in this part of the world. We went to visit Swiss colleagues who are running a hostel for eleven children whose parents are working in Thailand, Mongolia, Indonesia and Japan. It was a hoot, sitting down for supper with such a large "family". Good organisational skills are definitely needed! The hostel is located in a massive flat on the top of one of Singapore's tower blocks. After dinner we enjoyed watching a film on the roof in the open air projected onto the water tower, while the fireworks blazed and crackled in the streets below.

With love from us all,

Steve, Anna, Josh and Aimée

PS photos to follow - as soon as we can get the website to accept them again!

A Ilha Formosa: The Beautiful Island.

Taiwan (formerly called Formosa by Portuguese explorers) is serious about business. Over the last half a century, a rather sleepy island in the South China Sea with few natural resources has transformed itself into one of Asia’s top-rank economic success stories. Taiwan now holds one of the world's largest foreign exchange reserves of more than $500 billion. However, this has come at a cost. Most cities are an ugly urban sprawl – enough to make a town planner weep. The air is often thick with a choking haze of pollution. People give enormous time and energy to the pursuit of business success – which often consumes them. The worship of ancestral spirits is common across the spectrum of society from the rural farmer through to the smart city socialite. There is a challenging belief system: spirit possession, various extremely ascetic and painful practices and superstitions complicating everyday life. The working class is huge in Taiwan – around 70% of the population. But the percentage of Christians among them is very low - they feel marginalised in the mainly middle class church. They find the emphasis on formal Bible study hard to follow and the classical Chinese script small and complex. OMF teams in Taiwan have developed “mini-Bibles”, portions of Scripture written in a contemporary style, in a large script, which are much more attractive to working folk who rarely read. This is just one of several creative ways developed to reach the unreached in Taiwan. OMFers also teach theology and work with university students, people living with AIDS, the homeless, young prisoners and gay commercial sex workers - very challenging.

Anna and I spent the week in Taiwan, visiting the OMF teams in three cities - Taipei, Chiayi and Taichung. The teams are experienced, hard-working….and perplexed! Taiwan is an open nation. Missionaries are able to come and work freely there. The percentage of believers is much lower than in Taiwan’s well-known neighbour. New workers are needed. Yet, there has been just one new long-term worker join the team in the past six years. It is a source of frustration and pain. Please pray.


Our holiday over New Year found us taking the bus up to the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia with friends. We had a wonderful week of cool clear days, log fires, good food and relaxation. New Year’s Eve was “the wildest party ever” according to Aim as we first shared together about the challenges and triumphs of the year gone by, prayed for the year ahead and then got down to playing some of the noisiest, silliest party games ever devised by man! We spent a day climbing to the top of peninsular Malaysia’s highest peak: as we came out on the peak at nearly 7, 000 feet, we gave thanks to God for His goodness. A year ago Steve would never have dreamt of doing such a physically demanding climb.

Next week we’ll be travelling to Thailand for the New Ventures field conference where Steve will be giving the Bible readings and together we’ll be leading a workshop on member care. New Ventures folk work in a number of East Asian countries – seeking to reach into some very tough situations with the Good News. Pray for good preparation, for clarity of thought, for gripping presentation and hearts prepared to receive God’s Word.