The Hmongs Hope

Day 7- Children's Outreach 2

2008-09-28T18:07:00.003+08:00

Second day of children's outreach! We climbed this really steep mountain and i almost wanted to give up. but as i pressed on and eventually reached the top, i was reminded that this is just like our walk with God. the journey may be tough, but if we press on and hold on tight to God, we'll see the beautiful scene at the end. =)

when i was sitting in the songtiao, i remember myself asking God, "God, are you playing with us?" because the rain kept going on & off. we had to travel to a few places to find a suitable place so that Benjamin could share. we finally settled for a large field.

(before it started to pour)

after speaking his first sentence, it started to rain and the kids all ran back into the song tiao. looking back, it was indeed quite a comical scene! well, it may have been deemed a failure in the eyes of men, but God definitely had better plans for us.

(after it started to pour!)

Because of the wet weather, the supposedly campfire was held at the RADION shophouse instead. Benjamin & Phyllis shared their testimonies and we put up a simple skit about how sin weighs us down. the only way to be free is through Christ.

Eugene asked those who had past hurts in their life to step out so that we could pray for them. i don't really know what happened in the midst of it, how it even all started, but i remember seeing something which i have never ever seen in my whole 18 years- children crying and weeping so hard.

As we prayed for the kids, a few girls huddled together at a corner. they were sobbing and crying so much, that even though i did not know what they have been through, i felt as though i could feel what they're going through as well. my heart broke into pieces.

(Kut, in the foreground)

then i saw Kut, the only boy whom was under me during the children's outing. He looked quite dazed, he seemed not to know what was going on.i didn't know if he had understood God's love i just felt compelled to hug him and i told him, "Prajau rak kun (God loves you)". He started to cry.

this went on for quite some time. it made me realise one thing: no one is ever too young to understand God's love. :)

thank you Lord for the little ones.. i've learnt so much more from them than they could ever learn from me. :)

(Phyllis, Vera & Kenson with some of the girls)

-Yining

Day 6- Children's Outreach 1

2008-09-26T17:47:00.021+08:00

First day of children's outing! After a round of introduction and ice breakers, we set out in view of the good weather. However, it started to rain as we were travelling in the song tiao. Some things could not be carried out as planned, but in the end everything worked out fine.

Thank God for providing a school premise so that we could carry out our evangelistic sharing & games! Even tho we weren't able to do a lot of things, i thank God for that time to bond with all the children as a whole, not just each individual with the children assigned to him/her.

Phyllis shared about the colour creation story.10 children prayed to receive Christ. After the sharing, our team came together and prayed. Usually, the children would be very noisy and would run about without any supervision. however, eugene & ben pointed out that while we were praying, the children just quietly sat there and waited for us. it was God who kept order among the kids. :)

Day 5- Evangelistic BBQ

2008-09-26T17:26:00.011+08:00

The day started off with visiting a few more families and inviting them for the evangelistic BBQ at night.

Before the event started, our team did a short prayer walk around the shophouse. As we gathered and prayed together as a group, i opened my eyes and was very touched to see Jai & Jong, with their eyes closed and hands clasped as we prayed. they didn't understand what we were praying about, moreover they did not even need to come to pray with us. but they joined us. Wow. Child-like faith.

We put up a simple skit which reflected on the plight which most of the elderly women there go through- loneliness, hunger, hopelessness.. It was followed by Ronald's testimony about how God was ever so faithful through the darkest moments in his life.

It was certaintly not the work of men but by God- about 30 people prayed to receive Christ that night! it was more than 1/2 of the people who turned up. Praise the Lord! :)

As we were praying for the people, one lady came up to me and asked me to pray for her. Using my very limited Pasat Thai and with some help from Ben, i found out that she was not feeling well and that she wanted to believe in Christ. (she did not say the sinner's prayer earlier on & had just walked up to the front at that moment) Pe Aun led her in the sinner's prayer and another soul had been saved. :)

As many of us prayed for good weather, God was faithful. (He still is!) Despite raining everyday ever since we reached Khek Noi, God held back the rain that night. Words can't describe fully how awesome my God is. :)

Day 4

2008-09-21T22:54:00.004+08:00

We continued the second day of home visitations. We were slightly discouraged early on, when some of the houses that we were supposed to visit were empty. However, God chose to show us His faithfulness during the 3rd household that we visited. Individually, we felt in us a prompting to share something to the old lady that we were ministering. After much waiting and affirmation, someone began sharing. An outpour followed when we all confirmed with this common burden we all had been experiencing; that she has been suffering things alone.

She continued with, “I’ve raised my husband’s second wife’s children like my own, yet they do not care about me. Today, I experienced what love is.”

These were the words of this lady. As we prayed for her, our team started weeping. We were burdening and aching for her, and as some of us phrased it as a downloading process of her sufferings into us. We felt the presence of the Holy Spirit, and we wanted her to understand only in Him, can we not be disappointed; men has disappointed us much, but not Him, for He is our faithful God. Our translator, Pe Ann, led her into the sinner’s prayer.

3 girls-Jong, Jai & Faa came along with us. When we were interceding for the lady, the 3 of them cried too. I know that they did not cry just because we did, but it was because God’s presence was moving in the place. While the 3 held my hands tightly, I prayed that God would use them mightily, that they will not only comprehend God’s love, but also want to share this wonderful thing with their Hmong people and beyond. =)

Day 3

2008-09-21T22:43:00.003+08:00

After an intense prayer meeting that lasted from morning till afternoon, we headed down to one of the village home to visit the chicken lady (known by the wave 1 team). Unfortunately, she was not around. We were disappointed that we couldn’t meet her. But God had other plans for us.

We headed down to another village home and visited a family of 10. The family had 3 adults and 7 kids. They couldn’t even make ends meet as 1 of the ladies was suffering from malnutrition and another was suffering from sinus that affected her vision. The man of the family was also unable to work as he had been suffering from leg pain for months. We prayed for them and provided some kuay teow for them. I was especially happy and I couldn’t stop crying and laughing at the same time as the man whom we prayed for prayed to receive Christ too. Praise the Lord! Just as we were about to leave the house, some lady asked us to pray for a partially deaf girl. Vera went up to pray for her. After a short prayer, Vera tested the girl’s hearing. She was healed instantly!!! J I couldn’t help but keep thanking the Lord for performing such miracles. It wasn’t for our glory but for His! It was only by divine appointment that we can meet the young girl. Vera was so moved that she kept crying. On the whole, the team felt encouraged after seeing the girl being healed instantly.

The joy didn’t end at the outreach. We returned to the shophouse and had time to bond with the kids. It was such a joy to play with them. We had a short prayer for them too. It was then that the team realized something. All along, we felt like we were the ones whom the kids should be learning from. However, much can be learnt from kids too. The child-like faith that they have in praying to the Lord and even the stillness that they have when we asked them if we can pray for them is something that hard to come by nowadays. Sometimes I wonder, are there actually such kids in Singapore that would show so much faith and reverence to our Lord as the kids in Thailand. =)

2008-09-16T20:11:00.004+08:00

Hola! supporters and friends! :)

Today is the 2nd day since we arrived at Khek Noi village. The day started off with a heavy downpour and meteorological reports have confirmed that it will be raining heavily over the weekends. We actually made plans to go to the waterfall for our outreach program over the weekend. In consideration of current reports, we have to come up with alternate locations for the outreach program. We do feel a bit disappointed with the weather reports but we have faith in the Lord that this is all still part of His great plan.

The whole team prayed up for the morning. God never fails to refresh us in an intimate way. It was important that we prepare ourselves even before we enter the spiritual battleground. Eugene also reminded us that we ourselves are the living gospels that will minister to them. Our actions reflect upon the God that we serve. Therefore, it is important that we be mindful of how we live our lives.

On the way up, Eugene was sharing about an "Amy" that he has forged close bonds with. We finally met her today in the comfort of her pig sty. We thank God for the creativity to reach out to the villagers through various means such as employment on the farm and blessing the village with food and introducing modern arigational techniques.

Do continue to keep us in your prayers as we get ourselves all geared up for God to use us in this battle.

P.S Please pray for Eugene and Ben too as they continue to labour for the Lord on the frontline.

Sawatdeekah!

2008-09-16T13:13:00.008+08:00

Hello friends and supporters!

We reached Khek Noi Village yesterday afternoon. Thank God for granting us journey mercy. It has indeed been tough for us to come for this trip because of initial parental objections and political chaos in Thailand. Praise to be to God! :)

Heading to the RADION shophouse after dropping our luggages, we had some time to bond with the children. It was a joy to see kids expressions as we handed out the clothes to them, especially with Yining meeting her girls. :)

After dinner, we spent some time sharing and preparing our hearts. We learnt that amount of time we spent doing devotions didn't quite equate to the depth of how much we commune with God. It is necessary to set our hearts right upon the Lord before we can even reach out to the others.

It is our prayer that God will break us and use us for the expansion of His kingdom, that He will grant each of us a personal breakthrough in our lives. Thank you for your partnership and do continue to keep us in prayer! Khorbkhunkah! :)

-Vera

Prayer Calendar!

2008-09-13T23:47:00.002+08:00

Hi Friends!

Its 2 days to our trip! Getting ready physically (packing, etc..) is important but what's most important is staying focused on God! I pray that this will be a life changing trip for us, that even after the trip, we'll not forget of the lessons that God has taught us during these 10 days. =)

Below is our team prayer calendar! We really appreciate and need your prayers to intercede for the Hmong Laos and Hmong Thais!

an encouragement

2008-09-12T16:49:00.002+08:00

Howdy. Today, i went to collect my new chris tomlin cd, hello love. As I looked through the songs, one song really encourage me. This song is titled- with me.

I open my mouth and you speak for me
You move the mountains and roll back the sea

I will not be afraid
I will be never ashamed
For you are with me
You are with me

I've seen enough to know
That you are my only hope
I don't want to go
If you're not with me

We open our hands and you reach for us
You are the motion of the universe

Well as I am listening to this song now, it serves as a reminder to me that God is in control of every situation that we face. :] so i hope that this song will serve as an encouragement to us as we prepare for this trip! :]

Green Light!

2008-09-12T15:05:00.006+08:00

Dear friends and supporters,

it has been a hectic week for our team as we had 4 team meetings in a row this week. It was physically tiring no doubt, yet spiritually refreshed! my heart is filled with thanksgiving and awe as i'm typing this: THE TRIP IS ON!

Through all these, i noticed that my team became more united as we prayed for God to open the doors for us. God used songs and His word to encourage and assure us.. I was reminded that God IS still the same God that was ever so faithful during my wave 1 trip to the refugee camp in March.

This song, Blessed Be Your Name, kept playing through my mind as we were unsure if we could go for this trip. Here's an excerpt of the lyrics:

"You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord blessed be Your name"

Praising God when the situation seems bleak definitely isn't an easy thing to do. But i've experienced the faithfulness of my God- If He has opened the door, no one can close it but Him. Even though sometimes we do not understand why we experience what we experienced, you somehow will see sometime later why God planned it that way. like the chinese saying: "先苦后甜", i believe that with trials, we'll then be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel better. :D

i thank God for this experience; it made this trip even more valuable, precious.. a reminder that every second is important to save lives for His kingdom. =)

---

Here is a preview of what we've been doing..

Have a blessed weekend ahead! =)

Run to Jesus

2008-09-11T07:22:00.002+08:00

This song has been on my heart for the past couple of days as we prepare for the trip.

Your eye is on the sparrow
And Your hand, it comforts me
From the ends of the Earth to the depth of my heart
Let Your mercy and strength be seen
You call me to Your purpose
As angels understand
For Your glory, may You draw all men
As Your love and grace demand
And I will run to You
To Your words of truth
Not by might, not by power
But by the spirit of God
Yes I will run the race
'Till I see Your face
Oh let me live in the glory of Your grace
— I Will Run to You by Darlene Zschech

Let's keep running to Him as we run the race for Him in Phetchabun!

Vera Vera Vera...Here she goes :)

2008-09-11T00:42:00.002+08:00

Thank you for praying. VERA finally can go! God paved the way for her. Finally God left no one behind. Here's what Vera says "Hello Team. All glory and honor belongs to God!:> Whoo! I just want to thank God for you guys and for your prayers, for intercessing for me. I believe that God will indeed do more miracles and i pray that we will continue to trust in Him as He has indeed made a way for us!" All glory to God!

Almost there

2008-09-10T22:31:00.002+08:00

Thank you for all your prayers as we trust the Lord together to send this team up to Thailand. Do continue to pray for our team mates and also our family members who love us and care so much for us a children. Pray that God's peace will fill their hearts as we look forward to depart. Pray especially for Vera as she speaks to her parents regarding this issue. We are currently still waiting for approval from higher authority and of course God Himself to send us if He wants us to go. Its about Him and His kingdom, not us. whether we go or not go God still loves the Hmong people much more than our love for them. We are privileged to journey this path with Him.

Urgent Prayer Request!!!

2008-09-07T12:43:00.004+08:00

Last tuesday, Thailand went into a state of emergency as protesters gather at the parliament house. Do continue to pray for the situation in Thailand and also for our team as we look to the Lord for open doors. Do pray that our eyes and our hearts will be focused on the Lord who is the King of Glory. whether we can go for this trip or if the Lord chose not to open. We will still praise and worship the Lord and stay faithful to Him. If He chose to open, we will go in by faith and see Him breaking our hearts for the people He love and is concern about :)

Team, though now MFA has issued instructions to avoid going into thailand for this moment (which means officially we can't go) , but I believe that the Lord will make a way for us! Let's draw strength from the Lord :) though i do not know the outcome, but the LOrd knows. Let's just wait, pray and interecede for Thailand - "land of the free" that it can find true freedom in Jesus alone!

My dear prayer intercessors and supporters, do pray for us and the situation in Thailand and claim psalm 24 as a prayer passage for us

Psalm 24

Of David. A psalm.

1 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;

2 for he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the waters.

3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ?
Who may stand in his holy place?

4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false. ^[a]

5 He will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from God his Savior.

6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, O God of Jacob. ^[b]
Selah

7 Lift up your heads, O you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.

8 Who is this King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
the LORD mighty in battle.

9 Lift up your heads, O you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.

10 Who is he, this King of glory?
The LORD Almighty—
he is the King of glory.
Selah

We're back!

2008-08-31T00:56:00.005+08:00

Dearest Friends & Supporters,

It's been quite some time since our previous blog entry.. but be sure to check back more often soon cos we'll try our utmost best to keep all of you updated as we start preparing for our trip!

The Wave 3 team had our first team meeting last Thursday!(Finally, after all the exams and assignments! Thank God for His grace!) It was a time of preparation- spiritually and mentally! Ronald led in a time of worship, aligning our hearts back to the one who's most important- God, while Eugene shared with the team about giving our very best for the Lord, urging us to make use every opportunity God gives us. I'm really excited about doing crazy things for God and i pray that my fellow team mates are too! Let's give our very best for the Lord! =)

Just yesterday, we had the first combined prayer meeting, consisting of the 2 teams that have gone up to Phetchabun before (wave 1 & 2), as well as the wave 3 team who will be going in just 15 days! It was refreshing as we aligned our hearts back to God. It's easy to lose focus on God when we're so caught up with our own lives, and i pray that each and every one of us will remember God's faithfulness and love that we've all experienced during our trip, being the light that shines in the darkness for God in our very own mission field- in our schools or workplaces!

Friends and supporters, do keep the Hmong Laos, Hmong Thais and our team in prayer. Thank you and have a blessed week ahead! ;)

In His love,
Yining

Coming up!

2008-07-26T22:59:00.003+08:00

Hello people!

Up & coming: "wave 3" team going to Phetchabun this coming September! Here's our team newsletter!

why do i call our team "wave 3"?

that's because we're a group consisting mainly staff & students from Singapore Polytechnic's Campus Crusade for Christ (SPCCC) who'll be going as SPCCC's leadership team (instead of Gen 12ii mission like the previous 2 teams!)

We'll be back with more updates soon. Meanwhile, do continue to keep the Hmong Laos & Hmong Thais in prayers! also check out NewLifeOutreach if you haven't! =)

Have a blessed day ahead!
the Team Blogger,
Yining

A Video From Our Trip

2008-07-21T16:16:00.003+08:00

We've got another Thanksgiving Newsletter

2008-07-21T15:36:00.008+08:00

(click on the images to enlarge)

A Thanksgiving

2008-07-02T16:02:00.007+08:00

(Click on the images to enlarge them)

Praise be to the Lord.

2008-06-21T02:23:00.009+08:00

I. Breakthrough: Letting go and letting God

When I initially signed up for this trip, on my mind were perceptions that this was going to be a mission with a humanitarian edge to it; a trip that sort of gets at the “felt” needs of people before addressing their “real” needs. In a sense the trip was like that, but there was hardly anything humanitarian about it, in fact, if anything it was an intense spiritual journey for me. The Radion staff were adamant about the team operating from the heart; from the outflow of His love instead of having to “force” out the compassion or love for the people. I believe this to be fundamental for outreach. Trying to love with one’s own capacity will dry one out–one either gets disillusioned or simply burned out along the way.

Several ‘breakthroughs’ occurred throughout the trip along this line. On the second day of house visitations to the elderly or destitute, the team had an intense morning worship session and I could literally feel Christ by my side and holding my hand. The next few moments during that worship were phenomenal: the moment I wondered if I was alone in my struggle, a fellow brother came up to pray with me regarding the struggles; and shortly after when I was asking the Lord what I needed to know before going out, another brother just came up and told me the Lord had just three words for me, “I love you”. Amazingly, the house visitations that followed on day were so much more fulfilling than the previous day when I felt spiritually dry inside. I caught a glimpse of what it was like to love with the love of Christ and not operate from my own capacity.

During one of the visits for instance, we met a middle aged Hmong lady who had one of her legs amputated from an accident and was struggling to make ends meet for the family. We sang the song “Still” for her and she just broke down. I have no idea of what intellectual/psychological/cultural relevance is a contemporary English Christian song to a Hmong villager, but somehow I could tell that His love certainly transcends language and culture–and He was reassuring this lady through our limited actions. I was in awe, and I still am whenever I recount that incident. Praise be to the Lord.

II. Let the little ones come to Me

I confided with my team that I have always been rather skeptical about children and religion. Why? Well, I have always thought that children simply did not have the intellectual capacity to perceive a God greater than them, and that they did not have the psychological ability to place others before self. The trip arrested this deluded train of thought in me.

For one thing, it was contentment and simplicity. No need for elaborate gifts or fanciful games–your very presence there meant the world to them. A team-mate related to me how her little girl refused to take another biscuit from her even though her own biscuit was slogged in mud after she had forgotten to take it out of her pocket when playing in the water earlier on. They treasure your little ‘gifts’ of biscuits; and cherish simple foods with such a depth of gratitude that shames many of us. Even during mountain trek, they went great lengths to help our old and tired bodies up and down–literally ‘taking care’ of us when it should have been the other way round. Even after the ‘official outings’, these children would still come down to the shophouse where we often hung out to and play with us. My little dude would even hug me every night after the day’s activities ended as he did not know when I would return to Singapore.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
- Matthew 19:14

However, it was not all just fun and games. Indeed, the children also possessed a childlike faith so real and touching–a gentle rebuke against our seemingly ‘wise and prudent’ Christian minds. My little kid was a relatively quiet lad, but his faith is astounding. During the first evangelistic rally, I felt a little discouraged when many children, including my little dude, did not really respond. However, the next night during another impromptu rally, he revealed to me that he was Christian and actually sang along to the song “So you would come” in Thai when our team used it to minister. He even took the initiative to pray for the non-believers during the altar call as well.

Also of particular testimony were the “street kids” that Radion adopted–these were kids shunned by society, orphaned and left abandoned on the streets to decadent life of drug-abuse and glues-sniffing. I got to see first hand their changed lives during the trip. No, they weren’t the saintly little kids that sat quietly down on your dinner table–they still make loads of noise and run about like anything, but the care and concern they showed others were amazing (one of them even helped us gather other kids back from a hilltop during one of the rallies); and they displayed a renewed sense of rigor to change for the better, knowing that God loves them for who they are.

During the last few days, many kids also made elaborate gifts for us in thanks (and the Radion staff also related to us how the children would skip some of their meals to save up money to make these gifts) and wrote simple messages like “I thank God for you” or “Jesus loves you” for us. We did not have fantastic children skits or colorful messages that excited the kids–all we had were our sincere hearts in sharing the love of Christ with them…and we received so much more in return in the lives and affection of these children–the glow in their faces and the magic in their touch that remind of His love to us as well. Praise be to the Lord.

III. Corporate worship

Another deep-seated experience during the trip was the kind of corporate breakthrough we had as a team. I’m not just talking about worshiping together or having fruitful fellowship, I’m talking about a team broken by Him and collectively attuned to His will of both us and the land. Regardless of personality, background or spiritual maturity, I really felt the team becoming emboldened by the Spirit to move as one; and during many of the worship and sharing sessions, it was amazing to discern how the Holy Spirit imbued common themes amongst the members to encourage, admonish and spur one another on.

During one of the pre-trip meeting prayer sessions, the image of chair came to my mind and during the entire trip I was constantly asking God what this image meant. Nearing the end, it suddenly came upon me that the ‘chair’ was a symbol of a team that put him at the center-seat, perfectly aligned to His will and purpose and resounding together like different strings on a guitar strumming the love song of Christ. A beautiful analogy indeed, but I thank the Lord that the analogy never remained in abstract, but I got to see it happening over 10 grueling days with the team. Praise be to the Lord.

IV. Now what?

My greatest struggle pertaining to any mission trip is always re-entry and post-trip. Many of the lessons learned and experiences gain mean little if left embedded as memory in my mind. The real battlefield is here in Singapore. Yes we endeavor to go out there to ‘make a difference’ and to impact others, but I believe that in going out, the person most impacted is yourself–because God wants to transform you through such trips so that you can be a better minister in your local environments. This is the challenge but I’m thankful I do not confront it with my own strength. Praise be to the Lord.

Please do continue to pray for the Hmong people: both the Hmong Thai villagers’ salvation and the 5 street kids adopted by Radion, and the Hmong Lao refugees who face imminent deportation and persecution. Also pray for the Radion staff as they continue to bring the love of Christ to the Hmong community and give many destitute a second chance in life; and also for the Campus Crusade team that we may continue as a team that is inward, upward and outward looking. Also pray for yourselves–that you’ll continue to trust Him with all your heart and let Him work in and around You.

There must be more!

by His Grace,
deRek

Back @ Singapore: What does the Lord require of you today?

2008-06-12T12:48:00.008+08:00

Note to our supporters:
Thanks for all your prayers.

The Wave 2 team is now safely home in Singapore after touching down at Changi Airport at 12.05am last night. You have not been receiving any updates on this page because it has been a very very intensive series of "mass-evangelistic" events five days in a row from last Friday all the way till late into our final night on Tuesday. Right up to the last few hours in the village before we had to catch our transport home, the Lord has been rewriting our entire programme schedules beyond our recognition and bringing souls into His Kingdom in ways we could not imagine. Monday was originally set aside for purely rest and retreat. The Lord brought children to the shophouse in the evening and used us to engage them with songs. Through the songs, God brought about healings and salvations. Tuesday's night was originally set aside for a BBQ dinner and appreciation for the team. However, God intervened in the morning on the day itself, and inspired us to have a campfire for the children instead. Despite the little preparation and time we had, God brought about many more healings and salvations! We were filled with awe and thanksgivings beyond what words can describe when we saw with our own eyes what God can do with just five loaves and two fish. So many things happened and I have yet to reflect and process through all my thoughts, so this is just a brief summary for now.

Below is an email that I just sent to both the Wave 1 and 2 teams this morning after waking up and giving thanks that I am still alive after everything. I pray that the Lord will speak to you with it as well.

---------------------------------------------
"With what shall I come before the LORD
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God."
- Micah 6:6-8

Dear Wave 1 and 2 Teams,

Welcome back to Singapore!

Back from the mission field where we saw God's hands moving in wondrous ways that we could not expect or imagine, to the "usual" things of everyday life where you will find in the days ahead that it is harder and harder to "pray up, stay focused and push on" in our daily walk with Him. Some of us may have felt it already the moment we reached the airport, and it is only Day 1 back in Singapore for the Wave 2 Team.

Well, we already expected this to happen, remember? There is nothing wrong with you. Nothing is wrong with the so-called "ordinary" life.

The following is a devotion which God spoke to me today regarding the "ordinary" life:

"I once heard interviews with survivors from World War II. The soldiers recalled how they spent a particular day. One sat in a foxhole; once or twice, a German tank drove by and he shot at it. Others played cards and frittered away the time. A few got involved in furious firefights. Mostly, the day passed like any other. Later, they learned they had just participated in one of the largest, most decisive engagements of the war, the Battle of the Bulge. It didn’t feel decisive at the time because none had the big picture.

Great victories are won when ordinary people execute their assigned tasks.

When followers of Ignatius (1491–1556) endured periods of futility, he always prescribed the same cure: “In times of desolation we must never make a change, but stand firm and constant in the resolutions and determination in which we were the day before the desolations.” Spiritual battles must be fought with the very weapons hardest to wield at the time: prayer, meditation, self-examination, and repentance.

Perhaps you sense you’re in a spiritual rut. Stay at your assigned task! Obedience to God—and only obedience—offers the way out of our futility. If you sense your faith is unraveling, go back to where you dropped the thread of obedience." — Philip Yancey

This is a gentle reminder that our "ordinary" life is not ordinary at all because we serve an extraordinary God who is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8), and the battle goes on and on. We are called to follow Jesus. We are called to be His fishermen. It does not matter where we are right now, but wherever we are, we must continue fishing. However, even more important than the fish, remember our breakfast appointment with the Lord (John 21:12). Do not forget that it is us that He desires more than all the fish we can ever catch!

My prayer to the Lord is simply this: that the Wave 1 and Wave 2 teams will remember the Lord everyday. Yes, only one prayer cry of my heart... that is for YOU to walk with the Lord every today.

Lord, please.

On a lighter note, I ate a fillet-o-fish at the airport immediately after reaching Singapore to satisfy my craving! Pwoah! Even through a simple burger (mini-fied version of "five loaves and two fish"), the Lord reminded me of His goodness and love in my life. Enjoy His presence and every small little blessing He lovingly places in your life today.

Sincerely,
Jacob

PS: Happy 18th Birthday Ning :)
---------------------------------------------

Children's Outing

2008-06-07T22:47:00.006+08:00

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
- Matthew 19:14

We had a children's outing today!!

And we are very exhausted now... age is taking a toil on me...

We climbed up a hill of 1.3km vertical height, took a walk with the kids, ate and sang, played with them in a river, and made a simple gospel presentation to them. 18 kids prayed and received Christ, praise God! The kids here are very very sweet and relational... miss them already...

Lord, we pray that you continue to bring about growth to the seeds that were sown today. These young ones will become mighty oak trees that will testify to Your goodness, grace and greatness from this village to the next and to the next. We commit them into Your loving hands :)

The old man here is too tired to blog... but he shall let the pictures do the talking. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, this will make it 2000!

Thanks for praying.

Regards,
Jacob

The Glory of His grace

2008-06-06T23:35:00.002+08:00

God continues to awe us with His grace and might...

We just saw about 30 people home; they came for an evangelistic BBQ that was held at the shophouse. They were mainly the elderly and destitute whom we home-visited yesterday and the day before yesterday.

How glad we were when we saw them arrive at the shophouse! Out of the 30 people, about 12-15 people received Christ, including children.

I'm lost for words, really. As the videographer, in-charge of capturing precious God-moments, I guess I was partly on the lookout for worthy footage instead of being "in the moment", but what I remember clearly are the raised hands when Eugene, one of the Radion staff, asked who wanted to receive Christ. I remember scrambling in to catch that God-moment, all the while thinking... it's not to us, but unto God; salvation is His miracle.

So, all glory and honour to Christ our King, who gave us the privilege to partner with Him!

Blessings,
Li Ling

Day 4 at Petchabun: Pre-Home Visitation

2008-06-05T22:35:00.003+08:00

Even before we went out to do home visitation, the team started on "Unlearning Lesson - Part 1". Indeed we were a bunch of people with much to unlearn... ...

Worship, more than just mere words or lip service, it's really about the outpouring from our hearts. The team seemed to hit a glass ceiling ... no .. an iron curtain ... no .. it's an iron wall... There seemed to be a lot of passivity from the team members. There's a river of His presence God had already prepared ... but somehow, some of us just seemed to be satisfied playing at the banks splashing a little water around... some are satisfied going in ankle-deep ... some stopped at waist-deep but what God really desires is for us to dive in .. and just be 'drowned' with Him... We cant simply stop at the outer courts, but we need to go past the holy place and enter straight into the holy of holies, where His shechinah glory dwells.

Like a little lightstick which has to be thoroughly broken before it can shine, the team was 'broken'; where the 'Self', the 'I' is broken ... where we decreased and Christ increased in our lives. Well, more is to come until we are truly broken, completely crushed in the Lord.

House Visitation Day One

2008-06-04T19:19:00.005+08:00

Sawatdii khrap! Sabaay dii may

Greetings from Khek Noi once again, we wish His grace and peace upon you brothers and sisters in Christ!

Today the team awoke from long night's rest despite the F1 car engine that relentlessly roared throughout the night (i.e. snoring souls).

A key element in any mission trip does not concern the field or our programs, but rather it concerns our heart preparation. Worship and devotion today was serious business as well. Not business with the Hmongs or with Radion, but business with the Master of our souls.

The team's inward-looking spiritual posture was confronted mid-way through the worship and we went into another time of intimate self-reflection to examine our hearts; to ask ourselves whether we were more concerned with our own weaknesses, or with His strength. Marvin's devotion in particular reminded all of us not to be "lao jiao pings" (Matthew 11:25-26). Being an older team than Wave 1, with many of us either church/ministry leaders or university students at home, we were indeed a bunch with much to "unlearn" in this trip so that we could all humbly ask for more of Him and less of us.

After a sumptuous lunch of rice (what else), fishball soup, roasted pork in special thai sauce (Yvonne says it is "simply shiok"), papaya salad and kangkong, we proceeded to head out for our first home visitations.

The first home we visited were a slightly mentally challenged couple whose children were malnourished due to lack of food, especially milk. The dire look on their faces was enough to 'floor' most of us. The four packets of kuay-teow seemed very inadequate and all we could do is to pray for them and to show them love.

In the second home was a family of four. What struck me most was the story of one of the daughters who was staying with them. What happened was that a guy actually took advantage of her and left her all alone when he found out that she was pregnant. As I (Yvonne) held her hand to pray for her, I felt a surge of emotions. The feeling of being obfuscated, not knowing what to do next or what the future holds. But one thing I know, that the Lord will be holding her hand and will see her through the trials. Just fyi, the head of this particular household came to accept Jesus Christ into his life today! Praise God! We are excited for the salvation but not surprised because we know that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

We moved on to the third and last home. For the third house, it was pretty run-down with a damaged roof. Thus, when it rained, water seep in contiously and caused the interior of the house to be wet and soggy. Apart from the physical condition was the spiritual state of the lady we ministered to. The weathered look on her face speaks of hardships and a weary heart. There was nothing much we could do but to pray, hug her and give her a heart-shaped origami representing that we love her. Those were our five loaves and two fishes but God used them. As we were about to leave, Eunice told Ben to tell the lady that she truly admires her for bringing the kids up single-handedly and encouraged her to continue to perservere on. This word from the Lord stirred up the heart of this lady and she started sobbing. Her sobs revealed many suppressed hurts and loneliness. Before we left, I felt a word from the Lord from Revelation 7:17: For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. I passed her a packet of tissue, telling her that it would only temporarily wipe the tears off her eyes but I encouraged her to hold on to the promise that God had given, that is one day her tears would definitely be wiped away permanently (itaics mine). We're truly blessed by these home visitations.

Blessings,
Derek, Yvonne

Cold Wet Orientation

2008-06-03T22:45:00.000+08:00

Dear all,

We are safely in Khek Noi... praise the Lord. We arrived in the village on Monday evening and quickly settled down to rest. Thank you for praying for us, and special appreciation to all of you who came to the airport early in the morning to send us off!

Today we had our "cultural training" and "village orientation". As I am typing now, we are at the shophouse, cold and wet. This was largely due to a part of the "orientation" programme which took place at a muddy river with the "street kids" in the rain. How could we not follow when they jumped into the water instinctively??? It was a classic sight to see the drivers' faces when they saw us walking back to the vehicles all wet and dirty. And this is only Day 2! By the way, they are the same two drivers who were with the Wave 1 team.

Please pray for our good health. The weather is really cold and pouring, and we are still adjusting to the new environment.

Okay, just a short and simple update.

More to come!

Jacob =)

PS: Aun's cooking is aroy mak mak mak mak mak mak mak mak !!! :)

2008-06-03T22:30:00.001+08:00

Sawadee! After a two hour plane ride and a seven hour bus ride, we have reached Khek Noi Village in Phetchabun. We thank the Lord for granting us a safe journey. We also thank our supporters who have sacrificed their precious sleep to send us off at the airport as early as 5am! We also thank our prayer warriors for keeping us in prayer. Our hospitable hosts have kindly opened up their house for us to stay over the course of the next ten days.

We are now blogging at RADION's headquarters which is a ten minutes drive from our hosts' house. It is a three storey shophouse which provides shelter for the street kids. We spent some time mingling with the kids before dinner and found out that they really wanted watches. One of our team members, Alvin presented the street kids with watches and they were really happy and excited.

Come back soon for more updates.

For greater things, I ask of the Lord.

2008-06-01T22:44:00.007+08:00

"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.
"Bring them here to me," he said.
- Matthew 14:17-18

Lord, the "five loaves and two fish" will remain as "five loaves and two fish" in our own hands. But we offer the little that we have unto You, our lives and everything. Take them, break them and use them for Your purposes. May we be a blessing that will glorify Your name in the land.

I feel strange as I am writing this post right now. On 27 March 2008, I made my previous blog post here on the final day of the Wave 1 mission trip, signing off as "my last blog post in this website" and was certain that I would never blog again. I have never posted any blog entries in my life before the last trip, and was only using this website to provide some quick updates from the mission field for our prayer supporters back in Singapore. Once again, the Lord is showing me that He is full of surprises. So here I am, happily eating my own words and preparing to make my way to Phetchabun again in a few hours time with the Wave 2 team that will be there from 2nd to 11th June! Wa ha ha ha ha =)

Some quick updates on what God has been doing between my previous post and the current one:
1) The Wave 1 team gave thanks and glory to God for the 100+ lives who came to know Jesus during their short stint in the village. For many of the team members, the trip marked the first time they witnessed how real and powerful the Holy Spirit is. When the Holy Spirit swept through the refugee camp with the Hmong-Laos people breaking down in tears responding to the name of Jesus, everyone could only stand in awe of His presence. Their hearts were broken, and they wept and wept with the people there.

2) Before the trip, the Wave 1 team members thought they were called to a village to give. During the trip, God outgave them. At the end of the trip, they knew they could never see lives in the same light again. They came back to Singapore and heard testimonies of how the reports of the mission trip had encouraged many people, and is continuing to use the lessons that God had taught them to encourage many more people. They also "adopted" children in the village through the "Street Kids Outreach" project by RADION International.

3) The Wave 1 Team Leader was burdened to return to the village one day to serve the poor, and she quickly linked up with RADION for the next project. A Wave 2 team, made up mostly by university students from Singapore Campus Crusade for Christ, was formed to make a trip to the same village and resume some of the work there from 2nd to 11th June 2008.

4) The Lord taught an awkwardly out-of-place and over-aged member of the Wave 1 team to "number his days aright that he may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12), and the fellow quitted his full-time job so that he can use more of his numbered days on earth to do more crazy things for Jesus. For now, he is reportedly seen tagging along with this new Wave 2 team so that he can resume his blogging career on this website again. He needs to reach the airport in about 4 hours time, and he has not started packing his bag yet.

Oh well. God is full of surprises ya?

Right now, I am praying to God that for this coming trip, I will not be relying on the things I think I already knew from the previous trip, because I know the Lord is going to do something new. I am asking Him for more... for greater things. For more surprises :)

I thank God for all the supporters who had partnered us with prayers during the Wave 1 trip. Your prayer support had meant so much for us and for the people in Thailand. Please continue to do so for this Wave 2 team.

I thank God for the supporters of the Wave 2 team members. Please follow us closely in this trip, and watch how your prayers will make a difference to God's work in this place.

I thank God for the Wave 1 team members. All of you are absolutely awesome!!! I know you are interceding for us even as you are reading this :)

I cannot thank God enough. Watch this page for more thanksgivings to come!

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Jacob Ng

3 days to Phetchabun!

2008-05-30T00:57:00.033+08:00

Here are some photos of the team as we embark on our preparations!

Practising for the skit!

Young artists at work!

Origami hearts for the Hmong kids to remind them that each and every of them is loved by God. Also, we will be doing a skit using a heart with a cross-shaped hole in it to tell the kids that nothing, not even money, drugs, friends or games, can ever fill the void in our hearts except God, our Creator and Saviour.

This little light of ours, we’re gonna let it shine!
Practicing our “light sticks” formation to the song “This Little Light of Mine.”

Can you spot the heart?
Practicing our “light sticks” formation to the song “We are one in the bond of love.”

It has been a fun and hectic time of preparing for the trip. But let us bear in mind that without HIS grace, presence and guidance, all our programs will be reduced to nothing.

As we prepare our hearts and the programs, we seek to be HIS servants and shine not for our glory but for HIS glory alone.
Please pray for us that we guard our hearts and thoughts!

Also, let us continue praying for protection and safety of the Lao Hmong refugees and that they will be able to discover that there is still hope in their lives through Christ despite the harsh and difficult circumstances that they are facing.

2 Corinthians 4:5-9
For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Wave 2 Team !!

2008-05-27T00:56:00.005+08:00

Wave 2 Team at Gen12ii Commissioning

Onstage from the extreme left: Derek, Yvonne, Sarah, Janice, Vera, Celine, Joanne.
Stairs from the left: Joel, Li En, Marvin, Terence, Jacob.
Missing from picture: Eunice, Liling & Alvin

Please continue to pray for us as we travel up to Phetchabun from 2nd June - 11th June to serve the Hmong villagers :)

"Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Matthew 28:18-20

Prayer Request for Lao Hmong Refugees

2008-05-25T19:12:00.004+08:00

Dear all..

Some news from PR Newswire on 24th May 2008..

"Thailand's Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej ordered Thai Third Army troops to use tear gas and pepper spray today to seek to force hundreds of Lao Hmong refugees onto eleven buses to repatriate them back to the communist regime in Laos that they fled."

"Large numbers of Thai troops were deployed to the Hmong refugee camp prior to fires and protests that rocked the camp and set it ablaze after refugees staged protests and a week-long, 7,000-strong hunger strike opposing forced repatriation back to Laos. The protest and hunger strike, which began on May 16, followed the earlier arrest of Hmong human rights monitors and the subsequent arrest of camp leaders."

Sad? Especially for those who have met them you will know how sad their lives are..

Personally.. I felt very sad when I saw them in front of my eyes.. People with broken lives & broken hearts that live in fear.. Fear of being deported back to Laos.. I asked God, "Is there any future for them? Why they don't live a life like a proper human? I can't understand.."

But I learnt something from them that though I can do nothing, God can.. Human might see them as ppl without future, but in Him, they have future.. :)

So, guys, let's do our part! Pray for them.. Also pray for Radion, as they'r seeking how to assist the Hmongs..

And for the wave 2 too! In reaching our to the villagers..:)

"Our God is so BIG

So strong and so mighty

There's NOTHING our God cannot do for you!"

~Dyna, wave 1~

the skit

2008-05-24T12:58:00.007+08:00

Hi all! :)

As part of our programmes, our team will be performing a skit inspired by a video featuring the song 'Everything' by Lifehouse.

It bring across a very touching message of forgiveness, hope and restoration, reminding us that we have a Saviour who loves us through all our life's trials and tribulations. We hope that God will use us through this skit to touch the hearts of the Hmong villagers! :)

Enjoy the video.

Love,
Vera and Joanne

HELLO!

2008-05-24T12:29:00.010+08:00

We are the second Gen12ii missions team. We will be going to Phetchabun from 2-11 June to serve the Hmong villagers and share God's love with them.

We thank the first team for entrusting the blog to us. We are very encouraged by their work for God's kingdom and their heart-felt sharing. We trust that God will use us, just like how He has used the previous team to reach out to the Hmong villagers.

Check out our newsletter for more details on our mission trip.

We will love to have you as our prayer warriors. We need your prayers for intercession on our behalf and for the Hmong villagers. Your support will definitely make a difference!

Matthew 28:18-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Stay Tuned!

2008-05-11T13:53:00.006+08:00

To all our friends who have supported us in one way or another, thanks so much! We are handing over this blog to the next Campus Crusade team that will be going to Phetchabun from 2-11 June for outreach to the Hmongs! Do stay tuned!

In the meantime, you can check out Radion's Mar/April 2008 newsletter that include updates about the situation at the refugee camp and some of their other outreach efforts. :)

In His love,
Sin Yi

2008-04-17T00:02:00.003+08:00

Just two new photo collages of the team=) I hope that all of you are doing fine, be it in school or work! Press on and shine the light for Jesus! Continue to keep Thailand in prayer! =)

Saviour He can move the Mountain

2008-04-11T10:41:00.005+08:00

I hope this lyrics is in relation to missions. Cos this really is my favourite song. I am not just sharing the song for the sake of sharing. I hope it encourages ppl in the next team.

Maybe I shall just type down the chorus and bridge of the song cos I feel that it is quite related to what we did during the trip. I hope that the team in wave 2 will also be encouraged.

On the first day of the refugee camp, we almost couldn't enter the gate of the camp. And I remember Ben metioning something about the mountain. Each time when we have doubt about being able to enter the camp or not, look at the mountain. If God can create such beautiful mountains. How much more can He do?

This song came into my mind.......

Saviour He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

Bridge:
Shine the light and let the Hmong Laos see
We're singing for the glory of the rise king
(x4)

Our God is the God of victory!!

Lyrics: More and more

2008-04-07T12:38:00.002+08:00

Some of us gathered together to sing praises and worshipped the Lord during the trip. This was the song that impressed upon my heart during the trip. It's from my church.

fyi, here is the lyrics of the song.

Lord unveil Your face
As I worship You
Reveal Your Majesty
Touch my heart anew

Lord unveil my eyes
To see Your glorious truth
The love you gave so free
Has drawn my heart to You

* chorus
And I can't help but love You more
More and more I see
How much I mean to You
Jesus I can't help but want You more
More and more I see
Your goodness unto me
I fall in love with You more and more

2008-04-01T23:54:00.002+08:00

Every 2nd Sunday evening of the month (till Sept); Team prayer meeting!
Of cos, if you guys wanna meet and catch up, why not?
See you this fri for fellowship over dinner! details to be confirmed soon=)

2008-03-31T00:30:00.002+08:00

Dear Supporters and Team mates,
Here's a video of the first day in the refugee camp, when God was moving and reduced all of us to tears. May God be glorified =)

Yining

Be the light in the darkness

2008-03-30T23:12:00.004+08:00

(Photo courtesy of Alvin; editing by Yining)

Team mates, let's continue to shine the light for Jesus as we continue with our lives back in Singapore. Let's not forget all that has happened during the past 11 days and treat it as a dream. Keep the Hmongs, RADION and the people in Thailand in our prayers!Till we meet the next time, take care and press on for the Lord, my dear Brothers & Sisters! =)

much love,
Ning

What have I learnt about mission?

2008-03-30T01:15:00.001+08:00

Just in case u don't know, I don't normally blog at blogspot. Usually my blog is found at multiply. so if u want i can send u.

Basically thru this trip. God has changed my perception on what worship is about.

Worship is not all about singing songs, playing guitar and dancing. It is a continuous process. It is about allowing God to be ur top priority. Making Him our desire. In order to do so, we must surrender the things we are holding back from drawing close to God. We need to pray. No matter how good or bad our circumstances may be, we need to be able to give those to God and allow God to fill u.

Only God can satisfy ur needs. Man may fail me but God will never fail me.
He is my best friend. He loves me as who I am. It doesn't matter what I do.

I hope tt God will always be my desire. Let's press on in prayer!!! ya?

alright!!

Final Day at the Refugee Camp......

2008-03-27T20:28:00.002+08:00

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."
- Jeremiah 29:11-14

Lord, I claim the above verses for your people who are inside the refugee camp. They are crying out to You, and I know You have heard them.

It was our last day of ministry work at Phetchabun, and we were at the refugee camp again. I did what I promised myself earlier – to hold back my tears until I completed the tasks of ministering to the people. Well, not completely… but at least I was not acting like a depression maniac who talk and cry at the same time! I finished my task of serving the people, and saved the crying for lunch time. Heh :) There must be at least a thousand hmongs who were blessed today by the milo and biscuits… and most importantly the gospel of God’s love. Pictures and full reports to follow!

Thank God for sustaining the team through a long and difficult day under the hot sun. Thank God that I survived – I popped in 4 tablets of panadol since last night to contain the feverish sensation and slept less than 4 hours. The fatigue accumulated from the past days had caught up on me, and I was pushing myself through the day. It felt like I had reached my max, and was walking on water. I know very clearly it was the Lord who carried me through (your prayers too!).

I thank God for the growth that took place in the students during the trip. It was more than an answered prayer. I was not expecting to see SO much, but God is full of surprises. I know all of us will not be able to look at the life in the same way as before anymore. Seeing how God transforms lives is the most amazing and rewarding thing that can happen. The transformation took place in my own heart as well. Thank you Jesus.

We will be leaving this village tomorrow and will be back in Singapore before midnight. The children in this village are around me now as I am typing at the computer. We received so many presents from them – old toys, flowers, self-made accessories and drawings. Touched :)

There were so many other things which took place and I was not able to blog all of them… and this is going to be my last blog post in this website. I hope these updates from the mission field made your partnership with us more meaningful and enjoyable.

Thank you for praying for my team. We really appreciate it. You have made a BIG difference, and we thank God for YOU!

In His love,
Jacob Ng

Psalm of the Day

2008-03-26T19:21:00.002+08:00

Give me a sign of your goodness,
that my enemies may see it and be put to shame,
for you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
- Psalm 86:17

Despite the uncertainties that we might not be able to enter the refugee camp, I felt sure that we definitely would be going there to carry out God's miracle in the place. The psalm of the day came alive to me when I was reading it up the hmongs' hill. God was sending us there as an answered prayer - our brothers and sisters there have been crying out to God for a "sign of His goodness"...

As I was facing the barbwire and looking into the living condition inside, I felt a very heavy burden in my heart. These people were the ones I have been crying out to the Lord for. My dear brother Alvin Ong reminded me gently, "Cry later, now we have tasks to do."

I tried my best. However, when the second batch of the hmongs came out, God intended for us to pray and minister to the people after the skit and songs. I was holding a camera with one hand and using the other hand to reach out to the children with prayer. When I touched one of them, I knew I could not contain the tears anymore when I felt the deep hurt. I cried for healing. For restoration. For Jeremiah 29:11. For all the faces I saw. "A hope and a future!" I cried. My God remembers every face that I met... He has all their names written at the back of His hands... the suffering of these people drove Him to the Cross...

I prayed because I am just a man. I prayed because I am not God. I can do nothing for them, except to pray. I know you love them more than I can ever do. God, will you deliver your people... please?

Today I was like a cry baby on the mission field, and had to remind myself again and again that I need to wipe off the tears and carry out my tasks. So many things need to be done here... and the trip is already coming to an end soon. Tomorrow we will be going to this camp to serve these people again. I pray that we get to minister to more people. So many people broke down and received Jesus into their lives today, and I am asking God for more. Praise God :)

"Cry later, now we have tasks to do."

I will.

Keep us in prayers, please. Thanks.

Sincerely,
Jacob Ng

Hmong Lao Refugee Camp Outreach

2008-03-26T17:53:00.002+08:00

hi peeps...
today was our first day outreach to the Hmong Laos. It was full of suprises and thanksgivings.
We woke up like 6am in the morning for prepare our selves for worship and loading up our biscuits onto the van.

But before i shared with u what happened today. Let me share with u guys abt what we were doing yesterday.
We spent the whole day praying and worshiping yesterday. And whole day, it reali means whole day men.. we gathered together to prepare our hearts and also to intercede for the Hmong Laos.

Through that few hours of prayers and worship, we saw how God was working among us. There were restoration of relationships among some of the team mates and healing of our past hurts etc.What was the most amazing thing was the Holy Spirit was constantly at work and moving among us. The Holy Spirit led many of us to pray and minister to the ones who are mourning among us.

I praised God at one instance, the Holy Spirit prompted me to step forward to the old lady who was hosting us for accomadation, to pray for her (since she was standing in the midst of us listening to our worship.) And i thanked God that i obeyed Him.

No one can ever imagine that small gesture of moving forward to that old lady to pray for her. She broke down into tears. She mentioned she was so touched by our act of worship. She saw God in us though she do not understand our language. And finally, she made the decision to come back to Christ through that time of worship.

what we saw was not just only the Gospel can transcends language, worship also can!!! God presence transcends all things men!!Praise God!!!

Lets talk abt today.

Actually there were news saying that we may not be able to go into the refugee camp cos we have nt get an approval letter from the leaders of the refugee camp.

Yet, we choose to go in faith today. We loaded up our biscuits and milks powders onto the van. And we drove to the camp.

Several things to give thanks:
1. that God allowed us to go into the camp.
2. one of our shift during the milk mission which was supposed to reach out to the kids. It turned out to be a ministering time for the Hmong Laos adults who came for the special programs during our Milk!mission.

The Holy Spirit led us to pray the ppl at then. Many of these adults broke into tears after watching our skit. And we thank God for using that skit to turn ppl back to Christ. Many of them chose to surrender their pains and past hurts unto the Lord.

3. we prayed for physical healing for the ppl too eg. difficulties walking and seeing. The most amazing thing was that, the person who prayed for these ppl was our host lady wh just came back to Christ ytd.praise God!!

Worship GOD

2008-03-25T22:10:00.002+08:00

When we talk about worship, what comes across your mind? what about prayer?
Today the team had the privilege to be renewed and praised God with a full day session of worship and prayer.
God used different team members to speak to us through the Bible.

Worshipping God was taken to a whole new level, to invite His presence, to have an intimate encounter with God.
Worship is an incense that flows to the heaven
The wife of the host family also rededicated her life to God, as she felt the presence of G0d through the worship to God. Amen!
She says,
"I don't understand what you are saying, but I know that you are worshipping God"
We are moving into the Refugee camp tomrrow, amy the palns that we plannend be GOd -directed and the Hmong Lao people will see God's love over pouring our from us.

Keep Praying!

Updates of new Links

2008-03-24T20:58:00.004+08:00

A Note f0r all readers and supporters, We have linked our blog to
(1) Radion International's Official website and also their (2) blog
so that you will be further encouraged by the things that GOd is working here.

Let us continue to pray for the guidance and wisdom on how to carry out follow up with the Hmong Thais that received Christ and continue to grow in love with God.

Easter Harvest

2008-03-24T19:59:00.001+08:00

Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom. - Psalm 90:12

Lord, give us the heart of wisdom to know what truly matters in life. How many days left do we have on earth to do crazy things for Jesus?

Yesterday, we took the children in the village for a hiking excursion and had a swim at a water fall. A "war" took place in the water as we slammed and threw seaweeds at one another - a popular game among the kids. It was extreme fun as we fellowship with the children in real WILD WILD WET manner. I think I wasted my childhood on nintendo games...

The day ended with a campfire dinner. Through songs, games, sharing and "magic" performance, the gospel was presented to the children. 17 children made the decision for the first time to receive Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. How else can we respond, but to praise Him? Thank God for everything!!!

As we said our farewell to the children, there were hugs and tears aplenty. We really love the children here to bits and pieces... but we have to say our goodbye. We know that for some of them, this may be the last time we get to see them. Lord, will You please continue to watch over them so that even if we do not meet them again in this life, we will play and worship with them in heaven?

We are now preparing to visit the refugee camp on Wednesday and Thursday (26 and 27 of March). Today the team was given some time for a personal retreat and rest with the Lord, and to visit some of the village households we visited last week.

We are praying everyday asking God for this land, and are expecting to see great miracles happening at the refugee camp. 6000 souls are there, waiting...

Thank God for keeping everyone of us safe and healthy. Please continue to pray for us.

Thanks.

Jacob Ng

Thank God it's Friday (and Saturday!)

2008-03-22T18:14:00.003+08:00

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. - John 1:10-13

I had the most memorable Good Friday in my life on 21 Mar 2008.

The team spent the day preparing for a "mass-evangelistic" event in the village at Radion Shophouse, shopping for the food and preparing for the skit and programme. We were not able to predict who would happen, and could only pray and pray. BBQ food were served to the villagers and the gospel was presented to them through games, songs, a skit and a message. About 40 villagers turned up, and 11 of them prayed to receive Christ. God even provided a 7-year old boy to be our translator during the song presentation, and the village church pastor was there to pray for his own people. A lady with HIV whom we ministered to the day before turned up too and received Jesus to be her Lord and Saviour. Praise Him!

When I was waiting for my turn to appear in the skit and praying, a thought came to me: what if all the events, brokenness, trials, pain, joy... everything in my life was set up simply for this moment to present the gospel to these people? I told God, "Here I am, nothing much to offer, but use me."

As we looked back, we knew that it was everything about God as we witnessed how His hands were moving throughout the entire event. I was so moved by what God was doing in this place. At the end of the day, the team was overwhelmed with tears of joy as we gave thanks.

On Saturday, we brought the village children for an excursion to the river. The gospel was presented to them through a "magic" show and 15 children made the decision to receive Jesus. More details to come, with PHOTOS!

Thank you for partnering us with your prayers.

The visit to the refugee camp is next week, and we are really looking forward to witness more of God's work in the camp.

Have a blessed Easter Weekend!

Jacob Ng :)

Salvations @ Petchabun Village

2008-03-20T22:02:00.002+08:00

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ" - Philippians 3:7-8

It is Day 3 of the mission trip. The team is safe and getting used to the climate and food. We thank God and the supporters' prayers for our safety, well-being, and the SALVATIONS of 9 souls (including 7 little children) in the village during our home visits!

As my team went to different homes to give out packets of "kway teow", we were able to pray for the people and ministered to their felt, despite the language barrier. Many of the people here may have heard of the name "Jesus", but do not know who He is. There were those who saw the sick being prayed for, and requested for us to pray for them as well in their areas of felt needs. There were believers who said they are struggling with their disappointment in God because they think nobody cares... but we were there to show them how much God loves them that He sent us!

We spent the night before today praying for the people here and asking God for this land. We do not want this to be a "mission tour"... 6000 souls are now in the refugee camp in need of the Lord and He loves each one of them. We do not know what we can bless them but we know that God is leading us in every step.

We sang this song in the morning before we set out to minister to the villagers:
"Be it in a quiet pasture, or by a gentle stream;
The shepherd of my soul is by my side.
Should I face a mighty mountain or a valley dark and deep,
The shepherd of my soul will be my guide ."

So many more things to share, but I have so little time with the computer. Need to rush off now... as we look back, the day has been thanksgivings aplenty. Our Shepherd is faithful :)

Thank you for every prayer that you have prayed for us. You are making a difference in Thailand!

THANK YOU!

Sincerely,
Jacob Ng

Updates from Phetchabun

2008-03-19T19:21:00.002+08:00

Dear friends and supporters,

We have reached Thailand Phetchabun safely! Don't worry! We're all safe and sound! :) It was a really long journey from the airport all the way to the village that we are reaching out to. It was a long 8 hours van ride. Thank God for the provision of comfortable vans! :)

Though the living condition here in Phetchabun is not as comfortable as compared to Singapore, we are still thankful that God provided for the place that we have! We're staying with a family in the village. They're very nice people and cleaned up the place for us before we reached there :) Thank God for that :) It's a beautiful place where we get to see the sunrise at a cliff as we do our Quiet Time in the morning :) Oh yes, not to mention, we named the cat in the family, it's named Hope! :)

We had a long and fun day today! We had ground training and had a mini outing with 4 of the village children! We went to the river to catch fishes and trekking to a place where they had very nice rocks and waterfalls! The little ones were so happy :) Praise God for this opportunity to have fun and interact with them! :)

Do continue to uphold our team in your prayers! Till date, we have 5 team members who are not feeling well (stomachache). It could be due to the fact that the team is still trying to adapt to the village living condition and food. Don't get us wrong, the food is actually very nice! :)

We're gonna rest well tonight and be charged up for our outreach to the villagers (Hmong Thai) tomorrow! :) Thank you for praying for us, we really appreciate you! :D

leaving on a jet plane!

2008-03-18T02:13:00.002+08:00

Hi Friends & Supporters,

We're finally leaving for our mission trip! Here's an update on what I believe should have been sent out to you all (but just in case!):

As the team gets ready for the departure, let me update you on what the team has been doing.

If you recalled from the previous email, the team was denied access to the Refugee Camp and permits have been sent to be approved and it was finally approved! :) We're going up to the Refugee Camp on the 26th and 27th Mar while continuing our contingency plans of reaching out to the Hmong Thai villagers of Khek Noi (very near the refugee camp!) before that.

The 2 sub groups of people, the English team and Drama team have each come up with different programmes to connect with the children, villagers and refugees.

The English team has put together a series of games, songs and magic show to illustrate the gospel to the children especially during the Children's Outing where we're going to bring the Thai village kids to different places.

The Drama team has put together a skit that involves the whole mission team during the Good Friday Outreach to the Thai villagers where we'll also be having a BBQ. A slight variation of the skit will also be presented to the Hmong-Lao refugees when we go up to the camp for MILK mission!

Isaiah 65:24,

God said"Before they call,i will answer;while they are still speaking I will hear"
this is the confidence that we have in HIM.

James 1:17

Every good and perfect gifts is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

Let us Give Thanks for every blessing He gives us, and that we continue to be filled by the Spirit to listen to His voice
May the team be filled and running on God's strength as the daily events will wear us out. Pray that we'll keep our eyes on God
Prepare the hearts of the people, regardless of Hmong Thai or Hmong Lao, to be touched by God's love for them.

Pray along with us using the Prayer Calendar in the last post! :)

Gen12II Chiang Mai Team Prayer Calendar

2008-03-17T23:54:00.010+08:00

Dearest friends, supporters and prayer warriors,

Here is the latest prayer pointers that you can be partnering with us in prayer as our team step out on this journey of faith in trusting the Lord to make a difference! We need your prayers!!!

Link to find out more

2008-03-17T14:15:00.001+08:00

Hey this is a good web-link to give a glimpse of what Lao-Hmong people http://www.time.com/time/asia/photoessays/laos/index.html See you all tomorrow!!!

greatest thanksgiving??!! THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!!

2008-03-15T14:14:00.003+08:00

despite of all the changes of plan here n there during our planning process.. ranging from the fact tt we are banned from going into the refugee to reach out to the Hmong Laos then later we were called to reach out to the hard ground of Hmong Thais village....

we finally see a breakthru of the prayers tat we made for the Hmong Laos....
we were finally approved to go into the refugee camp.....yeah!!!!

Today we saw our awesome God glorifying himself thru this answered prayer....His Glory is been Unveiled!!!
I thank Him for being the FAITHFUL GOD in our lives and oso to this team....
i thank Him, that in Him i can trust....
i thank God for teaching us the precious lesson and that is to pray....Prayer is the Greatest Work....when men work, work...but when we pray, God works.

In Isaiah 65:24, God said"Before they call,i will answer;while they are still speaking I will hear"
this is the confidence that we have in HIM.

i think when we choose to do our very best for God, God Himself will do the very rest...we just need to be faithful to pray n reflect His glory in our lives.....

i believe that at the end of this trip God will cause us to see even greater things abt him...n i believe that He will bring deliverance n salvations to this land, the ppl in the Thailand...

i believe that today is just the beginning of His great works that we gonna see... WE WILL SEE MORE OF HIS GREAT WORKS WHEN WE ARE IN THE FIELD!!!

Let us continue to carry a prayerful spirit to pray for bigger breakthrus and salvations in the land...

love u God!!
corn

Team photos from tuesday

2008-03-13T09:34:00.002+08:00

Hi people, here are more photos for u to view the team @ work
You can view it at this weblink share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AYs3LNs2atmFQ
Enjoy viewing. The video file is too big to be uploaded...

Will You Go Out Without Knowing?

2008-03-13T01:54:00.001+08:00

"He went out, not knowing whither he went." Hebrews 11:8

Have you been "out" in this way? If so, there is no logical statement possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the difficulties in Christian work is this question - "What do you expect to do?" You do not know what you are going to do; the only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually revise your attitude towards God and see if it is a going out of everything, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in perpetual wonder - you do not know what God is going to do next. Each morning you wake it is to be a "going out," building in confidence on God. "Take no thought for your life, . . . nor yet for your body" - take no thought for the things for which you did take thought before you "went out."

Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you Who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you go out in surrender to Him until you are not surprised an atom at anything He does?

Suppose God is the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him - what an impertinence worry is! Let the attitude of the life be a continual "going out" in dependence upon God, and your life will have an ineffable charm about it which is a satisfaction to Jesus. You have to learn to go out of convictions, out of creeds, out of experiences, until so far as your faith is concerned, there is nothing between yourself and God.

(Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost For His Highest", January 2nd.)

2008-03-12T20:24:00.004+08:00

Hi supporters,

Perhaps you've been hearing my fellow team mates saying that they've got team meeting pretty often.. Thought that it'd be good to show you what we'd done on our last meeting! =)

We learnt how to dance with the song 'Give Thanks' and rehearsed for the skit for Good Friday. Here's some snapshots of them!=)

Cheers!

A video to share..

2008-03-11T01:18:00.002+08:00

Hello supporters and team!

My friend shared this with me, and I wanna share this beautiful video with all of you! At the end of the video, I was in tears.. Hope it'll minister to you like how it did to me! After watching, don't forget to share the joy! ;D

Yining

Making Time

2008-03-10T22:57:00.001+08:00

Making Time

Rachel Olsen

"But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father."

John 15:7-8 (NIV)

How can I find time to have a "quiet time" with God? Even if I found the time, how do I know what to do during this time?

Ever ask yourself these questions? I have. There was a time when these questions left me speechless because I didn't know how to answer them. I knew people who would spend an hour alone with God each day, and I wondered what their secret was. What was it that enabled them to do that? What kept them from falling asleep sitting there alone with the Bible? How did they know what to say, read or think about during all those minutes? How did they keep from getting distracted? How did they even manage to find an hour of free time each day? I kept waiting for a season of my life to come during which a block of time would regularly present itself and my spirit would drive me to God. I wasted a lot of time waiting for that to happen and I've learned it never will without some effort.

"Rachel, how do you find time to have a quiet time?" I was asked not too long ago. "I don't find the time," I answered. "I have to make the time. I can't expect to find time -- that'll never happen. There's always going to be something needing my attention, calling my name. I have to make the time, and that means sometimes I have to let other things slide. I have to be OK with letting less important things slide," I confessed.

I've come to realize it's a matter of choice, a matter of discipline... and a matter of active investment. E.M. Bounds wrote, "The lazy man does not, will not, cannot pray, for prayer demands energy." What a simple but profound statement. When I don't pray or spend time reading the Bible, it's because I simply don't want to expend the energy on it. Bounds is saying that people who do not pray much probably claim to be too busy or too bored with it, but in reality are too lazy to press into God. Wow. Ouch!

I believe we have to be earnest in pressing into God and this will bring glory to God as today verse says. In the words of a little shoe company called Nike; we have to "just do it." Let's carve some time in our days to be quiet before the Lord, to read His words and pray. We can trade a small portion of our time and energy for a large portion of His grace and power.

Purpose to stick to it for several weeks until it sinks into your schedule, and your soul begins to respond. If you want some help being accountable on this, or some ideas for how to start, visit my blog listed below and we can do it together for the next six weeks. I know we'll find it is more than worth the effort.

Dear Lord, I want to make time for You. I want to read the Bible and understand it. I want to pray and see You answer. Help me to press in closer to You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Reflections:

What is stopping me from pressing into God?

Do I truly not have any time in my day to spend with Him?

Power Verses:

Isaiah 28:23, "Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say." (NIV)

Isaiah 32:9, "You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me; you daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say!" (NIV)

1 Corinthians 14:15, "So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind." (NIV)

Psalm 119:11, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you" (NIV)

Corny

Praying to seek God' direction

2008-03-07T01:17:00.011+08:00

Psalms 85:6 "will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?"

The Group had a team meeting with Ben, the co-leader of Radion International to share more about the contingency plans. We thank God for the time for team members to share as a group their encouragements and desire to partner with God in this process.

We had a time of prayer and praise before we invited Ben to share with us the contingency plans for the mission trip.At the moment, another permit has been sent to the Thai military for approval, which takes supposedly 15 days to process.

With a slim chance to enter the refugee camp to minister to the Hmong Lao, Ben has shifted the focus the villages surrounding the refugee camp. These are Hmong Thai people living in the village of Khek Noi which is located in the same area of the refugee camp.

There are 2 Groups of Hmong people in this case.

The Hmong Lao who came from Laos, residing in the refugee camp
&
The Hmong Thais, who live in Thailand.

The Hmong Thais, as observed by Radion International is that they would like the people of Hmong Thai to help in the outreach efforts towards serving the Hmong Lao in the refugee camp.

Ground situation

At this point in time, The Hmong Thais are in their 'slumber' in their perception to life. The attitude of these thais is that they placed a high value over money. Their faith being very jaded.
An instane that Ben was sharing was that when they had approached the local church to partner with Radion International in serving the hmong Lao in the refugee camp, their reply was "how much would they be paid?"
Everyone else in the room had a rude shock with the 'huhs' and 'whats'.
The existing social problems-vices such as drug trafficking amongst some of the people, Drug abuse and
also people with the HIV virus having shared needles.

New Focus

The team's new focus would be to help minister to the Hmong Thais, to awaken them from their slumber through God to bless them by reaching out to these groups of people.
cleaning their houses and also to teach the children english, showing Christ-likeness and to be that shining light for our Creator.

As are continuing to pray even as there is no news of the pending permit of being approved. We pray that in everything we do, we do it for God's Glory.

As we had an extended worship time, It was a time of re-dedication, to remind everyone that regardless of the plans that were being made, That Jesus is in control, that we offer our lives to Him as he does his work through us.
He is the Everlasting God
Pray on!

Isaiah 40: 28-31
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He wil not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of te weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on sings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk; and not be faint.

His Word

2008-03-06T01:31:00.005+08:00

His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. —Lamentations 3:22-23-

As everyone continues to pray..Let the Word that is God breathed be our comfort.

Below is a link to some articles that that speak about being faithful. Let us be faithful to out God as he had to us

http://www.rbc.org/browseTopicsSection.aspx?Topic=128

Thank God for speaking to Team Member, Yining, for the sharing of the link.
Let us be encouraged and stand firm in the presence of dark times(:

Updates

2008-03-06T00:27:00.003+08:00

just in case you haven't been following closely about the situation after the deportation..

Ground Sources

Our ground sources also informed us that during the deportation. The 11 who previously signed the voluntary deportation paper refused to be deported. The tension came when they had to be pulled away into the trucks. It is also reported that the camp is in an emotional state under fears of further deportation.

All foreigners (teachers, ourselves) have been kept out of the camp till further notice. The military commander in charge has mentioned that permits would likly be released after this weekend.

So after we do secure the permits, we'll rush the medical kits. Hopefully that gives the refugees some security if they do go into running

(source: http://newlifeoutreach.blogspot.com/2008/03/ground-sources.html)

***
Ground Report: Refugees Fear Coming Out

Today I've just received news that the refugees are so gripped by fear that most of them are not coming out of their homes. Not even to the morning markets or schools for the fear that the military will deport them.

(source: http://newlifeoutreach.blogspot.com/2008/03/ground-report-refugees-fear-coming-out.html)

***

latest update from Benjamin & Ronald..

Our team will be restricted to enter the refugee camp due to refugees' conflict with military. Ben will discuss with Eugene on the contingency plan. Let's pray for God's direction.

***
Dear supporters & team mates,

Let us continue to pray for the Hmong people and also against spiritual warfare! nevertheless, do also remember to give thanks in all circumstances! :)

"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
--1 Thessalonians 5:18

Yining

Let Us Be Like Clay

2008-03-02T01:26:00.003+08:00

Hey all,
Let us be like clay, ready to be molded and used by God, however He pleases in whatever circumstances.

"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?" says the Lord. "Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!" Jeremiah 18:6

God knows how to bring salvation to your family, your friends, your community, and your world. Accordingly, He looks for those who will allow Him to shape them into the instruments He requires to do His divine work. Clay has no plans of its own, no aspirations for service, nor reluctance to perform its given task. It is clay. Moldable, pliable, totally submissive to the will of its master.

At times we excitedly announce to God: "I've discovered my strengths and gifts, and now I know how I can best serve You!" At other times we inform Him, "I am aware of what my weaknesses are, so I know which tasks I'm not capable of doing for You." Yet this is not characteristic of clay. God is no limited to working with strengths (2 Cor. 12:9-10). He can mold us into whatever kind of instrument He requires. When God's assignment demands humility, he finds a servant willing to be humbled. When His work requires zeal, He looks for someone He can fill with His Spirit. God uses holy vessels, so He finds those who will allow Him to remove their impurities. It is not a noble task, being clay. There is no glamour to it, nothing boast-worthy, except that is is exactly what Almighty God is looking for. Compliant, moldable, yielded clay.

If your tendency is to tell the Father what you can and cannot do for Him, submit to His agenda and allow Him to shape you into the person he wants you to be. Like clay.
(God Looks for Clay, January 6, Experiencing God Day by Day by Henry T. Blackaby & Richard Blackaby)

Our 10 team commitments!

2008-03-02T00:41:00.003+08:00

Hello Team!

We have come out with 10 commitments that everyone is strongly encouraged to 'use'! May this be another step to be even more united as a team, being labourers for God's harvest field!

Also, here's one verse I'll like to encourage you guys:

"I call on the LORD in my distress,
and he answers me."

--Psalm 120:1

Even if things dont seem to go right, continue to pray cos our mighty and awesome God never fails to listen! Don't give up! :)

Cheers,
Yining

Deportation Started

2008-02-29T23:36:00.003+08:00

This morning we managed to confirm that indeed a deportation happened.

11 people were deported after signing a "voluntary" deportation paper.

We have also received news that emotions are running high in the camp as people are fearful of the ongoing deportation. We've also heard that foreigners have all been denied access to the camp for the next couple of days so the deportation can go on smoothly.

What is happening in Laos ?
This month 22 Hmongs were slaughtered in the forest of Laos in attacks by the Laos Military and another 49 died of starvation.

What can we do as a team?

Joelle n me thinks tat we shld have this prayer chain goin on daily until we reach thailand.

we can start praying for:

-the safety of the Hmongs in the refugee camp n oso the ones that has been deported back to Laos. Pray that their emotional tension will be removed amongs the ones in the camp n at Laos.

-the Hmongs' salvation. that in the midst of such condition they could see the hope to live.

- God's will to be done among all these.

corn

We are almost there..

2008-02-29T23:23:00.003+08:00

Dear team members and supporters...

I dedicate this sketch to all of us..

Allow me to share it & the message behind it..

It is titled "Almost There".. You will see two hands almost touching each other.. "Almost" doesn't mean have touched..You are still able to draw ur hand back..

Let the left hand is our goal or purpose that we want to achieve..And the right hand is us.. When we're almost gettin' near to our goal, we might experience turbulance & problems, they make us able to GIVE UP or even QUIT!

I dedicate this sketch & message especially to all of us..
Though some of the Hmong ppl have been deported..
Though no exact news on our outreach..
Though we face a lot of uncertainties..
Though the military might not allow us to enter..
and many more..

Do u think nothing we can do??? NO!

We can PRAY!!! We have a BIG God that can help us to face the BIG problem!!

Don't choose to GIVE UP!!! Keep Praying!!!
We are almost going to touch Hmong ppl's hearts w/ our BIG God... :)

God does not place us in this mission for nothing..He has a purpose and I believe He will make a way..!

Your sister in Christ,
Dyna

Pray: Were they deported?

2008-02-28T18:17:00.002+08:00

"Today, we received the most disturbing news to date.
We heard that a group of refugees have been just deported back to Laos.
Now we are in the process of verifying the facts and getting more data. Please pray with us."

(source: http://newlifeoutreach.blogspot.com/2008/02/deportation.html)

***

Hi Team & supporters!
Above is the latest updates from Eugene. So far nothing has been confirmed on whether they have in fact been deported. Lets continue to pray! Prayers do work wonders!

'Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.'
- Philippians 4:6

In Christ's love,
Yining

The Lord Speaks!To him be the Glory!

2008-02-26T23:12:00.007+08:00

Greetings to all the supporters and friends reading...

Thank God for his blessing upon the situation..We bear witness to the power of prayer as we partner with God to fulfill and He unveil his will.
Never fail to marvel the way he speaks to us through prayer
We have just received news from Ben, the team leader with Radion-Internationl:

" The military have finally responded. They have requested for 2 weeks notice for entry to camp,however no news on the coming outreach yet. "

Thank God for his blessing! Let us continue that the process of entering and moving around the camp will be smooth, that God give us the courage to face the challenge with faith

-Deep in Prayer-

As we work towards our departure date of 18th March..
-Here are some areas that you could keep us in prayer and for thanksgiving to God-
(1) Protection and good health
(2) Love for God
(3) Love for the people we minister and share the gospel to
(4) Spirit-filled families back in Singapore
(5) Receptive hearts of pre-believers, Strong Faith & steadfastness
(6) Team unity
( with 1 we do much, with the team, we do even more as we labour for the Lord)
(7) wisdom + Knowledge, being well-equipped, being prepared
(8) Drawing strength, resting upon the Lord

1 Thessalonians 15:17
-"pray continually"-

2 Thessalonians 2: 16& 17
16"May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our father, who loved us and by his grace us eternal encouragment and good hope,
17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word."

A
BIG Thank You
to all the supporters, families and friends for partnering and praying in support, and also in every single way possible as we get ready for our every single team members.
We appreciate it(:
Let us keep on praying fervertly and giving thanks!

Serving Him and the Hmong people,
Gen12ii Thailand Mission Team

Pray: MILK! On hold

2008-02-20T17:55:00.003+08:00

Hello teammates, friends and supporters,
Ronald, Yining and myself met up with Ben (Eugene's colleague) from Radion International to talk more about our plans yesterday and we heard that the Milk! mission is on hold right now in Thailand because of something that happened earlier in the week. Do keep this in prayer.

Here's Eugene's latest update on their blog:

MILK! On hold
For the first time in our 5 months of working in the refugee camp, the Thai military has revoked our entry permits.

This is in view of the security breach by one of our thai contract drivers who unknowingly strayed to the fenceline and snapped a couple of pictures of the refugee camp interior. In response, we have terminated his contract.

We have made a couple of calls to the camp, but the military has reverted that they are still waiting for the "revoked" permits to be re-approved and they should be receiving the news sometime next week.

This week, I would probably need to make personal a visit to the base commander again to discuss this issue. ... till then.. our weekly MILK! mission is on a hold.
(Source: http://newlifeoutreach.blogspot.com/2008/02/milk-on-hold.html)

Mass Training: 23 Feb 2008

2008-02-20T17:27:00.003+08:00

Dear Teammates,

For Mass Training this Saturday, bring along:
- Bible
- Missions Handbook
- Writing Materials
- Support ($) you've raised so far

Meet 8.15am:
Harbour Front MRT - Ronald
Buona Vista MRT - Yining/Sin Yi

We'll have team lunch together! :) See you there!

Join Us at Our Commissioning! :)

2008-02-18T17:14:00.004+08:00

:) Invite your leaders, friends and supporters for this event ok!

2008-02-17T21:39:00.001+08:00

Hello everybody!

how's exams? how's holidays? i'm sure some of your are enjoying the holidays !

yeahs, anyway, let's keep this trip in prayer every day to know what God wants to do!

Emannuel,

choo min :)

Our Newsletter

2008-02-17T20:45:00.004+08:00

For our friends visiting, here's a little more about our trip :)

Real God

2008-02-10T20:39:00.000+08:00

I found this cartOon quite funny.. Does anyone miss the real God?

Let's show others wad the real God is through us (real Christians)!

Dyna :)

Gen12ii Teaser

2008-02-09T09:04:00.000+08:00

corn

Mission Exist Becasue Worship doesn't

2008-02-08T00:25:00.000+08:00

“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.

Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal of missions. It’s the goal of missions because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into the white hot enjoyment of God’s glory. The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God. “The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!” (Ps 97:1). “Let the peoples praise thee, O God; let all the peoples praise thee! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy!” (Ps 67:3-4).

But worship is also the fuel of missions. Passion for God in worship precedes the offer of God in preaching. You can’t commend what you don’t cherish. Missionaries will never call out, “Let the nations be glad!” who cannot say from the heart, “I rejoice in the Lord…I will be glad and exult in thee, I will sing praise to thy name, O Most High” (Ps 104:34, 9:2). Missions begins and ends in worship.”- John Piper,Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions

corn

The Mission Trippers

2008-02-07T15:11:00.000+08:00

First row: Joelle, Jacqueline, Phebe, Cornelyus, Jacob Ng and Qiuyun

Second row: Yining, Choomin, Sinyi and Dyna

Last row: Jacob Tan, Daniel, Celestine, Edward, Nicholas, Ian and Ronald

Hello everyone! I'm so glad that God has placed me in this special team:) This is a picture taken after our 2nd team meeting at Ronald's place:) Thanks Ronald for opening up your house for the meeting! The team meeting got all of us really excited! Can't wait for the next team meeting:)

Joelle

The Need to Go

2008-02-07T03:02:00.000+08:00

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest field." Matthew 9:37-38

i believe the needs is everywhere- places where people are hurt,betrayed, abandoned, persecuted, fearful etc...

but the evident fact abt today's church is that many chose to be stucked in our own comfort zone, being comforted of where they are and who they hang out with- failing to realise our identity as salt and light of this earth.

In the New Testaments, Jesus said that we are the salt and light of this world. What does he means by that?

Usually, we may just say that salt is good as preservatives to bring goodness or taste to the food. I believe whenever we have ulcers, our friends may suggest us to apply salt onto our ulcers and the only of following such suggestion is pain.
And it is also because of this suggestion, it caused me to re-think abt why Christ called us to be the salt of this world- that is every of our words and actions should be able "hurt" people.
This kind of "hurt" is not the physical pain, but rather in such a way that it will cause people to realise the true meaning of life and also letting them to realise the flaws of their belief system.

It is a sad thing that we are seeing people dying everyday,every hour, minutes and seconds.
Yet, we are just not being able to do much. Sometimes, even we could do sth but we chose to allow our fears to control us, preventing us from going forth to be that blessing.

Are we going to be satisfied in walking our Christian life by sight and not by faith?

As you read this blog, i pray that we will rise up in faith to be obedient, such that no matter where God wants us to go, we will go. i also pray that we will be ones that unveil God's glory to the nations.

"For we walk, and not by sight" 2 corinthians 5:7

corn

WELCOME!

2008-02-06T00:55:00.000+08:00

A Warm Welcome to the Team Blog of Gen12 ii Mission Trip to Thailand!
Thank God for every member in this team!
Let's go team!

P.S: Happy Chinese New Year!Remember to get ALL the support we can get!

(:

Jacob Tan