AOM YEAR-END REPORT 2015
John 9:4
“We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is
coming, and then no one can work.”
In the twinkling of an eye a season slips by like a breeze; another blink the year slips by like
oil slipping through our fingers. Yet sometimes in another blink a long awaited opportunity is lost because we are too slow in responding, we hesitated too long and the moment was gone. Have we seized every opportunity that God has put in our hand? The time is short and God given opportunities are precious. God often opens doors of opportunities to Share the Gospel, opportunities to minister to someone who is hurting or in need, opportunities to make an influence on the world around us, opportunities to give financially and opportunities to stand alongside and pray for those in the mission fields. If we allow these opportunities to pass by (perhaps because we are waiting for something easier to come along), we may miss out on them altogether resulting in self-denial, robbing ourselves of the joy and fulfillment of being used by God.
Gal 6:8-10
“Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
The Bible is full of missed opportunities. In the Old Testament the Israelites missed out on
the opportunity in entering the Promised Land because they were rebellious and stiff necked and as a result they wandered 40 years in the desert. In the words of Jesus, in the parable of the ten virgins, five were foolish and did not bring enough oil and when the bridegroom finally arrived they missed out on the opportunity of attending the Great Wedding Feast.
As I reflect on this year’s ministry, I think about how true these two important elements
have come to shape our work, God’s timing and God’s given opportunity that has brought
about the great harvest in the nations we are working in. There is so much to share with you here, but due to space constraints, may I draw your attention to just the following highlights from our ministries in Asia.
Foot Soldiers - AOM supports some 76 foot soldiers in Asia, mainly in Bangladesh, China, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak), Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam. They are local man and women who work full time in ministry, moving freely in areas restricted to outsiders and are accepted because they blend in well and live among the community. Each one of them has had a profound encounter with the Lord that has changed their lives completely and this makes them passionate in their service for God and they carry a burden to see their own people saved. They have endured torture and vicious beatings, have had their families threatened and harassed and attacks on their home and family. They don’t know who to trust. They have walked for miles on foot, deep into the jungles or up the treacherous mountain paths to share the love of Christ to those who do not know Him yet. Often they are alone with only the bible as their companion but that is all they need. For they do not walk alone and they know that the One whom they preach about is with them. I call this motivational faith resulting in hundreds of souls being saved. Their reports have not been negative or complaining but all giving praise to God for what He is doing through them. Miracles signs and wonders follow them. In May of this year our Bhutan foot soldier shared an awesome testimony of healing.
44 year old Shanti had been suffering from Epilepsy for the last 12 years and she had 5/6
attacks a day, throwing her to the ground in the throes of violent fits. Desperate she came
for a healing service and during the altar call she felt instantly healed. She has never had
an epileptic fit since then.
Ps Praveen, one of our foot soldiers in India was accused of forcefully converting Hindus
and was arrested. On the day of his trial not one of his accusers turned up and to his
amazement the 50 newly baptized came forward boldly declaring that they willingly
believed in Jesus Christ.
A father finding his son in excruciating back pain after loading cement bags at work called
our co-worker in Bangladesh asking for prayers. He was told to lay hands on his son and
pray and immediately he did that. Within a few minutes the pain left his son. In Sabah, our
foot soldier reports of a new believer who accepted Jesus but his wife was skeptical until
one day while driving home they hit a motorbike on the road and saw the bike and rider
somersault in the air before landing heavily on the road. As the rider lay motionless on the
road this believer started to pray and lay hands on the rider. To everyone’s amazement the
rider got up and walked away without even a scratch on him.
they are in full time ministry they depend on your support to put food on the table for their
family and to see to their other needs. We all have families of our own so we can understand how they feel.
Our foot soldiers in India and Bhutan praying and sharing the Gospel
Children Homes - In Myanmar AOM supports the House of Hope with 44 children and the New Generation Centre with 50 children. These children have been abandoned and are from broken homes or from single parents who cannot afford to keep them. These children are the fortunate ones as they have a safe environment, food and clothes and a chance to go to school. The children also have daily bible study and are nurtured in the ways of the Lord. If not for the homes these children would join the ranks of the thousands of street children aged between 4 and 13 who are begging on the streets. They eat out of rubbish dumps or steal food for their daily survival. According to reports, these street children who can’t produce IDs are recruited into the Burmese army. The house parents of the two homes are so grateful for your support and for giving these children an opportunity for a better future.
The Children Homes in Myanmar-House of Hope and New Generation Centre
Slum Ministry serving the Dalits in India and Nepal - The Dalits are a group of people who are shunned, rejected and repelled by society because they are of the lowest caste. They work mostly as menial laborers and are treated inhumanely; the women are forced into prostitution and the children into child labor. They live below the poverty line in slums that are filthy and lacking basic necessities.
AOM jointly operate 3 centres in India and 3 in Nepal with our partners there. These centres operate as a day care for the children giving then a safe place to come after school and get a free meal (for many their only meal for the day). They are given tuition, thought manners, hygiene, moral and biblical values. The centres keep them off the streets and away from danger such as drug pushers and child traffickers.
In India we have a total of 175 Children in the 3 centres and in Nepal we have 125 in the 3 centres. Sadly we cannot take in more children at this time as we do not have the budget to expand or open more centres. Every child deserves an opportunity regardless of race, color or caste and I pray in 2016 God will make a way for us to help more of His little children.
The Dalit Day Care Centres in India and Nepal
Bible schools in Myanmar, India and Sarawak - Bible students are vital for the growth and extension of God’s kingdom. Workers for the Harvest fields have come to a dangerously low level. As it is written in Luke 10:2 "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” The responsibility to churn out workers have encompassed upon you to raise funds to finance their studies.
AOM supports 6 bible students in India, 3 bible students in Sarawak and 23 students in Myanmar. Most of these students come from small villages and towns in rural areas and their families are often too poor to support them through bible school. In Myanmar, our coordinator who is the principal of the bible school shares his own home with some of the bible students to reduce their cost of living expenses. The need for workers is huge that our coordinator is prepared to lose his family’s privacy for the Kingdom’s sake. Praise God 4 of his previous students (under our foot soldiers support) are involved in church planting, 3 in the Chin state and one in the countryside of Yangon.
Leper Ministry Vietnam - Praise God this year 3 adults and 21 children have been baptized in the 5 Leper Centres. The Leper Centres are located far from the city, about 2-3 hours by motorbike (as society still ostracizes them) and yet our co-workers have been faithful visiting them, conducting bible classes and have started fellowship amongst them. In some centres the staff and director welcome them, giving them the opportunity to even share the Gospel with them discreetly. Unfortunately this is not the case in all the centres. They are harassed, even having the police called in to question them. But the foot soldiers love for these rejected people keeps them going back to give them hope that even though their families have abandoned them God has not. Recently a Leper patient was diagnosed with Prostate cancer and was passing out blood and in pain. As he is a Leper patient he was not sent to any other hospital and received only minimal treatment for his condition at the centres. After our co-workers prayed for him continually for 2 weeks he was totally healed, Praise God.
Vietnam has the highest rate of abortions in Asia and our missionaries, Dave and Pushpa, in Vietnam are reaching out to the many women in Hanoi to counsel them against having an abortion. Cards with the ministry phone number are placed in public places in the hope that women who are contemplating an abortion can seek help and counseling. Help is also given to those who intend to keep their child especially the many single girls who are desperate and rejected by their families. Women who are struggling with past abortions also call to find forgiveness and reconciliation.
Tibetan Ministry based in China - We praise the Lord for opening the door for our missionary couple, R and S (not their real names) to be involved with the Tibetan students in a local university. Their passion to share the Gospel and bring the Tibetan people to salvation has led many students to the Lord by faithfully sharing, loving and encouraging them. They also travel to the Tibetan villages along the border to share the Gospel with them and to train and encourage local Tibetan house church leaders. It has been an amazing journey for them to see how God uses them through His word to reach, touch and change lives and we praise God that though facing many challenges in the ministry and even in their own personal life, their zeal and love for the Lord’s work has not faltered.
Please do continue reading…………
Training and Equipping - Pastor and leaders in the developing countries in Asia are often untrained or have limited Bible knowledge or ministry skills to lead their local churches. Access to the internet or on-line learning programs are often limited or not available to many. There is an urgent need for relevant training for the growth of the Kingdom to equip and mobilize the Church in the developing countries. AOM recognizes this needs and our trainers have conducted training in India, Vietnam, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.
Our Trainers are not paid so we have to solicit funds for their airfare, local transportation, and accommodation. As most of the participants cannot afford to pay, funds have to be raised for the rental of a venue for training, food, accommodation and all relevant materials needed. In some cases accommodation for the participants from outstation too. We solicit your prayers and financial support so that they can continue to impact, empower, encourage and change the lives of the poor leaders and pastors in Asia to be more effective in sharing the Gospel in their churches and communities. Thousands of pastors and leaders have been blessed by the training programs. Many have testified how the training has renews their minds and given them a new understanding of God and His Word, challenging them to change their lives, making them more effective in their ministry.
Community Projects
Bangladesh - Many poor villages in Bangladesh have never had electricity and our pastor there appealed to us for solar panels that could light up a fan and 2 bulbs. The pastors and leaders lacked adequate lighting in their homes during Cell meetings, bible study and Sunday night services. All they had was the glow of a candle (kerosene is too expensive). When you choose to sow into the lives of these people it enabled us to provide 158 solar panels which could light up a fan and 2 light bulbs. A simple gift but to those who lived without electricity all their lives it was a miracle. A 93 year old lady whose son was one of the recipients of this gift knelt down and with tears streaming down her face she praised God when the bulb was lit up, thanking Him for allowing her to see this before she dies.
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| Solar Panels given to the Pastors and leaders in Bangladesh |
Nepal - The slum dwellers on one of the centers were urgently in need of clean water for drinking and cooking. They had been using the water from a nearby river which was so filthy and strewn with rubbish and even animal carcasses. These poor people were falling ill especially the little babies and children and our co-worker asked us to help. There was no question that we would not and we asked for your partnership. Now praise God 2 water tanks containing 1000 liters of water each come in every week, bringing water to be stored in tanks for the slum dwellers consumption.
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| Clean water for the slum dwellers in Nepal |
When we had managed to contact our co-worker in Nepal, his immediate response to my call was “Please help my people”. Praise God for your partnership which enabled us to distribute urgent relief supplies to the villages most badly affected, near the epic center of the earthquake. Blankets, food, water and tents were rushed to those who needed it. Our Foot Soldiers were the first people to bring relief supplies to some of the remote villages and they told them that they had given up hope of receiving any kind of help. The tangible love of God shown to these victims by our foot soldiers has altered the villagers thinking of Christians as people not be to trusted. Now the people are responsive to the Gospel and receptive to the foot soldiers.
The outpouring of your love and generosity in response to my appeal letter overwhelmed me and praise God we have already provided 21 families with new homes. Unfortunately due to the political situation (Re-election of a new PM and amendment of the constitution) l we have had to temporary stop work till we can reapply for new Government approval.
Myanmar - Many poor villages in the Chin state are overlooked by authorities for any development project because they were mainly Christian. The villagers appealed for help to get a regular supply of water brought into their village from a river 11km away. Their only water supply was from a small river that dried up in summer and water had to be constantly rationed. Praise God again you partnered with us to answer this cry for help and we were able to build a pipe to carry the water from the river 11km away into two big tanks where the water could be stored. Another community project made possible through your partnership.
Myanmar-In July, 2015 Myanmar was hit by terrible flooding which caused massive destruction and left more than 500,000 people displaced. Livestock and farms were destroyed and even whole villages flattened. The areas most affected were the Chin, Rakhine and Shan states. These were the poorest states in Myanmar, suffering not just poverty but ethnic wars and rebellion. I hesitated to send out an appeal letter as I had just sent out a letter for Nepal but I trusted the prompting of the Holy Spirit and two months after the flood we were able to build 10 homes for the flood victims. Many more are in dire need of a home and I pray that we will be able to raise funds to build at least 100 houses at a cost of USD700 per unit.
Thank you for your partnership of prayer and finances that has empowered these men and women of God to go out and share the Gospel. Their strength and perseverance despite all the persecution and challenges they face shows how passionate they are for Christ. In present times Christians everywhere are persecuted so they need your prayers more than ever. Your partnership has also been such an encouragement to me personally that drives me to keep on going that extra mile. I thank you again for being our partners in Christ and together we will be able to reach, touch and change lives in Asia through the saving power of Jesus Christ. I don’t know what plans God has for this ministry for 2016 but we will seize every opportunity He has given us for His kingdom’s glory.
Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven”.
ay the Lord bless you and your families and continue to use you to be His beacon of light giving hope to the down-trodden, lost and the suffering. As you shine your ‘light’ before men may you see the glory of God in your own lives. My prayer is that you will take advantage of the God given opportunities before you so that you will be filled with joy and fulfillment. On behalf of the AO staff and the foot soldiers I wish you and your family a very joyous and blessed Christmas.
