From the heart of Eric Fung...

Dear Partner in Missions,                                                          

Warmest Christian Greetings!            

 

As I look back at the past year (2013) I am truly amazed at  the faithfulness of God and how God was able to supply all our needs for our 2013 budget. During the first half of 2013 it cost me some grave concern and to a great degree worrying on how we were going to raise the funds needed to help the Foot Soldiers put food on the table for their families and to sustain the various ministries the Lord directed us to start.

Praise the Lord for hearing our prayers and thank you for your unwavering support in terms of prayers and financial partnership; we were able to support them for yet another year. This means so much to me as these Foot Soldiers are very special people to me. I may not meet them often but I know how they are doing and what they doing through their respective leaders. I know when they need urgent prayers, I know the challenges and hardships they face in their respective countries and sometimes even the dangers such as persecution and life threatening situation to themselves and their families, all for the sake of the Gospel. 

Who are these great and dedicated men and women of God? I call them great because their passion and love for the Lord which is their driving force. They do not worry about themselves and they do not focus on what they themselves or their families are going through but keep their  focus on the one who has saved them and given them ‘New life’. When I think of them I am constantly reminded of 2 Cor:5 15,  “And He (Jesus) died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.”

The Foot Soldiers are from Third World countries like Bhutan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Vietnam, where Christianity is not welcomed  and preaching the Gospel is often dangerous and difficult which could land you in a lot of trouble. They are mostly simple hand working people from various backgrounds who  themselves were touched and saved by the saving grace of God and their desire is to see the families, villages, towns and nations saved also.

Pastor Moses one of our Foot Soldiers who leads the Violet Apple Star Ministry in Ho Chih Minh has a street ministry, ministering to the poor, street children, beggars, prostitutes, sick and drug addicts. With his team of 40 volunteers and part timers he searches the city looking for those who need help and there are so many. They go into the overcrowded hospitals seeking out the lost, giving them the hope and love of God. Prostitutes and drug addicts see the tangible love of God through the Foot Soldiers and see Hope that their lives can change too by accepting Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. The Leper colony welcome the team as many including their own families are afraid to visit them. The stigma of Leprosy is still apparent and the Leper patients are shunned by

their families and the community. Ps Moses and his team reach out to make a difference in their lives by loving them and sharing the Gospel.

In the town of Siliguri in India, Lotha Nzanbembo and his team of Foot Soldiers work in the mission fields of Bhutan and India. Bhutan, a country extremely hostile to Christianity, is a challenging and difficult place to evangelize.  The Foot Soldiers have been attacked and one was even severely beaten up and left to die. Christians not only face pressure from the authorities but also from the community. There are spies everywhere trailing Christians and their activities, waiting to report them and the people fear to violate the laws resulting in reluctance and afraid to talk. Our Foot Soldiers often have had to change the time of fellowship or camouflage water baptism as having a picnic by the river. But these simple men of God never give up; the fire in their hearts for the Lord burns passionately

Lotha himself has a four year old son Jaazaniah who suffers from epilepsy and has fits four to five times a day. Does he sit back and ask why me Lord? Am I not serving you faithfully? His faith is such that he never even thought to question the Lord. His response is…” Our Lord has already healed us in our inner being though we go through physical and emotional struggles; our God is always good to us even though we do not deserve it. Sickness and suffering are part of our lives on earth and we have to accept It.” says Lotha. What immense faith….

Please join us to pray for the Foot Soldiers. Your prayers encourage them and your financial support helps them to do what God desires of them and feed their families as for most of them, being a Foot Soldier is a full time job. Like you and me they have concerns for their children and how to provide for their families. But their trust is always on the Lord and that does not waver, no matter what their circumstances.

Hebrews 6:10

God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. (NIV)

May the Lord continue to bless you and your family as you continue to sow into His Kingdom

Your partner in missions

 Eric Fung

The Dong unreached peoples group

By AO Hong Kong - Rev James Chak  

A Dong celebration

The Dongs are one of the 55 Chinese ethnic minorities that live around the borderlands between Guizhou, Guangxi and Hunan provinces. Most Dongs live in villages surrounded by rough mountainous terrain where there are no major cities or roads. Only narrow, unpaved mountainous paths which are often subject to flooding and landslides. They live in villages of 20-30 households located near streams and the Dong people are agricultural people. The women are adept at spinning and embroidering.

The Dong people are very superstitious and believe that all things have spirits and Gods. Ancestral altars are also found in the main room of their homes. Consequently they live fearful lives, full of terror and superstitions and they are constantly making offerings to appease the spirits of the village. For the Dong, the greater the problem means they have seriously offended a God that needs to be appeased with even more offerings and sacrifices.

One of the lavish features of the Dong village is the drum tower. The tower, a representation of worship to the God of the sky, is a place for the villages to relax, hold their religious ceremonies to appease their Gods, greet guest and also to do some recreation activities. The Drum Tower, built of wood and built without nails, is the largest multi-storey pagoda like building in the village.

Equally spectacular is the folk architecture that goes into the construction of a roof bridge dubbed as the ‘Wind and Rain’ bridge, honouring the God of Wind and Rain. The bridges are beautifully carved with patterns and designs which include mountains, rivers birds, animals and flowers.

Among the Dong there is only a handful of Christians, less than 1% of their 3 million populations.

Dong Tribe, the 10th largest Ethnic Minorities in China and the 37th most Unreached Peoples of the World with 0.01% Christian

Northern Dong dialect: 1,468,000

Mostly live around the border of Guizhou and Hunan Provinces, China

Christian population: approximately 1,680

Southern Dong dialect: 2,396,000

Spread around the borders of Guizhou, Guangxi and Hunan Provinces, China

Christian population: approximately 1,600

(Statistics taken from Joshua Project)

 Sometimes in a whole village there may be only one person who is a Christian and most of the time he lives in fear of his neighbours and will not admit he is a Christian. The work among the Dong is slow as there are many challenges, one in particular is with cults also penetrating the area, drawing away some of the believers. There is also a lot of opposition from neighbours and family.

My team visited a Dong village deep in the forest on a remote mountain. There they met Ah-Wo, one of the very few Christians among them. He became a Christian through the Christian witness of two English teachers while he was in junior high. Being the only University graduate in the village, he holds an esteemed status and is highly respected. Later, he majored in English Education in the university and after he graduated, he started a children English training centre in the county. Nevertheless, up till now, his conversion to Christianity is still a secret. He is afraid to let others know about his faith in Jesus Christ. Since the  missionary teachers have now left Ah-Wo has no one to disciple him. He feels very lost and alone.

While walking around the Dong village market, my team members noticed that there were a lot of Fir seedlings. Being curious she asked Brother Ah-Wo “Why are there so many fir seedlings for sale? He proudly told her “They are to be bought home to grow on the mountains.  According to the Dong traditions, whenever a child was born, the family would plant trees, so that when the child is grown and starts his family, he could make lumbers from these trees and build his new home.”

We were amazed at this fir tree heritage of the Dong People. To ensure the material wellbeing of their children, they start preparing lumbers for their future homes.  There is a Chinese saying, ‘it takes ten years for a tree to grow but 100 years to bring up a generation of ability.’ There is much truth to this old Chinese wisdom. Planting trees are comparatively easy, but rearing the next generation is another ball game, especially when it comes to a Christian generation.

A Fir Tree seedlings

Asian Outreach Hong Kong works with Guangxi Dong ministry and funded the first Dong church in China, in Bajiang.  Besides Bajiang AOHK also works with the Dong ministry in Sanjiang, Guizhou-Laiping County and Cheng Yang

It is a challenge working with the Dongs and although the ‘harvest’ can be plentiful the ‘labourers’ are few. Weather conditions, living conditions, language barriers and the rough terrain make ministering to the Dongs a hard task for many. 

God has trusted us with such a tremendous task of making Him known before His return. We are all called to preach the Gospel. Mark 16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” That is your call and my call too. The Asian Outreach Hong Kong team has received this mandate from the Lord to empower the Chinese churches to adopt this Least Reached Peoples of Asia. Will you join us and engage with your prayer, giving and going?

A typical Dong house in the mountains.