by Robert Meyer

BIMI Missionaries Tom and Jerilyn Kane, who minister in India and Myanmar, have written the following in their recent prayer letter.

Pastor Jacob and others have been able to communicate with us via e-mail and to our relief there have been no reports of deaths from any of our churches. Some members’ homes have been damaged and they have many needs, but praise the Lord, there were no deaths.

When the cyclone first hit Myanmar, I wanted to go immediately to help in any way I could. Over the first few days and especially once I was able to reestablish contact with the national pastors in Myanmar, we decided the best thing would be to assist the infrastructure we already have in country.



Before the Cyclone



After the Cyclone

We have sent Pastor Jacob some money from our missionary account and from our personal money. Our sending church, Landmark Baptist, has taken up an offering and will be providing some to us and to two other missionaries from our church as well. We have also sent money to a pastor in Mandalay, an area that was not affected by the cyclone, and he will be taking rescue supplies to the hardest hit areas.

We are taking a two-phase approach:

Phase I - Rescue
The immediate needs are for rescue supplies - food, water and shelter.

Phase II - Recovery
Our priority will be to those most affected, with little chance for help outside the church.

E-mail from Pastor Jacob:

Dear Tom & Jerilyn,

Greetings from Yangon, Myanmar.  This is after 14 days of the devastation of the Yangon city and the delta areas.  There are 12 million people suffering by this deadly storm Nargis. We have been visiting around and see the dire needs of the Christian brethren and non Christians as well.  Our initial step is to help the immediate needs of food, clothing, medicine, water, Bibles and Gospel tracts as well as books that will comfort them.  We are trying our best with whatever amount we have with us which is just nothing comparing to the great needs.  But we are so happy to serve in whatever way we can.

E-mail from Pastor Pa Lian:

Dear Dr. Tom & Jerilyn,

Thank you very much for your concern.  No matter what the situation is, I will continue my work to let people know their salvation. I’m reminded of a sermon you gave when you were here: the more you work hard the more challenges you face.  So, let’s continue our prayer for each other.  God Bless, Pastor Pa Lian

E-mail from Pastor Hau Yang:

He and his family are safe.  Their home was completely destroyed and he is undecided about rebuilding the home in the same area.  Pray that God will guide him as he decides what to do.

When I was first able to correspond with Pastor Jacob, one of the first questions I asked him was what the greatest need was.  I expected the answer to be food, water or shelter.  He responded: "The greatest need is for souls to be saved out of all of this."  It brought back vivid memories of standing on the beaches with hundreds of Tsunami survivors and realizing that the Tsunami was not a punishment from God but a strong reminder that He is in control and that He still saves people.

Please pray for many souls to be saved as a result of ours and others rescue and recovery operations.

Tom and Jerilyn Kane

Any donations can be sent to Southeast Asia Fund #388
Cyclone Rescue
BIMI
P.O. Box 9215
Chattanooga, TN 37412

Thank you for your prayers and help.
Robert Meyer

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by Alan Brooks

Romans 8:28 is always an easy verse to throw out when someone is going through hard times. Intellectually, we know that God is in control and is working to make things in accordance to His will, but practically we sometimes struggle with what we perceive as God working. On December 26, 2004, one of the largest earthquakes followed by the devastating tsunami tore through Southeast Asia. Thousands perished and millions of lives were changed in just a few short moments.

Immediately, God’s people opened up their hearts and pocketbooks to help. Because of this outpouring, our missionaries were able to do many things to help the people of Indonesia. Wells, water filters, and physical help were given. True Biblical Christianity is a religion of compassion and love, which is a stark contrast to all other religions in this world. This opened the door to share the Gospel with many who had been hardened against Jesus Christ, the Bible, and the Gospel of our Lord. One of the early converts after the tsunami was a public school teacher on the Island of Nias. God really worked in his heart and gave him a burden to reach his people. Since he worked in the school system, his burden was to help teach the students the Truth. This dear convert (at this time I personally do not even know his name) has worked to allow us to give Bibles to all junior high students and to preach the Gospel in assemblies all over the island.

In the past Southeast Asia Soundings, I shared with you how God had supplied for the Bibles going to Indonesia. As we prepared to travel over to hand them out and speak in the public schools, God has done far more than we ever expected. When we began making our plans, we needed 20,000 Bibles for the young people. What we did not know was that they had divided the school system into two districts and that 20,000 would only cover one district (Nias). They have opened up another district (South Nias), which has approximately 10,000 more students. We have the money for the first 5,000 Bibles ($15,000) for the South Nias district, but we need to raise the other $15,000. I know that many of you have already helped, for which I am thankful, but will you please pray that God will bring in the needed funds?

I often wondered why the Indonesian government was allowing us to give Bibles to public school students, but now I am beginning to understand. I not only understand intellectually that God is in control but can also see practically how He is working all things, even a terrible tragedy, for His good and His glory.

We have taken a step of faith and ordered the printing of the last 5,000 Bibles. We do not have the funds as of yet, but God has opened a great door that we must go through. If you can help, we thank you. If you can influence others to become involved, it would be greatly appreciated. I would love to come by and present the need with any church that is interested. You may contact me at alanb@bimi.org or 423 344-5050.

Please also pray for the coming trip to Indonesia. Five of us will be leaving on July 16 for three weeks to start handing out the Bibles and to present the Gospel in school assemblies. Join us in praying that many will trust the Lord as their Saviour. Lord willing, I will share with you what God allowed us to experience.

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by Jim Civale

An exciting thing happened in March. Before sharing the news, here is a little Samoan vocabulary…

Pale = a special head dress worn only for formal ceremonies and celebrations

Kiki = a special belt adorned and draped with yards and yards of satin material

Ula fala = a special red necklace that may only be worn by a high chief

Ula tupe = a necklace decorated with dollar bills

Fale tele = an open house used for family meetings and meetings of village chiefs

Matai = a general term for any Samoan chief

Saofa’i = a ceremony in which a matai title is bestowed

Ava = a special ceremonial drink used in official welcoming ceremonies and saofa’i

Ali’i = a high chief or paramount chief (as opposed to a tulafale or talking chief)

Sa’o = the head of an extended family and its communal lands

Now to the news… On March 20th Jim received the honor of being named the next Maui, an ali’i9 title that Emi’s father held for many years. Maui is a paramount chief title in the village of Asau where Emi was born and raised. The Maui serves as the sa’o10 of Emi’s extended family. Rejoice with us and pray in thanksgiving for this mighty move of God. The bestowal of a title of this stature upon a foreigner is unprecedented and opens many doors to ministry that had always been closed before. You see, in the independent country of Samoa, citizens do not enjoy the religious liberty that the U.S. territory of American Samoa enjoys. Many villages like Asau are closed to new churches, hindering the planting of churches of "like precious faith" to yours and mine. There is only one group that can change such village laws—you guessed it, the council of ali’i’s.

Oh, how we wish you could all have been with us for the ceremonies! They began at 6:00 a.m. with Jim bedecked in a pale1, kiki2, ula fala3 and ula tupe4. After dressing for the occasion, Jim was escorted to a fale tele5 where all of the village matai’s6 were waiting for his arrival to start the saofa’i7. The saofa’i began with a prayer service and dedication and continued with a formal ava8 ceremony to welcome Jim as an ali’i of the village.

We cannot describe how humbling it is to receive a title such as this. As we think of the ministry opportunities the title affords, we praise God for His wonderful working in our lives.

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by James Tamang

Recently, we (Holly, Caleb, and I) had an opportunity to do what we have wanted to do which is to go outside of Kathmandu, the capital city, and not get threats by political opposition to share the Gospel. God opened a door for us to visit Surya and Nirmala, our church members, while they were visiting their family in a village that was about an eight hours bus ride away. Our plan was to hand out tracts to the people in that village. And of course, we wanted to experience a village life style also.

The evening we got to the village we had a fellowship with this couple and two other ladies. The next morning we went to a home where the husband and the wife have been searching and wanting to understand this "new concept" of Christianity. Surya and I had an opportunity to explain the plan of salvation but they did not believe. We did make an appointment to meet his wife, Purnima, the next morning at 9:00. The tracts we brought we continued to hand to the people and asked them to read. This same afternoon we went to a city nearby where the community market (Bazaar) was being held. We rode on a rickshaw to that town and started to hand out tracts. During this time Surya was busy going across the road back and forth and back and forth, to hand out tracts. People were asking for tracts right and left. If someone did not get one, they would run to us and ask for it, "Can I have one?" We passed out all the tracts that we had brought within an hour. We only regret we did not take more tracts to the bazaar. The four of us, plus a few non-believers, passed out about 900 tracts in those 3 days.

That same evening we had a service in a non-believers home. Can you believe that? I was able to share through the Romans Road to more than thirty people around the camp fire. The seeds were planted. I was pleased by the many ears that were listening so intensely.

The next morning we went to visit Purnima. As we were there, she was waiting for us. This time Surya and Nirmala and my family went also. As I was explaining to her how Christ died for us and how she can accept by believing in Him, she kept on asking, "What do I need to do?" Here I was trying to make sure that she understood that we are sinners, the wages of sin is death, and there is a way to get out of this death by accepting the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Again she was saying, "Now, what do I need to do?" It dawned on me, oh! She is ready! Someone had already planted the seeds and God had given us to reap the harvest. I could not think of a scripture better than Luke 10:2: "…pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest." That morning Purnima came into God’s family. As far as we know, she is the only believer in her village and Surya and Nirmala are the only believers in their village. When God permits, we would like to establish a church for these two villages. We were also able to share the Gospel to Nirmala’s family that evening. Nirmala has already shared the Gospel to the family and I am glad that she is doing her part. We are to be faithful in God’s field of harvest. We need to keep ourselves busy.

Kathmandu has some places better than some parts in the States. There is no doubt we are living in better condition than some Nepalese in Kathmandu valley. There is a comfort and protection in Kathmandu. But we had to realize that comfort is not the factor to share the Gospel but obedience to our Master who has commanded us to go. There was discomfort leaving, discomfort in traveling, discomfort in sleeping in a hut-like house but we are glad looking past all these we were able to see a soul get saved whom we would not have if we had not left our comfortable place.

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by Jerry Sellers

Our last day in Nepal we visited the office of a businessman. His office was well appointed with lush carpet, large desk, two computers, a huge aquarium with all kinds of fish. Across the desk sat the Managing Director of Grace Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd. Prakash Karki. But we don’t see a Managing Director, we see a small boy asking a missionary just after the crash of TG311 in July of 1992 "What’s going to happen to us?" As a ten-year-old boy, Joe Collins represented the only security Prakash had ever known in this world. A beggar sleeping underneath newspapers to stay warm most of his life, he was afraid he would be forced to search garbage dumps for food as he had before Joe took him into the Home. This same Prakash Kaki as a teenager wrote beautiful poems about his love for Joe and Tanna Collins and his thankfulness that they had come into his life. Now he is a successful entrepreneur whose business symbol is a cross inside a circle. God does still hear and answer prayers, even those of the least of us.

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Wednesday, February 8, 2012

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Scot C & Katie Daku -  AMERICAN SAMOA
Paul J & Wendy Daku Jr -  FIJI ISLANDS
James & Dawn Daley -  INDONESIA