October Update.....

Henry's Eye Problem: My eye problem is just part of the aging process... vitreous degeneration.

So, I put up with the "floaters" that come across my vision quite regularly, and I have been

sidelined from Floor-ball till this past week. The season is almost over, but it has been great to be

with our team… even though we did not do so well in the league this year.

ACTI Trainee Visa: Once everything got sorted out, we were able to get everyone into Singapore

but one trainee. Norbu came in from Nepal 3 weeks late, but we were expecting that anyway...

However, a man from India was not accepted. This man showed a lot of grace and humility. I

talked to him on the phone a few times a week, as we looked to the Lord for an answer. There is a

chance he may be able to come next year. Pray that he, Ami, will continue to grow in the Lord.

Trip to Pontianak: From 2 to 5 September, Dave Enns and I were in Pontianak for an important

meeting of the PPIK church denomination. Over 200 delegates gathered to hear reports from the

past leadership team and to elect a new team. There were a few glitches, but all in all it was a very

encouraging time for us. Please pray for Lajim, the new leader of the 158-church denomination.

Dave and I have a very good working relationship with this man, going back many years. We look

forward to working with him and his new team.

Trip to Papua: From the 3rd to 16th October, Janet and I will be in Papua (formerly Irian Jaya),

Indonesia as part of a Field Ministry Evaluation Team for World Team (other team members

include John and Gloria Wilson, Tom and Debbie Seckler). Please pray for wisdom for our team, as

we seek to help this field in evaluating their ministries. Also, Papua is known to be a hotbed for

Malaria. We will take as many precautionary measures as we can, but we do appreciate prayer in

this regard as well.

Presently at ACTI: Please pray for stamina, and joy in ministry. Pray for protection from the evil

one. Pray that we will be effective trainers and will influence these trainees through our lives as

well as through the classroom times. Because we are short-staffed, we are both carrying a much

heavier work load than we would like to have. We are quite tired as we pass the half-way mark of

our term with the new trainees. As can be imagined, no matter how mature our trainees are (they

are all upcoming missionaries, after all), yet there are a lot of little things such as personality and

cultural differences that can cause conflict and stress. This group will graduate on Oct.23. The

last month will be a challenging time for everyone,

so please pray that each one will finish well.

Present trainees (from left to right):

Sung Eun & Young Soo & So Yoon from Korea,

Norbu from Nepal, Pauline from Malaysia,

Janice from Singapore, Chiu Yun from Taiwan.

Indonesian Maids Ministry: Janet continues to minister every Sunday (as well as a lot of prayer

and counseling by phone & text messages during the week). This ministry is facing intense spiritual

warfare, and we covet your prayers for Janet and the ladies she serves them here. Over half of

the 20 or so ladies now attending are of another religion. Some are very close to knowing Christ,

but there are a lot of barriers… cultural, religious, and family….that are keeping some of them

from making personal commitments. We are seeing God answer prayer as He takes some of them

through crises where they must rely on Him. Please pray for strength and wisdom for Janet and

for a breakthrough in the lives of these ladies.

Immediate Future: Oct 30th Janet and I will fly to Thailand to be part of the World Evangelical

Alliance Missions Commission Summit. Though ACTI is a small school, it seems we are on the

cutting edge of what the WEA would like to see happen in missionary training. We feel so

privileged to be a part of what is being done to help prepare workers for cross-cultural ministry.

This conference will help to sharpen our focus even more. Following the WEA meetings we will

take a much needed break in Thailand.

Projects and Finances:

Kalimantan Ministries Fund: We have now run out of funds for traveling back to Kalimantan

for ministry. Recently we were given the go-ahead from World Team to raise US $15,000 over

the next 3 years for Kalimantan ministry. As we work together with the indigenous church there

our financial partnership is becoming less. However, funding is still needed for travel from

Singapore, as well as for a few areas of leadership development. Each trip costs about $250 per

person. If you would like to assist in this aspect of our ministry, please designate your gift:

Kalimantan Ministries.

Batam House: We are also looking into another year of ministry with the Batam House. There are

needs for monthly salary for the 2 ladies who are in charge of the house, and also funds for

assisting Indonesian ladies readjust back into Indonesian life, especially if they have been treated

unfairly. There are 2 churches here in Singapore that are interested and excited about this

ministry.

Pray also that we will find people to teach / train these ladies in life-skills in order for them to be

able to have some type of work to fall back on when in their home villages.

Personal: Over time, our support account has slipped from “healthy” to “in need of nourishment”.

While thanking our financial partners for many years of faithful service, we ask you to pray with

us for a few more partners in the financial aspect of this ministry.

In all of the above ministry concerns we praise God for His grace, strength, and provision. Thank

you for taking the time to read this, and for your ministry to us

In His Strong Arms,

Henry & Janet

April 2008 Vancouver etc

April 9th we left Singapore for Vancouver, BC, Canada, where we attended both Joel and Andrea's Grad Shows (an opportunity for them and their classmates to display some of their work and to try to make contact with some potential clients).  We spent most of the next 2 weeks with them (on and off) as well as making contact with some, (not all, sorry!) of our friends and supporters in Abbotsford. (see pictures below)           I'll admit there is always a lot of stress when we come back to Canada / US as we feel guilty for not meeting with everyone.... but honestly, if we were able to visit 3 different people or families each day, we could probably spend half a year in BC alone just visiting.....  We praise God for the special people He has blessed us with over the years who have prayed for and financially supported us. 

April 21st we had a wonderful time of fellowship with a World Team prayer fellowship (they meet in Abbotsford and Chilliwack). What a wonderful group of people; mostly retired missionaries who have spent most of their lives in cultures not their own. We were so blessed by these wonderful people!

March 24 - April 4

March 24 to 28 saw us in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia at a Member Care conference.  Opportunity to meet with many wonderful people who are concerned about the welfare of cross-cultural missionaries.  As the conference brought out, missionaries are perhaps the most misunderstood and under-rated people in the church.  Because they are away from their home church they are often forgotten and left to try to survive on their own in a foreign environment.  Praise God for those who seek to minister to the "sent ones"!  

March 28 to 31: I left the conference early to take a bus back to Singapore on the night of the 27th.  Arriving home at 5:30 AM, I got ready to leave for Batam and Pontianak.  At 7:00 I met with 3 other men from the church and by 8 we were on the ferry to Batam.  Dave Enns met us there.  The flight to Ptk was delayed till 2, so we spent the time getting to know each other better. The whole weekend was great as we helped our brothers from Singapore get to know our brothers from Kalimantan.  Lots of cultural differences to compare. 

March 31st: Back to Batam and to Singapore.  Stopped to visit our good friends Wendy, Linda and Merry (former domestic helpers in Singapore... members of our Indonesian Fellowship) who are now living together in Batam.  Janet came over on the 30th to visit them.  

Now have just a few days to get everything in order... we leave for Canada on April 9th.  Will spend 2 weeks or so in BC, but will not be able to visit even a fraction of our friends there.  Priority will be to spend some time with our children.  Andrea's art show (her graduation from Capilano College) is on the 14th.  Joel's presentation is later in the week.

March 16 - 23

A busy week with guests and such
Sunday 16th: Jan led a seminar at a Korean church for employers of Indonesian maids. It was very well received and we had a lot of good discussion.
Tuesday 18th: Jan went in for a bone density scan
Wednesday 19th: 2 young American ladies came over from Indonesia and are using our place as home base for a while.
Thursday 20th: Jan went to see a bone specialist to review results of scan. I helped our secretary get the latest edition of Asian Mission to the bulk mailing area of the post office.
Friday 21st: a very worshipful Good Friday service, later on we went to Dr. & Mrs. Poulson's place for a meal with their daughter & son in law. Great people who serve God and have touched thousands of lives here in many ways.
Saturday 22nd: early morning phone call from Vincent, a Malaysian friend who lives in Toronto. We first met in Kuching 11 years ago. He was on his way through Singapore so we spent the morning together. Later on, back to the airport to meet a fellow missionary and her daughter. 11 year old Haley had broken both wrists a few days ago and had just come all the way from Papua to get some medical help. A very brave little girl. It was a delight to be able to help these very gracious people with some logistical details. Of course, the excellent care at Mount Elizabeth Hospital makes the whole ordeal seem so more pleasant.
Sunday 23rd: A very Blessed Easter! HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! Later on today we will pack for next week. Tomorrow morning very early we board a bus for Kuala Lumpur and head to the member care seminar.

March 10 Post

March 10 : Janet finished editing the Asian Mission magazine. ( you can find back issues at www.acti-singapore.org/press.html )
March 24 -28: Member Care Seminar in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.
March 28 - 31: A quick but important trip to Pontianak and beyond with some friends from our Singapore church. A chance to show off the world's best coffee shop (probably one of the world's dirtiest as well, but the coffee is excellent!)and introduce 2 great sets of people who live a mere 750 km from each other but have never met.
April 2 : Janet's birthday.
April 2: Core Management Team meeting for ACTI. We really need prayer. Applications are down. Support is dropping because applications are down. Is God telling us it is time to close down this program?
April 3 : Annual meeting for Singapore Centre for Evangelism and Missions
April 9 : We leave for Canada to attend Joel and Andrea's graduations from Capillano College.
April 21-May 16 : ACTI is running a one-month intensive course for Thais. Sadly, we will not be able to attend.

First Quarter 2008

WOW! Where has the time gone? Our schedule has been quite full, and now that I finally sit down and start to write a blog I realize again that I need to set aside more time to reflect.... This blog was started on 4th march... and has become a daily journal as well as a look into the future....


January 1 -10 : Pontianak, West Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia... visiting friends, taking some time off because life has been much too busy. Great chance to get caught up on what's been happening with some of our Dayak and Chinese friends. Lots of good food and fellowship.
It is encouraging to see some of our friends' families where the children have grown up to be responsible adults who love God and are good citizens.
January 11-13: Batam, Indonesia... spent 2 days at the Harris hotel... a great chance to relax and read. Spent 1 and 1/2 days with the Korean trainees from ACTI as they visited several sights / churches in Batam. Were able to spend a bit of time with Wendy, Linda and Merry, helping them purchase some things for their home. Rev. Lee was a BIG help, driving us around. This man is an angel.
January 14 - February 1 : Korean course at ACTI. This was a tough month for us. How can you be an effective resident trainer when you can't verbally communicate with 75% of your trainees? Yet, there were some redemptive aspects to this time. It seemed that toward the end some of the ice was finally broken. Trainees were all good people with good intentions. I don't think they learned all that they should have while here, mostly due to the language barrier, but everyone was stretched and went away much more informed as to the intricacies of cross-cultural life and ministry.
February 2 - 19 : a bit of a blur.... some meetings to attend, some struggles with evaluating the short course in January. some writing and reading, visiting others in ministry. on-going ministry with Indonesian Maids (though this is primarily Janet's ministry, I help out in various ways.) Had several groups of people staying over... ACTI alumni, Indonesians, some friends from Bethany College of Mission, others...
February 20 to March 1 : Penang, Malaysia. First 4 days were a much needed holiday. We had a great room on the 24th floor overlooking the bay at Paradise Sandy Beach Hotel. Good friend Timothy Kim lent us his car so we could get out and around. That was great! Following this was our WT Asia LEAD meetings. Great messages from David and Rosemary Harley, former Int'l Director of OMF. So good to hear great Bible teaching from well-educated, yet humble and down to earth servants. Lots of sharing from fellow field leaders. God is doing some good things in and around us.
March 2 - Seems there is never a lack of things to do... why am I writing this at 12:30 in the morning? more to come.....
March 5 Good friends, Darrel and Sylvia Davis leave Singapore for Canada. Sylvia has been suffering kidney disease for many years. Finally, they were forced to return to Canada and wait on the Lord for the future.
March 6 Good friends, Dr. & Mrs. Wendell Geary long time medical specialists in Kalimantan who don't believe in retirement, stay overnight on their way back to the States. Another guest from Bethany College of Missions arrives late on her way from Cambodia to Batam.
March 7 : International night at SBC. Had to miss this wonderful event, just too busy and too tired.
March 8 : Our good friends Jason and Ruth Ann get married. A delightful, talented couple. An honour to be at this wedding.
March 9: Farewell for Emik, one of the leaders of our Indonesian Fellowship here., Evening spent with a very gracious Korean couple who have a passion for serving the Lord!