Q.U.O.T.A.: July 2012

From: Henry and Janet Armstrong, based in Singapore; working with World Team in Singapore and Indonesia. Involved in ministry to Indonesian Domestic Workers and their employers, Indonesian Churches in Kalimantan, and member care / training for cross-cultural workers in S. E. Asia.

* We praise God for the granting my employment pass a month ago. However, government regulations require that my salary be increased a fair bit to qualify for the pass. In some ways that is very welcome ( I finally get a raise! ) but it also means that we need to raise more financial support. We are getting closer, but a large part of the moneys given in Singapore are now tied up in World Team Singapore's corporate bank account (The bank issues a penalty every time the amount goes below a certain level) **

* To date we still do not have a rental place to live in. One of the challenges of living by faith…. we expected God to prepare the right place at a bargain rate, but there again… we need to raise more financial support to meet a market rate that has gone up a lot since we were here last year, as so far there has been no indication of a special place God has prepared for us. **

* On July 6 Janet returned to Canada for several reasons:

- to help Joey with wedding plans and preparation

- to help Andrea as she begins to set up a faith venture of helping to provide housing (in a house she is renting in Vancouver) for immigrant refugees

* On July 9 I fly to Pontianak to be involved in an important convention of our church denomination there. A new leadership team will be elected for the next 4 years… please pray with us for the selection of godly men whose interest is in the advancement of the church and the glory of God’s name. I will be preaching (in Bahasa Indonesia) to approximately 300 delegates from about 160 on the 11^th, 12^th and 13^th (twice on the 13^th)

I feel God is leading me to speak very basically about His Glory, His Grace, and the Unity of His People. The key verse given to me to expand and expound on is I Corinthians 1:10 “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.” This text is very appropriate in light of the situation the churches are facing at this time.

During the rest of the time over those 2 days I will be meeting with a whole lot of people. Please pray with me as I seek the Lord’s guidance as to who will be strategic people to follow up. I believe God wants me to connect with individuals and groups who sincerely desire to grow and make a difference in their churches. Yet, in developing countries like this, those people are not always the ones who seem to rise to the top. Some of the more faithful are ones who do not have the higher academic degrees and are not polished orators.

Following the conference, I hope to be able to visit several key people (chosen from my talks with them at the convention). I will be borrowing a motorcycle and traveling several hundred km over the next week on roads that can be a bit hazardous. Please pray for widsom and grace to encourage these men and their families. It is a privilege I do not take lightly , that I have this opportunity to speak into the lives of certain individuals. May God use my presence there - under the guidance of His Presence – to be a channel of grace and blessing to all whom I meet, but especially for those whom He has chosen to be His leaders of this denomination.

* July 23 I will travel up to Kuching, Malaysia to visit several good friends who have helped us out many times since we first met them back in the late 1990’s.

* July 25 I return to Singapore. I will continue to contact people concerning possible housing situations andf financial support, and then leave for Canada on August 5^th.

** How you can be involved in our ministries.

· Pray. We recognize today, while facing numerous challenges, that God has not changed. His grace and provision bestowed on us over the last 31 years of ministry in S. E. Asia are still freely bestowed on us.

· If you feel you would like to be involved financially in our ministry, please contact us. While a few friends in Singapore have now commited to partnering with us, we are still lacking a fair bit of financial support. (Extra financial gifts do not mean more salary, but rather are channelled into ministry costs such as rent.)

A big thank you to all who have been partnering with us over the years through prayer, finances and other types of encouragement. May we all continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.