July―August
Myanmar
Currently there are 79 churches in Myanmar with over 5000 saints. The serving brothers labor to shepherd the churches by visiting them personally as well as by Zoom meetings.
On June 18, 103 trainees graduated from the Full-time Training in Yangon. A new term began on June 22 with 69 trainees. Four times a week four trainers from the Full-time training in Hamilton, New Zealand, gave online classes; eight local trainers take care of the rest of the training courses.
We plan to finish translating four ministry books into Burmese by the end of 2020: Ministry Digest Vol. 1, No. 1, Life-study of Genesis, Vol. 3, The Proper Sisters (from Chinese to Burmese), The Speciality, Generality, and Practicality of the Church Life. We hope these publications will render rich supply to the saints and meet the different needs in the church life. In addition, the electronic version of the Holy Bible Recovery Version in Burmese can now be obtained from Google Play Store for the saints to enjoy the Lord’s word at every time and in every place.
Regarding the annual seven feasts, the saints get into either the hard copy or the audio version of the Holy Word for Morning Revival. Currently the saints are pursuing the HWMR of “A Timely Word Concerning the World Situation and the Lord’s Recovery” to receive the Lord’s timely speaking and supply.
Bangladesh
The Church in Dhaka
Due to the pandemic, many brothers and sisters returned to their hometowns. Even though the internet signal in those areas is poor, the brothers and sisters steadfastly endeavored to pray with the saints by phone. For those with better telecommunication signals, we get into the HWMR with them every morning for the Lord’s up-to-date speaking. Through such a practice, the brothers and sisters became more open to us and to the Lord’s Word. When we bring them to the small group meetings, they are also open in sharing their enjoyment of the Lord’s Word. Whenever they hear of brothers or sisters being sick, they take the initiative to pray for them and cherish them. Instead of praying for themselves, the saints gradually began to pray for others and for the Body of Christ.
The Church in Chittagong
It has been three months since the brothers started praying at 7 pm everyday. Such steadfast prayer has brought in much building up in reality among us. The majority of the young working brothers have established the habit of praying at set time regularly. Since the number of saints participating in the prayer watch continues to increase, beginning in this month we divided the prayer group into three groups: two groups of brothers and one group of sisters. Through our enjoyment of the Memorial Day Conference messages, our spirits were uplifted to take God as our faith and to persevere in prayer. Our prayers have also been uplifted and are no longer centered on our own needs, but on the Lord’s interests and for the turning of the age.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many brothers and sisters experienced the Lord’s particular care. A specific case is that of a young couple who both work in a bank. The husband had previously joined the short-term training in India, but the sister had always been lukewarm toward the Lord. They are both first-generation believers, and none of their relatives are saved yet. We have been praying for this couple that pressure from their unbelieving family members would be alleviated so that both of them could serve the Lord. Toward the end of May, several of the sister’s family members had fever successively. Eventually, her mother was diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia and she had no choice but to return to her hometown. Despised, shunned, intimidated and threatened by people afraid of the disease, they felt helpless and hopeless with no one to help. In this most difficult time, the sister remembered that she belonged to the Lord and prayed together with her husband. The Lord was faithful in looking after them. On the very next day, they received timely help when someone brought them a large amount of supplies for their daily needs. Upon her return to Chittagong, the sister told us in tears that the Lord was indeed the living and true God. She could not stop calling on the Lord’s name. She also asked us to pray for her family to be delivered from such trial. After that, her mother-in-law, who used to worship idols in their house, suddenly stopped coming to their house. May the Lord release this household; may precious faith be produced within them after such suffering that they may firmly join themselves to Christ and renew their consecration to the Lord.
Other saints also experience the Lord amidst the spread of pneumonia. Please pray for Bangladesh as the number of infected cases continues to rise and many of the saints working in public places lack the necessary protection products.
The following are our prayer requests:
1. Pray for the couple whose family members are sick.
2. Pray for the safety and health of the working brothers and sisters; pray that their spirit, soul, and body would all be preserved.
3. Pray for the saints to have a stronger connection with the Lord and for our online shepherding and fellowship to be strengthened.
4. Pray for the Lord to meet the saints’ daily needs.
Turkey
Earlier this year an Ethiopian brother in London got to know three Christian sisters working in Istanbul via internet and introduced them to us. These three sisters met and served in a denomination for a period of time. At one point one of them felt their service was superficial, empty, and contradicting to her inward feeling, so she stopped going to the meetings. Later on these sisters obtained a copy of “The Normal Christian Life” by Brother Nee and were touched by it. When the government canceled the weekend lockdown at the beginning of June, we had a time of fellowship with them in person. Since then we have continued to fellowship with them on a regular basis. Please pray for their continual enjoyment of the ministry and for them to remain open for fellowship. May the Lord open their eyes and touch them with the word of the ministry that they would know the Lord’s heart’s desire in a deeper way and be preserved on the right way.
A Testimony of Migration for the Lord’s Move
In response to the call for the Lord’s Move to Asia, my wife and I came to Sri Lanka. We stayed in one place for two years from August of 2015 to July of 2017 and coordinated with the local saints in the church life. We had home meetings every day with different people. There were 20 homes under our regular shepherding. We began to visit another city and coordinated with the saints there in our second year in Sri Lanka. After two times of ten-day propagations, over 12 homes were open to us, and we visited these homes every other week. A year later the saints began breaking bread in that city. Eventually we moved there in September of 2017 to continue our shepherding of these homes.
In the past five years, we learned many lessons on how to approach people of different religious backgrounds, how to shepherd people according to their needs, and how to respond to different questions by providing biblical references and leading people to the truth concerning Christ and the church.
During our time here, we experienced being infected with diseases and suffering unexpected injuries, but the Lord faithfully kept and delivered us from every danger and adversity. May the Lord continue to preserve us that we would have the same mind as the apostle Paul: “But I consider my life of no account… in order that I may finish my course and the ministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus to solemnly testify of the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). May we remain faithful to follow the Lord’s move in the fellowship of the Body. (Brother D)
Prayer Requests
Pray for the 12 Asian countries with no testimony of the Lord’s recovery: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, East Timor, Iraq, Maldives, North Korea, Palestine, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Yemen. May the Lord open the way for more saints to migrate to these countries for the propagation of the Lord’s testimony.
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