Tag: missions
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Lives of many deaths
by Jon “To those who are dying, we are the smell of death. To those who are being saved, we are the perfume of life” 2 Corinthians 2:16 (NIRV) “I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!” The lady cried hysterically as the coffin lid was closed and the body was slid into the temple furnace accompanied by the chorus of chants by the presiding Buddhist monks. We were at…
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Living waters or broken cisterns?
by Phoebe “for my people have committed two evils:they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters,and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” Jeremiah 2:13 Recently, Jon has been helping our church members install some portable water filters for their homes. They were very happy to receive the water filters because this means…
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Heart Language
by Jon “He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:7-8 At this point, we are finishing our full-time Thai language studies after almost ten…
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Being Jesus
By Jon “For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing” 2 Corinthians 2:15 We pulled up to the home of Aunty Saad little before 5pm. This was part of our usual routine to encourage her in her spiritual growth as a new…
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“Not Bithynia”
by Jon “And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.” Acts 16:7 It has been more than six months since we arrived in Lopburi. While we have been progressing with our language learning, these couple of months have been a period…
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Ask for the ancient paths
by Phoebe “Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.’” Jeremiah 6:16 After living in Thailand for about three months, there have been several times where Thais have tried to give us…
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End of the Journey?
by Jon “Now the LORD had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, From your family, and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you…’” Genesis 12:1 As we are writing this, we have been in Lopburi for about two weeks and we thank God for His protection and strength. It…
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Last gift for Popo
by Jon “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26 Phoebe’s grandmother, affectionately known as Popo, passed away today. We received news on the afternoon of Chinese New Year eve that Popo collapsed…
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Putting the old behind for the new
by Phoebe Every Chinese New Year, there is the concept of “除旧迎新” or springcleaning where one puts away the old things so that there is room to welcome the new things. In Christianity, there is a similar belief where Apostle Paul calls believers to forget what is behind and press toward what is ahead (Philippians…
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Are we home for Christmas?
At the end of each day during our six-week vision trip in Thailand, we always look forward to going ‘home’ to retreat and rest after a day of visiting different places and meeting missionaries and friends. But the fact was, we were travelling across eight provinces and staying in eleven different accommodations. The reality of…
Jon and Phoebe's thetomyumkongs journey. 