ASAP News

Help Spread the Stories God is Writing

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 19:50:06 GMT

Help Spread the Stories God is Writing

by Darryl Hosford, ASAP President

Every week, God is moving in powerful ways across Southeast Asia. Children are discovering Jesus, entire families are finding hope through local missionaries, and communities are receiving help in moments of crisis. These are stories worth celebrating and sharing. Many of your friends, who care deeply about mission work, simply don’t know what’s happening in the field.

Will you help us share the news of how God is working in one of the darkest parts of the 10/40 Window? Why? Because when you share ASAP Ministries’ social media channels, you’re helping raise awareness, inspire prayer, and invite new hearts into God’s mission. Your share might be the reason someone decides to pray for a missionary, or it might spark a desire to support a child’s education.

You’ve probably seen the familiar “Like and Share” online, but this time, I’m inviting you to share something even more meaningful in person. We've produced “See What God Is Doing” business cards (pictured) to pass along to friends, so they can be encouraged and inspired by powerful mission stories from Southeast Asia. If you are excited to share what God is doing, you can request some of these cards by emailing office@asapministries.org .

Could I ask you to consider even more? Would you consider arranging for an ASAP mission video to be shared in your local church for a mission feature? Would you ask your pastor if your church could host a Church Revitalization Weekend, where an ASAP Ambassador could share about the importance of combined local and foreign missions? Connect with me at president@asapministries.org for more information.

Let’s spread these stories together!

For His Glory,

Darryl Hosford

President, ASAP Ministries

A Shaman Came for Medicine—but Found a Miracle

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 18:47:25 GMT

A Shaman Came for Medicine—but Found a Miracle

by John Press, ASAP Media Coordinator

For years, Mr. Chue (a pseudonym) had been the shaman of his village in northern Thailand—someone others turned to for help and healing. But when sickness came to his own body, no ritual or doctor could bring relief.

By age 70, Mr. Chue could hardly walk. He struggled to breathe at night, weakened by heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. After two weeks in the hospital, doctors gently told him there was no cure. “Go home,” they said. “There’s nothing more we can do.”

But God had another plan.

When Mr. Chue’s children heard about Sunarat (pictured above), an ASAP medical missionary serving at a church in the mountains outside of Chiang Mai, they urged their parents to go see her.

One cool morning, Mr. Chue and his wife made the long journey to the Pha Nok Kok Church. There, Sunarat welcomed them not only with care and treatment—but with prayer, kindness, and the love of Christ. She guided them through a simple, natural health program based on the NEWSTART principles—Nutrition, Exercise, Water, Sunlight, Temperance, Air, Rest, and Trust in God. M eals were plant-based, walks were gentle, and each day included prayer and Bible readings.

Slowly, change began to happen. After one month, Mr. Chue and his wife noticed significant improvements in their health. So did their doctor.

“Your heart is better,” he said when they followed up with him after returning home. “Your blood pressure is improved. Everything looks good! What did you do?”

Mr. Chue simply smiled. He knew what had changed. He had met the true Healer.

What began as a search for physical healing has become a journey of spiritual transformation. Mr. Chue's wife, inspired by the change in both her health and her husband’s, has expressed a desire to follow Jesus. And now their children are interested, as well. Please pray for Mr. Chue and his family—that they will continue to grow in faith and fully surrender their hearts to Christ.

Join the Mission

Stories like Mr. Chue’s remind us that God is still at work in the most unlikely places. Through faithful local missionaries like Sunarat, lives are being transformed both physically and spiritually. Her small church clinic in the mountains is more than a place of healing—it’s a place of hope. Each patient who walks through its doors experiences the love of Christ and the truth of His power to restore.

When you support ASAP local missionaries or sponsor one like Sunarat, you become part of stories like this—real lives changed by the love of Jesus. With God's blessing, t ogether we can bring physical healing and the hope of the gospel to those who need it most.

A Church Planter in Every Unreached People Group in Southeast Asia

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 21:18:30 GMT

A Church Planter in Every Unreached People Group in Southeast Asia

by Darryl Hosford, ASAP President

In much of Southeast Asia, millions of Buddhists live and die without ever hearing the name of Jesus. Entire communities are still without access to a Bible, a Christian friend, or a local church. These are the unreached people groups, villages, and cities where Jesus’ first coming has never been shared, much less the news of His second coming.

ASAP Ministries believes that this must change. Our vision is b old: We aim to support church planters among the estimated 311 currently unreached people groups across Southeast Asia. If we send out workers two-by-two, that means we need at least 622 new workers to be trained and sponsored - through your prayers and support.

ASAP church planters live among the people, speak their language, and share the gospel as they walk through life’s struggles with them. Through caring relationships and ASAP’s wholistic ministry, they open doors for the gospel in places once considered unreachable.

Your partnership makes this vision possible. Every prayer and every gift helps equip our church planters, medical missionaries, and mission school teachers to take the gospel into new territories.

Together, we can send men and women who will plant seeds of faith where none have been sown before.

We won’t stop until every unreached people group in Southeast Asia has a gospel missionary, until every person has the opportunity to meet Jesus.

Will you join us in praying for and reaching the unreached?

A New Chapter for Reach the World Next Door and the Griswolds

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 13:52:22 GMT

A New Chapter for Reach the World Next Door and the Griswolds

Since the launch of Reach the World Next Door in 2013, God has worked powerfully through project leaders Pastor Scott and Julie Griswold. Together they have trained thousands of individuals, churches, and small groups across North America to minister cross-culturally, bringing the hope of the gospel to refugees, immigrants, and international visitors in meaningful, practical ways.

From online training courses to on-the-ground outreach in Houston, Texas, and from workshops to the My Language My Life website, which now offers gospel resources in more than 180 languages, the Griswolds have helped shape a growing movement of people seeking out and ministering to the least-reached right in their own communities.

Now, a new chapter begins.

On September 30, 2025, Pastor Scott and Julie concluded their employment with ASAP Ministries, as they launch a new, independent ministry called Home for All Nations, focused on humanitarian and church-planting work among the least-reached in the Houston, Texas area. While this marks a transition in leadership, it is not a departure from our shared mission.

We at ASAP Ministries are incredibly grateful for the Griswolds’ dedication and impact. Their passion for missions and heart for people have made a lasting mark on our organization—and on the lives of many others.

What’s Next?

ASAP Ministries is fully committed to continuing both Reach the World Next Door and My Language My Life. Beginning October 1, 2025, all donations made to ASAP Ministries for Reach the World Next Door will go directly to support the program under ASAP’s leadership.

We’re also prayerfully exploring opportunities to collaborate with the Griswolds in the future, as we work together to reach those who have yet to hear the good news of Jesus—both in North America and Southeast Asia.

Want to Stay Connected with the Griswolds?

If you would like to support Pastor Scott and Julie Griswold in their new ministry, you can reach them directly by calling 707-380-9554 or 707-380-9864, writing to scott@homeforallnations.org or julie@homeforallnations.org , and by visiting homeforallnations.org .

Thank you for your continued support and prayers. It’s your partnership that allows us—and now the Griswolds in their new endeavor—to bring the hope of the gospel to the unreached.

When God Sent Rain

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 19:22:56 GMT

When God Sent Rain

by Colleen Louw, ASAP Development/PR Coordinator

In a village in a communist country in Southeast Asia, God is at work through Yu A Lav, a 29-year-old father of two and dedicated ASAP church planter . In this village, most couples marry before the age of 18, and smoking and drinking are everyday habits. Married at 16, Yu A Lav knows the challenges of his people.

Yu A Lav’s days are filled with visiting with the villagers, studying the Bible, and farming. In June, he courageously planned an evangelistic meeting. Though the government refused his request for permission, Yu A Lav was determined to run the program. For five days before the meetings, and each day during the meetings, he and his church members covered the entire program in prayer.

When the meetings began, heavy rain poured down, flooding roads and making them impassable. What looked like an obstacle turned into a miracle! The local officers, unable to enter the village, could not stop the program. Instead, many young people came to listen, and as they gained an understanding of Bible teachings, their lives were changed!

ASAP Ministries Turns 30

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 17:31:42 GMT

ASAP Ministries Turns 30: Honoring the Past, Pressing On in Faith

From September 12–14, 2025, board members, staff, families, and special guests gathered at ASAP Ministries’ headquarters in Berrien Springs, Michigan, to celebrate a significant milestone: 30 years of ministry in Southeast Asia.

The weekend, centered around ASAP’s annual in-person board meeting, became a sacred time of reflection, gratitude, and renewed commitment. Attendees looked back on three decades of God’s faithfulness, beginning with the life and ministry of the late Judy Aitken, who founded ASAP after serving refugees in Thailand following the Cambodian genocide of the late 1970s. Stories of God’s providence, protection, and provision flowed freely—offering encouragement and inspiration for the mission ahead.

Friday evening’s special program featured two guest speakers who have played pivotal roles in ASAP’s journey. Dr. Mary Ann McNeilus, who traveled extensively with Judy Aitken to train medical missionaries in Southeast Asia, reflected on the early days of the ministry. Julia O'Carey, Judy’s daughter and former ASAP executive director and CEO, shared personal memories of her mother and spoke about carrying forward her legacy of faith-driven service to the marginalized.

On Sabbath, board members Carol Reynolds, Trudi Starlin, and Curtis Letniak recounted their own mission experiences from Southeast Asia and North America. Pastor Benjamin Kip, field director, offered a touching devotional talk, and Ung Chanvicheak, former field supervisor in Cambodia, shared his personal testimony of how ASAP helped shape his life and ministry.

As ASAP celebrates this 30-year milestone, we give thanks for every individual who has prayed, given, or gone in support of the mission. And we look ahead with faith, trusting that the same God who led us in the past will continue to guide us—until the work is finished and Jesus returns.

Missions Change Everything!

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 15:42:22 GMT

Missions Change Everything!

by Benjamin Kip, ASAP Field Director

When the village chief who had once persecuted the Adventists in his village stepped into our medical clinic, in the Adventist Village where they now lived, it marked more than a medical visit. We could see that God was working in his heart to bring reconciliation! Once a fierce opponent of Christianity, he had driven Seventh-day Adventist church members from his village. Now, he came seeking medical care from our team in the village of the very people he had once persecuted.

Recently, ASAP Ministries led a life-changing medical mission trip to a restricted country, where we provided medical services to more than 1,200 people. A team of 15 overseas volunteers assisted with medical screenings, massage, dental services, health education, and vision support.

Of course, mission trips like this are not just about physical healing. They are all about working with God to open doors through acts of service. We were thrilled to see God’s hand move in another village chief’s heart. He traveled three hours with 30 of his people to attend our health expo. Moved by what he witnessed, he invited future teams to return and share not only health knowledge but also more about Christianity.

Built by Prayer

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 22:55:15 GMT

Built by Prayer: A New Church in Cambodia

by John Press

Joy and gratitude filled the air as local believers, mission leaders, and government officials gathered to dedicate a new Seventh-day Adventist church in Rovieng, Cambodia. The event marked the culmination of years of prayer by church members and retired ASAP church planter Ping Sothy, who long dreamed of building a proper place to worship and conduct evangelistic outreach.

This spring, ASAP donors helped answer their prayers with the construction of a new church. Elder Hang Dara, president of Cambodia Adventist Mission, offered a special message during the dedication ceremony. He shared how the late Judy Aitken, founder of ASAP Ministries, had once visited the very ground where the church now stands. She spent the night at the site and prayed that God would one day raise up a church in Rovieng.

“Today, that prayer has been answered, thanks to the unwavering support and dedication of ASAP Ministries,” he said. “Let us continue to give thanks to God and use this church… to spread hope and the message of eternity throughout the community.”

The Rovieng Church stands as a testament to the power of persevering prayer and your generous support for missions. And for church members who once worshiped in a dilapidated wooden stilt house, it represents an exciting new chapter in ministry to their unreached friends and neighbors.

The Miracle of a New Life

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 18:56:31 GMT

The Miracle of a New Life

At just 17 years old, Win Kyi* has already walked a path marked by much hardship. Raised in a small town in Myanmar, Win Kyi grew up in a Buddhist family and was the eldest of three siblings. Her father worked as a general laborer, and her mother, seeking better opportunities, found work as a domestic helper in Bangkok. With her parents often absent, Win Kyi shouldered responsibilities well beyond her years.

Her early childhood offered glimpses of hope. Win Kyi attended a Seventh-day Adventist primary school in her father’s village. The teachers from the school invited her to the Sabbath services, and she loved attending Sabbath School. Though she was still very young, these early experiences planted the seeds of a spiritual journey that would later bloom against all odds.

At the age of seven, Win Kyi’s world shifted dramatically when her parents separated. The reasons were never fully explained to her, but she understood enough: her father struggled with drug addiction. Drug-related crime led to his imprisonment, and after he was released, to a long road to rehabilitation. Although he eventually overcame his drug use, he remained addicted to alcohol. Win Kyi and her siblings were now left to live with family members.

Life with her grandmother and aunt proved challenging. Win Kyi often faced harsh treatment, and fear kept her from speaking openly about her budding faith. Compounding her struggles, her neighborhood was rife with drug abuse and darkness, and it felt like hope was slipping further from her reach. When two of her closest friends moved away, the loneliness was unbearable. It lit a fire inside her: she had to find a way out.

With quiet persistence, Win Kyi begged her mother to send her to a different school elsewhere. Finally, her mother agreed and reached out to Win Kyi’s cousin, who was a teacher at a nearby school. Through her cousin’s help, Win Kyi was accepted at ASAP’s Mi Phra Narr School in a different town, which was far from home. In that moment, a new chapter of her life began.

Arriving at Mi Phra Narr School felt like stepping into the sunlight after a lifetime of shadows. For the first time, Win Kyi felt a sense of freedom — freedom from fear, judgment, and sadness that had weighed so heavily on her spirit. Surrounded by a supportive community, she flourished both academically and spiritually. It was here at Mi Phra Narr that she learned to love Jesus and was convicted to give her life to Him through baptism. Three months before an evangelistic meeting, Win Kyi approached her homeroom teacher to express her desire to be baptized. When the invitation came during the evangelistic meetings, she stepped forward without any hesitation.

Telling her mother about her decision wasn’t easy, as, to the Buddhist mind, converting to Christianity brings shame to the family. Initially, her mother advised her to wait until she was older. But Win Kyi’s quiet determination and sweet spirit won her mother over, and she finally agreed that Win Kyi could be baptized.

Reflecting on her journey from childhood to the present, Win Kyi sees unmistakable signs of divine protection. She recalls a terrifying childhood incident when, studying by candlelight under her bed, she fell asleep, causing a fire—yet she emerged from this incident unharmed. She remembers the bullying she endured in government school and realizes that even in her darkest moments, God was watching over her.

Today, Win Kyi clings to the hope and healing she has found in Christ. Every day, she prays fervently for her father that he will find peace and healing. She hasn’t heard from him in over a year and longs to be reunited with him. Win Kyi is determined to share her faith with her mother so that she, too, may know the joy found in Jesus. She knows God’s promise to always be with her is true. God was with her in the darkest places of her life, and she rejoices in knowing that He will be with her always!

A FUTURE OVERFLOWING WITH HOPE

When you support ASAP Ministries Education Fund, your gifts can be used where needed most and help provide marginalized children with:

the opportunity to learn about Jesus and give their lives to Him
a quality education, teachers who care, and school supplies
a safe place to live, food, and medical care

To give $30 / $300 / $3,000 / $30,000 or another amount, you can donate via our website , c all 269-471-3026, or mail your check to PO Box 84, Berrien Springs MI 49103.

Education builds trust and meets real needs. It opens doors for churches to grow organically. Investing in children is one of the most strategic ways to reach the world for Christ and uplift society.

Thank you for your gifts, which will help transform lives and help build God’s church in some of the darkest places in Southeast Asia.

*Pseudonyms have been used for the safety of God's people.

From Addiction to Freedom in Christ

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 15:34:43 GMT

From Addiction to Freedom in Christ

by Timothy Cho,* ASAP Field Supervisor

Wai Than* had been a Buddhist all his life and deeply loved alcohol. He was hostile toward Christian worship and mocked the idea of God. ASAP church planter David Pyae* visited his uncle’s house one day. Drunk and angry, Wai Than challenged him, saying, “What kind of god is your God? What can He do? How can He save anyone?”

When David invited him to church, he refused, saying, “If your God is real, He should show me proof.” That night, Wai Than had a dream where he heard a voice say, “My son, why don’t you believe in Me? Go to church.” When he woke up, he was shaken. So, when David invited him again, he decided to go, even though he was still drinking.

As he kept attending, he slowly came to know the living God. He joined Bible classes to prepare for baptism but struggled with his addiction. Even after being baptized, he couldn’t stop drinking right away. For over a month, he battled his habit, but through prayer and God’s grace, he experienced real transformation. He cried out to God for strength and was finally set free.

Thank you for supporting ASAP Ministries' Evangelism Fund, which enables us to send church planters into new, unreached areas.

*Pseudonyms have been used for the safety of God's people.

"A Day of Rejoicing": 90 Baptized in Myanmar

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 10:49:38 GMT

"A Day of Rejoicing": 90 Baptized in Myanmar

by John Press

Ninety people were baptized on Sabbath, May 17, in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady Mission, marking a significant milestone in the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Harvest 2025 campaign. The year-long evangelistic initiative, led by the Southern Asia-Pacific Division (SSD), aims to reach spiritually unreached communities across the 10/40 Window.

The baptisms coincided with the launch of the second phase of the campaign, which emphasizes active outreach through Bible studies, public preaching, literature distribution, and health programs. In Ayeyarwady, the efforts of local missionaries proved especially fruitful. More than one-third of those baptized were introduced to Jesus through church planters supported by ASAP Ministries.

“Today is a day of rejoicing!” said Timothy Cho (pseudonym), ASAP’s field supervisor in Myanmar, who was present at the event.

In a country where religious expression often requires discretion, and where a civil war and a devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake in March 2025 have brought instability, local church leaders and lay people remain committed to sharing their faith. Small group Bible studies have become key to spreading the gospel in a time of crisis.

The Ayeyarwady baptisms highlight the growing impact of Harvest 2025 across Southeast Asia. With similar outreach efforts underway in other parts of the region, the campaign continues to mobilize thousands, bringing hope to some of the most spiritually challenging places in the world.

A Well Brings New Life to Ta Ton Village

Wed, 28 May 2025 15:51:48 GMT

A Well Brings New Life to Ta Ton Village

by John Press

The sounds of laughter and splashing water fill the air in Ta Ton (a pseudonym), a remote village in southeastern Myanmar. Women and children gather eagerly around their new well, no longer burdened by long, exhausting walks for water. What once felt impossible is now reality—thanks to the generosity of donors like you.

Before the well, life in Ta Ton was difficult, especially for the local ASAP mission school. During the hottest months, existing wells failed, and teachers and students walked up to 10 miles daily to fetch water. Dehydration and exhaustion were common, and waterborne diseases like cholera and typhoid affected many.

With support from ASAP donors, the local church, and villagers, a deep artesian well was recently installed on the school grounds. Unlike shallow wells, it draws from a pressurized underground source, ensuring clean, reliable water year-round.

The impact has been immediate and profound. Students can focus in class, families are healthier, and the school has become a center of influence. People from nearby areas facing water shortages are moving closer. They are drawn by the promise of clean water, but now they will also have the opportunity to encounter Jesus, the Living Water, through the Ta Ton mission school and church.

On behalf of ASAP Ministries and the people of Ta Ton—thank you. Your generosity didn’t just provide a well—it brought relief, health, and hope to a village in need. And the resulting blessings will flow in this community for years to come.

MegaVoice Storytellers Bring Joy

Wed, 07 May 2025 14:12:03 GMT

MegaVoice Storytellers Bring Joy

by Colleen Louw

Thanks to the generous support of donors, ASAP recently distributed hundreds of cuddly MegaVoice Wildlife Storytellers to elementary students in eight schools. God’s work in dangerous and oppressive places is moving forward and reaching hearts through this initiative.

Each plush toy is equipped with a small MP3 player, which is programmed with captivating Bible stories, inspiring moral stories, lessons on personal safety, and delightful songs. The intention is to create a positive and nurturing environment for the children, helping them learn essential life lessons, develop strong moral values, and grow in their faith.

The children’s faces lit up with joy as they received their plush animals. They hugged them tightly and immediately started listening to the stories and singing along with the songs on them. Many were eager to have their parents and siblings listen with them, too.

Teachers were equally excited about the children receiving the MegaVoice Wildlife Storytellers and were looking forward to engaging with the students through the lessons recorded on them and the accompanying worksheets.

Thank you for helping to create this opportunity for marginalized children to grow spiritually and share the gospel with their parents and siblings.

From Curiosity to Commitment

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 19:07:55 GMT

From Curiosity to Commitment

By Timothy Cho,* ASAP Field Supervisor

While traveling to an ASAP-supported youth evangelistic camp meeting in a remote area in a restricted access country, I joined the district pastor and his wife for evening worship. Two young neighbors, Phyu Sein,* a Baptist, and Khin Kyi,* a Buddhist, joined us. Intrigued by our trip, they eagerly asked, “Can we come with you?” The next morning, with their parents’ permission, both girls set out on the journey with us.

The trip was grueling—six hours by motorboat, four by truck, and four military checkpoints—but the girls’ cheerful spirits never wavered. Upon arrival, we met youth eager to hear God’s Word. Over three days, Phyu Sein encountered Adventist teachings for the first time and was drawn to the Sabbath and holy living. After hearing about Jesus for the first time, Khin Kyi was touched by the idea of a personal, loving God.

During the program, they immersed themselves in Bible study and were captivated by God’s Word. What began as a curious adventure turned into a heartfelt search for spiritual understanding.

Upon their return home, I invited Phyu Sein and Khin Kyi to enroll in the Seventh-day Adventist school in a nearby village. They are now attending and growing in their walk with Jesus.

Thank you for your support of ASAP’s Evangelism Fund, which made it possible for these two young girls to know Jesus.

*Pseudonyms have been used to protect the vulnerable and those working in dangerous, oppressive places.

ASAP Earns Four-Star Rating from Charity Navigator

Fri, 06 Dec 2024 15:21:11 GMT

ASAP Ministries Earns a Four-Star Rating From Charity Navigator

ASAP Ministries is proud to announce that its strong financial health and ongoing effectiveness and reliability have helped it earn a Four-Star Rating from Charity Navigator. This rating designates ASAP Ministries as an official “Give with Confidence” charity, indicating that our organization is using its donations effectively based on Charity Navigator’s comprehensive criteria that go beyond financials to reflect the work charities do. Charity Navigator is the nation’s largest charity evaluator, providing donors with thorough and credible ratings of more than 230,000 organizations. Since 2001, the organization has been an unbiased and trusted source of information for more than 11 million donors annually.

Charity Navigator analyzes overall nonprofit health and performance based on four key areas: Leadership & Adaptability to help donors understand if a charity has clarity of purpose, Accountability & Finance to explain if they are transparent and fiscally capable, Culture & Community to show how they engage with their constituents, and Impact & Results to explain what they have accomplished.

“We are delighted to provide ASAP Ministries with third-party accreditation that validates their operational excellence,” said Michael Thatcher, president and CEO of Charity Navigator. “The Four-Star Rating is the highest possible rating an organization can achieve. We are eager to see the good work that ASAP Ministries can accomplish in the years ahead.”

ASAP Ministries’ rating and other information about charitable giving are available free of charge on charitynavigator.org .

ASAP Ministries Announces New Leader

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

ASAP Ministries Announces New Leader

ASAP Ministries’ board of directors announced that it has appointed Darryl Hosford as its new President. He replaces Julia O’Carey, who has been with ASAP for 19 years and led the ministry since 2013. O’Carey recently stepped down to pursue further education and devote more time to her family. She will continue working part-time, assisting in Development as an ASAP Mission Advancement Officer.

Hosford has been associated with ASAP Ministries for many years and brings a well-rounded knowledge of the ministry and its field operations to his new role. He has participated in ASAP mission trips and served as a board member for several years before joining the organization full-time as International Field Director. Hosford previously served as the President of Simple Updates for over 25 years.

Hosford shared, “ASAP Ministries is making an impact in Southeast Asia. Our church planters, medical missionaries, and teachers are making great strides forward in sharing Jesus with the communities they serve. Over 8,500 students—mostly from Buddhist homes—are learning about Jesus at our schools.

“ASAP Ministries will continue the same mission of the past: to spread the gospel across Southeast Asia, meet the needs of the marginalized, help them become disciples of Jesus, and train them to share that good news with others!”

ASAP Ministries Featured on 3ABN

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

ASAP Ministries Featured on 3ABN

ASAP Staff Interviewed on 3ABN Today

Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN) recently featured ASAP Ministries on two episodes of 3ABN Today. In August, host John Dinzey interviewed Pr. Scott Griswold, director of the Reach the World Next Door project, and Refugee Ministry Coordinator Bill Wells about ASAP projects ministering to the physical and spiritual needs of refugees and the unreached. Then, in October, 3ABN Vice President Jill Morikone sat down with Executive Director Julia O'Carey and Mission Advancement Officer Pr. Lisa Isensee to discuss ASAP's education projects and its work among persecuted people groups.

Watch both interviews using the links provided below. We pray you'll be inspired as you hear how the gospel is advancing among the poor, the persecuted, the unreached, and refugees of the 10/40 Window!

Watch 3ABN Today Episodes Featuring ASAP Ministries

Supporting KAA

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Supporting KAA

In 2013, ASAP was able to provide support to the Karen Adventist Academy (KAA), due to the kindness of Versacare and some private donors. I think it is so special that we actually have a Seventh-day Adventist School in the primitive Mae Ra Moo Refugee Camp located right on the border of Myanmar and Thailand!

In this K-12 school, over 700 students have an amazing opportunity to prepare for a better future through this school’s education. More than that, they are able to learn about Jesus’ love and become His disciples.

The money ASAP sends supports teachers. Their principal is Yo Poe and his number one desire is for each student to accept Jesus as Savior and live the truth. He is also a man of faith and prayer.

The school building is just bamboo slats, big teak leaves for the roof, and a dirt floor; however, the students keep it very clean and take pride in it! The outreach activities they participate in give them a purpose outside themselves that lifts the hopelessness of living in a refugee camp for years!

I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure of visiting Karen Adventist Academy this past year, especially as I saw the smiles on the faces of the children, the respect they have for their teachers, and the quality teaching that was taking place. This brought praise to my lips and gratefulness to my heart for all those who supported this school.

You can sponsor a KAA teacher for $70/month or give in general for KAA today !

God Takes Care of Me

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

God Takes Care of Me

My name is Chheurn Oeun. I’m 46 years old; my wife’s name is Sun Sokleap, age 42. My son’s name is Oeun Narin, age 3.

Before I believed in God, during 2007-2008, my family faced a great many difficulties. I am disabled and have AIDS and I had no employment. My wife also has AIDS. When she could walk, she picked up scrap to sell and used the daily income to buy food for the day. It was very hard for us. Also our child was very small. We rented a small place to stay, but we did not have enough food to eat and I kept losing weight and strength. As a result, AIDS and other diseases began working very hard in my body. Finally my wife took me to stay at Samdech Ov hospital and we stayed there for about a month. It so happened that Mrs. Seng Sopheak went to visit her members at the hospital and prayed for them. At the same time she shared the gospel with my wife and me, and prayed for us. This really lifted my spirits, because it seemed that finally we had some friends, instead of being all alone as we had been in the hospital and even before that. I especially remember that she told me, “God can hear us when we talk with Him.”

Before I left the hospital, I said to my wife, “Dearest wife, in a few more days the doctors are going to tell us to leave the hospital because we are getting better. So when we leave, where are we going? We don’t have money to rent a house.” She replied, “We will go to stay by the wall of the pagoda.” I said to her, “We don’t even have a tent for a roof covering, and we need poles too. How will we find those things?” My wife and I took a long breath and thought about this for a few minutes.

Then I remembered what Seng Sopheak told me about God, who is so great. She said He can take care of those who believe in Him. So I knelt down with my wife and prayed, “Oh! My true God, You who are so great, now today I pray to You and I hope that You have ears to hear my poor voice as I beg You for help. Lord, please don’t ignore us; please answer my prayer. In just a few days we will have no place to stay, so please show us a way to find a temporary place to stay. Amen.”

Three days later we packed up to leave the hospital. We had $5. We hired a tuk-tuk to take us to Nirod pagoda. The tuk-tuk dropped us off there, and we walked around looking for a place to stay. We saw a small bed with a small roof. It was a little shop, but it was vacant, so we decided to stay, thinking that if the owner should come, we would move out. We stayed there about three days, and we noticed a few people walked by the place with a book that was black and red. I asked them, “Where did you go?” and they replied, “We went to church.” I asked them, “Can I go with you?” They answered “Yes, please come.” I was so happy that these people were willing to talk with me! My wife and I quickly put on different clothes and went with them. And then they brought me to see the church leader. I was so surprised to see that the leader was the same lady that told me about God at Samdech hospital! Wow! God is so great! He brought me to the church where I would meet Seng Sopheak. I am very thankful to God for answering my prayer.

Later, God blessed me by calling me to stay with Seng Sopheak at the Sda Center. I thank ASAP for providing us with a place to stay and food. Please continue to help us because we are sick and we can’t feed ourselves. We pray a lot for land and a church building, and we also pray every day for ASAP.

-Chheurn Oeun

The Fruits of Revival in India

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

The Fruits of Revival in India

BY SCOTT GRISWOLD

Do you really believe these words: “A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work” (Christian Service 41)? Pastor Chawngthu does. It’s more important than evangelism. It’s more important than education. It’s more important than development and relief work. He believes it because he’s seen the difference it makes.

Chawngthu is the pastor of the Mizo church plant in Indianapolis, Indiana that has burst into existence in the last few years. We’ve told his story in the Leave Your Sushi and Go! podcast. Part of his ministry is to return periodically to Myanmar and India to hold revival meetings among the Seventh-day Adventist Mizo church members.

Recently, a group of Pastor Chawngthu’s friends from India visited ASAP Ministries. Three of them were principals of schools they had started privately to help the children of Northeast India. They had formed a ministry called Paul’s Missionary Band. Chawngthu had joined them for a three-day revival meeting.

Each principal stood to share with the ASAP staff. “We didn’t know we were just nominal Seventh-day Adventists,” one said. “He taught us to shed tears,” another added, emphasizing how the love of Jesus and a straight message of true Christianity in light of Christ’s soon coming had opened their eyes. The third said, “I used to watch TV a lot and I couldn’t eat anything unless it had meat in it. Now I don’t want to watch TV any more. I’m even eating as a vegetarian. There’s nothing so enjoyable as having God’s Spirit in us.”

The preaching of the word of God had led to conviction of sin and changed lives. That led to evangelism and beautiful humanitarian work among drug addicts and the sick. The district has gone from 30 members to 500 members!

That’s why ASAP recently invited you to partner with us to raise funds for the Hunthar church building in Mizoram, India. We had the privilege of placing $6,000 in the hands of the Head Deacon of the Hunthar SDA Church, who is also the director of the Sub-Headquarters of the Final Messengers. The Final Messengers established their headquarters here in America and their vision is to reach the Mizo people and prepare for the later rain in other American cities like Des Moines, Iowa, countries like Canada and Australia, and the many other unreached people in India, Myanmar, and beyond.

A revival of true godliness is our first work, for its fruits will follow.

To hear more of the Mizo church’s story, visit our podcast archives at asapministries.org and watch “ Leave Your Sushi and Go! ” Call us at (269) 471-3026 to order MyLanguageMyLife.com cards.

From Stress to Peace

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

From Stress to Peace

BY BRENDA KIS

Multilingual 35-year-old ASAP missionary Abigail Oanh* has been church planting in a closed country for five years now and also works with five groups, teaching people to read and write. She has had to bear up under repeated attacks by Satan, who wants to stop her work.

When her brother accepted the Sabbath truth, his wife left him. Devastated, he eventually remarried and started a church group deep in the jungle. When their father died, this brother encouraged Abigail. Then he was arrested for teaching the Bible to people in a new group. But, of course, the authorities would not admit they had arrested him for his Christian work. During a devastating war, some local people had cooperated with the U.S. government against the local government, so her brother was accused of being associated with that group.

In prison he was crammed into a small, completely dark cell already occupied by other prisoners. In these prisons, when someone is accused and doesn’t accept the accusation, they are beaten. Once a day, prisoners are taken outside to work. They receive only dry, crusty rice to eat. It is such a difficult experience that when people are released, they don’t want to talk about it. Knowing how her brother must be suffering, Abigail and the other believers fasted and prayed, insisting that he was not guilty. Then the authorities shifted tactics and accused him of trying to farm a field illegally. Even though he had been working in that field for eight years already without a problem, and even though others who worked there were not arrested, her brother was imprisoned for a total of six months! During that time, he continued to work for God, witnessing to fellow inmates, two of whom accepted Christ. Also, during that time, his pregnant wife gave birth. But because there was no midwife or hospital nearby, the baby died.

Poor Abigail was overwhelmed with everything that was happening: the death of her father, her brother in prison, the burial of her brother’s child, and caring for her sister-in-law plus some other family members and a woman who had lost her husband and couldn’t work anymore. All this in addition to her regular work of caring for all her literacy groups and house churches! To compound matters, an influential believer began to spread lies about Abigail and another pastor. Many of the members stopped coming to church, which greatly discouraged her.

But God is gracious, and He reminded Abigail of His promises in Ps. 23 and Phil. 4:13. When she sensed that she was about to fall apart, she spent more time in prayer. When she feels like giving up, she resolves not to leave God’s work but to persevere. “The best way is to surrender to Him and follow His plan,” she states. “I’m never going to look back….” Right now she is studying with fifty-two people who are preparing for baptism. Please pray for Abigail in the extreme challenges she faces.

An Outpouring of Love for Myanmar

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

An Outpouring of Love for Myanmar

BY JULIA O'CAREY

The Lord amazed us with your tremendous response to the urgent, heartbreaking needs of your brothers and sisters in Christ, following the recent coup and Covid-19 outbreaks in Myanmar. Here are just a few examples of the many creative, generous ways He impressed you to respond and provide desperately needed humanitarian support. Due to lack of space, I can’t thank each one of you by name, but Jesus made note of your loving sacrifices in heaven!

My prayer partner and I were interceding for the situation in Myanmar and the Holy Spirit impressed her to send $10,000. Unbeknownst to her, this was just the amount we needed beyond what ASAP had on hand to supply an urgent need in the Upper Myanmar Mission. Praise the Lord!

The Friends of Refugees Committee, a group of passionate individuals who are working to streamline the Adventist response to refugee needs, felt impressed to fundraise $10,000 for food distribution to displaced people in Yangon Adventist Mission. This was another absolute answer to prayer.

Joi and Jade McClellan, two musically talented sisters, inspired their friends to join them in a benefit concert for Myanmar, titled “One More Piece.” In one night, they raised over $2,500, which provided aid for the families of students at ASAP schools in the Southeast Mission, in the Karen State, which has been impacted by air raids and heavy fighting.

Karen refugees in North America also joined together to respond to the suffering of their people. It moved me to see the amount of funds that poured in from this community, where many struggle to keep food on their own tables. God blessed their sacrifices, and ASAP was able to send $55,000 in humanitarian aid to the Karen on the Thai-Myanmar border. Altogether, ASAP has sent more than $133,000 to help those affected by the multiple crises in Myanmar this year.

All of these efforts and your individual gifts were preceded by much prayer, including a special effort organized by 24/7 United Prayer, a ministry supported by ASAP that seeks to initiate an unbroken global chain of united prayer and revival. We teamed up with Music Verse, a new ministry, to lead “1 Mind 4 Myanmar,” a 24-hour prayer session that also featured inspirational music throughout. Here is what one participant named Nandar shared after the event. “I am a Burmese. I always pray for my country every day but it becomes just a normal prayer for me since I am out of the country right now. But after I joined this meeting, I was so touched with your prayers. I appreciate all your care. I felt like I was in heaven. Thank you so much for your earnest prayers and uplifting songs for my country. I want to add one more thing. After hearing someone praying for the military soldiers, I am speechless. We just hate them for what they have done to the people. But we forget to pray for them, too. Thank you for reminding me to love the unlovable. Please keep praying for us.”

God's Math

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

God's Math

BY RUTH BRADBURN

How did a church with a budget consistently in the red for all but one month of the year suddenly begin meeting their financial goals – and also raise tens of thousands of dollars for missions? Simple answer: God’s math. It all started when Bob Kruger, an elder of the Grants Pass (Oregon) Seventh-day Adventist Church with a burden for foreign missions, approached his pastor and suggested that the church should be more active in foreign missions. When the pastor said to go for it, Bob and several others formed a committee to decide what mission projects to sponsor.

The first year they chose to raise $10,000 to construct several buildings on the campus of a school in India, where a church member had served. Another member was involved with Adventist World Radio and Godpods so they decided to purchase 250 Godpods as well. At the end of the year the total raised for the school in India came to $13,000 and they had more than doubled their goal for the Godpods! In addition, the church was able to raise $36,000 towards a local outreach project.

Wonder of wonders, during this entire time they discovered that church members were tithing significantly more than before, and as a result their church was consistently meeting its budget! The church hosted follow-up vespers to share progress reports and pictures of the projects they had sponsored, and many members came and were encouraged. The feedback was unanimous – “Let’s do more mission projects!”

So, the committee met again, this time choosing to raise money for two Adventist Frontier Missions (AFM) projects, as well as ASAP Ministries’ Naung Bo Den school project in Thailand (pictured). During church announcements they briefly shared the projects they had selected and told the members to stay tuned. A couple weeks later, the committee members held a special Sabbath service where representatives for each project took turns sharing about them, introducing the congregation to the needs, the work that was being done, and how they could help. The church’s Bible worker Chuck Austin presented ASAP’s Naung Bo Den project using a video and pictures provided by ASAP Development Director Laura Hokanson.

In the foyer of the church they placed a box with three slots and the giving envelopes from each ministry. Church members had a chance to pick a project and how much they wanted to contribute that week, and then place the envelopes in the slot for that ministry. Every week the deacons collected the donations, counted them, and sent the giving envelopes to the ministry they were from (this allowed ASAP to thank donors individually). And every week the running total for each project goal was printed in the church bulletin.

In seven months, two of the three projects were already funded, and as of November 2021 the church had raised a total of $12,000 for ASAP’s Naung Bo Den project as well as $15,000 for each of the two AFM projects. The church leaders were amazed to see how God continued to bless them financially, as their church budget stayed consistently in the black for a whole year!

When asked if the Grants Pass Church plans on continuing this tradition, Chuck said, “Oh yes, I'm sure we’ll do at least two or three projects next year, there is no doubt in my mind.” Chuck testifies to how the projects have changed people’s mindsets, growing a generous and giving spirit in the church members. His own eyes have been opened to see the abundance of mission projects out there that are in need of support. “Things are definitely going very quickly in this world,” Chuck commented. “We don’t want our monies to be sitting in a bank at the end of time. We want to be using them for the Lord.”

Even when the church’s budget dips back into the red on occasion, Chuck and his fellow church members are not worried. “God’s math works a lot better than our math,” Chuck said. “He expands money, that’s for sure. The more you give the more you will be given to. It doesn’t make sense [at first], but when you understand God’s math it makes sense.”

Let the Children Preach!

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Let the Children Preach!

BY PASTOR SCOTT GRISWOLD

“That girl is so scared I don’t know if she can do it,” I told my Cambodian assistant, Sophal. We were trying to train the middle grade students at Takong Adventist School to do all the presentations for a week of evangelism.

“The guys aren’t doing much better,” Sophal shot back. “They’re so tied to their scripts I can’t get them to look up. What do we do? The meetings start tonight!”

The resources were excellent. Adventist-laymen’s Services & Industries (ASI) had created two large scrolls with beautiful pictures to match 26 simple but comprehensive health and evangelistic topics. ASAP had them translated into Khmer. For our 2022 mission trip we had decided that our group of foreigners would not do the speaking but would equip the locals. Now we weren’t so sure.

I slipped over to another school building where my wife, Julie, and ASAP field supervisor Vicheak were working with a different group of children. I was amazed to see them eagerly sharing their testimonies. Principal Makara had selected boys and girls who had significant answers to their prayers. Some of our mission team members, Jeff, Ruth, Garcia, and Pastor Steve, were interviewing all the school children with their translators, Vannara, Vanny, Jasmine, and Somnang, finding more powerful stories. These testimonies were going to make a great addition to the nightly evangelistic meetings.

“It didn’t just happen,” Julie said. “Vicheak and I have been interrupting them all morning and showing them how to speak clearly and excitedly.”

“Please help us,” I begged. “We need your training in the Bible story-telling department!” Vicheak came and watched our students trying their best.

“Put your script aside,” he instructed them. “Now look at the picture and tell me everything you know about it.” One boy started in. “Nice, but louder,” Vicheak encouraged. He smiled as he heard the boy steadily grow in confidence.

“Now go back to your script and see what you missed.” The students poured over the words, circling and writing in big letters things they needed to remember. Vicheak assigned the girl that was especially nervous to read the Bible verses.

While our son, Josiah, led the other children in games, the evening’s presenters stuck to their preparations. Bit by bit, three hours later they were ready.

Meanwhile, Amber and Christian, who had joined us from Canada, were working with local health ministries leader Chouvy to train another group of children for the health presentations. They also struggled to put the long scripts into their own words. This was new for everyone.

“It’s almost time to start,” Principal Makara called out. “Let’s pray.” Americans, Canadians, and Cambodians crowded together to ask God to bring the villagers to the meeting in spite of the dark rainclouds threatening to keep everyone home. Teachers and students pleaded for God to speak truth into the hearts of the Buddhist parents and grandparents.

As a group of children began to sing, more and more people trickled in until 136 had registered, along with many little ones.

For the next seven nights I watched in awe as child after child rose to speak. Sometimes they were nervous, but always they spoke clearly, sharing words of beautiful truth. I saw their family members beam with pride. More importantly I thrilled to see many come forward, first for prayer, then later to accept Jesus as their Savior and to take their stand to keep God’s commandments.

The last night there were 186 registered guests plus more than 100 children packed into a classroom. Who was preaching the last sermon about the New Earth? The nervous little girl. I couldn’t help but wonder what mighty things God will do with these children to prepare the world for Jesus’ soon return. What if we had just done all the preaching ourselves instead of letting the little children come and serve their loving Master?

Why Camp Meetings for Refugees are a Must

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Why Camp Meetings for Refugees are a Must

BY JULIA O'CAREY

When you think of evangelism, does a Daniel and Revelation series come to mind? You may not link evangelism to camp meetings, but let me tell you, much evangelism happened during two special camp meetings that took place this summer for the people of Myanmar now living in the United States. Over 380 Karen (pronounced Kah-REN) young people and their youth leaders gathered at Camp Wagner in Michigan from July 5-9. Pr. Stephen Po, one of the event’s coordinators shared, “Our purpose for the Karen SDA Youth Camp this year was to lift up those who have fallen and bring peace to their hearts and minds.” He knows the challenging circumstances the youth face, such as domestic problems, peer pressure, relationship issues, health challenges, depression, and more. As the Holy Spirit worked through the speakers’ messages, personal interactions and sharing of Scripture, prayers, games, and songs, these young people experienced true revival and strength to keep moving forward in faith!

When I walked into the large gymnasium on Sabbath a middle-aged woman shyly smiled and came up to me. In broken English she shared, “My daughter, she attend [sic] your class at Karen Camp Meeting six years ago. She said it was there that she let Jesus into her heart for the first time. Today she get baptize [sic].” Nothing compares to the joy I felt in my heart while seeing her go under the water, committing herself as Christ’s disciple. (I also loved how her friends and church family stood beside her in the water to show their support.)

Many made great sacrifices to attend these camp meetings. Thaw Htoo sensed the Lord’s presence so strongly when attending camp meeting in 2019 that he vividly remembers feeling like it was only him, the speaker, and God in that large auditorium during the sessions. He knew he couldn’t miss this one, but his boss would not give him the time off, even after he told him that it was for religious purposes. He writes, “I would rather have peace and joy with God than stay home and make money, because money never fills the void in my heart that only God can fill.” Raymond wrote, “Our family drove for twenty-three hours to get to the NAD Myanmar Convention. My brother saved his money for a long time so that all our family could attend. We longed for the kind of Christian fellowship in our own language that we experienced at the convention. We were all so blessed.”

At the North American Division (NAD) Myanmar Convention held in Florida, Elder Jose Cortes, Jr. and Pastor Sam Ngala issued a call to Burmese-speaking attendees who want to go into ministry. Four lay members immediately stood up and were dedicated to the Lord. These refugees see the urgency in reaching out to the many refugees across North America who don’t yet know their Savior and Creator. Please pray for their deep desire to plant churches. God willing, they would like to send 16 people to study for Master of Divinity degrees at Andrews University in the next three years. God was definitely moving in their midst!

ASAP Launches UPLIFT Campaign

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

ASAP Launches UPLIFT Campaign

“No matter how much you study, you will never amount to anything. Your lot in life is to work as a slave.”

Fear gripped Veasna (a pseudonym) as the words spewed from her uncle’s lips. In rural Cambodia, where one third of the population lives on $2 to $3 per day, many children are forced into slavery or prostitution. Will this be my fate? Veasna wondered.

Her uncle’s struggle to find steady work made life difficult for the family. Veasna often came to school with no lunch or just a little rice and fish paste. At 12 years old, she had dropped out of school so many times that she was still in the second grade. Yet she was a bright girl.

At Bunthim, Veasna's teacher at Samraong Adventist School (SAS) prayed for her and did all he could to help her, but halfway through the school year, she disappeared. Bunthim learned that her uncle had taken her to the capital city of Phnom Penh to work as a maid in a private home.

Like Veasna, most child trafficking victims are trafficked by a trusted acquaintance, and economic hardship is often the driving factor. Education is critical to fighting poverty and child trafficking, and ASAP Ministries’ mission schools are uniquely equipped to help.

While these advantages do not guarantee a happy ending, there is still hope for children like Veasna. During her time at SAS, she came to know and love God. Just as He was with the Israelite girl who served as a maid in Naaman’s house, He is with Veasna now.

Sreyleak's Story

There are happy endings, too! Another one of Bunthim’s students named Sreyleak (a pseudonym) often seemed sad and kept to herself. She lived with her grandmother, and they were desperately poor. Sometimes Sreyleak ate only two or three meals a week.

Bunthim and the local pastor prayed for Sreyleak and shared meals with her. Soon, her focus in the classroom improved, but then one day, she disappeared. Bunthim learned that Sreyleak’s grandmother had died. An aunt had taken her in, but Bunthim sensed something was wrong. Sreyleak frequently missed class and sometimes came to school with bruises on her arms.

Bunthim visited Sreyleak’s aunt and explained how much the girl needed her love. He urged her to stop beating Sreyleak and to treat her like her own daughter. Gradually, the situation improved. Sreyleak even began calling her aunt “Mom.” Now, she is back in school and thriving!

ASAP Ministries Launches the UPLIFT Campaign

As children across America head back to school, many children in Southeast Asia do not have access to the educational opportunities we take for granted. Like Veasna and Sreyleak, they need someone to UPLIFT them. And they need to know Jesus. When the children of Israel were suffering in Egypt, “with an uplifted arm [God] brought them out of it” (Acts 13:17b, NKJV). Today, God has called us, by the power of His Spirit, to UPLIFT those who are suffering the ravages of poverty.

You can impact the lives of at-risk children by giving to ASAP’s UPLIFT Campaign. Your gift will support ASAP’s Education Fund, providing teacher stipends, textbooks, and school supplies, and covering the cost of education for students whose families could not otherwise afford it. You can also sponsor an at-risk student for a monthly gift of $30 or an entire school for a yearly gift of $4,000 or more.

Will you become an advocate for children like Veasna and Sreyleak? Will you pray for their safety and salvation? Will you give so they can experience the life-changing power of God’s love? May God richly bless you as you UPLIFT these little ones!

Click here to learn more or donate to the UPLIFT Campaign.

Nothing Can Stop the Work of God!

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Nothing Can Stop the Work of God!

Despite Obstacles

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Despite Obstacles

Recently, I became a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. I was so excited about my new-found beliefs, such as the gift of the Sabbath, I began sharing with church members in each group I led out in. I knew Satan would try to hinder me so I spent much time in prayer.

The police attempted to stop me from entering several villages where I had worship groups. One village I needed to enter has five check points I must pass through. I silently prayed, claiming the blood of Jesus, as I came up to each check point. I passed through the first, second, third, and fourth stops with no problem. When I got to the fifth check point a soldier abruptly motioned me over. I pleaded with him to let me through. With each appeal, he gruffly responded, “NO!” I turned around and started back home but kept thinking of the people in the village who were so hungry for the Word of God. I prayed, “Father, only You can help me find a way to share Your truth with the villagers.” God led me to someone who knew the back trails to this village and was willing to be my guide. Though it took money, courage, and eight times longer, God answered my prayer and I was able to arrive safely to this village.

Praise the Lord! Today four of my five groups in four different villages are Seventh-day Adventist Christians. Please pray for the five hundred Adventist believers. Pray for their safety as they worship each Sabbath day. Pray we can bring them much-needed Bibles. Pray also for another group of 100 members who now know the truth but refuse to give up eating pork. Thank you for your prayers.

RMES Gives

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

RMES Gives

BY BRENDA KIŠ

When Collene Kelly, fourth-grade teacher at Ruth Murdoch Elementary School (RMES) in Berrien Springs, Michigan, invited Julia O’Carey, ASAP director, to present for school assembly in November 2018, she started something she didn’t anticipate. At the assembly, Julia and Gem Castor, ASAP prayer coordinator, shared wonderful stories of God’s work in Asia. Two stories, in particular, caught everyone’s attention.

Government officials in a closed country made several attempts to get rid of the Seventh-day Adventist sign on the side of a church. While a man attempted to efface the words one sunny day, lightning came out of nowhere and struck his ladder. Another time the scaffolding collapsed. And a third attempt was foiled when bushes were planted so that they would grow and cover the letters. Instead, they provided a beautiful underscore by only growing to the bottom of the words!

Elsewhere, a little girl, punished for not coming to school on Sabbath, was forced to stand barefoot on the prickly peeling of the stinky durian fruit. To help RMES students understand what that was like, Julia brought a durian peeling for them to stand on. They also got to taste the fruit and decide which side of the debate they favor: it’s wonderful or it’s horrible!

When the students got back to class, their minds were in high gear. The fourth graders started fundraising by donating their allowances, doing home chores for pay, baking treats to sell, or asking their parents to give. A grandma made grapevine wreaths to sell. One student had collected cans and bottles all summer to buy a gymnastic scarf. But after hearing the school presentation, she made a sacrificial gift instead. Over $300 came from these fourth-grade efforts, providing a goat for a poor family, fifty Bible readers, and supplies for cancer patients!

Junior high students got involved, too. When they couldn’t locate any local children in need of gifts, they invited ASAP to their annual Christmas party. Seven representatives from ASAP presented about projects, told more stories, and participated in games and skits. One student was called to the front of the room while his teacher, Chris Davisson, explained that this boy’s uncle, a member of the Indonesian government, had recently come to the U.S. for U.N. meetings. He had requested that his nephew be allowed to accompany him to New York City. When the student returned, he had some large bills to put into the Christmas party collection jar, and that started everyone else on a journey of generosity! ASAP received a check for nearly $1,000 from these students who had also found creative ways to support their persecuted brothers and sisters overseas.

Clothed with Compassion

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Clothed with Compassion

BY JULIA O'CAREY AND JOHN PRESS

“You’re on your own now.”

As the shock of their father’s words wore off, reality set in for Sok Chea and his seven older siblings. Their mother had died five years ago. Now, their newly remarried father had informed them that he would not support them anymore. Suddenly, they were alone. Orphaned.

The siblings vowed to stay together and take care of each other, but they struggled to make ends meet. Eventually, Sok Chea and four of his siblings moved to Phnom Penh, hoping to fare better in the city, where there were more opportunities. But instead they found more heartbreak.

Feeling pressure to provide for the younger children, Sok Chea’s oldest sister got married. It didn’t last, but the failed union left her with two young children of her own to care for, in addition to her four brothers and sisters. She began working as a street vendor. Another of Sok Chea’s sisters found work at a factory, and one of his brother’s began working as a tuk tuk driver. Their combined income provided for their food, the $55 monthly rent for the small room that the seven of them shared, plus $20 per month for water and electricity. However, sending Sok Chea to school was out of the question. His family simply could not afford the informal fees collected by the teachers at the government schools.

Then, they learned about the ASAP-supported Chamroeun Phal Adventist School (CPAS) in Phnom Penh, which serves the children of poor and at-risk families like Sok Chea’s. At the age of nine, Sok Chea could not read and had never set foot in a classroom, but the staff had compassion on the boy and allowed him to enroll in kindergarten. He proved an eager learner, and within months he had progressed to first grade.

Last November, Sok Chea, now 14 years old, entered his final year at CPAS. But as the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded in Phnom Penh, it hit families like Sok Chea’s especially hard. His sister’s sales suffered. Lockdowns shuttered factories, such as the one where his other sister worked, and left few passengers for tuk tuk drivers like his brother. Sok Chea began missing class and working from morning until evening, helping his sister at the market. With little time to study, his grades suffered, and he grew discouraged. But then Sok Chea remembered something he had learned in school.

“When I was in the third grade, one of my friends was struggling in school. The teacher asked each student to pray for him,” he recalls. “As we prayed, his grades improved, and at the end of the year he passed his final exams. It was a miracle of God!”

With his family facing financial difficulties and his graduation in jeopardy, Sok Chea turned to God again. “I found a quiet place and prayed alone day and night to Jesus Christ, asking Him to have mercy on us and help my family.” God heard Sok Chea’s prayer. Customers began flocking to buy his sister’s food at the market. As her sales picked up, Sok Chea returned to CPAS, and by God’s grace he will graduate later this year.

Now, though, Sok Chea has a new prayer request. “I wish to continue my studies,” he shares. “And I want to go to a school that will teach God’s Word, in particular. I want to learn more about Him and get to know Him better. Please pray for me in this plan, and continue to pray for my family, too.”

Over the years, we have seen promising students like Sok Chea come to our schools hopeless, with no aspirations, and leave full of faith in Jesus. We also know the impact of poverty on their lives and how difficult it is for them to maintain their newfound Christian faith in their Buddhist communities. Spirit-filled ASAP teachers, clothed with “… compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” (Col. 3:12, NRSV), are often the decisive influence in these young people’s decisions for Christ.

We pray for and value each of the 5,000 children in the nearly 100 schools that ASAP supports. God sees each one, and Matthew 10:29-31 reveals the Father’s compassionate heart towards His precious children. “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows” (KJV).

We know the mountain-sized responsibility of supporting so many students is one that only God can provide for. During our fiscal year-end Compassion Campaign , we ask you to commit a special gift to three key projects helping these children and their families. Already God has blessed this campaign with $100,000 in matching gifts toward our $200,000 goal! Thank you for adding your love gifts and prayers to the Compassion Campaign.

An F-150 and a Thunderstorm

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

An F-150 and a Thunderstorm

BY PR. LISA ISENSEE

This past August, ASAP volunteer ambassador, Lesa Budd, my 11-year-old daughter Victoria, and I set off on a seven-state ASAP awareness tour. It all started out smoothly, God blessing amazingly. However, things took an abrupt turn when our van broke down in 100-degree heat near Yates Center, Kansas. That’s when God sent Leon Weber home early from work.

Not long after we pulled off the interstate, Leon pulled over ready to help. Realizing that we couldn’t drive farther, and concerned about the dangerous afternoon heat, Leon called his wife, Mary. “Babe, can you bring our pickup out here so these ladies can sit in the air conditioning?”

A few minutes later, Mary pulled up in their 2019 Ford F-150. We got inside, then spent hours finding a tow truck and mechanic. Now what we really needed was a rental car. “You won’t find anything until Topeka,” Leon informed us. “But tell you what…” A silent communication passed between Mary and Leon. “You can take our vehicle.” I was overwhelmed. “We’ll get a rental and bring yours right back,” I promised. But that was not what they had in mind. “No need. You just use this vehicle for the rest of your trip,” they insisted.

Touched by the kindness of this Catholic couple to total strangers like us, we wondered how we could show our gratitude. Before we left, Lesa asked, “Leon, how can we pray for you?” He thought for a second. “The farmers in Eastern Kansas really need rain.” Bowing our heads, Lesa led in a beautiful prayer, trusting God to bless Leon and Mary as they had blessed us.

Our faith strengthened in the midst of difficulty, we continued our journey, praising and thanking God. Yet as we drove along, Lesa’s voice rose periodically from the passenger seat, confident as she prayed, “Lord, there’s only heat in the forecast, but we know You can send rain.”

The next morning, I awoke early. Yawning, I spotted Lesa under the covers with her phone. “Hey, look at this!” she exclaimed.

Across all of eastern Kansas, the weather had entirely changed. It was a miracle! Within hours, rain began to pour from the heavens.

It took six days to fix our broken-down van. While waiting, we’d driven the Weber’s truck about 500 miles, owing $250 for mileage alone, I figured. But Leon and Mary refused to accept any talk of money. So, instead, we took them to supper to say thank you.

Near the end of the meal, Leon leaned across the table, and grinned. “What did you think about the rain!? Can you believe it?”

“Leon and Mary,” Lesa replied, “God did that for you.”

As we talked, we learned that a beloved priest from Burma (Myanmar) had once served in Leon and Mary’s parish for many years. So, they already had a connection with Southeast Asia. Before we parted, they pressed something toward me. “We want to help with your mission,” they explained. It was a check for $250.

Patience and Providence Produce Fruit

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Patience and Providence Produce Fruit

BY WILLIAM AND RACHEL CHEN

“Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm…” (James 5:7-8, NIV).

The Covid-19 pandemic has presented many challenges for our evangelism among the Chinese in Houston, Texas. In the beginning, we waited for the city to reopen, but as month after month dragged by it seemingly became only more impossible to reach those in our community. We prayed and prayed, asking God to open a new door for us, a way we could meet safely and comfortably.

In March 2021, our neighbor Mrs. Lin told us that after the pandemic began her grandchildren had stopped their English classes. She wanted them to continue but the family was understandably worried about Covid-19. Right at the same time, Julie Griswold of Reach the World Next Door invited us to join an online Adventurer program by Zoom. We were sure it would be an excellent opportunity to reach out to some Chinese families. Soon we invited Mrs. Lin to bring her grandchildren to the online children’s programs. Then we called every other family we could think of and invited them, too.

To make the Zoom meetings extra special, we distributed the supplies for the online classes beforehand, which allowed us to give a second invitation to the families. Finally, it was time for our first program. Only seven children attended, but we were so excited because we could tell they loved it.

Since that first meeting, the children have learned about safety skills, ladybugs, courtesy, handicrafts, and the seasons. We were even happier when we saw the parents join in singing the songs with us and listening to many Bible stories, such as Joseph’s forgiveness and Esther’s boldness.

We certainly did not do this on our own! By God’s grace, several local church members have helped with the web-based Adventurers club, which has now increased to 27 children representing 15 local Chinese families. However, we knew we needed to move past meeting online only, so last December we invited the families to come to the Griswold’s home for a Chinese Pathfinders investiture program. The weather was going to be very cold. Would they come? We were thrilled to have 40 participants attend. Parents, grandparents, and children huddled on the ground learning a new skill – how to start a fire just with a knife and flint. The kids helped collect dry leaves to feed the fire. They were also the best cheerleaders. Then the Griswold family shared the story of Jesus Christ and Christmas. One of the visitors translated it into Mandarin. Everyone enjoyed the time together. We were excited when they all signed up for our new children’s church program.

After the meeting, Tina and Cindy, two parents of some of our Adventurers, were talking with Julie. They told her they would like to study the Bible and grow in Jesus. Praise the Lord! We are so happy. Now, every Thursday night, Tina, Cindy and I (Rachel) are studying the Bible together.

We can’t wait to start our monthly children’s worship program at Houston International Seventh-day Adventist Church. It will be the next step in guiding these families to Jesus. Please uplift these plans in prayer, asking the Lord to guide us and open the hearts of these friends and neighbors.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9 NIV).

The French Fry Beetles

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

The French Fry Beetles

BY RUTH BRADBURN

“Would you like to try a bug?” The translator held out a shiny black beetle, oil glistening on its spindly legs. “It tastes just like French fries!”

We were interviewing students at one of ASAP’s schools in Cambodia when, during a break, our translator offered to take us to visit the home of Sor Rueb, one of the school’s students. In a tiny, three-sided bamboo shack located right behind the school’s back wall we met Mr. and Mrs. Rueb, a hard-working couple with three children. Their two oldest children were students at the school, and the translator visited them often.

Mrs. Rueb showed us her husband’s latest catch as the translator explained that the family is very poor. To provide for the family Mr. Rueb wakes up while it’s still dark and travels many miles along bumpy roads on a borrowed motorbike, balancing a five-gallon bucket between his knees. He is in search of black water beetles, considered a delicacy in Cambodia, which reside in remote rivers and lakes. Using a handmade wooden net, he scoops the bugs out of the water to catch them in his bucket. It’s extremely hard work. At home, Mrs. Rueb deep-fries the insects in oil, scoops them up two cups at a time into small plastic bags, and sells them for a dollar each. The kids at the school love to eat the oily treats as a snack. We watched several of them eagerly crunching away through the tough exoskeletons like they were sunflower seeds!

Looking at the swimming, shimmering, mass of live beetles filling the five-gallon bucket, our insides began to feel a little squirmy. We couldn’t imagine the courage it takes to wade through murky streams, sifting through mud and leaves to catch the insects, some of which can give you a painful bite! It was humbling to witness the sacrifices this family makes continually to ensure their children have access to a Christian education.

Sor Rueb, the eldest daughter of the Rueb family, is 10 years old and in fourth grade at the school. Sor loves coming to church and learning about Jesus and the Bible in school. One day she wants to be an English teacher, because she wants to help people communicate with foreigners.

When Sor was in second grade, she began to suffer from diabetes. The whole church began praying for her, and she had to make several trips to the hospital in Siem Riep. This was very expensive, especially for her family. When we met Sor’s parents they were praising God that their daughter had been healed about six months ago and continues to be well. Now that they have learned more about the health message, Sor has been careful to avoid eating certain foods so she can be healthier and make sure the diabetes doesn’t come back.

Like many other students at her school, Sor is able to enjoy a Christian education thanks in part to the sponsorship of donors like you! Her parents rely on the scholarship she recieves to cover the remaining cost of tuition that they are unable to pay. Each time you sponsor a student at one of ASAP’s schools, you help children like Sor to learn more about Jesus.

As the translator purchased a bag of beetles and continued offering them to our group, the adventurous among us decided it would be polite to at least try one little crunchy nibble. Although we wouldn’t advise consuming deep fried water beetles as part of a health-conscious diet, we can confirm that they do, indeed, taste like French fries.

The YouTube Miracle

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

The YouTube Miracle

AS TOLD TO JULIA O'CAREY by Nelson,* a new ASAP church planter in a closed country.

Is the God of the Bible really the true God? Does He really answer prayers? It was eleven o’clock one night when I finally knew in my heart that the answers to my questions were a resounding YES!

It all started with a phone call, “Nelson,* come quick! Something is wrong with my mom!” It was my cousin, Pete,* on the other line. I quickly got dressed and rushed to his home on the other side of our village. As I ran along the moonlit path, I worried that we may need to take Auntie back to the hospital due to a complication from her recent appendectomy.

Right when I entered the house, I knew her appendix was not the problem. It was something else just as serious. Auntie’s eyes were fluttering and rolling back in her head as she muttered to herself, “Someone is walking around our house,” she repeated with fear on her face. I knew it was the spirits. Were they angry that the pastors had come and burned the idols in our homes a few days ago? I felt certain they were. But the pastors were not here now.

“What are we going to do?” Pete whispered to me. “Let’s call all our relatives who made a stand to be Christians,” I said with God-given confidence. Within minutes Auntie’s room filled up with men and women ready to stand against the powers of darkness. You should know that we all were baby Christians. We didn’t know how to pray. In the past, we had only witnessed the pastors pray twice when they cast the demons out of two other aunties of mine.

In desperation, I quickly searched “How Christians Pray” on YouTube and watched the first video that came up. I calmly told my relatives, “We believe God is a powerful God, don’t we? Let’s follow these instructions and see what happens.” I am not a talkative person but I lifted my voice to God. “I pray in your name, Jesus, that you free my auntie of the evil spirit in her. You are the Creator of Heaven and Earth. There is nothing too hard for you.” Other relatives also said simple prayers from their hearts. God honored our mustard-seed faith and within minutes my auntie was set free from Satan’s grasp!

Her eyes now shone with peace. Her speech returned to normal. She smiled and so did we. I quietly walked home that night, meditating on the miracle. Before I went to bed, I opened the Bible and felt the love of God come right out of the pages and into my heart. I knew that my family had chosen the right path and in that moment I committed to follow Jesus the rest of my life.

* Pseudonym

ASAP Launches a Landmark Project

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

ASAP Launches a Landmark Project

BY DARRYL HOSFORD, INTERNATIONAL FIELD DIRECTOR

I once traveled across Myanmar at highway speed for over eight hours without passing any Seventh-day Adventist churches or church members. In fact, along that route, I did not pass one church of any Christian denomination, or even a single Christian. Vast throngs of people in Southeast Asia have no clue what the message of the gospel means or how it could benefit their lives!

The majority of Southeast Asians are adherents of Buddhism, a world religion with a very different perspective, or worldview, from Christianity. To effectively communicate with someone of a different worldview, you must first understand their worldview, then tailor your message in a way that helps them comprehend your worldview.

A few years ago, I visited the headquarters of the local Adventist mission in one Southeast Asian country. When I asked to see the Bible study resources they had to offer seekers, I was shown a collection of what looked like 1950s-era Bible studies from a well-known ministry. They had been translated word-for-word from English into the official language of that country. While these old lessons had good content, they were not written for the Buddhist mindset, but rather the Western worldview.

ASAP Ministries believes that an entirely new series of Bible study lessons is needed to introduce Buddhists to Jesus Christ. We have made this one of our key initiatives for 2024. Pastor Scott Griswold, who has a long history and vast experience with the Buddhist worldview, is leading the development of this new series. The lessons will have an attractive design and be engaging and easy to use. They will be translated into eight major languages—Burmese, English, Hmong, Karen, Khmer, Lao, Thai, and Vietnamese—and made widely available in both print and digital formats.

It is no easy task to produce Bible study lessons that can bridge the gap between very different worldviews, but ASAP is committed to helping the people of Southeast Asia know Jesus. We have intentionally chosen to focus on this part of the 10/40 Window not because it is easy, but because it is difficult. The conversion rate from Buddhism to Christianity is very low, the laborers are few, and resources are shrinking, as certain divisions of the world church withdraw mission funding. (As I write this article, the president of the Adventist mission in one country just informed me that their entire budget has just been cut by 25%.)

Despite these challenges, we aim to publish this new Bible study series by the end of the year. This is a major undertaking, and there are many ways for you to get involved. Would you pray for the writing, translation, field testing, and production of these lessons? Would you like to fund the work of producing the series for an entire language group or come help us behind the scenes as we film the presentations on location in Southeast Asia? Please consider partnering with ASAP Ministries to share the good news about Jesus with the people of Southeast Asia so that one day soon, they can stand on the sea of glass, giving honor and glory to the King of kings and Lord of lords!

Charity Navigator Awards ASAP 4-Star Rating

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Charity Navigator Awards ASAP 4-Star Rating

ASAP Ministries has once again received a 4–star rating from Charity Navigator , one of the largest and most trusted independent evaluators of non–profit organizations in the United States. Based on an assessment of financial health, transparency, and accountability, the 4–star rating is the highest possible and signifies that ASAP exceeds industry standards, outperforming most non–profit organizations in its class. Our dedicated staff and volunteers take stewardship very seriously, always striving to maximize the resources God provides for use in spreading the gospel to the unreached, poor, persecuted, and refugees of the 10/40 Window. We give God the glory for this award!

Please visit the following links for more information:

Letter from Charity Navigator

Certificate of 4-Star Rating

Love and Liberation for Lukewarm Laodicea

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Love and Liberation for Lukewarm Laodicea

Increase your understanding of preparing to be an end-time disciple by studying the message to the Laodicean church either personally or as a small group. Click here to view the study guide, "Love and Liberation for Lukewarm Laodicea."

I Dreamed the Oceans Dried Up

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

I Dreamed the Oceans Dried Up

One night I dreamed a long, long dream. My sleep was terribly fitful. The wind blew strong and never stopped until it dried up all the oceans. In my dream, life just went on. We went to work and the children went off to school as if nothing had changed. But something had changed. India and Africa had suddenly become our neighbors. There was nothing between them and us any more.

I did not understand, until I saw her face. I saw her as I left my half-eaten plate to get desert at the buffet. She pressed her little face against the restaurant’s window, staring, eyes wide. Was she a child? Her face was so taunt, her bones so frail, like something from last night’s news. I grabbed an apple and hurried out to find her, but she was already around the corner, drawn by the excited cries of other waifs who were excitedly crawling in and out of the restaurant’s dumpster. The older ones hoisted up their treasures to share with their little brothers and sisters. A pizza crust, a melon rind, a fist of mashed potatoes.

I stared, unable to move, then finally turned in a daze and wandered down the street. The mall was right across the way, but what was that out front? The water fountain had become a water park. Children were swimming and splashing. Mothers were bathing. The joy, the laughter bubbled up and flowed out towards me. It was like they’d never seen running water. Maybe they hadn’t. But what was that? Men were gathering all they could into bottles and cartons. Where were they taking it? Had they come from drought-stricken countries, where water for drinking, cooking, or bathing came from a single well miles away? Were they afraid this too might dry up soon?

I passed them slowly, trying to comprehend what their lives might have been like. Then I walked into the mall. There I saw a crowd, a growing crowd, of men and women, children too, rags covering their bony ribs. They seemed as dazed as I, wandering in and out of stores, clerks stared, too shocked to know what to do.

I stumbled into a bent over grandma. She was gazing into a store filled with rows of books. I mumbled an apology and tried to move on. Then I stopped to look again. Was that a look of longing in her tired eyes? Had she never learned to read? Did she feel that life had passed her by?

Nearby a man gazed, transfixed by a huge television proudly displayed at the front of an electronics store. He reached his thin arm to touch the screen as if he thought the images were real. The picture was so clear. The sound was so perfect. I guessed the price tag made no sense to him. Had he ever seen that much? Ever made that much even in four or five years. I watched him slowly, stiffly lower his body to the ground. His eyes never left the many wonders on the screen.

I dropped myself on a bench. I stared at the man while he stared at the television. Why him and not me? Was I more clever at business? More industrious in my trade? Or was it simply where he and I happened to be born. I’d never thought such thoughts. My mind began to ache. I closed my eyes and covered my face with my hands. I too felt weary. I longed to sleep and have it all go away. Is that how they felt too?

But what was that shuffling sound? I opened my eyes and searched. Behind the bench a woman moved herself slowly across the ground. She stretched her hands forward, then pulled herself up, then dragged her feet close. Like an inchworm she was working her way towards the popcorn stand.

Was it polio that had maimed those legs? Polio had been gone from my country for years. Was there no clinic in her village to immunize her as a girl? And what was she doing? I saw her finally reach the stand and realized the object of her effort. She stuffed the popcorn into her mouth that had fallen to the ground. I fumbled for change in my pocket. I wanted to get her a fresh, clean bag. But my pajamas had no pockets. My money was at home. Was this a dream? A nightmare? Or was it real?

Again, I covered my face. Sobs shook my body and then I woke up. My pillow was wet with tears, but it was just a dream. The oceans had not dried up after all. Or had they? Were these precious people now my nearby neighbors? Were their heartaches now my concerns? Only the new day would show if I was truly awake.

God Had Answered Her Prayer

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

God Had Answered Her Prayer

My name is Chhoem Sarom. I am a 55-year-old woman. My son’s name is Oeng Sokha, age 13.

Before I believed in God, I faced many difficulties in my life. I was poor and homeless. I tried to survive by selling water greens that I would gather from a nearby lake. Sometimes I was so sick that I couldn’t even get up, and I felt that I wanted to kill myself [because I had AIDS].

One day I managed to get up and walk to the lake to pick water greens and other vegetables to sell to buy some food to eat with my son. As I was stooping over and picking the greens, I happened to turn my head and noticed that a lady was stopping to see me. I walked out from the lake and went over to her. She asked, “Did you find very many vegetables today?” I said, “No, because too many people have been here picking already. I have only about two kilograms. If I sell them, I’ll probably be paid about fifty cents.” She invited me to sit under a tree and told me about God. She opened the Bible to show me about God’s love and how He will always care for those who follow and trust Him and pray to Him. When we ask Him, He will answer and provide what we need for each day.

I listened to her, but my heart didn’t accept what she said. When she finished talking to me, she asked me to pray with her, so I bowed down like she did. She prayed for me like this: “O Lord, please forgive Chhoem Sarom’s sins, and please provide food for her and her son.” Then she said good-bye. Her name was Seng Sopheak.

I went to the lake again and walked out a little deeper into the water. Wow! I saw water greens and other vegetables that no one else had come to pick yet. I picked them quickly – a total of about 7 kilograms. I thought, “This has happened because that lady just prayed that little prayer for me.”

The next day I needed to go to meet her and tell her about what happened after she prayed. I was eager to tell her I will worship her God with her. From that day on, I have accepted Jesus as my Savior. Later, God blessed me by calling me to stay with Seng Sopheak at the Sda Center.

God is great. If I didn’t have Him, my son and I would still be facing our former troubles, and then I would die forever. But now, by God’s love, He helps me with food to eat and a place to stay, thanks to the ASAP organization. I thank God so much that He always pities and helps us. I am also thankful to ASAP and pray for them to have good health and strength for spreading the good news by helping poor people like my son and me.

-Chhoem Sarom

Two Reports on Our ASAP Mission Trip

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Two Reports on Our ASAP Mission Trip

By Janelle Cuthbert

Only four weeks before the departure date, an email invitation came through my inbox to join a mission trip to Myanmar. I had been praying for an opportunity to travel to a new country and to do something that would remind me of why I love and serve God. He provided an opportunity. I didn’t really know what we would be doing and had no idea where in the country we would be going. I didn’t even know anyone on the trip. What I experienced has encouraged me, lifted my spirit, and refocused me on the purpose to which God has called each one of us.

Primarily the trip was for three purposes: to provide some medical, dental, and optical work to those who cannot afford it, to provide training and encouragement to the workers that ASAP supports, and to support an evangelistic campaign. God completed the work! It reminded me of the early Christian church in Acts. We witnessed a tiny piece of the explosion.

Each morning there was training for the workers on various topics: health, spiritual, and discipleship. The doctors and dentists would see many patients each day, helping the best they could with tooth extractions, advice on lifestyle, and even sending people directly to the hospital.

Each evening Pastor Scott preached the word of God. Over 200 people would attend the meetings from the surrounding areas. They all became our new friends. Before the sermon, there was a concert of praise. God has given the people of Myanmar the ability to sing with their whole heart and soul. Then Doctor Moskala would teach about health with his loving, evangelistic heart. At the end of Pastor Scott’s sermon, he would make an appeal and each night many people came forward for special prayer or commitments to Christ.

Members, medical missionaries, and church planters had worked hard to reach out. On the final Sabbath 52 people were baptized. They went to a beach by a river and their joy was so beautiful! I will never forget it. The needs in Myanmar are enormous with its strong Buddhist culture and changes in the political system. The church work is growing but it needs our prayer and support.

By Jennifer Espinoza-Ruiz

It was my very first time working with children and I loved the experience. The children were so excited to have us; we were able to teach them more about God and how to take care of their health. I was amazed how the teachers were so committed. Even though they only earned $70 a month, half of what they earned went to buy materials for the school.

I have been beyond blessed on this mission trip; God filled me with so much happiness as I spoke to others about the wonderful God we serve. I remember the first Sabbath I arrived, I was asked to preach to a village that was 30 minutes away from Taungoo. As I sat in the back of the truck, I couldn’t help but smile and thank God for giving me such a wonderful opportunity. Even though the wind was messing up my hair and dust was all over my face and clothes, I couldn’t stop smiling. I was extremely happy that I had accepted the invitation God gave me. That Sabbath became the best Sabbath of my life.

I had the privilege of getting to know several bible workers, some of which were very discouraged for they had lost their families because they didn’t agree with their faith in God. I praise God for giving me the words to encourage them and pray for them. This whole experience made me think of how much work there is to be done and very few workers willing to help.

Refuge and Relief

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Refuge and Relief

BY BILL WELLS & BRENDA KIŠ

It is February 2014 in Pakistan. Mr. and Mrs. Mazari* have been anxiously exploring ways to escape the persecution their family has faced because of their Christian faith. Today is the day. They, their two sons, and two daughters make their way to Bangkok, Thailand, where they hope to find refuge and relief. Instead new hardships await.

After nearly a year of living in Bangkok, the older son and his mother are caught and placed in detention. Even though they are registered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), they are now caught up in Thailand’s recent crackdown on asylum seekers in its urban centers. Immigration raids and detention create fear and send refugee families into hiding.

Four years later, the son is still detained. His mother has been released on bail and then put in detention again in October 2018. Though the family expects to be resettled in Canada soon, they have serious needs. Unable to work, they cannot support themselves, buy food, or access healthcare services. Enter BRAP.

ASAP’s new Bangkok Refugee Assistance Project (BRAP) was established specifically to help families like the Mazaris. Since September 2018, BRAP has been providing the Mazari family with basic food support, monthly rental assistance until their resettlement, guidance in obtaining medical check-ups and health education, and seeking ways to reunite the family before they transition to Canada. The older daughter has expressed on several occasions how vital BRAP’s assistance is and how much they appreciate the support, prayers, and ministry of this project.

Begun as a cooperative with another Adventist organization, BRAP is meeting the urgent physical needs of people in distress. Bi-weekly food rations, housing support, and clothing allow recipients to survive with some dignity. Medical staff from local Adventist churches offer assistance for health needs with funding from BRAP. School-age children are sponsored so they can continue their education while they await the next step in their journey to freedom. In addition, BRAP offers a financial subsidy for passport renewal and immigration-related legal fees. Most importantly, BRAP provides spiritual support and Bible studies to these beleaguered families. BRAP’s principle of disinterested benevolence means that there is no discrimination of persons or conditions to receive service.

Atif* is the adult son of Papa Sayed* and Mama Soraya,* who are very close to the Adventist church community in Bangkok. They, too, fled Pakistan, seeking refuge. Both parents received refugee status and retirement visas in order to stay legally in Thailand. However, Atif and his family were not so fortunate. With no visa or UNHCR Refugee Status Certificate, they have struggled to find a way forward. Atif left his country with a strong constitution. But recently he has been struggling with a health issue that causes anemia. Part of the problem relates to his poverty-stricken diet. BRAP has provided a variety of nutritious foods to help treat his anemia and blood loss. In addition, BRAP is exploring the possibility of a medical procedure or blood transfusion for him.

One of Atif’s daughters, Maryam, is able to attend an Adventist school, thanks to BRAP. During the immigration crackdown, she could not go to school for more than a month for fear of being caught. She missed her friends, teachers, and opportunities to learn. During her time of hiding, a teacher and the BRAP coordinator visited the family regularly, bringing with them all that Maryam needed in order to continue studying at home. The teachers and principal collected food items and an envelope of money to give to the family while they patiently waited for a safe way to resume taking Maryam to school. Finally, as of December, she was back in the classroom, diligently studying to stay caught up.

As we reflect on the last few months, it is with great joy that ASAP Ministries sees God’s goodness in an outpouring of support for the BRAP initiative. Many families have been helped through a most trying time thanks to ASAP donors. And because of BRAP’s outreach, its influence continues to grow. Community Bible-study groups serving Pakistanis are meeting regularly in two refugee-dense areas. Thank you for praying for these refugees and the ministry of BRAP!

*Pseudonym

Quarters for Secret DVDs

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Quarters for Secret DVDs

BY LISA ISENSEE

It was Thursday morning at Wisconsin campmeeting and I had been telling mission stories every morning at the Primary tent. I started telling my very favorite, a miracle story that involves secret DVDs in a closed country in Asia. I told them how a church member was impressed to bring a secret DVD to the marketplace and then I asked, “How many of you have ever had a quarter?” Every hand shot up around the tent! Then I told them, “Do you know, you can make an eternal difference with just one quarter. That is what it costs to print a secret sermon DVD for this closed country!”

At that moment Maddy, her blue eyes shining, shot both hands up into the air. She was clutching a quarter in each hand. “I have two quarters right now. I want to give them for secret DVDs!” I hadn’t been expecting an immediate response, but I took those two quarters, put them in my pocket, and continued the story. I was touched by Maddy’s unprompted gift, but little did I know that with those two quarters she had started a movement of mission giving.

That afternoon a boy came rushing across the grass towards me, “Pastor Lisa! Pastor Lisa! I have a quarter for secret DVDs, too!” Later two curly-haired brothers, Moriah and Micah, found me and exclaimed, “We have quarters for DVDs!” But that was only the start of their giving. Their grandmother later told me how excited and busy they were looking for ways to earn more quarters at campmeeting!

Friday morning before I started my story, I reached into my pocket and brought out the growing collection of jangling coins. “Look at how many secret DVDs we can buy now!” Later that morning two more girls found me and gave. Then a brother with two little sisters eager to get in on the giving. The kids kept coming.

By Sabbath morning when I stood up to talk, I had quite a pocketful of money. But then it happened. Before I’d even begun to speak, children from all over the tent spontaneously stood and began to walk towards me. About two dozen smiling children came, pressing quarter after quarter, and even some bills into my hands. I left with a heart full of joy in these mission-minded children and now two pockets full of money. By that evening I had $50.50, enough to purchase 202 DVDs. Before I left, one little girl, her brown eyes sparkling, promised, “I’m going to save money this year for secret DVDs. I’m going to save until my bank is stuffed to the top!”

Talent for God

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Talent for God

BY JULIA O'CAREY

You could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium at Camp Wagner, in Cassopolis, Michigan. The second Karen Seventh-day Adventist Youth Camp, themed “Talent for God,” took place July 17-20, 2019, and drew 450+ young Karen refugees from all over the United States. They listened intently as Doh Htoo, an 18-year-old student at Sunnydale Adventist Academy, courageously shared his testimony.

“At the beginning of the year I asked God what I should do this summer. He impressed me to join a canvassing team. I wanted to grow in faith, but I knew it wouldn’t be easy. On the very first day of canvassing I didn’t sell any books but I was still hopeful and happy to be there. Other days I managed to sell some books, and even in bad weather, I willingly went out with the team.

“One dark Friday morning, while canvassing in Des Moines, Iowa, every door I knocked on was answered by unfriendly people. Though they cursed and yelled at me, I prayed for them and kept going. But after a while all the rejections took a toll. Tears started running down my cheeks. ‘Lord, I can’t do this by myself. Give me the strength to get through the day.’

“I knocked on another door and a big, six-foot-two-inch man answered. The moment he saw me, he started yelling and swearing. He got so angry, he swung his fist and hit me in the chest and shoulder. I tried to shield myself with the books, but they came back and hit my face. A lady across the street saw us and yelled, ‘Hey, what are you doing? He’s just a kid!’ She called out, ‘Come here, sweetheart. Are you okay?’ She invited me into her home but it turned out that she was a staunch atheist. When she learned that I am a Christian, she angrily kicked me out. As I rushed out, I cried, ‘Lord, I don’t understand! I need a break.’

“I started walking straight ahead with my eyes closed but when I opened them, I was in someone’s driveway. I hadn’t made any turns, so I knew God had led me there. I mustered the courage to climb the long staircase to the house, which had a ‘No soliciting’ sign. I knocked on the door and rang the doorbell. No one answered. This happened over and over, but I could hear someone inside. The ninth time, a gray-haired lady opened the door and asked, “What are you doing here? It’s not a good time. I don’t want to buy anything from you.” As I introduced myself and started the canvass she became angry and told me to leave. Her face was stern but there were tears in her eyes. I calmly turned to leave, but when I looked back she was crying.

“‘Lord what do you want me to do?’ I asked. ‘Go back,’ He said.

“To make a long story short, God used me to reach this 65-year-old widow who had isolated herself for 15 years since her husband’s death. I was her first visitor. She needed God’s love and she found it that day. I gave her some books and after that I ended up selling all the books in my bag. These experiences grew my faith and my love for serving Jesus. After I graduate from academy, I plan to study theology.”

During the week, other Karen youth also related their powerful testimonies of how Jesus called them to be missionaries. Fourteen Karen young people told of their recent mission trip to Thailand led by Pr. Jimmy Shwe and his wife Jiap, where they shared the love of Jesus with students at the ASAP-supported Naung Bo Den School. Jasmine Moo, a recent graduate of Hartland College, passionately shared her call to Mae Ra Moe Refugee Camp in Thailand as ASAP’s first Karen student missionary. She is eager to use her training as a teacher to benefit her people.

Throughout the event, the presentations, testimonies, united prayer sessions, and seminars on trauma, relationships, health, ministry, social media, faith and prayer communicated a powerful, unified message to these young refugees: they are loved, redeemed, called, and gifted with talents to be used in service to God. He has called them to be lights in their broken communities. Yet they face myriad challenges. Some feel pressured to work to support their families instead of getting an education. Others deal with social pressures and the temptations of materialism and media. Please pray for them, especially the large group that stood during guest speaker Kyle Allen’s appeal to get baptized, rebaptized, or become a missionary.

Special thanks to Trudi Starlin, ASAP board member, for the many tireless hours she invested in coordinating this event. Thanks also to Adventist Refugee & Immigrant Ministries and ASAP donors for joining with the sacrificial efforts of the young people to financially support this event. And we praise God for how He is using Pr. Jimmy Shwe to mentor and lead Karen youth in the right direction.

Meeting Jesus in Samraong

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Meeting Jesus in Samraong

BY JULIA O’CAREY

Recently, a small committed team from America and Canada partnered with the ASAP-sponsored Samraong Adventist School to represent Jesus to a Buddhist community. They chose to hold public evangelistic meetings, something many think does not work among Buddhists. The teachers at the school were thrilled by the response.

Mission trip participants joined local church members to invite people in the city and countryside. On the first night they watched eagerly to see who would come. More than 150 children quickly showed up, but the adults trickled in slowly. ASAP board member Curtis Letniak had run all over with the local pastor, trying to find enough chairs. Some thought they had gotten way too many, but one hour after the stated starting time, nearly every seat was filled and the meetings officially began.

Pastor Nhean Thon Sovan, the health superintendent for Cambodian Adventist Mission, shared health messages that were relevant to those attending, including many whom he counseled that very day in a mini health clinic. Church members led Khmer praise songs and children from the school sang special music. Pastor Scott Griswold, who served with his family in Cambodia for six years, preached the sermons. “It was such a privilege to be the speaker,” he said. “I loved watching God use simple Bible stories and testimonies of Cambodians experiencing God’s power, to touch lives.” Each night Pastor Scott invited the people to come forward with prayer requests. Almost everyone came.

Meanwhile teachers and mission trip team members busily worked with 150 children. Julie Griswold organized a program using the same Bible stories as the adult meetings, with lots of activities to keep the children occupied. With the adult meetings running long, this was challenging! Still, the children did not want to leave when the program ended.

The adults, however, were exhausted since earlier in the day they had led a three-hour vacation Bible school for the children but the positive response from the open hearts of the children was a rich reward.

Four large groups of children rotated through stations where the two Julies, Julie Griswold and Julie Letniak, worked with others to share Bible teachings, play games, help them make crafts, and teach basic health principles. The children loved the fact that the Griswold’s and Letniak’s children, Josiah, Jonathan, and Kaitlyn, were very involved too.

When the meetings ended, the teachers were most excited by the fact that many of the students’ Buddhists parents and neighbors had attended. In these meetings, they had clearly seen that God cares about their whole lives, their family problems, their financial challenges, their health, and their eternal life. The love shown before the meetings had drawn many to attend. True compassion and helpfulness carried the message during the meetings. It will take ongoing love to secure these new interests in a solid relationship with God. Each part is important, and love is what made the difference.

A LIFE-CHANGING INVITATION

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

A LIFE-CHANGING INVITATION

BY PR. SCOTT & JULIE GRISWOLD

“We want to be missionaries someday,” I told the smiling lady we had just met. “We want to go where there are lots of people who don’t know Jesus,” we told her, “and where the people are really poor.” We were newly married and eager to serve. My wife Julie added, “And where there are lots and lots of children!”

“Let me tell you about Cambodia.” The stories poured out of Judy Aitken’s heart. We could imagine families tiptoeing through the jungles trying to avoid soldiers and landmines. Judy laid out pictures of refugee camps filled with thousands of hurting people hoping to come to America, afraid to return to their homeland. She spoke of her own privilege of caring for their desperate medical needs and helping volunteers teach them English and introduce them to God. As she spoke, the seed of love for Southeast Asia was planted in our hearts.

In just two months we met Judy again, at Julie’s graduation. On the steps of Pioneer Memorial Church, by the statue of John Andrews and his children staring off across the ocean to the mission field, she said, “We need someone in the Thailand refugee camps right now. Will you go?” Her passion, her prayers, and her invitation changed the course of our entire lives.

Within three months the refugee camps were no longer just pictures. We walked the dusty roads where Judy had served and hugged the laughing children. We met the leaders of churches that had sprung up in the wake of her labor and the service of others. We preached beside them and together tried to prepare the 300 new members in eight little bamboo churches to return to their country to plant the first Seventh-day Adventist churches around Cambodia.

Then, as the refugees returned to their country, we followed, moving to Phnom Penh. We learned their language and began to share God’s story with our precious Buddhist neighbors. It was the poorest of the poor who responded with the most enthusiasm. A tiny congregation we called the Water Lily Church grew in a nearby slum.

Every year, Judy Aitken would fly in to visit her “children,” the hundreds who called her “Mother Judy.” She would travel all over Cambodia with Dr. Mary Ann McNeilus and others, praying for God to lead her to one more missing church member who needed encouragement and connection. She regularly had divine appointments; she was always looking for someone who had enough leadership potential to start another house church. Then she would return to America to share the many stories of healing, freedom from spirits, and changed lives that inspired people to get involved, often giving funds to further extend God’s love. Judy always stopped to encourage us too, excited to see our growing family with Joelle, then Nathan and Rotha.

Time flew. We returned to the States, then moved to Thailand for ten years to work with Global Mission. Mother Judy kept going back and forth across the sea, still stopping to check in on us, and to meet our youngest son, Josiah.

When our daughter was ready for college, we knew it was time to once again return to America, but to do what? How could we leave the mission field? We visited Houston, Texas, and realized the mission field had truly moved right here. We felt God’s call to prepare a training kit to help church members reach out to immigrants, refugees, and international students. How could we find the finances to be able to spend the time working on it? Once again, it was Judy’s faith and vision that opened the door. “We don’t have the funds either,” she said, shaking her head. “But God does!” she added with that persistent smile of hers. That is how we came to work with ASAP Ministries for four years, and continue to do so now through the Reach the World Next Door program in Houston.

When Judy Aitken finally went to rest, hundreds came to her funeral and thousands more watched online. The tears fell, but our hearts were filled with joy. One life transformed by God impacted another, who in turn touched another. We are so thankful to be part of that ripple effect.

Streams of Light in 180+ Languages

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Streams of Light in 180+ Languages

BY SCOTT GRISWOLD

God is constantly working to get His message out in every language. A few years ago, He sent an energetic man to an ASAP booth in Southern California where he met me and took some MyLanguageMyLife.com cards.

As that man worked as a literature evangelist, he encountered many people who spoke other languages besides English. He loved to pull out those cards and have them listen to a radio or TV program in Arabic, Thai, or Spanish on their phones.

Years later, I got a call from someone named Oleg Lotca. “I’m with Streams of Light,” he said. “We want to place a Great Controversy in every home in North America by 2026. Every chapter has QR codes to link to audio and video resources.”

It struck me as a very ambitious and important project, but what about those who do not understand English?

Oleg continued, “We’d like you to make an advertisement for MyLanguageMyLife.com to put in the back of the book.”

“How did you know about our website?” I excitedly asked.

“I’ve been using it all over North America,” he said. He was that literature evangelist who had taken some of my cards all those years ago and now God had called him to a huge mission. Several hundred thousand books had already been distributed house-to-house across America and MyLanguageMyLife.com had been right there with them.

Recently Oleg brought his Streams of Light team to Texas to partner with churches across the conference to distribute Great Controversy books. The RWND team joined them in Houston and then in Rosharon with our church plant. More than 24,000 books were passed out and over 300 Bible study interests were secured.

Afterwards, their team came to our home for strategic planning. Johnny Henderson, Streams of Light Director of Evangelism and Outreach, said, “MLML has broken down the barrier of being unable to meet with people because we don’t have physical material in their languages. Now the door is wide open, whether they are Hindu or Spanish.”

“For church members,” he continued, “It overcomes their feeling that we can’t reach people of other languages and cultures.”

Warren, their director of logistics & spiritual affairs, excitedly told me, “At the Pine Forest Garden Restaurant I was able to open my phone and show MyLanguageMyLife.com to three Chinese ladies and the bus boy! Then along came a man from Persia, and, just like that, five people got to see the Jesus story and all these other great links!”

Oleg added, “I met a man from Iran who couldn’t understand what I was saying. I opened the book, scanned the QR code on the MyLanguageMyLife.com page and started playing AWR in Farsi. His wife excitedly came over as soon as she heard her language and when I started to shut it off, she said, ‘No, wait a minute. I want to listen longer!’ She even signed up for Bible studies.”

We are excited to see MyLanguageMyLife.com and streamsoflight.net being used together to reach the unreached. I hope you will visit streamsoflight.net to learn how you can get your church involved in getting this excellent book out to your communities. Take a moment also to look at MyLanguageMyLife.com and watch for those people who can be blessed by the Gospel in over 180 languages.

Day of Prayer and Fasting

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Day of Prayer and Fasting

Sabbath, July 2, 2016 is the world church’s Day of Prayer and Fasting.

The theme for the third quarter is “Praying for the World Next Door.”

Visit the link below to download a complete packet that will get you started praying for people from other nations who have come to America and learn how to begin reaching out.

Download the "Day of Prayer and Fasting" packet (PDF)

Honey Mission Laos

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Honey Mission Laos

Chris and Jessica just got married on August 23, 2015. They decided to skip having a wedding registry and raised $15,000 for a church in Laos instead. Then, instead of a honeymoon, they made it a "honey mission" with a three-week trip to Laos! Read their special experience and be inspired to find a way to change the world through your own creative ideas.

Honey Mission Laos blog

Remembering Judy Aitken, ASAP Founder

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Remembering Judy Aitken, ASAP Founder

Dear ASAP Family,

My dear mother, Judy Aitken, peacefully fell asleep in Jesus on the morning of December 10, while holding the hands of my sister and me at her home in Michigan. Through the past year’s struggle with cancer, the Lord answered her prayers for a clear mind to communicate with Him up until the day of her passing. In addition, she continued living a quality life to the end, dedicated to ASAP and to the ministry of others.

A humble, compassionate spiritual giant, my mother and her passion for missions will be missed by us all. While her life is characterized by missions and advocacy on behalf of others, she will best be remembered as a mighty prayer warrior who dedicated her life to lifting up Jesus in service to others. Through ASAP Ministries, the mission she founded in 1995, she leaves a beautiful inheritance and charge for each one of us. For those of you who are new to ASAP, you can read more about her life, dedicated to missions on the Meet the Founder page of our website.

Already, I feel the love and comfort of Jesus through the spiritual and emotional support from many of you, our dear friends and family of God. Thank you! May I encourage you with these words, because I know she was a spiritual mom to many of you. “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also,” (John 14:1-3). Together, we look forward to reuniting with her in heaven.

A funeral service in celebration of a life lived for Jesus was held at Pioneer Memorial Church in Berrien Springs, Michigan on December 21, 2018. You can view it here or on our Facebook page .

Per my mother’s wishes, in lieu of flowers, we invite you to give in memory of “Mother Judy” here .

With Gratitude,

Julia O’Carey, Director
ASAP Ministries, Inc.

End-Time Disciples Lessons and Picture Book

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

End-Time Disciples Lessons and Picture Book

JUST RELEASED: The End-Time Disciples lessons and picture book

These resources were specifically designed to help teach refugees, international students (and those who may not read at all) the important truths of bible prophecy, critical for these last days.

To download these resources, visit our Disciple-Making page.

Education: Build a Future Now

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Education: Build a Future Now

BY SCOTT GRISWOLD

My wife Julie asked the circle of Cambodian mothers, “If you had an extra $50, what would you do with it?” Immediately a lady answered, “I would put my girl in school.” She knew the huge value of education to help her daughter have a better future.

Even though government education is free, this mother could not spare the money for school supplies or the tutoring the teacher would require before her daughter could pass the tests. She could not afford to spare a big sister who could watch the smaller children at home while she worked in the market.

That girl, who had to watch other children go off to school in their blue and white uniforms, is why ASAP Ministries is involved in education. Yearly, we send $167,000 to support over 40 schools or literacy centers, impacting 2,323 students and their families.

One of our schools started because a national missionary saw children scrounging through the garbage dump for recyclables to sell for supper. He couldn’t stand the thought of their hungry and desperate future. He started a little school with grade one and added another grade each year.

Another school began because a Vietnamese man was concerned for the children of Vietnamese immigrants in Cambodia. These children were at risk for dangerous child labor, including prostitution. He began a school that has touched hundreds of children in the last ten years.

The education crisis is a worldwide tragedy. UNESCO reports 124 million children and adolescents that were not in school in 2013. That means 1 one out of every 11 children does not have the privilege of learning. Their futures are almost guaranteed to be a struggle in poverty.

How much of a difference does a Christian education make in the lives of the children? It’s life-transforming!

The work of education is definitely part of the mandate God has given us. If we will get involved, we can, like Jesus have a mission to “proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18).

Perhaps the least known of ASAP-sponsored schools is Karen Adventist Academy (KAA) on the border of Thailand and Myanmar. Principal Thien Tan Aye runs a K-12 school with over 1,000 students. The children study within the confines of a refugee camp that houses about 15,000 people. Most are from the Karen tribe, which has fought a civil war with the Burmese of Myanmar. The camp provides safety and a chance at a decent future through education.

Principal Thien has the motto of the school posted everywhere. It says, “Make God First!” He makes sure each teacher starts each class with prayer. They tie the Bible and God’s principles into every subject. The students don’t just sit around studying. They are active in community service projects. Often one of the classes will head out to pick up garbage throughout the camp. Recently they helped other denominations build a prayer room. They even donate blood together—15 different times as of the last count.

ASAP Ministries has committed to support all 32 of KAA’s teachers. At our sponsor page you can select to be responsible for one of them for $70 a month. Try it for a school year and think about how your influence has been multiplied through a whole classroom of students. You can also give directly towards schoolbooks and building repairs. How much of a difference does a Christian education make in the lives of the children? We will only really know once we get to heaven. Jesus said, “Let the little children come…the kingdom is made up of these.” It is very true that they are the most open to receiving God’s salvation. Last year, just after the week of prayer at KAA, eleven students were baptized and another five after graduation. Pastor Thien said, “This is not our good work, but this is the blessing by God and answers to prayer.”

Where church members cannot yet have a school, they are often holding literacy classes. Recently, a national missionary reported the excitement of a girl who had begged him to teach her how to read and write. He had simply taken the Bible, some lessons he received at an ASAP training, and a picture book of Jesus and the disciples. She soaked up every minute he taught her.

Soon she was running around the village telling people stories with the pictures. “What are you talking about?” someone scoffed. “You don’t know what’s in that book. You can’t even read or write!”

She simply opened the Bible and shared a story. Now other children are flocking around to get an education from her.

You can be a part of welcoming children to Jesus by praying for these workers, participating in their salaries, or finding a way to teach children yourself. Whether you go as a volunteer overseas or participate in a local Vacation Bible School, God can make an eternal difference through you.

The Biggest God

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

The Biggest God

BY SCOTT GRISWOLD

On August 30, 2017, when the students were supposed to arrive for the new Reach the World Next Door training program, the airports in Houston, Texas were closed because of Hurricane Harvey. A week later, the waters had receded enough for ten students to arrive and for the devastation of thousands of homes to be clearly seen. I knew this first year was going to be unique. There was a work to be done to help Houston rebuild.

Soon, I was able to talk to Lisa Oun, a dedicated church member in Houston whose husband is Cambodian. “How is the Khmer community?” I asked, knowing her in-laws lived where about 150 Cambodian families had built up a village south of the city in Rosharon. There, they grew greens, had a Buddhist temple, and lived a life reminiscent of their homeland.

“Terrible,” was Lisa’s quick response. “It is so sad I can hardly stand it. Many have lost everything--their homes, their furniture, even their cars.”

“How can we help?” I wanted to know. She quickly arranged for us to visit the village. When we arrived, disaster response volunteers immediately put our whole missionary team to work visiting every home to assess the needs. Within three hours, we covered the area and had a good idea of what houses needed “mucking out” and where there were sick people who needed medical care. We discovered a few Laotians and Spanish-speaking neighbors, as well.

Over the next few weeks, we traveled to Rosharon whenever we could. Moldy sheetrock and soggy insulation had to be pulled out. Many of the houses had been flooded with three feet of water. Some even six.

Our students learned to install and finish sheetrock. They advised people how to stay healthy, and gathered a group at the temple to teach them about NEWSTART health principles. Friendships grew between us as villagers shared oranges, coconuts, and doughnuts.

By January of this year, we could see a growing openness to spiritual things. Rachel and William, two of our students from Taiwan, fixed some vegetarian food for their Laotian friends to try. “Come say hi,” Rachel called. My son Josiah, Antoine, another student, and I went in.

Their house was just a tent. They had nowhere else to live because their home had been destroyed in the hurricane. The wife opened up a big basket of sticky rice. “Yum,” I said. “That looks just like what we enjoyed in Thailand!”

“Help yourself,” the husband, Joey, smiled. We sat down, feasted and chatted a little in Thai, which most people from Laos understand.

Just when I thought it was about time to go, William spoke up. “Can I read you a story?” he asked. He had brought a book on creation for their grandchildren. The kids weren’t there, but he didn’t want the opportunity to pass.

“Sure!” they said. I realized the lady couldn’t understand English well, so I began translating as William shared. The couple soaked up the story.

William concluded by saying, “This world is not like it was when God made it. He wants to take us to heaven where there is no more suffering.” Then he added, “But how God will accomplish that is another story for another day.” That’s how Bible studies started in the home of this couple from one of the least-reached people groups in the world.

Another student, Eh K planned a lesson about the Flood for the Laotian couple. Eh K also speaks Thai and has worked alongside Joey helping his neighbors build their shack. As we headed for the study, Eh K said, “I have the lesson prepared, but I want to know if they have questions that we can help answer.”

They surely did. Joey said, “Why am I still suffering, living in a tent like this, after all the years I have worked hard and done good?” He added a little later, “Many people where I’m from say bad things happen to us because of something bad we did in a previous life.”

We opened to John 9 where Jesus’ disciples asked a very similar question regarding the man born blind. Jesus made it clear that his suffering didn’t come from his sin, but was an opportunity for God to show His goodness by helping him.

We realized his understanding of God wasn’t so clear. He then added. “I think to angels and God, too.”

His wife quickly added, “No, angels and God are different.”

“Yes,” I said, “God is the one who created angels, just like He created humans.”

She looked at me very seriously. “Oh,” she said, pausing for a long time. “Then this God is really big. He’s the biggest.”

There was a clear dawning of understanding in an area we had assumed they knew. It was a great reminder of the huge need among the refugees and immigrants God has sent to America. Our students are now involved in five Bible studies in the Rosharon village, eagerly praying for God to lead them to a solid, saving relationship through Jesus.

Please pray for this mission field. Please invite young people to apply to be missionaries with us in the next training program, which starts at the end of August. Please pray for God to send our present students to where He needs them. Please join us to Reach the World Next Door.

Two Spirits, Two Answers

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Two Spirits, Two Answers

A desperate family did not know where to turn when Seng Siong, a young widow, became demon-possessed on Lao New Years. She stripped down and danced in the middle of the village and said all sorts of strange things, bringing disgrace to the family. The shaman and monks had no cure. The family finally resorted to hand-cuffing her to a pole in their bamboo house.

An ASAP Church Planter recently entered that new unreached area. God led him to this house and he persisted in prayer for Seng Siong until the demon left her. Siong’s five small children cried tears of joy to have their mommy back! All the family took Bible studies and what a glorious day when Seng fully surrendered in baptism.

News spread through the villages of the district and others experienced God’s power! Mr. Souay received freedom and restful sleeps after being delivered from an evil spirit who caused him to wander the streets every night. He also studied the Bible and got baptized. Jesus, the miracle worker who set the shackled demoniacs free, is the same powerful God today!

Salvation in the Concrete Jungles

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Salvation in the Concrete Jungles

BY SCOTT GRISWOLD

Chanla (James) Dok met God in the refugee camps after fleeing the genocide in Cambodia (Read his book Salvation in the Killing Fields). He repatriated to the concrete jungles of California and helped start a Khmer (Cambodian) worship group at the Seventh-day Adventist church in Long Beach. They met in the youth room of the English-speaking church. Chanla wanted to be a policeman, but he heard God calling him to gospel ministry. He applied to La Sierra University and the door opened the day before he received his acceptance letter to the police academy.

Chanla raised up a solid group of Khmer believers. Then he moved to be an associate pastor at Norwalk and later pastored other English-speaking churches. He could not forget his own people. The amount of Khmers had grown to around 70,000 in Long Beach alone. Chanla felt they were like sheep without a shepherd. With the help of his district leader and the conference president, he put together a proposal for a center of influence that would be focused on Khmers.

The Southern California Conference recognized the great need and opportunity among this immigrant group. In 2015 they voted in partnership with the Pacific Union to open the Sua Sdei (Welcome) Center. They provide Khmer and English classes, as well as paralegal advice. You can learn more about the ministry at www.suasdeicenter.com .

Recently, ASAP’s founder Judy Aitken visited Pastor Chanla Dok, his wife Vandie, and the Sua Sdei Center. She was thrilled to see many people visiting. Chanla had posted her picture on the program advertisement, hoping that some in the community would remember her from the humanitarian work she did in the refugee camps during the 1980s. A Khmer gentleman named Tom Ly saw the picture. He came to the program and excitedly pressed forward to greet the one who had touched his life with Jesus’ love 35 years previously.

After the program, various individuals and Cambodian members from another worship group met together to earnestly pray for God to bring many more to the center. Some members offered to help run a health fair. They also committed funds to build a church back in Cambodia through ASAP Ministries.

It was a reminder to everyone of the great amount of work yet to be done. Many Khmers live abroad in other Southeast Asian countries, the U.S., France, Australia, and Canada. As far as we know, there are Khmer Seventh-day Adventist worship groups only in Toronto, Canada; Adelaide and Perth, Australia; Lowell, Massachusetts, Charlotte and Lexington, North Carolina; and Long Beach, Stockton, and Loma Linda, California. There is a particular need for outreach in Boston, Seattle, and Philadelphia.

Perhaps you will meet someone from Cambodia like I did on a recent flight. I was thankful for the opportunity to share my faith. The Khmer lady was a high ranking bank official who had, as a student, visited Christian churches. Her interest in a relationship with God was renewed by our visit. I was able to hand her the MyLanguageMyLife.com card and I’m sure she will be watching some of the videos or reading the lessons in her own language. You can do the same. We can reach the world next door.

Summer Day Camp Builds Bridges With Refugees

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Summer Day Camp Builds Bridges With Refugees

BY PR. SCOTT GRISWOLD

“They’re here! They’re here!” the children cried. They had been waiting all summer for the Rise High day camp. In August, three college students and a newly married couple traveled to Houston, Texas, to help the Reach the World Next Door staff and local church members present a three-hour program for six days at an apartment complex full of refugees.

Many refugee children wore traditional clothes from Afghanistan. “I started to feel like I was in a different country,” laughed Andrea from Washington. When a little girl took her to use the bathroom she found cushions lining the living room instead of couches.

Another volunteer, who had made many Middle Eastern friends elsewhere, started the program each day with a story of a Bible prophet. His prayer in Arabic brought a seriousness to the energetic children that helped them sit still and listen.

When the story was over they jumped up excitedly to make a craft with glue, glitter, scissors, and paints. Six young people worked hard to help the 30 children produce little masterpieces.

“I think that I learned more patience as I worked with the children during the summer camp,” reported Emilio Diaz. “It helped me be a better leader.”

“I had fun making butterflies and little bottlebrush animals with the children,” said Jade, Emilio’s sister. “It was hot, so it was fun getting wet as we tried to fill a bucket with water using sponges.”

Brother Benjamin said, “I had fun when my dad showed the children how to build a bench, and taught them to work together to finish the project.”

Pastor Bernabe Diaz, explained, “I purposefully brought ugly-looking wood and a scraper so that children could see that something ugly can be beautiful when it is cleaned, even if it is painful. The children need to allow correction and scraping away of the bad in order to be beautiful and useful for God.”

Josiah Griswold noticed that the children looked to him and his friends for guidance. Often, when it was time for a new part of the program, he called them to follow him and ran ahead to show interest. He used a green snake puppet as he told how God had protected him in Thailand.

Michael from North Carolina said, “My favorite memories were the times I spent working with one little four-year-old boy. I entertained him between activities by playing rock-paper-scissors.”

Joella Meyer, who led out in the Rise High program bi-monthly last year, was thrilled to witness the long-term impact of this outreach. “I remember when we started Rise High. Some of the children didn’t want to sit and listen to stories, but this last week, they listened and enjoyed learning. The older ones are now more willing to help the younger ones. ”

Joella was especially pleased to see the children come every day from a family that had arrived from Afghanistan only two months previously. She had brought a bunk bed to their house and helped set it up. The parents and the children eagerly asked questions, even about spiritual matters.

Marleny Diaz also noticed how the children remembered. “Many of them can retell stories almost word-for-word,” she shared. “Rise High has been a powerful outreach tool in the Muslim refugee community. It breaks stereotypes that Christians are hypocrites who do not follow their own Bible as they realize that we follow the Bible’s teachings about food, modesty, respectful family relationships, and honor God above all else.”

Andrea’s husband Solomon, a mechanic who took the week off to help, visited one of the fathers in his apartment. He was moved to hear the father express his gratitude for the good things his children were learning.

Michael stated, “The Muslims that I was spending time with had no idea about many of the beliefs that we Adventists generally take for granted. I began to question how well I would actually be able to explain my beliefs to them if given the chance. I'm inspired to dig deeper now.”

Cindy from North Carolina shared, “I did not realize how much work still needs to be done in the United States. During the week, God reminded me that He laid down his life for these children. It was our privilege to show them the love that Christ showed us.”

It was a joy to participate in the Rise High program. We hope that many churches will be inspired to do something similar in their cities.

Standing Tall for Jesus

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Standing Tall for Jesus

BY JULIA O'CAREY

(Written in first person based on a Zoom interview with an ASAP church planter couple in a closed country)

My eyes spotted her amidst the hustle and bustle of the marketplace. Her back hunched over and her eyes looked down at the dirty ground. I weaved in and out of the crowds until I got right up to her, tapped her lightly on the shoulder, and politely said, “Grandma, would you like a DVD?” Slowly the woman lifted her head and her pained eyes met mine. The deep wrinkles in her face alluded to stories of a life of suffering. “Yes,” she replied simply with a little smile as she took the DVD, along with the tract I laid on top of it. After we exchanged a few pleasantries, I was surprised at the words that came out of my mouth next. “Grandma, I would love to come visit you in your home. Would you like that?” Her eyes twinkled a little now and she said, “That would be so nice, young man.” With that short exchange, a special friendship began with Grandma Bao.*

My wife and I went to her little humble home that same week, and we had a friendly chat with her. For the first two visits, our conversation stayed superficial. We talked about COVID-19, things on the news, our families, food, and life in general. On the third visit, I gathered the courage to tell her the story of Jesus. After starting, I noticed she shifted uncomfortably. She remained polite, but guarded. She did not want to hear about Jesus. I quickly changed the subject. But each time we visited, I shared a little more about Jesus’ story and other stories and truths found in the Bible.

Just as flowing water eventually erodes rocks, the love and truth of Jesus eroded the hardness in Grandma Bao’s heart. I’ll never forget the day she said, “I want to let Jesus into my heart. I want to give my life to him.” We rejoiced together and I told her, “Grandma, Jesus loves you so much and wants to talk to you and listen to you. Just as we’ve been praying for you, you can pray to Jesus on your own.” We taught her to give Jesus her cares and concerns and told her there was nothing too hard for Him. She bluntly asked, “Can I ask him to heal my back?” It didn’t matter that her back had been hunched as long as she could remember. She took my words that there was nothing too hard for Jesus literally and personally. I responded, “Yes, Grandma, you can pray for healing for your back, and we will join you.” After the first time Grandma Bao prayed for her back, she tried to stand up straight but a searing pain ripped through her. She kept praying, though, and we kept visiting her regularly.

About two months after I met Grandma Bao at the market, I got a special call from her. I could hear the excitement in her voice. “Come to my house quickly and bring anyone from the church that is available.” When ten of us arrived, we saw a lady burst from her home with a huge smile on her face. It was Grandma Bao, not walking with a cane, but running, with a straight back and head held high. “God completely healed me! He did it!” she shouted, laughed and cried all at the same time. We had no doubt this day would come, but when I witnessed God’s miracle firsthand, I was so moved. It was not just the fact that a 75-year-old lady’s humped back was restored, it was the healing that took place in her heart, in her spirit. Grandma Bao truly experienced a transformation, inside and out!

Just like the paralytic who was healed and couldn’t keep the news to himself, Grandma Bao shared her miracle healing with her family and friends! On the special day of healing, God opened an opportunity for me to testify to the power of God, the One we can thank for the healing. After witnessing the miracle, Grandma Bao’s sister, whom she lives with, along with one of her nephews, were convicted by the Holy Spirit. They decided to also give their lives to the Lord, along with their families. They dismantled and burned the large altars in their homes where they gave offerings to their deceased relatives. To this day, they continue to faithfully serve God even though other relatives actively ridicule them for forsaking their former religion. Please join Grandma Bao in thanking God for being a healer God and pray that many more people in this area will accept Jesus as their Savior.

A Very Big Church Family

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

A Very Big Church Family

BY PR. SCOTT GRISWOLD

When Lynetta joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church last January, I don’t think she realized how big her new family was. As a child, she fled the Cambodian genocide, just barely avoiding soldiers and landmines. Coming to America, she discovered Jesus’ love while pushing through the difficulties of raising five children mostly on her own. She was struggling to keep her water spinach business going when Lucio and Anna, volunteers with Reach the World Next Door, met her in Rosharon, Texas.

Lynetta’s challenging life became richly blessed as she learned and followed new truths that Lucio and Anna taught her. Her health radically transformed as she followed the health principles. Her finances improved as she enjoyed the Sabbath rest. She became excited about the soon coming of Jesus.

Lynetta opened up her home for others to join a small group Bible study. In time, she and Phaly, a Laotian neighbor, were preparing for baptism. Soon we realized that the nearest English-speaking churches were a bit too far away, and the English probably too complicated, to effectively impact this community. Instead, we wanted to start worshipping together on Sabbaths in Rosharon.

But where could we meet? Lynetta’s house was a mess because of Hurricane Harvey. Three years after the flood, an organization was about to level it and build her a new home. She built a large workshop and had planned to move everything into it while they built her house. Instead, she offered the workshop for our little church group to use.

It worked perfectly. Every Sabbath the group came together and a message was preached in either English or Spanish, with translation into other languages, including Laotian. Those who came shared their praises and prayer requests. Lynetta was realizing that she had a family—a church family. Sometimes they even helped fix her greenhouse.

However, the little church had a small problem—there was no bathroom readily available. One visiting Cambodian Buddhist said after Sabbath school, “I have to go to the bathroom.”

I whispered, “Sorry, we don’t have one yet.”

He whispered back, “I guess I’ll need to go home.” That’s when I knew we really needed to do something to find some sort of a solution to keep our visitors there.

My wife Julie and I live two hours away, and our church membership is at the Conroe Seventh-day Adventist Church. One day Julie was sharing about this situation with a friend named Maria. Maria became really excited. “We have to build them a bathroom!” she exclaimed. “Let’s plan a fundraiser, a whole weekend event!” Did Lynetta know her new church family also lived in Conroe and were now interested in her? She was about to find out.

Soon Maria gathered a group of friends from the church and they began to plan menus, a special seminar, and advertisements for a weekend they would call “Growing Families Stronger through Crisis.” Many families signed up, paying for cabins, tent spaces, and meals. The group was concerned that this event might not raise enough funds, so they added plans for an International Food Fair on the Sunday of that same weekend. Friends from other churches promised to make food from Africa, China, Laos, and Mexico. Just how big was Lynetta’s new church family?

The weekend was a success, with over $6,000 raised. Now we just needed qualified people to build the bathroom—at no expense! Two new families showed up to worship at the Rosharon church plant. They were contractors. Quickly, lay-leader Jose Rivera got them involved. They laid plans and prepared the plumbing and had the concrete poured. God knew exactly what He was doing.

Meanwhile Pastor Saeng Saengthip and Pastor Ko Saelee arrived from Michigan. They had been wanting to come on a mission trip to help Rosharon for a long time. This was the perfect opportunity. These trained pastors are originally from Laos and Thailand. They have often made their own living through various businesses, including construction, so they knew just what to do. As Lynetta watched them dig in to help, she began to truly understand that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is a worldwide fellowship committed to helping its brothers and sisters.

Phaly and his wife, Kak, soaked up the Christian love, too. The pastors stayed at their home, eating, working, and worshipping with them in their common Laotian language. It had a huge impact on this family, since their faith is young and they have had little opportunity to know other Laotian members.

With the help of many volunteers, the walls and roof went up quickly. Pastor Ko stayed an extra six days to help with electricity and plumbing. Lynetta could feel the blessings overflowing. She invited her Cambodian friend, Huang, to join them for the evening Bible study to share the joy. It’s pretty clear to Lynetta that her huge new family is not just for her; it is a family created by her Heavenly Father that is big enough to receive anyone who will come. And now there is a bathroom so that any visitor can stay from Sabbath school through church and all afternoon if they want.

When we came to Houston, Texas, four years ago, we had no plans to minister to the Rosharon Cambodian/Laotian community; it was too far away. Nevertheless, they were on God’s heart, and He opened the doors. He moved on the hearts of many people to reach out and care. He knew they needed to be part of His family.

Where is He moving today that is near, or far, from you? How does He want to use you, His child, to reach out to someone who will one day also call God his or her Father? Be prayerful. Be watchful. Be ready, because soon Jesus will return. And Heaven will be much more fun with a very big family!

Reaching Thailand Christ's Way

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Reaching Thailand Christ's Way

BY JOHN PRESS

There is a well-known line in The Ministry of Healing that is often repeated during discussions on various approaches to evangelism. “Christ's method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me’” (p. 143). Recently, an ASAP medical missionary named Sompong put this method to the test. Would it work in Thailand, the country with the most unreached people (61.5 million) in mainland Southeast Asia?

Mingling with People

Sompong and her husband, an Adventist pastor, had just moved to northeastern Thailand to serve a three-church district in the Ubon Ratchathani Province. As they prayed about how to reach their predominantly Buddhist community, the Holy Spirit impressed Sompong to start with health ministry. “Especially during this time of pandemic, when we talk about health the people are very interested in it,” she says.

Sompong prepared a community health survey and began going door-to-door to meet her neighbors and learn about their needs. Then, she planned cooking demonstrations and presentations on nutrition, natural remedies, and other topics to address the needs expressed by her neighbors. One day, while going door-to-door, she met a widow named Duen.

Showing Sympathy, Meeting Needs

Duen sat alone in her house, silently agonizing over her misfortune. Since her husband’s death, the stress of caring for their four children had become too much for her. She could no longer count on her sons for help either. The three young men were battling drug and alcohol addictions, leaving their mother and seven-year-old sister to fend for themselves. Now Duen’s health was failing, and she felt like giving up. At that moment, Sompong appeared at her door.

“I could sense that she had lots of problems,” Sompong remembers. Together with her husband, Sompong began regularly visiting Duen. They listened, offered encouragement and prayer, and talked to Duen about Jesus. As they won her confidence, Duen started attending church with them, but her problems continued to mount. First, all three of her sons were arrested and jailed. Then, after their release, one son attempted suicide. He survived, but the medical bills for his ongoing care left Duen destitute. Sompong and her husband began delivering food when they visited the family. They also raised money to help Duen with her debts. “When I gave [the money] to her, she started crying and thanking God for providing for her,” says Sompong.

The Invitation

Soon afterward, Sompong’s husband held evangelistic meetings. Duen and two of her sons faithfully attended. At the final meeting all three responded to the invitation to follow Jesus and accept Him as their Savior. Recently, Duen (pictured above) and her sons were among 11 new believers baptized through the labors of ASAP missionaries in two different locations in Thailand. And Sompong reports that ten more people are currently taking Bible studies. These are remarkable developments in a country where 88% of the population is Buddhist and there is just one Adventist for every 4,436 people. The Holy Spirit is working through ASAP missionaries using Christ’s method of evangelism to prepare a harvest of souls for the soon return of Jesus!

Two days after their baptism, Duen and her son found jobs at a local rubber farm. With the wages they receive they finally have enough income to support the family. They are thrilled, and so is Sompong. “[God always] provides a way to support the one who is faithful to Him,” she says. “Duen thanks God for new life, not only for her but for her whole fami

Just Launched!

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Just Launched!

BY RUTH BRADBURN WITH BILL WELLS

One of ASAP Ministries’ strategic goals is to equip and empower missionaries to return to the marginalized communities they were once a part of and share the good news of Christ’s love. As Ellen White wrote, “God in his providence has brought men to our very doors and thrust them, as it were, into our arms, that they might learn the truth, and be qualified to do a work we could not do in getting the light before men of other tongues” (RH October 29, 1914, Art. A, par. 17-18) . Meet Jasmine Moo and Soe Soe Moon (pictured), two compassionate and driven Karen young adults who grew up in refugee camps in Thailand before resettling in the U.S. After personally experiencing God’s saving power in their lives, they have accepted His call to serve as ASAP’s first refugee student missionaries, ministering to displaced Karen people on the Thai-Myanmar border. In September 2021, Jasmine and Soe Soe launched to Thailand and began a two-year term of service there. Currently, Jasmine is serving as a teacher at an ASAP school, and Soe Soe is working as a Karen Field Ministry Assistant.

For years, Jasmine dreamed at night about going back to Southeast Asia. In fact, God first began calling her to be a missionary through a series of dreams during her freshman year of college. Inspired by the dreams, Jasmine and a group of friends traveled to Thailand and Cambodia in 2017 on a short-term mission trip. Although Jasmine was studying health ministry at the time, she agreed to teach several classes at the local church schools to help the teachers. Little did Jasmine realize how much the experience would change her life.

As she taught, Jasmine found that she enjoyed talking with the students. The Holy Spirit worked through her as she shared her testimony with them, and one day after class a certain girl approached Jasmine, clearly moved by her story. The student shared with Jasmine that her heart had been touched by how God had taken care of Jasmine through all the difficulties she experienced, from her time in the refugee camps to living in America. Two years later the student texted Jasmine. After graduating, the girl was now teaching in a nearby school. “Your story really inspired me, missionary. Now I want to be like you.” Jasmine looks thoughtful as she remembers this experience. “The reason I want to go to be a student missionary is to inspire people,” she says. “People are not going to remember the [words you spoke to them], they’re going to remember that you put your fingerprint on their heart.”

After Jasmine returned from the mission trip she prayerfully changed her major from health ministry to education. God had spoken clearly to her through the experience, calling her to give back to her people through the teaching and mentoring skills He created her with. “Everywhere I go, I want to be a light,” Jasmine says. She’s not sure what the next two years will have in store, but one thing she firmly believes is that God can use her to touch people deeply, no matter how much time they spend together.

Soe Soe came to America when he was 19 years old. Living in Southeast Asia was not always easy for him and his family. When civil war overtook the village in Myanmar where Soe Soe had grown up, he was forced to flee with his parents and five siblings to refugee camps in Thailand. But living in America presented its own set of challenges. “My family had to work in a factory, and I also got a job,” Soe Soe recalls. “My first two years I didn’t go to school. It was tough.” Soe Soe’s family struggled adjusting to life in America, living in a neighborhood where there were a lot of drugs and other unsafe activities. The environment wasn’t anything like Thailand or Myanmar. His family was not used to the culture or language of America, and so they struggled with a lot of things. “But at the same time,” Soe Soe says, “we praised God that we had church members who were willing to step out and help us to go through all of these things.”

With an open, genuine smile on his face, Soe Soe is the kind of person that you immediately know is going to be a friend. His optimism and sense of humor lighten the mood around him. Interestingly enough, like Jasmine, Soe Soe first felt the call to missions on a trip back to Thailand in 2019. “That taught me so much,” Soe Soe says. “It taught me that what I have learned here I can give back, because going back there really opened my eyes to see how people are struggling.”

Soe Soe feels so much gratitude that God has blessed him with education and the opportunity to go to Ouachita Hills College, thanks in part to the Judy Aitken Memorial Refugee Scholarship Fund . Now, he wants to return home and share the love of Jesus. “Going back is going to be a challenge, yes,” Soe Soe says, “however, I’m from there, so it makes it a bit easier with the language and the culture.” Soe Soe nods affirmatively in his thoughtful way. “I’m really excited, and I’m really blessed that God has chosen me and called me to be a part of this mission.”

Over the last two years, ASAP team members Julia O’Carey, Angy Plata, Laura Hokanson, and Bill Wells have worked hard to prepare Jasmine and Soe Soe for their positions in Thailand. We praise God for various partnerships and the support of numerous donors who have made this possible. Thank you for supporting this endeavor with your prayers and means. Both Jasmine and Soe Soe have been practicing recording events in their lives in preparation for creating a series of video-logs (vlogs) chronicling their journey to Thailand and their experiences there. Through their vlogs, they hope to share what it’s like to be ASAP’s first refugee student missionaries. Stay tuned for Jasmine and Soe Soe’s vlogs in the next couple of months. We can’t wait to share their journey with you!

From Marginalized to Missionary

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

From Marginalized to Missionary

BY JULIA O'CAREY WITH JOHN PRESS

What inspires you to get out of bed in the morning? What compels you to persevere in the face of challenges? I would like to propose that it isn’t just the blood pumping through your body that moves you and the food you eat that fuels you. Here at ASAP Ministries, our driving motivation is our mission! It is what makes every mundane task worth it. The mission of salvation is what energized Jesus, too. He says in John 4:34, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”

So what exactly is ASAP’s mission?

ASAP Ministries empowers local missionaries to restore and disciple the marginalized with the wholistic gospel.

Although the words we use to explain it have changed over time, this has been our mission from the start! I remember my mother, ASAP founder Judy Aitken, mentoring Hang Dara, a newly baptized Cambodian refugee in the refugee camps in Thailand. “You can do it through Christ’s strength! You can lead the church!” she said with a smile. Though he was a baby Christian, Hang Dara stepped forward in faith, and God took him from a life of anger and hopelessness to a life of purposeful ministry. Recently, he stepped forward in faith yet again, accepting a call to serve as the president of Cambodia Adventist Mission.

The process of transformation from marginalized to missionary is more than just ASAP’s legacy. It is a miraculous testimony of God’s power and grace, and it continues today. My heart swells with joy each time I meet one of our missionaries and hear where they came from - poverty, displacement, brokenness, darkness, or fear - and witness what Jesus is doing through them now. The story of a young man named James* is a great example.

James survived a traumatic childhood in eastern Shan State, Myanmar, thanks to a local Seventh-day Adventist missionary, Mrs. Pasaw Htee. This godly woman dedicated her life to rescuing children in the Golden Triangle, a drug-trafficking hotbed at the convergence of Myanmar’s eastern border with China, Laos, and Thailand. The boarding schools she established, including ASAP’s Canaan Adventist School, became safe havens amid this violent, drug-addicted region. Over the years, she adopted several of the students as her own children, including James.

Mrs. Htee’s sudden passing in 2011 left some of these children orphaned once again. James was only six years old at the time. Myo,* a relative of Mrs. Htee, took him in but James argued and fought with the other eight children in the household. Worse yet, Myo’s oldest son was a drunkard who often stole from his parents. He taught James to steal, too. Soon James was branded as a little thief and marginalized by his adopted family and the community.

“I heard much gossip about James,” remembers Ko Ko,* an ASAP medical missionary acquainted with the family. “Myo came and told me that he wanted to give him up.” But no one wanted James.

“One day, I heard that Myo had beaten James for stealing a cell phone and 80,000 kyats (about $45) from him,” says Ko Ko. “James had run away from home because he was scared of Myo. I was so sad for him.”

Ko Ko and his wife discussed the situation. They already had two daughters of their own, both with special medical needs, and they did not see how they could afford to bring another child into their home. However, Ko Ko himself had once experienced redemption from a life of addiction and crime through the intervention of a kindhearted relative. Perhaps this was an opportunity to play the same role in the life of this troubled boy.

“I thought about Mrs. Pasaw Htee and how she had sacrificed her whole life to share the gospel with so many children. James was one of the fruits of her labor, and I felt so sorry to see what was happening to him.”

Ko Ko and his wife adopted James as their son, but soon they wondered if they had made a mistake. James had so many bad habits. “Sometimes my wife cried because of him,” Ko Ko confides, “but we didn’t give up on him. We prayed for him, tried to correct his mistakes, and sent him to school.”

It took time, but eventually Ko Ko noticed changes taking place in the young man’s life. James was trying to overcome his bad habits, and he began helping at the health center where Ko Ko manages a team of ASAP medical missionaries reaching out to poor Buddhists in nearby villages.

When schools across Myanmar closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Ko Ko began giving medical missionary training to James and other high school students who could no longer attend classes. “We traveled from village to village, helping patients,” says Ko Ko. “I noticed that James was really interested in this work. One day, I asked him to go with me to see one of my patients who had a swollen mass. The doctors had given up on her and said her case was hopeless. I showed James how to treat her and asked him to go and take care of her every day.”

Ko Ko loaned James a motorbike and money for gasoline and medical supplies. The young man faithfully visited the ailing woman, treating her as Ko Ko had shown him, and encouraging her to have faith in God’s ability to heal her. Over time the woman’s condition improved, and Ko Ko and James praised God.

“The village where the woman lived was a new area for us to share the gospel,” explains Ko Ko. One day when James was visiting this village, he met a local Buddhist monk suffering from skeletal tuberculosis. James prayed for the monk and gave him treatments he had learned from Ko Ko. As a friendship developed between the young man and the monk, James shared the story of Creation and the love of Jesus with him. Now the light of the gospel flickers in this unreached place, thanks to James’ faithful service and the transforming power of God’s love.

Ko Ko believes that James has found his calling. “He was once considered a little thief, and no one wanted him. But now he has become a good missionary, as his mother, Pasaw Htee, wanted him to be.”

Today, over six hundred Spirit-filled ASAP missionaries across Southeast Asia are reaching out to the hurting and the marginalized. James has joined them, guiding others along the same path of restoration and discipleship that he once followed. Currently James is leading a small Bible study group and continuing his training as a medical missionary under Ko Ko. Soon he will take charge of one of several new branch health centers that Ko Ko plans to construct in neighboring Buddhist villages. James’ story is a picture of ASAP’s mission in action - another life transformed from marginalized to missionary! And the cycle continues.

*A pseudonym

EAVS Opens for Summer 2022!

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

EAVS Opens for Summer 2022!

BY DR. SHIRLEY FREED, ASAP BOARD MEMBER

After almost two years of gathering information, assessing needs, writing proposals, listening to expert advice, developing an administrative team, preparing curriculum materials, setting up an office, acquiring visas, and much more; the Eternity ASAP Virtual School (EAVS) is opening with the target audience being Pakistani refugees in Thailand.

ASAP has been aware of the plight of Christian Pakistani refugees for some time. Many of these refugees do not possess valid documents for their stay in Thailand, making it almost impossible for the parents to work or the children to attend school. This is problematic for children who eventually will find themselves in a Western country and who will be substantially academically behind their age group.

So, what did it take to get a virtual school ready for operation? First, it takes an absolute trust in God’s leading. “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that will prevail” (Prov. 19:21, NIV). Second, it takes the right people at the right time working together. The team, with leadership from ASAP, encountered almost insurmountable challenges. But they kept encouraging one another, and step by step God intervened and answered prayers. Many aspects of the school were established: the mission, vision and philosophy, the school’s name and logo, the webpage set up (eavschool.org), marketing materials, school calendar, school policies, job descriptions, and applications for personnel.

We received about 40 applications and interviewed 6 individuals. Two teachers were identified as being the right fit for the school. The grades 5 – 6 teacher, Ayessa, said, “I want to be part of this mission and be an instrument of God to inspire and lead more children to our Lord Jesus.” The other teacher, Gracie (Grades 7 – 8), said, “When I saw the post for [EAVS] about hiring a teacher, I felt that was a call from God to answer my dream to become a missionary.” When we interviewed Neil Roque (pictured), we were immediately convinced that God had brought him to the school. He was coming with a strong business background as a project coordinator. He says he was “drawn to the EAVS project because it presented a different way of using the corporate experience I’ve gained through the Lord’s leading. I truly believe that the Lord showed me the way to be more fulfilled in this life by serving Him in ministry with a higher purpose than gaining more of this world’s wealth.”

While the school will start with only grades 5 – 8, the administrative team already has a vision to include more grades, other refugee groups, and Adventist expatriate children who have no real access to Christian education. This is truly a collaborative approach involving Thailand Adventist Mission, contributions from Buddhist friends, and sponsorships from various individuals.

A Divine Reunion

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

A Divine Reunion

BY LINDSEY MILLS

I sat in the living room and nervously watched the clock, waiting for 7:30 p.m. when I could make the call. It had been over 10 years since I had last seen Binh* and so much had changed.

In 2008, Binh was a university student in Sydney, Australia. I was serving as a Bible worker for a year at a nearby church when I met her while knocking on doors. We started Bible studies and developed a friendship, but Binh’s interest fizzled when I returned to the U.S., and she went back to her family in a communist closed country.

Fast forward to the spring of 2020. I had married a pastor and just pulled back on church involvement following the arrival of our first baby and the global pandemic. It was during this time when I noticed that Binh had started regularly liking and commenting on my Facebook posts. I suggested that we catch up with a video chat, which is why I found myself nervously waiting for our designated meeting time in my living room.

At the end of our call, I asked the question - would she like to study the Bible together again? She immediately said “Yes!” and we started the studies the following week. Over the next year and a half, we became close friends. We compared notes on how our countries were handling Covid-19, talked about parenting, jobs, and personal challenges. Binh had learned about the state of the dead at our church in Australia, and she told me stories of how people were deceived by the workings of evil spirits in her country. The Lord blessed our time together, and she eagerly consumed the spiritual food.

Binh shared that when she returned home after university, she attended an Adventist church for a while but faced significant pressure from Buddhist family members and friends. She finally returned to worshipping at the Buddhist temples; however, she felt the services had been largely commercialized. Disillusioned, she gave up on worship altogether. After having a child, going through a divorce, moving to a new city, and starting over with her job, Covid-19 shut everything down. She was at one of her lowest points when I messaged her asking if she would like to catch up and start Bible studies again.

Through Julia O’Carey and ASAP Ministries, I was able to connect Binh with local Adventist home churches in her country where she started Bible studies with another young woman her age and is planning to get baptized as soon as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. Binh and I have often marveled at how God connected us at her lowest point and gave her hope through Jesus.

*A pseudonym

Daring to Ask for More

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Daring to Ask for More

Learn more about the power of united prayer in Melody Mason's new book, Daring to Ask for More . This book pulls together all the best scripture texts and Ellen White references on prayer combined with personal testimonies of God moving mightily in response to united prayer. It is available for a suggested donation of $25, which includes shipping to any address in the USA. Proceeds will benefit the prayer ministry of ASAP. This offer is limited to supplies on hand, so please order now .

Coronavirus Response

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Coronavirus Response

Dear Friends,

I pray that you are staying safe and healthy as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds across our world. Thank you so much for your prayers for the ASAP family. We thank God for granting us wisdom and guidance moment by moment as we make decisions surrounding this global health emergency. Despite the postponement of our mission trip to Cambodia, as well as several missionary training events and other international trips, we see His faithful hand with us, moving His work forward.

ASAP medical missionaries are shining during this time, as they teach virus prevention and minister to those who are sick with a variety of illnesses. Due to COVID-19, many people are showing greater interest in learning how to strengthen their immune systems, wash their hands, and practice good hygiene. We are urgently working to provide additional practical health advice and resources to all ASAP workers so they can protect themselves and help their families and communities. Regardless of their titles (teachers, church planters, youth evangelists, etc.), they are all medical missionaries.

Ellen White wrote, “The right hand is used to open doors through which the body may find entrance. This is the part the medical missionary work is to act. It is to largely prepare the way for the reception of the truth for this time. A body without hands is useless. In giving honor to the body, honor must also be given to the helping hands, which are agencies of such importance that without them the body can do nothing” (MM, p. 238). I believe this counsel has never been more true than it is right now! If you are able and would like to “honor the helping hands,” please consider giving a special gift to advance ASAP’s medical missionary work at this crucial hour in Earth’s history . We so appreciate your faithful prayers and support!

Jesus’ return rapidly approaches. My family is devoting more time to prayer and deep Bible study so that we will be prepared for that amazing time. I encourage you and your families to do the same. A dear friend recently shared two special promises with me. I think you will find them encouraging, too. “Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7 NASB). “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:4-7).

Gratefully looking to Jesus,

Julia O’Carey
Executive Director
ASAP Ministries

UPDATE:

To protect the health of the community and our employees, and to comply with the statewide stay-at-home order issued by the Governor of Michigan, ASAP Ministries home office in Berrien Springs, Michigan, is closed to the public until further notice.

Specific designated employees will maintain basic operations on-site while the rest of our staff works remotely. During this time, you can still contact us, as usual, by phone, email, or online during business hours (Mon-Thur, 9:00 AM-5:00 PM).

Phone: 269-471-3026

Email: office@asapministries.org

Online: asapministries.org/contact

The Power of True Love

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

The Power of True Love

by Laura Hokanson

“I don’t want to live anymore.”

“Thank you for your kindness to me. Now, I’m saying goodbye to you.”

With no time to lose, Dr. Htwe Lay, ASAP field supervisor in Myanmar, began searching for the boy. She finally discovered him at the local hospital, near death. He had ingested a deadly dose of rat poison in an effort to end his life. The doctors gave him only a 50% chance of recovery. Dr. Htwe Lay prayed with tears, “Dear Lord, he must not die, he must not die!” In the days that followed, she stayed by his side, ministering to his family and assisting with his medical care. “I prayed and cried,” she says. “I do not know why I cried so much. It is not my nature to be emotional like this. I think the change came some time ago when I decided to give my life to winning souls for Christ. Gradually, over time my heart has changed. I have become a more sympathetic person.”

God answered Dr. Htwe Lay’s prayer. Maung Kyaw (a pseudonym) made a full recovery, although he suffered a great deal, even developing aspiration pneumonia. After his release from the hospital, he came to the ASAP-supported Ahlin Medical Missionary Training Center, where Dr. Htwe Lay administered hydrotherapy treatments to assist his continued healing. Maung Kyaw’s devout Buddhist family were witnesses to the Christlike compassion she showed him. Later, she treated another member of this family, a Buddhist nun. Again, the family watched her minister with genuine compassion, natural remedies, and lifestyle education. Maung Kyaw gave his heart to Christ and was baptized. He is now involved in Bible study ministry. Although his father is a Buddhist monk, he has seen such a transformation in his son’s life that he does not resent Dr. Htwe Lay’s influence upon him. One day he called to thank her for all she had done for their family. “My son is in your hands,” he told her. “He is your son, just as he is mine.”

What is it that breaks down the barriers of religious prejudice such that a father like Maung Kyaw’s could say this? Dr. Htwe Lay believes the answer is love. In her medical missionary work, Dr. Htwe Lay sees the life-changing influence of love firsthand in the lives of people like Maung Kyaw. Many once resistant to Christianity are willing to hear the gospel after experiencing acts of compassion.

As an example, Dr. Htwe Lay points to the Immune Booster* drink, made at her clinic, that has become a bestseller. Patients return for it again and again. “But,” she says, “I really believe the Immune Booster for the soul is love, and our customers experience Jesus’ love in our small acts of kindness. Love heals. Love transforms. Love is everything. God is love. We must have the love of God first - we cannot find this love in the human heart. Only God’s love is true love.”

Their Buddhist upbringing gives these students unique cultural insight that helps them effectively share the gospel among those with a Buddhist worldview. After graduation, many of them will return home as the first Seventh-day Adventist missionaries to their unreached villages.

Due to the poverty-stricken areas from which they come, there is a great need to provide for these eager students’ tuition fees, as well as for staff stipends. The Home Away from Home project also operates an English language center, known in the community for its excellence in instruction. This generates some income for the project while, at the same time, meeting a felt need in the community. However, this income is not enough to sustain the project. ASAP is raising funds to construct a building to house the language center and a small store to help the project become self-sustaining. The new café-grocery style store will serve simple local fare and basic grocery needs, including Dr. Htwe Lay’s ever-popular Immune Booster.

When you support the Home Away From Home project , your gift of love becomes the healing catalyst to transform lives in ways we can only begin to imagine. ASAP Ministries invites you to join Dr. Htwe Lay in making love the central, compelling principle of your life. “Let all that you do be done with love” (1 Cor. 16:14). As you practice this principle, you can be certain the greater blessing will be yours.

Ingredients:

Fresh Garlic
Ginger Root
Green Apple
Lemon
Honey

Instructions:

1. Juice garlic, ginger root, apple, and lemon individually to create equal portions of each ingredient.
2. Set aside an equal amount of honey.
3. Combine the juices and boil down the resulting mixture until two-thirds of it remains.
4. Remove from heat and let cool.
5. Stir in honey and drink.

Transformative Training

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Transformative Training

BY JULIA O'CAREY

On August 20, over two hundred workers and trainers converged on the SALT Center near Siem Reap, Cambodia. Tim and Wendy Maddocks, founders of SALT Ministries, their children and staff worked tirelessly preparing the grounds for this training. Due to the generosity and vision of key donors, ASAP was able to invite ASAP workers and workers supported by the Cambodian Adventist Mission, International Children’s Care, Gospel Outreach, Global Mission, Jesus for Asia, Adventist Frontier Missions, and the Caleb Center.

Each day began with singing, an inspirational message, and united prayer. Then, the workers separated into four groups. Come with me as we take a quick look around.

As we peek into the Intergenerational Discipleship Training room, groups of children, leaders, parents, principals, and church planters are excitedly sharing ideas as they discuss Pr. Don MacLafferty’s book Follow. You hear laughing and chatter as they respond to Pr. Don and his training team: George Carr, Gerard Carter, Curtis Letniak and the Cambodia Adventist Mission leaders. You see simple, powerful illustrations and eyes lighting up as concepts come to life. You don’t want to leave because they just began a fun group activity to illustrate discipleship.

Let’s head to the Education classes. Your eyes scan over eighty fully-engaged teachers in the open-air building, writing in journals and then discussing in groups with Dr. Shirley Freed and her team of teacher trainers from church-sponsored Burman University in Alberta, Canada. You see brightly colored poster-boards on the wall, illustrating active learning techniques they have experienced. You spot a group of children poring over colorful, Bible-based easy readers in Khmer. They just can’t wait for school to start! The atmosphere is fresh and alive as the teachers “eat up” every chapter of the book Education, translated and condensed into a teachers’ manual for them.

Next, we visit the church and see an earnest group of church planters listening to a practical presentation from Pr. Saeng Saengthip, ASAP Associate Director, on how to craft a powerful sermon. Tears well up as you listen to church planters share their testimonies of souls saved. Your heart aches as you hear their questions on how to deal with the challenges they face in the field. You had no idea how hard it is for these workers.

In a school room, medical missionaries perfect their massage techniques on one another. You offer to be their “guinea pig.” Their trainer, Dr. Htwe Lay from Myanmar, systematically gives positive feedback to each person in her gentle way. Now they know how to diagnose and treat diseases, Bible verses to share with the sick, and much more. Navy, ASAP’s newest medical missionary, spontaneously shares, “Everything in the training is so helpful. I feel equipped to go back to my Muslim village and help my Cham people.”

After a delicious meal of brown rice, Cambodian curry, stir-fry, salad, and fresh tropical fruit, lovingly prepared by Wendy Maddocks and her team, we end our tour back with the trainers, debriefing and praying together at day’s end. You discover the training touched the trainers just as much as the trainees. Listen to a few of the sixteen trainers who sacrificed time, money, and sleep to share their hearts and knowledge with these precious workers.

“One of the things that impacted me most is the fact that some people who were at the training were not paid ASAP workers, but volunteers…. We often do a cost-benefit analysis before we take on responsibilities or work, and if we don't feel that the work is worth what we'll be getting in return, we don't do it. But these precious workers realize the urgency of bringing Christ to the unreached and realize that the promise of an eternal reward is more than they could ask for.”
--Angy Plata

“The most meaningful part of the training for me was seeing the light of the Holy Spirit on the faces of God’s workers as they were showered with His love and knowledge.”
--Gerard Carter

"Going to Cambodia with ASAP was a life-changing experience for my husband and I because it has inspired us towards a future calling in missions…. Chomnea Noeum (ASAP church planter)… spoke of his trials… and how strong the devil is working in Cambodia…. Usually every Sabbath, people bring their friends who are demon possessed to the church for Chomnea to heal them, and God answers his prayers. God works visible miracles in Cambodia, which was a wake-up call for me living in North America….
--Melissa Barritt

“I was delighted to see how the literacy schools were really the beginning of church plants. Clearly the community appreciated the efforts to help their children learn to read and write.… The teachers who came for the training were so dedicated and constantly acknowledged God’s leading in their personal lives and in the life of their schools. They were an inspiration to our Burman team.”
--Shirley Freed

We came together for one main purpose, to unite in seeking the Holy Spirit, our greatest need. And the Lord showed up in a powerful way. Some workers were in tears and did not want to leave, but we know that the Holy Spirit went with them. In the dark, difficult corners of Cambodia, where Buddhist and Muslim neighbors do not understand the efforts of these workers, Jesus is there.

Prayer Did It

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Prayer Did It

BY BRENDA KIŠ

Hello! My name is Chai Worra* and I live in Laos with my wife and eight children. God put me here to help my people, just like He put you where you live so you can help people around you.

I’m so happy to be God’s servant. God blesses me in many ways and I’d like to tell you one story about how He did that for me.

A few months ago, one of my friends asked me to help him transport some firewood from his farm to his house. You see, our farms aren’t in the same place where our houses are, so we have to take things back and forth between them.

You need to know that my friend is not a Christian. I’ve tried talking to him but he’s never interested. Therefore, when he asked for my help, I immediately realized that this was another chance for me to show Jesus to him. Before leaving my house, I prayed, “Jesus, please open the door for me to share Your love with my friend. Amen” I prayed. It was a simple prayer, but do you think Jesus heard me?

As we drove along in my truck to the farm, we had a nice chat together. When we arrived, we loaded the firewood into the back and started for home. Everything was good for a half hour, then something went wrong with the truck. It had never acted like this before. It sputtered and coughed, and then the engine completely died. Immediately, I remembered my prayer to God and silently asked Him again for an opportunity to share God’s love with my friend.

We climbed out of the truck and started checking it all over. We worked on the engine, trying to fix whatever was wrong, but no matter how hard we tried, that engine wasn’t going to work. I suggested that we ask God for help. My friend just looked at me and said, “Let’s see if the God you believe in can help us.” I was bold and asked him to pray with me. As soon as we were done praying, I turned the key by faith and God used this moment to show my friend that our God can do all things!

My friend’s mouth dropped open. He was so amazed. Right then he opened his heart and said he wanted to learn more about this powerful God.

Thank you for praying that my friend will accept Jesus completely. You can ask God to show you how to help someone believe in Him, too.

Better Than the World Series

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Better Than the World Series

BY SCOTT GRISWOLD

ASAP: Arti, you just came back from a three-week trip to Southeast Asia. Why did you decide to go over there?

ARTI HAMMAN: I just felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to do something special for people I had known there in the past. I called up Judy Aitken and she helped me with an itinerary.

ASAP: What is your connection with Southeast Asia?

ARTI HAMMAN: In 1992 I worked for AFM Refugee Projects with Judy Aitken and helped in the Site 2 and Kao I Dang refugee camps on the Thailand and Cambodian border.

ASAP: So what keeps taking you back there?

ARTI HAMMAN: Wherever people are, they are our brothers and sisters. God has given me a love especially for the Cambodians. I love to see the pastors that I worked with in the camps. I just feel it is God moving me to go back and care.

ASAP: So where did you visit?

ARTI HAMMAN: My main goal was to visit the schools, mostly the ones ASAP sponsors, like the Feed and Read schools and the Takong project in Cambodia and Karen Adventist Academy (KAA) in Thailand. I also stopped by ASAP’s Sda Center, the hospice place for those with AIDS. That really moved my heart. We prayed a lot. One student at KAA tracked me down to ask Bible questions. I found out he was planning to get baptized the very next Sabbath. The people were very kind. It shows me that wherever you go when you both have Jesus in your hearts, the barriers are broken down. Even if you can’t speak the same language, you feel really close because they are our Christian brothers and sisters. It’s kind of like meeting up with another Cubs fan, only it’s so much better. One young volunteer church worker I met was still carrying the pain and bitterness towards the people who killed his father during the war. I shared with him the pain I have gone through in my life. I told him, “You’ve got to get this bitterness out.” I just really felt the Holy Spirit urging me to tell him he would be bondage to his father’s murderers if he didn’t. Everyone, everywhere has something they are dealing with. We all need Jesus.

ASAP: What most impressed you?

ARTI HAMMAN: I was so impressed with the amount of work ASAP is doing. To see what God is doing in the schools and the faithfulness of the students is so inspiring! When you ask the kids, “What’s your favorite class?” And they say “Bible class,” it’s just wonderful.” I see the teachers working so hard, all day long. The children are learning order and discipline. They are learning love. The atmosphere in the schools was neither sad nor neutral. They were happy!

ASAP: How did God surprise you?

ARTI HAMMAN: I wasn’t planning to do any fundraising, but I felt the Holy Spirit encouraging me, “Why aren’t you?” And the money just came in. I was able to help the schools and some desperately poor people, including a student’s family who had no money to take the mother to the hospital.

ASAP: So now that you’re back, how do you think God may continue to use you to be a blessing?

ARTI HAMMAN: I want to do more short-term mission projects. I have a continued burden for the schools for our young people. They have the energy and rightly trained they will finish the work. When I was young I went to hundreds of Cubs games as a kid. All I wanted to be was a baseball coach. Now I want to be cheering for Jesus’ return more than anything else. Being in Southeast Asia was better than being in America when the Cubs won the World Series! If you serve God, you will never be the same.

Single-hearted for Souls in the South

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Single-hearted for Souls in the South

BY BRENDA KIS

“When we went there the church was run down. No water. The toilet and roof were unusable. Windows broken. Graffiti on the church walls. Uncared for. Looking from the outside, people thought the church was abandoned.” These words from Sone Faraimo, ASAP’s field supervisor in Thailand, describe his experience with an assignment to rescue a church in the south of the country. From a congregation of 60 members, attendees had dwindled to a mere 6 people who were crying out for a pastor to shepherd them. They had been worshipping alone for a year, faithful but not actively taking responsibility.

At first they didn’t respond to the new couple who had come to care for them. They had become negative and bitter and their trust level had also dwindled. They were reluctant to go visiting, and Pr. Sone and his wife, Suwadee, had to encourage them to pray, read their Bible, teach how to lead song service, and how to give their testimony. After a year they warmed up to the Faraimo’s and began to take ownership of their church. Together they repaired the building and began welcoming people in a friendly manner, and participating in every aspect of the ministry. Now they hold an evangelistic campaign every year!

They reached out to former members who had drifted away into Sunday congregations. After that first year four new members joined their church, and the Faraimo’s had begun the process of cultivating leadership from within.

In this location, the Faraimo’s couldn’t make inroads into the hospitals and work among the schools is just opening up, with the potential of teaching English classes. However, the adult education schools opened their doors, and Suwadee began teaching English to massage therapists.

Prison ministry is also part of the work of the Faraimos and church family. Once a month the Faraimo’s and some church members go into the prison and minister to men and women who have been responding positively. After their Christmas program the officials asked for more, recognizing them as part of the team of prison workers. So far they have been able to teach both English and Bible to 80 men and 100 women. Next they will enter a Muslim area to present a health program. There’s been some bombing so not too many workers are eager to go there.

Restoring Dreams

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Restoring Dreams

BY BRENDA KIŠ

Saw See* convulsed in another spasm of coughing. Blood spewed from his mouth as he tried to regain control. Only 30 years old, he felt like an old man already. Poverty, tuberculosis, and an addiction to alcohol assaulted his physical reserves and drowned any dreams he might have had at one time. Then Nin Si,* an ASAP medical missionary, arrived at his door.

Nin Si, a 50-year-old single woman, lives in Myanmar. She is constantly on the lookout for new people who need to hear the Good News. Her search-and-rescue method is to go out every morning after breakfast and help people in the villages with whatever they need. Sometimes she takes people to the clinic and translates for them. Sometimes she herself gives natural treatments and prays for the sick persons. Sometimes she simply befriends families and helps them enroll their children in the mission school. Last year she took a Baptist family and their 15-year-old son to see our school. They liked the campus and structure of the mission school and today, as a result of his daily contact with the staff, the young man is a baptized member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Every day Nin Si’s schedule is different as she listens to the Lord’s leading. On this day she was visiting from house to house in a certain village when she came to the hovel of Saw See. Recognizing that he would die if left alone in his condition, she arranged to have him taken to the hospital where she visited him often. Rallying church members, she asked them to give from their own meager funds so he could have good food, necessary medications, and whatever else he might need. After ten days of medical care, he recovered and was able to go home.

Nin Si’s reward was to have him come and thank her for her kindness. She seized the opportunity to tell him that God was the One who had healed him. Later she invited him to church and gave him Bible studies. He began to attend church regularly, gave up drinking, and was one of eight people baptized last October through her efforts. Today Saw See is being discipled through follow-up activities and sometimes accompanies Ni Si as she visits other villagers. Soon the cycle of evangelism will be complete as Saw See begins his own outreach efforts.

Nin Si has a dream to start a nursery school in a Buddhist village. She has no money but she has prayer. Passion like hers is one of the reasons God rejoices in partnering with people to see the fulfillment of His own dream: to bring the lost of Myanmar to Himself!

Ton Yort, the Fighter

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Ton Yort, the Fighter

BY BRENDA KIŠ

Not long ago I was one of the rebellious ones. My teen friends and I often got into fights, especially when we played soccer and something went wrong. School was the last place I wanted to be and finally, the principal suspended me for fighting.

That memorable day I was sulking outside the school when ASAP church planter Sim Thearith showed up. He knew my potential and had mercy on me. Encouraging me to go inside with him, he pled my case and asked for another chance. Amazingly, the principal reinstated me. This second chance really touched me and made the love of Jesus seem real. Right there I decided this was a God I wanted to serve.

I’m not yet 18 but I now teach 52 second graders at a new literacy school in Cambodia. Established only a year and a half ago, it grew from 2 to 102 students in the first year and then to 158 students in the last five months! My joy is to introduce these children to Jesus, and I’ve actually come to love teaching because I learn so much myself.

Church planter Sim Thearith mentors me and the other volunteer teachers. We visit our students’ homes and spend time praying for them. Nou, a 15-year-old student, asked me what it feels like to be a Christian. All I can say is that I have such peace and joy serving the Lord. I’ve been able to teach him how to pray and study the Bible. In fact, Sim Thearith and I and 15 other young people studied for baptism every night for five months.

Yes, it feels different now. Before this, no one in the village would talk to me, but now they greet me with respect as a Christian teacher. There have been so many changes in my life. I used to have tuberculosis but God healed me. I’m back in school trying to finish high school. Even though my Buddhist family pressures me to go to school on Sabbath when exams are given, I have been able to stand for truth. Now I fight the fight of faith!

Broken Pipes and New Missionaries

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Broken Pipes and New Missionaries

BY PR. SCOTT GRISWOLD

“You’re sleeping in your car?” I couldn’t believe it. Phaly, his wife, Kak, and son, Chris, had no water or heat in their house, and it was super cold. Soon we learned that around four million Texans were facing the same, ill prepared for eight days of freezing weather.

“You can stay at Jose’s house,” I told Phaly. “Lynetta’s already there. You have a church family now, you know.” Phaly, from Laos, and Lynetta, from Cambodia, were just baptized on January 9, 2021. For three and a half years, volunteers with Reach the World Next Door have been helping rebuild the community in Rosharon after Hurricane Harvey. Phaly and Lynetta are the first fruits of those caring actions. Phaly became interested in learning about God by seeing wave after wave of Christians help his community. Two volunteers regularly helped Lynetta with her health challenges. Eventually, several of us had the privilege of spending many hours telling Bible stories and sharing the three angels’ messages with both of them.

“We’re okay,” said Phaly. He’s been through worse things. About 12 years ago, when he felt his life was at risk, he fled Laos. Two daughters had to be left with grandmothers. Since then he’s eked out a living, growing water spinach in a couple of greenhouses. I’ve never heard him complain, so it didn’t surprise me that he was making do.

“The pipes under our mobile home are all busted,” Phaly added. “I can’t find any plumbing supplies at Home Depot.” We began contacting other friends in Rosharon. Nobody had power, and everyone had broken pipes. That’s why the shelves were empty.

As the cold continued, we wondered if we would be able to meet on Sabbath since our small group worships in an unfinished, though nice looking shed on Lynetta’s property. Jose, the member who now leads this church plant, told us to come with heaters and coats. After lunch we got ready to go out with a stack of blankets to see how the neighbors were doing. We had prepared a card with QR codes of MyLanguageMyLife.com in English, Spanish, Cambodian, and Laotian. On the back side was an invitation to attend Wednesday Bible studies at Phaly’s house and church at Lynetta’s. I smiled to think how similar this was to the description of the early churches, in the book of Acts, meeting in members’ homes.

Phaly didn’t think he could go out with us. His water still wasn’t running and his wife was eager for him to finish. Kak comes from a strong Buddhist background and is studying the Bible, also preparing to be baptized. One of the church members quickly pitched in to help Phaly while the rest of us headed out.

An hour later we were back together. The report focused mostly on Lynetta, as she described an elderly couple who still had no water and desperately needed help. Where could we find supplies?

We put out the word to our local church. Over the next two days the exact parts needed came together. On Wednesday, I joined Phaly and two others under the couple’s house. Before dark they were wearing big smiles as the water flowed freely in their little house.

I think my smile was even bigger. I was thrilled to see Phaly and Lynetta serving their own community. As we gathered for our Bible study, we laid a plan for them to practice telling the Bible stories each Wednesday night and Sabbath morning. No longer will they be just students. Though brand new members, they are becoming missionaries.

And who knows where God will take them. The week of his baptism, Phaly said, “I have to go back to visit Laos. There are so many people who need to hear the good news.”

You, too, can be part of sharing the gospel across cultures. Open your friendship circle to those in your area from other backgrounds who need to be included in the family of God. Visit adventistlearningcommunity.com/courses/rwnd to learn how to facilitate a small outreach group like the one that has impacted Rosharon.

Losing All, Gaining Christ

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Losing All, Gaining Christ

BY JOHN PRESS

Chavanh Meang* knew his decision to follow Christ would prove costly. He needed to look no further than the man who had given him Bible studies by phone, the late ASAP church planter Stephen Thid,* to know what could happen to Christians in the closed country where he lives. The communist authorities had arrested and imprisoned Pr. Stephen multiple times. But Chavanh was the chief of his village. Perhaps they would treat him less harshly.

However, shortly after Chavanh’s conversion, the district authorities made it clear that this province would not tolerate the presence of Christians. Once a bastion of the communist party’s military operations, it was also a stronghold of the devil. In Chavanh’s village alone, more than half of the 80 households sheltered active shamans. They, too, feared the loss of their influence and livelihood if Chavanh’s strange new beliefs gained an audience in the village. So, they conspired against him with the local police, who arrested him and put him in jail.

“They gave me two choices,” recalls Chavanh. “Give up Christianity, or give up my position as village chief. So, I gave up my position.” But although he had lost his title, his reputation, and his freedom, he did not lose his faith.

After he was released from prison, Chavanh gained a new title: ASAP missionary. Despite the presence of so many shamans, the people in his village could not find relief from the illnesses and demonic manifestations that tormented them. The shamans often charged them as much as 10,000 baht (about $320 U.S. dollars) to perform ceremonies that had no effect. “It was too much for them,” explains Chavanh. “So many wanted to be free from this heavy burden.”

Finally, one brave little grandma in the village had had enough. She was very sick, and her own son, a shaman, had demanded that she buy him opium before he would perform a healing ceremony. Instead, she secretly sought out Chavanh and asked him to pray for her. He did, and she was healed.

Word of Chavanh’s prayer and the woman’s healing spread rapidly through the village. One by one, more villagers began visiting their former chief to request prayer. “God is very powerful,” says Chavanh, “Most of the people were sick, and they were healed by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Others who were demon possessed also experienced deliverance when Chavanh prayed for them.

Within three years of his conversion, the number of villagers joining Chavanh for worship every Sabbath swelled to more than 100. He and another ASAP missionary, Nath Xiong,* who completed youth evangelist training at ASAP’s training center in Thailand, began sharing the gospel in neighboring villages. Recently, 97 people were baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church as a result of their labors. Because Chavanh was willing to lose all, his village has gained Christ.

Radio and the Right Arm

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Radio and the Right Arm

BY BRENDA KIŠ

The radio program in Surin, Thailand, was languishing. No one was keeping up with the programming and anyway, the internet was attracting more attention. The few Surin church members were folks from the countryside and every Sabbath the pastor, ASAP medical missionary Sompong Khunsawang’s husband, had to drive some 100 kilometers to pick up and return home the scattered members. Sompong decided that city people needed to hear this message, too. Gathering church members in support of radio outreach, they created a Facebook page for their program. Soon people were listening from around the world. As listeners requested materials, the church members sent out pamphlets on religion and health. A local Protestant church even donated Bibles to distribute to interested listeners!

Then the members began planning a local health outreach. They spent nearly three months in advance visiting people and using natural remedies and massage to reach their hearts. Then they invited their new friends to the church to clear a garden plot and plant vegetables. These they shared and taught the people how to eat healthfully. Exercises in the church courtyard were offered, as well. They informed their friends that dentists from America would be coming to help them with any of their dental issues. With all this preparation, it was easy to invite these city dwellers to the meetings to learn about health and how God wants to bless them.

The church could hold 200 people and everyone had to register in advance. But 300 people registered for the three-day program! What an opportunity to get names and contact information for post-meeting visitation. As a result, the church members learned about family needs, peoples’ jobs, and so on. Small groups were formed and new gardening methods were shared.

One lady named Nit had cancer of the intestines and liver and needed chemo treatments and surgery. However, she learned about NEWSTART at the health outreach and Sompong encouraged her to “Come trust in God and make the changes you really need for long-term health.” Then she took Nit to her home after surgery and cared for her scar area, giving her ginger and carrot juice to drink. These were things straight from the garden! Eventually, Nit stopped eating meat altogether and the doctor was pleased with her progress. She was so grateful that she shared with her neighbors that “the seventh-day church takes care of your health!” When she asked what she could do to express her gratitude, Sompong told her to just keep sharing.

Another health program drew an additional 200 people and resulted in nine baptisms. Now Nit was saying, “I don’t know how much longer I will live, but how can I serve God?” This time Sompong invited her to share on a radio program. “But I don’t know how to speak,” Nit said. “Never mind,” Sompong told her. “Let the Holy Spirit prepare you. You can share from some books.”

All this has resulted in a piece of land, once intended for a cemetery, that now grows vegetables and a dream to someday build a sanitarium there. Even the government enthusiastically approves of what is happening. Three announcers currently work for the radio station, and church members as well as others listen to the programs. People are spreading the word! And Nit says, “Now I’m not afraid to die.”

Soe Finds His Calling

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Soe Finds His Calling

BY CAROL REYNOLDS, ASAP BOARD MEMBER

ASAP is intentional about training young people from refugee backgrounds to minister to their own people. Kyaw Soe Soe, known as “Soe” to his friends, graduated from Ouachita Hills College this month with a theology degree. He is especially grateful to have received help from ASAP’s Judy Aitken Memorial Refugee Scholarship Fund while studying to become a pastor to the Karen diaspora who have relocated to North America from Myanmar.

Soe’s family were brought to Dallas, Texas, in 2008 from a primitive refugee camp on the border of Thailand where Soe spent the first ten years of his life. His Christian parents were teachers who had fled civil war and persecution. Transition to life in America was difficult as they struggled to learn a new language and adapt to a totally different way of life. Soe attended grades 6-12 in public schools where he was often bullied, and the large number of other immigrants made mastering English difficult. But he persevered and after graduation he attended community college with the goal of becoming a nurse and earning a lot of money.

However, God worked on his heart, and Soe decided that he really wanted to work for God. The leader of his Karen church in Dallas gave him a brochure about ASAP’s training program, Reach the World Next Door (RWND) in Houston. He attended this program, led by Pastor Scott Griswold, for a year. That was when his life really changed, and a strong desire to become a pastor grew in his heart. During his time there Soe gained his own experience with God, learned English much better, and was blessed to do outreach to immigrants from Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, and secular backgrounds. RWND prepared Soe to continue his education.

Soe was interested in continuing school but lacked finances. He prayed hard. Then he learned that another Karen student was attending Ouachita Hills College (OHC), a small Bible college in Arkansas. He was accepted and provided an opportunity to earn money by canvassing and working at the school. This, along with ASAP’s matching scholarship, helped him pay his tuition. Each year Soe prayed about his financial needs, and God miraculously provided. Selling Christian books door to door greatly increased his confidence and language skills and allowed him the opportunity to experience how real God is.

The opportunity to study theology for the past four years at OHC has taken Soe to another level in his walk with God. He knows that God has led him step by step, and he is eager to begin his life work as a pastor. Soe plays the guitar, sings, and loves the Word of God, especially Job, Psalms and Proverbs because they’re full of praise to God. For a class requirement Soe and a friend preached an evangelistic series in Karen that was recorded and was viewed by hundreds in various countries where the Karen refugees are resettled. He also returns to his home church in Texas frequently where he preaches, works with the youth, visits, and plans to minister once he graduates. Eventually Soe would love to spend time back in his homeland if God opens the way. He says, “I praise God for ASAP’s donors who helped me with my education that has prepared me to serve the Lord as a pastor to my people that are scattered around the world.”

Chomnath's Testimony

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Chomnath's Testimony

My name is Chomnath Long. I was born in Cambodia on the Sabbath Day on August 24, 1955. It was a very special time because the government had just completed a new hospital. Three days before my birth my father had moved our family to live at the hospital where he worked. He was a nurse as well as the pharmacist who ordered medication for the entire country. My family was large at the time, I was the fourth child. Later my parents would have two more children. In all there were three girls and three boys. My family was not Christian, but my mother would make the sign of the cross with ashes on her babies and over the door posts and windows of our house.

I went to school and my father wanted me to study in Europe to get a good education so I could save people like he did. However, those plans were put on hold from 1975 till 1979. In Cambodia the communists under Pol Pot wanted the people with knowledge to die. Pol Pot’s soldiers made people leave their homes. I’m not talking of a few people; it was like a flood of people. No one wanted to leave their homes; no one was fooled by the soldiers’ lies that it would only be a few days. The people only left because the soldiers had guns. They made us walk by foot. Some died by the wayside; others left their babies alongside the path. They took us to a place where we had to work hard labor, planting rice, corn, and watermelon; but they would not let us eat it. They did not give the people enough food and many starved to death.

But the Lord, even though I did not know Him yet, helped me. Before Pol Pot, my mother had let a man we called Uncle Bahn use some of our land so he could provide for his children. He had a bicycle with a platform attached to it to give people rides to earn a living. When Pol Pot’s soldiers took over we would put rice on the platform so we had some food. I would find ways to hide rice and beans when I was working in the fields. I would go out in the fields at midnight to get food and bring it back to my mother. Once I was caught. They let me go even though the normal punishment would have to put me in chains. I could write well so I wrote letters for people. Because the Lord gave me wisdom about how to phrase these letters to the soldiers the people were able to use the letters to gain permission to go home for emergencies. I was always thinking of ways to help people. In general people would fall before they would die. I told the people to pretend to fall before they got to that point so they could be taken for medical care. I would volunteer to take them to the hospital, so they could survive and get stronger.

Despite what was going on around me I was not afraid. I lost my father, uncle, two brothers and many friends in the killing fields. Before people died they would look into my eyes and ask, “Chhomnath, why do I have to die?” I would stay with them and hold them, but I did not know what to say. My heart broke when children died. Every time people suffer, the Lord is with them. Millions of people died.

The Holy Spirit was in my heart, although I still did not know the Lord. I would think about why so many people had to die. I had a dream that my Father, not my earthly father, was something great and I was becoming His child. It was so amazing! Waking up to life during Pol Pot was difficult. During the killing fields they forced me to marry someone I did not love. I cried because that meant I could not go to school like I desired because in Cambodia if you were married you couldn’t go to school. Six months later I got pregnant. In April, 1979, Cambodia was liberated. While walking pregnant from the killing fields to my husband’s home town I prayed, “Oh God, I cannot go to school. Please bless me with a son or daughter who has a wise and understanding heart to save the people of the world.” Several months later I gave birth to my son. People would tell me I had some great destiny. I could not agree at that time. My husband was unfaithful to my child and me so I told him to go with that other person. How could I have a great destiny when everything was so terrible?

The Lord, although I still did not know Him, put in my heart to come to the United States. I had a very powerful hope in my heart. The Cambodian government was not permitting people to leave Cambodia. My sister warned me to stop trying, but I insisted that no one could stop me. I was able to sell some land for $1,500 and paid it to a guide to get my brother, my son and I to Thailand. We contacted the INS. One of my sisters had already come to the United States, but she would not help me. Perhaps she wanted to forget about Cambodia. After six months in Thailand we were able to leave for the United States. Right after we left the tides changed; Thailand sent all the Southeast Asian refugees back to their own countries. People cried because some had been waiting ten years to come to the United States.

I arrived empty-hearted at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport in February, 1992. I was so overwhelmed by all I’d been through with the killing fields and my sister refusing to help me that I felt no one truly loved me. Even though I was in the United States my heart was still in Cambodia. I started to work very hard at a graphics arts business to try to get what happened to me out of my mind. I was also sending much of my earnings back to Cambodia to my family to help the poor and hungry there.

My sister and brother-in-law in America, my employer and others tried to convince me to stop sending all the money back to Cambodia. I wanted to save the people and would not be convinced to cease my efforts. How could I hang on to money when I had seen people die in the killing fields? I couldn’t just turn my back on them and walk away. I couldn’t let people die. If I had a hundred million dollars in the bank I would send it to them. If I only had five dollars I would send it to them. Everyone called me a disgrace to the family for sending all the money to Cambodia. I did not pay attention to what people said; I listened to my heart. I had three jobs. I struggled with anxiety and depression; because no matter what I did it was never enough to save all the people.

One night I fell into a deep sleep. I saw the Lord in a dream. He had a brilliant face and an ivory garment. He was dressed like a judge and he looked at me seriously. He told me that people have different hearts and that I was on the way of life. Even though I did not know Him, the Almighty loved me so much He came to me and showed me His glory during my hard time. I told the Lord that I wanted to know His story. I watched a film on Jesus and I then understood what the cross was that my mother used to put on her children and the house in Cambodia. I began to read the Bible and pray. He gave me the verse Luke 10:22, “and no man knoweth who the Son is but the Father: and who the Father is, but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal Him.” The Lord began to reveal more and more of Himself to me and I began to fall in love with Him and came to know Him as my personal Savior. One night in a dream I heard a voice like many waters or like heaven tell me, “Go to Church.” He also told me, “Go east!” I asked the Lord, “Where is my Church,” because I had made a mistake in being a Buddhist when I was in Cambodia, and I now knew that was not the truth.

One day my son had to go to the emergency room and I met a woman there named Sheila who would go to the hospital and pray for mothers with their new babies. She belonged to the Joliet, Illinois Seventh-day Adventist Church and I began to go there and study with them. Later, the Lord moved me to Glendale Heights, Illinois and I started to attend the Glen Ellyn, Illinois Seventh Day Adventist Church. I was baptized there last year. I prayed and the Lord sent Nancy to be my prayer and ministry partner. I told my mother and sister in Cambodia not to go to the monk any more. I taught them about the Lord and planted a Church there for 30 people. At this time there are seventy adults and over sixty children worshiping at that church.

I still send money to my sister and she uses it for rice for the poor and starving there. They call me mommy because I feed them. They started praying and fasting that I would come to them. I did not know my Church was doing this, but I was unexpectedly laid off from my job so I am free now to go see them. When I go to Cambodia I am also requesting an audience with the King of Cambodia. I have been asking the Lord what I can do to help my people. I thought that maybe I should write a book or article, but the Lord impressed me to talk to the King. I was impressed to tell the King to change Cambodia’s name. I think this is like when the Lord changed Jacob’s name from Jacob which meant a trickster to Israel meaning the one who had prevailed with God. I am just staying in Cambodia for two weeks, but I will ask permission to come back for six months. The Lord taught me you have to dream big and ask for big things.

If you believe and trust in the Lord He will move everything and turn this world upside down. Pray without ceasing. When two people pray together who love the Lord, they will touch the Kingdom of Heaven; the windows of heaven will open. I want you to know that The Lord is with you always; when you are in the worst of conditions like I was in the killing fields or at a high point like I was when the Lord revealed Himself to me. God bless you always.

-Chomnath Long

The Seven Day Answer

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

The Seven Day Answer

“Where is the Pun Chuan family today?” Church planter Nuth Mao wondered as he scanned the members sitting expectantly in his small church one Sabbath morning. “They have been so faithful in attending, something must be seriously wrong” he anxiously thought.

After the service Nuth Mao went to search for the family. He found all eight of them huddled in their small make-shift hut on the curb of the road. Mr. Chuan poured out his burden. “The day before, the government came and ordered us to leave because we built on public land. They want to clean up the streets. We have nowhere to go!” he said desperately. This problem was bigger than Nuth Mao could solve. He prayed with the family and asked the small groups in his church to pray for this need every morning and evening at 7 o’clock.

One day, two days, three days went by and there was no answer. Finally, on the seventh day, Mr. Chuan came into church with a radiant smile on his face. He said, “I trusted in God and He gave me some land.” Actually, God impressed one of the church members to donate a piece of land 35 x 40 meters for the family to build a house on. The joy and amazement oozed out of Mr. Chuan’s words as he described the beautiful gift of land that even had fruit trees growing on it! God answered many prayers through the loving sacrifice made by a fellow believer! Would you like to play a part in answered prayer and experience joy? Why not make a sacrifice for a brother or sister in Southeast Asia or a needy person you meet today!

Special Boxes

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Special Boxes

“Hi! I’m Charis and this is my litter sister, Caia. One day our daddy came home with a big bag from the craft store. He had a surprise for us and we love surprises! He pulled out eight little wooden boxes and two bigger ones and said, “These are going to be your banks. One for tithe, one for donations, one for spending and one for saving!” We felt excited. He told us that every time we get money we need to split it up and put a little in each box, actually 10 % for tithe, 30% to give, 30% to save and 30% to spend. At first we didn’t get it, but we are learning. Every time we get paid our allowance and when family members give us money we run to Mommy or Daddy and ask them to help us sort it out.

At worship one night, Daddy read us a sad story about a girl in a faraway country. Caia and I both said, “ASAP, we want to give our money to ASAP!” We counted the money in our “Give Bank” and it came to $46.25! This was from saving for four months. It was fun to see how much we could give.

The Miracle Bible

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

The Miracle Bible

BY JULIA O'CAREY

How would you describe the Bible? Living? Precious? Amazing? Powerful? It’s God’s very own words. Mr. Elmer Myaing describes the Bible as faithful. Here’s why.

Mr. Myaing and his wife Molly had decided to make the move from Myanmar to America. Though life was really tough and they could not speak English well, they committed to following God’s words in every detail of their lives. They lived by the word. Mr. Myaing faithfully paid tithe even though it was hard to earn enough for food. He worked two full-time jobs to give his six children a Christian education.

One day Mr. Myaing’s son was driving to Florida with a friend when the car suddenly caught on fire in the middle of a freeway. He jumped out just in time to watch it go up in flames. God protected him, but everything else in the car burned. Well, almost everything else. When his son went back to salvage anything he could, the only thing left was his father’s Bible. The edges were burned and black, but he could still read the words. It was a miracle! Just as God preserved his Word for generations, He kept that Bible safe in the flames.

Mr. Myaing asked his son if he could keep that miracle Bible. It was his treasure. Later, Mr. and Mrs. Myaing also got in a car accident and had to be hospitalized. Soon they realized they would no longer be able to return to their home, but would have to stay elsewhere for ongoing therapy. In the process of relocating, the miracle Bible was accidently thrown away.

After Mr. Myaing’s recovery, he journeyed back to Thailand and Myanmar to visit the churches. He wanted nothing more than to encourage the young believers to treasure the Word of God and hide it in their hearts. He shared the miracle Bible story with them. Silently he prayed, “Lord, I really wish that Bible hadn’t been thrown out. I would love to show it to my Karen brothers and sisters in Christ!”

God loves to give us the desires of our hearts. When Mr. Myaing returned to the United States, that Bible was sitting on his bedside table in a small plastic bag. It was another miracle! No one could explain how it got there. How can you treasure the Word of God in your life? Would you like to commit today to memorizing a verse a week?

How about reading it every morning and then sharing what you read with at least one person throughout the day? Let’s thank God for His miraculous word today!

The Mushroom Pastor

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

The Mushroom Pastor

By Dr. Tom Evans

When I travel to a new country I love to immerse myself in the culture by visiting the local markets. On my first ever ASAP mission trip to Southeast Asia, I found myself in Muak Lek, Thailand. At a busy intersection, there was a crowded market with dozens of booths. Over half of the evening market was dedicated to selling vegetables, fruit, and meats of all varieties.

I passed a vendor selling deep-fried grasshoppers and cockroaches. Another offered live crickets. Not the appetizing treat that I was looking for! As I continued to stroll through the market, the sights and sounds mingled together to produce a sensory overload. On my way out, I heard about a refreshing stand selling fresh mushrooms—and the Mushroom Pastor.

The Mushroom Pastor, normally known as Pastor Ruangwit, is sponsored by ASAP Ministries. He started his church in a community of about 50,000 people near a popular Buddhist temple cave. The church is also in the shadow of the Seventh-day Adventist Southeast Asian educational institution called Asia Pacific International University. Almost none of the community’s Thai Buddhists had joined the large university church. He decided they needed an option closer to home.

How did Pastor Ruangwit become known as the Mushroom Pastor? He deliberately began to grow mushrooms to make connections with the Buddhists at the market. The mushroom business has been good. Every market day, they make around $90 USD. However, the goal is not the money, but the opportunity to forge relationships with non-Christians.

Is it working? On Sabbath morning, I joined the worshippers at the church plant location, just a couple hundred meters beyond the now desolate market. Taking my shoes off to enter the building reminded me that I’m experiencing a culture distinctly different from my own. The ground level of the building is a small shop, with a kitchen in the back. I noticed a couple of large refrigerators filled with bags of mushrooms, ready for the next market day. The shop also offers freshly made bread and granola. However, all business had stopped in honor of the Sabbath.

We walked up the stairs of the townhouse to a room beautifully made into a church worship room. I met Pastor Ruangwit’s wife and three children who live on the third floor. I went back outside to watch attendees begin to arrive, many on mopeds. I noticed all the surrounding businesses were open. However, that morning, the busiest “business” of them all was not attracting customers. Instead, it was attracting people who are longing to know more about Jesus.

Church began with 30 or more joyful worshippers. I sat there feeling inadequate, trying to contextualize my sermon to a congregation with numerous individuals who have not yet been baptized and who are coming from a Buddhist background.

The sermon was followed by a wonderful Thai luncheon with lots of delicious mushrooms. My question was still hanging: what was the impact of the Mushroom Pastor?

Soon Pastor Ruangwit introduced me to a lady who is a vendor in the market. I said, “I was at the market just yesterday and saw some grasshoppers.” I couldn’t help but add, “Do you enjoy those?” She smiled and nodded her head. The pastor has been building a friendship with her as he sells his mushrooms near her booth. This was her third Sabbath to attend church. Mushroom evangelism was definitely working. I learned Pastor Ruangwit has just conducted a baptism of four individuals. A number of others are in the process of preparing for baptism.

Sabbath afternoon, we drove to see the mushroom farm. As Pastor Ruangwit gave me a brief tour, I was overcome by the passion for souls that he expressed. It was clear that mushrooms were simply a means of more effectively sharing the gospel. Rarely in my travels throughout North America and the world have I encountered someone so deeply in touch with the heart of God for lost people. The Mushroom Pastor lit up as he shared story after story of lives transformed by the gospel.

I am thankful God gave ASAP the vision to partner with such an innovative church planting project as Muak Lek. I am thankful for donors who may not have had the opportunity to travel and visit an ASAP church plant, but who faithfully give of their resources to reach people on the other side of the world. You are making a tremendous difference! As a result of the generosity of ASAP donors, I’m sure we will meet many people in heaven…who enjoy eating mushrooms.

Multiplying Hmong Disciples

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Multiplying Hmong Disciples

BY JOHN PRESS

“We need a pastor. Will you help us?” Pastor Chanchai Kiatyanyong heard the question over and over as he visited Hmong Adventist groups around the U.S. following the 2015 General Conference Session. After four decades of service as a church planter, teacher, pastor, and administrator for Thailand Adventist Mission (TAM), he might have suggested that his petitioners find someone else. Instead Pr. Chanchai prayed about their request. In May 2018, God opened the way for him to return through ASAP as the Hmong ministries coordinator for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America.

Based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Pr. Chanchai quickly discovered that reaching the Hmong would not be easy. “There are so many Hmong people in Milwaukee, but they are so busy,” he laments. Many work twelve or fourteen hours per day to support their families, leaving little time for fellowship or Bible study. But God inspired Pr. Chanchai with a new strategy for multiplying disciples in the Hmong community. Shifting tactics, he began visiting the sick and elderly. “I will reach this group,” he decided. “Then, I will reach their children.”

Soon, Pr. Chanchai learned of a former church member who was gravely ill. They had met forty years earlier in a Thai refugee camp, where the man was a church elder, but he had left the church after immigrating to the United States. Pr. Chanchai drove 100 miles to Appleton to visit him. They spent hours talking, singing, reading the Bible, and praying. After their visit, Pr. Chanchai received a call from one of the man’s children. They had been planning their father’s funeral, but now he seemed to be recovering! Pr. Chanchai continued to visit and pray with the man. Though indifferent at first, his children eventually warmed to Pr. Chanchai. “They see that God is real because He is helping their father to get strong,” says Pr. Chanchai, who is currently conducting Bible studies in their home.

Two hours away in Green Bay, Pr. Chanchai leads another Bible study in a unique setting. Last summer, an Adventist farmer heard about his ministry and invited him to give Bible studies to the Hmong workers at his farm. So, once a week Pr. Chanchai travels to Green Bay. At 10:00 A.M., work on the farm stops and the workers gather under a large tree where they sing and study together for an hour. Pr. Chanchai also visits their homes, and during the winter months, he calls and prays with them. He hopes to plant a Hmong congregation in Green Bay soon.

The congregations Pr. Chanchai serves in Milwaukee and Madison are growing, too. Shortly after arriving in Wisconsin, he held an evangelistic series. Among the attendees were nine Hmong young people, mostly from other denominational backgrounds. Pr. Chanchai invited them to his home for Bible studies. For several months they met each Monday for five hours. First his wife taught the young people how to make Thai vegetarian meals. Then they ate and studied the Bible together. This February six of the young people were baptized, and a seventh plans to get baptized soon.

But perhaps the greatest joy of Pr. Chanchai’s first year of ministry in Wisconsin has unfolded in a retirement community in Sheboygan. Many years ago, while his parents were living in northern Laos, they adopted a young orphan girl. She got married and moved away before Pr. Chanchai was born. They had lost touch until Pr. Chanchai learned she was living in Sheboygan and battling cancer. He and his wife began visiting every week to pray with his sister, give her massages, and study the Bible with her. Soon her health began to improve, and her friends took notice. “Everyone was surprised that she recovered,” reports Pr. Chanchai. She told them it was because her brother came to pray and study with her. Now, several residents of the retirement community have joined the weekly Bible studies. “We were apart our whole lives,” says Pr. Chanchai, “Now, God has given us time to spend together and share our testimony!”

Please pray that God will continue using Pr. Chanchai as he reaches out to the Hmong in North America. There are other Hmong Adventist groups in California, North Carolina, and elsewhere who will also benefit from his compassionate, visionary spiritual leadership.

Remembering Judy Aitken ASAP Founder

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Remembering Judy Aitken ASAP Founder

BY JOLENE ROOSENBERG

A spiritual giant in the form of a humble, compassionate woman, Judy Aitken’s life was characterized by a commitment to others and a passion for local and foreign missions. God directed her path on a trajectory dedicated to building His kingdom throughout more than forty years of missionary service.

The oldest of three children, Judy May Aitken was born on May 2, 1943 in Joplin, MO, to missionary-minded educators, Dr. and Mrs. Boyd Olson. Soft spoken and introverted by nature, Judy enjoyed academics and was a good student. She dreamed of studying medicine, but pursued nursing instead at her father’s urging. She began studying at Union College in Nebraska and then transferred to Pacific Union College in California.

Upon graduation from college, Judy married Jerry Aitken, whom she had met in college. Their son, Jay, was born two years later, and soon after they received a call to go to Thailand as missionaries. While serving there, their two daughters, Jolene and Julia, were born. Judy would always say that she loved Thailand, and she had a fondness for durian fruit.

During furlough, the family moved to Berrien Springs, MI, where Jerry studied in the seminary. Judy worked as a homemaker and nurse and volunteered with REACH International. One day, in 1979, she picked up a copy of Time magazine and was moved by the photo of an anguished Cambodian woman and malnourished child on the cover. That same week, she heard a call for nurses to go to Thailand as short-term volunteers for SAWS (now ADRA) to help the thousands of refugees who had fled the brutal Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. Judy felt impressed to respond, and that short trip evolved into seven years of sacrifice.

Day after day, as Judy worked in a bamboo hospital along the Thai–Cambodia border, she prayed fervently while treating people who had survived the ravages of landmines, disease, and starvation. Her heart broke as she watched malnourished children pass away. During this time, Judy started an evening Bible study to introduce refugees to the comfort, hope, and peace found only in Jesus. As refugees accepted Jesus as their Savior and began witnessing to their friends the group grew. Judy realized that these people needed Jesus as desperately as they needed medical attention, so she stopped nursing to focus full time on self-supporting ministry, church-planting in refugee camps along the border.

Through God’s blessing, churches were started in several refugee camps, and Judy’s ministry expanded to other Southeast Asian refugee groups. Bibles were provided and new church members were nurtured and trained. In less than seven years, seventeen churches were planted and over 10,000 people were baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

In 1987, as the refugee camps began to close, Judy returned to the U.S., but her heart remained in Southeast Asia. She could not forget the faces, the lives, and the passion of those she left behind. Shortly after her return, Adventist Frontier Missions (AFM) hired Judy as a refugee coordinator. In this capacity, she made frequent trips abroad and worked closely with the Southeast Asia Union Mission (SAUM) to help establish the Adventist Church in Cambodia. Six years later, SAUM president, Robin Riches, asked Judy to establish a supporting ministry to work with the Mission. In 1995, Judy prayerfully started ASAP, a non-profit organization dedicated to equipping ethnic missionaries to share the Gospel among their own people groups. Endowed with God’s strength and a quiet tenacity, she also used her nursing education to train medical missionaries along with her best friend, Dr. Maryann McNeilus, over a twenty-year period.

Today, ASAP Ministries operates under the leadership of Judy’s daughter, Julia O’Carey, with the same goal of holistic church planting among the poor, persecuted, unreached, and refugees from the 10/40 window. The ministry continues to work closely with church leadership in Southeast Asia, supporting over 600 ethnic church planters, teachers, and medical missionaries, as well as more than 70 schools. In Cambodia and elsewhere, many of the district pastors trace their spiritual roots back to their time as refugee camp church leaders alongside “Mother Judy,” as she was affectionately known.

Judy remained active in the Berrien Springs community until her passing. In addition to serving as part–time Development Director at ASAP, she volunteered with the breast cancer society and served as an elder at Pioneer Memorial Church. She was also very active in the lives of her eight grandchildren, whom she dearly loved. They, along with her many spiritual children and grandchildren around the world were the subjects of her consistent, fervent prayers.

On the morning of December 10, 2018, Judy peacefully fell asleep in Jesus at her home in Eau Claire, MI, with her daughters at her side. She left in the same manner she lived her life: peacefully. Though cancer swiftly took her body physically, her mind remained sharp and her spirit strong, allowing her to commune with Jesus, her Best Friend, till the end. She leaves behind a legacy of compassion and a shining example of a life lived for Jesus.

THE BEGINNING OF ASAP'S MEDICAL MISSIONARY WORK

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

THE BEGINNING OF ASAP'S MEDICAL MISSIONARY WORK

BY DR. MARY ANN MCNEILUS, AS TOLD TO LAURA HOKANSON*

The vision for ASAP Ministries’ medical missionary work began taking shape in 1993 when my friend, Judy Aitken, and I made our first trip to Cambodia. Our purpose was to find workers for the newly reestablished Cambodian Adventist Mission.

Following the turmoil inflicted by dictator Pol Pot, throngs of Cambodians fled to large refugee camps scattered along the Thai-Cambodian border. Here, Judy helped many refugees learn about God and study English. Eventually, under U.N. protection, large numbers of refugees were repatriated. They returned only to find their homes and personal property destroyed or confiscated. Roads were nearly impassable. Schools and public buildings laid in ruins. Dead or missing family members and friends only added to the disparaging circumstances.

Amid these scenes of heartbreaking devastation, Judy and I witnessed God’s guidance in providential ways. We traveled on landmine-infested roads, around blown out bridges and through pockets of Khmer Rouge resistance forces in search of returning church members. We experienced many joyful, tear-dimmed reunions! Working hard to rebuild their lives, these church members were now employed by the U.N. peace-keeping teams at comfortable salaries. Many of them chose to give up these U.N. positions to serve the mission for a much lower income. Their dedication as pastors and mission workers continues to the present.

During that first trip, we saw the widespread lack of adequate food and basic sanitation. Lack of clean water and proper waste disposal contributed to disease, resulting in much suffering. Knowing that true medical missionary work is the gospel in practice, Judy and I realized the necessity to train the new workers as gospel medical missionaries, using simple natural remedies. This training would give them the skills to meet people’s most pressing needs in practical ways.

The Cambodian workers quickly applied the basic health principles and treatments for disease that they were taught. Through their ministry, many people came to know and love Christ as the Great Healer of body, mind, and soul.

Since then we have observed over and over again how the Lord seemed to step out of His way to work supernaturally during medical missionary training sessions. We would pray and the Lord would work. The following quotation became a hallmark of the work as we saw it repeated before our eyes: “Natural means, used in accordance with God’s will, bring about supernatural results” (2SM 346.4). One such example occurred on February 2, 2009, at a training session for medical missionaries from Myanmar serving in Cambodia.

The week before the training session, a young missionary worker, Johan, had gone to the hospital complaining of abdominal pain. Finding no conclusive cause of the pain, the doctor sent him away with medication for acid stomach and nausea. Despite taking the medication, his symptoms grew worse. By the time he arrived at the training session he was in intense pain. Upon examination, I found him in a terrible state, rolling with pain from his rib cage downward. His abdomen was bloated with diminished bowel sounds. He could neither eat nor sleep. He became the object of our training session. I had one group of students make a large charcoal compress which we applied to his abdomen. Another group prepared a hot water bath for his feet. Another group kept cold compresses on his head throughout the treatment. As he rested in this position, one of the training session leaders, Pastor Martin Kim, anointed him, and we all prayed. After the treatment, Johan fell asleep. By evening he was feeling better and able to drink coconut water. We repeated the treatment several times over the next few days. During this time, we talked to him about diet and ways he could keep his digestive tract healthy. By the end of the training he had made a miraculous recovery.

In the twenty-plus years that I have worked with ASAP, I have observed many healings such as this. When the faith of the ASAP lay pastors’ was strong, God worked mightily. Healing miracles happened when all the credit was given to God. “And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven” (James 5:15).

*Portions of this article are adapted from the preface to God’s Healing Way, a medical missionary manual written by Dr. McNeilus.

More Than a Blessing

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

More Than a Blessing

BY LAURA HOKANSON

Recently, I interviewed one of our many wonderful partners in ministry, Alison, about the creative ways her family shares their faith and supports God’s work through ASAP. Alison asked us not to use her last name. She wants all the glory to go to God.

Laura: How did you first learn about ASAP?

Alison: At a GYC conference. My husband and I were impressed with the dedication of ASAP national missionaries and the emphasis on combining health work with evangelism. We have supported ASAP ever since.

Laura: Your support has taken you on an interesting journey. I hear you have a few blueberries.

Alison: Yes, 2,000 pounds each year! Three years ago, we bought some property previously operated as a U-pick berry farm. Instead of reopening the farm, we decided to give the berries away. Pickers are asked to donate a certain price per pound toward ASAP Feed and Read schools. Most patrons give the suggested donation. Some pay more. Others take what they need for free. This way our community and Feed and Read schools receive a blessing.

Laura: What an awesome idea!

Alison: It wasn’t our doing. The Lord led in all the events leading to purchase of the property. We felt the blueberries belonged to Him.

Laura: What other outreach opportunities have opened for you?

Alison: Our friend, Lareda Neves, operates a ministry facilitating the sale of Christ’s Object Lessons as a fundraiser for Christian education. Each of my children chose their own ASAP education project to support. We spend two hours per week taking the children door to door in our neighborhood. Using an info card to explain their ASAP projects, the children ask for a $20 donation for each book. Some people give more, some donate without taking a book. We give everyone a free Our Little Friend or Signs of the Times magazine. Like the blueberries, this method blesses our community and ASAP.

Laura: You must be really brave to go door to door!

Alison: NO! Truthfully, I resist going every time! We always receive a blessing that outweighs the fear. One person who saw our book said, “I’ve been praying for something like this!” When we pray, we see the Lord’s leading in each encounter and it has made my children more instant in prayer. Now two other mothers in our congregation plan to bring their children canvassing with us.

Laura: What advice do you have for others who want to get involved in outreach like this?

Alison: I won’t lie, it isn’t always easy. Pray through the discouragements and see what the Lord will do for you. You will receive MORE than a blessing.

If you would like Christ’s Object Lessons for your education fundraiser, you may contact Lareda Neves at letsgohomeministry.com.

Discovering the Mission Field Next Door

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Discovering the Mission Field Next Door

BY PR. SCOTT GRISWOLD

Brenda grew up on a sheep farm in Minnesota. She loved the little lambs, but her fondest childhood memories are the visits from relatives who were missionaries in Africa. As she listened to their stories, she knew there was only one thing she would ever be: a missionary nurse.

After earning a nursing degree, Brenda married Pastor Dick Duerksen, and Africa seemed closer than ever. Instead, calls to various leadership positions kept them on the homeward side of the ocean. Finally, they received a call to join Maranatha Volunteers International. Brenda began traveling the world, coordinating medical clinics wherever a church or school was under construction. She loved every minute of it.

In time, the Oregon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists called Pastor Duerksen, and once again the mission field was on the other side of the world. Or was it? Brenda thought deeply as she puttered around her orchid greenhouse. What did God want her to do?

Then, the Conference called. Would she work part-time helping with health ministry and community services? It fit her abilities. She agreed. But was it the mission field that mattered so much to her? Calls began to come in from the Sunnyside Seventh-day Adventist Church. They were having wonderful problems—their church was being overrun by Adventist refugees from the Congo. Cultural differences were raising issues that needed to be worked through.

Since her teenage years, Brenda had longed to help in refugee camps. Once, she had planned to travel to the Thai-Myanmar border to help longtime family friend and ASAP founder Judy Aitken in the camps there, but it never quite worked out. Now, Brenda began to learn more about the many refugees, immigrants, and international students living in Portland, Oregon. In particular, there were many Karen from Myanmar. Soon the conference asked her to help coordinate ministry among the refugees. She looked around for people involved in such activities and developed a refugee taskforce to learn how to respond to the needs.

Brenda really did not feel equipped for this ministry. She flew to Tucson, Arizona, to attend a seminar, and she gathered as many ideas as she could from Terri Saelee, coordinator for Adventist Refugee and Immigrant Ministries for the North American Division, and Pastor Jimmy Shwe, church planter coordinator for the Karen. There she learned about the online cross-cultural missions training Reach the World Next Door.

“I have to do that training!” she exclaimed. She ordered the workbook and videos, then told her Hood View Seventh-day Adventist Church family. “Would anyone like to join me?” she asked, as she passed around a clipboard. Twelve people signed up. The group grew to 16, meeting every Thursday evening in the Duerksen’s home.

Group members were impacted in different ways. One member, Carl, reached out to a refugee from Iraq. They met together at restaurants. They practiced English. The Iraqi had significant physical challenges because of beatings during the war. Carl took him to medical appointments. They became close friends, which his Iraqi friend said is the very thing he needed most.

It was Brenda, the group leader, who was most impacted by the training. Soon she joined a team coordinating a free two-day clinic called Impact Your Health Portland. Over 500 volunteers helped her reach out to more than 800 patients, including many immigrants and refugees. Brenda also continued to help Portland Adventist Community Services. In response to COVID-19, they prepare pre-filled boxes for a drive-through food bank. One day recently the Duerksen’s van was filled with 825 loaves or bags of rolls to distribute to individuals in need.

Frequently, Brenda coordinates efforts with a Karen Adventist refugee leader named Doh Soe to deliver furniture, clothing, bedding, cooking supplies, and children’s toys to refugee and immigrant families in need. Doh Soe is supported by the Rockwood Seventh-day Adventist Church to church plant among the refugees from Myanmar.

I was thrilled to meet the Duerksens at a previous Oregon Conference camp meeting, and to learn, recently, the impact of the Reach the World Next Door training on them and those whose lives they have touched. God desires to use all of us in some way to welcome, befriend, and share His salvation with the unreached who have moved nearby.

After using this training for the last seven years, we have just completely revised the program to increase its effectiveness and make it easier to use. You will enjoy the video clips of leaders and members sharing their valuable insights and experiences in ministry among refugees and international students. You will also appreciate the small group Bible study and discussion workbooks, through which you will learn excellent principles for working with people of other cultures and religions.

The full course is available for free online at adventistlearningcommunity.com/rwnd. It includes 13 lessons that can be completed in your home with your family or at the park with friends. You can use it in Sabbath school classes, youth groups, academy Bible classes, and other venues. Pastors and teachers can also take the course for continuing education credits.

Every lesson has an assignment that helps you put a new witnessing principle into action. If you faithfully follow it, you will make new friends with people from other cultures and significantly help them with the challenges they are facing. You will gain confidence in sharing your faith with Buddhists, Muslims, and others. You will learn how to appreciate various elements of your new friends’ culture, while helping them address issues that must be transformed as they become disciples of Christ.

I am praying that you will take the step to invite friends and family to join you in this mission journey like Brenda did. She writes, “I loved the Bible lessons being focused on how Jesus reached out to immigrants and refugees, with supportive Bible texts and stories. He’s always the number one inspiring role model for us.”

Someone has said we are either a missionary or a mission field. As you consider this strategic mission, remember that the new friend you make may be the one who, like the Ethiopian treasurer (see Acts 8:26-39), takes the gospel back to his entire country. Together, let’s reach the world next door and see Jesus return—sooner!

Prayers of Deliverance

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Prayers of Deliverance

BY LAURA HOKANSON

Thud, thud, thud. The ground below Srey Pheak’s feet left a hollow echo behind her as she ran. Without consciousness and oblivious to direction or destination, she ran with determination, farther and farther away from home. No one could stop her. No one dared try. A demon controlled her actions. Her mind and her spirit were numb.

Nineteen years old and a graduate of Takong Adventist School (TAS), Srey Pheak is beloved by her parents. Her father suffers from a chronic illness requiring her mother’s constant physical care. This situation renders both parents unemployable and dependent on Srey Pheak and other family members for their daily needs. The day Srey Pheak ran away, they were beside themselves with worry. Finally, a call came from relatives in a neighboring village that Srey Pheak was there. For two days the villagers kept their distance as they watched her swing between fits of uncontrollable laughter, then crying, then argumentative fighting, all the while a blank stare filling her eyes where intelligence once resided.

When a visit from her mother failed to convince her to return home, her parents called upon the staff at TAS. “Please come and help us! Please pray for our daughter!” The school’s principal, Pr. Seng Makara, came to pray with Srey Pheak. Miraculously she calmed down and agreed to come home. The battle, however, was far from over.

Realizing the serious nature of the situation, Pr. Makara called all the teachers from TAS together to pray. Gathering around Srey Pheak in her home they prayed diligently for deliverance from the demonic presence. She sat silent, eyes glazed over and filled with defiance. Suddenly a bloodcurdling shriek rang through the room and Srey Pheak began to rock violently up and down. The praying teachers prayed all the louder and with increased earnestness. The more they prayed, the louder her screams became. When the prayer ended Srey Pheak became silent and seemed conscious, but not completely herself.

The next morning the prayer team returned to the Srey Pheak’s home. Her condition had worsened. This time, during the prayer vigil, she seemed to calm down and be relieved of the evil spirit, but she would return to her possessed condition when the prayers ended. The team came back that afternoon, and again prayer calmed her, giving her some temporary relief. Yet again, her condition worsened when the prayers ended.

Not willing to give up on her, the teachers came again the following morning to pray. When they arrived, they were met by Srey Pheak’s distraught parents. “It’s hopeless!” they cried. “Nothing is getting better! We don’t know what to do!”

“Don’t be afraid,” the teachers told them. “Our God is all-powerful. What we cannot do, He always does. Just keep believing!” As they prayed, those on their knees felt that the power of God was stayed upon them and Srey Pheak seemed to be getting better with each prayer. The teachers encouraged the parents to continue praying themselves and not to depend on the prayer visits of the teachers alone. “Humble yourselves before God,” they told them. “Depend wholly on our powerful God.”

That night Srey Pheak’s father spent the whole night in prayer. The next morning Srey Pheak was markedly improved. The teachers came again to pray, and this time they boldly asked the Holy Spirit to heal her completely and cast out the demon. A few hours later, Srey Pheak became herself again. A look of intelligence replaced her blank stare. Her raucous laughing, crying, and screaming ceased. She asked for food, for she had refused to eat for several days during her ordeal.

Since that day, Srey Pheak has been herself, completely healed from the possession of the evil spirit. She attends church every Sabbath and stays afterward for united prayer. Her parents have come to understand the power of prayer and the love of God, and her teachers have learned the importance of persevering prayer. After witnessing this miracle their testimony was, “Even though it takes a long time to pray for the miracle, it is important that we don’t give up and that we keep having faith. In the end, God will always answer!”

Do the answers to your prayers seem delayed? Do you feel like giving up? Take courage. The same God that answered the prayers for Srey Pheak will answer yours, too.

Reach the World Next Door Kit Released

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Reach the World Next Door Kit Released

ASAP Ministries, in partnernship with the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists, announces the release of a new evangelism training kit called "Reach the World Next Door". In the time it takes to read this paragraph, two new immigrants will have entered the United States -- that's over one million people per year that Jesus loves! The Reach the World Next Door kit is designed to help you reach the non-Christians God is sending to North America in droves. For more information, go to reachtheworldnextdoor.com .

Want to put it into action? Order the Reach the World Next Door Training Kit through our gift catalog.

2013 Myanmar Mission Trip Report

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

2013 Myanmar Mission Trip Report

God blessed during the 2013 ASAP Myanmar Mission Trip with workers who love Jesus—and those He loves! Five dentists, a doctor, two nurses, a medical missionary, a youth evangelist, a boy entomologist, and a 6’ 2” bible teacher the locals called the “Long Man” formed the 12-person team sent to the Central Myanmar Adventist Seminary. Conditions were hot and humid, but there were no complaints as the team ministered to students, staff and locals from Taungoo by providing much-needed dental care, medical screenings, reading glasses and instruction from God’s word on spiritual and physical health. Some of the team also sacrificed their personal belongings and money in order to bring back about 500 pounds of Sgaw Karen Bibles for refugees and immigrants in the US in “Project Pebbles 2”!

A Well For Ta Pound Village

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

A Well For Ta Pound Village

In places where the water supply is poor or non-existent, people are unhappy. They need clean water to drink, to bathe, to prepare their food, to live. The people of Ta Pound Village are excited about their new well. It cost $500 to dig and now they have a good flow of water coming out of clean pipes. The water is very sweet and drinkable unlike some wells in other areas of the village. "Villagers are coming to this well because the water tastes and looks better," reports Bun Leng, the ASAP literacy teacher who is sharing the water of life with the local children. Thank you for making this possible for the children of Cambodia.

Rally the Troops

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Rally the Troops

By Nathan Arthur

How can I give to missions? I really wanted to support the work abroad, but as a college student, I did not have much. How could I make giving a lifelong habit if I could not even figure out how to start?

In 2014, I attended a youth conference where Kameron DeVasher charged GYC to begin giving sacrificially to missions. He appealed to the attendees to commit to giving five dollars every week through a recurring donation. This is my chance, I thought. This will force me to start giving to missions. So, without knowing how I was going to find the money, I pledged.

After returning to school, I began trying to raise money to cover the recurring donation. I put out spare change jars and sold a few things. I wasn’t able to raise more than I pledged until I began getting my friends and classmates to help fundraise.

Elissa Tesch, a fellow college student and former missionary to Laos, had great ideas and energy. With the help of Elissa and many others like her, we held two large silent ASAP fundraising auctions.

What did I learn? First, do not wait to support missions. God can not use you until you choose to be used by Him. He certainly will use you the moment you commit yourself to His service.

Second, involve other people. God has not given everyone the same talents. By working together, we multiply our individual effectiveness.

Finally, do not allow your circumstances to limit you. Whether you are rich or poor, smart or slow, old or young, God can and will use you if you will only let Him.

Nathan Arthur is a student at Ouachita Hills College.

Stand For Your Faith

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Stand For Your Faith

By Julia O’Carey

Can you think of a story in the Bible where three young men stood strong for their faith even when someone threatened to hurt them? Yes, you are right! Daniel’s three friends were thrown in the fiery furnace because they refused to bow down to the golden image. Jesus protected them, didn’t He? Today, I’m going to share a story about another brave young man who lives today all the way on the other side of the world. His name is Nai*.

“Stop praying! That’s foolishness!” Nai’s mom spoke very sharply. “Get up right now!” she yelled even louder. Nai kept kneeling by his bed, praying to Jesus. Nai’s mom slammed the door and left. Soon he heard his father boom out, “Nai, you are a disgrace to your mother and me!” He yelled some more, but Nai kept praying. Every time Nai’s parents caught him praying, reading his Bible or listening to a DVD about God, they yelled at him. This hurt his heart deeply. Nai knew he could not give up his most precious treasure—his best friend Jesus.

One day Nai got the courage to go to a secret house-church meeting on Sabbath. He was nervous but excited at the same time. Finally he would be able to meet people who believed just like him. His heart leaped with joy as they sang together! Suddenly, in the middle of the DVD sermon, a group of policemen burst into the crowded home. They swung their guns around and yelled, “Give us your Bibles! Give us your DVDs and your songbooks! Give them to us now!” No one dared hide anything. They put their heads down and they handed up their precious materials.

The police selected Nai and one other lady. They handcuffed them and took them to the police station. Nai’s mind raced and his heart beat fast. “Why me?” he kept asking God. “This is my first time to church.” He was really worried. Then, as he stood before the policemen, he remembered what Jesus said in Matthew 10:19, “When they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say.” Nai felt so peaceful. He knew Jesus was right by his side. Sure enough, Nai answered the questions just right. Three hours later, the police let him go.

Nai was happy to know that the church members had fasted and prayed the whole time. Later, the police came and took Nai to the police station again and again. Finally, after much fasting and praying, the police stopped harassing Nai and the believers in his village. He is still praying for his parents to believe, too.

What would you do if you were Nai? Would you stand for your faith? Remember, Jesus will stand by you just like He stood by Nai at the police station and by Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego at the fiery furnace.

Media Evangelism Bearing Fruit Among Eritreans

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Media Evangelism Bearing Fruit Among Eritreans

BY BRENDA KIŠ

Bemnet Meried was born in Eritrea as a fourth-generation Seventh-day Adventist. Raised in the faith, his life was suddenly altered when he was 17 years old. In 2002 persecution began in the country and the church went underground.

In 2004 Bemnet entered medical school and immediately faced a hurdle: Saturday classes. Though he fasted and prayed for help to stand for God, the pressure was great and he gave in when an exam was offered one Sabbath. The brokenness he felt afterwards led him to approach the program director and tell her that he would not be able to do this in the future because of his beliefs. Though he received letters of warning from the co-director, God intervened and saved him from going to jail. He was even allowed to take his weekly exams on Mondays instead of Saturdays “for the sake of your God!” In 2010 he obtained his M.D. degree, worked a year, and through a series of divine interventions entered the United States in 2011.

One night he received a strong impression when God said, “Bemnet, what are you doing for your people?” He was then directed to write a tract in his language. It was the start of a ministry. Preparing Bible studies and DVDs and translating Spirit of Prophecy books, he eventually established a program on Facebook and began doing media work in a friend’s studio. He became a church-planting consultant for Eritreans in North America and started to write his own books.

And this ministry is yielding results. After listening to one of his YouTube sermons on Job, a woman called to ask if this story was really true. When assured that it was, she shared her story of depression because her husband had left her. Bemnet connected her with another Eritrean SDA woman and just recently she was baptized!

A Catholic woman heard about the seventh-day Sabbath on Bemnet’s Facebook program. She contacted him and was convinced of this truth. She is now taking Bible studies and witnessing to neighbors as well as to a cousin overseas who now attends church and studies with Bemnet via teleconferencing!

Another family in England has been convicted through his Viber group and is studying for baptism. In fact, says Bemnet, the most powerful means to reach Eritreans is through Viber, videos, and flash drives.

Through an ASI grant, ASAP has invited Bemnet to make quality DVDs at a local studio to reach and nurture scattered Eritrean people here and abroad, while continuing his translation work. We look forward to meeting God’s precious Eritreans in the Kingdom as a result of this ministry!

Overcoming Evil With Good

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Overcoming Evil With Good

BY BRENDA KIŠ

The history of war in one closed country in Southeast Asia has caused Christianity to be seen as a hostile element and a dangerous influence from the West. Church buildings are forbidden and Christians are harassed. Thomas Xay’s* village was not spared this persecution.

The police, village chief, and unbelieving villagers joined together to demolish the Seventh-day Adventist church building. Thomas and four other church leaders were arrested and imprisoned, and those of the believers who remained faithful began worshipping in secret.

Yet God has a way of turning things around. Thomas persevered in prayer and gradually the persecution diminished. Eventually, he was even elected to be head of his village for a few years! Fearing that Thomas would try to push Christianity in the village, some villagers and government officials protested, and he was barred from holding public office.

But this was not the end of the story. Thomas then went to Thailand for a month of missionary training. In the meantime, the village police, hoping to scare believers out of the church, told Christians that Thomas was back in prison. However, through social media Thomas reassured the believers that he was alive and well, learning more about how to share his faith.

When he returned home, he invited the village chief and unbelievers to join the church members for a Sabbath worship and lunch at his home. Surprisingly, they accepted! Thomas had the opportunity to share God’s Word with them and teach them how to give massage treatments. He gave a gift to the village chief, and the goodwill generated by that occasion has opened the way for Thomas and church members to begin house-to-house visitation where they are able to share God’s Word and pray with the people. He has even taught their children to read the Bible and organized a Bible-reading competition for them, with prizes.

In addition to this house-to-house work, he was able to visit the sick and pray for them. In the hospital he met an old woman who was very ill and unable to talk. A relative was there caring for her and Thomas asked if he could pray for the sick woman. The relative nodded “yes” and Thomas offered up a heartfelt supplication to the Great Physician. Within two hours, the sick woman improved greatly and was able to speak and rise from her bed. Now both she and her relative have evidence that God is real!

Thomas has gone through many challenges and trials, but as he has remained faithful to God and focused on his mission, God has brought about the fruit he so greatly desired. Wherever God puts us to work – in the church, in community leadership, or among the people who surround us, He is with us and will work things out for His glory.

Mission Trip Reflections

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Mission Trip Reflections

AN INTERVIEW WITH LAMPAI SIHAVONG, BY JULIA O’CAREY

On a recent, cool, summer evening, I sat down with Pi Lampai and ASAP Associate Director Pr. Saeng Saengthip (who helped translate) to reflect on our recent mission trip adventures to Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar. Through laughter, tears, and a mixture of Thai, Laotian, and English (sometimes even in one sentence), stories and experiences unfolded. I noticed the sun started setting but sensed there was much more yet to share. May this shortened interview with Pi (Thai for “sister”) Lampai inspire a deeper passion in your heart for serving others as it did in mine.

J: What was it that motivated you to come with ASAP on the training trip in March?
L: I feel that ASAP is my organization. Mother Judy and MaryAnn McNeilus invited me to go with them every year to Asia. Unfortunately, I never could, because my daughters were having babies or something else always came up. When I went to Judy’s funeral this past December, my heart was deeply moved. When my husband died, I didn’t cry because I knew I would see him again. But when Judy died, I wept. I wept not because she passed away, but because I deeply regretted not taking the time to work alongside her when I had the opportunity to. I cried during the whole service but especially during the song, “Go Light Your World”. I held up my candle and promised the Lord at that moment I would go and I asked him to take care of all my responsibilities, my elderly mother and my two special needs grandchildren I take care of, etc. Yesterday is gone, today is here with an opportunity, tomorrow is uncertain. I resolved to go.

J: Was this trip what you expected?
L: It exceeded my expectations! Before I went I didn’t know what I would be able to do or how I could help. I thought maybe I could serve water to the team when they got thirsty. I stayed busy doing all sorts of things, cooking for the team, teaching exercises to the workers, and helping with the children’s programs.

J: Did going to a refugee camp trigger any memories of when you were in a Thailand refugee camp in the 1980’s?
L: Yes, it brought back so many memories. When I saw the r in the refugees in the Mae La camp, I felt so sorry for them. They can’t go back and can’t go forward. I wondered what I would do in that situation. The only thing to do is pray for God to come back soon. They live in fear that their little homes will burn down because of how they are made with bamboo and leaves and they are so close together. They don’t have good medical care or anything, but at least they have God. When I was in the refugee camp, I didn’t have money and had five kids to take care of, but that is where I found God so it makes it all worth it. I see how God is using the difficult situation now for these refugees to draw their hearts closer to Him[JO1] .

I will never forget Chan Thavy and my students I taught in my three Bible classes in the camp. When I first met Chan, she was not my student yet but a friend of my student, Tdem Kham. Tdem asked me to pray for her. I had the opportunity to visit Chan and she opened up. She shared how her husband went back to Laos a year before and tragically died in a boat accident on the Mekong River. This left her a widow, trying to care for two young children alone. The food the UN gave to her was not enough so she went to the market to buy some fish to make fish paste for her children. After fifteen minutes of eating it, her children started to throw up. They rushed to the clinic and sadly did not make it in time and both children died. Her neighbor accusingly said, “How dare you feed your children poisonous puffer fish.” This plagued Chan with guilt and sadness. A dark hopelessness flooded over her as she planned how she too would end her life. She only had ten baht to her name, (which was about forty cents). She tucked it in her pocket, along with a long towel which she would use to hang herself on a big tree at the back of the camp. She bought her “last meal” of fried bananas and sat down alone to eat. The paper that wrapped the bananas was torn from a Bible and the words from John 15 jumped out at her. “I am the way, the truth and the life.” When she read those words, a whole new world seemed to open up to her. Before that she couldn’t see or hear anybody. She sensed she was surrounded by a warmth and light. She came back to her room instead of hanging herself. The next day she showed me the wrapping and asked me about the words. I told her this is God’s special words from the Bible. She said, “No wonder when I read it something touched my heart.” The next day was Sabbath and she started coming regularly. Even though it is so hard to be a refugee, this is how we can find God.

J: I discovered that even though there was a language barrier when you went to Myanmar, it did not hinder you from reaching the people. Because of the love you have for others, you were able to connect with their hearts. What was a highlight during your visit to Myanmar?
L: I felt really sorry for the students in Myanmar. Some have broken families and some don’t know where their parents are. I spent time teaching them every day. During prayer request time, one boy prayed that his dad (who was paralyzed) could afford to get him a uniform. My heart was touched. I found that one uniform costs 18,000 kyats ($11). I gave him 50,000 kyats ($30) and he said that’s too much. He promptly gave me some back. I told him, take the rest to help put food on the table. The next day he broke down in tears when he said, “My dad told me to tell you thank you.” I will always remember the honesty, gratitude, and sincere faith in this young boy.

J: You have been back to Laos a number of times. How was this trip different?
L: This trip was different because I went purely for missions. With this mindset, I found I was interacting and share Jesus with so many more people. It moved my heart to help the poor with ASAP. I shared Jesus with everyone I met. Even the taxi drivers heard about Jesus from me. One of our van drivers asked, “Why do you have so many suitcases?” This opened up an opportunity to share about our missionary activities and to tell him about God. I shared how urgent I feel it is to be here to share with people who do not know Jesus because He is coming soon. He asked, “Who is Jesus?” I shared with him the redemption story and creation. The taxi driver said at the end of the trip, I heard the Gospel before but I didn’t understand it and I was too busy trying to make a living. But now I really understand.

Traveling with Lisa Isensee and her children was so much fun because I saw Asia through new eyes. At our rest stops, they wanted to try different new fruit and snacks. It was a joy to introduce them to tastes, textures, and phrases so familiar to me but novel to them.

I am so happy I learned united prayer from Martin and Liana Kim. I really love that way of praying. I feel I gained more of the Holy Spirit on this trip.

J: You shared a lot of pictures and videos with your friends. How did this impact them?
L: They loved every bit of it! My sister, brother, daughter, and friends all want to come with me next time.

J: The advice you gave to our ASAP team at the end of the trip was very meaningful to me. Can you share it with our extended ASAP family?
L: I shared how Mom Judy met a real need of mine during Christmas time many years ago in a refugee camp. She provided blankets for my children who were shivering at night. She also smiled sweetly at me and asked me, “Where is your home?” I pointed it out and after a long day of work, she showed up to pray with me. That personal touch impacted me greatly and I want us to remember to do the same. Also I observed how hard she worked with limited resources. Now we have a talented mission team serving together. She was the first tsunami wave and now we are the second. She was the first one in the relay race. We now need to run in place and then grab the baton. Jesus will use us too, to finish the work before He comes.

Ready to Serve the Master

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Ready to Serve the Master

BY CAROL REYNOLDS, ASAP BOARD MEMBER

Soe Nay Hsee, called “Soe Soe” by his family and friends, remembers a happy childhood spent in Myanmar (formerly Burma), living with his faithful Karen Seventh-day Adventist family. He attended the Eric B. Hare Memorial Academy at Ye-bu village. At nine years of age he had a close brush with death when he fell into a deep well. A mentally ill lady miraculously heard his cries and called for help to pull him out. His hands were raw from clinging onto the rope. Soe Soe knew that God had spared him, and he determined to serve Him.

When civil war overtook their village, Soe Soe’s parents were threatened and arrested, and the family with six children fled through the jungle. They ended up in the primitive Mae La refugee camp on the border of Thailand, where they lived for many years. Thankfully, Soe Soe was able to finish high school in the camp, learning both the Burmese and the Karen languages, as well as a little English. Those years were difficult, but even though the family had very little, they enjoyed warm fellowship with other displaced believers. They also prayed for a better future and educational opportunities for the children.

In 2007, when Soe Soe was 19 years old, his whole family resettled to Utica, New York. What a huge adjustment for them after years of primitive jungle living! Soe Soe’s parents were thrown into the workforce at minimum wage jobs, and they struggled to find a church and Christian education for their children. Soe Soe worked hard to learn more English and eventually completed an associate degree in computer information systems at a local community college. His parents were determined that, if possible, their children should attend Adventist schools. Soe Soe wondered if he could reach his goal of serving the Lord.

Because of generous donors who believe in sponsoring refugee youth to become pastors to their people groups, Soe Soe made the courageous decision to step out of his comfort zone and attend Ouachita Hills College (OHC), a small Bible college in Arkansas, to prepare for the ministry. “At first, I really felt like it was not the right fit for me. I had to leave all my friends, my family, my culture, my language, and even the food I loved,” Soe Soe recalls. “But I wanted to serve the Lord and my people, and it is the way He led me.”

Now that four years have passed, Soe Soe is very thankful for the education he has received. Canvassing is a big part of his life at OHC, and he has grown much and learned many valuable leadership and decision-making skills. “I now know that I didn’t lose anything when I chose to attend OHC, but rather, I have gained many deep spiritual friendships and invaluable preparation for ministry. I have also been extremely blessed by the Spirit of Prophecy, which I was never exposed to before. My life has been totally changed by being here. I don’t know where I would be today if I had not come here.”

Now a U.S. citizen, last summer Soe Soe returned to Southeast Asia on a mission trip led by Pastor Jimmy Shwe and his wife as part of his senior practicum requirements. Pastor Shwe is a mentor and church planting consultant for thousands of Karen Adventist refugees scattered across North America. Returning to his roots was incredibly inspiring to Soe Soe. “I was able to return to my home village, as well as to the refugee camp where we lived. I have become so used to a more comfortable life in America that it was sobering to remember who I was and where I came from. I questioned what I will do about it in the future,” Soe Soe pondered. "The refugees have so very little and hardly enough to eat, yet they were so joyful. Teaching in an ASAP-sponsored school for these refugee children bound my heart to those who were just like me a few years ago. I can’t wait to serve my people and share with them what I have learned.”

Soe Soe will graduate from OHC this month (August 2020), and he plans to return to Southeast Asia, where he will serve the Lord as the coordinator for church planting and evangelism among the displaced Karen people on the Thai-Myanmar border. Though he was the first Karen student to attend OHC, now three others are attending and studying theology there. Canvassing helps them pay their school tuition, but support from ASAP’s “Education for Southeast Asians in the U.S.” fund also plays an important part in their success. This fund assists several faithful refugee theology students at other Adventist schools in North America, as well. Please pray that the Lord will provide for their education and their future involvement in His work among their people groups.

"Multiplying Disciples—Christ’s Way" DVD Release!

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

"Multiplying Disciples—Christ’s Way" DVD Release!

This is an exciting year with the big event of the General Conference Session in San Antonio, Texas. ASAP Ministries was there, praying unitedly for God to move His people forward to finish the work in the world and see Jesus return very soon. We wanted you to know that you can have the very DVD that we handed out to thousands attending the GC. It is called: Multiplying Disciples—Christ’s Way .

Enjoy sharing this DVD with those in your circles. It highlights the work we are doing in partnership with you. Thank you for your solid support, you can see the results in the three videos:

RIT DIDN’T QUIT
ASAP Church Planter Duang Thy Rit found a way to bring Jesus to an entire family.

MR. WIN’S GARBAGE CAN RESCUE
Find out what Mr. Win rescued and discover how you can help with only a quarter!

322 CHRISTIANS DIE FOR THEIR FAITH
While we worship in freedom, others will die today for their faith. Listen to the story of one man who regularly risks his life to share the Word.

You can also see the big difference that volunteers make in our new TAKE ACTION video clip. We are so grateful to every individual who gives of their time and their means. May their testimonies stir you to an even greater involvement with missions.

Also, we are so excited that God has brought immigrants, refugees, and international students right into our own neighborhoods and universities. We all can have a cross-cultural mission field and be part of the last movement to take the three angels’ messages to every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. We hope you will share the video REACH THE WORLD NEXT DOOR with your church and help organize an effective outreach with them.

We are each Jesus’ disciples, called to multiply disciples throughout the world. Sometimes we feel there is little we can do. We feel so incapable. Praise God! The answer is the Holy Spirit—fully capable of any task no matter how difficult!

Order one or more FREE copies of this dvd through our online Gift Catalog.

"United in Prayer" DVD Released

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

"United in Prayer" DVD Released

The ASAP DVD, "United in Prayer: Results from Southeast Asia" , features videos that share what happens when brothers and sisters come together to pray. ASAP has been on a prayer journey and when we discovered the power that comes when praying unitedly with others, we shared this truth with our national missionaries. The amazing stories in this DVD will remind you how very much our Lord delights to answer the united prayers of His people!

To view the videos online, please click on the titles below:

MEETING A BIG GOD
See how one child's life in Cambodia changes dramatically when she meets her Father and learns how to pray.

UNITED IN PRAYER ACROSS OCEANS
Watch how the Holy Spirit connected Pastor Sophat Sorn from California with a Methodist minister in Cambodia to receive life-changing truths from God's Word.

GOD'S GANGSTER
In answer to 30 days of united prayer, an ASAP lay pastor in a closed country comes face to face with a notorious gang leader–and watches a miracle unfold!

WHAT IS UNITED PRAYER?
Watch this segment to learn how united prayer works.

If you would like a FREE copy of the " United in Prayer " DVD, please order one through our online Gift Catalog.

To view other ASAP videos online, please visit our Video Archive .

A Second Chance

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

A Second Chance

I believe in Jesus! Every Sabbath day I love to go to church to worship God, every Sabbath except one time last month when I fell into temptation. You see, I try to make a living by selling vegetables at the market. Between my work and my husband's small pay from working construction, sometimes it is difficult to have enough to live. That Sabbath morning I asked my husband, Chum Silat, to drive me to the market. We piled all the vegetables and my two-year-old child, Lun O'Chi on the small moped and started out. I felt a little guilty because my mother-in-law called me that morning, asking what time we would all go to church but I told her not to wait for us.

We were about half way there when suddenly I heard a "bang" and the moped started swerving around the busy road because our tire blew out. While we headed straight into the big tire of a large moving truck I cried, "Jesus, save us!" At that moment I stuck my foot out and gave a hard kick. Fortunately, this sent our moped away from the big truck and to safety by the side of the road. I learned that day an important lesson that no matter how hard our situation might be, Jesus must be first in our lives because He is our God.

Later that week I told Church Planter Ty Kim An about my experience and how I told God I was sorry and how I will make Him number one. We read Isaiah 58:13-14 together and now I understand more clearly about God's Sabbath, His holy day. I also understand more deeply in my heart about God's mercy. He loves me enough to answer my cry for help, give me a second chance and save my family and me!

-Sok Chea Soun

A Real God Answers

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

A Real God Answers

I woke up early on Pchum Ben day, the Khmer Festival of the Dead, with a cold, sick feeling in my stomach. We were down to 1,000 Riel (25 Cents) and had no rice left in the sack, no food in sight. “How is my family going to eat today?” I worriedly asked myself. I was not hoping for the delicious treats that are usually eaten on this special day, like sticky rice with sweet beans or cake with banana wrapped in it. I knew a simple meal of rice and vegetables would more than satisfy us. My four children woke up shortly after. The older ones started whining right away about being hungry. My youngest sobbed with hunger. I wanted to cry too. I could not blame my husband for the sorry state we were in. He could not help being sick for quite some time. I understood that he could not drive the taxi when he was so sick. I was just happy that God answered Church Planter Ty Kim Ann and my prayers for him because we did not have to buy medicine after we prayed.

Speaking of prayer, before I became Christian, every year since I was a little girl, I prayed to my dead ancestors on this holiday. I remember lighting incense and candle sticks to guide the spirits of my deceased relatives to the offerings my family and me prepared. Now I know how to pray to a real God, the only God who has power to help me. So on that special day, I prayed a silent, pleading prayer to the God in heaven. I told him how it broke my heart to see my daughters so hungry. I asked Him to have mercy on me because I did not know what to do. I was helpless. Right after I finished praying, three young men from the church appeared at the doorway. They said they were impressed to each give me 3,000 Riel to buy rice with. It is really wonderful how God is alive and answers my prayers. I praise the Lord Jesus Christ!

- Thenly

The Task that Remains

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

The Task that Remains

By Scott Griswold

Jesus had such a commitment to the vulnerable lost that He said the shepherd should leave the 99 in an open field and head out to rescue just one that was about to die. Is that the pulsating priority of your heart? Does the giving and serving of your church reflect it?

Sadly, the majority of missionaries and offerings do not go to the most vulnerable and least-reached peoples of the world. We basically give our money and time to the 99 in the huddle.

Yet we wait for Jesus’ return precisely because there are still over 3 billion people in 4,051 unique people groups that do not have an effective, multiplying Christian witness (Matthew 24:14).

Is ASAP Ministries taking this end-time commission seriously? ASAP’s acronym stands for Advocates for Southeast Asians and the Persecuted. Are they among the least reached? Explore, pray, and recommit to finishing Jesus’ assignment with us.

Cambodia is unreached. ^* It has close to 16 million people with 30 unreached people groups. There were very few Christians and only a handful of Seventh-day Adventist members in Cambodia before the horrific genocide of the 1970s. In the refugee camps thousands came to Christ. Judy Aitken, the founder of ASAP Ministries, was actively involved as a nurse and encouraged evangelism in the refugee camps. Scott and Julie Griswold joined the church planting mission and along with other workers saw members added and churches planted in every province of the country.

An ASAP-sponsored church planter named Saum Sovannak has extended God’s work into the Cham people group who are predominantly Muslim. We continue to partner with the Cambodia Adventist Mission to start new work where the lost sheep wander, sponsoring a total of 84 workers.

Laos is unreached. It has the second-lowest percentage of Seventh-day Adventists in the entire Southern-Asia Pacific Division. For a small country of just over 7 million, there are a huge number of unreached people groups—114! The mission leadership and our ASAP-sponsored church planters are determinedly witnessing among the majority Buddhist Lao people group while pushing into new groups like the Tai Dam, Ngae, Ta Oi, Nyagon, Yahern, and others. There are now about 100 members in the Ta Oi tribe. Remember these are animist tribes who worship spirits without a knowledge of the Creator God and the love of Jesus at the cross.

Myanmar is unreached. You would think with more than 28,000 Seventh-day Adventists that we would not call this country unreached. Most of the Seventh-day Adventist members are of the Chin and Karen tribes. The majority ethnic group of 30 million Burmese has very few Seventh-day Adventists. The country itself has about 50 unreached people groups still waiting for a vibrant gospel mission. For the last several years, ASAP has channeled funds into medical missionaries and church planters who have specifically focused on the huge unreached population of the Shan and Rakhine tribes.

Thailand is unreached. This beautiful country has been home to thousands of missionaries for many years, yet less than half a percent of the 68 million people have become evangelical Christians. Eighty-two unreached groups wait for our service and message. Besides the millions of Buddhists, two and a half million Thai Muslims have no Seventh-day Adventist work among them.

At our recent training of the 12 Thai church planters that ASAP sponsors, we urged them to press past their present worship groups to establish new work in new villages. We more than urged them. Together with the mission leaders we told them that now since their groups have been established long enough, if they wished to remain hired as church planters, they must begin new work. They were excited. Some had already begun.

Why are we pushing like this? Because we know the desperate need of those who do not know Jesus Christ. I have seen the tears pour down the face of a man who had trafficked children as he realized that Jesus had died to set him free from hell. I have seen the incredible excitement of a Buddhist taxi driver as he was introduced to his father, the Creator God. We must all take up Jesus’ call to reach every kindred, tribe, and tongue.

Pray, give, and go. It’s time to finish the work.

^* The Joshua Project counts a people group as unreached if it has 5% or less professing Christians and 2% or less evangelical Christians. Learn more about the unreached overseas and near you.

A New Kind of Prison Ministry

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

A New Kind of Prison Ministry

BY ELLAINNA HART

It began as a normal day for David* and his wife Mary.* Together, they collected 1,000 sermon DVDs and fliers to share in the closed country where they live. Mary entered the markets, where most vendors are women and David went to the bus stations where most drivers are men. This witnessing strategy had worked for David and Mary before. But today there was trouble.

As Mary was handing a DVD to one interested woman, the woman’s husband, a police officer, showed up. He arrested Mary on the spot. Someone alerted David.

At the police station, Mary was taken into an interrogation room. At first, the police tried to intimidate David and Mary by yelling and pounding the table. But David protested, “I am a citizen. Government officials need to respect the people. This is not right.” After David’s protest, the first officers were replaced with others. David was no longer allowed into the interrogation room, but they opened a window so he could hear what was happening.

Mary was accused of carrying materials that were not approved by the government. Therefore, she was distributing contraband.

The policemen interrogating her did not know how to respond. They replied, “What you are doing is very new. We have never seen this before,” and they left to check with their supervisors.

David soon noticed that more and more police officers, including the police chief, were joining him to listen to the interrogation. The officer in charge took all of Mary’s remaining DVDs to inspect them, dividing them into five parts and giving a stack to each department in the station to watch. David stood amazed as 50 police officers crowded around five computers to watch sermons on the health message and why people should believe in God.

Afterwards, the officers discussed the matter. As they deliberated, David spoke up again and said, “I own these materials. I think they are a good thing to share and this is not a crime.” He then asked if their case could be transferred to the religious department and the officer in charge agreed.

The religious officers could only agree on one thing and asked David to sign a citation, but he refused to sign away his right to do missionary work. Finally, the officers released David and Mary.

This courageous couple remains undaunted in the face of persecution. “God saved me and I am compelled to work for Him,” says David. “I plan to continue witnessing until Jesus comes!”

*Pseudonym

The Rescue

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

The Rescue

BY BRENDA KIŠ

The woman looked up and down the road before laying down her bundle at the side. Then she quickly disappeared before someone could associate her with the abandoned burden. Soon a young girl appeared. As she walked along the rutted road under the hot Cambodian sun, she heard a pitiful sound like the cry of a baby, an abandoned baby. “What should I do?” she wondered as she pulled back the wrap. “I know. I’ll take him home with me!”

“Home” wasn’t much. Since her father had abandoned the family, life was hard. A place to live, food to eat. This was the focus of her mother’s life. Yet her mother did not hesitate to adopt the little boy in the dirty blanket, and the little girl suddenly became a big sister to baby Banh Van Thi.

Years passed and the baby became a toddler, then the toddler a happy four-year-old. One day a neighbor told Banh’s mother about the nearby ASAP Feed and Read School and how they taught children to read and write there. Poor as she was, a dream began to grow in Mother’s mind: my son must be educated. Maybe she knew that this was a Christian school and maybe she didn’t. No matter. She brought little Banh to the school and he began to learn. More important than reading and writing, he began to learn about Jesus. Wanting to be involved in her son’s life, Mother came to church with Banh on Sabbaths and little by little she began to learn, too. In 2009 Mother was baptized. Three years later Banh was old enough to take that step himself. And a few years after his baptism, Big Sister made her decision as well.

Banh completed all nine grades offered at the school and began assisting the teachers with various tasks. The principal, recognizing his gifts, began to tutor Banh so that he could pass his exams. When Banh was only 17 years old he started teaching at the school that had brought so much wonderful knowledge into his life.

The following year Banh suffered a shock when his mother divulged the secret she had successfully kept from him throughout the years of his young life. She was not really the one who had brought him into the world. His sister wasn’t really related by blood. This upheaval in Banh’s life troubled him for some time until he realized how much his adoptive mother had done for him, how she had rescued him from death or worse. Her love and kindness had given him life and joy and purpose!

Today, Banh Van Thi is 20 years old. Last year he taught guitar to fifth and sixth graders at the Feed and Read School in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Tall and winsomely humble, this young man knows what it means to be saved and he wants to pass on the gift of life to others abandoned alongside the road of brokenness and dysfunction. His dream is to go to college and become a teacher.

What Satan intended for evil, God rescued on the road of life. “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans … to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

The Power of Healing Prayer

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

The Power of Healing Prayer

BY BRENDA KIŠ

ASAP church planter Mathias Srimoon* has a wife, four children, nearly two dozen goats, and two house churches of 20-30 members to look after. He is fortunate to have family members and church leaders who help each other in God’s work. But it isn’t always easy. “I was the first Christian in my family,” he says. “In the beginning it was very difficult to share Jesus with them, but after they observed me and saw how God is, they also decided to believe in Him.”

But for Mathias’ father, just changing allegiance from the spirits to God was not enough. Unfortunately, one day he lost his mind and grabbed a knife. As he swung it around the house, Mathias’ 9-year-old daughter was cut on the head. Bleeding heavily, she was rushed to the hospital where the doctors saved her life. Mathias’ father was arrested and imprisoned after the authorities found drugs in his possession. This was his fourth time in the state prison!

Incidents like this could turn some people away from the gospel, but Mathias is not deterred. “In my village it is hard to get someone interested in God,” he says. “But if we spend time with people, they will trust us and be open to hear the gospel. I befriended someone with a sick daughter. He’d spent a lot of money on finding a cure for her, but she hadn’t been healed. Then he asked me to pray for her. After I prayed and she was healed, he believed in God.”

Such healings are not lost on the villagers. A church member who always helped with the song service didn’t show up one Sabbath. As Mathias was wondering why this faithful worker wasn’t there, a small boy ran into the church and told him that the woman had pain in her stomach and had been rolling on the floor for many hours already that morning. Mathias and the little boy immediately went to her home. There he laid his hand on the song leader and she ceased her screaming. The villagers were amazed.

Mathias’ own brother-in-law had been married for over ten years without having a child. His family had been praying for him. He was also praying for himself. He and his wife had gone to medical professionals and even witch doctors. Their funds were quickly draining away. Finally, they decided to simply trust in God, and last year He blessed them with a baby girl! Again the villagers were astounded at a God with such power.

Seven people were baptized recently after studying with Mathias. Now he’s eager to enter the next village and start the work there. Thank you for praying for this faithful church planter!

A New Husband for Leah

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

A New Husband for Leah

BY BRENDA KIŠ

Leah Ma Saw,* an ASAP teacher in Myanmar, is married to a new husband. She didn’t expect that her life would turn out this way, but it’s a wonderful blessing. Her former husband—let’s call him Joe—was very difficult. Joe didn’t encourage her in her teaching. Joe drank. Joe used drugs—a lot. Joe wasn’t a good father to their children. His rage spilled over even the smallest of things and he wouldn’t let go. Leah could list many reasons for wanting a divorce, and apparently, Joe felt the same way. It seemed he just wanted to drink himself into oblivion and sleep. When he was awake, he tore up the house. Nights were filled with fights between them. Leah had been scared of him at first, but as the horror of their life together grew, her fright melted into deep disappointment and grief. She tried to be patient for the children’s sake, and she prayed. Oh, how she prayed!

Two years ago, Leah attended the annual ASAP worker training with a heavy heart. She and Joe were planning to divorce when she returned home. “We fight every time before trainings,” she explained to ASAP Executive Director Julia O’Carey. “He does not want me to attend. But I am so blessed by the trainings. I must come.” At the training, as Leah listened to a presentation on the Holy Spirit, she was convicted to forgive her husband and return to him in love. During the united prayer session that followed, she poured out her heart to God. “He gave me the gift of forgiveness for my husband,” she shared at the time. “I’m going to go back home and make things right with him.”

However, when Leah returned home, Joe had not changed. He angrily ripped up her notes from the training, and he continued drinking and sleeping the days away. But Leah continued praying. And one evening she and Joe were finally able to agree on one thing. It was time to consult the village chief to see if he could help them. It must have been an answer to prayer, Leah thought, because the chief told Joe that he shouldn’t treat his wife so badly. And from that day on, Joe started to change. During the next two months he stopped chewing betel nut. Smoking fell away next. And then alcohol. He started to fast and pray. He attended a Daniel and Revelation seminar at church. He started canvassing and selling church books. Leah couldn’t believe what she was witnessing! Many times Joe had tried, without success, to stop drinking and smoking. Always in the past Leah had led out in morning and evening worship, but suddenly Joe took up his priestly role and started leading out on his own initiative. Compassion filled his heart and he went from house to house helping people. He began to read the books he was selling, learned about hydrotherapy, and put his new knowledge to work. Leah and Joe began praying and worshiping together. Joe was a new man! Joe was a new husband!

If you ask Leah what made the difference, she won’t tell you that the village chief is a fabulous counselor or an authoritative leader who knows how to make things happen. She will tell you that consistent prayer to the greatest Counselor who ever lived, prayer to the Leader of the universe, is what brought about such a miraculous change. “I was like Saul,” says Joe, “because he, too, persecuted believers and God’s children.” But now, Leah has a new testimony to share, even among believers in other denominations. Her Saul has become a Paul; her old husband has been born again!

2014 ASAP Christmas Letter

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

2014 ASAP Christmas Letter

As 2014 comes to a close, our hearts rejoice when we think of the light of Jesus' love that penetrated through the darkness this past year. Because of the love gifts you gave, children were fed, youth received DVDs to share, men were discipled, moms were born again! All the angels in heaven rejoice not only over the memories of Jesus' birth, but of each individual who gave their lives to Him. May we join their heavenly celebration this Christmas!

To learn more about what Jesus did this year, read the 2014 ASAP Christmas Letter .

Experiencing God through United Prayer

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Experiencing God through United Prayer

Have you ever experienced the power and sweet presence of God when uniting with others in prayer? Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). We are told in the Spirit of Prophecy: “The promise is made on condition that the UNITED prayers of the church are offered, and in answer to these prayers there may be expected a power greater than that which comes in answer to private prayer. The power given will be proportionate to the UNITY of the members and their love for God and for one another.” --Letter 32, 1903, p. 5.

ASAP has had the privilege of helping run Prayer Rooms at a number of different conferences and camp meetings. The experiences of those who have come through the Prayer Room have been amazing. This is what people are saying:

“I’ve never had an experience like I had at the Prayer Room. Wow!” -- Robert Villegas

“Never before have I experienced the power of prayer like I have here…” -- Calvin Wold

“What a humbling, breaking, life-shattering kind of spectacular blessing to be in the Prayer Room…” -- Florencia Tuaumu-Vaili

“I thank Him for the POWERHOUSE OF PRAYER!!” -- Joyce Mulligan

“I want a relationship with Jesus Christ and through this Prayer Room I experienced a taste of it.” -- Lawrence Thompson

For their complete testimonies, please read below.

For those of you who live near Berrien Springs, we invite you to join us at the ASAP office for our Daily Worship and Prayer Fellowship (100 W Ferry St, Berrien Springs, MI, 11:30-12:15 pm Mon-Thur ET).

Testimonies from the Prayer Room at ARME Bible Camp, Leoni Meadows, CA:

Allison Kielhorn

(Paradise, CA; junior in high school)
The Prayer Room was the most amazing experience. I was raised a Seventh-day Adventist and have always attended meetings and Bible camps. I grew up knowing our doctrines and professing to have a relationship with God. However something was always missing, it was never real for me. After coming to the Prayer Room I realized why I had no power in my life. I was missing prayer; I was missing a genuine and powerful prayer life. After experiencing this in the Prayer Room, it made me want MORE. I went from a 5-minute prayer life one day to a one-hour prayer life the next day to an 8-hour prayer life the day after that. I was so inspired by it that I decided to email my youth pastor and tell him what I had experienced. Now I am starting not one but two prayer groups in my area. I love the Prayer Room because there I am able to experience what I have lacked for so many years and being there encourages me to make this a daily part of my life.

Here is the email I (Allison) sent my youth leader:
Hello, I am here at Leoni for a conference and it has been VERY inspiring. As I think you are aware for a very long time I have been striving to make my Christian life real. It keeps seeming like I make progress, but then I fall back again. For the longest time I have been searching for something to make my Christian experience real, meaningful, and powerful. After spending the last 4 hours in prayer I believe that is what is missing in so many people's experience: a real, meaningful prayer life. God says if we ask, we shall receive; the problem is we're not asking. And so, I would like to start a small prayer group where we can engage in meaningful, united prayer. For it is then that we shall find power. All my evenings are free so I would have it whenever would work best for the people interested. I would like to come to the youth room whenever [it] works out best and ask the youth if they would be interested. I have lots of ideas!!! God is good!!!

Allison L. Kielhorn

Robert Villegas

(Sunnyvale, CA)
I’ve never had an experience like I had at the Prayer Room. Wow! God be praised. You’re together with other prayer warriors, coming together before the King of the Universe. I’ve always wondered how Jesus could have prayed for so long when he was on earth. Not anymore, the time passes quickly. There is such a special unity of bonding, of hearts just praising, requesting and pleading for the miracles of God. Also praying over other people’s requests, and feeling and understanding what others are going through. You really sense that you are not alone in your battles. God’s heart must ache so much for his children who are hurting. This has been such an encouragement for my life. I will never, ever be the same. Prayer has made such a major impact on my life. I just want to praise God!

Joshua Supit

(Weimar Academy)
I honestly had little interest to attend the Prayer Room because I was kind of REALLY hungry. Hahaha. But once I got there (even though I was late), my hunger for food instantly went away and was replaced with the hunger for more prayer. I just wanted to say, I have NEVER cried in a public prayer before this day. (:

Tijan Tuitasi

(San Leandro, CA; Medical Biller)
This is my first time at ARME Bible camp, and it’s been so empowering. I listened this morning as I received tips on how to pray and seek GOD for answers. I’ve been in many prayer groups, however I was always ashamed to speak out my prayer requests or my thanks giving to the Lord. Today I felt empowered by the holy spirit and I Let Go and Let GOD! My faith level was boosted higher than it’s ever been.

Marshall Zellitti

(senior at Weimar Academy)
At ARME the staff really encouraged you to visit the Prayer Room to pray for a revival in your life and in the lives of others around you. Before I went, I thought that an hour of prayer was crazy but once I entered I could feel that there was something different inside that room. When I came into the room, I was heavy burdened with the worries of my life, but once I walked out of the room, I felt my burdens lifted away. I pray that each one of you will chose to visit this place where the Holy Angels dwell.

Testimonies from the Prayer Room at Soquel Camp Meeting, Soquel, CA:

Lawrence Thompson

(Sacramento, CA; just released from jail, former gang member)
First off, I thank Brother and Sister Kim for inviting me to the Prayer Room. I have never experienced prayer like this before, it was so powerful. Words can’t describe the presence of Jesus Christ dwelling in the midst of our humble cries and thanks to our heavenly Father. I want a relationship with Jesus Christ and through this Prayer Room, I experienced a taste of it.

Florencia Tuaumu-Vaili

(Berkeley, CA; student and Copy Editor)
Prayer truly is power. If you doubt that the Holy Spirit is real, if you are in a lull, if you don’t know what it feels like to have the Holy Spirit so near to your heart… come to the Prayer Room. I was born and raised in the church and sometimes church felt routine; but PRAYER oh how prayer has changed my life. What a humbling, breaking, life-shattering kind of spectacular blessing to be in the Prayer Room with like-minded brethren growing and crying and breathing earnest pleas to God. I love this place. God is in this place. I believe EVERY church should have a Prayer Room that is in constant prayer, arming the believers with words of empowerment. Thank you Lord for this experience today… you are more than good… you are indescribably awesome and I’m humbled you allowed me to have this blessing. Go Prayer!

Calvin Wold

(Fresno, CA; Juvenile Correctional Officer)
Never before have I experienced the power of prayer like I have here at Soquel Camp Meeting this year. Praying in a new format, praising and confessing unto the Lord before laying my requests and petitions on the altar has been something that has opened my heart in a new way. Many years worth of bitterness and anger, along with blame had put layers of hardness over my heart, but God is breaking up the soil of my soul and producing fertile ground again! Praise God!! I am expectantly waiting to see where He is leading me after this awesome experience. Many thanks and praises to Our Heavenly Father for the prayer leaders and warriors that have made this possible.

Joyce Mulligan

(Modesto, CA; pastor’s wife and church Prayer Ministries leader)
I have been active with the CCC prayer team in our conference for 14 years. This year’s Camp Meeting has been a little different in having the Prayer Room opened 15 hrs. a day. God has blessed tremendously as I have seen the HS being poured out to so many people as they have been healed both spiritually and physically. I personally have been blessed in praying with Melissa, Martin and Liana and others. I praise God for showing me areas in my life that needed to change. What an awesome God we serve and I thank Him for the POWERHOUSE OF PRAYER!!

Carol Richardson

(Carlton, OR; MD)
I came across the Prayer Room while in Canby, OR. During the ARME Bible camp, I frequented the room whenever I could. I was so blessed that I could not refrain from returning back again and again. I felt the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit every time. I felt my heart softened by the Spirit of God. In addition, the Lord delivered me from the spirit of bitterness during the camp meeting in Soquel where the group was conducting a Prayer Room. Immediately after sharing my request before the group, I felt the seeds of bitterness being pulled out of my heart. Tears of joy were streaming down my face as the Lord lifted me from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. Praise God for prayer and victory through the prayer of brothers and sisters of like faith.

-Martin Kim

Praises in Preah Vihear

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Praises in Preah Vihear

Today, through the sacrifice of dedicated workers, there are a number of church groups meeting each week in the Preah Vihear province. One of those groups now worships in the beautiful church/literacy center that is pictured here. How did it get built? A request came from the church, which was passed on to ASAP Ministries. A couple in California felt impressed by the Lord to give $1,545 for a church in Cambodia and the same amount for a church in Thailand. God impressed other donors to give as well. Those dollars were wired across the ocean and carried to Preah Vihear where the building materials could be bought and built. In a place where Buddhists worship in highly decorated, long-standing temples, this nice church helps the community feel a bit better about the trustworthiness of the gospel. For the church members, it is a great joy to meet and worship in the church each Sabbath. After many months of waiting and praying, they are praising God for His kindness to them through your gifts!

On the Narrow Path

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

On the Narrow Path

I was born and raised a Buddhist. Growing up, we were very poor. My mother had to take care of me and many of my siblings as my father was no longer around. I grew up fast since I had to help care for my siblings and babysit as a nanny to help my mother financially. I was taken to Thailand to work while still in my mid-teenage years. I got married and came with my husband to the United States as refugees.

From my first month of pregnancy with my second child, I had a desire to know truth. The father of our child and his parents were pressuring me to convert to their religion. His mother had been hospitalized and we wanted to visit but his father told him, “If Aye Aye has not converted to our religion, we do not want to see either of you, not even at our funerals!”

Two months before my youngest child was born, I prayed for the first time in my life. I asked God for three things: (1) to reveal Himself (truth) to me so I could know who He is, (2) to lead me to good friends who will help me grow spiritually, and (3) to give me strength to overcome the trials and challenges that I was facing in my marriage

Two weeks prior to my first prayer, I was hospitalized because I was too weak. I refused to eat due to severe loss of appetite and could not sleep because of my troubled thoughts. My husband, whom I loved and trusted and had seen every time I came home, had up and left me and the child in my womb. How could I eat? My agony was compounded by the negative remarks made by others in regards to why I had chosen him in the first place. Soon after that first prayer, I was able to eat again. A peace washed over my mind and I was able to sleep. I gained strength and was able to leave the hospital. I learned God was real.

Shortly after my prayer, a good friend whom I had not communicated with in eight months was hospitalized. Her brother called and asked me to call her as she needed some encouragement. I hesitated for a week because we had some misunderstandings that took place. Her brother persisted and told me that it was not good to hold grudges between good friends. I finally called her with the intention to encourage her. Instead, she was the one that encouraged me.

When she got out of the hospital, she invited me to her home and we cooked vegetarian snacks together. My friend asked me if I would like to study the Bible. I told her that I was very interested but I did not know how to read. She told me that there is a nice young man, Pastor Samuel Ngala, who can tell you the Bible stories. “He’s even vegetarian!” she added with a smile. When I prayed and asked God to send me someone to teach me truth, I did not specify what church he/she should be from. When Pastor Sam came, I knew he was sent by God.

Then came a time when I had to choose between the father of my child and my Father in Heaven. I decided to follow and choose my Father in Heaven. God also gave me dreams to encourage me in my walk with Him. One night, I dreamed that I was traveling. Ahead of me was a bridge with a narrow square door going into a cave and on the other side was a broad walkway. When I looked back, I saw the father of my child trailing far behind me. I chose to enter by the narrow square door. At times, I even had to crawl until I reached a beautiful garden where I was warmly welcomed by a smiling lady. I chose to be baptized and have never regretted my decision and I have decided to follow God with all my heart.

Daily Miracles

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Daily Miracles

Many miracles are needed when starting a missionary training center by faith. We praise the Lord for the daily miracles we witnessed thus far. First, the miracle of God’s love for the unreached at ASAP Ministries and the Texas Conference. After that God led us to purchase 26 acres on the edge of Houston, the fifth largest metro area in the U.S. and home to many unreached people groups. Then God blessed with the miraculous pulling together of a multinational training staff with experience among Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Native Americans.

Next, as we rushed to overhaul the seven aging buildings, God sent help. Jim Christensen, who found the property, stayed on to help work and members from churches where we gave outreach training volunteered their time at work bees to get the property ready.

We needed at least ten confirmed students, but we were almost to August and only five had signed up. We prayed for young people willing to commit to nine months of mission in a new and untested place and program—and God provided five more!

New students meant we had to quickly extend the men’s dorm. To do that we needed fill dirt. The same morning we realized that, Bill, a friend from the Conroe Church, arrived to grade our driveway, but found he would need to bring in rock first. He asked, “Is there something else I could do?” We told him our need and learned he had a dump truck—and extra dirt on his nearby property. Before the day was up the site was ready to build on. Then as we rushed to be ready and Hurricane Harvey approached, God sent Pastor Saeng, ASAP’s new Associate Director, and Scott S., both with needed building skills, to help for several weeks.

Then when our funds were growing thin, on the last night of ASI, a man came up to Julia and pledged $10,000 more that enabled us to get desks, bed sheets, and other necessities. For the students’ side, though $7,000 is quite low for nine months of training tuition, many were still not sure they could cover it. The staff began to earnestly pray, and God laid it on the heart of another donor to extend $15,000 in matching funds. Immediately we sent out an appeal and within three days, the match was complete with over $17,000 more given or pledged.

When Hurricane Harvey arrived, rain came in torrents and both Houston airports closed. We postponed the start of classes for a week, and as each student—four from Myanmar (Burma), two from Taiwan, one from Burundi and three American-born—arrived at the beginning of September, we witnessed another miracle. Each had a story of how God had led them to come.

As we met together, we all had one thing on our minds. How could we help in the aftermath of the hurricane? A phone call later, we were in a Cambodian agricultural community that had been hit hard by flooding. The community leaders first put our group to work going door-to-door surveying the needs of the community. The information we collected allowed them to prioritize medical and evacuation needs.

The next day we got up early again and returned to help, first hauling donations in the morning, then cutting out ruined drywall and soggy insulation in the afternoon. At the last house, the worst of all, Rachel, one of our students from Taiwan, took a special interest in the 70-year-old owner, who then opened up to her about his personal tragedies. We found out that we had already met him and ministered to his stressed-out wife the day before! As our time at his house came to a close, I gave him two beautiful Cambodian Christian books, and he hugged them tight to his chest as we prayed together.

This last one was the miracle we‘d been praying for most. A property, a team, finances, and students are necessary, but what we really want is unreached people transformed by the love of Jesus.

Please pray for more of those miracles.

A Double Answer, A Sign from God

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

A Double Answer, A Sign from God

BY JULIA O'CAREY

Have you ever asked God for a sign? Sometimes when people are starting to believe something new, they need affirmation that they are on the right track.

This was the case for a young, energetic couple in a closed country. They are active Christians, in charge of youth activities in their church, and they received some interesting DVDs. They watched them right away. On one DVD, the pastor spoke of the Sabbath being on the seventh day. This interested and scared the couple at the same time. “Could this be true?” they asked each other. Finally, they approached their church members about this strange belief. They, too, were praying that God would make it clear if Sabbath was the true day of worship.

The wife, Kim,* was pregnant and right around this time, she gave birth to a precious baby boy. Her joy turned into panic and fear when she realized she couldn’t move her legs. They were totally paralyzed. They rushed her and the baby from her little rural village to the hospital. There, the doctor prescribed some antibiotics and said it should help with her paralysis. She was hopeful, but then another problem cropped up. She thought the medicine may have caused her milk supply to dry up and she was not able to nurse her baby. Her husband, Hinh,* decided to go up to the mountains in search of beehives to harvest some of the honey to sell so that he would have enough money to buy milk for his newborn baby. He prayed as he went, half expecting an answer.

This double miracle helped confirm to the couple and the church members that they were on the right path. They believed God had given them this special sign that the seventh day was his true Sabbath. God spoke to them in a beautiful way and the whole church decided to become Seventh-day Adventists after witnessing these miracles!

Here in developed countries like the United States, we do not need as many signs because we have the Bible and many resources to help explain it. Please pray for the seekers in closed countries. Pray that they will find the truth they are looking for and that the Lord will make His beautiful Word clear to them.

*Names have been changed for the safety of the individuals involved.

A New Role with ASAP

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

A New Role with ASAP

God knows what He’s doing! Sometimes we’re a little confused or surprised at what He may ask us to do or where He may lead us, but really, He always knows best!

When I was 17 years old, God loudly called me into pastoral ministry. I headed to Andrews University with great uncertainty about that calling, and yet I also knew God and trusted Him. But I do remember a few conversations with God from that time period as I asked, “Lord, please, can’t I do overseas mission work?” That’s what my heart really wanted to do.

When I was 21 and serving in my first pastorate (Worthington, OH), I realized what God knew all along: I would love pastoral ministry. I saw how God had been preparing me for it ever since I was a little girl following my pastor-dad around. Neither of us knew at the time that God was using my dad to mentor me for ministry. Helping to plant a church also shaped my love for God’s work. As in any church plant, there were plenty of opportunities for a teen to learn to better serve our Jesus.

The years since then have been full and good. Most importantly, my dear husband Richard and I have had the privilege during these years of raising and homeschooling our five wonderful children: Anthony (17), Katherine (15), Elizabeth (11), Victoria (8), and Benjamin (4). We believe that raising our children for God is our highest calling and true lifework. However, I’ve also been blessed to work in youth ministry for other children, direct youth camps in North and South Dakota, plant a church, and help support (as Wisconsin Conference Church Planting Coordinator) many, many more church plants.

Recently I had the opportunity to begin working with ASAP Ministries as Ambassador Director. It struck me that this ministry, too, was a result of God’s preparation. I believe with all my being that when our members in North America are excited about and supporting overseas missions, that joy will be mirrored in our North American churches by greater spirituality and evangelistic effectiveness. I’ve seen it happen. So, I look forward to help strengthen the work in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. But I also look forward to seeing the North American church grow among refugees, immigrants, and the American-born!

Our Lord is so gracious and He gives us such good gifts. He starts with salvation but continues throughout our lives with gifts of family and ministry and a deeper love for Him. And then He sometimes surprises us with our heart’s earliest desires. So today I’m thanking Him for the privilege of working both in the U.S. and in missions for our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world!

I want Jesus to come soon. Together let’s work to reach the whole world ASAP.

He Saved My Life

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

He Saved My Life

BY CHEN JA SAI

One afternoon I went to weed the bok choy and other vegetables growing in my garden. Some of my friends worked alongside me in their garden plots. We chatted now and then as we worked. The sun beat down on my head but I didn’t mind. Being outside with the birds chirping and the fresh air gave me new life. It seemed like a normal day in the leper colony.

Before Brother Wu and Sister Fan came to our leper colony, I had never heard the name of Jesus. They showed me who Jesus is through their love. I know God sent them here, not only to save my life but to give me a special gift—a new life as a Christian. Brother Wu and Sister Fan’s love did not stop at rescuing me from the well. Every day they serve me and the other lepers, feeding us, bathing us, cutting our hair, and teaching us from the Bible. Anytime we ask for help, they are willing. They treat everyone equally, no matter what their background is or how severe their condition. They never ask us to repay anything. I know that without them, we could not live long. We would be in such a pitiful, hopeless state. We are despised by society, the lowest of the low. Yet, I feel the happiness and joy of the Lord through Brother Wu and Sister Fan. No longer are we alone. We have friends and we have Jesus. In Christ, we are one family. This passage sums up what I want to say: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:10–11).

“Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.” —Mother Teresa

Heaven Planned It All Along

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Heaven Planned It All Along

BY JULIA O’CAREY

Can you imagine how busy the angels are each day, ensuring that all the right connections happen at just the right time to fulfill God’s purposes? Wouldn’t you love to read the behind-the-scenes plans drafted in heaven? We will have to wait until we get there, but in the meantime, I want to share a story about how heaven orchestrated events far in advance to bring new light to one precious soul and a new laborer for God’s work among the Lao people in North America.

Thirteen years ago, Pr. Bounprany Vannady traveled from Laos to the U.S. to speak at a camp meeting. While visiting a friend in Holland, Michigan, he heard a knock on the door. To his amazement, his auntie greeted him with a surprised smile. “Auntie Chanthi, I didn't know where you lived in the United States. This is a big country! I’m shocked and thrilled to see you!” Pr. Bounprany exclaimed. She warmly embraced him before her expression suddenly turned serious. “Nephew, I am so sorry for the way I persecuted you when you became a Christian in Laos. Now I have become a Christian, too.”

Pr. Bounprany remembered what happened like it was yesterday. Though he had forgiven her many years ago, memories remained of his aunt yelling at him, cursing him, throwing away his Bible, and forbidding him to attend church. Tears flooded his eyes. “Auntie, I stayed faithful to Jesus and, of course, I forgave you long ago. Did you know I have become a pastor?” His auntie smiled proudly and asked him about his church. During their short time together, Pr. Bounprany shared the Seventh-day Adventist beliefs he holds so dear and connected his auntie with the local Lao Adventist group. She already knew one of the group’s faithful members, Mrs. Lampai Sihavong, the friend who Pr. Bounprany was visiting when Auntie Chanti “accidentally” ran into him.

Eventually, Auntie Chanthi got baptized, and she remains a faithful Seventh-day Adventist today. On January 25, 2020, she and her fellow church members welcomed Pr. Bounprany and his family back to Holland. Through another miraculous chain of events, God enabled ASAP to bring Pr. Bounprany to America to pastor the Lao Adventist group in Holland and support the four other Lao Adventist groups in North America. The Michigan Conference also accepted him as one of its workers (ASAP seeks your support to make this a financial reality).

While getting settled in Holland, the Vannadys stayed with Auntie Chanthi. Each evening, she drove them from house to house, visiting Laotians in the community. Both Christians and Buddhists warmly welcomed them, and the Vannadys discovered that God had already set many divine appointments for them. For instance, Mrs. Vannady met an old client from her days as a beautician in Laos. The woman cried tears of joy at their reunion. The Vannadys invited each new friend they met to church, and many are coming! Please pray for this growing ministry and thank God for heaven’s helpers, who are constantly arranging new divine appointments.

For the Love of Chai

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

For the Love of Chai

AS TOLD TO LIANA KIM

“My mom died at the age of 96. She had a hard life here in Laos, especially after my older brother, Chai, now 62 years old, was born. My parents rejoiced to have a son but soon realized that something was not right with him. He had a mental problem. Mom’s life wasn’t the same after that. Because Chai couldn’t walk by himself, she had to carry him everywhere until he was 10 years old. Often she worried about how he would survive after she died. Since her death, it’s my turn to take care of my brother.” ASAP church planter Miriam Salualee* speaks lovingly of the emaciated figure in her care. “Sadly, my neighbor doesn’t like him because he sometimes makes messes and does strange things. But whatever people say about Chai, he is my beloved older brother,” she continues.

“A few months ago when I woke up one morning, my brother was gone. I thought he had gone for a walk, so we waited for him to return. It wasn’t until the afternoon, though, that we finally saw him, and he was bleeding! Of course, no one knew what had happened to him. And he couldn’t explain it. People were making fun of him.

“Our family is poor and there wasn’t enough money to take him to a hospital. What should I do? All I could do was go to God and ask Him to stop the bleeding. My relatives were suspicious as to whether the God that I believe in could heal him. ‘Do you think prayer really works? We don’t think so!’ they taunted as I prayed. ‘God, I believe that there is only one true God on this earth and it is You. Please stop his bleeding because we don’t know how we can help him, but You know. Please heal him! In Jesus’ name, Amen.’

“No matter what other people say about Chai, no matter what my relatives say about my prayers to

God, and no matter what the world says of my faith in Him, I know He lives. I want everyone on this earth to have this wonderful Jesus in their heart. This is my prayer.”

*Pseudonym

Remember the Persecuted

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Remember the Persecuted

The sounds of wild animals pierced the darkness, as two men huddled atop the mountain where their persecutors had left them to die. For the past five years, they had endured imprisonment and torture at the hands of the communist authorities. All because they dared to follow Jesus.

Several years before, a mysterious stranger had arrived in their village, located in an isolated region of a closed Asian country. No one knew where he had come from, but they eagerly listened to the sermons that played on the radio he brought them. In the eyes of the government, it was bad enough that these villagers were from an ethnic minority group. But when reports of their conversion and Sabbath–keeping reached the communist leaders, they were enraged. They came to the village and arrested the two leaders.

Throughout their imprisonment, the two men suffered horribly at the hands of their persecutors. Once, they were forced to kneel on broken glass until they collapsed. Another time, in the middle of winter, they were confined in a fuel storage tank filled with ice cold water. And now, their tormentors had determined to get rid of them once and for all, intentionally stranding them on a remote mountain more than sixty miles from their village. If they did not die of exposure, they would certainly fall prey to wild animals.

Miraculously, God protected them and helped them find their way back to their village. But their trials were not over. Their homes were under 24–hour surveillance. When they returned, all of their property was confiscated. The ordeal left them weak and fearful, and when the authorities demanded that the men join one of the government–registered churches, they complied.

However, two ASAP church planters learned of their plight and visited the village to encourage and pray with them. The men and their families are still listening to sermons on the radio and watching DVDs given to them by the ASAP church planters. And they continue to secretly keep the Sabbath. We pray that the Holy Spirit will strengthen these persecuted brothers to once again share their faith with boldness.

How You Can Help

Nearly 2,000 years ago, when secular and religious authorities were vigorously persecuting the early Christians, the apostle Paul urged, “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them – those who are mistreated – since you yourselves are in the body also” (Hebrews 13:3, NKJV). At ASAP Ministries, we strive to fulfill the apostle’s plea on behalf of millions of believers in Southeast Asia and throughout the 10/40 Window who are suffering for their faith in Jesus today.

Will you join us in remembering persecuted brothers and sisters through your prayers and generous financial gifts? We have established a special fund dedicated to sharing Christ and strengthening persecuted believers doing God’s Work in Dangerous, Oppressive Places (GWIDOP). You can make a one–time donation to the GWIDOP Fund or become a monthly contibutor by joining Team GWIDOP .

Team GWIDOP is an ASAP initiative to hasten the spread of the gospel in closed countries and among persecuted people groups. It’s simple! You join the team by committing to give $100 per month, and 100% of your donation goes to support ASAP's local missionaries who are witnessing in dangerous, oppressive places. Each month, you will receive a special update or story on our work in closed countries to help keep your persecuted brothers and sisters on your heart and in your prayers.

Are you ready to join Team GWIDOP? Start your monthly donation and sign up here . Thank you for opening your heart to the needs of the persecuted!

Get Equipped to Reach Your International Neighbor

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Get Equipped to Reach Your International Neighbor

Pastor Scott Griswold and Dee Casper gave six presentations on how to reach internationals at GYC. All six presentations are available for download on AudioVerse:

How to Lift the Cross for Buddhist, Post-Moderns & More

Four Steps to Help the Three Angels Jet

God's Pentecost Plan through Today's Migrant Movement

144,000 Attractive Ways to Witness

How to Join the Death & Resurrection of Every Culture

A Doable Disciple-Making Plan for a Finished Great Commission

Upcoming Events

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Upcoming Events

Connect with ASAP at an Upcoming Event!

Our staff and ambassadors frequently share about God's work through ASAP at churches, camp meetings, conferences, and other events. Below you will find a list of upcoming dates and locations. Mission trips are also listed here. Links to more information about these events have been provided wherever possible. However, you may also contact us for additional details.

New events are added to this list regularly, so check back frequently to find out when we'll be in your area. In addition, if you would like to suggest an event or request that a representative from ASAP speak at your church, school, or other event, please contact us . We hope to connect with you soon!

Conquering Dragons

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Conquering Dragons

One night, Thavan Phat woke up abruptly to the cries of her youngest child. Feeling his burning head, she panicked for a brief moment, not knowing where to turn. She wept in the darkness bitterly, thinking she would lose her precious child forever. Then she remembered the Bible story ASAP Church Planter Doung Bopha shared of the lady whom Jesus healed after bleeding for twelve years. As she wiped down her son’s sweaty body with a towel, she prayed, “God, I know you have the same power you showed in the Bible. Please heal my boy if it is your will.” After praying that simple prayer, a peace fell on them both and they were able to go back to sleep. The next morning her child was completely well. She joyfully thanked God for working this miracle and with an increased faith in His power, she asked Him to help her find just enough recyclables on the streets that day so she would have enough Riel to buy rice to feed her family that day.

She sifted through the trash for hours but found nothing. “Lord, I am going to look for half an hour more. Please come through for me,” she prayed. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a big black bag. She opened it up and to her surprise it was full of wedding cards. She carefully checked each card, and towards the end of the pile, found one with 100,000 Riels ($25.00). She shouted, “Thank you Jesus for blessing me and hearing my prayer. My God is so great!” Thavan often tells this story to others to encourage them that Jesus hears us and has many different ways to help His people.

Grandma "Jonah"

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Grandma "Jonah"

By Scott Griswold

Let me introduce you to a very sweet Thai grandma who is also a loving church planter for Jesus. Grandma Kongsri has been Jesus’ friend for a long time. She raised her children to know God. Now she’s raising her granddaughter Ruth too. That keeps Grandma very busy because Ruth is only eight years old and Grandma has three church groups to take care of and seven Bible studies to give every week.

One morning Grandma Kongsri woke thinking she needed to hurry and get ready so she could drive Ruth to school on her motorcycle and go visit the new church members. But then she remembered her dream. In the night she had heard a voice saying, “I want you to go to Noy Noy Village to share my love. I have someone waiting there for you.”

Kongsri shook her head, “No. I won’t be going there. That’s a bad village. A very, very bad village. I have church members and new interests that need me. I know where I must visit.”

After she dropped Ruth off at school she realized she had forgotten her bag with her Bible. On the way back the thought came again, “I want you to go to Noy Noy Village. I have someone waiting.”

Grandma tried to push the thought out of her mind again. Everybody in that village is a castaway. Prostitutes and druggies, all of them. I don’t want to go there. She drove the motorcycle faster. “I had better hurry,” she thought. “I’m almost late for my appointment.”

Back at the house she tried to push her key into the heavy lock. It wouldn’t go in. “I’ve never had this problem before,” she muttered and tried harder. It wouldn’t budge. She started to get angry. “I’m going to break this lock or kick the door down.” Gentle Grandma Kongsri was unusually upset.

Suddenly she felt a rebuke. “Am I being a Jonah? Am I trying to run away from God? Am I mad at the lock like he was mad at the worm?” She stopped struggling and surrendered. “Lord, make me willing to go.”

She decided to try the lock once more. The key slipped in easily as always. Grabbing her Bible she raced down the street on her motorcycle headed not to the member’s house but straight towards Noy Noy Village. “But what will I say when I get there?” she asked God. Nothing came to her mind.

When she pulled into the town, her eyes opened wide. There was a school friend she had not seen since her childhood. Excitedly they began to talk, sitting underneath her friend’s house.

“Ah yes,” said the friend. “I remember how you Kongsri used to steal fruit from the neighbor’s trees. You weren’t content to share them with your friends. You even sold your stolen goods to us.”

They laughed, then Grandma began to tell her how she had met Jesus and how His love had changed her heart. As Kongsri shared her testimony, four of those “bad” village girls pressed in to listen. Kongsri smiled and told them stories of God’s love. It was the beginning of a new ministry in a new town, because Grandma “Jonah” stopped running from God’s voice.

Have you heard Jesus asking you to do something lately? He’s often speaking to us, encouraging us to help someone, to deny ourselves so others can have something special. Have you listened and followed?

God can use little ones too. How do I know? Because one night little Ruth saw Grandma wincing as she picked up something heavy. “Grandma, what’s wrong with your wrist? It’s pokey and bumpy?”

“I need to have surgery,” Grandma answered. “But it’s expensive and I’m scared.”

“I’ll pray for you,” offered little Ruth. “Jesus can do anything.” She rubbed that soft, wrinkled wrist while she prayed. The next day Grandma Kongsri lifted the heavy pail again expecting the sharp pain. She felt nothing. Looking down she was startled to see her wrist was as smooth as the other hand. There was no doubt that God loved her—and all the people in Noy Noy Village.

The Flooding of No Man's Land

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

The Flooding of No Man's Land

BY JULIA O’CAREY, BRENDA KIŠ, AND JOHN PRESS

Moo Loe is all alone in No Man’s Land, a strip of jungle on Thailand’s western border where the Karen people of Myanmar have fled from an overwhelming flood of ethnic violence in their homeland. Like so many other young refugees in this region, Moo Loe was orphaned at a young age. After he lost his father to illness, his mother was gored to death by a water buffalo. With nowhere else to go, Moo Loe was taken to a refugee camp by his older brother. Although the boys were raised as animists, his brother enrolled him at Karen Adventist Academy, an ASAP-supported school where he could live in the dormitory, a small structure constructed of bamboo poles and a thatched roof.

More than 97,000 men, women, and children live in No Man’s Land, a place no one would ever choose to inhabit! Though it is just as beautiful as other areas in the mountains that separate Thailand and Myanmar, it reels with strife and neglect. Living in overcrowded refugee camps or unprotected villages, the Karen people hover between life and death on a daily basis. Tides of evil wash over them in the form of crossfire between Thai and Burmese soldiers; rape; the burning of their homes; the conscription of their children as child soldiers; massacres; land mines; forced labor and the deliberate destruction of villages, food sources, and medical services. Many of the Karen, fleeing the danger, hide in the forests. They are hungry, scared, physically ill from malaria and dysentery, and emotionally exhausted. Thailand frequently threatens to close the camps but the Burmese government does not have a plan to resettle the Karen in Myanmar. The government, in partnership with other countries, is planning to construct a dam that will wash away the Mae Ra Moe refugee camp, where Karen Adventist Academy and its 900+ students are located. This will add one more almost unbearable burden to their life of suffering.

In spite of these waves of evil, there is hope. Isaiah 59:19 says, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord shall raise up a standard against him.” The flood of Satan’s evil intentions is being met by a flood of plans to give this special tribe a future and a hope! ASAP Ministries’ board of directors has just voted to participate in God’s plan for these beleaguered Karen people by supporting forty-four teachers in six SDA schools where 1,200 students attend in the Mae La area. Earlier this year, the board voted to “adopt” fifteen schools in the conflict zone within Myanmar, along with the Canaan School. This makes twenty-two new schools for the persecuted this year!

When God asks us to do something, He always has a way to provide. Pastor Jimmy Shwe, a former refugee in No Man’s Land and currently North American Division Karen Refugee coordinator, plans to visit these schools and churches annually to assess their needs and report back to ASAP Ministries. He also plans to conduct yearly training sessions in conjunction with the Division, the Union, and ASAP to help grow solid leaders. In addition, he will assist the schools and churches as they learn to set goals. He has a great heart and vision for his people and is actively advocating for them. These refugees and Internally Displaced People have been independent for so long. They have suffered much. Being part of the official church entities with which ASAP works closely will give them a sense of belonging as they begin to function as part of the body of Christ.

Refugee Work Grows

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Refugee Work Grows

By Scott Griswold

I would like to invite you to an online visit of hundreds of thousands of unreached people in America’s cities. Point your browser to peoplegroups.info . Dedicated Christians have pulled together amazing statistics so we can know which unreached people groups live where. Click the words “ Metro Area List ” then choose the city near you or one you are interested in. After reading the description you can see which ethnic groups are there. You can even click on them to learn about their religion and background.

For example, take Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas. Discover that every other person speaks another language besides English and 1 out of 4 is foreign-born. Meet 29,679 Urdu speakers from Pakistan and 11,350 Gujarati from India, just to name two groups that are almost 100% unreached Muslims and Hindus living right there in Texas.

Why should you explore this site? These precious people need somebody to help them know Jesus. They need you or someone to partner with a Christian of their own language who could start a church among them.

That is what happened for the Mizo in Indiana and the Zomi people in Michigan. We tell their stories elsewhere, ^* but here we have to at least share our excitement. Personnel from ASAP Ministries were able to visit these two groups as they organized, one into a company and the other into a church.

MIZO COMPANY BECOMES A CHURCH

For a few quick years, the Southside Seventh-day Adventist church in Indianapolis hosted the Mizo group, which consists of refugees and immigrants from Myanmar and India. But on May 7, cars filled the parking lot and church members and visitors packed out a newly-rented church. Why? The Mizo Company had organized into full Church status and it was being dedicated today!

The joyful singing of adult and children’s groups added so much to the celebration. The Indiana Conference president, Steven Poenitz, challenged them to press forward in their commitment and service.

This new church in a new language was the result of someone being willing to leave the comfort of church family and friends. Pastor Lalmuansanga Chawngthu and plumber Van Lova moved to Indianapolis from Maryland, recognizing the desperate need for a church among the Mizo people. They and their families have sacrificed much in their hard work to care for new arrivals and to share the gospel. As of the last report, there are 114 baptized members and 194 Sabbath school members. That’s almost double in attendance what they have on the books!

ZOMI GROUP BECOMES A COMPANY

On May 21, church leader, SB Ngai Chin and his wife Ann, together with church elders warmly welcomed ministers from the Michigan Conference and many visitors to the Grand Rapids Zomi Adventist Group. Ministerial director Royce Snyman and multiethnic ministries director Daniel Scarone officiated at this long-awaited special service. The pastor of the Wyoming Church, Dan Rachor and his wife Joanne had played an important part in nurturing the group. They enjoyed seeing this maturing group grow.

With smiles on their faces, the members (pictured) signed their name to the document giving their group official recognition as a company of the Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The songs of praise expressed the joy in their hearts for the miraculous way the Lord has led in opening the way for them to worship in freedom far from the restrictions of Burma.

What about you? Are you willing to go somewhere and plant God’s church? It might be on the other side of your city, to reach that group of people who don’t know Jesus or who cannot travel across the city to an existing church. It might be in another part of North America, near some city where there is an unreached refugee or immigrant group that needs somebody to come close enough to them to get something started. It might be clear around the world. Would you ask God to lay some place, some group upon your heart to reach?

^* To hear more of the Mizo church’s story, visit our podcast archives at asapministries.org and watch “ Leave Your Sushi and Go! ” Call us at (269) 471-3026 to order MyLanguageMyLife.com cards.

In That Very Hour!

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

In That Very Hour!

I was very glad to have the opportunity to attend an ASAP training. It was the first time that I, along with other ASAP workers from Central and East Myanmar, had heard about how to do united prayer using the conversational prayer format. We praise the Lord for the power of united prayer and the blessings that came from that experience.

On a Thursday afternoon, Martin Kim led our group in a time of special intercessory prayer for those who were hurting or in need of prayer. This took place after he had shared some interesting quotes that reminded us about the power of united prayer. Like the paralytic in Mark chapter 2 who was brought to Jesus by four friends who had faith (v. 5), we were going to bring hurting people to Jesus through our united prayers. We surrounded each individual who requested prayer and placed our hands on the individual or on the person in front or next to us so that we were all connected. Then four people prayed for each individual who requested prayer. During that time of prayer, many workers came to the middle, one after another requesting prayer. Some were in need of healing and others were requesting prayer for family members back at home.

I finally got the courage to go forward. Two requests lay heavy on my heart. First, I asked for them to pray for my son Thoo Thoo who had been suffering from a disease for twelve years. I also requested prayer for my dear wife Ruth who had been suffering with arthritis for five years. I went in the middle of the group, representing my loved ones. Everyone laid hands on me and prayed. I could sense the presence of the Lord with us.

In the very hour that prayers were being said, Ruth suddenly felt free from pain. Immediately she said to her son, “Oh! What has happened to me? Now I can stretch my hands freely without hurting.” She didn’t know that people were praying for her and her son at that exact time. This reminds me of the story in Matthew 8:13 of how Jesus healed the Centurion’s servant “in that very hour.”

When I returned home from the training, I eagerly shared with my family about our special prayer for them. We rejoiced together when we realized what God had done in direct answer to the prayers of His people. The good news does not end here. Our son, Thoo Thoo, also experienced healing. The disease completely left him and he has not had any problems since that day.

We give praise to God who is the Great Physician. There is truly great power in united prayer. Ellen White wrote in the Spirit of Prophecy: “A few converted souls, uniting for one grand purpose under one head, will achieve victories in every encounter” (6T, pg. 139).

-Pastor Khin Mg Tin

New Year, New Directions

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

New Year, New Directions

BY SCOTT GRISWOLD

Many of you have closely followed the beginnings of the Reach the World Next Door (RWND) cross-cultural missionary training program. Your prayers and finances are making a huge difference, and recently, God has led us in some exciting new directions. First, new staff member Pastor Bernabe Diaz, his wife Marleny and their children, Emilio, Benjamin, and Jade, have arrived on campus. With their backgrounds in farming, construction, and Bible work, the Diaz family is an excellent fit to help us train missionaries. Under Pastor Bernabe’s direction, RWND’s garden is being transformed. A new initiative called “Day at the Farm” encourages Houston-area church members to bring their non-Christian refugee and immigrant neighbors to enjoy a retreat from the city and learn about planting, healthy cooking, and natural remedies.

In addition, we are focusing this second school year on training 100 local church members for cross-cultural outreach. Previously, it had seemed that they were too busy to be involved much, but their interest has steadily grown. Many of them work with immigrants or study alongside international students, and some meet refugees while shopping at the supermarket or elsewhere during their daily routines.

Since work and studies prevent these church members from attending our training program full-time, we are conducting a series of weekend intensive events to train them. In addition, they will receive ongoing support and gain hands-on experience in cross-cultural ministry by joining us in our health expos and health coaching, our reconstruction work among the Cambodians, or our new Adventurer club family ministry in the apartment complexes. This will build their confidence to befriend and share wherever they go.

One of the most exciting stories of the new school year is already unfolding at Iglesia Adventista de Bellaire. Last year, our students and staff shared testimonies and provided a training program at this Spanish-speaking church. This year, their pastor, Edgar Chavez, asked if RWND could come closer and guide them in their outreach efforts. That very week Pastor Bernabe Diaz and his family joined RWND.

As we arrived for Sabbath School at Bellaire the parking lot was already filling up. The pastor approached. “What our mission leaders really want is to locate an apartment complex where we can systematically reach out to the residents. We are willing for it to be a mixture of Hispanics and other nationalities.”

That afternoon, more than twenty members joined the first outreach effort. We studied from Acts 16 how God had shut two doors and opened a different one to Macedonia. We prayed that He would do the same for us and then drove to several apartment complexes. Sometimes we walked down the sidewalks praying individually. Sometimes we prayed as a group. The Diaz family quickly made friends. Being from Mexico and El Salvador, they had no language barrier like some of us.

When we returned we asked the members if God had impressed them to focus their efforts in any certain area. One said, “I’m sure it is Ashford Apartments.” Another added, “Yes, that’s the one I thought of, too.” A third affirmed the same. With a mosque right next to the complex, it was clear that God was leading the Bellaire church into a whole new ministry.

God has a beautiful plan for all the nations living in Houston. It seems very apparent that His plan this year is to build a solid base of church members who will reach out. Next year, on-campus students at Reach the World Next Door will have the privilege of working alongside a maturing ministry to the least-reached!

To apply for next year’s nine-month, on-campus training program, call RWND at 707-380-9554 or apply online at reachtheworldnextdoor.com

Ahlin Medical Missionary Training Center Opens its Doors

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Ahlin Medical Missionary Training Center Opens its Doors

BY JULIA O'CAREY

As dawn broke across the sky on March 19, 2019, a large group of missionaries, church leaders, and friends gathered in Myaungmya, Myanmar, for the dedication of the Ahlin (“Light” in Burmese) Medical Missionary Training Center. This simple yet functional center was built on the campus of Myanmar Union Adventist Seminary (MUAS). Dr. Elizabeth Daw,* ASAP medical missionary trainer and supervisor, envisioned it as a place to teach MUAS students, laypeople, and ASAP missionaries the medical missionary skills needed to effectively reach their communities. After devoting so much time and energy to the building project and curriculum development, the opening of the center was in some ways like the birth of a child for Dr. Daw.

The five Seventh-day Adventist missions in Myanmar, along with the Myanmar Union Mission, the Southern Asia-Pacific Division, and ASAP Ministries all recognized the need for this center and combined their resources to make it a reality. This unity of purpose and effort made the opening celebration extra special. The event touched my heart personally because ASAP contributed funds given in memory of my mother, ASAP founder Judy Aitken. A nurse by trade, Judy invested time and resources in growing medical missionary projects throughout Southeast Asia, and she would have loved to see this center completed and in use.

Following the dedication ceremony, Dr. Daw and team began a two-month training program at the beginning of April. Classes included healthy cooking, massage, hydrotherapy, herbs, understanding how to reach Buddhists, how to give Bible studies, and practical classes like sewing, exercise, and many more.

Ruth Htar,* a new ASAP medical missionary, completed the program and now feels equipped to work alongside Dr. Daw for the next training program. Ruth grew up in a staunchly Buddhist Burmese family and community. At the age of 14, she was excommunicated from her village for choosing to be baptized as a Seventh-day Adventist. But since then, because of her faithful witness, her mother, father, and brother have also become Seventh-day Adventists. Please pray for Ruth, Dr. Daw, and the rest of the staff as they serve at the Ahlin Medical Missionary Training Center, treating physical sickness and disease and helping people find spiritual healing.

God’s Plan Unfolds in Ethiopia

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

God’s Plan Unfolds in Ethiopia

BY JASMIN WILSON, MSW, CCTS-I

It was evening when 19-year-old Yusef* met his friend at the Eritrean border and said goodbye to his home forever. He did not risk telling his family that he was leaving. He knew that they would try to make him stay, for this was not a safe journey. Even with their knowledge of the border, it took Yusef and his friend three days to cross into Ethiopia where he was finally safe from his persecutors. With no money, no food, and nowhere to live, Yusef entered a refugee camp. Unfortunately, stories like Yusef’s are not uncommon. There are currently over 900,000 Eritrean refugees and asylum-seekers living in Ethiopia. These brave individuals have fled their homeland to escape forced military inscription, persecution, and torture.

Recently, ASAP Ministries partnered with a trauma team from the Andrews University School of Social Work to bring the message of God’s healing power to a refugee camp in Shire, Ethiopia. Through the passionate and persistent ministry of Dr. Bemnet Meried, the team arrived in Shire on August 11, 2019, with the intention to teach refugees about trauma’s effect on the brain and share tools to lower stress and live healthier lifestyles. The team consisted of ASAP director, Julia O’Carey, two Andrews University faculty members, Ingrid Slikkers and Alina Baltazar, two recent Master of Social Work (MSW) graduates, A.J. O’Carey and Jasmin Wilson, and a current dual-degree MDiv and MSW student, Katelyn Campbell.

Their time in the refugee camp was not without its low points. First, they spent several hours under the hot Ethiopian sun awaiting permission to enter the camp. Then, the entire team, including their local counterparts, fell sick after exposure to foodborne bacteria. With all things seemingly going wrong, it would have been easy to yield to frustration and discouragement. However, with prayer and faith, God left the group in awe at the display of His power and His plan.

After a paperwork issue left the team unable to enter the refugee camp, the Lord blessed them with an idea. Vans were sent into the camp to bring willing participants to a hotel within the city. If the training couldn’t be brought to the people, the people would be brought to the training! The Lord blessed this training with over 100 participants. Local team members estimated that this was more than the number of individuals that would have participated had the training been held inside the camp. After experiencing such a rich blessing, it was abundantly clear that though we may have our own thoughts and agendas, God’s plan will always reign supreme!

A Handful of Gifts and a Heart Full of Prayer

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

A Handful of Gifts and a Heart Full of Prayer

BY PR. LISA ISENSEE

Every time I minister to our refugee brothers and sisters, whether in the States or overseas, I am blessed. In October, I spoke for the Friday evening vespers at the St. Paul (MN) Karen Church. The church is large and located in an attractive residential area. Pastor See Nay proudly showed me around the building. God had wonderfully provided the 300-plus members with their own church!

The sanctuary was spacious and pleasant, the front filled with orchids and fresh-cut flowers lovingly arranged. That night we had a special vespers together. It was touching because as I showed them pictures of people I had met during an ASAP mission trip to a refugee camp, someone would sometimes say, “I know him,” or “I remember them.” As I waited for my words to be translated, I watched the vibrant faces of the Karen people as they took the Bible texts and stories to heart.

Once vespers was over I went to the back of the church where I greeted adults and handed out butterfly pins to the children. It was then that an unexpected thing happened. I was standing there when an elderly man walked towards me, a white envelope clasped in both his hands. In Asian culture, giving something with two hands is typically used to show honor to someone older or respected, or to show that what you give is of value. I knew that I was not older, and while the Karen people are very gracious and respectful, I wondered what this meant. Then it struck me what was in his hands: he was giving money for ASAP’s ministry to refugees. A woman came next, again, both hands holding onto an envelope. From all around the church, from teenagers to grandparents, people began pressing envelopes into my hands.

Thank you for hastening Jesus’ coming with your gifts for refugees.

2013 Cambodia Mission Trip Update

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

2013 Cambodia Mission Trip Update

Dear Prayer Partner Friends,

The sun is just setting on the first day of teaching in Cambodia. Outside the wind is blowing nicely, taking away the heat, and the mosquitos are gently nibbling.

It is wonderful to be with these 50 Cambodian lay church planters. They are eager for the word of God. I felt the power of your prayers as I taught the message of righteousness by faith in some of its deeper beauty. God made it clear and understandable, which to me felt like a miracle.

I asked them which provinces they came from and it was from all over the country. That also was a miracle. Twenty years ago, when we first came to Cambodia, there was only one worshipping group that we knew about.

Julie, Josiah, Joelle, and Jannet were at the ASAP Feed and Read School. They had such fun interviewing children to hear their stories, taking pictures of them, and doing crafts and thank you cards for donors. These are the children we have been telling you about!

Julie joined me for an hour to teach about how God freed her from paralyzing fears when she lived in this city of Phnom Penh.

We ate rice for breakfast, rice for lunch, and rice for supper. It was delicious and so were the many greens, soy proteins, and especially the mangoes we had with it. Sorry I can't share a bit with you through the internet!

So begins our first day of training.

My trip last week to Myanmar was a joy. I met with old friends and heard great new news. I witnessed baptism of a woman from a new tribe entered with the gospel. They are called "Black Face" because of their ancient practice of tattooing the faces to keep their enemies from stealing their beautiful ladies (supposedly beautiful no more)! There are many such unentered tribes in Myanmar. We are so thankful to hear of God's growing work!

I was also able to gather some materials in Karen and Burmese for our cross-cultural mission kit and the many refugees entering America.

Finally, our weekend was terrific with our Cambodian son Rotha and his wife Peach. They treated us royally. On Friday we had the fun of traveling in a motorized tricycle to the countryside to meet her relatives. We ate rice and veggies at one house, sugar palm fruit and coconut at another, and rice porridge and watermelon at a third until we were ready to pop! How glad we are to see our son's happy family, with several attending church on Sabbath with us. We sat for an hour after preaching at a small church and listened to testimony after testimony of God's power in the lives of new Christians.

Don't you think we have an amazing and wonderful God? Hadn't we better get out there more with this amazing good news?

Thank you for your prayers. Please, PLEASE keep it up. It's time for revival, for deep conversion, for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Sincerely looking up!

Scott, Julie and Co.

Praises in Preah Vihear

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Praises in Preah Vihear

Twenty years ago it was too dangerous for Cambodia Adventist Mission officers to visit the remote Cambodian province called Preah Vihear. Today, through the sacrifice of dedicated workers, there are a number of church groups meeting each week in the Preah Vihear province. One of those groups now worships in the beautiful church/literacy center that is pictured. How did it get built? A request came from the church, which was passed on to ASAP Ministries. A couple in California felt impressed by the Lord to give $1,545 for a church in Cambodia and the same amount for a church in Thailand. God impressed other donors to give as well.

Those dollars were wired across the ocean and carried to Preah Vihear where the building materials could be bought and built. In a place where Buddhists worship in highly decorated, long-standing temples, this nice church helps the community feel a bit better about the trustworthiness of the gospel. For the church members, it is a great joy to meet and worship in the church each Sabbath. After many months of waiting and praying they are praising God for His kindness to them through your gifts!

Literacy Student Chhom Boran Finds a Way

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Literacy Student Chhom Boran Finds a Way

Hi! I’m Chhom Boran living in Cambodia.

If you visited me in Tang Krasang (my home village) recently you would see only the rooftops of many of our homes peeking out of a giant lake of water. The rains have kept coming day and night. “Will they ever stop?” many of us wondered.

“How am I going to get to school and church?” I thought. I love going and can’t imagine missing a day. “Dear Father, please show me a way. You know I can’t swim and we are too poor to own a boat,” I prayed.

After searching a little, I spotted a big frying pan my mother uses to cook food during the festivals. “Will it float?” I wondered. I cautiously stepped into the middle of it and started paddling on one side then the other. Little by little, my “boat” circled its way to the church/school.

When I finally arrived, Pr. Pen Narith greeted me with a big surprised smile. “Chhom, were you afraid you might capsize and sink?” he asked. “No, Pastor,” I replied. “I have no fear because God is with me. This big flood won’t keep me away. Just like Jesus blessed me with the knowledge of how to read and write, I know he will bless me to be faithful and keep coming to school everyday and church each Sabbath, too.”

Editor’s Note: Through the ASAP literacy program, many women and children learn to read and write and learn of Jesus through His Word and choose to accept Him as their Savior. Chhom Boran’s school has 80 students attending, however, during the flooding 40 regularly came. Could you sponsor a literacy teacher and make a diference in the lives of many children like Chhom Boran today?

Racing for Refugees

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Racing for Refugees

BY DANIEL ROJAS

Early on Sunday morning, June 3, 2018, more than 140 people from the Berrien Springs community and surrounding area, along with many participants from Conéctate, a Lake Union Conference Hispanic youth event, rose to the challenge of helping refugees from Myanmar. They ran and walked in the first 5k Color Run fundraising event ever held on the campus of Andrews University. Coordinated by ASAP Ministries in collaboration with the Director of the Multicultural Ministries Department of the Lake Union Conference, the race brought people together. In addition to coordinators and runners, many local sponsors joined the effort by providing supplies and a helpful presence.

The runners started off clean and neat and ended up fully colored as they ran through each of the stations where colorful powders were thrown at them as they raced through. Other participants decided just to have fun by walking and enjoying the pleasant green of the campus. Close to $2,000 dollars was raised to help children from zones where poverty, war, and illiteracy have been present for more than sixty years.

Don ran with work shoes. He had come just to cheer on his friends, but a few minutes before the race they convinced him to register and run for the cause. He didn’t have the right shoes or clothes for the race, but he had the right motivation and attitude to challenge himself. And he came in as fourth place winner!

Is the Lord Calling You?

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Is the Lord Calling You?

BY RACHEL TENG

September 2017 my husband William and I put all our belongings into our car and followed God’s leading to be part of Reach the World Next Door (RWND) crosscultural missionary training program. We just knew that God had opened up an opportunity to serve, and we were not going to say no.

We arrived in Houston right after Hurricane Harvey. Immediately we went to work helping people in the Cambodian community of Rosharon, where there had been extensive flooding and damage. It was so hot and there were so many people who needed help. I wondered if it was worth the effort. We were not giving Bible studies, so how were we reaching our goal as missionaries? The words of Ecclesiastes 11:6 spoke to our hearts, “In the morning, sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand: For you do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good.” So we prayed and served, and God brought to us many Buddhist friends who are now eagerly studying the Bible.

A visiting missionary family talked about their work among the unreached Uyghur people of China. One day they headed into Houston to visit a Uyghur restaurant and to make friends. William volunteered to go, too, and soon realized these immigrants could also speak Mandarin. That made it easy for him to connect. After the missionary family left, William and I continued to visit the Uyghur. Soon they wanted to learn more English, and our language exchange has become a great way to cultivate a friendship. We’ve had spiritual conversations and they even attended our graduation.

These experiences have given us confidence to help those who do not speak our language. They can learn about our values as they see what we do and how we treat others.
Once, we went to a grocery store, and I heard a couple speaking Taiwanese. I was so excited, because this is my heart language. I spoke with them and we immediately became friends. We later took them produce from our garden. This Buddhist couple has introduced us to many people, including their own family members and community leaders in Greater Houston. Just last week they asked us to help oversee the move of their business to a new location “because we know you are missionaries and we think you are more trustworthy than our employees.” They were surprised at how hard we worked and their comments were a reminder that our actions are a sermon.

Pray for us as we embark on this challenging journey to which God called us. Pray for more laborers and more missiontraining students. And pray for more ministry partners to sponsor us at $100 a month. The harvest is great. Is the Lord calling you?

The Path of Life

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

The Path of Life

BY JOHN PRESS

What could it mean? Sher Htet Naing Min awoke pondering his strange dream from the previous night. Who were the three holy people in white robes? He had not seen their faces, but somehow the young man knew that this was no ordinary dream. Finally, he decided that the three people dressed in white must be those who would help him navigate the “Noble Eightfold Path,” believed by Buddhists to lead to spiritual enlightenment and the end of suffering. However, Sher Htet Naing Min was about to encounter a new and unexpected path.

Growing up in Myanmar, Sher Htet Naing Min had attended an Adventist school in his village, but only in order to learn English. As a lifelong Buddhist, he had never considered leaving the religion of his family and his culture to convert to Christianity. However, this changed during his high school years when he came across sermons by a well-known Burmese evangelical pastor on YouTube. By the time he started studying business at Myanmar Union Adventist Seminary (MUAS) in Myaungmya, a great spiritual battle was raging in Sher Htet Naing Min’s heart.

ASAP field supervisor Dr. Htwe Lay Thein immediately recognized the young man as a seeker of truth and offered him Bible studies. Sher Htet Naing Min accepted. They studied together for more than a year, but although he believed the teachings of Scripture, he remained hesitant to abandon the teachings of Buddhism. He wanted to be both Adventist and Buddhist.

About this time, Pr. Puia Fanai (a current ASAP volunteer) arrived on campus to hold week of prayer meetings at MUAS. Though Pr. Puia’s family immigrated from Myanmar to the United States when he was young, he had long dreamed of returning to minister to the Mizo people. Finally, while completing a Master of Divinity at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University, the opportunity arose for him to accomplish his field evangelism practicum in Myanmar.

On the opening night of the week of prayer, the Holy Spirit impressed Pr. Puia to share a sermon about why he believes in the existence of God. It was exactly the message that Sher Htet Naing Min needed to hear. Suddenly, his reluctance to fully commit his life to Christ disappeared. He sought out Dr. Htwe Lay and told her he was ready to get baptized. Later that week, when Pr. Puia gave an altar call, Sher Htet Naing Min and another young Buddhist man came forward to request baptism.

Sher Htet Naing Min currently serves as a volunteer fifth- and eighth-grade teacher at the Southeast Adventist Seminary in Myanmar’s Kayin State. His testimony reminds us that God still works in miraculous ways to reveal Himself to earnest seekers of truth in every culture and religion of the world today.

“You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11, NKJV).

I'LL NEVER LOOK BACK

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

I'LL NEVER LOOK BACK

BY PR. HANG DARA, AS TOLD TO JULIA O'CAREY

Life was too hard in Cambodia; between Sokhom and me, we lost a total of 25 close family members in the war. It was 1981. Two months after our wedding day, my new bride and I set out on a dangerous journey to create a new life together. Destination? Norng Samet Refugee Camp, Thailand. I had heard they offered free medical training there, and becoming a doctor was my lifelong dream. There was no such opportunity amidst the chaos of my war-torn country.

It was through my quest to study nursing that I first met Mother Judy. She was part of the SAWS (Seventh-day Adventist World Service) group who came to recruit young people like me. I’ll never forget her sweet smile and words of encouragement: “You can do it, Dara, I know you can! Jesus will help you.” And I was one of the few who passed the entrance exam! But even more amazing than that was the Jesus who helped me.

The only god I knew was Buddha, but he hadn’t helped me or my family. I discovered personally that Jesus was not only powerful enough to help with my exam, but He was the Savior and Creator of the world. Jesus made my life bearable. He loved me and healed my heart. He gave me hope. I studied hard and became a physician’s assistant, but my real job was as a volunteer lay pastor for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Lord sent me to four different camps during my time as a refugee. I led church planting efforts in Bang Pho Camp (270 church members), Site II Camp (200 church members), Ban Thad Camp (150 church members) and Kao I Dang Camp (250 church members). Nothing gave me more joy and satisfaction than preaching the Word of God to my people.

In June 1992, we were suddenly told to board buses headed back to Cambodia. We experienced a mixture of fear, traumatic memories, anticipation, and disappointment that we did not get the chance, after 11 years of waiting, to repatriate to a safe, new country. We went back to Kampong Cham, and I felt blessed to secure a well-paying job as a human rights officer for the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC). One evening after work, I was heading home when I saw two slender American ladies standing on the side of the road. I did a double take. Those ladies look a lot like Mother Judy and Mary Ann McNeilus, but it can’t be! I thought. Maybe I’m just missing them . But a strong impression compelled me to turn around and go back to them. I can’t explain how unexpected and joyful our reunion was!

“What are you doing here?” I asked Mother Judy incredulously. “We are here to find you,” she simply said. “How did you know I was here?” I asked, stunned. “We didn’t! We just prayed and God led us to you,” Mother Judy responded with a smile. I immediately invited them home and praised the Lord for their safety. Even locals wouldn’t travel the route from Phnom Penh after 2:00 PM because of the Khmer Rouge and the many dangers along the way. It touched my heart that they would risk their lives to come find me. “But why?” I wondered. I found out soon enough.

Mother Judy earnestly looked me in the eyes and said, “Dara, do you remember your promise to God before you left the refugee camp?” “Yes,” I said sheepishly. “But I have a contract with UNTAC. I can’t work for God right now.” “Is your contract with humans more important than your contract with God?” Mother Judy gently prodded. I decided at that moment to return to serving the Lord with all my heart, and I never looked back. I became a field secretary, assisting the Mission President with church planting and searching for believers who had left the church; after that, I worked as a pastor, and now I serve as the Secretary of Cambodia Adventist Mission.

In 2005, as the district pastor in Phnom Penh West, I carried a heavy burden in my heart for the children living in the slums next to the garbage dump. It broke my heart to see them digging through the garbage instead of attending school. I shared this burden with Mother Judy and Julia and brought them to the slums to see the situation for themselves. I asked if ASAP could start a school where these children could receive a Christian education. ASAP hadn’t done anything like this before, but they liked the idea.

We started with a small group of children on the bamboo porch of a church member’s home. Unfortunately, they did not come for long. Soon we found out why: their parents needed them to find garbage to recycle or they wouldn’t have enough food to survive each day. We started feeding them a meal each day, and that solved the problem. Today, many children and their parents have been baptized and a church has been planted nearby.

To this day I have never regretted my decision to serve the Lord, and I am eternally grateful to Mother Judy for letting God use her to bring me back to ministry, and to guide and support me both before and after that time. When I hear the name ASAP Ministries, I think of Mother Judy, because she cared not only for me, but also the children in the slums and many others. I praise the Lord that this legacy of love for the least in Cambodia continues today through the many church plants and schools supported by ASAP and its donors.

Mission in the Age of COVID-19

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Mission in the Age of COVID-19

BY JULIA O’CAREY

In just a few short months, the COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed our world. Bible prophecy is fast fulfilling! At ASAP Ministries, this lends even greater urgency to our mission to reach the 10/40 Window with the good news of Jesus’ soon return.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected the people ASAP serves, particularly the poor, the persecuted, and refugees. Like the rest of us, they are dealing with health concerns, lockdowns, and economic catastrophe. But their plight is magnified by aggravating factors such as violence, poverty, and natural disasters. The following “snapshots” from the mission field demonstrate not only the unprecedented needs of this moment, but also the impact of your prayers and financial support during this extraordinary time in Earth’s history. Most importantly, they reveal how God is opening opportunities to share hope amidst this crisis.

Providing Aid to Thousands Displaced by Violence in Myanmar

“We have to leave the village. The world is falling apart!” On March 14, 2020, ASAP church planter Simon Tin* listened as a terrified missionary described how Burmese military fighter jets had just bombed a nearby village. The conflict between Myanmar’s government forces and rebel soldiers from the neighboring Rakhine State had spilled over into the mountains of western Chin State, claiming the lives of innocent villagers. Adventist church members in the village narrowly escaped. They were attending Sabbath services when the bombing started. Otherwise, they might have perished alongside their neighbors.

The next afternoon, fighter jets attacked Simon’s village, killing eight people and wounding a dozen others. As the village burned and night fell, Simon gathered the elderly and 19 Adventist families in his home. “We could not sleep,” he recalls. “I conducted worship that night, comforting them and encouraging them to trust God’s promises.” Early the next morning, they fled the village, traveling 17 hours by foot until they reached a camp for the displaced in the town of Samee.

Meanwhile, two other ASAP church planters, Elisha Boon* and Nathan Tin,* and their congregations remain trapped in the fighting zone. In coordination with the Yangon Adventist Mission, ASAP provided some of the first humanitarian aid to reach the region. But with the rainy season quickly approaching, more help is urgently needed and ASAP’s disaster relief funds are depleted.

“We are so thankful to ASAP Ministries for providing our immediate needs, such as blankets, mats, and rice,” says Simon. “And amid the difficulties, I see mission opportunities. Many more refugees are joining Samee camp [3,000 at last count]. Among them, there are many who are not Christian and have never heard the gospel. Please pray for them and for my ministry here.”

Feeding the Hungry in Laos

ASAP church planter Joseph Vangpo’s* wife could not hide her distress as they surveyed the brown, lifeless plants in their rice field. “We are going hungry this year! We are going hungry this year!” she cried. For the 100 families living in Joseph’s village in northern Laos, rice farming is more than a way of life. It is their primary source of food and income, a matter of life and death. Now, for the second consecutive season, their harvest has failed.

Last year, heavy rains flooded the fields at harvest time, destroying crops. Then, a severe drought struck the region, killing the current crop of rice before it matured. Facing the prospect of starvation, Joseph appealed to ASAP field supervisor Abel Lao* for help. In response, ASAP provided more than 3,000 pounds of rice to Joseph’s village and the villages of two other ASAP church planters. Overwhelmed with gratitude and relief, Joseph called Abel to thank him. “This is truly God’s blessing for us in this time of hunger. God fed Elijah for three years, and He is doing the same for us!” Joseph’s village and others in northern Laos will need more help to survive until the next rice harvest ripens. With your support, ASAP will continue providing life-saving assistance and sharing Jesus, the Bread of Life, with the physically and spiritually hungry.

Helping the Vulnerable in Cambodia and Elsewhere

An initial survey conducted by Cambodia Adventist Mission (CAM) among Adventist church members and their communities, revealed 750 individuals seriously financially affected by job layoffs. These individuals worked in factories or in manual labor positions like construction prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. ASAP recently committed to match the $5,000 in emergency aid that CAM will provide to them, but we expect that more will be needed. We are planning small enterprises, such as facemask production and soapmaking, in Cambodia and other countries to help our part-time workers, refugees, and other vulnerable families replace wages lost due to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis.

After a month-long shutdown, ASAP schools in Cambodia are preparing to reopen. Yet in large cities like Phnom Penh, the impoverished communities served by our schools remain at risk due to overcrowding and poor sanitation. ASAP teachers will provide students with masks and hand sanitizer and continue teaching them good health and hygiene practices. CAM and ASAP are also exploring the possibility of launching a feeding program to help students and their families.

Sharing the Health Message with the 10/40 Window

ASAP has produced simple posters and videos to equip all our missionaries and Adventist church members throughout the 10/40 Window to share the eight laws of health and perform basic hydrotherapy treatments. They have been translated into every major Southeast Asian language, and we are also preparing translations of the poster for use among several of the largest language groups in the Middle East and North Africa. Pr. Scott Griswold and the team at Reach the World Next Door, along with ASAP-supported refugee and immigrant church planters, are already using these resources among least-reached people groups in North America with great success. As word spreads, we continue to receive new requests for additional translations. We praise God for how He is using these simple means to share the health message with those who need it most!

It is only as God provides through partners like you that ASAP can respond to the needs just described. ASAP’s mission is more urgent and relevant right now than ever before because it compels us to reach “the least of these” (Matt. 25:40), the vulnerable and marginalized people of the 10/40 Window, who have no earthly means of support during the COVID-19 crisis. Requests for humanitarian aid are rapidly multiplying and ASAP wants to respond quickly. With these requests come opportunities to provide not only physical help, but spiritual aid to those desperately seeking answers.

We anticipate that our faith and our resources will be stretched to the limit in the days ahead. But we believe that Jehovahjireh, “The-Lord-Will-Provide” (Gen. 22:14), will sustain His work through ASAP in miraculous ways. “Blessed is he who considers the poor,” writes the psalmist. “The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble” (Ps. 41:1). Thank you for your faithful prayers and sacrificial gifts during this critical time.

7 Reasons to Train Missionaries

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

7 Reasons to Train Missionaries

BY JULIA O'CAREY

ASAP believes in the importance of training our local missionaries because we see it as an avenue for empowering them to fulfill their calling in an effective way. We experienced an outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the trainings in two countries this past January and February and we pray for God to work mightily in the upcoming trainings in two more countries during March and April. As you read about the top seven reasons why trainings are so crucial, consider sending ASAP a special gift of $200 to send 1 missionary to a training (or $2,000 to send 10, or $20,000 to send 100!)

Twelve Days of Giving: December 13-24

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Twelve Days of Giving: December 13-24

Does God have a Christmas list? Maybe that sounds like a silly question. Of course, God doesn’t have a Christmas list! Or does He?

“Christmas is coming. May you all have wisdom to make it a precious season. Let the older church members unite, heart and soul, with their children... in devising ways and means to show true respect to Jesus by bringing to Him gifts and offerings. Let every one remember the claims of God. His cause cannot go forward without your aid” (Ellen White, Review & Herald, 12/9/1884).

Would you to do something different this holiday season? Join ASAP Ministries December 13-24 for Twelve Days of Giving, a social media campaign featuring opportunities to support God’s work in the 10/40 window. Each day, on Facebook and Instagram , we’ll introduce a new “gift” to minister to the physical and spiritual needs of the poor, persecuted, unreached, and refugees.

You can participate in Twelve Days of Giving (and share the news with your friends and family) by following ASAP on Facebook and Instagram . Or you can view the gift item for each day by clicking on the links in the list below. May you and your loved ones be richly blessed this Christmas as you honor the Giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17)!

Twelve Days of Giving

Day 1 - December 13: Equip a Literacy Classroom

Day 2 - December 14: Support the Takong School in Cambodia

Day 3 - December 15: Make a Dream Come True

Day 4 - December 16: Aid the Family of a Persecuted Worker

Day 5 - December 17: Put Bibles in the Hands of Those Who Need Them Most

Day 6 - December 18: Show Care for the Outcasts of a Leper Colony

Day 7 - December 19: Support Youth Evangelists in a New Program in Thailand

Day 8 - December 20: Build a Medical Missionary Training Center in Myanmar

Day 9 - December 21: Support an ASAP Church Planter

Day 10 - December 22: Boost the Tentmaker Program

Day 11 - December 23: Build a House Church for New Believers in Myanmar

Day 12 - December 24: Teach Refugees in Thailand About Jesus

2012 ASAP Mission Trip Report

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

2012 ASAP Mission Trip Report

GOD BROUGHT OUR TEAM TOGETHER

During the planning stages for the mission trip I prayed earnestly, asking the Lord to impress the right individuals with medical missionary training experience and a heart for missions to partner with ASAP. The Holy Spirit impressed Byron, Carol and Daniel Reynolds, Andrew Keyes, Somluck Laitipaya, Rungratri Chanrawangyot, Mike and Marilee Kier, Phamor Phoopichitprai, Khamsay Phetchareun, Rungratri Chanrawangyot and Sompong Khunsawang , twelve dedicated disciples , to join me on different legs of the journey. Byron and Carol Reynolds graciously joined even though they were immersed in volunteer service with the Buddhist Study Center in Thailand.

Somluck Laitipaya, a retired nurse with experience in medical missionary work, enthusiastically accepted the invitation to join our team. She shared, “When you called me to join you on the mission trip, I felt excited. The Lord had already impressed me to prepare for a special mission, but I did not know what it was going to be. When my husband had asked me the week before when I planned to go on our annual trip to Thailand, I told him that I was waiting until mid-February to go which was the exact time you asked me to join you. I thank God that he impressed you to choose me.”

1. One of the main purposes of the trip was to provide health and evangelism training for the ASAP-supported church planters and medical missionaries in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. Byron Reynolds, who led out in planning the medical missionary training in Laos and Myanmar shares, “GOD'S RIGHT ARM was the title of our 2012 Medical Missionary training sessions. The focus was on practical natural remedies like hydrotherapy and other modalities to both prevent and treat diseases. The purpose was to show how to use the medical work as an opening wedge to break down barriers and to win souls for God’s kingdom among the local people groups. Our theme quote was, “The medical missionary work is to bear the same relation to the work of the third angel’s message that the arm and hand bear to the body....The right arm of the body of truth is to be constantly active, constantly at work, and God will strengthen it. But it is not to be made the body. At the same time the body is not to say to the arm, “I have no need of you.” The body has need of the arm in order to do active, aggressive work. Both have their appointed work, and each will suffer great loss if worked independently of the other.” {6T 288}

The goal of sharing Christ’s love through medical missionary avenues was emphasized as this is the means of saving precious people in Christ’s Kingdom. Ellen G. White says, “God reaches hearts through the relief of physical suffering. A seed of truth is dropped into the mind, and is watered by God. Much patience may be required before this seed shows signs of life, but at last it springs up, and bears fruit unto eternal life.” {Maranatha 326}

2. We also aimed to incorporate united prayer in the program. The workers learned this method of praying during the ASAP trainings the previous year and many shared how they implemented united prayer in their church plants and how effective it has been to bring unity and many answers from heaven. The national missionaries shared with our team the mighty way the Lord answers prayers in bringing not only physical healing but also spiritual healing. We spent much time on our knees, circled close together, praying for each worker’s needs and that of those they are reaching out to.

3. Another main objective was to spiritually encourage the workers in their service for the Lord. This was best accomplished one-on-one and in group interviews. These workers are giving their all for God’s work, despite persecution from family, friends, and government and facing obstacles and trials of all kinds. It was a joy to hear first-hand accounts of how God is working through them. Byron Reynolds relates, “What amazing stories they had of using natural means to bless and help people in the villages where they had been sent. Souls have been saved for eternity. We had special prayer for each one, as we laid hands on them. The Spirit of God was very near.” Each one has a unique testimony which often includes miraculous answers to prayer. For instance, Lay Pastor Chai Manivanh* in Laos shared how one of his friend’s teenage sons was in a motorbike accident. He was called to the accident scene and prayed for the boy. The children recovered quickly without any broken bones. The father and son and all the family were touched by Christ’s love to answer prayer and heal. They all accepted Jesus Christ and became Christians.

BLESSINGS IN LAOS

We were pleased to provide training for not only the ASAP lay pastors, but other Lao Adventist Field pastors and members, Global Mission Pioneers, and other Adventist workers from all over Laos. Byron Reynolds writes, “A team of volunteers traveled with us from Thailand in early March to help do the training and interviewing. Judy met us in Laos. Two Thai ladies, Somluck and Ratri, added a special touch as they shared herbal remedies, nutrition and cooking classes with the group. Student missionaries from Thailand, Daniel and Andrew, shared their experiences with health expos, teaching temperance to Thai high school students and more. Teaching massage, natural remedies, hydrotherapy, and ways to prevent diseases was rewarding to me. To watch their faces light up with understanding, or hear their laughs as they practiced on each other made it all worthwhile. Carol used rice farming as a cycle of evangelism illustration, taught a useful First Aid class and other topics. Judy gave inspiring devotional talks and spent the majority of her time interviewing the workers. Mike and Marilee, BSC volunteers in Thailand, also helped with the interviews and shared several moving devotionals. The days were packed full. Many of the attendees expressed their gratitude for all the practical things they had learned to help the people in their towns and villages with NEWSTART principles and natural remedies. We truly were blessed to fellowship with the youthful mission leaders, lay workers, medical missionaries and pastors in Laos, and to see their vision to reach the people of Laos with the blessed hope we have in Christ Jesus.”

BLESSINGS IN CAMBODIA

Somluck Laitipaya shares, “At first, I did not think I could fit into Dr. Mary Ann McNeilus’ shoes, who usually accompanies ASAP in training the medical missionaries. When you showed me her book, “God’s Healing Way,” I realized that she is very knowledgeable and I know that people have a lot of love and respect for her. I thought “Who am I? I have no credentials.” God immediately impressed me that I have His credentials and that He can use me like He did Moses. I then trusted in God more. I had planned to teach the medical missionaries a few hours each day. After teaching for several hours the first day, Nhean Thonsovan, the medical director of Cambodia Adventist Mission, encouraged me to continue teaching as I had been doing. Instead of teaching a few hours, I taught all day. I could see that God was with me. During the days that I was teaching, I saw that the students were excited to hear the messages. They were not sleepy or bored. I thank God for giving me time each lunch break to pray to Him. My prayers often went like this, “You led me all the way to Phnom Penh to do Your program, Lord. Speak through me.” I thank God for answering my prayers and for His power to use me, a weak servant of His. He opened my mouth to share God’s powerful yet simple methods to reach people for Christ. I shared about the benefit our bodies receive from eating healthful foods, which is information that I learned from the CHIP program. The vegetarian cooking class I taught was also well received. I thank God that He gave me ideas and the knowledge to be a blessing.”

BLESSINGS IN MYANMAR (BURMA)

Byron shares, “Fifteen ASAP-sponsored medical missionaries and a number of visitors attended the training we held. One young man traveled four days over rough terrain to come to the training! We were humbled and in awe of the faithfulness of these dear brothers and sisters. We had planned to share similar things that we had taught in Laos and Thailand, but we quickly found that the medical missionaries in Myanmar were more advanced in their knowledge base and experience, thanks to prior good training. Dr. Htway Le, MD, the health director for the Myanmar Union, has developed a thorough hands-on three-week training program for the medical missionaries there. Quite a few of them were also college graduates. We were able to go much deeper in what we taught, sharing more advanced techniques and remedies similar to what I use in my therapy practice. We found them to be such eager learners, and most understood some English. After three days of training, we had bonded closely with this wonderful group of dedicated workers. It was with sadness that we departed, but we are looking forward to meeting them again on the heavenly shore, if not before then.”

BLESSINGS IN THAILAND

Nine ASAP church planters, four pastors from Thailand Adventist Mission, as well as local church members joined together in Ubon for an inspiring training led by Pastor Phamor which focused on health and diet reform. Three missionaries, Sompong, Ratri and Somluck, taught vegetarian cooking classes. Pastor Khamsay Phetchareun gave practical workshops on ways to reach people for Christ. It was all a major success for Christ’s kingdom.

Toward the end of the training, ASAP Church Planter Sung told me how helpful the seminars were to him. He was so impressed, he asked Sompong and the other ladies to come to his church to teach vegetarian cooking classes to the people in his community.

He went on to share testimony after testimony, praising the Lord for answering prayers and blessing his work. Eight people accepted Jesus in baptism over the past year as a result of God’s power to heal their sicknesses. He has started to see how effective it is to share healthful living with the people in his community as a way to bring them to Christ.

FINAL WORDS

The Apostle Paul’s prayer in 2 Thessalonians 3:1 (TLB) is my prayer today: “Finally, dear brothers [and sisters], as I come to the end of this [report] I ask you to pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and triumph wherever it goes, winning converts everywhere...” Thank you for praying for us during this trip and for the national missionaries who, with burning love for Jesus Christ, are sharing His love with others in practical ways and reaping a great harvest of souls for Christ’s Kingdom as a result.

*Name has been changed for the safety of God’s worker.

As you read this mission trip report, did the Holy Spirit tug on your heart and urge you to GO? If so, contact ASAP or fill out our mission trip application form and we will put you on a special email list to be notified when we are taking another ASAP mission.

North America: The Mission On Our Doorstep

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

North America: The Mission On Our Doorstep

Have you ever longed to be a missionary to a foreign land? Did you know that there is a very important mission field right on your doorstep, right in our homeland? The United States accepts more refugees from needy, war torn areas of the world than any other country in the world. In 2008, over 60,000 refugees were accepted to be resettled in cities all across the country. That number increased to 80,000 in 2009. Canada is the country that accepts the second largest number of refugees. The U.S. government also accepts over one million legal foreign immigrants every year. And, over 600,000 International students come to study in the U.S. each year. All these facts represent an incredible and unprecedented golden opportunity to reach the world through these so called ”strangers in our midst”.

The last ten years have seen one of the greatest migrations of people in history. It is when people are displaced that they are the most open and receptive to the gospel. Many of these refugees and immigrants come from areas of the world where we cannot send missionaries and there are very few Christians. Inspiration tells us : “We should be able to see in the multiplying opportunities to reach many foreigners in America a divinely appointed means of rapidly extending the third angel's message into all the nations of earth. God in His providence has brought men to our very doors and thrust them, as it were, into our arms, that they might learn the truth , and be qualified to do a work we could not do in getting the light before men of other tongues.” {Ev 570}

One of the largest groups to be resettled in the USA in the past three years is the Karen of Burma (Myanmar). One of the only people groups in SE Asia to accept the gospel message in large numbers, they have been hunted and persecuted for decades because of their faith, in an ethnic cleansing war. Under President Bush’s tenure, the doors opened for thousands of Karen people to be resettled as refugees to this country. They are currently arriving every month to cities all across the land. Many of them are faithful Seventh-day Adventist Christians. Coming with their families from primitive refugee camps to urban America, they face huge adjustments. They need our loving friendship and extended hands of welcome and help.

Other Christian groups have seen this need and have large ministries for outreach to refugees and immigrants. It’s time for Seventh-day Adventists to be involved during the window of opportunity that is open right now. Adventists are getting involved in reaching out to the Karen, in places like Utica NY, Atlanta GA, Fort Wayne IN, Chapel Hill NC, San Diego CA, and other cities. Richard Henderson, a layman in Atlanta, spends his evenings and weekends reaching out to the large refugee population he has found on his doorsteps. A Karen church group has been organized, and they are now reaching out to their own community. Another group of Adventists in Atlanta is reaching out to recently arriving Muslim refugees from Africa and the Middle East. Churches in Utica NY and Fort Wayne IN are sponsoring dozens of Karen students to their church schools. There remains much work to be done for these people as well as other refugee and immigrant groups here in America. In many places, the Karen cannot find our churches, or they have been met with a cold reception.

Twenty to thirty years ago there was a large influx of Southeast Asian refugees to the U.S. Sadly, many Seventh-day Adventist believers became members of whatever faith group reached out to and helped them. We must not let this happen again with the Karen people! Perhaps we have failed to go or to send missionaries to all the world. Has God, in His providence, brought them to us, so they can learn of His great love? Could God be calling you to get involved in reaching out to the mission on your doorstep? His Southeast Asian children are waiting to learn of Him through your involvement. Please pray that God will raise up more laborers and support for this golden opportunity to take the gospel to all the world.

For more information on the newly arriving KAREN REFUGEES of BURMA, see the following links:

http://refugeeministries.com/

http://www.refugees.org/

http://www.unhcr.org/4a4a178f9.html

http://www.ethnicharvest.org/

About the author: As a child, raised on good Adventist missionary books, Carol Neall Reynolds dreamed of the day when she could be a missionary herself in a foreign land. As a youth, her first experience helping refugees in a Cambodian camp opened her eyes to the great needs of refugees, as well as their openness to the gospel. Later, Carol and her husband, Byron, and three sons served twelve wonderful years in Thailand as cross-cultural medical missionaries. They had great joy in seeing many Buddhists and Animists come to know Jesus as their Savior. Now living in Tennessee, they have found that the mission field has come to them, right on their doorstep. Their dream is to get many more of God’s people involved with reaching the strangers in our midst.

Did an Angel Make them Sick?

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Did an Angel Make them Sick?

As my son Josiah and I bumped along the road, we were as excited as could be. We were on an adventure! We had been given the task of interviewing the teachers and newly baptized students at the ASAP-sponsored school in Takong, Cambodia. With us were our driver friend Caleb, who I had known since he was four years old, our translators, and seventy bags of rice for the students. At the school, we played with the students, taught a little, and then took pictures of each one. They happily made them special crafts and wrote thank you letters for their sponsors overseas. A newly hired teacher named Sok Som Arth told me this thrilling answer to prayer:

One day after school, two of his students, both sisters, came up to him and sadly said, “We will not be in school tomorrow. Our parents are going to Thailand to work in a restaurant. They are forcing us to quit school and go along to wash dishes at the restaurant.” At that very moment it was time for the united prayer meeting that meets daily after school for any of the teachers and students who want to join. The teacher and the two girls earnestly prayed for God to somehow intervene. For the rest of the year and throughout the summer, this faithful teacher prayed for the girls, asking God to bring them back. The day before school was to begin, he was at the market buying food. All of a sudden, he saw the two sisters running up to him. He couldn't believe they were back! Their story came tumbling out. “We were sick the entire time we were in Thailand! So sick that we couldn't work! Finally our parents were so frustrated they sent us back. We will be in school tomorrow!” The teacher joyfully told me, “My prayers were answered! And they haven’t had a trace of sickness since!”

Please pray for the children of Cambodia and Southeast Asia. Pray for our teachers and schools to make a huge impact for God’s kingdom.

- Julie Griswold, wife of Associate Director Scott Griswold

Struggling With Clinical Depression

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Struggling With Clinical Depression

The following letter was sent by one of our donors:

Dear Sister,

Thank you for your kindly and inspiring email and for sharing your story. I would like to share one with you, too. Believers’ prayers are powerful!

A few weeks ago I was feeling so downtrodden and depressed that each night I would hope that the Lord would take me and that I wouldn’t wake up the next morning. Deeply in my spirit I was still praising and thanking God, but through such pain from circumstances, I was enveloped in a kind of inertia and I was unable to function normally on a day-to-day basis.

The mornings are difficult for me because I am bound by clinical depression, so it was unusual that one morning I woke up with the inertia gone, and clear thoughts in my head about some steps I could take to try and ease some of the financial pressure I am under. I have friends who are non believers, but I shared with them that I ‘knew’ that ‘someone’ had been praying for me because of this sudden and uncharacteristic change in my thinking and the sudden disappearance of the inertia that had been swamping me for months.

Time passed and it wasn’t mentioned again, but then your email came, letting me know that ASAP has been praying for me. NOW I knew who it was!! I was so happy to share this news with my friends. They had rolled their eyes when I first said that I ‘knew’ some unknown person or persons were praying for me. Now it was confirmed, Praise the Lord!

I am still facing huge challenges, financially, emotionally and physically, but “all is well with my soul” praise God.

Thank you so much! Please pass on my testimony to those who have been praying.

Blessings and Sisterly Love,
Beverley Manners

Ten Days of Prayer Answers

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Ten Days of Prayer Answers

By Ngai Cin

Our growing church plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan decided to have ten days of prayer in January. We are from the Zomi tribe in Myanmar. We went from house to house meeting from 7–8 p.m. every evening. We prayed for each other’s needs and requests from the world church. I really think everyone was touched by the Holy Spirit. Here is what God did to answer our prayers.

Our Zomi group urgently needed a place to worship. On the ninth day of prayer, our elder and youth leader went out searching, stopping at every church they found. At the seventh stop, they came to Wyoming Park United Methodist Church. The Holy Spirit touched the pastor’s heart and he accepted our request to pay a low amount of $50/day to rent the church right on the spot!

Our friend Aui Zam Cin has been waiting to get the approval for her green card for more than a year after the normal processing time. On the 8th day of the 10 days of prayer, she received the approval letter in the mail!

Cing Hoih Neih (Ho Ho) has been suffering from pain in her right hand and right knee. She wasn’t even able to take care of her two children. At the Friday vespers service, she shared a testimony with the group. God healed her! She said, “Prayer is so powerful when we pray in unity!”

Unfortunately, I was in a car accident four months ago. My church joined in praying for a decent car on a very small budget. The whole group prayed wholeheartedly. Just a few days after the end of the 10 days of prayer, God provided a car for ministry through ASAP Ministries.

We praise God for hearing and answering our prayers no matter how unworthy we are. We have been abundantly blessed through uniting to pray. It has drawn us closer to Jesus.

When No Said "Yes"

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

When No Said "Yes"

BY BRENDA KIŠ

Andrew Lo* is a church planter in a closed country. One house church he planted has grown to nearly 200 members, and Andrew is busy training leaders to help care for this congregation so that he can continue planting more churches in the surrounding area. The Holy Spirit frequently leads Andrew to people interested in studying the Bible. The following story illustrates the difficult conditions in which he works and the encouraging fruits of his labor.

Life is not easy for believers in closed countries. Though the government may outwardly promote religious liberty, government officials often set up Christians for arrest or hire Mafia-like organizations to cause “accidents”. In the country where this story took place, Satan worked hard to intentionally discourage a man named No through the people closest to him.

Out of a whole village, only a man named No accepted the message of truth brought by one of our workers. Immediately after his baptism, No began praying for a church in his village. This was a bold request because when he became a Seventh-day Adventist, the villagers decided to work together until he abandoned his newfound faith. His whole family persecuted him mercilessly and even invited the police to join them! They took away his Bible and arrested him when he tried to go to church in another village. He endured cursing and yelling from his relatives until they kicked him out and wouldn’t let him live in the village anymore.

But they could pray! Soon No’s wife began to believe; then his parents showed interest. Today the two brothers are believers themselves along with other relatives and thirteen former Sunday church members! Now a group of twenty-five Seventh-day Adventists are actively witnessing there. No said “yes” to God and turned a pagan village into a place of witness!

Not Just Doors—God Opens Floodgates

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Not Just Doors—God Opens Floodgates

BY HANNAH CHOI

Last school year I served as a student missionary in Southeast Asia. As I prepared to return to Andrews University to complete my undergraduate degree, I prayed that God would help me find a part-time job where the staff are focused on ministry and intentional about prayer. Through unrelated events, I discovered ASAP Ministries had an open position that seemed to be custom-made for my skill set. Soon after, I got hired as an ASAP office assistant. This job was a direct answer to prayer. Open door number one.

When I began working at ASAP Ministries, I did not anticipate that God would call me to new territories.

As an honors student at Andrews, I am required to complete a senior thesis. As I searched for a topic that was personal and important to me, I prayed that God would reveal an opportunity I would be passionate about and that would inspire all those who hear of my project.

I also prayed for an opportunity to serve in another country for the summer, as a way to remind myself that my overarching goal was to eventually serve Christ overseas again. Sometime later, I attended a chapel service in which the speaker shared about her work with Syrian refugees. That day, God put Syrian refugees on my heart and I asked Him to use me to lighten their loads.

I realized that if I was going to MENA to work with Syrian refugees, I could possibly pair my honors thesis with this opportunity. Yet none of the options explored gave my heart peace. And then I remembered a professor who takes Andrews students to MENA every year on a mission trip. The next day, I attended my final chapel, and to my surprise, that very professor spoke about Syrian refugee children from the school I was planning to visit!

I then met with my thesis advisers, worked out the details, and presented the plan to ASAP, who agreed to take on my project. I will now spend the fall semester in MENA collecting stories from Syrian refugees, retelling them, and speaking up for these people. The proceeds from my book will go to help Syrian refugees through ASAP Ministries. Open floodgates of blessings!

God opened these doors for a project that is much bigger than I can accomplish alone and I would like to ask for your help. We are fundraising through the ASAP online gift catalog and YouCaring , a website dedicated to raise money for a cause. We would greatly appreciate any support you can give!

And more importantly, I ask for your prayers. God has poured down His blessings and I trust that He will continue to do so. Thank you for your partnership.

What Could God And Your Creativity Make Possible?

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

What Could God And Your Creativity Make Possible?

BY BRENDA KIŠ

Contributing funds to help impoverished schoolchildren, church planters, or other overseas workers is wonderful. Donating food and blankets to local refugees not so far away from home is also a blessing. Volunteering time to help in some service activity for the impoverished or persecuted is life-changing. Praying for all these people is vital. Just how many ways are there to do something good for someone else? Mark and Lydie Regazzi, faithful ASAP contributors, thought of another one.

To celebrate Mark’s 70th birthday in January 2017, they decided to invite friends over to a full-course special dinner benefitting some of their dearly-beloved projects—Bibles for individuals and clean-water wells for drought-stricken communities. However, the twist was that their guests would decide how much to give and where the money would go.

Invitations went out to local friends in the Berrien Springs, Michigan, community where the Regazzis have lived and worked for nearly 40 years, Mark as a former religion professor at Andrews University and Lydie as a piano teacher in her studio. Seventy-six of their friends responded and converged on their home shortly after noon on January 15. Once inside, they were warmly welcomed and invited to pen the amount of their donations on small cards (no names requested) and deposit these in a nearby basket. Then they were free to roam through the rooms where numerous tables seating no more than eight people each had been set up and prepared for an Italian meal in honor of Mark’s ethnic roots. Catered by friend Sally Di Cicco, fine food rivaled the happy buzz of conversation among old and new friends from a variety of denominations.

In Mark’s after-dinner comments, he traced his family history from Italy to Berrien Springs and testified to the fun he’s had being a husband, dad, and grandfather. He emphasized the value of family and friendship, and partially attributed his energy at age 70 to lifestyle and daily exposure to God’s Word. In a surprise gesture, ASAP Director Julia O’Carey then presented Mark and Lydie with a framed collection of photos of wells and Bibles the Regazzi family recently donated. Afterwards, one woman approached Julia and said that she had never heard of ASAP. After Julia explained the various projects, the woman exclaimed, “I’m going to give five wells at $250 each in honor of each of my five grandchildren!”

This unusual birthday party netted $10,102.15 in pledges to various charities. It was a true community event drawing together people from many walks of life and making possible a corporate testimony of generosity to the less fortunate of the world.

What could God and your creativity make possible?

“Ask, and it shall be given you…” (Matthew 7:7).

Closing the Circle of Marginalized to Missionary

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Closing the Circle of Marginalized to Missionary

BY MIRNA ORTIZ (as told from the persepective of Poe Moe Thay*)

“He will never change,” my students complained. “There is no way to stop his bad behavior, Teacher. Please make him leave.”

My name is Poe Moe Thay. I am a teacher in one of the ASAP schools and have seen students come and go. Many of them are Buddhists, and though some parents choose to keep their children in our school despite the differences in religion, some withdraw their children, often leaving them to be forgotten by the community or even to become beggars if they become Christian. I remember one specific boy who was always getting into trouble, and no matter how patiently I repeated the lessons in class, he continued to cause a commotion.

“Eyu,* please sit down and pay attention,” I told him one day in math class. He persisted with his disruption, trying to snatch a pencil out of his classmate’s hand, “Eyu, if you continue this behavior, I will have to talk with your parents.” This was my last warning to him.

“My parents don’t care if I misbehave, teacher!” he yelled at me and abruptly sat down. The classroom was suddenly quiet.

Many of the students didn’t have both parents or simply lived with their grandparents or other relatives. For this reason, the school staff decided to make a dorm available. As soon as we made this decision, the trials really began. Because Eyu was a new student, I didn’t know much about him, but what I later learned brought tears to my eyes.

“Teacher, Teacher!” A frantic knock on my door woke me one night. “What is it, Lei Oo?”* I asked, half asleep.

“It’s Eyu, Teacher.” Lei Oo paused. “He snuck out, and when he returned, he was acting very strange, his eyes were huge and red, and his loud talking and laughter woke everyone in the dorm. Please do something,” Lei Oo sobbed. “All the boys are getting frustrated with him, and they might even beat him up to teach him a lesson!”

My heart sank as I began to realize that Eyu had fallen prey to the coping mechanisms of this world to suppress his pain. Lei Oo quickly guided me through the dark to find Eyu. As we got closer to the dorm, I could smell something peculiar. At first, I wasn’t able to recognize it, but then realized it was the smell of marijuana. He had mixed this with other substances and was experiencing the effects.

“Where is Eyu?” I asked the boys.

“He went outside, teacher. He’s gone mad!” the boys answered as they stepped out of the hut and into the moonlight.

I calmly walked outside, silently praying for God’s help. I remembered the countless stories of Jesus and His disciples encountering people who needed healing. As Jesus’ love brought peace to their hearts, so it was my desire to bring peace to this young man. I soon saw a figure in the jungle brush. “Eyu, is that you?” I whispered earnestly.

“Teacher, you don’t want me. I’m a mess, no matter how much I try to be good. Are you going to punish me?” he complained as he laughed and cried simultaneously. “ Are you going to punish me? ” he repeated loudly.

“Come, Eyu,” I replied softly. “Come here, and let us pray to Jesus.” By this time, other teachers and students had gathered with me outside. We all knelt and with tears in our eyes uplifted prayers to God for deliverance from his destructive path.

The days following this night seemed no different. Eyu still acted dysregulated and I could perceive a battle going on inside him. I knew the Holy Spirit was working in his heart. As we continued praying for him, we were giving the Restorer, the Searcher of Hearts, permission to cast the darkness out of our dear Eyu.

Before we knew it, he calmed down and change became visible, not only that night but permanently. Eyu began attending the morning and evening worships at the dorm. He was no longer loud and disruptive but was calm and attentive to the messages being shared. This young man was learning about Jesus, and he couldn’t resist His love. He decided to get baptized as he felt the Holy Spirit’s touch. Though he had begun a journey with his Redeemer, other struggles arose when he returned home to visit his non-Adventist parents.

One particular afternoon, I received an unexpected call from Eyu. “Teacher, my parents don’t love me! Really, they don’t! They have disowned me!” he cried.

“Eyu, do you remember the promise in Psalms 27:10 that we learned last month in class?” I asked him tenderly. Through sniffles and sobs he answered, “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.”

After we prayed together, he felt peace in his heart and was confident that in every trial, his Heavenly Father would be with him. I felt so blessed and honored to witness such a miracle, to see a life transformed!

Eyu (pictured) is now a teacher at our school. He plans to join a Bible school and wants to become a missionary to his friends involved in harmful lifestyle choices like the ones he made in the past. He has a burden to share his story with them and to see their lives transformed by the Miracle Healer.

Please pray that God’s power may continue restoring the marginalized to becoming missionaries for their kindred. The cycle is surely contagious!

*Pseudonym

Charcoal and a Prayer

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Charcoal and a Prayer

BY CLARISSA FIEDLER (click here to meet the writer)

“Please help! Come fast!” A man came running to Deborah’s* home one morning in early May. “Sayuma, Sayuma, Sayuma! (Respected Teacher! Teacher! Teacher!) Simeon* has drunk poison and is dying! Please help! Come fast!”

“Dear God, please show me what to do,” prayed Deborah (pictured). She remembered that her friend had sent her five packets of charcoal powder to detox the body from poisoning and to use for other treatments. Quickly she grabbed one of the packets and ran to Simeon's house. He had vomited and was lying there, unable to move.

As she entered, Deborah acknowledged, “I have no power to help this person recover. It is God, the Creator of the man and woman and everything on this earth, who has power. If he is healed, it will be the power of God and His will.” She bowed her head and prayed. Then she mixed two tablespoons of charcoal powder with water and poured it into Simeon’s mouth. She waited ten minutes and repeated the process. She continued to do this until she had used up all the powder in the little packet. Simeon vomited again and again until it seemed there was no more poison in his system. After a couple of hours, he could talk, and the family was very surprised to see him getting better!

Despite the joy inside the house, there was a great commotion outside. Some of the family members thought Simeon should go to the hospital. Others disagreed because it was a five-hour drive and Simeon could die along the way. Some said he shouldn’t go because he was already getting better, and they believed that God, the Great Healer, had already cured him.

However, the family who thought he should go to the hospital had already hired a car to take him there. One of Simeon’s sisters thought Deborah should follow them to the hospital. But because she had two patients still at her house, she couldn’t go.

Finally, the car left with Simeon. Upon arriving at the hospital, to everyone’s surprise, the doctor said there was no need to give him any treatment. Simeon remained there for two days for observation. This was a testimony of the power of prayer and the use of simple means to bring about supernatural results. Praise God for His greatness and goodness! His mercy endureth forever. The Almighty God, the Great Physician was with this faithful medical missionary, Deborah. He continues to work through her as she helps many mothers deliver their babies each month and as she cares for people’s medical needs through water treatments, massage therapy, and prayer. In all her work, she is spreading the news that Jesus, the Balm of Gilead, is in their midst.

*Pseudonym

"Trials to Triumph" DVD Released

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

"Trials to Triumph" DVD Released

The ASAP DVD, " Trials to Triumph: Divine Deliverance for the People of Burma ", takes you on an exciting journey from a quiet village in Burma, to the cramped refugee camps in Thailand and on to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where you will witness the amazing ways God works through trials to reach the people of Burma.

To view several of the videos online, please click on the titles below:

USING CHRIST'S METHOD
ASAP Church Planter Khaing Hlone* reaches the hearts of the Akha, a tribal group steeped in animism and held captive to generations of superstitious beliefs.

FINDING JESUS IN A BAMBOO SCHOOL
By God's providence, thousands of young people find freedom in Jesus while living in the restrictive confines of refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border.

THE MISSION FIELDS OF AMERICA
Discover what life would be like if you were a refugee and learn about a great ministry opportunity right on your doorstep.

If you would like a FREE copy of the " Trials to Triumph " DVD, please place an order in our online Gift Catalog.

To view other ASAP videos online, please visit our Video Archive .

[*Name changed for the safety of God's servant]

Reach the World Next Door—Missionary Field Training

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Reach the World Next Door—Missionary Field Training

BY SCOTT GRISWOLD

So many refugees come each year to Houston, Texas, that if it were its own country it would be the fourth largest resettlement nation in the world. There are thousands of Buddhists from Southeast Asia, Muslims from Pakistan, and Hindus from India just to name three. In fact almost every other house in the Houston metro area speaks another language besides English.

ASAP Ministries has heard God’s call to do something more for the immigrants, refugees, and international students that God has sent next door from completely unreached countries. In partnership with the Texas Conference, ASAP is starting a cross-cultural missionary training center called Reach the World Next Door .

The center will bring together 12–16 young people for training. Experienced missionaries will take the students out to learn by doing. The initial course will last nine months starting in August 2017. This will be followed by a full year of internship, building on the cross-cultural relationships already started. Pastor Scott Griswold has moved to Texas and is the Director of the center, which is situated on 26 acres of country property an hour north of Houston.

Jesus modeled His plan for training missionaries. ASAP wants to come as close as possible to His model in this new training center. Jesus trained the disciples, not in the classroom, but primarily while serving. They learned how to heal the sick, cast out spirits, and preach to the poor while watching Jesus do those very things. After a while, Jesus sent them out by twos to do their best and return to learn more.

At Reach the World Next Door , the trainers will take the students out to help refugees, who have just arrived, settle into their new homes and environment. Together they will do medical ministry among immigrants and start campus ministries among international students. Through various methods they will connect with the unreached.

They will learn to care wholistically for people through agriculture and vocational training. Jesus taught His followers to depend on God and their own hard work for their needs. Paul later provided for himself by making tents.

For several years Jesus earnestly prayed and worked with each disciple to move him towards a deep relationship with Himself, a thorough conversion and a Spirit-filled life. By God’s grace, the Reach the World Next Door training program will help the trainees grow in the same way.

This new program builds in adequate time for reaching immigrants, refugees, and international students. Most of them have never had any serious exposure to the Bible and God. It takes significant time to build relationships of trust that give room for the Holy Spirit and conversion. Because students of Reach the World Next Door will stay nine months plus another year of internship, they will be able to focus their time and energy long enough to see real results. After evangelism and baptism, they will be able to help disciple the new international Christians. Beyond that, they will seek to empower them to reach out to family and friends of their own nationality, even back in their home countries.

This is a huge step of faith for ASAP Ministries, the Texas Conference and the Griswold family. We praise God who provided the perfect property outside of Houston, but money still needs to be raised for operational expenses. ASAP is asking its readers to commit to praying for the Reach the World Next Door Training Center.

ASAP Ministries has heard God’s call to do something more for the immigrants, refugees, and international students that God has sent next door from completely unreached countries.

If you would like to receive updates, write to scott@reachtheworldnextdoor.com .
To contribute to the operational expenses you can give online at asapministries.org or call 269-471-3026.

Students who would like to apply can find more information and an application at reachtheworldnextdoor.com . For those who are called to serve in their current neighborhoods they can find a short version of this training in the 16-part Reach the World Next Door curriculum , available through ASAP or Advent Source . Currently various churches are using this successfully to help them reach out cross-culturally.

This strategy for reaching the world can be seen in what happened at Pentecost when people of “every nation under heaven” heard the good news in his or her own language. It can also be clearly seen in Ellen White’s words, “We should be able to see in the multiplying opportunities to reach many foreigners in America a divinely appointed means of rapidly extending the third angel’s message into all the nations of earth. God in His providence has brought men to our very doors and thrust them, as it were, into our arms, that they might learn the truth, and be qualified to do a work we could not do in getting the light before men of other tongues” (Evangelism 570).

ASAP invites its readers to consider this important question and answer: “Why has the Lord so long delayed His coming?...It is because the few who profess to have the oil of grace in their vessels with their lamps, have not becoming burning and shining lights in the world. It is because missionaries are few” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, March 27, 1894).

Goals of the Reach the World Next Door Missionary Field Training

HELP DISCIPLE TRAINEES TO:

2015 Cambodia Mission Trip Report

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

2015 Cambodia Mission Trip Report

We praise God for those who answered the quick call to prayerfully go on the 2015 ASAP Cambodia Mission Trip! From January 30–February 12, a group of about twenty visited village churches where ASAP church planters serve, assisted with the Cambodian Adventist Camp meeting (which hasn’t taken place in the last five years) and served in the ASAP Feed & Read schools and AIDS hospice. God impressed some singles to attend, along with four families and a grandpa. (Every mission trip needs a grandpa!) Be blessed by some of their testimonies below:

DON SCHATZSCHNEIDER
Missions are the only way we will finish God's work here on earth . I count it a privilege to be able to go to Cambodia and contribute to the work of the church. I think it is essential that we show the local members that they are a part of a world-wide church. It is not only a world-wide church but we are all family. We all feel a part of the family of God as brothers and sisters. I would do it again any time.

MARIE VICTOR
I just finished a rough year of mission service. I have been so renewed by joining this ASAP team!

I think one of the hardest yet best things I experienced in Cambodia was telling my story to the teens during camp meeting at the Wat Preah Yesu home for children. I told them a story about a Cambodian woman that had a baby girl, but she could not provide enough food to keep her child alive. Because of her love for her girl, she gave up her baby at an orphanage in order to give the child a second chance at life. God, because of His love for us, gave up His only Son in order to give the world a second chance at life. I ended the story by saying, “I know God has a plan for my life because the baby girl in the story…was me. If God has a plan for a little Cambodian baby like me, He definitely has a plan for everyone here.” The room was completely silent. I didn’t know what else to say so I just cried.

There is no one word to describe how I was feeling at that moment. Since I used to be an orphan in Cambodia just like so many of the kids listening, the experience was surreal. Although I had been adopted by an American couple as a child, I was back in my country for the first time in my life telling my story to children that were just like me. A painful kind of joy filled my heart. I could feel God wrapping His arms around me in that second. In His eyes, I was never an orphan; I was always His child. As Deuteronomy 31:6 says, “…God will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Jacob: I enjoyed helping with the junior class and interviewing people. My heart was touched by some of the kids I talked to. The tuk-tuks were awesome and the best way I have ever traveled!

Noah: My favorite part of the mission trip was going out to the village church and helping to teach the Sabbath school. It was so different than anything I have ever experienced before. We also got a chance to pray for some people out in the village and I really thought that was special. Although the interviews at camp meeting were quite taxing due to the heat, I knew I was doing it for a good purpose and I liked getting to know the people. I loved playing games with all the orphans and teaching them football.

Simon: I loved being at the camp meeting and helping out with the kids in the kindergarten class. I helped them color and sing songs and play games. My very favorite part was the kittens and puppies; they were so cute and I played with them a lot. Pumping water for the toilets was fun! The hardest thing for me was eating so many vegetables.

Ryan: My greatest joy was learning from the others in our mission group. I also learned so much from the Cambodian people. They have little but are so willing to give and serve the Lord with what they have. While interviewing the church planters, they shared their hearts and it was powerful to see how dedicated they are to God!

HOSFORD FAMILY
Cheryl: I was impressed with the sacrifice and the dedication that the church planters have to their work. So many of them are going through so many difficult challenges to reach their segment of the world for Christ. I’m reminded that the work is going to be finished through sacrifice. There was a period of time that we were seeing the signs being fulfilled all around us, thinking maybe it is time to find a place in the countryside further out and I’m now realizing that the biggest thing that has to happen before Christ comes back hasn’t taken place. That understanding has deepened while working on the podcast and much further while being on this trip. Realization that there is a tremendous amount to do and if we don’t do it now the work is only going to get harder.

Daniel: I claimed all things work together for good a lot, when things wouldn’t go the way I wished they would. I really wanted to go up the mountain and we weren’t, I said, "Lord I really want to go and it worked out." I played rock, paper, scissors over and over with new friends. I really enjoyed the little boy at the house. It was really fun to teach them some of the little games we know in America. Even though we couldn’t speak each other’s language by the end he could count in English.

Andrew: I worked on getting footage for podcasts. I felt like Satan was trying to put a stop to the video-taping. I was sick a lot, but I’m thankful God was able to get a lot done anyway.

AJ: Unfortunately, I was sick or in pain a lot of the time on this trip, but from my bedroom I sent up prayers. I think I have found new meaning in something I already knew. When you focus on others, self fades away. I think God has taught me in a long painstaking way. It finally hit me. I had two days I was not sick and pain free. When I focus on others and not wallow in my suffering it makes it a lot easier.

Kaila: I enjoyed being with the children. I’ve been blessed by all the people I could make friends with. I’ve put in my mind that just because I don’t know the language doesn’t mean I can’t make friends. When we were in the cave I was kind of facing my worst fear which was the dark, and I was able to overcome it. I learned I can walk by faith and not by sight. I don’t have to see the things that are going to happen.

GRISWOLD FAMILY
Scott: For me, going on a mission trip to Southeast Asia is not a new adventure, but more like going home since we lived there for 16 years. That’s why this year when we took a whole group of people, it really helped open my eyes to the specialness of it all. We became like family on the trip and each person and every child saw things with their own special perspectives. I saw anew how beautiful the countries and the people are in Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar and the privilege of serving God in each thing we do.I saw how it opened the eyes of those who went to the great needs and the great joy of missions. I heartily recommend everyone taking an ASAP Mission trip!

Julie: It was a big highlight for me to see how God loves Khun Luck so much. In the few minutes I had to rush to get something to eat, that God would put somebody across my path who was needing him again and who responded so readily, is just the Holy Spirit working.

Josiah: I enjoyed being back in the country where I was born. I’ve learned that when things disappoint you, it’s going to be good in other ways, so make the best of what’s going to happen because even when things don’t go how you want it, it’s going to turn out good.

If My People Pray

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

If My People Pray

ASAP Ministries and Path 2 Prayer Ministries hosted ten days of prayer for missions, local ministries and an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Each night they were joined by church members and ministry leaders from the Berrien Springs, Michigan, area, including representatives from Your Story Hour, Adventist World Aviation, Adventist Frontier Missions, Reach International and Simple Updates.com.

Although the group shared inspirational thoughts and stories, and heard from different ministries each night, they spent the majority of the time in prayer. “I felt that it was really important to spend more time actually praying rather than just listening to a speaker,” says Martin Kim, ASAP’s communications director and organizer of the event. “Dan Augsburger shared my feelings, especially with regards to bringing together ministry leaders, so he partnered with us in organizing these ten days of prayer.”

“I was really blessed by the sincerity, the depth of spirituality and camaraderie, and the Holy Sprit’s presence in these meetings,” says June Burn, who attended with her husband Walter. Together they saw God’s answers to prayer in the life of their daughter’s family. “Our grandson is autistic and doesn’t speak, but this past week when our daughter woke him up one morning, he said to her, ‘Hello Mommy, how are you?’ That was a personal miracle,” Walter says.

“ASAP had been planning a project to spread the gospel amongst poor women in South East Asia, but had only raised half of the necessary funds,” says Julia O’Carey. “During the ten days of prayer, God put everything in place, with perfect timing, for this project to start in the next few months.”

Other answers to prayer the group saw included the finding of a mislaid passport in time for an important trip, greater personal peace and new applicants to serve with various ministries.

“It is such a blessing to see God work,” concludes Kim. “God will have a people at the end of time who pray for and receive His Holy Spirit. If we are serious about finishing the work, prayer is not an option.”

-Lynette Allcock

The Joy of Giving

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

The Joy of Giving

Our connection with ASAP started when thousands of Cambodians fled to Thailand in 1980, we noticed how a quiet young nurse named Judy Aitken entered the camps and organized the work of teaching the refugees about Jesus. Great numbers were baptized and became leaders of camp churches. When the refugees returned to Cambodia or were resettled in other countries, Judy’s support for these companies of new believers all over the world developed into Adventist Southeast Asia Projects, now ASAP Ministries, the organization we love and serve today. Gradually the ministry spread to Laos, Thailand, Burma, and beyond. Naturally Ralph and I were happy to serve on the board of ASAP for a number of years.

It has been inspiring to hear of God’s miracle-working power in the countries where we served in the past and we find great joy in helping any way we can, through our prayers, through helping to train missionaries in the past, and now through a charitable gift annuity.

The work of ASAP is bathed in prayer. To be a part of this praying, faith ministry, to help match the need with the funds God has entrusted to us, and to receive reports of the growth of the Lord’s work in Southeast Asia, is a soul-stirring experience. It has deepened our love for God and commitment to serve Him.

Experiencing Answers

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Experiencing Answers

I learned about united prayer from an ASAP training and enjoyed praying together with my fellow church planters. When I went home, I taught it to my family. This proved to be a blessing so I tried it on my elders and leaders in the church during prayer meeting. They too responded well to it. The next Sabbath, because our guest speaker did not show up, I preached about the power of united prayer and tried it with the whole congregation. The members eagerly participated. Now we conduct united prayer groups every Tuesday and Friday evenings. We see God answer many prayers and bring more unity when we come together to pray.

For instance, we persisted in prayer for Rith Samoeun, a lady heavily burdened with caring for her two sons, three daughters, and five grandchildren. She experienced the love of God when church members reached out to her and supplied rice and help to raise her family. But two years ago, she had a misunderstanding with another church member and decided not to return to church. After visiting her at her home, along with much united prayer, Rith and her daughter have now returned to church and both are faithful and active believers!

Grandma Somkeet's Priceless Gift

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Grandma Somkeet's Priceless Gift

By Julia O'Carey

What is the best gift you could ever get? What is the best gift you could ever give? I went to an ASAP church plant in Thailand and met a little grandma named Somkeet. She told me her story about a special gift.

One day a lady named Miss Oh stopped by Grandma Somkeet’s house and gave her a tract. Somkeet could not read or write. Miss Oh smiled. “I will read it to you,” she said. Somkeet loved her smile. She loved her kindness. She loved the story she heard about Jesus.

Grandma Somkeet could hardly walk because she had a stroke. She was so happy when Miss Oh came back to visit her again the next week and the next. She loved learning about Jesus’ love for the sick and His power to heal. Could Jesus help her?

The next time Miss Oh came, she brought a special gift. It was wrapped beautifully! What do you think was inside? It was a beautiful Bible! Even though Somkeet could hardly read a word in it, she held it close to her chest and carried it every where she went.

One day her precious Bible disappeared. She asked the nine other family members if they saw it. Her husband’s friend overheard. He laughed and said, “I think your husband burned it up when he was drunk the other night.” Grandma Somkeet cried. She loved her precious gift.

Miss Oh decided it was time to bring Somkeet to church. But how could she get up the steep steps? ASAP Church Planter, Pastor Ruangwit, picked Grandma up and carried her! At church she met many friendly people. As they read from the Bible she soaked up the beautiful words. During prayer time, the little group circled around her and prayed for her to be healed so she could walk again. What was Somkeet praying for? Another Bible.

When I heard her story, a little voice in my head said, “Give her your Bible, Julia!” I thought, “I don’t know if I want to. She can’t read it.” I asked her anyway, “Grandma Somkeet, would you like my Bible?” A bright smile flashed over her face and she nodded her head. I handed her my little pocket Bible and she held it close to her heart.

When I left the church, I kept thinking of Grandma Somkeet. How could we make it so she could hear God’s Word? I told my missionary friend, Mike Kier. He said, “Wow! I felt impressed to put a megavoice in my car this morning thinking someone might need it.” A megavoice is a solar-powered audio player with the Bible and Steps to Christ in Thai on it.

“Would you like to give it to Grandma Somkeet?” he asked. Of course I would! You should have seen the look of joy and surprise on her face when she first heard those beautiful words from that little black box. Jesus knew what Grandma needed. He made it possible for her to have the best gift ever, His Words of Life.

Would you like to share God’s Word with someone today? God will give you opportunities to share. Could you share a verse you memorized with someone who needs encouragement? You can read the Bible to an elderly person. You can give Bibles in different languages where you live. You can even send money to ASAP so we can share more Bibles to Buddhists in Asia and more megavoice players to those who can’t read.

National Missionaries: Solid Answer for the Abundant Harvest

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

National Missionaries: Solid Answer for the Abundant Harvest

By Tom Evans

Today, as we consider Jesus’ mandate to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, we face obstacles that trace their roots back to the tower of Babel. We are challenged by the roughly 6500 different languages, plus cultural differences, geographical distance, and restrictive governments.

Many experts believe that it takes about 10,000 hours studying a language to obtain native-like proficiency. If you spent all your waking hours (16 hours) focused on mastering a language, the time invested would amount to 625 days. This is a huge investment.

Another learning curve is that of cultural differences. Each of us is born into a cultural context that has a significant impact on our view of the world. We naturally function in life based on that world-view. When people engage with other cultures, they frequently make innocent missteps that can be quite offensive and as a result create barriers. It takes significant effort to begin functioning in culturally relevant and sensitive ways.

Geographical distance is a barrier that has been overcome in significant ways through air travel. At the same time, many unreached tribes are still located in difficult to reach villages in mountains and in climates that many foreigners feel are unlivable. Those who are willing must typically uproot themselves, and relocate, often at significant expense and years of effort, in order to reach a new people group for Jesus.

The greater challenge is restrictive governments who do not allow foreigners to live in the country to do evangelism. We want Jesus to return quickly. Is there a way to speed up God’s work among the millions of unreached?

In Luke Chapter 10, we read of Jesus sending out the seventy in groups of two. He gave them a significant vision: “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Luke 10:2). With a plentiful harvest, where was Jesus’ answer to be found for more laborers?

The following verses of Luke 10 highlight the strategy of Jesus. When the teams of disciples entered a city or village, they were to look for a “person of peace.” They were to stay in the home of that individual for a period of time and not to go from house to house (see Luke 10:6-7). Evidently, the disciples were developing a leader to carry on God’s work in that community once they left. Their work was temporary and catalytic; the “person of peace” was a permanent presence.

As we apply the principles of Luke 10 to Southeast Asia, we can readily concur that there is an abundant harvest. Not only is the harvest abundant, they are also receptive. Political turmoil, oppressive governments, and extreme poverty create an atmosphere where people are searching for hope. How can we reach them?

The primary strategy ASAP Ministries has identified fits well with Jesus’ instruction to the seventy: identify national missionaries who can preach the gospel in their local context. They become the “person of peace” in their community, sharing the hope of the gospel. The national missionaries already know the main language and understand the culture. They often already live in or nearby the communities they are reaching for Jesus. ASAP partners with the local missions to identify potential national workers and then equips them through training. In addition, ASAP provides financial help through sponsorships. Even when they do not know the language of a targeted unentered tribe, they can often learn it more quickly than a foreigner. Based on this model, it is possible for God’s work to expand much more rapidly.

Win Sein is an excellent example in Myanmar. He is a church planter who moved his family to a village four days’ journey from Yangon. It is in the eastern mountains of the fairly unreached Shan State. They live in a drug-infested village, teaching the children who would not have a future if Win Sein did not help.

Most of the people are from the Lahu tribe which speaks a language that is new for him. His small knowledge of medical ministry has been used by God to save lives. Win Sein now has around 100 interests or members in seven different villages. I praise God for national missionaries!

Many years ago, when I first examined ASAP’s strategy for Southeast Asia, it made so much sense to me. My expertise is in the area of strategic church planting and developing systems to support it. The strategy of ASAP to recruit, develop, and empower national missionaries is powerful. You and I can make a difference for eternity through sponsoring national workers who speak a language we probably don’t understand, within a culture very different from our own, and in a place we likely would never go.

My family personally sponsors four national missionaries through ASAP in a closed country. Would you consider sponsoring one or more national missionaries this coming year? You will receive a profile of your church planter from ASAP. This is an added blessing in that you can pray for them specifically. What a blessing to be part of carrying the gospel to the ends of the earth!

Isaiah 58 Today

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Isaiah 58 Today

The following article was adapted Elder Dean Coridan’s sermon at the ASAP Missions Alive! program on Sabbath, November 4, 2017, at the Village Seventh–day Adventist Church in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Elder Coridan is the President of the Iowa–Missouri Conference and the Board Chair for ASAP Ministries.

Often you hear three words used interchangeably: immigrants, undocumented immigrants, and refugees. Please separate them. Immigrants are here by choice; refugees are not. Refugees have lost everything, had their homes taken away, witnessed family members killed, fled their countries and lived in camps, sometimes for many years.

There are more displaced people on planet Earth today than there ever have been in the history of humanity. If anybody should have a heart for refugees, it should be Seventh-day Adventists because of our theological foundation. Isaiah 58 should be a primary focus of believers in these last days. It starts: “Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me daily and delight to know My ways. As a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God” (vv. 1–2 ).

This passage speaks of people who pled for God’s presence and sought Him when they were in church, but during the week they were enslaving people, gossiping, fighting, and engaging in strife and debate that divided them. They even fasted and prayed for the purpose of winning arguments! I suggest that religion today is not far off from religion back then.

Verses five through seven state, “Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out?” Verse eight starts with the word THEN. God says to do this, THEN your light will break forth like the morning. THEN you shall call out and I will hear your voice.

There is a key difference between verses ten and seven where it talks about extending your soul to the hungry. Verse seven could look like dropping off cans at a food bank. I’m not degrading that. But God wants us to go a little deeper when He says extend your SOUL, everything you are, to the hungry. Ministry that pleases God cannot be done from a distance. I should not disassociate myself from the war weary, the suffering, the refugees, and live a separate life from them, throwing something their way from time to time. Ministry that pleases God includes my personal involvement, trying to help somebody in a tangible way. Donations can never take the place of your personal touch to a hurting person.

When I first heard about refugee ministries, I wondered, “Do I have refugees near me?” I discovered there were many in my area, like a group of Chin refugees from Myanmar. I found an interpreter and set out to locate them. I knocked on doors, sat in their homes, talked to them, got to know them. Gail and I took food and a bunch of stuff to them. I thought I knew the need but it amazed me how little I truly understood. The number one need of refugees is fellowship, connection. They are lonely.

Imagine being a refugee. You pack all you own into in a little bag, get on a plane, and arrive somewhere strange, left standing alone! Maybe someone picks you up, takes you to an apartment and says, “Here you are.” It would be nice if they showed you how to open the door, turn on the heat, work the appliances … loneliness! You have been cut off from everything familiar to you. In every home where we sat down and talked in that town, people cried. “You are the first person who ever came to visit us. Thank you!” Every Chin family I visited had an American flag and a map of the United States. They wanted to fit in. They want to be part of their new country, not ostracized. Take the initiative. Say, “I want to get to know you.” Refugees want to be treated like family. They will respond and you’ll never regret making lifetime friendships with them.

My daughter, Anna, spent a year in Nepal and learned to speak the language. When we learned that there were many Nepalese-speaking refugees in Kansas City, she moved into an apartment complex where they lived, to live among them. Most refugees from Nepal are Hindu. It’s tough evangelizing them in Nepal! But here in America, Anna has many opportunities to share.

Three teenage girls came to visit her. They wanted to know what her apartment looked like and what she eats. They picked up a Bible story book and turned to a picture of heaven. Staring, they asked, “What is that and where is it?” Anna said, “That’s heaven!” and went on describing it in detail and how Jesus is coming back to take His people there someday. Spellbound, all three looked up at her with wide eyes and asked, “Would He take us to heaven, too? Can we go?” Anna led them in their first prayer. “Jesus, when you come, will you take us to heaven? We want to go.”

Refugee children are vulnerable and at risk for sex trafficking and gangs. A fourteen-year-old Hindu young man often joins in the community service activities, meals, and youth fellowship Anna organizes. He has a hard life. One day he blurted out, “I can’t sleep at night! I see ghosts and they won’t let me alone.” She said, “If you pray to Jesus, they will go away.” He responded, “I’m not going to pray to Jesus; I’m Hindu, and I’m going to stay a Hindu!” About three weeks later Anna was getting ready to go to the Iowa–Missouri Conference camp meeting. All the kids asked, “Where are you going?”

“To campmeeting!”

“What’s that?”

“It’s where Christians get together and sing songs and play games. There’s lots of food and fun.”

Anna called me. “There are a few Hindus that want to experience campmeeting. Can they come?” They came and observed everything. At the end of campmeeting this young man came to Anna and said, “Last night I prayed to Jesus and they are all gone! I can sleep at night.” He is now a Jesus follower. Throughout that apartment complex he walks around and sings the songs he learned at camp meeting. If he finds a person who is having a bad day, he says, “Let’s pray to Jesus.”

We decided to start Pathfinder clubs as church plants in our conference. The vast majority of our 47–member Nepalese Pathfinder club is Hindu. I explained to the community leaders what it was and how we can help their young people. They all agreed to it. Someday we are going to have a church there and the teenagers are going to operate it! The answer to church growth for the Seventh-day Adventist church is working with the underprivileged. That is where Jesus is. We can make a difference!

Growing Safe—Rooted in God’s Love

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Growing Safe—Rooted in God’s Love

By Scott Griswold

“Sometimes I’m so angry that I just shake as I hear the children share about the things they have experienced. So many times their own parents take the children out of school and make them go to work to recycle garbage or labor as a cement worker or even a prostitute.”

A teacher from an ASAP-supported school was upset but hopeful at the same time. Julie Griswold had just given her an opportunity to express herself at the curriculum training in Cambodia called Growing Safe—Rooted in God’s Love .

This curriculum is desperately needed in Asia where our students and other children are at great risk of abuse in their homes and even trafficking into slavery and prostitution. More than two years ago, an ASAP donor recognized the great need and pledged funds to help develop a Christian curriculum to keep kids safe in Asia.

ASAP chose Julie Griswold to organize the curriculum. The burden for this work has been on her heart throughout her experience as a missionary in Cambodia and Thailand. Julie felt very inadequate for this job and poured her heart into praying and searching through present curriculums, selecting the best from each and wrestling with how to contextualize the curriculum for the Asian culture.

God raised up an advisory committee to share ideas, do research, and review the lessons. This team included Adventist leaders in Asia, teachers, development workers, and professionals who have spent years fighting trafficking, working towards prevention, and rescuing children in trouble. ASAP board member Dr. Shirley Freed joined Julie regularly, using her expertise in curriculum development. In time, God also helped Julie find translators and an artist for the illustrations.

All this planning came together the week of February 22–25, 2016, as literacy teachers came from all over the country and joined the teachers of the Feed & Read schools in Phnom Penh for a hands-on training.

The training was active and met with a very positive response. The teacher who had started the training so upset said, “I learned good things in our training this week. There were stories to tell and games to play. There were small group activities and lots of good ideas. The children will be really interested.”

Another teacher said, “I’m really interested in this program. It will help children avoid danger, especially sexual dangers. We learned to teach the children to not go anywhere alone. Second, to not go where it is dark. Third, we will teach them to run away from men who try to do bad things to them. Fourth, if a stranger tries to give them some gifts, they should say, ‘No! I don’t want them!’ We must help the children to run from any of these dangers!”

After Julie and the team modeled how to use a couple of lessons, they quickly placed the teaching into the hands of the teachers. For the rest of the week, the teachers did an amazing job of teaching the lessons to each other and then to a group of students. “I was so thrilled!” said Julie. “It was like they had written the curriculum themselves.”

During the week of training, real life challenges came up in conversation, which reinforced our urgency to implement this curriculum in schools across Asia.

For instance, one teacher shared how she asked her students what they wanted to be when they grow up. She turned to Liuhp who is twelve, but looks like a grown-up. What will she answer?, the teacher wondered. She knew the girl’s parents were divorced. Liuhp’s mother had expressed concern about her daughter’s behavior, but didn’t seem to be protecting her at home. Men from the neighborhood would ask Liuhp to go buy cigarettes and alcohol for them. Just by observing Liuhp’s mannerisms, the teacher was worried that the men were drawing the girl into doing them wrong favors.

“So Liuhp, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

“I want to be a prostitute!”

“What did you say?” Despite her somber reflections, the teacher wasn’t prepared for the student’s answer. “What would you like to be?”

Once again she said, “I want to be a prostitute.”

“Where did you get such an idea?” the teacher asked gently.

“My auntie says that’s how I can get lots of money and have nice dresses.”

The teacher took her hands, silently praying for wisdom to answer this precious girl and steadily turn her to a better way.

Another teacher in the province said that her class attendance went from over 60 to 30 because her school is on the outskirts of her village and parents don’t feel safe sending their children to school. They found that teenage boys were hiding in the bushes and taking advantage of the girls on the way to school.

Julia O’Carey brainstormed how to rectify this problem and you can help with the solution. ASAP would like to purchase a wagon to attach to the back of the teacher’s motorcycle so she can pick up the children and bring them to school. This should cost about $1,500, but it would keep the children safe.

There is such a great need for students to learn how valued by God they are and be wise against dangers. Please pray for the teachers as they work to keep their children safe and as they start teaching this new, Bible-based curriculum.

Retirees With a Mission

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Retirees With a Mission

What does a busy lady with a mission heart do when she retires? She gets busier of course! Dr. Shirley Freed was praying for God to direct her as she prepared to retire from being a professor in Andrews University’s Leadership Program.

Dr. Freed has had a busy career, living in Canada, the United States, and Pakistan, while also visiting and helping in other countries. After praying, she received an email from Julia O’Carey asking her to considering helping ASAP on a mission trip to train literacy teachers. The ASAP team that traveled with Dr. Freed thoroughly enjoyed her! Julia shared, “She so easily connects with the local people, giving out gifts and smiles, making them feel truly valued.” Dr. Freed visited the Feed and Read Schools, met with the teachers, and led them in a dynamic, interactive training program. She also brought along a Bible story-based easy reader series she had developed and found translators to assist her in sharing the stories, which helped to get the Cambodian children excited about learning to read.

Though she is moving back to Canada, Dr. Freed plans to remain an active, involved board member with ASAP Ministries. Through the internet, she will continue to help Julie Griswold and her team develop the curriculum that will make a significant difference for children at risk of abuse in Southeast Asia. She and her husband are working on a simpler version of Ellen White’s classic book Education that could be translated more easily into Khmer and other Southeast Asian languages.

Dr. Freed is a wonderful example of a retiree that is determined to use her skills to further God’s kingdom in a world of suffering. There are many ways that retirees can help ASAP Ministries and other organizations. Retirees often volunteer at the office to help with sending out newsletters and other mailings. They also make donor appreciation calls. They can be effective promoters of the various needs of the ministry. If you are interested in serving, contact ASAP Ministries to find out how you can help.

Missions of Mercy

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Missions of Mercy

Every week I go door to door to talk to my neighbors about the true God and share simple remedies with the sick. When the residents are feeling well enough, they come with me. One day I met a nineteen year-old lady named Chan Thorn. I could tell right away from the look in her eyes that she was in a lot of pain. Sure enough, she suffered with intense abdominal pain. Her family had sent her to the hospital where the doctor told her she needed to have surgery which would cost $500! She felt hopeless for she did not have that kind of money. I told her that God loved her so much and was concerned with the situation she was in. I offered to pray for her. She agreed and also welcomed natural remedies. In one week she was healed. She started studying with me about this amazing Healer God and later accepted Jesus in baptism.

Grace in Action

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Grace in Action

BY JULIA O’CAREY

The other day I found myself rushing to pick up my daughter from school. I failed to make a complete stop at the stop sign and didn’t notice the police officer sitting in his car at the corner watching me. A few seconds later, I saw the lights in my rearview mirror. The police officer courteously informed me of my error and after what felt like a century of waiting, came back with a long slip of paper. How relieved I felt to get just a warning and see the $0.00 owed at the bottom of the slip. Was that grace he offered me? One often defines grace in this way, but I recently learned that grace is much, much more.

During Elder Louis Torres’ Week of Prayer at my home church, he quoted, “Divine grace is the great element of saving power. It is not merely God’s mercy and willingness to forgive, it is an active, energizing, transforming power to save,” (SDA Bible Commentary on Romans 3:24). Did you know that GRACE = TRANSFORMING POWER?

Now 2 Corinthians 12:9 makes perfect sense: “And He said to me, ‘My grace (power) is sufficient for you for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” In one of my hardest trials, when my father was on his deathbed at the hospital, the Lord kept bringing this verse to my attention, in a devotional, through a text from a friend, and even from the pulpit that Sabbath. During that difficult time, God DID give me the power I needed to cope, persevere in prayer, and keep focusing on Him. His power (grace) was sufficient and is everything we need for every battle we fight with the evil one. He not only wants to forgive us when we fall, but He wants to transform us through His power, to give us victory through Him (see 2 Timothy 1:9). If we could overcome on our own, we would not need a Savior, but we can take hold of what God gives us freely, so we can have victory in Him.

Paul preached and prayed for others and witnessed lives changed. He boldly states in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” In the same way, we see God’s grace working mightily through the ASAP ethnic missionaries. Lives are being transformed every day! There is never enough room in the pages of this newsletter to share all the miraculous stories, but here are a few.

MR. WANLEI IN LAOS was vomiting and urinating blood. The doctors said he needed an operation immediately, but he was too afraid to go under the knife. Church Planter James Kai* heard the disheartening news and quickly gathered church members together to pray. They pled with the Lord to heal Mr. Wanlei. He agreed to the surgery. The next day, when he was wheeled in for the operation, the doctor first ran some tests and found no signs of disease. The surgeon and staff were shocked. The group praying there at the hospital took the opportunity to testify to these Buddhists of the grace and power of the everlasting God. They all left praising the Lord!

CHEA CHOUEN FROM CAMBODIA was an alcoholic and avid smoker. He hadn’t been able to hold down a job. His wife, Srey Mom, knew some English because she had worked as a maid for foreigners when she was young, so she was able to find a job as a tour guide, even though she couldn’t read or write Khmer. When she got pregnant, she had to stop working and the family barely had anything on which to live. They didn’t know how to manage the little money they had and racked up a lot of debt. They ended up having to sell their house. Church Planter Heng Sochet met Chea and Srey Mom and their seven children when they were at their lowest. One of his church members had tried to share the Gospel with Chea and Srey Mom in the past but they were not open to it. They now accepted the invitation to come to church. There they discovered the grace of Christ and after two months of steady attendance, they made the decision to accept Jesus as their Savior. They invited Church Planter Heng Sochet and the church members to come dedicate their new home to the Lord. They smashed their idols inside and outside their house. They cut off the bracelets and chains. They turned their whole lives over to God. When the grandma witnessed this, she was appalled! “How can you waste so much money?” she asked. “Those idols cost you a lot!” Grandma wouldn’t speak to them for a month. But after she saw the changes in their lives, she started to believe. Through God’s grace, Chea gained victory over drinking and smoking. The family pulled together and found a way to earn an income through mending secondhand clothes and reselling them. Their family received a complete GRACE-transformation when they became Seventh-day Adventist Christians.

Are you tired of the pattern of falling into sin and asking for forgiveness, over and over again? Do you need to experience the power of God’s grace in a new, fresh way? Without the transformative grace of God, all our conditions are hopeless, but Jesus does not leave you to keep sinning. May we take hold of His grace and power He so freely gives and experience victory in every area of our lives.

“And He said to me, ‘My grace (power) is sufficient for you for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” —2 Corinthians 12:9

The Holy Spirit Prepares the Way

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

The Holy Spirit Prepares the Way

BY CAROL REYNOLDS

A small group from America planned a mission trip from December 11–26, 2016 to reach the Karen who live in an unusual, restricted area of the world. Jimmy Shwe, a Karen pastor who shepherds dozens of scattered Karen Adventist refugee groups in the U.S., took four Karen young men from his church and American church builder Scott Hill, from Oregon, on the trip. What happened more than amazed them and fulfilled their purpose of sharing truth with their people.

Before we get into the results, a little background will help you. When Jimmy Shwe was in college, he roomed with a student named Dickson. Dickson became an Adventist during that time. Later his brother Jackson also got baptized. Jimmy was able to visit them in their village for three summers in 1994, 1995, and 1996. During this time relationships were started and seeds of truth were planted among these Karen people who still speak the Karen language and keep their culture alive. Pastor Jimmy kept this group in his heart and hoped to visit them again.

During the 22 years since those visits, Dickson acquired a master’s degree in business and started his own business. He and his brother still believed the Adventist message, but they didn’t have success in sharing with their tribe. Therefore, they quietly kept the truth and observed the Sabbath alone. They lost connection with the wider Adventist church and settled into life there. However, Pastor Jimmy never forgot his friends in that remote place.

When the group of six arrived, they were warmly welcomed. Villagers had been waiting for days. Children were everywhere. Although it has been 22 years, village leaders remembered Jimmy well and were thrilled he had returned. They asked him to share with them, and specifically asked about the Sabbath and other Adventist truths. They were eager to learn more and were very receptive as Jimmy shared with them. Truly the Holy Spirit had gone before and prepared hearts to receive this message. A group of them decided that they wanted to become Seventh-day Adventists!

One villager, Eric, believes the Sabbath truth and has kept it for the past three years. He learned a lot about this from listening to Adventist World Radio. When Jimmy asked him if he would be willing to help care for a new Adventist group, he gladly offered. Of course, there is more that they need to be taught, but about 30 adults have asked to become Seventh-day Adventists, and with their children, the group is close to 50! This is thrilling news, for there are very few Adventists in this remote area, and certainly no Karen SDA churches.

Jimmy will continue to study the Adventist message with them by phone each week. He plans to take another mission trip there next year. The young people who joined him have been saving their money and buying Spirit of Prophecy books and Karen clothing for their new friends. This trip planted seeds in their hearts and now they want to be long-term missionaries. Dickson offered to donate land for a fellowship hall/community center in which the group could worship. We invite you to join in helping to raise $17,000 needed for this project. Pray that the Holy Spirit will lead this group and that many more of the 3,000 Karen in this area will understand the truth in God’s Word.

God Always Has a Plan

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

God Always Has a Plan

Saeng (pronounced “sang” as in “sang a song”) looked around his new big classroom in California, eyes wide with fear. His head pounded as he listened to the students and the teacher chatting around him, not understanding a word! This brave eleven-year-old boy in the fourth grade had just arrived from a refugee camp from Thailand. Words such as DIFFICULT, FRUSTRATING, BEWILDERING, FEARFUL, and NEW, could be used to describe those first couple years in America, but they fall terribly short in adequately summing up the experience.

When Saeng turned thirteen, Ko Saelee, a Hmong-Thai pastor moved into the refugee apartment complex he lived in. Later on, Ko married Terri West, who joined him in ministry. Saeng immediately noticed something different about these energetic young people. They smiled, warmly welcomed him into their home, and asked, “Do you want to study and learn more English after school in our tutoring center?” On Friday evenings, Saeng observed a different program. They used the Bible as their textbook and sang songs about Jesus. Because of the genuine LOVE Saeng experienced from them, he kept coming. They even picked him up from his home to come to church when he moved to a different part of the city. For the first time in his life, he came in touch with a love that reached down to the depths of his heart, a love that started to heal the trauma that comes from fleeing his country and living as a refugee, a love from his new friend Jesus.

One day, Saeng pulled Pastor Ko aside and said, “I think God wants me to be a pastor like you!” Saeng felt a clear call and urgent burden to share Jesus with the thousands of Laotian Buddhists around him (at that time, there were no Laotian Seventh-day Adventist pastors serving in the United States). Pastor Ko took him seriously and prepared Saeng for Bible studies. Saeng’s baptism was the happiest day of his life!

God did have a plan for Saeng. After his baptism, the Lord helped the Saelees find a sponsor to send Saeng to Weimar Academy. His new faith blossomed in the rich spiritual environment of the school. On graduation day, he smiled outwardly, but a war raged in his mind. God’s call to become a pastor remained crystal clear over the four years at Weimar. He wanted more than ever to return to that beautiful place and continue working toward his dream, but he also knew that was against his parents’ will. They strongly urged him, “Study medicine or law, Saeng. You need to make a decent living. We are counting on you to provide for us! How could you even consider not accepting the scholarships offered you? It’s crazy to go back to that Christian school where you are indebted to people!” He wanted to honor his parents, but could not bear to think of disappointing his Heavenly Father.

The day came. With fortitude, he approached his parents with the news that he decided to continue studying to be a pastor at Weimar College. After several attempts of persuading him to change his course and even threatening him, they disowned him. His mom’s words, “I regret the day of your birth. Leave now and never come back! I am no longer your mother,” cut Saeng’s heart like a knife. Saeng sadly left home, understanding he may never get to see his parents again. Saeng packed his bags quickly, and before he left, he felt impressed to go back to thank his mother for all that she did as his mother for the past eighteen years. It was at that moment that she threw her arms around him with such feeling and began to convulse and vomit. Saeng noticed her medicine bottles spread across the bed and he remembered a few days earlier, she said, “I would rather die than live to see you bringing shame to the family.” He rushed to the hospital and saved her life where she was kept for a week. The family forbid him to see her. However, he prayed each day for them. God worked hard on his parents’ hearts. He made many attempts to contact them. In about three months, his mom and dad accepted him back. She said, “Saeng, you can come home. We miss you.” Saeng knew that God worked a miracle, answering his prayers, softening his parents’ to him and his God. He longed for the day they would turn from Buddhism to Christianity. He knew that day would come, and eventually it did! His mom, dad, and sister all got baptized in the same baptismal tank that he gave his life to Jesus in ten years before!

Saeng made solid Christian friends through school and found his beautiful, mission-minded wife, Mileicy, there. On the weekends, he spent time church planting among the Lao people in a city one and a half hours away. God was working out His perfect ministry plan in Saeng’s life. The Lord called Saeng to the Andrews University theological seminary. He spent his weekends church planting for the Laotians in Holland, Michigan, working among his people. After the seminary, he returned to California to serve the Lao people but because of lack of funding, he decided to move back to Michigan and continue church planting in Holland as a “tent-maker”. The Lord worked through Pastor Saeng’s leadership and others to grow a thriving Seventh-day Adventist Lao ministry called Lao Adventist Mission Projects, which includes DVD evangelism, the first digital Lao Old Testament Bible, and a growing church group of over sixty.

Pastor Saeng recently accepted God’s call to serve as ASAP’s Associate Director. With his background in church planting and love for missions and spreading the Gospel, we think he is just the one God chose. Please pray for him as he transitions to full-time ministry and for his precious family, his wife, Mileicy, children, Danien (8), Milen (6), and Beya (4).

Small But Powerful

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Small But Powerful

In a closed country, more than 1,100 groups of believers are worshipping God each Sabbath! Last year over 500 people were baptized. And these believers are active and alert for every opportunity to share their faith: on holidays when the government isn’t so harsh, through a growing cell phone ministry conducted especially by young people, at weddings and funerals and wherever people are gathered together. Let me tell you the story of one young woman making a powerful impact by God’s grace.

Suong Nguyen*, a very diligent worker, is quiet by nature and very observant. Working in a province violently opposed to Christianity, the Lord used her to raise up a body of thirteen believers, all of whom love to witness. As her members hand out materials to Sunday keepers, she watches for signs of interest and often quickly begins talking about Revelation 12–14, from which chapters she leads her listeners to Sabbath keeping and other SDA beliefs. She loves going door to door and sharing DVDs even though this activity is illegal. Because of the Holy Spirit, she finds success.

Suong was raised in a family with a mother who was a believer and then led her husband, a brilliant but uneducated man, to Christ. He was a respected communist to whom local authorities often came for advice. But the villagers knew of his conversion and pressured the authorities to stop his work. In the meantime, Suong discovered a Bible in her bed one night and began reading out of curiosity. That night she, too, became a believer, and when a Seventh-day Adventist taught the family about the Sabbath, they all finally came under conviction.

Life was challenging for them because the authorities, who really liked Suong’s father, were reluctant to give him up to Christianity. Eventually he passed away, and then family pressures influenced the mother and her daughters to build an ancestral altar in her father’s honor to please the uncles. But Suong was not at ease with the arrangement and at last the little family of women rose up and burned the altar and everything associated with it. When the uncles came to visit, they were enraged and continued to pressure them to rebuild the altar. Within six months, both uncles died and so did the police chief’s assistant who gave them so much trouble. From then on, the persecution slowed down.

Tiny Suong amazes people with her boldness and knowledge. She knows the prophecies and can explain what the Sunday pastors avoid talking about. A few months ago a shaman practicing witchcraft came to her village to sell herbal medicine. There he met Suong and became interested in what she had to say. He has started Bible studies and remains receptive. Even when admitted to the hospital, he has continued the studies. A strong spiritual battle is waging and sometime he feels as if his head will explode, but Suong’s prayers have overcome these terrible headaches and spiritual struggles.

After more deaths occurred among those who have opposed Suong and her work, the villagers now warn each other: “Don’t touch Suong’s family!” May God continue His great work through this little woman. Pray that God will help ASAP workers in closed countries to continue spreading the Gospel no matter what the opposition. Pray also that the Holy Spirit will make you bold and willing to share your faith no matter what your age or size.

The Longest Roller Coaster Ride Ever

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

The Longest Roller Coaster Ride Ever

BY JULIA O'CAREY

Do you enjoy the thrill of a roller coaster ride? To be honest, after riding a roller coaster with my daughter at SeaWorld at age 30, I told myself my days of roller-coaster rides were over! Now, 20 years later, I found myself on the wildest roller-coaster ride I’d ever experienced. No, it didn’t last three minutes like traditional roller coasters. It took over eleven hours by car! The twists and turns, ups and downs, along with the record speed and close calls made this a trip I will never forget. My brother, Pr. Sam Ngala, my good friend Grace Lova, ASAP Field Relations Coordinator Pr. Benjamin Kip, ASAP Field Media Assistant Josiah Adams, the Mizo Adventist Conference leaders, and a group of over fifteen missionary volunteers traveled together with one goal in mind, to reach the refugees flooding into Mizoram, India, from Myanmar. This was the second trip into this region initiated by Pr. Ngala, an Adventist pastor from the U.S. who has worked with ASAP for the past ten years. Based on a report from the Indian government’s parliamentarian, MP K. Vanlalvena, given in September 2022, about 40,000 refugees have fled to India in the past two years due to Myanmar’s political unrest. Thousands more undocumented refugees who are temporarily living with relatives or friends must also be considered in the picture.

Teams of missionaries from the United States (who fled to America as refugees themselves at one point) gathered in five different locations of Mizoram state. Their practical medical and dental care, loving prayers, and inspiring evangelistic meetings were all well-attended. They understood that when refugees lose everything, their hearts are open and receptive to something meaningful. Two of the refugees from America who had hearts to reach the refugees in India could not afford their airplane tickets. ASAP donors like you provided for one of the tickets and the funds for the other came just in time, not a minute early! Praise the Lord! I love how ASAP helped to make this mission trip happen. How exciting to not only see souls reached in India but to witness the unfolding of God’s plan for involving refugees from America in mission work. Ellen White describes this plan so well in the book Evangelism, pg. 570: “If we were quick in discerning the opening providences of God, we should be able to see in the multiplying opportunities to reach many foreigners in America a divinely appointed means of rapidly extending the third angel’s message into all the nations of earth.”

Let me tell you, meeting the refugees made the whole crazy three-day journey to our destination so worth it! Each one had a heart-wrenching story of why they had to leave everything familiar behind. Each one demonstrated amazing courage. For instance, though Tony,* his wife, and their two boys experienced great difficulties and hardship leaving Myanmar, he shared with a big smile, “If my family and I had remained in Myanmar, we wouldn’t be as close as we are now. At home, we were too busy to have morning and evening family worship, but we have plenty of time now.” (Please watch ASAP’s upcoming Mission Matters to hear more of Tony’s inspiring story.)

God wants us to continue responding to the urgent needs of the refugees. After proper needs assessment and conversations with the Mizo Conference, ASAP is in the process of planning holistic projects that will make the greatest impact and meet the needs that are not already being met by others. Please pray that God will guide us in this process so that we can be “quick in discerning the opening providences of God.” Would I endure that rollercoaster ride again? Yes, in a heartbeat!

* Pseudonym

Esther's Discipleship Paradigm

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Esther's Discipleship Paradigm

BY LAURA HOKANSON

“I want you to be in heaven someday. I want to see you there. The journey will not be easy. So be careful.”

The plaintive words struck Esther’s* heart like an arrow. For the last three years, she had watched her parents grow spiritually after being introduced to Bible truth through an Adventist radio ministry in a closed country. Although she had followed her parents as they began to worship on Sabbath and accept other Bible truths, she had never accepted Seventh-day Adventism as her own faith. Now her father lay dying. His parting words challenged her to grip the truth for herself. “Right then,” Esther says, “I made the decision to love the Lord and never forsake Him.”

When her dad passed away, Esther lost a great mentor in her life. “There was no one to help me study the Bible in depth or to understand it well enough to teach others,” Esther reflects. “Then in 2014 an ASAP Bible worker, Sister Lydia,* came to our area to teach the Bible to young people.”

Esther was a diligent Bible student. Soon she was accompanying Sister Lydia in personal evangelism ministry. “Sister Lydia taught me the fundamental beliefs,” Esther explains. “She had me memorize them, repeating them again and again until they were in my heart.” Sister Lydia taught Esther how to share the gospel, how to distribute literature, and how to survey an environment before sharing gospel-related material. “Before learning these skills, I shared literature at a policeman’s house and was arrested,” Esther says. “But with Sister Lydia’s instruction, I learned to work smarter under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Her patient mentorship was such a gift to my life and ministry.”

Today Esther is married with a young son and another baby boy on the way. She remains active in friendship evangelism, visiting homes regularly to encourage others with prayer and Bible stories. One teenage girl so valued Esther’s visits that she invited her to keep sharing the Bible stories with her, despite the abuse she suffered from her parents after each visit. Esther had no idea of the persecution this girl was suffering because the parents were always hospitable when she visited. “Whatever our daughter wants to do is fine,” they told Esther. However, she later learned that the girl’s family often beat her, forbade her to eat food, and threatened her life in an effort to discourage her from accepting the Bible teachings she was learning from Esther.

Today this teenage girl is married and safe from her abusers. Her husband is taking baptismal studies, and she is leading a Bible study group using My Bible First lessons under Esther’s mentorship. Just as Esther was taught by Sister Lydia, now she is teaching another young disciple to share the gospel of Jesus.

This story illustrates how ASAP missionaries are trained not only to share the gospel but also to disciple others in successful ministry. Please pray for these faithful workers as they carry the gospel forward under difficulty and persecution.

*Pseudonym

Update on ASAP Refugee Student Missionaries

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Update on ASAP Refugee Student Missionaries

BY JULIA O'CAREY

Many of you intently followed Soe Soe and Jasmine in the ASAP Refugee Student Missionary Vlog, JOURNEYS, from their initial launching challenges to their amazing front-line mission work on the border of Thailand and Myanmar. Thank you for your support and prayers for them!

Update on Jasmine Moo

Jasmine successfully completed the school year serving as ASAP’s refugee student missionary teacher for high school age students in one of our bigger mission schools. As a strong spiritual model for the students who lack Christian parents, she was affectionately called “Mo” which means “Mommy” in the Karen language. She led out in a select choir and brought music and life to the campus. Jasmine reflects on her experience and says, “I learned that the students are very dependable because even when they were running from aircraft bombings, they continued studying for their final exams.” Keep Jasmine in prayer as she seeks God’s will in whether she should continue her studies or gain more experience teaching in America before she heads back as a career missionary. Her heart is there with her people.

Update on Pastor Soe Soe

Pastor Soe Soe dove right into ministry from day one. He endured an extremely hot summer, fought off mosquitoes, avoided bullets and soldiers, traversed rough terrains, and more, all with a courageous heart and a smile on his face. He conducted Week of Prayer programs at many ASAP mission schools. Many young people responded by asking for Bible studies and baptism. He encouraged the church planters and lay pastors who felt like giving up and he strengthened their professional training course. On December 7, 2022, Soe Soe married the love of his life, Theysa Yee, who is serving alongside him in ministry, as ASAP's main accountant for projects serving displaced people in the border region. He has recently been appointed by the Southeast Asia Union Mission to be the Ministerial Secretary of the new attached field and will continue serving the Lord with ASAP Ministries.

God Healed Mrs. Sok Ran!

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

God Healed Mrs. Sok Ran!

“If God’s healing way is so powerful, then the scientists should stop producing the expensive medicine.” This kind of mockery and teasing made me very discouraged. As a medical missionary in Kompong Thom Province, Cambodia, I have been persecuted many times for telling people about God and His power. Sometimes I have become upset and considered quitting my work as a medical missionary, but still I wanted to work for God.

On March 19, 2009, I met Mrs. Sok Ran who is 49 years old. She had numbness and swelling in her legs. After being treated by modern medicine for months, the symptoms were still there. I introduced Jesus to her and told her to put her trust in Jesus because only He had the power to heal her. She agreed and promised me that she would join the church and worship only the living God. I started her treatment with a hot and cold foot bath. I also gave her charcoal to drink. I invited my supervisor, Pastor Pen Narith, his wife, and a church member to pray for her. They came every day for a week and prayed for Mrs. Sok Ran.

I am greatly thankful to God for hearing our prayers and healing her. Mrs. Sok Ran is perfectly well without any swelling or numbness. I told her that the hot and cold foot baths and charcoal were not the only reasons she was restored to health. Her real healing was from Jesus through our prayers. Today, she, with her husband and neighbors, is praising the Lord Jesus Christ.

I feel so happy and encouraged when God answers our prayers and heals the non-Christians. It gives me courage to reach others and tell them how powerful our Savior is and how much He loves us.

Beng Korn’s Prayer Requests:

1. Please pray for Mrs. Sok Ran’s family to accept Jesus and worship the living God.

2. Please pray for me so that I will always stand firm for Jesus and always work for Him faithfully, honestly and wisely through His Holy Spirit.

3. I would like to request prayer so that I can find a bicycle to buy. I really need it for visiting sick people and sharing the Good News about Jesus with them.

-Beng Korn (edited by Nathan Sarli)

21 Days of Answers

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

21 Days of Answers

In January 2013, ASAP launched a " 21-Day Prayer and Fasting Initiative " in which staff and praying friends committed themselves to a Daniel fast of simple foods and/or fasting from media and entertainment for 21 days. We were blessed to have people participating from around the world, including Hawaii and Nigeria. ASAP sent to the group via email information about fasting and words of encouragement from the bible and the writings of Ellen White. The group then replied via email with their testimonies during the fast. God blessed the united prayers of His children who came together to intercede for friends here and abroad. May Jesus Christ, our Interecessor, bless you as your read a sampling of those testimonies:

Interceding for Friends

Jesus said to His disciples, “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:19-20)

During ASAP’s 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting in January I decided to heed the words of Jesus, so I spent much time in intercessory prayer for friends of mine. One friend began fasting on the first of the year, about 10 days before we at ASAP began our fast. She really needed a car so although I wasn’t fasting yet, I prayed with her and for her about this. A couple of days before ASAP’s fast began, my friend informed me that someone had offered to sell her a car for a very good price, and to let her pay for it in installments. We praised God for answering this prayer, and I was especially excited that God had done this even before I began fasting.

A couple of days later when we at ASAP began our fast, I prayed for a friend who needed a loan so that she could register for classes at the university she attends. She had spent the previous weeks applying for loans and getting declined. Just a few days into the fast, which was also a few days before her classes would begin, she was approved for a loan! We praised God together for His perfect timing in providing her with this need.

Finally, I spent the entire three weeks praying for a friend who is battling a serious illness. Unlike the other two friends I was praying for, God did not answer my prayers for this until after the fast had ended. A short time after I finished fasting, I learned that this friend’s health is improving. In Steps to Christ , Ellen White wrote that “prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend.” Throughout my prayer and fasting experience, I learned that when I approach prayer in this manner, God in His love and mercy responds to me, just as a friend does in conversation. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

-- Jeanette Yeboah-Amoako

Worried Sick No More

At one of our noon prayer meetings, a woman who has never visited the ASAP office came to pray. After the prayer time was over, she asked for any elders in the group to come to her home and to pray for and anoint her husband, who had been “sick with worry” for about a week (the man's condition developed within a few weeks of the shooting at the Sandy Hook School in December 2012). Two of the ASAP staff, a board member, and another pastor and his wife from Andrews University immediately went to this woman’s home. They found the lady’s husband standing in front of his chair, motionless and non-responsive to questions and offers of help or something to drink. It was suggested that he sit down for prayer and he seemed to want to comply, but could not bend his knees; the man seemed catatonic. The group interceded for this man at length and anointed him—without any apparent change in his condition. The group eventually left the home, but continued to pray earnestly.

It was about a week later that the man for whom the group prayed showed up at our afternoon prayer fellowship with a bright, beaming smile! He was so appreciative of the prayers and we could see the oppressive weight on him was lifted! This man and his wife have become regular attendees of our afternoon prayer fellowship. We praise God for this quick answer to effectual, fervent prayer —and our new-found friends in Christ!

-- Wayne Labins

Heaping Coals

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Heaping Coals

Twenty-year old Sim Thim, living in the Boska village in Cambodia believes in God with all his heart. He came to know about his loving Savior from studying at the Seventh-day Adventist literacy school. After he accepted Jesus and was baptized, his parents and relatives began mocking and ridiculing him for his foreign beliefs. Every evening, his mother or father would demand that he fetch water from far way. Though he ran there and back, he often missed his literacy classes and the chances to read more of God’s Word and learn of Jesus. This scenario took place every Sabbath as well.

One Sabbath he was relieved that he made it to church and during prayer time, shared his burden with the rest of the church members. The district pastor, Pen Narith knew that this village needed a well. “Why not place it near Sim Thim’s home as to ‘heap coals on the heads of Sim’s parents,” he thought. This act of compassion surprised and touched the hearts of all in the village. God answered Sim Thim’s prayers through the gift of a well. Now Sim can obediently draw water for his family and still make it to church and his literacy classes during the week. No longer do his parents and relatives persecute him with their words, looks and actions. Praise God!

-Julia O'Carey

Victory of the Gospel

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Victory of the Gospel

BY JULIA O’CAREY AND LISA ISENSEE

Every year, ASAP focuses time and energy into training the ethnic missionaries we sponsor (in addition to other frontline workers in the field). Every dollar spent and minute invested is worth it because these training sessions act as the fuel that keeps our workers going. These events serve as the camp meetings, ASI meetings, or GYC meetings for ethnic missionaries. It’s their time to fellowship and pray with like-minded brothers and sisters and helps them feel connected to the family of God instead of swimming alone in a shark-infested sea of unbelievers. This year, Pr. Scott Griswold’s lessons on end-time events and the second coming of Christ resonated in hearts like no other messages. Workers intently listened, earnestly took notes, and asked many questions. Lisa Isensee, coordinator for church planting for the Wisconsin Conference, joined us for the last training. She shares her impressions below:

It was spiritually sobering to speak to these dear people. Yes, I have things to share of what Jesus is doing in Wisconsin and in my own life; I have a testimony. But to serve among those who cannot openly work for God without the risk of recrimination sent me home with a new perspective on the spiritually privileged times (yes, really) that we have in America. It was a great blessing to be able to strengthen and minister to and with the people of this country.

ASAP Mission Trip 2017

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

ASAP Mission Trip 2017

BY MISSION TRIP ATTENDEES, LISA AND KATHERINE ISENSEE

Lisa and her daughter Katherine, along with 22 others, bravely entered a communist country to share the light and love of Jesus on ASAP’s 2017 mission trip. Would they be successful? Would this trip impact their lives? Read their testimonies below.

Katherine (age 15):

I expected culture shock and major differences, but everything was so much crazier and more foreign than I had been expecting. I went around in awe of everything I saw: stray dogs roaming the streets, strange smells, friendly big smiles on people who didn’t tower over me ;), rolling mountains and fast-flowing rivers. At times things were confusing or hard to deal with, but ultimately the trip was a powerful, fun-filled time! I also loved going with my best friend Merissa and getting to laugh through things and be touched by miracles and experiences together.

One of the things that impacted me the most was the happiness of the people around me. They were so sweet and sharing even though they had so little. Yet it struck me that the people there weren’t really missing out on much. The Christians there had a strong relationship with God, their families, and friends. Lacking money and things didn’t seem to be ruining their quality of life. Interestingly, they didn’t seem to be searching for fulfillment or contentment. They were happy. In fact, they didn’t seem to be focused on themselves at all.

I loved the children, full of curiosity and this mischievous hope to connect with you and become friends! The language barrier was so big. When our tri-lingual translators weren’t around, I learned that showing you care through a smile, laugh, or soft-spoken word is so important. I loved spending time outside with the kids and English students. Even falling into our extremely hard beds—some nights utterly exhausted from the long day—I was happy and felt so fulfilled. Leaving was hard. A piece of my heart stayed with the people and that gorgeous land. I hope to go back again!

Lisa:

Katherine and Merissa were both very impacted by this trip; it was their first time traveling in a developing country and we saw a lot of poverty and need. The three of us volunteered to be in charge of the vacation Bible school. We had been told that we would be ministering in three villages to approximately 150 children from animist or Buddhist families. We prayed for 200 children and brought supplies and crafts to match our prayers. But God decided to give us more. Our ASAP team ministered in a total of five villages to more than 370 children!

God cared about the big things, too. And sometimes He surprised us with who He ministered through and to. I could tell that the children weren’t “getting it” when we told our first Bible story. So we prayed and were led to enlist a non- Christian translator, Keng, who did amazingly well. He had told me on his first outing with us, “I’m not a Christian, but I’m interested in Christianity.” Keng turned out to be our best translator, telling stories with both accuracy and drama. But more than that, God was also ministering to him through our group. He chose to come with us to translate even in his free time. I asked him one time, “Keng, tell me what you know about Christianity.” His response was revealing. It was obvious that he’d read and studied much. Still living at home, he’s concerned about offending his family, but I believe Keng is closer to following Christ than even he thinks.

Thank you, ASAP, for helping to make this trip happen. I believe strongly that there will be more people in heaven because of it, and I pray it will be many, many more.

Meeting Kha Nan's Greatest Need

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Meeting Kha Nan's Greatest Need

BY LAURA HOKANSON

“Rude, impolite, dirty, and ill-mannered.” These words once described the preschool-aged children of Kha Nan village. Then Kha Nan Nursery School opened its doors, and those descriptions began to change.

The rapidly growing village of Kha Nan was established to provide a new beginning for refugees displaced by war. This multi-ethnic community is largely illiterate and undereducated as a result of surviving so many years of war and uncertainty. Few, if any, of its residents have heard the gospel. As refugees flood into Kha Nan, families struggle to survive. Parents working long hours need care for their children. Children need education. Seventh-day Adventist church leaders recognized the opportunity for sharing the gospel through meeting these needs and established the Kha Nan Nursery School.

When the school opened in May 2019, parents rushed to enroll their children. The children came from different ethnic backgrounds, spoke different languages and could not understand each other or their teachers. They cried all day, refused to eat, would not take naps, and were suffering the results of trauma they had endured during the war. To make matters worse, there was no water, no toilet, and no tables for students to eat at or to do school activities. The teachers, having never experienced an environment like this, almost gave up. Taking these problems to the Lord in prayer, they saw God answer through the support of ASAP donors, whose gifts funded toilet facilities and a water reservoir. Local villagers donated tables. Through patient endurance and love, the teachers slowly began to win the trust of the children. The children began learning how to play together, to speak a common language, to wash their hands, to say “thank you,” to help their families at home, and most importantly, they learned there is a God in heaven who loves them.

In a short time, parents and community members began to notice remarkable changes. The children came home happy, clean, and well-mannered. Singing their little gospel songs around the home, they created a cheerful atmosphere. The school and its teachers have become well known in the community for excellence in education and for the maturity of the students who attend. Local government school teachers send their own children to Kha Nan Nursery School, because they know with this foundation they will be better equipped for entering elementary school.

The school quickly outgrew its space. Families were turned away because there was no room to enroll their children. Once again, the teachers turned to God in prayer. Again He provided through the faithfulness of donors like you who gave to the Greatest Needs Fund. Thanks to your gifts, ASAP was able to respond quickly to this need, providing funds for an addition to the nursery school. With the added space, more preschool students can attend, and additional services are planned for the community, such as English language classes.

Please pray that the Kha Nan Nursery School will be a light that leads many to know Jesus.

RWND Muslim Ministry Update

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

RWND Muslim Ministry Update

BY SCOTT GRISWOLD

For the last five years, the RWND team has been reaching out to Afghan Muslims, primarily at a specific apartment complex we’ll call Eastern Circle, where people from many countries mingle on the porches, and children play in the parking lots.

Over the last year, volunteer church members have helped us provide a vibrant Pathfinder and Adventurer program. Every other week, Afghan children and their parents come out to the nearby park for activities, crafts, stories, and lots of love.

Throughout this time, Julie and I earnestly prayed for someone who could speak their language to join us. God guided Pastor Shahbaz and his family here a year ago. He was such a blessing, connecting quickly with the refugees during the eight months they served before returning to Washington. When they moved on, we prayed all the harder for someone who could speak Dari, the language of many of our friends.

“I don’t know of a single Seventh-day Adventist Afghan in all of America,” I told Julie. “It would take a miracle.” But God was working years before with two individuals in Afghanistan whom we’ll call Jahnbee and Bazgigi. Jahnbee’s father became a Seventh-day Adventist Christian while visiting another country. He taught his family that Jesus is coming soon and the importance of honoring the Creator by keeping the Sabbath. His son Jahnbee, especially soaked up the new truths about Jesus and how He died on the cross for his sins.

A growing group of worshipers began to meet in their home secretly, since in Afghanistan, extremist Muslims have killed people for such things. One young lady named Bazgigi saw in Jahnbee’s family a kindness she’d never known. Though her entire family was Muslim, she decided to follow Jesus. Eventually, she married Jahnbee.

Soon two boys were born to the couple, and one day Jahnbee decided it was too dangerous to stay in Afghanistan any longer. His 19-year-old brother Abi joined them as they managed to escape and get a visa to a country in South America. They traveled through jungles, often carrying their children for hours on end. Finally, they crossed into the United States and pled for asylum. They were given a court date on which the government will decide if they can stay.

Meanwhile, our audacious prayer for just such a person kept going up. On the day before leaving for a mission trip to Thailand, a friend called to tell me Jahnbee’s story. The person on the phone said, “Now they are somewhere in Houston, Texas.”

“But where are they living?” I wanted to know. “Houston is huge, and there are over seven million people here.”

“Look at the next text!” Julie and I shouted. “They are right in Eastern Circle!”

We were astounded. Truly, God brought them all the way around the world and placed them in the exact place where we were pleading for someone who could share the gospel in the language of our Afghan friends.

We have enjoyed getting to know them over the last few weeks. Together we are navigating the details of life in America for them as asylum seekers who are not allowed to work, yet have to find a way to rent an apartment and live. Church members across Houston are rising up to help them.

My greatest joy has been taking Jahnbee with me to visit friends and interests that we know. Jahnbee is very friendly, and he loves to tell stories. I know God is going to work mightily to see His work advance among the Afghan people. Please keep this family and ministry in your prayers.

It Is Heart Missionaries That Are Needed

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

It Is Heart Missionaries That Are Needed

BY EMILIE CARR, ASAP MISSION TRIP VOLUNTEER

“This trip doesn’t make sense. This is a medical missionary trip. We cannot serve without an entire team of medical doctors and dentists. There is no way! God, why did you even bring me here?” These were some of the thoughts running through my mind as the reality of the mission trip began to physically unfold before me. At the beginning of 2023, I took the leap of faith to apply to go to Thailand with ASAP Ministries and, within a few months, watched God open every door possible for me to go. I had never seen God work so fast in my life, so naturally my expectations going in were high, my eyes were wide open, and my heart was eager to seek and receive the blessing I knew was waiting for me in Thailand.

Halfway into the trip my heart began to quiver with doubt that there really wasn’t a purpose for me, and I feared I wasn’t making a difference in a country where less than 1% of the people are Christian. We had spent the first week helping Pakistani refugees in Bangkok with free medical, dental, vision, and counseling services, but I feared we weren’t making a difference. I had an expectation in my mind of the way God was going to bless me on this trip, and I became discouraged when we encountered challenge after challenge. It was clear Satan didn’t want us spreading the gospel in Thailand. It was difficult to build a full medical team, even though we had a few professionals, and it was challenging to serve in various areas while trying to protect the refugees. Despite these setbacks, people were thankful after their massages, smiling after their dental cleanings, excited after receiving their new pairs of glasses, informed after their health checkups with the nurses, and encouraged after their prayer and counseling sessions. However, the fear and doubt remained in my heart, and I questioned God and His exact purpose for me there. I felt helpless not having doctors to refer the people to and not being able to perform certain procedures the people needed because we lacked specific personnel. At home, I am a dental assistant, and it was hard to see such a great need that we couldn’t meet without other dental professionals. However, God was at work and had something special in store for me. I just had to be patient.

During the latter part of the trip, our team traveled to the Thai-Myanmar border and split into two groups working at two different Adventist schools. On the first day, as we arrived at the school, my heart was immediately broken over the love I was shown by students who didn’t even know my name. They had been waiting for us for months, preparing for our arrival, and all 500 children greeted us individually with pure joy and genuine love. That feeling and experience continued on throughout the whole week, and the lesson and purpose God had for me became clearer. “Our job is to show up and be there for these people,” said one of the pastors on the trip every morning before we went to the school, and it really stuck with me. This was the seed that helped me see what God had wanted to teach me all along—to serve and live as a “heart missionary.”

On the last day, the children prepared an entire ceremony for us, thanking us for our service with traditional dances and special gifts for each one of us. We sang them one of their favorite praise songs in their heart language and hugged each one goodbye, but as we walked away, they all followed. You could hear them crying saying, “Please don’t leave.” One girl wrapped her arms around me and hugged me to the point where she couldn’t follow me farther. With tears in her eyes, through her broken English, she whispered words that would change my heart and life forever. “I don’t want you to go. You have changed my life. I love you. You are my mom.” I couldn’t believe what I heard. How could I have changed her life? How does she not only love me but see me as her mother? I felt I had done nothing special. I felt as if I just showed up, cleaned teeth, and did my best to interact with them and show them I cared. Right then and there, I began to see the blessing unfold that God had in store for me all along.

Amidst the warm, humid Thai air and the sound of tropical birds in banana trees, I understood what God was teaching me and the life-changing power of being a heart missionary. It means to show up and be there for people wherever they are, in whatever condition, and to love them as Christ would. This is the work that will really change lives. “It is heart missionaries that are needed. He whose heart God touches is filled with a great longing for those who have never known His love,” (Ministry of Healing, 150.2). It is a practical mission that you and I can be a part of every day, no matter where we are, and at all times. We may not have had a team of surgeons, optometrists, dentists, or medical doctors on our trip to Thailand, but we had a team of heart missionaries who showed up and loved those people as Jesus would’ve. I believe that it was us being heart missionaries that changed their lives even more than extractions or cataracts surgery ever could, and I’m forever thankful God called me to be a part of this trip and to take this life-changing lesson of being a heart missionary, wherever I go.

Ordinary People, Divine Assignments

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Ordinary People, Divine Assignments

BY PASTOR SCOTT GRISWOLD

Open Doors reports, “There is no freedom of religion in Turkmenistan. The dictatorial government uses a huge network of police, secret services, and local imams to closely monitor all religious activities.” How will the gospel commission be completed in such a country? Here is one of God’s plans—to use people like you and me.

Monte from America met Mr. D from Turkmenistan at the front desk of the Sultan Hotel while traveling through Turkey. They kept in touch through Facebook, with Monte planting seeds of friendship and truth. Weeks later Mr. D’s father needed a critical surgery and Monte’s father funded it. Mr. D was so appreciative that he decided he wanted to attend the Seventh-day Adventist church near his workplace in Turkey. He is thrilled at the truths he’s learning.

When Mr. D’s father came from Turkmenistan to visit his son, he was excited to have the freedom he doesn’t have in his country to also FaceTime Monte and his father to say thank you for his surgery. Through My Language My Life, MLML.org , Monte shared the Jesus video in the Turkmen language. Now God has someone in Turkmenistan who knows the truth about Jesus.

Without ever leaving your town you may meet someone from a country with restricted access to the gospel. Thousands of international students study in our universities, and hundreds of thousands of international travelers pass through our hotels and tourist attractions. Pray and watch for an opportunity to meet someone from another country.

Daiana and her family recently moved back to the United States after living in a Spanish-speaking country. As she learned about the Reach the World Next Door (RWND) cross-cultural training program, she remembered how she had felt when she first moved to the United States. “It was such a struggle learning the language and making friends,” Daiana said. “I want to help refugees who are also struggling.”

Daiana and her daughter joined a group of volunteers doing children’s programs at an apartment where many Afghan refugees had arrived. They loved the eager children. They visited a Spanish-speaking church and spoke about the joy of reaching out to refugees. “We understand what they have been through,” Daiana told them. “And we have the truths they need.”

Be confident that just as God led Philip to the Ethiopian, He will lead you. Make a friendship and find a way to keep in touch online. Explore in advance the many resources on MLML.org so you will be ready to share the gospel in their language. We encourage you to visit reachtheworldnextdoor.org/training and learn how to connect with international students and local refugees.

Welcoming Unseen Angels

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Welcoming Unseen Angels

BY HUDSON MULLER*

He was puffing away on a cigarette, yet the experience was so beautiful. He sat there observing, with a halo of smoke surrounding him. I didn’t mind it, nor the singing that was terribly off key. It sounded incredibly beautiful to me. I was just thrilled that so many lepers had showed up for Sabbath worship today. And I was so thankful that Jesus “did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Mark 2:17). A few weeks ago we had 28 lepers show up on Sabbath morning for worship. It was an unusually high turnout. We decided to encourage our volunteers to pray daily for 30 lepers to come the following Sabbath. To our pleasant surprise, 32 lepers show up the next Sabbath. We then decided to pray for 35 lepers to come the next Sabbath. And God had answered our prayers. We had 35 lepers worshipping with us today! And what a joy it was to see lepers who were coming to worship for the very first time. I can think of only one thing sadder than an abandoned, disfigured leper with missing limbs; that’s an abandoned, disfigured leper with missing limbs who does not know Jesus.

One of the highlights of each week for me is Sabbath morning when our missionaries go out working together as a team to invite the lepers to join us for worship. We have learned that we need to work together unitedly as a team. We make sure to visit every building and knock on every door. Some lepers do not respond to the first invitation. But some will come after the second or third invitation. We also recognized that the lepers respond better to those who are very warm and have the gift of hospitality. Therefore, we have these gifted individuals visit every room to give a second invitation to all the lepers.

“As you open your door to Christ’s needy and suffering ones, you are welcoming unseen angels. You invite the companionship of heavenly beings. They bring a sacred atmosphere of joy and peace. They come with praises upon their lips, and an answering strain is heard in heaven. Every deed of mercy makes music there,” (Desire of Ages, p. 639.2).

Please pray for our work as we seek to reach many unreached lepers. Our greatest needs are twofold: 1) We need a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and 2) We need more consecrated laborers who can speak the local language.

*Pseudonym

Are You Possessed?

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Are You Possessed?

“Ghosts!” the man screamed. His startled wife awoke trembling. It was the middle of the night. Terrified she questioned her husband, “What’s happening?”

“Ghosts have trapped me!” the traffic policeman shouted. “Help me, help me!” Immediately his wife started shouting for the ghosts to go away and leave her husband alone. But it was to no avail, for the spirits continued to haunt and possess Thy Thouen. From that night on, they did not let him sleep. In fact, Thy became afraid to sleep in his own home, and his wife wondered what she could do for him so their family could have peace once again. She suggested to her distressed husband that they go see Mr. Ouen. “Mr. Ouen can control ghosts and spirits and can cast them out with his magical power,” she told him. Thy quickly agreed. He was willing to do anything to be free from the ever-present torment of the spirits.

When they arrived at the house of the traditional healer (or shaman), they explained their dilemma and pleaded for him to help them. “When did this happen to you?” Mr. Ouen asked. “A few nights ago, ghosts came suddenly and possessed me,” the frightened man explained.

“Don’t be afraid anymore, Mr. Thouen. In three days, I will cast them out of you,” Mr. Ouen replied confidently. “Now tell me, how do they scare you, what do they do to you and what do they look like?”

“They appear with very big wide eyes, holding cell phones in their hands and calling their friends to come and trouble me also.” The terrified man trembled and shook with fear. “Sometimes they beat me badly and leave many bruises until my whole body aches.”

“I see,” remarked Mr. Ouen. “You do not need to worry any further. I will arrest them and tie them with my magical power. They will be helpless.”

The magician tried many things using his special power on the spirits and tried to trick them into leaving the poor man. After many attempts, the man admitted his authority was unable to arrest the ghosts. He defended himself by telling the frightened couple, “These evil spirits are very strong, and there are too many of them for me to be able to help you.”

Mr. Thouen became even more terrified. “They will come and take my soul, and I will probably die. What shall I do? Whom can I ask for help?” the man cried in despair.

“I do know of one man. His name is Sim Thearith.” Mr. Ouen said. “He is a Christian. Perhaps he can help you. Come, I will take you, your wife and child to the Seventh-day Adventist Church so that he can cast out the evil spirits from within you.” Excited at the thought that there was still hope, Mr. Thouen and his family eagerly followed the spirit man down the streets of Sangkhlang.

It was midnight when they arrived at the church and urgently knocked at the door. Surprised at the commotion in the middle of the night and worried about who might be outside, Sim Thearith cautiously opened the door. “What do you need that is so important that you come to see me at midnight?” he inquired.

The man and his wife sincerely apologized for waking the church planter and once again Mr. Thouen told the fearful story. “Please, can you help me?” he pleaded as he finished.

“I cannot help you,” Sim Thearith replied. The faces of the couple fell in disappointment. “But I can pray to my Lord Jesus Christ because He can help you. He has the power to cast out evil spirits, but you must trust in Him and His mighty power. Jesus is the Creator of the entire universe. He is the King of kings and Prince of princes. He loves all of us and cares for us so much that He gave His own life for us. That is the true kind of love.”

Mr. Thouen’s wife begged for help and then shouted to try to cast the evil spirits from her husband. The patient worker of God talked softly to them. Mr. Thouen further described the torture of the demons. “They visit me often,” Mr. Thouen informed Mr. Thearith. “Some of them are pregnant, some are lame and some are without heads. They have demanded money and gold from me.”

Suddenly as he was talking, the spirits again attacked the man. He ran and tried to hide himself in the church. His whole body was sweating. Frightened, Thy’s wife and child cowered in the corner. “Surely this is his end,” the poor wife thought. “Surely the demons will kill him. I must bring him some water.” Quickly she filled a cup and walked over to where he was huddled. But as she handed him the glass he looked at it and yelled at her, “Why are you giving me water with fish in it?”

“There is no fish in the water,” his wife told him.

“You cannot see because you are blind,” the possessed man screamed at his wife. Sim Thearith took the water from Mrs. Thouen and prayed. Then handing the cup back to her he instructed her to give it again to her husband. The man accepted it and drank without complaint. An hour later, Mr. Thouen was hungry and demanded that his wife give him rice to eat. When Mrs. Thouen offered him the rice he stared at the bowl and shouted, “Why did you put big eyes and hairs in the rice?” His wife was about to answer that she had not put eyes and hairs in the rice when the church worker again took the bowl from her hands and prayed. When the rice was given back to him he made no protest, and silently ate it. When he had finished, Thy fell into an exhausted sleep on the floor.

While he was sleeping, Sim Thearith called several other church members to come and join him in praying for the possessed man. They prayed without ceasing until morning while the man slept in peace. When Thy Thouen awoke, he was completely recovered. Realizing that he was freed from the shadow of the demons, the man exclaimed, “How happy and thankful I am to your God!”

In the upcoming days, Thy excitedly told the story of his deliverance to anyone who visited him. He explained how the living God had overcome the spirits while the traditional healer proved powerless.

When the whole episode was over, Sim Thearith exclaimed, “Praise God for the hope and power that we have in His precious name! We worship and serve the living God who has the power to do anything while other people and gods are powerless.”

Not only did God perform a miracle for Thy Thouen, but his experience also greatly strengthened the faith of the believers. His story is living evidence of a loving powerful God who cares—a story that needs to be shared.

Please pray for the church in Sangkhlang that they will be grounded in the faith, eagerly telling others of God’s healing power. Pray also for Mr. Thouen as a new believer of God that he will stay “possessed” by the Holy Spirit, not evil spirits, and overcome the temptations of the enemy.

-Glesni Mason

Praying for Souls

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Praying for Souls

For a long time, I have been praying to the Lord that He would bless me in my work of sharing the gospel and winning souls for Him. He answered my prayers in a very beautiful way!

One time I set out as usual to do my work of spreading the good news throughout my village. I met a young woman who was working at the dump area digging for recyclables that could be sold. I walked up to her and started a conversation. I asked her how much she could earn in one day. She sadly shared that she could not earn enough to support herself and her family. She pretty much lived from hand to mouth. In a very worried tone she said, "My family is so poor, my kids usually get sick, and my husband doesn’t earn any money." She asked me where I came from and what I was doing there. I honestly told her that I was a Bible worker spreading the good news about Jesus. She asked me, "What can we get from believing in Jesus?" Knowing that she was referring to material blessings, I said, “Jesus wants to give us so much more than material blessings! He wants to give us SALVATION!” I continued, “When you believe in God and learn to pray and trust Him with your whole heart, you will discover a God who will provide for all your needs.” I then had an opportunity to share my testimony. I said, “Before I got to know and accept Jesus, I faced a lot of problems and difficulties. And I didn’t earn any money. After I accepted God into my life, all the difficulties and hardships seemed to go away. And I learned that Jesus will carry my burdens. As I began praying and trusting Jesus, I soon discovered that He was answering my prayers. And God has blessed me with this work of sharing the good news.” She listened very carefully as I shared my story. I could see hope in her eyes. She asked many questions about believing in God and about the Christian life. She made her decision that day to accept Jesus into her life. About two months later, she saw how God blessed her husband with a job which allows them to earn more money. The husband became a believer soon after she did. She and her husband are now committed to believe and trust God with all their hearts. I praise the Lord for this new family that has decided to be baptized.

Seeing the changes in her life makes me feel joyful. I can see that she and her whole family are becoming happier. I feel so thankful to the Lord who is so kind and good. He who is the truth, the way and the life will lead us and bless us.

-Chin Saroun

Discovering the Power of Prayer

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Discovering the Power of Prayer

Four months ago, as I went out sharing the Gospel of Jesus in the southern Russey village, I met a widow who was making woven rugs. Her name is Nong Sokkorn, a fifty-eight year old, from the Prusat Province. She had moved to Russey Village because her children are still very young; she has one son and two daughters. As we spoke, she told me how hard it is to raise up young children being a single mother. She had to work so hard that she fell into an illness causing numbness in the hands and legs, and diabetes which caused her semi blindness.

As she told me of her problems, I could see a longing in her eyes for an explanation of why all this was happening to her. I took the opportunity to tell her of the sin problem and how it has plagued our world with disease and problems. I also told her of our loving Savior, Jesus Christ, who came to save this world from sin. I asked her to allow me to pray for her, telling Christ all her problems.

I dropped by her place every time I visited the village to see how she was and to give her Bible studies. Two weeks after our first meeting she showed up at church. After a few visits to our church, she said she could see changes taking place in her life. She could feel the new experiences of having less concern and less stress in her life. She did not worry as much about her worldly problems, but she now felt joy and hope in the truth of Christ. “Aunty” Nong Sokkorn shares this experience with our church members, saying that there seems to be some kind of power that she is sure comes from God. It is this power that helps her to gain more strength and feel peace in her heart.

Aunty Sokkorn also said that she keeps praying to the Lord for forgiveness and asks that God continues to change her life for the better. She prays that he will help her faith to become stronger and help her to trust in Christ as she experiences physical trials. She also prays for her eye sight. She trusts that God will give her peace from the worldly trials she suffers from and will give her peace with her neighbors. She believes that God will send His Spirit to lead her out of the world of darkness. Her new hope is salvation through Christ and that she will have eternal life in heaven with God.

-Meghan Scully

God's Amazing Timing

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

God's Amazing Timing

BY HARLIN CAREY

We serve a God of order, patience, and multiplication. About 40 years ago, I bought a state duck stamp print for $125. In January of 2021, I placed it for sale on eBay. Surprisingly, it sold for $2,500. At that same exact time, the ASAP Priceless Gift Catalog arrived in our mailbox. Now, receiving a Christmas gift catalog in January might seem strange. But since I ship a lot of items that I sell on eBay, I know at this time a lot of the items can take up to 30 days to arrive, even with priority mail. (ASAP also learned that delivery of the gift catalog was delayed in many areas by postal service issues related to COVID-19 and the U.S. presidential elections.)

When I browsed through the catalog, Gift #15, Pave the Way for the Gospel in Nakhai, caught my eye. It stated the need for a road to be built for the local farmers to get produce to market. This appealed to me because Jesus always ministered to the physical needs of people first. (A good example of this is His first miracle at the wedding in Cana.) Marvel of all! The road only cost $2,500.

I knew that the sale of the duck print and the need that matched were no coincidence. God always points to things we can do to help bring people to the kingdom of Heaven. Our blessing is that we can be instruments in that goal. To God be all the glory!

A Ministry Powered by Prayer

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

A Ministry Powered by Prayer

BY LAURA HOKANSON

POP! Pop, pop, pop!

The sound of gunfire rang through the peaceful demonstration in Yangon, Myanmar, as police opened fire on the unarmed crowd. During the ensuing chaos, a Seventh-day Adventist church member was shot. A friend was trying to stop the bleeding when police arrested the wounded man and dragged him away. Sadly these incidents are increasingly common in this region. People who have been unjustly arrested are killed in many instances rather than being released. Knowing of his injuries and arrest, his family held a memorial service and grieved his passing. But back in the United States, a different battle was raging.

Pastor Sam Ngala oversees the church planting efforts amongst Burmese and other ethnic groups from Myanmar in North America. His primary focus is to train and equip church members to reach their refugee and immigrant communities. Together with like-minded friends, he has organized a task force team called “Friends of Refugees” whose purpose is to plan evangelistic outreach to refugees in North America by addressing their physical and practical needs. He actively pastors two Burmese congregations, one in Indianapolis and the other in Fort Wayne, Indiana. During the COVID-19 quarantine, his ministry focused its efforts on media evangelism. His wife, Eh Paw, and his friends led in producing many sermon series broadcast online. Non-Adventist Christians heard the programs and began asking their pastors, “Will you please invite Pastor Ngala and Eh Paw to speak at our church?” These requests have resulted in invitations for Pastor Ngala to share the three angels’ messages with these congregations.

Pastor Ngala and his wife host two small Bible study groups in their home each week. These studies nurtured five souls to baptisms last year, with more candidates studying for their upcoming baptism this summer. Pastor Ngala credits these baptisms to countless hours he and his wife have spent in prayer over these families. In fact, prayer is a central focus of his ministry. He has established a prayer initiative in his churches, which includes setting aside one Sabbath per month for fasting and prayer. It was just such prayer, battling “against spiritual hosts of wickedness” (Eph. 6:12), that rescued their brother back in Yangon.

Upon hearing of the shooting incident, Pastor Sam’s congregations and believers around the world began fasting and praying, especially during the Pray for Myanmar prayer sessions.* Even after the memorial service was held by the family, Pastor Sam’s church members here in America kept praying for the release of their brother in Myanmar. Several weeks later, the police released a number of detainees. One of them was this prayed-for brother. Not only was he released, but his wound had healed while he was in prison.

Your gifts to ASAP’s Greatest Needs fund help provide salaries for leaders like Pastor Sam Ngala. Their work is changing the lives of people around the world now and for eternity. Thank you for your partnership in this ministry. Prayer matters!

*A nightly intercessory prayer meeting for the people and country of Myanmar that took place every evening via Zoom. It started the same evening that the military seized control of Myanmar’s government.

A Day to Remember

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

A Day to Remember

BY JULIA O'CAREY

I love those nights when I close my eyes as my head hits the pillow and I think to myself, 'I have the best job in the world!' Last December, I experienced one of those amazing days while traveling in Southeast Asia.

It was early when we climbed into an old Toyota truck and headed for the river. We carefully made our way down a steep bank and clumsily found our seats in the back of a longboat. I pulled my light jacket closer to my body, my heart beating faster with excitement as I thought of where this little boat was taking us.

Our first destination was a bamboo and thatch-stilted home situated in the middle of the jungle! The home was filled with happy, smiling Karen people. Pastor Jimmy Shwe said excitedly, "They all came today to celebrate!" Surprised, I asked, "Celebrate what?" Looking at me as if I was supposed to know, he said "We are celebrating the future vocational missionary training college that we plan to build close by!" Although I knew we were visiting the area to check out the land and dream together, I had no idea that the news had been announced to the villagers!

Celebrate we did, with beautiful music, sincere faith-filled prayers, and of course, lots and lots of rice! “Yes, God will provide a school here for young people from across this war-torn West Border Region. There’s nothing too hard for God,” I thought as we prayer-walked through the land.

After this faith-inspiring experience, we headed to a nearby ASAP mission school. What a joy to get to hug Lah K’Paw* and see such courage in her sweet face. She is a precious girl whose family tried to beat the demons out of her. She not only survived, but through attending our ASAP mission school, learned about Jesus, and after an unusual dream, was baptized.

In the afternoon, at the next ASAP mission school, I could not hold back the tears. Over 500 beautiful children from kindergarten to twelfth grade, lined up to greet us with flowers and smiles. It felt like a taste of heaven to me! They respectfully filed into a huge assembly hall, eager to hear what we had to say. I said a silent prayer that the Holy Spirit would take my words and encourage each one. Just the previous week, 43 young people, mostly from Buddhist homes, had decided to be baptized, despite the difficulties they will face. I tried to encourage them and affirm that this is the most important decision they can ever make. Then they sang. Boy, did they sing! They sang from their hearts, and I didn’t want them to stop. Each student wanted to personally greet us and enthusiastically shook our hands, thanking us for making it possible for them to have an education.

Before we left the school I asked the teachers and principal about the biggest challenges they currently are facing. It saddened my heart to hear that the well didn’t work and they don’t have adequate clean water for all the students. They also lack enough paper, pencils and textbooks. I prayed for them and let them know I would share all these concerns with their family, the family of God in America. Please pray and help support the needs of not only this amazing school, but over 90 ASAP mission schools, all set in difficult places.

Learn more about how you can support ASAP mission schools.

Syrian Refugees Find Hope at ALC

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Syrian Refugees Find Hope at ALC

BY LAURA HOKANSON

“Why, God? I am dying, my family is hungry, I cannot work! Why is this happening to me?” Renas,* a Syrian refugee in Lebanon did not consider himself a religious man, but in his desperation, he cried out to God. Sadly, his story is a common one. The political-economic situation in Lebanon is critical for all nationalities living there. Seventy percent of gas stations have closed, and government electricity is shut off ninety percent of the time. Hospitals have canceled all procedures not considered life-threatening. Pharmacies have run out of basic medications. The Lebanese, sometimes frustrated by the number of Syrian refugees in the country, make employment and education nearly inaccessible to them so they will not feel comfortable enough to stay. Most refugee families are two to six months behind on rent and eat only one meal per day.

“Renas, don’t be afraid. I will be with you,” a Voice spoke. Renas turned to see a band of shining angels standing in the alley beside him. From that moment he began seeking God.

He found help at the Adventist Learning Center (ALC) where his children attended school. Established in 2013 to help meet the needs of Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, ALC shares the gospel through daily morning devotionals, weekly Sabbath services, an active teen ministry, and Bible study outreach to families. Last year, through miracles of Providence, the ministry was also able to provide food support for families, rent for families on the verge of eviction, and medical assistance for medications and emergency surgeries, including two open-heart surgeries.

Prior to COVID-19, 300 members were attending church services, and they are still being nurtured through Zoom fellowship and small group meetings, as government quarantine restrictions allow. For the last three years, ASAP Ministries has partnered with the General Conference, providing financial support for two ALC teachers. One ASAP-sponsored teacher reported, “We pray with our students every day and the children are recognizing answers to their prayers.”

The Adventist church members, through the ministry of ALC, embraced Renas with love and acceptance. Within a year he was sharing Jesus with all who would listen, “If you want to know who the real people of God are, they are the Seventh-day Adventists,” he says. “They helped me when no one else would.” God miraculously healed his terminal lung disease, and today, Renas is a Global Mission pioneer, leading the first Adventist Kurdish fellowship of about 80 members. Each week he conducts online Bible studies with over 100 Kurdish people around the globe. His wife, Aska,* is an ASAP Bible worker. Each week she visits six to eight refugee families, giving Bible studies and sharing her testimony, in addition to leading a youth ministry program. Already three families have been baptized as a result of the couple’s work and more are asking for Bible studies. Please keep these faithful workers in your prayers.

*Pseudonym

A New York Giant

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

A New York Giant

“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. . . My children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but indeed and in truth.” 1 John 3:16, 18. (NKJV)

There are giants among us: Strong, God-fearing men and women who take a stand that is larger-than-life. You may know someone like that. I do, too. His name is Saw Htoo.

Saw Htoo left his relatives and friends in Utica to move his family to the intimidating inner-city of Albany, NY to work as a volunteer pastor, and receive no income other than assistance for rent. He and his wife made this decision after earnestly praying and being impressed that it was God’s will. Albany, New York is not only home to NY’s football team, the Giants, it’s also home to thousands of refugees from Burma and now, a giant-of-a-leader, Saw Htoo.

The first Sabbath in Albany, he gathered the four baptized Seventh-day Adventist Karen together in his home with his family. The eight of them discussed reaching out to others. The next Sabbath a few more attended. Soon his home was full and people were asking for baptism. Today, just over three years later, that little group of eight has grown to 35 baptized members with weekly Sabbath attendance averaging between 120-200 people and meeting in a church. Those between the ages of 15-22 make up the largest group of attendees who are also active participants in the service. Many are studying for baptism this summer, 2013.

One factor key to the evident success was that he immediately began performing tasks that were outside his comfort zone, but imperative to connecting with the refugee community. He found himself accompanying refugees to all kinds of appointments: medical, school, court, dental, USCRI office visits, to help translate and guide them through the confusing system in this new country. If you happened to visit him, you would see him praying with people, distributing clothes to new arrivals, translating important letters, conducting Bible studies, patiently listening as a couple shares their marital problems, gently helping the grandma who’s in culture shock and longs for her home country, organizing soccer tournaments for the refugee youth to keep them off the streets, ordering more Bibles in the Karen language, encouraging the Karen child who is bullied at school, etc. From early morning until late at night, his home is Grand Central Station. He has responded to car accidents, five house fires, a heart-breaking rape case, several theft cases, countless domestic violence situations, eviction notices, flooding incidents and hate crimes targeting the Karen.

I call this soft-spoken, humble pastor a giant-of-a-man for many reasons. First and foremost is his staunch belief that he worships a giant-of-a-God. Pastor Saw Htoo preaches with conviction about a God whose power through the Holy Spirit can be called upon for every issue, every problem faced in life, regardless of the scope or magnitude. Pastor, chief, respected teacher, big brother (all respectful terms he is referred to as in this community) . . . all point to a person who works tirelessly for the Lord. It is an honor for ASAP to work with Pastor Saw Htoo. While Pastor Saw Htoo isn’t rumbling over dirt roads on his moped from village-to-village with the gospel in a country in Southeast Asia, his purpose is the same and deserving of our prayers and support. He is dodging inner-city traffic, going house-to-house with the gospel. As a pastor in Asia, he responded to war and disaster. As a pastor in America, he responds to a different kind of war and disasters of a different nature, but alike in their attack on the soul. You can join Pastor Saw Htoo by helping to provide the rent needed to meet each Sabbath in a church. Your interest and prayers are gifts worth much more than any monetary value.

If you feel impressed to write Pastor Saw Htoo an encouraging note, please do. His home address is: 192 Delaware Ave. Albany, NY 12209. Thank you for lifting this NY giant up to the Lord in prayer.

Courageous Widow Shares Her Story of Hope

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Courageous Widow Shares Her Story of Hope

The day my husband died from AIDS, I remember a big mountain of burdens, larger than what I felt I could carry, crushed down on my heart. Where would I go? My parents and other relatives disowned us because of their fear of our disease. How would I feed Vy and Vo, my growing, active teenage boys? The money I carefully saved away would not last more than a month. I was desperate, discouraged and ready to die. As I sat on the sidewalk, the thought came to me, if I die, what would happen to my dear boys?

I mustered enough strength to get up, pick up my small bundle of belongings and start looking for a place to stay. I found a small bamboo shack with a tin roof that I could rent for $10 a month. This seemed like a lot of money, but after paying for the first month, I had a little money left over. I had a plan.

I got up early the next morning and bought some fruit; bananas, oranges and mangosteens, along with a big basket I could carry on my head. “I can sell this fruit for a little more riel than what I bought it to the people who stop to get gas and to the cars at the stoplight,” I planned. After the first few minutes of being out there, I realized that many other people also thought of the same plan. They would push their way in front of me and reach the car windows first. Because of the symptoms of AIDS, I was not as strong as most of them. Some days people would actually push me to the ground and trample me. When I got injured or felt sick from the disease, I could not go out to sell. When the landlord came to collect the rent, I explained my situation and begged him to give me a few more days.

One day, it was almost dark. I was so tired I felt like I could not take another step. All day long, I ran after cars, back and forth down the street, dodging the trucks, mopeds and bicycles, but had sold nothing. I sat down on the curb, looking at my full basket of fruit and felt sorry for myself. Suddenly I heard a sweet voice right in front of me ask, “How much is it for one kilogram of oranges?” “Was she talking to me?” I wondered in disbelief. I quickly got to my feet, and not only told the lady the price, but begged her to buy my fruit because I had been working since the early morning hours and had much left. Maybe it was the kind look in her eyes that prompted me to share my terrible predicament of how I was going to get kicked out of my house if I did not pay the rent money. The kind lady looked at me, smiled and said, I’ll buy all the fruit you have. I could hardly believe my ears! “Are you joking?” I asked her. “No, please package it all up for me,” she said. I asked her again, “Are you really going to buy all my fruit?” “YES!” she said, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” is all I could say. Then she asked me, “Do you want to have this kind of success more often? I have the secret. Come to my church on Sabbath and I will tell you what it is.”

Saturday came and I brought my sons to the church. I got there early and my new friend warmly invited me to sit down and listen to the preacher. He talked about how God is our Father and prayer is how we communicate with Him. He went on to say that God loves everyone and wants to hear what is on His children’s hearts. Anyone who believes can talk to Him and He will hear them. Afterwards, my new friend told me that prayer is the secret. I can ask God to bless my fruit and He will help me sell it. He will take care of me. So every day after that, I prayed to God before I went out to sell fruit. He heard my prayers and I was able to sell much more than ever before. In the evenings, I went back to the church to study more from the Bible about a God who listens. At first I could not believe that God would really love to listen to me because I am poor and sick. But the more I learn about Him, I find out He is opposite than I expected. I thank God so much that He does not ignore me. He has helped me more than I could ever imagine. He carries my big burdens for me. It is a blessing for me and my sons to live in the Sda Center. We have a new family of brothers and sisters who care for us. I have the peace to know that when I pass away, my sons will be cared for by kind Seventh-day Adventists. Now we know and love our Father in heaven.

-Bun Hean

Miracles Behind the Scenes

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Miracles Behind the Scenes

Miracles --this one word sums up a series of events ASAP experienced before the video, Seekers of Truth , made it into production. Here are a few of the “behind the scenes” accounts that will undoubtedly bring praise to your heart for our amazing Provider.

When Frank, the ASAP videographer, saw the video script, he exclaimed it would be impossible to film all the scenes needed in only the day and a half available. Typically a project that size requires at least a week of filming. We assured him that we would be praying and asked him to give it his best effort. We were also faced with the issue of finding adequate props and settings. How were we to find ethnic clothing, elephants, chickens, woods, a bamboo and thatch structure for a church, a baby, axes and more?

Isaiah 30:19 says, “How gracious He will be when you cry for help! As soon as He hears, He will answer you,” and this is exactly what God did! Everything miraculously fell into place as angels busily orchestrated each scene. A group of ASAP missionaries traveled with us from the busy metropolitan training site to a small town where they first stopped at an elephant sanctuary. We witnessed the Holy Spirit work on the heart of the owner as she learned what we were doing. She smiled and said, “You are welcome to use whatever you need for filming on the premises.”

After filming the elephant scene, Frank filmed the church scene in a bamboo and thatch structure the elephant keepers use to rest in. I looked down to discover a box with two chickens that seemed to be just waiting their turn to be on film. Then, right when needed, a young lady caring a nine-month-old baby stepped out of the little shack where the elephant keepers reside. The mom was happy to “loan” us her baby, who did not cry once during the scene. These kinds of provisions kept happening throughout the entire shoot, indicating clearly that YES! God is leading this work in big and small ways.

Finally, the video was ready to be duplicated but ASAP had no funds for this expense. We prayed and waited for God’s perfect timing when He impressed a donor who knew about this need to underwrite the duplication costs. We continue to pray for miracles at ASAP. We are praying that you, your family, your church and your friends will take the time out of your busy lives to watch this video and respond as God impresses you (please contact ASAP to request the video Seekers of Truth ). The greatest response you can make is to commit to interceding daily for the work of ASAP. We are also praying for the miracle that thousands more seeking truth will find it and accept it with all their hearts. God is in the miracle-working business and we look forward to witnessing even more extraordinary events as the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ rapidly approaches.

-Julia O'Carey

From the Headlines to Your Hometown

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

From the Headlines to Your Hometown

BY SCOTT GRISWOLD AND LYNN EDMUND

A month ago, I knocked on the door of a good friend in the Afghani community. Five men sitting on the floor had just finished their curry and bread. “Come in, come in,” they welcomed me. I looked around the circle. Their faces were unusually sober.

“My brother-in-law was just killed yesterday,” a man shoved his phone at me. I looked at the handsome pilot. “He had just been home for vacation,” he continued. “The Taliban killed him!”

The whole group was extremely worried. The Taliban was taking over new provinces. Any of their family members were at risk just because their sons had worked with the U.S. military. “I don’t think we’ll ever be able to go back,” my friend said sadly.

Now the whole country has fallen under the Taliban’s control. We spent a late night desperately trying to get visas and tickets for a brother and uncle of our closest Afghani friends. The U.S. military is keeping the airport open for only a little longer. When we woke up, we discovered that the visas had arrived by email, and we praised the Lord. Then, a few minutes later, a report on the news made us unsure if the tickets to India would be any good. We’re praying and waiting.

Now, more than ever, I know that the 80 million people displaced by war and persecution are not just numbers, but real people with hopes and fears and family members who long for someone to help them.

Will you join us in responding? Lynn Edmund has. Read her story in her own words, and see what you can learn about how to get involved.

* * * * * *

I love helping the homeless, but I had never thought much about refugees. Then I met Pastor Scott and Julie Griswold with Reach the World Next Door. Jesus said “Go!” but now I know I can “go” without leaving Houston, because He has brought the need to my own city.

I gathered a few friends online and started the Reach the World Next Door training program with them. The videos and discussions motivated me to volunteer at a local refugee resettlement agency. They interviewed me and put me right to work. My job is to set up apartments for refugees arriving from Afghanistan. I load my van with supplies from the agency and fix up their apartments before they fly in.

I was so excited to greet the first family. So was their husband and father! He’s been working here for a while and preparing so his wife and six children could join him. They were so happy and a bit overwhelmed.

We took the mother and the kids to the local school and filled out their forms. It was an amazing experience. I’d never thought before of what it must be like for them, learning English from scratch, making new friends, and figuring out life in their new country!

On Sabbath morning, I had to call Pastor Scott and tell him I couldn’t lead the training this week because I had promised to take the kids to the park. He laughed and said, “That’s what it’s all about!” They played so hard. I was very exhausted, but the kids were so happy. I think that’s what’s been so special for me, seeing how well-behaved the kids are and how the happiness just flows out of them.

I got to sit on the floor in their home and eat their wonderful food with them. We couldn’t communicate much. Then I found an interpreter. I learned all about their experience back in Afghanistan. They’ve also shared the challenges they’re facing here.

Just last night, the father called me for help. That shows me he’s truly trusting us. I’m so glad we can help lighten their load and share God’s love with them.

* * * * * *

I’m so glad for Lynn and others like her. Would you like to help Afghani refugees? Canada has promised to resettle 20,000 more refugees from Afghanistan. America has plans for up to 30,000. Please visit reachtheworldnextdoor.com/training/online and start the training with some friends. Call a refugee resettlement agency. Pray for the refugees. Love them like your own family.

Tia's Tears and Transformation

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Tia's Tears and Transformation

BY JULIA O'CAREY (from an interview with Tony,* an ASAP church planter in a closed country)

As I finished sharing the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 with a small group of house-church members, I looked up and my eyes met deep sadness. Tia* sat there in silence. I knew she had a story to share. When Tia spoke, her voice was filled with remorse. “I am that prodigal!” she said. “I used to follow God and attend church on Sunday but I stopped going when my life got difficult. In my loneliness, I turned to alcohol.” The woman hung her head.

“You are in church now, though, so that’s a good thing,” I said, in an effort to encourage her. I understood the shame and disgrace she must have felt, especially since our culture and community greatly look down on female alcoholics. Tia was 62 and struggling with a major alcohol addiction.

In that moment I didn’t hesitate. I knew what I needed to say. “Would you like to give your whole life over to Jesus once again?” I asked. The Holy Spirit was working. I saw a twinkle of hope enter Tia’s eyes and she immediately responded, “Yes, I want to give my heart to Jesus. I need Him! I have tried to stop by myself and cannot.” The other church members and I circled around her and bathed her in prayer.

Tia remained alone no longer. There was no need for her to mourn the husband who had abandoned her and adult children who were married and gone to live their own lives. She had a new family now, the family of God. Even though Tia lives more than two hours away on an island that’s not easy to get to, I visited her every month. And when the pandemic restrictions prevented travel, I called her every Monday and Wednesday to study the Bible together over the phone. It has been seven months now and I believe she will be baptized before the end of this year (2021). I find so much joy in seeing how Jesus is transforming Tia’s life.

God has been working steadfastly alongside Tia in her journey. After three months of studying the Bible, she gained complete freedom from her addiction. Tia then decided that she wanted to eat a healthy diet according to the Bible. When she was convicted of Saturday being the Sabbath, she started praying for a job. (This, too, was a triumph for Tia, since she could not hold down a job when she was an alcoholic.) Soon after, God helped her find a good job sorting fish for a company that gives her Sabbaths off!

Tia was once known as the neighborhood drunk. Now she is known for her strong faith in her God, the Father that always welcomes back prodigal sons – and daughters. Tia is a changed woman, and she wants everyone on her island to know about Jesus! Although she is a new believer, Tia is not shy to lead out in the house church, and she shares her testimony with whoever will listen.

*Names have been changed and stock photos used to protect the safety of God's workers and those they serve.

Out of the Office and Into Front-Line Missions

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:21:00 GMT

Out of the Office and Into Front-Line Missions

BY MIRNA ORTIZ

It was already past midnight on a Friday when our plane arrived in Houston, Texas. Warm, humid air greeted us as we exited the airport half-asleep. We clumsily jumped inside the van, driven by Reach the World Next Door (RWND) Coordinator Pr. Steve Toscano, that would take us to Cedar Shade Retreat. My husband, Joseph, and I were excited to arrive, prayerfully awaiting the next few days full of activities. You see, an anonymous donor had given a special gift to all of the ASAP office staff and our families to make this mission trip come true. The intention was for us and ASAP’s board members to experience firsthand the work that RWND was doing in multicultural, immigrant-dense Houston and, of course, we immediately jumped on board.

The next day started with an early morning united prayer session at Pr. Scott and Julie Griswold’s home. Afterward, I curiously looked around, trying to recognize which faces matched the voices of board members I had heard over the phone at my desk back at ASAP’s home office in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Soon enough there was an icebreaker activity where all of us were able to share and learn each other’s names. It was the first of many bonding experiences. As the weekend progressed, we unitedly interceded in prayer for the needs of the people we had come to serve, got better acquainted with each other, and organized Sabbath services to present at area churches.

On Sabbath morning, all 50 of us were divided into groups. One band headed to Rosharon, where they worshiped in the home of Lynetta, a woman who after losing everything in a hurricane dedicated her new house to a church plant reaching Cambodian, Laotian, and Hispanic brethren. Pr. Steve and Gabriel Bonds, ASAP’s Associate Prayer Coordinator, headed over to a growing Vietnamese church plant that recently got a worship place of its own.

My group visited the Houston International Seventh-day Adventist Church, where we taught the Chinese children to be thankful to Him that first loved them through scripture songs, storytelling, and crafts. A few other team members went door to door, visiting some of the 3,000 Afghan refugee families who have arrived in the area in the last year. They needed to hear of a Friend who will never leave them nor forsake them. The Conroe Seventh-day Adventist Church, one of RWND’s strongest supporters and host church for the Rise High refugee Pathfinders group, planned a special event on Sunday for these refugees and provided food baskets for them. This program makes such an impact on their lives that one of the children ran up to Feno, ASAP’s Mission Outreach Coordinator, and randomly said with a smile, “I feel safe here.”

That night, as we regrouped and fellowshipped, sharing testimony after testimony of our experiences at each of the sites, my heart was filled with a weighty understanding of the role (no matter how mundane) every single ASAP worker plays in making God’s love known to those who have never seen nor heard of His transforming power. This experience made working for ASAP more tangible and real than before. God’s voice was so clear in my mind saying that this is not man’s work but the work of Him who took us from darkness into His marvelous light.