Update 12 2010

A kid who just started coming to our children’s gathering on Saturday asked me on 12/25 if there will be a Santa Claus. I answered “no”. She immediately said, “Today is Christmas and there should be a Santa Claus.” It is common in Taiwan that many kids only know and think that Santa Claus is the reason for Christmas. Thank God that this Christmas, all the churches, total seven join together for an evangelistic outreach for two nights. It was on Friday and Saturday nights outdoor. Even though it was very cold, many people came and many, mostly teenagers or younger, came forward at the end. Please pray for the follow-up.

Qidu is a place full of temples and with cultures that people worship idols and ancestors every day. Praise God that through several different means that we get to know some of the people in the community. Every Tuesday afternoon, we have a beading class and many ladies came and new people kept coming even though some stopped coming because of work. For the past year, we kept visiting these ladies at their homes and telling them about Jesus. However, sometimes it is discouraging because they have not yet wanting to receive Jesus Christ. Why so hard? One of the reasons is because most of them do ancestor worship. They believe that if they do not worship their ancestors, they will be cursed. The oldest son is the one who inherit the responsibility to worship ancestor, but the wife is the main person who handles all the worship. So, it takes a lot of courage for the wife to “rebel” against her husband to accept Christ. Please pray that God will raise up brothers to reach out to these husbands.

Every Wednesday afternoon, we have an art class for elementary school students. We share with them bible stories during the first 20 minutes of class. Again, these children do not have the freedom to come to church on Sunday because of their families. Their parents would not let them to come even if these children want to know more about Jesus. However, praise God that a few of these children started to come to our children’s gathering every Saturday two months ago. Please pray that these children will change their behavior because of Jesus and their parents will see their changes and realize that Jesus is the Only one true God.

In addition to reaching out to ladies and children in the community, we have a few ladies, youth, and children who have been coming to Qidu Gospel Center for the past four to five years. Please pray that these people will see Jesus Christ as the Lord of their lives, not just a small part of their lives. The youth and children are mostly from dysfunctional families and thus have not received love in their families. Most of them have very low self-esteem and could not see the future in their lives. Praise God that recently I see changes in these children that one of them is wanting to be a missionary in the future and the other wanting to be a pastor. Pray for the youth and children that they continue to grow in Christ and really see God’s love and that each one of them is precious in God’s eyes.

We praise God that for the past few months a lady came and has been fervently seeking God. She had a hard life and realized that God has been calling her through her aunt and other people. Praise God that she was baptized this Christmas and pray for her growth.

Thank you again for your support and prayers for all these people. They really need God. We continuously ask God to have mercy on them and take away the veil on the eyes so that they can see God is the Only One true God.