September 8, 2009
By Donnie Mason, serving in Russia
Excerpts here from Blythe and Donnie Mason’s September 2009 prayer letter describe frustrating cultural challenges similar to what many Alliance overseas workers daily face. However, the Masons report, ministry partners who “pray that we’ll stay inspired and focused and close to our God” are key to sustained, loving service among the lost.
For anyone who knows us well, what I’m about to say will not come as a shock. For others of you, it may be surprising. Here it is: Missionaries are imperfect people with normal weaknesses, frustrations, and failures.
Before I became a missionary, I think I really believed that somehow there was something inherently different about missionaries that made them never yell at their spouses, never worry over trivial matters, never resent the inconveniences of life, never get disappointed with God. Well, I was wrong.
Everyday Struggles
Missionaries struggle with the same big and little shortcomings you have. In fact, some days we may struggle more.
We deal with life frustrations accentuated by being in a different culture and language context. Additionally, missionaries live in cultures where individual rights are not catered to or protected like they are in the United States. Basic services/conveniences we take for granted in the U.S. are inefficient or non-existent, which ups the stress level.
This past week was “one of those weeks” for us. A simple fender bender (not our fault) led to literally days of running around the city to maneuver our way through a confusing insurance system. A mistake made by a drugstore employee (who then refused to correct it) left us out $100. A run-in with local traffic police left us feeling violated and controlled.
Daily Ministry Choices
In each situation, we are faced with choices:
- Judge and resent this culture, or recognize it as sinful and fallen, just like every other, but has points of beauty there for those who choose to see them
- Respond to unfair treatment with resentment and anger, or return it with kindness and mercy
- Cultivate a negative attitude toward Russians, or gain empathy for the things Russians have to deal with daily
- End the day feeling beaten down and discouraged, or allow God to fill us with renewed strength and inspiration
- Long for the good ‘ole familiar U.S., or embrace even more strongly the calling God has given us to reach the lost.
I would LOVE to say that we always choose the second options, but it’s just not true. Because, remember, we’re imperfect people. We’re not super-Christians!
Secret to Faithful Service
But there is something that makes us different. It’s you! It’s the fact that we, unlike many Christians in the United States and across the world, have a large group of people praying regularly for us, praying that we’ll choose those second options, praying that we won’t lose heart, praying that we’ll stay inspired and focused and close to our God.
You and your prayers help to keep us faithful in serving Russia with love! (By the way, even if you’re not in full-time ministry, there’s no reason why you can’t raise up your own group of prayer supporters!) Thank you for your part in our ministry-keep it coming!
Learn More
Learn more about why prayer is central to The Alliance in all we do.
Watch a video of Blythe Mason describing what it means to be The Alliance in her community. (Produced in 2006)
Retired missionaries reconnecting? The idea first came to Sarah Liu when a missionary friend suggested a get-together of retired missionaries. “It seemed overwhelming to me,” says Sarah, who is the volunteer coordinator for Caleb & Co., a ministry to connect missionaries with 25+ years on the mission field with each other and with current mission initiatives. “Where would we have it? Who will speak? Will retired missionaries be able to afford it?”
Not too old for ministry
Retirement from missionary service can be an emotional and spiritual struggle for workers as they learn to accept the fact that they are no longer involved in full-time ministry.
“Coming back home to a church where one is surrounded by a younger generation that may consider us too old to be useful is a bitter pill to swallow,” says John Schultz, who served in Irian Jaya with his wife, Janine, for 40 years. “Whereas on the mission field, national pastors would ask us to preach whenever we showed our face, people now show us benign neglect.”
Trailblazer
Desiring to reunite the disenfranchised missionaries in an effort to include them in ministry, Sarah eagerly took on the administration of the new ministry. “I started as the volunteer coordinator for retired missionaries in 2007,” she says. “Nobody else had filled that position, so I basically was writing my own job description and trusting God for direction.”
Sarah is no stranger to ministry or to the principle of relying on God alone for provision. Growing up in Calcutta, India, with her missionary parents, David and Mary Lamb, Sarah learned early in life that God keeps His promise to provide for those whom He has called to serve. Also, her husband, Kenneth, pastored Centerville (Ohio) Community Church (C&MA) for 30 years. Her early childhood experience and adult years as a pastor’s wife prepared her well for this new ministry in which she would be a participant as well as administrator.
Sarah began with the ministry’s first newsletter, defining ministry objectives as well as explaining its name. “Caleb and Joshua (Numbers 13:30) were the two who came back with a good report after spying out the Promised Land. In the same way through the many years of service these missionaries have rendered, they have claimed the “Promised Land” that God gave them. And like Caleb of old, they are back-giving exhilarating reports of what God has done. They are in good company with Caleb.”
A Step in Faith
Plans were made for the first get-together to be held at General Council 2009 in Louisville, Kentucky. But the dilemma of including missionaries who could not afford travel to such a large event weighed heavily on Sarah’s heart, and she sought God’s direction. When her daughter, Sharene offered financial help for one missionary couple to attend, Sarah was encouraged. “It was like God was telling me, ‘Okay, go for it.’”
In the next issue of Caleb & Co. newsletter, Sarah told the story of her daughter’s offer to help. Readers responded enthusiastically, and soon every retired missionary who indicated a need for financial assistance to attend the event was covered.
The Caleb Connection
“The first Caleb & Co. event was a wonderful time of fellowship, and of course, a delicious meal,” says Linda Sauve, who attended the event with her husband, Ted. The Sauves served on the Latin America field for 40 years. “It was a unique time for us to be, once again, united with fellow missionaries.”
Nancy Pierce also attended the reunion. Having served in Mali, West Africa, for more than 40 years, she said, “It was a delight to connect with our Alliance leaders and hear the burden of their hearts. Now we need to take up the active work of prayer!”
Until their next get-together, planned for Council 2011 in Kansas City, Missouri, Alliance retirees will stay connected via Internet, phone calls, and U.S. mail. “I call each one of them on their birthdays or send them cards of encouragement,” Sarah says. “In the meantime we pray for each other and Alliance work.”
The need for these seasoned veterans of prayer in The Alliance is great. Retired missionaries know well the spiritual battles on the field that must be overcome through the power of prayer. Current international workers can advance their mission to push back the darkness with confidence, knowing their spiritual backs are covered by the prayers of those who have gone before them.
September 4, 2009
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “Plans for peace and not for evil, to bring you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
“We are yards away from a brothel,” says Carl Ralston, an Alliance layperson who founded Remember Nhu, a nonprofit organization that provides shelter for girls who are at risk for being sold into a life of degradation, abuse and disease through sex slave trafficking. “One million children are sold each year,” Ralston says, “1,740 a day, 110 per hour.” Currently, Remember Nhu’s Agape Beauty Salon in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, is providing cosmetology training and work for seven girls who are seeking refuge from forced prostitution.
Standing in the Gap
The idea for Remember Nhu came to Ralston when he heard the story of a little girl, Nhu, who lived on the banks of the Mekong River in Cambodia and had attended an Alliance school for Vietnamese refugees who were forbidden to attend Cambodian schools. When she was 12, Nhu trusted in Jesus and was baptized. Shortly after that, Nhu’s grandmother sold her to a man who, in turn, sold her to a sex broker.
Searches for Nhu by Alliance workers proved fruitless over the next several years. But Ralston, after hearing Nhu’s story, could not get her out of his mind. He believed the Holy Spirit was telling him to “Remember Nhu.” Sensing God’s call on their lives to stand in the gap for girls like Nhu, Ralston and his wife, Laurie, gave up a lucrative business and are in the process of giving up their home in Ohio to move to Southeast Asia, where child sex slavery is rampant. “This is our home now,” says Ralston. “This is where our heart is.”
Trusting in God’s provision, the Ralstons opened the first home for young girls in January 2007 in Cambodia. Today, there are homes for girls in Cambodia, the Philippines, and Thailand, with C&MA partners in Cambodia and Thailand. The girls receive an education, are taught practical skills, and learn that God loves them. The beauty salon in Phnom Penh provides income for older girls while building their confidence and self-esteem.
“We started this ministry because of Nhu,” says Ralston, who continued looking for her. Finally, Nhu was located by Beth Drummond, now-retired Alliance worker who, along with her husband, Rick, founded the NewHope Evangelical School and Church in Phnom Penh, where Nhu had been baptized several years before. When Ralston met Nhu, he discovered that she had not forsaken her relationship with Jesus.
A Way Out
“When Nhu’s grandmother sold her to a broker for the third time,” Ralston explains, “Nhu talked her grandmother into splitting the payment with her so that she could go to cosmetology school. Nhu made sure that she stayed busy with school 24/7 so that her grandmother could not sell her again.
“I offered Nhu a job at our first children’s home in September 2007, and God used her as spiritual catalyst, reaching other girls with the hope of deliverance from a shame-filled life.”
Ralston knew it was inevitable that he would meet Nhu’s grandmother. “I didn’t know what I would do,” he says. “Part of me wanted to be mad at her. But God laid it on my heart as I shook her hand that she would know the fear of the living God. She was an arrogant woman and believed it was a boost for her to have visiting foreigners.
“As I shook her hand, her demeanor changed. It seemed as though Jesus did make her realize the fear of the Living God. I was kind, brought her fruit, and smiled. I visited her half a dozen times in next year. Her home was filled with shrines, evil and darkness.”
Wanting Nhu to move out of her grandmother’s house, Ralston gave her a raise. But Nhu would not leave her grandmother, so the two women moved to a secure facility in July 2007. When Ralston visited, he saw a cross on the wall with Jesus’ name and a dove that says peace. There were no idols. “I want to compliment you on your house,” he told Nhu’s grandmother. “I don’t see your idols.”
Won by Love
“She told me she knew that the real God was working in Nhu’s life and that the love that I showed her was from the Living God. She had become a Christian because of the love that her granddaughter had shown her when Nhu insisted that her grandmother move with her.”
The grandmother’s newfound faith is bearing fruit. She goes to church, smiles a lot, and operates a sandwich stand to earn income. “Also, she referred a girl to us who was going to be sold to the sex trade,” says Ralston. “That girl now works in the salon with Nhu.”
Nhu’s story continues to impact lives for Christ. Ralston plans to open a second beauty salon, where Nhu will train more young girls in cosmetology-but more importantly, she will offer them hope for the future through new life in Jesus.
Learn more
Read more about about sex trafficking in Southeast Asia in alife.
Visit Remember Nhu’s Web site.
Read more about Alliance work in the Asia/Pacific region.
What you can do . . .
- Praise God for rescuing Nhu and saving her grandmother. Pray for continued spiritual growth for both.
- Pray for good health, strength and provision for the Ralstons and their teams in each country.
September 3, 2009
Rev. Donald McCartney Taylor, former C&MA missionary (1961-1974), entered the Lord’s presence on Wednesday, August 26, 2009, in Kissimmee, Florida. He was 72.
Don and his wife, Jan, had been international workers in Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. They were on two years’ leave of absence from 1974 to 1976 while living in Johnson City, New York, where Don served the Johnson City Alliance Church as an elder. In the late ’70s, the Taylors were involved with developing the Cambodian church plant in Johnson City and in settling Southeast Asian refugees in the area. Jan was a local school teacher. Don served the Laotian District in the United States from 1985 to 1990.
Don was the son of Rev. and Mrs. Harry Taylor, longtime international workers to Cambodia and the Arab Lands. Don is survived by his father, Harry, who resides in The Alliance Community for Retirement Living in Deland, Florida; and his sisters, Mrs. Janice Kropp, international worker (Japan); and Mrs. Judy Reitz, the widow of a former district pastor. Don is also survived by two sons, Kevin and Keith, and a daughter, Karen.
Prayers for his widow, Janet, and their family would be much appreciated (1546 Venice Ct., Kissimmee, Florida, 34746).
September 2, 2009
Contributor: Sharon Kendall, serving in Indonesia
A major earthquake registering 7.3 on the Richter scale struck West Java, Indonesia, on September 2, killing at least 45 people. Another 50 are feared dead, possibly buried under rubble. The epicenter was in Tasikmalaya, a city of 1 million. The quake was also felt in Jakarta, the nation’s capital, 150 miles from the epicenter. A tsunami alert was posted, but no tsunamis occurred. All Alliance workers in the area are safe.
The former Bandung Alliance School for missionary kids sustained broken water pipes, and tiles were jolted from cement moorings and ceilings. In the portion of the building where the Bandung International Fellowship meets, some of the walls cracked severely. There was no damage to the former hostel and older portion of the school.
When the quake struck, Field Director David Nagel was working on the roof, repairing water storage units in preparation for converting the former MK school into a Praxis Training Center. The earthquake continued for quite some time while David remained on the roof watching the buildings sway back and forth. He didn’t want to risk climbing down a ladder from the flat roof. The Indonesian workers with him were holding onto pipes and crying out for God’s mercy.
Compassion and Mercy Associates (CAMA), the relief arm of The Alliance, is monitoring the situation and is sending funds as requested by the field.
In December 2004, a 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia, resulting in a tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people in several countries of Southeast Asia. Through God’s grace and the generosity of the Alliance family, at least $1.87 million was given to survivors of the disaster. Since then, CAMA has been helping to rebuild lives and livelihoods through a variety of outreaches.
Learn More
Check out or Alliance work in Indonesia.
Watch a video showing CAMA’s compassionate response to the devastation of the 2004 tsunami.
What You Can Do
Pray for those who have suffered loss of family members and homes. Also, pray for God’s wisdom as Alliance workers reach out to survivors of this disaster.
Donate now to Alliance Great Commission Ministries to support our workers around the world, including those who serve in Indonesia.
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