Asian Gospel Outreach                                                  April   2016

4738 Kniss Rd SE                                                                                 Mike Steere, Editor Kalkaska, MI  49646                                                                          Mdsteere38@gmail.com

 

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

 

Greetings to you in the name of Jesus Christ.  As the Lord has led, blessed us, protected us, and guided us we have been able to go forward in being a blessing to the family of God and to those outside in the world with His love and His saving message.  We went to villages with the kids to sing, dance, and preach the Word.  We encouraged and shared life as we have been blessed and shared life.  We were encouraged to see how each of our children grows to the Christ likeness.  We want to thank God for your prayers and our health.  Leah has gone back to see her doctor as she was appointed.  She got medicine to take every day. She has ultrasound check up every two months. As far as the doctor told us, her disease is not too aggressive now.  My blood pressure was very good but my sugar level is a little high.  I used the word (little) because I went for the check up at the hospital and I was appointed by the doctor.

 

It is the school break here and the kids are taking the break to go home to be with their families and relatives.  Nah is with us.  He is finishing high school.  His mother wants him to live with us and continue on his life here.  Nah is very talented in playing musical instruments.  He plays guitar, keyboard and piano.  He said he wants to study music.  We are praying for him and pray that God will provide the funds to send him to music school so that that he can use his knowledge to serve God and to support him. He is not strong in other fields of education.  But he is very talented and strong in music.  He has been with us since was a little boy.  His former teacher at the government school said to us one time that this boy could not learn and told us to take him for an IQ test.  I was very upset with the teacher because I know Nah is very smart boy and he could learn.   He is now finishing high school and now he is a handsome young man with a good heart.

 

Ahsama has shared with me that she is praying and planning to go out to gain experience in Childcare ministry.  She has the heart for that.  She has been helping us in taking care of the kids and teaching them.  She also handles the church money and at the same time is studying at the SukhothaithamathiratUniversity.  She is not far from finishing the program and getting her degree. We want to be a blessing to her desire to serve the Lord and make her living.  We told her that we love her and will be glad to help her in every way we can.  She is praying and waiting to see what God is leading her to.  She is talking with our former student Patchara, who is now a certified nurse.  The two will work together for this nursery ministry.

 

We had a wonderful Easter service with Lisu brothers and sisters.  The Lisu Christians in Pai had a sunrise Easter service at the hot springs outside of Pai.   Benjamin and I got up at 4 o’clock in the morning to participate in this Easter service.  Everybody was surprised as to how many showed up for the meeting. The whole park was filled up quick.  Each one picked his own spot under the big trees. Three preachers preached the Gospel message of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.  I was the last one that got to preach as long as I wanted.   Right after the sermons was the invitation for people that want to be baptized for the new life with Christ and the remission of sins.  There were ten people lined up at the hot spring.  It was so beautiful for people who have new life joined together with their brothers and sisters in communion.  After the closing song we shared a fellowship meal.  Ben and I got invited to have a meal with everybody.  Lisu potluck was good.

 

After the service we came back to visit the Christians who live west of Pai.  Some people that I knew since I was little.  I went to school in this town about 45 years ago. It was good to meet old friends and new brothers and sisters in Christ.  Back then we were lost people.  Now we are family in Christ. After that fellowship we were called to go to another house for teaching the Bible and praying for the new Christians.  The wife is an old Christian and the husband is a new believer and he needed teaching and encouragement.

 

The trip to the mountain village with the kids was exciting.  It was so narrow and steep.  The brakes got so hot that I had to stop several times.  We got to the village very late but people still come to meet us and we sang and prayed and read the scriptures together before we went to bed with sore bodies from the rough road.  We visited Lisu villagers at their fields.  At this time very few people stay home.  They even work at night if they have enough light.  They plant garlic.  And the garlic is full grown and they cannot leave it in the ground very long or they will lose their once a year income.  So they stay in the field.  We visit where they are and talk to them while they work.  This is weird but it is life.  We only picture people sitting in the pew and listening to one person speaking.  Ha, Ha, for us we move around as they move around and speak to them where they are.  We asked them to stop when we prayed for them.  As we left they gave us a big bag of garlic.  That will last many months for us at Still Water.

 

Samuel Leme, Tofusa Fish and Ahtapa will be traveling together to Myanmar to have one week Christian youth gathering a Thanai refugee camp.  We are expecting 500 young people to come to listen to the words of God.  Please pray for our traveling and pray for the needs of good transportation and pens and note books for this meeting.  There are two youth meetings in KachinState, one in Myitkina and one in the Tanai refugee camp.  There are several issues in KachinState that bring tension among tribes and tribes and government.  Drugs are being spread among the young people heavily but no law enforcement on this.

There were three men from Tanai township killed and left in the jungle.  The Government accused Kachin Independent Army, and KIA said the Government Soldiers did the killing.  Also in the eastern part of Kachin, where some of the children come from, had some problems.  Four people were killed.  Two men were beat up by the KIA check point and died at the hospital.  Then one couple was killed outside of the village of Sitong.   The husband was killed and the wife was raped and killed.  Lisu people are protesting the KIA in many cities of Myanmar.  KIA partially accepts that they were involved in the death of the two men but they were not intending to kill.  They also denied killing the man and raping and killing his wife.

It seems like as the country is coming to transitioning to full democracy there is the intention to create turmoil so the country will continue to be in darkness.  Please continue to pray for this country and our people who serve in this region.  Pray also for the Lisu leaders who are on the committee for solving and dealing with these cases.  They are my close friends.  They need wisdom, guidance, and protection from God.  Lisu people are peaceful and armed people.  Please pray for the Children of the House of Hope in Myitkina, Kachin State; the House of Hope in Sihpaw, upper Shan State; the House of Hope in Golden Triangle, Tachilek Shan State.  Each House of Hope is providing housing, education, protection, Christian love, Bible Teaching and Spiritual activities to help train the children to be good Christian leaders and be prepared for all good works.

 

Rejoice with the Christians in China for the celebration of having the Lisu Script for over 1200 years.  With this all Lisu have the ability to read the Bible in their heart language.  We also thank God for spiritual growth and the boldness of Christians in China as they are having more and more meetings.  False teaching also comes to the area sometimes but those who stand for the truth stand up together to guard the Church from wrong teaching. We rejoice with the 27 baptisms at Jilija, Nujiang, Uynnan, China.

We are blessed and encouraged so much with our Lisu sister Hyi Yi of Huaphing Hill in Northeastern Yunnan.  She is a single parent Lisu lady who lost her father when she was young.  She moved with her mom to the big city of Chem Tu,  Sichuuan province and moved back to her home village after she had her own family. She relearned her Lisu Language.  She was a member of our Lisu language only network called weechat.  She always said “brothers and sisters I did not understand what you said please speak slowly.”  So I try to be a translator for her. She became very close to me.  She calls me big brother from Thailand.

One day her home town got hit by an earthquake and landslide, many houses were destroyed and some people were killed.  I sent her my sympathy along with others who were on weechat group. I gave the idea to friend who are in Nujiang and Myanmar that we should collect some money to help the disaster victims there with what ever we could.  I asked some who live nearest to Huaphing to be the one going there to help.  God has everything prepared.  I visit the Lisu and preached the Gospel in Yongshmg area in 1996. The little boy then and a young man now who knew me but I do not know him said that he is thinking about going there. So we sent all the money that people want to help to him and he faithfully took the money to help the victims.   Our contact person is this Lisu lady Hyi Yi Mei.  I told Daniel that the Lisu in Huaphing Hills are animists and they did not like Christians.  They used to beat up evangelists and kicked them out.  So we prayed for him.  To make the story short Hyi Yi Mei and many families there now meet every week to study the Bible.  She said she will come to visit me and the children at Still Water in June 2016.  She will come with her daughter and Daniel.  Please pray that we will be a blessing to her visit and make her strong in her faith in Christ.

Please pray for me as I am going to visit the refugees.  Pray I will not have problems going into the area.  Joseph Gwa has taken the supplies to help the refugees with the remaining IDES grant money.

Please pray for Leah as she is getting older and has to fight with the sickness (hepatitis C) she has. She needs some rest. We are praying that if God is willing we would come to the USA at the end of the year.  We love and appreciate you all.  Thanks for your prayers and support for us.

In Christ,

 

Ahtapa & Leah

 

If you are challenged by some of the needs Ahtapa mentions:  Education funds for Nah.  Support for Ahsama & Patchara for preschool work. Food needs for refuges.  The funds for Leah and Ahtapa to travel  to the USA.  Get in touch with us for more information.     Mike     mdsteere38@gmail.com

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