THE MONTHS OF JULY AND AUGUST
The month of July started out with us still in Semarang, Indonesia, teaching in the School of Acts. The 2nd July was especially notable as it was Julia’s 61st birthday (I had to spill the beans). The students gave her four cakes in total, one after the morning classes and three after the evening classes. The kindness and hospitality in Asia is still amazing to us after over thirty years. Besides the cakes she got flowers and a gift, but what really made her day was being taken by one of the brothers (while I was still teaching, I might add) to buy a Liverpool shirt (which she had not been able to find in Malaysia) for our grandson.
One frustration we still encounter in our travels we experienced on our way from and back to Malaysia – delayed flights – Air Asia strikes again. It must be the Lord’s way of teaching us patience, though I must confess to not having fully graduated from this school yet.
The 4th July was also special, the 31st anniversary of our arrival in Malaysia when we first started this missionary journey. It was a good time to remind us of the countless miracles and provisions we have seen from the hand of God.
After getting back to Malaysia I taught for two weeks in the Pastoral Interns Programme in Tung Ling Seminary. The morning topic was Pastoral Ministries and the evening topic was Leadership. I love having input into the lives of future (and current) pastors in this nation.
In July we also had the visit of a family from England, Mike and Joan Riley and their three daughters. They had come over for the wedding of pastor David Ramayah’s daughter, Janeal. The evening before their arrival we tested the aircon in our guest bedrooms, only to find it was not getting cool. We called out an engineer who discovered that someone had stolen the copper piping for the whole system. It cost quite a bit to fix it, but at least it is now ready to receive the missions teams we are expecting in 2010. (When are YOU coming?)
Besides the Bible school teaching, we continued with our Friday ministry in Kuala Terengganu, and our Sunday ministry in various churches. I was taken back in time when I preached in the Tamil Church in Kapar on 19th July. We had a power cut and I ended the meeting hot and hollerin’ – no aircon and no mike – just like it was 30 years ago.
On 29th July we flew home to the UK, going first to Yorkshire for ministry and the birthday celebration of our daughters Paula (40 – she flew in from Texas for the celebration) and Andrea (39) – there I go, spilling the beans again – and then down to our home in Wales.
After preaching in several churches in South Wales plus a trip to London to preach in Full Gospel Tabernacle (FGT) – an outreach from FGT Malaysia (our base church there) and to drop Paula for her return flight to Texas, we had a wonderful final weekend with Aberaman Pentecostal Church (APC) where we spent five very happy years before our return to missions.
Colin is now in Texas. Julia had to stay behind to take care of an urgent family matter – please pray, although we cannot go into details.
PRAYER
Once again, a big thank you to all those who are praying for us – prayer works.
No comments:
Post a Comment