From a short-term worker in Asia
Some of my friends here have a school for street children that they began several years ago. I’ve been visiting it this past week. The streets that lead to the school building are lined with trash matted to the dirt. Women call out greetings to my friends; they’ve known them for years. Turbaned men steer bikes over the rocky road. I walk into the schoolroom, increasingly aware of the issues that the children face. Continue reading
By a worker in Asia
My wife has experienced some interesting days at a ceramics course she attends on the weekend. The group of about eight ladies know her well now, and she has had good opportunities to listen to some of their personal trials and worries. At lunch or after the class she has been able to do counseling: explaining there are real, lasting solutions to many of their problems, but that they only can come by knowing Jesus. Continue reading
By Ashley, A WEC Trekker in Asia
Last week my friends and I were invited to lunch with a family we know. We were led to their home by one of the family’s young daughters. She held my hand as we walked the path she walks daily at all times of day, with all kinds of people. Down a very steep hill we walked to a valley of busy people and yellow dirt, then climbed back up another hill. Passing under a bridge, a shadow giving relief from the hot street, we then clambered over the railroad tracks. We continued through more streets, past children in their school uniforms and nylon backpacks. Continue reading
By a Worker in Asia
“Come away with me. It’s not too late. I have a plan for you. It’s gonna be wild. It’s gonna be great. It’s gonna be full of Me.”
These words, by the band “Jesus Culture,” sum up our time here since we’ve returned to Asia. We have seen God do some amazing things, both in our lives, and in the lives of the people around us. We’ve seen healings. We’ve seen more people open to talking about God. We’ve sensed an excitement and joy among our friends that we’ve never experienced before.
So often we expect things to be how they’ve always been. We expect that God will work as He has before, that He will talk to us as He has before. But, since we’ve been back, we are learning to expect the unexpected. We are learning, in our hearts and not just our heads, that this God of the universe is so much bigger than we could ever imagine. As the song says, “It’s gonna be wild, it’s gonna be great, it’s gonna be full of Me!”
From Ashley, a WEC Trekker in Asia
I rode a motorcycle! Note: I was NOT driving, but sitting in the back clutching the bar behind me as tight as is possible with sweaty hands. Navigating the streets was an adventure—dustier and bumpier than those of my city. Continue reading
From Ashley, a WEC Trekker in Asia
So, I’m beginning to speak like a baby. It is ridiculously exciting to understand one word in a conversation or recognize a new letter on street signs! Combined with the English I use with my friends, I understand about ten percent of the words I hear each day. Continue reading
By a worker in Asia
Our new sister has given birth to a healthy baby boy 
According to the culture of this country it is appropriate to have a special ceremony to bless my friend’s baby and her family. Usually families will wait until the baby is one year old, then a naming ceremony is done. But, we have seen that when a new baby is born, many prayers and offerings are made at the temples. Mothers are encouraged to call on Mother Earth and heed beliefs that include the wearing of talisman to ward off evil. Continue reading
From a worker in Asia
For various reasons this year has seemed more unChristmas-like to me than any other year. The only Christmas music I could access on my computer was Handel’s Messiah (13 tracks), so I listened to it MANY times. One day last week I was riding the bus, and everything in my personal life, this country and the world seemed overwhelmingly hopeless. Continue reading
From a worker in East Asia
“Now doc, don’t be afraid to tell me if I’m gonna die soon,” my 76-year-old patient with severe heart failure was telling me last week as we talked in his home in a nearby village. Three months earlier he was in the hospital. Now, because of the unusually cold winter weather, he was hesitant to come to the clinic and I’d been seeing him at home every few weeks since to adjust his medicines. Continue reading
From a worker in South Asia
The passing of Pari* has reminded me just how short and fragile life is.
To each of us opportunities are given to grasp what can be known of the Great Almighty God and respond to what He shows and asks us.
Do we ever really know what transpires in anyone’s last moments here on earth, or just exactly how God might speak to an individual’s heart and what the response might be? Of course we want to believe that dying souls say “yes” to Christ and escape eternal torment, but this remains unknown to us at this time. Our understanding is incomplete. Continue reading
