During our commissioning service in 2013, our home church, Karl Road Baptist, sang “Send the Light” to encourage and bless us before going to the mission field.  Three years later (2016) on our first Yunnan ministry trip, at the Wa’s Peace church Sunday worship service, the choir sang “Send the light, the blessed Gospel light; Let it shine from shore to shore! Send the light, and let its radiant beams light the world forevermore!” in Wa language before Ivy preached.  To hear their singing “Send the Light”, please click https://youtu.be/drGIytCqAKM   Our amazing God used this song to confirm our call to serve Him!  The “Send the Light” in Wa language  is “Ploi Pa Riang”.  It was collected in “Wa Hymn Book”, which was published in 1934 by Rev. Vincent Young and his Wa colleagues.  In the same way, the song was also translated to Lahu language as “Aw G’eu Paw Pi Lo” and was collected in their “Lahu Hymn Book”.  As we saw a hundred thousand Wa and Lahu Christians in Yunnan today, we thank and give praise to God who sent the missionaries, the William Marcus Young (Previous American Baptist Foreign Mission Society missionary) family, to share the “Good News” to the Wa and Lahu peoples on 1912.

In 2016, besides visiting the Wa and Lahu churches, we also visited the Lisu churches.  Lisu people have the most ethnic minority Christian population in Yunnan.  Rev. James Outram Fraser (Previous British Protestant Christian missionary to China with the China Inland Mission) sowed the seeds in 1908. We learned a lot from reading his biography Mountain Rain.  He compared evangelism in the mission field to a man walking in a dark and damp valley, holding a torch to ignite a fire.  No matter how hard he tries by himself, he cannot ignite anything.  However, through God’s wind and sunshine He Himself preserved some dry places suitable for starting fires.  One man’s lighted fire became many fires.  Although the man with the first torch had already passed through the valley, the fire was still burning.  This is what God asks us to do, ignite a fire.  Many small fires can bring God’s light to the world.

Last February, we revisited the Children Center of Evangelize China Fellowship in Macau.  We rejoiced to see that the children had become stronger and more mature.  They kept the church going weekly.  The superintendent told us that some of Ivy’s Sunday school students were baptized after we relocated to Hong Kong in late 2015.  A few days after we returned to Hong Kong, Emerson got a text message from an ex-Sunday school student who now studies at a university in Beijing, China.  The message said, “I was so scary to meet a lady.  She invited me to her church and said her church believes two gods; one is male and another one is female.  Since it was not what I learned from Sunday school, I turned down the invitation.”  Amen!  Later on, this student told Emerson that she and another ex-student from the Center will be baptized this summer.  “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)  Praise to be the Lord for His grace!  Thank God for His love pouring down to those abandoned children.

God uses our new Global Chinese Training ministry to open many opportunities for those who are willing to serve His Kingdom among the Chinese people near and far.  The Yunnan ministry needs Christian training teachers.  The call of “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” is intense and strong.  Two seminaries in Taiwan and one church in Hong Kong have requested IM to send missionaries to help them with theological education and developing an English worship service.  If you have sensed a burden for His Call, please come to join us to “Send the light, the blessed Gospel light.”

Times flies!  We have been on the field for almost four years, and we will return to the US in mid-July this year for one year of US/PR assignment (Deputation.)   Here is our current upcoming schedule when we return to the US.  If you are near any of these places, please come and let us personally thank you!  If you’d like to set up a gathering, please contact our MPT.  We would love to hear from you!

Our MPT contact: Mrs. Carol Kirn  Telephone: 614-436-4629 or Email: carol.kirn@yahoo.com

AUGUST

5 -12      Philadelphia and New Jersey

18 -31   West Pennsylvania and Ohio

SEPTEMBER                                                                                         

1-30      Ohio and Indiana

OCTOBER            

1           Karl Road Baptist Church, Columbus, Ohio

3-4        ABC Ohio Annual Gathering

9           Return to SF, CA

22-31    Work trip in Asia: Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok

NOVEMBER

1-22      Work trip in Asia: China

23-30    SF, CA

DECEMBER

1-31      West Coast, The Bay Area and Los Angeles

Thank you for your love, prayers and support.

May you have a very blessed Easter!  May God bless you all!