Tom & Michele: Hari Raya "A Day of Celebration"
"A Day of Celebration"
Selamat Hari Raya!
Today marks the end of Ramadan, the celebration of Eid al Fitr, beginning tonight. With the COVID pandemic, our friends are able to celebrate the holiday modestly, but are not allowed to travel back to their home provinces to spend with extended family members.
Today I visited a friend and was able to share some scriptures from Matthew and pray together. Over the past two days we visited various shops selling clothes for Raya. Zach and Ellie came along yesterday, and we were able to meet a new friend.
Tom has been able to resume discipling believers in their homes since our movement control order was relaxed in early May. Two groups have finished up Biblical Eldership and are now studying the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Tom was able to translate these lessons from Maranao into English. Next, they will be translated into the local language. It was a lot of work. The 18 lessons in this series worked out to be 254 pages. Michele will proofread the lessons, and then we can send them to whomever is interested. Biblical Eldership is ready now for sharing with others. Tom is also discipling two groups who are studying the Book of Acts as well. Our evangelistic outreaches at the preschool, RDA, and the ID clinic are still on hold at this time.
Broad Seed Sowing
We have set everything up now to sow the seed broadly here. We are now online. Pray as we do the final touches and then start to advertise and ramp up traffic to the sites we have prepared.
We have continued to encourage and help our workers from Mongolia to Indonesia through the COVID-19 crisis. We are also entertaining possible new workers for Indonesia and Thailand. Pray also for workers in China who are being watched by the police. Pray for the Lord's protection.
Our team is doing well. Grace helped us in Clarion training. Zach and Ellie are progressing in language study. They will have their first test soon. Pray for Zach and Ellie, as well as Grace, as they work on more permanent visas. Both will be working on it this summer from the USA.
Home Ministry Assignment
We will be traveling to the USA from July 7 to September 22. This is our normally scheduled home ministry. We pray that many churches will be gathering again in person by this time. Stephanie and Jacob will also be welcoming their second child in late July. We look forward to being with all our children. They have all moved since we were in the USA last. We will have to rely on google to find them.
Prayer Requests:
Praise for Tom finishing up curriculum on the end times.
Pray for our abundant seed sowing as we make the final touches to what is online and start advertising soon. Pray for our students as we disciple them in the end times and the Book of Acts.Pray for visas for our team members in Malaysia.
Pray for a fruitful home ministry assignment.
Praise that the clot in Tom's mom's heart has significantly dissolved. Keep praying for the blood clot in her heart to completely dissolve so that she can receive two new heart valves.
Love,
Tom and Michele
