“…but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”

J0hn 15:19b

Greetings Ministry Partner,

Not too long ago, actually it has been only a few weeks, we experienced the other side of the world: free nations, civilization, beauty, well-being etc., and then we came back to the field where we serve, where there are none of these things. This past month, we had time to visit the churches in a remote area and were blessed from our Christians brothers.

We have known about persecution in the remote areas, where social media is not accepted. But now, as we have recently experienced this ourselves, the church that we use to worship every Sunday morning has been ordered to close by the local authority. There are five bans:

1. The local authority agrees that the church must stop meeting for service until approved and given a permit.

2. Do not evangelize to the other households for joining the church.

3. Do not proclaim and say bad things about the other religions.

4. Do not use any instruments at the church.

5. Christians are only allowed to worship at a place that is approved and permitted by the local authority.

And now, every Sunday, there will be one soldier and one policeman to watch over the people who come to the church.

This makes some of our church members panic. The verse from John 15:19 is true because we belong to Jesus and the world will hate us. Persecution becomes routine in Christian lives. We thank God for what we have experienced. We ask God to give us the courage to live in the chaotic world and to be light to the world. May God protect us!

My wife and I were blessed to visit the Hmong house churches in a remote area and we enjoyed our fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ. While we were there, I had a chance to promote the CCI Laos Ministry.

Pastor S continued two CCI classes; one is studying Book 6: Personal Spiritual Life with 5 students and another class is on Book 2: Old Testament Survey with six students.

Pastor K organized a class meeting for the whole week of May 8-12, 2023. This class studied Book 4: Preaching Biblical Messages & Pastoral Ministry and was taught by the National Director.

The National Director preached at the new church in western Laos to be an example to the CCI class who is studying Book 4.

Testimony

We thank God for His guidance as the National Director and team had a chance to visit Hmong churches. From this visit, we have a testimony to share:

In a house church, there is a children's program that meets every Sunday to study the Bible and worship. They invited all the children who lived around the church to join. There is a non-Christian boy who started to come to the church since he was 3 years old. He was brought to the church by his neighbor friend who is older than him. One year later, his mother noticed a life difference in her son. She wondered how this church could change her son. The mother came to church to join with her son and joined the children's service for observation. There, she learned that Jesus is the Savior. She finally accepted Christ and became a Christian and after that, her husband and family, plus other relatives became Christian. All from witnessing the life of a 3 year old boy to when he is 7 years old. The whole family was saved! Praise God!

(Pictured above is the boy and his Pastor)