March 2004

You Never Know
After the Chinese New Year, it is always a struggle to get back to a more normal routine. This year was no exception and unfortunately some at both Lighthouse and Daya have fallen away. Despite this, the Lord also gave us some new “fruit”.

When Lighthouse started a few years ago there were many who came once or twice out of curiosity and then disappeared. It was disappointing and discouraging, but we just kept sowing and trusted the Lord to work in people’s hearts. Recently a young man came to the service at Lighthouse and asked if we remembered him. Embarrassed, we admitted that we did not. He had come once three years ago but had changed physically and was noticeably troubled. That night he raised his hand for salvation and afterwards we dealt with him for two hours during which he prayed the sinner’s prayer. Please pray for Wayne (Chyou Wen-chyi) as he faces many spiritual and emotional battles. Praise the Lord he has faithfully attended services and is doing discipleship lessons.

Another blessing was Sam (Wen Ting-kwan), an eighth grader at Lighthouse. When he first started coming to youth meeting he would not pay much attention to the Bible lesson. In fact, we would probably have put him low on the list of teens who we thought would respond to the gospel. This month, however, after service, Sam asked for a Bible and we followed up by asking if he understood the gospel and would like to believe in Jesus Christ as His Savior. He responded in the Chinese equivalent of “duh! Of course I would! ” After reviewing the plan of salvation he prayed and trusted in Christ! Please pray for him as he is discipled. Sam as well as our other teens really need your prayers for courage and wisdom to deal with their unsaved family members.

Sunday school also received a blessing as one of our faithful “church” children, Ivy (Wu Ya-wei) accepted Christ one Sunday evening. Ivy’s mom, Ho Jing-jie, and grandmother are both members of our church. Her dad, however, is not saved and opposes Ivy’s baptism. We would really love to have another whole family in our church; please pray for them.

Yet another blessing has been a lady named Sally (Guo Shu-juan). She has attended every meeting at Lighthouse and we mean every meeting – Sunday Worship, Ladies Meeting, Adult Outreach English Class, Children’s Bible Class, and Youth Meeting. What’s even more amazing is that she has invited and brought people to each of these meetings! Unfortunately, she has not yet trusted in Christ. Please pray for her because she is very shy about these things. We could sure use an “Andrew” at our church!

As we continue to sow the seed we don’t know what will happen; but we know that God’s Word is powerful and we know we need your prayers.