Mission Grant #12 “Women’s Witness and Mercy, Asia — Mission Central”
$100,000 PAID IN FULL
My dear Friends,
I pray for all of you in the midst of the difficult situations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic is closing down borders, countries, provinces, cities, flights, and plans. The Bible verse that comes to my mind again and again is, “Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)
And yes, because of the disruption, I have had to postpone my trip to the USA for home service. Originally I was going to be traveling from April through June, with 13 flights, so that I could visit people in five different states. I am fine, but instead of seeing you in person at this time, here I am still in Hong Kong, and especially missing you.
At first I was thinking, “It is so sad, so sad, so sad that I won’t be able to see you, my dear brothers and sisters in the USA. I wanted to be able to share with you in person about some of the work of the Lord in Hong Kong. Then I thought of God’s Word in Romans 8:28, “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.” I am keeping in mind that God is in control of everything, and that He can bring good things out of even the most difficult situations. Here in Hong Kong we do see Him doing great things in the midst of it all by giving lots of opportunities for witnessing.
The Lutheran Church Hong Kong Synod has 36 vibrant churches and 7 expanding mission stations. One of them, Abundant Life Lutheran Mission Station, is located near the border of China in an area called Fanling. Since people are always needing face masks in Hong Kong, some of the ladies in this mission station are sewing them, under the leadership of the full-time church worker, Ann Lam. So far they made over 1,000 face masks to give out on the streets. Each week they spend a morning getting together bottles of hand sanitizer and putting them in packages with the face masks and most important of all—a variety of Gospel tracts. In the afternoon they go out on the streets and distribute the packages. Whenever they go out many people line up to receive these special gifts. In this way they have many opportunities to share the Word of God with people, some who have never heard about Jesus before.
Hong Kong has more than 7 1/2 million people and is one of the most densely populated cities of the world. We are thankful to God that here we have only had 1,048 cases of COVID-19 and only 4 deaths. People in Hong Kong had the experience of being a SARS pandemic epicenter back in 2003. So as soon as there was news of the new virus, most people here immediately took action. This included wearing masks and practicing social distancing. Now that we have not had a locally transmitted case of COVID-19 for over two weeks days, we feel a bit more free to be out on the streets witnessing. Below you see another group of Christians who go out to the streets with a microphone and large banner to proclaim the Gospel. They also give many masks to the people they meet. Many of the recipients were happy to hear in depth about the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Churches in Asia which have never done much at all online, have now learned how to use a variety of ways to proclaim the Gospel. That makes it so that the Gospel is going forth not just to their own members, but to the WHOLE WORLD. One pastor I know has devotions every morning for his parishioners online. When one morning he was not able to do this, many members of his congregation called him up and asked him what happened. They are thirsting for the Word of God and want to hear it every day. This pastor, as many others, plans to continue these daily devotions and other worship services online even after the churches can again hold their regular worship services.
We do praise God for what He is doing around the world to bring more and more people to come to know Him and His love in Christ Jesus our Lord. May He continue to help us to be more and more creative in bringing the good news to others online and in person.
With you in Christ,
Carol
Deaconess Carol Lee Halter
For more information about this mission grant, view the individual mission grant page here.
