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NewsAsia-Pacific
ASIA-PACIFIC NATIONS Check out the latest news -- see "from Malaysia to Australia" AN UNNAMED NATION Rolph and Ann Fletcher are friends whom we trained about three years ago. They are college professors, early retirees, who accompanied us to Africa in 2002. They fell in love with the people and with the workshops. They are now a Level 3 couple. Recently they spent 3 weeks at a YWAM base in a new nation. We asked for an evaluation of their experience, and here are some of their responses............. "What was it like for us personally? It was exciting to see these young leaders, eager to apply the scriptural principles. At the end of the workshop, one of the wives commented to and about us by saying, "You both are so young. You have such vitality and enthusiasm for life, and you model what you are teaching. You really love each other, and that love and concern is reaching out to us. And you let your love of God overflow to us as well. We are excited about our marriage more than ever now, and I can't wait to get beck to our people and teach them these truths." {Ann and Rolph are both retirement age. :-) :-)} "What have you carried away tht is irreplaceable?" When we first started the "Jesus and the Women" teaching, one of the participants blurted out, "But if you give women too much authority, they woh't behave properly." He was perfectly serious. After the teaching, as scripture after scripture was presented, he said, "I knew I was to be head of my family, and the priest for my family, but I didn't understand how to do or be either. But now I see that in order to be the head, I must be the servant to and of my wife. That's revolutionary. That's wonderful!" And he hugged his wife, and whispered something in her ear, and she began to cry -- and we could all tell, they were tears of joy. The husbands looking at their wives in total new lights, and their actions toward them in the rest of the workshop was in most instances very different, and very remarkable considering their cultural upbringing. It was gratifying and exciting to see couples enthusiastic about this aspect of God's love. That's irreplaceable. What we gave was a pittance compared to all God gave us. We loved it. (Rolph and Ann Fletcher, Level 3) TONGA (Rolph and Ann were in Tonga from Feb. 24 to Mar. 12 on our bahalf. They trained folks in both coupes and singles workshops on Levels 1,2,and 3. What follows are excerpts from their reports to supporters.) "These workshops are a real blessing to us, one reason being that we get do something productive and positive together. Secondly, we do the exercises along with the participants, and thus we delve deeper into our own relationship and deepen it and expand it more. Here is some info about Tonga..... "Tongatapu is the largest of the three main island groups known as Tonga, which is where we stayed. Our hosts were the South Pacific Regional Directors for YWAM. They are German. The international flavor of YWAM continues to intrigue us and challenge us..... This archipelago is made up of 169 islands, 65 of which are inhabited. Known as the "Friendly Islands", it was united into a Polynesioan kingdom in 1845. It became a constitutional monarch in 1875 and a British protectorate in 1900. Tonga acquired its independence in 1970 and became a member of the Commonwealth of nations. Its location is about two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand, and it lies between Samoa and Fiji.... The Christian religion is the primary one, with the Free Wesleyan Church having about 30,000 adherents. 98.5% of the population can read and write English and/or Tongan.... The climate is tropical. It has a small, open economy. The main crops are squash, coconuts, bananas, and vanilla beans. Agricultural products make up two-thirds of the exports, and tourism makes up the other one-third. The fishing industry is the primary domestic business. "Our cabin called a fale is the one that Loren Cunningham (founder of YWAM) built to stay in when he was here setting up the University of the Nations site. So we have a Western style indoor toilet, a shower, two rooms with eight windows, and an electric fan.... Our hosts Hinrich and Katrina met us, drove us the very short distance to the 50 acre campus of the YWAM base, which also houses the UofN, and took us to our fale. Later that morning an earthquake greeted our arrival in Tonga -- the first our hosts had ever experienced in Tonga. Since the fales are all one story wood frame, built with light weight materials, they merely shook, but did not break, crack, or show signs of stress.... We have now completed three workshop sessions. We have eleven participating couples, a marvelous group, made up of a German couple (our hosts), an American couple, an Australian man married to a Tongan woman, a Fijian couple, and the rest are Tongans. One couple are both physicians, and others include construction workers, contractors, farmers, teachers, and YWAM missionaries. All seem to have a marvelous sense of humor. They have graciously accepted us........ "In the Tongan culture, when a man marries, he lives either in the same house or at least on the same property as his father. The grandfather and the eldest daughter of the grandfather -- THE AUNT -- make decisions for the young marrieds, whether the young marrieds agree or not. To follow the scripture of Gen. 2:24 -- "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall ecome one flesh" is a very different approach to the marriage relationship. Although Tonga is a Christian country, separating traditions and Christian teachings sometimes is a difficult process. So most people just follow tradition. One man shared how he had been reading Genesis and this verse stuck in his heart. He told his father that he was not going to live with him when he got married, and he graciously defied tradition. God honored his stand, and provided accommodations for this young man and his new wife. His actions in earlier times could have resulted in his death. In this day, ostracism still may happen, with alienation from the tribal hierarchy occurring." (Editors: Thank you, Rolph and Ann, for the excellent work you have accomplished! You all may remember that in this teaching in Session 1 of the MEW, we suggest that for economic reasons a young couple may live in their parents' home, and this may happen in many cultures. We believe that the scripture here is referring especilly to a change of priorities, a new identity as a separate family, which may be accomplished through good communication, love, and prayer. ) MALAYSIA Dear Keith and Marilynn, It's time to praise the Lord for whole wonderful year of amazing things the Lord has done through you and the other facilitators. He is really faithful and we are thankful He has kept oth of you strong and energetic for His kingdom. God too has been very gracious to us here. We see this year as a year of breakthrough for the Marriage Minitry, especially for MEW in our own church because so many pastors in our church attended MEW this year. And more will come next year. 2006 developments: 1. Victory Christian Center in New Zealand has asked us to run an MEW sometime in 2006. We think it should be in May because that's the time we will be in New Zealand again. 2. We will be conducting an MEW in Trinity Methodist Church in Penang in March. 3. We will be going back to Cambodia to train the pastors in Level 2. That will be a challenge, but we believe the Lord will help us overcome the obstacles as they come. 4. Conducting MEW in our own church. 5. Recently one of our ex church members came back to Malaysia afer having migrated to Brisbane 7 years ago. They seem interested in the MEW and in fact browsed through the manual and asked many questions. We are open to help them if they ask us. Fan Ngian and Sian Li Yoong (12/17/05) The following report comes from a leadership team member of the REW workshop held in Kuala Lumpur. Participants agreed to keep in touch by emails and by praying daily for one another:.... "Indeed I have been so blessed nd encouraged by the sharing of your lives beginning from the REW weekend itself and of course not to mention the e-mails. All the testimonies which have been rolling in the loop are simply the reality of God being at work in all our lives. PTL! .......... When I attended the REW , it was truly one of the most meaningful, helpful and eventful times of learning in that year for me. It helped me to do some of the deep reflection and searching of my own soul. As we prepared for this recent REW and throughout the weekend with all your open sharing it was again a rich learning process for me and I was reminded of the lessons that God had deposited in my own life since my first encounter with the REW some 6 months ago. A journey of change, transformation and growth with God! Our God is so good! All your uniqueness and creativity has been so refreshing to my soul and truly my life has been enriched y all your sharing. Thank you, all and keep it going...... and yes, remembering all of you in prayer....regularly. Warmest blessings. Su-Mene. This testimony was written by a participant in the MEW which Fan Ngian and Sian Li Yoon (Level 4) led in Kuala Lumpur. "This workshop has certainly surpassed my expectations. Our relationships at home were stretched and I had no idea how to handle it. Most of the time, in order not to inflict more damages, I choose to keep my mouth shut and withdraw from the conflict............My wife Corrine is not one who likes to attend seminars and workshops. When Angie approached and encouraged her to attend, I was really praying in my heart. Was I glad that Corrine was the one who asked me whether I want to attend the MEW!! I shout Hallelujah inside but still manage to keep really cool on the outside..... I thought all this while and also confirmed by one of my CD members that the root of most family conflicts are money and sex (too much or too little). Well, we were not that wrong, but there is more, there is conflict, anger and worst of all, communication breakdown........The MEW workshop not only helped us in identifying our problems, more importantly, the source/root of the problem. It offered practical solutions and steps to tackle them. We took home hope and directions in enriching our marriage effectively...........I would strongly encourage all married couples to attend this workshop. On one hand, you would definitely need it if you are facing some problems already. On the other hand, if you are newly married or facing no problem at the moment, you would be greatly blessed as this workshop would help you to recognize the 'danger sign', so you are able to pre-empt it before it causes damage. James Cheong. . AUSTRALIA (Fan Ngian and Sian Li Yoong went to Perth, Australia, in November of 2003 -- where we were to have worked as a team -- and trained Couples and Singles on 3 levels! Their hosts, Tek and Goldie Chong, had been their church counsellors in Malaysia when the Yoongs were teenagers. The following notes are from the Chongs, who sent this news on Jan. 22, '04 of a recent workshop, and they have another MEW planned for April 17-18. Their enthusiasm and commitment are contagious. Let's pray for them!) "Thank you so much for your encouraging words. We pray that this wonderful teaching can be passed on to other churches and other states in Australia. We will see how the Lord opens doors. We think the MEW is a very good tool for our new church Full Gospel Assembly Marketplace as we try to reach out to people who are out there and not inside the church. Of course we want to bless the people inside too, and that's where we have to start, but this tool is especially valuable as we see people outside needing to know how to improve their marriages and often do not know where to turn... This is the second time the MEW alumni have met. We are thinking of having reunion every three months -- but nothing official -- usually some couple will feel the need and call everybody together. Sharing how everybody is getting on ncourages us." PHILIPPINES BANGLADESH (Mridul and Ruba Sarkar wrote the following. We trained them on Levels 1 and 2 about 3 years ago.) "Dear Grandpa and Grandma, We are passing blessings time with our ministerial work. God has shown His faithfulness to us. I told you that we are arranging a MEW for next month. I am reviewing the last translated version.... We are trying to develop relationship with churches and organizations for using this material... I am sure that when people receive the MEW they will call us to minister to them.... I am also praying to translate Vol. II for advanced training. I would like to develop some couples as MEW facilitators so we can continue this program.... I have a desire to make a MEW version in Muslim Bengali Context, so the Muslim converted believers can do it. So I told you that I want to do at least 3 MEW a year, one for those of Muslim background. I have worked with them and I have a passion for them to develop their family life.... Please pray for me as we can continue to help our families...." Prayer needed!!!
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