A Good Start

The Chinese “Year of the Rat” has just begun and we are still trying to get everyone back into place at church after the seemingly never-ending New Year holiday. However, the Lord blessed us with a tremendous start that we hope is an indication of more blessings to follow. Ariel Wang began attending our community English outreach class almost two years ago. During that time, she listened to the Bible lessons and attended some special church services. Last summer, however, she began bringing her four year old son and attending worship services more frequently. Occasionally, she would ask spiritual questions but then shy away from making a response. Then, recently, she began asking more and more searching questions and even stopped by the church at various times to talk. During the Chinese New Year, she was even able to bring her husband with her and told us that she thought God had helped her accomplish that. Finally, on a recent Sunday night, as the Word of God was being preached she began crying and raised her hand immediately during the invitation. We are so thrilled that she accepted the Lord that night and was joyfully baptized the very next week with her husband and others in attendance. Please pray for Ariel’s spiritual growth; we have seen too many new Christians get overwhelmed by the cares and pressures of the world or be snatched up by cults and non-evangelistic groups. Ariel is very concerned about her husband, and so we also ask you to pray for his salvation.

Growing Up Servants

The Lord has encouraged us with another small step in Christian growth as two more of our "kids" have moved into the teen department and are now learning to serve the Lord. Judy Hu grew up in our Sunday school department and now helps lead the singing twice a month during children’s church and also faithfully assists with cleaning the church. Recently, she even felt burdened to talk with two other teens concerning their need of baptism (Andy Huang and Ivy Wu). Lynn Huang has also been attending church with her parents for several years and while she is no longer studying piano due to her school load, she practices when able so that she can occasionally play during a service. Please pray for these two young ladies as they grow in their faith and service.

The harvest field of Taiwan is great with more than 23 million people on this small island, but the “soil” of people’s hearts has proved to be hard at times and we are definitely in need of laborers – from abroad but more importantly from within. Thank you for your faithful prayers, giving and encouragement so that at least one more soul (and, we pray, many more) could be saved!

For souls,

 Andy & Lisa Simpson