Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 15th, 2007 | Discuss This Post
Hot Missouri Summer is now over and we are well into Fall. The beauty of the landscape at MTC is heightened as it takes on hues of gold and red for the season. Complement this with a refreshingly cooler weather; and it is “enchantment!” Father and son, Patrick and Timothy just came back from a leisure canoe ride while enjoying fishing in the tranquil cove that wraps around the campus of NTM Missionary Training Center (MTC). Truly, God take us places to show us His blessing! What have we done to deserve this?
We thank God for the way He led us here and it is not without your prayers and gifts that has enabled us to be here in training. The teaching at classes has been a revelation of sorts. It fascinates us to hear from experienced missionaries as they relate instance after instance of how deeply rooted animistic tribal societies come to the salvation of Christ. These are tribal groups living in primitive conditions from deep in the jungles of the Amazon or from the rain forests of South East Asia or the highlands of Papua New Guinea who for centuries had been emotional in defending their beliefs and practices. They had lived in constant fear of every spirit being – real or imagined, believed in souls and ancestral veneration and practices shamanism and divination arts. Illnesses in the tribe are always attributed to having offended the spirits or are the curse of a neighbor by a witch doctor.
Applying NTM’s years of cumulative experience, the missionaries have not only succeeded in changing the tribal’s beliefs to that of a Biblical worldview but also their grasped of the doctrines and maturity in the faith that surpassed the average Christian from the most sophisticated cities. These animistic practices are all too familiar in our Eastern cultures. The truth is that Animistic beliefs are widely practiced the world over!
So, how can we benefit from the experience of NTM in world evangelism specifically in evangelizing our own people? Will we not consider NTM’s approach and methodology that has proven to be successful?
LIFE AT MTC
We have 105 classmates of first year missionary candidates in training. Besides classes from 8am to 12noon Monday to Friday, our afternoon programs are very much taken up with 1) personal development sessions with our appointed advisor 2) Campus Ministry 3 days a week to help upkeep the campus so as to enable as many missionary candidates to come for training with reduced costs 3) Outreach Ministry to Homeless Shelter to put into practice what we have learnt in class.
PRAYER
We ask for your prayers as we look to the Lord for clear direction in the field of service.
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 23rd, 2007 | Discuss This Post
I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor will I satisfy with food. Psalm 132:15
Mooncakes has always been our family’s all time favorite. We look forward to this festival each year to savor the different varieties and flavor of this traditional Chinese pastry. It is available only once a year during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the other being the Chinese Lunar New Year. Tradition has it that farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. It falls on the 15th day of the 8th Lunar month, usually around mid or late September in the Gregorian calendar. This is the ideal time when the moon is at its fullest and brightest to celebrate the abundance of the harvest. People started making round mooncakes as gifts to their relatives in expression of their good wishes for the family reunion. Traditionally, the Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid autumn harvest moon and enjoymooncakes while sipping Chinese tea. Since the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644), the custom of Mid Autumn Festival celebration has become unprecedentedly popular to this day.
Over the last week, we have been abundantly blessed with mooncakes air-flown from all directions. The thought that God moved five individuals to meet our ‘craving’ for moon cakes just humble our hearts with gratitude. God not only provides for our needs but also our ‘wants’. He not only gives, He gives abundantly.
We like to acknowledge with thanks to Sister Ewe Eng from New York, Azilah Baker from Boston, Aunty Ruth from Taiping, Malaysia, Edwin and Lay Kim from Penang, Malaysia and the Jevarajahs from Camdenton, Missouri. Thank you for allowing God to move your hearts to minister to us in this manner. What a pleasant surprise! Thank you.
Good wishes for a blessed Mid Autumn Festival. May your harvests be abundant, always!
Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 31st, 2007 | Discuss This Post
We were led to make a trip to the City of Independence, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri in tribute to a retired missionary couple to Malaysia of 37 years. Our visit to Bobby and Dorothy Evans astounded us as we learned of how “He led all the way”, over the past almost 200 years to carry out His Great Commission to Malaysia and to the Chinese People.
Dorothy Lord Bausum Evans, born in war-torn China is the fourth generation missionary family; first to the Chinese in Malaysia (then British Malaya) and later to the huge country of China. Her great grand-father, John George Bausum first arrived into the island of Penang, our hometown in Malaysia in the year 1836. In that era of missions, spouses and children of missionaries routinely succumbed to illnesses and tropical diseases at a very young age. Having to leave children in boarding schools and families behind in their homeland and knowing that they would not see them again is the accepted cost for obedience to the Great Commission. In spite of hardships and tragedies, these early missionaries remained faithful to God’s calling. They stayed on in the ministry of schools, evangelism and church work. They often prayed and talked about going into China when the country would open up to foreigners. When the family eventually launched into China, it was her great grand-mother who brought together in marriage, Maria Dyer her step daughter to Hudson Taylor, the founder of China Inland Mission. This was despite strong opposition to the relationship due to Hudson Taylor’s “unusual attire”.
The present day Burmah Road Gospel Hall stands as testimony of the Bausums’ ministry and former estate in Penang. John George himself succumbed to ministry fatigue at the young age of 45. He was buried in the old Christian cemetery of the London Missionary Society in Farquhar Street, Penang. In the same vault was his first wife, Maria Tarn and two of their children who died in infancy. Nearby is the grave of Captain Francis Light, the founder of Penang. These are now preserved as National Historical sites in testimony of early Christian heritage in Malaysia and to the Chinese peoples. May this inspire new generations of missionaries from Malaysia for the next 200 years and beyond.
Read all about this inspiring story in “He Led All The Way” by Dorothy Lord Bausum Evans, Xulon Press. This book may be ordered online.
Patrick and Candice Cheah En-route to Indonesia 
