Wow...What a Winter!

We won't forget this Winter for a long, long time. As cold and snowy as it's been here in Central Indiana, the Lord has warmed our hearts with numerous blessings and ministry opportunities.

One of the meetings in Auckland

The first major ministry opportunity came in January with our trip to New Zealand for the WOL Pacific Rim Regional Conference. Dale and I met for four days with WOL missionaries serving in nine countries: Japan, S. Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and New Zealand. We enjoyed singing and fellowshipping together, studying God's Word, and hearing various ministry reports. We are blessed to lead such an awesome team of Christ's servants.

Dockside in Auckland

We took the photo to the right one afternoon as we walked with some others on our team through Auckland near the docks. New Zealand is beautiful this time of year (actually, I think it's beautiful all year round). So in addition to having the opportunity to meet everyone from the region, we also were refreshed by the weather and by the natural beauty we saw at every turn.

Our arrival back in the US corresponded with the start of our first ever SYME term in the US. Eighteen of our students from SYME in Japan traveled to Fishers for an entire month, a month that included home stays, a week at Twin Lakes Camp, a night out at Connor Prairie, a visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, an HSE basketball game, a trip to WOL in New York, a trip to the Creation Museum, plus 12 full days of English classes. The students thoroughly enjoyed their time here. They quickly bonded with their home stay families and others from the three churches we connected with in some fashion (Hamilton Hills, Castleview, and Bethesda). We are deeply grateful for all of the hospitality extended to our students and staff. More than just a cross-cultural experience, our students have repeatedly told us of the trip's positive impact on their understanding of Christianity and Christian living. Perhaps only God alone knows how deep the impact will be on their hearts and lives going forward!

Some of the SYME students after a day at Castleton Mall

The students are back in Karuizawa now for the last few weeks of the Winter Term. A new term with many new students will begin at the end of the first week of April. Please pray for our students, especially the three who are still considering the claims of Christ on their own hearts and lives.

On the day that the last of the students flew home, I flew to Nicaragua to join a medical missions team sent out by GHO (Global Health Outreach), a ministry of the Christian Medical and Dental Association. This was my seventh year to serve as team pastor for this group. Our team is led each year by Dr. Scott Ries, a former member of Hamilton Hills, now the VP of Campus and Community Ministries for CMDA. There were 51 people on our team, three of them from Hamilton Hills (Don, Phil, and Courtney). We served in a village called Azucenas, located on the southeast corner of Lake Nicaragua. The Lord greatly blessed the ministry. The doctors, dentists, and other medical professionals and students were able to see nearly 2000 patients in just four days of clinic. Not only did they minister to the physical needs of people, but also to their spiritual needs. More than 125 people made first time professions of faith in Christ. There also were numerous other rededication's, along with many biblical counseling opportunities. One of my duties on the team is to hold a mini-conference for the pastors and wives from churches helping us to organize the clinic. These are dear men and women of God, who are serving in such humble circumstances. It always blesses my heart to minister both to and with them.

People waiting to be seen at the clinic

I want to close this report with two brief stories of lives that were changed through our time in Azucenas. The first involves a man my age who had been away from the Lord for seven years. During that time, he became estranged from his family and from one of his neighbors. He had mistreated them all in some fashion, as he lived in anger and bitterness. Rolando, the Nicaraguan pastor who helps to organize the ministry, helped me to talk with this man. He told us he wanted to return to the Lord. I shared the story of Zacchaeus with him and explained that if he was serious about repenting, then he would need to go to his neighbor and to his family to ask for forgiveness. He told me that asking his neighbor to forgive him would be very difficult and that he was likely to lose a significant amount of money if he did not keep up the fight with his family. He told me he usually carries a pistol with him, because some in his family have told him that they wish to kill him. I explained that the Lord would protect him, and that it would be better to lose some property here on earth rather than clinging to it at the expense of his relationship to the Lord. He had such a look of deep worry etched into his face. After a few minutes of reflection, the man told us he wanted to do it; that is, he wanted to pray to the Lord for forgiveness and restoration, and that he would go to his neighbor and family to ask for forgiveness. Rolando led us prayer, with the man repeating after him. Almost immediately, the man's worried look was gone. Clearly the Lord lifted his burden, and within a few minutes, he was already beginning to reconcile with one of the family members who had accompanied him to the clinic. How awesome it was to see the Lord so visibly at work in this man's heart.

Pastos and Wives

In another instance, one of the pastors asked to speak at the beginning of our second meeting. On the first day, I had taught from Genesis on marriage and the family. This man told everyone he wanted to publicly ask his wife to forgive him for not being more focused on their relationship and their ministry together. Then he turned and took his wife's hand. He looked his wife in the eye and asked her to forgive him, explaining that he felt he had neglected her and neglected supporting her in their ministry together. It was a sweet moment, and another example of the hand of God on our team's ministry there!