Dear Friends: April 22, 2011
We hope that you enjoyed a blessed celebration of the resurrection of our Lord. The news of Jesus’ resurrection brings tremendous hope to the hearts of suffering Ethiopian Christians.
Through March and April DCMI wired $7,000 to Ethiopia to help feed the persecuted Christians. The Ethiopian church leaders’ heartfelt gratitude for your support has been already delivered to our office. I was also told that 38 evangelists in this area have lost everything as a result of this persecution.
The picture on the right shows an Ethiopian church which was burned down by fundamentalist Muslims. This summer we will go back to Ethiopia to encourage and support Ethiopian pastors, evangelists and their spouses. Although we are of different races and cultures, we have learned out of this incident that we are truly brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. In the midst of the suffering of others, we as Christians are blessed to be able to comfort others. I saw that the Ethiopian churches were rich in spirit though they might be poor in material possessions.
I delivered an Easter message yesterday at Chin Burmese Community Church in Kent, Washington. I was told that most Chin people living in the Seattle area came to the States from Burma as refugees. Most of these people have not heard the gospel and they do not know who Jesus Christ is and what Jesus has accomplished through His death and resurrection. Of about 400 Chin people living in the Seattle area, some 200 people attend this church. When I told them how God had restored my hope and reinstated me to ministry after a time of devastation in my life, I also explained that Jesus Christ offers them the same hope. At least 10 people prayed to receive Christ and about 18 more came to the front of the church at the end of the service for me to lay hands on them and pray for them. Please pray that Pastor Ezra Thang and his church will continue to be a light to the Chin Burmese and others in the area. I am scheduled to hold an evangelistic campaign at this church to reach out to the unbelieving people in and outside this church and community this fall. Please pray with us that God will use powerfully use Pastor Thang and me to reach out to these precious people so that they too will reach out to their own people both in the United States and their home country Myanmar (Burma).
I am scheduled to teach Greek to the students at the Korean Division of Faith Evangelical Seminary this quarter. My goal in teaching Hebrew and Greek has always been that my students will be able to tackle the original Greek and Hebrew texts for Bible interpretation. This is not accomplished by high IQs but by diligence and self-discipline. Please pray that these seminary students will discipline themselves to become excellent Bible expositors as a result of studying theology and biblical language. Please pray also that the Lord will continue to develop the Rwandan pastors I have been reaching out to as excellent pastors and community leaders to transform their churches and their city.
I will be teaching an Old Testament class at Grace Community Church (our home church) in Auburn each Sunday in May. Please pray that this class will be a blessing to those attending and that the participants will develop an increased appetite and appreciation for God’s word.
As for home news, Grace is wrapping up another school year. We are thrilled to see her academic progress this year. She is reading very close to her grade level and has made tremendous strides in Math and English. This is Grace’s last year of elementary school so we are always a bit nervous about change. She will be attending a neighborhood middle school and won’t know any of the kids in her class. Because of her autism, it is really challenging for her to make friends her own age. Please pray with us that she will develop some close friendships as she starts middle school in the fall. We are also praying that she will understand the concept of salvation and come to know Jesus in a personal way.
On May 8, 2001 my (Kay’s) friend Shirley Smith and I traveled to China and met Grace for the first time. To celebrate the ten-year anniversary of her “Gotcha Day” as well as her eleventh birthday, the three of us (Grace, Shirley and I) will embark on a Disney cruise which leaves Los Angeles day after tomorrow and arrives in Vancouver, B.C. on Tuesday, May 3. Grace is really excited and we look forward to lavishing a little extra attention on her this coming week. She has been such a blessing to me and now to David and his parents as well. In spite of the challenges she faces, she is such a sweet and loving girl and we are really proud of her.
I took a few months off of worship team ministry at the beginning of the year just to rest, but God has put a new song in my heart and I look forward to helping lead our congregation in worship. I will also be joining a team which will minister at a woman’s prison here in Washington on May 15. Please pray that these women will see the love of Jesus in us and will respond to His message of hope and healing.
One of the biggest challenges for me is where to get involved. As a full-time employee as well as a wife and mother, I don’t have a lot of extra time, but I do want to be involved where God leads. I am praying about whether to accompany David to Ethiopia this summer as they hold the conference for the evangelists’ wives. Please pray that God will make it clear whether I am to go or not.
As always, we thank you for your prayers and financial gifts. Our ministry would be impossible without your involvement. May God bless you as you are helping so many developing leaders around the world. We always love to hear from you and to know how we can pray for you.
Because He lives,
David and Kay Chung