How to "bless" and pray for God's labourers, such as missionaries & pastors?

BLESS -- an acronym to guide your prayer for a missionary or for a people group

B -- Body

Pray for physical health and nutrition.

L - Labor

Pray for their work.

E - Emotions

Pray for emotional health and well-being of the missionary or people group.

S - Social

Pray for their social relations, their families and extended families. Pray that God will keep marriages together.

S - Spiritual

Pray for their spiritual condition.

contributed by CMA missionary Lisa Miriam Rohrick

沖凍水涼 = 文化衝擊？

以往一直對於沖唔慣凍水涼，而有一種很“水皮”的感覺，身為男孩子點解唔能夠沖凍水涼？

踏進泰國清萊的Indochina Bible Training Center後，發覺差不多整個校園都有WiFi的coverage，但偏偏無熱水沖涼.... 有點懊惱！

事實上，馬死落地行，結果我要學習沖凍水涼，就好似要習慣每日3餐都要食飯，而且差唔多一定要食辣的餸。頭一兩日沖凍水真係唔慣，但係沖到第三四日，開始覺得幾得意。當然，每次沖涼開水嗰一刻都會覺得有啲凍，但一陣間就可習慣了。

諗深一層，沖凍水涼係可以克服的，只要是多沖，甚至到一個地步係經常沖的話，你就唔會覺得困難㗎喇。其實lee樣係文化衝擊之一，當宣教士踏進一個新的文化當中，其實有好多嘢需要適應，包括食物(如味道，種類)，生活細節(如沖凍水涼，身體24小時在出汗)，交通，語言，風俗等等。

再諗起耶穌基督自己“卑微”，“成為人的樣式”，當中亦同樣有好多要適應的地方，目的係為咗進入佢所服侍的群體，同佢哋認同，傳遞上帝愛嘅信息。

主，多謝您！

An eyes-opener ~ the Cambodian trip

My wife & I went to Cambodia 19-24/12/2009, and it was eyes-opening!

We had a lot of "first times" there:

1. it's the very first time we went to Cambodia;

2. it's the first time we met so many (90+) children suffering from AIDS;

3. it's the first time we came to meet so many missionary couples/families in one trip;

4. it's the first time we got to know a bit more about being "missionaries";

5. it's the first time I found coping with a new language rather challenging (compared to a number of previous STM trips).

Even though it's only 6-day inclusive, we found it very meaningful. We met Jamson and Kitty who are ministering through the Jabez Ministry reaching university students from the countryside who study in Phnom Penh. They open up their house as a dorm for the students who don't have family in Phnom Penh. They care for them and nurture them spiritually almost every day through daily devotion and special gathering in the evening.

We got to know Thomas and Sarah who are leading the Living Water Church. Their church building is actually used as a dorm which is pretty much like the Jabez Ministry, but they have regular fellowship on Saturday and Sunday worship service.

I also got to catch up with my high school friend Stephen Lui Man Tung (pictured left). Stephen and Jenny are ministering at the Phnom Penh Chinese Christian Church which is associated with a kindergarten. Jenny also teaches at the Phnom Penh Bible School.

At the Bible school, we met another Andrew (Dr Kwong) who's studied at UWA for medicine and his wife Josephine who have been in Cambodia for some 15 years, and currently ministering in the Phnom Penh Bible School training up new breed of pastors and leaders for the Cambodian churches.

It's good to get to know each of them and to find out a bit more what it means to be a Chinese missionary in Cambodia. They minister to Chinese as well as the Khmer people. It's not easy in terms of learning another culture and language, but we can testify the flourishing of the ministry because of the Lord.

準備好了「出去」

多年來，神其實一直給予宣教的呼召，從初信主開始，到神學畢業後，牧會當中 ... 偶爾我都會想「出去」。但種種原因，各類理由，我似乎還未準備好，直至今年年初 ...

當我於年初長期禁食的時候，有一天，神很清楚說要我離開我所在的地方，到他要我去的地方去。我當時有點措手不及，因為那是神近距離跟我說話，但同時，我也很興奮且十分願意跟隨主的呼召。所以，我願意開放給主的帶領，我只是要找到一個我認為「fit到我」的崗位，而又有神的印證的話，我會願意去，不過 ...

難題: 我是2個幼女的父親，宣教談何容易呢？有點猶豫，有點爭扎，好不容易？！直至最近教會的差傳年會時，終於有突破，皆因我太太在聚會中清楚領受神對她的帶領（其實她從初信主開始也有宣教的呼召，不過，久了似乎有點遺忘了），從聚會當中，她斷言宣教不能再等了！

所以，我得到神進一步的印證 --- 就是我們夫婦二人的心都準備好了；接著，講員多番提到宣教可以有(1) 短宣 -- 數個月；(2) 中宣 -- 數個月至兩年；(3) 長宣 -- 數年或以上。這樣打破了我們既有的觀念，其實宣教不在乎多長，而在乎是否願意「出去」。

因此，我們現今積極禱告尋求，同時也會把握機會多睇多看多探路，了解神的帶領，然後我們便會踏上這宣教的路。若你偶爾看到這個blog，請為我們代禱。

God: "you will be a blessing" (Day 8)

Some 12 years ago, when I was seeking God's will for me whether to be in Australia or go back to Hong Kong during my 3-day fast, God showed me how He led Abraham (then Abram) to leave his country, his people and his father's household to the land where He will make him a blessing to others (Ge 12:1-3). 

That passage came to me as if God was speaking to me to leave my country, my people and my father's household. To me, it's God's call for me to stay in Australia to be equipped and to serve Him there. It was 1997.

Now 12 years later, Australia has become pretty much my country, and my home. God seems to use that same passage to speak to me that He may have another plan for me in ministry (or missions, that's the word I have in mind) in the near future. My wife and I are open to this as ultimately we think we have a calling to be in the missions field if God so leads. I'll keep my eyes open to the needs of the world, in particular the 3rd world, while exploring where God may lead me and my family.

Pray, pray and pray.