News from Ezekiel Fish (May 2010)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
 
It has been a long time since I have written. Thank you for your prayers and financial support to help build up God's kingdom through Good News Mission. My family and our fellow-workers for the gospel in Thailand, Burma, Northeast India and China are all in good health and working for our God even harder than before. Yesterday, two of our fellow-workers from northern Burma came to me in Maesot, Thailand and told me about how their Church activities, such as Bible Training Centers, Evangelism to Northeast Burma along Burma-China border and into China, along Tibet border and into Tibet, northwest along Burma-India border, Hidden Valley and among the head-hunters Naga tribes and lower part of Kachin state in Burma. The Church leaders in northern Burma set a higher goal to intensify their efforts to spread carry the great commission of Jesus to the people through preaching the gospel to people who are dying without Jesus. The places where they went to preach the gospel are some of the most isolated and remote areas in the world. No foreign missionary is allowed to preach the gospel into Tibet, China, Northeast India and any part in Burma. But, the native Christians can go everywhere in the restricted areas. We have volunteer workers who can give time and, even their life for the gospel to spread it all over these restricted areas.  However, with only one or two or, three men's feet every corner of the world cannot be reached. We need more feet to join to help carry  the great commission of Jesus to the unsaved. We need your prayers and financial support.
 
Yesterday, I got a message from Mid-west China among the Lisu Churches.  They said the harvest is plentiful. Two young evangelists are travelling to mountain villages preaching and teaching the gospel. God uses them and blesses their ministry. Many people came to them and listened to the gospel very eagerly. They won many souls through immersion into the name of Jesus. At one village, more than seventy people have already been baptized before the evangelists arrived because these new Christians had already heard the message of salvation through our radio program. Thanks to the Lord! Many new Christians in China have been asking to send more volunteer preachers for them. They are thirsty and hungry for spiritual food. We have volunteer preachers, but we will need money to get the preachers there.
 
Good News Mission plans to send four evangelists to China and Tibet. These four evangelists will start their travelling from April 15 to December.  After their trips to China and Tibet, they will also travel  to the head-hunting tribes in the Naga hills along the west Burma-India border. Please keep this evangelism team in your prayers and give financial support for their travel expenses. They will travel by truck and on foot. They also need medicine to take with them for themselves and for the people who they will meet. The people will be very poor people in the world in physically. They are in the mountain areas and quite far from the city. There are no hospitals or clinics in their area. This is why we have to prepare medicines to take along with on the evangelistic trip.
 
About the Lisu Bible.
 
We want to say, thank you for your generosity of gifts for Lisu Bibles and hymn books. We had 5,000  Bibles and 5,000 hymn books printed in Kolkata, India. Bibles and hymn books are already at our destinations at Lisu land in northeast India and Hidden Valley in Burma. Some of the Bibles and hymn books will be distributed to the Christians in Putao area, northern Burma and to west Burma for Naga Christians. At first, we planned to print 10,000 each. But because of the difficult economic times in the states the funds could not be raised. However, thank God for the amount we did get from Christian brothers and sisters and allowed half of our goal to be printed. From on now, we will not print any Bible until we finish revision. Since 1986, we have not made any revisions on the Lisu Bible. It is twenty four years old. So the Lisu Christian leaders in Thailand had a meeting about revisions in February. We agreed to make revisions again. We appointed Dr. Jesse Yangmi and Dr. Ah-Phu Fish to lead the team who work full time on the revisions. Then we appointed an assistant committee for Bible revisions. For this committee, I am the Chairman to lead my team. Each of us help the first group, check grammar structures, spelling corrections and taking information to the Lisu Churches in Thailand, Burma, India and China. We hope we will be done with our Bible revisions sometime next year. Please pray for this work.
 
Evangelical Fellowship of Central Thailand conference.
 
On March 15 - 17, we had EFCT a conference and strategy meeting at our Maesot Bible Training Center. It was very good time we had together with our Christian brothers and sisters. Most Christian leaders from local Churches in Central Thailand came to this conference.  Under the Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand's constitution, all denominations join together and set a goal to have a Church/congregation in each village in Thailand by the end of this year of 2010. This is our main point in conference. This goal was set up seven years ago. But, we still have no single Christians in many districts and villages in central Thailand. So, our leaders in conference encouraged us to continue to move forward.
 
New believers and new Church
 
We had over sixty new believers baptized among the Burmese refugees recently. Moses, Yohan, John Fish and Uthawng are the key leaders for Burmese people. In this coming Sunday also a group of new believers will baptized at MBTC. God opens doors for the gospel among these people. There are many places wherewe have to show them the Easter celebration to praise our Savior Jesus and to teach them more about our Jesus’ resurrection from death. This Sunday, brother Yohan will hold an Easter celebration at his Church in Myawadee and, John  Fish also will hold an Easter celebration at his small Church at Tepo village. Everyone is busy and working hard for the gospel of Jesus. Please keep in your prayers the new believers who turn to Christ from idols and evil spirit worhip.
 
For Burmese refugees new believers, we have to go along with medical ministry. Thing are so difficult in their daily life. They fled from Burma and stayed in Thailand without legal papers. They stay in very small bamboo houses with their children. The houses have grass roofs or banana leaf roots or small plastic sheet on the roof. Most of them without mosquito nets. Even though many are close to death because of malaria or other sickness, they are still afraid to see doctors because they have no money and if they got caught by police, they will be sent back to Burma.
 
Last February, Dan and Donna Pothier from West Park Church in Portsmouth, Virginia came to Maesot to visit and work. They saw the poor Burmese new Christians and gave medical treatment and screenings. It was very busy time for Nurse Donna to take care of nearly one hundred patients a day. Also, the mission team from Cape Fear Church at Wilmington also met this situation and they cared for hundreds of patients through their medical ministry. Thank you nurses and doctors for your Christian love to the poorest people in my part of the world. We will need you to visit us again in the future and share your talents that God gives you to use for His kingdom.
 
 
Easter celebration at MBTC
 
This past weekend, on April 3, 4, 5, we had Easter celebration at  MBTC with our local congregations. Many people came to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus. Two nights and three days we stayed together, ate together, raised hands up and prayed together, study the word of God together, and sang songs together at MBTC. After the Monday morning services were done, they went back to their villages with a new joyfulness.
 
MBTC
 
On May 3, classes will begin at Maesot Biblical Training Center. In the past fifteen years, pre-class students arrived in the first week of April, but until today no one has arrived yet for this year.  This year will be very difficult year for our students. Most of our students are from northern Thailand mountain villages. As you know, this year,  the political situation is getting worse and worse. There are many military and police check-points to do inspections of travelers, especially in northern and eastern parts of Thailand. The poor people, what they call grassroots, have very difficult daily life at this time. The people in the urban and rural areas are completely divided at this time as we saw on the daily news. We are in fear, mostly for people in the mountain villages. Please pray for Thailand so that God will settle the situation until it calms down and becomes normal.
 
May God bless upon every one of you.
 
Your Brother in Christ,
 
Ezekiel and Ah-Cha Fish
 
P.S. Please visit our new website, www.goodnewsmission.org

Contact Info:  Ezekiel Fish, Director — ezekiel.fish@goodnewsmission.org or ezek_f@hotmail.com
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