Sermon: Update on the Work in Asia

Update on the United Church of God in Asia.

Presented by David Baker
Cincinnati, Ohio - January 24, 2009 (54 minutes)

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Sermon Transcript

I'd like to take this opportunity to give you an update on the work in Asia and to also introduce you to some of our members that we have there. However before doing that I would like to ask that you would turn and look at a couple of scriptures with me in I Corinthians chapter 12. All of us are very familiar with this particular passage of scripture. We all understand that the apostle Paul was writing to the congregation in Corinth and typically he was focusing upon some of the divisions that they were experiencing in the congregation but with that said I don't think we are misusing scripture to expand that and to apply it to God's church at large because we realize that God's church is the body of Jesus Christ and that church is made up of many members. How many of those members are scattered around the world? So let's begin here in I Corinthians chapter 12 and let's begin in verse 12. It says:

I Corinthians 12:12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.

Verse 13: For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

Verse 14: For in fact the body is not one member but many.

I can tell you that there is nothing more inspiring than to be able to be on the other side of the earth, to be able to talk and to be able to work with people that God has called out of the world, people that God has given unto them His Holy Spirit and to be able to talk about the Kingdom of God. We realize brethren that regardless of what background a person has been called out of, we share that common faith and we're very blessed to be able to do so.

So today it's my purpose to introduce you to some of your fellow members of the body of Jesus Christ. Now let's drop down to verse 18 through 20 and notice what Paul writes. He says:

Verse 18: But now God has set the members, each one of them in the body just as He pleased.

Verse 19: And if they were all one member, where would the body be?

Verse 20: But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.

You know we often think of our local congregation when we think of the body of Christ and we realize that we have a lot of different gifts and a lot of different talents within any congregation of the Church of God but then when you expand that to cover the entire world, you realize what a beautiful jewel that God is developing in that body of Jesus Christ. But why is it important for you to be aware of the brethren in Asia?

You know I hate to write, but occasionally I will try to write about some of the people that I meet in Asia so that other members of God's church are able to learn about them. Why is that so important? Notice what Paul writes, dropping down to verse 25 and 26 in I Corinthians 12.

Verse 25: That there should be no schism in the body but that the members should have the same care for one another.

How can you care about someone if you don't even know they exist? It's pretty difficult. So sometimes it's nice to know about other members of the body of Jesus Christ so that we can afford them the same care that we would afford someone in our local congregation. Then he goes on to write:

Verse 26: And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

The members that I'd going to introduce you to today are so far away from Cincinnati that their Sabbath is already over and it's already Sunday morning their time. So they are about as far away from Cincinnati as many of the members can get. Yet the prayer requests that were sent out this week were read in our congregation in the Philippines and in Sri Lanka and those prayer requests were read by many of our members who are scattered and do not even have a congregation to attend and I can assure you that as they got up this morning, many of them remembered those people in their prayers.

So today what I would like to do as I introduce to you some of our members, I hope that you will remember them in your prayers because some of them could deeply appreciate and could deeply use your prayers.

So here we go, let's look at some of the aspects of our members in Asia.

First of all I want to introduce you to a couple of things concerning the circulation of the Good News magazine in the part of the world that I'm responsible for. You'll notice down at the bottom if you look that 3% of the Good News magazine that we produce go to the area or the region of Asia. That's based on the numbers that we have for the November/December issue of the Good News magazine. You'll see that if you'll look also down in the corner that the largest bulk of those magazines go the country of the Philippines. Historically that is always been the case, we've always had a good base of members and a good base of congregations and a large subscription to our publications in the country of the Philippines. You'll also notice that another country close to the Philippines, the country of Malaysia receives about eleven hundred Good News with each print run. The country next to it, Singapore receives about seventeen hundred issues of the Good News magazine and the one country that is a little bit greater in circulation than them is the country of India where we have just slightly over three thousand issues of the Good News magazine going into that country with each print run.

This will give you a little bit of an idea of how we attract historically in terms of the circulation of the Good News magazine. In 2001 we had about thirty-nine hundred Good News magazines going into the region of Asia and God has blessed us with growth as we have been able to handle that growth and we now have a circulation of around a little over sixteen thousand and we're very grateful and we're very thankful for that blessing because really it is a blessing that comes from the members here in the United States. Members here in the United States who faithfully tithe and give their offering to the church allow the members in Asia to be able to receive the Good News magazine. Without your help and without your support they could not even afford the postage for the magazine let alone the production cost of the magazine, so we're well aware of the sacrifices that the people here in the United States make so that we can enjoy the blessing of having the number of magazines that we do have.

Now here are the locations where our members are. You'll notice that the bulk of our members, around seven hundred and nineteen members are located in the Philippines. We have about thirteen members located in the country of India, seventeen in Singapore, about thirty-one in Malaysia and you'll notice that the total number of members in Asia is eight hundred and fourteen. Our newest member in Asia is in South Korea and I'll introduce you to him a little bit later on.

These are the feast sites that we have in Asia: We have seven feast sites and you'll notice that there are three feast sites in the Philippines, we have one feast site in Malaysia, we have one feast site in India, and one feast site in Sri Lanka. For the past three years we've had a feast site in Singapore and this year we're not going to be holding the feast in Singapore, we have moved that site to Bangkok, Thailand. If any of you have an interest in going to anywhere in Asia I would certainly recommend the feast site in Bangkok; it's our first year to be able to have a feast site in Bangkok a number of years in the church and we have a very beautiful facility there and I think we have some very interesting activities planned for that feast site.

First I'd like to introduce you to our member that lives in Bangkok, Thailand. You'll notice that Bangkok has sixty four million people living in it but we only have one member and he lives in the capital city that of Bangkok. Our members name is Fill Ollmpo. He is actually Philippino; he comes from the area of Latie. He's lived in Bangkok now for about ten years and we're very grateful that he is a part of the church. He is married; he has a wife and two children. His wife however is Roman Catholic and is not a member of the church. You'll notice the young lady in the middle, her name is Natti. Mr. Jorge de Campos can give you a story regarding Natti. She showed up at the feast this year in Portugal. She has no connection essentially with the church historically whatsoever, in fact she's brand new to Christianity. She's coming to us with a Buddhist background and she is trying to answer the question "where is my father?" Her father died about a year ago and she is searching for answers in terms of where her father is and recently during a visit to Bangkok and spending time with Natti, Mr. Horchak and I tried to explain God's plan of salvation to her. It's a very beautiful plan of salvation and we're very familiar with explaining that plan of salvation to someone coming from a Christian background but someone coming from a Buddhist background we found that we were at a loss for words and concepts to explain things like eternity to Natti. But we tried as best we could. I think she went away satisfied. To give you an idea of how new she is to Christianity she is just now started reading the bible and she's starting out in the book of Genesis and she's going to work her way through to the end of the book of Revelation. So she's very new, she's very interested in the church and we just shake our heads because she literally paid her own way to Portugal, stayed there for the entirety of the feast because she wanted to understand Christianity and she wanted to understand what the bible taught. To this very day we still scratch our heads going why did she pick the United Church of God and why did she pick a feast site in Portugal? We still don't have real good solid answers to those questions but we certainly appreciate your prayers on behalf of Natti and also on behalf of Fill Ollmpo. It gets very lonely when you have no one to fellowship with on the Sabbath and I'm sure that they would deeply appreciate your prayers that God would call more people in their area.

The next country that I'd like to introduce you to briefly is the country of India. You'll notice that it has a population of over one billion people and we have thirteen members in the country. Here are our Indian members. This year for the first time in United we were able to hold a feast in India and for many of our Indian brethren this was the first time for them to meet each other. We have no congregations to speak of in India so each one of the members are scattered around the country and they literally spend their Sabbaths reading our literature and also watching one of the sermons that they either download from the internet or that they receive on the sermon C.D.'s that we send out. So this year was an incredible blessing for them to be able to have their own feast site where they were able to spend the entire feast fellowshipping with one another and it was a wonderful blessing that they have asked me many times over to express their thanks to the powers that be for allowing that to occur. This year we had a feast site in Hyderabad. Hyderabad is located kind of in the southeastern area of the country and here are the people that we had for the feast in India. We had twenty-two people in India this year for the feast and it was a wonderful feast. We stayed in the same location, we did everything together. We had services together, often times we would have an activity together in the afternoon. Then once we would get back from the activity we would congregate in someone's room, sit around chatting for a couple hours, go down to dinner together, have dinner together, then after dinner go to bed and then restart that the following day. So it was just a wonderful opportunity for everyone to fellowship, to get to know one another and to become one big family.

The member that we have that is living in Hyderabad and that's one of the reasons why we choose Hyderabad for a feast site is the elderly lady in the middle, she's eighty years old, she is Doctor Ollie and she has been a member of the church since 1960 so she has been faithful holding onto God's truth for many decades and we were very happy that we were able to hold the feast in Hyderabad so that she would have the opportunity to be able to attend the feast. She's elderly, it's difficult for her to get around and so this was a wonderful opportunity for her and her two daughters, Argemin and Nargis.

I'd like to introduce you a member that we have that lives in Calcutta. His name is Tarun Ghosh.

Tarun Ghosh is coming to us from a Roman Catholic background. Now picture yourself in his situation. He is one of twelve million people that live in the city of Calcutta and he is the only one that is a member of the United Church of God. As far as I know he is the only one that's even a member of a church of God group. So there's literally no one for him to fellowship with. His wife is a very wonderful lady, she agrees with the teaching of the church but it is truly a leap of faith when you join the Church of God in a country like India because Christianity is already a very small minority and then to leave the Roman Catholic church and come to the United Church of God the questions arise who are we going to fellowship with? What are we going to do on the Sabbath? When I die where am I going to be buried? It's a real concern that people have, so I have a deep respect for someone that takes that leap of faith; that acts upon the truth of God and joins the church in a country where you're literally surrounded by millions of people that share almost no beliefs in similarity to what you believe.

The next member that I'd like to introduce you to lives in the area of Puna and I would really appreciate your prayers for Prkash and Sarah Mendora. They live in the city of Puna Puna that has a population of about five million people. Last week I got an e-mail from Sarah. Now normally when communication is done it's always an e-mail between me and Prkash so when I received an e-mail from Sarah I said uh-oh something must be up here and so when I read the e-mail I learned what happened to Prkash last week. Prkash has been a member of the church for about five years. I baptized Sarah about two years ago. One of the great challenges that they face in India is being able to find employment where you do not work on the Sabbath. Prlash has a degree in chemistry and is very well educated, speaks very good English, but when you go out to get a job in India, a job that would pay enough that would be able to support you and your family there's probably at least a hundred if not more people standing in line for the same job. Competition is fierce when it comes to good paying jobs in India, and Prkash has lost a number of jobs because of the Sabbath.

So Prkash got into a marketing program, it's kind of a multi-level marketing program and he's been able to support himself and he's been able to support his family through that; you don't make a lot of money but at least make enough money to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table. Well last week someone that Prkash had only met I think once before came in and he said he had a couple of customers that he wanted to introduce him to. These gentlemen came in and shortly after that the police came in. Prkash was falsely accused of extorting money from this individual and he was arrested and he was thrown in jail. He spent six days in jail before they could get him released.

When he was in jail the individuals that were in the same cell that he was said: "You better get used to this because you're never going to come out of here alive." Every morning for six days that Prkash was in the jail the guards would come in and they would beat the prisoners with rods. Prkash told me that the food that they would serve them is not fit to be served to a person's dog. He said for the first three days that he was in prison he ate no food because it was simply not eatable and the plates that they used to serve them food on had never been washed, it was a filthy plate. So thankfully one of his friends was able to come and plead his case before the magistrate. He was able to get him released from prison. The police however confiscated his cell phone, his computer, everything that he had of any value. Not only did they do that but they posted an article about Prkash in the paper that hit the national wire service so every large newspaper in India carried that story somewhere.

So now Prkash's name has been ruined. There's no opportunity for him to get a job in any type of work that he would be able to support him and his family. Coupled with that, the landlord once hearing what happened told them they had to vacate the premises immediately. So Prkash and Sarah would deeply appreciate your prayers. I think all of us after hearing that story understand why God hates or detests anyone who would bear a false witness because here was a false witness against an individual who was trying to work hard and support himself and his family and now because of one false witness as he said: "My life is ruined, there is no hope for me, please pray for me." So I do ask that you would please remember Prkash and Sarah in your prayers. They are facing a very difficult trial, but we understand that with God all things are possible and I'm sure that God in His right time frame will restore them, will provide for them and ultimately will bless them.

The next person that I'd like to introduce you to is a member that we have in Northern India. Actually it's a member and his wife, George and Shobash Samuel. This gives you an idea of the type of transportation that you'll run across as you're traveling along the roads and byways of India. Anything that you can imagine that would be used for transport you will come across between the capital city of Delhi and the city of Agra. This is George and Shobash. George has been a member for about two and a half years, Shobash has been a member for a little less than a year now and this was her first opportunity to be able to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. George is a little unique compared to some of the members that we have in India in the sense that what George does is he will take our articles or he will take a sermon and he will translate it into Indy and then he will present it to these people that gather with him on the Sabbath day. It's a wonderful blessing that he has people that he can fellowship with. When I was there right after the Feast of Tabernacles this year he mentioned to me that his mother and his father would like to be baptized so the next time that I have the opportunity of visiting him in Agra we'll sit down and we'll counsel them as well for baptism. So he is a little bit unique in that sense that he does have an extended group of people that he is able to fellowship with on the Sabbath. Of course Agra is the home of the Taj Mahal and that's one of the beautiful features of the city in which George lives.

The next person that I would like to introduce you to, his name is Eugene Kumar and he lives up near the Himalayas a place called Moradabad. By the way Moradabad is densely populated with Muslims so he is surrounded by a Muslim population. Eugene has been a part of the church for many years, his father came into the church probably in the late 1970's or early l980's and when I lived in Sri Lanka, Eugene as a young Y.O.U. member came over for one of our summer camps. But I heard from Eugene this week in an e-mail as I was in the pastoral classes and he writes the following that I would like to share with you. He says: "Pass along my best wishes to everyone you meet and tell them that we deeply appreciate the work that they are doing for us." The people there realize that the only way that they are able to enjoy the literature that we produce and the sermons that they are able to hear on a regular basis is coming from people like you; people who sacrifice, people who give to God's work, in many cases people who work in God's work to be able to produce this material so that they are able to use. They are deeply appreciative of everything the church can do in providing them the spiritual food that they need in order to be able to survive. This is Eugene's mother and father and sister and then the lady on the right is Eugene's wife and it was the first time that she ever had the opportunity of attending a regular service and also attending the Feast of Tabernacles.

I'd like to take you and briefly introduce you to a couple of groups now; these individuals are not members of the United Church of God but they do have a great interest in the United Church of God and would like actually to be a part of the United Church of God. They are located actually on the eastern side of Bangladesh. There's a spur of India that actually goes across the top of Bangladesh and borders the country of Myanmar and these people are known as the Church of God Israel. One of the things that I have found in Myanmar and also in some the far reaches of India is that for many years sabbatarian groups sent their literature and that literature found its way to some very remote places. They've read; they've studied that literature; they've begun to act upon God's truth. This particular group formed around 1972. The founding members came out of the United Pentecostal Church. As they began to study God's word; as they began to learn what God's truth said, they began acting upon that truth and today if you read their fundamental beliefs, you would be amazed at how similar their fundamental beliefs are to the United Church of God; very similar. They share the same belief in the Sabbath, they share the same belief in the holy days, many of the things that would make us distinct in terms of our beliefs; they share that same distinctness. They also have their own church building, they have their own programs and you see a group of seventy people in this photo. About two hours away by car there's also another group of about forty-five; they're kind of like a sister congregation and they realize that they need to be a part of something much bigger than them. They realize that they need to be a part of an international work that truly the gospel of the Kingdom of God is going to be preached to the whole world. It is their desire and they have a very sincere desire to be a part of the United Church of God for that reason. They realize and they recognize that we are a part of the body of Jesus Christ and they realize that they're, if you will, a little group out here that's not attached to the main part of the body and so they want to be a part of the body of Jesus Christ and we want them to be a part. However, in terms of doctrine we're similar, in terms of practice we're different and so we're slowly going through the process of working with them on their form of worship so that as time goes on, hopefully they will feel comfortable with our form of worship and that amalgamation will be able to occur. So we'd certainly appreciate your prayers that that would be the case because these people are very wonderful people. Every time I've visited them I've felt very much like I was a part of a family; they welcome you with open arms; they do everything that they can to treat you as royalty and then they pepper you with questions. They want to know what you believe and they of course share what they believe and it's so amazing to be able to sit here in the foothills of the Himalayas and talk about the Kingdom of God to people who share the exact same belief about that Kingdom as you do and it's very rewarding to be able to work with a group such as that. I actually asked if one of the leaders of the group could come down and spend the Feast of Tabernacles with us this year but unfortunately he was unable to do so.

Another group that I'd like to introduce you to live in the area of Chirala, it's right on the eastern coast of the country of India. The individual on the left, his name is G.P. Samuel. He is the founder of that group. Their group basically formed around 1982 and once again if you looked at their fundamental beliefs which they have shown me; they have fifteen fundamental beliefs and those fifteen fundamental beliefs are very similar to our twenty fundamental beliefs. Once again they want to be a part of us. They want to be a part of a larger organization so that they can have an active role in preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God outside of their little town and their village. You'll notice that they have their own church building. They call themselves the Church of God Seventh Day. I've never been able to come up with a concrete definition of how exactly they started, but I would not be surprised if they didn't start from some of the literature from the Church of God Seventh Day and if I had to place a bet on that I would place it on the group of that CO God started in the l930's. But here's the group, once again very enjoyable group to be with, very warm, very friendly, very open, tons of questions during the two days that I had the opportunity of visiting with them last year, I visited I think every member in their home. They literally spent a day taking me around to their different homes and I would sit down and they would offer me a cup of tea, they'd offer me some fruit or a cookie and then as soon as I finished that it was off to the next person's home to make the rounds. They very much wanted me to see where they lived and how they lived and it was really rewarding to be able to do so. Once again, they want to be a part of the United Church of God because they want to see the gospel of the Kingdom of God preached beyond their small town and beyond their small villages to other neighboring areas and ultimately to the entire country and to the entire world.

The next place I'll take you to is Sri Lanka. We have a small congregation in Sri Lanka. You'll notice that there are about nineteen million people that reside in the country and we have eight members that live in Sri Lanka. Most of our members live just south of the capital city of Colombo, a little area known as Mt. Lavinia. When I first moved to Sri Lanka back in 1985 it was to Mt. Lavinia that I moved to and so here many years later I actually have the opportunity of going and visiting a small congregation, not too far away from the house that I used to live in. But this is our congregation in Sri Lanka. They are going through some difficult times. Difficult times in the sense that Sri Lanka has been involved in a civil war that started in l983 and that war has raged ever since that time. If you're following international news you'll notice that Sri Lanka makes the news probably about every other day as the government forces are trying to uproot the terrorists in the northern part of the country. Our members living in the southern part of the country really are not affected by that first hand except there's always the occasionally terrorist bomb that will go off in the capital cities or in one of the bedroom communities of the capital city and of course Mt. Lavinia would be one of those. But the way they are really affected by it is the unemployment and the high rate of inflation. Because Sri Lanka is going through a civil war, most multi-national organizations do not want to get involved until peace finally comes to the country so there's not a great deal of investment in the country. That being the case, there is a lot of unemployment and unfortunately there is a great deal of hyper inflation. A number of our people there, people that I've known for many years are on fixed incomes. So when you're on a fixed income and you see the price of rice or the price of bread double or triple in a short period of time, you realize that the situation is very destitute. Of course all of the people in Sri Lanka are affected by that and our members are also affected by the difficulties and the challenges in the country. This is a photograph from our feast last year; we had thirty-two people at the Feast of Tabernacles. You'll notice that Mr. Kingsley Mather spent the feast there as well Mr. and Mrs. Horchak spent the first half of the feast there and we also had the wonderful privilege of being able to have the five United Youth Corp volunteers from Jordan spend the feast with the brethren in Sri Lanka.

If you ever have an inkling to transfer to a foreign feast site, please I would highly recommend any site in Asia because I can assure you that you're going to make a lasting and deep impression upon the members there and they are going to make a lasting and deep impression upon you. It is the highlight of the year for our members to be able to get together and to be able to share the Feast of Tabernacles with people from outside of their little small group.

The next place I'll take you to is Malaysia. You'll notice that Malaysia has a population of about twenty-four million and we have about thirty-one members in the country of Malaysia. We have about seven members that are in the general area of Kuala Lumpur and then we have twenty-four members that live in the far eastern part of Malaysia in the area of Saba. Malaysia in terms of the main peninsula; Singapore in Indonesia is pastored by Mr. Jeff Caudle. Mr. Caudle does an excellent job pastoring and caring for the members in that area and then the members that reside in the far eastern part of Malaysia are actually pastored by one of our pastors in the Philippines. Most of the members that are in the area of Saba are temporary workers in Malaysia; they are Philippino by descent and so one of our Philippino pastors goes over and cares for them.

But let me show you briefly some of our members in Asia. First of all you'll notice the lady in the middle of the picture; the one that is sitting wearing a sari. Her name is Victoria Rita. She officially grew up in God's church; her husband Ranjam is a doctor and she runs a dialysis center. But unfortunately there are no other members that she is able to spend the Sabbath with. Her husband is not a member of the church.

The next member that I will introduce you to his name is Selvaratnam. Selvaratnam is a general manager of a large palm oil plantation. Once again he has been a member of the church probably since the late 1980's. He has no congregation to attend with. The only time that he is able to fellowship with God's people is if there is a Passover service in the area of Taell and at the Feast of Tabernacles. So being able to go for the Feast of Tabernacles for many of these people in Asia is a tremendous highlight.

We also have a member in Kuala Kangaar. Her name is Choon Ah. Choon Ah has been a member of God's church since the late 1970's. She is a retired office worker. She looks after her elderly parents now and she also has a brother that she cares for as well.

I'll show you the family or the group that we have. They're actually composed of six families in the area of Saba. This is a picture that was taken of them at the Feast of Tabernacles this year. There were twenty-three people at the Feast of Tabernacles; the twenty-fourth person was at home giving birth to a baby so she was not able to make it to the feast but half-way through the feast all the members went over and saw her and the new born baby as part of their family day activity. They are coming to us from the Jerusalem Church of God and once again in terms of the Jerusalem Church of God, they sent on a regular basis, literature to the people in the Philippines, but unfortunately they were not able to send leaders from outside of the Philippines to be able to work with these individuals and to be able to help them to develop spiritually. So over a period of time they actually came into contact with a former member of the Worldwide Church of God who introduced the holy days to them. They began to study the subject; they began act upon the subject and ultimately they joined the United Church of God. About two or three years ago when I had the opportunity to travel to Leyte and meet our members there, many of which came out of the Jerusalem Church of God, they informed me that on that particular day that I was the first visitor outside of the area of Leyte that had ever come to visit them other than our pastor who actually lives one island over. So here were individuals that in some cases for decades received literature from the Church of God but never had a representative to actually be able to go there to be able to work with them, to be able to spend some time with them and to be able to encourage them. So it's wonderful to be able to send literature to all parts of the world but you also have to be equipped to be able to follow up and to be able to send personnel there to work with the people and Jerusalem Church of God was a very good example of that.

The next members that I'll show to you live in Singapore; we have about seventeen members there. Singapore of course is right across the straits of Johor from mainland Malaysia. About half of the members there have a long history with God's church; many of them came in the 1970's, 1980's. Some of them however are brand new and we're very happy to see that growth there. You'll notice that Singapore is a very modern Asian city and then here is the group of members that we have in Singapore. To give you a challenge that we face regarding our brethren in Singapore, a lot of them are not married, the ones that are married, the mate that they are married to are not a part of the church so they're able to meet probably two times a month, three times a month at the most. Unfortunately they are not able to meet every single Sabbath. This is the feast site for the people that attended the feast in Singapore this year. We had forty-five people that attended there. Mr. Jim Servido came over from the United States to help serve at the feast there.

Next I want to show you the members that we have in Indonesia. We have nine members in Indonesia and yet the country itself has a population of two hundred and thirty-four million. Most of us are probably familiar with Banda Aceh as well as Bali. Of course you realize and remember that Banda Aceh was kind of the epicenter of the tsunami that we had a few years ago. I was talking to a member about three weeks ago that was just coming from Banda Aceh. I met up with him in Bangkok and he said that a lot still remains to be done in the area of Banda Aceh from the tsunami and then of course Bali was notorious for the bombing in which a number of people were killed.

But here right across the straight from Singapore is the area of Batan. We have two members and their daughter, Edward and Lilik and their daughter Belinda. Edward was a school teacher; he had difficulty being able to maintain a job because of the Sabbath and the fact that Indonesia is a Muslim country. They get Friday off and not Saturday and Sunday. Instead of changing profession Edward decided to tutor students in English and that's a step of faith in itself. So early in the morning and late in the evening and on Sundays, Edward ran and still does run private tuition classes in English for students in the area of Batan and that's how he's able to support himself. Thankfully through God's blessing he is able to support himself and his family in that respect.

The next place is the capital city of Jakarta and we have a member there, her name is Angelina Mogot. She is pictured with Mrs. Lim. Mrs. Lim is a long time member of the church, but she has not joined the United Church of God as yet but she does maintain regular contact with the members of United and also receives our literature. Angelina actually came into the church or first visited the Church of God, the Worldwide Church of God in Oakland, California, then later on moved back to Indonesia and then once again reacquainted herself with the church and is now a part of the United Church of God. Also in Yogyakarta we have a family that lives there, Saegita and Martha Widjaya. Saegita is also an English teacher.

The next place I'll take you to is Madan. It is right across the strait from Saegita but it is an area where there is a certain amount of unrest. I'd like to introduce you to our member there, her name is Liaw May. Liaw May has been a member of the church since the 1970's but she's going through a very difficult trial now and I know that she would deeply appreciate your prayers on her behalf. You'll notice her brother on the left, his name is Phin. Phin is a paranoid schizophrenic. He's in his early fifties; he's been taking medication for a number of years. As his body builds up resistance to the medication, after awhile it has no effect, sometimes he forgets to take his medication and he's becoming quite violent. Unfortunately he's taking that violence out on his sister Liaw May and she is going through a great deal of turmoil now trying to understand what she should do. Before her parents died she promised her parents that she would always look out for her brother. Now on several occasions her brother has tried to kill her, in fact the latest episode of that was just this week. Liaw May is going through a very difficult trial right now; trying to understand what she should do. She realizes that the government facilities there are so bad that if she puts her brother in a government facility it is a sure death threat. If she puts him into a private facility, neither she nor the church would be able to pay for that. So she's at a real dilemma and I know that she would deeply appreciate your prayers that God would help her and show her what she should do.

The next members I'll show you very quickly are our members in Hong Kong. We have about ten members in Hong Kong. Hong Kong of course is located right off the area of mainland China. Hong Kong is a very modern, a very beautiful Asian city but it also has a unique Chinese flavor. Here are our members in Hong Kong; we took this picture about three weeks ago when Mr. Horchak and I were there. The members there have been very faithful, some of them through the years, some of them are brand new. The family that you see on the right has just started attending with us a few months back and so his name is Peter. Peter is actually a doctor; his wife is actually a nurse. They lived for ten years in New York City. They moved back to Hong Kong. Over a period of time they have become interested in the church and recently he mentioned that he would like to discuss the aspect of baptism. So we'll see how that goes.

The next member that I'd like to introduce you to lives in Seoul. South Korea. You'll notice that we only have three subscribers for the whole country of forth-eight million people. He lives in the capital city itself and his name is Steven Davis. Steven is originally from Biloxi, Mississippi. He's lived in Seoul, South Korea for six years. He's planning to live there for one more year; then he's hoping to relocate back to the United States. I've been corresponding with Steven now for about five years and so on this past trip I was able to baptize him and it's something that he was very grateful for. He teaches English as a second language. He has to sign a contract with the school and the contract is for a year. Last year as he went to sign the contract, he said he could not sign the contract any more because I can't work on the Sabbath and I can't work on the holy days. Those were two things that we were grappling with several years ago. The principal of the school said never mind, we'll give you those days off, what we want you to do is to remain teaching here. So it's been a wonderful blessing for him and he's very grateful for the opportunity of having the Sabbath and holy days off.

We have three members in Japan. We have twenty-one subscribers. They live in an area just south of Tokyo; it's about a one hour train ride. Many of you might remember Craig and Natalie McQueen. I believe they were here at ABC a few years ago. They're on a two year assignment in Japan and with the current economic situation; he said he's not sure how long he will be there.

I'd like to briefly introduce you to our members in the Philippines. You'll notice that we have seven hundred and nineteen members. We have about eight-eight hundred subscribers in a nation that is highly Roman Catholic, ninety-one million. We have twenty congregations in the Philippines. We have seven video groups and we have three feast sites. Once again if you would like a very memorable Feast of Tabernacles, I would certainly encourage you to visit one of our feast sites in the Philippines and it will be a visit that you will always remember. This is kind of a break down of our congregations in the area of Luzon; we have about one hundred and thirty-one members. The area of Manila; one hundred and fifty and then the southern part, the area of Mindanao we have four hundred and thirty-two. During the recent leadership training classes that we had a couple weeks ago in the Philippines we were in the area of Davao. During the two days that we were there for training classes they experienced an earthquake and there was a terrorist bomb in which seventeen people were killed. We had our training classes not knowing that anything else was happening in the country. Mindanao is an area that has a great deal of unrest but oftentimes the members are oblivious to the unrest that's going on because most of it is happening in the area of Arcapelo. This will give you an idea of our growth in the United Church of God in the Philippines. You'll notice that we started out in 1996 with about seventy members and as of last year's feast we had about six hundred and seventy-nine. These statistics are based upon feast attendance. We do that because it's been historically the consistent figure that we can track our members with. You'll notice that I said we had seven hundred and nineteen members as opposed to six hundred and seventy-nine. Not all of our members are able to attend the Feast of Tabernacles because in some cases they simply cannot afford it and we can't afford to subsidize them. We have eight elders in the Philippines; four of which serve as pastors. One of the things that we do have is the United News Asia. If you would ever like to know what's happening in the Asian region, we produce a United News that covers the various events that are occurring in Asia. All of our members also receive the United News that we produce here and they're very fortunate and very thankful to be able to receive that, but with the United News agency we try to focus specifically on what is happening in the area of Asia. It's an internet based periodical. We try to produce it every two months and you'll notice the web address at the bottom if you'll ever like to check out what is going on there. Each year we have a summer camp in the Philippines. We've been able to have that for a number of years in United. This past year we had thirty-two campers. We have thirty-six staff members. As I mentioned we have three feast sites. This is the feast site or the members who attended the feast this year in Davao where we had four hundred in attendance. This is our feast site in Ilollo where we had one hundred and nineteen in attendance and then this is our feast site in Baguio where we had one hundred and sixty-seven in attendance.

I'd like to leave you with a reminder to remember Jed Sy in your prayers. As many of you know Jed has gone through a very difficult time. She's been in prison now for four years. She was accused of being involved in making methamphetamine, of course according to Jed and her brother they have no idea what methamphetamines are, let alone how to make them. Recently in fact two days before the Day of Atonement the trial that they were involved with came to an end and they were sentenced to life in prison; they were fined five and a half million pesos which is the equivalent of about one hundred sixteen thousand U.S. dollars per person. When you think that a good wage in the Philippines is about two hundred dollars a month, you can imagine what it would be like trying to come up with one hundred sixteen thousand dollars to be able to pay that fine.

Mr. Horchak and I had the opportunity of visiting Jed and as well as her brother Jing Jong about three weeks ago. I'm amazed at the wonderful attitude that she and her brother portray as they go through that trial. In fact, Jed is a baptized member and her brother is a perspective member. When he was first arrested he was really grappling with the trial that he was experiencing. Jing Jong (how do I express it?) grew up, his mother taught him the truth about the Sabbath but he didn't take it seriously. So he behaved himself in terms of character development; he didn't drink, he didn't smoke, he didn't gamble, he didn't do drugs, he really tried to behave himself as best he possible could, but he didn't take the teaching regarding the church and our beliefs to heart. He just said that's mom's religion and that doesn't have anything to do with me. He graduated as an engineer, unfortunately he wasn't able to get a job after graduating from the university and so he began to drive for his brother-in-law. Of course his brother-in-law was the individual that was involved in the manufacture of methamphetamines. So my first opportunity to visit Jing Jong, he was really grappling with why did this happen to me? I didn't do anything wrong, I was simply trying to live a good life, I simply wanted to better myself and make a better place in life for me and my family. Why would such a trial happen to me? Then over the years as he's undergone this trial in prison he has come to develop a deep relationship with God and he has also developed a tremendous amount of faith as he's gone through a very difficult situation.

See you have here the picture of Jed and Jed shares a space with about one hundred other inmates in the women's side of the city jail. Jing Jong shares the same space with a thousand prisoners. So it's a very difficult position that he finds himself in.

I'd like to read you something that he recently wrote and I think it would help you to understand how he has been able to develop his relationship with God. Now my first visit with him was a few years ago when during the visit we offered him some church literature; we offered him some sermon tapes. He began reading Vertical Thought, after that the Good News magazine and then sermon tapes on a regular basis. As time has gone on he has not only read that but he's shared that with fellow inmates. But here is how Jing Jong recently describing the challenges that he is going through. He said: "In this life I have dreamed of becoming someone that everyone wanted to be. I struggled and tried hard to finish my studies, knowing that this could bring me and my family to a better life in this world. I have refrained from doing things which I thought would hinder me from achieving it, but God allowed this trial to happen. At first I could not believe my destiny nor accept it wondering what could have been wrong. I spent my days and months and years in this congested place with no one that people with liabilities to the authorities surrounding me; with no one to lean on except my family. I learned to know more about our Creator God. He was and is my refuge, confidant, teacher, listener, guide, strength and a friend. He is the one who pulled me up and carried me every time that I felt that I could not bare it any more. He's always there for me and for my sister Jed. On October 7th of 2008 the court finally decided on our case. My life was changed much to the faith that I have. I could not believe myself when we were unjustly sentenced to life in prison. My faith grew stronger than I thought. I felt God was with me carrying the burden for me and my sister. I never lose hope that God will eventually deliver us and set us free and that the truth will prevail." Here is a young man probably in his mid to late twenties going through a horrific trial and he's spent four years in prison, but he's not allowed that time to be wasted. As he's gone through that trial, he's developed a deep relationship with God and he's developed a strong faith in his Creator.

So I hope that by looking at the slides that we looked at this afternoon and seeing some of the members that we have in Asia that you will come to a better appreciation of the wonderful work of God as He brings many sons to glory.