Don and Kathy Williams

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Big Impacts in Asia

It's that time of month again when we wanted you to see what what we've been up to in March.

Thank you to all who have such a big heart to support world missions. Also for the encouragement of the local church as they participate both locally and globally in Great Commission work. We believe through churches and individuals, whom ever partners with us, lives are being impacted here in Asia.

We are grateful for each person and church's participation when it comes to hearts beating in unison with the mission of the Lord - that none should perish.

What You Value...You Evaluate

If you think a task or goal is important then you evaluate it to determine if the objective has been reached. Ten months ago Don taught Strategic Planning to Pa Kep, the leader of the FMC in Myanmar. Four months later we returned to Myanmar to support Pa Kep as he taught and led the Board of Administration and other invited leaders in the development of Myanmar’s first Strategic Plan. It was amazing to see the student become the teacher within such a short time and so effectively lead his team in developing five strategic initiatives. Each initiative had its own set of goals, timeline, targets, costs, and identified who was responsible to see the task through to completion.

Over the course of several months Pa Kep and Don had regular conversations via Messenger. They collaborated reviewing progress to date and any possible roadblocks. Why? They both felt that when you value something you measure and assess it.

After a one-hour flight from Chiang Mai, Thailand to Yangon, Myanmar, then a 2- hour flight to Kalaymyo, Myanmar, ending with a 12-hour van ride over what could best be described at times like driving over a dry riverbed (pic to left) we finally arrived in Hakha, Myanmar. Oh did we mention that at times we had to pass over sections of road that looked less than the width of our van (pic to right)? On two occasions we even had to remove rocks and boulders to be able to pass. Large sections of the road were
under construction. The drive was only 120 miles. We figured the driver averaged 10 miles per hour. We finally arrived to be a part of Myanmar’s FMC Provisional Annual Conference held over the next three days.

Don gave the open-ing address as the confer-ence (pic to right) got under-way with the theme, “Stand Strong Together”. The following day he taught two sessions on leadership after the ordination service. The highlights for us while in Hakha were the ordination of three elders (pic to the left and above), times of worship, the restoration of two pastors, and the annual report given by superintendent PaKep.

Why, you might wonder would a report be a highlight? It’s because we witnessed how all the hours, days, weeks, and previous 8 months invested in building capacity in leaders in Myanmar resulted in Strategic Plan details being communicated to the conference. It was incredibly rewarding to see Pa Kep spell out to the conference yesterday the goals of each strategic initiative. He challenged participants with details on what it was going to take to accomplish the plan. It is a God-sized task - greater than their limited human resources, requiring their complete dependence upon the Lord.

Thank you for your support and partnership with us in the period January 2016 through 2017. You helped make our ministries possible as well as contributing greatly to the future of the church in Myanmar. We invite you to please join us in praying for the twenty-three churches in Myanmar. They have a clearly articulated vision for the future with ways to measure their success in their Strategic Plan. One of the most exciting initiatives in the plan is to plant five churches each year doubling the number of churches in the conference over the next five years. Please pray for the leaders as they continue to act on the plan, courageously standing strong together, leading into the future the Lord has for his church.

Grateful for your prayers and past support,

Don and Kathy
Your Missionaries to Asia

Introducing Thomas and a Thank-You

More and more we've made the shift to reading books electronically. It means less weight to carry as we travel. When an electronic version isn't available we'll buy a hardcopy. Six months ago that happened. The book was entitled, Strategic Planning for Christian Organizations …Turning the Power of Vision Into Effective Ministry.

As is the case when reading most books this one ended up marked with comments, notes, and underlined segments. Doing this helps us reflect on the book's contents and make personal connections to the author's words.

After presenting Strategic Planning to leaders in Myanmar a few months ago one of the participants, Thomas pointed out the connections he made. He saw how what he had learned about Strategic Planning applied to and would greatly benefit the International Child Care Ministry (ICCM) he leads in the country. Don apologetically offered his marked up copy of the book to encourage Thomas in his pursuit of leading strategically. The offer was enthusiastically welcomed with an expression of appreciation for having Don's comments and marked up copy.

We wanted to introduce you to Thomas because your support and partnership with us in October reminds us of your far-reaching impact including church leaders as well as para-church ministries like Thomas' with ICCM. Your support of us is making a tremendous difference in the lives of children and young adult ministries like ICCM through leaders who were recently trained in Myanmar.
Thank you for your support in October of us and of leaders like Thomas. Your gift is making a difference in the lives of others.

Sincerely,
Don and Kathy
Your Missionaries to Asia

Brimming With Opportunity...Ministry Adventures in Myanmar

Holding our Rope and Pulling 03.12.2017 A three-times a month publication from Don and Kathy Williams

Your Free Methodist Missionaries Serving in Asia

Brimming With Opportunity...

...Ministry Adventures in Myanmar

Hakaha, Myanmar...soon after arriving in Yangon a week ago, Kathy saw a sign that made her think of the phrase, "Brimming With Opportunity". We were getting Internet cards for our phones as we were starting off on our adventure to Hakha

for the Myanmar FMC Provisional Annual Conference the next day. Join us in our enthusiasm and anticipation of a trip Brimming with Opportunity!!

Oh my!! Flying into Kalaymyo airport reminded us of a scene from Casablanca. The road trip from Kalaymyo to Hakha was a mix of Little House on the Prairie and the Waltons. Our trip was like traveling by

covered wagon in that we traveled by van 120 miles in 12 hours.

Waiting for us in Hakha was a welcome bucket of hot charcoal (pic to the right) to warm our hands and feet in PaKep's mother's living room, including a delicious open wood fire (pic to the left) cooked dinner from her kitchen. Many breakfasts followed with the same warm hospitality.

Myanmar's Provisional Annual Conference bloomed with opportunities we were excited to participate in and witness...

...faithful leaders reunited;

...leaders restored as elders;

...three elders ordained;

...three FM Bible School grads appointed as

Ministerial Conference Candidates;

...a conference set on fire when PaKep cast the

vision from the Strategic Plan;

...and a conference Standing Strong Together

(Theme from Don's message).

Sunday's service was a celebration of worship and communion, and a challenge to be steadfast in prayer.

Your Ms to Asia,

Don and Kathy

Theological Foundations...Build Freedom

Holding our Rope and Pulling 04.30.2017 A three-times a month publication from Don and Kathy Williams

Your Free Methodist Missionaries Serving in Asia

Theological Foundations...

...Build Freedom

Hakha, Myanmar...we love what these picture from our time in Myanmar capture in this week's update. "Why?" you ask. They represent the essence of the important roles women play in the church.

The pictures also depict one of the Five Freedom Structures of the Free Methodist theological foundations, expressing the value of the role women have in the church. The second freedom structure is: "Freedom of women and men to be treated respectfully and use their gifts equally in the church, in the home and in the world."

Let us introduce you to a few of the women who both in the past and present are using their gifts equally in the church in Myanmar, in the home, and in the world as are men. Is there room for improvement? Yes. In fact the leadership of Myanmar is in the process of creating strategic initiatives as part of its strategic planning for this freedom as well as each of the other four freedoms, specific to their culture, designed to strengthen the witness of the FMC in Myanmar.

From left to right: Carol Stickney's role is an ordained elder in the FMC, presently serving as the Myanmar Country Advocate in the USA (Contact her to learn more: cmstick@gmail.com), and previously served as a short-term missionary in both Thailand and Myanmar for two years in each country. She has also pastored a FMC in Washington and Idaho State.

Mrs Kung is the wife of the founder of the FMC in Myanmar, Rev. Dr. F. Kung. She is the mother of PaKep, the present superintendent of the FMC in Myanmar, and is an active member of the laity of the first FM Church in Hakha, Myanmar.

Virginia Spangler is actively engaged in ministry with her husband in his role as the Asia Area Director since 2014. She helps manage the home office in both Chiang Mai and in Washington State and traveling, Virginia offers invaluable support and care to Asia ministries and missionaries.

Mrs. Kung's sister lives next door to her, she helps host and feed guests visiting Hakha, and attends the FMC in Hakha.

Kathy is the coordinator for CBSI (Community Bible Study International) in Chiang Mai, serves on the Thailand ICCM (International Child Care Ministry) Committee, works alongside Don in his consulting role while bringing her passion for inductive Bible Study influencing the church throughout Asia, and is a wonderful hostess to guests visiting Chiang Mai staying in their home.

Martha, pictured to the right with Carol, Kathy and Virginia, is a recent FM Yangon Bible School graduate and is a newly appointed LMC (Local Ministerial Candidate). She represents the next Freedom Structure Generation of women in the church. Her present ministry has her serving at the ICCM Youth Hostel in Kalay, Myanmar where she grew up. She has two more years at university in Kalay and then plans on attending seminary in the Philippines.

The woman pictured below with Kathy, Carol, and Virginia has a heart for women's ministry in Myanmar and is their strong advocate. Presently she is the WMI (Women's Ministry International) representative for the FMC in Myanmar.

Nu Hta Par's role (pictured below and to the far left) through the Yangon Church and conference includes: coordinating the FMC's Pre-School, a secondary science teacher at the FMC's Boarding School, and serves alongside her husband, PaKep, in his role as the superintendent of Myanmar.

The woman on the far right directly behind the young girl in the pink shirt is the director of a "In Better Hands" home, an organization dedicated to rescuing children in Asia that are at risk of being trafficked, placing them in a loving Christian homes.

Pray for the women in the church in Myanmar that the Lord would continue to use them to direct the work of the church and to also provide an energizing force within that work.

Pray for Nu Hta Par's father. He is back in the hospital and is not doing well.

Blessings,

Don and Kathy

Your Ms in Asia

His Steadfast Love...Endures Forever

Holding our Rope and Pulling 04.23.2017 A three-times a month publication from Don and Kathy Williams

Your Free Methodist Missionaries Serving in Asia

His Steadfast Love...

...Endures Forever

Chiang Mai, Thailand...a couple weeks ago the pastor of the Free Methodist Church asked if there was anyone who had something they wanted to share. As Kathy looked my way to ask if she should share and I quickly volunteered her.

Kathy beautifully challenged the church to be in the Word. She described how the Word of God can be a tremendous source of encouragement for the believer. The chapter she asked them to read later that day was Psalms 136. Kathy told the congregation they would repeatedly hear of the Father's love throughout the chapter as the Psalmist proclaimed 26 times after each line the words, "God's Steadfast Love Endures Forever".

Psalms 136 (ESV)

(At the end of each line say the words, "God's steadfast love endures forever.")

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

Give thanks to the God of gods.

Give thanks to the Lord of lords.

to him who alone does great wonders,

to him who by understanding made the heavens,
to him who spread out the earth above the waters,
to him who made the great lights-
the sun to rule over the day,
the moon and stars to rule over the night;

to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt

and brought Israel out from among them
with a strong hand and an outstretched arm;

to him who divided the Red Sea in two,

and made Israel pass through the midst of it,

but overthrew Pharaoh and his host into the Red Sea;

to him who led his people through the wilderness;

to him who struck down great kings,

and killed mighty kings -

Sihon king of the Amorites
and Og king of Bashan-
and gave their land as a heritage,
a heritage to Israel his servant,

it is He who remembered us in our low estate

and rescued us from our foes.
He who gives food to all flesh.

Give thanks to the God of heaven.

Be encouraged Church because at every turn in your lives, not just 26 times, God is there reminding you that his steadfast love endures forever in each of your circumstances. We have the privilege of sharing this Good News throughout Asia with those who have yet to hear of His steadfast love and how it endures forever for each of them. Please be praying as we continue to faithfully share this Good News both inside and outside the church.

His Ambassadors to Asia,

Don and Kathy

What's So Good About...Good Friday?

Holding our Rope and Pulling 04.14.2017 A three-times a month publication from Don and Kathy Williams

Your Free Methodist Missionaries Serving in Asia

What's So Good About...

...Good Friday?

Chiang Mai, Thailand...throughout Asia and around the globe Christians everywhere are celebrating Good Friday. When we think about this Friday as opposed to others in the calendar, it really is day for celebration. Certainly what the Jewish and Roman authorities did to Jesus wasn't good. However the result of Christ's death produced something quite amazing and good.

For us the day began reminding ourselves of the words of John the Baptist found in John 1:29. This is the place recorded in the Scriptures where John sees Jesus coming towards him at the beginning of Christ's ministry and says to the crowd gathered, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"

John's declaration hinges all the stories in the Old Testament, related to animals being sacrificed covering the sins of mankind, to "The Story" in the New Testament. Jesus is that Story, the perfect lamb of God who in his death does exactly what Romans 6:10 talks about. "The death he (Jesus) died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God." NIV.

Hebrews 10 reminds us what animal sacrifices could not do and what Christ's death did when it says:

10:1: The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming-not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.

The sacrifices of the Law could never "make perfect those who draw near."

10:2: Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.

Those sacrifices could not completely cleanse the worshipers and take away their consciousness of sins.

10:3: But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.

Those sacrifices provided a yearly reminder of sins.

10:4: It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Those sacrifices could not take away sins.

10:10: And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

By God's will through the cross, "we have been sanctified" once for all.

10:12: But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,

Christ "offered one sacrifice for sins for all time."

10:14: For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

"By one offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified."

10:17: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."

God promises to remember their sins and lawless deeds no more.

10:18: And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

"Where there is forgiveness...there is no longer any offering for sin."

This is what makes Good Friday GOOD: in Christ we receive a complete, final, once and for all pardon for all of our sins, past, present, and future! God's son, Jesus Christ, his perfect Lamb, bore the awful penalty we deserved to pay and instead he pardoned us from all of our sins. Good Friday is an important part of The Story which culminates in Christ's burial and resurrection. Truly we have Good News to share with the world.

Please pray for the people in Asia, lands filled with people who are both righteous and unrighteous - needing to be brought to God. Please pray these words from 1Peter 3:18 for the people of Asia:

"For Christ died for sins once for all (the people of Asia), the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring (them) you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit." Lord this Passover make alive by your Spirit, hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands of people living in Asia - opening their eyes to the perfect lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world to those who believe.

He is risen,

Don and Kathy

Your Ms in Asia