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INTRODUCING AI JAWEH
My name is Ai Jaweh, but I am called Ja Pe. I believe that I will go to the Father through Jesus Christ by faith, because Jesus is my heavenly way, my true God, my righteousness, and my eternal life. My faith is laid on Him, whether I live or die.
In 1960, when I was 18 years old, my wife and I both accepted Christ and were baptized on the same day. In my wife’s case, she was afraid of judgment and hell. She was as eager as I to accept Christ after learning of Him. All of my children have now been saved except the youngest of them.
Before I worked for God, I was in the security forces of the Army. During that time, I was studying the Bible in a short-term Bible school run by the Baptist Church. The missionaries who taught me were Paul Lewis, Ja er Graham, and Ken Howlin. These men are back in America now. Later, I was called into God’s service by a Lahu Baptist Village that needed a pastor. Since that day, I have been serving God.
Currently, I and my family minister as evangelists and pastors. My ministry is to evangelize and plant churches among the Red Lahu tribe in the Mae Suai District of Chiang Rai Province of Northern Thailand. This activity is carried out through my church, which is in the Red Lahu Village named Huay Sala. I am training some young men of the Akha tribe as well as the Red Lahu in the daytime and at night.
I hope you will pray for these young preachers who help me. The most promising among them are Asai, Beh Long, Ayo, Alm Na mi eh, and Ai sang.
Recently, I have baptized more than 70 people. I don’t really know how many have been saved and baptized over the years because I never kept records. We do know that there have been eleven Red Lahu and Akha churches started since I began evangelizing this area. I must say that I could not accomplish this work without the young men who help me evangelize, preach, teach, and evangelize. I have currently four assistants who need support as well. We share with them now from what we receive from FINAL FRONTIERS, but it would be good for them to have their own sponsors.
Our church helps us with some support, but it is very difficult for them to do so because there have been many problems in the past three years. First of all, there was a drought for two years, so the crops were very sparse. When rain came the following year, the people were happy, but during the harvest season, the rats came upon us and ate most of our rice while it was still growing in the paddies.
[note: in many third-world countries, particularly South America and Southeast Asia; rats, which grow to the size of a small dog, roam in packs through the jungles, foraging on whatever food they can find. When they come upon jungle villages, they descend in the night and eat most anything in sight. In the morning, villagers awake to find their fields ravaged and their banana trees stripped bare.]
Because we are busy preaching, we do not have time to work another job. To help supplement our support, we grow a little rice in a small yard nearby. This yard produces forty tins of rice each year, but it isn’t enough for all of us. When the season comes, we also grow a little corn. Rice is my favorite food, but we are glad to get other food from time to time.
You have asked me to describe my house and daily schedule. My house is really a very simple one, made of wood and bamboo, in the traditional Lahu style; but it is suitable for us. Each day, we rise early in the morning. A typical schedule for me would be first of all reading from the Old and New Testament, then preaching and teaching to those who visit me. During this time, the young men I train learn from the scriptures and learn how to preach by my example. Many Lahu are against the Bible, so the young preachers learn how to refute their questions as they listen to me do so. Later in the afternoon, we evangelize from house to house and village to village.
Our needs in the ministry are not great. First of all, we need prayer from the churches in America. However, in order to be more effective here, we have need of a cassette tape recorder, a view master with picture rolls, a projector with filmslips, Bible pictures and charts, and a camera so that we can send back photos of our work to your readers.
I am glad that you help me in God’s work and for His Kingdom. Because of your help, we can extend His Kingdom farther and farther. Thank you for your help to me. May God bless you.
Ja Pe
For Your Information…
Ja Pe and his wife are called “singbirds” by the churches because of their musical abilities.
We do have a sponsor for this family in the amount of $50.00 monthly. This would be sufficient for him, if he did not have to share with his helpers. Thus we need to raise support for these men as well in the amount of $25.00 – 50.00 monthly per man.
Ja Pe could use an additional $50.00 monthly for ministry needs and travel expenses. Below is a breakdown of his stated needs:
- Rice: $48.00
- Vegetables: $32.00
- Travel fund: $24.00
- Clothing: $12.00
- Medicines: $8.00
- Total: $124.00
His needs surpass the amount we are requesting. It is because we do not wish to remove the responsibility of his church to care for him.
Family Information:
- Ja Pe (47) 10-01-43
- E Juseng [wife] (46) 03-03-45
Sons:
- Job: (27) 04-19-64
- Joel: (18) 03-10-73
- Judas: (15) 11-06-75
- Joseh: (8) 06-31-82
Daughters:
- Somsri: (13) 08-08-77
- Prapasti: (11) 12-15-79
NICARAGUA
A letter from Santos Matey…
This little letter is for Final Frontiers. My fraternal greetings. May the grace and mercifulness of the Lord be overflowed upon you over and over.
This is to express my most sincere gratitude to you for the offering you sent me. It was such a great joy for me and it allowed me to help my wife. She was sick in the hospital. Everything is difficult in this country [because of inflation].
The help I received from you is used to buy food only, and I am praying that it won’t be your last help, but God will keep supplying much more to you, so we can receive a part of those blessings.
Your brother in Christ who loves you very much, Santos Matey San Lucas Baptist Church, Madriz, Nicaragua
Pertinent information: Incidentally, Santos’ ministry has been so effective that the local Catholic church has literally closed down. It seems most of their people have converted to Christ. He has pastored here only one year. They average 10 salvations per month. 40% receive baptism. They run two missions in neighboring villages. Their church runs about 120 in a village of 1,000.
THE JON NELMS FAMILY
Jon, Juanita, Daniel, and Sara
Dear Foundation Supporters:
Word has reached us from Nicaragua that the church in Congrega has been filled with new converts since we left that area. It seems that those who “came forward” in the invitation, during our three-night crusade there, certainly meant business. I’ll never forget that evening, as we saw 27 men coming forward to accept Christ as Savior. Many were weeping as they stood in line for up to 10 minutes, waiting to reach the altar. You see, the tent was so crowded, that you just couldn’t move down the aisles. In recent years, that town had been controlled by the Sandinistas; perhaps now, it will be controlled by the Savior!
Juanita, the kids, and I are beginning our preparations to leave for Asia. There will be five people going with us. I really hope that someday all of you could accompany us on a missions trip. Remember, Jesus did not just say to pray or send, He also exhorted us to “lift up your (own) eyes and look.” I believe nothing will stir your heart for the world like taking a missions trip. I encourage each church to provide such a trip at least every two years for their pastor and his wife.
While I am in Asia, we will be spending most of our time in Thailand and at the borders of Burma and Laos; however, God has arranged for me to be able to go into Cambodia. The purpose of this trip will be to make arrangements for a crusade in the capital city of Phnom Penh. I will meet with the necessary government officials and leaders of the church (which remains). We will attempt to arrange for a two-week period when we can return to share the Gospel with that nation. Upon my return in June, I’ll be giving you details of the trip. We will also open a special account for those who would like to contribute towards this venture.
I want to ask you all to remain with us in prayer. The ministry goes on, but with it, the expense to operate increases. We are praying to raise a needed $1,000.00 monthly support for our operating and ministry expenses. In addition, my family’s support is at the 75% level. (It would be a blessing to see that goal finally accomplished.) I cannot, however, do so until the necessary ministry funds are acquired. Pray with us about this if you will, please.
Yours for souls,
Jon Nelms
Did You Know… In this country of 1.44 million people, 66% of the population claim to be either atheistic or non-religious. There are no estimates for the total Christian population. There are no Christian radio broadcasts in the nation’s official language, Halh Mongolian. It is Mongolia, land-locked between the Soviet Union and China.
One Thing is Needful
By Pastor Wesley Hansen
Visitors were everywhere in that little house in Bethany. They were polite, but insistent. There weren’t enough chairs. There hadn’t been enough time to prepare. And the time to eat had come and gone—and the food still wasn’t ready.
Jesus was there, and that was good. And the neighbors had come from everywhere to hear Him. That was good too. But they wouldn’t go home. They stayed and stayed. And the worst was that Mary was just sitting there listening. She didn’t even try to help. She showed no impatience. No awareness. She didn’t respond to her sister’s high signs, throat clearing, and banging of the lid on the big iron skillet.
Finally, Martha could stand it no longer. With impatient respect, she addressed the Master, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me.”
Jesus responded with understanding. But His reply is an incisive instruction to the overly-busy, but spiritually underfed “Marthas” of our time, “One thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42).
Is it possible to be a Mary in Martha’s world? And if so, is it practical? Is it necessary?
“One thing is needful,” said Jesus. In our world of sandwiches and sideshows, work and worry, children and culture, reading and rest—one thing is needful—Mary unconsciously chose it.
Her place was sitting at Jesus’ feet. At those feet, the lame, blind, dumb, and maimed were cast and were healed (Matthew 15:30). At those feet, the healed demoniac sat, “clothed and in his right mind” (Luke 8:35). At those feet, a ruler of the synagogue hurled himself requesting Jesus to heal his child who would soon be cold with death if Jesus didn’t help. At those feet, Mary sat.
Always stop at Jesus’ feet before going to the kitchen to serve. Hungry-hearted, soul-weary Marthas do not serve well. Full-hearted Marys do.
Mary’s hunger was that “she heard his word.” That’s the food that endures to life everlasting. I hope, dear reader, that you are not part of the crowd that must be bribed to church by the promise of a Christian performance. Christian circuses are the rage these days. If a church doesn’t have some type of sideshow, some attraction, the marquee Marthas will go elsewhere. Praise God for the Marys, completely satisfied at the feet of Jesus.
Mary had made her choice. She had “chosen that good part,” and it would never be taken away from her, said Jesus. Choose your portion. Set your appetite. Fill your heart. Like a newborn baby “desire the sincere milk of the word,” and He whose word it is.
An old German poet wrote:
“As Mary once devoutly sought The eternal truth, the better part, And sat, enwrapped in holy thought, At Jesus’ feet with burning heart,
“Even so is all my heart’s desire Fixed, dearest Lord, on thee alone. Oh, make me true and draw me higher, And make thyself, O Christ, my own!”
Pastor Hansen Pastors at Billy Sunday Memorial Tabernacle, Sioux City, Iowa
Happy New Year Dear Brother in the Lord!
Greeting you in the name of our Wonderful Savior Lord Jesus Christ who is the Son of God.
…we are serving for spreading the gospel wider and wider to the unreached regions: Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Burma, China, and Tibet—nine countries. Akhas in nine countries and in population more than four million. So we often train those who are willing to spread the gospel. As you can see in the picture, we have trained many already…
…we finished Zion Bible Training Center building, but the office is not complete because the money is gone…we want you to help us for the Bible training [of the preachers] from now on if you are interested and willing.
Our Christmas convention in Maesuay District (where you have reached) is finished. There were two thousand people gathered together for four days. The total cost was 50,000 baht (about 27¢ per person, per day).
In the first week of January, Jimmy will be going with Paul and Ta Tu into Laos because the Laotians are calling us to help by the Word of God. Last year we were there and spreading the Gospel to many villages, and so they are calling us again to help them. [They need medicine, blankets, and mosquito nets.] We’ll report when we return.
You promised that you would provide tape cassette and camera to each one of us, but you may not provide if the funds aren’t enough to be bought.
With love,
Jimmy Tachinam
*Editors Note: This shows how cheaply they can be trained. Between $25 and $50 per month can subsidize a preacher’s on-going training and ministry needs.
Did You Know…
In this country of 1.44 million people, 66% of the population claim to be either atheistic or non-religious. There are no estimates for the total Christian population. There are no Christian radio broadcasts in the nation’s official language, Halh Mongolian. It is Mongolia, land-locked between the Soviet Union and China.
Esteemed brothers:
Wishing our Lord whom we serve is blessing you greatly that you will continue supporting the preaching all over the world. By means of this, I want to thank you for that love which you feel to us and the work of God in Nicaragua. I received the $25 which were a great blessing for us at this critical moment that Nicaraguans are suffering.
Also, I want to tell you that I am continuing the work that the Lord has commanded me. I am working as a pastor to a church and our mission. It is 200 kilometers from Managua.
December was filled with much blessing: since eight brothers got baptized, and they are ready to work for the glory of the Lord.
I beg your prayers and if you can continue to help me financially, it would be a great blessing for us. Greetings to you in Christ Jesus.
Eliseo Molina Caballero
Pertinent information:
Eliseo has just replaced another pastor at this church. He has been here for three and a half months. During that time they have had one saved and eight baptized. They are running 72 in attendance. They operate one mission which is six kilometers away. He and the church walk there on Sunday afternoon to conduct services. The mission is running 40 and there have been 13 saved.
Dear Jon and Members of Final Frontiers Foundation,
Thank you all for caring and taking the pains to send us $25 monthly for the last three months as a support for our needs.
We henceforth thank you all from the bottom of our heart and may you always be a helping hand to every Christian in need. We also pray for you and your good work that it may bloom a lot of success and we hereby promise that we’ll try our best to perform God’s work together with Jimmy and the other church members.
Both of us are overwhelmed as God has answered our prayers through you. We are servants of God and we will be till our last breath. We will remember you in our prayers and we hope that you will be praying for us to do God’s work more and more each day.
Yours respectfully in Christ,
Harold and Mabel Htun Pe
Tachilek, Burma
Pertinent information:
Harold serves in a country that is closed to American missionaries.
