April-17-153Y

together
April 2017
Issue 153
Interns...
TIMO

The official publication of
SIM New Zealand, an
inter-denominational evangelical
Protestant mission.
SIM (Serving In Mission),
is a dispersed community
of God’s people who delight
to worship him and are
passionate about the gospel,
seeking to make disciples of
Jesus Christ where he is least
known in the world.
For security reasons some
contributors may use
pseudonyms. Stock photos
are sometimes used to help
represent stories. Except
for stock photographs, all
images copyright ©2017 SIM
and its licensors. All rights
reserved. SIM New Zealand
(#CC28002) is a registered
charitable entity in terms of
the Charities Act 2005. For
more information, visit the
Charities Register at www.
charities.govt.nz
SIM New Zealand,
PO Box 38-588,
Howick,
Auckland, 2145
Phone: 09 538 0004
Freephone: 0508 47 46 69
Email: nz.info@sim.org
Office: 12B Picton Street,
Howick,
Auckland, 2014
Editor: Zoë Cromwell
Print: Ideal Print
Introducing...
The Barr
Family
“Hi, we are the
Barrs: Rob, Katherine,
Alisha (11) and
Abigail (8). We live
in Gore, which is
in the deep south
of New Zealand,
where Rob works
as an accountant
and Katherine is the manager of Manna Christian
Bookshop. Last year, God spoke to us and said
that he was sending us to Burkina Faso (West
Africa), a country that, at the time, we knew nothing
about. Rob will be the Treasurer of the SIM
Burkina office. We have been amazed by how God
has confirmed His calling and are very excited
about how God will use all four of us in this new
adventure with Him. Our sending Church family is
Calvin Community Church in Gore.”
Jo Wallace
Jo has been serving
as an Associate at
Bingham Academy in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
since August 2013.
At a recent SIM NZ
Board meeting she was
accepted as a Member.
We would like to congratulate
Jo and Medan on their engagement and
as they look forward to getting married on July 8
in Invercargill. Jo will also be support-raising for
the next phase of her mission service at Bingham.
Please continue to pray for Jo and Medan.
The cover: TIMO stands for Training in Mission Outreach, a mission
model develped by Africa Inland Mission and adopted by SIM in partnership
with AIM. See pages 4-6 for the story.
2

from the director
Short term mission
trips under the
spotlight
We have a number of people in
the application process to be missionaries
and I’m delighted to have
worked with our board to welcome
three of them as mission partners! I
love seeing God move in people’s lives
and seeing people courageously join him
in mission!
However, one of the challenges I’ve
heard quite a bit revolves around short-term
mission opportunities. A number of people have shared with me that short-term mission
experiences don’t work in identifying missionaries. They can be glorified missions tourism
and do more harm than good. I’ve seen several examples that seem to support this view –
trips that have been full of good intentions but which delivered poor and insensitive results.
But I struggle, because I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for a short-term
trip 19 years ago when I first experienced the church outside of my culture. I was 28 and
helped lead a team of 56 twelve and thirteen year-olds to Juarez, Mexico. We partnered
with a church there to reach out into communities where they had relationships.
God must have been doing something with me because this trip didn’t scare me away.
Instead, I found myself leading other trips with young people and building relationships
with locals who identified needs and directed our efforts. The win on these trips wasn’t the
work or experience – it was in the relationships that developed and in the learning that
took place. Today, I need more than my two hands to count the number of teens that went
on to ministry or to serve as missionaries and today can trace their journey back to these
trips. In my experience, well-stewarded trips became a space where I could see Romans
12:1-2 in action.
So, I’m not in a hurry to give up on short-term mission efforts. We don’t need to throw
the baby out with the bath water. We do need to be intentional about the experience and
what can and should be accomplished. We need to feel the responsibility of being good
guests and shepherding participants as God works in the lives of our short termers and
transforms their minds. We need to guard against the danger of the mission trip being ‘just
a trip’. We need to be realistic of what is attempted in a short time frame.
In this issue, you have the chance to read about internships - interesting efforts to
provide a taste of inter-cultural mission life with SIM which are set up to try to capture the
transformation I talked of above, while also honouring the mission field and people they
work with. I encourage you to give them a read while asking if you know of someone -
young or old - who might ‘fit’ such an opportunity. When someone comes to mind, encourage
them to email or give us a call. Who knows where they might be 19 years from now.
3

INTERNS
One way to ensure
short term mission is
built on solid foundations,
is the concept
of being an intern.
SIM offers several
examples of this.
Mission partners can
go out for several
months, a year or
two years, and as
they experience mission
in a team, they
do a course of study.
Far from being
‘just a trip’, an internship
is a serious
commitment. Participants
live amongst
the people they have
gone to serve, learning
their culture at
grassroots level. For
example, in India or
Bangladesh, Bolivia,
China or out in
the bush in Niger,
the interns learn the
language and work
under the mentorship
of a seasoned
missionary. Unlike
a once-over-lightly
short term trip,
they are expected
to make significant
friendships with
local people.
Is it time for
L
ast November out in the backblocks,
a Nigerien chief came to visit his
neighbour, W, the senior leader of a team
of seven interns who had been meeting for
Team Day. Each day lately the chief had
been coming by to discuss his ‘problem’.
This day he had questions about Deftere
Allah (God’s book).
Earlier in the week he had announced:
“My children are worried that their father
is going to leave his religion. They worry
about the shame it will bring, and ask ‘Who
will follow you, who will bury you, if you
turn away to follow another way?’”
W says, “Each day as we shared food,
either at our place or in his hut, he would
ask me to pray and thank God for the food.”
This was the first time since they knew him
he had done this - “When you pray, God
listens,” the chief said.
Then T, a local believer from the same
language group and culture made one of his
occasional visits to W’s family, and the chief
was excited to come and talk to him, explaining,
“A few nights ago I was in my hut
alone and I prayed to God to show which is
the better way. Should I keep following the
religion that I’ve been following all my life
or is the other way the true way? That night
I had a dream in which God showed me
the true way. I don’t want to follow my old
religion any more.”
On the same visit, T was taken to meet
another man from this community who
had believed through another’s witness a
number of years ago, but had never known
how to openly live as a believer among his
4

us to TIMO?
5
neighbours. Now he asked T about baptism,
and if it was okay for his two wives to be
baptised.
This is kingdom life at the cutting edge.
Can you possibly imagine, if you were to go
overseas on a study trip exploring mission, a
more effective environment to be immersed
in than these seven TIMO interns have in
Niger?
Here are two great things about the
Training In Mission Outreach (TIMO) model:
1. it introduces new mission partners to
real mission; not by exposing them to the fringes but allowing them
to dive right in, while studying.
2. it’s a ministry initiative which lives out the spirit of co-operation
between mission organisations, in this case SIM and Africa Inland
Mission (AIM).
In the TIMO programme in Niger, some of the team are with SIM
and some are with AIM, plus a family from a Kenyan church. AIM has
many other teams in other places, both rural and urban.
TIMO was designed by AIM as a two-year mission programme to
accomplish three objectives: To equip new missionaries with a foundation
for a lifetime of ministry, to share Jesus Christ with Africa’s
least-reached peoples, and to see Christ-centered churches established
among them. Teams consist of 6-12 new missionaries and their seasoned
leader/s. The team lives among an African people group, seeking
to learn their culture and language in order to build genuine relationships.
Going to places that few outsiders ever go, TIMO teams go deep -
from the daily lessons in stumbling through language and life’s incidentals,
to discipleship strategies, timeless interpersonal skills, prayer, patience
and spiritual growth. Perhaps the greatest lesson is one of love.
They strive to live simply, and through the friendships and trust they
build, they seek to share Christ. The training programme involves reading
and writing papers, just as you would in Bible college, except the
team members are living in an immersion situation and are putting into
practice immediately what they are learning through their study.
continued over the page
▷

Praise God for the doors he is opening for the
TIMO team in Niger. Praise him especially for
four new believers, and pray his protection over
them as they face opposition from others.
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” — African proverb
This calls for humility above all. It asks us to become a learner
even if we think we are ready to be the teacher. It takes time and patience.
And it calls us to trust in a God who delights in opening hearts
and crumbling defenses through humble obedience. It is incarnational
living. A life lived with genuine interest and compassion toward
others produces genuine friendships, and through these the gospel
has an opportunity to take root. Relationships are the foundation
for meaningful discipleship which, in turn, lays the groundwork for a
Christ-centered church.
But immersion on such a scale can be incredibly hard if you go
in alone, especially when the culture you are crossing into is so vastly
different from the one you are coming from. Hence this team approach
to ministry training. Teams bring together men and women
of diverse backgrounds and abilities, foster interdependence, and
give synergy to the work. Team members share a common goal in
proclaiming Christ, but they also share in a rich array of uncommon
experiences as they learn and minister in a new and foreign culture.
Currently, SIM is working on developing a French TIMO curriculum.
With a French TIMO team, not only would Nigeriens and other
Africans from francophone countries be able to take part, but also Europeans
and others who already have gone to French language school
or who are native French speakers. %
- SIM Niger & AIM website
6

7
Some other intern opportunities
IMMERSE is a 1 or 2-year internship programme with SIM UK, starting
in September each year. Possible overseas placements in 2017 include
sports coaching in Africa, South America or south Asia; international
student ministry outreach in South Africa, South America or Thailand; ​
English teaching or language/culture studies in Asia.
Previous training or experience in a particular ministry is not always
required. There’s a 4-week orientation in England at the start.
English Teaching Internship in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to give people the
opportunity to see if they are suited for long-term work there; for interns
to learn how to share the gospel in a Muslim context and develop a love
of Bangladesh and its people through developing friendships and learning
some of the Bengali language and culture. (Length of commitment:
4 months or 12 months.)
The BUILD programme: SIM Ecuador offers training for candidates from
around the world to participate in mission while receiving hands-on
training as part of a cross-cultural team, learning skills to prepare for
further service no matter where God leads. Possible areas of service for
interns to focus on include
radio ministry, children and
youth, curriculum development
and hospitality.
Interns: living and
learning the heart of
a community, not
just visiting it.
INCREDIBLE INDIA gives the
opportunity to be an intern
for 4 months in a way that
reflects long-term possibilities.
Interns spend the
first two months learning
language and culture while
building relationships in the community; sharing life with Hindu or Muslim
neighbours gives the opportunity to pray and share truth with them.
During the final 2 months, interns travel to see different ministries and
work with long-term colleagues and Indian partners. SIM India is looking
for people who want to explore what life overseas might look like for
them, and wants to help them catch a vision of what’s possible.
Contact nz.info@sim.org to discuss TIMO or any of these.

GOD ’S GRACE f or BODY,
SOUL & RELATIONSHIPS
icture a solitary boy sitting at
home making little clay figures -
his only playmates. Fractured family
dynamics meant he was cut off
from his half-siblings and starved
of a father’s care. His mother,
having lost one child to drowning,
was afraid to let him have
normal kids’ play outside; the
village thought he was a crazy
kid. Today Daeng remembers
the drunken landlord who
stole the clay figures and
took away his “family”. At
an early age he felt life was
stacked against him. His mother’s
family went to church, but seldom did Daeng
feel it a welcoming environment; his childhood was
often shaped by poverty, broken promises and lack
of opportunity, despite him showing early signs of
academic and leadership ability.
Ann’s parents were Buddhist. She was an only
Daeng as a child
P
child but compared herself poorly to cousins who
were the favourites in the extended family. As she grew up
believing that she had no value, that nobody loved her, she
went looking for love with boys, but they never met her
need for love and broke her trust. Ann decided then that
she could trust no one, and angrily determined to look
after herself and never think of the needs of others.
When at age 30 Ann started to learn about Jesus
she was still suspicious of other people’s motives. Instead
Project Radical Grace
is based in Chiang Mai,
Thailand, modeling
a wholistic gospel to
those on the margins
living with poverty, dysfunctional
relationships
and many living with
HIV. Daeng and Ann
Dechaboon are such
a good fit as leaders
because of their own
broken backgrounds.
They talked to
Zoë Cromwell on
their recent visit to
New Zealand
Ann (left) and her cousin
of following what they said, she began exploring the Christian life by herself through
prayer and the Bible, and trusted God. After two years she was baptised.
Ann and Daeng met around this time.
Daeng’s life of mixed influences up to this point had included early secondary education
at a good school paid for by his father. He was the poor boy in the rich school
who often came without lunch. His teachers saw he had natural ability and said he
should become a teacher or university lecturer, but family issues got in the way. The
support of his step father, his mother’s third husband, faded away when Daeng’s birth
father, a gambler and womaniser, stepped in and insisted Daeng take his surname. The
step father removing support led to fighting between him and Daeng. As a teenager
Daeng often asked himself why some people get advantages in life, but not him. He
grew up with a strong sense of the injustice of poverty - often in Thai society there
8

Pi Prasert (Daeng) & Pi Jutatip (Ann) Dechaboon
Photo: ZC
Tim Coleman
9
seems no way out, you are locked into your circumstances.
Then he came to the notice of a church elder, who helped him attend a small Bible
college in Bangkok, where he chose to dedicate his life to God. But Daeng still struggled
- thinking the family’s church was too exclusive, too heavy on religion and too light on
actually changing lives. So many churches in Thailand are religious, ceremonial, traditional
places that mirror Buddhism but with Christ in place of Buddha. So instead of
going on to be a preacher, he left his family’s church and joined the army.
He had entered a lifestyle full of risk, in more ways than one. At this time in Chiang
Mai the rate of HIV infection in soldier recruits was around 15%. That’s high prevalence.
Bar life, drinking too much and going with sex workers who were careless about
condoms was common. One day Daeng got into an argument with an older soldier who
pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the stomach. He needed 6 pints of blood - often
sourced from people who sold blood for money. That was the end of his army career.
Daeng prayed, “If God is real, I want to do the work that God created me to do.”
He met two Thai leaders, Ajan Sanan Wutti, who remains the director of Thailand
Church of Christ’s AIDS ministry, and his mentor, Ajan Prasit Saetang. Where Bible College
had taught Daeng religion, these two taught him how to connect people to God,
and theology to life. With their backing he started creating the network of those living
with HIV in the Chiang Mai area, and started campaigning for anti retro-viral drugs to
come into Thailand. Before drugs became available, Daeng and Ann fostered holistic
health, caring for all the needs of those living with HIV.
continued over the page ▷

In those days, the global community didn’t fully understand HIV, medication
was still being developed and people were dying daily. Daeng was compelled by the
injustice of the unfolding situation and started to care for people, little by little turning
his life around so that today he and Ann lead SIM’s Hope for AIDS ministry in Thailand
through the Radical Grace Project.
K
enneth Fleck came to Thailand looking for where God was working there, having
done a thesis on culture gaps in HIV care. He met the Dechaboons in 2010 - the
SIM missionary with dreadlocks meeting the couple with big hearts for the
HIV community. For a year, they got together all
day every Friday, simply talking about their vision
for what became Radical Grace. Daeng and Ann
already worked free-lance with sex workers, drug
users, migrants and refugees. They worked hard to
access treatment and to understand how to fight
the stigma and discrimination. Daeng was putting
programmes together and writing manuals; Ann was
translating for Joyce Meyers broadcasts in Thailand,
from which they had learned a passion for global
mission. All the time they were building their faith in
God, as the elders and spiritual leaders of a church.
Living by faith. Every day somebody would turn up
and share food.
Daeng says, “In the past I wasn’t sure of God’s
plan for my life - why have I had these struggles?
Why didn’t I get to go to a high theological university,
just a small Bible college? Looking back it was
the plan of God.” Now he knows he has forged his
theology alongside real people at the grassroots, and
Ann planting beans with a
community member
both Daeng and Ann are at peace with the knowledge
that God is using their pasts to create better futures for
others. They have opportunities now: Daeng is doing a
Master of Divinity; Ann a degree in Theology. And leading Project Radical Grace they are
impacting the lives of many with a wholistic gospel. God’s deep grace means they are
born again to love and understand the people they minister to. %
A word from Kenneth Fleck
We’re thankful for a wonderful time in New Zealand with Ann and Daeng;
connecting Radical Grace’s heart to supporters in
New Zealand was amazing.
The challenge going forward is how can we increase radical grace
connections to the New Zealand churches so that we - the NZ church - can be
responsive to the needs of our own community in a radical way. Please pray.
We are preparing a short-term team to go to Thailand in
January, 2018.
10

11

good kids &
Khruu Mary
A
n hour’s
drive out
of the city of
Chiang Mai,
behind narrow
roads lined
with rice paddies,
the Good
Kids Preschool
is tucked away.
It is a quiet morning
in the village, but the
schoolyard is alive with
noise and movement. A
teacher plays tag with a
group of kids, who are
shrieking with laughter.
Each child is greeted with
a hug as they run inside
for the school-wide “circle time.” This is no ordinary Thai preschool.
And among the black-haired Thai teachers and a sea of green smocks and patterned
pants in the Northern Thai style, one young woman in a bright pink top and blonde hair is
conspicuous. But really Mary Raikes, a Kiwi cross-cultural worker who teaches preschool
English, is not that out of place at all – she’s actually quite at home. “There’s this contentment
and this peace in my soul, like this is where I’m supposed to be,” she says.
Mary came to Thailand in 2014 to serve as a teacher at Good Kids Preschool, a bilingual
Christian establishment. As a native English speaker with a background in preschool
education, her skills were a good fit for Good Kids, especially since access to English teachers
is rare in small and more remote villages like this one. English is both a desirable and
increasingly necessary skill in Thai education. Then there’s her salary. Foreign teachers
are usually quite expensive, but as a missionary who has raised her own funds to live in
Thailand, Good Kids is able to employ Mary and keep costs down so that tuition remains
affordable for those in their community.
She came to teach so that she could love the children, and Good Kids Preschool,
where showing and modeling love is the highest objective, is a good place to do that. So
Mary greets the kids as they patter up the stairs into morning assembly, giving them a wai
(a greeting in which the hands are pressed together, prayer-like, and the greeter bows
slightly) and a hug. The former is a traditional Thai greeting, the latter decidedly less so,
but hugs are given freely at Good Kids Preschool.
“Not all the children are treated with love at home, and they need that and deserve
that,” says Khruu (Teacher) Amm. “And if you hug them, they know that they are loved
every day. And when we are talking about how God is love, they remember that God loves
them and that God is good to them.”
Mary has visited other Thai schools: “It just seemed like there’s this distance between
the teacher and the student, this innate respect, which means they can’t get on the same
level as the child... and hug them and be close to them. So for us, it’s all about showing
12

God’s love to the kids and just making sure that they
have someone in their lives that loves them and
connects with them.”
Khruu Amm and her husband Khruu Dom are
the directors of Good Kids Preschool, which has
been open for five years, but has been ten years in
the making.
“God put in my heart a burden to help children
who are at risk and orphans,” says Amm, whose
father passed away when she was young. “I feel
like I could come this far in life because of God and
because of education. Education is very important
to give children a better life.” From there, the couple
prayed and began the Good Kids Project with a small
group of kids, including their eldest son, and teaching
English and maths.
Mary found her way to Good Kids Preschool
after she had been in Thailand on a short-term trip
in January 2013, when she felt the first inklings that
she would come back longer-term.
“There was a little baby at a fish factory sitting
in a laundry basket while her mum was working
twelve-hour days,” Mary says. “That was the baby’s
life, just sitting there, all day, every day, and that
broke my heart. I was like, ‘I can’t go home and
leave this baby like that,’” she says. “After that I just
felt God tugging at my heart to come back to Thailand
and love the children.”
“...to disciple
Go
people
and see them grow
and mature in their
walk with God”
Good Kids Preschool is in
need of another native-English-speaking
teacher, either
full-time or part-time. If you
are interested, or you know
someone who might be, please
get in touch!
The school can provide a visa
and work permit, but your
wage will be support-based
from New Zealand. You can
volunteer your time from three
months, to a year, or longer.
Prior experience or qualifications
in teaching this is a
plus, but is not a requirement.
Contact us here
Pray
• For Mary’s health in the
hot and humid climate
• As the children are shown
God’s love, for this to
become a personal part of
their lives
- photos: Chad Loftis
13
Good Kids Preschool
continued over the page
▷

Mary uprooted and came to Chiang Mai in January 2014 and after taking intensive Thai
language lessons she started teaching in May. It was disorienting to teach in a culture she
was still wrapping her head around – all while settling into a new life and continuing with
Thai language lessons so that she could interact better with the kids.
“It was quite a shock to me… very sit-down, structured learning, which I’m not used
to,” she says. It was quite a challenge to get to know what’s appropriate. Now, though,
Mary has found her niche in the school community. She leads two classes of four-year-olds
in English, teaching everything from phonics, reading, maths and conversation. Once a
week, she leads the school’s circle time and also spends time helping the other teachers
with their English.
She has learned to meld herself with the more collectivist culture of Thailand, planning
her lessons with the other teachers and being more flexible in her plans as well. She feels
the supportive group of teachers is like family. Amm and Dom have made Good Kids Preschool
not just a school, but a home. They both grew up and now live in the village that the
school is in and have invested their lives in that community. Dom says, “For us, we don’t
think that this is work, this is our life. We treat the students as our own children.”
“They are my model to serve God,” says Khruu Yu Pa, who was adopted by Amm and
Dom when she was 10. “I saw them serve God when I was young, so I wanted to be like
them. It’s very meaningful that I get to teach here.”
Amm and Dom’s vision is to see their community transformed through education and
the gospel. “We are the first Christian family in this village,” Amm says. “It’s also been
a dream to have a church in this village, but it
was not possible before. At first, the community
was watching, thinking, ‘What are they doing?’”
Amm says of the school’s early days. “Now I think
they are more open and are able to send their
children to come to the school, and some of them
are sending their youth to come for the worship
during Sunday services.” Enrollment at the school
is at it’s highest ever at 170 students and Mary
has decided to stay on for at least another three
years, immersing herself more deeply in Thai
culture.
“Mary loves Thailand, loves the kids here, and
I see her heart when she plays with the children
and every time that she teaches – she’s doing it
with her heart,” says Yu Pa, Mary’s co-worker and friend. “So thank you, God, for her!”
There are moments when Mary finds life in Thailand is far from peachy, such as when
she unknowingly bought a stolen car and had problems getting a refund. Ongoing health
issues, in the form of recurring bouts of bronchitis, have slowed down daily life as well.
But remembering the best parts of her life in Thailand has been crucial in not allowing
circumstances to override her trust in God, and the belief that Thailand is where she’s
“meant to be.”
Most poignant are the graduation ceremonies, Mary says, “Seeing the kids in the highest
level class – how much English they can speak, and how confident they have grown,
sharing in front of the parents and everyone.” Dom jokes with Mary, “You were born in
the wrong place!” He says, “Mary is our sister, one of the family. The way she talks, the
way she acts is very, very Thai!”
Mary is well aware that God, who led her to Thailand, has also given her a new place,
family and home there. “This is where God’s planted me.” %
- Denise Poon
14

Tze captures gospel need
in South America
15
T
SIM videographer Tze-Hung
Seeto is using his gifts to
mobilise people who can share
the good news of Jesus Christ
hat strong call from God has taken him all over Asia, to Africa and recently to South
America, where he is working in Bolivia, Chile and Peru to develop the gifts God has
given him and then help train others to make videos and take pictures.
“There’s a huge need for this kind of work in mission — to communicate what
God is doing and to communicate what great need there still is,” says Tze, a Scot born
of Chinese parents. He has seen this first-hand in Bolivia, where many would identify
themselves as Christians but have little concept of a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ as their saviour. People here say they are Catholics but there’s a lot of syncretism
with more traditional religions. It’s often called Andean Catholicism — a legalistic faith,
with the idea of good works being very important.
“It’s a very cultural faith, which becomes part of a person’s identity. It’s hard to
evangelise people like that so there’s a huge need for good gospel preachers, who can
teach and model what it’s like to be a follower of Jesus,” explains Tze. And there are
still groups in Bolivia and elsewhere in South America who, even today, have had little
or no contact with the developed world. In Bolivia alone, there are 36 distinct indigenous
people groups who have their own language and their own roots.
Some live in the Amazon jungle and have never heard the gospel. Tze has been
working with a partner organisation, International Tribal Ministries, flying to some of
these places where ITM is gradually building up relationships. The local people are
starting to trust them, because they keep returning with medicines and other supplies
year after year. “Through that, they are able to start talking about Jesus and the hope is
that they will one day be able to plant churches in those villages. But this is long-term
work.” %
- Tim Allan
Recommended: Tze’s video, “In Search of Bolivia’s Least Reached” -- to
view click here on vimeo.com

AN Incarnational
LIFE
Despite incredible risks, over two
decades SIM mission partner
Michael has been committed to
people in remote regions of
Kenya, many of whom have never
heard the gospel.
“D
o you see that bridge up ahead?” Michael says during a road trip,
“Here I was held at gunpoint by bandits who blocked the road.
When I asked them: ‘Why are you doing this?’ one pointed his gun at
my head and pulled the trigger. The gun jammed. He tried a second
and third time but the same problem, after which he hit me over the
head with the gun and I fell down. He then hit me with a stick while
I was on the ground. They took all of our money and bags then left. I
was angry, but God spoke to me as I lay on the ground. I saw Christ ...
He was humbled, harassed and beaten for me. Then my spirit calmed
and I surrendered. I realised my time is not yet.”
In this one stretch of road alone Michael has experienced 11
life-threatening incidents. Even the car we are driving has a bullet hole
in one tyre that has been plugged. Undeterred, Michael continues to
visit these areas to share the gospel.
He explains how he has earned to love the unlovable: “The Lord
has put this supernatural love in me and I do not fully understand it.
I sincerely know this is my call. I’ve tried to quit, but I can’t. I tried to
reason, but then I find myself going again. Finally I surrendered. Now
this is where my friends, my life and the scattered church are that I love
so much.
“I am not considering this as missions work but a part of my life. It’s
where I belong. My unending joy comes when I go to this place. I even
own camels in this region, which makes me a nomad. I was baptised by
the community. I am no longer who I was but one of them.
“Paul writes in Philippians 2:6-8 that despite Jesus being in his very
16

17
nature God, he decided to identify himself with humankind - with me
and these nomadic people.
“The Christian view is that this is a hard place, which is true. But
flip the coin and it’s a great place for mission. These are simple people.
Really, they worship God sincerely.
“Three weeks after I was attacked with a gun I returned and we did
ministry in the village close to this part of the road for the first time.
I encountered face to face one of the people who beat me and I had
the opportunity to share the gospel with him. It was an amazing time
of reconciliation. Ever since we did this outreach in the village we have
not been attacked on this dangerous stretch of road.
Pray
“ I see God performing miracles here. I
have seen God perform healing. Where there
is no rain we pray and rain comes. We cast out
demons. Witch doctors are scared to death
when they see us. I feel like I am walking in
the pages of the New Testament. Where else
could I experience these things but here? Fear,
it’s in the mind, not there, and we need not
fear because God is with us.
“I decided to give God my strength and
my years as a youth. I don’t have savings, but
what I have I can give. So I continue to give so
long as I have strength.” %
-Story and pictures: Tim Coleman
• For Michael’s
protection as he
continues to visit
the region, sharing
the gospel and
connecting believers
of all ages in
this work.
• That people who
have never heard
of Jesus would be
receptive to the
gospel.

[Shorts]
Cross-cultural workers can
live with extremely high levels of stress
in their daily lives, often with longterm
implications. In a study, researchers
developed a scale to measure stress
caused by certain events in peoples’
lives, and found that if a person’s stress
level exceeded 200 points on the scale
in a year the person would have a 50%
chance of having some kind of medical
issue within 2 years, and if their stress
level was over 300 points they had a
90% chance. Cross-cultural workers
were estimated to live year after year
with an average continual stress level of
over 400 points. Some estimates even
put the stress level up to 600 points.
“I am now acquainted with
just about every building
in west Beirut... only about 10
concierges out of hundreds declined
to help me get the audio players to the
shut-in maids in their building. A visiting
Aussie who went out with me recently
was amazed at the openness and
friendliness of the Syrian concierges.
I sometimes forget that not everyone
knows Syrians are the nicest people on
earth... My friend was amazed at how
willing they are to help with the distribution
of the audio players. A week
after my first visit, I go back... I’d say
about 70% get in and 30% are refused
[by the maids’ employers].” - Stef
Winter in Nepal means
patients with burns. Those who
survive often have to stay in hospital for
months, having multiple skin grafts and
other painful procedures.
One 5 year old girl has been in Tansen
paediatric ward for over 3 months. For
the first 6 weeks she cried as soon as
any staff approached her bed. She has
just started to smile again. Her home
is a day’s journey away and her family
members have gone home, but she’s
being well cared for by the relative of
another badly burned patient.
-Paula MacFarlane
“Jesus sent out the disciples
by twos... a married couple = one. If
we were starting over, we would strive
to journey with others—wise older
couples, young single ladies or men,
and other young couples. This extended
spiritual family would help flesh out
a witness of love for lost people, my
own family, and me. In many locations
where workers serve, there... isn’t a
readily available network of people with
whom you can build community. Starting
over, we’d go with a larger biological
slice of the Body of Jesus..” -Nik Ripken
Doro, our one remaining
station in South Sudan erupted
in fighting on Christmas Day. There
was loss of life among the Sudanese and
South Sudanese communities, and extensive
looting of SIM housing and assets;
and the community may never be
the same again. Why are we convinced
to go back? I’m not sure I know how to
explain it… but I think you know why.
You’ve also felt the gentle Wind of His
conviction.
-Tohru Inoue
18

support
Prison stories - Zambia
“Sometimes it’s hard to know what effect one is having,” writes David Friend, who
has a prison ministry in Kasempa. “But recently in church a woman stood up and
explained that in the past, it was very concerning if one had a relative in the prison,
as they were likely to become sick, but now this is not the case due to the provision
of a safe water supply, soap, toilet tissue and toilet cleaner. Thank you for help in
providing these.
“Sarah, 16, is from a poor family. She
decided to supplement their income
by stealing some mattresses out of
a student hostel. Little did she know
she was pregnant at the time of going
to prison. After some months she was
released to find that the small one-room
cottage where she lives had fallen down.
Not a great start to adult life. We located
a builder who rebuilt the cottage and
some baby materials were supplied. She
has since delivered safely and our prayer
is that she can keep her eyes fixed on the Lord.
“When he was released, Charles got a Bible and
funds to renew a driver’s license. Word from the
family is that he is a changed person and would like
to go back to visit the prison to encourage others.”
Thank you for supporting this project.
Give by emailing nz.donor@sim.org
or visit www.sim.org.nz . Quote project # 94546
Pray for workers to join us!
Conversational English.
Arts ministries.
Marriage counseling.
Japan
SIM serves here in partnership
with Asian Access which aims
to strengthen local churches. We
are asking God for at least six
more mission partners to serve
in Japan as soon as possible.
Neglected Children
Cote d’Ivoire, Africa
In a city with thousands of street
children, sometimes whole
families live in the streets.
Our vision is to show them
the love of Christ, to tell them
that God has a plan for them
and a bright future.
Doctors needed in
Lilongwe, Malawi &
Galmi, Niger
Medical doctor needed to
use skills and gifts to impact
the HIV crisis, one of SIM
Malawi’s strategic priorities;
also,general medical needs in
the community.
Galmi Hospital: 2 family
doctors or pediatricians to
cover from June to December,
plus two more for the malaria
season from September to
December.
1 General Surgeon starting
ASAP until next year.
Mission schools are
still looking for staff
for August 2017
Various locations in
Africa & Asia
19
These are just a few of many opportunities available. Or get in touch to tell us
your heart’s desire. Contact us here, or email us at nz.info@sim.org