December Update

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ at Wallenstein Bible Chapel,

For the last time in 201, we greet you in the name of our dear Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, whose birth we will be remembering soon. “Unto you is born, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” What a message of great joy indeed. And how privileged we are to know this and make it known, praise God.

Also, for the last time this year we want to thank you for your financial gift received this month and all the months of 2018. Thank you ever so much for your faithfulness and generosity in standing with us. It is indeed very much appreciated. May the Lord truly bless you and reward you for helping us in this way. We are indeed very grateful for remembering us.

My, how time flies. Does it go that fast for you folk too? Comes Monday and before we know it is Saturday and Sunday again. But every day past is a day closer to heaven, praise the Lord, we have indeed a wonderful future. It’s not only that we’re going to see the One who loved us and gave Himself for us, but we’re also going to be delivered from our sin nature and failing bodies. Paul wrote to the Romans in chapter eight, that we “groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting the adoption, the redemption of the body.” Oh yes, I wonder what his body looked like after all the beatings he had.

Marina had a low period for several weeks but has come back up again, at least some, for which we are very thankful. I have had an ultrasound of my hip and will have an MRI on Jan. 24 in London, at 6:00am. Hopefully, after that the specialist will know what is wrong with my hip. I’m still walking with a cane, not very far and with pain, something is just not right.

I will be preaching on Sunday, Dec. 23 in Cambridge and I’m looking forward to that. On the average I preach twice a month. I’m also putting short articles on Facebook and my Blog again and get positive comments. We keep in touch with folk in Belgium and our co-workers there.

We trust you will have a wonderful Christmas and we wish you a very Happy New Year with much of the blessing of the Lord.

Thank you ever so much again for your love and support.

The Lord bless you all and keep you until we meet at His feet.

Loving greetings,

Yours, still in His service,

Richard and Marina

It's Good To Be Home

Thank you for praying for me as I did a bunch of travelling these past few weeks. I got back from Asia on Sunday night and I think I'm almost over my jet lag (I slept for 10 hours last night!).

Florida was a productive time of helping my brother's family pack as they prepare to move overseas. As well as some fun play time with the kids (and the adults!).

I am very grateful for the opportunity to go to Asia. It has been 8 years since I was last there and a lot has changed. Our teams work in new cities in a different province. I enjoyed visiting these cities, seeing where they live, going to the campuses where they study language and do ministry, riding the trains they ride, and overall just getting a feel for their life and ministry in Asia. I also enjoyed hearing them talk about the joys and struggles of their ministry and meeting some of the Americans who provide leadership for our teams in the country.

Coming back I feel more knowledgeable about our partnership with East Asia. It was reassuring to see our teams doing well, and it was fun to encourage and bless the teams we went to visit. Below are a few pictures from our trip. Thanks again for praying and standing together with me in this ministry.

Out for supper with one of our teams.

I got to have lunch with a local student who became a Christian through one of our interns last year.

The second weekend both teams came together for a Christmas party. We brought gifts for everyone and decorations from Canada, we sang Christmas carols and read the Christmas story together.

Times Together...

Please join with us to Praise God...

• For a good start to our mentoring relationship with Dan & Christie.

• The privilege of having personal visits with new Middle East team members and having a weekend retreat with the team.

• That Liam has a job for his co-op term in January.

• That Kieran has a supervisor for his thesis.

• That Phil had a good first face-to-face meeting with the new SIM International Leadership Team at the start of the month.

Please pray

• For our kids as they finish various assignments and write exams for this semester.

• For Andrea as she provides orientation for new personnel for Ghana.

• For a safe flight home for Cara on the 14th

• For a good Christmas season for the boys in Canada and Cara with us in Ghana.

• That Liam will find a place to live in the Orangeville area and someone to sublet his room in Waterloo.

Thanks for praying for us.
Phil & Andrea

Asia's Next Generation Missionaries

"Now there is hope for my country!" exclaimed Pricilla, clearly the influencer in the group.

There they were, wrestling with the opportunity that was laid before them. We had showed them how God was at work in the lives of tens of thousands of people seeking Him online in their 'closed country'. Where they live it's hard to [physically] come across a believer, let alone someone curious to learn about Jesus. They were in shock about how the Spirit was already at work digitally.

"We must 'wake up' this web site... how do we reach out to the people on the site?" Priscilla questioned, eager to act on this new information.

These missionaries face a big challenge. They yearn to minister to university students, yet they cannot physically go to campus and they cannot officially organize. How do you connect with students you cannot be near? Each student has a mobile phone, so social media is a natural avenue.  By the end of our time together, this small but mighty team had an action plan. They left confidently, ready to be used by God to begin a deeper digital engagement with students in their country.

I wish I could show you the faces of these next generation digital missionaries, but it is not safe for me to do so. The "internet police" could find out.

This was just one highlight of a recent trip to Asia where I interacted with 35 digital leaders learning about what they are trusting God to do in their contexts and helping provide the tools and training to accelerate their strategies. Meredith held down the fort at home. As our family moves to Singapore, equipping leaders like this will be a significant focus of our work.

Thank you for the part you play in equipping these next generation digital missionaries.

Photos Below:
- Savouring final play times with friends
- The Halloween Lineup (Yes, Wyatt was a 'dilapidated' box)
- Preparing for Singapore - 'new' raincoats

Partnerships and Hardships

We wanted to share with you another side of our ministry...partnerships. In recent years, we've had the privilege to partner with local churches and other organizations to help students discover Jesus. We are so glad that the call that Jesus has to make disciples of all nations is for all Christians. Each of our partnerships lends us to be able to work together to help more people know Jesus and grow in their faith. 

HERITAGE - We have been working alongside Heritage College and Seminary for a couple of years now. There are P2C staff who take part-time classes there and are trained how to meet the intellectual and emotional needs of our students. They also graciously open up their space for us to be able to use it for our annual South Western Ontario Leaders Equipping (SWOLE) Day. Student leaders from 11 different campuses come to collaborate and learn together.  

What did you enjoy most about SWOLE? 

"Meeting new people and talking with other leaders about tips with leading a small group"
"Being challenged in deeper thinking about my role as a disciple of Christ"
"Meeting people from other campuses and learning what they do there"
"Digging deep into how we can improve in doing missions."

FORWARD CHURCH - Forward Church is near Conestoga College and has been a great partner of our ministry for the last few years  It is great to be able to have a church nearby to the college that we can be working with so that students from out of town can find a church home. Not only are they hosting our Christmas party, we are hoping that we can work together for mentorship for these students and find other ways to help them grow as disciples of Jesus. 

PASTOR FRANCOIS - At Fanshawe College, we are partnering with a chaplain who has been there for 20 years and has a lot of ministry experience, and good college ministry experience in particular. It has been great to learn from each other, brainstorm together and partner in the gospel for God's glory on that campus.

These are just some of the ways that we have been able to work as a body of Christ to help students discover Jesus. Thank you for being great partners as well....financially, prayerfully and in all the encouragement that you give us. 

PRAYER FUEL

• Please pray for us as we navigate these partnerships and other partnership opportunities as well

• Please pray for our emotional & mental health. The first half of this semester was actually quite hard. Our organization is going through some significant changes to try and reach a rapidly changing culture with the gospel. Many of these changes have been good, but they've also been difficult and require more energy, navigating new waters. We have had a couple of student leaders on a couple of campuses who have been quite a challenge to work with and a couple of them have stepped down from leadership. Amelia has been difficult to deal with at times, depending on the day (or night). These factors combined with the usual ups & downs of life, family and ministry have proved difficult and overwhelming at times this semester. We feel like our life and ministry are more normalized now, but please pray for us to continue learning, growing and staying healthy amidst these hardships.