I wish to share with you now the astounding news that about $100,100 have been donated to our Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund. All this money is in Nepal and has been used weeks ago except that the last $10,000 is now being used for follow-up work – like enabling children go back to school, supplying stationary for them and helping individual families with special longer-term needs.
How do you imagine Mongolia to be? I had fantasised this country to be a wild untamed place of Chinggis Khan heritage with horsemen galloping across the Gobi Desert; gers (those little round white tent-things) dotting the rolling green steppe and rugged mountain peaks forming an imposing backdrop.
On the night of my arrival in Kathmandu after seeing some of the destruction sights I was ready to fly home. I REALLY HAD ENOUGH ALREADY: death and decay all around I see. Under those piles of rubble, were there still unrecovered bodies? Bits of clothing (like filthy rags) still visible among the rocks and pieces of cement – and people quietly walking over the debris of what may have been their homes, still searching for ‘something’, maybe for peace.
The first stage of supplying urgent relief necessary for survival can be considered completed. We did all we could to help thousands of people in three central provinces with food, medicines, shelter and other items.
It’s all history now but the tragic consequences are not: 16,000 thousand dead and countless lives turned upside down. Media attention has now gone but depression and hopelessness for thousands, if anything, is getting worse. You see, grieving in depth has only just began. Who would have thought that AFA was going to get involved in Nepal?
After a promising start, disaster struck! Or so it seemed. Plans were to crisscross Vietnam from north to south teaching the Word of God and spreading the love of Jesus. In one province the police lay in wait, broke up the seminar that involved 40 people, interrogated Neville for hours, then took his passport away and fined him more than $1,000 dollars. High alarm! Emergency! Sleepless nights in Canada, Australia and Vietnam.
Nias is that fascinating Island in the Indian Ocean mentioned in the Travelogue article. This is what some of the AFA scholarship holders at Sundermann Seminary said during the recent visit of Pastor August Fricke.
It's nearly forgotten already. The pictures on the TV have stopped as the cameras and journalists have left the country. And so the charity dollar is drying up also. People respond emotionally based. Nepal? That was yesterday - off the agenda now.
Overwhelmed by need and shaken by the daily terror experienced by our brothers and sisters in Nepal, I lost my composure. I lost my calm. I don't know what to do. I wake up in the middle of the night seeing in front of my own eyes the agony of Nepal.
When it rains it pours. Another massive earthquake has just hit Central Nepal a second time (7.4 magnitude). Said Rev Mukunda in Kathmandu, "The people are even more traumatized". That was last night (Tuesday) before communications went down.
Amazing Initial response: You may be delighted to know that on the basis of two emails alone about $25,000 has already come in so far - and that most of the money is in Nepal and more is being sent.
It really is with 'fear and trembling' that we are proceeding. Please note all that was said in our AFA Nepal Relief Action letter
Fear and sorrow always grips my heart whenever I think of the story of my life. Really, my life has been a painful journey full of incredible happenings – until God connected me to AFA.
Christian humanitarian aid at home and abroad is primarily about Christ, the Gospel and faith active in love - not about doing good in its own right. Furthermore we challenge the fundamental principle upon which much of our modern-day humanitarian aid is built, namely that aid is given on the basis of need only, irrespective of ‘colour and creed (religion)’. Closer examination will reveal that this principle is superficial, false and misleading.We deal with a classic case of mainstream churches having taken over the standards and values of the world.
In the face of declining mission activities in local Lutheran churches, declining church attendance and increasing focus on ritual and ceremony, it had been decided to establish this group to focus on winning people for Christ and to establish new congregations and mission centres particularly in the greater Manila area among the native people and in Benguet in Northern Luzon.
Challenging, provocative thoughts written with much love about the state of many Lutheran churches in the Philippines (and Australia?).
Damadi Home – formerly Immanuel Children’s Home – was officially opened on Saturday 14 February 2015 in the presence of international guests from Finland and Korea and our team from Australia and representatives from many local church groups. It is a dream come true – a wonderful ‘act of God’.
A new study in the CHINA ECONOMIC REVIEW exploring the impact of religious beliefs on economic development has found that “Christianity has the most significant effect on economic growth” and that the steady increase of Christianity has played an important role in China’s economic rise
SABAH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY (STS), Malaysia, is an absolute blessing for much of Asia. AFA has supported numerous students at STS over the years, some of them from China – including HU YU MEI, 29, who has now returned to the mountain regions of Yunnan Province in South West China, not far from Laos and Myanmar. She now is an evangelist there.
Two new students have been accepted by AFA for sponsorship. We welcome THOMAS BIN MAIDUM and SUHEIMIN BIN TAIKONG. May God bless you richly!