NEWSLETTER: JUNE 2003
[MCGN is a non-profit, non-denominational
Christian organization promoting spiritual renewal and economic development of
the people in Mizoram and the surrounding region by serving them as Jesus
did. Matthew 20:28]
“The harvest is truly plentiful, but the laborers
are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the
harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Mt. 9:37-38)
·
To Brother Gene Tabb for giving Rev. Bob Harrison time to share about the
Mizoram trip in Sunday school class at Church of the Foothills, Cameron Park.
·
To Ruth Willson for donating science text books.
·
To Frank Dietz for sharing good, helpful articles weekly.
·
To Dr. P.C.Biaksiama
for suggesting to distribute Hindi Bibles in the Aizawl jail.
CONGRATULATIONS
Juliet Elizabeth Florio on
her graduation with the senior class of 2003! The graduation commencement
exercises took place on May 30. The Juliet Florio Scholarship originated from
the generosity of Marc and Aleta Florio in honor of their daughter.
Book Review & Comments - “A Thlante Lawrkhawmna” (Gathering of His Elects): By Evan. Isaac L. Hnamte
by Ngeni Mualchin
On our last Mizoram trip 2002, the author presented me “Gathering of His Elects.” I had high expectations of this book because of my high regard of Isaac’s parents and have known him since he was a little boy. I was anxious to read it but the title of the book scared me. It reminded me of discouraging comments on the end-time topic. “Don’t read Daniel and Revelations. You will never understand and become ‘mad’.”
Revelations is about Christ the Lord and Ruler, how God will judge the world, punish evils, wars, tribulations, beasts, false prophets, a thousand years’ reign and the new heaven and the new earth, etc. My elder sister read it to me when I was young and it frightened me. I was not sure if I would enjoy the book, but it was written by a friend and I intended to read it. It was informative, nicely done, and I actually enjoyed reading it.The book of Daniel talks about the life of Daniel, future earthly kingdoms and the everlasting kingdom. It was written during the Israelites captivity in Babylon to encourage the people to trust in God who controls all time and history.
It is the right time for me to read this book as I have thought a lot lately about the Second Coming of Christ. It helps me to know about the last days. I was not scared anymore. As believers, we should know what the Bible says about the last days, even though nobody knows the exact time of Christ’s Second Coming. We need to tell about God’s love and His saving grace to others.Isaac’s knowledge and writing style are impressive. I also sensed a beautiful spiritual lesson in the relationship of the author and his father in their common search for Biblical truths and teachings. The author’s father became deeply interested in the Second Coming of Christ and began collecting related materials in 1945. He sees this book as fulfilling his desire. Apart from the book itself, the father-son relationship that produced the book is a challenging lesson. What kind of passions on eternal values do we impart to our children?
You will find helpful and encouraging information about the Second Coming of Christ in this book. That day may not be very far, it could be in our life time. I recommend that Christians should read it for encouragement and Christian mission action. We have a story of the Lord to tell to the nations now, before His Second Coming.INDIA: MIZORAM
Dr. P.C. Biaksiama informed us about the award of Juliet Florio Scholarship 2003 to 8 students, and the distribution of Mizo New Testaments to inmates in Mizoram. He also suggested that non-Mizo speaking inmates be provided Bibles in their
language. As Hindi seems to be the most common language for these people, we
hope to distribute some Hindi Bibles soon.
MYANMAR (BURMA)
Rev. Dr. Laithuama wrote to us
that his friend, Rev. Phillip Woods, Secretary of International Relation, United
Reformed Church (URC), from England will be visiting Northern California in August 2003. He hopes that we will be able to meet him.
NEPAL
March 2003 issue of the “Kohhran Beng”, a monthly magazine of the Baptist Church of Mizoram (BCM) has a report on the activities of some Mizo missionary friends (Rev. V. Kapenga, P. Lalringa and H. Laltlankima) in Nepal. A short note on the report
of these families follows for your encouragement and prayers.
P. Lalringa and Madiki: They were working as
Nonformal Education Consultants under the Nepal Christian Fellowship. They are also
Community Health and Education Project Consultants for the villages since 2002.
This project is planned to last to 2005. Now they are working on Sinew Yielding
Project (SYP) for self-supporting of the local church and is expected to last to
2010. Madiki is involved in women’s ministry as an adviser.
H.Laltlankima and Madini: Tlana is doing sanitation
and drinking water engineering work since 2001, and expected to work in the rural
area till 2005. Most support comes from Baptist Mission Society and Operation Agriculture.
Local people provided 37% of the expense. It is a very significant for the people
in remote areas of Nepal who are without good drinking water. Madini is busy caring for their young children.
Rev. V. Kapenga and Ziri: Their main work is
administrative but they also visit churches, train and teach in Bible school. Ziri
has a background in nursing. She visits retarded people weekly, she is also a Health
Educator and involved in Women’s ministry. They also introduced video and film
ministry. Enga taught M.Div. students at KIT (we don’t know its full name).
SWITZERLAND
Prof. Prabhu Guptara, a
management executive, is a committed Christian. He forwarded a communication he
received from his former Mizo student, Malsawma. Because of Prabhu’s encouragement,
Malsawma has written poems and stories which were published in the leading
newspapers of Northeast India, the Assam Tribune and North East Frontier. We
appreciate Malsawma for informing his teacher, Bro. Prabhu of his accomplishments.
We believe that this is a positive way to encourage one another. We wish that Malsawma
will continue his good work of writing. Thanks to Prabhu Guptara for his
generosity in sharing an encouraging development in his ex-student’s life.
USA:HEADQUARTERS
Patricia Macy hosted a nice
dinner for the MCGN Board on May 9 in her new apartment. We had a wonderful
time and enjoyed delicious food. While
eating we also shared about the Mizoram trip of Dr. & Mrs. Foster and Rev. Bob
Harrison.
Bob Harrison shared the Mizoram trip in the monthly Men’s Breakfast Fellowship on May 10 and also in the adult Sunday (May 11) school class of Church of the Foothills, Cameron Park. It went well and the people enjoy hearing about it.
On the May 18, Liana &
Ngeni Mualchin and Lisa Mualchin went to Sacramento Downtown to see the Asia
Pacific Rim 11th Festival. There were shows, dance, music, food, etc,
as well as beautiful Asian crafts for promotion. We sampled a few different
foods.
In early May, we sent
Christian School Science text-books and several reading material to Dr. P.C
Biaksiama. The science text-books were contributed by our neighbor, Ruth
Willson. We hope that they will be useful references for Siama as he is preparing
science text-books for High Schools in Mizoram.
NEEDS IN MIZORAM
We believed that people in
Mizoram need leaders who are called by God. Serving people in love, honesty and
courage with the Spirit of God. Without these, serving with power from a high
position will fail. Pray that the Lord will give Mizoram good leaders, both in
church and political arena.
THE SECULAR/SACRED DIVIDE
(From “The Great 9 to 5 by Mark Greene, in Decision, June 2003)
But why don't we see that "ordinary" work is so significant to the Creator-Worker-God? Because of the sacred/secular divide. This pervasive mindset suggests that some aspects of our lives, such as Bible reading and prayer, are really important to God and that others, such as work and study, are at best neutral.
This leads to a view that
pastors are most special to God. Slightly below pastors are missionaries and
full-time Christian workers. Then come tentmakers-builders, mechanics,
midwives, teachers, engineers, accountants-those people in the church who take
their skills overseas to reach people for Christ through those occupations.
...........
We've lost the sense that
someone can be called to a so-called secular job-as were Joseph, Daniel and
Nehemiah-and that it may be just as strategic in God's plan as pastoring a
church.
(Note: Mark succinctly
expressed how various Christians witness - Liana Mualchin)
PERSONAL
Congratulations to Dr.
Lalliana Mualchin! He was recognized with a recognition certificate from California
Department of Transportation (Caltrans) during their Statewide Information
Technology Meeting on the theme, “Recognizing Success.” Liana was noted for
seismic hazards and Caltran’s GIS Team Awards. It is very special as this is
the first time such recognition has been given. We don’t know who recommended him;
there must be a special angel for him. The other was his 25-year service award by
the State of
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For persecuted Christians in different parts of the world.
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Christian workers may have the same vision and be united in His Kingdom
building.
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"Peace with God" may flow out around the world.
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Wisdom for Dr. P.C. Biaksiama and Pu Lianthanga for partnership
ministry.
·
Travel mercies for Dr. Lalchungnunga and friends of
· Travel mercies for Rev. Joseph Raltong in bringing his family to Japan.
MCGN International HQ: USA: Lalliana Mualchin (Email: mualchin@hotmail.com)
Webmaster: Jeff Mead (Email: jeffmead55@hotmail.com)
News Compiler: Ngeni Mualchin (Email: mualchin@hotmail.com)
Editor: Patricia Macy (Email: pamacy@netzero.net)