sinlee ahtapah kunleah 1999 thailand

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  • 8/12/2019 Sinlee Ahtapah Kunleah 1999 Thailand

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    ^l\emnd thu. ffiaulmd.C i ^4 ^ Mid^ien

    1.Thailwdour base operalfons /2. Burma (Myanmar)

    3. China4. Cambodia (Kampuchea)5. india

    AHTAPAH & KUNLEAH SINLEE,P.O. Box IISSIONARIESChiangmai, 50301, ThailandSEND ALL Gii=TS TO:

    Paul & Doylene Grimm, 12652 Susan Lane, Garden Grove, CA 92641, Forwarding AgentsOc tober 22, 1999Good morning from Thailand,Just got back from India last night. I am very happy that mytrip to N.E. India went very well. God and His people InKhasi Hill had taken care of me wonderfully. I am still su rprised that I could make thi s trip to India. 1was not able tobuy the ticket till t he las t day before i left. LaVerne Morseand A.C.S had help paid for the ticket between Bangkokand Ca lcu tt a. Bu t the t icket fo r Calcutta and Guwaha t i w asnot purchased yet. I contact my forwarding agent and myfoster father about my need and I was granted help. Ibought the ticket on October 6, 1999 and left for India onthe next day. I flew out of ChiangMai by Thai Airline andmade a connection in Bangkok with Indian Airline toCalcutta. Nothing ha s changed in Calcutta. It still look oldand leaning toward unclean. The cows are still walking onth e road and nobody has any problem about it.People are setting up shrine for th e Durga Pucha, the goddess of Hindu. It is a big religious festival in Hindu. Theshrine is very beautiful and great . This is very contradictwith the way people live along the street side in Calcutta.They live very poor condit ion. People took a bath andb ru sh ed t he t ee th with the wa te r o n the roadside. With theway I saw I think 1cann'- ' as my brotherGary Kinstold me one time when we went for fishing at MississippiRiver somewhere south of La Crosse that if I d rank out ofthat water would drop dead before Igot to my knees. Butfo r t he wat er that I saw in Calcutta s t ree t I could b e d ea dbefore it get through my throat. But many hundred thousand people of Calcutta live on the street. They sleep onthe street. They had old blanket around themselves. Theyhad no problem with trucks and noisy traffics around them.My heart felt pitiful for t he s tr ee t people and felt moregrateful to Mother Teresa for what she had done for thestreet people of Calcutta. On this trip Iwas able to go backto the hotel which is very close to MotherTeresa's missioncompound.From Calcutta flew up to Guwahati. It took me a little bitover one hour. When I got there I saw Brother Yusihay andtwo wonderful Khasi Christ ian ladies waiting for me. I didnot have any problem with immigration officers. They were

    very nice to me. In fact they did not think that 1was foreigner. They thought Iwas the native Indian of N.E. India.From Guwahati we went on to Shillong. But our vehicleb r ok e down The clutch h ad to be r enewed We had to wai tfo r four hours fo r th e veh ic l e to be fixed. While w e w erewaiting Brother Yusihay, Cong Bee and Bi Bi took me fora walk in Guwahati's fantasy market. Itwas a really fantasy market because there were so many people walking onthat street. We could hardly move on that crowded street.We got out of that street and I was given a special treat by Yusihay,Cong Bee and Bi Bi tor ide m oto r r ic ks ha wPeople laugh at me trying to push my bodythrough th e little door ofthat motor rickshaw. I felt I was too big for Indian mademotor r ickshaw. I made it through that door and t he rickshaw took us safely to the Indian restaurant. The food waswonderful but different from the type of food that I had athome but I remember what apostle said take it withoutquestioning about . I took everything, yellow stuff, greenstuff, brown stuff and etc. They all taste good even thoughit turn me into a gasman.After we finish our l at e l un ch w e head back to whe re o urvehicle was. Brother Yusihay want me to try the regularr ic k sh aw t hi s t ime but whe n t he driver saw m e he shookhis head and refused to take me, he probably was afraidthat I would break his rickshaw. We got on th e motor rickshaw and went to pick up ou r vehicle, the Tata Sumo, anIndian made truck, was now ready to move on to KhasiHill.

    We went through th e busy town of Guwahati and thenclimbing up to Khasi Hills. We had to go over 100 Kms. toShillong. We s top at Nongpoh Bible Institute to visit Mrs.Dishington, her husband who was the founder of theN.B.I., just pass away to be with God early in this year. Wevisit with th e staff and s tu d e nt s t h er e fo r a while a nd t he nwe move on to Shillong. It was so dark and cold as wemoved up to higher mountain, I could not see the beautifulKhas i Hills.

    t ake it withoutquestioning

    abou t

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    We reached Shillong about midnight. Brother Ba Bord andthe family were waiting for us. The family warmly welcomed me. B ro th er Ba Bord and I ta lked till tw o in themorning. On the next day Brother Ba Bord led me to touraround his house. 1 should sa y around Morning StarCollege and High School. Brother Ba Bord told me that hehad about 800 students here. From th e top of his buildingwe could th e beautiful town on Nongthymmai town. In Indian English they call Nongthymmai locality. It is a big town.I was surprise that it is a big town that I was brought to.When Iwas first invited by Yusihay to come for speaking Ithought Iwould be in th e village like Nongpoh but his is bigcity where there are many big schools, colleges, and NorthEast illUniversity (NEHU). Brother Ba Bord told me thatin this city there is no strong Church of Christ . Some people from this city has gone to the Mawlai Church of Christwhich is about seven miles away. He had been evangelizing in this area with s tuden t s and workers around there.His family and the handful Christians but strong have worship in th e Morning Star school building. Yusihay told methat he and Brother Ba Bord had prayed and plannedtogether for the campus ministry to work with studentsfrom seven s ta tes of Northeas t India who c o m e toNongthymmai for education. These people need friends,advice , shel ter , a nd mos t of all need Christ s love and salvation. They plan to have Christian Hostel open for poorstudents also. I think thi s a great idea. I encourage themthat God will bless them with a big church here. If theyhave the strong will and hard work I think Nongthymmaiwill have a big church and strong church.

    Reaching Others for Christ II believe th at God will bless Ba Bord, a humble rich hardworker Christian of Nongthymmai. God ha s blessed himvery much with wealth. He came from a poor farmer familyin the village of Shillong. He used to work as daily laborer in the coal mine, a cement block factory, and a stonefactory. He was non-Christian and he hated Christianityand he w as once w anted to burn al l the Bibles in KhasiHills but years ago he surrendered his life to JesusChrist an d b e c a m e th e m em be r of Church of Chris t . G o dblessed him and his wife very much from small house inNongthymmai now they live in a big building it does notlook like a mansion but it is much better than the housesthat they used to live before. They ar e rich but they do notlive like a rich man. They ar e very humble and friendly toother people. He started his school with three s tudents.Now he has 8 students His fr iends a t di f fe ren t of f icescome and help his school. He is working in th e State Bankof India s headquarters office in Nongthymmai and he letshis friends operate the school.He is making his school to be a place to help poor people.One Lisu student is studying there with free tuition cost.From Nongthymmai I was taken to th e Shillong peak. Onthis mountaintop I could see th e whole Shillong, the townof 1.2 million population. It is very beautiful. Shillong ha sbeen known a s the eas te rn Scot land .

    From Shillong Peak I was taken back down to town tomeet Brother Yumanly, the minister of Mawlai Church oChrist. He is planning to go to Cincinnati Bible Seminaryfor graduate study with another two Lisu teachers fromNongpoh Bible Institute, Nathaney Nguaza and StevenFisher. I turned over hi s 1-20 form and ai r t i cke t to him. Hewas very happy and thankful for my help of hand delivering these very important things.

    1was invited by him to come to preach at th e evangelisticmeeting at Mawlai. In my head I was thinking that I wouldbe speaking for the church people after their evangelisticmeeting but I was wrong bu t actually it was th e placewhere they invited people to come to listen to the gospel ofJesus. Spoke at Miliam Church of Christ in the morningthen from there we went straight to Mawlai and when Igotthere I was shocked (surprised) to se e that they were somany people on th e streets an d around one house. Thenwas told that this was the place I preach that night. I alsowas told that people who belong to different denominationslive in that area. I had my sermon prepared for one thingan d it turned out to be another thing. Within that short period of time I prayed to God for his wisdom and help. Thethought came to my head and the scripture came to mymind: Acts 2:42-47. I spoke that night by introducing people to th e greatest church of th e world. It is not in America,not in Korea, bu t in Jerusalem. It is great no t because ofthe building but because people in th e church. Then I startalking about how did they become great which dealt withtheir repentance and baptism then dea l with their continuan t new life. At th e invitation many people came up frontas we sang Just As I Am. Some people came up forrecommitting their life to God and some came for baptismI pra ise God for making me useful even though 1 am notqualified. In that night I was invited again by th e elders ofMawlai Church to have dinner with them on Wednesdaynight after I get back from Nongpoh.Monday, October 11, 1999, I went down to meet with thestaff at Nongpoh. The s tudent s and faculty gave me thewonderful hospitality there. Mrs. Dishington opened a newguest house for me to cttav Wh^p l was in Nongpoh 1wasable to turn th e air tickets a. . - ._^.^ Orms over to Nathaneyand Steven. I also turned over the support from A.C.S forthe mission works in Arunachao Pradesh, Megaleya toNathaney, Barnabas, and Steven. 1was able to preach atNongpoh Church of Christ on Tuesday night. The KhasChristians love to pra ise God and they cou ld s ing verybeautiful heart touching praise songs.Brother BaPin, a close worker of Brother Philip Ho, camedown from Mawlai to translate for me that night. Right afteth e church we were invited by Nathaney and family to havedinner at their house. Here Iwas taught by Nathaney to eaIndian style. Ea t with hand. 1 know how to use chopstickfork and spoon, but not good with hand. But I l earn thanight that my fingers were very tasty too.I almost forget to tell you that on that same day I turn ove20,000 Indian Rupees for th e fax machine. They wendown to Guwahati and got it on that same day. Then we

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    tried it on Wednesday before I went back to Shillong. Wesent message to Shillong an d to LaVerne Morse in U.S.A.I wa s very happy that no w we are able to connect ou r fello w worke r s wi t h us here in Tha i land and in U . S . A .

    I w en t b ac k to Mawlai di rectly to Yumanly s house. Th eelders of th e church were there. They were very thankful tome for hand delivering th e ticket an d 1-20 form to Yumanly.Th es e e ld er s m e ntio ne d L aV er ne M o rs e and Dr . L e w i sFoster with thanks an d respect. They also said veryencouraging thing about Yumanly going to U.S.A. He wa svery highly recommended by these elders. Th e elderstumed over 37,000.00 Indian Rupees to me to r e pay the ai rfare that A.C.S ha d paid for Yumanly s ticket. Right afterou r meeting I wa s invited to have dinner at on e of th eelders house. Khasi food wa s very delicious. I remindedon e very important thing to Yumanly that h e n ee de d to behumble an d be cooperative with other leaders in KhasiHills. The problem that I s ee among Christian leaders inAsia is that some of ou r people when we have higher ed ucation we tend to have big head b ut s ma ll heart. We wantto build ou r little kingdom an d build walls around so thatnobody ca n come In an d nobody ca n go out. This reallyslows th e work of th e Lord down in many places of Asia.But o ne t re e c an no t be a jungle, a nd o ne part cannot be abody, by themself, on e person cannot build a church.Starting Thursday my preaching schedule wa s very tight. Ispoke at Morning Star College on Thursday. Friday I spokeat Pamola. This is a long wa y out of Shillong. My na me w a sannounced an d put on posters. Some people who couldnot read misunders tood that I came from th e countrya mb ul an ce . T he y m is un de rs to od t he word Thailand an dambulance. Many people c a me be c aus e they want to herethis man from ambulance speaking. The street wa s packedfull again.Saturday night we went to Umlumpung or 12 mile iliamfor the annual convention which Iwa s invited by Yusihay tocome to speak. I spoke that night about Christians shouldbe shining like stars. Phil 2:12-18. On Sunday I spoke tothem morning an d evga* -echurch there had big feastfor t he p eo pl e who cam^ no m m an y p la ce s of Megaleya.Steven an d Barnabas from Nongpoh sang very beautifulsongs there. Brother Barid Crowbok from Mawlai wa s veryg re at s on g leader. Th e worship service really came alivewith his leading. He is a banker working at t he b an k nearNongpoh b ut e ve ry Sunday he an d Yusihay will servetogether at four churches in Miliam. We left Miliam onSunday night.

    W E S H O U L D LIKE S H I N I N G

    S T A R S

    We go t to Nongthymmai late at night. When we got homBrother Ba Bord fix big late dinner for us again. So we wento be d that night with joyful heart from the s ucc e ss f ul daof th e Lord s work and the tight full stomach with gooKhasi food. On Monday night I wa s invited to speak aMoulendeb by th e Christians wh o came to th e conventionThey said they want to hear me speaking more and wantheir whole village to hear th e words of God. In tha t nighth e rain rained so h ar d b ut this did not discourage peoplto come. Th e community hall was packed. The village kidsang very beautifully with Yusihay playing guitar anBrother Barid Crowbok leading th e singing. I spoke forvery long time that night bu t none went to sleep. I spokfrom Hebrew 9:22 Without shedding blood...no forgivingHeb. 11:6 Without faith ... no pleasing God; He b 12:1Without discipline .. cannot be true so n of God. After msermon a young beautiful talented daughter of Bro theBarid Crowbok came an d sang very beautiful song. I coulnot understand th e meaning but I knew that this song mushave very g o od m ea ni ng because everybody went silenmouths an d eyes o pe n ed . W h en finished everybody gavhe r an applause.From that community hall w e w er e invited to have late dinne r at on e of th e Christians house. It wa s a big feast fome. I wa s so tired tha t night but wa s very encouraged ts e e the l o v e a nd th e faith o f K ha si C h r i s t i a n s . From a l m o stw o weeks that stayed I do no t know ho w much I was be neficial to t he p eo pl e there but 1 wa s blessed so much bbeing with g oo d p e op le of Go d there. I have no commentabout myself. I j us t l ea ve t ha t to God an d people there. Buon e thing I knew is that when I left people fromNongthymmai came to see me off at Guwahati Airport anwe all ha d a difficult time to leave each other . I said goobye an d went in for checking in an d then I have to comou t again to s ai d g oo db ye a nd tell them I ha d to leave.called Ba Bord when I go t to th e hotel in Calcutta an d hcalled back two times. They were very sa d for my leavingThey cried on their way h om e. T he y did not take megue s t bu t as their br other . The Christians there n ow k ne wme a s t h e i r B r o t h e r Sumo from T h a i l a n d . I was invited tcome back again in next year. I pray that I will be able tvisit a n d e n co u ra g e t he m a ga in .On my way out Calcutta, I sa w many shrines where peoplset up to worship th e goddess of D ur ga P uc ha . In thicountry of one billion p e op le w h er e Christianity ha d comfor many centuries there ar e m an y a nd many millions soular e being lost. Churches an d Christians in India need mucencouragement for being faithful to Go d in their faith an d it he ir m is si on . M or e high level Christian leaders a re n ee ded. Christian education is needed very much. In Khasi among t h e C hu rc h of Christ there is no Christian magazinin Khas i language. There is on e good English Christiamagazine call Christindian that ha s good writer like BrotheLeonard T ho ms on a nd o th er good writers like Lois Morsan d Magret Ho. I think it is very important to have in Khaslanguage so that every on e in Khasi ill ca n read an d learin t he l an gu ag e that they ca n understand. I encouragevery leader that I me t to have Khasi Christian magazine

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    I am now back with my family at Pamaidang Village inChiangmai, Thailand, but my heart is still with the peoplein Northeast India. I came back earlier than my originalschedule. I have to come back earlier because 1 haveevangelis t from China waiting to meet me at the bordernorth of Chiangmai. This evangelist s name is Jah-Li-Pu.He is from Wei Xi. His brother is th e high officer in Wei Xi.Brother Jah-Li-Pu was very strong Christian leader. He iswell known by people both in hometown and in Burma. Insome way he is very much like Paul. He was a man ofabove average people before he b ec ame Christian andwhen he became Christian he has been very strong boldevangelist. He does not afraid anything to do God s work.We have me t each other on e t ime in Burma and havealways been good friends after that . Now he is on the border waiting to see me for the planning of the Lord s work inChina where there are 12 billion people.Talking about the Lord s work there are so many doorsopen for us. In faith by faith I have pressed myself for\V rdat least to be the l ea st help for the great work of the Lord.I am not doing with big bag of money. Somet ime I couldhardly lead my family through the month. I am very thankful to each one of you for being so faithful in praying for usand support ing us. Without you we will not be ab le to dothings that we ar e doing.Here is an accounting for funds received. I had borrowedabout 1,600 out ofother funds. Ispent 614 for my Indiatrip; 500.00 for the fax machine at Nongpoh; 100.00 forSteven and Nathaney s emergency cost on their way toU.S.A; 300.00 fo r Posarith fo r fa x machine inBattambang; 2000.00 Baht to the evangelist from China.

    HilWSAaVI20LlllNy9dNOIiVZINVOUOiUOUd-NON

    o i v d s s v i s o d s n

    Our prayer needs . 1) The meeting with evangelists fromChina. 2) Situation on the border. The refugee fromBurma. The Christians in Burma. The situation is not goodin Burma. The relation between Thailand and Burma isgoing in the negative way after Tha iland freed the studentactivists that took over the Burmise councilate in Bangkok.3) The head man of our village for opening of his heart forthe gospe l. 4) The hostel. 5) The Sinlees trip back toU.S.A. in the year 2000. Leah, Ben, and Paul had not beento U.S.A. since we came back in 1990. 6) The debt fromprevious trip to India; 615 trip to China in December. TheC.B.I, t eam and their problem.In The Service of Jesus,Jarem Ahtapa Sinlee

    We therefore, ought tosupport such, that wemay become fellowworkers for the truth.

    Ill John 8

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