UPDATE - Athing Shimray, Assam Asian Ministries 6/29/10

Dear Prayer Partners,
Many warm greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. On behalf of the Asian Ministry and on my own behalf, I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all who have been earnestly and sincerely supporting our ministry since its inception. It would not have been possible to effectively continue our various ministries had there not always been encouragement and prayer support from all the prayer partners. At this most crucial moment for our ministry, your support and prayer have really enlightened and given us new hope, even though we are deeply hurting and left almost hopeless due to untimely demise of our dear brother, Leishiyo Shimray. I would like to thank Rev. Dr. Jim Starr and Rev. Athem Chothe, who have encouraged and helped us to be strong in the Lord even at the darkest moment of our lives. We extend our heartfelt thanks to them and also to all of you.

It is a kind of misfortune to have this occasion fall upon me; to shoulder all the responsibilities that my brother Leishiyo shouldered during his time. He had envisioned many plans and strategies that were left unfulfilled, and here I am in his place by a design which I had never thought of or dared to imagine. I am afraid, wondering if I can really execute the work which my brother would be doing had he lived. The truth is that only since the completion of my M. Div. in August, 2005, did I join with my brother in the field of practical ministries. Thus I have only a meager experience that may not meet the required challenges ahead of me. Nevertheless, I am humbled and blessed by the grace of God. Through your continuous prayer support, our humble ministry will surely be an instrument for God in reaching out with His love to the entire unreached northeast region of India and neighboring countries. There are many more works to be done in these regions, many souls have not yet received the true Gospel of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Due to the untimely demise of our leader, our co-workers are suffering from various troubles and trials. However, they all are continuing in reaching out to their own communities with the gospel. Please continue to pray that our gospel outreach to every nook and corner will remain effective and dynamic.

In the past month I had the privilege of preaching 8 sermons in the Youth Camp held May 13-16 in Manipur State. Many young men, women and children attended. Ninety young people re-dedicated their lives to Christ for His service. Another Summer Bible Camp was held in Assam. I preached 6 times from the Gospel of John 3:15-21, and the grace of God miraculously worked among the Hindus. Four of them trusted in Christ for their personal salvation. Praise be the Lord. Please continue to uphold in prayer those young souls who have just committed themselves to Christ. Also continue to pray for the souls who were saved during Rev. Dr. Jim's visits with us in our school in April. However, 4 souls are still unable to take water baptism due to strong opposition from their family members. Please pray that their entire families will be saved in Christ. It is also encouraging to knowing that the souls who have committed themselves to Christ are gradually spreading the gospel and witnessing to others the way in which they were finally convinced to accept Christ as their personal Savior. All of our members were delighted and encouraged by the enthusiasm Rev. Dr. Jim showed during his visit. We deeply appreciate his dedication for the northeast region and particularly for the Asian Ministry.

I am highlighting our present activities which are as follows:

• Sunday morning service 9:30 -11 am at the school campus.
• Sunday afternoon service 3:00-5:30 pm at the Asian Baptist Church in Guwahati
• Outreach ministry every Tuesday and Thursday
• Bible Study every Wednesday and Friday evening.

Our mission school, officially known as Asian Academy English School, has 113 students in the current academic year. Of those, 24 students are staying in the school hostel. Many of these students are from extremely destitute backgrounds. Two students are from the extreme corner of the region bordering to Myanmar. At present there are 16 staff members. Recently, one of our two-month BSE course students from 2009 has been struggling to strengthen a church planted three months ago. At present it has 70 members. Two more students from the same batch are also endeavoring to plant churches in their respective areas. Do pray for these committed youths who have dedicated their lives for the cause of His Kingdom.
 
Prayer Requests:

• For Assam Asian Ministries.
• For the Asian Academy English School.
• For the Asian Baptist church.
• For our Asian missionaries and pastors working in different parts of the region.
• For the newly saved souls.
• For God's anointing on me as I attempt to take over Leishiyo's responsibilities for the ministry.