Perhaps I went a little overboard on the exclamation points back
there, but it can’t be helped. Exciting things are happening, both
in our work here and in my personal life. Both of which I would
like to share a little about.

We are now in our last week of work here. Last night was our final
study with our believer friends. I shared a short lesson, but when
they began to ask questions, it was so sweet to see the way that
they began to encourage one another with the answers. I feel
confident of the place in which we are leaving them, knowing that God will continue to work in their lives. (Incidentally, this is also
the last blog of which I will have to use code!)

The day before we held a barbecue at a nearby mountain. Thirty five
friends came and ate almost all of the food that we bought for
fifty. It was great. There was a lot of food and I was not sure what
was to come of it all. But they pulled through. It was such a
wonderful time of simply enjoying the friendship that we’ve made
over the last two years and showing them that we love them. I have
found that the expression of love is such a powerful thing. When we
learn to love people, doors will open that we never before
imagined. For the next few days we will be saying goodbye to our
friends, leaving them with words of wisdom and affirmation, packing
our bags and getting on that plane for New York. I’m a little
shocked by the speed of it all, for it’s alot to take in. But it’s
good.

As for what’s happening in my life it’s this. I am beginning to see
what the true measure of His calling is. In John 14:5-14, Jesus lays
it all out. He says that we can do what He did, and EVEN greater
things, for He is in us! The thought has struck me, what if we
truly believed this? What if we seized this calling that He has
placed on our lives and truly believed that He could act through us
to flip this world upside down for Him? This is not about a nice,
safe religion. This is about the living God moving and acting through
us in power and authority, to set back the plans of the enemy, to
free the captives, to heal the sick, and to thwart the path of
injustice. Oh if we as a body could take hold of the full measure
of His calling. I have had many sleepless nights as of late,
considering the possibilities.

For me the vision He has placed on my heart concerns children. More specifically the children who are orphaned or are abandoned and broken by the evils of slavery and forced prostitution. This is so
real and there are millions of children in the world today who are
left to believe that there is no hope beyond the depravity that
they have faced. Each of these lives is destined, in Jesus, for a
mighty purpose in His kingdom. It is through Him, that the claim
that the enemy has made on these lives will be forfeited and they
can be raised up as men and women of God. This is the vision in which I am dedicating myself. I have journaled some fifty plus pages so far concerning this vision, so I will have to leave the rest for
another time. But my excitement for this is growing all the time.

So in closing, I am coming before you, asking you to join me in
seeking His kingdom. He wants to use you in such a powerful way. If
your heart is to end child slavery, that’s awesome and I’d love for
you to join me. If it’s elsewhere, that’s great too. Find that
vision that He’s giving you and go after it with everything you
have.

Most of you reading this have already made a decision to give your
life to Jesus. With that decision, we are called to be co-heirs with
Him (Romans 8:17). Please don’t belittle this for something less. I
have received emails from many of you, in which you’ve shared the
things that God has placed within you. It’s such an encouragement to
see the way in which He is moving in the body.  And for those you
who have not yet made a decision to accept Jesus as your Lord and
savior, know that it is more than religion, but it is entry into a
kingdom and inheritance with the living God, who loves you more than you can imagine and desires to use your life for a purpose beyond your wildest dreams.

This was a bit of a longer blog and I sincerely hope you read it.
This is something that’s been on my heart to the point of bursting
and I felt that I couldn’t go to bed tonight until I got it off my
chest.

Thank you all for being so awesome over these last three years that
I’ve spent over here and I would love nothing more than if you
would continue with me on this journey. I’ll be staying in touch
and I ask that you would do so as well. Please write back and let
me know how you’re doing, and if God’s laying a vision on your heart
as well, I’d love to hear it. I love you all and will be seeing you
again real soon.

God bless
Shamgar

One of our top priorities recently has been to transition our
weekly discipleship class into an ongoing fellowship. And it’s
happening. It’s really happening. The traditional formula of this
study has been meeting in one of our apartments and one of us from
our team sharing a lesson. And it’s been awesome, but we were
struck with a question. What next? We will be leaving soon, thus
being no longer able to teach or offer a place of meeting. What
next? This past Sunday we saw it.

We all met on the street and found an open space on one of the
universities in which we could all meet. I only opened the meeting
by asking if anyone had something to share, either testimony or
lesson that God had taught them. Once they started, it lasted an
hour. Stories were shared, passages were taught on and
encouragements were given. One of our brothers shared a testimony
of the hand of God on his family and challenged the group to seek him
further. One of the sisters led the group in lifting His name and
even threw some teaching in there. And by the end of the night we
found a possibility of a meeting place as well as stated interest
in leadership. We don’t know where either of these opportunities
will lead but it is a very cool story in and of itself, and for the
sake of time I can share more about it another time.

Anyhow, the best part was our hands were off of it the whole time.
The whole meeting was arranged and handled by our local brothers
and sisters. This is what we came to see happen and it’s going
down. I for one was pumped.

Well, like I said, the end is near. God is preparing some exciting
things in my life and I look forward to sharing them with you soon,
hopefully face to face, in just three weeks! But until then, please
continue to write back. It means a lot to me to hear from you. I
love you all and I’ll see you soon.

God bless,
Shamgar

Walter been coming to our outreach study every week for probably
the last four months or so. He said that he had an aunt that was a
believer and that she would teach him things, but he never believed
it. Well, a few weeks ago, I asked him what he’d gained from our
study. He said that he used to think that God wasn’t real, but now he
did. But he still wasn’t at a point of believing in and accepting
Jesus. Now we get to this Saturday.

For our study, we watched the movie the Passion. During the movie I
looked at Walter and saw the he was crying. After it was over we
broke up into groups and talked about what we were all thinking.
Walter began to share how he knew that believing in Jesus was an
important decision that he needed to make and that he was ready to
do so. So he gave his heart then and there. Here’s the crazy part.
After he did this, he told us that just several days previously, he
had tried to take his own life. Twice. First he tried to cut his
wrists, but they simply stopped bleeding after a few moments. He
didn’t understand at the time. So he then tried sleeping pills and
took twice the lethal amount before he went to bed. He woke up the
next morning as if nothing happened. He didn’t understand why he
was being kept alive. That is until Saturday night, when he
confessed God’s protection over him so that they may enter into a
relationship with eachother.

He was dunked the very next night, Easter Sunday. We’ve tried so
hard to get this guy to smile the last few months,to no avail. But
Sunday night after he came up out of the water, he wouldn’t stop
smiling. He told us it was the happiest day of his life. Also to
get dunked that night was my friend Peter who has been one of my
closest friends here for the last two years and one of our most
devoted to growth. It was a real privilage to be a part of it. We
also dunked two girls, Shadow and Zero. Shadow joined the family
just a couple months ago at the study and Zero joined that very
day! She was led into the family by one of our local believer
friends at the shop where she worked and wanted to be dunked that
night.

So it’s been awesome here. Our prayers are working and we’re seeing
the fruit of our labor. Once again, this couldn’t happen without
your support back home, so thank you. Another quick testimony.
Before I told of how I was in a deficit of over a thousand dollars.
Well I just got a financial update and the deficit is down to only
ninety three dollars! He provides. Thank you all who have helped to
meet this need.

This blog is kinda long, even though I told the shortened stories.
So I’ll leave it at that for now. Please write back and tell me
what’s going on in your world, and I’ll see you back stateside in
just six weeks.

God bless,

Shamgar

This is a pretty easy blog to write because a lot of awesome things
are happening over here.

Since we’ve been back, we have seen significant growth in our
believer friends. In our first meeting we had together as our
discipleship group, we heard stories of how they shared the love of
Jesus with their families during the spring festival, stories of the
things that God taught them during their devotion times, and stories
of healings as they prayed for sick family members. In another part
of the city, we heard the story of a rescent believer who during
the spring festival was completely healed of a tumor, leaving no
trace!

It’s so cool to see this leave the surface level and become
personal for them. My friend Sen joined the family last year. All
this year he was struggling with many doubts as to whether or not
he could or should serve God all his life. Often his prayers that we
would share together would concern things like good grades and job
opportunities. And though God does answer our requests for those
things, we wanted to see his relationship go deeper. And they have.
Two weeks ago he shared with us the story of how God healed his
grandfather during the holiday when he prayed for him and the new
revelation of His power and love that he got. Last week I prayed
with him, and six others to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He
confessed in his prayer how empty he felt without God and asked that
the Holy Spirit would come and fill him, because he knew he was lost without
it and wanted to live his whole life for God. These guys are getting
it!

And for the friends that have resisted over time, we are now
beginning to see breakthrough. Our friend Joy, who when we shared
with him before, inevitably changed the subject, kept us going the
other night for two hours, asking for more stories from the word
and testimonies from our personal lives. And just today, one of our
believing friends from last year, and was struggling as of late,
saw tremendous breakthrough. She said that for the last two weeks
her faith was at about a fifty percent, but when she left our
house, she was at a 99!

And these are just a few stories. I wish I had time to tell them
all. But sufice it to say, things are happening like crazy. And it
really truly is a direct result of your prayers. I can’t thank you
enough for them and I ask that you continue in them. They are
working.

Thank you also to those who have said that they wanted to help in
meeting my current financial need. It’s a tremendous blessing. And
if any of you still feel led to help meet this need, rest assured
it’s not to late, for there’s still some need. I know it will be
met.

And as always, you guys are the best and I love you all and can’t
wait to get caught up with you when I return to the states, in just
9 WEEKS! How crazy is that? This year has flown by. So until then,
write back whenever you can, for I always love to hear form you.

God bless,
Shamgar

It’s been a long long time, I know. Much has happened since the
last update. I’ve gone on journeys to distant lands and have had
little that resembles my conventional schedule. Our friends whom we
are reaching have been away on holiday, so it’s given us a
different focus in the past month. But I am back in the saddle
again. I will give you a bit of a rundown as to all that’s been
happening.

About a month ago, our entire organization headed to Thailand for
our yearly conference. This is usually a powerful time of
impartating of wisdom by visiting speakers and impartation for our
continuing work. But this conference more than any other was a
milestone in my life. Soon before leaving I was struck by something
that God had placed on my heart, and that is this. We, as the body of
Jesus Christ, are called into so much. We have the authority and commission to change the world, and reverse the progress of the enemy. But in order to fully walk in this, we must have an eternal kingdom mindset.

Jim Elliott said before he was killed on the field, “He is no fool to lose what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose”, or something close to that. Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is we are created for something eternal that is far beyond our own comprehension and imagination. When we see our place in that, nothing can limit the impact that we as a body can have. I could go on about this for pages but I won’t, for now.

To make a long story short, I arrive at the conference to find that the theme is the Kingdom of God, and it encouraged me so much right where I was at and filled me with an expectancy for the future that I’ve never had before.

From the conference I travled to another province in Asia to visit a
friend and his family for the spring festival ( New Year). We
ate a lot of food and played with a lot of fireworks in crowded city
streets and had a great time. But it was even more special because
our friend who we went to visit had become a recent Christian and we had a great time of sharing and encouraging him. On a quick
side note, we also have another friend that lived near by who is a Christian and we visited her as well. All the women in her family
are believers, held up by her grandmother, who is the sweetest and
most genunine woman of God you’ll ever meet. So that was pretty
special.

Right now we’re going through a week of training sessions with
visiting church leaders from back home. I could write about
that for several pages as well, but I won’t for now.

As for me, I’m feeling direction to new areas in the near future
and I’ll be happy to tell you about that if you’d like. It’s going
to be good. But for now we have our mission in this land and I know
that many more amazing things are going to happen in the next twelve weeks before we go.

Please continue to lift up our team and our work, it’s needed. And
if you are able to give financially to my work here, it’s very much
needed. I’m about a thousand dollars in debt to the overhead
organization, which greatly limits my available resources here.
It’s a need that I’m doubtless our God can meet, but I do need your
help.

As always, you guys are the best. I’ve said it many times before
and I meant it every time. Please keep in touch, I’d love to hear
from you as well.

God bless,
Shamgar

Since my last update, we’ve had a new sister and a new brother! I
tried several opening lines for this update and this one fit best.

Our outreach Bible study has been going really awesome. We have a
faithful few who come every week and they inevitabley bring others.

It is among these new friends that are brought that we’ve seen two
new sisters two weeks in a row!!! I figure that calls for generous
use of exclamation points. Each new family member is a story in and
of itself, and though I’d love to tell them all, there’s only so
much blogging a man can do at once. So I’ll tell you about Benjamin.

Benjamin was a friend of my roommate whom I had heard mentioned
before but never met. Yet, when I was told that we would be having
dinner with him that evening, I knew that it was his night of decision. After we met him, we found out that he’d been taking a great many things into consideration since he’d heard the message from my roommate and the Christmas party. Though he doesn’t understand all, he knew in his heart it was true. We had a great talk over a dinner of noodles and barbecued mutton, during which many of his questions and concerns were covered. We then went for a walk, and talked some more. When it began to rain, we sought shelter. Seeing how the conversation was going, I dropped the
question. “So do you believe Jesus is the son of God?” His answer, “No,
I don’t believe that at all.” The immediate reaction, a little
disappointment. But then he said, “Oh wait, did you say the son of
God, yes I believe that. I thought you said is he just a guy, and I
know he isn’t.” So then we made the follow up offer to receive and
receive he did, right there in the middle of a gutted restaurant
during a rain storm. Since then we’ve met with him and seen his
growth and desire to know more. It’s pretty sweet. He even prayed
for me that God would heal my cold. And I feel much better.

As I’ve said, things are going great. But they’re flying by so
fast. We’re already more than half way through this year. I’ll be
gone for much of the next month, due to a conference out of country
for our organization, and spring festival travel at the home of a
friend in another province. Then we will have our winter training
sessions. After that, it’s just another two and a half months and
we’ll be heading back. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around
thanksgiving. Wowza!

Well, of course I think you’re all the best. Please continue to
write back, I love hearing from you. Please continue to lift up our
work, our friends and this country to God. It’s needed. And as you
feel led, please continue to give financial support to the best of
your ability and leading. More is needed, but will be provided. I
know it. I love you all and holla back.

Shamgar

This is round two. I just wrote a stellar update for all of you and
the computer did some blipping and popping and freezing and it
disappeared. So here we go again.

I’m sorry it’s been so long since the last update. Time is just
flying over here. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around
Thanksgiving and BAM! Christmas is passed. I hope you all had a
fantastic Christmas that was Merry and blessed. Mine was. It was
busy and sometimes chaotic, but merry and blessed just the same.

Let me tell you about our Christmas parties. Last year we only did
one and seventy five people showed up. It was fun but we decided
not to do that again. So this year we broke it up into two. The
first one being with general friends and aquaintances. We had
somewhere in the vicinity of fifty friends come. We had games,
songs, and exhorbetant amount of snacks and even the nativity play.

You know the kind, towels on the head for shepherds and a
basketball for the baby Jesus. As corny as it was, God used it. Many
friends came up to us after, saying how much they enjoyed it and
that they never heard that story before and wanted to learn more.
It’s funny what God can use to reach people.

The following day we had another party with about twenty people.
This one was for our friends who already believed so that we can
celebrate the birth of Jesus as brothers and sisters. This was
something special. We had more games, more snacks, a white elephant
gift exchange and we capped the evening with a candle lit time of
song. Once again, something special.

As for other news. The outreach study continues to go well. We had
a new girl become a Christian this past week. Her name is Shadow, so
be sure to keep her in your prayers. Our newer study for believers
is great. We’ve been teaching the basics for living the believer
life such as Bible study methods and hearing God’s voice. But as much as
I love teaching, far more so I love to see them take up the reigns
after the lesson and speak into eachothers lives. That’s what we’re
ultimately here to see. We’re believing that these studies can
become the foundation stones of multiple new fellowships.

And of course, none of this would be possible without your support
in finances and prayers. Thank you so much. It’s been huge. Please
continue to give as you feel led and please please don’t stop
praying, for that’s most important and central to all we do. You
guys are the best and I love you all. Please keep in touch and let
me know how you’re doing. It really means alot to me.

Be blessed
Shamgar

For me, the most poignant story of my last couple weeks, was the leaving of my friend Agui. You may remember that he was our first friend to join the family this year. When I asked him if he was going to join our Bible study last week, he said that he would come, but to say goodbye, for he had joined the army and would be leaving in just a few days. My mind was racing trying to think of all that we needed to impart to him as our final words. When he arrived at the subway station, our traditional meeting spot, he said he could only stay for a few minutes, not even enough time to come to our house. How were we going to share all that he needed to hear?

While I was thinking this, I looked over and saw Agui deeply confiding with our friend Oliver, whom he’d just met. Oliver is a weekly attender of our study and has shown great interest in the Word, though has yet to make a decision. When they finished talking Agui turned to me and told me that he was telling Oliver that he should continue coming to our studies and learning from the Word because it had the power to change his life. When I heard this I was filled with peace. He got it. He really got it. He knew what was most important and saw the need for it in others. We were able to meet with him for lunch a couple days later, where we gave him a Bible, said a word over him and confidently sent him on his way. Even though we barely scratched the surface on all that we could teach him, he had what he needed to start a life long relationship with his new Father. So we trust him now into His hands.

So much happening here. Please continue to lift up our work. Particular points are our upcoming Christmas party. We’re believing for huge things to happen there. Also, we will all be doing some traveling next month for our yearly conference. Please lift up traveling mercies, along with the provision of the expenses that we will all need for this trip.

It’s been so long. How are you all doing? I hope you consumed a
tremendous amount of turkey and pie, I know I did. Yes, we were
able to eat turkey and pie over here. It was great!

There’s so much to tell about. We’ve been quite busy and have seen
all sorts of cool things happen. The latest news, as of last night
we have a new sister and her name is Lily! She’s been coming to our
weekly Bible study just about every week and has drawn closer and closer
to God everytime. Last night while walking back to her dorm with a
couple of my team members, it was her time. I could tell earlier in
the evening it was time. She was ripe!

The outreach study has continued to go quite well, and we’ve seen
all sorts of unexpected people show up and seen them touched in
unexpected ways. I love those kinds of surprises.

More exciting news! We’ve recently started a new Bible study for the
believers. While the outreach study is devoted to seekers and has
an open structure, leaving room for questions and what not, this
new study is a more concise curriculum that we’re in the process of
writing. It’s goal is to encourage growth in the believers and draw
them into a deeper relationship with the Lord. At the same time,
we’re aiming to create a foundation on which we can begin a new
fellowship with believers who are of one accord and share a vision
of reaching their fellow students. It will be a ten week program
and we just had our first class, which went very well. At the end
of the course, we’re planning to consolidate the notes into a book
format which can be translated and used in teaching future classes
of it’s kind in other cities, as well as individual growth for the
students who are unable to come to a class. It’s a big undertaking,
but I’m really excited about the opportunities that it affords.

As always, you guys are the best and I love you all. Please
continue to lift up our work over here, it works. Please continue
to write back, I love hearing from you. Please continue to give as
your able, there are still needs that need to be met. And most
importantly, draw closer to Him and share His love with others.
Everyone can make a difference where they are at if they walk in
the light. I really believe this. Together, we can see change in
the world over.

God bless,
Shamgar

How can I even begin to tell of what happened in the lives of these
five men and woman in the last few days? As I write this, I still
don’t know. I considered telling a play by play story, but how
could this ever do such a thing justice. Five lives were brought
out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light! My words
could never capture the magnificence of what’s taken place. But
I’ll try to relate the work that’s happened in these individual
lives the best I can.

Saturday afternoon was our first time meeting Timothy. He was
introduced to us by a friend we hardly knew. The two came to our
apartment and I could not trace the conversation to the L0rd, but
to there it went. After hearing the full message of redemption,
Timothy couldn’t understand why anyone would not choose to believe.
He accepted Jesus Christ into his life that day.

Later that night, we had our weekly book study. How a message on
Cain and Abel turned to the salvation message, I’ll never know. But
to there it went. After the lesson, those who wanted to know more
were invited into the back room. Gundy, who’s been a friend of mine
since last year and regular study attendee, told of how when he
came to our studies, he could feel the peace of God inside him, but
when he left, the peace was gone and replaced by sadness. He wanted
to bring the peace of God with him. Jacky and Anne both responded to
the invitation that night as well, having heard the message before
but at last understanding their personal need for it. One of the
most beautiful moments I’ve witnessed in my life occured that
night, as Peter, one of our newest brothers, our disc!ple, and
Gundy’s friend, sat Gundy down and explained his new life to him by
taking him through the word. Gundy did all he could to keep back
his tears, to no avail.

Chandler was one of my friends last year as well. I reconnected
with him just last week. During that first meeting the conversation
ended up on Jesus Christ. I don’t know how many times Chandler stopped the
conversation by clapping his hands and exclaiming, “So good. So
good.” During the course of the week, he came to our apartment
three different mornings to study the word.The revelation was so
apparent in his eyes as he would stop and explain the message to us
in great detail. On our third meeting, I asked him if he wanted to
pray to Jesus Christ and invite him into his life. He said he wanted to
“right now”. Before we could collect our thoughts, he prayed out on
his own a heart felt confession of faith and repentance. He’s a
leader among the students on his campus and has already expressed
the need to share this message with his classmates.

As long as this blog has been, I assure it’s been slimmed down
greatly. Apart from these testimonies, we’ve seen so many lives
touched and reached in new  and powerful ways as of late. And it’s
my expectation that it’s not over yet, but bound to continue in
greater ways. I sincerely mean it when I say that none of this
would be possible without your prayers back home. Thank you. Please
continue to lift this work up before Him. He’s working.

As always, I love you guys and think you’re the best. Please
continue to write back. It’s always good to hear from you.

Shamgar