Ying Kheng (left) & Sonia

Roland and I (YK) spoke twelve times – at church, the YMCA, two Christmas parties, four youth camps, our 400-strong campus conference, and a wedding in Hong Kong (where I spoke for Sonia, a staff I’d mentored for years).

Our church also had three days of gospel campaign where we served as counselors. Praise God that 60 persons received Christ.

But it was not all work and no play.

In HK, Roland and I — Julienne was home serving at her fourth camp for abused kids — hung out with old friends, revisited favorite haunts, and had our fill of “century egg porridge” and “milk tea”, found only in the SAR’s hole-in-the-wall eateries.

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Deep in December, Jumping into January (PDF, 534kB)

Our family in traditional Cambodian garb (June 2009)

Dear supporters & friends, we want to express our heartfelt thanks to you for your support in our lives and ministry through your friendship, prayers and giving. Thank you for your love for and trust in us that has enabled us to join God in His work at various fronts. The following are three interesting comparisons of changes in our lives and ministry since we last served in Cambodia.

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• With gratefulness, the Mahs (PDF, 628kB)

Roland Tan (2nd from left)

It brings us great joy reaching out to teenagers and campus students (this year I spoke 21 times to youth and campus groups). Teaching seminary students at EAST brings with it another kind of satisfaction. Here we mentor people who have already made that commitment to serve Christ. It’s a special privilege to help shape the hands and hearts of these future shepherds, missionaries, and church-planters.

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• 2009 highlights (PDF, 1.3MB)

My class on the book of Genesis has just finished. While I enjoyed the content and the students, I struggled with fitting such a lot of material into 10 weeks of two-hour classes. I not only learned much more about Genesis, I also learned how I would teach it differently next time.

My class on the Poetic and Wisdom Books of the Old Testament is going really well. I studied engineering, so I am not much of a poet! But I have been learning a lot as we have gone through the books of Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and (whisper) Song of Songs! I particularly enjoyed the last two–probably two of the most misunderstood and ignored books in the Bible. I am actually preaching from Ecclesiastes this Sunday. (You can access the sermon at http://www.cicfamily.com.)

The class I have just started is “Theology of Missions”, which traces the development of World Missions right through the Bible. Again this is an area I had not taught before, so I am gaining much more than my students as I do the background preparation, and then plan how to present the material.

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• Learning More! from TeamOlson.org

Class photo (Janice in pink dress, 2nd from left)

I just finished teaching Advanced Evangelism and Discipleship at East (East Asia School of Theology). As I was preparing this course, I asked the Lord for His input as to how I could help to grow the students in the practical aspect of evangelism and discipleship. The Lord impressed my heart to do field ministry with the students so that there would be a mutual observation, evaluation and learning. In the course of ten weeks, we had the privilege to witness to more than thirteen people and five accepted Jesus into their lives! I thank God for giving me the privilege to witness to the family members of some students. Besides witnessing, I also had the privilege to observe some students as they led their cell groups or discipleship groups. It is encouraging to see how God is equipping our students so that they can better equip others.

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• Sowing & reaping (PDF, 174kB)

Two of the men died suddently. Two struggled with long illnesses but accepted the Lord before they died. Roland led one of them to Christ three years ago and baptised him in his home.

The only one who had a non-Christian funeral was the grandfather of one of my (YK) Sunday school students. He had a heart attack. His funeral service — a Hindu ceremony — was unforgettable.

After some chanting, amidst drum beats and incense burning, the deceased’s three sons walked around his coffin three times. One of them held a clay water jug on his shoulder. At the beginning of each round of walk, the jar would be lightly cracked to allow water to leak.

Finally, at the end of the third round, the water jug was dropped to the ground. Crash! A hundred broken pieces of clay, and water splattered all over the floor, spoke vividly of the fragility of life, and the finality of death…

Ecclesiastes 12:6 (NASV) tells us that there comes a day for every man when “the pitcher by the well will be shattered” — and he shall face his Creator. And before that day arrives, whatever our hand finds to do, let us do it with all our might (Eccl 9:10).

Let us live well, love much, fear God, preach His Word, “be ready in season and out of season” (2 Tim 4:2).

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• Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might (PDF, 810kB)

We were not renewing our marriage vows. Just a fun intro to a talk on letting go before we could let others in.

LAST week, Julienne graduated with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts (honors, second upper) degree in Visual Communications. As we watched her walk across the stage to received her degree, we felt very grateful.

That this gentle and talented human being is our child and God’s child.

That our Heavenly Father had provided for all her needs (we had only enough for her first year when she started).

That throughout the four years at NTU, she had lacked nothing: joy in learning, grace through the many lonely nights of projects and computer crashes, and solid Christian friends.

Above all, we are grateful that God has given our daughter a heart to obey Him. Next month, Julienne will spend ten days in Japan to reach out to abused and abandoned children.

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• Go & make disciples of the nations (PDF, 456kB)

For me (YK, 2nd from right), speaking to 100 teachers in two schools. Most of them were non-believers but they listened to my talks attentively. I'm grateful.

Battsenger said, when I (YK) shared the gospel with her.

The manager of the GoldStar Hotel, where we stayed during our 10-day trip in Ulaanbaatar (UB), was my “man of peace” (Luke 10:6).

Every day, she would check if we had enough hot water (temperature between -3°C and 20°C). One evening she prepared for us Indian curry (she’s married to a Pakistani). Another day, she surprised me by doing all my laundry, and at no cost.

Though she didn’t receive Christ through my sharing, I know Battsenger’s salvation is near. “You have something special,” she told me.

When I replied that the “something special” is Jesus in me, she nodded. “Yes, I know,” she said. “My maid, who’s the purest person I’d ever met, has the same thing.”

“She’s also a Christian.”

On our last evening, I introduced Battsenger to Boggii, a local worker who would follow her up. Here’s the amazing thing: when the two women met, they realized they were neighbors 30 years ago in Hovd, a village 1,500km from UB.

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• “I’m 31 years old; can I be a baby again?” (PDF, 700kB)
• Jeremy Chew: Open door for the Word (PDF, 532kB) The Mongolians not only opened their door to welcome the Word of God. They also opened their hearts to us. They received us with warm friendship, food and gifts that were beyond their means. We might have taught them the New Testament, but they showed us how to live it.

Hiking with EAST family group members at MacRitchie Reservoir

Mentoring has been God’s blessing in our lives. We praise God for people who have faithfully mentored us in the past at various points in our lives. These include not a few of YB’s Sunday School teachers who proudly came forward to reconnect with him (after more than 30 years!) when YB spoke at different churches.

We are also thankful for countless people in Singapore, Cambodia and Canada that God has enabled us to disciple. Presently YB is mentoring two key young adults in church — John & Alethea. At EAST, he mentors Andrew (Singapore), Bataa (Mongolia), Christopher (Korea), Kwang Sik (Korea), and Sang Hyuk (Korea). These are members of YB’s Family Group (a ministry where each faculty coaches a small group of students). Elaine mentors Angeline, Gerlynn, and Joyce in church and takes care of a group of students’ spouses as part of EAST’s holistic ministry to the family of each student.

… One of our greatest statisfaction in mentoring is to see spiritual multiplication. It’s thrilling to first teach John and Alethea, and then to empower them to teach the teens which include our very own boys, Caleb and David! It has also been a rewarding time to assist them pioneer the teen ministry in our church.

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• Reaffirming God’s Call (PDF, 1.6MB)

This may, I (YK) will be returning to Mongolia with Roland and Jeremy, a colleague from EAST (Julienne can’t go this time as she’s preparing for graduation). We will conduct a New Testament Survey course for 50 local workers and speak in several meetings. In fact the day after we arrive, I am scheduled to address 600 school teachers at an evangelistic meeting.

Pray for us. While the Lord is encouraging us to go by faith, He also reminds us this is a spiritual warfare. We need your prayers.

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• Back to Mongolia (PDF, 650kB)

Julienne's 22nd birthday

The weather was cold, YK had a bad cough, and we were exhausted from a busy season of speaking and teaching. But right from day one, we tasted God’s favor and goodness during the 10 days of ministry in Hong kong. Here’s how: (read full letter).

We enjoyed our time with the HK staff. The young ones loved our stories of the ‘beginnings’; the older ones wanted to know how they could stay fruitful and passionate in ministry. We are very thankful. God loved us so much that He allowed us to serve in HK during the 80s, and now to spend the first week of 2009 with the HK workers, many of whom we feel very close to our hearts.

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• 10 days in Hong Kong (PDF, 2.5MB)