updates

P. Jin is on our foundation staff as well as a Thai leader in the Samaki House church (the other community where our team missionaries live.) Her sister, Pawn, and Jin moved to Bangkok about 10 years ago and fell in love with Jesus.

From Jen Chi Lee, Servant Partners staff in South Africa:

Every Sunday evening, a group of people, both black and white (and Asian—that would be me), meet together to share life together and talk about what it means to be a community that follows Jesus together.  I shared in my last letter that I had committed to being a community builder in this group.  Since then, I have been thinking about what Christian community really is and how to help build it in this new culture.

From Molly Thomson, Servant Partners Staff in San Antonio, Texas:

A few weeks ago we hosted a neighborhood outreach event with our church, Mt. Zion. Our team hosted a training before we went out – we wanted to share what we’ve learned in our ventures into the neighborhood, as well as learn what experiences church members brought to the time. I led the training, with the focus being "No Assumptions" – I really wanted Mt. Zion members to leave behind any preconceived notions about the people they would encounter in our visits.

From Elliot Ling, SP Internships Staff in South Los Angeles, California:

In previous years God has brought many new youth to our youth group through the REEL Joy project, a month-long, movie-making, youth outreach project. For example, last year a young woman came for the first time and now serves on our student leadership team. This year has been no different. About 15 new youth came—several from the tutoring program that we started at the local public school, a few from relationships that we’ve developed with our neighbors, and a handful of youth who’ve been a part of the youth group in the past years.

From Aaron Smith, Team Leader in Manila, Phillipines:

We recently held a camp for youth from our squatter community.  It went much smoother this year. There were no missing kitchen knives or major fights. We were much better prepared this year, and we set a rule that if someone has to be sent home, the person who invited them will be the one to accompany them. This seemed to limit the fights.