Back from China

Well, the outreach is over!
Sorry for the delayed update, for security reasons it is better not to send missionary updates from China (that's what I'm told anyway). Seriously though, I have seen God's faithfulness in the areas of protection and provision, healing and salvation in quantities that have blown my mind, and have opened my eyes more and more to how big our God really is. My team's time in China was an incredible blessing because we were able to see God's kingdom moving forward in that country, which has traditionally been one of the hardest places on earth for the gospel. In both Shanghai and Guangzhou (two of the biggest cities in China) we were able to meet with Christians and partner with them in the ministries going on there. Some of the things we were able to do were: work in an orphanage, mainly for kids with disabilities, attend "underground church," teach and share testimonies in home fellowship groups, do prayer and spiritual warfare around strategic religious and political places and work with a missionary family from my own church at home (Vineyard Christian Fellowship). In both Hong Kong and Taiwan our team was able to work with youth groups and school programs, and saw many teenagers come to know the Lord there, in China we were able to lead one young man to the Lord who we met at a fellowship group.
I want to thank you for your prayers, and for reading my updates, and I truly believe this DTS outreach was a success because you prayed, and committed to be a part of what God has been doing in Taiwan and China through this team. In just the area of transportation and logistics alone, we saw canceled plane reservations be reversed so we could fly to Asia, we saw visas to China (which everyone told us we could not get this summer) be approved in less than 24 hours, we saw typhoons turn around, and airlines create new flights so our team could fly from China to Hong Kong... I'm a firm believer in the power of prayer :-). I've attached some pictures from our time in China in this e-mail, the first is a picture with Pete and Katie Chen and their kids, I know pete from VCF and he's been living in China for about 8 years, it was great to see him and work with him in Guangzhou. The second picture is of a summer camp we taught in Taiwan. The school asked us to teach english, music, drama and sports, this is a picture of music class, where the students learned the song "Amazing Grace." The third picutre is of spending time with some of the kids from a youth group in Hong Kong we worked with. They wanted to show us where to get some "traditional food," which was quite the cross cultural experience. The next picture is of some of the team leading worship... we could sing in English, Korean, French and Chinese... a couple other languages, but those were the main ones :-). The final picture is taken at the orphanage in Guangzhou, China.
My time with DTS is finished now. This next year I will be teaching a bible school with YWAM, training missionaries to teach and preach the gospel, and possibly leading some of them on another outreach next spring. If you think of it could you pray for me in this transition time? I know God is leading me into being staff with this new school, pray that he is glorified through it!
Andrew

In Shanghai

Well, we have arrived!
just wanted to write and say we made it to China. I wont be able to give a lot of information until we are back in Hong Kong, but we got our visas, had our first long train ride and everything has fallen into place. He is faithful! Our time in Hong Kong was amazing. It was extremely busy for me at the end, having to get visas, train tickets, hotel reservations in china, picking up students from the airport who are joining our team for the rest of the trip... but I got some sleep on the train :-). I am so glad you are thinking of us over here, also if you reply to this e-mail or have anything to share with me remember I am in China, and that e-mail might not be the best way to share some things...
Blessings,
Andrew

Time is up in Taiwan

Hi!
Well I can't thank you enough for your prayers and support because the last two weeks have been fantastic. First off we had a typhoon that went right around our team, forecasters were predicting a lot of flooding and stuff in the area we were in because it was headed straight for us... we barely got wet. But while our team was not getting wet, we were pretty busy with a lot of other stuff., The first week of our time down south we worked with the pastor of the only church in a town of 200,000, running a children's program in the morning, teenagers discipleship training in the afternoon and evangelism or adult bible studies in the evenings. With the kids we had lots of fun, and learned some Chinese songs and games as well as sharing a lot of bible stories. With the adults we were able to pray for a lot of people the pastor has been talking with, and who are interested in Christianity, but have not made commitments to Christ yet. We got to hear some incredible praise reports from that group before we left of physical healing and God restoring relationships. The greatest thing was each one that shared wanted to give the glory to God for what was happening in their lives. He is doing something in their hearts, breaking the chains of ancestor worship and spiritual oppression as they see Jesus is the name above all names.
My favorite times from this week were with the teenagers, about 20 of them that have accepted Christ and have a discipleship group led by the pastor's son. We taught subjects like evangelism, spiritual warfare and hearing God's voice. These kids really got excited about evangelism after our session on that. I talked about the way Christ communicated personally when he was on earth and we had a really good discussion on the "cultural keys" for Taiwanese to come to the realization of who Jesus is, and what the Kingdom of God looks like for a Taiwanese person. It really is an amazing culture here, and there are a lot of things we identified with this group that God has put into the culture, things he can use to draw their friends and neighbors to Himself. One of the things I had sensed since being here was that Taiwanese Christians really felt like they needed to separate themselves completely from their culture when they became Christians, It was really awesome to see God opening their eyes to His dreams for the nation and culture of Taiwan.
This past week was the busiest we have had yet, as we ran a summer camp for a public school (just the 7 of us and 4 translators, close to 200 kids). We were running 4 classes simultaneously, so while two of my students taught music, two taught English, two taught sports and I taught drama. It was a fun time, but really draining, summer camp is so much easier when the kids speak the same language as you! But the DTS students did amazing, and on Friday we had a camp performance, where students who had never heard the gospel performed an amazing rendition of "Amazing Grace" they learned in Music class. In our drama class the main theme was how drama tells a story, and I shared with them the story of the Firey Furnace in Daniel and the Gospel message of Jesus coming to earth to save us. The kids did a great job with skits and fun activities, but most importantly, I think they came away with an understanding of who Jesus is, and what it means to have faith in Him! We were technically not supposed to "preach..." of course not, it's summer camp!
Again we have felt the prayers being lifted up for us every day in the areas of wisdom, energy, protection, typhoons and traveling mercies! God truly has gone before us and been the guard behind us each place we go. We leave for Hong Kong in a few days, really excited, not quite sure what the next few weeks will look like. I predict more Chinese food, chopsticks and Asian looking people, but I've been wrong before :-)
Blessings,
Andrew

Two weeks in Taiwan

And God is blowing my mind each and every day!
My team and I are currently working with a minority people group in western Taiwan called the Hakka people. There is a .3% christian presence in this area, and in a township of over 100,000 people, we are working with one of the only two churches, while the decorated rooftops of over 90 Daoist temples litter the skyline. Since arriving, our entire team has been able to physically sense the spiritual oppression here, we spent the entire morning this morning in spiritual warfare for this area, and I really believe God has done something through that time, as I felt oppression lift during that time pushing back the darkness and claiming God's promises for the people who live here.

This week we have been able to run programs each day for middle school students as well as high school students, also doing an evening evangelism event for adults. My team has been amazing, spending any free time we get creating and practicing new dramas and witnessing tools (in the last week I have taught them dramas, kids games, magic tricks, how to make balloon animals etc. and I have been learning a lot from them as well). We have seen God answer prayer for healing as well as we did a program in a hospital a few days ago, sharing songs, a skit, some testimonies and most importantly, hope in Jesus Christ. At least one woman was instantly healed when we placed our hands on her, there were several young children I prayed for as well I believe God is healing.

Pray for us this week, we have a full program running a summer camp for a public school. The program was set up by the local church, but will be run completely by our team, and we are doing English, Music, Sports and Drama programs. Pray for the teenagers we have already talked and prayed with who have made decisions to follow Christ. In this culture it is extremely difficult for the teenagers to break with tradition, but many have already taken the first step in deciding to follow Christ, pray that God gives them wisdom as well as strength as they walk their new faith out, especially in the way they relate to their parents.

I am so blessed to have such an amazing team with me (as well as prayer warriors daily bringing us before the throne of God.) These six girls and guys seriously have been doing incredible, not only fearlessly preaching teaching and evangelizing, but storming the gates of hell in their prayers for Taiwan and the people here, as well as praying ceaselessly for the other two teams sent out from our school. Pray for continued boldness, as God continues to stretch us in our times of ministry. I hope to send you pictures when I get to a place with better Internet, as it is I am in a small Internet cafe where I can't upload anything. I'll be sure to keep you updated as things move on,

For His glory!

Andrew

Moving right along

So I know I just wrote two days ago,
But God is doing some amazing things, and I wanted to encourage you as you pray for this little team half way around the world! We have only been here two days, but already we have jumped into pretty fast paced ministry. Yesterday we were with two different youth programs, we had chances to share testimonies, songs, games and get to know the teenagers, most of whom are from troubled backgrounds. last night we got to pray with six of them who wanted to give their lives to the Lord, and spend some time personally getting to know them and encourage them. Becoming a Christian here is a really tough step for young people, because it means breaking with centuries of tradition they are expected to follow. Pray that God would encourage and strengthen these new believers, and bring mature Christians into their lives to continue discipling them.
Today we did a Sunday school service for about 100 kids ages 7-12. It was a really fun time, we shared some songs (one in Chinese that I think we did pretty well) and did some stories and testimonies. Got to meet our translator who will be with us the rest of the month, which is a real blessing! We are getting used to the food... yesterday I ate frog, along with a large assortment of tofu, and many other interesting delicacies. Thank you so much for your prayers, we could not be doing what we are doing without you (I probably would still be stuck at the airport come to think of it :-) I'll be in touch soon,
Andrew

Outreach begins in Taiwan

Well,
Our outreach has only been going around 48 hours and we have already seen God's faithfulnes in some pretty amazing ways, starting even before we left Kona. Arriving at the airport at 5:30 AM I was kindly informed that the reservation for my team's tickets had been canceled by china airlines, and we no longer had tickets to Taiwan. This is not what I considered good news (even that early in the morning I could figure that out). I had to talk the airline offical through each name on the reservation, and he found that all of the student's tickets were good to go, but when he got to my ticket he says "oh, here's the problem, the ticket for Andrew Greenplate was canceled, the rest of them are fine" I can't help but feel the irony as looks of panic spread across the faces of my students. Ok, maybe it was spiritual attack and not irony, so as our team prayed I called our travel agent to see what could be done about this ticket. I sent the students ahead (they were with another team and their staff whose tickets had not been canceled) and stayed at the counter to work things out. Bottom line was China arilines gave me my ticket back, I missed my first flight to Honolulu, but got on the next one and met the team before we all flew off to Taiwan.
We almost got detained in Honolulu as well because the security found out how much money YWAM teams were carrying out of the country. For individual teams, none of the teams had enough money that they needed to declare, but there were 6 teams on the same flight. So these security guards thought we were trying to trick them or something, leaving as different teams from the same organization, and were pretty upset about that; I had to get statements from each team leader about how much cash they were taking out of the country, and then stay behind as the plane was boarding to fill out some paperwork and try and explain the situation. They held that plane for me, and I got to witness to the police as I was taking care of those forms. They were eventually convinced YWAM was not trying to launder money out of the US, and they were really blessed that I took the time to witness to them, share with them and get all the money stuff sorted out. They offered me 1st class seating for my trouble, but I decided to sit with my team in coach :-).
So we made it to Taiwan, So far we have been having a great time getting oriented in a new culture. The YWAM base runs a ministry called "the Rock" cafe, which is a free cafe people can come hang out, and we went there last night to talk to people and witness. It is awesome for me to be back in Asia again, and the team is really committed to seeing God move, and we are pressing in with our prayers and worship to see His kingdom come in this place. Our first ministry time is this afternoon with a christian school program, and tomorrow we have a church service, so we are jumping right in. The YWAM has been such a blessing in welcoming us and getting us prepaired for what we will be doing. I know over 50% of the people working here, which is kind of strange, but so good to see some old friends. Please pray for us as we are already sensing the spiritual darkness in this place. Pray that our team will make an impact in bringing the kingdom of heaven to the town of Dan Shui where we are staying, which is a suburb of Taipei. I will make sure to keep you all updated regularly,
In Christ,
Andrew

Back in Switzerland

Well when my team left europe the french train workers went on strike, so I guess the airport workers felt it only fitting to return the favor for our return. So after some delays and redirection to another airport, our plane finally set down in Paris in time to catch our train to Switzerland. Thanks for all your prayers, we could definitely feel Gods hand on our group as we traveled these past few days.
A comment I recieved after my last update was "Thanks for the news. The time has gone so quickly, it's hard to believe that you are nearing the end of your time there. It sounds amazing. Does ywam, or anyne else send follow-up to the places you visit? It's hard to imagine a church being started and fed by people who know so little about God, as we know him...just wondering." Thats a great question, so I wanted to say that our work as a short term team is part of a long term ministry focused on community development and church planting already working in Madagascar. Our group has worked together with this ministry, and has had training in areas such as the ministry's vision and strategy in bush villages. The work we were able to do in the bush will be followed up by the long term workers and hopefully more DTS teams in the future, continuing discipleship and evangelism in the bush.
So the main reason for this update is to let everyone know our travels are over and we arrived safely. We have three weeks of outreach left in Switzerland, we have already been able to share with one youh group, do worship a teaching and some testimonies, and we have a bunch of similar meetings lined up. So take care and I will fill you in on our last stage of outreach as it unfolds,
Andrew

Last update from Madagascar

Well our time in the bush is offically over. This past 10 days has
been incredible. We had a week in the Bush; followed by an amazing
team debrief time on the Island of Santa Marie. Through a long and
complex series of events, Jason, Cedric and myself, along with our
translator Theo, were by ourselves in the bush... and we felt God was
telling us to do some trecking. So we found out about nearbye
villages without churches, sent letters telling them we were coming;
and journeyed into the bush to villages that no white person has been
to before, or so they told us. We did evangelism, testimonies from
our lives, stories from the bible and played a few games of soccer
while managing to travel about 75 Kilometers, by foot, in 5 days.
46 people prayed to recieve Jesus, and the villlage we visited
farthest away from civilization was planning on starting a church
after we shared with them. We were not around sunday to see how that
went, but you can be praying for the village; which name translated
means village of many stones, which has 46 new believers, and
hopefully a new church. Pray that many stones would become living
stones through the work that the Holy spirit is doing there. We also
were able to preach again in the village we planted a church the first
week. Saw some new faces, and some friends, and I think the church
was really encouraged to see us again. That is the same village the
lame boy was healed last month, he came running out to meet us, no
trace of a limp or deformation or anything, God is amazing.
Thursday we met the rest of the team, along with Pierre; our
schools co leader. We took a bush taxi, then a boat to the Island of
Santa Marie; which you all should google right now and see pictures
because it is amazing. We had three days of really nice weather; and
great teambuilding and fellowship time, snorkeling, fishing, hiking,
visiting pirate graveyards... you know. Our day of departure turned
out to be a hurricane, the boat was canceled and we were stuck for an
extra day; watching the rain come down in sheets. The next day the
boat was in danger of being canceled again, and it eventually was, so
we ended up getting on a little puddle jumper plane and flying back to
Tamatave so we wouldnt miss our departure arrangements. So, a little
crazy, a little hecktic, but God is good and we are on our way. God
bless you guys, thanks for all the prayers, remember us as we have a
day of car travel, a day of plane travel and a day of train travel
still ahead of us before we reach burtigny.
Andrew

Another day another story

Dear friends,
Well our third trip to the bush has been fantastic, We got to go
back to the village where we had planted a church on our first visit,
and really worked on some discipleship and relationship building with
the Christians there. Being back with the English speaking team was
great... dont know why that is. The part of the team Ive been with
for the past 10 days had experienced some spiritual attack the week
before, and some of our mornings were devoted to processing that; in
bible study; prayer and worship, but I saw the students all grow so
much through those times, and they were able to take what they are
learning and apply it in discipling others.
Much of our ministry has been relational, as we invite people to
our house for meals, and bible studies; as well as visiting them in
their own homes. We were able to do church services both in the
church in the villge we have been staying at, and the new church plant
in the village across the river. In our team, I would lead the group
in morning devotions and bible study; then in the afternoons the
students would take turns leading bible studies for the believers
there. We were also able to do some ministry with the children as
well as the youth there, hosting a soccer game and then sharing
testimonies afterwards.
On the days we would go to visit peple in their houses; sometimes
we would visit christians, encouraging and praying for them. We saw
several people get healed, children with malaria symptoms and one of
the village elders, who had been sick the week before we came. We
were also able to speak with an old man who has been a witch doctor in
the village for 10 years. We shared with him the gospel message, and
got to pray with him, as he renounced witchcraft and gave his heart to
Jesus. He has started coming to church, and also attended some of the
bible studies we had for adults. Praise God,
I dont think I have ever written a more sparatic update before. I
dont know exactly what is going on; but I am finidng it extremely
difficult to think in a linear progression, or produce a written
report that reflects such thought, hope you like the attempt. Please
keep us in your prayers as we finish our time in Madagascar these next
two weeks. Pray that we would finish strong in the work God has
called us here to do. Pray for continued health for everyone here on
the team and pray for continued good weather. There was supposed to be
a Typhoon here this week; but one of you must have been praying
because it shrunk... into a low pressure zone, and passed us to the
south. Hope you all are having a great winter. Its about 95 degrees
here. Love In Christ,
Andrew

the word from Madagascar

Hi Everyone,
Well I returned to semi civilization yesterday, and wanted to send
you an update of whats been going on here in the bush. This past two
weeks I have been in a little village called Ampasamazava with the
half of the team I was not with on my first trip to the bush. Our
team had a really intense time there, we were the first team from
outside ever to visit their village, and the few people who call themselves Christians really had very little of an idea what that
means. We spent a lot of time with them, teaching how to study the
Bible, answering questions like what is prayer and how does a person
come to faith in Jesus. We were able to get a lot of that sort of
thing done, and Gods revelation in that place is growing as the
believers there now understand that God wants to speak to them through
his word.
We were able to set up some church services in the school building
the two sundays we were there. The first time we ran the whole
service, and the second time we included the potental future leaders
in doing some of the things like bible reading and childrens ministry,
the chuch there still has a long way to go but we saw tremendous
growth in the 10 days we were there. One of the biggest trials for
the church in the bush is syncretism. This is where the christians
begin to incorporate parts of their old religon, anamism, into
christianity. We spent a good ammount of time combating that,
teaching and instructing in what the bible says about ancestor worship
and sacrafice and the practices of witch doctors.
One story about that: after our first sunday service we had a meal
with three of the Christian families and a few other men who had come
to the Bible studies of the week before. As we were taking it became
very clear that they were excited about the fact we were praying for
the sick, and they had seen people bee healed, they were really
convinced that this would bring the rest of the village to Christ. In
My spirit I was concerned at this point and God gave me a word to
share about the difference between belief in miracles and faith in who
God is. The main point of this message was that you cant build a
church on belief in miracles, and that God judges our faith in the
times we dont see those things happening, but must still trust in his
character, and who his word says he is. I was a little suprised at
this word because I was really excited to see miracles too, but I
realized this would be a dangerous foundation for a church with so
many recently broken ties to animism.
At the conclusion of this message we had a prayer time, and one of
the elders began to weep and cry out to God and tear at his clothes as
he fell on his knees. We were all really suprised at this because we
had been warned that the Madagassi people dont really show emotion a
lot, and up to this point what we had seen was consistant with that.
But this guy was really distressed, and with translation he told us he
was repenting because after the bible study on friday, he had gone to
the witch doctor for a fetish or a charm because his wife had left him
last week because he was an alcholic and he thought this charm would
get her back. After the sunday service he felt condemnation about
what he had done, and said that the fetish he got required blood, and
he was upset because he thought someone now must die because of what
he had done.
He then decided, sunday afternoon, that he would kill himself,
because he didnt want someone else to die for that sin, so he came to
the sunday evening meal having written a suicide letter; and intending
to kill himself afterwards. But during our conversation the Holy
spirit convicted him, and after he confessed we were able to share
with him about forgiveness, about the fact that Jesus already died for
his sin, to pray with him for forgiveness and for Gods spirit to be
with him in overcoming this area.
Thank you all so much for your prayers as they are felt in very real ways here in Madagascar. Never in my life have I lived in a place where the reality of spiritual warefare is so close, and a battle that is constantly raging for the souls of the
people of this country. The enemy is furious about what God is doing
here; but by the authority of Jesus christ he is powerless against us.
I do want to let you know that the group I was not with this time,
which my brother Jason is part of, came under some spiritual attack
they were not prepaired to deal with in their last few days in the
bush. We had some debriefing and prayer meeting times yesterday
however, and It was amazing to see the Holy Spirit strip the lies away
from what they thought was going on in the village of Antikafk. The
devil was robbed of all victory yesterday, and I believe each student
came away froml our debrief time with a new awareness of the reality
of spiritual warefare; and some solid, biblically grounded knowledge
of the enemy and his strategies.
One more story. In the village I was in, I was able to talk with
the village elder, the oldest man in the village who has a lot of
authority in the tribal system. We talked about Gods word, and he
said he had read some of the bible; and knew what christianity was
about, he even liked what he understood but said he could not be a
christian because he was responsible as the elder to uphold the
Madagassi traditions; and that it was impossible to do that and follow
the bible. I aksed him why he thought that, and he told me that the
ancestors are very important in Madagassi culture; that many people
even worship them, and the bible doesnt leave room for the ancestors.
I showed him Jesus geneologies in Matthew and Luke; and explained
that in the culture Jesus came from; who your ancestors were was maybe
even more important than in the Madagassi culture. I was able to
share with him that these geneologies showed respect for ancestors;
and the one in Matthew even goes back to the first man on earth; and
the creator God; who is the final person in this geneology. I also
shared the passage which says worship the Lord your God and serve him
only. I believe he really understood Christianity in a new way after
that, he asked several questions and has now started coming to
church. I dont know exactly how much influence this will have on the
rest of the village; but praise God; the creator of all cultures; who
bridged the gap in understaning in this mans life to reach into his
heart. Have a great week everyone,
In Christ,
Andrew

News from the bush

Hey Hey,
so we are back from our first stint in the bush, In Tamatave for
the next three days and wanted to send out an update / praise report
before next year. Our time in the bush has been incredible, we
absolutely felt the effects of your prayers as we were able to witness
in two different villages, encourage believers, teach the word, pray
for the sick and start a new church in the village of Ambodiambolo, at
least the villages name sounds like that.
An interesting observation I made during this weeks travels is that
the bridge situation in Madagascar is very similar to that of
Landenberg, for those of you not from Landenberg that means half the
bridges are closed and dont work, and the other half arent there all
of the time. Every few kilometers of driving into the bush we would
literally have to get out of our bush taxi, a pick up truck with
benches in the back, rebuild a broken down old bridge, then cross
over, watching the bridge we made fall apart again behind us. We had
one popped tire in our travels, but other than that everything went
really well.
Some interesting, and unexpected, highlights: 1. Cooking the
Christmas goose, lacking any meat for a Christmas meal, I sent Jason
and Cedric out to forrage, they returned with a rather tasty looking
goose, and I had to um... kill it, clean it and cook it over a coal
fire. Add some homemade bbq sauce made from wild honey harvested from
our neighbors bee hives, fresh fruit and vegitables and the ever
present side of rice, and it was quite the feast. 2. Being part of an
all night Christmas eve service in the village church. Each of us
shared pretty much everything we could think of remotely related to
Christmas and Jesus birth once we realized it was going to be a 10
hour meeting from sunset to sunrise, but we still had plenty of time
to learn some Madagassi praise and worship songs. 3. Planting a
church in the next village a few Km. down the road. Through the week
we visited a second village, encouraging the few christians to start a
church in their own village, they had been walking to our village for
church before. We did some evangelism there as well and friday we had
a worship and planning meeting with around 20 people who wanted to see
a church started in their village: 4. Fording a swolen jungle river
to do the first church service at Ambodiambolo. Friday when we went
to the planning meeting, the water in the little creek was barely up
to our knees. After heavy rain saturday, it looked like a completely
different river Sunday morning, and the muddy current came up to our
chests as we went across, holding dry clothes to preach in over our
heads. Im really glad to say this river is known to have crocodiles,
but unfortunately I have to admit the part of the river we were in
evidently doesnt really appeal to them... I guess thats a good thing.
Anyway, there were 35 people at the first church service in that
village, and they were all pretty amawed that a couple of Vazas, white
people, crossed the flooded river to do the service 5. Seeing the lame
walk. Friday at our church planning meeting we had a prayer time for
the sick. A little boy was carried up to the front, he had what
appeared to be a deformed hip, and couldnt walk at all or even stand
on that leg. Sunday morning he came to our church service walking on
his own. I still dont have an exclamation button, shane sent me one
to copy but I forgot; but I would have put one there if I could. Have
a wonderful new year everyone; God bless; and everyone at my parents
house tonight, I hopê they read this and say hello to you all. Miss
you all very much and looking forward to seeing you after my time
here,
In Christ,
Andrew