After the Mission Summit at Kansas City in June, we were busy visiting churches and planning the Commissioning Service.   We were close to reaching 100% of our personal support goal and had been advised that with the goal achieved and the commissioning service held, shortly thereafter we would be departing to the mission field – Macau.  We wondered how that could be done within three months and how we could say “Good bye” to Ivy’s 93 years old mother.

August was a very stressful month.  Ivy’s mother went to the Lord on August 1st, the Commissioning Service occurred on August 18, leaving us only about 10 days to choose and pack what we would take to Macau, dispose of or store everything else, clean the apartment and pack the luggage.  We had our brothers, sister, sisters-in-law and nephew to help in the last three days before we left Columbus on August 29.  After that we stayed a few days with our children in San Francisco.

All praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, for we safely arrived in Hong Kong with seven large pieces of luggage on September 5. Some of our bags contain the materials and/or computer accessories for ministry.  Only our Omnipotent God could have made it happen within three months.  While waiting for the approval of our visas to Macau, we will stay at IM’s mission apartment in Hong Kong.   We will have orientation consisting of learning Cantonese, the local culture, the environment, and we shall visit churches.  Thanks to be the Lord that calls His children and faithful servants from local churches to help us.  Since the environment and the process of doing simple business is different, we need to learn many things such as the location of the ATM for withdrawing money, how to take the subway and even how to turn on the burner of the stove.  So many things that ordinarily would be taken for granted, we have had to learn.  We have now experienced the “wet market”; the alley in the market where we have to walk is really wet!  Fortunately, the market where we buy our daily food or the restaurant are all within walking distance.  Because the weather here is hot and humid, we sweat all the time with any kind of activity, especially walking on the street.

We have met with our partner, Macau Bible Institute, to discuss the ministry, and we have already received some assignments in studying Macau’s church history and culture.  We will update you about the ministry progress when we are settled in Macau. Our communication channel so far is the following:

By email: wu@internationalministries.org

(Please keep in mind, our time is 12 hours ahead of EST)

We are so very thankful for all the prayers and financial support that you, our faithful Missionary Partnership Network, give us.  Without your prayers and support, we would not be on the mission field today. In that regard, please pray

- that the Lord will be working on hearts in Macau,

- that the Lord will give us the wisdom and energy to learn Cantonese and adjust to the new environment quickly

- that our visas will be approved quickly and without difficulty,

- that our health and travel will continue to be blessed.

May you be blessed with God’s warm love and trust in His living grace!

Thank you for being a part of this ministry through love and prayers.  If you prefer to receive the newsletter by email, please notify Carol Kirn:   carol.kirn@yahoo.com.