Update: D. & J. (China)

As of May 5 . . .

From D.: I just had to forward this email below I received today, sent from the US consulate visa officer in Guangzhou who interviewed brother L and brother M from Xiamen this morning.  Our prayers are answered each step of the way.  Pray for the remaining 5 brothers interviewing in Shanghai on May 13th:

Update: D. & J. (China)

As of April 16th . . .

Dear all,
 
1.       Visas
  Yesterday, we received some bad news.  The US embassy in Beijing denied brother B’s visa application.  The US visa officer didn’t even bother to read the biography, recommendation and invitation letters I sent and so didn’t realize the importance of brother B.  From the world’s point of view, brother B does not look impressive.  He walks with a limp and looks quite humble.  As I said before, while we have many challenges ahead, our biggest obstacle is NOT the Chinese government.  While the Chinese government might see these men as potentially dangerous because of their spiritual movement impact, the US government can’t see why men of such humble backgrounds would be of any importance at all  If the visa officer had read carefully the documents before him, he would have realized that he was interviewing an  important Christian leader in China who oversees an enormous number of churches, comparable to the entire size of Boston.

Prayer Answered: D. & J. (China)

As of April 14 . . .

Dear all,

Here are some immediate answers to our prayers! 
 
1)       Pray for Visas!  Brother A’s visa was accepted this morning!  The story is amazing.  Brother A told me that he had heard from other foreigners in Shenyang that there was only one Christian in the Shenyang US Consulate office, an African American.  Guess who was arranged to interview brother A?  Praise the Lord for our African American brother whomever he is!  He asked Brother A some basic questions on Christianity.  Who was the mother of Jesus? Who was at the Last Supper? Where is your church located?

Thanks, from I-10!

As of 4.56p today, “THE CHICKENS ARE IN THE COOP.”

For those of you not as well-versed in fake-spy-language as Robert & Catherine, that means: “THE INDIA VISAS HAVE BEEN OBTAINED!”

7 passports & 7 stamped visas are now back in familiar hands, and resting comfortably at Catherine’s until they go to their respective homes on Sunday evening.  Particular thanks to Robert, whose patience, calm & clear communication were absolutely essential to the smooth processing of our team’s paperwork.

Thank you, dear family members, for praying for our team, and consistently & faithfully seeking God’s favor upon our visa-applications.  We do continue to rely upon your petitions & intercessions on our behalf, as we continue to train, and then as we travel.

Bock-bock-bock!

YABA: Yet Another Baby Announcement

From our brother DK, camped out at Stamford Hospital with Jen:

Jen  gave birth to a 7lbs 12oz boy this evening, via c-section, with no help from DK.  The boy is temporarily named Baby Kim (aka StrongBoy, aka MiniKong), as ongoing negotiations have not yet matured into mutually beneficial zoning, naming, and cross-border trade rights.  Nevertheless, those close to the negotiations expect an agreement to be signed within the next 24 hours…  UPDATE: HIS NAME IS ETHAN.

Jen will be happy to field visitors once she’s had some time to recover (miyuk-guk partaaaay!). Many thanks for all your support and prayers.

NHF Sign…Approved!

An update from Chae:

The Tarrytown Village Architecture Board (ARB) approved NHF’s sign proposal on Jan 21st. Rev Doster and Hugh J. presented the proposal to the ARB. Chae, Edward, and Jimmy Ahn also attended the meeting.

Hugh did a wonderful job presenting the need for the sign and amazingly, the town architecture board was very, very supportive of the proposal and unanimously approved it (with a minor adjustments on the height and the location of the sign).

The same board had rejected a similar proposal a couple of years ago for one of the businesses that is renting space at RCoT, but last night, all six members of the board commented that they want us to have a permanent sign.

As I was driving home, I just felt the ARB meeting result is another indication of the BROADCAST work that our God wants to do in the Tarrytown community. It was so good to get such strong support from Hugh & Pastor Doster and from the town board!  There are a couple of more steps left, but this is definitely a big step forward.

Bringing New Hope to Tarrytown

New Song (har har) in the flesh!

impatient kid!

The paparazzi finally got through! Welcome to the party, young one. Catch some more photo love after the jump!

The Twins Are Home

And they are still inside Julie, where they need to be.

Here’s the good word from Julie herself:

i’m home on bedrest (modified, meaning i can still shower and go to the bathroom).  the doctor doesn’t want me going up and down the stairs more than once a day though…  i’m on medication which will control my contractions.  i’m having mild irregular contractions, but it seems to be ok.  no monitor, no restricted diet, lots of liquids.  babies are great…rennie is being spoiled silly [by Paul’s parents].  inlaws will be staying from mon to thursday mornings until the babies come.  rennie has daycare all day (from 8:45 to 5:45) on thursday and friday, so they’ll be able to go home for four days.  weekends…paul will take care of things.  he might need a little help, food-wise, on weekends, but paul’s mom seems to be ok with cooking…i’ll let you know.  =)

Dave’s Dad says “thank you!”

I want to thank all of NHF for praying for my father during his bypass surgery. It was a stressful time for my family, but we are happy to see he made it to his next birthday (Oct 12).