Merry Christmas from East Asia

I hope this holiday season finds all of you doing extremely well and anticipating the celebration of the birth of Jesus with many friends and family! Things are very well on this side of the world, and the holiday season gives all of us living here the opportunity to share the true meaning of Christmas with all of the locals who inquire about Santa Clause, Christmas trees, etc....

Things are going to be extremely busy for us here during the next two weeks. I am personally done with my college classes for the semester and I am geared up in our Cultural Sharing Project that is going on during the holidays. We have two different groups of friends coming from Ohio and Missouri that arrive today here in our town and they will be with us through New Year's Day. In all there are 14 people coming from the states. Tomorrow will be an all day training day to prepare with the group to do a Christmas Program at 10 different schools in 4 different cities over the next 10 days. It will be an exciting opportunity to communicate the real meaning of Christmas with thousands of students in our area. The program will be an explanation of many Christmas traditions such as Christmas trees, Santa, lights on houses, Christmas foods, etc.....as well as teaching them many secular Christmas songs (jingle bells, rudolph) as well as some of our favorites such as Silent Night, O Holy Night, Joy to the World, etc...and then being able to tell them that all of the gift giving we do at Christmas is to remind us of the best gift that has ever been given when Jesus was born 2000 years ago. It will be many of the students first times to ever hear. We will get to perform this on average to over 1000 students, sometimes more, most every time we perform and it will most likely be the first time most have ever heard of the true meaning of Christmas. We will use some drama, singing, and special music as well.



As far as my guys in my room go, they are having finals the next 2 weeks before going home. There have been no other new brothers as of yet, but I am not discouraged as I know Father is the one who ultimate does the work. There has been much progress in many of their lives and there are about 5 who I believe Father is really working on. The two that are brothers are growing and I have been able to meet with them weekly to help them grow in the Word. These next two weeks are very important to everyone on campus as they prepare to take finals, so I have been helping them a ton lately with their English study as another way to show the love of God with them.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Ryan

(Ryan is currently serving with an unreached people group in East Asia that has been adopted by Thompson Station Church.)

Update from Central Asia

Wow! What an incredible month it has been in Central Asia! It is always an awesome blessing for our Creator to use us to spread the life changing news of His Son to others! He has given us so many opportunities to do just that this month!

Student Meeting

On Friday afternoons we have a “social club” for students to come
hang out and listen to presentations on different topics. At the
beginning of November, Branden was asked to speak about
relationships at this meeting. After sharing stories from his own
life he had each table discuss their thoughts to three questions.
There were four tables of about eight students and one of our
staff, who led the conversations. We heard afterwards that three
of the tables were able to share the gospel as a result from the
questions Branden presented.

At one table our staff girl asked her group, “Do you know anyone
who would not just forgive their enemies, but would die for
them?” To which several responded in astonishment, “No, why would anyone die for their enemies?!” Another believer responded, “I know someone who would; and actually did die for their enemies.” The entire table was intrigued. The girl continued and shared what Christ had done on the cross. Because of this, the staff was able to set up a time to show this group of girls the Jesus Film the next week.

English Club

Annie started teaching an English club one day a week beginning this month. During her second class she played an introduction game in order for the students to get to know her better. After the game she allowed the students to ask any other questions they wanted to know about her. To which one girl asked, “What is the highlight of your life?” Annie had the opportunity to share that the highlight of her life was when she accepted Jesus as her personal Savior and friend and that she continues to have a personal relationship with Him daily.

Ministry on the Universities
Branden has also been going to the universities on Tuesday afternoons with Nate (named changed for security), our team leader. They have had several opportunities using the tool Soularim to have life conversations with students and present the love of Christ to them. This past week he and Ethan (named changed for security), another staff guy, were able to sit in
the cafeteria with five students for over an hour and discuss the meaning of life. Branden
shared his personal testimony of how God changed his life and what Christ means to him.
Before they left he challenged them that if what he had said to them were from God and not just from him they would know in their hearts it was truth.

These are just a few of the stories from this month of the opportunities we have had to spread the news of Christ to this city in Central Asia. It still amazes us that for many of these students it is the first time they have heard that there is someone who loved their enemies enough to die for them. A fact that is so common in our country comes as a surprise to many here.

Our director challenged each of us to share the gospel with fifty new students before the end of the year. We have not yet reached that goal, but between the two of us we have had the privilege of sharing with forty seven students in the past two months! Continue to pray for the hearts of these students to be enlightened to the Truth. We love you and are incredibly thankful for your prayer and financial support! God Bless!

Branden and Annie

(Branden and Annie are serving with an unreached people group in Central Asia. They are supported monthly through the Go Change the World Funds of Thompson Station Church.)

"Josh F" Home from Turkey

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to thank ya’ll so much for all of your prayers and support. I could not have done this without ya’ll. This season of my life was an incredible blessing that I was honored to be blessed with and I was happy that you all could join me.

I got home very late on the 9th of December, which was last Thursday. To be honest I wasn't ready to come back to the states. I was really starting to get more involved and was easily ready for another month. However, if I continued with that logic I would never have come back to the States. I was incredibly happy to be used in the ways that God saw fit. I couldn't be any happier in what I have experienced and learned.

I would love to return to Turkey one day and maybe as a full time worker. I have been told by several of the people that there is a ministry waiting for me there. All I can do now is take every day as God gives it to me and live a life that honors Him. He will lead me back if it is his will. There are also many other places in the world including here in the states that I can work. Every day is a gift and everyday is full of ministry opportunities. Please pray for me to actually be able to act this out.

Please continue to pray for the all of the workers and ministry in Turkey.

Joshua F

(Josh F was supported through the Change the World Funds of Thompson Station Church on his semester service in Turkey by an organization that desires to reach the least reached.)

250 Bibles Sent From TSC

250 kids that were rescued from an Ethiopian dump now not only have a place to sleep, a school to go to, and food to eat… they also all have a Bible. It is our prayer that every child would not just have their physical needs met through Project 61, but in 2011 we would begin to see child after child give their lives to Christ.

All Bibles were funded through Go Change the World funds of Thompson Station Church.

Cell Phone App Heard Round the World

By Monne Nidiffer

I thought you all might want to see this TV report on the phone app as TSC has been a key to what God is doing through TPE (Turning Point Experience)!

http://www.8newsnow.com/story/13627883/smart-phone-application-tackles-complex-teen-problems

You should be able to click and view. The app is now being used in 29 different countries world-wide offering the Bible scriptures as the answer to life's destructive issues. TSC is reaching the world as a part of making this app possible!

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement!

Merry Christmas and know how special you are to us!

Monne

(Monne Nidiffer and his family are supported monthly through GO Change the World Funds. They currently are serving in Las Vegas with Turning Point experience doing whatever it takes to reach students around the globe through cutting edge technology.)