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RCMI Newsletter December 2020



Five Loaves and Two Fishes Project: Express Bulletin from Missionary Brother Paul in E-Country

Exclusive Interview with Pastor Kathy (Part 1)


Dear Partners of RCMI, Revival Christian Church,


Five Loaves and Two Fishes Project: Express Bulletin from Missionary Brother Paul in E-Country


E-Country Under Assault by Both Pandemic and Inflation.


Thank you, RCMI and pastors, brothers, and sisters of Revival Christian Church, for your support and blessings! Now that E-Country is being assaulted by both the pandemic and inflation, people's lives are even more difficult than before. The blessings we're able to give to the desperate ones are, as the Chinese say, like coals given in frigid snowy weather. Although the Five Loaves and Two Fishes Project isn't able to provide help for even a thousand, yet we can help over one hundred families, an orphanage, and others; and we are expecting God to do miracles again! May the grace of God extend over all of E-Country and bring glory to our Lord Jesus Christ, and may it protect all the brothers and sisters here and all the volunteers who are quietly giving their time and effort to bless this project and do distribution.


A Meal for an Orphanage


We have been providing financial assistance to orphanages in different areas, an orphanage for handicapped girls, a home for the elderly, to widows and orphans, poor families, and brothers and sisters in need. Donations we make include food packets, daily use items, medical treatment, masks, disinfectant supplies, adult diapers, tuition fees for poor students, etc.


We are thankful for all of the brothers and sisters in the Lord who join with us heart and hand to help, as the Scripture says, "He whose eye is generous will be blessed, for he gives food to the poor" (Prov 22:9).


Sincerely, from the servants of E-Country


Missionary Paul Huang & team


Brother Paul Visiting a Recipient Family

Recipient orphans


Exclusive Interview with Pastor Kathy (Part 1)

By Vinni

God's Preparation

She's such a gentle spiritual mother -- yet one having power and authority -- who has been serving quietly many years, supporting RCMI and Revival Christian Church in prayer -- she's our pillar of strength: Pastor Kathy Balcombe!

Pastor Kathy has just celebrated her 70th birthday! Whenever Pastor Kathy Balcombe's name is mentioned, usually it's in association with her husband, Pastor Dennis Balcombe. We admire her obedience and willingness to travel far across the ocean with her husband to Hong Kong to serve the church here and help her husband fulfill his missionary calling. This in an indisputable fact which no one can deny! But you can discover, as we did in our interview with Pastor Kathy, that she is a missionary through-and-through in her own right; and you will see how God provided and prepared the way for her.

When I first met Pastor Kathy I was very surprised at how fluent her Cantonese was. And she didn't just follow Pastor Dennis to Hong Kong and China to ‘tie the knot’ in their profound, heaven-ordained relationship; actually even beginning at her birth and while growing up, she had already formed an indissoluble bond with Asia. This was because of her missionary family background: her father was a doctor and her mother a nurse sent by the Presbyterian Church to Thailand as medical missionaries. That's why she was born in Thailand ... so you might even say she was a missionary from birth!


Anyone living in a foreign land naturally finds dealing with the two issues of language and culture to be big challenges. But I was surprised to find out that as far as Pastor Kathy is concerned, the United States was her “foreign land”! When she was small, her family would return to the U.S. after every five years on the field. The first time they returned occurred when she was 2, so she doesn’t remember much of that visit. The second time she was 8, and she had to deal with those two problems (language and culture). English was her foreign language; but thank God He provided an American missionary couple from whom she learned English. However, her classmates would laugh at her accent, and also her place of birth, and she added that they just didn’t understand Asians. As I listened to her explain details about this time from her past, not only did I not feel any resentment coming out of her, but rather I could feel her tolerance and acceptance of those schoolmates.


Pastor Kathy family photo


At that time Pastor Kathy lived five years or so in the U.S., while she was in elementary school. After that, the Presbyterian Church sent her parents to do mission work in India, so she and her two elder brothers and younger sister had to do their schooling in India. They had to leave their parents and stay in a boarding school, where they faced the loneliness that missionaries everywhere have to learn to face. But God prepared a roommate for her who was full of the Holy Spirit and who would often share her spiritual experiences with her and ask important questions: “How is your relationship with Jesus?” “Have you received Jesus as your personal Savior?” And there was one thing her roommate said that pierced deep into her heart: “He can’t just be your parents’ Savior; He has to be YOUR Savior!” This word helped lay the foundation in her heart for her later hunger to be filled with the Holy Spirit.


Pastor Kathy’s eldest brother returned to the U.S. from India before she did, and there his roommate led him to be filled with the Holy Spirit, so that he became the first of their family to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then, after some time in India and not knowing how to deal with the stress of ministry difficulties there, Pastor Kathy’s father slid into a state of depression. This had a very big effect on their family, especially on her mother, who began living in a state of worry and was hardly ever seen to smile during that time. But God’s grace is always present, even in great difficulty, and in a church meeting her mother was filled with the Holy Spirit and totally changed. She became relaxed and more joyful. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Cor 4:7-9).

Pastor Kathy Returns to America at age 16


Soon Pastor Kathy’s mother brought her to church, where she experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit. She looked like someone who’d come straight out of heaven and was moved constantly to tears of joy that she couldn’t express in words. Also, the baptism of the Holy Spirit enabled her to overcome her rather introverted emotional state and gave her a deeper hunger for the Word of God. She began attending Shiloh Church with her eldest brother, where she continually experienced more of God and learned more about Him. She loved to hear teaching about the Holy Spirit and describes herself as having “jumped into the Holy Spirit.”


Conclusion:


From the time she was little, Pastor Kathy’s parents talked to their children about why they had come to Thailand. They taught them that “mission” is what happens when God calls you to another country to preach the Gospel. So from the time she was small, she was developing a mission heart. At first, she wanted to be a missionary nurse like her mother, but at the time she began her college studies she could only study science -- there was no opportunity to practice nursing. But God always has a better plan; and though at the time she didn’t know exactly where, she knew God had called her to be a missionary to Asia.


Hearing Pastor Kathy’s experiences from these years, we can feel the truth of the Bible verse she likes to quote: “All things work together for good to them that love God!” (Romans 8:28). Through her father’s extremely difficult situation, God brought change to their whole family; and through two roommates (hers and her eldest brother’s), God renewed their spiritual lives and prepared the way for Pastor Kathy’s future direction into missions.

And now, don’t you think it’s very odd that the name of Pastor Kathy’s other half (Pastor Dennis Balcombe) only appeared at the beginning of this manuscript and has not been mentioned since? It’s because Pastor Kathy’s life is so splendid that we can’t possibly finish talking about it in one issue of the newsletter here! So if you want to know how she became Pastor Dennis’s helpmeet and what wonderful things God has done in and through her since then, please wait patiently in expectation for the next installment (Part 2) of this exclusive interview with Pastor Kathy!


Sincerely, Samuel Lau & RCMI

RCMI and The Carpenter's House are joining hands and establishing the Angel Project. We are putting out the call -- let's bring our willing, eager offerings; together let's obtain the reward of those who entertain angels! 

Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers, for in doing so, some have entertained angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:2)

The Carpenter's House Family


At this time The Carpenter's House has about 90 residents. We want to keep these family members here with us and help them live life with meaning and dignity, but the work needs your support! So, as you support these angelic members of the Carpenter's House family, may God give you the reward of those who entertain angels!


Ways to Donate:


1. Support one family member of Carpenter's House for one meal, HK $12 (US $1.60) a day, or HK $360 (US $ 48) a month.


2. Provide living expenses for one family member for five days: HK $300 (US $ 40), which includes room & board and medical costs.


3. A one-time gift of $ ____.


If you have any inquiries, please contact Sister WaWa Sung at The Carpenter's House by phone, WhatsApp, Line, or Signal: +886 988 778 332


Donation in Hong Kong:

Revival Chinese Ministries: Please Designate your offering for the 'Angel Project.'


Donation in Taiwan:

Bank Name： Taiwan Cooperative Bank TACBTWTP524

Account No： 5746-717-314026

Name of Payee: Life Spring Holistic Care Association


Donation from Overseas:

Bank Name： TAIWAN COOPERATIVE BANK, GANGDU BRANCH

Bank Address：NO.230 JHONGJHENG 4TH RD.CIANJIN DIST. KAOHSIUNG TAIWAN 

Account No： 5746-717-314026

SWIFT CODE： TACBTWTP524

Name and address of Payee: Life Spring Holistic Care Association, No.350, Dazhuang Rd., Gangshan Dist., Kaohsiung City 820, Taiwan (R.O.C.)


 

My offering:

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Cheques Donation: You are welcome to send your love offering to support the Chinese Churches through our ministries in China to your nearest RCMI office. Please have your gift clearly designated on the memo line, or with a note enclosed. A receipt will be sent to you.

For other ways to donate, please go to:

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