Missions of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America

Domestic Missions

philmap2The PRC have three foreign missionaries working in the Philippines at present, with metro Manila as the base. Rev.Daniel Kleyn (assisted by his wife Sharon), Rev. Daniel Holstege (assisted by his wife Leah), and Rev. Richard Smit (assisted by his wife Tricia) carry out the responsibilities for a number of labors with churches, pastors, and contacts throughout this country (See map to the left). Visit their website to learn more about these labors. You may also visit the Kleyn's blog to see a more personal side to the life and work in this foreign land.

In addition, the PRC help support the mission labors of the Covenant PRC (N.Ireland) in Limerick, Ireland, where Rev. Martyn McGeown serves as missionary. And, several of our congregations are involved with labors in India (Georgetown PRC) and in Myanmar (Hope PRC, Walker). Our sister church in Singapore (Covenant ERC) is also involved in mission labors in India, in Kolkata, through her missionary Rev. Emmanuel Singh.

Secretary for Foreign Mission Committee: 

Rev. James Laning: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

PRC Missions in the Philippines (49)

2 missionaries 2020

Missionaries Daniel Kleyn and Richard Smit
Calling Church: Doon PRC, Doon, IA

Philippine Mission Resource website (audio and literature)

Missionary blogs:

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Myanmar Labors (Hope PRC, GR) (11)

This is a mission labor of Hope PRC, Grand Rapids, MI, with assistance from her Reformed Witness Committee and the Foreign Mission Committee of the PRC.

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India Missions (0)

The India mission labors involve the work of Georgetown PRC in Vellore with assistance from the Foreign Mission Committee of the PRC, and the work of Covenant ERC (Singapore) in Kolkata.

Map India 1

 

ESingh Nov 2015
Emmanuel Singh presenting in CERC on the Kolkata, India missions, 2016

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Myanmar Report of Rev. Titus - January 2018

Myanmar Mission Report - January 2018

Dear brethren,


Greetings in our sovereign and gracious covenant Lord's name. Blessed New to you all. This is the First letter that I wrote to you in this new year. Thanks for all your prayers and encouragements in 2017.

A year is speedily gone and a new year started, the time of our Lord Jesus returns in one more year near, for that we are thankful, then new creation will start for the final fulfilment of His covenant of grace.

Thank you very much for all the cards that you send us in covenant love. We (my wife Certe, our children, and myself) do not know how to express our joy seeing them; some time we like to cry for joy knowing we have brothers and sisters in the Lord for His covenant sake. And I like to tell you that, that is the first time in our life that much cards received in one time; so first time has a lot to say in one's life. Thank you and the Lord's blessings on you all in 2018.

That reminds us Ps. 133 "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore." And our Apostle's creed, "I believe an holy catholic church: the communion of saints." We are united in His truth, that is a real beauty.

When, my wife and I were in U.S., there were many places that we enjoy very much visiting. Among them, some of the place for me, personally, were, visiting the RFPA building. The Lord used books and Standard Bearer to lead me to know the truth and to know you all. My life was richly blessed by those books, and I am translating some of the books from that publishing, so to see it face to face was really something special for me, I could not express it with words. Some pastors think that, to preach good news in the only important thing, and they even suggest that I should not translate books rather preach gospel; but I think books are like coffee to American. When I was in U.S., even before breakfast, you drink at least a cup of coffee, but if I ask you, what will be your main source of energy, your will tell me food, but coffee also have a very important role in American's life. In that way, the Bible and preaching are our main spiritual food, but books also very important. Books still talk and preach after that person died. Even, e g. Hoeksema still talks to us with his triple knowledge volumes and others books also the same.

And visiting PR Seminary classes and attended some classes there, from the day that I learned PR distinctives, I am so eager to see that school; for your kindness, I could made that dream come true. Thanks to you all and to our faithful covenant Lord.

Titus RCvideos class 2017

Thursday Bible classes begin again; now the first hour, we listen Prof. Cammenga's seminary lectures on "Soteriology," that is doctrine of salvation. Now we reached third lecture of four; the second hour we discuss our Essentials of Reformed Doctrine. Now I am discussing the means of grace, preaching especially, how to make sermons Reformed way, especially for Ah Lin; the rest also as leading their small groups, they said very helpful. For me also, all the books on preaching are in English, this is the first time I am putting them in Burmese language, quite a challenge, because, Burmese language does not really concern "Tenses of Verb." It is kind of spoken written language; e g. I can say "I come yesterday," which is very wrong in English but it is perfectly OK in Burmese, I think you will notice in my report as well, when I write English that kind of thing always there. But we enjoy very much in learning together.

And on Thursday night, I have another Bible class to equip two young men from our congregation to become new elder and deacon, so that we may have rotation of office bearers. Since the Bible said, " In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, (Titus 2:7 KJV)" I am teaching them, all the things that necessary to know as officers of His covenant Church. They are brought up under my pastoring from their very young, so class is like lecturing. They dare not to ask me questions, so I have to encourage them: "do not afraid me but ask me and have dialogue with me." I hope slowly they will do that.

I am still busy, editing my KJV Burmese translation, I am now editing the book of Revelation, the last one, very soon NT will be ready to publish. Evening services Heidelberg Catechism, now eight time just started, reached LD 7.

For Sunday Digest, now I started translating, the book of Judges, reach chapter 8, I reached translating "Come, Ye Children," by Gertrude Hoeksema, "Jeroboam Teaches Israel to Worship Idols." I am translating, "Unfolding Covenant History," by Homer C. Hoeksema, I am translating the topic "The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil." I send Sunday Digests as attachment.

Catechism classes, younger one, Heidelberg Catechism, by Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma; this week we reach lesson 48. Older youth, I am teaching them our Belgic Confession itself now, reach Art. (11).

Thank you very much for supporting my ministry, without your help I cannot do all the things that I do for His people. Please, continue to pray for us, so that the Reformed truth that we hold dear as PR churches will be through out generations, not just when I did ended.

In my congregational prayer as well as in personal prayers, I continue to pray, always for you, especially the long struggle that the Lord sent to your midst to end. The Lord's blessings to you all.

Your brother,
Rev. Titus

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Philippines Mission Newsletter - November 2017

PRCA FOREIGN MISSIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES
NOVEMBER 2017 NEWSLETTER


Rev. D. Kleyn (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Rev. D. Holstege (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Rev. R. Smit (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Dear members of the Protestant Reformed Churches and our sister churches,

The past five months have been eventful. He whom God set at His own right hand in the heavenly places and gave to be the head over all things to the church summoned Rev. Richard Smit to return to the Philippines as our third missionary. He also led our Synod to recognize the unity of the Spirit that exists between the PRCA and PRCP by approving a sister church relationship with them.

Nov 2017 news 1Let us go back and briefly trace these eventful months. Last June, Rev. Heath and Deb Bleyenberg visited the Philippines while considering the call to be a third missionary. Although the head of the church did not summon him to this field of labor, we enjoyed their visit immensely and greatly appreciated their help and fellowship.

Later in June, and into August, Mr. Matt and Sarah Kortus arrived on the field for an eight-week mini-internship. Matt had finished his second year of seminary and was given the opportunity to spend part of the summer in the Philippines. While they were here, Matt accompanied Rev. Kleyn, Rev. John Flores, and Bro. Eric Mescallado on a trip to the Protestant Reformed Fellowship in Leyte (one of the Philippine islands); he joined Rev. Holstege and Rev. Ibe on a trip to Gabaldon (a town on the same island as Manila, but a fair distance to the northeast); and he went on the trip to Negros where he also gave a lecture. In addition, Matt gave a word of edification several times in the churches here, taught catechism to the children at Provident Christian Church, and with Sarah experienced life on the mission field for a while. We appreciated and enjoyed their visit very much as well.

Kortus 2017 2

In August, the Kleyns went to the U.S. for a four-week furlough. Many of you saw the presentation that Rev. Kleyn gave on our work here. The Kleyns report that many of you showed great interest in our work here in the Philippines, for which we are glad.

Nov 2017 news 2

Last October, a delegation from the PRCA Contact Committee came to the Philippines, Rev. Smit and Elder Dave Kregel. Their mandate was to attend the Classis of the PRCP to convey officially and in person that the PRCA Synod approved a sister church relationship with them. Elder Kregel said to the Classis, “You were our daughter, but now you have become our sister, and that is an amazing thing.” We all rejoiced in the work of Christ who has prospered our feeble efforts for the coming of His glorious kingdom.

Nov 2017 news 3

Also noteworthy is that the PRCP Classis declared the fellowship in Leyte to be their first official mission work. The PRC in Bulacan was appointed as the calling church, and the Classis advised them to send monthly delegations to Leyte until a missionary can be called and sent.

No doubt like all of you, we here in the Philippines celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation on October 31, 2017. We held an all-day conference at Provident Christian Church in Marikina. Rev. Kleyn gave us an overview of the history of the Reformation. Rev. Smit spoke on the legacy of Martin Luther. Rev. Holstege presented John Calvin’s doctrine of providence. You can find these speeches on our website (prcaphilippinesaudio. wordpress.com). During the conference, our book manager, Mrs. Sharon Kleyn, sold a ton of RFPA books. My wife Leah managed our four active little ones. Thank you, ladies, for being such faithful wives, for your excellent attitudes, without which we simply could not do our work. Over 150 people attended the conference, including many young people. From what I could tell, everyone enjoyed it thoroughly.

Nov 2017 news 4

Speaking of Rev. Smit, as indicated earlier, the Lord led him to accept the call to be our third missionary in the Philippines. This is the first time, as far as I am aware, that our churches have put three missionaries on one field. These are exciting times because now the work of establishing a Protestant Reformed seminary here in the Philippines can go forward. That is necessary because the calls to come over and help are many, but the laborers are few. The PRCP has three pastors, one of whom is approaching retirement age. We will soon have three missionaries on the field, but we are not fluent enough in Tagalog, or the other dialects, to be able to communicate the gospel clearly and build the church effectively in some parts of the Philippines. What has always been true throughout the ages is still true today: the church must establish a seminary to train indigenous pastors who can be sent to preach to people of their own culture. This is especially where we can help, as the PRCA. With the arrival of the Smits, Lord willing, at the end of this year, the work of establishing a seminary can go forward. Rev. Kleyn and I, Doon PRC and the Foreign Mission Committee, all rejoiced greatly when we heard the news of Rev. Smit’s acceptance. We are also glad to hear of the broad and solid support that exists among all of you for this work of the church in the Philippines.

Nov 2017 news 5

So why do we need three men? Well, because there is a lot of other work here in addition to establishing a seminary. Rev. Kleyn has been occupied with a wide variety of activities, including preaching at Bulacan, Maranatha, and occasionally at Provident; teaching church order at Maranatha and catechism at Provident; making monthly trips to Negros (another one of the Philippine islands) where he gives classes to a large number of pastors who are eager to become Reformed in all respects; advising committees of the PRCP; and more. Rev. Holstege has been occupied especially at Provident, preaching twice on most Sundays; teaching the church order and leading a youth Bible study; teaching the Canons of Dordt midweek and engaging in evangelism work; chairing Steering Committee meetings; attending Tagalog classes every Tuesday and doing the homework; and more. We cannot just stop all of these things and establish a seminary. But we need a seminary greatly. So Rev. Smit is a welcome addition to our mission work and we are very excited about the future.

May the Lord bless you and keep you in His care.

Pray for us often.

Rev. Daniel Holstege

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Myanmar Report of Rev. Titus - September 2017

 Titus pastor familyMYANMAR COMMITTEE REPORT (Hope PRC)

August 16, 2017

Dear brethren,

Greetings in our gracious covenant Lord's name. Your summer days are gone, but still you are, for His mercy, well with His covenant blessings. Here, raining and hot all the time, but we believe that the Lord is merciful to us His remnant too little flock here.

For His mercy, H1N1 flu virus subsided very much, we give thanks to Him, and to you as well for your prayers.

But new crisis come up here, that is the Muslim extremists attacked Rakhine state and many policemen are killed with civilians, many non-Muslim people fled from that area to inland Burmese country, and many Muslim people fled to Bangladesh neighboring country. In the world those Muslim people called themselves "Rohinga", but we called them "Bengali". Now, the Muslim-extremists-Bengali people joined with Pakistan Isis groups and wanted their Caliphate-area in Rakhine state; so now they formed a terrorist group called "Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army"(ARSA) and fighting local Rakhine tribes. As you know in our last seminar, many from Rakhine state came and studied with us precious Reformed truth; we are quite concern about them and pray for them.

It is very interesting to see [that] our government is dealing with that group of terrorist people because in the world, many news agencies crying loud as genocide, but that is not we know very well as local people. More interesting thing is, many political opportunists try very hard to use it for their advantage, and call for army rule again. Because they know the people like this present government very much, they have no hope to hold power again, so the only thing they can be in power again is army come back and rule as before then with army they can have power back again. So they like to have religious clashes in the whole country, and they try to have one, for example, on 10-9-2017, [an] unknown group appear at night in one of our cities called "Taun Dwin Kyi" and beating local Muslim people and trying to burn a Mosque there. But the real local people do not want to participate with them and call police; then many policemen came up and stop them, and local people said that they never saw those people before. So every city is in alert not to happen that kind of force clashes, and government also announces that if that kind of thing come up, be calm and report to police instead of doing by oneself anything.

For us as churches, we earnestly pray to the Lord that that kind of religious crisis will not happen in our main land, day and night. Because if that kind of thing happens, then army will come back to power and marshal-law will be practiced and all will be back to army-dictatorship. I wonder at the evil heart that unbeliever can have, they do not care [for] the people but they want just the power. I hope and pray that the church of our Lord Jesus Christ will not be troubled by that kind of power-loving people.

 

During the H1N1 crisis, we stopped for three weeks Thursday classes, but for His mercy we can start again our Thursday Bible class. Rev. J. Laning participated through Facetime; he took one hour for Reformed eschatology and another hour we continue discussion on Reformed Essentials. I pray that from this class one day we can have our own Bible school to train local pastor in our own language.

 

I am still busy, editing my KJV Burmese translation. I am now editing the book of First Peter and I preached every week from out of that editing. Evening services [are on] the Heidelberg Catechism, [and] now I reach LD 44.

 

For "Sunday Digest", now I started translating, the book of Joshua, reach chapter 18. I reached translating Come, Ye Children by Gertrude Hoeksema, "David Hears News of the Battle." Many readers [give me] feedback that those stories not only children love to read but adult also love to read them very much and ask me after I did that whole book to produce as a book, especially the remarks that made by Gertrude under the sub-heading "Remember." I am [also] translating, Unfolding Covenant History, by Homer C. Hoeksema, I am translating the topic "God's Creation of Man: Created in God's Image." This book is loved by educated adult and college students very much, but normal Christians and ladies, they said some time, some of modern science's theories they do not understand. But I believe the standard of our PR knowledge must be in Burmese, so that, unbelievers and so-called evangelists scholars will know we are serious students of the Bible.

 

Catechism classes, younger one, Heidelberg Catechism, by Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma, this week we reach lesson 42. Older youth, I am teaching them our Belgic Catechism itself now, reach Article (3).

 

Thank you very much for supporting my ministry; without your help I cannot do all the things that I do for His people. Please continue to pray for us, so that the name of the Lord will be glorified here in this land. In my congregational prayer as well as in personal prayers always pray for you. The Lord's blessings to you all.

Your brother,

Rev. Titus

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Myanmar Report of Rev. Titus - August 2017

Myanmar map 2

Published under the auspices of Hope PRC in Walker, MI.

Dear brethren,


        Greetings in our faithful covenant Lord's name. I believed that for His mercy you are doing well in summer time there. Here is raining season started and we had extraordinary rain this year, almost every day rain heavily and everywhere wet and mud and very dirty. Good thing is that the delegates not coming this time of the year; I believe they will run away for too dirty.

        With rain falling, our economy also falling very badly, as the weather is gloomy, the hearts of the people in this country also gloomy with hopelessness. Because, the new government neglected the economy very badly, it almost stop now; you can read this news in
Myanmar, Reuters.com. But our hope is in the Lord who faithfully leads us with His covenantal, Fatherly hands. I have to preach that message every week to my people. Deacon and elder are very busy to manage for our people, the same time they themselves struggle for their families. Regime change always have some severe effects for all the people. We hope that for His mercy, we will be better in near future.
       

        And religious extremists also quite active, so the new government is try everything it can to quench the crisis. We wish that for His providence care, our new government will know the best way to reconciliation all those differences is to make economy good, then
every body will forget all those extremists ideas. Now a days, we see on the road also very few foreigners, quite different atmosphere. Many so-called missionaries also leaving the country, because the new government increase visa fees, last time they pretended themselves businessmen and do mission work which is not very good, but now even those people very few, mostly they are from Korea, and American Evangelical - Baptist groups.

        We continue regularly our Thursday Bible class, Rev. Laning sometimes participated through Facetime; he took one hour and another hour we continue discussion on Reformed Essentials.        

        But, I am still busy, editing my KJV Burmese translation, I finished the book of Hebrews, and going to start the book of James and I preached every week from out of that editing. Evening services Hidelberg Catechism, now I reach LD 36.

        For Sunday Digest, now I started translating, the book of Joshua, reach chapter 10. I reached translating "Come, Ye Children," by Gertrude Hoeksema, "David and Jonathan." I am translating, "Unfolding Covenant History," by Homer C. Hoeksema. I am translating the topic "God's Creation of the Living Creatures."

        Catechism classes, younger one, we started Heidelberg Catechism, by Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma. This week we reach lesson 35. Older youth, I am still teaching "Essentials of Reformed Doctrine, A Guide in Catechetical Instruction" by Rev. Herman Hoeksema, revised by Prof. Herman Hanko," Our re-discussion on the points that the youth have to know more still continue, so we kind of have free-hand discussions; the youth asked me from lessons that they like to know more about or things they did not find very clear the first time.

        Thank you very much for supporting my ministry till today; without your help I cannot do all the things that I do for His people. Please, continues to pray for us, so that the name of the Lord will be glorified here in this land. In my congregational prayer as well as in
personal prayers always pray for you to overcome all the present crisis and move forward for His glory. The Lord's blessings to you all.

Your brother
Rev. Titus

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Philippines Mission Newsletter - June 2017

philmap2

PRCA FOREIGN MISSIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES
JUNE 2017 NEWSLETTER


Rev. D. Holstege (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) Rev. D. Kleyn (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
PO Box 1173 ACPO, Antipolo City, Rizal 1870, Philippines


Dear Members of the Protestant Reformed Churches and our Sister Churches.

This newsletter will be a little different from the usual. Rather than writing a summary of the various areas of our work, I give you instead some snippets of news that my wife has recently written. Hope you enjoy these. Hope too that they give you a little window into our lives and into the work here.
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Sunday, March 12
Today we were in the PRC in Bulacan. I have to say, I really enjoyed being there again. It had been a long time. Rev. Kleyn preached the first service and Rev. Flores the second (in Tagalog). The singing was really enjoyable – they do a good job and already know the Psalter well. I enjoyed seeing how the little children had grown and it was great to catch up with everyone. We had to leave soon after the 2nd service as Rev. Kleyn needed to attend a Steering Committee meeting in Provident. We got to Provident before 2:00 and Rev. Holstege had just started the meeting with the other men. I drove Leah and the kids home. The guys came home later when their meeting was finished, and the Holsteges came over for supper.

Thursday, March 16
We had a young man drop by for books who had been here once before. He belongs to a Reformed Baptist church, is a student at a Bible College, and has bought the Confessions, Psalter, and some books on Calvinism. He read through all the Confessions and said he learned a lot about what Reformed is. This time he bought Reformed Worship, but wanted to talk about a-mil and pre-mil. He stayed for more than an hour and asked many questions.

Saturday, March 18
Rev. Kleyn had the twice-monthly 7M pastors’ classes this past Tuesday in Maranatha PRC in Valenzuela. On Wednesday evening we had supper at Holsteges. The Ibe family was also there, which was really nice. All the kids got on well together and had fun playing together. And of course, the adults enjoyed good fellowship, too.

Sunday, March 19
We were in Maranatha today. The group of 4 young adults from Victory Church (which is Pentecostal and Arminian) who now attend Maranatha has grown to 5. I think that makes a total of 7 (2 go to the Berean PRC). These people are all friends and were in what they call a cell group of about 12 of them in Victory Church. They still get together now and then as a group and have many discussions about what they are learning and what they believe. Who knows – there may be more in that group that come to our churches. The ones on Sunday asked Rev. Kleyn a lot of questions about sanctification. Some of them email questions to him every couple of days, too.

Tuesday, March 21
We were in Negros today (central Philippines) for the pastors’ classes in Sipalay. It was an interesting day again. The classes were well attended (15) and there were many questions and a lot of good discussion. It’s so rewarding to see some of the men (also some of the more recent ones) really starting to get it. Some of their comments were spot on. We had loads of luggage this time because we had two large book orders and a few smaller ones. We took along about 60 books. Now again I have orders for next time.

Friday, April 14
This past Wednesday through Friday was the youth camp for the three churches here. Rev. Holstege and Rev. Kleyn went, but Leah and I and the kids stayed home. There were three speeches at the camp by the local pastors. Rev. Holstege and Rev. Kleyn led devotions and helped with the games and transportation. The theme of the camp was “Love not the World” with speeches on Youth & Money, Youth & Technology, Youth & Society. They had discussion groups after each speech and Rev. Kleyn said he was impressed with the young people – some of them talked for 5 to 10 minutes about the speech and what was relevant to them. It was so nice that the youth from the different churches could interact with each other, get to know each other and grow together. They also had teams and many organized games. One of the games was that one of the members of your group had to recite Psalm 23 and
another member, Lord’s Day 1. The game Rev. Kleyn was in charge of was that they had to find peso coins in a bowl of flour. BUT, they had to find the coins with their mouths, and that after FIRST sticking their face in a bowl of water. Wow. A little gross, but pretty funny how they looked afterwards. The staff said they put Rev. Kleyn in charge of that one because then the kids wouldn’t dare argue or put up a fuss about it. Haha.

Sunday, April 30
Rev. Kleyn preached in Provident so Rev. Holstege could preach in the PRC in Bulacan. Rev. Holstege had not preached there before, so I went with them to show the way. Traffic was heavier than normal and we were running late by a good half hour. And to top it off, the road in front of Bulacan church was being torn up, so we couldn’t park there. Instead I dropped everyone off at the church and then took the car back about a kilometer to a member’s house for parking. We had to block traffic for a while by the church (almost caused gridlock I think) trying to turn the car around to go back. A member of the PRCB came along with me and we eventually got it parked, but then had to wait for a tricycle to take us back to church. Finally, at that point, my sense of humor took over, and I could get a little bit into the local mind-set of not worrying so much about time. ☺ We had lunch at church. The Holsteges and the visitors who were with us (from both Singapore and Northern Ireland) really enjoyed meeting all the people there. We left church about 2:00 and traffic was actually better on the way home, so we were home before 4:00. From the point of view of the catholic church, we had a beautiful Sunday. We had God’s people together from 4 closely related denominations and from at least 6 different nationalities. A pretty good representation of the universal church.

Saturday, May 20
Rev. Kleyn started teaching catechism in Provident again, after a summer break (he is still helping out a little in Provident so Rev. Holstege can have time for his Tagalog learning). Leah and I went and met the ladies and children once catechism was finished and we all headed to a pool near the church. The children had fun swimming and we ordered in Jollibee chicken meals for lunch. We stayed until about 2:00.

Sunday, May 21
Rev. Kleyn preached in Maranatha PRC today. We were supposed to have a Church Order class too (Rev. Kleyn is giving a brief overview of the Church Order for the congregation), but it was cancelled because of the heat. The men had a Consistory meeting after lunch, so I sat and chatted with three of the ladies. We had a nice visit. We talked about movies (started by the recent article in the Standard Bearer about the new Disney movie promoting the homosexual agenda). We talked about witnessing at work – how terrible the talk is at their work places and how many homosexuals they work with. And we talked a bit about Rev. Kleyn’s sermon on The Communion of Saints. The Consistory meeting didn’t last too long and we got home about 4:30.

Thursday, May 25
There is a neat story about the book, Saved By Grace. A man who attends Provident has had business meetings with a man from the Netherlands and gave him two copies of the book – one for him and one for his boss. The boss back in the Netherlands wrote back and said, “I am excited to receive such a book from a business friend, which is really uncommon! The title Saved by Grace is very close to my heart, and the faith in God through Jesus Christ, grounded on the Bible, is my daily source of life. Also, I fully underwrite the Calvinist doctrine, which is the closest to the Bible.” He attends a Reformed church in the Netherlands.

Saturday, May 27
Today we had a Reformed Discussion Table meeting in our home. There is a group of young adults (headed by some of the young adults who are members of the Berean PRC) who get together twice a month for doctrinal discussions. They asked Rev. Kleyn to speak on Common Grace today. So we had about a dozen young adults here. Rev. Kleyn taught catechism in Provident in the morning and then picked up a few of the young adults at the train station on the way home. The rest arrived over the next hour or so. Holsteges were here as well. They were all bombarding the men with questions about all kinds of things. Then at 3:00, Rev. Kleyn spoke for about an hour and that was followed by an hour of questions about the topic. I said to Rev. Kleyn, “I wonder how many questions you and Rev. Holstege were asked today?” Dozens probably. Leah helped with the food for supper. They all left at about 7:00.

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In conclusion, I’m thankful to report that both our families are doing well. The Holsteges are settling well into their life and work here and both we and the saints are very glad to have them here. We thank God for His daily care and blessings. We also thank you all for your continued support and prayers.

Until next time, in Christian love,
Rev. Daniel Kleyn

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A Short History of the Protestant Reformed Churches of Myanmar (Burma)

This brief summary of the history of the PRC in Myanmar provided by Rev. Titus was first published in the April 2017 issue of the Beacon Lights, a PR young people's magazine. and is reproduced here with their permission as well as with the approval of the Hope PRC Council, which oversees the work in Myanmar.

 

A Short History of Protestant Reformed Churches of Myanmar (Burma)

 

myanmar mapOnce, godly philosopher and theologian Augustine said, "Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee." That is how the story begins, without our covenant God's drawing us with His covenant love, there will be no PRCM in this unfortunate country. It is a wonder of grace that, how we became reformed believers from no-missionary allowed country. So, I need to tell about my self, because that is the beginning of how PRCM started.

 

My name is Rev. Titus San Ceu Luai. I was born in 1967, from a nominal Christian home, in Baptist Church. My father was a military officer with excellent ability for the army, trained the best and highest military school of the land, so he did not care very much about religion, but my grandpa was a pastor in Independent Church of Burma, my mother also a Christian namely but a little more concern with religion than my father. My parent had four children, I am number two. In that way I was brought up in a highly military officer's home, guns were every day in my life, but no Jesus.

 

And in his providence, the Lord send three evangelists, from one of evangelicalism groups, to our home, when I was about 18 years old, and I was converted for His mercy and grace. In that was I became one of evangelical persuasion Christian from Baptist. That was about 1984.

 

And round about 1986, one of my uncles from mother's side came and visit our house, he was founding pastor of Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Myanmar. And he was surprised that our family now believe really to the Lord, he said when he was young he visited our house but my father did not like to talk about Christianity at our house, but now everything changed. So, he said he will teach us Five Points of Calvinism and we all agree to listen. He taught us night after night for almost a week, and especially I was really changed into Presbyterianism after that. And my uncle told me that he going to open soon a theological school and if I interested I can attend.

 

So, I attend that Presbyterian school in 1987. And my uncle's church was Chin speaking church and my father's house after some time had a fellowship group meet regularly, and need a pastor and my uncle's church cannot give a Burmese speaking pastor, so when I was at school first year, the Assembly of Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Myanmar called me as probation-pastor for that little Burmese speaking congregation, I speak both Burmese and Chin language, because my father and mother are Chin tribe and the place I was born and grown up is Burmese speaking place, in fact, in our country too many languages are speaking till today, and majority can understand Burmese language, it is like common-language for the whole country. And finished at 1992, after that the Presbyterian gave me ordination, since my probation period was over and I got married. As Presbyterian system's way, first pro-pastor four plus married then ordination, quite different from we Reformed church.

 

And from 1992 as soon as I finished school, the Assembly call me to become a lecturer at the school since shortage of able teacher. And I study a lot for teaching as well as for pastoral work and realized that Reformed mean not only Five Points of Calvinism but much more and no one here to teach me, and liberal at my school only had very few books. At that time the country was ruled by Socialist government so Christian books are banned and very rarer to get. In that way the thirst in my heart to know more of Reformed truth goes on.

 

And in 1994 the school asked me to go for further study to Singapore at Far Eastern Bible College, M.div program. And I sent and found out that that college taught 50 - 50 to be saved, that means man 50 % God 50 % working for salvation, I was dismay and confused, away from country, away from my wife and daughter, felt very sorry. But the Lord had other purpose for me to be there.

 

That was, I found a magazine from college library called "Standard Bearer," and articles I read I agree 100 %. So, I wrote to the address, but no reply for quite some time. During that time one of my fellow students who was a member of Evangelical Reformed Churches of Singapore, invited me to attend "Reformation Lecture," that held at his church. I followed him, and after lectures finished, there tea time at the basement of the church, I found one white man with a brooch "seminarian." I asked that young man where he came from, he reply me he came from America, and I ask him whether he knew "Standard Bearer," he said he came from that school, I was so happy, his name is Allen Brummel, now Rev. Brummel. He brought me to Rev. Kortering pastor-on-loan from PRCA, who is going to be my mentor and friend till today.

 

Rev. Kortering asked me what I want to know about Reformed truth. I reply him, I want to know everything of Reformed, I want to see the world as a Reformed man, every-corner of life and doctrine. He said, "Oh, if that is the case we need to spend together sometime," I said that will be fine. From that day on every week I was in Rev. Kortering's house, listening whatever he said, and read books that he gave me to read, and attend all classes that he taught to ERCS. And the thirst that in my heart quenched. I became thoroughly Reformed man in PR tradition.

 

So, my church back home and my college in Singapore did not like me to become like that, so lastly they kicked me out from college as well as from denomination for what they called "too Reformed." That was 1997. My wife suffered the most, because we have no home only the Presbyterian School's apartment we stayed, and I was in Singapore, she with two little children were kick-out from the apartment no place to stay, but deacons from ERCS helped and she got managed to rent a small place to stay and waiting me to return. I returned home, and my former congregation also broke away from Presbyterian denomination and followed me, in that way we started Protestant Reformed Churches of Myanmar.

 

So, I was a Baptist, then evangelical, then Presbyterian, lastly Protestant Reformed. That was my pilgrim journey, still going forward. All these for His mercy and for His glory. My special thanks are to PRCA brothers who helped me all the time, especially Hope PRCA.

 

From 1997, our covenant Lord sustains His covenant people, so though our numbers very few, we stand for the truth, as our PR churches in the world do. We maintain, covenant view of family, no remarry after divorce, marriage is life-long, we strongly believe double-predestination, we strongly oppose common grace, grace is always particular, no grace whatsoever for reprobate. We also maintain, Heidelberg Catechism preaching, we are the only one church do that in our country, we sing only Psalms, for that we have to translate English Psalms songs into Burmese, quite difficult, so, we have only about 23 songs, but we are happy to sing them, no other songs in worship.

 

We had from 1997, quite a numbers of contacts in various parts of our country who are interested in our PR views, till today we continue to work with them. And Hope PRCA always helps us to do that, and they faithfully oversight our activities as well as come and visit and conduct seminars, so that those who wants to know PR views of Reformed truth can learn more in-depth.

 

And from 1997, since no Reformed creed is available in Burmese language, I have to translate them, so I did, and finished all our three forms of unity, Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, Cannons of Dordt. And Church Order of Dordt, various forms of Reformed liturgy. Which are so difficult, many nights very few hours to sleep.

 

And PR books that produced by RFPA are so faithful to the truth, I like them to be read by my people, but they cannot understand English, so I have to translate them into Burmese, so I did, and finished a few books, Doctrine According to Godliness, Portraits of Faithful Saints, Contending for the Faith. And now I am translating For Thy Truth Sake. Plus, various articles of Standard Bearers, which I put them in my weekly paper, called, "Sunday Digest." And I finished PR Catechism materials for various ages of children and youth.

 

And our Burmese Bible was written by Baptist-Arminian missionary, so a lot of areas need to improve, so I translate KJV into Burmese and now finished all NT books, plus some OT books, all 150 Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, now I start the book of Deuteronomy.

 

Please pray for us to spread our PR truths through out the country, our country is Baptist dominant country in Christendom, and majority are not Christian. So, we have a lot to do for His kingdom. And pray for those translation works to finish for His glory. And please pray for publishing those books that finish translation. And one more thing to request for prayer is that to establish Reformed day-school for our covenant children. Last time till 2010, our government does not allow to have private school all school is run by government, and from 2010 it was allowed to have private school but not yet Christian school, and private school that teaches their own prescribed subjects, only all private schools are now allow to teach government prescribed subjects, all humanistic and nationalistic views. But from 2015, things a bit changed with newly elected government led by Nobel-prize winner, Lady Aung San Su Kyi. So, in His providence through your prayers we might have our own covenant-school.

 

In His service,

Rev. Titus

 

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Philippines Mission Newsletter - March 2017

PRCA FOREIGN MISSIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES
MARCH 2017 NEWSLETTER


Rev. D. Holstege (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) Rev. D. Kleyn (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)


Dear members of the Protestant Reformed Churches and our sister churches,


It is a rainy Saturday morning here in Antipolo City, Philippines. “Winter” is about over and “summer” is about to begin. “Winter” is a relative term, of course. The temperature rose to about 80 degrees during the day and dropped into the 70s at night. The Filipinos thought it felt rather cold. We thought it felt rather nice. Soon, however, during the Philippine summer, the temperature could rise into the upper 90s (April-May). Later the rainy season will come (June-October). Adjusting to a tropical climate is just one of the many changes we, the Holsteges, are experiencing as we settle into life here in the Philippines.

OUR MOVE

We said farewell to the parsonage in Holland, MI on December 26 and moved in with my parents, Jim and Kathi Holstege, for two weeks. On January 10, in the dark of night, we flew out of Chicago – my wife Leah, our four children Gabriel, Kirsten, Kiley, and Charity, my wife’s parents Lou and Cheryl Regnerus, and I. We arrived in Manila on January 12. Rev. and Sharon Kleyn were at the airport to pick us up and help us move into our new home. I want to pause here and thank both of our parents for all of their tremendous help and support in our move to the Philippines.

Holsteges Regnerus 2017
Leah’s parents, Lou and Cheryl Regnerus, and us (picture to left)

Some other adjustments include getting used to using the right electrical outlet, whether the 220 or 110 volt (we and our kids have already zapped three or four devices to death); getting used to mopping three times per week, but never needing to vacuum, since we have no carpet; learning how to get rid of red ants in the kitchen, how to maneuver delicately through busy Manila traffic, how to handle our finances and pay bills, and how to get our groceries.

Still other adjustments have to do with learning to live in a very different culture from our own: how to communicate effectively; how to avoid cultural blunders; how to show cultural humility and respect; in short, how to become all things to all men that we might by all means save some (I Cor. 9:22).

One way we hope to draw nearer to the Filipino saints is by learning their mother tongue. I began studying Tagalog in the U.S. Then, on February 28, Leah and I began Tagalog classes in Quezon City, a part of Metro Manila. Ready for your first Tagalog lesson? Magandang umaga po. Kumusta po kayo? Mabuti naman ako. That is, “Good morning, sir. How are you, sir? I am fine.” Filipinos consider it important to use the word “po” whenever addressing someone who is older than them or in a position of respect. Lord willing, our studies will yield the good fruit of the ability to converse, and for me possibly to preach, in Tagalog.

OUR VISITORS
First, I should mention two visitors who were here before our move. Prof. Russ Dykstra and Rev. Garry Eriks visited the Philippines as a delegation from the Contact Committee in mid-December. The brothers met with leaders in the Protestant Reformed Churches in the Philippines (PRCP) to discuss the formation of a sister-church relationship between our two denominations. Although we were not here yet, I was told that the meetings went very well.

Second, on January 28 four visitors from our sister church in Singapore (CERC) arrived: Beng Young and Kim Lim visited us with their two daughters Cheryl and Bernice. They stayed with the Kleyns over the weekend that they were here. We have gotten to know them over the years and enjoyed getting reacquainted with them. Cheryl and Bernice
did a great job entertaining our kids too! They babysat for us one morning so that we could get groceries (we usually do that together because Leah is not quite ready to drive on her own).

Third, from February 4-14 we had three more visitors: the annual delegation from Doon PRC and the Foreign Mission Committee (FMC). Elder Alan De Boer came from Doon, and Rev. Allen Brummel with his wife Crysta from the FMC. Mr. De Boer stayed with us, and the Brummels with the Kleyns. Their visit was a great encouragement to us. Rev. Kleyn and I met with the two brothers to discuss our work and plans. We also joined them in various meetings with the consistories and committees of the PRCP. Moreover, the two men conducted family visitation with each of our families. All in all, we the Holsteges enjoyed getting to know them on a more personal level, and we appreciated their many words of encouragement and guidance regarding the work.

Brummel DeBoer Mescallado 2017
Bro. Eric Mescallado, Elder A. De Boer, and Rev. A.Brummel (picture to right)

We cordially invite others of you to visit us sometime in the future, if the Lord makes the way possible for you. I am sure, as Mr. De Boer told us, you will never forget such an experience. You will receive a new appreciation for the catholicity of the church and the great commission to go into all nations and preach the gospel.


BEGINNING THE WORK

On January 22, I preached for the first time in the Philippines since our move. Since I will be focusing on Provident Christian Church (PCC), not yet a part of the PRCP, I preached an inaugural sermon to them on I Cor. 2:1-5 – “Paul’s Preaching: A Model to Follow.” I emphasized that my goal, following Paul, is to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified, nothing more, nothing less. I also began preaching the Heidelberg Catechism to them and have covered Lord’s Days 27-32 so far. With me taking over most of the preaching at Provident, Rev. Kleyn will be preaching in the three churches of the PRCP and, Lord willing, in the churches in Southern Negros Occidental (SNO).

On January 26, I took over the Thursday night doctrine class at Provident. Rev. Kleyn began teaching the Canons of Dordt to them in December and covered Head I, Art. 1-7. I have taught Art. 8-16 so far on the precious truth of sovereign and eternal election and the truth of reprobation which “peculiarly tends to illustrate and recommend to us the eternal and unmerited grace of election.” On February 9, Rev. Allen Brummel gave a lecture to this Thursday night group on “Bringing Forth Children in a Selfish Age.” Although I stayed home with our children, the others who were there said the speech was well attended and well received. Thanks to Rev. Brummel for his help with preaching and teaching while he was here.

Finally, Rev. Kleyn and I attended the Classis meeting of the PRCP on Saturday, February 25. Rev. John Flores was the chairman of the meeting, by rotation (second from the right in the front row below). Classis discussed matters pertaining to missions on the island of Leyte, translation of Reformed literature into Tagalog, and finances, among others. Classis gave me, as a new missionary from the PRCA, the right to speak on the floor as an advisor, for which I thanked them (Learn how to say thank you in Tagalog: “Salamat po!”).

PRCP Classis Feb 2017 2

Classis meeting of the PRCP on February 25 (picture to left)

That is all to report for now. May God’s richest blessings be upon you all in Christ! And pray for us!

Rev. Daniel Holstege

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Myanmar Report of Rev. Titus - March 2017

Myanmar map 2

Dear brethren,

 

Greetings in our sovereign covenant Lord's name. I believed that for His mercy you are doing well in this cold winter there. Now, Summer is in full swim, all the time hot.

Thank you for sending again the delegates to us, and making teaching sections. These are so valuable for us, because people here regard as standard of reformed truth, so what you teach is final, especially in our reformed truth. This time the subjects are very interesting, reformed history, why reformed church is necessary not a choice? Many people think it is just a choice, but we believe it is a must. And, reformed eschatology, in the sense of positively developing our view, not much dialogues with other wrong views of eschatology, in that way, our people will fully know what we believe and have comfort in this uncertain age.

By the way, our country is rather small; it is the same size as your Texas state, but we have 130 plus tribes and almost 200 plus languages and different customs. That is why though the country is small but the problems are so much.

In His providence care we can still have Thursday Bible class, and we still discussing "Essentials of Reformed Doctrine." I was sick for three weeks of pneumonia, that is why we have to rest three weeks, so we are still on lesson 18, about covenant of grace. We had a great deal of discussions because, the idea of covenant as friendship never reach this land; only we PR people learned from PR people of USA, so with delight we discuss it. And though some of old class members no more, but three new young men the Lord brought in, so with great interesting they are learning.

I am still busy, editing my KJV Burmese translation, I am editing now the book of 2 Timothy and I preached every week from out of that editing. And I reached translating chapter 31 of the book of Deuteronomy. Evening services Heidelberg Catechism, now I reach LD 19.

Though, I stop Bible Class, three weeks for pneumonia, could not stop preaching on Sunday and putting out Reformed Digest every week.

On Sunday Digest, I am still translating "For They Truth's Sake" by Prof. Hanko; now I am translating the chapter of "marriage and family." And I reached "Come, Ye Children," by Gertrude Hoeksema, "Naomi and Ruth." Catechism classes, younger one, we started Heidelberg Catechism, by Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma; this week we reach lesson 18.

Older youth, I am teaching "Essentials of Reformed Doctrine, A Guide in Catechetical Instruction" by Rev. Herman Hoeksema, Revised by Prof. Herman Hanko," Our re-discussion on the points that the youth have to know more still continue, so we kind of free-hand discussions, youth asked me from lessons that they like to know more about or things they did not very clear the first time.

I am translating, "Unfolding Covenant History," by Homer C. Hoeksema, I am translating the topic "God's Creation of the Firmament."

Thank you very much for supporting my ministry till today, without your help I cannot do all the things that I do for His people. Please, continues to pray for us, so that the name of the Lord will be glorified here in this land. I and my family also pray always for all of you and your families and congregations. In the worship, at the congregational prayer also, always pray for you. The Lord's blessings to you all.

 

Your brother,

Rev. Titus

 

 

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Myanmar Report of Rev. Titus - December 2016

 Through the Council of Hope PRC (Grand Rapids, MI) comes this December 2016 report from Rev. Titus concerning his labors in Myanmar (Burma).

Titus pastor family

Dear brethren,

Greetings in our sovereign covenant Lord's name. I believed that for His mercy you are doing well in this cold winter there.

Here also temperature went down up to 65 DF, so many people caught cold, and myself also got a very strong cold, coughing the whole night, could not sleep well, doctor gave me some injections as well as pills. Last Sunday my congregation had to bear with me my rough voice for too much coughing, but thankfully Lord's Day worship went well.

So, I need to be short this time of report, but very interesting improvement in our government's reforming the country, the Lord willing, next month I will report.

In His providence care we can still have Tuesday Bible class, and we still discussing "Essentials of Reformed Doctrine." We reached lesson 14. We had a great deal of discussions with our reformed truth and our country's so-called Christian view, which is sometimes very different.

I am still very busy, editing my KJV Burmese translation. I started editing the book of 2 Thessalonians and I preached every week from out of that editing. And I reached translating chapter 23 of the book of Deuteronomy. Evening services Heidelberg Catechism, now I reach LD 11.

And every week put out Sunday Digest. I am still translating "For They Truth's Sake" by Prof. Hanko, now I am still translating "Believers and Their Seed." And I reached "Come, Ye Children," by Gertrude Hoeksema, "Ehud Left-handed Judge." Catechism classes, younger one, we started Heidelberg Catechism, by Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma; this week we reach lesson 11. Older youth, I am teaching "Essentials of Reformed Doctrine, A Guide in Catechetical Instruction by Rev. Herman Hoeksema, revised by Prof. Herman Hanko." We are now re-discussion on the points that the youth have to know more, so we kind of free-hand discussions, youth asked me from lessons that they like to know more about or things they did not very clear the first time.

I start translating a new book, "Unfolding Covenant History," by Homer C. Hoeksema, I am translating the chapter "The Creative Work in the Beginning."

Thank you very much for supporting my ministry till today, without your help I cannot do all the things that I do for His people. Please, continue to pray for us, so that the name of the Lord will be glorified here in this land. I and my family also pray always for all of you and your families and congregations. The Lord's blessings to you all.

Your brother,
Rev. Titus

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Myanmar Reports - October/November 2016

Myanmar map 2

From the Council of Hope PRC (Grand Rapids, MI) come these two reports from Rev. Titus from the end of 2016 (October and November).

Titus pastor family

Monthly Report from Rev. Titus – October [2016]:

Dear, brethren

 

Greetings in our sovereign covenant Lord's name. I believed that for His mercy you are doing well in this cold winter there. Here still not changed, hot, I hope soon a little cold weather will arrive, that might be on December.

It was quite wonderful that, our covenant Lord controls all the affairs of our live spheres that in your country, the least except person was elected as your president. I tell you a funny story about that, in my country, almost all believed that Hilary will be elected, so many publication companies prepared so many books on Hilary, and as soon as the election result comes out they will sale those books, but the result is not as they thought, they do not know what to do with those books. For us who believed absolute sovereignty of our covenant Lord, we just smile at them.

Our country's peace talk with various rebels groups is still on paper because, at border area, especially Chinese border, all sorts of fighting going on again, to reach peace agreement is far away yet, only God can give us peace. And fighting with Islamist extremists also going on at Bangladesh border, Rakhine state.

But one thing, we benefit in new government is freedom of worship, which we treasure very much. Previous government we never felt that way. And one more benefit is loud-speakers sickening sounds, in previous governments, they backed Buddhism, so the monks used those loud-speakers, especially on Sunday, so loud that we even could not hear preaching. But in new government, a new law on sound decimal level, we can stay quitter as well as worship time. Last time, one of visitors from among you made a remark on too-loud Buddhist monks loud-speaker, "Its not a quite religion!" I fully agree on that, but now quite changed.

In His providence care we can still have Tuesday Bible class, and we still discussing "Essentials of Reformed Doctrine." We reached lesson 10.

I am still very busy, editing my KJV Burmese translation, I started editing the book of Philippians and I preached every week from out of that editing. And I reached translating chapter 15 of the book of Deuteronomy. Evening services Heidelberg Catechism, now I start seventh time of preaching on it.

And every week put out Sunday Digest, I am still translating "For They Truth's Sake" by Prof. Hanko, now I am still translating "The Image of God in Man," from the chapter of "The Covenant with Man." And I reached "Come, Ye Children," by Gertrude Hoeksema, "Two Spies Go to Jericho." Catechism classes, younger one, we started HeidelBerg Catechism, by Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma, this week we reach lesson 5. Older youth, I am teaching "Essentials of Reformed Doctrine, A Guide in Catechetical Instruction by Rev. Herman Hoeksema, Revised by Prof. Herman Hanko," we reached Lesson (27).

About my health, I start suffering, nervous breakdown again, so, I have to slow down half of my works, that suffering was obvious only in night time, trembling, sweating, dizzy, fear. I one time suffered quite the same, about 8 years ago. Please pray for my health also.

Thank you very much for supporting my ministry till today, without your help I cannot do all the things that I do for His people. Please, continues to pray for us, so that the name of the Lord will be glorified here in this land. I and my family also pray always for all of you and your families and congregations. The Lord's blessings to you all.

 

Your brother

Rev. Titus

 

Monthly Report from Rev. Titus – November [2016]:

 

Dear, brethren

 

Greetings in our sovereign covenant Lord's name, blessed Christmas to your all and blessed New-year. I believed that for His mercy you are doing well in this cold winter there. Even here a little cold now, I give thanks to our faithful Father in our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Crookedness of our political system

Sometime, people wonder why we Burmese Christian interested so much in politic? There are good reasons for that, that is the crookedness of the system. I have to begin from 1950s. Our country got her independence at 1948 from British colonization. From that day till 1958 we had a very good democratic government and our country was the most advance country in Asia. And from 1958, the first military coup happened and every thing changed, at 1962 second military coup happened and all those progress and funs were just a dead history. After that the military government took Burmese-way-socialism, then every things dead, nothing was in progress. For that reason, at 1988 national demonstration broke out, and another more severe military rule started, the system of the rule is like this:

1) At the bottom, there is 10 homes chief, (whether in small village or town, or city)

2) then, 100 homes chief, so under this chief there are 10 lesser chiefs, so what ever happen to each family these 10 lesser chiefs must report to that chief.

3) then, county chief.

4) then, administrator.

Besides that, you have,

1) police, police detective department

2) secret-police department

3) military, military police, military anti-riot police

4) military intelligence

5) Socialist party cadre informants

So, what every you do in the backyard of your house, they are watching and ready to report and what ever confession they want they will torture you to made one. Then, you are sentence to whatever they want. So, you are all the time watched.

Besides, the military government blinded the people with so-called national solidarity, by false propaganda of, "Buddhist-Burmese race," so, like us not Burmese tribe, not Buddhist people were treated as second-class-citizen and ever area of life we are look-down.

Besides, all schools are government controlled, no private school, no Christian-Parental-school, no home-school. So, we all have to go to those government controlled schools where Buddhism prayer is every day duty, then we Christian people do not want to do, then teachers angry, we are looked as out-casts, many young children afraid to those Buddhist teacher, participated those religious things.

And at school, Socialist party came and by-force teaches Socialism to all youth, and we all must follow their instructions of military drill, and all sorts of rubbish things. I and some friends are so angry and did not want to do that, we are punished spanking with bamboo stick.

And all factories and businesses are controlled, you have no choice only what this "Buddhist-Burmese race" so called "Burmese-way-Socialism" government willing to give you, and you must work. And there were so much forced-labors as well, when the government people came and shout with a-loud-speaker, when you were in your bed, middle of the night, tomorrow one person from each house must come out to work for this and that, you have to go with your own, and work otherwise you are in big-troubled.

Besides, the government claimed that all the land of the country is government-own, so even if you have you own paddy-field from generations, that do not count, all your lands are government's, so crops you cannot choose to grow whatever you like, but the government prescribes this crop and that crop to grow, no talk-back to them, you will be put in jail and die inside. And after you grow, from the harvest you have to pay the government that prescribed to all the farmers. So, city people no escape from the government, as well as country side people as well, the only people enjoy life then was, the military chiefs and their associates. They became very rich by manipulating the people under the name of socialism and jingoism of "Buddhist-Burmese race."

Under that kind of rule, politic comes into even your bed-room, you cannot say what happen to politic, I have no business with them, because even what you eat they control. I remember, when we were young, we have to queue very early in the morning, at the so-called "co-op" shop, to have rationed rice. Though the leaders are too much to live luxuriously, we the people are every thing rationed.

The result was as many as can run away from the country they run-away to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Europe, America. But like us, who love the Lord and know we have to stay where the Lord put us, every day in a struggle, to escape from spies, to have enough food to survive. On Sunday, when we worship, every time worry, whether or not military police come, are we informed by our own neighbors or 10 home chief. When we send our children to school, will they be treated by teachers badly? We pray with tears all the time.

So, when the system is changed, by our Covenant Lord's providence, we are so happy, and so keen to know what is going on. And what more changes the Lord bring to us? we like to know. Not because, we are so much on politic, but as you see the system squeezed us so much.

Even now, the so-called 2008 Constitution was very bad, yet we can breath a little fresh air already from 2015 election. Now, the civil government is elected by the people, but all army, police, fire department, and crucial posts in the government are controlled by army still, e.g in the parliament 25% seats are army people, without election they come and sit there, to show-off army power. So, the civil government that lead by Lady Aung San Su Kyi, has to make a lot of twist and turns to cross-over all sorts of blocking make by army people. Yet, we have quite freedom of worship now for His mercy and covenant faithfulness. During those years, your friendship, your encouragement, your fellowship with us and all kinds of support and prayers are so crucial for our stand for the truth, we treasure them very much, especially by me personally.

In His providence care we can still have Tuesday Bible class, and we still discussing "Essentials of Reformed Doctrine." We reached lesson 11. I go quite slow, so that we can discus the material in our country's setting.

I am still very busy, editing my KJV Burmese translation, I started editing the book of Colossians and I preached every week from out of that editing. And I reached translating chapter 19 of the book of Deuteronomy. Evening services Hidelberg Catechism, now I reach LD 7.

And every week put out Sunday Digest, I am still translating "For They Truth's Sake" by Prof. Hanko, now I am still translating " A Particular and Unconditional Promise," from the chapter of "The Covenant with Man." And I reached "Come, Ye Children," by Gertrude Hoeksema, "Israel Wins the Victory at Ai." Catechism classes, younger one, we started Heidelberg Catechism, by Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma, this week we reach lesson 9. Older youth, I am teaching "Essentials of Reformed Doctrine, A Guide in Catechetical Instruction by Rev. Herman Hoeksema, Revised by Prof. Herman Hanko," we reached Lesson(30).

Since, I have translated "Essentials of Reformed Doctrine," and its explanation book, which I received from Rev. Kortering many years ago, the Lord willing, I will start translating a new book, "Unfolding Covenant History," by Homer C. Hoeksema.

About my health, the nervous breakdown, start recovering again, I sleep more, reduce a lot in reading, more talking with my wife and family. And eat some medicines which Doctor gives, for His mercy and your prayers fear at night milder now, there is still but not very severe as before.

Thank you very much for supporting my ministry till today, without your help I cannot do all the things that I do for His people. Please, continues to pray for us, so that the name of the Lord will be glorified here in this land. I and my family also pray always for all of you and your families and congregations. The Lord's blessings to you all.

 

Your brother

Rev. Titus

 

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