O U T R E A C HHarmony

www.HarmonyOutreach.org

BRINGING HOPE AND HELP TO CHINA, CAMBODIA, ETHIOPIA & VIETNAM

SEP-OCT 2017

Some might call our missionary goals at Harmony Outreach optimistic—even audacious. Quite simply, they are to significantly advance the Kingdom of God in some of the most unreached areas of the world.

The fact that Scripture describes this world as the dominion of Satan is becoming more evident every day in the news. And if Christians are sojourners in the dominion of darkness, then please consider me a member of the Resistance. I fully intend to be a fly in the ointment, a rabble-rouser and instigator for Jesus in the mold of such luminaries as the prophets and apostles. Well, if your intention is to influence the world for Jesus and the Kingdom of God, that necessarily requires you to have bold goals.

I have said it before but even the U.S. Marines didn’t go into Hanoi during the Vietnam War. Hanoi is the epicenter of the Communist government and a place where less than 1% of the population are Evangelical Christians. Excellent! Let’s go there! This may come as a surprise to many Westerners who still think of Vietnam in terms of the Vietnam War, but just as our country has profoundly changed in the last 50 years, so too has

VIETNAM

Vietnam. The current generation did not grow up with the war and are not ideological. Most admire the U.S.

and like Americans. In missionary parlance, young Vietnamese are “low-hanging fruit”—rich soil for the seed of the Gospel to take root—if they can only hear the Gospel.

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Rom 10:14-15)

To capitalize on this wonderful opportunity, we recently expanded our ministry portfolio

by John BentleyHARMONY’S WORK EXPANDS AGAIN – IN HANOI, VIETNAM!

A Fly In The Ointment

Training Evangelical university students in Hanoi

Cont. pg 3

Moving beyond 1%. Students are coming to Christ right and left in Vietnam.

I love it when we help rescue a sweet little girl from sex-exploitation in Cambodia, build a house for a poor village Christian, or provide a surgery for someone who is hurting. But my favorite spiritual fruit is when someone who doesn’t know Jesus crosses from death to life and is born again. Honestly, the former categories are easier. They just require a little

money, some planning, and possibly a little courage. Not so leading someone to Christ. That one involves relationship, and that takes time and patience.

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. (1 Cor 3:6)

It has been a process developing our Learn2Work outreach in Phnom Penh, attracting students with free English and computer classes, and then building relationships with them. Happily, the spiritual fruit is now coming in strong with SIX of our students recently receiving Christ and others close behind! Here is an excerpt of a message from our Cambodia Country Director PK:

We have lot of fruits I would like to let you know. We have totally Six believers; they are Keo Odam, Sim Sophors, Nut Soklon, Kouch Channlihuor, Dol SreyAm, Va Sokhati. Most of them attend the church regularly.

SIX University Students Come to Christ in Cambodia!

by John Bentley

They are growing in knowing, loving the Lord. Sophors now serves as assistant teacher for Sunday School. Odam is volunteering as Assistant Teacher at L2W. Soklon is volunteering with Christian Family Radio where he is traveling the whole country with his co-workers. Channlihuor and SreyAm are growing very fast in faith and knowledge. Sokhati just started the faith with God.

PK went on to name another eight students who are close to becoming Christians. Wow!!! Just think about this: halfway across the world, in a country that is overwhelmingly Buddhist, six young adults are now born again because we all worked together to start L2W! With your help in Cambodia, we have rescued girls, trained pastors, dug wells and helped the poor. L2W took a little patience but now young people are coming to Jesus, then turning around and sharing Him with others. All of this sounds suspiciously like our mission statement:

Harmony Outreach is a team of people from around the world who have come together to reach out with hands of love to some of the most unreached areas of the world. Our two mandates are to spread the knowledge of Jesus and help the vulnerable.

And that, in turn, sounds a whole lot like Jesus’ mission statement to His church:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matt 28:19-20)

CAMBODIA

L2W soccer team praying before playing L2W social—moving from friends to family

Joanne is a cute and lively 3-year-old, born May 5, 2014. In spite of her age, she was accustomed to eating only bread and drinking formula. Naturally she didn’t much like having her routine upset, loudly protesting when she was given juice or offered solid food. She was even uncomfortable being outside the confines of her crib. That is all in the past now as she has grown accustomed to a larger world and better nutrition. She enjoys being outside and does well interacting with both children and adults. Lily wrote, “She just need to be loved. We love her.” Named for Harmony’s friend and partner Joanne Seedborg of Menifee, CA, little Joanne already has a family seeking to adopt her.

Harmony House recently received three new children. Handsome baby Calvin, born February 26, was named for the revered French theologian John Calvin. Little Calvin had already undergone meningocele surgery before coming to us June 9 and has recovered well, growing and developing as expected for his age. He smiles readily and responds with baby sounds when you talk to him. He shakes his hands, can turn over and is able to sit in the baby chair. Calvin already has two interested families but so far is not matched.

CHINA

Three New Arrivals at Harmony House

We appreciate your prayers for God’s protection over Harmony House, for Lily’s health, for our orphans and for Forever Families who will love and protect them, teaching them God’s love.

Nine-month-old Jennifer came with incomplete medical records, but Lily has determined that she is possibly blind and has delayed motor development. Although able to turn herself over, she lacked strength to stand. Daily physical therapy is adding to her strength and helping with her motor skills. Little Jennifer is named for Harmony’s friend and adoptive mother of two Harmony children, Jennifer Marquardt of Chicago. Little Jennifer is waiting for an adoptive family.

to include evangelistic outreach at the 44,000-student University of Agriculture in Hanoi. In August, I spent two weeks in Hanoi, together with my friends Doug and Sue MacRae, training our Vietnamese team in the use of FriendSpeak—a tool to attract students by offering free English classes, using the Bible as source material. This is friendship evangelism par excellence, building relationships while exposing students to the Gospel, worship and Christian community.

Now, wanna hear something really cool? Khai, our student outreach leader, has been given dreams and visions from the Lord about this ministry expanding to universities all over Vietnam. The leadership of the

Cont. from pg 1

CalvinJoanne Jennifer

by Linda Huckaba

underground church has ratified her visions, and then God brought Harmony Outreach along as a significant combat multiplier. Satan has had Vietnam solidly in his dominion for a long time. Time to be a fly in the ointment….

A Fly in the Ointment

To help us in our work, please send your tax-deductible gifts to Harmony Outreach.

Harmony Outreach • 42210 Roick Drive, Suite 1 • Temecula, CA 92590 • USAwww.HarmonyOutreach.org • 951-600-4474 • 1-877-CHINA70

CHINA

Many of you are aware of our recent difficulties in China. Harmony, like most of our sister organizations, was unable to obtain legal recertification during our annual renewal process. There’s an upcoming election in China, and behind the scenes a power struggle is happening. As a result, bureau-crats have delayed approving any foreign charities until they know which way the political wind is blowing. Meanwhile, we are all left hanging.

When I learned of these difficulties, I did my due diligence and searched for an obvious answer that would result in the continuity of our work. I quickly learned there were no good solutions, and those that did present themselves would result in a compromise of our autonomy or core values. America is littered with organizations that were once solidly Christian but, through a series of compromises over the years, are now indistinguishable from the world. Harmony is not going that way—not on my watch.

When the solution does not appear, we choose to activate our faith in our Deliverer and wait! We will not panic, and compromise is not an option. If our refusal to compromise means the death of Harmony in China, so what? God is in the business of bringing dead things back to life! I think the Apostle Paul said it best:

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. (2 Cor 1:8-11) Amen!

China - Waiting On Our Delivererby John Bentley

God provided! Harmony House manager Lily is driving her new van paid for by our generous partners.

God’s methods of provision can be amazing. ONE MAN raised nearly half the $15,000 need! How? He ran the Ironman Race at Lake Placid, NY, asking friends to sponsor him. He personally matched the amount of those donations and then asked his employer to match the combined funds, thereby providing $7,052.24 toward Lily’s van! Thank you, Wei! Thank you also Ohlsons and Lennards—and everyone who helped meet this need!

Help support Harmony by making your Amazon purchases using smile.amazon.com and selecting Harmony Outreach as your charity. Amazon will donate .05% of your purchase to Harmony automatically!

Lily’s New VanCHINA

Kids celebrating new van in front of Harmony House