Dear Friends,

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Rom 12:18).
“Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” (Heb 12:14)

Paul told us to be All-round “Peace Ambassadors”, to live at peace with everyone. And yes, everyone includes Muslims!

While Johnny of Nexus was visiting a mosque, a group of Muslim leaders asked him, “Who are you?  What is your faith?” He replied, “I’m a Chinese; a Protestant, a former gangster and robber; but now I’m a pastor because Jesus changed my life! I’m also a father of two children.  Muslims and Christians may have many differences such as culture, skin color, or nationality; but we also have many similarities, especially that we love our family members and feel patriotic about our countries.  We Chinese Christians haven’t fully loved our Muslim neighbors in the way that God has commanded us; but we want to obey Him, so please, I’m asking you, help us to love you!

Christians comprise nearly one third of the world’s population.  If all of us would become “Peace Ambassadors”, loving one another and caring for one another, becoming partners together to bring peace into a world of turmoil and division, as the Scripture says (“Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord”—Heb 12:14), then how blessed our children and grandchildren would be!

The Levant Peter, Sally and Esther’s family are “Peace Ambassadors”; through the Culture Center they are putting Jesus’ command into practice by loving Muslim refugees with His love.

Free Lunches Now we are using the cafeteria and have assigned kitchen & dining room responsibilities. Besides juice and snacks, now every day after classes we provide free lunch for our children so they can go home full and well-nourished. Also we’ve begun a “Mother’s Volunteer Group” for refugee moms. They are enjoying taking turns (two each day) coming to help fix meals for their kids. So we have plenty of chances to be with the moms, to eat and talk with them. It saves time for everyone and encourages sharing among us all, so we feel like a big family. “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts” (Acts 2:46).

Handmade Natural Soap The container we ordered remade into a workroom has now arrived and we’re ready start using it to teach women to make soap. May God use this to spread His Word and to bless these dear, homeless, income-less refugees!

New English Class We now have four classrooms providing English lessons. We got a very practical English course which includes PowerPoint presentations, pictures, audio recordings, music, and video clips. Every classroom has a TV and a computer, so teachers just need to grasp a few methods and techniques to be able easily to lead classes. The children are enjoying this class and also learning a lot! (Peter and Sally are both responsible for teaching.)

Guitar Class
We’re thankful God sent a Korean brother who was a worship leader at his church to serve here with us—he’s very gifted. He’s starting to teach guitar to our teenagers so they can know God better through music. Please pray that God will heal him where he is unwell, so he can serve God better!

Fuel Distribution We’ve had a few big snowstorms this year, and the weather has been colder than in recent winters. We distributed kerosene to 80 member homes of the Culture Center so they could keep warm. May God’s love also warm their hearts!

Installation of a Sewage System for the Refugee Camp
Hygienic conditions in the refugee camp used to be very poor. People’s garbage and sewage was everywhere; it was hard to walk through camp and the entire place smelled bad. We went to camp’s leaders and discussed how we all could solve this problem. The joint decision was that we would buy the materials for a sewage system and they would provide the labor. The work started promptly, trenches were dug where open sewers used to run, sewage pipes were laid, and now everything is different! What once was a dirty, smelly camp is now nice and easy to walk through!

Thank God (writes Peter), the past year has had valleys of challenge, but the rain of God’s grace has nourished us and kept us growing! God truly is the God who carries us from the beginning to the very end! Because of your partnership and encouragement, we’ve had more strength to press forward. This Chinese New Year we couldn’t go home to celebrate together with family, and there isn’t the least bit of “Chinese New Year atmosphere” here in the Levant; but I invited all the nearby Chinese mission workers to our home to make jiaozi (Chinese dumplings), eat hotpot, and celebrate my daughter’s fourth birthday—to have a warm, happy Chinese New Year together! And we were especially thankful for a family who flew over from China and invited our family for skiing, which was the first time in our lives we’d ever been skiing–a great experience!

May God use Peter’s family as “Peace Ambassadors” to bring the message of Heaven’s Peace to the refugee camp! May they be fully able to obey His command to love their Muslim neighbors. And I want to invite all of you—let’s all be God’s “Peace Ambassadors”!

His servant,
Nexus Mission