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The following are updates on our mission. These are sent out as "Mission Partner" letters to those who support our mission in a special way. We give all glory to God for what he accomlishes through the Gospel. Thank you for your interest and your prayers on our behalf. August 2008 Dear Partners in His mission. Praying this letter finds you well and happy. The summer seems to go faster each year, doesn’t it? We are making sure to enjoy the beautiful Boise summertime. We celebrate THREE church picnics—one for each summer month. In both June and July, we were thankful for many new faces at the special worship service at church, as well as the picnic which followed. We are looking forward to our church picnic on August 24th. We continue our outreach project of visiting every Vietnamese home in the Boise area. These visits are made by at least one member going with Pastor Kramer, making a personal visit and sharing a clear message of our congregation's purpose. Many of these visits last an hour or more. We are thankful for the opportunity to witness and ask God to accomplish great things through his Word. We are so thankful to God for the several adult confirmations over the past months. Chieu Tran and his wife Cam Hoi stepped forward as communicant members of our congregation, along with Cam Hoi’s niece, Yen Vy Tran. Other members of that family continue to contemplate baptism and membership at Peace In Jesus. We were thankful to celebrate two more adult confirmations a month ago: Phuong Truong and Hanh Nguyen. We are thankful for continued visible fruits. These confirmations represent the fifth consecutive month of membership gains at Peace In Jesus. We give all glory to God for these encouraging fruits of our labors which we know are not in vain. We are directing our prayers for our congregation especially toward: 1) Those considering baptism, 2) Adult membership classes. 3) Leadership development: for Thang, Thong, and Fred. 4) Life Stewardship. Stewardship of abilities, time, and financial resources will be a major aspect of our Year 3 ministry plan. The Young People's Group/Choir continues to be a strong program. We have 10 members of the choir now. The choir sings during the Vietnamese worship service virtually every Sunday. The group not only enjoys singing but also enjoying spending time together and getting to know each other better. We continue to contact realtors to engage in the process of searching for a more permanent church facility. We have increased our activity and assistance in looking at potential facilities that would suit our growing ministry needs. LWMS has chosen Peace In Jesus for their Kids C.A.R.E. offering. We are thankful for the opportunity to participate in this program which allows kids to give offerings to a ministry to other kids. We are looking forward to all the additional ministry we can do among the Vietnamese youth and kids thanks to this gift which will be given at the 2009 LWMS national rally in Denver. Thank you for your interest in our ministry and the support you give to us, especially through prayer. God be with you and bless you always! —Pastor Daniel Kramer
March 2008 Dear Partners in His mission.
Praying this letter finds you well and happy. We are thankful for special blessings during these past two months. On February 3, we celebrated the Vietnamese New Year, called “Tết Âm Lịch.” The Vietnamese calendar follows the Chinese New Year date, which varies between mid-January and mid-February. We are now in the “Year of the Rat.”
Although this festival traditionally marks the beginning of Spring, it certainly didn’t feel like Spring! An unusual dumping of snow continued from Saturday night all through Sunday. Although the weather kept some home, we were thankful for all who were able to be with us, to thank God for tremendous blessings in the year that had passed, while asking for God’s presence and providence in the New Year.
This New Year service also marked the first use of our new projector and screen, funded primarily through a gift from the St. Croix LWMS as well as a gift from the Yakima Valley Churches’ Reformation service offering. We are excited to utilize this new tool in order to make a visual connection to underscore the beauty of the Gospel. The New Year was also the launch for our website noted at the top of this letter.
We were thankful to celebrate Membership Sunday, with Mr. Hai Manh Mac stepping forward as a communicant member, having studied double lessons during the past months in eager anticipation of receiving the Lord's Supper at our church. He was confirmed on February 24.
We implemented an idea coming from our leadership group regarding a new Bible Class during the week. The idea is having a "Family Night" on Friday evenings. We promoted it as "a little time in the Word, a little time for fun; spending time together as a family." We held our Family Night program every Friday night, beginning on February 8th. We begin with a fun and interactive Bible Study (angels, parables), using Power Point and our new projector. This class is bilingual and strives to make a connection with adults and children, including questions and discussion. Following the Bible Study, we have an organized game which both the kids and adults can play. Following the game, there is time to visit and grow together as a church family. This has also proven to be an outreach tool, with non-members making up about half the participants. This has also led to witnessing opportunities.
One of our members, Toan Doan, had been thinking and praying about what he could do to serve God and benefit our congregation. He came in to discuss some advanced planning and his desire to organize a "young people's group." In Toan's vision, he sees an investment in the young people of our group as a wise investment and believes there should be opportunities outside of a Sunday morning for young people to get to know and spend time with each other. Toan wanted to initially center the youth around the choir, later branching out into service and outreach activities. Toan envisions the choir singing not only for special events, but also as a regular part of our worship services--twice per month. One excellent aspect of this activity is that it was generated and continues to be member driven.
BHM Administrator Harry Hagedorn, DMB Chairman Craig Wasser, and Shepherd John Steinbrenner met with me on February 11 to discuss the future of Peace In Jesus, Vietnamese Outreach, and Cross-cultural mission work. The results of this meeting included a plan of action to: A) research more permanent facilities for Peace In Jesus in Boise, ID. This research will be completed by the PIJ leadership team. Benefits include: 1) facilities adequate for the increasing needs of this ministry, 2) a clear commitment to the Vietnamese community in the Boise area, and 3) an opportunity to reap the benefits of 10-year relationships.
The past mission partners letter included specific prayer requests for those considering baptism. In a unique witness to the power of the resurrection, our congregation was especially blessed on Easter Sunday. We give glory to God that four adults stepped forward for baptism—three at the conclusion of an adult membership course, and one just having studied about Baptism last week. We give thanks for the Lord’s gracious hand, blessing your new brother and sisters in the faith: Chiêu Văn Trần, Cẩm Hỏi Thị Phùng, Yến Vy Thị Trần, and Hạnh Hồng Thị Nguyễn.
Here are some additional ways to direct your prayers for our congregation: 1) Those considering baptism. Please pray for Mr. The, Mrs. Thoi, Vu, and Cam Chieu. 2) Those in adult membership classes. Especially pray for Hanh, Hue, Minh Thu, Duyen, and Minh. 3) Leadership development. Please pray especially for Thang, Thong, and Fred. 4) Life Stewardship. Stewardship of abilities, time, and financial resources will be a major aspect of our Year 3 ministry plan.
Our church family prays that you have a blessed New Year filled with prosperity, happiness, good health, and tremendous spiritual blessings. Thank you for the way you have been a partner in our mission. Check us out on the worldwide web:
—Pastor Daniel Kramer
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