Reaching Asia for Christ

Nine months later

2010-01-27T10:09:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's been nine months since I've posted anything here. A lot of "life and ministry" has happened since my last post, April 2009. I am writing now because of the earthquake in Haiti that took place Tuesday, January 12th. As of today, we have delivered 38 boxes of medical supplies from Greg Schuenke's home in Ft Lauderdale to Missionary Flights International, at the airport in Ft Pierce, FL. [Greg is Vision of Hope Ministries, president and overseas Pastor Henoc Lucien, a church planting pastor in the Cap Haiten (north) area of Haiti.] Just when I was praying, "Lord, I am too busy. I have to think of some way to cut down," then this happened. Isn't there an old saying, something like "there's always room for one more." Yeah, one more box in a full car... one more thing to do, for the glory of God. Let me know if you're reading this...

Praise the Lord for Roger and Kristin!

2009-04-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

Yes, they were married on February 25, 2009 at our home in West Melbourne, FL. Rita had the great joy of designing and crafting most of the decorations. Roger and Kristin were very concerned about the cost of a wedding in today's world. They certainly didn't want to go into more debt over this. We knew the Lord didn't want that either. The whole thing really came together in just a few days and in the end it was a beautiful time of the two immediate families coming together to witness the vows and celebrate the joining together of this man and this woman--the new Mr and Mrs Roger and Kristin Pallatt. They immediately flew to Las Vegas for a couple days of honeymoon. And now they are as we say, such a cute couple! Oh, and in case you are wondering, the total cost was about $900 and that included pretty much everything... the rental of the chapel (which was our transformed living room), pictures, decorations, refreshments, the cake, as well as the pastor to marry them (that was me and I gave them a pretty good discount)...it was great! And just to let you know, Rita said she might be interested in starting a business, "Great Weddings for Under $1,000."

Thoughts

2009-03-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

In following a link from a friend on Facebook, I came across a writer for Time magazine by the name of David Van Biema, whose latest article for TIME is entitled, "The New Calvinism." I read the article and would first want to say that it was well-written but had a dash of bite to it--probably just what TIME wanted. Anyway, I wanted to know more about Mr. Van Biema and thanks to the marvel of the internet, immediately found out that he was recently married to another writer (female) in California by a Rabbi. Anyway, the article was so good, and I had another minute so I searched some more and found another of his works this time having to do with Mother Teresa. It was that article that inspired me to reflect a little...
Mother Teresa spent over 60 years doing what I would call, serving the Lord. Over the years like so many others, I have always admired her for her faithfulness and selflessness, two marks of a believer in Jesus Christ, or to simply say, a Christian. But in his article I read of Mother Teresa's clear lack of what I would call, 'real' faith. We can do, do, do, so many things that we would all applaud as good, even extremely good, even sainthood good, but in the end that's not what will matter on our judgement day. Two things...we should never raise a person up too far and our own eyes, but rather leave those ultimate judgements to our Lord; and two, it is never our 'works' but our abiding faith and trust in Jesus Christ that we can live with the assurance and hope of spending eternity with our Lord and even that is a gift from God (better stated in Ephesians 2:8-9). I am thankful for the Holy Spirit... the Comforter in my life that for some reason unknown to me, Mother Teresa apparently didn't have.
Just some thoughts.

Jan-Feb-Mar 2009 Update

2009-02-18T14:52:00.000-08:00

Greetings All,
It's halfway through February and I'm finally able to get this out. Normally this would be our first quarter Prayer Letter. Well, it is but rather than coming to you in a usual format, I have decided to make my 3-page annual report serve as my first Prayer Letter of 2009... But here's the catch, despite this being the age of electronic communications, I want to get a little "old school" for this one. All you have to do is request it, with your name and mailing address, and I will mail the report to you.
In any case know that Rita and I are fully into the work of serving the Lord through our mission, our local Christian school and our local church. We are supper-busy but totally working in the strength of the Lord.
Thank you all for your support and encouragement.
Till the next time, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all!
-Roy

Pallatt Prayer Letter for Oct-Nov-Dec 2008

2008-12-05T19:41:00.000-08:00

Christmas Greetings in the Wonderful Name of Jesus!

With the crushing economic news day after day this Christmas season is shaping up to be one that some of us just want to see in our rearview mirror. But wait, we believers don’t (or should I say, shouldn’t) measure how good a Christmas is by the number and size of our gifts—either given or received. Gifts are fine; but this year we are especially challenged to see Christmas for what it really is, a time to reflect on and celebrate the wonderful news the angel brought to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord!” (Luke 2:10-11) Since it’s Christmas, let’s talk family here… First, Rita continues to serve the Lord with her work at Community Christian Academy and also at LifeSong Community Church. She is a dynamo!

And we have to show you a picture of the grandkids… Charlie is 3 and Haddon is 16 months. What a joy it was to be with Rebekah and Chas and the boys for Thanksgiving this year. Those two can really wear out their P-Pop! But P-Pop and of course, Granma really love every minute. Also I want to thank son-in-law, Chas, or correctly, Rev. Chas Rowland, Pastor of Duck Hill Baptist Church, for letting me preach on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. What a privilege and blessing it was.

We are proud and happy to also report that our son Ryan just completed his Associate’s degree in Graphic Arts with honors and is working in the Orlando area.

The Lord has blessed our kids with exceptional skills and creativity. It is a joy to see Roger being blessed in his tile and flooring business in the Melbourne area. And we are happy to announce that Roger and Kristin are now engaged and happily making wedding plans.

I want to remind you that if you don’t have regular access to a computer, please check in when you can to: http://pallatt.blogspot.com/ to read my latest notes and prayer requests.

SUPPORT: All I will say here is that we need a miracle… Our short-fall now stands at $8,000 for the year. After a good September and October, November was the lowest in years. Please pray with us for this need.

In case you misplaced the address, please mail your gift to:
EFCA – Donor Services
901 E 78th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55420

Make your check payable to: Evangelical Free Church of America
Please note: Pallatt Support #1852

Our Christmas prayer for you this year is that you would know the true joy of the Lord in your life!

Your partners in Christ’s service, Roy & Rita

Update on Special Appeal & other Prayer Requests

2008-10-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

Dear Pallatt Prayer Team,
I promised to keep you updated and here is the latest…

This is a PRAISE… Last month I sent out on important appeal related to our support lacking situation. We asked for people to prayerfully consider a special offering to help us eliminate our fund deficit and the Lord spoke. The September support was the largest in three years and after meeting the current month needs we were able to put nearly $500 toward our deficit. We are asking our Heavenly Father to move among His people to help us fully eliminate that deficit. You should know we have reduced our salary by $400 a month to do our part meeting this need.

Another PRAISE… Rejoice with us in that we have a new single missionary going to Mongolia for a one-year work with our team there. I have been busy working with our national office making sure her financial matters are in order so she can be free to do the good things God has prepared her to accomplish. I really enjoy seeing new missionaries be successful in going through all steps of preparation that it takes to actually finally leave for the field.

PRAY for me, Roy, as I have just come through about a six-week project of working with all our missionaries to help them get their 2009 support budget worksheets completed so we can be ready for the new payroll in January. Also my ongoing work is to help all of our staff to improve in their use of the new online expense reporting system. May the Lord grant me wisdom to be a blessing to all of our missionaries serving in Japan, Mongolia, the Philippines and several Creative Access areas in Southeast Asia.

PRAY for Rita as she works extra hours in her dual ministries of worship leader at our church-planting work near where we live here in Stuart, FL and also her other ministry helping Community Christian Academy grow and build their fine arts program to the glory of God.

Pray for wisdom for us both as we often find ourselves working into the night, day after day because there is so much to do. We know God would not want us to over-do the work part of life, even if it is for His kingdom. May we regularly stop and rest in Him and let Him fill us again with His strength.

May God’s richest blessings be on you and those you love!
-Roy and Rita

Special Appeal

2008-09-17T11:38:00.000-07:00

Dear Pallatt Prayer Team,
We Christians come is all sizes, colors and circumstances… Some of us have needs and some have a surplus… and yes, God always meets our “needs.”

This is for you who may find yourself with a ‘surplus’ or nevertheless, would choose to help. Personally, Rita and I prefer to be in the ‘surplus’ group so we can help those in the need group, but for now we have a need that is pressing and we can’t shoulder it without your help. We are asking and praying that it will be resolved, by God’s grace, between now and the end of December.

We need to raise financial support over and above our regular monthly need. The goal is to eliminate a $7,000 account DEFICIT. So that’s the target we ask you to pray about with us and give as the Lord leads and provides.

If you would like to use your credit or debit card, we now have this link to help you do that:

https://my.efca.org/NetCommunity/SSLPage.aspx?pid=359

The designation box should read: Roy & Rita Pallatt – 1852

(You will receive a tax receipt for your gift.)

God has provided in these situations before and we know He can again. We are just asking if you would be a part of helping with this need.
We indeed are deeply thankful for your partnership in the cause of Christ in Asia over these years, both financially and certainly in your prayers.

I will keep you informed how God chooses to answer us.

No matter what, TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

Pallatt Prayer Letter Jul-Aug-Sep 2008

2008-09-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

(P-Pop and Charlie doing our computer work)

Greetings Friends & Family,

Most of you receive my notes of prayer requests and praises through email. But I realize some of you don’t have a computer and unless you get my letters in the mail, you don’t hear from me. I pray that four times a year is enough for you to always “feel connected.” Also I would encourage you, when you do have access to the Internet to type in: http://pallatt.blogspot.com/ to read my latest personal notes and prayer requests. This is my weblog (World Wide Web log) known as a “blog.” (Now you know some internet-talk.)

So often things happen in “my part of the world” and people ask me such things as, “Did the typhoon that hit Myanmar affect your work?” …or, “…the china earthquake…?” Though I don’t work directly with people in these two areas, we certainly know people who do, particularly from our years in Singapore. These events brought such immense devastation that life for those people who survived will never be the same. But now after the news media are gone, the people of God remain to help. Here’s a current update from ReachGlobal concerning these two areas:

Myanmar—After the cyclone devastated the Delta, many people have come to know Christ, worshiping God and studying the Word every night in the church. Local authorities are troubled by the presence of a Christian organization and people coming to Christ. Please pray for the new believers to stand firm in the Word and in their faith. Pray that our ReachMyanmar ground team will have courage and wisdom in dealing with local authorities and in the community. Ask God to provide more opportunities to impact people's lives through the gospel and the help given.

China—Pray for the local believers who are reaching out to the earthquake victims. There is uncertainty as to whether officials will continue to allow people to go into the affected areas after this month. Pray for those living in temporary shelters. Many are without work and trying to figure out ways to support themselves. Officials are working to get the homeless temporary housing before winter. Pray that the ReachGlobal staff will know the best way to use the resources and time available to them. Pray that they will rely on His strength and not their own as they experience extra stress on family and ministry.

Follow-up Notes: LifeSong Community Church – We are still waiting on the last of the many permits before actual construction begins on LifeSong’s first ministry facility. Pray for me as I preach the Word each week and continue to support Rita as she leads worship. Pray for Rita as she has begun a new school year of teaching and building a Christ-honoring Fine Arts program at Community Christian Academy in Stuart, FL. And please pray for Pastor Lanny Penwell in his search for ministry options now that he is no longer with LifeSong.

SUPPORT: At this point we have an emergency need to raise $7000 to eliminate our ministry account deficit by the end of the year. So far this year only March and May saw support that met our budget need, and now we are facing our second salary cut this year. Please ask the Lord to move His people to give to this need.

We truly thank you for your support. (2 Cor. 9:7)

In case you misplaced the address, please mail your gift to:
EFCA – Donor Services
901 E 78th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55420

Make your check payable to: Evangelical Free Church of America
Please note: Pallatt Support #1852

Update

2008-08-20T18:36:00.000-07:00

We recently returned from a great working vacation with our daughter and son-in-law, Rebekah and Chas Rowland, in Duck Hill, Mississippi. We had an espeically great time with our two grandsons, Charlie (2 1/2) and Haddon (1). Those kids are so much fun. Between trying to keep up on mission emails, we spent some quality time playing with Charlie's GeoTrax set. P-Pop, that's me, learned a lot about what's important to a two and a half year old of today.
Now back in Floida, we also were surprised by Tropical Storm Fay. It's still lingering to our north and continues to dump rain and wind gusts of 40 plus MPH. That's not a hurricane, but after some 36 hours of it and the loss of our internet for a couple of hours, we really thought we were battling a full hurricane.
May God bless each of you for your prayers and suppport.
Blessings until the next update.

Prayer Update July 1, 2008

2008-07-03T11:56:00.001-07:00

Greetings Prayer Team,
As always, you are such a blessing to us. We ride (serve) on the wings of your prayers!

Here are some of our current prayer issues:

1. Our team leader in the Philippines writes…

Sounds like you have heard some of the news concerning the typhoon which went through the Philippines last week and the damage. The ship that sank was from Manila headed to our town, here in Cebu. I have asked several and it seems that people in our churches were not directly affected. But the flooding in Iloilo did directly affect an EFC church. The pastor and his family live in the church and they wound up crawling up on the roof, the water came up to the roof…they went from roof to roof to escape, having their kids in a Styrofoam box in case they were swept away…they made it out fine but left with the clothes on their backs…they are staying an hour north with relatives and returning each day to begin cleaning the mud before it dries…virtually everything was destroyed. The city is still without electricity so they are returning north each evening.

We have sent $200 to the pastor in this area and $50 to a place further north, Antique. The churches here in Cebu will be taking up a special offering this Sunday. One of the Cebu team members is planning to go in another week and will try and assess how they can further help.

Pray that we will be used by the Lord to be a direct help to those most in need. And pray that the Lord would provide additional resources to be used as He would direct, for His glory!

2. Rita and I are really entering a busy time as I not only keep up on the Asia work on a day to day basis, but now our weekends will be especially filled. Rita will be working particularly hard to keep our worship team bringing glory to God each Sunday morning, and I will be filling in with preaching duties now that our pastor has resigned. The church is really a church-plant and can’t afford to call a full-time pastor, so by God’s grace we will do what the Lord calls us to do. Please pray for strength and wisdom from the Lord for us and that we would be faithful.

3. But in the midst of it all, we are planning a trip to see our daughter and son-in-law AND our two GRANDCHILDREN (ages 1 and 3) at the end of July. We would appreciate your prayers for safe travel, times of rest, and still time to keep up on all our work.

May the Lord’s blessings pour out on all who read this, and may He meet your deepest need!

Our love in Christ,
Roy & Rita
Serving Jesus Christ wherever we are!

APR-MAY-JUN 2008 Prayer Letter

2008-07-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

Greetings Pallatt Prayer Partners!

I want to ask you to pray that the Lord would empower our staff in Japan with special grace to further Christ’s kingdom there.

Prosperity often results in apathy toward spiritual things and this is no less true in Japan. However, our staff report significant responses to the love of Christ and His truth. I’ll let Athlee tell you about their new outreach ministry called Café CO-EN. Mark & Athlee have served in Japan for many years.

Mark wanted more café friends to be interested in studying the Bible, and it is going to happen! Two part-time volunteers, Mika and Kaya, plus two friends and possibly two others will start English Bible classes with Mark next month. Only two are believers! One of them overheard the conversation about the Bible study and said, “Oh, do you have Bible studies here? Can I come, too?” Please pray for the new Bible class members, that they will come to know Jesus as their Savior.
Lately, some new people (believers) have come to Saturday night café worship looking for prayer and fellowship. One was a young lady named Aisa (I-sah), a Hokusei University student who has lupus and was hospitalized recently because it had started to affect her kidneys and she had gotten very weak. She was out of the hospital temporarily and came for fellowship. We all prayed for her and she went back to the hospital for more care. She really wants to go back to college and have a normal life but her body is still weak. Please pray for healing for Aisa and her growth in faith while she is in the hospital.
Another new person at café worship last week was Mr. Shinkai (Sheen-cah-ee). He is a widower whose wife died of breast cancer several years ago. Recently he was involved in a truck accident where he fell asleep at the wheel. No one was killed but he is awaiting a court decision from someone who was injured. He will accept whatever the ruling is because he was at fault. Life hasn’t been easy for him, as he is raising two kids alone, and his family business went bankrupt. Please pray for Shinkai, for God’s mercy and his growth in faith as he faces each day.

Follow-up Prayer Notes:

1. LifeSong Community Church - Final approval was given by the Town Council on March 18th to break ground on the first phase of the new facilities. The groundbreaking is scheduled for May18th. Pray for Pastor Lanny and the Penwell family that the Lord would open the door and show them their new ministry location. Pastor Lanny has been seeking the Lord about this for many months now after a very difficult decision last year to step down from ministry at LifeSong. I will be doing more when Pastor Lanny is no longer with us. Pray for me to balance all my responsibilities.

2. We are praising the Lord for His grace in allowing me to help our missionaries in two particular areas, 1) helping them to use our new expense reporting online system. This was first introduced last year and because of distances and some who didn't have their computers updated and also some didn't have the needed scanners to handle receipts, this has been and continues to be a great challenge. But by God's grace I am seeing good progress. 2) The second area I have spent a great deal of time on is with missionary payroll changes. Again, with our new accounting software and everyone going to individual accounts, there have been many complexities such as how we will handle rents and foreign taxes. These were often handled on the field with field funds; but now they need to be accounted for in the individual ministry accounts.

3. Aryls writes, “I’m back in Cebu and we have moved into the Mission Home. Actually, we are ‘camping out’ right now. My things are all in container van. The boat will leave Davao City Wednesday night to arrive in Cebu on Friday (May 2nd), I think. Pray that the boat will come on schedule so that we can unload the container on Saturday.”

FAMILY:

We are looking forward to being with Rebekah and Chas (Pastor Chas that is) and our two grandchildren, Charlie and Haddon in Mississippi for some vacation time in July. This will fall on the occasion of our second grandson, Haddon’s FIRST BIRTHDAY! We so love these opportunities to see them all.
Ryan continues to press on to complete his Graphic Arts degree at Valencia Community College in Orlando and has done so well. And ‘Praise the Lord’ is certainly appropriate in Roger’s life as, in the midst of an extremely depressed housing market, he has actually seen an increase in his work installing floor tile.

SUPPORT:

A very large THANK YOU to Grace Church of Mesa, Arizona and Pastor Sam Rotman and (Mrs.) Deborah Rotman! We were able to pay a visit to this supporting church back in March and they graciously gathered a special offering to help us with our on-going support deficit. This helped a great deal! We were also able to meet with Pastor John Garwick of Cornerstone EFC, Prescott, AZ and share with him for the first time.

Please ask the Lord in His grace, to move among His people to erase our ministry account deficit. It is critical that this be done soon. I will keep you posted… Please pray that our support would grow.

Again, thank you for your cheerful giving! (2 Cor. 9:7)

For your tax receipt, please mail your gift to: EFCA – Donor Services
901 E 78th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55420

Make your check payable to: Evangelical Free Church of America
Please note: Pallatt Support #1852

Your partners in Christ’s service,
Roy & Rita