Tim and Shendy Gibson - Gibson Gazette 2008

Dear Heirs of Christ

It is another year & we feel we need to send you our news to keep in touch with our friends who are overseas & have been praying for us. First of all, we were truly excited with what God has been doing in our lives & in our church..

Just last year, we managed to get 160 elderly folks & 200 pre-believers to church on Christmas Eve for a Christmas dinner & musical. This is the first time they knew the true meaning of Christmas & we praise God for that.

There is this song which says ‘they are more in number than the sand, they are rich & glorious & grand. His blessing, His blessings are more in number than the sand’. Indeed God has truly given us a breakthrough of answers to our prayers in the last year. The Lord gave us Ps 20:7 for last year. Some trust in chariots & some in horses but we will trust the Lord & this year is Ps 20:8 they have bowed down & fallen but we have risen & stand upright.

1. Just some months ago, Tim was having a very bad backache. Many people had been praying for him but it hadn’t changed much. One day, our cell member called us & mentioned that they were renovating their house & was wondering to whom they should give the bed & suddenly they thought of us. They felt God was asking them to give us the bed because it was a therapeutic bed which was good for the back. Of course we were happy to have the bed as our bed was giving way. When we received the bed we were delighted as the mattress was firm & it helped Tim’s back. Indeed God knew our needs & thank God for the people who thought of us.

2. Last year, we did not bring the kids for an overseas holiday because there were too many church activities, but God is always good and He provided a car for us for 2 weeks so that we could take our children to places that are difficult to get to without a car. It was really a close bonding time for us as a family.

3. Please do rejoice with us that Tim has finished his In Ministry Masters course & he will graduate this March.

TIM TALKS

Last year was a year where we saw the beginnings of great breakthrough in the ministry, which we are going to see the fruit of this year. The English service I am pastoring is becoming much more vibrant with the leaders taking their places and a sense that God is going to pour out His glory in our midst; something we are waiting for with great expectancy.

I am starting to travel overseas again with more frequency. Last year I traveled to Penang to teach on the “Doctrine of God” in a church affiliated with us and I also went to the Philippines with our worship director to teach on the “The Heart of Worship”. Both these trips greatly revived me and I know this year I will be traveling much more. Already the invitations are out for me to minister in Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Kazakhstan – WOW! Lord give me strength and wisdom to do His will in His way and still be there for my family and my church.

In the midst of all this we are planning a trip back to England from May 20th to June 20th as the last time we went there was in 2000! So, all in all, 2008 looks to be an exciting and busy year and I thank God for His faithfulness.

SHEN SAYS

Last year was a real exciting & fruitful year for me. I have seen how God has expanded & stretched each one of us spiritually by leaps & bounds. I really want to thank God how He answered my prayer as I got involved in a parents support group in Melody’s school. I desired to touch the community through Christ’s love. I have been approached by the school to give talks on parenting & before I could give a talk, I was given the task of handling Melody first.

Indeed Melody just turned 13 last December. It was quite a trying time at first because I was not prepared for her to grow up. I was not used to her talking back & questioning me. Suddenly I realized she has grown up & I need to treat her differently. Initially she did not do well in her studies in her 1st semester & I did not approve of her friends she mixed around with. However she did not listen to me & when all else failed, I realized I needed to go to the Higher Court & that is Jesus. After a short time I saw the change in her & she also stopped mixing with her former friends. One day she came to me & apologized for the pain she caused me & she mentioned to me that she had stopped mixing with the friends that I did not approve of. When I asked her why there was such a change, she mentioned that God has spoken to her. Praise the Lord that He did not call us to be a conqueror but to be more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus.

I am proud to say that we are now like the best of friends. She has been a great blessing to us by helping us look after her younger brothers without supervision. She has even released me to help Tim in his pastoral ministry. Indeed when we release our children to the Lord, He can do wonders with them.

MELODY MUTTERS

Even as the New Year begins I just can’t stop thinking about how God has done wonders in the last year…Firstly I want to thank God about how he took away something and blessed me doubly. Around October God told me one night to leave my friends but I was reluctant as they were my friends for the whole year, but the next day my friends just ignored me without me knowing the reason. However, even then I still stayed with them until there was a point I knew I had to let go. During that time I was miserable and felt lonely but thank God I had the support from my Mum and YI (Youth Impact – my youth church) and most importantly the King of kings Himself. I just carried on with life and after a few weeks I met another friend and she was good and most importantly a true friend. During my EOY exam I thank God I came 8th in my class and 35 in level position which is the top 20% and I got $250 for doing so well. God took away something which was important to me but not only blessed me in return but blessed me twice.

The next thing is that during the December holidays the YI advertised amission trip I really wanted to go on, but it was too expensive. I was disappointed and tried ways and means to raise the money until my godmother, Aunt Margaret gave me $100 for my trip & my parents also gave me some & that lifted my spirits. On another week Aunt Margaret said she raised $200 for me and offered to teach me to make carrot cakes, so I went over to her house and baked the carrot cakes and started selling them in church. I sold them all and raised MORE than enough funds, and I could go for the mission trip. Indeed my parents were right. They said if God wanted me to go to Tha iland, He would provide for me. Indeed He is faithful.

YAY!!!! Now I will tell u more about the trip:

This was my first mission trip and I really feel God's heartbeat and have seen things I never saw before. Before the mission trip I heard things like there would be many miracles, but in my heart I never really believed it. But after this mission trip I saw many wonders and miracles from God. and God never fails to turn up even in our deepest need and deepest discouragement we can always expect God to turn up. I have many highlights during this trip like I learnt to communicate with the small children and how they were so hungry for the Word and how they make you feel so welcome by giving you drawings or handmade roses and correcting the wrong Thai words you say. Another highlight is to see the lame, blind and the those in pain being healed and the joy on their faces.

There was this incident where my team was crowding around one lady and behind her was another old lady and another team was with her. Since they had no translator I decided to 'borrow' one to them because we had three but they said that that were only giving tracts and not sharing the gospel so I went over to share with the old lady but before I could share she said she had neck pain and I prayed for her and she was healed and I thank God that he showed me he can use me even if I am young. I am just looking forward to the next mission trip. This mission trip would not have been possible without all of your support and I want to thank all of you.

Another thing I wanna thank God for is that he knows that I wanted a laptop and a better hand phone and I never told anybody but just started praying and one day my father saw a laptop for $399 and he bought it for me. Even though it is so cheap it is working perfectly and just like other computers. Also, my mum received a letter saying that she got a free 3G hand phone and she gave it to me…..I just can’t wait to see what wonders God will do next!!!

GIDEON GURGLES

I just want to thank God that He blessed my studies last year. I was in the top 10% of my school and I got a bursary of $200 from the government. I was blessed when I attended the Kidz Camp on ’Go Share Jesus*. I am usually shy but after attending the camp, I was filled with boldness and I have been sharing with all my friends about my best friend Jesus. They are all excited and they also wanted to know my best friend, Jesus.

On Jan 5 was my 11th birthday. My parents gave me a birthday bash at the poolside BBQ at my cousin’s condominium. I was very excited and delighted because it was my first time having a party with 10 of my best friends. One of the blessings was God has once again proven He is real to me. Mel & I have been taking piano lessons from my cousin for 5 years. We have always wanted a piano & our parents asked us to pray & believe that God would bless us with a piano. Initially they prayed with us for the first 2 years & gradually it became my own prayer. God is good, just some months ago, my cousin brought a 2nd hand German made piano to our house. It was a really nice & good piano. I was so thrilled that I jumped up with joy & exclaimed that God had answered my prayer. My mum told me that God always answers a truly persevering prayer.

MATTHEW MUTTERS

Hi I am 4 years old & this year I am in Kindergarten 1. I enjoy school & I love to go to church too because I have many friends in church. Although I am small, I love to hang around with my brother’s friends. They are much bigger than me but it is cool. Just a secret, they always give way to me (hee….hee). By the way I have a new name in the family; they all call me TiTi because I am the youngest. Please pray for me because I am learning Chinese for the first time in school. My favourite toy is Thomas the Tank Engine & I am off to play now.

That’s all for our family news. It is a bit too long but we hope you enjoy reading it & continue to pray for us. We will be going back to UK this summer & if you want us to visit you in UK, please kindly let us know. We truly appreciate your friendship, encouragement & prayer support which means a lot to us. It makes serving a joy & a pleasure because of friends like you. This year we believe God is going to do greater thing & as a family we are focusing on 4 Fs. We want to have the FEAR of the Lord because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom. 2nd we want to have the FAITH of the Lord because faith comes by hearing & hearing by the Word of God. 3rd we want to FOCUS on the Lord because He is the author & finisher of our Faith. 4th we want to have the FIRE of the Lord to consume all our dross & leave only what is acceptable to Him. We pray the same for you & believe that this year is the year of favour for you.

SHALOM!

Lots of love from,

THE GIBSONS