First I
would like to thank you all for your prayers and support. I have bad news the China trip has
been officially canceled this year. I
have included the letter from my uncle below that will help explain why this
decision was made. This news was shocking. All support gifts are being mailed back to me and will get this returned to all of you as soon as
possible. I am sad that this trip is canceled but I know that God has a plan
for everything. I will say that your prayers and support have come at a time when I
could really use some encouragement, so even though it didn’t work out as we expected,
you have all been a tremendous form of support to me the last few months. Thanks
again!
In Christ,
Melissa
Letter from Mike DeGuzman:
Over the past few days and weeks we have sensed the door into China was closing for this year but did not know for sure until yesterday. While I sensed this decision was inevitable in light of our trip there in March, it still comes somewhat as a shock to get this news.
This morning I spent some time reading through Acts 16 and was reminded that even the great Apostle Paul was prevented from going into Asia (Acts 16:6). While we don’t know how God revealed His will to Paul, we can imagine that Paul was also disappointed and perhaps a bit discouraged by it. In Paul’s ministry, like ours, everything had been going so smoothly that these closed doors must have come as a huge surprise. The comforting part in this is that even apostles were not always clear as to God’s will for their ministries. Instead, God planned for the message to get there another time (Acts 19:10; 1 Peter 1:1).
In His sovereign grace, God led Paul west into Europe, not east into Asia. I wonder how world history would be changed had Paul been sent to Asia instead of Europe.
There is nothing to indicate that this is anything more than a one-year break from our ministry in China. Because we believe God has called us to work with the Chinese church by going through the “front” door, it would be very unwise and potentially dangerous to our fellow believers in China for us to do ministry in any other way. If we did the camp as a “Cultural Camp,” there is a good chance we would be shut down and any future involvement in China would also be finished.
So, for this year, the Vacation Language and Character School in China is officially closed. As a church, we have not decided if we are going to invest this time into other overseas ministries such as Ukraine and South Africa or to be more intentional here in Ocala. Either way, we will continue to pray, prepare, and present Christ locally and globally through whatever doors He opens.
Press On!
Mike
