Greetings from Malaysia!
Thank you for your continued prayers and support, not to mention your patience in waiting for this overdue update. We are so blessed to have you standing with us in ministry!
Strategic China Training (Mission Catalyst)
In my new role as Director of Mission Catalyst, I am helping to train dozens of native pastors, evangelists, and missionaries in many of the most unreached nations on earth, including China, although I am still not personally allowed to enter mainland China. That being said, in late September, we will be hosting dozens of Chinese pastors, evangelists and missionaries here in Malaysia for a Great Commission Conference that has the potential to be the most strategic project I've ever been a part of in all my years in China!
How can you help? I’m glad you asked!
First, please pray! These believers not only risk their freedom to preach the Gospel in China, but also to travel and receive training that we take for granted. Pray that God would provide for them, protect, and prepare them to continue serving faithfully in the massive Middle Kingdom!
Second, please give! Due to the sensitive nature of these meetings in a secure location outside of China, we are estimating a financial need of about $1,000 per attendee, including travel, lodging, meetings, and meals. Help send a Chinese pastor to our strategic training!
Final thought: if you “sponsor” a Chinese missionary, I will personally greet them on your behalf (you can tell me what you’d like to say), remind them that they are being prayed for, and then provide you with their name (or nickname) and (general) location of ministry within China, so you can continue to adopt them in prayer going forward. (Write me for more info.)
- Give Online: MCI3.org OR give.iphc.org/project/mission-catalyst-international
- Send checks: Mission Catalyst / PO Box 73047 / Houston, TX 77272 (Memo: China)
- Alternatively: WMMD / PO Box 12609 / OKC, OK 73157 (Memo: MCI/China - #98037P)
Where in the world are we? Kuala Lumpur, Hiroshima, Moscow (Idaho), and Oklahoma. . .
After spending a few days all together as a family in early August, we are now scattered across the planet for a season. Deysi and I remain in Malaysia, while the kids are all busy studying:
- Gabriel (21 in December) has a scholarship to study microchip engineering (UIdaho.edu/mesa) in Hiroshima, Japan.
- Ariel (19) is at a classical Christian college (NSA.edu) in Moscow, Idaho, under the tutelage of one of my best friends from China.
- Abriana (18 on Oct 16th) will finish high school in Oklahoma, staying with my parents, while getting a big head start on a variety of college courses (SWCU.edu).
Closed Doors, Open Doors
Our Venezuelan teammates, the Marquez family, who have served as missionaries in Peru since 2018, recently received the discouraging news that their Malaysia visa was denied after more than a year of waiting. We are looking at other options, as they desire to serve in Asia. However, as you may have heard, a door has opened back in their homeland of Venezuela, and they will head there soon for a few months of ministry that would have been next to impossible just last year. Pray for fruit as they share the Gospel and train leaders across Venezuela!
Back to Bangkok (Mexico to Don Mueang)
Our Mexican teammates, the Mendez family, who previously served in China (2008-2019), are returning to Thailand soon after spending much of this year on home assignment in Mexico. Pray that they find affordable flights (never easy) from Mexico to Asia, and for a smooth transition back home to the working-class district of Don Mueang (Bangkok), where they serve.
Blessings in Christ,
THE WEST FAMILY
PS. Please visit my Substack to see more of what I share each week, especially the Pray for China posts: ChinaCall.Substack.com
