Thursday 20 June 2013

2013 Mission Day

Overview of the 2nd Annual 2013 Mission Day

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” -Isaiah 6:8 (NIV)

Mission Day was held at St. Jacobs Mennonite Church (St. Jacobs, ON) on Saturday, June 15, 2013. There were approximately 130 attendees from various churches.


The program started with praise and worship from the Vindicated praise band.

Vindicated Band leading praise songs

Reverend Trakoon (Yoel) Masyawong from Grace Lao Mennonite Church then talked about how Mission Day came about and opened the program with a prayer. Mission Day began from Rev. Dan and Sarah's vision (4-5 years ago) of wanting to gather various cultural churches within the region together to celebrate the diversity as well as encouraging one another to proclaim the Gospel. Especially, Mission Day was aimed to encourage the members of Southeast Asia origin to go back to share the Good News with the people in their home countries such as Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and Burma. In 2010, when Rev. Dan and Sarah became members of the Grace Lao Mennonite Church they brought their vision for Mission Day forward to the church council. By 2012, Grace Lao Mennonite Church hosted their first Mission Day. Since then they hope to keep Mission Day as an annual event that brings many different churches in this area together.

Pastor Trakoon (Yoel) Masyawong from Grace Lao Mennonite Church introducing Mission Day

To celebrate the cultural diversity of the attendees, the representatives as well as the congregation sang each verse of the hymn "How Great Thou Art" in various languages, including Hmong, Thai, Korean, Laotian and English. It was a beautiful sight to hear the singers praising God in all the various languages, which only shows that although we speak all different languages we still worship the same and only one true God.

Each singer took turn singing a verse of "How Great Thou Art" in their own language, including Hmong, Thai, Korean, and Laotian. Then the entire congregation was invited to sing the final verse in English together.

The program moved into the different cultural performances from various churches and communities. The first performance were two beautiful Hmong songs sung by a group of Hmong women (Kitchener) who were wearing a complete set of traditional Hmong clothing including head piece, jewery, colourful skirts and jackets and ankle pieces.

A group of Hmong women singing songs of encouragement for Dan and Sarah's mission work

The next performance was a traditional Eastern Thai dance by a group of young adults from the Thai Christian Church of Canada (Toronto). They were quite energetic and brave to do such a fun performance.

An Eastern Thai dance from the Thai Christian Church of Canada

The Covenant Chuch (Oakville), which is a Korean church came to join the event and brought with them a group of youth who sang a powerful yet lovely Korean song.

The Covenant Church singing a special Korean song

Grace Lao Mennonite Church (Kitchener) had their young girls perform a beautiful traditional Laotian dance called Jumpa Flower Dance in a variation of green traditional clothings, adorned with golen jewelries.

The Jumpa Flower Dance by the youth from Grace Lao Mennonite Church

Lastly, Rungnapa from the Thai Christian Church of Canada sang her own rendition of "He Leadeth Me" in both English and Thai.

Lulu or Rungnapha Arunnavesiri singing "He Leadeth Me"

After the cultural performances concluded, Mission Day moved on to the next part of the program, which was the sharing of Rev. Dan and Sarah Yang's mission work in Southeast Asia. We began with showing a slideshow of their mission work from December 2012 to May 2013, which included visiting Kenya, then various mission projects in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. To watch the slideshow Click Here or watch below.


Rev. Dan then shared his story of how he and Sarah were called to Southeast Asia and many of the projects they had started in Southeast Asia. (The Mission Projects report will be linked into the blog shortly). He shared about his vision based on the Bible passage Ezekiel 47:1-12, where Ezekiel described in verse 8, "this water flows toward the eastern region". Their decision to go into the mission field was simply a walk of faith and trusting God to carry it through. And through faith and years of waiting we can see that His work was able to carry through!

Rev. Dan Yang sharing his vision and mission work

Dale Bauman, president of ACM Canada was invited to share and introduce ACM Canada to the congregation and explained how they have come to partner up with the ministry in Southeast Asia. ACM Canada or African Christian Missions Canada is a financial partner of African Christian Missions International (ACMI), which is a Christian organization based in Kenya. Their main missions include evangelism, child sponsorship and education. ACM Canada and ACMI partnered up with Rev. Dan and Sarah in hoping to expand their ministry into Southeast Asia. For more information about ACMI, please Click Here to check out their website.

Dale Bauman from ACM Canada

We also had a free-will offering to raise fund for the mission projects, the total from the offering was approximately $1000. During the offering Katie and Brittany Anonthysene played a lovely piano and violin duet of the song, "10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)" by Matt Redman.

The program ended with the congregation singing the hymn "Be Thou My Vision" and a closing prayer by Pastor Trakoon Masyawong.

Everyone was then invited to go downstairs for a traditional Thai/Laotian dinner. What was blessed about the dinner was that the various women groups (Laotian, Hmong and Korean) kindly made the dishes freely and donated to Mission Day. We were simply grateful at their generosity, kindness, and commitment as we knew that those dishes took days to prepare and the costs were not little.



The dessert table... mmmm...
Aside from the service, we were also displaying pictures from Rev. Dan and Sarah's mission work in Kenya and Southeast Asia. We also brought some handcrafted items from Thailand to raise fund for the mission projects.



Overall, Mission Day was a success thanks to all the committed volunteers and those that came to support the event. We feel blessed that we could gather people from different churches and communities together to share and celebrate our cultural diversity and encourage one another to have the burden for mission work. May God continue to fan the fire for His mission in Southeast Asia as well as the rest of the world.

We felt very encouraged by the outcome of Mission Day. It has given us the strength to continue on with our work in Southeast Asia. We believe that God is working through each one of us so that He can continue to expand His kingdom.


THANK YOU: We are blessed to have many partners who see the importance of misison work and supported us through prayers, encouragement, and financial support.

St. Jacobs Mennonite Church - For allowing us to use the building to hold the event, for supporting Mission Day for the second year in a row, as well as their generous donation towards mission work in Southeast Asia.

Grace Lao Mennonite Church - Many thanks goes to all the church members who supported us from the beginning. They have worked tirelessly in preparing (cooking, setting up the facility, the special performance) as well as cleaning up after the event.

Thai Christian Church of Canada - For participating in the event for the second year, helping with worship hymn and piano, and their financial contribution to the mission projects.

The Covenant Church - For their prayers, support and inspiration for evangelism. As well as their beautiful performance and the delicious Korean desserts!

Our Hmong friends - For their continuous support, encouragement, and generous donations towards the event, the food (especially the 60 dozens eggrolls!), and the mission work.

Vindicated Band - For being part of the event and leading praise and worship.

Dale Bauman - For supporting and attending the event.

All the attendees - Thank you for being a part of this year's Mission Day and for your financial support through offering and fundraising.

If you would like to make a financial contribution to Dan and Sarah's mission work in Southeast Asia, you can donate online at Canada Helps (African Christian Missions Canada under the category Ministry in South East Asia).

Group picture wearing Hmong and Laotian traditional dresses
Lynn Lee and Sarah Yang in Korean and Hmong traditional dresses

Photos curtesy of Buachao Vang

1 comment:

  1. This Mission Day was such a blessing! I hope there'll be the 3rd, 4th and more, so those can join in and receive blessings which God has done around the world!

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