Fall Newsletter 2011

Dear Family and Friends,
John and I would like to thank everyone for your continued love, prayers and financial support during these last five months as we began our journey into fulltime mission work. Every one of you are so vital to our ministry and we want you to know that whatever we reap you also reap. (1 Samuel 30) The words “thank you” don’t seem to really describe how grateful and honored that we feel because you have chosen to partner with us.

While we were away we did our best to update you via email or our blog but due to the internet problems that we occurred we are not sure who received our updates. We would like to apologize for this and let you know that you can read our blog posts at johncindythalheimr.blogspot.com.

During this letter God has put it on our heart to share a couple of things that happened during our outreach time in Asia. There were many things that happened during our time in Asia, but we know that it is impossible to share all of it so we will focus on the ones that God wants us to. We would like to first share with you an update on our family.


On Sept 24, 2011 John and I flew back home and headed straight to Thomasville, GA where my dad, Steve Carpenter, was in the hospital. We are sorry and yet joyful to say that my father went home to be with the Lord on Sept 27, 2011 at 7:30am. We are sad because he will always be missed and yet joyful because we know that he is in Heaven with our Father worshipping and doing all the things that he could not do here on this Earth. Dad we are so thankful for everything that you have taught us and for your continued love and support no matter what. You will be forever missed.

During our time in Asia we had many great opportunities to do some amazing things. One of the highlights was when we got the chance to go to Myanmar/Burma on a prayer journey all across the country. We were joined on this trip by a team from Jackie Pullinger’s ministry and we traveled all over the country praying and interceding for this lost nation. We had the honor of praying at their largest indoor sports stadium. This was very significant because this was going to be the place where they were going to hold their 2nd Gospelfest in Myanmar. This is such a big deal as the country is a mostly Buddhist nation with only about 4% being Christian. In fact, you are not allowed to openly preach the gospel and you need to have permission to hold such an event. Our God is bigger than that and the government granted permission for this event to be held and there were even government officials that opened this event. This event was held on Oct 14-16 2011. We have just gotten the first email from this event and God has done some amazing things. We posted the email on our blog so please go there to read about what happened from the people that where there. We are so honored to be a part of this amazing event.

After Myanmar we traveled to Thailand where we worked with some amazing ministries. One of these ministries was called Nightlight and they are in Bangkok, Thailand. If any of you have ever seen the movie Furious Love this is one of the ministries that was featured on this movie. Annie and Jeff started this ministry 6 years ago and they work with women who have been involved in prostitution. They get the girls off of the streets and give them a job in their jewelry making business. This is something that is very hard to do as the girls are celebrated by their families when they are involved in prostitution. You see it is the responsibility of the girls to take care of their parents. Because they make so much money in prostitution it means more money for the parents. When the girls decide to leave the prostitution and come work at Nightlight they are shunned by their parents. Not only for the reason of the money but these girls eventually give their lives to Christ and Thailand is a Buddhist nation and there are less than 2% Christians. While we were at Nightlight we had the opportunity to minister to them with love and encouragement. Something that they have been lacking all of their lives until Annie and Jeff came along. You can read more about their amazing ministry at www.nightlightinternational.com and purchase some of their jewelry if you would like.

Now onto the big question of what are we going to do next? Well we will be returning to Pemba, Mozambique to continue our volunteer work with Iris Ministries, ministry of Heidi and Roland Baker, and we will be volunteering in their hospitality department and working with the children in their orphanage to start with. We will be returning to Pemba in late January or early February 2011. This is going to be an exciting time of continued growth for John and I and we look forward to what God has in store for us.


We are asking you for your continued prayer and financial support during these next two years. We have worked out a budget and we will need $2500 a month. This includes money for housing, food, transportation, insurance and ministry expenses. Please prayerfully consider giving to our ministry. We want you to know that we could never do this without you and we are so honored that you have chosen to partner with us. You may send your financial support to Wellspring Fellowship PO Box 71733 Albany GA 31708 with a note that it is for Thalheimer Missions. All donations are tax deductible.

If you would like us to come share at your church, Sunday School, home group etc please call us or send us an email.
Much blessings and love,

John and Cindy Thalheimer
Iris Missionaries
Pemba, Mozambique
cindy@pishonriver.com or john@pishonriver.com
blog: johncindythalheimer.blogspot.com
US phone # Cindy’s 229-848-8117 or John’s 229-848-1178

Immediate needs:
Continue prayer for our family as we deal with the loss of my father
Water filter so we will not be in need of buying bottle water
A name for our ministry
For all of our financial needs to be met
For the flooding in Thailand and how it is affecting Nightlight
Someone to print and mail our newsletters (will be 3-4 times a year)

Report from from Music Festival in Myanamar

The following is from an email we received regarding the Music Festival in Myanmar:

We have just returned from a very amazing trip to Myanmar. As you are aware God
has opened in the past 2 years the doors for Trin to travel to this once so
closed nation. We testify ‘once so closed’ since we have seen and heard the
change that is taking place for the advance of the Kingdom of God. For the
first time in the history of this nation the government has officially given
permission for an event organized by Christians in their national stadium. We
have joined with over 8000 Myanmar people in praising and worshipping God for
this. Two ministers of, the minister of national race and of social affairs
have officially opened the festival we held. The minister of social affairs
read aloud a public proclamation from the government. We received a copy of this
proclamation and we cite from this the following.
According to no. 34 of the Constitution of the
Union of Myanmar, all nationals have equal opportunity and freedom to express
their religion as long as it does not go against the constitution. And for that
reason, the Yangon Division head government has granted to permit tot celebrate
the Gospel Music Festival for 3 days. As freedom has been granted to freely
express religion, sing and worship, on the other hand, they all must adhere to
the rules and regulations thereof.
For 3 days long we have been witness of the
great miracles of God. Mattheus has preached powerfully on the theme of the
conference to rise and shine from Isaiah 60. Preached powerfully on faith and
released an atmosphere of faith into the people. We have seen with our own eyes
how throughout these 3 days, over 1500 people bowed their knees for the first
time to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We have listened to the
testimonies of people being touched by the healing power of Jesus Christ.
Testimonies of deaf hearing, people who could hardly walk, walking and dancing
on the platform. One women testified that she could not cry since her eyes did
not produce fluid. She received a creative miracle and cried for the first time
in her live, tears of joy.
900 youth between 10 and 20 came forward on the
last day of the festival on the challenge by Mattheus to be a Josua and Kaleb
to their generation. When they stood in front of the platform, hand in hand,
longing for God to touch them, the Holy Spirit, like a rushing wind came upon
them and before our eyes we saw almost all 900 fall down under the power of
God, laying slain in the Spirit on the floor for minutes. The auditorium was
filled with awe. When just before that moment the Holy Spirit was invited to
touch the people in the auditorium, the atmosphere became electrified by His
presence, entire rows went down under His Power, loud cries were send up to
heaven, but when the 900 went down under His power, an atmosphere of deep reverence
and awe filled the place.
Since we had due to circumstances not be able to
fundraise the entire event in Holland, we had left in faith that God would
provide. The second day of the event, a series of financial miracles took place
and over $ 40.000 came in on one day, from a nation in which the average
monthly wage is only $ 60,--. Faith filled the organization comity so much
because of this that they boldly on the third day proclaimed they would hold
another festival next day. Within half an hour God touched the heart of
business people in the place and all the money needed for next year was being
pledged.
National television and journalists came in to
report on the event, something that has never happened before in this nation.
We interviewed the national director of inter religious affairs, who is a
muslim himself. He testified how excited he was about this event and how amazed
he was that the government gave permission for this event. Pastors we spoke
with testified that for the first time in their history all denominations were
involved in working together to preach the gospel. The believed that this event
will impact the church as a whole, has increased unity among all denominations
and has given increase and growth to the church.
From Indonesia pastor Philip Montofa came over
with 20 of his leaders, and he co worked with Mattheus in the preaching times
from the platform. The both of them carry clearly a breaker anointing and work
smoothly as a team seeing God’s power released through their ministry to the
people.
We really believe that God opened an amazing
door for the gospel to spread in this nation. Mattheus encouraged the
organization comity to not only built around this event, but to start a
movement. Just like RAN coming together with pastors. Work with to encourage
business man to invest in God’s Kingdom. This way the event and its impact will
last, will build the church in the long run and increase the impact for God’s
Kingdom. What we have seen was historical, God broke through and we have stood
in awe at this.

August 24- Sept 15 2011

There has been so much going on that I am not sure where to start. I am also sorry that I had to post 2 blogs together. We were having a hard time uploaded the last one.

We flew into Myanmar on August 24th and we stayed in this country until September 6. Myanmar is a country that really needs Jesus as only 6% are Christians and at times it can be hard for the Christians. You are not allowed to preach about Jesus in public. Until recently they didn't even allow tourists into their country but things are started to change and in fact they now welcome visitors. The people of Myanmar would like for people to come visit them and Myanmar is a very beautiful country.

In Yangon we started our prayer and intersessions journey for the country. We stayed in this city for 2 days and then on the August 26 we flew to another city called Mandalay. In Mandalay we meet our tour guide and started our journey to the Myanmar/China border. This was a 2 day bus ride and we needed to have a tour guide as Muse is a city that you can only enter with permission. While we were here we prayed over the city gates for the city and country to come know Jesus and also for the stoppage of drugs coming back and forth between the borders. People also cross the border illegally. You can cross legally but I am sure that money has a bit to do with the illegal crossings. The border between China and Muse is just a row of trees. There are a row of trees and then a small wall and then a canal of water and then another small wall. We were standing on the small wall praying and interceding and we found out later that we were actually standing in China. I mean that the trees really were the border we thought the second small wall would of been in China. This trip is one like we have never been on before but it is a great one.

August 30 we are back in Mandalay where we will be staying for a few days. While in Mandalay we have been going to different parts of the city and praying over it. We also visited some local churches while we were here to see if we could do anything to help them or to encourage them in anyway. The first church was an Anglican church where we prayed for the pastors wife and they told us a little bit about themselves. The pastor and his wife are in their sixties and will be retiring soon and they need a place to live so please pray for them. We also visited a Methodist church where we were invited to come share at the youth service at night. We also got to meet a missionary couple from the Netherlands. With the Methodist church there is a YMCA. The church is trying to build an outreach center for the youth of the area but have run out of money. The building has been started but they can not continue the work until they get further funding. If you would please pray for them and also if you feel inclined to help in any way please let us know.

At the youth service John and I along with a couple of our team members shared a little with what God had put on our hearts. It was a great time and in fact one of the youth workers came to us and wanted to thank us for what we shared. She said that it really touched her heart and that she felt like it would stay with the youth hearts as well. She said that it really gave them all hope and encouragement. So this was a great time.

In a Baptist church we sang a song in front of an adult Bible study group, this was a first for John and I, and also shared a little bit about ourselves. It was great for John to be there as there was only one man in the class so this encouraged the man to see and hear from John. They were so welcoming to us and they served us with tea and water. The people of Myanmar are very lovely people and we are enjoying our time with them.

After Mandalay we flew back to Yangon, the city where we first started from, and meet with a local pastor. This pastor took us to see his 2 orphanages where we had a chance to share a little bit and then to pray over the children. We even had the children pray over us. After that he took us to his Bible school where we were able to pray and give prophetic words to the Bible students and pastors. In fact we have been invited to share at the Bible school if we ever go back to Myanmar. After the Bible school we went to the largest stadium in Myanmar where they will be holding the second Gospel Music Festival. While we were at the stadium we had a chance to pray for tjs upcoming event. John and I walked all over the inside of the stadium praying for people to encounter Jesus during this time. We even walked around the outside.

The Gospel Music Festival and the location of it is a really big deal because they had to have permission from the government to hold it there and they have never given permission before for such an event but they have now. At this Gospel Music Festival which is being held from Oct 14-16 2011 they are expecting over 10,000 people. So please start praying for this event and for the pastors that are putting this event together. There are pastors from all types of denominations coming together for this event. This s a really big deal and we are expecting great things to happen at this event. We will be n contact with a couple of the pastors so we will let you know new information as we receive it.

September 6 and we are now in Bangkok Thailand until September 9. While here we are working with a ministry called Nightlight. If any of you have ever seen the film Furious Love this is the ministry that was shown on that film. This ministry is working with women in the sex trafficking industry. They try to help this women to stop selling themselves. During our time here we ministered to the women with prophetic and encouraging words. We also did some SOZO'S with some of the women there. In fact we will be doing some more ministering with them when we return to Bangkok on September 16.

Sept 9 and we are now in Chang Rei, Thailand until Sept 16. Here we are working with a YWAM base who takes in children that are HIV positive or have lost both of their parents to HIV and they have no place to go. Penny and Paul are the people that run this ministry and they are amazing people. In fact they know that we have been traveling alot so they are making sure that we get some rest time too. They also take in young mothers who are HIV positive and have been kicked out by their families. They would love to see families stay together so if there is anyway they can help the families stay together they will. They are in the process of building a hospice center for HIV people and a floor is also
For young mothers that are HIV positive. Please pray for them and this project they really need teams and funding to finish the project.

This morning we meet with another young ministry called Ezekiel Rain. They are also working in the sex trafficking area. They are in the beginning stages and are working on making relationships with other ministries now. One of the things that one of the woman said was that God was breaking her heart for the men.This is something that God has been doing in me and this is the first ministry that I have heard of that wants to help the men. The men are broken too and they need help too.

Well tomorrow we will fly back to Bangkok. We will be here until Sept 21 and then on the 21st we will fly to Hong Kong. We will be in Hong Kong until Sept 28 and then we will begin our long journey back to the states. We appreciate all of your prayers. When we are back in the states we hope to catch up with as many of us as possible. We love all of you.

Much love and blessings,
John and Cindy

10 days in the bush

Sorry that it has been so long since we last updated. Internet was horrible in Pemba. I started this a few days ago and I am finally getting around to finishing this. Thanks for your patience.

Today is Tuesday, August 16, and we have surrived the 10 days in the bush. During our ten day bush outreach we went to a total of 8 different villages. We did not have running water at all and we used laterines the whole time. At these villages we showed the Jesus film every night and we saw many people come to The Lord. The people in the villages were very friendly and they were very welcoming. Each night we gave the village chief a gift of thanks for allowing us to be there. The gift was a very simple gift of a capaluna and a pair of earrings. The earrings were placed in a nice bag that they will find many uses for. Capalunas are used for many things such as a skirt, a sling to carry their babies in and a general carrier to carry clothes, food etc.

During our bush time we camped in 3 different villages and drove out from there to different villages. I can't believe that I exactly it camped in a tent for 10 days. I don't think that I have every camped in a tent for that long. It is really amazing to see what you can do with the help of Papa God. While we were in the bush we ate rolls for breakfast, beans and rice for lunch and tuna spagetti for dinner. Tuna spagetti is noodles and tuna. The noodles are boiled in water with a lot of oil. They use so much oil that the noodles turn yellow. A couple of nights we also bought a pig to eat. The locals are very happy when they get pig. Pig is a luxury for them. When they make pig they make it like a stew. They chop up all of the pig and put it in the stew. When I say all I mean ALL nothing is left out. I had nothing but fat on my plate, no meat, so I can't say what it tasted like. John had a little bit of meat and said it wasn't too bad. However, he would not eat it in the states this way.

One of our favorite moments in the bush was when we were playing with the children. The children were very sweet and loved to hold our hands or to just touch us. Sometimes the children were afraid of us, akunas (their word for white people), but they would usually warm up to us. All of the people love to have us take photos of them and then show them the photo. They would often laugh at the photo as this was the first time that they ever saw a photo of themselves.

The journey back to base was a 6 hour drive. It probably should have been longer but our driver, Mozambiqey, likes to drive fast. He was determined to get us back in the shortest time possible. The only problem with this is that we were all crowded in the back of a cameon with no room to move. We took a mother and her 3 children, Pastor Jose's sister, all the way back to Pemba with us. So one of her children sat on my lap the entire way home. We stopped a few times on the way home and each time I got up my legs were asleep. Nothing like climbing over a generator and out of the cameon with your legs asleep and wearng a skirt. Must say that it was great to get back to base and have a nice cold shower, the first shower in ten days.

Well it is now Aug 20th and we are in Hong Kong it is truly amazing here. The city is so clean and there are mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. I really am amazed at how beautiful it is here. I was thinking Hong Kong was flat for some reason but I guess I was wrong about that. It really is beautiful here and we are getting to enjoy some rest before we head off to Myanmar. One of our team members used to live here and work with the ministry where we are staying. The ministry here was started by Jackie Pullinger some of you may have heard of Jackie and her ministry.

We left Pemba on Aug 17 and flew to Joburg, South Africa, where we spent the night. It was cooler in Joburg but we were able to take our first hot shower in over 2 1/2 months. I forgot what hot showers felt like and I must have stayed in there for 15 minutes. It was really wonderful. We also went out to eat and got to have a hamburger. Wow it was good! Not sure if it was really that good or if it was just the fact that I could have one and that I didn't have to eat rice and beans. John had a steak and he said that it was really good. The next day we had breakfast at the hotel and then we went out to lunch. At lunch I had a SALAD. I sure have been missing my salads! Then we went off to the airport to catch our 13 hour flght to Hong Kong. The food on the plane was even good. This is how you know that you have been really missing good food when you consider the airplane food to be good. Last night we got to meet the people that will be going to Myanmar with us. We had a meal with them, where they taught John how to use chop sticks. John has never eaten with chop sticks before and they told him that he did great for a first timer. Guess what we had rice again but at least it was not with beans. There was a type of fried fish with cheese on it and cabbage made with bacon bits that were the toppings. I think by the time we will get home we won't want to see white rice for awhile. But at least the toppings were different and there wasn't any sand etc in the rice. Sand and dirt are often found in the rice and rolls in Pemba. So at least we don't have this anymore.

We will be here until Aug 24 when we will be flying to Myanmar. Please start praying for us. There will be a lot of spiritual and natural warfare going on. God is going to do some amazing things while we are there and we are all looking forward to this part of the journey. We will not be able to send out any emails or call while we are there. I am including our itinerary for the next couple of weeks so you will know where we are and how to pray.

Aug 24- Sept 6 Myanmar traveling all over the country Sept 6-9 Bangkok Thailand, working with nightlight ministries that works with prostitution Sept 9-15 Chaing Rei Thailand working with a ywam base and doing many things Sept 16- Sept 27 not sure Sept 28 fly back to states

We should have email while in Thailand so I will update again when I can.

Thanks for all of your love and support.We could not be doing any of this if it wasn't for all of your support.

We love you, John and Cindy

Life in Pemba, Mozambique

We are sorry that we have not updated this sooner but the internet is not very reliable here. It fact most of the times it does not work.

Since the 8 weeks that we have been here we have had some amazing experiences. We will try to give you some highlights of what has been going on here. We really can't believe that we have been here for 8 weeks.

We have had a lot of amazing speakers at the school. Some of the speakers include Randy Clark, Will Hart, Heidi & Rolland Baker (Rolland is so full of joy and he loves to make sure we get a dose of joy), Tod McDowell and many others. this past week we had Amy Lancaster, from Jackson Mississippi, and she said something that really made us think. She said that she had always felt like she was going to be a missionary in a foreign country, such as Africa, but that he called her and her family to the inner city of Jackson Mississippi. That God does not always call us where we think He will but that we must be willing to go wherever He calls us to. This is something for all of us to think about.

We have also had the opportunity to help out at a conference in Meize. This is a village that is about 20 minutes away. We were greeted by a lot of children. There was so many children that you couldn't count them if you wanted to. The girls of the village love to try an braid my hair. It really is funny because my hair is so soft that it doesn't stay in very well. But, they love to try however I can't sit very long for this as it hurts. I don't know how they sit for it because it hurts so bad. We also had time to help out at the church service where we got to pray for the sick. There were many headaches, fevers, stomach aches healed that night but, the most amazing thing was when a team prayed for a baby whose eyes where completely white. While the team was praying the baby's eyes turned brown and the baby could see for the first time.

A few weeks ago we went on a bush outreach to a local village that was about 2 hours away. when we arrived here the kids all came out to greet us. They were at first a little scared of us but warmed up to us pretty fast. I (Cindy) started to do something and they would just copy me. I could stand on 1 foot and they would do that, raise 1 arm etc it was so much fun. The children did not need a lot of stuff to play with they just wanted attention. We had a great time with them. At night we showed the Jesus film and we prayed for a lot of people. There was a lot of head pains that were healed and I prayed for a little boy whose eyesight was bad and it got better. We also prayed for stomach aches and a few people accepted Jesus into their hearts. The next morning we prayed for a man that was pretty crippled up and he had a hard time walking. We prayed for this man for about 20 minutes and the whole time we prayed for him he had this blank stare on his face. While we prayed for him he said that he could move a little bit better but he still had a blank stare on his face. We asked him to come back later that night so we could pray for him again and when we saw him about 4 hours later he looked like a completely different man. In fact, we almost didn't recognize him. This man no longer had a blank stare on his face but he was smiling, laughing and was trying to dance to the worship music that was on. He was praising Jesus. We prayed for him again and he said that he could move his arm some more and that the pain was completely gone in his one leg. The best part of this was this man was spiritually dead and now he is spiritually alive. Yeah Jesus! This same night I preached for the first time and about 30 people from the village came to the Lord. The next morning John shared a testimony with the local church. We can't believe how God is using us and how He is using us to do things that we didn't think that we would do.

Today, July 23,John and I went to a local village, within walking distance of the base, and we took some food to a local family. This was such a great honor for John and I to be a part of. The look on the mom's face was of shock and joy. She told us that it made her heart very happy. She also said that we she would like to have us come back to visit. We told her that we would be leaving soon but if we came back to Pemba we would come visit her again. This is the second time that we had visited her and her family the first time was about 4 weeks ago and she feed us some peanuts. Both times that we have visited here we have had a great time. We are so thankful to be able to do things like this.

Again we are sorry that we have not updated this sooner and we wish that we could upload some pictures but there is nothing we can do about the internet.

We love all of you and thank you for all of your continue prayers and support. We will try and post again before we leave for Asia.

Lots of love,

John and Cindy

Getting ready for our trip to Pemba, Mozambique

Well Cindy has been packing, weighing, unpacking and rearranging for days now. The flight from Johannesburg to Pemba only allows one 44 lb. check bag and one 15lb. carry on. We also have made several trips to the store for things we forgot about or lighter items.