May 2025
Dear Friends and Prayer Partners,
“Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy name.” John 12:27 KJV. When the Lord Jesus prayed this prayer, He did not pray to be saved from the situation, but He subjected all his emotions and trouble of soul to the Father’s will, that the Father’s name would be glorified.
“… and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14 KJV. Esther, while prayer is not mentioned, would respond to Mordecai with a request for fasting, and she would fast likewise (prayer implied). Again, this was not with a view to being removed from the situation, for she could say “… and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.” She would do that which she was able to do given the position God had placed her in, and leave the outcome to Him.
May we, in these days of confusion in the world, pray for all those who are in authority, and for all those who desperately need to hear the Gospel, that they may be given the opportunity to do so. May we all take advantage of the opportunities that are presented to us to further the Gospel, to the glory of God.
As for the work of QMBC over the past six months, we are still not receiving a lot of mail from overseas, but we have seen a small increase from Hong Kong and Thailand so far this year. The overall mail situation in the country of Papua New Guinea seems to be in difficulty, as we still have not received anything from our Post Office box there, although we have received some mail from students who have posted their answer sheets directly back to Australia. We have still been unable to make contact with the people who forward the mail on to us here in Brisbane, and the reply-paid envelopes which we provide for other overseas countries are not accepted in PNG. We have not received any response from the large number of new lessons we posted out last year. This is a great disappointment to us, and a matter for prayer.
We are encouraged from time to time to hear from old scholars who have done the QMBC lessons when they were children, and are now keen to enrol their own children to do the same lessons.
For your interest, the following table shows a month-by-month summary of the weight of mail received in and posted out during the past year, from all overseas countries. For the 2024 year, we posted out 37.2kg less than in 2023, a result of the decrease in mail from overseas.
Please pray with us, that we will be directed according to the Lord’s will in any decisions that are made for the future of the work of QMBC.
Please take time to read the enclosed excerpts from some of our students’ letters and answers to assignments, which we are sure you will find interesting.
From students doing the basic lessons:
Pieter, age 64, Hong Kong:
Thank you for the lessons E7, 8, 9 and 10. What a beautiful teaching these lessons held for me. The truth is, it is wonderful to be IN CHRIST. We need to love Him and trust Him for who HE is, our Saviour. May God bless you for this beautiful work you are doing for Him.
Roosevelt, age 39, Hong Kong:
I am thankful to God our Father through the Lord Jesus Christ for you my brethren…I am also thankful for the Lord’s grace and faithfulness that has been with me all these four years plus that I have been behind bars, as He has been all my life even when I lacked faith in God – my lack of faith in God never nullified His faithfulness. End of 2020 I made a resolute decision to turn to God in repentance and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and ever since, my whole life has not been the same. I also made a resolute decision to stay in the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit has been guiding me into all truth with the help of the study Bible and the Mailbox Bible Club courses that I have been doing.
James, age 44, Thailand:
[The Lord Jesus] has come to live in my heart, and that was the greatest experience I have ever had in life. That was my first time in prison over 15 years ago, then I served two years in prison and [was released]. I have come to know many things about God that, I think, I can never know outside the world in my entire
life.
Catchai, age 35, Thailand:
I am so pleased to send you back all these lessons. It might be a long time for me to reply back, but I have succeeded. The important thing is that the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world. Jesus Christ redeemed my sins by Christ’s blood and died on the cross for me. This is the most important thing that Jesus Christ has done, and Jesus Christ also lives in me. I hope you will understand about my explaining, it may be not beautiful in my English but I write out of my heart. God bless you.
Ekwebelem, age 68, Thailand:
I am happy to receive your lessons…and am grateful for you accepting me in QMBC, glory be to God. I am seeing that this Bible Club will help me improve more in my Biblical knowledge of the Word of God for the rest of my life. In the prison here I am assistant leader of the church. I am from Nigeria and was an Army Captain in the Nigerian Army. I served in the Army for 30 years, during my service I participated in many operations and wars. I was in Yugoslavia from 1991-93 under UN protection force [and many other places]. I retired from the army because of a gunshot [wound] I got in Sierra Leone, the bullet stayed in my body 15 years, in my spinal cord. I came to Thailand for an operation, the bullet was removed here successfully and I was placed under [medical] observation for one year before I fell into this drug mess, just because I was in my friends’ house. They charged us with conspiracy and I was given a death sentence, now reduced to life sentence because I fought my case in the Supreme Court. I need prayer for
my freedom because I don’t know when this journey will be ended. Nevertheless, [through] all the wars in which I served, God saved my life. I have stayed in Thailand prison now for seven years.
Pha, Age 20, Thailand:
I am from Laos, now I’m a prisoner in Thailand. Our Church [here] is about 35 people, some are strong, others weak, some are newcomers and are learning. I [appear to be] strong outside, but inside I am weak. God be with you all.
Matilda, Teenager, Australia:
I am going on a mission trip to India [with Teen Missions] for six weeks, and I would appreciate you praying for me, especially so I don’t get sick.